[blog] TheAutisticGamer's Behemoth Backlog

Welcome To Season Of Change! The Third Chapter/Season of TheAutisticGamer's Behemoth Backlog!

Hello everyone once again. A new year has dawned and I hope you read the introduction to the newest season. Now, I do want to explain a couple things before we get into the Season of Change (2024). First off, 2024 will be the year I sideline FPS Games and tackle different genres of games. Whether they be RPGs, Action Adventures, Platformers, Misc Games, Cooperative Experiences and what not, I'm going to go all out and end up playing different games in different genres for the entirety of the year. I might hop onto a FPS game of course, but we'll have to see when that happens.

Now, that is the main theme of this Season. But to reiterate, there will be no specific changes to how I format my reviews or posts. I will continue to do Moving Forward Posts and The Main Review as usual. Also, Contracts (AKA Completions) will work as normal. To reiterate. If I have a Completion, lets say Contract 3 and I play an expansion to that game. it will be Contract 3.1 and then 3.2 if there's another one. Otherwise, nothing has changed. Everything will continue to run smoothly. I thought I'd do this now than later, so I hope you all enjoy what will be an interesting gaming year for me. Hope you're all doing well and lets have a great new year!

Thanks!

CONTRACT BOARD:

Contract #1: DUSK 82' ULTIMATE EDITION (PC, 01/08, 4/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/24#post110978

Contract #2: Quake (PC, REPLAY, 02/01, 9/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/24#post111518

Contract #3: illWill (PC, 02/15, 8/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/24#post111880

Contract #4: Mario vs. Donkey Kong - 2024 (Switch, 02/20, 5/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/24#post111928

Contract #5: Kao the Kangaroo - 2022 (PC, 02/22, 8/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/24#post112120

Contract #6: Yakuza Kiwami (PS5, 03/09, 6/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/25#post112468

Contract #7: Shadow Warrior 3 (PC, 03/27, 7/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/25#post112953

Contract #8: Doom 64 (PC, 04/08, 8/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/25#post113434

Contract #9: Herald of Havoc (PC, 04/14, 7/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/25#post113459

Contract #10: South Park: Snow Day (PS5, 04/17, 6/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/25#post113639

Contract #11: Battlefield 4 (Xbox Series X, 06/18, 3/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/25#post115185

Contract #12: SUPERHOT (PC, 07/09 8/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/26#post115854

Contract #13: Hatred (PC, 07/16, 4/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/26#post115994

Contract #14: Turbo Overkill (PC, 07/27, 9/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/26#post116309

Contract #15: Doom (1993) (PC, 08/12, 10/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/26#post116717

Contract #16: Forza Horizon 3 (PC, REPLAY, 08/16, 8/10)
https://howlongtobeat.com/forum/thread/1729/26#post116852

Nice! I hope you find more fun stuff in your explorations :)

Nice! I hope you find more fun stuff in your explorations :)

I'm definitely hoping so too! There's been so many games I want to play that I've been ignoring for years and in general there's tons of games I don't know about that deserve to be looked at. I'm hoping me and my sister will get to play Neverwinter Nights this year but we'll need to find the time to do so. Considering it's a different ruleset as well, it might take some time to get used to. But overall I'm excited about 2024 in terms of my gaming life. I'm super excited about the Mario vs. Donkey Kong remake and the Princess Peach: Showtime! game that's coming out at the first quarter of the year so I hope there will be tons of new games that will peak my interest also. I usually play games released a few years ago or older, but I have lots to explore with endless possibilities. I hope I'll play some exciting things!

DUSK 82' ULTIMATE EDITION
System: PC
Developer: David Szymanski
Publisher: New Blood Interactive
Genre: Puzzle, Retro
Completed in 2:07:08
Rating: 4/10



Yeah, sorry. My Steam crashed before I could upload the end image, so you'll have to just go with this.

No, that rating is not a joke. I actually did give this game a 4/10. I rarely give games bad ratings. I rarely complete bad games as well. But this is one of the most joyless things I've played in years. Now, this will be long so bare with me. DUSK 82' is Modern Chip's Challenge. And to me, there's already alarm bells ringing in my head even before I played the game. Now, I don't like playing extremely retro, archaic games in general. First off, I feel many the games of the 80's, specifically Computer Games don't have an incredibly timeless feel to them. Now, I'm not saying that games from the 80's are outright bad. I love some of the Atari 2600 games like Maze Craze which I can play for long periods of time without getting bored. Arcade Games from that time are also incredibly enjoyable for me to play such as Dig Dug which was a personal favorite of mine back in my youth. Hell, I even went to the Arcades to play a Tron Arcade Machine that was still working and was tons of fun! But my main issue here is that there's a good reason why people aren't deciding to make games like Chip's Challenge anymore. They feel ancient and dated. And DUSK 82 is all that and more.

Now, you must be shocked by my rating considering DUSK is one of my favorite games ever. It's timeless and an instant classic. It did literally everything right for an FPS Game and singlehandedly created an entire new subgenre of Boomer Shooters. But there's absolutely NO EXCUSE to cash in on DUSK by making a low tier, genuinely appalling collection of some of the most frustrating and dated levels I've played in years. Now, what the hell do you do in this game? Well, it's a puzzle game. You kill enemies, get to the exit once you kill them all, solve some puzzles, get a high score, that stuff. Simple right? Sounds like clean fun. But, unfortunately there's issues. The moment you start the game there's red alarms going off. First off, this is a Keyboard only game. Yes, I get it's trying to replicate old Computer Games, but there's absolutely no reason why a game shouldn't have the ability to use the mouse cursor in 2024 of all things. And it's not even WASD movement! It's the bloody arrow keys so it doesn't feel that natural to play at all.

The second issue is that there's no options. NONE. NADDA. No Graphics Tweaking, No Audio Adjustments, No Real Way to Change the Aspect Ratio, nothing. This becomes a problem ESPECIALLY in the audio department later on. But we'll save that for last. Now, to get any positives out of the way, let me just say that Andrew Hulshult is completely innocent here. The music he created for this game is great. The Chip Tune soundtrack replicates his style perfectly. Unfortunately the music is very little and you'll only hear a couple tracks constantly throughout the 30 Short Levels. And now, that's it. The music is the only thing holding it together. And the worst part as well is that when you hit that restart button, the music also restarts, so it doesn't loop in a natural way. And considering you can't turn the music off, you can't listen to any Spotify in the background which could have made the game more enjoyable.

Now. Lets get into everything that's wrong. There's only three core elements I'm going to talk about here. The Enemy AI, The Level Design and The Final Boss. Lets talk about the Enemy AI first. Now, if you've played DUSK and are expecting to have the enemies be like they were in that game but in pixelated form, don't bother thinking that. There's only three enemies in the entire game which is a sad pathetic sign of laziness. There's the goats, who seem to wander off aimlessly and rarely put up a fight, there's the Wizards who shoot projectiles at you and finally, there's the Chainsaw guys. Now, these are the absolute worst because not only do they chase you around aggressively and outsmart you at every move, but they can't be killed using normal weapons. Why? Why did David Szymanski, who has made some of the best FPS Games in years, decide on this? This makes him look incompetent. But that's not true! So why he decided to do this is beyond me. But you see the issue. You have to kill the Chainsaw Wielding Enemies with the explosive weapon, explosive barrels or crush them. Now, this is bad enough, but try solving puzzles and avoiding projectile fire from the Wizards while attempting to do this all. It's ridiculous.

And in general, the AI is completely LOL Random. The Chainsaw Enemies are broken, too smart and you have no proper strategy to plan out your movements. The Goats are dumb as hell, they rarely chase you and they're easy to take down. The Wizards are the only balanced enemy it seems, but with the Chainsaw enemies around, they make life a living hell. There's only three weapons in the game and in general it's rare that you'll actually be having fun using any of the weapons despite the chunky sound design. But in general, the weapons are the least of the problems here. It's one hit and your dead. Yep. That seems fair! Considering all the bullshit you have to deal with including explosive barrels, making honest mistakes that can't be corrected and in general not having fun while doing so. I don't know if you can tell, but this is sarcasm!

The Level Design is another thing entirely. The levels might seem fine graphically, but how they use enemies, how they puzzles are implemented and how you complete the levels seems tone deaf. The game will have levels with no enemies, but considering you can't make any little mistake or you have to restart the level, it makes the game excruciatingly redundant having to replay levels over and over just to correct a single mistake. If only you could pull boxes and barrels towards you then it wouldn't be such an issue, but David is so insistent on being as retro as possible without showcasing any signs of polish or modern flourish like DUSK had that it makes completing puzzles a nightmare. Sometimes however, levels are so easy that you wonder if you got lucky somehow. Levels are really annoying due to the unnecessarily high difficulty despite what people will tell you due to the bad level design and non existent AI that can cheese anything you attempt. But there are levels where it's just "Kill Everything!" and it's so damn easy that it makes difficulty something that's thrown out of the loop completely. Difficulty should be natural, but in DUSK 82 David thought Difficulty should be painful and unforgiving without letting players figure out enemy patterns or what not.

Now. The final boss fight. Ho boy. Now, I've completed over 200 Games since I've started posting here in 2018. And nothing will prepare you for what I have to say. This is the WORST FINAL LEVEL AND BOSS FIGHT I'VE EVER PLAYED. Now, you fight Big John, who in the original game was this Arnold Schwarzenegger parody that was pretty amusing in general to fight. Okay fair. Big John is a cool boss fight in that game and kind of funny. So how about we LOOP HIS QUOTES AND QUIPS IN THE MOST ABRASIVE, LOUDEST, OBNOXIOUS AND ANNOYING WAY POSSIBLE MAKING IT HARD TO FOCUS ON WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DO!? Yeah! That's right! Instead of having Big John say a couple lines when you hit him, or have him say something at the beginning and end of the fight, he CONSTANTLY, FUCKING SPEAKS. And the 8 Bit Audio is so loud and annoying that I had to actually mute my game from my Computer's sound mixer to just focus! But even then it didn't completely mute my audio so I heard faint cries of Big John being an annoying dickhead!

Okay, that's bad enough. But the level design is completely thrown out the window here. It's borderline atrocious compared to the rest of the game. This Chainsaw Enemy will constantly follow you around and you have to pull a switch to get to the next area, but if the god damn Chainsaw Enemy follows you he can actually hit the switch back so you have to go ring around the fucking rosey constantly until you either get him to stop, you die or restart the level because of how nowhere this level is going! So here's what you have to do:

-Hit the Switch to get a Shotgun, kill the wizards, shoot Big John and make sure that damn Chainsaw Enemy doesn't hit the switch so you have to hit it again to get where you need to go
-Crush the Chainsaw Enemy which is harder than it sounds
-Use the Crossbow to hit Big John
-Get the Riveter, but don't go for the score, kill the goats with the shotgun first and then shoot Big John with the Riveter and then you're done.

What I explained sounds so simple, but the way that it plays out in game just is one of the most enraging things I've ever had to go through. That's the problem with this game. It wants to be ancient and archaic and dated, but NO ONE IS INTENTIONALLY MAKING ANCIENT, ARCHAIC AND DATED GAMES LIKE THIS IN THIS ERA! I'm appalled that David thought this was a good idea to make and release and that New Blood had no problems with this at all. By the way, I checked at the end for some sort of credits, none. Meaning there's a huge possibility that NO ONE, I mean NO ONE play tested this game at all. Which could be the bigger issue here. If you don't get people to play your shitty levels and not give you feedback, of course you think it's going to be okay to release! And it's not. It absolutely is not. This is inexcusable for everyone involved. This is a Joyless, Depressing, Infuriating game.

Look, I grew up on systems like the N64 and Gamecube. I play a lot of very modern games from the 8th to 9th Generation of consoles. Games today I would argue are more polished than they ever have been. I've played many games that still hold the test of time from the era I grew up in, but there's a reason I never played these types of dated old computer games to begin with. They're just not fun and not for me. And to think that I thought David could make this fun was me being gullible. I feel betrayed that David could drop the ball so hard and this is quite frankly an embarrassment and stain on New Blood's otherwise perfect track record. Just play DUSK. I don't need to tell you why, you probably already know why. DUSK 82 is nowhere near the quality level of DUSK. This is a cash grab in all sense of the words.

Anyways, sorry this was so long. I've been very depressed recently because Winter is usually a bad time for me and I'm also sick right now. I needed to get a lot of negative energy out and I thought writing a review for this would be good. I probably over exaggerated MANY points I made, so please take this review as a grain of salt as the positive reviews outweigh my own negative and unpleasant one. Right now, I'm going to continue playing Super Mario RPG Switch which I'm having a great time playing. So I'll talk with you all later when I feel like I'm in a better mood, mentally and physically.

PROS:

-Andrew Hulshult is innocent! His music is great for this game
-I mean, it's short I guess?

CONS:

-Extremely Arcahic, Ancient and Dated Gameplay that's not fun
-Lack of any modern polish makes this a chore to play
-Inexcusable lack of many options that should be a given for a PC Game
-Bad to Atrocious Level Design makes this a nightmare to finish
-Enemy AI is confused, frantic and frankly non existent
-The Final Level is one of the worst things I've ever endured
-A complete quicky cash grab to capitalize on DUSK's popularity
-Docking off extra points because David Szymanski should know better

-TheAutisticGamer

Really in depth with the above post. Good job.

I'm definitely hoping so too! There's been so many games I want to play that I've been ignoring for years and in general there's tons of games I don't know about that deserve to be looked at. I'm hoping me and my sister will get to play Neverwinter Nights this year but we'll need to find the time to do so. Considering it's a different ruleset as well, it might take some time to get used to. But overall I'm excited about 2024 in terms of my gaming life. I'm super excited about the Mario vs. Donkey Kong remake and the Princess Peach: Showtime! game that's coming out at the first quarter of the year so I hope there will be tons of new games that will peak my interest also. I usually play games released a few years ago or older, but I have lots to explore with endless possibilities. I hope I'll play some exciting things!

Neverwinter Nights! I don't feel like I see it mentioned much these days, especially under the shadow of Baldur's Gate. I played it way back with my parents. We played both it and the second one. Good times :). Hopefully you two can and will enjoy it

Neverwinter Nights! I don't feel like I see it mentioned much these days, especially under the shadow of Baldur's Gate. I played it way back with my parents. We played both it and the second one. Good times :). Hopefully you two can and will enjoy it

Yeah. Especially considering the graphics style is extremely appealing to me. The game came out in 2002 I think and I love old Computer Games with 1998-2004 Graphics. I also want to delve into the sequel on GOG if multiplayer is still stable, so there's lots to look forward to this year. In general I want to play more stuff with my sister cooperatively so hopefully we'll be able to play some great things. NWN will be interesting considering the amount of content already there in the main package, but I also got all the Premium Adventures so if I really like it I'll definitely give those a go as well.

Really in depth with the above post. Good job.

I try my best to give an in depth review of any game I complete. I will admit it can be exhausting sometimes when I'm writing a review for an entire hour trying to figure out what to say and how to word it properly so I don't contradict myself or make any factual mistakes or bad preconceptions. I like to take my time with reviews in general and I'm so glad you and many other people are continuing to enjoy my style of reviews. I hugely appreciate it! Sometimes when I'm writing novels I feel like I'm lacking, but at least I can look at this blog and know I at least have some talent in me that I sometimes feel I don't. So again, thank you for commenting. I'm always trying my best. 👍

It's best to write this now when I'm at a pretty good mental high especially after today, so lets talk!

This is actually my first Moving Forward post of 2024 and there will be more to come throughout the months. But I had such a great day today. Tomorrow is my birthday and I ended up going out with friends to celebrate me turning 27. I had such a great time today and I feel very good in general. At least I can sleep knowing that I had a personally great day and that my friends are continually supportive. Now, I am worried because in BC apparently there is going to be a Transit Strike, meaning I won't be able to get to work considering I don't drive and take bus and Skytrain to work, so I hope I can still get to work because it would SUCK to be away for EVEN MORE TIME than I already have been. I was sick for two weeks by the way, so it frustrates me that I might not be able to get to work in general if this strike happens.

I don't have too much personal life stuff to talk about. I've just been thinking about a lot of things while I was sick and watching lots of movies. And playing games. I've actually been playing two games in general especially when I was sick, so let me talk about those right now.



So far am over two hours in and this game feels like it came out 20 Years Ago. And that's actually not a bad thing. The more I play it the more I get REALLY into it which is always a good sign for a game. For those unaware, this is a reboot of a trilogy of 3D Platforming games. I played the first one via Dreamcast Emulation and hated it, just so many things that I didn't like about that first game. But after playing a couple hours of this I'm pleasantly surprised how the series turned around. It's a linear 3D Platformer with a ton of satisfying and challenging platforming levels with a story that doesn't make too much sense, but is getting much more intriguing as I play it. I arrived at the second HUB where you're trying to find this legendary fighter, but something is off. The game has it's charms. The voice acting is super silly, not all the jokes work, but I did smile during some interactions with the characters. And most importantly, it's fun! Controls are mostly solid, the level design is satisfying and the game isn't afraid to literally take inspiration from all those PS2/Gamecube 3D Platformers all those years ago. Having a good time with this.



Before playing Kao this was the ONLY thing I was playing at all. I'm about 6.5 Hours into the game (maybe not accurate I did start timing it at the save file clock) but this is just a super pleasant game in general. I've played the original emulated up to a certain point and I was having a really good time with it in general. But this remake is good for the fact that it's a easy to grasp, lighthearted adventure that retains what made the original good. It's easy (VERY easy) and there's tons of stuff I enjoy from the battle system, the characters, the story and some of the newly pre-rendered cutscenes they added for some parts which is fun. There are things I don't really like, like how some of the characters are EXTREMELY unappealing. Seriously, Booster is pure nightmare fuel. WTF. The Arrow/Bow boss was the worst character, constantly spouting "NYAH!" every other word like he's Papyrus or some shit and some of the minigames aren't that fun.

But everything else is good! The game has tons of personality and I always want to see what happens. I love Geno and Mallow and I want to see what happens to them. When a game can really make you care about it's characters, you know you're doing something right. Anyways, very good game and I am nearing the 5th Star. It drove me a bit insane with the whole puzzle in the pirate ship but everything else has been quite pleasant so far aside from a couple of things I don't really like (Yoshi Race is clunky, the Composing Minigame is outright annoying and too time consuming, unappealing, sometimes nightmare inducing characters, the graphics style being bland). I do want to eventually continue this but I'm so into Kao the Kangaroo right now that I will probably continue it after.

Anyways, sorry it was so short but I am tired. I will talk more later, hopefully with a review of Kao the Kangaroo! Thanks for reading.

-TheAutisticGamer

Quake
System: PC
Developer: ID Software, Nightdive Studios (Remaster)
Publisher: GT Interactive (Original), Bethesda Softworks (Remaster)
Genre: FPS, Old School Shooter
Completed in 2:32:15
Rating: 9/10



Welcome back! Wait a minute, didn't I already review this? Yes! I did! Back in 2021 I think. But it's been a couple years since I finished this game and I wanted to replay it recently considering I was playing the Campaign in Coop with my Sister. Now, I've been wanting to re-review some games and look back on my opinions of them to see if they truly hold up and if my opinions are different on them. I'll be doing more of this throughout posting on the blog, but for now, I wanted to revisit Quake and talk to you about my current thoughts on the game. This is mostly just going to be rambling, so please bare with me. But lets get to it!

First off, Quake still holds up. That's the first thing I need to point out. I love this game for a multitude of reasons and for me this gets better every time I play it. It's of course an insanely influential game, being one of the first True 3D FPS Games on the market at the time that required a 3D Accelerated GPU. Now, there were FPS Games that were in 3D somewhat. There was things like Descent which came out earlier I think that utilized a joystick for full 360 Degrees Movement considering that was a game where you piloted a spacecraft. But Quake was truly the first big boy of the 3D FPS games. There's lots to love about the game, but one of the things I have to praise the most is it's setting, graphics and art style.

Now, Quake's mix of Industrial Fantasy with Guns and Science Fiction Weaponry and Creatures was unlike anything at the time when this was released. The game might have a brown, dull look at first glance, but the levels are filled with vivid imagery, such as stained glass windows of dragons, areas that resemble factories more than castles, with moving platforms, lava, traps, spikes, acid, with medieval looking architecture mixed with FPS pizazz and powerful weaponry. Not to mention the Nine Inch Nails... Nail boxes for your two Nail Gun weapons which is gleefully anachronistic for it's time. The setting works so well because the graphical prowess of the game still holds up immensely. The game has such good enemy designs and the chunky textures of enemies and the way they're designed make the game still unsettling. It's even more unsettling with it's Nine Inch Nails soundtrack, which is ghoulish and horrifying in the best atmospheric sense. The main theme that plays after the end of Episode is dark and intense, with wails of agony as it fades out. This art style, with the powerful graphics and amazing world you are in make this one of the most intriguing games in terms of it's setting ever made.

Now, Quake of course is an FPS Game. At the beginning of the game, you go through portals to choose your difficulty. This is quite quirky and fun and I do appreciate the effort that went into going outside the box for this groundbreaking game. Now, there's four episodes and a final level with a boss. The game only has two boss fights, one at the end of Episode 1 and one at the final level. The first boss is extremely easy, but the second is a bit of a challenge considering you have to fight some of the hardest enemies in the game in order to achieve victory. Otherwise, it's simple. The story is that you have to acquire four runes to fight a big evil baddie who wants to take over the world. At the end of every episode, you'll get text talking about your adventure which is a good way to get players not only caught up, but also give them a sense of achievement and meaning towards their quest. The ending text (as shown here in this photo) is classic ID Macho Man shtick and even the developers give you a shout out the player, making you feel good because of the care and effort that went into this game.

Now, I will have to talk about the gameplay/gunplay so lets talk about it now. There are I think 8 or so weapons in the game. Although I should say there are 5 weapons in total because one is a melee weapon, one is it's own thing, and three of them have powerful alternatives to collect while going through the episodes. These are the axe, shotgun, double shotgun, nail gun, nail minigun, grenade launcher, rocket launcher and a weapon that shoots powerful lightning out of it. These weapons are great, not only because they are satisfying to use but because they sound excellent and showcase a pretty big punch towards the enemies. Even the single shotgun you get at the beginning of each episode is good enough to really take out the cannon fodder. I can't tell you how amazing it is to shoot an enemy with a rocket launcher and see them explode into gory chunks. That will always be awesome. The guns are just wonderful and the game rewards you if you think smart in tough situations by managing weapons to fight off tougher enemies.

The enemies in the game can range from regular soldiers and creatures to extremely dangerous foes. The Vores, Shamblers and Slimes are the toughest out of all them. The Vores will fire heat seeking projectiles at you that does a massive chunk of damage and you'll need to be quick and make sure the projectiles hit a wall in order to stay safe. The Shamblers use hitscan electricity at you, but it's nothing hiding behind cover and a good old fashion rocket launcher won't solve. The Slimes are the most deadly, they'll attempt to magnetize to you and already do great amounts of damage, but if you shoot them in front of you, they'll explode and all your armor or a massive amount of health will be depleted from you. Keeping your distancing and being smart with your movement is key, but they're easy enough to defeat with a couple shots. There are also zombies who can only be killed with explosive weapons or Quad Damaged weapons, mainly because if you use a shotgun on them they'll get up a couple seconds later. The enemies also aren't dumb, they have unique skills and they're good enough as opponents. There was a couple times enemies didn't notice me even though I was right in front of them and sometimes they struggled to really be a challenge given AI issues, but those are minor instances.

The game also has tons of power ups and many of them you'll find in secret areas which are very rewarding and can help in tough situations. There's stuff like Quad Damage, Rings of Invisibility, Protection/Invincibility Runes, Biosuits for traversing through water and acid and so forth. What really helps this game stand the test of time is it's pacing and level design. First off, compared to something like Quake II, Quake doesn't screw around. Levels are simple, short and can be beaten in about 2-8 minutes tops. They're packed with action and without filler. Secondly, the levels are smartly crafted for numerous reasons, mainly being immersive and interesting to look around, plus they don't seem to reuse the same enemies over and over again like Quake II (I'm looking at you Gunners). The enemies are filled with variety in most levels and the size of the levels aren't completely massive. There are bigger levels in Episode 4, but they're easy enough to figure out if you are paying attention. The classic Key Finding progression is there and it does work well enough, plus the levels and how they're designed provide a fair challenge when fighting enemies. There's no extremely cramped rooms to fight extremely powerful enemies in or bullshit death traps like in a game such as Chasm: The Rift. Levels can have breathing space, but not too much so you aren't just a complete god. I seriously enjoyed how these levels were created. This is developers thinking smarter, not harder.

The game though is just super entertaining to play. The mix of smart level design, great pacing, powerful and awesome gunplay, interesting world and setting, atmospheric music and appealing graphics make this just a joy to play. It's probably a Top 10 FPS Game for me. Everything about Quake's foundations are solid. There are definitely more entertaining FPS Games nowadays like Titanfall 2 with it's engaging story and amazing controls, there's COD games from 2007-2011 with memorable characters and amazing set pieces, and there's DUSK with it's fast paced gameplay, awesome weapon arsenal, killer soundtrack and pitch perfect gameplay and difficulty scaling. But Quake is much more timeless than those games. Years from now, people are going to still think fondly of Quake and not so much of stuff like DUSK, which threatens to be forgotten about if the Boomer Shooter market comes crashing down which I feel is going to happen someday due to oversaturation and style over substance philosophy.

It's not entirely perfect. I do have some issues here and there. The main issue is that damage indictors for your character is not very consistent. Sometimes when you're hit your character will make a sound to showcase he is being attacked. However, most of the time that won't happen and you'll not notice you're taking damage from behind or from the side and then when you realize what's happening it will be too late or you'll have to load another save to redo your fuckup. This can be problematic in later levels and I don't find it fun to have to look at the corner of my screen when fighting enemies I have to be paying attention to just so I know I'm not getting hit. The game also just could have used some revamps from this new Nightdive Re-Release/Remaster. The most important of which would be to add a Map Feature ala Doom 2016. I know they're working with old technology, but the game was literally redone and they could have used new technology for the remaster to make better QOL changes so in the later levels you're not just wandering aimlessly trying to find a key or an exit. Quake II even has a bloody compass feature for it's remaster, so why they couldn't implement that is beyond me.

Otherwise, I have nothing bad to say about this game. I still enjoy it thoroughly even after all these years. It's a smart, clever, hugely entertaining FPS that will continue to influence the video game landscape and FPS Genre to this day. If you haven't played Quake, I highly recommend you do. It's a joy to play from beginning to end. I am planning to review the main expansions for this Nightdive Remaster, consisting of the two original expansions and the two new Machine Games expansions. Look forward to that. Thanks for reading everyone and I'll see you all later!

PROS:

-Smart, Clever Level Design that also rewards the player for playing smart and going outside the box
-Gunplay/Gameplay is still powerful and amazing even to this day
-Graphically still holds up even with dated technology
-The World, Setting and Art Style is still influential as well as captivating and unique to this day
-Nine Inch Nails soundtrack is unsettling and very atmospheric
-The enemies put up a good fight and levels are crafted masterfully to not make fights annoying
-A Timeless Classic that will continue to be remembered for decades to come
-Simple Story that updates the player regularly to keep them up to date and make the quest feel meaningful

CONS:

-Player Damage Indicators are not consistent and sometimes you won't know enemies are damaging you
-The Remaster could have used more QOL improvements (Compass Feature)

-TheAutisticGamer

Hello everyone, I've had such a rough week last week that my nerves feel shot. Now, I don't want to get into all the details, but I will say that the majority of my stress had to do with my work and I felt very anxious. I tried to hold the stress together but I ended up blowing up and I was in a terrible mood recently. However, I found out the stress I was having about work was a complete misunderstanding. My workplace says they love having me and they want to accommodate my needs as an employee. Just to be clear, I had a meeting with work last week and by the end of it I thought I was going to be dropped as an employee, but that's not the case. There was some miscommunication and now I feel somewhat better. I'm going to counseling tomorrow so I'm very happy that I'll be able to talk about some of the stress and problems I have been having recently.

Now, it's not all bad. Recently I managed to pick up Shout Factory's Jackie Chan Collection Vol. 1 and I'm waiting for Vol. 2 to come in the mail on Friday. I'm super excited considering I love Jackie Chan and he's just one of my favorite actors around. He's brilliant and these films from these collections are at the beginning and peak of his career in Hong Kong. I can't wait to start watching them. I'll also have to get Criterion's Jackie Chan box set and the Project A 1 and 2 collection later. Of course, I need to get the Rush Hour Trilogy and the Shanghai Noon duology as well and the Police Story 4K Trilogy. What can I say? I'm a dedicated fan of him and am willing to pay for all these movies. These two collections put me back over CDN $200 but I'm very happy about getting these. The only thing I'm disappointed in is that the packaging is the absolute worst. I was expecting a hard sleeve to cover the Blu Ray case, but it's the most cheapest, flimsiest cardboard imaginable. I'm hoping the Packaging for The Criterion Collection is much better.

I'm also planning to get a RTX 4070 Super soon considering I'm almost at a comfortable amount in my savings to get one. I've been using this RTX 2070 in my computer for a couple years now and it's time for an upgrade. Plus, it will fit better with my setup considering I have an AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and a whopping 32GB of DDR5 Ram with a 2 and 1 TB M2 SSD. I'll be very happy to try many new games out with it. In other news, I've fixed a problem I had with one of the chapters of the Awesome Man book I was writing, so I'm going to hopefully be writing more soon if I'm in the mood.

But, lets talk about some updates for games I'm playing!



As I'm playing Quake and it's expansions with my sister, I've been curious to at least try another FPS game recently despite my waning interest in the genre. And at first I didn't think this would be that good. However, as I continued to play it I realized just how much fun I was having. You know those Henry Sellick stop motion films? Like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, that stuff? Well, it's like he decided to make a video game and this is what he came up with. Not surprising, considering Sellick is a style over substance director. But this has more substance than any of his films combined. I'm really digging this game and I've heard it compared to Serious Sam. I wasn't sure why they were comparing it but by the later levels I realized what they meant. Parts of levels are designed straight from The Second Encounter which is insane to think about.

My opinion has changed a lot after playing this and I'm nearly 3 Hours into the game but I think I'm nearly done it. The enemy designs are amazing and fun, the gunplay and gameplay gets better as you progress and the visuals are very much akin to Henry Sellick films (No, they're not Tim Burton films considering Sellick was the director of these films I mentioned before). The enemy AI however is dumb as bricks and the only thing they'll do is charge right into you and attempt to swarm you. I'll talk more about this once I finish it, but I'm not sure if I'll have lots to say. Maybe I will, I usually do.



Not much progress! I'm on the third HUB world right now and just beat the first level of this world. It's still a very satisfying game but I've encountered some problems with the controls. Specifically, the grapple hook mechanic is not consistent and sometimes when you release it you won't fly forward but into another direction and then you'll either die or have to course correct immediately by grappling again which is rather annoying. I've gotten used to the voice acting and I do think the characters are fun enough as well as the voice performances of the game. Also, I have like loads of health now which is awesome so it won't be a problem for the rest of the game. I'll be playing the DLC Expansion soon after.

I will also hopefully be playing Mario Vs. Donkey Kong this week on Switch as I pre-ordered it. But I don't know when I'll get a chance to play it. Anyways, that's all and I'm feeling somewhat better than I was last week. I'm hoping to improve my mood more by diving into the Jackie Chan Collection box sets I have. Thanks for reading everyone. And Happy Valentines Day. 💕

-TheAutisticGamer

Update!

Later this week hopefully if I have the time I will be review illWill, one of the better Boomer Shooter games I've played recently! I starting writing it tonight but I just wasn't in the right mindset. Anyways, hope to review it soon so be on the lookout for it!

-TheAutisticGamer

Hello everyone, I've had such a rough week last week that my nerves feel shot. Now, I don't want to get into all the details, but I will say that the majority of my stress had to do with my work and I felt very anxious. I tried to hold the stress together but I ended up blowing up and I was in a terrible mood recently. However, I found out the stress I was having about work was a complete misunderstanding. My workplace says they love having me and they want to accommodate my needs as an employee. Just to be clear, I had a meeting with work last week and by the end of it I thought I was going to be dropped as an employee, but that's not the case. There was some miscommunication and now I feel somewhat better. I'm going to counseling tomorrow so I'm very happy that I'll be able to talk about some of the stress and problems I have been having recently.

Now, it's not all bad. Recently I managed to pick up Shout Factory's Jackie Chan Collection Vol. 1 and I'm waiting for Vol. 2 to come in the mail on Friday. I'm super excited considering I love Jackie Chan and he's just one of my favorite actors around. He's brilliant and these films from these collections are at the beginning and peak of his career in Hong Kong. I can't wait to start watching them. I'll also have to get Criterion's Jackie Chan box set and the Project A 1 and 2 collection later. Of course, I need to get the Rush Hour Trilogy and the Shanghai Noon duology as well and the Police Story 4K Trilogy. What can I say? I'm a dedicated fan of him and am willing to pay for all these movies. These two collections put me back over CDN $200 but I'm very happy about getting these. The only thing I'm disappointed in is that the packaging is the absolute worst. I was expecting a hard sleeve to cover the Blu Ray case, but it's the most cheapest, flimsiest cardboard imaginable. I'm hoping the Packaging for The Criterion Collection is much better.

I'm also planning to get a RTX 4070 Super soon considering I'm almost at a comfortable amount in my savings to get one. I've been using this RTX 2070 in my computer for a couple years now and it's time for an upgrade. Plus, it will fit better with my setup considering I have an AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and a whopping 32GB of DDR5 Ram with a 2 and 1 TB M2 SSD. I'll be very happy to try many new games out with it. In other news, I've fixed a problem I had with one of the chapters of the Awesome Man book I was writing, so I'm going to hopefully be writing more soon if I'm in the mood.

But, lets talk about some updates for games I'm playing!



As I'm playing Quake and it's expansions with my sister, I've been curious to at least try another FPS game recently despite my waning interest in the genre. And at first I didn't think this would be that good. However, as I continued to play it I realized just how much fun I was having. You know those Henry Sellick stop motion films? Like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, that stuff? Well, it's like he decided to make a video game and this is what he came up with. Not surprising, considering Sellick is a style over substance director. But this has more substance than any of his films combined. I'm really digging this game and I've heard it compared to Serious Sam. I wasn't sure why they were comparing it but by the later levels I realized what they meant. Parts of levels are designed straight from The Second Encounter which is insane to think about.

My opinion has changed a lot after playing this and I'm nearly 3 Hours into the game but I think I'm nearly done it. The enemy designs are amazing and fun, the gunplay and gameplay gets better as you progress and the visuals are very much akin to Henry Sellick films (No, they're not Tim Burton films considering Sellick was the director of these films I mentioned before). The enemy AI however is dumb as bricks and the only thing they'll do is charge right into you and attempt to swarm you. I'll talk more about this once I finish it, but I'm not sure if I'll have lots to say. Maybe I will, I usually do.



Not much progress! I'm on the third HUB world right now and just beat the first level of this world. It's still a very satisfying game but I've encountered some problems with the controls. Specifically, the grapple hook mechanic is not consistent and sometimes when you release it you won't fly forward but into another direction and then you'll either die or have to course correct immediately by grappling again which is rather annoying. I've gotten used to the voice acting and I do think the characters are fun enough as well as the voice performances of the game. Also, I have like loads of health now which is awesome so it won't be a problem for the rest of the game. I'll be playing the DLC Expansion soon after.

I will also hopefully be playing Mario Vs. Donkey Kong this week on Switch as I pre-ordered it. But I don't know when I'll get a chance to play it. Anyways, that's all and I'm feeling somewhat better than I was last week. I'm hoping to improve my mood more by diving into the Jackie Chan Collection box sets I have. Thanks for reading everyone. And Happy Valentines Day. 💕

-TheAutisticGamer

Good luck with the PC upgrade!

Good luck with the PC upgrade!

I hope I can get it done sooner than later, but who knows. Emergencies can happen so I'm not sure when I'll be able to do the upgrades. But I have hope by March or April I'll have finally gotten a new RTX 4070 Super and my games will be running better than ever before and I'll be future proofed for the next 4 Years!

illWill
System: PC
Developer: Slava Bushuev
Publisher: Slava Bushuev
Genre: FPS, Boomer Shooter
Completed in 3:11:30
Rating: 8/10



Welcome back! First off, I apologize if the review seems clunky. I wrote this review over the span of maybe 2-3 days so it's not the most polished since I wasn't in a good headspace to write. Let me know if I have any redundant statements or typos!

Now, because I've been playing Quake and it's expansions with my sister, I decided to for the moment jump into one Boomer Shooter because for the next little while I'm going to be completing Kao the Kangaroo and it's expansion and be playing Mario vs. Donkey Kong remake on the Switch. And this is definitely one of the better Boomer Shooters I've played in such an oversaturated market. Now, having talked about this genre constantly you might be thinking with my waning interest that I hate the entire genre of Boomer Shooters. I want to just say that I don't. When done right, Boomer Shooters can be very cathartic and satisfying experiences just like any FPS Game. However, I find myself becoming more interested in different games and wanting to try other, more intriguing titles with things I'm looking for that FPS Games just don't have. Also, as said the market is flooded with low quality, style over substance games in this genre that are plaguing the market. Graven didn't do so well and I don't expect Wrath: Aeon of Ruin, a game I didn't like in Early Access and has been in development hell for years to be any good either. I'm also hesitant about Phantom Fury, but I'm hoping since there was tons of feedback for the demo that we'll get a much better game than the demo showcased.

Enough though. I want to talk about a game probably no one really knows about. illWill! This game came on my radar during one of the Steam Next Fests and it was okay, but I wasn't sure if I was going to really enjoy it. But now that I have played it, I can safely say this is one of the better games in this genre I've played in a while. There's reasons of course, so lets get into that right now.

There's no story in illWill. The only story I can think of is that an enemy blows up in your face and then you become so annoyed that you decide to go on a crusade to tell the enemies you don't like that. This is in the first 30 seconds of playing the game and that's about it. Back in May when I was having severe burnout of the genre, I would have complained that the lack of story made it impossible to latch onto the game as a whole. I don't know if my mind has been altered on the matter recently, but I'm glad the developer decided NOT to include some bad, cringey, edge lord story that would have been quite frankly annoying. Having no story helps you immerse yourself more into the gameplay and gunplay. illWill is a Boomer Shooter of course, set in this inconsistently stylized world where one level you'll be going through a dark, gloomy meat factory with monstrous enemies, then you'll be going through an Alice in Wonderland scenario with giant teacups and absurdist graphics. The game cannot make up it's mind what style it wants to go for in it's levels and unfortunately, the level design is VERY uninspired. Most of the levels in illWill are insanely linear even by FPS standards and honestly, there's no much creativity to them.

Those are basically all the big flaws I have with the game in those couple of sentences. Uninspired level design, incoherent visual style and the AI. Oh god the AI. (We'll talk about it shortly) Oh, and the game did crash at one point in the latter half of my time playing it. But other than that, it's good! It's not as good as say a New Blood published game, but what the developer has done is pretty solid. First off, I need to talk about the enemy designs of this game. They're some of the best looking enemies I've played in a shooter in years. People are comparing the enemies in this game to “Tim Burton Movies” and that's factually inaccurate when people say that. What they really mean to say is that the enemies are based on Henry Sellick stop motion animated films like Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas. The style of Sellick is everywhere in this game, from it's levels to the enemies. The only consistent thing visually may very well be the excellent enemies.

These range from giant toads, to bulky zombie butchers, to exploding big headed grunts and other weird, crazy enemies that are eye candy to look at. The developer really put a lot of effort into making memorable enemies and as said, they're very good. However, my main issue with them is how their AI is programmed. Instead of being strategic and giving them attacks that will make you want to move fast and think, all they do is charge face first into you and attempt to hit you with their projectiles or melee attacks. It's also frustrating that some enemies are completely hit scan, such as the blue squiggly guys with rifles who are an annoyance to say the least.

The gunplay/gameplay on the other hand wasn't clicking with me until MUCH later into the game and then I became very much immersed in how nicely the game played overall. I think the main reason is that illWill is attempting to be a horde shooter like Serious Sam, so you'll not get tired of killing anything in general especially with it's short length. I wasn't sure why people were comparing it to Serious Sam as the first half didn't really feel like a Serious Sam type game. But in the latter half, I completely understood. There's some parts of the game that are literally ripped from Serious Sam in terms of it's level design and the hordes of enemies are more and more. The bosses also reminded me of Serious Sam as well, having hordes of enemies try to kill you while fighting a giant boss. This mostly results in circling around the arena and making sure you don't run backwards into spawning exploding grunts so there is a tiny bit of challenge there, but overall the game thankfully doesn't have any overbearing moments in levels. There is an optional side room made entirely of hit scan enemies, so do be aware of that.

So, once the game really dives deep into Serious Sam territory, the game does become VERY good. The guns feel adequate to use most of the time and they can be very satisfying to use. You get weird guns in this game, such as a leech launcher that sucks health from enemies (plus you can pick them up afterwards to get extra health and armor), a soul sucking device, a laser weapon and of course some regular weapons like an assault rifle, standard rifle, double shotgun, grenade launcher and rocket launcher. The guns are satisfactory because the way the enemies are killed by them are great. Toads will explode into giant bloody chunks, enemies heads will explode if they are constantly hit with the laser gun, it's just so nice to use weapons that are somewhat oddball but also enjoyable.

One of the things I should note is that you start each level off with 100 Health and ZERO Armour. Now, is this a problem? In another game it might be. But here, it helps that you keep all your weapons and have enough ammo (also reset at the beginning of each new level) so that it's not completely hopeless when fighting hordes of enemies. I found this to work pretty well even though I thought I was going to hate it. But the game played fair and I have to respect that. What's also cool is that there's loads of physics in many of the game's objects. You can go kicking chairs (not literally, there's no kick option) or moving dice blocks and even the doors have floppy physics to them which is fun. This gives the game some character and something to stand out by. A lot of Boomer Shooters tend to not stick out. But here, the little things like this and the enemy design are very big strong points.

One final note is the music. The soundtrack for this game is pretty decent all things considered. It's this mix of synth, EDM and exotic sounding locales with a mysterious, supernatural element to it that is quite enjoyable to the ears. I'm pretty much tired of Boomer Shooters with generic Metal Music that has no distinct style whatsoever, so this was a pleasant surprise to see a game like this utilize a different musical scape that is refreshing to hear. It's a good listen and I'll probably get the OST of it on Steam eventually. I do want to build up a soundtrack collection, so now's a better time than ever.

IllWill isn't going to blow anyone away but for me having been burnt out and just frustrated with FPS games recently (aside from Deep Rock Galactic, which my love still stays strong for) I found this to be refreshing, mainly because it takes the Serious Sam formula of gameplay and makes it stand out with unique looking enemies and a soundtrack that is fresh with a bunch of oddball weapons. The game surely isn't going to win any GOTY awards, but you could do a hell of a lot worse. I was pleasantly surprised and by the time I finished the game I was glad I played it. It's not very replayable as there's only three mods you unlock at the end that have different quirks to the entire game, but illWill is worth getting IF you can get it cheaper than the $25.99 CDN it's going for. Keep an eye on it. It's a pleasant surprise!

PROS:

-Some of the best enemy designs I've seen in a game recently
-Takes the Serious Sam formula of horde shooter by having things that stand out
-Fun, Oddball guns that are satisfying to use
-Refreshing soundtrack that's not just generic metal mush
-Most items and objects have physics which gives the game character
-The game started to click with me and I was having more fun than expected

CONS:

-AI is dreadful as they do nothing but charge at you
-Hit scan enemies... IN A 2023 GAME!?! >:(
-Visually inconsistent and doesn't know what it wants to be
-Too expensive for the asking price and not replayable enough
-Uninspired Level Design

-TheAutisticGamer

Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2024)
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Nintendo Software Technology
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Puzzle, 2D Platformer
Rating: 5/10



Welcome back yet again! Now, I don't like to say when I've played a game that I've been "Ripped Off". To me, I find that somewhat immature for myself to say something like that. Even if a game has a high price tag and little length, I can at least enjoy a lot of the aspects of the game. Like, I've been continuing to buy the newest COD Game every year so I can play multiplayer on weekends with my friend PhatPotato and I get a lot out of it. Those games don't have HUGE 20+ hour campaigns, you can beat them in 4-5 Hours. However, this is one of the few times I will have to say that I felt REALLY ripped off by a game. Especially considering it's a game I REALLY didn't like. I don't usually talk about bad games on this blog because if I do play them I eventually quit them if I find myself having enough of their shit, but this game was different. I continued because the game is basically eye candy. Although it's best to say that it's mainly a style over substance game. So lets talk about the recent remake of Mario vs. Donkey Kong.

The game begins with a fantastic opening cutscene that looks insane and goes to showcase why the presentation of this game is quite amazing for something that isn't full priced. Donkey Kong is browsing through TV Channels when he finds that some Mini Marios are on sale, toys that look like Mario. He goes to obtain some but they're sold out, so he bursts into the Mario Toy Company factory, steals a bunch of them if not all and Mario has to chase DK down and get them all back. These opening moments leave such a great first impression on you because of the ultra high quality of the cinematics. And when you start playing the game, the presentation gets even better. The graphics are up to a high quality for a puzzle game. They're colorful and rich in detail in many of the platforms and enemies they surround them. Not only that, but the sound effects and music are great as well. There's satisfaction whenever you hear Mario open a door with a key he's obtained and the music is quite enjoyable to a good length as well. The game has such great production values, that I wonder where the effort went into the actual controls, gameplay and level design.

First, let me explain how the game works. The game has 8 Worlds. Each have 6 Main Levels, a Mini Mario level where you get the Mini Marios into a box and then a DK fight where if he hits you, you lose Mini Marios. Also, most worlds will have a 1 UP stage where you chase a flying key in order to open a box with 5 1UPs if you can get it just in time. The game by the end after the final DK fight as well, it's own level will unlock the Expert Stages. I won't be talking about them however, considering I wanted to talk about the main bulk of the game which I think is the most important part. I don't feel it would make sense to talk about something that is post game/extra content and I usually don't unless I feel it's necessary to talk about it. And here, like usual, it's not necessary at least to me.

Now, by the time the game starts you can choose between Casual Mode or Classic Mode. Classic Mode has a timer and if you get hit once by enemies, you die and have to restart from a checkpoint. Casual Mode ditches the timer and gives you 5 Hit Points so if you get hit, you'll return to the checkpoint safely in a bubble. I played a good majority of it on Casual Mode, but I did play on Classic for a bit at the beginning just to see how it was. You can switch the modes at any given time which is nice. Now, my main issue with the gameplay stems from the controls. First, don't expect a classic 2D Mario Experience. They removed a bunch of his move set and fitted it more towards a puzzle game. Now, this could be done right, but there's two problems. 1: It's jarring to play Mario in this game because if you're so used to playing 2D Mario Games like New Super Mario Bros or Wonder, it's jarring to get used to these new controls and 2: The controls in this game are not very good and pretty imprecise.

Let me explain what I mean by this. Now, one of the things you can do is jump on enemies and grab them. You don't jump on them to kill them, you grab them. Usually this means to place them on spikes or readjust where they are, but jumping on them is a real pain in the ass. Why? Because if you don't jump STRICTLY in the middle of them, you're going to get hit and die, or you're going to get hit and bubble your way back to the checkpoint. I can't tell you how many times I thought I did a precise jump and it didn't position myself properly on top of it's head and got hit. It's ridiculous. Not to mention, if you play on Casual Mode, it's almost worst than playing on Classic Mode. Because going back to the checkpoint in this bubble once you get hit is.... so.... god.... damn.... SLOW! You think the game is doing boring office work than actually being a fast paced puzzle game. And the thing is, this game isn't fast. It's REALLY slow. It has to do with Mario's speed as well. He's not that fast compared to regular Mario games and that's a problem when you mess up, want to speedrun the level to get back where you were, but can't because he's slow and you'll mess up if you go fast. The game wants you to be patient, but Mario games are usually fast paced. Not like Sonic mind you, but they had a speed and energy to them. Here it's just not fun to play because of how sluggish everything is.

Now, the controls get worse. Sometimes jumping on poles to speed up and jump onto higher levels is a problem. Because if you jump while moving forward to catch them, you're not going to make it. The game also has problems with climbing ropes. Mario can reach out to either jump to other ropes or platforms or catch onto another rope. But if you reach out and as so much as slightly hold the Control Stick left or right for too long, you'll go falling, most of the time into spikes, meaning the slow bubble of doom back to the checkpoint. It's also annoying when the game has these color switches to make blocks appear and disappear and conveyor belts with switches as well, you think you're doing good, you get midway through the puzzle then die, then have to reset the puzzle all over again because you messed up the momentum you were going at. You might as well just restart the level like me. However, a good thing is that there's two parts to a level. One's the door segment and one's getting the Mini Mario. If you are on the Mini Mario bit, it won't send you back to the Door Segment. That's great, and thankfully wasn't a pain in the ass to deal with.

The level design is also not adequate for these controls. As said, you can mess up your momentum meaning if you die while solving a puzzle midway through you're going to have to reset yourself and how you did the puzzle. The game also with these control's I don't feel suits the levels either. The DK Boss Fights can be problematic and one involves ice that is just aggravating to play because of how imprecise everything is and how most of the time you DON'T feel in control of Mario. I also find the game to be extremely shallow and for the asking price of CDN $64.99 (With tax, so probably $70). You get 64 Levels, but doing them feels repetitious. The game as it goes along gets more annoying and annoying, at least to me. I don't know if my disappointment from the game comes from the fact that the original game that this is a remake of had not aged well or not. I have not played the original GBA game, so I can't say for sure. But I feel from what I'm seeing in the reviews on this site given by users that they made the controls much worse. I also beat the game in two sittings. Ridiculous for a game asking THAT much.

The good news is the game ends on a high note. There's a boss battle with DK that's reminiscent to the old Donkey Kong Arcade Machine. Mario has to save the three Toads in cages with keys, then hit Donkey Kong off platforms with big barrels. It's fun! Legitimately I was having such a good time with this stage. I think because the controls fit this type of playstyle better. And the way the level is designed makes it more enjoyable to play with these controls. It's a great end level, although the game tacks on Extra Expert Levels by the end. I will however be not playing them. I'll probably trade in the game for some Gamestop store credit, but I'll have to ask if anyone in my house, like my Mom or my Sister wants to play it (My mom is obsessed with the Hogwarts Legacy game though, she's like 90+ hours into it and completed the main game A LONG while ago. Maybe I should give her a Zelda Game next?) since they have Switches as well.

I hope I made a good case of why I didn't like this game. I'm sure younger fans of Mario might enjoy it, but I personally wasn't enthralled by the game overall. Thankfully, the game looks and sounds great and ends on a positive note. The only reason I'd say get it is if the game goes at half price on sale (but this is Nintendo we're talking about. That rarely happens) but there are MUCH better puzzle games to be playing ESPECIALLY now. I heard The Talos Principle 2 is great, and that's by Croteam who develop Serious Sam. Maybe check that out? IDK I'll have to play the two Talos games in general. Hope you enjoyed my review! I had a nice pleasant time writing this.

PROS:

-Excellent Presentation (Graphics, Sound Effects, Music and Cutscenes are at a ultra high quality)
-The Game ends on a high note with a terrific boss battle
-Cutscenes incorporate some good humor into them

CONS:

-Extremely sluggish and slowly paced to a detriment
-Mario's controls are imprecise and his reduced move set is jarring to get used to
-Too shallow for a puzzle game
-Too expensive for the amount of gameplay you're getting
-Levels are not adequately designed for this flawed move set
-Gets more annoying the longer it goes on

-TheAutisticGamer

Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2024)
System: Nintendo Switch
Developer: Nintendo Software Technology
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Puzzle, 2D Platformer
Rating: 5/10



Welcome back yet again! Now, I don't like to say when I've played a game that I've been "Ripped Off". To me, I find that somewhat immature for myself to say something like that. Even if a game has a high price tag and little length, I can at least enjoy a lot of the aspects of the game. Like, I've been continuing to buy the newest COD Game every year so I can play multiplayer on weekends with my friend PhatPotato and I get a lot out of it. Those games don't have HUGE 20+ hour campaigns, you can beat them in 4-5 Hours. However, this is one of the few times I will have to say that I felt REALLY ripped off by a game. Especially considering it's a game I REALLY didn't like. I don't usually talk about bad games on this blog because if I do play them I eventually quit them if I find myself having enough of their shit, but this game was different. I continued because the game is basically eye candy. Although it's best to say that it's mainly a style over substance game. So lets talk about the recent remake of Mario vs. Donkey Kong.

The game begins with a fantastic opening cutscene that looks insane and goes to showcase why the presentation of this game is quite amazing for something that isn't full priced. Donkey Kong is browsing through TV Channels when he finds that some Mini Marios are on sale, toys that look like Mario. He goes to obtain some but they're sold out, so he bursts into the Mario Toy Company factory, steals a bunch of them if not all and Mario has to chase DK down and get them all back. These opening moments leave such a great first impression on you because of the ultra high quality of the cinematics. And when you start playing the game, the presentation gets even better. The graphics are up to a high quality for a puzzle game. They're colorful and rich in detail in many of the platforms and enemies they surround them. Not only that, but the sound effects and music are great as well. There's satisfaction whenever you hear Mario open a door with a key he's obtained and the music is quite enjoyable to a good length as well. The game has such great production values, that I wonder where the effort went into the actual controls, gameplay and level design.

First, let me explain how the game works. The game has 8 Worlds. Each have 6 Main Levels, a Mini Mario level where you get the Mini Marios into a box and then a DK fight where if he hits you, you lose Mini Marios. Also, most worlds will have a 1 UP stage where you chase a flying key in order to open a box with 5 1UPs if you can get it just in time. The game by the end after the final DK fight as well, it's own level will unlock the Expert Stages. I won't be talking about them however, considering I wanted to talk about the main bulk of the game which I think is the most important part. I don't feel it would make sense to talk about something that is post game/extra content and I usually don't unless I feel it's necessary to talk about it. And here, like usual, it's not necessary at least to me.

Now, by the time the game starts you can choose between Casual Mode or Classic Mode. Classic Mode has a timer and if you get hit once by enemies, you die and have to restart from a checkpoint. Casual Mode ditches the timer and gives you 5 Hit Points so if you get hit, you'll return to the checkpoint safely in a bubble. I played a good majority of it on Casual Mode, but I did play on Classic for a bit at the beginning just to see how it was. You can switch the modes at any given time which is nice. Now, my main issue with the gameplay stems from the controls. First, don't expect a classic 2D Mario Experience. They removed a bunch of his move set and fitted it more towards a puzzle game. Now, this could be done right, but there's two problems. 1: It's jarring to play Mario in this game because if you're so used to playing 2D Mario Games like New Super Mario Bros or Wonder, it's jarring to get used to these new controls and 2: The controls in this game are not very good and pretty imprecise.

Let me explain what I mean by this. Now, one of the things you can do is jump on enemies and grab them. You don't jump on them to kill them, you grab them. Usually this means to place them on spikes or readjust where they are, but jumping on them is a real pain in the ass. Why? Because if you don't jump STRICTLY in the middle of them, you're going to get hit and die, or you're going to get hit and bubble your way back to the checkpoint. I can't tell you how many times I thought I did a precise jump and it didn't position myself properly on top of it's head and got hit. It's ridiculous. Not to mention, if you play on Casual Mode, it's almost worst than playing on Classic Mode. Because going back to the checkpoint in this bubble once you get hit is.... so.... god.... damn.... SLOW! You think the game is doing boring office work than actually being a fast paced puzzle game. And the thing is, this game isn't fast. It's REALLY slow. It has to do with Mario's speed as well. He's not that fast compared to regular Mario games and that's a problem when you mess up, want to speedrun the level to get back where you were, but can't because he's slow and you'll mess up if you go fast. The game wants you to be patient, but Mario games are usually fast paced. Not like Sonic mind you, but they had a speed and energy to them. Here it's just not fun to play because of how sluggish everything is.

Now, the controls get worse. Sometimes jumping on poles to speed up and jump onto higher levels is a problem. Because if you jump while moving forward to catch them, you're not going to make it. The game also has problems with climbing ropes. Mario can reach out to either jump to other ropes or platforms or catch onto another rope. But if you reach out and as so much as slightly hold the Control Stick left or right for too long, you'll go falling, most of the time into spikes, meaning the slow bubble of doom back to the checkpoint. It's also annoying when the game has these color switches to make blocks appear and disappear and conveyor belts with switches as well, you think you're doing good, you get midway through the puzzle then die, then have to reset the puzzle all over again because you messed up the momentum you were going at. You might as well just restart the level like me. However, a good thing is that there's two parts to a level. One's the door segment and one's getting the Mini Mario. If you are on the Mini Mario bit, it won't send you back to the Door Segment. That's great, and thankfully wasn't a pain in the ass to deal with.

The level design is also not adequate for these controls. As said, you can mess up your momentum meaning if you die while solving a puzzle midway through you're going to have to reset yourself and how you did the puzzle. The game also with these control's I don't feel suits the levels either. The DK Boss Fights can be problematic and one involves ice that is just aggravating to play because of how imprecise everything is and how most of the time you DON'T feel in control of Mario. I also find the game to be extremely shallow and for the asking price of CDN $64.99 (With tax, so probably $70). You get 64 Levels, but doing them feels repetitious. The game as it goes along gets more annoying and annoying, at least to me. I don't know if my disappointment from the game comes from the fact that the original game that this is a remake of had not aged well or not. I have not played the original GBA game, so I can't say for sure. But I feel from what I'm seeing in the reviews on this site given by users that they made the controls much worse. I also beat the game in two sittings. Ridiculous for a game asking THAT much.

The good news is the game ends on a high note. There's a boss battle with DK that's reminiscent to the old Donkey Kong Arcade Machine. Mario has to save the three Toads in cages with keys, then hit Donkey Kong off platforms with big barrels. It's fun! Legitimately I was having such a good time with this stage. I think because the controls fit this type of playstyle better. And the way the level is designed makes it more enjoyable to play with these controls. It's a great end level, although the game tacks on Extra Expert Levels by the end. I will however be not playing them. I'll probably trade in the game for some Gamestop store credit, but I'll have to ask if anyone in my house, like my Mom or my Sister wants to play it (My mom is obsessed with the Hogwarts Legacy game though, she's like 90+ hours into it and completed the main game A LONG while ago. Maybe I should give her a Zelda Game next?) since they have Switches as well.

I hope I made a good case of why I didn't like this game. I'm sure younger fans of Mario might enjoy it, but I personally wasn't enthralled by the game overall. Thankfully, the game looks and sounds great and ends on a positive note. The only reason I'd say get it is if the game goes at half price on sale (but this is Nintendo we're talking about. That rarely happens) but there are MUCH better puzzle games to be playing ESPECIALLY now. I heard The Talos Principle 2 is great, and that's by Croteam who develop Serious Sam. Maybe check that out? IDK I'll have to play the two Talos games in general. Hope you enjoyed my review! I had a nice pleasant time writing this.

PROS:

-Excellent Presentation (Graphics, Sound Effects, Music and Cutscenes are at a ultra high quality)
-The Game ends on a high note with a terrific boss battle
-Cutscenes incorporate some good humor into them

CONS:

-Extremely sluggish and slowly paced to a detriment
-Mario's controls are imprecise and his reduced move set is jarring to get used to
-Too shallow for a puzzle game
-Too expensive for the amount of gameplay you're getting
-Levels are not adequately designed for this flawed move set
-Gets more annoying the longer it goes on

-TheAutisticGamer

I forgot to mention I love the banner of your blog with the flying dragon and how it changes.

I forgot to mention I love the banner of your blog with the flying dragon and how it changes.

With my banners, I usually try to change them up every once in a while (mostly every year, I should think about finding another for my Moving Forward and Main Review banners). I think you're the first person to mention anything about my banners and I'm glad you think they're really cool. It's actually SUPER easy to create them. Basically, I choose the image and save it (usually from DeviantArt), open up OBS Studio, put the image of the banner I want in there, add text to the banner depending on what it is, size it properly, format the font, then I take the Snipping Tool built into Windows and size the image properly, save it to my Imgur profile for future use and then copy the image link here. I know I could just use Paint but I'm inexperienced with using it and since I have a lot of experience with OBS Studio for recording I just use that.

I think with Banners it gives not only personality but flavor to my blog. I know a lot of others use Banners, but I'm NOWHERE near as experienced as some of the other people blogging here are with their banners. There is so much more effort that Siver puts into his I wish I had that amount of talent to do something that creative. However, they've certainly been a major part at defining the elements of my blog. I definitely think having Banners was a good way to add some zest.

Kao the Kangaroo (2022)
System: PC
Developer: Tate Multimedia
Publisher: Tate Multimedia
Genre: 3D Platformer
Completed in 5:30:13
Rating: 8/10



Welcome back! I promised I'd review this and now's the time. Just to be aware though, reviews may take me a couple days to process and write. I've found nowadays I don't have the biggest energy to finish a game then immediately review it afterwards so I just wanted to let you guys know that in advance. But I'm finally done Kao the Kangaroo and the game was much better than expected! I remember playing the first game via a Dreamcast Emulator and absolutely despising the game. It was a terrible game, with a bad health system, poor controls, wonky hit boxes, a contrived and ridiculous save/checkpoint system and bad gameplay. It didn't help that the game was published by the SAME people who published Superman 64 and Robocop XBOX, so you knew the quality was going to be EXTREMELY low anyhow. However, years have passed and the developers are MUCH different than they were from the first game. And they've come such a long way from that horrible Dreamcast game.

Now, I don't really understand what the plot of Kao the Kangaroo is to begin with. I will try my best to explain because the game does such a horrible job at setting it up and explaining anything to you that I was rather baffled by how it was told. Okay, you play as Kao of course, he lives with his family on this island of Kangaroos. There's also a bird guy named Gadget that lives there too (Guess what his occupation is?). To start, Kao's dad Koby left and went missing. Something about crystals. His sister, Kaia also left trying to find their dad but went missing as well. Now, after having a horrible dream, Kao decides it's time for him to search for his sister and dad, leaving his mom, a hot tempered but overall caring Kangaroo named Marlene behind. Kao discovers his dad's boxing gloves that were buried which are actually a sinister entity that... corrupted his dad? Or his dad refused the temptation of them? I don't know. Look, I played this game over two months so I'm bound to forget things. But anyways, Kao goes on this journey with his Master, a Koala named Walt, and the aforementioned Gadget, to find out the mystery of these crystals that are corrupting figures connected to Walt I guess, while also trying to find Kaia and Koby. There's also a villain, but he seems to have a case of Steele Syndrome* and doesn't appear until the very final boss fight.

(*Steele Syndrome is a term I made up that comes from the game Borderlands, where the main villain of the game appears in brief parts at the beginning but overall is nowhere to be seen until the very end and when you do fight the villain, it's unsatisfying because of how much they don't seem to be a threat because of how underdeveloped they are. Sometimes, you don't even get to kill said villain but some throwaway boss you've never heard of.)

The main issue with the game is how the story is told. And to be honest, the story isn't even what I would consider bad. If the story was told in a simpler traditional sense I think I would have at least been able to appreciate it. But the story and how it is explained is terrible. The game starts with Kao having a nightmare about Kaia, then we find get dumped exposition by his mom that she and his father is missing, then we see a vision of Kaia, then get the sinister boxing gloves, meet Walt, explain stuff about the boxing gloves being evil, go onto defeat a boss, one level later we get a cutscene of Kao saying goodbye to his mom, who is pissed about the boxing gloves, then she's like "Ah alright. Take them." then... you know what I mean? It's like the equivalent of a little kid going "AND THEN AND THEN AND THEN" or that scene in Dude, Where's My Car? where they're at the Chinese Takeout place. The story development is really childish and does such a poor job explaining the plot I didn't know what the hell was going on half the time until the final world of the game.

Thankfully, the rest of the game fairs much better. Kao of course was a 3D Platforming series and this game is no different. The game offers 3D Platforming with melee fighting. Kao's boxing gloves can do a couple things such as use elemental powers like Ice, Fire and Wind. These all have their effects on the game, like using boomerangs with the ice powerup to freeze ledges to climb up. Kao does have a couple other moves like if he gets his melee meter up high enough he can send out a powerful finishing blow to enemies that can one shot them usually. He can also dodge and double jump, the simple stuff. The game does feel like it was made 20 Years Ago. It's obviously inspired by many PS2/Gamecube 6th Gen 3D Platformers. But the nice thing is that this game has more polish than those games ever did. Now, it's not like an extremely smooth playing game or anything but the game does have some really nice controls for the most part aside from one flawed mechanic that just is frustrating to get a hang of. I found myself feeling confident in all my jumps which is something you really need to emphasize when making a game like this. Can I make the jump? If you had doubts because of how the game controls, that's bad. But if you have the utmost confidence you can do it, then that's because the controls are solid enough to make you accomplish things you would otherwise think not possible.

There's not much I can say on the gameplay side of things but the game does reward you often for going off the beaten path. The game teaches you this very early on and it can reward you with things like extra lives and heart pieces to add to your overall health meter. Four Pieces = another Heart. The game isn't extremely hard but it ain't a cakewalk either. The game balances the difficulty nicely enough to have you progress without hitting a major roadblock. The game also introduces these Eternal Well side objectives. These consist of killing every enemy on screen or getting to the finish to get a reward. These aren't very useful for getting rewards like extra lives or power ups however, so I wouldn't suggest going through them unless you want to expand play time. But they can be a good way to challenge yourself to see if your platforming skills are up to par. The pacing is also very good. There's four main hubs with three levels and a boss each (at least when you get to the second world). The game has you spend time enough in these worlds to not feel like you're overstaying your welcome or getting out as quickly as possible. Considering the HUBs also have things to progress to unlock more levels, they're also worth going through to get coins to buy extra lives and heart pieces in the shops there. You can also buy clothing and I ended up getting a nice surprise.



If you're not into Kao's new design, you can buy his old one back! I mostly used this throughout the entire game. Not because I hated his new design, but I thought the novelty of playing a Classic Looking Character Model in a modern game was kind of funny. It's like in Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise where you can play as Kiryu the entire game if you get the DLC for him. It's fun! Speaking of the characters, there's been a LOT of criticism over Kao's voice in this new game. People are complaining he sounds like some emo brat who listens to MCR ala My Immortal (the Infamous- I MEAN 'Classic' Harry Potter Fanfiction) but I didn't hate his voice? Actually, I liked him! Kao as a character is rather likeable and so is the majority of the cast in this game. The voice acting isn't going to be on par with a big budget Playstation Game but I think the voice cast do a nice job at being their characters. Walt was rather fun, with his wisdom spouting lines ala Yoda and I did enjoy hearing Kao and the others speak during gameplay sections. The game is also kind of funny. It's not amazing humor and a lot of it is dated or very modern, but I did smile at many jokes including an Arrow to the Knee joke that is so corny that I can't help but enjoy that.

Technically it's a mixed bag. First off the game is pretty bright and the characters do look rather good for the budget this game has. The enemies also are distinct for each world and the game does have some nice looks environments. However, there are technical issues such as music not playing after exiting an Eternal Well stage and Animations not playing for things like pots breaking. I think I also experienced one crash during the game, but it didn't completely exit the game so I had to force exit it with my Task Manager. My other issue is the grapple hook mechanic. It's rather terrible. Basically, you have to hold X or Y on the Xbox Game Pad to grapple it (despite saying for you to 'Press' it instead of holding it. BTW I kept getting Playstation Prompts despite Steam usually having Xbox Prompts. WTF?) and it will send you grappling forward. You have to release the button in order to make it across or else you'll fall. The problem is this mechanic is completely broken. Sometimes it works fine, but most of the time when you release the button it will send you fucking flying in another direction, meaning you die, or have to course correct hoping you can make it forward to the next platform, but most of the time you'll die because it will not fix itself and will still send you flying in another direction. The final real level in the game has TONS of grapple hook sections that are just infuriating to get through. You have to pray to god it will work. If you're an atheist or uncertain of your faith, I'm afraid you're screwed.

In general though there's not much I can add to. The game itself is solid. It has really nice controls, level design that rewards you, good difficulty balance, good pacing, a fun cast of characters, okay humor and nice bright visuals. I think the game itself could use one more patch to fix these issues, otherwise it's playable. Now, I would recommend the game definitely, but it's quite pricey at CDN $40. Thankfully the game is on sale right now for CDN $13.99 so I would suggest picking it up if you want a blast from the past. This game really does feel like a more polished 6th Gen 3D Platformer and I really like that. I hope more developers will attempt to make more 3D Platformer games in the style of the older ones. I know a lot of developers are looking to innovate the controls and gameplay in these games nowadays, but I really think back to basics would be great. Not every game has to push forward in a technical or gameplay way. I honestly would love for some of these developers like Krome to come back and make a new Ty the Tasmanian Tiger game. That series has become more popular recently with the re-releases on Steam, so I wouldn't be surprised it they wanted to give it another shot.

Anyways, game is worth playing despite some minor issues. I hope you enjoyed this review as always. See you later!

PROS:

-Bright Visuals and Good Character Designs
-Controls are mostly solid and give you the confidence to platform
-Characters are likeable and fun
-The game rewards you for going off the beaten path a lot of the time
-Pacing is solid and you're not in one area for too long or too little
-Has more polish than most 3D Platformers of the 6th Generation
-Hub Worlds are big and reward you with coins and level progressing objects
-Platforming is very satisfying throughout the game
-Humor is okay and had me smiling at points

CONS:

-Kept showing me Playstation Prompts instead of Xbox Prompts (I'm using an Xbox Series X Controller)
-Technical issues with animations and music
-Grapple Hook Mechanic is badly implemented and possibly bugged
-Story while acceptable does a horrible job at explaining and setting up what's happening

-TheAutisticGamer

Boy, do I have news for you guys. Recently, my family sold our home for CDN $1.4 Million and are now searching for a new home closer to our workplaces in Coquitlam. While I am wanting to move to I can have more space for my belongings and have more storage for stuff like games, movies, vinyl, I'm rather anxious about a couple of things, such as transporting my valuable Gamecube Games and having to change all my addresses on every single one of my accounts. This won't happen for a while though and I thought I'd let you know that when the time comes I'm probably going to take a hiatus on the blog to set up my room and move things accordingly. This will definitely be good but I hope we don't make a bad decision and choose the wrong house.

My mood has been much better recently and thank god the Winter Depression is over. I'm feeling much better than I have been before and with my work schedule shifted around to fit morning shifts I'm much happier than I was a couple months ago. I quite honestly don't have a ton to say about life right now mainly because aside from selling the house nothing noteworthy has happened at all. I wish I could say something interesting, but I don't have a lot of stuff to really talk about.

Anyways, this will be a short post. But I have exciting news for what I'm playing.



Okay, so I FINALLY started playing this again a couple weeks ago and this time I'm nearly finished the game. I spent 5 Hours binging Chapters 6-10 last night which is something that happened with Yakuza 0. Long story short, I was near the end of Yakuza 0 and 6 Hours later, I finish the game. I binged it for so long because there wasn't a good stopping point since the story and stakes and action for these chapters were at such a high point that it was literally impossible for me to put the game down. SPOILERS: We get to see Nishiki turn evil in one of the flashback chapters by stabbing one of his own men, Haruka gets kidnapped, we see a flashback to when Kiryu was tortured by the Snake Flower Triad and Kazama saves his ass in a badass way, Reina was giving intel of Kiryu to Nishiki, Reina and Shinji both die. So a LOT happened. My favorite scene so far was when Nishiki met Kiryu at Serena and attempts to persuade him to give Haruka and the pendant to him. I love that he regrets having Mizuki be killed by one of his own men and he has so much depth as a villain and he's so amazing to watch. Look, I can't really say anything about the plot because everything in this game is such a GIANT Spoiler. Also, I didn't know this was a Christmas game?

I will give a better review of the story when I review it for the blog, but it will definitely be filled with Spoilers because HOLY SHIT there's a lot of moments that are really good. There's some stuff I don't like though like Chapter 6 being complete filler, some bosses dodging and sidestepping attacks constantly meaning having to use weapons or Climax Heat Actions to even damage them, the encounter rate gets absurdly high and is annoying if you just wanna progress through the story meaning having to run away from enemies and hope to Jesus you don't bump into any civilian who slow you down, it also gets very repetitive, but these characters are Grade-A and the story is constantly entertaining and knows how to balance tone perfectly. I'm gonna play more tonight and hopefully I'll finish it soon.

Anyways, that's all for now. Thanks for reading and I'll talk with you all soon!

-TheAutisticGamer

I hate changing addresses when I had to move in 2021.

Boy, do I have news for you guys. Recently, my family sold our home for CDN $1.4 Million and are now searching for a new home closer to our workplaces in Coquitlam. While I am wanting to move to I can have more space for my belongings and have more storage for stuff like games, movies, vinyl, I'm rather anxious about a couple of things, such as transporting my valuable Gamecube Games and having to change all my addresses on every single one of my accounts. This won't happen for a while though and I thought I'd let you know that when the time comes I'm probably going to take a hiatus on the blog to set up my room and move things accordingly. This will definitely be good but I hope we don't make a bad decision and choose the wrong house.

My mood has been much better recently and thank god the Winter Depression is over. I'm feeling much better than I have been before and with my work schedule shifted around to fit morning shifts I'm much happier than I was a couple months ago. I quite honestly don't have a ton to say about life right now mainly because aside from selling the house nothing noteworthy has happened at all. I wish I could say something interesting, but I don't have a lot of stuff to really talk about.

Anyways, this will be a short post. But I have exciting news for what I'm playing.



Okay, so I FINALLY started playing this again a couple weeks ago and this time I'm nearly finished the game. I spent 5 Hours binging Chapters 6-10 last night which is something that happened with Yakuza 0. Long story short, I was near the end of Yakuza 0 and 6 Hours later, I finish the game. I binged it for so long because there wasn't a good stopping point since the story and stakes and action for these chapters were at such a high point that it was literally impossible for me to put the game down. SPOILERS: We get to see Nishiki turn evil in one of the flashback chapters by stabbing one of his own men, Haruka gets kidnapped, we see a flashback to when Kiryu was tortured by the Snake Flower Triad and Kazama saves his ass in a badass way, Reina was giving intel of Kiryu to Nishiki, Reina and Shinji both die. So a LOT happened. My favorite scene so far was when Nishiki met Kiryu at Serena and attempts to persuade him to give Haruka and the pendant to him. I love that he regrets having Mizuki be killed by one of his own men and he has so much depth as a villain and he's so amazing to watch. Look, I can't really say anything about the plot because everything in this game is such a GIANT Spoiler. Also, I didn't know this was a Christmas game?

I will give a better review of the story when I review it for the blog, but it will definitely be filled with Spoilers because HOLY SHIT there's a lot of moments that are really good. There's some stuff I don't like though like Chapter 6 being complete filler, some bosses dodging and sidestepping attacks constantly meaning having to use weapons or Climax Heat Actions to even damage them, the encounter rate gets absurdly high and is annoying if you just wanna progress through the story meaning having to run away from enemies and hope to Jesus you don't bump into any civilian who slow you down, it also gets very repetitive, but these characters are Grade-A and the story is constantly entertaining and knows how to balance tone perfectly. I'm gonna play more tonight and hopefully I'll finish it soon.

Anyways, that's all for now. Thanks for reading and I'll talk with you all soon!

-TheAutisticGamer

That's huge! Hopefully your new place is great! Also Nishiki is a great character. Yakuza 0 added A LOT of depth into him.

That's huge! Hopefully your new place is great! Also Nishiki is a great character. Yakuza 0 added A LOT of depth into him.

Moving is definitely a big change for me right now and I hope we'll get a nice house for the money we have. It's not going to be easy but the more room I have for hobby stuff the better. Having my own kitchen to share with my sister will also be nice.

I just finished Kiwami as well which I will review. I was unfortunately disappointed by the ending of the game. Nishiki is a great character don't get me wrong but I thought he was completely undermined by shoving in Jingu as the main villain, which downplayed Nishiki's importance to the plot by pulling the "He got tricked!" card. I also found his total 180 before his sacrifice to be completely unrealistic for how he grew as a character. Maybe the final fight between him had some set up, but the plot became so convoluted and threw so much at me that I found it hard to understand motives and stuff like that. I did enjoy most of my time with the game but the last couple chapters didn't sit well with me. I'm hoping Kiwami 2 will have a much better and more consistent story throughout. Sad because I love the characters (Majima has become one of my all time favorites) and the story was so good up to that point.

BTW Thanks for posting! I know I don't post a lot on other people's blogs or posts nowadays but I do appreciate the hard work that goes into yours and many other people's blogs. It's good to see you check in again!

I hate changing addresses when I had to move in 2021.

Yeah, that's not going to be easy. I will have support when the time comes and I do have a list of all my accounts that I keep in check, so it shouldn't be as difficult as I'm being lead to believe by myself. It's just that it makes me anxious with the idea of having to change literally everything.

Moving is definitely a big change for me right now and I hope we'll get a nice house for the money we have. It's not going to be easy but the more room I have for hobby stuff the better. Having my own kitchen to share with my sister will also be nice.

I just finished Kiwami as well which I will review. I was unfortunately disappointed by the ending of the game. Nishiki is a great character don't get me wrong but I thought he was completely undermined by shoving in Jingu as the main villain, which downplayed Nishiki's importance to the plot by pulling the "He got tricked!" card. I also found his total 180 before his sacrifice to be completely unrealistic for how he grew as a character. Maybe the final fight between him had some set up, but the plot became so convoluted and threw so much at me that I found it hard to understand motives and stuff like that. I did enjoy most of my time with the game but the last couple chapters didn't sit well with me. I'm hoping Kiwami 2 will have a much better and more consistent story throughout. Sad because I love the characters (Majima has become one of my all time favorites) and the story was so good up to that point.

BTW Thanks for posting! I know I don't post a lot on other people's blogs or posts nowadays but I do appreciate the hard work that goes into yours and many other people's blogs. It's good to see you check in again!

Appreciate you! Yes, inconsistency seems to be a theme with me haha.