amphibious_ReViews

As a mid-2000s handheld sequel to a legendary console game, I expected Metroid Prime Hunters to be a neutered imitation of the game that inspired it. In regards to its formula, that's exactly what happened, but I was actually quite surprised by how much I still enjoyed myself while playing it. There are a lot of spin-off games that claim to be canon in their respective series but can easily be passed up. While it takes place between the first two numbered Metroid Prime games, I still expected to feel that way about Hunters before I played it. Now that I've finished it, I think it's important enough that I actually find myself wishing for a port to the Nintendo Switch so other people can play it before Metroid Prime 4 debuts. Whether it was because of hardware constraints or a genuine consideration for the short play sessions that are typical of handheld gamers, Metroid Prime Hunters makes a few big concessions from the usual Metroid formula. Other than a set of special weap...

I jumped into the StreetPass Mii Plaza DLC train far too late. By the time I could actually play any of the new games, the 3DS's popularity had waned enough that even one StreetPass tag was cause for elation. That reality forced me to neglect a surprisingly delightful suite of games until about a month ago. Enter NetPass - a custom tool that attempts to recreate the magic of StreetPass through digital lobbies that you can join to "encounter" other 3DS players and collect new StreetPass tags. Using NetPass, I was able to dive headfirst into the Mii Plaza DLC that I've been sitting on for all this time, and I'm loving it! Mii Force is the first game from the collection that I've beaten so far, and I appreciate its novelty, but it's one of my least favorite of the bunch. I prefer the StreetPass games that are laid back, letting me take them at my own pace throughout the day. I'm not so much a fan of the ones that demand focus and quick reactions. As a sho...

I did not expect to be surprised by this game as much as I was. As a kid, I frequently played the GBA port, so I thought I had a good idea of what I was getting into. I quickly realized that I probably never made it past the first three or four levels in any of my dozens of restarts, so most of what Super Mario World had to offer was a new experience for me. Unfortunately, as much as I was surprised by the game, I was underwhelmed by how it felt to actually play it. Super Mario World is almost a perfect follow-up to Super Mario Bros. 3 , taking the foundation established by the previous console's final game in the series and creating something simultaneously familiar and brand new. The map screen introduced in SMB3 is back, albeit in a much more attractive form thanks to the SNES's 16-bit architecture. The expected run-and-jump platforming also returns, with new power-ups, enemies, and set pieces to help give Super Mario World its own identity. The big standout addition is Mari...

One could paraphrase my review of Ori and the Blind Forest by saying that, while I enjoyed it, it just didn't have the same magic that other Metroidvanias have had for me in the past. Ori and the Will of the Wisps, on the other hand, absolutely has that magic. Building off of the narrative and gameplay foundations of the previous game while taking everything up a few notches, this ended up being one of the most gripping experiences I've had with the genre yet! While the first game had a particular few design choices that really stood out to me, Ori and the Will of the Wisps went a different direction with pretty much all of them. I was skeptical of these changes at first, but I think they were ultimately the right move for this game. Instead of being able to manually save anywhere with one of Ori's spells, the game relies on generous auto-saves and save stations. I was worried about trusting my fate to auto-saves, but there were far fewer instant-death traps than there wer...