Max Payne

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/18/2020
Posted in: Android, GameBoy Advance, iOS, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Mobile Reviews, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 2, Sony Consoles, Xbox. Leave a comment

Publisher: Gathering of Developers

Developer: Remedy Entertainment

Release Date: 07/23/2001 (PC), 12/06/2001 (PS2), 12/12/2001 (Xbox), 07/16/2002 (Mac), 12/16/2003 (GBA), 04/12/2012 (iOS), 06/14/2012 (AND)

Rating: Mature

MSRP: $49.99

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Bullet time. While The Matrix made it popular amid pop culture, Max Payne started it all in the video game realm. You play as a cop, Max Payne, who is framed for murder of another NYPD cop. Your wife and newborn child are also murdered and you are trying to get revenge on the people who did it. The story isn’t anything amazing, but Max Payne’s voice actor, and the well done writing, keep you hooked long enough to find out what happened behind the scenes. The game is told in a comic noir graphic-novel style and it suits the game well. The cut scenes are imaginative and different, and don’t look cheap or like the developers were trying to take short cuts.

Outside of the story, the gameplay is all about shooting because that’s literally it. Max runs around with various weapons such as Barrettas, Ingrams, shotguns, grenade launchers, Molotov cocktails, grenades, and assault rifles to mow down the Mafia and corrupt cops. Bullet time is the main gameplay element here and when activated Max does a jump dodge in the direction you move and you can see him dodging bullets in real-time. This is actually a mechanic you must master as most situations require you to use it to stay alive. You can’t stand in one spot or you will be dead in a few hits and there’s no cover system. I had to quicksave every 2-3 minutes as well because the game is so difficult. It’s cool to jump dodge around a corner, but once Max lands there’s a delay in him getting up and you are completely vulnerable to gunfire. I had to make sure I jump dodged behind cover or across a hallway so I wouldn’t die the second the bullet time finished. You can also activate bullet time and just run your meter down so you can run and gun with it too.

There are very few scenarios in which you do more than press buttons. One scene has Max driving a crate crane around an area, but it’s nothing special, and there are some interactive objects that trigger comic cut scenes, but 95% of the game is just shooting. The weapons themselves feel good and I felt I had to switch up weapons depending on the situation to make my life easier. The locales are varied, but they are a bit too stale and boring for my taste. They don’t quite capture the noir feeling of the comic cut scenes, but there is one level early on called Ragna Rock that was a gothic cult house that reminded me a lot of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, so that’s a good thing. The game really does feel like a first-generation PS2/Xbox game, but it’s very polished. The game flows nicely, but the difficulty is all over the place, you will die dozens and dozens of times in this game.

The visuals are clean and look nice even 20 years later. I installed a texture upgrade patch and some other things to make the game upscale to 4K nicely and play on modern hardware, and it looks pretty good. Even in the original, the facial textures are nice and very realistic, and the over aesthetic of the game stands out over most shooters of its time. The voice acting is great, and I finished the game in about 7 hours. After you finish it there’s literally nothing else to do as the multiplayer mode was scrapped. It’s a fantastic single-player game that holds up well even today despite its insane difficulty and unbalanced gameplay. The story isn’t anything special, but Max is a great character to dive into and it makes for a fun evening.

L.A. Noire

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/16/2020
Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Sony Consoles, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox360. Leave a comment

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Developer: Team Bondi/Rockstar Games

Release Date: 11/14/2017 (XONE/PS4/Switch) 05/17/2011 (X360/PS3) 11/08/2011 (PC)

Rating: Mature

MSRP: $59.99, $49.99 (Switch/PS4/XONE)

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 America loves to romanticize the police. Despite the political environment, we are in, the only way we can really satisfy our lust for crime and murder mysteries is to put ourselves in the shoes of the police. L.A. Noire is set in an almost historically accurate 1940’s Los Angeles right after WWII ended. You play as war veteran/detective Cole Phelps in solving a drug mystery and many murder mysteries within.

The game starts out like any typical open-world game by slowly introducing gameplay elements to you before opening the world up. You are Cole as a beat cop who is called to a murder scene. You chase down a suspect, investigate some clues in an alley, and you’re so good at what you do you magically get promoted to a traffic detective. L.A. Noire has a few core elements and it mostly sticks to these throughout the game ad nauseum. The first element is the crime-solving. This is done by picking up various objects in an area, examining them, and moving on. This sounds interesting in theory but 90% of all objects in this game are completely useless and really don’t need to be picked up and examined. There are maybe one or two objects that are puzzle boxes and a couple of documents that require you to tap on certain information. It’s cool the first time you do all of this, but after that, it’s boring and feels pointless. Make the objects I’m holding more interesting or allow Cole to do more than twirl it around.

The next core element is interrogations and this implements Team Bondi’s groundbreaking motion capture technology that actually makes facial animations life like, but in a creepy uncanny valley type of way. Sure, you see neck muscles move, eyebrows twitch, and it all looks nice, but on hardware that couldn’t run the engine very well, these realistic life like faces look odd on low textured and poly counted characters. The whole point of an investigation is to use these facial expressions to determine whether someone is lying or telling the truth and it never works as intended. There is no set to tell that the game gives you to look for, and it always becomes a guessing game or a crap shoot. Most of the time the logic never makes sense based on what the game wants or its hyper-specific. A certain question may seem like selecting Good Cop would be a good idea because that’s what your guts tell you, but instead, you were to accuse the suspect and pick a piece of evidence that you never would have guessed. The interrogations are an awful guessing game and I never felt engaged like the developers wanted.

The next part of L.A. Noire is exploring and gunplay. Fire fights are mundane and feel pretty lifeless. There are a cover system and the weapons shoot, but they all feel the same and there’s no feedback or satisfaction from firing these WWII era weapons. Each fire fight is a whack-a-mole style shooting gallery of enemies popping their heads above cover. When you’re not shooting you’re chasing people or driving around. Driving is one of the worst parts of the game as compared to Rockstar’s other offerings, it feels stiff, slow, and lifeless, and I had no fun driving around the city. Sure, Los Angeles looks pretty good with some great landmarks, but having a piece of a fence bring my car to a complete stop is nonsense. I can ram through a fire hydrant, but a wooden fence will stop my car dead in its tracks. The driving is inconsistent and even car chases are no fun.

There are 40 side missions called “Streets of LA” but these are just various car chases, shooting galleries, or on foot chases and repeat and become stale and annoying. Thankfully there’s a fast travel system that allows your partner to drive to the next destination to skip all the boring driving. I understand this is a realistic game, but Mafia did it much better. There are 95 different cars in the game, but they honestly all drive the same and it just becomes no fun after the first hour of the game is over. There are other side objectives like finding hidden badges, all the landmarks, and trophies but why bother? Anything outside of the story cases is just completely boring and stiff, there’s a layer of polish that’s seriously missing.

Lastly, we come to the story and characters. Nearly every character is completely unlikeable in the sense that they are just plain boring. Cole Phelps is a goodie-two-shoes who can do no wrong and has zero character flaws which make him very unlikable. His partners on the four desks you work are also just as poorly written. I hated them, but not because they were written so well that I wanted to hate them. They were just so average and too Mary Sue. One partner was just a lazy asshole cop and never budged from that stereotype, another was just corrupt, and the issue is that there was no development. No back story into any of these characters and Phelps’ flashbacks to WWII did nothing to make you care for him as he acted just as stubborn and perfect as he did as a cop. For the game being a noire there is zero character build-up or any reason to care. The overarching story doesn’t actually pick up speed until the last few cases, as each and every case drones on and on and is exactly the same as the last just in different orders. I never once felt interested or attached to any one case. Give me fewer cases and build-up the victims within so I can feel like the boring twists are worthwhile.

And that’s where I conclude with L.A. Noire. It’s just “okay”. Each of the many cases feels rudimentary in the end and mundane and I felt like I was just checking off boxes (literally) and had no reason to care for the first or last murder case. The driving is painfully stiff and slow and despite 1940’s Los Angeles looking nice it’s stale and boring with nothing going on inside. You can’t even shop for clothes or go buy weapons. It’s just a giant hub world to get from point A to B. Streets of L.A. side missions are just randomized gameplay loops of chasing, shooting, and driving with neither of the three being particularly interesting in their own right. So, is L.A. Noire worth playing? Sure, it’s a fun game and some of the cases are decent and I did want to see what happened to Phelps in the end, but just barely. After getting so far in the game I felt like I had to finish it hoping it would pick up in the next case. The game plays and looks great on Switch, but has performance issues and bugs that required game restarts. The framerate can dip into single digits in certain spots, but it’s still very playable.

Handhelds: What Nintendo Did Right that Sony Didn’t

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/11/2020
Posted in: Blogs. Leave a comment

Everyone knows what the GameBoy is. I had one as a kid, while late in its life cycle, I received one for my 7th birthday in 1996. I was introduced to Tetris and Galaga and was hooked. I sadly couldn’t play it much because my parents couldn’t afford the batteries for it often and rechargeable AA batteries were very expensive back then. It was one of the first generations of handhelds along with the Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear. I never owned those two systems, but it was the start of something I will always love and cherish: Handhelds.

In 2003 I remember Sony announcing the PSP at a press event and went insane for it. I actually pre-ordered the system and put all of my allowance down on it for 6 months, I even did some extra stuff for my parents for more cash so I could pick up Ridge Racer with it. I owned a DS at the time, but I wasn’t too impressed with it. The PSP looked futuristic and there is still yet to be a handheld that looks as sleek as it. It had powerful hardware, a sleek screen, and multimedia features that no other handheld had at the time. This was also the pre-smartphone era so it was out of this world at the time. I loved my PSP and still play it to this day. I owned nearly every model available and modded the crap out of it. When the Vita was announced in 2011 I nearly lost it then too, but that’s when Sony started to lose me and I still feel disappointed with the Vita to this day.

They got the hardware down pat outside of the useless touch features, dual analog sticks, more power, I couldn’t be happier, but something else happened. The marketing was poorly done and the Vita only saw a great run for maybe three years. Around 2015 the system started dying and lost all first party support. The system turned into an “indie machine” and outside of larger Japanese releases and ports the system stopped seeing most regular releases in 2017. What happened? The first two years were strong and steady and it just died. Was it the ever growing market of smartphones? I personally don’t think that is what caused the demise of the Vita. The 3DS was still running strong at the time with huge blockbuster releases and strong sales. What I think happened was the loss of first party support.

We saw a couple of first party titles on the system like Uncharted, Killzone, and LittleBigPlanet, and Tearaway, but where was the rest? Where were the unique IPs that kept Sony systems rolling? I feel if they had kept going the Vita would still be strong to this day. While the slow death of the 3DS is clearly obvious and has anything but an official discontinuation announcement from Nintendo, the Switch is our last bastion of handheld greatness. The Switch Lite is exactly what this world needed. Sure, the regular Switch is portable, but it’s heavy, sometimes too big, and just doesn’t feel like the best portable system.

Now hear me out, let’s think about what a handheld system consisted of. A small unit packed with the best features of consoles. Great controls, some multimedia features, internet access, and best of all, fantastic games that made that system unique and stand out. The Switch has all of this. The Switch has some of the best video games ever created both first party and third. Think about that. The Switch could literally be the best handheld system ever created and it’s because Nintendo wasn’t afraid to do what Sony kept boasting about.

Sony touted the PSP and Vita as portable consoles, but never actually treated them as such. Constantly pushing and implying that portable games should be in bite sized chunks, much shorter simpler games when most gamers would spend hours on their systems. Not everyone only has 30 minutes on a bus or short car ride, some of us just like sitting on the couch or laying in our bed comfortable, away from the TV and family, playing our handhelds for hours. I did this with my GameBoy Advance SP, PSP, Vita, and so on. Some of my fondest gaming memories are on handhelds. So why was Sony so afraid to commit outside of paper?

Nintendo went all out and gave us both. A console and a handheld, and at the time of release it seemed like a silly concept. If I wanted a console I’d buy one and If I wanted a handheld I’d buy that, but why not have a choice? More people who own Switch’s now play more in handheld format than TV mode. It’s simple, convenient, and you can pull the system out whenever you have some spare time. Nintendo also treats all games like console games, we have a sleep mode on these systems for a reason. Even the PSP 15 years ago had a sleep mode so the bite sized gaming never made sense to me. I feel this was Sony’s biggest mistake going in. If you have this powerful new hardware with features no other handheld had at the time, like a sleep mode, insist that games are made like consoles. We got some games that seemed similar to a console version, but that didn’t exactly exist on PSP. Most of those games were all bite sized smaller versions of their console counterparts. It changed a little on the Vita thanks to indie developers, but it never fully took off. I feel Sony focused too much on hardware (did we really need a 3G Vita?) and not enough on the longevity of the system.

The Switch Lite feels like a true handheld system that isn’t ashamed of being a console. It’s truly the next generation of handheld gaming, and it hasn’t been crushed by the smartphone industry. So that theory is clearly not the reason the 3DS and Vita are dead. We can get handheld experiences on our cell phones in bite sized chunks, we now truly want our home consoles on the go more than ever. The Switch Lite isn’t as clunky as the original model, but feels bigger than a handheld and isn’t ashamed of it. The system feels light, sleek, has fantastic buttons, and feels like a true next generation handheld. We get full blown console experiences on this thing. While it’s taken a step back on online features such as no media streaming or internet browsing, we get a total focus on games. Another thing Nintendo did right was not using proprietary expansion cards like Sony did. This was a huge blow to Sony especially on the Vita. Many people refused to buy their systems because of this reason and it didn’t stave off pirating at all.

To conclude, the Switch is the true next generation of portable gaming, not the Vita. Sony bragged about having a portable console but never once treated it as such. Nintendo took a huge risk and received an insane amount of criticism when they announced the Switch like they do with every system they put out. In the end, it’s paid off and has proven that handheld systems are not dead and the smartphone industry hasn’t killed it. It’s the strongest it’s been since the heydays of the original DS selling out everywhere and nearly every gamer these days owning one. It’s surpassed the lifetime sales of the Xbox One even showing this is clearly what people want. So, if Sony does decide to jump back in the market they need to make a console hybrid and I feel they could knock it out of the park and even do a better job than Nintendo. Their systems are insanely unique and feature rich, but they need to back the system like a console and go all in.

Nintendo Switch Lite

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/10/2020
Posted in: Editor's Choice, Hardware, Nintendo Consoles, Switch. Leave a comment

Release Date: 09/20/2019

MSRP: $199.99

Colors: Gray/Yellow/Turquoise

A Switch console that can’t be switched. Preposterous right? Well, not exactly. When the controversy stirred up about the Lite not being able to be docked came about I wasn’t on board with that. The Switch is a portable system as well and that’s its main appeal. Nintendo’s data also shows that a good majority of Switch owners use it exclusively in handheld mode. The Switch itself isn’t the best handheld device. It’s very large, a little heavier than a large iPad and the Joy-Cons aren’t that great (sorry they aren’t). When I can I always use the Switch in tabletop mode with a Pro Controller, or I just keep it docked. When I saw that there was a slightly more powerful smaller version I was excited actually.

When holding the Switch you notice everything right away. The console is about a third of the weight of the original console thanks to attached Joy Cons. Yes, people complained about the Joy-Cons not being detachable, but at that point just buy the regular Switch, yeah? The buttons actually feel better than the Joy Cons themselves. We get an actual D-pad and not chiclet buttons, tighter joysticks, and better feeling shoulder buttons. The screen is slightly smaller, but in the format, you won’t notice. It just looks slick and like it was always meant to be played this way.

Outside of the slick form factor (it’s just a joy to hold and use), the system boasts better battery life than the original Switch, but an hour or two less than the revised model. The original Switch’s battery life was pretty bad with most games only lasting 3-4 hours. The system still has 5Ghz internet speed, an SD card slot, and a game card slot. This isn’t a digital-only Switch which they could have easily done and didn’t. Outside of all of this, physically the system is rock solid and is only missing the ability to dock. If you can only afford, or only wish to have one Switch, think about how much you will use the system in handheld mode. If the answer is most of the time I would pick this guy up instead honestly. The system isn’t more powerful than the original model, but has a more efficient processor allowing for better battery life. My only main complaint is the system doesn’t have HD rumble, so you would need to connect Joy Cons or a Pro Controller to have that feature. It really sucks, and I miss it, but with all the other pros it outweighs this major con.

I do have to mention that the system only comes with 32GB of onboard memory which is a shame, but large micro SD cards are under $30 these days so it’s not an issue. The $100 price tag difference is great, so with a 128GB SD card, the system still costs less than the original model. I don’t have much else to say about the system except that the new colors and overall sleekness of the system just looks better than the original. That flat black tablet against brighter colors didn’t look too hot, but this new portable system with a universal color scheme just looks sharp. I haven’t seen a better-looking handheld since the PSP was released 14 years ago. While the 2DS XL looks super sharp as well, this is clearly Nintendo’s replacement for the 3DS, they just haven’t officially announced it yet.

If you do own two Switch systems I highly recommend having a Nintendo Online account as cloud saves can be transferred between the two systems easily so you don’t have to manually transfer the saves every time. As far as I know, the only game as of this writing that can’t do that is Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Sadly, the game data can’t be transferred so you’re stuck downloading all the software again. Overall, the system has a slightly smaller screen, but it doesn’t feel smaller due to the overall lighter form factor, and the speakers are surprisingly really good as well.

Bayonetta 2

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/06/2020
Posted in: Nintendo Consoles, Switch, Wii U. Leave a comment

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Platinum Games, Inc.

Release Date: 02/16/2018

MSRP: $59.99

Rating: Mature

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It was strange that Nintendo would pick up an M rated property, especially one that is as sexualized and gory as Bayonetta. The original game put Platinum Games on the map as a great hack and slash developers. The game was bombastic, fun, hard, fast-paced, and very memorable. The flashy combat and memorable personality and style of Bayonetta herself made her one of the most popular and well-known characters of the last generation.

Bayonetta 2 tries to capitalize on that, but on Nintendo’s home consoles. Thankfully, none of the sex appeal or gore has been toned down which is a huge shock and was what most people were expecting — more of a teen rated experience or heavily censored. What we get is the same sexiness, blood, and guts from the original. Now, I was never a huge fan of Bayonetta’s story is its a bit convoluted. I didn’t quite understand the story until towards the end, but Bayonetta is an Umbran Witch who is the Left Eye of God and the Right Eyes (Lunar Witches) are part of some sort of prophecy. The Aesir God is trying to destroy humans (it’s heavily Norse based) and Bayonetta is trying to stop said God from doing so. There are a couple of new characters thrown in, but I didn’t care much for the story. It’s a confusing mess honestly.

What is great though is the combat and there’s plenty of it. Light and heavy attacks combined together with a ranged attack make for some of the best combat this side of Devil May Cry. Bayonetta is so agile and looks so good bouncing around on the screen and the controls are incredibly responsive. The key to the battles is the Witch Time dodge mechanic that’s used right before enemies strike. It’s so satisfying to get into a rhythm of slowing downtime for a couple of seconds and attacking. Each enemy has its own attack pattern and you quickly learn when to dodge and slow downtime to build up your Witch Time which is then triggered to unleash heavy attacks. This tight combat system isn’t very deep, but hard to master especially with new moves to purchase. I found myself noticing that you must master this dodge technique or you won’t get very far. It’s the only way to really dodge attacks., but because you have to heavily rely on it that forces you to master it which can make it a core part of the combat system.

The combat goes a little further with Torture Attacks that are optional instead of unleashing your Umbran Attack. These are small quick-time events and awesomely brutal death scenes for the demons and angels. Bosses have their own unique Torture Attack that triggers at the end of battles. Speaking of bosses, I have to say I think there are too many here. Almost every level is either a boss only or consists of multiple bosses from main to mini-bosses. I also think for the short length of the game there are too many enemies here. A new enemy is introduced at nearly every level and they don’t really mix them up much. With so many new enemies you just start to learn their attack pattern and you may never see them again outside of the mini-bosses.

Outside of combat, Bayonetta doesn’t do much. The levels are highly linear with only one way to really go. You can explore a couple of side paths for hidden items that unlock costumes, weapons, and more. There are Muspelheim missions which are challenges spread throughout the game that grant Moon Pearls (Witch Time upgrades) and hearts (life upgrades). There are Remembrance challenges that require you to gather pieces of a chest before time runs out, and these are nice little distractions. There are a couple of levels that have you power a mech and fly a plane, but they are short and not sprinkled in enough. The game doesn’t feel as varied as the first one and I quickly found myself just mowing down boss after boss waiting for something new to happen.

I loved unlocking Nintendo themed costumes, mixing up my weapons to create a unique playstyle, and watching Bayonetta never gets dull, but it just didn’t feel as memorable as the first game, something felt off. It somehow felt too repetitive towards the end and I became exhausted with the onslaught of bosses, with some repeating multiple times throughout the game. There are co-op Witch Trials which are nice and all, but the core game just doesn’t feel as memorable despite how great it is.

The game looks amazing though and is still one of the best looking Switch games to date. The framerate is up there at 60 or close to it with no slowdowns. Textures and models look fantastic and the art style is just beautiful and really makes Bayonetta stand out on its own artistically. I did feel some environments kind of blurred together, but overall it’s a treat to look at. Bayonetta 2 remains one of the best games on Switch, and hack and slash games of this caliber are far and few between.

My Top Games of the 90’s

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 04/01/2020
Posted in: Blogs. Leave a comment

This is the decade I started playing games and grew up in. Sadly, my parents couldn’t afford to buy games. Most games were rentals and very few were owned. I also only owned a Genesis, SNES, N64 and PS1 during this time. I didn’t get the systems until late in their cycle. I also had no access to gaming information as my parents couldn’t afford magazine subscriptions so it was all word of mouth at school or what I saw at Blockbuster. We didn’t get internet access or our first PC until 1998. This list is also of what I just remember or have played much later that was released at the time.

Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse – 1990

Genesis – SNES – Master System – Sega Game Gear – Sega Saturn – iOS – Android
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: SNES

While this wasn’t the first game I ever played I did have fond memories of it. I remember this being one of the darkest forms of Mickey Mouse and it kind of creeped me out. It was a hard platformer, but the art style was amazing and was just so memorable.

Dr. Mario – 1990

NES – GameBoy – GameCube – Wii – GameBoy Advance – SNES – 3DS – Wii U
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Wii/3DS/Wii U

I played this on the SNES and had a blast with it. I didn’t quite understand it as a young child, but as I got older it was addictive and even my mother got into it. It was different from Tetris and Bust-a-Move.

Sonic the Hedgehog – 1991

Genesis – GameBoy Advance – PC – 3DS – iOS – Android – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: 3DS/iOS/Android

The funny thing is, I played this after Sonic 2. I didn’t quite care for Sonic 1 as much since you didn’t get the spin move, and the game was just more difficult and less memorable, but it was still a fun ride.

Road Rash – 1991

Genesis – Amiga – Master System – Game Gear – GameBoy – 3DO – Sega CD – PlayStation – Sega Saturn – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: 3DO/Saturn

I remember my dad and I played the hell out of this game. Smacking riders with weapons was tons of fun and we couldn’t get enough. I beat the game multiple times, but I can’t remember if I ever owned it.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – 1992

Genesis – iOS – Android – 3DS – Switch – Wii – Xbox 360 – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: iOS/Android

One of the first video game I ever played. This came with my Genesis that I got for Xmas of ’93 and I fondly remember the system was faulty and my mom returned it to Circuit City the next day. It’s still my favorite Sonic game to this date. I’ve beaten so many times on different systems and emulators. I know all the music and levels by heart. While I have spent less time in the last couple of levels just due to sheer difficulty, this game will always have a special place in my heart.

Super Mario Kart – 1992

SNES – Wii – Switch – Wii U – 3DS
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii/Switch/3DS/Wii U

This was something I played years after release, but it was my first Mario Kart experience. I played it at a friend’s house a lot and remember being super competitive with it. I’ve played it a bit as an adult, while not my favorite in the series, it was a great memory.

Mortal Kombat – 1993

Genesis – SNES – Game Gear – GameBoy – Sega CD – Amiga – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Genesis/Sega CD

Here we are, the entire reason I’m a gamer. This was the first video game I ever laid eyes on as a toddler. I watched my older cousin do the Fatalities in the game and was blown away. I played this game more on SNES, sadly, than Genesis, but I just love the music, the sound effects, and the overall game has made Mortal Kombat my favorite gaming franchise of all time.

Disney’s Aladdin – 1993

Genesis – PC – GameBoy – GameBoy Color – Switch – PS4 – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Switch/PS4/Xbox One

I remember this game being incredibly difficult. I played it so much though and my sister and I would try to take turns and take breaks to beat the game and it never happened. The game was fantastic and remains one of the best platformers on the system.

Sonic CD – 1993

Sega CD – PC – Xbox 360 – PlayStation 3 – iOS – Android
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: iOS/Sega CD

I played this as a teenager and didn’t understand the hype. It was cool, felt like Sonic, had a couple of neat camera tricks, but overall it didn’t blow me away. It was the definitive Sonic game for the time, but not nearly as memorable as Sonic 2.

Clay Fighter – 1993

SNES – Genesis – Wii
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii

I remember this game being so funny and my entire family got a kick out of the characters. While it was a bit sluggish and clunky, it had a lot of heart and soul and that’s what made this game stand out for me.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors – 1993

Genesis – SNES – Wii
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii

This was probably one of the most difficult game I had ever played growing up. I couldn’t get past more than 20 levels by myself and I remember getting so frustrated I’d scream at the TV. I actually played this thanks to the Sega Channel along with Earthworm Jim, Toe Jam & Earl, Aladdin, and many other games.


Doom – 1993

PC – Sega 32x – Atari Jaguar – SNES – PlayStation – 3DO – Sega Saturn – GameBoy Advance – Xbox 360 – iOS – Android – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Switch/PC

Doom remains of my favorite shooters of all time, but I didn’t grow to care for it until much later in life. I dabbled in the game on PC and various other consoles but my true love came as an early adult. The art style, speed, enemies, and everything is just so perfect and iconic. There’s nothing out there like it.

Mortal Kombat II – 1994

Genesis – SNES – Game Gear – GameBoy – Sega Saturn – Sega 32x – PC – PlayStation – PlayStation 3
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Saturn/SNES

MKII was something I was super excited about, but had a harder time playing than the first game. I did have the superior SNES version and spent dozens of hours figuring out Fatalities and learning the characters. It was darker and grittier than the first game, but at the same time had it’s own style that was seperate.

Earthworm Jim – 1994

Genesis – SNES – Sega CD – GameBoy – Game Gear – PC – GameBoy Advance
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Sega CD

Earthworm Jim was probably one of my all time favorites as a kid. It was hilarious, my sister and I mocked the sound effects, but man was it so damn hard. I don’t think I ever got past the third level and I played this on various systems throughout the years. It’s art style and characters remain incredibly iconic.


Doom II – 1994

PC – Mac – GameBoy Advance – Xbox 360 – Switch – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – Android – iOS
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/Switch/PlayStation 4/Xbox One

I believe I played Doom II more than the first game, and like the first game, grew to appreciate it the most as an early adult. It’s still my favorite over the original and has insane levels, improved gameplay and visuals, and just clicks more with me.

The Lion King – 1994

Genesis – SNES – Game Gear – PC – GameBoy – Switch – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/Switch/PlayStation 4/Xbox One

Just like Aladdin, these two games were some of the hardest platformers at the time. I could never get past the second level, but I spent hours trying and hopefully one day will actually beat the game for good. It looks and sounds good and remains one of the best platformers on the system.

Sonic & Knuckles – 1994

Genesis – Wii – Xbox 360 – PC
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii/Xbox 360/PC

Sonic & Knuckles is a game I never knew was even out until I saw it at a local rental store. The cover caught my eye and it seemed more mature and mysterious. This is actually a lot of people’s favorite Sonic game and for good reason. The visuals are very different from other games in the series and Knuckles is a great character in the game. I want to spend more time in this game, but it’s the least ported of them all.


Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – 1994

Genesis – PC – Wii – Xbox 360
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PC/Wii/Xbox 360

Sonic 3 was never really my favorite and I probably spent less time with this game than any other in the series. It was fun, and it was Sonic and I had to play it, but it felt like it was trying to be Sonic 2 way too hard and didn’t have its own feel or vibe.

Killer Instinct – 1995

SNES – GameBoy – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Xbox One

The only real Mortal Kombat rip-off that took off and became successful. It had soul, character, and its own identity without being gory and bloody. It was a darker more mature fighting game and it worked so well. I spent hours on this game at friends’ houses and with a rental copy trying to practice and get the biggest combos. I remember Cinder being my favorite and most used character as a kid.

Earthbound – 1995

SNES – 3DS – Wii U – Wii
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: 3DS/Wii U/Wii

I spent more time on this game as a teenager and young adult and I love the charm and feeling of this game, but could never really finish it. It’s quite a long game and gets hard fairly early on, but one day I plan to pay the $800 for a physical copy and beat the game.


Chrono Trigger – 1995

SNES – PlayStation – DS – iOS – Android – PC
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: DS

Another game I didn’t discover until I was a teenager. Many people regard this game as Square’s best work even to this date and for good reason. The art style, storytelling, writing, and characters are unique and so memorable, but I just can’t bring myself to finish this or any other JRPG for that matter.

Mortal Kombat 3 – 1995

Genesis – SNES – PlayStation – GameBoy – PC – Sega Saturn
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Saturn/PlayStation

This was one of the few games as a kid I got hyped about before release. I remember seeing ads in the store and on TV and hearing friends talk about it. The game was darker, grittier, and somewhat more frustrating than previous games. Combos were hard to pull off and it wasn’t as well received. I loved the new characters and had a blast with it, but I spent more time on Ultimate UMK3 to be honest.

Earthworm Jim II – 1995

Genesis – SNES – Saturn – PC – GameBoy Advance – Wii
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Wii

I didn’t play this as much as the first, but had a blast nonetheless. The same whit, charm, and humor were present with new levels and things to do. One day I would love to finish this game completely.


Comix Zone – 1995

Genesis – PC – GameBoy Advance – Android – iOS – PlayStation 3 – Mac – Wii – Xbox 360
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Wii/Xbox 360

Something I discovered more as a teenager and loved it. The game feels like you’re playing an actual comic with each panel looking like a panel from a comic and jumping pages is awesome. The game is incredibly hard, and I have never finished it, but the style and controls are just smooth and it’s one of the best Genesis games.

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island – 1995

SNES – Switch
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Switch

My sister and I played this game to death and rented it numerous times. It was the first real Mario game I got into and couldn’t ever put it down. I don’t know if I’ve ever finished it, but I did try to 100% each level and couldn’t ever tear myself away from it. It was incredibly addicting and it’s what got me into Mario games.

Bust-a-Move – 1995

SNES – 3DO – Game Gear – PC
Remastered: No| Best Played On: SNES

This was a random game my parents picked up at a local game store and we had a blast. I did manage to finish all 100 levels and I spent dozens of hours perfecting my play and writing down pass codes. It was incredibly addictive and the level design was superb. It’s one of my favorite puzzle games to this day.


Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 – 1996

Genesis – SNES – Sega Saturn – Xbox 360 – DS – PlayStation 3
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: DS/Xbox 360/PlayStation 3

This was a game that was hard to get a hold of, but I had a blast with it. I preferred this over MK3 thanks to the Aggressor meter and the new run button. The new characters and cheats were awesome and it just felt more refined over MK3.

Crash Bandicoot – 1996

PlayStation – PlayStation 4 – PC – Xbox One – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: Switch/PC/PlayStation 4/Xbox One

One of the first PS1 games I ever played along with MK3. I got this and MK3 for Xmas of ’97. It was a blast and I couldn’t stop trying to get 100% in each level. I didn’t play this as much as the second game, but I also remember it being very unforgiving.

Mortal Kombat Trilogy – 1996

PlayStation – PC – Nintendo 64 – Sega Saturn
Remastered: No| Best Played On: PlayStation
Score: 9.5/10

I probably spent more time with this game than any other 2D MK game. I had this on both N64 and PS1 and tried to perfect every move and character. It was lame that the bosses weren’t on the N64 version, but I still had a lot of fun. It was one of the few N64 games I actually owned.

Die Hard Trilogy – 1996

PlayStation – PC – Sega Saturn
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PlayStation

A random game that I picked up in the bargain bin in the early 2000’s and had a blast with Die Hard 2. The light gun game was so much fun yet so hard. I spent so many hours playing this, but not the other 2 games. I still have it to this day and highly recommend it to everyone.

Panzer Dragoon II Zwei – 1996

Sega Saturn
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

Not something I played until I was an adult, but it’s a fantastic Saturn experience, and a must have for Saturn owners. It mostly defines the system and shows what it can do. I plan to finish it someday as it’s not too hard, but it looks amazing on the system regardless of age.

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter – 1997

Nintendo 64 – Switch – PC – Mac – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes| Best Played On: PC/Xbox One/Switch

This was one of the few N64 games I spent a lot of time in. My dad and I perfected every level, found every secret, and every weapon and enemy placement. It was one of the first FPS games I ever played and have very fond memories of.

Star Fox 64 – 1997

Nintendo 64 – 3DS – Wii
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: 3DS/Wii

I never owned this game, but I played it a lot at a neighbor’s house and later rented it. It was very difficult, but so addictive and fun and fast paced. I hadn’t played anything like it as I didn’t have a gaming PC, but it was just so much fun. Sadly, I never surpassed the third level.

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back – 1997

PlayStation – Switch – PC – Xbox One – PlayStation 4
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/Xbox One/PlayStation 4/Switch

Crash 2 was the Bandicoot game I spent the most time in. It was better than the first with amazing level design and I loved the bonus stages, I never finished a single Crash game, but thanks to the remake I probably can now.

Quake II – 1997

PlayStation – PC – Nintendo 64 – Mac – Xbox 360
Remastered: Yes| Best Played On: PC

Sadly, I discovered this game on the N64 buy picking it up in a bargain bin. I didn’t care about multiplayer at the time and stuck with the campaign. It was a bridge into PC shooters for me and later I played this on PC and even PS1 where it is a much better experience.

Frogger – 1997

PlayStation – PC
Remastered: No| Best Played On: PlayStation

Frogger was a game my sister was obsessed with and I found fun but frustrating. One wrong move and you were dead. It had the arcade classic gameplay, but updated with 3D visuals and more levels. It’s worth a play if you want some fun arcade action, but just be warned of the insane difficulty.


Mortal Kombat 4 – 1997

PlayStation – PC – Nintendo 64 – GameBoy Color
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PlayStation/PC
Score: 9/10

I remember seeing this game at a Wal-Mart as a kid wrapped in its smooth plastic. I freaked out because I saw this game on arcade machines and didn’t know when it was going to release. Remember, I didn’t get a PC in the home or internet until the following year. I remember not liking the game as much as the older ones and felt the 3D perspective was confusing. MK’s first outting into 3D was a rough one.

Gran Turismo – 1997

PlayStation
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

My dad actually got this game and I quickly fell in love with it. The tweaking of cars, the visuals, the tracks, it was all a wonderful dance. It’s weird for a 7 year old to get into a racing simulator but I was serious about this game. I nearly completed the game 100% before GT2 came out. It was one of the few PS1 games I spent dozens of hours in.

Disney’s Hercules – 1997

PlayStation – PC – GameBoy Color
Remastered: No| Best Played On: PlayStation

I vaguely remember this game as a kid, but played it more as a teen. It’s super colorful, feels like the movie, and plays really well. Disney made some solid games throughout the 90’s and this was one of their last greats.

Vandal Hearts – 1997

PlayStation – Sega Saturn
Remastered: No | Best Played On: PlayStation

I picked this up in a bargain bin at a local game store as a teen because I didn’t have the money for anything else. It was gory, and at the time, I really loved TBS games thanks to Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. I actually remember the story being decent, but half-way through the game got brutally difficult.

Half-Life – 1998

PC – PlayStation 2 – Mac
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC
Score: 8.5/10

Surprisingly my first encounter with this game was on PS2 and I remember not getting the game at all. Everything being in real-time confused me and I quickly returned it. A few years later I played it again on PC and loved it. I prefer HL2 more, but HL1 holds a special place in my heart. I remember spending hours modding the game and even going over to relatives’ houses and seeing their modded version.

StarCraft – 1998

PC – Mac – Nintendo 64
Remastered: Yes| Best Played On: PC

StarCraft was a game I got into a few years after release as my first calling to RTS games was Age of Empires II. I beat the campaign and quickly forgot about it, but I remember enjoying the game and having it further confound my love for RTS games. I was the only kid in my whole school who actually liked RTS games so I literally kept these games to myself.

Grim Fandango – 1998

PC – Mac – Vita – PlayStation 4 – iOS – Android – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/PlayStation 4/Switch

This was something I played in the early 2000’s and loved it. The writing, story, and characters were so much fun and it was so memorable. I was actually sad when the game ended. I plan to play the remaster, but it did suffer from typical adventure game tropes of its time.

Crash Bandicoot: Warped – 1998

PlayStation – PC – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Switch

The last Crash game I ever played on console. I remember renting this game the year it came out and loving all the vehicle sections and how diverse the levels were, but it was very difficult. As an 8 year old I had a hard time completing levels and have actually played this less than the other two.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six – 1998

PlayStation – PC – Nintendo 64 – Dreamcast – GameBoy Color
Remastered: No| Best Played On: PC

The PlayStation version was my first experience with this game and it was really bad. Later I played this on PC as I found it in a bargain bin for $5 and while I didn’t quite understand the strategy part of the game I loved the slow pace of everything and taking my time to take out enemies. I’m not a huge R6 fan, as I have only played Vegas since this game, but it’s a classic for sure.

Spyro the Dragon – 1998

PlayStation – PC – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Switch

Ah yes, the game that made me afraid of underwater 3D levels. I had to have my sister complete these sections, but overall this was a hit in our house. We rented this game multiple times and I even got 100% in the remaster almost by memory.

1080 Snowboarding – 1998

Nintendo 64 – Wii
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Wii

This was something I picked up a couple years after release in a bargain bin at Funcoland. I didn’t have a PS2 yet so this had to do before I could get my hands on Tony Hawk 3. It was a blast and I spent so many hours actually trying to do a 1080 and I can’t remember if I ever did.

Pokemon Stadium – 1998

Nintendo 64
Remastered: No| Best Played On: N/A

This was a massive hit in our house and in school. I rented this game multiple times and loved watching the battles. I grew up with Gens 1-3 during their craze and was wowed by these characters on screen. Of course it doesn’t hold up today, but it was a lot of fun for an 8 year old.

MediEvil – 1998

PlayStation – PlayStation 4
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PlayStation 4

This game was really hard, and after playing the remake I can see why. The controls were clunky, but I loved the art style and horror theme and I remember the game being funny somehow. Regardless, it was a one time rental and I don’t think I ever got past the first level, but liked it nonetheless.

Final Fantasy VIII – 1999

PlayStation – PC – Switch – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/Switch/PlayStation 4/Xbox One

This was my first Final Fantasy game. I never really cared about JRPGs up until this point. I to this day have not been able to get past disc 2. It’s a tough game, but my sister had beaten it and I just remember being blown away by the graphics and experiencing a story rich adventure for the first time.

Unreal Tournament – 1999

PC – Mac – PlayStation 2 – Dreamcast
Remastered: No| Best Played On: PC

I honestly had a PC that couldn’t run this at all. I played it on lowest settings on 320×240 resolution window just to play this online with people. It was so much fun and I had a blast modding the game, but that tiny window will always be burned into my brain.


Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings – 1999

PC – Mac
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: N/A

The game that got me into RTS game to begin with. My 7th grade history teacher in 2002 would give us extra credit for playing online with him. I, of course, pirated the game as my parents couldn’t afford to buy it. I played this game all throughout 7th grade and loved it so much. I don’t think I’ve spent more time in an RTS since.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater – 1999

PlayStation – Nintendo 64 – GameBoy Color – Dreamcast
Remastered: No | Best Played On: Dreamcast

This game was one of the biggest moments in my childhood. It made me go out and skateboard, it made me watch skateboarding videos and movies, it made me want to be a pro skater. Of course that never happened, but one can dream. This series was something I stayed on top of and played every single game in the series up to THUG2 and nearly mastered.

Silent Hill – 1999

PlayStation
Remastered: No| Best Played On: N/A

Funny story with this. I couldn’t remember the name of Syphon Filter and picked this game up on accident at a rental store. When we got to the scene of the skinless dogs in the alley with gurneys my sister and I screamed and turned the game off and my mom returned it. It will remain one of the scariest moments in gaming for me.


Resident Evil 3: Nemesis – 1999

PlayStation – PC – Dreamcast – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – GameCube
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/PlayStation 4/Xbox One
Score: 8/10

I actually played this game just recently, and sadly missed it when it was release. I had an N64 in ’99 and not a PS1 so I couldn’t even play it if I wanted. The game is great and one of my favorite RE games, but it’s still hard and confusing and the controls are awkward.

Syphon Filter – 1999

PlayStation
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A
Score: 9.5/10

This is literally the single game I played the most on PS1. My dad and I were obsessed with this game. We remember every enemy, item, and weapon placement. Every single level was memorized by heart, I even memorized all the dialogue and names of the characters. It’s a wonderful game and the quality was unheard of back then and holds up well to this day.

The Longest Journey – 1999

PC
Remastered: No| Best Played On: N/A

I played this years after release in 2005, but it was one of the first Steam games I ever bought. The game was fantastic and even my own mom liked it. I remember being sucked into the story, characters, and settings and playing through to the end in one sitting. Sadly, I don’t remember much of it, but I want to go back and play it again. It needs a remaster.

Medal of Honor – 1999

PlayStation
Remastered: No | Best Played On: N/A

I remember playing the demo of this game in a local game store. I rented the game and didn’t quite understand it. The fog of war really held the game back and belonged on PC where it could have been better. It’s still fun to go back and see where the series started.

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage! – 1999

PlayStation – PlayStation 4 – Xbox One – PC – Switch
Remastered: Yes | Best Played On: PC/PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Switch

Spyro 2 is absolutely fantastic and when my sister and I saw this on the new arrivals shelf we snatched it up at our local rental store. We played through it multiple times, and while she was the one who remembered most of the game, I still had a blast.

Gran Turismo 2 – 1999

PlayStation
Remastered: No| Best Played On: N/A

I spent less time in this than GT1, but my dad loved it and we would spend evenings tweaking car settings and taking turns racing in the endurance events. It was a lot of fun, but remains one of the best racing games on PS1. It was seriously ahead of it’s time.

Pokemon Sword/Shield

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 03/31/2020
Posted in: Nintendo Consoles, Switch. Leave a comment

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Game Freak

Release Date: 11/15/2019

MSRP: $59.99

Rating: Everyone 10+

Available Exclusively On

 

I just want to start with a simple fact, I’m not the biggest Pokemon fan. I grew up with Pokemon in the late 90’s-early 2000s and stopped caring around Gen 3 when I was about 12-13 years old. I followed Pokemon afterward, but the card collecting and anime watching had pretty much stopped. My wife, on the other hand, continues to be a huge Pokemon fan to this day. This is actually the first Pokemon game I have ever finished including getting the legendary Pokemon. It was a chore I will admit. It was enjoyable some times and other times I put the game away for a couple of months. It was kind of exciting, then some times just plain boring. So, this review isn’t coming from a raging fanboy or a complete hater, so hopefully, this review will help people on the fence.

I’ve played nearly every other game in the series, but not for long. I love the idea of running around a world catching monsters, the problem is the series falls under 30-year-old JRPG tropes that still haven’t really gone away. My biggest hate with JRPGs, in general, are random battles. I feel they are time fillers, something to pad an extra 50 hours onto a 30-hour adventure. I want to explore more and these random battles prevent that when they’re happening every 5-10 seconds. It makes me want to give up, and I usually won’t play JRPGs with random battles. Sword/Shield has gotten rid of that with Pokemon that can be seen in the grass and random encounters that show up like exclamation marks and something following you in the grass. Yes, Pokemon are still confined to water and grass. That solves that major issue which made exploring more enjoyable.

When you explore the Routes, Wild Areas, and Towns, there are random items scattered throughout such as berries, candies, DMs (moves), and various items. You can ride a bike to get around faster and you can also fast travel to discovered areas which is a Godsend. This makes trying to go to certain regions that much faster and simpler to get to. Wild Areas consist of level ranges and now that a weather system is in place you get certain Pokemon in certain weather systems for each area. Now, I had to run the system clock around to get to the month when I started wanting specific Pokemon. It’s actually quite fun to go around widdling down health and catching these guys and building up your Pokedex, that’s the entire point of the game.

Now the game had a lot of controversy by not having the full Pokedex of every game prior plus the new ones. It just has a grab bag of some from each generation. For someone like me, it doesn’t matter outside of the first three generations of Pokemon. I also found that older Pokemon were messed with and their looks and types were changed like Rapidash, Mr. Mime, and Ponyta. I’m not really a fan of all this switching around, but it’s not hard to get used to.

Battles are one of the main components of the game and they look nice. I’ll give the game that, seeing these guys in crisp 3D models is great, but the Pokemon battle system is something I’ve grown tired of. I’m sick of all the long animations to get into the battle and all the dialogue boxes that pop-up. I know most JRPGs are like this but this is a 30-year-old trope that needs to change already. Some battles feel like they take longer only because of how little input I’m actually giving. When you introduce something like Dyna and Gigamax Pokemon that can grow to the size of buildings and do massive damage, I start to feel this is just filler and nothing that adds anything. These are literally just giant Pokemon that have powerful moves. It never turned the tide of a battle because either I knocked a Dyna-mon out in one hit or I could change too.

The strategy behind Pokemon battling is weaknesses. It’s grown more complicated over the years with additions like fighting, fairy, ghost, steel, etc. I had to some times look up weaknesses online to make sure I didn’t waste a move on some boss battles. These were the most challenging in the game but I never died once in my entire playthrough. Sure there were some cheap shots, but I always managed to pull through with most of my Pokemon knocking out opponents in one hit. I could chew through an entire gym leader’s stack with just one Pokemon. The balancing is really off compared to other JRPGs with it being overly easy or unfair. I wound up some times with Pokemon that my enemy was not weak against. You always want super-effective moves, and thankfully once you’ve battled that Pokemon once you can see which moves will work against it and which won’t which is super handy.

The visuals are another disappointing feature. They don’t really wow me in any way. They look like HD 3DS graphics and have the same bland anime RPG style that most other games have. It looks decent enough, but I just wanted this game to be the big game-changer that it wasn’t. The Dynamaxing, Wild Areas, and overall small additions didn’t add anything new but gave us the same experience in a slightly tweaked way. At least the menus are more simplified, but things like a cooking mini-game and being able to play with the Pokemon by petting them just doesn’t add to the experience. I felt bored most of the time because of how little player input there is, and I haven’t even gotten to the story.

Pokemon has never had an interesting story, Sword and Shield are no exception. It’s just something to make an excuse for dialog, which by the way, is another 30-year-old JRPG trope, you can’t skip the cut scenes. The first 2 hours of the game drag because it treats you like you’re stupid. So many tutorials and drawn-out animations, cut-scenes, dialogue, each Pokemon game is a chore just to start. It should ask you if you have played a Pokemon game before and just want to learn the new features, but they always have to integrate it into a story with dialogue and cut scenes. I honestly can’t really explain the story that much because I didn’t care. You’re trying to become the Pokemon Champion and some bad people get in the way to steal the legendaries away like every other game. Characters have no substance or appeal and there’s no reason to care for them.

Overall, Pokemon is a game that you either love or hate, and somehow I got lucky enough to be stuck in the middle. It suffers from issues in the series that have never been addressed such as the lack of player input, boring battles, story, and characters. I want to care about the world I’m in not just my favorite Pokemon, it has to be more than that for the investment. I want to see a visual change, stop making battles more complicated and make them more interesting, can we go after something besides badges? It’s a fine game and is done very well, but from a jaded Pokemon veteran, the series has just stretched itself too thin.