PS2/PS3/PS4 Game Review: Final Fantasy X

 Final Fantasy X was the game that brought Square Enix into the 21st Century with Final Fantasy.  The change from Squaresoft to Square Enix was also appropriate for the time considering the merging of two big gaming companies. The other main thing, it brought with it a new console, the PlayStation 2.  For PlayStation, it was critically important to have a monster game, which ended up being FF7.  Square needed to have another hit launch for the PS2, which they made in FFX.  What did this game do well? What needed to be changed? All that and more below as we end 2021 with FFX! 

Positives

1. New Gen, New Improved Graphics- And yes they get even better on the PS3 and PS4 remasters.  However even just for the PS2 it is fantastic the graphics as they moved into a new era of gaming.  The Square Enix people did spend three years on this and it was time well spent and they deserve all the accolades for how they did transitioned to a new console to make the graphics.

2. Voice Acting- Gone were the text boxes, in with the voices and with it, voice acting.  It was a major change from FF's of past.  It resembled the new changes, but it works here.  Yes they were not the most obvious mouth movements in the words but the emotion in the voice acting was top notch to be honest.  As the era changed, FF changed with it.  In this instance it was a real good change. 

3. Story- The story, it's massive, it's life-changing, it tells about everything and it is emotional.  I don't think there is one part of this story that is missing.  There is friendship, love, death, dreams, dreams dashed, remembrance, hope, fear, redemption, and triumph all wrapped into one game.  Heck some Final Fantasy games don't even provide that, and FFX did.  Which brings me to..

Side Note: The story/arc I enjoyed most was actually Auron's.  From his beginning of the game helping Tidus, to learning about him and then the end, his arc was most dramatic and most genius.  The way he was written in this story is nothing short of masterful.

4. Devious Villain? Yes- Yes I admit Seymour is a tool, however he is devious enough to warrant being a plus here.  He has his plans, and executes them quite well and would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling kids and their older guardian.  All jokes aside, yes Seymour is devious because of what he can control, which is..

5. Playing on Religion/abuses of power of Religion- He almost has a devious way of controlling Yevon's teachings and abusing them for his power.  We see that a bit with a very important part of the story at one point and his ability to stay on Spira.  This is also shown with another major plot point involving the heroes and more specifically Yuna.  We see it with how they want to script one thing about machina, but use it in their own way.  They play on the religion aspect but use it to show an abuse of power, much like some people in some religious circles today.  It is a fine line that Square can go with that, but with this they play it perfectly throughout.

6. Music- Going next gen meant they needed to hit the music.  They did.  The remastered games are better with this though.  I love the remasters on this and the music is more fluid sounding and just better overall.  The battle theme in the remaster is absolutely amazing, but the next to last major boss fight is the one people will most remember.  And for good reason.  The song is an absolute banger and well worth it.  The music in every way is fantastic and I really enjoyed listening to it.

7. Race? Yes- Race plays a major factor here with the religious aspect but also with a couple characters.  Luckily one of those characters views change over time due to their eyes finally opening (those that have played will know who I am talking about.) but it exemplifies the plight one race of people have endured due to the religious aspect in this game and the vitriol they face through the game.  It's still an issue today with race, but not totally necessarily due to religion.  However, people can still learn a massive lesson with this game in my opinion because Square brought it in a game and executed it again brilliantly.

8. Yuna- Her poise in the midst of incredible odds, her determination in the midst of everything falling apart, her ability to express emotions when things are going right or wrong is something that Square hit absolutely on target with.  You could argue she is the main protagonist in this story and you wouldn't be entirely wrong.  Yes the story is about Tidus, but it's easily clear that Yuna plays at the worst a second role to this.  Her ability to grow throughout the story is nothing short of amazing considering what her journey should be as opposed to what it becomes.

Negatives

1. Sidequests- They are way, way too arduous.  Notes: All the Aeons, all the celestial (ultimate) weapons incur a lot of arduous tasks and especially for the aeons means if you miss one thing oh boy you are in a world of hurt later on.  I honestly think that doing these sidequests are meaning they are way to arduous and way too story breaking.  In all honesty as well, as long as you use the sphere levels, you may or may not need to do these either. 

Overall Rating/Ranking in Final Fantasy Rankings

Overall, this is an excellent game.  You can nearly disregard the sidequests but it helps immensely if you don't.  However that would be the only downside.  This game is so thorough, so well done that you can disregard one negative out of this.  I overall very thoroughly enjoyed this game and it has such an emotional ending that you should play just for that.  I give a rating of 9.5 out of 10.  Where does that rank FFX in terms of my FF Rankings?

1. FF 6

2 (Or possibly 1a, as they could be co-equal #1's in my opinion). FF 10

3. FF 9

4. FF 5

5. FF 7

6. FF 15

7. FF 4 

8. FF 8

9. FF 1

PS4 Game Review: Final Fantasy XV

 Final Fantasy XV is the first game designed for the PS4 for the Final Fantasy series (And will be the only minus the first part for Final Fantasy VII's Remake and other remasters that other past games had) and it features a lot of different things than what games of past did.  This was done in 2016 and it was met with much anticipation but much scrutiny from reviews and fans alike.  What does this writer like? What do I not like about this game? All that and more below!

Positives

1. Combat system- It's active, it's fast paced so you have to think and attack on your feet so to speak.  It's good because it shifted from a decade and a half of turn based attacking to more active based attacking starting in FFX-2.  Overall, minus some deals with some attacks taking far too long to register, this is done really very well overall I thought.

2. Character arcs- I thought the development of the characters did well.. but with a catch.  Yes you had to do the DLC for this (more on this below) but once you got the full deal of this the arcs of the characters were done really pretty well.  I thought the best story overall though was..

3. Noctis' Character Arc- You have to feel for this young man in this story.  Starts out with immense heartbreak, midway has more heartbreak, tries to do everything he can to save the world, only to have something bad happen but then has a major change and becomes the ultimate hero.  All while having to carry the weight of a world on his shoulders and the weapons of past kings.  It's a terrific comeback story.

4. Graphics/Music- The graphics are very, very great, and the music is good on its own. I like that they add past soundtracks with the car that you drive around.  The duo of these makes it really good overall I felt.

Negatives

1. Storyline- It's a decent storyline, but it is far too short.  If you don't do the sidequests (more on that also below) it can be 20-25 hours in game time to beat this game.  That just is at least 10-15 hours too short.  There was so much more ability to add more to the story but they didn't.  I think they wanted to add more hence why..

2. DLC Content- I'm sorry but you could have just added this in the main story anyway.  Make it flash back material, make it part of the actual story, just anything.  Then you wouldn't have had to stick it on the DLC area.  I get that games today will be littered with DLC and expansion but this game just seems to have had it needlessly.  Speaking of needlessly though...

3. Over-reliance of Sidequests- Oh dear me the over-reliance of the sidequests were absolutely ridiculous of this game.  Any town, any place, it's sidequests upon sidequests and it just is far too much.  Some are good, some aren't and that is that.  Overall it is just far too much reliance on these and it is honestly a shame. 

4. Ardyn- I'm sorry, I get his back story after seeing the DLC, but they made him so horrendously unlikable in my eyes and they try so hard to make him a villain but he just ends up being a wannabe tool in my opinion.  I just.. I didn't understand it.  He wasn't brooding, he wasn't overtly villainous, he wasn't demonstrative.  He just seemed to have a hatred for Noctis and wanted to get at him at every point that he just seems super petty the entire time.  It's very unfortunate and in all honesty they would have done a lot better scrapping him as the villain or massively re-doing his arc.

Overall Rating/Rank All-Time of Final Fantasies

Given the ups and downs of this game, I would have to give this 7.5 out of 10.  It has a lot of good things you could build on, but there are a lot of things that really needed to be refined.  Specifically Ardyn's character and the over-reliance of sidequests.  I felt that this really could have prompted it up to a 9 or so if it wasn't for some of these flaws.  Then all I could say some nuances of the combat would be rough.  In terms of the Final Fantasies that I have played to this point, here are those rankings, FFXV included.

1. FF 6

2. FF 9

3. FF 5

4. FF 7

5. FF 15

6. FF 4

7. FF 8

8. FF 1

PS4 Game Review: Kingdom Hearts 2.8: Final Chapter Prologue

 Kingdom Hearts 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is a multi-game, one cinematic disc that features the games Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, Kingdom Hearts 0.2- A Fragmentary Passage and the cinematic (movie) of Kingdom Hearts X, Back Cover. I will detail all three here starting with the cinematic!

Kingdom Hearts X: Back Cover

 The cinematic is just over an hour long detailing the beginnings of the keyblade and who may be behind the possible evil that comes up in the future.  They are unknown who has been succumbing to the evil but trouble is brewing for this group as someone is becoming evil with power.  Overall I didn't mind the cinematic.  I thought it was alright, it detailed a good story.  I thought overall knowing more about the past it warrants a solid 9 out of 10.

Kingdom Hearts 0.2- A Fragmentary Passage

This game features after Birth By Sleep, after Aqua has been put into the Realm of Darkness.  This follows Aqua's journey through the Realm of Darkness and how she meets our good Mouse friend Mickey.  It is a modestly short game, something that will only take only 2-ish hours, 4 hours at most.  It's a game that will be quick and is a favorite of some to speed run through.  I felt it was a quite alright game, very straight forward, not too challenging.  I do wonder if it could have been just put in as a cinematic rather than a game but it was enjoyable enough to finish in a day.  Overall, solid 8 out of 10.

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

Oh boy there is a lot to cover here.. Without further ado..

Positives

1. Riku- He gets a major feature here in a big way and in most ways it is positive.  You get to work with his wide arrange of skills, his ability to be very good not just on ground but a great aerial attacker as well.  You see how much this means to him over the time span and it makes him look at his roles of maturity through the series.

2. Graphics- Yes, this was always going to be a positive.  It never isn't but for a game that came from the Nintendo 3DS to PS4 it's a good step forward.  I felt that every world was very well done overall.

3. Lack of Gummi Ship- This.. I thought would not be a positive but it was actually quite nice to see a change with the dropping into the world.  There are different challenges so it is a nice change of pace from me.

Negatives

1. Combat- I despised the combat system in this game because it was a loading time for everything besides just plain attacking.  There is a reason you have MP in every game and to go with magic.  This game was completely nonsensical in this way and it really just struggles to make me like the combat system.

2. No World Depth- Other than Traverse Town, there is no depth to any of the worlds.  At least in KH1, KH2, KH3 there is some depth to the story.  These just don't really showcase much, if any, depth and they just seem to want to jump from one to the other minus The Grid with Sora and Tron.  After that there isn't depth to this, even in the Musketeer world.  Which brings me to..

3. Sora- Bro, you cannot be serious with how they scripted him through most of this game.  They almost make him not intelligent or very daring by nature due to either thinking he is going to have something catastrophic happen to him or he just is clueless.  Take for instance he essentially knows what is supposed to be happening by the end of the first world but by the Musketeers world he still doesn't know what is happening, which is confusing to me.  Typically as well he does try to do something insanely obtuse but that doesn't happen in this game either.  So it's like a very tame Sora that doesn't work.

4. The Drop System- Just.. Just why with this.  I get if you have to be mandated to switch characters but then just mandate it without the player having to have the choice.  Otherwise it just looks tacky and weird and you have to use drop-me-nots just to just not have to be dropped to the other person which just is weird.

5. Execution of the Pet System- I do like the concept of the pet system, however the execution they did of it is not very good.  You don't have any clue what is effective against the enemies, you just know what they are equipped with.  If you don't use a guide you are going to struggle on this because it doesn't really tell you the best combinations for a certain situation.

6. Storyline- Yep it doesn't flow well at all.  It just is one that bounces from place to place and really doesn't have a good sense of progression.  Even when ending the game you are more or less just show casing the fact that KH3 is right around the corner thankfully to take the story back together.  This was a struggle through and through due to this.  It never flowed and it made it a major struggle to really like this game.

Overall Rating of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

Overall, I can't really recommend Dream Drop Distance for the many flaws that it has.  The story is just all over the place and never flows, the execution of the pet system and the combat is just bad at best.  The main saver here is that Riku is written very, very well overall.  Otherwise this is a pretty rough game that is a massive struggle throughout.  Overall Rating: 5 out of 10. 

PS4 Game Review: Kingdom Hearts 3

 Kingdom Hearts 3 was the latest of the games released with Disney/Square when released.  It has since been noted that Melody of Memory was released so that is the latest game in the edition.  However for KH3, it has the makings of a fantastic game following the 2.8 editions.  What makes KH3 great? Are there any negatives to it? ALl that and more below!

Positives:

1. Combat- The combat in this game is second to none.  It is yes straight forward, but how you use the strategies is something as well, so it has a lot of different ways you can combat and do well with.  I found this to be a really good game with combat.  Which leads me to..

2. Shotlocking- Shotlocking is amazing in this game and did well overall for me, when I decided to do well with it.  Most of it was more trying to get me to be good with shotlocking, but it was a very nice, very next gen type of approach to it and something that most gamers can use as an added strategy against the enemies.

3. Character growth- Yes the characters still grow a lot overall, which is good even in the third game of the main KH lore but of all the other games as well.  This features amazing growth of self, others and the mission overall.  I love Sora's development, but I was most impressed with Donald's development as well.  I think the game is better for all characters developing over the course of the game and this is not a surprise as the game is so well done with it.

4. Bringing Back Exploration- I surely hope they move on with later games with more exploration like they did with The Caribbean in KH3. That will help get back a lot of fans to the KH4 wagon. If they can figure out a Trinity like system for KH4 to make exploration and something like they did with the Caribbean where items are meaningful in KH3 on exploration, that would be fantastic.

5. Storyline- This was always going to be a major plus for KH in most any game they offer.  However the storyline in KH3 is absolutely fantastic and it is also straight to the point of what you have to do and how to get to that point.  IT does provide twists and turns but the end result is the same overall.

6. Graphics/Music- Yes this was also going to be a plus but the music is amazing and the graphics are amazing as well.  I loved both and they were fantastic in every regard!

7. The Ending- I will not spoil it but I felt the ending was absolutely brilliantly done.  Disney and Square should take great pride in how they ended this game and how they transition to other games of the KH series in the future.

Negatives:

1. Cutscenes- There is one thing I will not go with and that is so many cutscenes.  Yes I understand why that, no I don't like it regardless.  There are just so many early on and while it tampers down a bit, it's still very overwhelming to have these many cutscenes overall.  If there was a way, they could have cut a couple of hours of cutscenes I felt but that's one of the only negatives to this game I feel.

2. Pacing- I actually thought this was a positive upon my first playthrough of this but it actually is a negative. It's just too fast overall. I replayed this to get a different feel for the pacing but holy smokes it is way too fast after replaying it. 

3. Replay Value- there just isn't much to it for KH3. It's really just "Go to place, do thing. Go to next place, do thing." But that's really all there is to it minus one world (The Caribbean) so really there isn't a ton of replay value to it.

Overall Rating

Without much more I would suspect yes this is a must have for most every gamer and a game everyone should play.  You have to be patient with the cutscenes though and honestly most will be skippable I believe.  The pacing and replay value also docks this further.  However, if you want you can get past that then it is great, but overall it isn't the best work by Disney or Square but still solid enough.

Overall Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Pioneer Stadium is Basic for Platteville

 Platteville, Wisconsin is nestled in the very southwest corner of the state, a community of about 12 thousand but when the college kids come to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, it goes up in amount.  The university hosts about 10 thousand students and amidst the campus lies Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium.  It's a 10 thousand seat stadium, though all bleachers.  It has some neat features but what do you expect coming into the stadium?

Coming into the stadium, you have a walk possibly past the other athletic fields but you notice the first thing is that Pioneer Stadium is sunk in a hill, which gives it a bowl type feeling but with a cool couple of hills in one end zone while the other is pretty open ended with a net protecting the scoreboard.  Upon entering there is a cool tailgate area to the right side behind the main grandstand and then the ticket booths.  However they don't really label which is students and other is just general public so that can be confusing.  So what is to expect when you go through the gates?

Well it's very basic, and that probably explains the price.  The tickets and concessions are cheap anywhere from 2 to 4 dollars, but that's because they are all brought in from elsewhere.  Ice cream from Blue Bunny, Pizza from Pizza Hut, burgers from A&W.  I do understand it is a school that more likely doesn't have the means to make it's own food and has to rely on elsewhere, but it just shows how basic it is for lack of better words.  However the major negative is no merchandise tent or stand.  They have something that would look like it but it wasn't open.  For a place that had it's homecoming that weekend, you would want to capitalize on this.  On top of that, I don't know where there would be merchandise because despite being a UW-Whitewater alum, I really wanted a Platteville hat.  Albeit that didn't happen.  So with that, what did the atmosphere offer?

The stadium from the outside like I said is kind of a sunken bowl feeling and that this works to create a cool atmosphere for the stadium in general.  The stadium has bleacher seating which is kind of the norm for Division 3 stadiums and most college stadiums in general.  The field honestly looks nice and there is plenty of room to walk around behind the end zone with the hill.  Overall they did well with that.  There are no major frills with the stadium and has ample room to walk around.  The field itself is good and the scoreboard is good as well.  The stadium PA announcer is quite good and keeps the crowd involved in the game.  He also provides updates around the WIAC and on the Big Ten, since Platteville is about an hour west of Madison and a lot of the crowd are Badgers fans as well.  The crowd itself is pretty lively for most of the game and will stay in it barring a blowout (of which this game was.)  That is also really just par for the course for D3 Football.  With that, I headed out with an impression of this stadium is just average at best overall.  The only thing they beat UW-Whitewater on is more choices of food concessions but the rest UWW beats them on, including game day atmosphere.  That's how I see Pioneer Stadium in my eyes, and just the average football fan will probably just go to see D3 football and that is it.

PS1 Game Review: Final Fantasy VII

 We have reached the pinnacle of games I have beaten in the year 2021 on stream and will review.  Final Fantasy VII is a game I have played time and again, and either this or Final Fantasy IV is the most played game for myself.  In this way, I have a pretty thorough analysis about this game so it will come with a lot of in-depth thoughts.  I will try not to spoil a lot for you guys, the readers. However without further ado, here is my review of Final Fantasy VII.    

Positives:

1. A massive change is successful- From the NES to the SNES, Final Fantasy was going to be on the N64 but a falling out at the time paved the way for Final Fantasy to go to the PlayStation due to the need for it to be on a CD.  The end result?  Only the most popular game of the 90's coming together and to this day over 13 million copies of this game sold.  It brought Sony relevance, and a major name to the forefront of marketing to a young person.  You wanted this game, you had to have it.  You wanted the Greatest Hits Edition when that happened.  It also, after some years, sparked spin off games like Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, and Type 0.  It also sparked a movie, Advent Children.  It also paved the way for a Hollywood bust of a movie, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.  And would you look at that, it sparked a Remake of the game over two decades later.  Needless to say there are some games that are just legacy games, like Chrono Trigger, Super Smash Bros, and to an extent as well, Super Mario 64.  Final Fantasy VII though is the most well known, most popular legacy game of all time.

2. Music- Nobuo Uematsu probably has his most well known masterpieces on this game, whether at the time he realized it or not.  He likely has now but the same tracks are still well known and has been remade in some way in the remake of this game to start.  Obviously his track of One Winged Angel is the most well known track but Shinra's music is amazing, same with the world map, Cid's Theme, boss theme, regular battle theme, and so much more.  Another likely legendary track is Aerith's theme.  It's something to have a great soundtrack, it's another to have a legendary soundtrack like this game is.

3. Characters- Yes you know all of them, yes the main ones have significant character development, yes they are amazing.  The main characters are well known to society so that is all I will say on that.  However yes most of the characters have significant development.

4. Graphics.. for the time- They were fantastic.. for the time.  I will elude on that as it goes but I felt they were really good for the time.  Overall, given how the other games of its age when it came out, it was probably the best Square got.

5. Story- Yes the story is very deep, and I mean VERY deep.  This starts as one thing but then continues into a more massive story.  Overall, I very much enjoyed the story and have continued to hold it very well in light to this day.  Overall the story starts very central to one thing but once something else happens, it becomes very broad but central to one thing.  That's what I enjoyed about the game.

6. Villain- Yes Shinra was a villain to start, but the main villain is world renowned to this day, the one winged angel Sephiroth.  He is a terrific villain and one that has had legacy follow him to this game among different games as well.  Most recently, he came to Super Smash Bros Ultimate, so he has had lasting power all along.  But he is a perfect villain and goes at the antagonist, Cloud.  

7. Combat/Limit- I include this together because Limit Breaks happen with your combat.  Overall I do like the limit breaks and the combat all together.  It speeds the game up but also provides an active time attacking style.  So you have to have quick strategy while playing and figuring out the next steps.  

Negatives:

1. Plot holes- Yes there are significant plot holes, and no I don't think Square thought it to the idea that they were going to make more FF7 type spin off games to this but they almost were forced to when that was brought up in the game with the plot holes.  I overall see why they had them, but it feels that they had this happen and needed to do the explaining.  AKA: The stories behind Yuffie and Vincent, those are the major plot holes of which they needed to explain a lot later on.

2. Graphics.. again at the time- Note, in FF8 they do a lot better with making graphics not polygonal and they flow more than need to come into frame like FFVII goes into.  I do understand that this is an 'at the time' thing but when FF8 got going not more than a couple years later and FFIX a few years after FFVII, I felt they could have flowed better with the graphics.

3. Weapons- Yes I realize that they are optional and are super bosses but they could have toned down the stupid levels of tough.  Yes I have beaten the Weapons in my times but they have also had a lot of patience required.

Overall Rating

Final Fantasy VII is very much worth the investment and the ability to game.  I would highly recommend this game to everyone and make it at least one time.  I have learned things through other streamers playing so I did well to learn from them as well.  It is a well rounded game and something that every gamer I think would appreciate.

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10.  It would be higher if not for the plot holes.

Of my personal preferences of Final Fantasy games in order (to this point having played and completed and not including Tactics, just the numbered FF games.): 

1. Final Fantasy VI

2. Final Fantasy IX

3. Final Fantasy V

4. Final Fantasy VII

5. Final Fantasy IV

6. Final Fantasy VIII

7. Final Fantasy I

PS1 Game Review: Final Fantasy V

 Final Fantasy V is a game that was introduced to the Super Famicom (Japan's Super Nintendo) in the 1990's but didn't get an American version until released as part of the Final Fantasy Anthologies edition on the PS1 along with FF6.  The game is actually the fifth in the line once the whole ordeal of 2 and 3 came along and got everything righted with the works of the Final Fantasy confusion of the 90's. With that settled, how was this game overall? What were the positives and negatives?

Positives:

1. Storyline- You learn very, very quickly what the story for this game would be and the game does not deviate at all about that.  It is super straight forward, and it works most importantly.  It is overall very well done and very well equipped in the terms of the story.  

2. Character growth- This is probably one of the best Final Fantasy games in terms of character growth.  Every character has some character growth, and that speaks volumes for this game.  Which then leads me to the next point..

3. Limited Amount of Characters- FF1 had the original four and that was it and it worked because it wasn't about character growth but just playing.  FF5 has limited characters and it works because the story is straight forward which gives all these characters a lot of growth.  Bartz, Lenna, Reina, Galuf and Krile all grow in every way, plus Boco but more it gives them the opportunities that say FF6 doesn't, FF7 doesn't, FF8 surely doesn't doesn't.  It allows for insane amounts of growth in themselves through the game.

4. Job System- This is done supremely well.  And it is very very much needed.  I have heard that FF3's is good as well (I have not played FF3 though) but this is very well done.  You don't need every job to succeed in the game but it is well worth executing some of the better classes throughout.  In any case, the job system is done very well by Square in FFV.

5. Villain- Devious, alarming, straight up evil are all terms to describe the villain in this game but he has the growth as well to combat the heroes.  He may start as just someone with a vengeance for what happened to him decades prior but he alone tries to overtake the current heroes but they must know what to do to overcome this.  All pointed, Ex-Death (Yes sorry if this is a spoiler) is an exceptional villain and you need to know that.

6. Emotions- This plays well with the format of emotions in real life scenarios.  There are conflicts but they are resolved.  There is love for family at a time of loss, there is longing to be what their family hero was, there is love for each other in the game, there is family that didn't know they were family.  All of this is also playing into real life scenarios and it is something that we can relate to in this game.

7. Graphics/Music- Honestly, for the (let's count..) 5th time on this, yes Final Fantasy has great graphics and music, that's just the norm here.

8. Combat system- I thought this was done well to be sort of an active time battle thing but while this is happening you have your own ways of combat but you also get to equip what things you want to use before battle as well.  It is kind of a cool thing overall.

Negative:

1. Villain.. for a different reason- Yeah this was a positive but it is also a negative.. why in God's name the villain NOT A HUMAN? Come on Square, I get it, FF9's villain at the very end wasn't a human either, but the main antagonist essentially was.  FF8 was too messed up for me to care about the final villain and we all know FF4 didn't have a human but that was like FF9 for a long time, but 6 and 7 we all knew who the villains were.  But come on Square.. come on.

Honorable mention: I found it mystifying a bit that final area is just juiced up on difficulty whereas the game was just fine enough.  Maybe it was just the final area so I didn't downgrade it as I likely probably should have.

Overall Rating:

FFV Is a game that all gamers and RPG'ers should play.  It has a fantastic, albeit straight forward, story and has great character growth and the job system in this game is also very well done.  You would be very glad to play this game and it ranks highly in terms of Final Fantasy stardom for me.

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10

PS1 Game Review: Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy IX came out to mass acclaim but also mass criticism.  Imagine games not named FFVII coming out before and after to.. oh wait they all do come out to either mass acclaim or mass criticism.  A YouTuber, Rabtoons, mentions in a "Final Fantasy IX in a Nutshell" video "Final Fantasy IX, the one everyone hated but now loves.  Oh but wait that's all of them, you stay confusing Final Fantasy fans." And yeah that's the way the first couple of years could be slated to be in with this game.  However, being a Final Fantasy nerd that I am, what did this game do well? What needed to be different? All of that and more below!  

Positives:

1. Storyline- I absolutely am glad about the story taking so many different paths.  This isn't a linear, straight forward Final Fantasy like say FF1 or FFV was.  Most Final Fantasy games are not those sort of games but I liked that the story went from one point to another but not really straying after the first disc of where you were going to go to end game.  It overall was a terrific storyline.

2. Character growth- This is a MAJOR difference from FF8 to FF9.  Whereas 8 had very limited growth, 9 had growth among almost all characters in some facet.  The main protagonist, Zidane, has deep character growth, but also other main characters Vivi, Garnet, Steiner, and even Eiko and Quina have good development.  Freya develops in some way and even some NPC (well mainly NPC) such as Beatrix and Regent Cid do well in some facet to develop in a way, so this worked well.

3. Graphics- The graphics here put the PS1 to its limit overall as it made every use of the engine it had to make the graphics of different areas, different continents, caves, and events just as picturesque as they could.  To say they did that is putting it lightly.  The graphics were very, very well done and that is something that needs to be admired as this was on the PS1, which wasn't always noted for great graphics.

4. Music- Yes, Square makes great music for Final Fantasy.  Uematsu makes great music for Final Fantasy, that's just how the game is done at this point.

5. Villain- Not too many times does a game get noted for its villain but here, Kuja deserves it.  He is just a villainous person that it makes it great overall and in addition, his relationship to the protagonist is a fantastic example of the protagonist vs. antagonist being terrific overall. He is so cunning, but so devious that he warrants mentioning as one of the better villains in PS1 and Final Fantasy lore.  

6. Side quests- They play a role here, and they lead to a lot of very solid items.  While yes they take some time, it doesn't take a super large amount of time.  Chocobo Hot and Cold is the main one of this but using the Chocobo for other hidden objects is a main key and something that you should do in this game to find some of the best items in this game.

7. Combat- I know the early versions of Final Fantasy do not get laid on with this but lol to that because This was on the PS1, not the PS3 or later.  Therefore, you were more limited into what the combat system could be.  Overall I felt the combat system was fine.  I also felt that the Trance spell was something that was a good plus, kind of like the limit break system for FF7 but a bit more refined with specific abilities of a character (Double Magic for mages, Dyne for Zidane, etc) so I thought overall the combat system was very well versed.

8. Real life situations- I feel that this game relates to some real life situations pretty well.  Main one is obviously Vivi's struggle to accept his fate, death at some point which we all do this.  Also Garnet coming to terms with everything that happened in her life mid game (Which yes I was fine with and organized the team fine with this) and Zidane longing for a way back home, which admittedly some of us may do as well.  Even Amarant's willing to be a new life is fine, but never forgetting his past is key.  He may come off as cold, but you get his idea.  So a lot of this is fine and I feel a major plus.

Honorable mention: For first timers to the game, those Moogle tutorials really help out.  If you are going to say how you don't understand how something works, but skip these tutorials entirely, well that's on you for not paying attention and to be honest, I don't feel bad for you.

Negatives:

1. Slow starting- If people say it takes too long to build up this game, I completely agree.  It takes at least 1 disc for the game to pop up in action mainly minus a couple points in Disc 1.  I think most of the last three discs are pretty action packed and therefore pretty much make the first disc inactivity in ways moot.  However if people say it is slow to start, I don't disagree at all.

2. Why is Stop game over?- Literally, why does when a monster successfully use stop on you it warrants a game over? Don't anyone say "well you need locomotion" because that is a nonsense excuse.  I never knew (mainly because I used locomotion all the time regardless) that this led up to this and on stream I died due to this.  I get the idea of the abilities but that shouldn't mean you have a game over because your character is stopped and can't continue at all.

3. Bosses giving no EXP- Yes they give a ton of AP, but I wish they would have given EXP more due to it being a boss fight.  It's not a major negative, but one nonetheless.

Honorable Mention: IF this is a spoiler sorry but yes the Ipsen's Castle part is probably the one main controversial part to this game.  No it isn't a negative because I personally got the clue right away when I did my first battle inside this castle, but then the Moogle should have been a dead giveaway to this.  If you didn't get those clues.. then I again cannot help you in that regard.

Overall Rating:

My point of view is that I would highly recommend Final Fantasy IX to most any gamer overall.  Yes it starts slow but you can live with that because the last three discs do so well with that.  Yes you have to deal with the no EXP from bosses, which that one I still to this day don't understand but remember to equip Locomotion and everything will be good to prevent Stop.  The positives of this game are thus that it makes the game well worth the time.  

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10.  Would be a 10 if they didn't have the #2 or #3 negatives (I willingly put #1 aside as the game picks up from Disc 2 onward)

Switch Game Review: Trials of Mana

 Trials of Mana is a game that came to the Nintendo Switch in April 2020, right at the outset of the pandemic that grips the world to this day.  This game is also on the PS4 so there was a bit of the differences in the way they played on different consoles.  However I played the Switch version of this and it is noted that I thought well about this game.  How do I think it did well? How did I feel it didn't? All that and more below!

Positives:

1. Graphics- I think they did well for graphics on the Switch and the game is very picturesque.  The game brings a great sense of being great to look for and look at with really anywhere being really, really good to see in a game.

2. Music- Especially the battle music.  I live for great gaming music and this game has that.  Just go anywhere really, and the music is bound to be absolutely exquisite.

3. Simple battle system- No major frills for beginning gamers and it is not very complex.  Every major button does something but you need it to be that way to succeed and that is the best way to have an RPG style battle system in my view.

4. Time- More specifically, the time needed to beat the game is important and it isn't overdoing it and you will be happy with how it takes you only around 20-25 hours to beat the game even with the cutscenes.  That's a solid RPG length.

5. Main character storylines- I like whoever you choose as your main character as you see the character growth and your party as well.  They all have a storyline and it makes it nice to see, but however there is a caveat to that...

Negatives:

1. Limited character arc growth- Yeah that's where I say while yes they have a storyline, they have limited growth in their stories.  I honestly thought they would do more with that and do more overall with their character arcs, however it wasn't that and it was limited.  This is also prevalent because the game wants you to do a second playthrough with the other characters not used but I decided against it due to the limited character arc.

2. Too much backtracking- Yeah you are going to do a lot of this through the game and I found it a little much to be honest.  I understand going from one place back there maybe once or twice but some take multiple times and that is annoying as can be.  That's another downside to this game.

3. Pretty easy overall- Even on standard, it felt almost way too easy.  I think the only way I died the one time in this game was just bad RNG in the game at that one point.  Otherwise most boss fights even didn't seem to be much of a challenge.  I wonder if this was tailored to those first time gamers because that would make sense but it just felt too easy.

Overall Rating:

Overall, I can recommend Trials of Mana to the ordinary gamer or someone trying to complete the Mana series of games.  It's got great music, graphics, a simple battle system.  If you can deal with the negatives it is quite an alright game overall.

Overall Rating: 8 out of 10. 

PS4 Game Review: F1 2018

 F1 2018 is another in the gaming dynasty of F1 that Codemasters came out with.  Just a few years after the disastrous F1 2015 took center stage, it's apparent that starting at F1 2016 that they were looking to massively rebrand their game after 2015.  That is still much evident in F1 2018.  I overall played as Williams in my career mode and this is what I got from the game.

Positives:

1. Graphics- From the team tent, to the track, to the cars and the stands as well as the scenery around the track everything is exquisite and that is something that I felt glad about with the graphics overall with the racing game.

2. Career Mode- I thought that the career mode was done fairly well.  With not just racing but meeting with the team, with media, goals of the team and for yourself as well.  Everything was good overall I felt.

3. Development tree- I thought the development tree with the car was really good and I know they kept that going in future games but overall I enjoyed this game with that to see what upgrades you should make with the game.

4. Invitationals- This is a nice edition to the game in career mode and it allows for cooler cars to take place and having retro cars as well.  It is something that is good to be had.  So it is a nice mini-game for lack of better words.

Negatives:

1. Easy difficulty- I was in the worst car, but ended up winning the championship in my one and only season playing on a hard difficulty.  I don't know why it was easy for me to win and I honestly couldn't give you an explanation to be fair.  I was kind of shocked when that happened but it felt too easy to do well on and I felt that this was a major struggle to really understand why I did well on a hard difficulty with a bad car.

Overall Rating

This is a massive step up from previous F1 games and this is no different and they continued to get better.  However I can't get past just how easy this is on a hard difficulty and overall it isn't a major challenge to win a championship I felt.  It's just something that happens and I hope if I play the games in the future they would have a harder difficulty.

Overall Rating: 8 out of 10 

Switch Game Review: Luigi's Mansion 3

 Luigi's Mansion 3 is the third of the Luigi's Mansion games (thanks Captain Obvious) that came to Nintendo that feature Mario's skinnier, taller and higher jumping brother that dresses in green.  This is also the first of the Luigi's Mansion games I played, as I didn't play the first two (and I will at some point.)  However just because it's the first doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it! I thought it was a well made game! What made it well made? Let's go below!  

Positives:

1. Graphics- One thing from the Mario games I wondered was how were the graphics going to be with Luigi's Mansion.  Needless to say Nintendo hit it out of the park and did really, really well with every level, every boss, making it look like a spooky game when it was and so much more.  Well done on Nintendo's part overall.

2. Luigi- They made Luigi really well in this game I thought.  He was scared, then hurried, then confident, and he was battle tested I thought.  To be honest, I think they couldn't have made him better if they tried and I think that goes a long way overall.

3. Music- It's spooky, it's good, it makes you feel like you are about to come to something horrendous which epitomizes a spooky game.  Nintendo did very well to make this a spooky game with a spooky atmosphere.

4. The Doctor- You can't understand anything he is saying, but he is a fun guy to have in the party and that's all that matters.  Overall I loved the doctor in this game and it was a lot of fun playing and talking to him all the time.

5. Upgrades- They don't happen all at one time like some games.  They happen naturally and with progression in the story.  That to me is something that you can get behind and have fun with overall.  Overall I found that to be really good in the sense of the game.

6. Story- Yes the story is straight forward but the road to get there is fun.  I always felt a challenge that I needed to accomplish.  I didn't feel the challenges were overly difficult or that they were overly easy.  They had a good difficulty and you would be good with this.

Negatives:

1. Length of gameplay- IF there is a negative it is that this game takes too long with too much backtracking and that is the main reason for the game being so long.  There are a few times you have to go back to the office the Doctor puts together which they should have just made a teleport option, then you have to backtrack a couple of times for a couple enemies.  That just added time in my point of view that was a bit unnecessary.

Overall Rating

I would highly recommend Luigi's Mansion 3 to anyone really if they don't mind playing a longer game than typically usual.  If you are okay with that, then the game is just fine.  I feel they did a lot more right as noted than wrong and that is what a game that is great does.  This is a great game, well worth the warranting mention and accolades.

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10, if length was shorter by 2-3 hours with not much backtracking, it'd be a 10. 

PS4 Game Review: Grand Prix Rock 'N Racing

 Grand Prix Rock 'N Racing is a open-wheeled, Formula 1-esque game for the PS4, Wii U, Switch and XBox 1 all for a low price, roughly I believe under 10 bucks for each if wanted.  It is from EnjoyUp Games and they make another racing game, Rock 'N Racing Off Road DX for the same systems.  To say these were basic games is saying a lot, but what makes Grand Prix Rock 'N Racing stand out? What's good and bad? Lets see below!

Positives:

1. Season/Career- This is very basic, and I will say that in the negatives to an extent.  But the fact this game as a season/career mode is very good and very well done on their part for such a basic game.

2. Start from the bottom- You have to make your car better over the course of time.  Sometimes it takes a few races for your car to be really good, others it just depends and sometimes takes a lot longer.  It all depends on your luck but at least they made it good for the player.

Negatives

1. Graphics- Yeah these aren't very good.  Yes it's a basic game, yes it's going to be basic but this game looks good on a SNES rather than the most recent consoles before the PS5.

2. Cars- They are so small because the camera is just so far away.  If they went with a first hand experience like the F1 games by Codemasters, that would be really, really good.

3. Driving the cars- Yeah these are borderline impossible.  At the start the game is just so hard to drive because you have no steering ability/upgrades, no tires, and braking is a nightmare.  As you max out though, you so much as barely move the stick to turn and you are spinning out due to it being over-responsive.  There is no fine line and no middle ground.

4. Lack of objectives in season- There are no objectives and even if you finish near the back you still improve your car just by one point given.  Therefore there is no major objective other than to win and no major bonus features to go with.

Overall Rating

I can't really recommend this game to anyone for this reason: It's just not very good.  All the negatives are noted and that's why you can't really be recommended to play it.

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 10.

Switch Game Review: Super Mario Galaxy

 Super Mario Galaxy is another 3D Mario game that came out on the Nintendo Wii in 2007 that was given very, very high praise. Overall this game is very well praised for a number of things but all of those I am going to say below anyway, so I won't do much more ado about this.  

Positives:

1. Graphics- On the Wii, a new system from other pass consoles, this game was phenomenal with graphics and that stays the same with the Switch version on the Super Mario 3D All-Stars game.  Overall they are very, very crisp and very well done in every way.

2. Frame rate- Never choppy, always smooth, always able to go spot to spot with no glitches at all.  This game is phenomenal overall and the frame rate does it amazing as well.

3. Music- Yes again, Nintendo is fantastic with this and they hit it out of the park with Super Mario Galaxy.  All the credit in the world with this game with its music in every way possible.

4. Level designs- It's actually well developed.  I enjoy the 'everything in one place' then more spatial design as it puts a system to the limits and that's what they did here.  There is a lot of things happening in one area, then all over at times it is spatial.  It works, it's fun, and you will enjoy it.

5. Boss fights- Not too difficult, not too easy, and you need strategy and quick thinking.  It is all very, very well done and the greatest games have those types of boss fights.

6. Level difficulty- There are some that are easy, some that aren't, but none are so childishly easy or brutally difficult that it is unplayable.  I love them and they are so good overall.

7. Great, yet simple, story- Yes it's Bowser v. Mario.  Yes, it's Mario saving Peach.  That all works.  It is amazing how it works too overall.  I love how the game works that way and that is the best Mario storyline overall anyway.

Negatives:

There are none.

Overall Rating

Highly recommend for Wii and Switch.  I'm not going to press return on this to the rating because it's a 10 out of 10

PS1 Game Review: NCAA Football 2001

 NCAA Football 2001 brought with it the end of an era of sorts.  This was the last NCAA game on the PS1 for EA Sports for football.  For EA Sports it struggled with the Bill Walsh and College Football USA series of games where they then went to change the title to NCAA Football for 1998.  Instantly they started seeing a lot of a reversal of fortune and they did a lot better overall.  For NCAA Football 2001, if you read my NCAA Football 2000 review you would see how I thought Offense was an issue and how defense was a major plus.  How does NCAA Football 2001 go in the last game on PS1 for EA Sports college football?

Positives:

1. Offense- This is a major plus and something that I noted that was a major negative on NCAA 2000 that completely changes.  Yes you have a few plays that you can dominate with but you also have a lot of plays that you can be successful with as well.  

2. Momentum bar- This was a cool new feature and it works.  If you are doing things well you have major momentum boosts and it makes it good overall for the game to know that you can gain and lose momentum due to mistakes overall.  It was a good thing to have overall.

3. Graphics/3D models- The latter is still really good but the graphics are still updated a bit and noted as really good overall.  The graphics for the field as well seem updated and it does well overall again in this edition of the game.

4. Presentation- Again very well done and something that is fantastic and done well overall.  From the overall presentation it was good all around, including the on-field broadcaster.  This game was done very well in that regard as well. 

5. Defense- Still can do defense well even with the offensive upgrades.  So they didn't go one with sacrificing the other position.  So overall they did both very well. 

Negatives:

1. Crowd- Again just really painted in with no major changes from NCAA Football 2000 in regards to this.  They were thinking about NCAA Football 2002 no doubt but would have been good overall.

Overall Rating:

This is a better overall game than NCAA Football 2000.  I would absolutely recommend this to every gamer and that includes the football gamers out there as well.  I would absolutely give this a good look and the game is quite well done overall.

Overall Rating: 9.4 out of 10. 

N64/Switch Game Review: Super Mario 64

 Super Mario 64 is arguably one of the most, if not the most, important titles to the Nintendo 64 when it was released.  It brought instant star power, much like Final Fantasy 7 did for the PlayStation.  At this point though I will look at the Switch version of this with Super Mario 64 that was included in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars package.  I will also talk about the N64 version after that.  Without further ado, here we go!

Positives:

1. Graphics and music- Yep this goes hand and hand together because it's Nintendo, it's Mario.  They are going to be just really really good overall!

2. Same levels- There isn't any tweaking, no differences like added stuff like they did with the DS version.  This is the N64 version on the Switch and it is awesome to have.

3. Better definition- They changed one thing and that was the definition of everything to make it sharper, better than the N64 version.  That might be one of the main changes. 

Negatives

1. Slick controls- On the Switch, the controls are very, very slick.  You would be better off using the D-Pad with the Switch because the joystick is very, very slick.  I actually quite didn't like this because it made for a struggle.  So word to the wise, please play the D-Pad on this otherwise it is super slick.

Nintendo 64 Version

This is all the same stuff, minus the slick controls.  I am not sure why the Switch version is that way but the game is largely the same.  It does have some dialogue that is different but it isn't a bad thing or good thing.  It's just something that is noticeable (Especially the ending.)  I will say the DS version is very vastly different with four characters and the multitude of then 150 stars.  So the N64 doesn't have the super slick controls but it's all the same as above.

Overall Rating

To be honest with any version, it is amazing, so play the N64, DS or Switch versions.  Just know the Switch is slick with controls and to use the D-Pad, otherwise you are just fine overall with it.  You will have a very fun time playing this game with friends or family or just by yourself.

Overall Rating- N64 version gets a 10 out of 10, DS version gets an 8.5 out of 10 due to I think they just made the game too long, and the Switch version gets a 9 out of 10 

PS1 Game Review NCAA Football 2000

 NCAA was the third installment of the NCAA franchise but they had two games as College Football USA and two more under Bill Walsh College Football from EA Sports.  This was the one that ushered in a new era as we left 1999 to go to 2000.  This game also was starting to begin a change as after this game 2001 would be the last on the PlayStation before the switch to the PS2.  So what does this game do well? What needed to improve before the last edition on the PS1 with NCAA 2001?  All that and more below!

Positives:

1. Graphics- The stadiums look really good for the PS1, the jerseys, helmets, field surfaces are all really good as well.  The screens for pausing, beginning game and loading the next game you are in are all well done as well, which leads me to..

2. Presentation- All around very professional job, which includes the stadium announcer.  It's not a major thing but the play by play announcer is just smooth in his announcing of the play and it just does well altogether.

3. Correct bowls- And they included one in the EA Sports Bowl.  Otherwise they did well with this and also added the Heritage Classic (Between the SWAC and MEAC champions) so they did well to not just incorporate all the bowl games but added just their own which is fine.

4. Defense- Typically guesses right overall, and it is good to play defense on here, however there is a catch to that..

Negatives:

1. Offense- That's because playing offense here, even with the best offense is a major struggle.  It is such a tough endeavor on this game (and yes they fix that in 2001.) 

2. Crowd- It's not a major factor in this game, no loud noises like you get in 2004 onward so yes you can see how I will rate 2001 on the crowd.  It's also just kinda painted in on the graphics it feels but it is okay overall that it was.

Overall Rating

Overall I would recommend NCAA Football 2000.  It has offensive issues on that side of the ball but your defense will keep you in games overall.  It's a bit of a struggle but you have the tools to get it done overall.  This is a good game for the college football fan

Overall Rating: 8 out of 10.

PS1 Game Review: Crash Bandicoot

 Crash Bandicoot is a game that has long lived in the lore of Playstation and the community, so much so that they made a remastered version of the first three games before coming out with the fourth game.  Crash is a game that long lives on due to a lot of factors, but one is due to its popularity from the beginning and how close it was to the start of the launch of the PlayStation itself.  It's also a game that was wildly popular with the young kids, whom Sony was trying to get as long time customers for the future.  What does this game do well? What did the 2nd game later on need to improve on?  

Positives:

1. Graphics- Naughty Dog did what you didn't expect right away with PlayStation games, and that was excellent to start off.  I didn't expect the game to be so so good from a graphics standpoint but I am glad that it was.

2. 3D Models- After a lot of games had mixed thoughts on 3D models due to learning the technology on the PlayStation, Crash's model and everything on this game is expertly done for a 3D model of characters.  The cast really did well overall and the characters look fantastic as well.

3. Music- This was one I really enjoyed, all the tracks are pretty well done overall and I felt like they did very well with this.  Naughty Dog did really well with each level, each boss and even the opening soundtrack.  

Honorable Mention: Aku Aku is really done well for this game, obviously I would anticipate they would build upon him in future games (I Have not played either of the other 3 Crash games)

Negatives:

1. Camera: It does well at times, but it doesn't allow for going backwards at all to be seen.  I have seen streamers with the Remastered version and they fixed this but for the original PS1 version, the camera does not do well.

2. Difficulty- If you find yourself quitting the game at some point, I don't blame you.  I had to have died upwards of 200 times in this game.  For a game that was noted as family friendly, it really pulls at you throughout the duration.  I found myself thinking some levels are borderline unplayable but got through them.  I hope they fixed this in some way to make it a challenge but still good on difficulty in later games.

Overall Rating

Despite the difficulty I still would recommend Crash Bandicoot due to the ability to just play the game and due to the features that make it good.  It's a really well made game that is just super difficult.  I would think they fixed that in later versions but I feel that this first version is a really well done game.

Overall Rating: 8 out of 10. 

PS1 Game Review: NFL Gameday 98

 NFL Gameday 98 was Sony's game to come into its own system (before they went to 989 Sports with the franchise) but it was also a noted game to play that wasn't Tecmo or Madden.  This was in an era where they competed with Madden and others and they wanted in the market as well.  It was also made by the company that made the PlayStation, so you knew it was going to be promoted in some way overall.  So what was good about this? What was bad about it?

Positives:

1. 3D models- Even if polygonal, yes it was the 1996/97 year so it really was just good.  Given their competition, Gameday 98 really did well to start making players be 3D models rather than 2D.

2. Pretty accurate teams- Denver and GB (who would meet in Super Bowl 32) are good, same with the rest of the teams in the NFC/AFC so it is overall quite alright the accuracy of the teams overall.

3. Stadiums- One of the first games as well along with Madden to be pretty good about the details of the Stadium.  That being Madden 97, although that one is a bit rough.  However Gameday does do well with the details of stadiums and is on line with good 90's stadium art.

4. Sort of a dynasty mode- They do 3 seasons but it starts kind of a basis for the dynasties modes very much in the future.  It doesn't really start until Madden 99 but Gameday did well with the three seasons going forward.

Negatives:

1. Player movements- To say they are very choppy is putting it nicely.  Players go all over the place but don't get tackled or barely get touched and they looked like they got laid out.  Everything here I think Sony wishes they had a do over because it would have looked very, very fluid.  

2. Easy difficulty- Maybe it is just me but even on the hardest difficulty, this game seemed easy.  I could be wrong but maybe they knew they needed to get people in to buy the game so that could also be why as well. 

Overall Rating

I would recommend NFL Gameday 98 for the casual gamer and sports fans.  It's a game that does do a lot well and if you can disregard the wonky and weird player movements you will be okay.  It's a game that should be noted as a good sports game for the PlayStation overall.

Overall Rating: 8 out of 10 

PS1 Game Review: Final Fantasy 8

 Oh yes, this game.  This. Freaking. Game. Right. Here. I want to make it known this is MINE AND ONLY MY OPINION of this game, so no one gets the nonsense I am thinking just in line with other gamers and streamers on this game.  This is fully my opinion on Final Fantasy 8.  So with that out of the way, FF8 is after 7, which is completely obvious.  FF7: One of the most popular games in history of gaming.. which still lasts today because of well.. FF7.  I don't have a better reason other than it is.  FF8: Well.. let's just dive in shall we?

Positives:

1. Squall's character arc- He develops well after disc 1.  Let's be honest, I'm not going to sit here unless your name is literally FF7 and say much development happens in disc 1.  And yes I will say the same about FF9 as well when I get to it.  He does develop into a character that has a decent personality especially in disc 3. Yeah more on that personality in a bit.

2. Rinoa/Squall's relationship arc- Yes they go into a relationship but it feels good to say they have a good relationship arc.  However the way there is what I will also discuss below! However I do like how in the end they have the relationship arc and it comes full circle.

3. Music- If there was one surefire positive, it's the music.  Uematsu does really, really well for FF8's soundtrack.  It would be probably top 5 or 6 for best soundtracks on the Final Fantasy format and that includes the other 91 versions or add-on games from the FF7 series.  The music for every area, battles, bosses is absolutely exquisite and done very well by Uematsu overall. 

4. Graphics- Sure, let's go graphics.  Because Square makes amazing graphics in video games.  They are actually really well done and the artwork is fantastic for the most part.  There is more on that in a bit as well.

No honorable mentions here, so let's get to the...  

Negatives:

1. Squall's personality- Yeah so I am going hard on this.  He is about the most lifeless/"I don't care" leader in the world.  And that is stupid.  With Cloud, it's battling with his past.  With Zidane, he exudes confidence.  With Bartz, he's calculated but ready to do everything he can for his teammates.  For Cecil, it's overcoming his most recent past, and Terra it's wondering about love.  For Squall, what is his demeanor? What is what makes him.. him? He doesn't have a personality feature that makes him a great leader.  He's just an aloof person who doesn't do anything drastic and he just is a standoffish guy who doesn't seem to have a feature to his personality overall.

2. The Squall/Rinoa Relationship arc- Yes this is a negative because for 2 discs it is incredibly non-existent then it feels forced due to what was going on with Rinoa.  I can't sit here and not say this wasn't forced because it looked and felt forced because of past games having a solid relationship feature.  

3. Zero character development elsewhere- Selphie doesn't develop or have an arc, neither does Zell, Irvine, or Quistis after 20 minutes.  It's absolutely ridiculous that they have only two characters with any sort of arc but literally no one else does.  There is enough there from every character that literally everyone of them should have had an arc, but literally not one character does and it is beyond ridiculous they don't.  To me, put them all from different areas of the world, not in the same area growing up because that is part of why there is zero development of other characters in this game.  In all honesty, it feels cheap and it feels empty without that.

4. Graphics- Yeah they really messed up some details, none more notably than the ball with Squall's face.  They tried to get out of the polygonal/pixel age but it badly needed some retuning and better overall look.  Most of the graphics are done well though.

5. Junction/Draw- Pick one of the two at least.  Personally to me, I despised the draw system.  I did not like it, and it is tedious as heck to do.  For people that don't like the junction system, I can understand that.  Personally I was more in the not as affected by it but if you didn't like it, by all means I understand it.

Overall Rating/Rank

In all honesty, I cannot recommend Final Fantasy 8 to gamers.  It took a lot for me to think through this but I just.. I can't recommend this game at all.  The thing that does it for me is character development.  You can have a garbage sounding/looking game but if the game has really good character development, you will do well with it.  Especially  in a Final Fantasy game.  This game just fell well, well short of expectations and it is no wonder why it is one that people struggle with today to like.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 10.

SNES Game Review: Super Black Bass

 When I said every sport wanted a taste of video games, that includes fishing in the 1990's.  Yes fishing was included with a horde of video games overall.  Super Black Bass is a game that Hot B made for the Super Nintendo and Game Boy as well.  This game, well do I really need to say? Yes it is about fishing and goes about with fishing.  What does this game do well? What needed to be better?  

Positives:

1. Rise to the top philosophy- This game makes you start on the local tour, then rise up later on.  So it's kind of a start out small, end up big.  I like that approach, it makes you play well overall and make you want to get out of the local waters to challenge the big anglers. 

2. Graphics- Even in the water, I thought the graphics were done pretty well by Hot B, and that is something that the game could take away as done well.  I felt the game was good on graphics overall and that is something to look at as well.

Negatives:

1. No music- I understand if this was an idea of if they were trying to replicate real fishing but goodness the intro has no music, nothing has music until after the the weigh-in.  It's a video game to be honest, not a shuffleboard committee meeting.

2. Hard to.. catch fish- Yeah if you are going to make a game about fishing.. can the fishing actually happen?  This isn't a Sunday out on the lake just milling around while catching fish.  This is something that is to be a major thing for players.. and it falls short woefully to be honest.  You shouldn't be spending hours maybe or maybe not catching a fish.  That's the main detriment to the game.

3. Limited in scope- There isn't much that can get you major excited about this game to be honest.  It's fishing, you try to find them.  There isn't much exploring unless you explore over the waters of the lake you are at.  It's very limited in scope overall.

Overall Rating/Rank

Overall I can't recommend Super Black Bass to much of anyone.  Sure if you are a diehard completionist you will beat it but otherwise I can't recommend it.  Yes the road to the top is a good idea, and yes the graphics are good but you spend so much time just trying to fish and trying to find fish to be honest.  It gets well too much in the way of what would be otherwise a decent game.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Overall Rank: 495th out of 721

PS1 Game Review: Spyro: Year of the Dragon

 Spyro: Year of the Dragon is the third of the trilogy of games for Spyro on the PlayStation.  I open with that because for a good 7 hours that I was playing the game, I thought it was the first game.  Good on me to not do research until a streamer said "This is the third game to be honest." But in any case, with this actually the third game, this is what to like, not like and so forth! 

Positives:

1. Graphics- The graphics in this game are absolutely amazing.  I was very impressed by how this looked and it really doesn't matter the level, fight, or anything.  The graphics overall on the PS1 are absolutely terrific with this game.  

2. Music- A great game has to have great music, and that's what Spyro here has.  It has terrific music, and again it doesn't matter the level, the fight or anything.  Insomniac and Vivendi did very, very well for this.

3. Boss Fights- I thought these were actually done pretty well and they were a challenge but not to a point of say a DKC 2 where it is so difficult it's almost unplayable.  This is something that I feel is a good thing overall and the developers did very well with.  

4. Play at your Pace- This is underrated in games.  You have to play at your pace to do well with it.  Spyro allows for that.  You can speed it, you can play more methodically.  All the things are there.  There are a few levels you have to play maybe above your pace if you are playing methodically but this game really does allow someone to play your own pace.

Honorable mention: This game allows you to take some chances.  Wanna get an egg that is pretty far away but you don't know if you can fly that far? Take the chance.  Don't know if you can get past that big palooka with your skills? Take a chance.  Don't know how you will get everything with this super power up? Take the chance.  This game is one of the more risk-taking games you will get but you do get rewarded for it.

Negatives:

1. Camera- This was the only negative really.  The camera angles are so wonky in this game and it seems to affect a lot of different things when running especially.  If they had taken a different approach to this and maybe had an option (Maybe they did and I didn't know it) to reset the camera, it would have been better. Otherwise, it's one negative in a game of positives.

Overall Rating

This game is one of the better ones on the PlayStation.  Overall there are many, many things to like about the game, including the bosses, the pace, music and so forth.  All of this provides a good detail into the trilogy I felt.  The game itself makes everything better overall and minus the camera, is a great game regardless.  I would obviously highly recommend this game.

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10.

PS1 Game Review: IHRA Drag Racing

 Every known racing league in its time had a video game of some sort in the 1990's it seemed.  From Sports cars, NASCAR, sprint cars, to IHRA? Really, the lesser known version of NHRA had a game? Yep indeed it did.  And it was as you expected to be honest.  Now they did get a lot better over the course of time than this game, but without further ado, let's dive on in and find out things about this game.

Positives:

1. Season mode- Yes there is a mini-season, but a season mode nonetheless.  They didn't have a ton of tracks (more on that below) noted but they still did what they could to showcase some tracks that at the time did exist.

2. Progression- Also yes more on that below but you can make your car better over the course of time as well.  Another good thing that they had over the season mode as well.

Negatives:

1. Graphics- There are a ton of negatives here, but graphics, for a drag racing game shouldn't be one of them.  It is so rough the graphics and it makes you wonder how they got this past editing and development.  

2. Good luck losing a lot- Yep, this game does not do well with the progression.  You lose, and lose a LOT.  You don't have much opportunity until you make your car better and that takes a while.  This isn't an RPG guys, it's a drag racing game that you should just pick up and play and do well with guessing the green lights.

3. Limited tracks- I'm not sure why, maybe it was just how the IHRA schedule was but only 5-6 tracks just made no sense to me.  It seemed that this was just something that they could have expanded upon than something very small.

4. Not realistic- Even at that time, it wasn't realistic IHRA drag racing.  IHRA has similar classes in a way to that of NHRA, just some different nuances.  However this was more street racing type drag racing at a local dragway.  I don't see how they got that past anything and didn't noticed it. 

Overall Rating

I can't recommend IHRA Drag Racing on the PS1.  The later versions were actually really good so I have seen but I couldn't see any major fan wanting this game on the PS1.  It's a woeful game that falls badly short.

Overall Rating: 3 out of 10

Switch/Game Boy Game Review: Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

 The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening is a game that turned heads on the Game Boy when it was released in 1993 (later on Game Boy Color in 1998) but when it was remastered in 2019 it was brought to the Nintendo Switch to high acclaim as well.  In this edition I'll first go through the Game Boy Version but the main thing here being reviewed is the Nintendo Switch Version.  Without further ado, here we go! 

Game Boy Version:

This is very, very well done and it is deserving of the high praise it got in the 90's.  The Color version just added color but kept the entire storyline the same.  The thing was the Game Boy was black and while and didn't add any sort of color due to the limited spectrum of the game system.  However that shouldn't turn you away because the game is so, so deep and so good overall.  This game on the Game Boy is very well done with literally every aspect as noted below with the Switch.

Switch Version Positives:

1. Graphics- Obviously to be updated but very well done overall.  I thought the game in an open console like the Switch did very, very well overall and Nintendo did terrific with the graphics in every way and department.   

2. Gameplay- Very fluid, good for a players pace whether they are more methodical or fast paced.  It allows for the game to play overall very well.  The game is well paced, fluid and the open world map is fantastic with the Switch.

3. Music- This again is just a broken record, as Zelda and Nintendo make great music all the time and it is the same case here.

4. Link's Progression- He does well like in the Game Boy version and so I appreciate the character development in terms of what he is able to do in Link's Awakening.  I felt they did amazing with this as a remaster and kept it fluid as well.  Yes I say fluid but they had a lot they could have changed but they didn't and it is a welcome relief that this was done overall.

5. Mixing in Mario- You will notice at times with Mario, Princess Peach and stuff.  I thought at first it was tacky, but overall I thought it was a good touch to be honest that they put trophies, paintings on this game so it looks pretty cool in all aspects.  

Added: There isn't a favorite boss of mine, so this is an honorable mentioned to speak.  But the bosses are all pretty well done overall.  This is also the same to be said about dungeons.  To me I didn't have a favorite because they are all very well done to be fair.

Switch Version Negatives:

There really isn't a major negative on this game.  To me if you were seriously nitpicking, I guess the length of the game can turn away from people I guess? To me it isn't a negative or positive.  It's just a remaster of the original game so I felt the same thing was going to happen in terms of the difficulty, length and so forth.  It's literally the same game only remastered overall.

Overall Rating

There is no question that Link's Awakening should be played by gamers.  Heck I would recommend all three games if you wanted to play the Color version on Game Boy because well it ads color to the game rather than the black/white disposition of the Game Boy.  Overall they both get the same rating but I enjoyed them both equally.  It's a good mix of playing the Game Boy long ago like I did and the Switch version recently.

Overall Rating, both versions get a 10 out of 10.

PS1 Game Review: Sports Car GT

 Sports Car GT is another game EA made for racing, but this one related to sports cars rather than NASCAR.  There isn't a specific series they went after, so it wasn't like WEC, American Le Mans, Rolex GT at that time.  It was more of a basic game at the time and something that also went to the PC as a game as well.  So how did it do then? What were positives and negatives?

Positives:

1. Real cars- When they made this game it related to 1999 cars, so the cars are realistic and the current times with that at the time as well.  Overall they did well with this and made it realistic.

2. Real tracks- Yes they also have real tracks as well, minus the last one and one other I believe (though I think one they tried to make like Las Vegas but may not have had the naming rights.)  However they drove a lot like the regular tracks which was nice to see.

3. Frame rate- Not choppy, very fluid and won't have lag at all really.  EA did well with this game on the basis of the frame rate.

Negatives:

1. Graphics- Yeah they did not do well with the graphics in this game and they look very choppy overall throughout the game and the cars are very rigid and not fluid like you would have in many other games.

2. Driving- This game is just too terrible to drive on.  If you go even an inch in the grass, you lose all your speed.  Driving while breaking makes you nearly spin out a lot of the time.  Take a corner even a bit wrong and you are all sorts of messed up.  The driving in this game is complicated and it will test you in every way possible.

3. Why the end?- Literally why have the race on a non-existent race course.  Almost every other is real minus this track at the end.  On top of that, it's such a narrow track that the only way to win is by wrecking people.  Yes it's better on video games to do it, but it makes the track almost undrivable. 

4. No commentary- Would have been better with commentary by all means to be honest.  The fact there is no commentary is a major let down on EA's behalf. 

5. Unrealistic upgrades and levels- It's just mainly new and faster cars when you go up the ladder in class.  The class/levels are just unrealistic, albeit quick and it's not much better than just do one thing and go from there, finish the best in three races and move on.  You get money, but mainly just need a new car and you are good to go, pretty unrealistic overall.

Overall Rating

I cannot recommend this game for the PS1.  It is more favorably reviewed for the PC so check this game out for that.  However for the PS1, no do not waste your money on this game.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 10.

Switch Game Review: Super Mario Maker 2

 Super Mario Maker 2 came out in 2019, four years after the first Super Mario Maker game came on to much acclaim.  To say in two years of making levels, gamers would be tired of it but that creativity has made this a staple feature for gamers everywhere as they try to get creative in every way.  The game has much acclaim so I thought to give it a go, and note I did play some made levels but mainly just played the story mode.  Here is what I thought was positive and not positive.

Positives:

1. Different versions in game- One level will have you in a Mario Brothers 3 level, another Super Mario World, some New Super Mario World U and Mario World 3D.  All that and more are noted and they did really, really well overall with all the levels. 

2. Graphics- Yes, Nintendo, Mario.  Graphics go hand-in-hand here.  They did well with all the variations though and that is something that should be noted.

3. Music- See above for graphics and just replace with music.  Yes that's how it goes.

4. Responsive: Mario is perfectly responsive here and I felt that he did very, very well overall with this and Nintendo did very well making him responsive with the input on the switch joycons.  I think this was underrated in the game and it is noted to how well made this game was overall. 

Negatives:

1. Presentation: I thought this was a bit lazy, just some boxes bringing up what to do and that was it.  No major tutorial into the modes, no nothing.  Just a bit lazy on this part.  Had they done what they do typically with other Mario games, they would have won me over on that.

Added: This isn't on the game, but people stated the online gaffes of the game, but that's just on the beyond garbage Nintendo Servers which yes, disconnect worse than most relationships

Overall Rating:

I would recommend Super Mario Maker 2 to most everyone with the level making, the story mode as well.  Seeing other gamers do the level making and challenge themselves with others levels, it's quite fun to see.  Personally I didn't design levels but they look really good and make you look creative.  Just for the love of God, note that Nintendo servers for online are just terrible and if you can deal with that, you'll be fine online.

Overall Rating: 9 out of 10. 

PS1 Game Review: NASCAR 98

 NASCAR 98 is the first game for EA Sports to be with NASCAR, which they did a NASCAR game through NASCAR 09.  In its first foray to the industry, it brought itself to the Playstation and Sega Saturn.  This was getting to the boom of NASCAR in the 90's and EA struck gold with it through 2005-2006 of course as well with their NASCAR games, then onward to the NASCAR Thunder series and so forth.  So in the first edition, what does NASCAR 98 do well? Also they made a Collectors Edition, so what did I think of that? 

Positives:

1. Good graphics- It wasn't flashy, it wasn't tadow worthy or anything but it was just solid graphics for the time on the Playstation.  I felt with this being the first go round for EA with NASCAR, if hey just made a solid enough game, they would have been alright, and they did pretty decently well with the graphics.

2. Top drivers- Like Tecmo did with Tecmo Bowl on the NES, you needed big names for the NASCAR games to start and EA knew that as well.  That's why guys like Dale Earnhardt, Terry Labonte, Bobby Labonte, Jeff Gordon, and so forth are in this game.  They needed the big names in the game to sell it and they got them.  

3. Realistic cars- Yes the graphics on the cars are rough, but I more denote that to the first time EA did a NASCAR game.  It would have been a negative but the paint schemes are roughly similar to those of the 1997 makes and models so they did very well with that.  Believe me, they did better with the cars in the coming years so I didn't hold a grudge on the rough looking cars overall.

4. Racing- It's actually fun to race on this game, the tracks are very much able to provide good racing and overall they felt good to do.

Added: Please use the paint ball mode at least once on this game, it's quite good fun.

Negatives:

1. Fantasy tracks- This is the one game where I felt the fantasy tracks just weren't very good.  I think that had to do with just their layouts but overall I came away from them very underwhelmed overall.  Again, this was a first go round so I am more willing to forgive them in the grand scheme of things.

2. No full field- I think this was more of a product of the times but also I was willing to give more slack to the guys at EA for this one on the first game rather than the rest of the games.  I wasn't expecting a full field in this game, because their competitors with Papyrus at the time didn't either for their NASCAR game.  I did expect it in later games as EA had a base but still didn't get it done until NASCAR Thunder 2002.

3. Lap times- I am not sure why they weren't more accurate.  For instance, Charlotte and Texas take 40 plus seconds to get a lap done? What? And the game had the right mileage of the tracks so I am not sure why some are good on lap times and why at Bristol you do nearly 12-13 second laps.  It was incredibly mystifying to me.

4. Driving- This is a negative as the cars themselves to drive are incredibly tough on response.  Either too responsive and you turn too much and hit the inside wall on some tracks or not enough and you hit the outside wall on tracks.  There was a very fine line on good response on driving.

Added: I didn't like the rubber band tendency of the AI, meaning if you got out to a 1-2 second lead they would be right back to you in a lap or two.

Collector's Edition:

The two major things here are that Darlington is added and Richard Petty is added to the game as well.  You also got a pretty neat keychain (of which I don't have anymore) but the whole thing is still largely the same as the original NASCAR 98.

Overall Rating

Overall, I'd give NASCAR 98 a thought and would recommend, if you are a more casual gamer and fan.  If you are a diehard, you'll find faults on this easily and it is easy to see why.  I think EA did get better overall on a lot of this, minus the field thing until the aforementioned game above.  I think just from a basic standpoint, EA did well with their first NASCAR game.

Overall rating: 8 out of 10.