I do not believe I ever mentioned talking about the Kirby franchise on this blog before, and with the release of Kirby and the Forgotten Land on the Nintendo Switch, this seems a perfect time as any to talk about the pink puffball and my experiences with playing Kirby games.
I have been thinking about my reviews of Breath of the Wild and Skyward Sword and I decided to go through the gauntlet of playing the classic mainline 3D Legend of Zelda games. Where better to start than the iconic Ocarina of Time. I have talked about the legacy and importance of games such as Super Mario 64 and Final Fantasy VII, but Ocarina of Time is also one of the most important video games in video game history. Ocarina of Time is the book of Genesis of the open-world, action-adventure game, and the plethora of action-adventure games released since Ocarina of Time can trace its roots to this game.
When I first heard about Pokémon Legends: Arceus, I could not believe that Game Freak was going to move away from the formula that they have always used to create their mainline Pokémon games and sell millions of copies, despite their fleeting quality. I was critical of Pokémon Sword and Shield, and I thought that because Game Freak was still making huge profits off terrible Pokémon games and the overall Pokémon marketing machine, they would have no reason to innovate. Imagine my surprise when Game Freak announced this new game which is going to be a brand-new Pokémon experience, where the focus is on discovering all the Pokémon in the Hisui region, rather than win a bunch of gym badges and challenge a region's Elite Four and Champion. I still had low expectations, and the lack of marketing told me that Game Freak was not sure how the audience was going to receive this game upon its release.
I have good news! I finally have a gaming PC so I can play even more video games. I picked up Cyberpunk 2077 during a Steam sale in the holiday season so that I can experience one of the most discussed games in recent memory. I remember how much hype this game had prior to its release in late-2020. The developers, CD Projekt Red achieved great success with the release of The Witcher III, and it would be interesting to see how the developers would follow this up. The revelation that Keanu Reeves would have a significant voice-acting role furthered the already-massive hype for Cyberpunk 2077. This was going to be one of the best games of 2020, right?
I am going to write some more cheap filler content and briefly talk about my ranking of the best five games I have played in 2021. These were games that I played for the first time in 2021, not necessarily released on 2021. I expected some certain games to be on my list, but there was a surprise on the list as well. Before I go through the list, I have some honorable mentions that just missed my list.
I created a post last year where I made quick reviews on a number of Nintendo Switch games. Now that I have played many more Switch games since then, I am going to write a second part of my series of quick Switch game reviews. My thoughts are limited to a paragraph or two. Let us get started...
Astral Chain is a Nintendo Switch-exclusive action-adventure; beat 'em up style game developed by Platinum Games. Platinum Games developed games such as the Bayonetta Series, as well as Nier: Automata, which was one of my favorite games of the last generation of video game consoles. It is safe to say that Platinum Games have some experience in making a satisfying and critically acclaimed action-adventure game. Astral is a solid game, but I think the game falls short of being an outstanding game on the Switch.
I am not going to spend much of this blog post talking about Super Mario 3D World other than the fact that this game is as enjoyable as any other 3D Mario game. I have already talked about games like Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Odyssey, and the great things about those games are similarly prevalent in Super Mario 3D world. Super Mario 3D World has incredible level design, and nice graphics and audio to boot. I would rank Super Mario 3D World as the third best Mario game I have ever played, behind Super Mario Galaxy at #1, and Super Mario Odyssey at #2.
I finished playing Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity for the Nintendo Switch. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity takes the gameplay from hack-and-slash, musou-style games such as Dynasty Warriors, and marries it with all of the other aspects from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I remember playing a little bit of the first Hyrule Warriors game and the developers crammed everything Zelda-related into a game with no real sense of direction. Now that Age of Calamity is a direct prequel to Breath of the Wild (set 100 years before the events of BotW) and has a competent story, the experience playing Age of Calamity feels more streamlined and immersive than its predecessor.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon is the latest entry in the Yakuza series developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios and published by Sega. I am happy to be jumping into the newest Yakuza game, but there have been a couple of massive changes to this game, compared to previous entries.
Ghost of Tsushima is a Sony-exclusive video game developed by Sucker Punch (known for developing the Sly Cooper and Infamous video game series). This was a game nominated for numerous "Game of the Year" awards by many publications, and after playing the game, I can see why it deserved those nominations.
This is going to be a filler post on this blog. I am going to talk about the five best games I have played in 2020, ranked from five to one. Some of these games came out prior to 2020, but these were games I completed in 2020. My only rule is that I have not played any of these games before. Super Mario Galaxy would have been on this list, but I have played the game years before for the Nintendo Wii, so I am not including it. Let us get on with it then...
Over the course of the last six months, I have played a number of games for the Nintendo Switch. I do not want to create a dedicated post for each game, so I have a list of Switch games I have played recently, and I will give my thoughts about each game in a paragraph or two. Without further ado, here we go...
Continuing on playing all of the games from Super Mario 3D All Stars, the second game I play is Super Mario Sunshine, released on the GameCube back in 2002. This was the only game I have not actually played prior to my purchase of this compilation of Mario games for the Switch. I am happy to say that I enjoyed Super Mario Sunshine and the game deserves its place as a celebrated Mario 3D platformer, despite its noted criticisms. Just as an FYI, I beat the main game of Sunshine, but I did not get every single Shine Sprite.
I recently purchased Super Mario 3D All Stars for the Nintendo Switch, which includes Super Mario 64 (from the Nintendo 64), Super Mario Sunshine (from the Nintendo GameCube), and Super Mario Galaxy (from the Nintendo Wii). Three full-length games for the price of one regular-priced Switch is a good value. In addition, I wanted to relive the nostalgia of playing through Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy again (I did not play Super Mario Sunshine). For the purposes of this post, I will talk about Super Mario 64. I will talk about my experiences with the game, and then talk about if the game still holds up today.
