Joseph Choi's Reviews
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.
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.
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.
Unfortunately, despite all it has going for it, Team Sonic Racing doesn't achieve its full potential. The track selection is far and away inferior to previous offerings. There are some standouts, but it feels like for each great track, there are two half-baked ones filled with recycled ideas that go on for far too long.
If you can tolerate your puzzle boxes beautifully rendered and charming rather than merciless, or just want to have a pleasant experience playing alongside a spectator, I suppose you could do worse than Luigi's Mansion 3.
I’m happy to report that New Pokémon Snap improves upon the original game in nearly every respect. It’s filled with well-animated interactions between Pokemon, a wide variety of evolving environments, and over 200 Pokémon to add to your Photodex. Despite all of its quality-of-life improvements, its relaxing vibe, and decent presentation, however, it’s more of an evolution of the concept than a revolution, and soundly geared to younger audiences. I imagine that because of its simple gameplay, it’s not going to satisfy everyone.
For better or worse, Mario Party Superstars delivers on its promise of bringing the best elements of the classic era of Mario Party to vivid life on the Switch, though even with a variety of gameplay styles and customization options, the formula is showing its age, and the loose combination of RNG and skill-based gameplay won’t be for everyone.
It’s a bit difficult to whole-heartedly recommend this digital iteration of Catan. Those new to the series might be better served by starting the old-fashioned way: with the tabletop game and a group of friends.
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.
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.