Super Mario Odyssey

 Possibly a better game than even Zelda.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hyper Light Drifter

Image
To me, Hyper Light Drifter is what Zelda should always have been. I know this is a provocative thing to say, but Zelda, while having laid the template for so much, and so well, fails spectacularly on two things: currency, and combat. Combat in Zelda is more a matter of what equipment you have and less of skill. As for currency, the less said about those green emeralds the better. Platformers have you collect things for the sake of collecting things, it's true. But it's different for an action adventure game: there's so much you can do with the mechanics of money in a video game. Hyper Light Drifter has Zelda's exploration, puzzle solving (albeit very slight) but where it truly excels is the feeling it gives you after landing a rightly timed slash of the sword followed by two quick shots with your laser pistol. There's nothing quite like it in video gaming history. The pixel art is also beautiful.
Read more

Outer Wilds

Outer Wilds was my biggest disappointment in gaming in 2020. Not because it was a bad game, but just the opposite. If I had finished it by myself, I would possibly have said that it was one of the greatest games ever made. Unfortunately, I got so frustrated with not being able to progress at one point that I gave in and spoiled the whole thing for myself. Now it's too late: I don't feel the need to go back and play what's left, now that I know what's in store. Nevertheless, it was so brilliant when I was trying to solve everything by myself. A sublime experience.
Read more

Hades

Image
I've been playing Supergiant Games ever since Bastion came out. I didn't have a very high opinion about Bastion, largely because the combat didn't feel terribly satisfying. But then they kept making more games, and each and every one of them was in a different genre. Transistor had a brilliant turn based system, and Pyre was so original and so critically acclaimed that no one discussed it much. And how we have Hades, and I think they've finally perfected their style with this one. Not since Spelunky have I felt this satisfied in a roguelike.
Read more