Recent reviews by spiral6

Sonic Mania was surprisingly lackluster for me. I expected, given the fanservice and nostalgia I have for Sonic 3K et al., that it would be better than it actually was. Half of the levels are remixes of older levels (Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Lava Reef, etc.), while the other half were completely original.

Additions like the Drop Dash were nice additions, but the removal of the Star Pole minigames and ability to gain powerups/lives from them is a poor choice; opting instead for the usage of the Blue Spheres mini game (which is not very fun even back then). Back then, they were used to get the Chaos Emeralds and only required 7 runs. Now it's 32 for Extras and Collectibles... which isn't super great. Particularly as they made the Rings as the requirement for the Gold Medals.

In lieu of the Blue Spheres minigames for Emeralds, they made the UFO Catcher minigame from Sonic CD used for Emeralds instead. I don't find that minigame very fun, but it's a tossup on whether it's less annoying than Blue Spheres.

The new bosses range from "Ok" to just plain boring. Some of them are really lackluster in their presentation (like the final Super Sonic boss), and others are creative but simple (like the Magician boss in Mirage Saloon zone.

The new zones are utilizing a lot of gimmicks from older Sonic games as well as adding their own. Some of them range as pretty decent (Oil Ocean Zone using Sandopolis Zone's gimmick was actually ok) while others are very boring and unfun (Titanic Monarch utilizing the electric orb obstacle from the Star Pole minigame constantly really slowed the pace down and made things very boring).

Overall it feels like the entire game is full of these hits and misses. I played Encore Mode a little bit before getting bored of Mighty and Ray as well. It doesn't feel as tightly paced or fun to play as Sonic 3 & Knuckles was. I want to like this game, as the art is phenomenal and the music is on point. Everything about the presentation is a love letter to the Sonic of old. But it feels like the new level designs are a huge detriment to the game itself and really mess up the pacing.

I played an ad.

Free game, but hard to ignore the small roster in the game. I'm not a fighting game expert, so I can't speak much to how fun or responsive it is. Has some jank in the menus and overall controls that could be significantly improved and has little to do with the actual combat/gameplay. Same goes for invites and joining friends. There are a lot of UI related improvements that can be made.

Decent game, with a fairly ok progression system as far as combat leveling and damage goes, and a nigh-invincible counter attack. As a Metroidvania though, it's lacking in the platforming, puzzles and traversal mechanics. Things that I thought Momodora (the developer's other game) did much better at. Some of the regular jumping is a bit too janky for my taste. The map being excessively wide without fast travel (until you *beat* the game) is a bit of a dealbreaker. The incenses feel generally pretty underwhelming. Overall, definitely something to get on sale, but otherwise just ok.

Pretty straight forward game, with just one puzzle that stumped me (Vault). Contrary to the popular reviews at the time of posting this, the sliding puzzle is actually pretty easy and simple (similar to an old Flash game I played long ago named Continuity). This entire game feels like a classic Flash game of old, in a good way.

The game is a bit too esoteric for my liking. Difficult, nice graphics, no save feature. Grinding for tougher weapons is a bit boring. There is absolutely no direction towards going to the next level, where the boss gate is, no significant exposition...

Dying will cause you to restart the game. A bit too harsh for my liking.

A decent sequel to the original. You can tell the developers were being more ambitious with this one with more complex boss fights, a free-form objective system in one of the later levels, a more fleshed out skill tree system, and a roguelike mode. Generally the combat balance changes, the enemy AI and movesets, and the level design don't do too much more to push the needle. Fans of the first game will most likely find this game fairly enjoyable and probably won't be too put off by some of the differences in this one.

rdein and team have done it again. Moonlit Farewell is a gorgeous game with beautiful pixel art, a phenomenal soundtrack, compelling level design, fair and fun boss fights, and an engaging progression system. Only criticisms I'd leverage against it is that it is a bit easier than Reverie Under the Moonlight, and there are no incentives outside of an achievement for doing a zero-damage boss fight (though I personally agree with this change). The game is a fair bit longer than Reverie Under the Moonlight as well.

For the Glory of Mankind.

A very excellent game and spiritual successor to Hotline Miami. The game is lengthy enough, mechanically diverse, skilled, and has some of the best presentation I've seen in a long time.