Angelo Mertens

Lacks severely in accessibility. Games like this should have a colossal big warning or at least show some respect towards their potential customers. It is nice for those who have tons of time and are Shaolin joypad ninja's to have something to bite their teeth into. Nevertheless the absence of a simple difficulty setting that goes from 'story' through 'brutal' is just pure laziness. The levels of sadism so early on in the game, beg for psychiatric evaluation of those involved, as does the graphical style in which this takes place, albeit in a beautifully realised way. This makes the, for mere mortals, absurdly sadistic difficulty all the more a bitter pill. Since the enjoyment of a well crafted piece of art quickly crumbles because of the ego and laziness of the developer.

Wait for an update! The random battle frequency is absurdly high and makes this rather a joyless chore and virtually 'unplayable'. Also the post battle report takes way too long to load into the next page. This all leads into a gameplay loop that consists of being absolutely spammed by random battles, having the same battle music over and over, the same menu that loads at a snail tempo and very, very little of exploration because every ten seconds or less there a battle to harras you like an unskippable YouTube commercial. What makes the exploration even more painful is the fact that this a gorgeous game to look and listen to (except the spamming battle music). Every pore and crack oozes love and craftsmanship. The story is engaging and the nostalgia is eye watering. It is like watching one of the best movies ever made, that is getting paused at excruciating intervals. You'll keep wanting for more but it is really hard to struggle through, find the time to book little progress and maintain ones personal sanity. A very simple option in the settings, where you could alter the frequency of the spamming, would vastly enhance the experience and accentuate its beauty. Almost incomprehensible how a game this carefully crafted, made it past the testing table without this much, much needed yet incredibly simple option.

Sonic Generations 4.5/5 Shadow Generations 2.5/5 The Sonic levels are an absolute blast and a great hommage to some truly memorable levels. This in itself is a fantastic experience and is probably the best way Sonic has ever played. The Shadow levels on the other hand are bland, dark and hugely generic. Doesn't help either that the Shadow overworld is plagued by the same monotonous tune over and over. (Even though there are classic Sonic songs to collect...) Also the challenges do nothing else but obstruct the player from realising there isn't much to look at. Nevertheless the Shadow gameplay introduces some nice tweaks and improvements that would have been welcome in the Sonic levels. Another big issue are the boss battles. Especially the Shadow bosses should all have been binned. A great option would be an ability to skip those altogether. Bit of a shame they wasted the effort of the Shadow game. The potential of a lengthened Sonic campaign with even more 90's that made a perfect transition instead of an 'extra' game that is downright depressing to look and listen to.

50 levels. 25 of them are wonderfully imaginative, masterfully crafted love letters of sweet, sweet, perfection in video gaming. 25 are generic, bland, insanely sadistic Death-by-Super-Mario-Maker' pieces of pure hatefulness. It would have helped, A LOT, if those levels had the option to have a dozen of checkpoints in them but honestly, they never should have made it in the final game. Maybe as a free download for the hard core players, at most.

This game is the love child of the early Bayonetta and Gears of War games. Yes, the better ones. First the bad: -control layout could be better. The thumb twists you'll have to engage to change health packs, grenades or ammo, ... could do with a more pleasant feel towards mid combat, thumb conundrums. -the jumping feels unhinged and shortcoming in platform sequences. Until you unlock the double jump feature, vastly a bit too late but everything makes suddenly more sense then. -there is absurdly too much desert, even for a post apocalyptic setting. Just overkill and a hugely missed chance to show off, it's just sand everywhere. Also the music, while all being excellent, might rapidly be nerve testing in its repetitiveness. Now, the good: This is one of the most rewarding games there is. It pays off to check out every nook and cranny, to play and fiddle with all different kinds of load combinations. It invites to keep on playing and it keeps rewarding this with an unforeseen fulfilling game loop that awards your enthusiasm around every corner with treasure, upgrades, story and (of course) quite a bit of panorama. Stellar Blade isn't secretive about it's eye candy towards beautiful views. May it be one of, the way the too many, vastly decorated deserts, the main protagonist as the walking art form that her kind is or just the mind blowing detail towards materials, lightning, architecture and atmosphere. This really is a sight to behold. Most notable is that all of this runs without any complaint, hick up or stutter. Technically it doesn't matter in which mode of your graphical preferences it rolls. Even in the most hectically combat sequences, which can be quite dazzling for a human brain to comprehend; I need to say. Yet, it always delivers. What brings us to the best part, that sweet, sweet, amazing combat. It might, obviously, not be as mind blowing as Final Fantasy VII Rebirth but then again, what is!?!! That aside the combat in Stellar Blade is thus second to one. Eve can place herself in the midst of Bayonetta, Kratos but also the gun toting powerhouse Marcus Phoenix. Yes, there is some cleverly placed shooting in this game. Though it might not look decent in the beginning but o boy... Even the setting, in it's better parts, leans into the destructed future of a dystopian past, as in Gears of Wars. Stellar Blade shows a lot of love towards a lot of those video game classics from all times. There is clearly an admiration towards the orchestral Elden Ring and even some very sweet audibly nods towards the everly charming Nights into Dreams. So, this is a 9 out of 10. Not game of the year. Because that is, obviously, the monumental FFVII Rebirth. Nevertheless a classic in its own right. ❤️ PS: The person responsible for the fishing mini game and those giving that abomination a green light, should wrestle for their entire life with opening jars. I really hope developers altogether stop implementing fishing and lock picking, it just never works. But here it is even on another level of nonsense. Shame.

This remake needs a remake without chapter 13. Most of this game is absolute brilliance. I've never seen anything with such a high standard and production value as this beast of a beauty. Nevertheless there are some things that really stick out like a sore thumb: the Moogle hunts are downright terrible, some mini games do not have the level of control as it should be and the first two thirds of the 13th chapter is some of the worst padding in video game history. This aside, I love this game enormously and it comes with the largest recommendation.

I never liked Kirby. It's cuteness was just too ridiculous and made it to me the most punchable face in all of gaming. Nevertheless, after much praise, I tried the demo, fell immediately head over heels in love and ordered 'The Forgotten Land' overnight. Aesthetically it is enormously pleasing and incredible to fathom that the mighty, little Switch produces these images. Gameplay wise, as you'd expect from a Nintendo platformer, it is simply perfect, as is the truly excellent level design. This could very well be Nintendo's take on Sony's hugely underrated Astrobot and Sackboy Adventures. Heck, it could even be a perfect, alternative sequel to the Last of Us but with a pink, punchable bubblegum ball as protagonist. As in former games, everything just sits right and there's a lot to come back for, no spoilers but really, a lot. Only complaint is the dreadful theme song which is the worst earworm in all of video gaming's history. Whoever composed this, should be jailed for committing acts of torture, bullying and emotional destruction. To make matters even worse, they made tons of variations of that simple, mind killing tune and just stuffed the entire game with that brain bleeding garbage. You'll be hearing this in your mind for years and you'd better put the sound on mute if you don't want to end up in a straightjacket. Just unbelievable that someone signed off for this tediously boring soundtrack. Shame. Nevertheless this is a must buy if you have a Switch. Also if you hate music.

On one hand there is a dusty little gem that can shine in it's story and characters. The other hand is a game that gets stretched way too long. Everything should have been shorter and faster paced, story wise and boss battle wise. Even though it has an interesting plot and battle system, the long breaks between the good parts, especially in the boss battles heavily outstay their welcome, have absurd difficulty spikes and infuriating, crippling gameplay. Nevertheless, this game has some really enjoyable moments, shame on the developers for milking it too hard. Even after the credits the game still tries to stretch the story but the tedious gameplay repetition makes this an absolute drag to uphold. Kudos to anyone who doesn't loose their patience. Could have been a classic if developers showed some respect to their own material.

This game is one of the perfect examples that video games can be art. That said, the game doesn't revolve around this idea. Stray is just a wonderfully built piece of craftsmanship that oozes with care and attention. Placed in a dystopian future where you play as a cat, it offers a very unique perspective that strangely enough feels not gimmicky but just works. Thanks to the developer who obviously wanted this to make their love child.

Even by today's standards this game plays and looks like an absolute dream. The super intense gameplay from the first game got even more insane and it really likes to shower the player with a bombardment of visceral mayhem. In a very, very good way. An improvement on a game that was already kind of perfect and no doubt a classic for the ages. Rarely is a sequel this good that it can put itself in the hallowed ranks of Uncharted 2, Sonic 2 and Terminator 2. Don't buy it if you are a sour prude or too young to be fascinated in female curvature though.