Recent reviews by Colly

There's no denying that Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a game that draws a lot of inspiration from Jet Set Radio/Future, but I'd argue that simply writing it off as "Jet Set Radio 3" would be disingenuous to what this game manages to achieve. BRC is a game that has enough of its own passion, ideas, style and flair to the point that while it is a game that clearly respects its origins and the foundation it is built upon, it also manages to set itself apart from those roots, and evolve past them to craft its own distinct and bold identity.

While JSR focuses on depicting a futuristic glimpse at the street/altpunk scene, BRC feels like a game made by developers actively a part of, and out of love for the western hip-hop and funk scenes: from everything to its stellar soundtrack, art direction, graffiti aesthetics, the inclusion of skateboarding and BMX in addition to inline skating, and the concepts and designs of each distinct rival crew. I'd also like to add as a side note that to me, the level design of BRC is overall stronger and more realised for the gameplay style it is going for, being much more open, diverse, and explorable than those of JSRF's linear city circuits.

The main downside for me is the execution of the game's story, which comes off very underbaked. The themes, characters, plot outline and overall concept are all there and sound promising on paper, but the game sorely needed a dedicated writer in the crew to bring them to full fruition in a satisfying way.

Very strong selection of songs to add to the game to mix things up (though I would've forgone Me & My Katamari's inclusion in favour of more songs from the other titles, since the songs from that game in this aren't even "true" Katamari level songs, they're just menu themes), but this package is drastically overpriced, especially if purchased individually. Only purchase if you absolutely want them, or if you can get them for cheap.

We stan Second Cousin Beyond in this house

As someone who has been following the lead dev's work since the Monkeyed Ball romhacks, considering this game has been in Early Access for close to three years as of time of this review for what is a Monkey Ball spiritual successor, I feel as though the dev team are displaying both a lack of transparency, and commitment to the project. The updates to the game are highly infrequent, and as time has gone on, I feel as though the overall stage quality has grown poorer and less inspired. Many of the newer levels lack the polish I've come to expect from the team, featuring gimmicks that just aren't properly fleshed out or playtested to ensure they are fun.

The developers need to be more publicly transparent with the production of this game, either with more frequent social media updates regarding how development is going, or being honest that, for example, they see this title as a passion project rather than something they wish to work full time on and release ASAP.

Really, really good successor to Marble Blast Gold/ Ultra made by the same devs, right down to using the same marble physics/ and movement

+Zone 5 is great and full of really deviously designed enemies that all feel new and unique
+The new music is 👌
+The OverClocked Remix OST is honestly hands down my favourite remix soundtrack for the game - some tracks even rival the Danny B originals in my opinion
+Lightning is a fun mechanic
+All of the weapons are great and fun in their own ways, especially the cutlass
+Nocturna and Diamond are great
+I can't say I disliked a single one of the new items, they're a lot of fun, especially the pet familiars
+Nocturna's final boss is tough but really fun and cool, especially with how it uses the lightning mechanic
+Fortissimole. Just Fortissimole.
+Tons of new modes and ways to play, some better than others
+Hard Mode is a real challenge, but feels extremely rewarding
~Tempo is INCREDIBLE, albeit needs a little more work (particularly with how easily he can die reaching the stairs after you finish an end of zone boss)
-Frankensteinway is a poorly designed boss. There's just far too much going on at once on screen.
-Mary feels like a wasted character slot - she turns the game into an escort mission

If you like NecroDancer, I'd absolutely recommend this just for the sheer amount of content it adds for only £5/ your local equivalent.

Honestly the best remix soundtrack for this game? Many tracks I actually prefer to the Danny B originals.

Quit when you reach World 8, it just stops being fun as the devs throw out their own logic and rules in favour of unreactable nonsense to the point where the trucks themselves don't even work properly. Worst of all, the final level completely makes zero sense based on what you've learnt up until that point - don't touch the environment.

It's fun, until it runs out of ideas.

While it's kind of hard to recommend if you never played it when it first came out (since this remaster is just a 1080p asset port, the entire rest of the game is the same minus UI improvements), it's a game oozing heart and charm that in spite of all its flaws, I still adore.

Blinx 1 remaster next pls

At this point, why I return to this game is basically just Stockholm's Syndrome. Like, it's not bad. If I could, I'd give it a mixed review rather than a negative, but oh well. I can't vouch for the other modes in the game since I haven't really played them. But there's a couple of gameplay design choices in Mono that absolutely ruin the experience for me.

Firstly - the power blocks. They are basically the only part of the ride that even matters. Everything other part of the ride is just fluff, comparably. Basically at certain intervals across the track, there's this block that serves as a multiplier, and when you hit it, it gives you bonus points (up to ~21k) depending on how full your grid is. With a match 21, when you hit the block, you'll get 36k points at a time. However - if you miss a power block, or your grid is barely at all full by the time you reach one, you may as well just start over. You're not going to get anywhere on the scoreboard.

Secondly - the block columns are RNG every time you ride the same song. You'll get the exact same blocks at the same points, but they're distributed differently across the columns. If you really, really, really wanted to, you can minmax a song by restarting over and over until the block layouts seem in your favour. I've seen this used by a couple of riders to effectively dominate the scoreboards and make it outright impossible for anyone to get anywhere on them.

Also there's cheaters aplenty. I've flagged numerous suspicious scores, and I've checked back and none of them have been dealt with.

It's fun, but with two colossal flaws if you're going to play Mono like roughly 95% of the user base. If you don't really care about score then it's a fun interactive experience - otherwise it's an exercise in frustration.

Also please for the love of god don't use the Stadium skin