Recent reviews by Skepticpunk

This game is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rollercoaster. One moment I'm all like, "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, they put ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Windjammers in this!?" then the next I'm boiling with rage at the insanely cheap AI at the end, then I go right back to "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, they put ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Wild Guns in this!?"

The F-Zero sequel that Miyamoto could never make.

A lot of indie titles that position themselves as spiritual successors to old series that haven't gotten new entries in a long time (for example, the excellent BallisticNG's take on Wipeout) tend to hew very closely to how the original games played. What few of them do is take things that were exploits in the original games, such as snaking and grinding on rails for extra speed in F-Zero, and incorporating them into their games as actual mechanics. Aero GPX does that, adds its own mechanics such as Drill Diving and the Burn mechanic, and pulls off a perfectly smooth execution. The controls and physics, while difficult to master, are still easy to pick up and have a precise feeling that shows how much the developer cares about how the game feels to play, and the excellent soundtrack doesn't hurt, either, with a large variety of upbeat tracks ranging from bluegrass to rock to power metal. The art style has a really interesting comic-book feel to it, mirroring a bit of F-Zero X's presentation while integrating it more into how the game actually looks, with the ink-dot style looking a lot like dithering at times, which is rad as hell and I'm actually kinda surprised I haven't seen that before.

While the game does seem to have weird bugs that weren't present in the earlier demos, such as the instruction screens in the tutorial getting stuck, or me somehow managing to start on Lap 2 of a race, they don't change the fact that this game is not only worth picking up, but is likely to become a classic.

♥♥♥♥ Snoy. That is all.

Can this come with Windows alongside Solitare?

You know how Call of Duty has all those awesome killstreaks, right? What if you had those all the time, but the game was also designed around that, and the game was also basically Starship Troopers?

Edit as of May 3, 2024:

Sony has decided to make a PSN account mandatory for this game. While it doesn't personally affect me because I already had a PSN account and don't mind linking it, and the game is still really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ good, I feel bad for those who don't want to give Sony their personal information (which I didn't have to do when I signed up for a PSN account back in like 2008), those who are justifiably concerned with Sony's lack of security, or those who can't even play the game anymore due to not being in a country where you can even sign up for PSN. I am editing my review in solidarity with those people.

Sorry, Arrowhead. You made a GOTY contender, but Sony had to suck a thousand fat ♥♥♥♥♥.

Edit as of May 6, 2024:

Sony appears to have walked back the PSN requirements. Reinstating original rating.

Yes, the first boss is a difficulty spike. It gets better.

Megaman Zero and Ninja Gaiden had a baby, and it was this game.

Capgod is back, along with, unfortunately, Android 16 from DBFZ. At least the rest of the game is fun.

What if shmup, but sometimes you actually want to run into the bullets?

Hey, look, it's that arcade game Midway forgot to release in 1988 or so. Except it's a modern roguelite for some reason. Sweet.