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Videogame reviews
PaRappa The Rapper
Rating: NR
Not rating because this game just isn't for me. My dad really likes it so I thought I'd give it a go, but I'm just not a big fan of the songs. I don't listen to rap or play rhythm games often, so I'm not the right audience.
Pokemon: White
Rating: 8/10
My favourite Pokemon game, though it is the first I ever played. Whilst previous Pokemon gens aren't catchable until the post-game, Black and White has the best story out of all the Pokemon games and has a consistent difficulty throughout. All of the gym leaders, besides Brycen, can be quite challenging if it's your first play. With a lot of Pokemon games, there's always the occaisonal crappy gym leaders and Elite Four members, but Black and White's roster is balanced in quality. The gyms themselves are unique and creative.
Overall, Black and White are brilliant Pokemon games and any fan of the series needs to try them.
Pokemon: Heart Gold
Rating: 7/10
I went through a massive Pokemon obsession when I was younger, massive even for my usual intense hyper-fixations. Objectively, Heart Gold is one of, if not the best, Pokemon game. I think it's a great game if you want to get into Pokemon and I have no big complaints about this. Gen 1 Pokemon are very present in Heart Gold (unlike later games where it seems to erase many classic Pokemon) and it also has Pokemon which were new at the time, so it's a good introduction to the Pokemon world.
Whilst Heart Gold isn't my personal favourite game in the series, it's great for beginners and I recommend it.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All
Rating: 8/10
I will admit that this is my first Phoenix Wright game. I knew the basic plot of the first game, such as Edgeworth's role as the main prosecutor, but I was unable to play it as I own a non-Nintendo DS cartridge more than two-hundred games, and this was the cartridge I used to play the Ace Attorney games. Unfortunately, the file for the first game wasn't in English like the other files. So, in short, due to being too poor to buy each game seperately, I used a bootleg cartridge which had the wrong file of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. But enough of my excuses: what about Justice For All?
Justice For All has made me excited to play other Ace Attorney games! I've seen some complain about the opening case, but to me, as someone who had no prior experience with Ace Attorney, I enjoyed it and found it to be a good tutorial level. It showed the main highlight of the gameplay, the courtroom and cross-examinations, which I loved. Finding contradictions within testimony was fun. The next case, Reunion, And Turnabout was great. It had me properly hooked in the game. I was a bit worried at first that it would be supernatural within how the case would be solved, but luckly it wasn't and fit into the realms of reality, something I always prefer in who-dunnits as it's a fair way for the player to solve the mystery rather than throw in some magical solution no human could ever solve.
The third case, Turnabout Big Top, wasn't great. I found the characters in this case to be irritating, especially Regina. The paedophilic love triangle was also highly questionable. I didn't have a hard time with figuring out how the murder was done like some people complain about, but the solution was silly, silly enough to be one of Moe's unfunny "jokes". The case was nowhere as near as bad as some people say it is, but still the weakest in the game.
But the case after this, Farewell, My Turnabout, was amazing, the best in the game. I couldn't notice any plot holes or questionable things with my play, though that could change with a re-play. I loved how tense this case was, the moral-dilemma Phoenix had was great, because as a lawyer you won't defend an innocent person all the time. The character of Adrian Andrews was also done well, how she seems like the obvious culprit at first, but during court how it becomes more and more obvious that she's an innocent person who needs help -- it adds so much to the case, pairing wonderfully with the dilemma Phoenix is facing.
Another thing I liked about Justice For All is Phoenix and Maya. I think they work well together, and I found Phoenix's inner-monolgue to occaisonly be quite funny. I found them both to be charming characters.
Overall, I had a great time with this game and will definitely be playing more in the Ace Attorney series.
Class Of '09: The Flipside
Rating: 5/10
The Flipside is a mixed bag. It doesn't deserve all the hate it's getting, but it's not as good as the previous two games. A lot of the faults in this game come from the new narration. Nicole was a sarcastic and witty character so the game had a comedic tone, and because of her sociopathic traits and lack of empathy she isn't as emotionally affected by events which would devastate others. It pulled off the dark humour because of this. Now that Jecka, a less sarcastic and witty character, who is very emotionally affected by events, is the narrator the game has a more serious tone, with less comedy. This is an inevitable consequence by changing perspectives.
As for the gameplay itself, it has less choices and less endings than the others. The second game also had less endings and choices than the first, but it made the second even better, as things were more expanded upon. Unfortunately, The Flipside has a lack of options and you forget it's a game.
As for the endings... yeesh. Yes, it's true: two out of five endings involve feet in some way. Some endings are incredibly weak, which definitely ruins the game when there are only five of them. For example, the ending with Jecka comitting suicide lacks the social criticism which endings in the first two games had. It's just Jecka admitting that she was a "whore". There was also an ending where Jecka was in human trafficking and one where Ari got hit with a car, both lacked social criticism or anything of value.
I really liked the ending with Jeffrey's death though, and what it said about rich people calling hospitals and police but poor people not helping others due to money. THAT was an ending with the same quality as those in the first two games. The message from Jeffrey's mother also had that same feeling as the other games, it makes you think about things such as otaku and nerd culture.
But the feet story routes... yuck. It didn't have enough comedy to make them not make my skin crawl.
The game definitely had its moments though. There were genuinely hilarious parts, I loved Mr Hat and the Jeffrey death ending was great. Unfortunately, there's so much bad in this game it makes the good harder to remember.
Class Of '09
Rating: 9/10
Class Of '09 is hilarious, it's a mix of Daria's humour and South Park's social criticism, which is an amazing combo. Nicole was a good character: despite being, on paper, what would seem to be a completely unlikeable character, she had me constantly laughing with her insults. What makes her work isn't just her humour, but how despite being a mean and manipulative person, she still has a moral code, which whilst misandric can be understood due to all the events in her life.
The game also never feels like cheap shock-comedy, which can be an easy trap to fall in considering it's themes.
Overrall, Class Of '09 is amazing and I couldn't recommend it more.
Postal
Rating: 7/10
As someone who's rarely disturbed and played much more violent games in the past, I didn't find Postal to be that shocking, but I did find it to be a fun shoot 'em up. I liked that you couldn't spam shoot buttons like a moron to get through the game, it made me come up with strategies to get by and I died a lot. Overall, it's a fun game to kill the time with.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2
Rating: 8/10
A fun and very replayable game. This is probably my third or fourth replay and every time it's just as fun.
Stardew Valley
Rating: 8/10
Stardew Valley is a very relaxing yet fun and addictive game. I'm not usually a fan of games like this, where there is no proper ending, but I had a good time with it. I also liked most of the characters. My only real complaint is that in the skull cave there's no elevators for each five floors, so it was painful and I had to use staircases. Besides that, it was a great time.
Doki Doki Literature Club!
Rating: 10/10
This was so much better than I thought it'd be. At first I thought the game was kind of boring, but the second part: wow. What have I just played? The first part, whilst a bit boring, was just setting everything up, making it even better. I'm almost never scared by horror, but this creeped me out.
