Lou's Lagoon (NS2, PS5, XBS, PC) Review

With a new banner for the fall season proudly displayed on SuperPhillip Central's header, we also have a new review to read together on the site. It's a cozy game that is one part platforming and one part crafting. It's all Lou's Lagoon, and here is the SPC review.

 You win some, you "Lou-se" some.

Lou is a local hero at the ol' archipelago--a famous, fabled deliveryman loved by all, who helps supply the tropical seas with the materials and goods each island demands, needs, wants, requires, etc. When a sudden strong storm hits the archipelago, Lou goes missing upon going out to do a little investigating. His current whereabouts? Well, they're unknown! That'd be a problem indeed for the archipelago, but your character has a more personal stake in Lou's disappearance: he's your uncle! So in his absence, you tentatively take over his island, get help from his employees, and take the keys to his airplane to soar around the archipelago in search of him.

The beginning of Lou's Lagoon eases you into the most essential gameplay loops and formulas through some simple tutorials in the form of quests. It all starts with being handed an impressive and important tool known as the Swirler and being tasked with siphoning up materials with its electronic tendril-like vacuum arm in order to repair your plane. 

I'd carry more materials, but I currently don't have "mushroom" to do so.

Starting out, the Swirler lacks a powerful enough oomph to it. It can grab level one materials like driftwood and pebbles, for starters, but anything else will cause it to futilely attempt to suck stronger materials until it eventually overheats. The Swirler is helpful enough, and you earn other gadgets along the way to assist you on your adventure, such as fishing rod, an excavator to find hidden goodies underground, and even a Breath of the Wild-like glider. All of these can be upgraded with various materials in addition to in-game currency.

You'll find out relatively quickly that upgrading is not only helpful but pretty much a prerequisite to make progress in Lou's Lagoon. There are some roadblocks that get put in front of you which require certain tools requiring specific materials. Not all materials are found in the wild.

Your inventory may be limited, but at least pleasant views are in a surplus within Lou's Lagoon.

No, instead, they must be crafted. You have myriad means to craft in Lou's Lagoon. You have a refiner that takes scrap and other junk and transforms it into more useful materials. You have what essentially comes down to a loom which creates textile materials like silk and cotton. Then, there's the manufacturing station that makes components like processors and chips. 

All of these craft-able goods need you to earn their recipes through various skill trees of sorts. As you complete quests around the archipelago, you earn what amounts to points that unlock new recipes on these trees of recipes. The deeper you delve into each type of crafting stations' trees, the more complicated and costly the required material becomes. 

This doesn't just stop at the cost of materials or money. No, there's also a rather sizable time investment as well. Lou's Lagoon uses a crafting system that works in real time. It's not instant. If you insert materials into a given crafting station or machine, you're going to be waiting a fair amount of time for the machine to finish and cough up your bounty of desired materials. This can take upwards of minutes just to get one material--now to be fair, that's one of the higher rated materials in the game. Still, it's a long time to wait.

As the late and great Tom Petty once sang, "The waiting is the hardest part."

Sure, you can explore the islands of the archipelago or even wander around Lou's Island in the meanwhile to grab more materials for later, but that compounds things with another of the game's problems. Starting out, your inventory is limited to about ten different materials that you can hold at once. This can be upgraded through completing quests and finding upgrades in treasure chests, and you can also hold a modest amount of extra materials in your plane's cargo hold, or sell them to a shopkeeper to later repurchase. 

The point here is that you will find yourself quickly running out of space for materials and constantly juggling between what to carry and what to leave behind, especially when a fair number of quests require you to build something with materials, return to the quest giver with the correct materials, etc.

Like your character, your plane is yours to customize as well. Aye-aye! That's a sharp dresser!

Lou's Lagoon is, as stated, set on an archipelago, so you're not limited to the starting island. After all, what good is a plane if you can't FLY it!? You do get some time in the sky, mainly transporting yourself from one of the four main islands of the game that eventually open up to you. There are also materials and money that can be received by flying through balloons and specific crates in the sky, as well as time trials where you attempt to fly through a set amount of rings within a time limit, but for the most part, your plane is to travel from island to island. 

Times like this are when I wish Baloo was piloting this bad boy instead.

The islands themselves contain one major town apiece surrounded by what amounts to platforming playgrounds, covered in materials to nab, optional treasure chests to find, and uncharted areas to explore. Your character has no health bar and has no real dangers to worry about. Yes, there are pirates that don't take too kindly to your arrival in the archipelago and will attempt to attack you with a smack of their sack full of plundered booty, but this is but a daze. There's no fall damage, and the only actual danger is getting stuck in a buggy part of the environment with no way out. Fortunately, the pause menu houses an "I'm Stuck!" prompt specifically for these occasions, taking you back to the entrance of an area for the times this occurs.

Lou's Lagoon's four islands each have their own environments, challenges, and, of course, quests to complete.

Really, the need for an emergency teleport is the least of Lou's Lagoon's technical problems, at least when playing on the Nintendo Switch 2 version like I was. Truth be told, Lou's Lagoon is one of the most unpolished and uneven games of this cozy type I've played in a long time. There were glaring turn-offs like frame-rate issues where the FPS sunk to slideshow levels at rare but certainly noticeable times, and moments where the camera couldn't focus on the character you're speaking to, instead opting to awkwardly focus on the background. (This was a much more commonplace problem with the presentation.) Loading times also leave something to be desired, as well.

I think I see a shrine over ther--wait. Wrong game.

Still, Lou's Lagoon left me warmly wanting more rather than instead of leaving me out in the cold. Yes, its inventory and crafting systems should be updated if even a little bit to help with the grind, and polishing and debugging for the presentation and multiple technical issues are required for certain. Even with all of my gripes with the game, I deeply enjoyed the adventuring aspects, the platforming, the exploration, the massive amounts of customization, and much of the colorful cast of quirky characters. As it is now, Lou's Lagoon is a tough game to wholeheartedly recommend in its current shape when half of the experience is mired and betrayed by its design.

[SPC Says: C] 

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review. 

This game was played via the Nintendo Switch 2 version. Lou's Lagoon is also available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series consoles, and PC.

Kirby and the World Beyond (NS2) Reveal Trailer

The final announcement during today's Nintendo Direct was that of a brand-new Kirby! Like Link and Mario Kart before him, Kirby is entering into a more open-world setting with Kirby and the World Beyond. Initially starting in familiar surroundings, we see Kirby slice through the background, revealing--well, the world beyond! Kirby and the World Beyond is set to embark uncharted lands in Spring 2027 on the Switch 2, as part of the Kirby franchise's 35th anniversary.

Metroid: Ravenous (NS2) Reveal Trailer

The next game in the Metroid series has been announced, as seen during this morning's Nintendo Direct. Metroid: Ravenous sees Samus Aran having an appetite for destruction (as well as survival, of course), as she's stuck on a dangerous, enemy-infested moon. What horrors and other dangers await her? One of the more exciting announcements from this Direct, we'll have to wait a little longer to satiate our own appetites for the game when Metroid: Ravenous releases on Nintendo Switch 2 on January 28th, 2027.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (NS2) Full Reveal Trailer

For me, it's been an excruciating wait, as The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is my favorite game ever made. I know, such a rare opinion to be found, so waiting a handful of months for the full reveal of the remake was rather challenging. 

Now, the first gameplay look and full trailer revealed themselves during Nintendo's special The Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Direct this morning, and goodness, does this game look and sound great to me. What do you think after seeing the trailer? Are you satisfied? 

Regardless, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is reborn on Nintendo Switch 2 on November 5th, 2026.

Final Fantasy VII Revelation (Multi) Release Date Trailer

Final Fantasy VII Revelation, the final chapter of the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy, now has a release date, as of this morning's PlayStation State of Play. The game launches on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, and Xbox Series consoles on April 8th, 2027. We got yet another extended look into the game, as well, during the presentation. 

Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush (Multi) Pre-Order Trailer

The rush of releases in September shows no sign of slowing down. Speaking of rushes, Milestone Team's Hot Wheels: Infinite Rush just recently saw a pre-order trailer rev and roar its way onto the scene. This open-world racer trailer focuses on the early benefits of pre-ordering, collecting more cars for your garage, and shows off some of the wild gameplay promised to players who dive into the game when it releases September 10th on all major current platforms.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword (Multi) "Creator's Voice"

Ahead of Onimusha: Way of the Sword's September 4th release, Nintendo and Capcom have joined forces to provide prospective players with a behind-the-scenes look and talk from the director, Satoru Nihei, with the next in line of Nintendo's Creator's Voice series of videos. While Nintendo's channel, of course, focuses on the Nintendo Switch 2 version, Onimusha: Way of the Sword arrives on all current generation platforms later this week.

1,100th Review! Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time (Multi)

It's somewhat mind-blowing to me that SuperPhillip Central has reached this latest milestone: 1,100 reviews. I have no plans of stopping any time soon, at that! 

Our 1,100th review (not-so-coincidentally published at 11:00 a.m. Central time) is a game I've been meaning to cover, but it got lost in the shuffle, like so many games did when I was focused on other aspects of life. Speaking of Lives, this game has 12 of them, but after playing this game over 100 hours over the past year, I feel I have zero, ironically! 

That said, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a meaty game, and would have probably been runner-up for my Game of the Year for 2025 behind Donkey Kong Bananza. Does that spoil how much I enjoyed this particular game? Perhaps, but I hope you still enjoy this milestone review all the same. 

 A game that steals time, too. /complimentary

The original Fantasy Life released in 2012 on the Nintendo 3DS. As a game, it was a life sim that featured plenty of cozy elements, combat, and plenty of Lives to manage. The sequel had been in development for quite a while, even having to retool itself during development. When a game gets in "development hell", for lack of a better term, like Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time did, it's hard not to assume the absolute worst of the final product--or at least worry heavily about it.

Somehow, someway, the sequel released, and it's no wonder why the game took so long to come out of the oven. With three unique worlds, so many gameplay systems interacting with one another, and an overwhelming amount of things to do, it can feel like Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time would suffer from bloat or feature creep. Instead and again, somehow, someway, Fantasy Life i manages to mesh and gel all of these systems into one comprehensive and complete entity.

As the subtitle would suggest, Fantasy Life i's story is a time-traveling tale through the past and present. It's a humorous affair with plenty of chuckles and even laughs to be found, though it occasionally can get slightly serious as well. The latter moments are few and far in between, keeping the game's story light in tone overall.

Well, Ranoah, after playing this game for over 100 hours total with every achievement unlocked, 
I can confidently say that... no. No, I do not.

It's difficult to describe what Fantasy Life i's main draw is, because there is honestly so much to this particular sequel. There's, of course, the Life system, which essentially puts your character in the role of various jobs. These Lives come in the form of three categories: combat, gathering, and crafting. Each Life starts at level 1 and gain experience points to level up in various ways, and each time a Life levels up, they get points that can be spent on that Life's skill board. This grants them better proficiency and abilities to utilize their Life better. 

Obviously, combat-related Lives spend their time battling creatures and other enemies. Gathering-oriented Lives chop trees, reel in fish, and mine for ore, in the case of Woodcutter, Angler, and Miner Lives respectively. Finally, crafting Lives do all their magic at workbenches, using drops from the former two Life categories to create all kinds of goodies, whether that be equipment, furniture, food, etc. 

Find the sweet spot by circling around this ore, and strike to deal some serious damage!
Just be sure to mind your stamina meter "ore" you'll tucker out before you finish the job!

Each Life starts you off as but an apprentice, but as you complete specific tasks for each Life, you earn points that eventually grant you to higher ranks. These ranks give rewards to your Life, as well as introducing a higher tier of more challenging tasks to complete. For combat Lives, these require felling certain monsters. For gathering Lives, it's all about chopping down certain trees, catching certain fish, or mining specific ore and reaping the rewards from them. Crafting Lives require you to make specific recipes via time-based mini-games, and some need to meet a certain quality as well. 

Crafting takes the form of these mini-games, requiring taps and holds of buttons and 
occasional spins of the analog stick to make new equipment, furniture, food, and more.

In a way, all of the Lives are interconnected. You need combat and gathering Lives to get enough drops and materials to assist your crafting Lives to make the required recipes for new ranks, as well as to better equip your combat and gathering Lives. That's whether with new weapons and stronger tools, or armor in the case of combat Lives. 

That's why it's pretty ideal to essentially sign up for all Lives at the start of the game once the Life system opens up. To be fair, it's a pretty tedious process to start the process in 12 different Lives, and it can also be overwhelming to have SO many different tasks available at once. However, it also makes the world much more accessible and available to you, opening up a ton of places and activities to enjoy.

You always have something to do within Fantasy Life i, whether you follow along with the story or not!

That said, Lives are just one part of Fantasy Life i. Another piece of the game is that of an open-world land called Ginormosia, introduced relatively early in the game and not mentioned until close to the very end of the base game's story. Ginormosia is home to various regions, each with pop-up challenges to optionally complete, monsters to defeat, ore to mine, trees to chop down, fish to catch, and so forth. As you complete challenges and perform feats within the world, you gain points for that specific region. Once you reach certain point thresholds, you can speak to the talkative tower of that region to level it up, making the rewards and challenges of that particular region greater. 

Ginormosia is well, quite a bit ginormous with plenty of points of interests to find and visit.

Ginormosia also features inspirations from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, between its Korok-like Leafes hidden all around and with its shrines sprinkled and scattered all across the land. Inside these literal shrines are simple enough puzzles to solve and challenges to complete to unlock characters called Strangelings, which can be turned back into human form at your home base.

That includes these shrines that are scattered all about the land of Ginormosia.

This leads me to yet another part of Fantasy Life i: your home island. This can be outfitted with homes (including your own, which can be customized and fully furnished inside), farms, and other buildings for your Strangelings turned humans to live. The indoor and outdoor furniture and other knickknacks can be placed all around your island as well. This is another optional part of Fantasy Life i, but it is rather rewarding. It's essentially something out of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so if you have any familiarity with that game, then you'll feel right at home (both figuratively and literally) with this part of Fantasy Life i. 

Also on your home island is that of Treasure Groves, which grant you access to Rogue-lite dungeons where your Lives are put to the ultimate test. Some floors require specific proficiency in a particular Lives to pass. Some floors are Harvesting ones, needing you to dig up all of the crops. Some are Fishing floors, requiring you to fish up all you can in search of a specific item. If you're not at a proper level with a given Life, you'll find these objectives next to impossible, especially as you go back in time further and further. Each Treasure Grove sapling you plant grows a completely different grove to explore, and seldom are two ever the same. However, both the challenges and the prizes for completing them make the Treasure Groves incredibly fun and rewarding to take on.

So much of Fantasy Life i can be immensely overwhelming when you lay everything out like I just did, especially as there is a TON of grinding is present--whether monsters, monster drops, leveling up Lives, etc. That won't be everyone's bag of Dosh. Fortunately, you're seldom ever really forced to do anything. Sure, you're encouraged to follow along with the story, which helps in advancing the plot and reaching new areas to access better materials and rewards, but truthfully, you're allowed to do what you want when you want. 

One of the combat Lives is that of a Magician, for magical ranged fighting!

Thus, if you want to dedicate time to customizing your house to your heart's desires, you can do that. Heck, you can even NOT customize your house to your heart's desires, and you can still enjoy the game fully. Whether it's leveling up your Lives, finding new materials help in crafting better gear, exploring and ranking up Ginormosia's dozen or so regions, tracking tasks to rank up your Lives, or engaging in one of the myriad other overall fun activities in Fantasy Life i, it's all up to you. There is certainly no shortage of things to do and accomplish in Fantasy Life i, and an aspect I really enjoyed is that while playing, while exploring each piece of the game, I was always making progress towards something. There's seldom downtime or the feeling that I was just spinning my wheels for no reason.

Perhaps the most impressive piece of Fantasy Life i is how you have multitudes of all of these contrasting systems, such massive gameplay systems that overlap, that you'd think a game this seemingly bloated just wouldn't work. The mind-blowing aspect of this to me is that it actually all does. Between the Lives, the open-world Ginormosia, the story, the exploration, the island and home customization, the various tasks, challenges, and quests to complete--it all works and it pretty much all complements each other well without feeling like the game is too big for its britches.

Speaking of being too big for its britches, this Napdragon is about due to take a dirt nap with our team fighting it!

It's not all well thought-out, as multiplayer somewhat seems like an afterthought in Fantasy Life i. You can have friends visit your islands, but there's not much interacting or activities to do together on said islands. While you can explore both the Past and all the unique places it entails, as well as enter Ginormosia with friends, you're limited in how long you can explore together. There's a strict time limit, and while you can remake a lobby and rejoin each other after time runs out, there's really no rhyme or reason to why this limitation is required. Treasure Groves, however, can be embarked with a full party of four friends or strangers, offering the full grove to be enjoyed.

Beyond the limited multiplayer options that aren't too impressive, what did impress me was the presentation of Fantasy Life i. The game is positively gorgeous, and moments where you stand at the top of a peak in Ginormosia, seeing the massive draw distance revealing pretty much the entirety of the continent for your viewing pleasure? Absolutely jaw-dropping. The character and creature models are delightful, as are the environments you embark in and explore. 

Bring along some CPU companions to aid or cheer you on in battle, as well as level up more quickly, too!

On the sound front, the voice acting is suitably charming, much like the rest of the game, though quips by CPU party members that can optionally join you while out and about can get extremely repetitive. After hearing a companion say, "I'm worried about you" for the tenth time in less than three minutes, I realized maybe this was less commentary on my character's well-being and more on the fact that I hadn't eaten in five hours because I was so enamored with the game. 

Musically, many of Nobuo Uematsu's magnificent compositions from the original Nintendo 3DS Fantasy Life make a return in the sequel, but there also brand-new themes and tracks to be heard as well.Either way, the soundtrack is comprised of a lot of lovely songs that seldom if ever get grating on the ears, unlike your companions' various quips.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a game that after such a long development time and arguable development hell, it shouldn't work as well as it does, and perhaps it's a miracle for that reason. Between its complementing gameplay systems that hardly ever clash against one another, the "play as you want and as the mood strikes" level of freedom you eventually get, utterly massive post-game, and stupendous visual style and presentation, Fantasy Life i is an easy game to get lost in and lose hundreds of hours to. I admittedly did and have no regrets either. Not when the game is such so lovingly crafted and well done as a whimsical adventure.

[SPC Says: A-]

This game was played via the Steam Deck, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 versions. Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is also available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

Final Fantasy VII Revelation (Multi) "The Planet's Crisis" Trailer

As promised, a new look at Final Fantasy VII Revelation was revealed at Gamescom Opening Night Live, and this particular trailer for the final in the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy features the fabled Weapons, mega-sized monstrosities wreaking havoc on the planet. Final Fantasy VII Revelation is due for an early 2027 release on all current platforms.

LEGO Skylines (Multi) Announcement Trailer

Announced during Gamescom Opening Night Live, LEGO meets SimCity/Cities: Skylines with LEGO Skylines, a city-builder featuring the enduring LEGO brand. As a fan of the genre and LEGO games, it'll be nice to have a combo of building metropolises all the while enjoying the charm LEGO games possesses. LEGO Skylines is set to arrive on all current platforms. Wishlist now at the official website for the game.

Mega Man: Dual Override (Multi) Gameplay Trailer

Arriving fresh from Gamescom, Mega Man: Dual Override receives a new trailer, this time focusing on some gameplay. We see a look at an all-new Robot Master in the form of Twinkle Girl, our second ever female Robot Master in the series, and even spot an old haunt from Mega Man 8 and Mega Man & Bass thrown in, speaking of Robot Masters! Mega Man: Dual Override is playable on the Gamescom show floor and releases next year.

Mario Kart World (NS2) Main Theme and Crown City Studio Performances

What was lovingly called by the community "Mario Kart Mondays", due to the fact that Nintendo would release the much-enjoyed free roam tracks of Mario Kart World each week on its Nintendo Music service, has come to a conclusion with the arrival of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's music. As a pleasant surprise, the over-an-hour of tracks from the game was not split up into two weeks. 

As an even greater pleasant surprise--arguably--Nintendo's primary YouTube channel uploaded two looks at the in-studio recording process of Mario Kart World, featuring the main title theme of the game and the Crown City track. The overall soundtrack certainly is one of Nintendo's very best ever put together, which if you are familiar with its catalog of musical compositions, is nothing to throw a blue shell at. It's darn impressive!

Enjoy these pair of YouTube videos showing the musicians performing the duo of themes, and if you'd like some more Mario Kart World goodness, check out the SuperPhillip Central review.

Teeto (NS2, NSW, PS5, PC) Review

After this past week's LIFTED review, we take a look at another indie platformer from the month of July. Whereas LIFTED took on a 2.5D approach, we're going full three-dimensions with the cute, charming, and colorful Teeto, available on PC, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and Switch 2 (the latter is the version of the game this review is based off).

Saving the world from sinister shadows? It Takes Teeto, baby!

Teeto is a 3D platformer built off the same vibes as exploration-based platformers such as Spyro the Dragon and Banjo-Kazooie. The latter is highly reminiscent of Teeto, as both star a pair of protagonists that work together to run, jump, and otherwise platform their way through levels. Whereas Banjo-Kazooie has a more complicated move-set to it, Teeto utilizes a simpler control setup. Teeto can jump, double jump, glide with the help of Nory, a pink bunny companion, roll, attack, and ground pound. 

A brief pause, a momentary respite to breathe and take in the scenery.

It's with Teeto's special transformative abilities that make what otherwise might be a standard fare platformer into something more intriguing. Teeto can interact with various objects in the levels of the game and take on their properties. For instance, a flower can transform Teeto into a vine form, allowing him to grapple specific faraway points with his vine arms and swing across them. There's also big boulders that Teeto can assume the abilities of, allowing him to ground pound with more force, breaking open floor and ground that otherwise would be impenetrable. 

Teeto looks ready for spring with all of that flower power!

Teeto features four acts within its 5-8 hour runtime, and each act consists of six levels. The first five levels are exploration, platforming-based with different side and main objectives to complete. The sixth is always a boss level of some form. 

There are three types of collectibles to be found within Teeto's levels: powerful purple polygonal vessels of energy known as Vionite, which serves as the game's Power Star equivalent to Super Mario 64, or to bring Banjo-Kazooie back up, that game's Jiggy equivalent. Collecting these is paramount as a certain amount is required to open up future acts in the game. 

Vionite are housed in hidden locations, but other times they're rewarded for completing objectives and tasks for NPCs in levels. Some may have you finding and fetching a lost bone for a dog, destroying a set number of shadow flags in a level, or even reaching the top of a small summit in a literal ode to the popular co-op multiplayer game PEAK. The objectives are varied enough to keep the game from growing stale, if the platforming and creative level design don't do that already.

Give a dog a bone, and you'll be rewarded with some much wanted Vionite!

Other collectibles include tiny, cute, blue, gooey creatures called Michaels. These are small in stature, but have a late-game purpose. While difficult to discover since they are tiny, the telltale sound of their giggling makes sure you won't miss them hanging around. Michaels humorously come in unique styles, such as "Chronically Online Michael" or "Michael Who Just Bought a Drone". 

The other type of collectible fills up a gauge, and that is of stars. Different sized and colored stars bestow more energy in the gauge, and a side goal is to fill the gauge in each level. The stars are also Teeto's form of currency, which is used to purchase new costumes and outfits for Teeto to adorn--from a Lucahdor wrestling costume to a superhero outfit.

I like a game where the collectibles are shown in order. That is, if you're near the level's exit and you pick up a Vionite, it won't be listed as the first Vionite collectible in the level in the UI. This is insanely helpful and welcomed for knowing if you've missed a collectible in a level. Usually you have time and the opportunity to backtrack, but sometimes you're stuck having to replay a level to pick up a missed goodie. Because the objectives and platforming are so enjoyable with tasks being fun and movement feeling great in general, I found myself actively seeking out every collectible and thus, 100% completion.

Teeto is positively energized, ready to [literally] charge into battle.

The levels themselves are full of interesting challenges and locales. While you start in traditional mascot platforming fare, such as caves, forests, and mountains, Teeto quite quickly picks up the pace on originality, having our two heroes enter subway stations, grocery stores, and through electrified backyards of suburbia. Some levels are more open-ended, while others have a more linear design to them. Either way, there is plenty of ways to go off the beaten path, discover a cleverly hidden collectible and find something of value.

Speaking of electricity, an electrified lawn certainly is one way to keep unwanted guests off of the grass!

Teeto is designed not just for solo play, but you can even bring a friend locally to play the game with you via split-screen play. Both players have a surprising amount of freedom, able to move far away from one another and pretty much can split up tasks between them or opt to work together on an objective simultaneously. The only times players are forced together are between areas/rooms or certain story triggers in levels. I was amazed by how well the co-op worked, and really, Teeto truly shines in its co-op and how it executes it.

Platforming is pretty breezy, as is the game itself. Checkpoints are fair, and falling to Teeto's demise is seldom a huge punishment. You don't lose progress or collectibles nabbed; you simply start at a nearby point in the level. Really, the only sticking point in the level of challenge is that of boss battles. Teeto and Nory only have three hearts between themselves to work with, and while bosses do drop hearts of restorative health when they're attacked, these battles are more challenging than anything else within the game. A certain 2D plane battle in the third act I found more frustrating and difficult than anything else by far in Teeto's adventure, other than the final boss battle itself.

Bosses serve as a modest but noticeable jump in difficulty compared to everything else within Teeto.

If there are any huge gripes other than the difficult jumps that come from the boss battles, it's that the enemy variety is woefully lacking. There's probably just four or five generic enemy types of Shadows to contend with. 

More worrisome and annoying were the crashes, at least on the Nintendo Switch 2 version that I played. These crashes happened twice upon falling into two separate pits in the final act of the game. Further, there were moments where the game completely locked Teeto out of certain actions, like aiming and attacking with his blob blasts, or worse yet in the snowy mountain level, being completely unable to jump after being shot out of a cannon. I either had to return to the hub or better yet, just plummet from the summit to my doom to get the controls and actions working properly again.

Nevertheless, what always worked for me was the presentation of the game. Teeto is a charming and cute game graphically, offering nothing truly amazing visually, but what style it has works and works well. The draw distance is rather lovely, and certain vistas and vantage points, like the top of the aforementioned snowy mountain level, shows off a gorgeous sunset. 

Absolutely breathtaking. Just be sure not to slide off the side, Teeto and Nory!

On the sound side, Teeto doesn't disappoint, but also doesn't overly delight either. The voice acting has a charm to it, but the music I would struggle to say is excellent. It's certain serviceable, but there's nothing truly memorable outside of perhaps the level clear theme. Certain typos in the game, especially during one of the more important scenes in Teeto, made for a less than fantastic impression, as well.

Teeto shines in its simplicity, whether that's its platforming gameplay or its graphical style. Its transforming mechanic, used to solve environmental puzzles and perform platforming, lends itself naturally to the gameplay without feeling shoehorned in. Glitches and bugs aside that will no doubt be cleaned up as time and patches roll on, between the co-op, fun objectives, craftily hidden collectibles, and level of charm, Teeto was a game I enjoyed hitting 100% completion on. While it isn't a title that hits the same highs of Banjo-Kazooie, Spyro the Dragon, or any other 3D platforming titan Teeto might have inspiration from, it's a wonderful game all the same. 

[SPC Says: B-] 

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review. 

Orbitals (NS2) "Creator's Voice" Video

Nintendo returns with a new entry in its series of videos called "Creator's Voice" with interviews from the designers and creators behind Orbitals, a co-op only action-adventure game which resembles something out of an 1980s era anime. There's good reason for it being co-op only as well as having that '80s anime resemblance, as you'll find out with this video. Orbitals releases exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 on September 3rd.

4PGP (PC, PS5, NS2, NSW) Review

After an unplanned absence and hiatus from the site for real-life reasons, I'm back in the driver's seat in more ways than one with a new review on SuperPhillip Central. It's 4PGP, offering a veritable who's who of racing game talent behind it and lots of arcade-y action in racing form. Here's the full SPC review--and not a moment too soon!

Start your engines and potentially some frustration, too.

I truly miss the era of arcade racing games. I'm talking about games like Virtua Racing, Ridge Racer, Daytona USA, etc. that don't appear in the modern gaming landscape. 4PGP (or Four-Player Grand Prix) brings with it the spirit of retro arcade racing games of that caliber with some talent that appreciates the era as well. 

For one, the game is directed by Jonathan Marole, a man who has worked on titles like The Crew and Test Drive Unlimited, while also having Kenji Sasaki, director of Virtua Racing and Sega Rally, involved too. Then, on the music front we have Tomoyuki Kawamura, whose past works include the aforementioned Virtua Racing and Sega Rally Championship. The talent is no doubt here, and it's awfully prevalent from the moment you start a race in 4PGP.

The feel of racing your formula-one vehicle is amazing. There's enough weight and tightness to the controls that it's simple to pick up and play the game. You won't have to worry about a simulation here, as 4PGP is pure unadulterated arcade racing action. From performing turns that require you to lean in on the inside of a curve or brake to not overshoot, to speeding down straightaways, the racing feels great, the sense of speed is immense, and it all handles beautifully.

Do you have the need for speed? Well, 4PGP will definitely sate it with its high-speed skirmishes.

The 14 tracks in 4PGP (three per cup, and two that unlock later on down the road) take you all across the world, from the United Kingdom to France to Japan. Turns are well choreographed, so you're seldom required to keep an eye on the mini-map for any reason other than to determine the amount of your lead (or in my case in later difficulties, how far behind the leader you are). 

Speaking of difficulties, 4PGP lures players into a false sense of security. If you start off with the Rookie difficulty, you'll find yourself easily breaking from the pack, maintaining large leads, and having a relatively easy go of racing. Novice brings about some added challenge, offering races that are much closer. That said, the distance in difficulty between Novice and the next level of races becomes a bit too large. What remains in the final difficulty is best left unsaid, as it requires a level of racing expertise that most players besides seasoned veterans most likely won't reach. The CPU is supremely punishing here and not always in a fun way. (Okay, I lied and actually said it instead!)

We may be at the middle of the pack, but there's plenty of race to go!

And that's okay, considering 4PGP would be a boring game if you could just speed through all four difficulties with ease. Instead, the latter difficulties do require the ability to read the tracks well, slipstream opponents, use the boost function sparingly but also smartly, enter into pit lane when needed at apt times, and pretty much run flawless races with perfect racing lines, applying the brake subtly to best take turns.

While there is a racing assist option available, perfect for beginning players or those who can't quite get immediate heads or tails on racing lines, it's somewhat of a handicap (and one not in your favor) in later difficulties, as it restricts you to essentially the same racing line as your CPU opponents. 

Like any racer of this type, following and executing the correct racing line is the key to victory.

My only real gripe with the difficulty settings of 4PGP other than the immense level of skill required to win on the hardest difficulty (a level of skill I decidedly did not have) is that vehicle stats are not balanced whatsoever. There is always a class of cars that is required to race in to stand a chance (or drive a chance, perhaps in this case). The starting set of vehicles do not hold a candle stat-wise and especially speed-wise to the sets and series of rides that you unlock as you beat various cups. This makes multiplayer a bit unbalanced. If a player picks a low-class vehicle, they might as well wave the flag in surrender if their opponent picks a higher class car (and that's waving the white flag and not the checkered flag).

As stated, 4PGP isn't just racing with no frills. There's some nuance here to keep the experience from feeling or being simplistic. For one, there is the boost function, which with the press of the left bumper instills your vehicle with a temporary higher speed. It isn't too pronounced, either, which might put off some players expecting a more prominent burst of speed. 

And while early difficulties don't really require keeping an eye on your tires, later ones practically require it. As you race, your vehicle's tires degrade, especially upon going off the track onto the tarmac, taking turns too fast, and so forth. The more wear and tear, as well as damage to your tires there is, the less accurate your steering becomes. This is where entering pit lane for a quick pit stop becomes mandatory. Successfully completing a short quick-time event style mini-game grants you full boost energy once more as well as fixes up your tires in a jiffy. 

Take a pit stop like the one seen here if your tires are in serious disarray.

4PGP is quite the looker on the track with impressive blur effects when blasting forward on the track to present a sensational sense of speed. This sense of speed is also mightily helped by the 60 FPS frame-rate that is as ever-present as the need to take turns well to win. The first two laps of each race is mostly accompanied by the roar of your vehicle's engine with periodic musical jingles to start each lap. It's on the final lap that the music kicks in, letting you know that the race is at its most serious apex. It works and works well here.  

4PGP is certainly quite kind on the eyes, but remember to focus on the track and not the sights if you wish to win!

4PGP delivers racing thrills with a modest amount of frills. While so many racing games nowadays chase after realism and simulation in the feel to their controls, 3goo's 4PGP is unapologetic in how it harks back to the classic era of arcade racing games. The lack of online multiplayer and steep challenge may turn off some players, however. For everyone else, 4PGP speeds past the finish line in sublime style while adding some subtle substance here and there to make for a worthwhile racer.

[SPC Says: C+] 

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire (Multi) Review

A weekend review shoots onto the scene with Mouse: P.I. For Hire. My investigation proved fruitful, offering word of a game that certainly surprised and delighted. Here's the SuperPhillip Central review. 

A Completionist's Noir-tmare

Saturday. 2:00 P.M. I parked my keister at my office chair and started rat-a-tat-tattin' at the keys like an hot Tommy Gun in hopes of finishin' my review. Like the Circuit de la Sarthe, this game I was coverin' had lots of twists, turns, and was just about as dangerous. This particular game had everything--mystery, intrigue, mice, and enough cheese to smile to one-thousand different photos. It was time to put my reviewin' skills to the test and start chattin' about Mouse: P.I. For Hire. 

...Okay, okay. I cannot keep up this Noir detective monologue bit for an entire review, so let's just get to it.

Immediately from the get-go, Mouse: P.I. For Hire delights, delivering a black and white cartoon-y art style reminiscent of Disney's Steamboat Mickey short. I was immensely amazed by just how fluid everything looked, shooting through guns blazing and seeing enemy heads pop, revealing a fountain of... let's say, ink. Yes, this is a gorgeous and well done game graphically, fully realized and nailing its cartoon aesthetic, and I'm pleased to say that it certainly holds up in the gameplay department as well.

While the enemy variety in Mouse: P.I. For Hire isn't the highest, offering a small mix of run-at-you melee
foes or faraway shooting types, it's still quite satisfying to blast them all down.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire is essentially a DOOM-like in that its levels are labyrinthine areas full of corridors, rooms, spaces, and myriad secrets while having you run, gun, and jump your way through them, mowing down or punching out everything in your P.I.'s path. 

You begin the game with nothing else but Jack's pistol, a Micer, and his fists. However, as the game and case go on, you'll acquire a shotgun, T.N.T. dynamite to chuck at foes and literally signposted walls, a riff off of a Tommy Gun called a James Gun, and more. The more inventive weapons are earned later in the game, such as the hot glue-shooting Devarnisher that melts the skin off your foes in real time, as well as a gun that fires a freezing ray to chill enemies into ice cubes, perfect for shattering. 

I'm rubber, and you're glue. Particularly hot glue. The kind that melts your skin off, bub!

Of course, that's not to mention all of the abilities that Jack learns throughout his case, such as the ability to twirl his tail to slow his descent in order to make it across large gaps or rise up air shafts, a double jump, the ability to wall run along specially marked walls, and more.  

All of these weapons and abilities do a great job in giving you a lot of options in firefights to experiment and take out baddies in a way that suits your play style. You'll certainly gets a multitude of opportunities to do so, as Mouse: P.I. For Hire really loves locking you in a large, expansive room and forcing you to clear the room out of enemies that pour in through doors with skulls on the top of them. 

Nothin' like the great outdoors to not feel so claustrophobic! 

Generally speaking, this is a common occurrence throughout the game's 10-20 hour campaign, and you get a sixth sense, sorta, of when these rooms will happen. It doesn't help that they happen so often that it can get a bit repetitive, even with all of the combat options available to you, whether that be running and gunning, jumping and shooting at exploding barrels to obliterate a squad of enemies at once, or even shooting a hanging prop like an anvil to crush an enemy as it stands below it.

By far the highlight for combat and being able to use multiple methods to dispatch baddies was that of the bosses in Mouse: P.I. For Hire. The game has a motley crew of foes to take on, and these aren't just "shoot 'em till their dead" type affairs. The best of these boss battle bunches include ones that feature attack patterns to avoid, evade, and dodge as you unleash a furious flurry of firepower and bullets their way. These are engaging and suffice to say, not as repetitive as the virtual "kill rooms" that litter the game's levels. 

The various boss battles served as quite the combat highlight for me.

When you're not brutalizing and murdering sinister foes in your path and in such kill rooms, you're on the search for clues. And in between finding these clues, there are all sorts of secrets to uncover in true DOOM-like, boomer shooter fashion. The secrets are well-hidden and many of them are quite easy to miss. Whether located in one of many vents that our gumshoe protagonist climbs through, inside locked doors and safes that must be "tailpicked" through an enjoyable enough mini-game, or simply sitting off the beaten path, these secret areas house money, newspapers, comic books, baseball cards, and other collectibles and goodies like schematics, used to upgrade your various guns and weapons. 

This, however, leads to my number one issue with Mouse: P.I. For Hire and one of my pet peeves in gaming--a game design sin, really. That's the extreme amount of missables within the game. By virtue of the structure of Mouse: P.I. For Hire, it's literally impossible to return to a completed level, which means that a lot of stuff that you missed collectible-wise is lost to you. Yes, you can purchase missed collectibles like newspapers, comics, and baseball cards from the hub city in the game--for a price, but key clues are permanently gone. 

Not exactly the warm welcome Jack Pepper was wanting here, but the welcome he was expecting all the same.

Even still, with the ability to purchase missed collectibles from the shop, there is still a finite amount of money throughout the game. Thus, if you wish to do a 100% run in one playthrough, a guide and multiple saves are a must to track everything down--from collectibles to side quests in the appropriate form of "side jobs". These, too, are easily missed and once they're gone, they're gone on your current playthrough. 

When a game is over 10 hours long for a playthrough, this gets quite frustrating quite fast, especially when the game possess multiple "points of no return" that are not clearly marked by it. Enter a door, and it can instantly lock behind you. Start a particular mission, and it can and will lock you out of returning to the hub city for the rest of the game. 

Usually each time a given level is completed, Jack returns to the city hub where his apartment and office are, enters inside, and pins various clues to his caseboard to hash out the all-encompassing, interconnected mystery that tells the story of the game. Additionally in this hub, Jack can peruse his usual stomping grounds, purchase ammunition, use schematics found in levels to upgrade his weapons and guns, enter the bar to chat with the locals, and even play a rather enjoyable card game using all the baseball cards found within levels.

Splat! My kind of 'toon!

As mentioned, Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a gorgeous game and its 1930/1940s esque cartoon art style is realized to its maximum potential. It really feels like you're playing a cartoon in a Noir style, complete with enough cheese puns to fill up a party platter. That latter part was especially enjoyed by me, as not only a lover of puns but as someone who appreciates a game committing to a bit. Between the fluid action, well done old-timey detective music--as well as some real world jazzy pieces like The Glenn Miller Orchestra's "In the Mood"--and the amazing voice acting--Troy Baker does a phenomenal job as Jack Pepper, Mouse: P.I. For Hire definitely delights.

And really, that's what the game does throughout its 10-20 hour runtime: it delights. Sure, a private investigator entering a police station and mowing down all of the dirty cops inside might bring some "ludonarrative dissonance" discussions into the fray if you think about it too hard, and the numerous points of no return means achievement (or is it "a-cheese-ment") hunters will balk at the requirements, but if you're just casually playing through the game, Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a ripper of a boomer shooter for sure. As a completionist, I hated having to use a guide to play through the game, as it really killed the pacing for me, but I can't argue against Jack Pepper's investigation being a thrilling and fun one. Case closed.

[SPC Says: B-] 

A code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book (NS2) Review

Our first review of this potentially busy month is Yoshi and the Mysterious Book for the Nintendo Switch 2, which also celebrated an anniversary on June 5th (though a one-year anniversary as opposed to our site's 18th anniversary). The game's a bit of a creature feature, but the best kind, at that! See why by reading on with the SPC review!

 Take a look, Yoshi's in a book: a discovery rainbow!

Yoshi's platforming debut in Yoshi's Island back in 1995 on the Super Nintendo is one that Nintendo's green dinosaur just can't escape the shadow of. Essentially, every platformer since is held to its high standard, and most of the time the comparisons aren't flattering. Now, my love and preference for Yoshi's Woolly World notwithstanding, it's safe to say that most other successors in the Yoshi franchise to Yoshi's Island have failed to live up to its rather esteemed reputation. 

Thus, it's interesting that Nintendo went in an entirely new direction with the Yoshi franchise. Yes, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is still a 2D platformer, but its structure and gameplay are quite different from the bog-standard, well-tread Yoshi's Island formula. Fortunately, for the Yoshi franchise, this is a direction that greatly succeeds at what it sets out to do!

Upon originally seeing the debut trailer for Yoshi and the Mysterious Book from Nintendo of America and all subsequent marketing, I was led to believe the game was going to be a charming, yes, but also an ultimately breezy adventure to play through, made more for younger audiences. While there's certainly some truth to that, overall, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book delivers enough challenges in its unique gameplay hooks that it kept me routinely coming back--enough so, that I happily 100%'d the game!

So, what IS Yoshi and the Mysterious Book if not yet another follow-up to Yoshi's Island? Well, it takes that game's foundations, but also expands greatly upon it to form something wholly original. The Yoshis stumble upon Mr. E (har-har), a talkative tome whose pages are incomplete. He requests that the Yoshis fill out and fill up his pages by entering inside and charting various creatures within. The Yoshis agree, and thus, the adventure begins. There's of course some story friction involved, such as Bowser Jr. and Kamek wandering through the pages, the former feverishly searching for a creature called the Bewilder Bird, but for the most part, the game is all about exploration and discovery.

Each "level" in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a contained experience focused on one new creature. Levels are usually not too expansive, but some can be, nor are they overly linear. Instead, they offer plenty of passages, rooms, areas, and for certain, secret areas to find. Immediately upon entering a level, the specific creature to be examined in its native habitat is there.

From there, it's all about examining the creature and using its abilities to further explore the level. The main "collectible"--for lack of a better term--is that of creature discoveries. Take the very first creature introduced in what amounts to the tutorial level, the Crazee Dayzee. Some discoveries are as simple as having Yoshi gobble up the flower with his tongue or bash it with an egg. Simple interactions that don't require much thinking to uncover. However, more complicated and involved discoveries are also available. These could be things like dunking a Dayzee in some water to make it sprout, using said creature to bloom an arch of flowers once it passes by it, or more interestingly, using differently colored Crazee Dayzees to create a remarkable rainbow of bloomed flowers of varying hues. 

Looks like a new discovery is in bloom! Well done, Yoshi!

Each discovery is worth a certain amount of stars, from one to three, with the more complex and complicated discoveries earning three. With 30-40 discoveries for a given creature's habitat, there's a lot of stars to go around. The stars are used to unlock further chapters, so in this sense, it's similar to Super Mario Odyssey's Power Moons in that casual, inexperienced, or younger players can still enjoy the majority of the game's content just by playing and finding the minimal amount of creature discoveries, whereas more skilled, veterans players can seek out as many discoveries per level as possible, fully completing and exhausting each creature's lineup of discoveries, and also collecting the trickily hidden Smiley Flowers, as well.

Some creatures live on land, some in the sky, and some in the sea such as this one.

What makes Yoshi and the Mysterious Book so fascinating and fun on a design level is how each creature Yoshi stumbles across has its own unique hook--its own gameplay mechanic--and so many of these could be fleshed out for their own game! You get such a steady amount of new, innovative, mostly intuitive ideas and concepts that get iterated on within the same level. From riding a giant boar that rushes and can dig through rock and sand, to using a spider creature's web to swing across the stage like Spider-Man, to bouncing off seeds like a gigantic bouncy playground to reach new heights, to retreating from a pursuing hand of grass while encouraging it to interact with the environment in different ways, there's just so much on offer--and that's just the tip of the iceberg, really. 

Ingenuity, imagination, and creativity are three things important to have for making discoveries in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book.

Heck, one level features a spore-like creature that literally can engulf an entire environment, spread on other creatures, and infest the whole level--which the latter is an actual discovery that Mr. E encourages Yoshi to attempt! That's one discovery of Yoshi's tasked by the book, yes, but it's also recommended by Mr. E to essentially exterminate an entire species from a totally different level, too! ...This book has some serious, unresolved problems!   

Yoshi can spread these spores all around the stage. ...Wasn't this the start of a certain Naughty Dog series?

So much of the joy found in Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is experimenting with the environment and its creatures in ways that go off the beaten path and tests the limits of your imagination. The most worthwhile and rewarding discoveries are the ones that make you think, "there's no way the developers or designers thought to include THIS or would make me do THAT" and lo and behold, you accomplish that task and boom! A new discovery gets written onto the page/level. 

A fun little touch is that each discovery you find through exploration, experimentation, and so forth gets written onto the background of the level at the exact place you discovered it. Sure, the background can get a bit crowded and claustrophobic when myriad discoveries are written on the page, but they never overlap to make for a visual mess, thankfully. 

Chart all of your discoveries for each access in Mr. E's readable pages.
You can also name/rename each creature you come across in Yoshi's adventures.

If you feel you've exhausted your imagination and creativity, and have zero idea on how to squeeze more discoveries out of a given creature's level, Mr. E has helpful hints. With the press of the L button, Mr. E will give some semblance of guidance. Some are less obvious than others, but for more obvious hints, you can spend tokens collected in levels to gets new discovery recommendations and further hints, too. Tokens are practically given away in levels, so you'll pretty never be having to grind for them to get hints when needed.    

This creature is of note, both figuratively and literally, for being quite musical.

Of course, levels aren't just built around minor creature discoveries. Each level or creature habitat has its own major goal or objective that opens up the "exit' to the level. You can of course continue charting discoveries long after the exit reveals itself, and you can easily start a level over or end your exploration directly from the pause menu. The former--the Start Over option--is important as a fair number of discoveries can be missed and you can get "locked out of" in a given expedition. Starting the level over puts most everything back where it was, with all your current discoveries, of course, logged in already.

Like the discoveries and the creatures within Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, the major goal of each level has a massive variety, all of them different depending on the creature and the level. For instance, the tutorial creature, the Crazee Dayzee, is all about blooming three giant buds at the end of the level by having Yoshi carry the creature to the buds to bloom them. Another, feature the Shy Guy, has you searching a settlement for elusive, hidden, hiding Shy Guys, and taking them back to the settlement's center. Whereas another creature requires you to win an aerial race to unlock the level's exit.

For example, the main objective of this stage is to fully grow this plant by routinely watering its head.

Some levels, generally the sixth and final one in each chapter, have a boss battle to take on. Now, Yoshi does not a health bar or anything like that in this game. He takes a licking and keeps on ticking when "damaged". The boss battles are not about surviving, but these also serve as opportunities to chart even more creature discoveries in how you go about the battle. As the Hauger, that previously mentioned giant boar, you can actually juggle the boss you battle against multiple times in the air, and in doing so, you unlock a discovery. Needless to say, this is easier said than done, which is a testament to some of the skill-based challenges that some discoveries demand of the player. Also, something that not a typical younger player would be able to do, either! 

Creatures come in all shapes and sizes within Mr. E's colorful pages.

Not every creature's habitat can be exhausted of discoveries in Yoshi's first visit. Some creatures have second "acts" to their specific levels, usually designed around interacting with a second creature. These second acts have far fewer discoveries to find, as they usually require Yoshi to hash out the means to clear the level's main goal and open the exit. Some of the later objectives can be immensely challenging. 

So many discoveries and especially stuff in the post-game, requires a level of play that not many in the inexperienced camp will be able to accomplish easily. Heck, even my gamer self of 35+ years struggled with so many of them. Part of this is because some creatures possess unwieldy, somewhat non-intuitive controls which leads to some frustration, but also another part is that some of the discoveries require such careful precision or specifically ordered steps that they can be challenging to achieve.  

Speaking of the post-game, it was curious to me that I rolled the credits after the sixth chapter was beaten. That's because there's still more story-related content in the following four chapters that unlock after. You're not really done with Yoshi and the Mysterious Book's story until you roll the second set of credits and unlock the literal post-game from there. It makes me wonder how many potential players will roll the first credits and assume they're done, despite so many loose ends with the story, unique creatures, and chapters are available afterwards. 

There are many familiar creatures from Yoshi's past games (like these Goonies),
 but more often than not, you'll discover many brand-new ones.

Switching gears to more a mechanical level, Yoshi himself controls pretty much better than ever in his latest game. He basically has all of the skills he's learned from his Yoshi's Island days: egg-throwing, flutter-jumping, ground-pounding, to assist in examining creatures and making discoveries, and he also has a tail whip that can send smaller to medium-sized creatures riding his saddle. This offers even more in the way of interacting with creatures, such as one that will blow out ride-able bubbles when saddled on Yoshi, or again, the Crazee Dayzee, which will bloom flower buds when the creature passes over them while riding on Yoshi.

Between completing each chapter by logging all creature discoveries and collecting all Smiley Flowers, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book took me just over 40 hours to fully beat. It was mostly an enjoyable time, too, save for some struggles with controlling creatures here and there, trying to make heads or tails of the in-game hints, attempting to successfully clear certain, challenging discoveries, and the incredibly occasional (like, once every five hours) frame-rate freezes and hits. 

Yoshi takes some time to stop and smell (and say hi to) a flowery friend.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is very much a thumping good read--or rather, play. It presents so many unique ideas within each of its 50-60 creatures that it approaches Super Mario Galaxy-levels of "new stage, new concept". Such a feat is no small task, and it's certainly no small comparison either. Yoshi's latest absolutely floored me with its exponential amount of fresh ideas, stellar level design, myriad methods the game's systems interact with each other (in almost a "how does this game not break?!" kind of way), and how it constantly rewarded me for thinking outside of the box. It's not Yoshi's Island, nor does the game even itself set out to be, which may disappoint some, but for those who give Yoshi and the Mysterious Book an honest chance, you'll immensely enthralled, much like reading an exceptional page-turner of an actual book. Good-Feel and Nintendo authored an amazing game here.

[SPC Says: A-]