Kirby Air Riders

• Genre: Racing
• Spoiler Free Review: Yes.
• Time Played: 20 hours
• Too Short/Long: I felt it a little unnecessary to redo an entire run through Road Trip, but it wasn't too bad. I think I would have preferred if I could have just selected areas I didn't visit my first path, rather than fully restart, it also would have given more inventive to try harder difficulties, which could offer higher rewards - to better match the ever increasing stats.
• Soundtrack: Soundtrack is good, all the Kirby hits and more.
• Why I played: I really liked Kirby Air Ride back in the day, and it's hard to believe that was over twenty years ago, but I had made friends play that with me a few times here and there but I am pretty sure I was far more enthusiastic about it than anyone else I knew at the time.
• Did I cry: Nah, but it did have a surprising couple of moments where I reflexively winced.
• Jank: Kirby Air Ride was pretty janky even for it's time. Air Riders is much more polished, but I'd argue has it's... peculiarities. It's not poorly made by any means, it just kind of inherently janky to some degree.
• Difficulty: Pretty standard difficulty, I would say it definitely offers more challenge than most "real" Kirby games, even at it's easiest, and at it's hardest it's not unfair - just extremely challenging. Often, there is a gimmick to something that may make it seem harder without knowing what you have to do. It's a game that while it only uses two buttons and a stick for the majority of it's controls, is actually incredible complex and buried in it's own mechanics.
• Recommend to others: It's a tougher one to recommend because of it being a very non-standard racing game. It has a lot more to it than that, and doesn't even always feel explicitly like a racing game, but it's also not the same genre as a normal Kirby game. It definitely feels like a Kirby game, but it's entirely it's own thing. I really like it, and even Alice, who doesn't usually enjoy racing game, has had some fun playing it with me, but it's something you really gotta sit with to know.

Kirby Air Riders is the best racing game I've played this year. A year where both Mario Kart and Sonic game our with some kind of racing game that take place in a World, or... multiple. I've had Air Riders less than a week and already put more time in the both of them combined. I've played a couple other racing games this year, but not ones that came out this year. Some top-down racing games, the 2nd Hotwheels Unleashed, some misc other games, I'm sure.

This is easily the best, in my opinion. I always complain about how The Game Awards is too soon and always missing some great end of year releases. This year I mostly complained about it because of Metroid Prime 4 coming out soon, but I also mentioned Air Riders, more jokingly. While it's certainly no Game of the Year, looking at it's obvious potential nomination spot: Best Sports/Racing, the contenders being the aforementioned Mario and Sonic along with some misc. annual real sports sim games, I now actually DO think Kirby Air Riders is the Sports/Racing game of the year and it's unfortunately it won't even get nominated due to it's late release. That said, the awards are mostly a popularity contest and there is no way it's beating Mario Kart, even if it was objectively better, and I'm not saying it is, but I certainly enjoyed it (far) more, and am sure I'm not the only one.

Kirby Air Riders has four main modes which are basically: Normal Racing, Top Down ala Super Off Road, Mini Game Mode, and Story. The main appeal being the different ways to explore the game's unique mechanics. You auto-accelerator, and your main button mainly just breaks/boosts and most vehicles each have their own gimmick for how to be utilized correctly. On paper, it sounds more simple than it is, but Kirby Air Riders, with it's one one, or rather two buttons, is far more engaging than most racing games.

The story is mostly the mini-game mode with extra steps - a lot of extra steps. A lot of short challenges, choosing alternate paths, collecting stats and rides in order to race/fight stronger/faster opponents. While many of the challenges are racing in different ways, there is a pretty decent variety of other challenges, including various ways to battle, collect-a-thons, map-control etc. The way the story combines all these different modes and challenges make it feel like it's much more than a racing game. I felt like I was playing an actual campaign of sorts and it's fun and invigorating and escalates it into new heights beyond just another race, it does things very few other racing games do that actually make it feel engaging. It's almost a disservice to call it just a racing game. It's a celebration of all things Kirby, an action adventure party, that just so happens to utilize a unique racing game's mechanics for all of the gameplay.

Neon Inferno

• Genre: Run and Gun
• Spoiler Free Review: Not much to spoil.
• Time Played: ~5 hours
• Partner: Alice
• Too Short/Long: If we were better at the game, it would have been a good bit shorter, we both would have liked to have seen more. But it's way better than the ~1 hour length of the studio's previous game.
• Soundtrack: Soundtrack is pretty great, hype and surprisingly diverse.
• Why I played: I loved Steel Assault for the maybe 1 hour I played it. I had mentioned it seemed more like a proof of concept, and while this is an entirely different game, I can at least see where they learned this or that.
• Did I cry: Nah.
• Jank: I would say the only jank really is just that some of this hitboxes seem bigger than the affect. It's definitely not pixel perfect hit detection and I feel like if it isn't you should generally be conservative in a game that requires precision dodging of attacks.
• Difficulty: Played on the standard difficulty as per usual, though this game really asks you to play on hard/arcade, so I wonder if there is additional content there, if so, I just may. Anyway, it was still very tough on the standard difficulty.
• Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes run and gun games like Contra. The action is intense and pretty well varied, it has new an interesting mechanics, and the art and soundtrack are awesome. I definitely think it has the co-op in mind though, so more recommended for co-op than single.

The second I saw the trailer for Neon Inferno I knew it was an instant buy from me. It was definitely a very cool game. I had a lot of fun, but I do wish I could have some more fun with it. There are only a handful of stages, but they're pretty big and often have several different gimmicks or design elements. It never feels like it's just filling space with another encounter. The bosses are each pretty different and each have a couple unique phases.

The main element to the game which is pretty cool is the fact that it has the standard action-platforming-esque run and shoot aspects, but it also has a "shoot the background" gallery shooting mechanic that you have to alternate back and forth between. Making it at times a cover-shooter, often sans cover. Pretty unique for a 2d side-scrolling game. In addition to your main gun, you also have a knife attack that can also parry certain types of shots. I think it really has two-player in mind, because there is stuff shooting at you from every direction at times but you need to stop and shoot the background. Juggling this with two people makes it feel actually possible. 

There are also some upgrades you can purchase in-game but I feel like these are actually pretty poorly implemented. They are expensive based off what you can earn in a level, and they're one-time use, and you can only carry one. I feel like the upgrades should have just been slottable equipment and maybe while you have limited ammo, you could turn it on/off during the stage. As it is, once you use it in a stage, you have like 30 special shots and then it's gone until you buy a new. An additional frustration to this is that some levels have (pretty severe) penalties to your income, which can basically mean you earn nothing (and maybe subtract from what you had? We had nothing at start of that mission). As it is we each used a singular equipment upgrade once each in our entire playthrough.

Minor complaint overall though. I just wish there were a bit more of it, but I guess it's like 5x the length of the last game the devs made.

Ghost of Yotei

• Genre: Action Adventure
• Spoiler Free Review: No real spoilers, even the screenshots are mostly just environments.
• Time Played: 73 Hour
• Too Short/Long: It was fine. I kind of could go either way too, it could have trimmed ups some aspect and not stuffed the game as much, but it also could have had more story-related stuff and I wouldn't complain.
• Soundtrack: Generally speaking the soundtrack is good. It's not something I'm going to listen to on it's own, but it captures the mood when necessary. A lot of the game is without music and just the ambient sounds of nature or whatever. Optionally there is a lo-fi mode, and while that may be fitting for some, it's not for me - not because I don't like lo-fi beats to samurai duel to, but it feels out of place for the mood.
• Why I played: I loved Ghost of Tsushima and it's on my list of favorite games.
• Did I cry: A bunch of times. Not big cries, but there were a handful of pretty emotional moments.
• Jank: For the most part it's pretty jank free. Something about the controls could be a little better in the thick of big fighters, and I don't like how when you climb on something you're not supposed to you just infinite jump hover and sometimes the game has to phase you back into the last safe location or something, but other than that it's a very polished game.
• Difficulty: A little bit of a mixed bag on this one. Some aspects were too easy, like the platforming which could be too "magnetic" with Atsu latching on to thing and every path clear and obvious with separate climbable terrain, usually rocks and such. While sometimes the combat was damn hard. I feel like it was a good bit harder than Tsushima, but it's been a few years.
• Recommend to others: I would definitely recommend Yotei to anyone who might be interested in any aspect of it. You don't need to play Tsushima first, it barely references it outside one side-quest and random note.(Yotei takes place 300 years in the future). I probably wouldn't even recommend Tsushima over for any particular reason. Though I could say the same for Yotei. I'm not sure if there is one I recommend "more". But Yotei is probably has more going for it, being a handful years newer.

Like Tsushima before it, Yotei was a great game. It's fun to play, but what Yotei has over anything is it's just a work of art in every moment to moment. It's a gorgeous game and screenshots do it no justice when compared to seeing it in motion. Not just that but even how vivid it appears when seeing it while playing just seems like such a bigger deal than a screenshot. I took so many and I feel like not a one truly does the game justice. 

It's definitely a game you don't just play to play. You play to enjoy the experience. Savor the moment. Appreciate the time it took to chisel out each detail. The game is nothing without that. Well that's unfair, it has really solid gameplay outside of that. But it's the game's beauty which makes it stand out more than anything.

Double Dragon Revive

• Genre: Beat 'em Up
• Spoiler Free Review: Not much to spoil.
• Time Played: 3-4 Hours
• Partner: Alice
• Too Short/Long: Pretty standard for a beat 'em up. I would have been happy with more though, it certainly didn't feel like a slog thus far.
• Soundtrack: Some of the tracks are really good, but it's hard to mess up the standard Double Dragon fare. It doesn't do much to set itself apart though.
• Why I played: I like the beat 'em ups.
• Did I cry: Nah.
• Jank: It's a little janky. The controls and feel of the game are generally pretty fun, and you'd think being 3D as opposed to sprites might fix some alignment stuff many beat 'em ups are plagued with, and it does. But it just has different alignment issue instead. Some relating to range, some just with the graphics depth perception. Outside that, they wanted to include some gimmicks in levels, but they're generally kind of janky. Not entirely failures, but they could have cooked a little longer. There was also once or twice we had to restart a mission or do some weird awkward stuff because of glitches.
• Difficulty: Mostly pretty standard, and what you should expect, with a couple difficulty spikes that seem unreasonable. A mid-game boss was probably the hardest boss fighter, and the second hardest is one it just throws too much on screen at once and there is little way for you to avoid it. Usually it's best in these games if you get some kind of invincibility frames after being hit, even if it's just recoil, but nah, you get juggled pretty badly.
• Recommend to others: Despite the jank and difficulty spikes, it was a very fun game overall. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of beat 'em ups, just maybe not at the 35 dollar launch price. Feels more like a 25 dollar game tops that you maybe wait for a sale for around 15 if it's not your top priority.

Feels weird that it's called "Revive" when the last Double Dragon game was just two years ago, and there wasn't a key element of revival in the story. It's in no way a big reboot of the series. It's not the first game in a long time, it's not the first 3d game, it doesn't make super major changes to the game play. I'm not sure why it's called Revive. Maybe the devs thought they were doing more than they did?

What is cool, and a great addition, is how much of the environment is interactable. Throwing enemies into objects, kicking chairs at enemies, vaulting over object, jumping off walls - all great additions to make a beat 'em up more dynamic. Some of it could have been a little less janky in execution or less ambiguous whether it would work or not, but overall pretty cool, and that's probably part of what kept the gameplay feeling fresh and why I would have liked to have seen more. I would have even liked to have seen more gimmick stages - if they were a little better executed, but overall I don't have many complaints in the design and probably would have been happier with another hour or two of levels. Also there is a character who I felt like should have clearly been unlockable, and I'm mad he wasn't. Not that I'm complaining too much, because I loved playing Marian and Alice was pretty happy with Junsuo Ranzo.

It's only two players, and might have been a little too chaotic for 4 players, but I can't help but wonder... ideally the game comes out with an update to fix some of the jank, add that other character (or two), 4 player mode, and an extra stage or two and we can pop it back in for another go.