This collection isn't very big, but I love most of the games I have on it. Also it's no coincidence that most of the games here either can be played without motion controls, or are impacted little by them. I can't stand motion controls for most games.
I have to hand it to Retro Studios, this is one of the best platformers to come out this generation. That's saying a lot considering its contemporaries include games like New Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario Galaxy, and Rayman Legends. One thing it does better than both the Mario games is balancing accessibility with difficulty. You actually feel somewhat accomplished when you finish this game, unlike NSMB where it's just an accepted inevitability that you'll beat them ... in single player at least. People are starting to call Retro Studios the new Rare, and if they keep up this level of quality that name might just be earned.
See fighting game list for comments.
It's another Mario Kart. Either you love the series or you don't. I fall strongly on the love side of the argument. One of its main claims to fame is being the first console Mario Kart to feature online play. It's one of the better working online Wii games, and is a lot of fun. Just don't use the motion controls because you will be at a distinct disadvantage to someone who isn't. Also the Wii Wheel is a stupid peripheral. Give kid's imaginations a little more credit than that Nintendo. They have no problem pretending it's a steering wheel without that hunk of plastic.
Do you like being thrown repeatedly into lava? How about into endless pits? Or maybe into attacking bosses? What about into lesser enemies? If you answered yes to any of these you should probably play this game with my little brother. Asshole. Oh, and the game is all right too or whatever.
Oh Rhythm Heaven Fever how I want to love you. I love your style, your quirkiness, your sound design, and I want to love your simple gameplay. But, why do you have to be so god damn hard. I can't get past the fucking monkey watch level to save my life, and that's at the beginning of the game. Sigh ... It seems I was born rhythm deficient. Jeff made this game look way too easy in the quick look.
I'm not going to defend Sonic Adventure 2 as being a good game, but it did have one of my favorite platforming levels from a visual design perspective. That was the planetoid level for Knuckles. Super Mario Galaxy basically takes that theme and adds a fantastic platforming game to it. This is by far the best 3D Mario game made, and one not to miss by anyone owning a Wii. If there's any negative it's that the "co-op" mode is really stupid. Who could possibly have fun being relegated to star bits picker up guy?
People tend to get really worked up when a sequel "is just more of the same" or has no "innovation" in it. While stagnation is always a bad thing, a large part of the reason someone buys a sequel is because they want more of the experience they got in the last game. SMG2 provides just that, and if there was ever a 3D Mario game where getting more of the same experience wasn't a bad thing it's SMG. If you loved the first game picking up this is a must.
One of if not the best party games on the 360. It's such a blast having a bunch of friends over and playing this for a couple hours. It's too bad the online is completely broken. It's a shame to see such great potential gone to waste. As a huge fighting game fan I'd be remiss not to mention how up in arms people get over whether or not this is a fighting game. I like to classify it as a non-traditional fighting game, where a traditional fighting game allows no more than 2 players in a match, and requires diminishing lifebars. I feel like this recognizes it as a fighting game, but differentiates it from the games that are more like the ones from the arcade days. And yes, I also classify Street Fighter X Tekken as a non-traditional fighting game due to its 4 player mode.
See fighting game list for comments.
I remember really loving the House of the Dead games when I happened to run into an arcade cabinet of one. Unfortunately, much like the old beat-em-up games I feel like light gun games lose a lot of what makes them fun when transferred to consoles. It's just not as fun to play without the quarter munching gameplay and big plastic guns. The last console light gun game that I really had a good time with was Duck Hunt.
