For years, I’ve been trying to think about what makes certain moments in games work. Part of the joy of criticism is that kind of self-reflection; why does x scene, film or video game work for me where another one doesn’t - and what does that reflect about what works for me about media? Sometimes …
I was finally in the position earlier this year to get my hands on a PS5, finally making me a true "next-gen" gamer. Only one game exclusive to that console actually ended up making my list though – mostly I used it to play old PS4 games or surf Netflix. Instead, the Switch made a …
Happy Third Year Anniversary to toatali reviews! It's been a weird year for the site, but I'm currently happy with the way things are going (although I can't say I wouldn't like the viewing numbers to be a bit higher...) Thanks to everyone for reading and a special thanks to anyone who's stuck with me …
It usually takes me around a few weeks before I’ve moved on to my second playthrough of a Pokemon game. It took me until the start of January before I’d even finished Pokemon Sun and Moon, and this has nothing to do with the length of the game. Instead, it was constant stopping and starting: …
I was really excited to replay Platinum - I haven't played it in ages, but I have some fond memories of the Gen 4 games, specifically of the Sinnoh region. Luckily, my playthrough did not disappoint; aside from a few areas I found lacking, Pokemon Platinum is exactly the game I remembered it being, and that …
As I said in my introductory post to this series, I started playing Pokemon with the third gen, and as such one would be right to expect a natural bias on my part towards the games of the third generation. However, when replaying Emerald I felt that, although my feeling towards this game were strong, …
Pokemon Crystal is everything I imagine people remember Red and Blue being. It retains the 8-bit aesthetic and the simpler Pokemon and map designs of yore, but is such a staggeringly better game that I can't imagine why anyone would prefer to play the earlier games in favour of this. Even if you prefer the …
Team: Dude the Wartortle Fourval the Raticate Ash the Pikachu Richard the Dugtrio Reggie the Haunter Nelson the Pidgeotto So here it is - the first in my series of Pokemon game reviews in the lead up to the 20th anniversary games - Pokemon Sun and Moon. When I first booted up my freshly downloaded 3DS Pokemon Blue re-release, and eagerly …
In honour of Pokemon's 20th Anniversary today, I thought I'd write a little about my experiences with the series in a little off-the-cuff short post. My first Pokemon games were not the originals from 1996, but instead the third generation; Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire (Sapphire being the obvious choice). These games wowed me so much, …
Toatali Reviews 