Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

@RogerRoger Thanks!

Kirby has been on something on an uptick in the last several years. Arguably three of his five best games have released since 2014, and they all forego weird experimentation in favor of crafting really strong, traditional platformer adventures. That's balanced out by the utterly mediocre Star Allies in 2018, of course, and a return to experiments with Kirby and the Rainbow Curse in 2015 on the Wii U (a game that utilizes an exquisite HD claymation look, and then ruins it by forcing you to stare at the sub-HD GamePad screen the entire time because you have to use a stylus to control it).

The Kirby fanbase, while VERY positive about this game overall, have been a bit split on the direction of the series. Some of us, while we've loved the game, wanted it to really evolve in the same way that other Nintendo-associated properties have. Others are tired of open worlds, sandboxes, and a fixation on exploration and just sort of wanted a traditional 2D-esque Kirby adventure in 3D with modern production values, and that's essentially what they got.

If the developers want to take it slow, that's fine.

Yeah, the game is 95% unbearably adorable and 5% creepy as hell. Unfortunately, most of the creepy story stuff is spoiler territory, so I had to sate myself by dunking on the mouthful mode transformations (the car isn't too bad, but Light-Bulb Mouth Kirby looks like something out of a horror movie, which is particularly funny since you make use of that transformation in a carnival haunted house where things pop out of the dark at you!). I really dug how the sleeping animation changes depending on whether you're playing alone or not. Every aspect of the game feels polished and considered in the same way as Nintendo's first-party stuff.

No you're right, I edited it and docked it a half-point later in the day. It was something I was waffling on. Ultimately, I decided I made it a half-point higher than I should have out of a sense of personal bias. A slight 'Nintendo bump' that shouldn't be there. I actually went through the same process with SMT V as well.

Thanks for reading!

@KilloWertz This wasn't even one of my longer pieces.

No interest in Nintendo, or just haven't gotten around to buying one yet?

@Ralizah The only Nintendo system I've ever owned was the NES, so I guess it'd be no interest in Nintendo. I had considered it lately as I wouldn't mind trying some of their games like Breath of the Wild and several of the JRPGs, but at the same time I don't really have time when I already own a PS5 and a Series X. It's already hard balancing those two at times.

@KilloWertz I get it. Honestly, I have such a long backlog and list of new games I want to get to that it feels like I don't have time for the platforms I own as is.

I've tried to keep at least one toe in all of the ecosystems until now, but it increasingly feels like I need to pick my favorite one and just go all in.

It's been particularly hairy this last decade, between 3DS, Wii U, Switch, PS Vita, PS4, and a PC. There was a period of time where I was actively playing games on all of those systems, and the sense of choice was actually paralyzing.

@Ralizah I really wanted to just go with one platform this generation given how much of a mess I ended up making last generation even though I went into it PS4-only and came out with both the PS4 Pro and an Xbox One X. I ended up buying several games on both platforms because I was playing on one or the other at the time. Dumb, sure, but I thought of whichever one I was playing on as being my main platform and wanted to play said game on that.

Luckily I've managed to not be as bad this time around even though I have flip flopped on occasion already. I still try to maintain the PS5 as my main platform as planned even though Game Pass does provide a nice value and Xbox should finally start having a flood of good exclusives sooner or later after all of their acquisitions start paying off later this year and beyond.

So, again I'd love it if I would just have one system and just play everything there on my PS5, but acquisitions make it hard. If I started to get into the Nintendo ecosystem as well and starting playing Xenoblade Chronicles, Breath of the Wild, Fire Emblem, etc.... oy vey...

@RogerRoger Nah. There have been some long gaps between home console entries, but that was when the mainline entries shifted toward handhelds. Between that and the spinoffs, occasional remakes, etc. Kirby makes an appearance every couple of years.

Hard to say. It's possible the developers just have no interest in more ambitious sandbox/open world-style titles like Mario and The Legend of Zelda and Pokemon have enjoyed recently and will want to create new adventures in this sort of highly-controlled 3D environment for a while, and explore the possibilities there. I'm not too miffed either way, as Hal Laboratory continues to put out some of the very best traditional platformers on Nintendo systems (with the occasional stinker thrown in for good measure). I do want the series to go beyond its own self-imposed limits, but having to be satisfied with great games that release consistently instead of modern classics that release once a generation isn't the most bitter pill I've ever had to swallow.

The score is meaningless at the end of the day, and I'll obviously never fully erase bias from my perspective or reviews, but I do feel the need to be as honest as possible when I'm writing: both with my readers and, by extension, myself.

@KilloWertz It's probably easier to juggle Sony and Microsoft anyway, considering MS doesn't consistently release a lot of highly desirable exclusive games, so there's a lot of overlap between the two ecosystems to begin with. Nintendo kind of exists in its own bubble, and, as a result, a large chunk of a Nintendo console's library is unique to it. At least in terms of worthwhile releases. It's much less so with Switch than previous consoles, but they still put out a TON of games that can't be played anywhere else.

The Nintendo ecosystem is dense. Probably intimidatingly so for someone who hasn't dabbled in it since the NES.

@Ralizah True. Microsoft likely will starting next year finally since they bought so many studios, but still, you are right.

Yeah, I was even tempted to get a Switch last month when people were talking about Xenoblade Chronicles 3 after the release date was announced, but it would be too much of an undertaking to get into their ecosystem now.

@KilloWertz Eh, we'll see. Bethesda developers will probably be fine, but Microsoft has a long history of mismanaging studios and projects. Which is wild to me, because Microsoft was on fire during the 360 era.

I've had my ups and downs with the series as a whole, but I'm actually super excited for XC3. Game looks like it shouldn't even be running on a Switch, lol. Combine that with the enormous level design and apparent six party members on-screen with enemies during battles, and I have to wonder how hard this is gonna stress the system. XC2 didn't look nearly this good and that game sometimes couldn't even maintain 720p when docked.

I have been summoned.

How the bloody hell is everyone? And How are you @RogerRoger ?!

I remember Catalyst - I did enjoy it but actually had a bit of trouble with the billboards, some are very confusing! Thinking back on the game... I did find myself longing for faster movement, in general.

I have GhostRunner installed. Haven't loaded it up though. I have a quite a backlog to get through first.

I don’t mean to interject in anything, but I was reminded of my thoughts on Elden Ring in light of a recent article, primarily as I saw some criticizing the game but not really giving much of a reason. I too have issues with the game, but kinda feared what would happen if I brought any up at launch. Thusly, I’d like to bring up my faults with the game now and attempt to explain myself thoroughly. I wouldn’t call this an actual review, as there’s clearly a focus on the issues that I experienced and haven’t seen anyone else so much as mention, and I just really wanted to put my view out there, just in case anyone feels the same way. Apologies in advance if this has caused issues in the past or I’m retreading long walked ground, so I don’t mind if is gets taken down or something, but here I go. (Also I don’t hate this game! Just wanna make sure that’s clear)

This is gonna be a long one…

I know it’s a bit late and that no one cares, but I’m gonna toss in my gripes now that it’s been a bit since launch and the hype has died down. To preface this all, I want to say that I’m a fairly large fan of the original Dark Souls. I beat it, loved it, and was in the middle of DS 2 when Elden Ring came out. I played Blood Borne a while back and enjoyed it, though I personally found myself to be better using a shield than a gun, and it didn’t help that I chose the Arcane starting stats, since no magic is given at the start. Still haven’t beaten that first big boss on the bridge, but I’ll get there. Just recently I got Sekiro, and have been thoroughly enjoying its linear but explorative and maneuverable gameplay. Now, Elden Ring here is a bit of a different story. Before I get into my many gripes, I’d like to praise it for its aesthetic, combat variety, cool bits and bobs that you can find just about anywhere if you poke around, and it’s lovingly crafted characters, story lines, and absolutely stellar dungeons and bossfights (Radahn made my jaw drop multiple times, it was a real treat). So, if you do love this game, I can 100% see why. By most any metrics, it’s dense with content and has only expanded upon the best bits of the Souls franchise, but for me, the issues arise when it comes to everything else.

Now, the issues. Where to begin. I suppose I’ll start with its main selling point: it’s an open world souls game. Now, on paper, this seems amazing; a giant world, filled to the brim with random bosses and strong enemies that you can face off with on grand open fields and mountains and whatnot. However, I couldn’t help but feel like the translation from linearity to open expanses wasn’t as cut and dry as one might think. There’s still leveling up in ER, just like in DS, but that becomes problematic when stronger foes are presented. For example, in DS 1 (assuming you don’t have the master key that unlocks all normal doors), your first major boss outside of the tutorial is the Taurus Demon. You make your way there, and even if you don’t grind and aren’t at speed runner levels of proficiency, you can take it down after enough tries. No biggie, it’s tough but not too tough, set to a level for you to fight when you reach it. Even if you have troubles with it, you either have to grind or get good, because that’s the only way foreword. That makes it so that each subsequent boss (outside of the big branch near the end) is at a level that should be tough. ER doesn’t have that luxury. Since it’s world is so big and expansive, with so many options and routes and things to do, it lacks the sort of urgency, or rather incentive, to make you overcome great challenges. You’re rarely put in a place where you can’t just give up on whatever fight you’re having trouble with, go off and do a billion other things or grind at one of multiple scarily efficient areas, and come back to stomp whatever was giving you trouble, even if you had forgotten about it. Now sure, it’s still a choice. You can choose to keep banging your under-leveled head against the bosses and overcome them… Or you can choose to go explore that other spot you have marked on your map instead. For example, you know that dragon right near the start of the game in the swamp? Like many others, I travelled there, found the dragon, screamed “That’s so cool!” As I dashed away for safety, knowing that I stood no chance. Fast forward a hundred or so hours, and I pass back through the area and encounter the dragon again, only to absolutely destroy it. Not gonna lie, it felt kinda cool, like I had grown, but it also wasn’t that fun of a fight since it’s health bar dropped faster than a Radahn Meteor. This holds true for many if not all of the optional bosses, outside of super high level ones that you’re unlikely to completely eclipse in strength. The main bosses that hold the shards are a bit different usually, since they can have their own gimmick that makes them tough regardless (Like Radahn’s arrows at the start of his fight, or having to hunt down the singing glowy people in the magic academy). In summary for this point, my biggest issue is that there’s linear styled bosses and enemies in an open styled game. Before I move onto my issues with combat, there’s a different aspect I must address about the open world set up.

The ER world is big… Sort of. For its massive cliffs, mountains, and even underground caverns, there’s still a weird, water-shaped issue around it. In fact, it’s around everything. In DS 1, there were a few areas with water, but not many. If you fell in, you died like it was any other ledge. Fair enough, it’s a linear game with specific paths, so water travel is certainly not needed, especially when you couldn’t even do a standing jump. This was even used in its favour in the Deep Root Basin, where you can fight a hydra, but have to dodge and counter its heads since it’s in the lake, and you can’t enter. Fast foreword to ER, and a huge portion of the map is just WATER. This would be fine if there was any sort of boats or sea-faring methods to allow you to traverse the aquatic expanse; maybe you could even tussle with some sea monsters that attack your ship, how cool would that be?! But, as it is now, it’s just an empty void that takes up a bunch of map space and gives nothing in return for its presence. Sure, there are islands, but you either have to get to them via caves or portals, so they might as well just be different buildings. There’s even an island right across from the beach near the start of the game that would take all of a minute to swim across, but our poor tarnished must be made of solid stone because even without armour, they can’t take a step into the depths. I almost forgot, the water actually does add something, but it isn’t for the better…

Linearity is the moto that the the other DS games live by but love to break. Twice in DS 1, the path of progression splits, giving you options on where to go next; A 50/50 split when you decide which bell to tackle first near the start, and 25/25/25/25 split later on when you choose which of four bosses you want to hunt down and defeat first to fourth. It’s pretty cool, though a bit easy to get lost. However, outside of those two times, the game follows a linear structure as mentioned before, something that ER clearly doesn’t want to do… right? See, another issue with the vast sea is that it turns to map from a potential square into a Ç, giving you options but not complete immediate freedom. Many areas require certain events to happen (like the meteor opening the hole to the underground city) or items to be gathered, like the Dectus lift pieces. Granted, you can bypass the Dectus lift via a cave system if you chose to explore that way, but you still need to be at least yey strong to get through it. Even sprinting past all of the brutal bird dudes, you’re stopped by a boss fight with a fiery Wyrm. So until you’re strong enough to beat that, you might as well give up on reaching the mountains. And by the time you either happen to find the pieces of the lift (good luck) or get strong enough to beat the Wyrm, you might’ve just forgotten about it entirely. Since there’s no other way to get to the mountain tops, this makes part of the exploration process linear, where it’s akin to the DS 50/50, which seems branching, but doesn’t quite constitute as such in an open world game. This Ç type structure is, technically, branching; you can choose to go east, south, or north west right out of the gate. Though if you’re just counting getting all the shards and beating the final boss as beating the game, you might as well make the map a normal C, as the southern area is completely optional. Now, this isn’t a big issue for me. I love optional stuff, and having a complete extra area to the south that’s there just for fun times and exploration sounds great. Buuut, say you don’t know that there’s no mandatory bosses down their despite its large appearance on the map, you might feel like you’ve wasted time and effort. Not me, per say, as I like the idea of exploring everywhere I can find and am actually allowed to reach, but having bosses that provide incentive to explore in each of the major areas EXCEPT THE SOUTH seems a bit odd. Take BOTW again for example, which has its four major dungeons in the four corners of the map, with the final boss smack dab in the centre. That’s enough about Cs and seas for now though, onward to the battle front!

Combat in ER improves a lot upon what was established in former titles: you have a plethora of spells, incantations, and even awesome new additions in the forms of Ashes and Ashes of War, which give much more options to those who use more melee focused combat primarily, but still lots of benefits to go around. So what’s so bad about it? Not much. If this were a normal souls game, I’d considering this one of the best bunches of combat expressiveness that I’ve ever seen, but it’s not. Still on the bit about it being an open world experience, that changes how I look at combat. See, in Zelda, many items have multiple uses; A boomerang can stun enemies, flip switches, and collect items. A Hookshot can do much of same, but can’t hit multiple targets, though it can allow the player to travel to new areas at designated grapple points and terrain like vine walls or wood. I bring up Zelda because I think of DS 1 as being very similar to Zelda in a lot of aspects. I won’t list them all off, but just look at Sen’s Fortress after playing a 3D Zelda game or two, you’ll see what I mean. Anyways, when transitioning into a true, open world in BOTW, much of the items of utility from the past were dropped or altered: Hookshots, instruments, flying drone bugs, iron boots and more, all gone. Things like the boomerang, magic rods, hammers, and bows have all become throwaway items that are not mandatory for completion. However, for all that it takes away, it had a handful of new abilities that have more uses than I can list, but I’ll try: Magnesis allows you to pick up and move metal objects. This allows you to open metal doors, lift grates, make bridges, collect underwater chests, steal items, smack enemies, hold metal objects near enemies in a thunderstorm to get them smited, break open metal crates by tossing them at each other, lift key items out of bogs for puzzles, make stairs, create chains of random items to complete electrical circuits, and more. Notice the mix of both combat and non-combat related uses, or in other words, utility. Now look to ER. Everything in the entire game only revolves around combat, and nothing else. There are some things like invisibility or mimicking items that help you AVOID combat, but that’s still related. Now, I know what everyone’s thinking: “Of course it’s all about combat, that’s always been what Souls games are about!” And yes, but not this time. This time there’s a big, open world to explore and mess around in, and yet it feels noticeably stagnant and unmoving, despite things like meteors literally changing the landscape. You have two modes of transportation, on foot or Torrent, and neither of you have any way to change how you move around the world beyond some random gusts of wind for getting up specific cliffs. There’s no spells that make you run faster, jump higher, teleport, or whatnot, unless it’s fixed to an animation for a combat focused attack. You and these attacks are ONLY used for fighting opponents, nothing more. You’re not going to soar across the fields on dragon or crucible knight wings, you won’t freeze water to make it walkable with an ice blast, and you wont melt snow with a fire ball. You can’t even cut down trees, but the enemies get too?! The closest thing to utility is some spells and such casting light, and there’s already spells that do that, but don’t do anything else. Now, there’s also a crafting system… Where you can make combat items. And spirits that you can summon to assist you in so many ways, like… Combat. You can even get the ring shards that give you special boosts, like maybe making you run faster, or be able to climb walls, or… Boost your combat capabilities. Yeah, the combat is great, that’s obvious, but when it so drastically over shadows everything else that I normally like to see in an open world game, it feels less like an open WORLD and more like an open arena.

My final point for the moment is an issue with a mix of combat and the exploration that whilst kinda cool, is also a bit demoralizing at times, and I’m talking about discoverable weapons, items, and spells. Each of these things have stat requirements, and most usually, a player will commit to a certain build or focus for what they want to increase. But, if they’re completely new to souls games, they probably won’t know the benefits of any thing, or what gets lock because of their choice. Let’s say a new player knows that intelligence makes magic stronger, and they plan to be a mage. They’re playing through, all is well, until they run into a dragon. Awesome! They’ve always wanted to fight a dragon! Thusly, they fight, and through many hard fought attempts, they fell the beast and get its heart. “Woah, I can use this at the dragon church to get stuff? This is awesome!” So they manage to find the dragon church, go to the statue and see all of the awesome dragon spells that they can get with their hard fought dragon heart. Except wait, they’re not spells, they’re incantations, and this guy has absolutely zilch put into his faith stat. Well damn. That was pointless, and now he’s got no reason to fight another dragon again, because he won’t be able to use its stuff even if he does kill it. Tough luck, kid. Better luck next time. It’s this sort of hard work that leads to something that might not even help that can put a bit of a damper on the thrill of exploration. You may get something cool, sure, but who knows if it’s even going to be useable? The enemy you’re struggling with looks like it’s using something completely different from what you do, so it’s probably worthless anyways. This is at its worse when one of the main shard bearers has stuff that you can’t use, so you beat them and end up with less runes than you would have gotten if you had grinded instead for that same amount of time. Now sure, you could just remember for your next play though, but personally, I believe that a single play through should be fun enough to warrant a second, not the other way around. Compare that to BOTW, where eeeeeverying is useable, no stats required.

Now that’s all, unless I remember more later. Thanks for listening to my insane ramblings if you did, and I wish you a good day. Now, in an optimal time line, Fromsoft would be able to iron these issue of mine right out by the next game like it, but maybe I’m just delusional. I still give this around an 8/10 for everything it does right, and I know it can do even better.

@Platinum-Bucket Fantastic post. A lot of the things you talk about (the flawed design of ER's open world, the inability to use most of the weapons you find without respec'ing, the laser focus on combat and lack of environmental interactivity in general) are a big part of why I don't consider it to be a BotW-tier open world experience, despite the strong combat fundamentals and sprawling dungeon design.

But I still liked it. It's the only FS game I've really enjoyed to date. So even if I don't think it's the masterpiece a lot of FS fans think it is, I'm still glad they opted for a new approach to their action game design.

@RogerRoger I'd say Forgotten Land absolutely plays it safe, but that the developers also put a TON of effort and consideration into it. What it lacks in ambition it makes up in raw charm, polish, and fun.

I used to assume all, or almost all, licensed games were low-effort garbage, but you've definitely helped me to be less automatically dismissive of even some of the older ones. I appreciate the amount of passion with which you talk about them.

@Ralizah Thanks! I like it quite a bit too. I wouldn’t have put 100 odd hours into it if I didn’t. Glad someone can understand where I’m coming from!

@RogerRoger Hey, cool, another GBA review!

The system was one of the first portables to offer enough hardware grunt that it could explore genres that had been underserved on previous Game Boy consoles, IMO. The primitive tech and displays of previous models didn't do much for action-adventure type games, but suddenly you could make much larger environments, more detailed sprites, etc.

Pity to hear the narrative elements and aspects of the gameplay are undercooked, though.

Appreciate the detail on its development, with this being the first TR game to be developed by another developer.

@mookysam Thanks!

Yeah, we both enjoyed Kirby quite a bit. He usually ends up losing interest in games pretty quickly, but we actually got through the Ultimate Cup Z Arena challenge together. I played on my own to find collectibles and whatnot, since he has little patience for me poking around in random corners of the level.

The 3DS Kirbys are fantastic. Probably the peak of the series for me, personally, and for a lot of funs who consider Planet Robobot to be something close to a platforming masterpiece. With that said, this modern 3D entry is really nice, and I definitely don't want to go backwards at this point.

Yeah, an open world approach probably wouldn't work well, but early footage heavily suggested something a little more sandbox-y, like Mario Odyssey. Instead, we got a very traditional Kirby platformer.

Although, like I said, when the results are this good, it's hard to be disappointed.

And yeah, I talon trotted all over the levels, since normal movement is a little slow for my liking, and you slide off surfaces easily. Unfortunately, that means long stretches of time listening to Kazooie's horrible bird grunting.

@RogerRoger As a Tomb Raider fan, I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the lesser known The Prophecy. Never having owned a GameBoy, it’s a game which was completely foreign to me. Nevertheless, I just love the franchise, so seeing a mediocre Tomb Raider game is better than none at all! Actually you and Ness replaying some older classic TR games has piqued my interest in them. Perhaps if PS+ premium has some of these older titles included then it will sway me to subscribe. (Especially if they have trophies.). Alas, it looks like The Prophecy is likely stranded on GBA, which apparently isn’t a huge loss.

@RogerRoger That’s a really interesting piece on another retro game that I’m not familiar with. My days of playing 2D side scrollers is long gone, but I can’t think of any I played back in the day which had stealth mechanics. So perhaps it’s admirable that they made a reasonable attempt. But, as you say, part of stealth gameplay depends so much on environmental context, and the small 2D screen does sound like a limiting factor. But I guess the industry had to start somewhere. 😄

Mario Golf: Super Rush (Switch)

Gameplay:

• Standard Golf - The first of the main modes is this traditional take on the game. Play on any of the games 11 courses (up from the 6 the game launched with) with up to 4 players (human or CPU) with various other optional adjustments (intensity of wind speed, use of special shots, number of holes played, etc.). Easily the best part of the game IMO, as there's something chill about a generally normal round of golf with just enough arcade zaniness added in.
  
• Speed Golf - The highly advertised new mode for the game. Same course selection & adjustable rules as the former mode, however in this variant everyone tees off at the same time & you have to run to your ball after each shot, adding just a smidge of that trademark Mario platforming to the proceedings, with total shot count & time spent both contributing to your final score. Really didn't play it much (beyond what you have to in the story mode) as I think the idea kind of runs counter to the vibe of golf.
• Battle Golf - Another new mode (and one I haven't tried) which is essentially Speed Golf on steroids. Playable on two different arena themed courses (which aren't playable elsewhere), it seems to have the same general rules as Speed Golf, however you can go after any hole on the course at any time, with a hole being removed from play once someone completes it, so the name of the game is to complete more holes than your competitors.
• Target Golf - A game play mode where you have to aim for the highest score by aiming for one of three different targets (you change teeing position after each round, and there are sometimes things to mix things up, like special balls or a 4th bonus target). It has Regular, Forest, & Volcano layouts (each being more difficult than the last). It seems to have been added in an update sometime after launch.
  
• Golf Adventure - Probably the most substantial mode in the game, where you take your Mii on a journey from Rookie to Pro. Your adventure takes you through the six courses included at launch (each one has a cozy little hub world), where you can level up your Mii RPG style by completing rounds of golf (usually some variant of the "Speed" variety. Even the "Cross Country" golf that appears in one area never to be seen again which reviewers were confused by is clearly just training for "Battle Golf"), or by taking on optional target challenges in each area's training grounds (which could be quite brutal, IMO). There are even a few boss battles on display, which I actually quite enjoyed when they popped up. Kinda mixed on this one though, as I wasn't a huge fan of Speed Golf, which is what is mostly featured (I thought I was going to get a break in Wildweather Woods when one of the Toads said they don't play Speed Golf there due to it being so wet, but after the 3 hole practice round it was all Speed Golf anyway...).
  
  
  
  
• Otherwise there are a handful of Medals (achievements) to unlock (one for completing Golf Adventure, one for obtaining Birdie on every hole at least once, etc.), "Star" & "Super Star" club sets to unlock for each character by playing as them repeatedly (obtaining these is another Medal achievement), and of course most everything (aside from the story mode for obvious reasons) can be played online if you have NSO.

Audio/Visual:

• It's definitely a bit more of a B-grade game in this department (this ain't no Odyssey or MK8D), but still, it's clean cartoon styled graphics look generally nice. There is some texture pop in, but this is really only noticeable during wide panning overhead shots & I didn't really find it all that distracting.
• As I mentioned before there are 11 courses, two of which have "Amateur" & "Pro" variants, so arguably a total of 13 (plus the 2 Battle Golf arena courses, I guess), and these range from the relatively mundane (Beginner Course, Bonny Greens, Ridgerock Lake) to the Mario-rific (Bowser Highlands, New Donk City, All-Star Summit). My favorite has to be New Donk City as it's clear they just lifted it wholesale from Odyssey and puked a few greens all over the place (it clearly wasn't designed for golf, but that makes it all the more fun as it gets pretty creative with how you have to get the ball to it's destination, especially on it's "Pro" variant).
  
  
  
  
• Also, there are over 20 playable characters & while the generic baddies (Boo, Koopa Troopa, Chargin' Chuck, Ninji, etc.) don't get much of a glow up the series mains are dudded out in their finest golf attire, including Pauline (from the original Donkey Kong arcade game) after her reintroduction in Odyssey, which is pretty cute.
  
  

Conclusion:

• Again, it's a bit more of a B-grade offering, but I'm actually quite glad to have given it a shot. I wasn't a huge fan of Speed Golf, but the classic variant is still here & accounted for, and I enjoy that quite a bit.
  

@RogerRoger It's a pity to hear that GBA Batman game didn't turn out very well. An action game with a lot of tools on a system with a lack of buttons is never a great idea, unfortunately. It's interesting to hear about it being a pre-Arkham attempt at diversifying the gameplay style of the Dark Knight, but it sounds like the execution was rather poor at the end.

The small screen size of the GB consoles hurt a number of games. The lack of screen real estate, for example, is one of my few issues with the otherwise stellar original Shantae game on GBC, as you often couldn't get a good sense of where it was safe to jump in some of the game's giant environments.

Nice review.

@RR529 I remember being a bit baffled when I saw footage of Mario characters hoofing it on a golf course in a Direct, since, yeah, it doesn't seem like a great fit for golf. I've not heard great things about this title, but I'm glad you found enough enjoyable about it nonetheless, even if the speed golf thing ended up falling flat.

It's not a looker, but the cartoon-style employed in Mario games makes it where even the lower-budget ones are still easy on the eyes.

Any interest in that new Mario soccer game releasing next month?

@RogerRoger GBA would have been so much more appealing if it had initially shipped with a backlit screen and two more buttons. It's a great platform, but I think Nintendo wasn't fully aware of how much more complex handheld games were going to become when they were designing it. Which probably helps to explain why it only had the handheld market to itself for a few years.

Technically, the NDS would have been a better host platform, with its wider screen and full set of buttons, but you just know the publisher would have felt compelled to needless hamstring it with touchscreen gimmickry.

@RogerRoger Blue Beetle, Firestorm, Boba Fettman, Black Canary! Do I get it for £16 now 😂

@RogerRoger
"Injustice 2 does Injustice justice".
Awesome just Awesome. Sometimes Rog your way with words astounds.
Thanks as ever for your thoughts. Similarly to you I tend to swerve fighting games as a genre but the DC licence was enough to draw me in. Played through the story mode with multiple characters on both 1&2, picked up easily obtainable trophies then called it a day without having to be demoralisingly trounced trying to be competitive in the online arenas.
I think my highlight was the multi-stage transitions, bashing opponents through walls/floors onto another part of the stage usually amused me... Also beating up Superman, I never really liked that goody two shoes.