Marvel Cosmic Invasion

A acceptable marvel beat em up

Game no: 567

Genre: Action (beat-em-up)
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 2025

Beat em up were very popular in the 90s. In fact you will waste a lot of quaters going to the arcade by yourself or friends just to play a game where you can beat other senseless. Marvel cosmic invasion tends to give that nostalgia back by letter you play as 14 different Marvel heroes across the story that expands the entire Marvel universe. 

Let's dive in the review

Booting up this game you are treated with very beautiful pixed art. Each characters are hard drawn beautifully and their animations are very fluid in motion. The colours all pop out and there is even an effect to put a 90s crt filter to give that old school effects. As for the characters there are 15 playable characters to choose from. From fan favourites such as Wolverine, Captain America and Spiderman to obscure heroes like Beta Ray Bill, Cosmic Ghost Rider and Phyla-Vell (No idea who she is). Each of them has an attack button, a jump or fly button, a block or dodge button and a special button. You can mix and match the inputs for devasting 100 hit combos. Frankly not all of the characters controls great. The heavy characters does give a lot of power but they are slow to dodge so I stick to the small fast charactters since the enemies are always moving on the screen a lot

Speaking of enemies. This game has a lot of them. The main bad guy in this game is Annihilus. From what I can understand he is part robot and part bug. So most of the bad guys that rush you are usually bug based. You do get a Sentinel and dinasour as well as a symbiote here and there. As for the bosses, all of the big bads are here from Thanos to Galacus. Each of the boss has their own unique pattern which takes a couple of tries so its fairly straight forward. 

What I liked about this game besides the art sytle is the combat. It plays like an old version of a 2D fighting game which isi fun to control. But the thing that I don't like is that it gets too repetitive after a while. The stage really don't offer any much variety in gameplay. You go from point A to point B. Fight some bad guys and the boss and you move. It gets to repetitive for a while. Lastly the bosses are so freaking hard. One wrong move you will have to restart the game again. I think it would be easier if you play it with a group. 

In the end this game is fun and I would recommend anyone to play it if they have friends. So I give it a good 

A-Rank 

Prince of Persia The Lost Crown

Won game of the year last year

Game no: 542
Genre: Action (Metroidvania)
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 2024

This game was in everyone game of the year list last year. I did try to play it in January but fall out of it since I wasn't in the zone with the game. So I decided to finish the game this year and boy I wasn't disspointed. This game is where you play as the prince royal guard in charge of rescuing the Prince who was kidnapped. So that is basically the gist of the story 

You play as Sargon a dual wielding aireal acrobating guy who can jump, slide and fight his way through waves of enemies. This is a 2D action platformer where you navigate different sections of the map. Unlike castlevania where everything takes place in one caslte. The Lost Crown map is a lot of open air small sections where you have to navigate different types of traps and enemy in order to proceed. What makes this game stands out is that there are a lot of different biomes such as forest, ice, underground, even an ocean with ships fighting alongside. Sargon is equip with 2 swords, a bow and arrow and a spinning disc as weapons. He is also equip with magic abilities such as recall, dimension hopping, double jumpe, air dash and various super moves. Sargon also can equip talismans to get a boost in abiliies. 

The thing what I liked about this game is that there is an awesome easy mode or what they like to called guided mode where they tell you where is the next objective. I find that all games in the future should have this feature since you won't waste time going around the map trying to find the next thing to do. Other than that, this game really is challenging in terms of the platforming section. You need precision like controls on how to navigate all the obstacles. If you failed, you will put to the last checkpoint which is very nice since there is little backtracking. Combat is fast and resposive.

The thing that I don't find that great is just the story. It is nothing that engaging. For me I prefer the gameplay more than the story. Other than that this game is super solid. I did finish the story and the game. There are a lot more secrets that I need to find but I was already content with what I played. Overall I give this game a S-Rank 

Balatro

This game is so much better with cheats

Game no: 533
Genre: Board (Card)
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 2024

Balatro. The name that I hear everytime I listen to all podcast. The best game of the year. I can't stop playing this. So I had to try it and I have some mixed feelings about this game. Let's get started with the review. Ok first of all Balatro is a rouge like card game. It follows two types of rules. First it follows the rules of poker like a straight flush, a full house, a pair, a two pair. Rule number two this game is a rouge like so you need to survive rounds and rounds (call binds) and beat a boss in each turn. So there are total of 3 turns per stage and 8 stages. So that's about it. 

That is where the game rules end and the rest of the game gets confusing. So you get points by multiplying your hand. To aid your game there are Joker cards that give you different boons (abilities) such as double multipler, better stats on card and such. In the end of each round you get money to buy perks such as boosters packs, celestial cards and such. This game has a lot going on it.

That is the extend of my explanation of the game. Other than that, I don't see the appeal of the game too much. It is fun if you run works. But that is so random which means that you have to be at the right moment and the right time to unlock the right set of cards to get in order to advance the game. But most of the time you'll get cards that doesn't even give you anything good to start the run. They say the more you play at it the more you get good at it. But honestly unless it a skill based game. This game depends too much on luck. I played a couple days of it and the highest run I got was till level 6. I am going to play this again but this time on PC and with cheats and I'll give another review on that. But for now this game I'll give it an B-Rank.

Super Mario Wonder

I finally finish this game after 6 months 

Game no: 526
Genre: Platform 
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 2023

So I started the game in January with the hope of actually finishing a new game each month. But life got in the way and I was totally busy that I couldn't even finish it. So this past 2 weeks I decided to start playing it slowly. At least 30 minutes a day which eventually will get me to the end. What can I say about this game. This game is Wonderful... Pun Intended 

This game is a complete revamp of Mario artwork. This game was made by a new team and they change most of the animation, add more enemies and made stages centered around something called the Wonder Flower. What does the
Wonder Flower does you ask? The Wonder Flower will change the stages into something unexpected and magical. The thing with the Wonder Flower is you never know what is going to happen. Sometimes you be zooming to the sky, you'll be a some kind of sticky creature or swimming in lava. The Wonder Flower makes the game unpredictable and interesting. 

Besides that you have 4 different power ups. The Elephant flower, The drill flower, The fire flower and the bubble flower. My favorite is the Elephant power since you are Elephant. Who doesn't want that. What I want to complain about this game. Nothing much. This game is one of the
perfect Mario games that I played. Everything is just great and you end the game. The Final boss is a bit hard but other than that is okay,

So This game will be my number 1 in my top 10 since I didn't play any current games and this is my first one. But I'm glad I get to play this one. S Rank for me 

What Remains of Edith Finch

An interactive story 

Game no: 515
Genre: Other (Walking Simulator)  
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 2017

I've heard a lot of good things about What Remains of Edith Finch but when I booted the game up I didn't expect it to be what it is. Basically you play as Edith Finch the last generation of the Finch family. You mom past away and you are going back home to find out about your entire family. That's the premise of this game. You are basically just walking from one point to the next point and stopping along the way to listen to the story. Between the journey you discover all the Finch generations and what happen that cause them their demise 

This game plays more like an interactive story rather than a usual game. The text pop out on screen so you can see them while going to your intended destination. The only action is the shoulder button and joystick where you press to open and push doors. There are also some action between in. What makes this game unique is that each stage that you encounter it jumps into a different genre of game. There is one where you fly a kite, there is another where you play as a knight conquering a kingdom and there is one that is in a style of a comic to name a few. Each of the sections last around 20 minutes and you move on to your next path. You are rarely at a lost here since the game is as linear as they come.

As for the story. It is sad and touching at the same time. To see all your past generations die as a result of some freak accident and there is many things left unsaid is sad. Makes you think that you need to reconciled with your own family if there is any unfinished business you have. I won't spoil the ending but this game should be played by everyone since there a little to no learning curve here. The controls are simplistic, the gameplay is short (less than 2 hours but I took 3 days to finish it) and the story is very engaging. Overall I gave this game an S Rank. Probably will be in my game of the year. 

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

This game is amazing 

Game no: 507
Genre: Adventure 
Platform: Nintendo Switch 
Release Date: 2023 

Ok my last game played was around 50 days ago so my review is going to be a bit rusty. But during that time I played only one game everyday for a couple of hours without fail. That game is The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (ToTK). 6 years ago when Nintendo release Breath of the Wild it was one of the best games I've played that year. Granted it did made the top 10 (Number 5) but it wasn't the best game of the year. I still enjoyed it immensely. Now with the sequel, I thought there is no way I could enjoy this game more. Man, I love to be proven wrong 

This game is a continuation of the first game where you Link and Zelda explore the caverns underneath Hyrule castle and awaken a new evil and with that you are trust into the adventure of your lifetime. Typical Zelda fashion you have no weapons, all your heart containers are gone and basically they strip you out and it is up to you to go explore. The starting stage which is the sky island provide a good tutorial for you to discover you new abilities to start you adventure. Gone are the old abilities of bombs and platforms and now we have 4 new abilities which is recall where you rewind some item for 30 seconds. Ascend where you go up if there is a surface to go up to (Good for exploring caves). Fuse, where you take an item and combine it with you weapon and shield which give s you
higher stats and finally the main ability which you will use 70% of the game and practically can brake the game if you know how is Ultrahand. What makes this game different is the Ultrahand ability where you can combine items to make a device or structure such as a boat, or a bridge to name a few. Complimenting the Ultrahand is items called Zonai devices. These devices which are dispense in capsule form will help you design items such as cars, planes, boats and weapons. Basically the possibilities are just limited from you imagination. If you can think it, you probably can design it. There is a lot of YouTube clips showing players design crazy contraptions such as drones, tanks and robots.

Once you leave the sky island and fall down from the sky to the ground. You are free to do whatever you want. There are main objectives in the game but the game won't rush you to complete them. It is up to you to do it in your own pace. For me every open world game I have a way of playing it. First, find all the map towers to unlock the map. Once you know where everything is you can start your journey. The thing with the game that it rewards you for just going one direction. Let say you want to explore something and then suddenly you see a shrine in the horizon so you will stop what you'll doing and head there but along the way you see a cave that you want to explore. So you'll put a pin in the shrine and go to the cave. The choices of what to do is just endless and it is not bound
on a straight a clear path. So after I unlock the map, I will spend my time just wondering around finding shrines. Shrines are use to upgrade your hearts or stamina. In this game you are going to need stamina because there are a lot of things that is going to need climbing, swimming or gliding and most of the time you end up dying because the lack there of stamina. Hearts in this game is an after thought since even though there are 40 hearts in the game. If you don't have at least 20 you are better of running to safe distance or using your Zonai devices to kill them since this game is punshing. One hit and usually it will be game over 

So returning besides the Shrines are they weapons degradation. Everything breaks after time(even the Master Sword but that is more of a cooldown). Cooking which this time gives you bonus stats if you cook them correctly. Gear that will help against the elements and lot of lots of things to collect. What is different this time is the amount of things you can explore. Besides the sky island which you need make a flying device and have enough battery to fly up there (which you get by mining) and the ground the explore. There is also a new area call the depths. These are holes scattered through out Hyrule and when you fall down it will be a pitch black worth of nothing. Literally you can't see anything until you light it up with a bulb plant of find one of hundreds of lightroots. These lightroots will illuminate the area which will make exploring easy 

So lets get to my review why I say this is the best game I've played this year. The main reason is because of the hacks I guess. The version that I am playing of the game has the ability to multiply items
by just doing a couple of steps. I don't say this game is not enjoyable without hacks but once you unlocked unlimited inventory in the game. This game just opens up. You can spawn multiple resources to get your battery charge up. Truffles to get full health with extra hearts when cooked 5 at a time. Unlimited amount of money from selling cooked meat or anything else you find. Basically this game skips the mundane stuff of having to mine or gather resource. I've got enough resource to just auto build a sky bike and just roam around the depths for days opening all light roots. I cooked a lot of truffles to help me beat Ganon at the end since it gives me extra hearts. Basically if they gave the players unlimited resources you can practically enjoy the game. Not to say the game is broken with these hacks since you have to still play the game properly to unlock the full story. But it so fun having not to worry about it. The only thing that I can't multiply is bombs and arrows. Those I need to find or buy them in the wild.

In the end I spend more than 230 hours in this game. I did all I need to do. Did all the main quests and completed 80% of the side quest. I manage to finish 134 out of the 152 shrines and after getting the end credits I am content. I played one of the best games ever made and I don't think that Nintendo can make something special like this again. This game deserve the S Rank and also a top 3 spot in my game of the year. Will it be number 1, wait and see.

Metroid Prime Remastered

The game is great. The design is not 

Genre: Action
Platform: Nintendo Switch 
Release Date: 2023

I've played this game 20 years ago on the gamecube. When I played it last time I thought this was the best game ever. But fast forward 20 years later I find that the game is still great but there are a lot of fundamentals that makes this game a chore to play. 

Metroid Prime is Samus first foray to 3D. Basically you explore a planet and all you

abilities are removed and you slowly get them to proceed to another place until you have enough to proceed more. The difference between the 2D version (which I love) than the 3D version is that you have different visors to scan and check the surroundings which provides a different way to play it. Jumping feels good and its forgiving when if you hit the edge of the platform. The morph ball is fun to use.

The problem of this game is that it is stuck in 2002 design. You don't have a checkpoint which in 2023 is really not good. The reason why I quit the game is I died and have to restart all the way 40 minutes of the game. That is really frustrating. The map doesn't
have a waypoint system which you end up exploring and getting lost in the expanse map. The backtracking doesn't feel that much fun 

Overall I love this game, I was about to beat it but I think I got bored of going through the same corridor again and again. Unlike Castlevania where you are leveling up every time you hit the enemy. Over here you are trying to avoid them as fast as possible just to get to the next place. I give this game a B Rank. I have other games to play  

Boomerang X

This game that test your spatial awareness 

Game no: 499
Genre: Action  
Platform: Nintendo Switch 
Release Date: 2021

The game as the title involves a boomerang. You start of adrift on an island where you find a boomerang and explore the island while fighting hordes of enemies. That's basically the premise of the game. Explore and reach an area and then fight a wave of enemies. 

What I like about this game that is the boomerang mechanics is spot on. The throwing feels great and using it is fun. The boomerang comes with power up such as teleportation. slow down time and power
moves. The thing that makes this game so appealing even with minimal amount of gameplay is the art style. It looks like pastel colour old school graphics. It very soothing to the eye to watch and makes me want to explore everything 

There are some things that about this game make is sensory overwhelming. Especially when there are multiple enemies on screen on you need to take out the specific one. Things can get a bit daunting and you need to freeze time and have 10 seconds to do a quick take on where to go next. It get's too much at time and I need to take a break before continuing. The good news is that this game is short. Under 3 hours which is great since it doesn't over stay the welcome. 

Overall I finish the game until the credits. With their accessibility options makes this game even more fun to play. I give this game an A-Rank. A nice place over a couple of days  

Midnight Fight Express

 First game of the new year

Game no: 495
Genre: Action  
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 2022

Arcade fun. That's what I call this game. You play as a no memory hero that is task to fight everyone. First of all, the story is blah. Really nothing to special. I just skip the dialogue and go straight on to the action. The action however, that is something. You can hit, block, parry, use weapons, roll. Basically everything you can do in a fight. The objective is to survive and get the highest score. Think of this game like hotline Miami but in 3D and with better controls. 

There are a couple things that I didn't like about the game. Besides the story, the controls are a tad complicated. Coming back after missing a gameplay for a day I find myself struggling to remember what the other buttons do. The upgrade path is a lot but really not sure if they provide anything meaningful to the combat. Some of bosses are hard and you need to roll a lot to beat them.

In the end this game is solid. The controls are tight and the game is fun. It does go on for a bit too long. I did finish the game with all upgrades and all 40 stages. In the end I give this game a B-Rank

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

One of the best Kirby games I've played 

Game no: 482
Genre: Action 
Platform: Nintendo Switch 
Release Date: 2022

When I first saw the promo of this game it looks like Kirby in an open world setting and everything looks so bleak and dark. After playing this game I can say that this game is not what I expect and I was presently surprise. This game started in a lost city where Kirby has to navigate after being thrown there. The Waddle-Dee's are lost somewhere and it is up to Kirby to find them. 

Kirby has the same Kirby abilities which is flying and sucking other bad guys to get their powers. The powers that are available are, cutter, bomb, giant sword, needle (my favorite), ice, fire, driller, hammer gun and sleep (no idea what this do). You get chances to upgrade them to three levels by finding scrolls and stars. What makes this game different is that Kirby has a new ability which is the mouthful mode where Kirby can swallow objects but it only just fills his mouth. The things that you can make mouthful is cars, pipes, sign, awning, rollercoaster, trucks, stairs, lightbulb, cherry picker. This makes the gameplay much more fun and more variety. For every Waddle-dee you save, they will be transported to the town and with each one you unlock fun minigames to play. A nice distraction

 There is nothing much I didn't like about this game. It has a difficulty mode which helps when the bosses gets to hard. Some abilities do break the game which I don't mind. To get the true ending you need to rescue every waddle-dee to get the 100% ending. In the end I finish the game with the normal ending with 46% of the game completed. This game will be in one of my top 10 games of the year due to simplistic nature and fun gameplay. And of course it's Kirby. Who doesn't like Kirby. I give this game a S-Rank

The Stanley Parable Ultra Deluxe Edition

This game is so meta 

Game no: 481
Genre: Adventure 
Platform: Nintendo Switch 
Release Date: 2022

What I can say about this game. This game where every choice don't matter and you are just a part of a sick joke which is this game. You try your best to find an ending but there is none. Honestly this game is a bunch of branching paths and with each branch you are treated to one of their 19 endings and after you end the game. The game restarts you back at the same point with minor difference. You think you are getting something new but in the end you'll end up where you start with. 

This game is narrated by a British person which is actually fun to hear but after a while it gets boring and repetitive since you keep repeating the same actions over and over again. So in the end I beaten the game around 6-7 times and watch the rest of the ending on youtube. There are a lot of ways to get the ending but I was bored from the repetitive gameplay. In the end I give the B-Rank 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Shredder's Revenge

The last game before a long break 

Game no: 472
Genre: Action  
Platform: Nintendo Switch 
Release Date: 2022

After years of playing 16-bit beat em up. There is a comeback in a form of TMNT Shredder's Revenge. This game mix the pixel art style of the 16-bit games but twist it in a modern take it advance mechanics, level up, multiple combo systems and overall an awesome fun game to play 

You can play as 6 different characters (with a 7th unlocked once you beaten the game). Each of them has their own power, speed, balance. If you like range combat go for Donatello but if you want power is either Raphael or Splinter. Overall there is a different character that suits your playstyle. There are 15 stages an you move from point A to B while fighting a lot of bad guys. There are also power up such as pizza that comes in different forms. That give you an added boost when fighting enemies. The way the game works is it upscale the enemies depending on how many players are in the screen. So there is going to be a lot of chaotic action when the screen is bombarded by bad guys. The bosses are a treat to fight. They are from past games and movies and only a true fan will recognize them. 

The thing I don't like about this game is that I wish I was a bit longer. at 2 hours plus you can beat the game but there are a lot of challenges to keep you coming for me. But I
wish there is a fighting mode since the move set of each character is quite good to be a game in its own right. 

Overall is it a great game to play with you family (My kids and I actually beat the game until the end) rather than just playing it by yourself. The hectic fighting as well as being in a group makes you miss going to the arcade. This game is going to be one of my top 10 game of the year. This game deserve an S Rank in my book 

WRC 10

 Another year another WRC 

Game no: 463
Genre: Racing
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Release Date: 2021

WRC celebrates in 50th years with WRC 10. A game where you drive worldwide and the objective is to try to get the best time on track. Honestly this is not the best racing game I played. That honor is for V-Rally 4 but it has all the normal rallying tropes. Fast cars with different classes, tracks with all types of weather condition. It has a season mode which just makes you race, quick race and also simulation mode. There is a way to set your difficulty low for inexperience players but even with that you are still facing a big challenge. 

The problem with this game is that is it not accessible to the average rally player. The controls as precise as they are is hampered by the realistic physics and tire damage. The tire damage is always been an issue but this game takes it to a whole new level. After a couple of racers your tires will degrade and it will make racing more difficult. In the end you'll either end up to be last or just did not finish the race. There is a anniversary mode where they play the best racers throughout the years. It's great to see what cars people race in the 70s. The problem is that the time to beat is near impossible. After the third race you can even beat it. I've seen clips on youtube that even with the best time is already a couple seconds to late. Oh and the switch version is filled with bugs. There is a bug where the rack will be quicksand and your car will be stuck there.    

In the end I played all the tracks that I was interested in a played every car. See what I need to see and call it a day. I consider it to be a okay racing game so I will give it a B-Rank. Nothing much to talk about

Cruis'n Blast

This game is bonkers 

Game no: 457
Genre: Racing
Platform: Nintendo Switch 
Release Date: 2017

A game based on the N64 classic which is based on the arcade game that makes it onto the switch. This is the most over the top racing game I've played. The tracks are just a point A to point B excursion. During the race you can collect cash and keys (which is used to unlocked new cars) Also you can boost which is used to knock other cars. This game is bonkers crazy. The tracks are based on real world locations but there are themes in it such as, dino, helicopters, ufo and such. The track switch (no pun intended) from on top to a breaking underground track and goes back up to the sky. Everything is covered is neon and brightness so you are overloaded with a lot of visual sensory. The cars are also something fun in this game. You have the real life cars and also the weird stuff such as a Triceratops, Helicopter, Unicorn, and even a Fire Engine. They all play almost the same so there is no incentive of getting them. 

'The things I do not like is that everything is block with a paywall. Where you need to play and get cash and discover keys to unlock new cars. The thing is after the 5 tracks (with slight variation) There is nothing much you can do and the game gets boring quickly. I did finish all 5 tours and got a couple of unlock cars. Overall I will give this game B-Rank. I think it will be fun playing it with others