Hype check time! Recuse Mission was just about the closest thing I've felt to a AAA Mario platformer not on a Nintendo console...and now this full release is looking to be just as good, if not better than it's predecessor. Can't wait for Friday.
I think Helldivers 2, Black Myth Wu-Kong, and FFVII Re-Birth are probably at the very top of the list right now (even if they aren't games I particularly love outside FF) with Astrobot. Astrobot if it lives up to the hype though is likely to be my personal game of the year. I am very excited for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, since I've loved MachineGames work on Wolfenstein, and the original Indiana Jones trilogy is an IP I absolutely adore. So, if that lands it will be very high on my list, but I think it's release date is post the Game Awards cut-off.currently sitting at a 94 on metacritic.
I was expecting positive reviews but not "this is the best game to come out this year" good. Legitimate GOTY contender with very little left to challenge it (what like, the new Zelda and maybe Metaphor: ReFantazio?)
Picked it up. I was pretty sold given what they showed but the reviews made it a slam dunk.
Feels like this should have been Sackboy in retrospect but the IP fizzled out.Does Sony finally have it's platforming/family friendly mascot? Crazy to see Sony launch such a well reviewed platformer.
Early on it was Crash/Spyro (although they didn't outright own the IP), past that they've had things like Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper etc. but those games tended to be a headed by a bit more ambitious development teams (just look at how Naughty Dog and SuckerPunch have developed). Ratchet and Clank was also a bit less innocent in humor and a larger storyline than a typical kids game. This game looks like it could punch all the right boxes. Can't wait to get my hands on it.Feels like this should have been Sackboy in retrospect but the IP fizzled out.
Hopefully this Astrobot game is just the start and they can continue to create excellent platformers.
Little Big Planet as cool as the idea was on paper, was really, really shallow gameplay wise. That, and the problem with games that rely on user generated content to fuel it is you need to swim through the ocean of trash to find the good stuff. Mario Maker had this problem as well.Feels like this should have been Sackboy in retrospect but the IP fizzled out.
Hopefully this Astrobot game is just the start and they can continue to create excellent platformers.
One of my gaming hot takes is Mario Odyssey is kinda overrated imo.I think Helldivers 2, Black Myth Wu-Kong, and FFVII Re-Birth are probably at the very top of the list right now (even if they aren't games I particularly love outside FF) with Astrobot. Astrobot if it lives up to the hype though is likely to be my personal game of the year. I am very excited for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, since I've loved MachineGames work on Wolfenstein, and the original Indiana Jones trilogy is an IP I absolutely adore. So, if that lands it will be very high on my list, but I think it's release date is post the Game Awards cut-off.
If Sony has finally made something that can at least be in discussion with Mario Odyssey, it's such a massive success. Sony has a lot of must play games for older gamers, but rarely something that 6 to 10 year olds are really gonna want to play, and this may finally be it. Can't wait to get my hands on it.
True - but man, when you found those gem levels with a group of friends it was always a blast!Little Big Planet as cool as the idea was on paper, was really, really shallow gameplay wise. That, and the problem with games that rely on user generated content to fuel it is you need to swim through the ocean of trash to find the good stuff. Mario Maker had this problem as well.
Level design wise it Astro Bot struct me a bit more as like Mario 3D World. To be honest, I'm very curious where Mario goes next after what they did with Bowser's Fury (which seemed like where they are gonna try to go whenever they drop the next mainline Mario 3D game on Switch 2. I personally loved Odyssey but I can see the complaints. I also took a long break from Nintendo (hadn't owned anything really since Gamecube), and during the pandemic got Switch OLED and just loved jumping back into those iconic IPs. So, as someone who grew up a Genesis kid, and then switched to 64 it brought in a whole bunch of nostalgia.One of my gaming hot takes is Mario Odyssey is kinda overrated imo.
A lot of the core mechanics are amazing with Mario being the most mobile he's ever been, the hat transform stuff is a legitimately good idea and opens up a whole new world of variables to throw on top of the basic gameplay loop (which is imo where Mario has excelled post 2D era), it feels good to play and look at. What kinda killed it for me is the level design. There's a few cleverly hidden/enjoyable moons to find in each world but the rest feel like they're just thrown about with no rhyme or reason to them in the name of "deepening" the experience. It felt dangerously close to ubisoft checklist type design.
Though i must admit, Mario as a whole lost a bit of its luster as i got older and i'm not sure why especially when i still adore the other Nintendo IPs i grew up with. Still love the original 2D games, Mario 64 is still one of my all time favorite games to this day. Past Galaxy 1 the games did less for me.
Odyssey had a chilling effect for me, which is weird since it's the most the series has evolved since probably Sunshine. Compare that to something like Zelda where i was absolutely fed up with the series direction from Twilight Princess up until Skyward Sword completely re-igniting my love for the series with Breath of the Wild radically changing the formula.
Astro Bot looks like it's a much more streamlined platforming experience which looks like a good thing.
100% agreed. Its collectathon progression system is pretty terrible.One of my gaming hot takes is Mario Odyssey is kinda overrated imo.
A lot of the core mechanics are amazing with Mario being the most mobile he's ever been, the hat transform stuff is a legitimately good idea and opens up a whole new world of variables to throw on top of the basic gameplay loop (which is imo where Mario has excelled post 2D era), it feels good to play and look at. What kinda killed it for me is the level design. There's a few cleverly hidden/enjoyable moons to find in each world but the rest feel like they're just thrown about with no rhyme or reason to them in the name of "deepening" the experience. It felt dangerously close to ubisoft checklist type design.
Though i must admit, Mario as a whole lost a bit of its luster as i got older and i'm not sure why especially when i still adore the other Nintendo IPs i grew up with. Still love the original 2D games, Mario 64 is still one of my all time favorite games to this day. Past Galaxy 1 the games did less for me.
Odyssey had a chilling effect for me, which is weird since it's the most the series has evolved since probably Sunshine. Compare that to something like Zelda where i was absolutely fed up with the series direction from Twilight Princess up until Skyward Sword completely re-igniting my love for the series with Breath of the Wild radically changing the formula.
Review scores don't mean anything to the industry. Only thing that sends a message is sales.Happy to see this scoring well!!
Hopefully this sends a message to Playstation and the industry as a whole
More of this and less of Concord and Dustborn
Hope to grab this one in the next few weeks