Joseph Choi's Reviews
Sonic X Shadow Generations blasts into the stratosphere by delivering a flashy, Shadow-centric epic with high-energy Doom Powers, excellent level design that strikes the right balance between fun and challenge, and a lot of heart in its short story. The fact that the timeless classic Sonic Generations comes with this package is more than just a cherry on top.
Of the Switch’s three Mario Party titles, Super Mario Party Jamboree not only provides the best value and the most content, but it’s a refinement of many of the series’ most iconic elements, with a variety of modes for every mood, skill level, and age group.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom has a lot to recommend - a unique mechanic, classic dungeons, and a decent OST. While it’s a worthy entry into the hallowed series, for Zelda fans who love action and playing with Link’s many toys, Echoes of Wisdom will be an overpriced slog.
It has been slim pickings for Nintendo fans recently in terms of first-party content. Even so, I would only recommend Endless Ocean Luminous to fans who are already madly in love with marine life and to whom spending countless hours swimming and scanning sounds like a relaxing evening, and not simply a meaningless grind.
While Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door has much to recommend it, especially for newcomers, in many ways it is a literal downgrade of a twenty-year-old classic.
Little Kitty, Big City has appropriately-sized ambitions, as it manages to be both grounded and lofty, keeping the player’s eyes scanning the city for open windows, holes in fences, nooks and crannies in which to hide, and vent pipes to climb. Exploration and character interactions are a joy, and I look forward to Double Dagger Studios’ next creation.
It’s easy to describe Animal Well as a puzzle-focused Metroidvania eschewing traditional combat, where nearly every room is a puzzle room, but that falls so far short of describing just what this game is and how expertly it defies genre and classification that it feels like a disservice. Animal Well is a paragon of the art form, a game that simply must be experienced.
With Princess Peach: Showtime!, Nintendo and GoodFeel essentially just kick-started a new franchise with a strong hook - a role-swapping mix of 2.75D action and episodic story-based levels with a comfy aesthetic. Though it’s a little on the short side, younger audiences, casual gamers, and fans of Princess Peach will find much to applaud.
I loved every minute spent in the cozy, quirky world of Super Mario RPG, bopping to the remastered music, smiling at its humor and hijinks, timing battle actions, and enjoying my time spent with its memorable characters. I may have been left wanting a little more, but kudos to Nintendo for bringing back this updated classic, warming the hearts of fans worldwide, and bringing generations together to experience the charm and wonder of Super Mario RPG.
I yearn for a meatier, more challenging Super Mario Bros. Wonder with difficult boss battles, but I can recognize that kids like my young nieces will fall head-over-heels in love with Wonder, because it truly is full of entrancing visual wonder and its simplicity is unlikely to cause household tensions between ambitious older siblings and confused younger ones.
Sonic Superstars drop-dashed straight out of the gate and busted open the Act-ending Roboticizer coating my cold, bitter heart to free my bright-eyed, bushy-tailed inner child and put a big smile on his face.
If you’re a masochist or enjoy glitch-fests, you might find something salvageable about in the Switch version of Mortal Kombat 1, but I strongly implore you to reconsider, and to warn your friends. Buy a new console if you must, but do not spend your hard-earned money on this travesty.
Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a hell of a mic drop. While it’s no reinvention of the wheel, it’s definitely a more compelling and accessible take on the formula that has a lot to recommend it, both for fans of those titles and younger gamers in search of something new.
Tears of the Kingdom accomplishes its lofty goals, improving upon the masterful Breath of the Wild in nearly every key aspect; Tears may not be my favorite Zelda, but for millions of fans, it might be one of the greatest gaming experiences of their lives.
If a hardcore rhythm game where cardboard cutouts of Cloud, Lightning, Vivi, and Terra leap into the air to critical attack and dance at the end of songs sounds like your jam, you’ll most definitely enjoy tapping and sliding as you headbang through Theatrhythm Final Bar Line.
Metroid Prime Remastered goes above and beyond to provide the best possible experience for the player. It is an incredible remaster in every sense of the word. In fact, it may rank alongside Rez HD as one of the best HD remasters I’ve ever played, as it is incredibly faithful to the original, more accessible, and beautiful both visually and aurally.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s rough quality is unacceptable. I hope that Game Freak and Nintendo will work quickly to patch the performance after all this ruckus, but even if it somehow ends up running smoothly enough to not be headache-inducing, I doubt I will ever revisit this game.
Given the scale of the experience, the intensely satisfying gameplay that rewards experimentation, entertaining cut-scenes, excellent music, overall fun factor, and replayability, I’m impressed that Platinum Games has managed to cram so much into Bayonetta 3. Despite a general lack of polish, Bayonetta 3 delivers a breadth of content, provides a worthy conclusion to the epic saga, and leaves me hopeful for the future of the company.
I’m very happy that I gave Little Witch Nobeta a chance. This is a third-person action title with a nimble mage that focuses on precision movements and timing, as well as using your wits to not get trapped by hard-hitting foes. It accomplishes its goal with aplomb.
The Delicious Last Course feels like a completion of the ideas introduced in Cuphead rather than an evolution of the run-and-gun platforming gameplay, which will definitely delight and satisfy hardcore fans of the original classic title.