amphibious_ReViews

When The Skywalker Saga was announced, I was excited, but I was a little wary of the possibility of going back through the same levels I've played dozens of times already in The Complete Saga and the original two LEGO Star Wars games. As soon as screenshots and footage started appearing, all of those fears were gone. I still didn't know much about it at the time, but it certainly wasn't just an expanded version of the game I've played to death. Now that I've played it, I can gladly say that the spirit of those older classics remains but the play-experience carves out its own identity, creating something familiar, yet refreshingly independent. The Skywalker Saga marks a major evolution in the Traveller's Tales LEGO formula. The world is still highly destructible, studs are still the main currency, and there is still an intense focus on collectibles and unlockables, but the gameplay itself has experienced a significant shift from the previous twenty-or-so mainlin

Not only did I find Kirby Tilt'n'Tumble to be one of the most intriguing Kirby spinoffs, but also possibly the most intriguing Gameboy-era game in general. An 8-bit handheld game from the turn of the century that uses real motion controls and is actually playable? I absolutely had to try it for myself. Unfortunately, it wasn't very accessible for the longest time. With the secondhand price being way too much for me to consider, and the emulation options being subpar, I didn't really have much of an option to play it. When Nintendo announced it was coming to the NSO Gameboy app though, I was ecstatic! I would finally have the opportunity to emulate a motion-controlled game on a machine designed for motion controls in an official capacity, so I was confident this would be the best way to play outside of the original hardware. After playing, I'm confident that it's outright the best way to play this game. Kirby's Tilt'n'Tumble is a motion-controlled mar

After six long years, the sequel to Breath of the Wild finally came out. There was a gap of four years between the game's announcement and its release that saw the launch of a remake, a remaster, and two official spinoffs from the same franchise. In fact, there was less time between the launch of Breath of the Wild and the launches of either release of Skyward Sword than there was between the Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. So, was it worth the wait? My answer would be a doubtless, unequivocal, resounding yes! When I finished Breath of the Wild, I thought "How are they possibly going to top that?" but when I first plummeted into the depths of Tears of the Kingdom, I realized "Oh, that's how." There's so much to say about this game. People who haven't played it complain that it's just a glorified DLC for Breath of the Wild, and while it may reuse assets, concepts, and much of the map, I think it's pretty clear that the two are sti

I thought I knew what I was getting into when I started playing Katamari Damacy, but I was wrong. Before I booted it up, I had the idea that this was going to be like one of those games where you eat everything smaller than yourself in order to grow and eventually be big enough that you can consume absolutely everything (which was pretty much right). I also expected that to be the game's focal point (which I'd now argue is pretty much wrong). It was once I heard the first "NAAA NA-NA-NA-NA-NA NA-NAA" of Katamari on the Rocks (the game's opening theme) that things started to shift in my brain. Now, while Katamari Damacy's gameplay is unique and quite excellent, it's clear to me that everything else, the art style, the music, and the story, is what actually makes this game as exceptional as it is. Katamari Damacy sees you taking control of the young Prince of All Cosmos as he rolls up objects around Earth into big balls using magical devices known as katamar

The original  LEGO Star Wars games were a huge part of my childhood. Alongside my brother and my dad, I completed both of them, unlocking every character, finding every collectible, and finishing every challenge. As a testament to their quality, I kept on playing them, even hours after there was nothing new left to do. My love of the first two games made  The Complete Saga  an appealing title. Not only did it offer the entirety of both games in one seamless package, it included a bunch of brand new content to keep me engaged. I'll admit, I never actually hit 100% in this game, but I do own it on four different platforms, so I have plenty of places to go if I need a quick hit of nostalgia, or just some humorous Star Wars fun. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga takes you through the first six Star Wars films, retold in an abridged format by humorous, non-speaking Minifigures. Each movie is represented by around half a dozen stages. These levels take some necessary liberties with t

Reusing game engines has proven to be pretty popular in the Zelda series. It offers developers a chance to craft more experimental and risky games, as the initial investment on the engine was covered by the previous, more traditional release. As a huge fan of A Link Between Worlds , I was ecstatic to learn it was getting a pseudo-follow-up. My excitement only grew when Nintendo sent me an early-access demo, and I somehow had no concerns that this was another multiplayer-focused game, despite my preference for solo play. Since the previous multiplayer Zelda games had pretty functional single-player modes, I anticipated that I could expect the same here. Unfortunately, that wasn't an entirely accurate assumption. Like its predecessors , Tri Force Heroes is level-based in order to accommodate its multiplayer focus. All of the stages are designed like dungeons, so they hold up really well for puzzle-solving challenges, but they lack a lot of the same charm you can find in Four Swor

Evoland  is a delightful, gimmicky, tongue-in-cheek exploration into the history of RPGs and adventure games. For those familiar, the  Gameboy / SNES / Playstation  reminiscent journey will undoubtedly bring a smile to your face. My time with Evoland  was spent on my phone, where it felt surprisingly at home. I imagine it is just as fun on PC and consoles, as it imitates multiple console experiences, but I found that picking it up to play for my short down-times was a pretty enjoyable approach. As a fan of The Legend of Zelda  and Final Fantasy , this game was right up my alley, and anything I say about its gameplay mechanics would essentially just be a comparison to those two franchises, so I won't go down that road. Simply put, if you enjoy classic RPGs and adventure games, you will enjoy Evoland . It's a short game, so it won't pull you away from bigger name games for too long, but it is absolutely a joy to play. The game can be purchased for Android here (as o

Before Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released, I knew three major things - it was bringing together every fighter from the previous series entries, introducing surprising new characters from previously unrepresented franchises, and reinstituting a single-player story mode. I've enjoyed the entire  Smash Bros.  franchise so far, I play a lot of different video games, and I loved Brawl's  "Subspace Emissary" mode, so it's easy to say that I was all in for this new game. Although I wasn't in the financial state to pre-order the game, I was lucky enough to have a fantastic group of friends that decided to host a release party with two TV's and twelve controllers! That's where I think  Ultimate  truly shines. As much as I enjoyed the single-player "World of Light" game mode, I find that I reach for this game more when I am looking to have a great time with friends than when I am looking to pass the time on my own. The combination of clean

I'm going to start this review by saying that I regard The Legend of Zelda  franchise as my favorite video game series of all time. The story, music, characters, environments, and everything else that comes together in a Zelda  game always seems to make me smile and keep me engaged every second of my playthrough. Because of this, I had extremely high expectations coming into  Breath of the Wild , and I am ecstatic to report that it most definitely delivered! My first step into the world of Hyrule  felt both nostalgic and fresh at the same time - a feeling that the game built upon continuously as I played. Because most of the mechanics in the game were either altered heavily from previous Zelda  titles, or entirely new for this title, I did find myself extremely giddy anytime I found something left in from previous games. The fact that the experience I had in this game was different from the series' roots ensured that references to older games (such as highly recognizable sh

Portal  is one of those games that everybody should give a try. It has such a range of amazing elements to it that everybody can take a little something away from their experience, even if they are just watching someone else play. The story is minimal, but hints about what is truly going on are scattered everywhere, and they open up a whole new understanding of the player's situation. That story gets fleshed out even further in the sequel, and it can get extremely intense! Aside from story aspects, the controls are fluid and the system of portals is extremely intelligent and well executed, with the level design complementing multiple strategies, without being simplistic. Portal takes a look at Half-Life 2 's groundwork, and then flips it on its head to create something fantastic and worth every replay; as well as canonically expanding the Half-Life  universe into something completely unanticipated and unprecedented at the time. Although Portal ends up being a pretty quick