VIDEO GAME: Sonic Frontiers (2022)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Sonic FrontiersYear: 2022Rating: E10+Time Played: 19.62 hours One of the big transformational shifts in video games lately has been the adaptation of longstanding franchises to make “open-world” versions of their IPs. While Breath of the Wild started this transition, it has been somewhat hit-or-miss for certain franchises. Super Mario Odyssey handled it well, but Pokémon Violet suffered from graphical limitations. Then there’s Sonic Frontiers, which did relatively well with making Sonic’s speed feel fun, but struggled with larger issues that crop up from moving to an open-world format. At the very least, the plot and cutscenes were well-written enough to drive the story forward. Just like when games shifted from 2D platforming to 3D space, there are a lot of different things to consider that might be overlooked because it’s a fundamental change to the core gameplay. Most Sonic games, even the 3D ones, have been fairly linear in their gameplay, so moving to open world needed lots of areas to give...
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VIDEO GAME: Kirby and the Forgotten Land (2022)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Kirby and the Forgotten LandYear: 2022Rating: E10+Time Played: 15+ hours Kirby and the Forgotten Land is an interesting outlier for one of Nintendo's longest-running franchises. Most of these games transitioned from 2D platformers to 3D space in the Nintendo 64 era. Games like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time flawlessly made the jump into the next dimension. Even Metroid Prime successfully brought that franchise into 3D space with the Gamecube. 30 years after its debut, Kirby finally made it to 3D with Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The game structure is the same as any other Kirby game. Each world is broken into a series of themed levels, followed by a boss at the end of the world. Kirby can inhale enemies and replicate their abilities. The final boss is a literal god. Where previous Kirby games maintained some of their puzzle simplicity by being in two dimensions, Forgotten Land allows more exploration in 3D space while...
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