Reviews
Master Blaster Zero
This is a saga of games on the Switch. I got the first game of back when the Switch released but didn't finish it. When I saw that the third one was coming out I decided to buckle down and complete them. The game has two gameplay styles; in the overworld its a 2d platformer where you control a tank called Sophia 3rd, and in the dungeons its a top down shooter where to play as Jason. All of the games had their own pros and cons, but an issue across them all was no healing at save points when dying restores all your health at saves anyway.
The first game, this game introduces the main characters Jason and Eve; Jason is an artifical genius from Earth whos studies on Fred (a strange frog) has him discover an underground area where he battles Mutants. After some exploring he finds Eve a strange girl who appears to have a link to the Sophia 3rd tank.
In the overworld you control a jumping tank that uses SP to fire special weapons. You can also disembark as Jason to enter dungeons but he is very vulnerable to fall damage.
During dungeons, taking damage causes the gun level to fall reducing the different firing modes. The Wave which is at the highest gun level is broken making most bosses a joke. Most gun types have other uses that you aren't told about promoting experimentation.
From exploring you fight bosses and obtain new abilites. Due to my playthrough of this game being in segments I forgot an important ability which caused me to get the bad ending.
The second game is my personal faviourite of the three, right after the true/good ending of the first game Jason and Eve head to space for a cure to a Mutant infection. The tank has been upgraded to gain SP from impact like falling and taking damage. This turns some encounters into puzzles on how to get high enough to recover all your your SP. The gun modes in the dungeon are more balanced with Wave becoming less powerful as you use it. My favourite gun type was EX-Charge which takes on the elemental property of the different elemental bombs you can collect when you charge it to full. You can also counter certain attacks making encounters more reactive.
The game did have a lack of bosses compared to the first game however which most boss rooms just being a spawn of common enemies.
The third game was my least favourite but was great narratively, the tank now has a seperate SP tank for movement abilities which can help you maintain movement when out of weapon SP. Jason also had the sense to bring a jet pack to glide from heights this time. As for the dungeon gameplay, the gun level doesn't lock you out of gun types anymore but makes them considerably weaker. The Stinger from the second game was the level 2 gun but it was still a reliable source of damage when on low gun level but this change makes you feel like you are wielding a pea shooter most of the time. The counter was changed to trigger on certain triggers like touching enemies and the timing was made harsher. This change wasn't communicated before it was needed leading to an early encounter feeling helpless.
Ender Lilies
This is a Metroidvania style action game in a simular vein to Hollow Knight.You play as a Priestess awakening into a kingdom that has reached its end. To protect yourself you can summon the spirits of the kingdom's residents you purified from the corrupting Blight. You find almost all Spirits as bosses or minibosses in different areas which help to flash out the lore of the world.
Stepping slightly into spoilers, I am very careful playing these types of games as they often have multiple endings, and in Ender Lilies I thought I would get a bad ending if I purified too much Blight, this was also reflected on Lily who would look more cthulian as I progressed. However Blight also acts as the game's experience system to get stronger and due to avoiding killing enemies increased the difficulty of the game a lot as I had to properly learn bosses attack patterns to both survive and do enough damage before my spirits ran out of charges. It was quite fun as whether you parry or dash to avoid certain attacks can put you into a perfect position to punish the boss.
Stepping more into spoilers, the amount of Blight didn't matter in deciding which ending you get. However I ended up triggered the neutral ending first by mistake when I had gathered up everything for the true ending.
The game has a great soundtrack and art style that makes it what I would call melancholic horror. I very much recommend this game to fans of the genre.
Super Metroid
After showing Metroid Dread during the Nintendo Direct during the e3 season I was inspired to go and play Super Metroid. This is one of the two games that caused the game genre term "Metroidvania" to be coined. Playing the game was great and it holds up pretty well.
You explore the planet, fight bosses and find power-ups that allow you to access other parts of the map. A lot of the power-ups in Super Metroid are quite unique in the genre, like the Morph Ball which makes Samus turn into a ball to get through small gaps and when you get the Bomb Module you can place floating timed bombs in a pattern which knocks Samus up, which allows you to access areas you aren't supposed too yet. My personal favourite was the Space Jump which allowed you to infinitely jump which turned Samus into a powerful weapon once I unlocked the Screw Attack. There were also two hidden abilities I wasn't told I had until I found animals using the ability which is something I haven't seen a game do since Celeste.
To anyone looking for a good Metroid game to start the series on I would highly recommend this game.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
I accidently brought the digital version of this game on the Nintendo Store website while looking for the physical version. I couldn't find it due to the physical version getting an unannounced delay in Europe (thanks Activision).
Either way, it was great to go through an all-new Crash Bandicoot game. The controls were smooth and additional features to the platforming experience were well implemented. Players already familiar with Crash Bandicoot's gameplay would often use a slide into a jump which would give more air time. This game made it even better by making it so sliding off an edge would maintain your height for a while which you could combo into a double jump for some some impressive air time.
The only things I wasn't so keen on were that there was, a lot of Wumpa fruit and they would be automatically be collected when broke out of crates, making lives easy to come by. The game would also give earlier checkpoints if you died in a section enough which cheaped the challenge. Being able to turn these off would have been good.
Defiantly play if you are a fan of the platformer Crash games. At some point I plan to return and get all the collectables and find what is behind the Coloured Gems door.
New Pokemon Snap
Not much to say about this game as it does what it says on the tin. My favourite levels were the sea levels due to the scenery and Pokemon seen. The puzzles in the levels you do to find new pictures was an enjoyable gameplay loop.
The game was fun to go through and at some point I hope to go through to complete the photodex. I hopefully will track down some of my favourite Pokemon while doing so.
Detective Club - The Lost Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind
I don't know when I saw this first but it is a visual novel series has been a Japanese exclusive with this being the first time its come over to Europe. The purchase comes with two games "The Lost Heir" and "The Girl Who Stands Behind" both are a mixed bag.
The games gives you multiple commands to interact with chracters to get to the bottom of the crimes you are investigating. The first game was bad for progression as I would often end up repeating all the options just to find what will progress the game. It did have a great finale though with some meaningful interactivity that showed you understood the story. The second was better for how to progress but only had story comprehension questions at the beginning. The story of the "Lost Heir" was the better overall of the two.
Despite its flaws I would like to see it continue, if we get entirely new entries hopefully they include advancements in interactivity other visual novels implimented in recent years like Ace Attorney, VLR and Danganronpa.