Recent reviews by blue

i expected nothing and got an insanely fun exploration game with a pretty robust battle system. solid game overall!

if i wanted to be really critical, i guess i could say the creature designs overall are not particularly interesting, but the art more than makes up for the simpler designs.

a pretty good strategy game, feels like Dawn of War but less clunky. fun game to pick up!

now can y'all get Halo Wars 2 on steam lol

a fine game mostly carried by the idea of a crossover between a platformer and a twin-stick shooter.

it does better than most games in the genre by mostly having visual variety in terrain by not having everything be blocks and squares - inclines and rounded-off terrain adds a lot so it's good to see a game try to be more than simply utilitarian

i think it's an enjoyable romp that does enough to break out of the mold of the genre it's inspired by

absolutely not optimized for steam deck though. not enough to dock points out of a review but still worth mentioning (at least as of the time of posting this)

Armilly is my favorite bimbo.

it's a "love it" or "hate it" game

there's only really one bad possible way to feel about this game, and it's entitlement. i also don't think it would hit as hard if it was presented in a different fashion (like a visual novel).

it made me personally think a lot and that's good, to me!

my favorite game of the original kiryu brawler series (0-6).

i would say to truly enjoy it you sort of need to have played 1-5, which is a tall ask. you can very well play it without having played previous entries, but then i would say most of the emotional impact is diminished. story is also tightly packed in this and doesn't really waste any time, it mostly gets to the point throughout the entire run ti,e

also my favorite in terms of side activities - i by far prefer this version of the "rts" minigame (clan creator) over kiwami 2's, the sidequests are much more engaging, and (unpopular opinion?) i prefer this (and kiwami's) version of the exp system. is it better? don't know, but i like it more!!

i do not think the game aged well. there's better contemporary beat em up you can play over this one. level progression isn't all that fun either.

if you can muster a group of friends then maybe it's still worth a look, but it's a strong maybe. i fully realize i am not being very fair since i am posting this 13 years after release, and i did enjoy it... a decade ago.

not something you play for the story, but more than makes up for it with a fun combat system. requires essentially to consider your best options, and the investment in return is to choose which inventory items you desire to invest in.

for the price it's at, if you are any level of RPG enthusiast, it deserves at least a strong strong strong consideration from you.

the filters are particularly bad for this collection but i do think it's the best way to legally enjoy these games. it's the zero games with all the good (gameplay) and the bad (technical limitations like screen crunch on the GBA) of the originals.

the save checkpoint system is the best compromise in terms of difficulty toggle the legacy collections have had (rewind from legacy 1, weird checkpoints from legacy 2, and rookie hunter from the X collections), and i think it works fantastic here.

as for the games, Zero 2 and 3 are my favorite, and i don't think anything hits quite like the opening to Zero 2. Zero 1 is still a weird little game and honestly should be played at least once to see what it's like. Zero 4 has a banger ending setpiece.

biggest issue i've had on steam deck is that the main menu's background just does not render properly, which i suppose is minor but still worth mentioning. had no real issue with any game in terms of performance.

overall, a really good package that i think is worth playing!!!

i think the best way to describe yakuza 5 is "grander than life".

it's the most ambitious yakuza game. it's the most *yakuza* yakuza game. there's so much to do in terms of activities, side quests, mini games, side story arcs for the main cast that a lot of people feel overwhelmed by it. it also affects the pacing. which is fair and valid criticism.

but personally none of that bogged me down. i found the game absolutely engrossing from start to finish, and it's hard for me to get the characters out of my head.

if you like yakuza it's more of that. if you dislike yakuza, i do not think this game will change your mind. but i'll think about this game for a long time after i'll be done with it.