Well it's been a couple years but I'm back in that old Sonic Mood again after playing Forces (it was...fun? A step down from Generations in literally every way somehow, but still a good couple hours), so I decided to try out Lost World finally.

I haven't finished it yet, I'll probably update this when I do, I'm at 3-2, but.....This game is good so far? Like, really good? It has some issues, like the homing attack not feeling nearly as good as it does in Unleashed/Generations, and the parkour isn't great, but..yeah! Really, really liking this one so far. I can only imagine it gets awful at some point looking at the Metascore, 'cause as of right now I have no idea why this would get such low scores.

Here's hoping it stays good!

I felt I really needed to get my thoughts down on this game, 'cause even after 60 hours, I can't stop playing it. I'm at 30% game completion, and that annoys me because I want there to be way more, despite me already, again, putting in sixty hours. I can't remember the last time in a game with a completion percentage that I've felt that way.

It does nearly everything I want out of RPGs. It has deep mechanics and stat systems (well, at least compared to most other RPGs we have today), really fun, tactical combat system, an absolutely huge amount of quests, all of them telling their own unique stories (unless they're " basic " missions) and sometimes even coming back in unexpected ways way down the line, a massive, detailed world, great story and characters. And oh my God Skells are probably some of the most fun I've had in a game in a long time, and that's before you even unlock the flight module which opens the world up so much more. The game's also gorgeous (aside from New LA imo) and almost never slows down which is a nice change of pace for open world games lately.

It's not without its faults, I think the map system is crap, the main quest is way too short and the cutscenes nowhere near up to par with the rest of this studio's games, the music is mostly awful and the game has some really bad sexualization, but even as someone who usually gets caught up on this kinda stuff and is annoyingly cynical about games in general, I still absolutely love this game. I don't even wanna accept main mission 12 because I don't want the main quest to end....but then even when it does, there's a ton more affinity and normal missions that unlock that expand the game and characters even further, new gear and Skells to buy and craft, etc.

It saddens me greatly that it will probably be totally ignored by most people aside from the "hardcore" JRPG crowd.

(DISCLAIMER: It's worth mentioning I am NOT a huge Sonic fan, but I do have fond memories of him and will treat each game fairly).

Hey, guys! So every couple years or so I get a huge Sonic the Hedgehog craving. A week ago it happened again for the first time in a couple years and I found myself replaying Adventure DX, Adventure 2 Battle HD and Sonic Generations in about a week. The goal with this blog series is to give a sort of mini-review for each game and at the end after I've played every single one of them (including 06, which I've never ever played!), give you my favourite to least-favourite. I hope you enjoy! This third blog will be focused on Sonic Generations.

The Story (NA/5)

I've chosen to not " grade " the story this time around because it's just not a big focus in Sonic Generations at all. There is one, and what's there is fine, but yeah. If you must know, the story in Generations is about a time devouring entity that rips a whole through time, causing Classic Sonic and New Sonic to work together to put the timeline back to normal. It may sound like something that could get complicated later, but it doesn't at all. So yeah!

The Gameplay (3/5)

You play as both Classic Sonic and New Sonic in Generations. The game has nine stages (all based of off stages from previous games) and each Sonic gets their own version, making up for a total of eighteen stages. Classic Sonic's stages are entirely 2D and control pretty much the same as the old Sonic games on Genesis. (The first Sonic game is even in here as an unlockable). New Sonic stages are, for the most part, like 40 percent 3D and 60 percent 2D which kinda defeats the purpose of him if you ask me, but hey. I vastly prefer New Sonic stages to the Classic Sonic stages, but that'll all depend on which style of Sonic game you personally prefer. There's also various challenges around the hub world that you can do to earn Chaos Emeralds (that are needed for the true ending), new skills in the shop, etc. The overall quality of the content here, like every single Sonic game in existence, fluctuates greatly, but when it's good, it's really good. The music is mostly pretty good, and the graphics are incredible. New Sonic's model in particular almost looks CGI quality to me. PC port is fine.

Final Thoughts (3/5)

Sonic Generations serves as a short, but mostly enjoyable trip back into some of Sonic Team's favourite levels from past Sonic games, some remixed for the better, some for the worse (Sonic 06's Crisis City is way better than this game's, yeah that's right I said it). It's way less buggy feeling than previous Sonic games too, which is a plus. Overall, I enjoyed Generations, but not really as much as I wanted to.

By the way, the next blog (if anyone actually cares), will take a bit! It will be on Sonic 06, but I only just recently completed Sonic's story which took way longer than I thought it would. So assuming Shadow and Silver's stories are of similar length, it's gonna take me a bit to complete all of them. Anyway, thanks for reading!

(DISCLAIMER: This is my first real blog series and it may be a mess grammar-wise or whatever and if it is I'm sorry! It's also worth mentioning I am NOT a huge Sonic fan, but I do have fond memories of him and will treat each game fairly).

Hey, guys! So every couple years or so I get a huge Sonic the Hedgehog craving. A week ago it happened again for the first time in a couple years and I found myself replaying Adventure DX, Adventure 2 Battle HD and Sonic Generations in about a week. I'm also a little ways into Unleashed (which is okay!) and have Heroes on the way in the mail. The goal with this blog series is to give a sort of mini-review for each game and at the end after I've played every single one of them (including 06, which I've never ever played!), give you my favourite to least-favourite. I hope you enjoy! This second blog will be focused on Sonic Adventure 2 Battle.

The Story (3/5)

The story in Sonic Adventure 2, like in 1, is told through multiple " stories ", except this time around, you play as two separate groups of characters instead of six individual stories. The story itself starts off with Sonic being mistaken (somehow) with Shadow the Hedgehog, a mysterious black and red hedgehog that escaped from some military facility and can use a power called " Chaos Control " that basically lets him....I dunno, do stuff? Teleport is the big one. I can't go into much detail without spoiling it, but the story is a little more ambitious than 1's and the more focused structure definitely makes it more engaging. Once you beat the Good and Evil stories, you once again unlock a Last story that ends the game pretty terrifically and kind of emotionally, actually. Oh, and the cutscenes are way better this time around, so that helps quite a bit. The sound mixing is TERRIBLE, though, so good luck trying to hear anyone over the music.

The Gameplay (2/5)

The gameplay is divided up into two stories where you play as 3 characters at random moments in each one. While there are six playable characters, there's only 3 different play-styles, as each character in the two stories has an equivalent in the other story. Unsurprisingly, Sonic and Shadow's levels are by far the most enjoyable in the game. Sonic/Shadow are just your average 3D Sonic levels (and they're actually pretty great!), Knuckles/Rouge focus on painfully boring treasure hunt levels that drag on way too long, and Eggman/Tails focus on really easy, boring and slow third person shooting. The overall controls are about as clunky as they were in 1, but the level design is superior. The hub worlds were removed which is a shame, but they aren't really possible here anyway. The Chao Garden is back and more refined which is nice. Overall, simply too much of the game is boring/bad to really praise it all that much. Also, screw Sonic/Shadow's final levels and Last story's gameplay.

Final Thoughts (2/5)

Again, the game is far worse than I remember it being, but it was still better than the first at least. It has a decent story, mostly fun Sonic/Shadow levels, a good soundtrack and a good Chao Garden...mini game? Anyway, that wraps up the Adventure games (kind of). Next up is.....Sonic 06. Or maybe I'll wait and do Sonic Heroes first. Not sure! Anyway, thanks for reading!

(DISCLAIMER: This is my first real blog entry and it may be a mess grammar-wise or whatever and if it is I'm sorry! It's also worth mentioning I am NOT a huge Sonic fan, but I do have fond memories of him and will treat each game fairly).

Hey, guys! So every couple years or so I get a huge Sonic the Hedgehog craving. A week ago it happened again for the first time in a couple years and I found myself replaying Adventure DX, Adventure 2 Battle HD and Sonic Generations in about a week. I'm also a little ways into Unleashed (which is okay!) and have Heroes on the way in the mail. The goal with this blog series is to give a sort of mini-review for each game and at the end after I've played every single one of them (including 06, which I've never ever played!), give you my favourite to least-favourite. I hope you enjoy! This first blog will be focusing on Adventure 1 DX solely, 'cause if I focused on all 3 I've played thus far, it'd just go on for way too long.

Sonic Adventure DX was the first Sonic game I had/beat I believe. I have a lot of nostalgia for it, but after replaying it, I'm not entirely sure why I loved it so much. It's actually pretty horrible.....But I still find it enjoyable? Let's get into it.

The Story (2/5)

I consider the weirdly over-the-top and sometimes serious storylines to be a pretty big part of 3D Sonic games, and this is where it all began for that stuff. You begin as Sonic fighting some weird blue blob monster in front of city hall, and things get pretty crazy from there. From seeings visions of the past to battling an almighty god, the game tries to go pretty big, for better or for worse. You play through the story through the perspective of six characters, some definitely more crucial than others, as you try to piece everything together. After you complete all six character's stories, you're treated to a final story the wrap up everything in a pretty cool way. The story really does try, but it could have done a lot more, and the terribly animated cutscenes don't help it out too much. Some characters get barely any screen time or development and others just seem downright pointless to the whole picture. It's all kind of a mess, but it's still appreciated and adds to the mood of the game.

The Gameplay (2/5)

I remember the gameplay being FAR better than this. Then again, kid me also loved games like Seven Samurai 20XX, sooo. Anyway, the game has six characters, who all have different abilities, upgrades, stories, etc. There's Sonic,whose ability is, you guessed it, homing attacks and super speed, and his levels are mostly just classic 3D Sonic platforming. There's Gamma, whose levels are mostly just third person shooting (not the kind you're thinking of) and boss battles, Big the Cat, who focuses on a crappy fishing mini-game in all his levels, and a few more. Sonic's levels are by far the most enjoyable in the game, but even his aren't great. The controls feel clunky and mess up most of the time, and the level design isn't fantastic. In fact some stages are just downright horrible. All the stories are only an hour or so long with the exception of Sonic so you don't have to put up with the other characters that much. Overall, the gameplay is not great. The inclusion of hub areas are a nice touch, and the graphics are good, but that's about all the really good things about it. Oh, there's also a little " animal " raising mini game called the Chao Garden. It's pretty cool too, I guess. Music is also nice.

Final Thoughts (2/5)

The game is far worse than I remember it being, but it's still fairly enjoyable if you're looking for a short-ish game and go into it knowing it's kind of a clunky mess. It still holds a special place in my heart and I'll most likely play through it another few times in my life and enjoy it somehow.

Anyway, that was my first entry in this blog series that I may or may not continue. I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading~!

Graphics are not something I usually care that much about. But I just have to talk about the graphics in The Wind Waker HD. Mainly because I see very few other people doing so for some reason. They're stunning! Absolutely stunning. There was a time on Outset Island during the day where I just sat there looking at the game for a good five minutes just because of how gorgeous it looked. The lighting, the colors, the.....everything! On top of that, the game just looks......I dunno, smooth? This game came out so long ago, so it's crazy how it's my personal best looking game of the year, but man. MAN.

I dunno, I felt like I had to talk about this. I've been playing it for about a day now, and not often am I absolutely floored my graphics, but I just have to say something about this game. The only problem I have with them so far (if this even falls into the graphics category) is the frame rate. It gets really rotten whenever those weird particle effects are on screen. Like, really fucking rotten. Which is unforunate because every other aspect of this game's graphics are just completely flawless in my opinion. Sure, games like Battlefield 4 and The Last of Us also came out this year, but I don't think I'm ever gonna be super into the whole " realistic " graphics stuff until we get to a point where we're basically just playing CG movies because there's still just too many flaws in those visuals for me to really be able to say wow.

So yeah! My dumb best looking game of the year award goes to Wind Waker HD!

So here are my games of the year! This was a really hard list to actually make because I haven't actually played many games that came out this year and even if I did, I didn't beat a lot of them. I also haven't played a few games that I'm sure would have made it on here if I had played them, so yeah. Anyway, I hope you don't think my list is pointless for that reason, but I'm just gonna write down a bunch of games I enjoyed, regardless if I have beaten them or not, so here goes!

So that's been my GOTY list. I was bored and decided to just throw this together for fun, so I'm sorry if there's any problems with it. Like I said, I haven't played games like the new Zelda or Rayman Legends that would definitely be on here if I had, and I'm sure if I really gave it some thought, some games on this list might swap places, but ah well. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading regardless!

EDIT: CRAP! I totally forgot about FFXIV! I hereby replace Monster Hunter 3 with this.