Video Game Journal 1 (Jan '26)
As 2026 speeds forward like a bus without brakes, writing becomes a focus for me. Something to centralise myself in, a focus for my mind. To grow and expand my ideas, thoughts, experiences.
I also play a lot of video games, and I like to review them too. Here's a quick round-up of my thoughts on what I've played so far this year.
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Sonic Colors (2010, Wii)
Not bad! Sonic fans waited a decade for a good 3D Sonic, and here it is. Colors understands that 3D Sonic of this era works best when it takes control away from the player and lets them enjoy the spectacle, which fits the theme park setting beautifully. Sonic riding through an asteroid field in a dragon roller coaster? Sick. Generally good and varied level design coupled with an entertaining Saturday-morning-cartoon vibe and some of the best visuals on Wii (especially those pre-rendered cutscenes, lookin' good!), and we're in for a pretty good time. There's a few drawbacks you expect with Sonic, frustrations in the level design (some feeling like they're over before they've started, others dragging on longer than they should) and jank and the like, but honestly this comes pretty close to the highs Generations would reach not long after. Get yourself a decent PC or handheld, chuck this into Dolphin, and have a blast. Far as I know the remaster is a worse product so sail the seas my friends, sail them well.
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Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (2010, PC)
Not a good game, but there's things to enjoy. The music isn't insulting, there's a few neat set pieces sprinkled into otherwise bland levels, and the usual mirth that comes with playing a game you know is awful. The main problem is an awful physics engine, clunky and slow in levels based around momentum - what could go wrong? Sonic is no stranger to poor outings, but I suppose what hurts the most is Sega passing this off as a successor to the Mega Drive trilogy, which it most certainly is not. Call this game the low effort WiiWare shite it is, port it to mobile, and be done with the damn thing - it already looks like one of those fake mobile games you see on YouTube ads, why not go the whole hog? Sonic 4 is a concept, an idea, never fully realised, only teased to us in some fever dream shat out of a game design course dorm room and left to litter the internet with all the rest of the half-finished fangames. Except those fangames are on average probably of higher quality than this. The fact this is coming from the Advance/Rush team at Dimps, who were making probably the only good Sonic games of the 2000s, stings that little bit more. Honestly, Sega should take Sonic 4 out back and put it out of it's-- they made a Part II of this!? Guess I'm playing that too, fuck sake.
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Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 (2012, PC)
A better physics engine, but somehow worse than the first one? Level design is irritating, boss design is frustrating and overlong, the duo powers are a neat idea but practically awkward and only really useful in a few specific scenarios (or skipping some more annoying bits of levels). Got to boss 3 and couldn't put myself through it anymore, clarity won out and I do indeed have better things to do with my life than play Sonic 4. And so do you!
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Portal (2007, PC)
Still fantastic. A game that pushed the boundaries, experimented wildly, and set the tone for late-2000s/early-2010s internet culture. Basically a student project given big funding, Portal is an all time classic and feels like mandatory video game playing. While the short length doesn't necessarily bother me, it feels as though we're only scratching the surface of possibility here. Of course, Portal 2 and modders have expanded the concept far beyond initial scope, but there'd be nothing to expand upon had this game never appeared on the scene. GLaDOS is naturally an all-time great villain, and the worldbuilding feels surprisingly rich for how little we see of it. Nearly twenty years on, Portal is still a diamond worth revisiting.
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Kiosk (2024, PC)
A simplistic cooking game that quickly gets repetitive and mildly creepy vibes that never rise into anything genuinely scary. The low poly art looks cute, but beyond that there is no reason to play this - feels like a student project that would barely get a passing grade. Avoid.
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Bowser's Fury (2021, Switch)
It's been years since I've played a 3D Mario for the first time, so I approached Bowser's Fury with an emphatic gusto and have not left disappointed.
Truly a union of the open and linear strands of Mario, here we have a small 'open world' lake speckled with bizarre and sometimes non-Euclidean architecture befitting only the finest 3D platformers - Nintendo rarely disappoints in the design department, and the challenges here feel fresh throughout despite tasks regularly being recycled. The creativity on display is delightful, and one can sense the designers utilising the smaller scale to really try and hone in on specific mechanics and explore them deeper.
The drawback to this is that oftentimes Bowser's Fury feels like something of a proof of concept for a full scale Mario game in this style. In general, I'm quite appreciative of shorter lengths these days, but cramming 100 Cat shines into a game this size demonstrated the scope of talent among Nintendo's design team and honestly I just wish they'd gone harder on the whole thing.
The overall lower difficulty makes much of Bowser's Fury a walk in the park, with only a handful of shines giving me trouble toward the 100% mark, but the quality of what's on offer and the slickness of Mario's controls balance that off quite nicely. The game offers you the opportunity to build your own difficulty at point, but self-imposed challenge runs have never really been my thing. I prefer a conscious choice on the designer's part, utilising their knowledge of the game's mechanics to craft a test of mastery. Mario's never shined away from challenge before, and the general emphasis Nintendo seems to put on assisting their players as much as possible in this day and age makes me wary for future games ending up watered down.
Still, for now Bowser's Fury pushes the franchise forward and offers a few cozy evenings of hopping around, complete with gorgeous presentation and the usual musical bangers. And not gonna lie - the cat theme is adorable.
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Sonic Forces (2017, PC)
Somehow not the worst Sonic game I've played recently. If anything, I think Forces gets too much shit. The narrative is... deeply questionable, yet I hardly feel like commenting on it - I've rarely considered plot my focus when playing Sonic, and so I just kind of enjoyed the goofy ridiculousness. My original character tmplsdonotsteal is a sort-of-chosen-one and super cool and Sonic is his bff? The heroes are losing and fighting an actual war with armies and characters regularly dying (off-screen, of course)? Retro Sonic is here I guess? Eggman has been keeping Sonic alive for months in an agonising state of perpetual torture and comes out the other end chipper as anything? All right Sega, go off, I guess.
But the game is fine. It's functional (more than can be said for others), not obnoxious to play, and pretty fun across the board. Design wise the whole game seems to be playing it safe, once again relying heavily on 2D sections and largely making the 3D sections push forward and press A to win. Perhaps that's why it feels more competent: Sonic Team holding back to deliver a safer product using design frameworks they know work for the franchise, and ramping down any challenge to help appeal to a pre-teen demographic. I can hardly blame them for that, when the end product isn't a broken and shabbily designed mess.
On the whole, I can't say I recommend Sonic Forces, but I can't not recommend it either. If you like Sonic you'll get something out of it, if you don't you won't - that's it, really. It's just another Sonic game. At least this one I could play until the end, so props for that one.
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Shadow the Hedgehog (2005, PlayStation 2)
Tried to return to this recently after owning it in childhood, and nope, can't do it. Clunky, awful, irritating, just outright not a fun experience in the least. No wonder I never beat it back then either.
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The Boba Teashop (2025, PC)
Dull and not very interesting. I enjoyed the low-poly visual style and some of the drinks (that strawberry matcha milk tea looks scrumptious) but beyond that The Boba Teaship is a shallow experience. The drinks making is fine in a menial way, a bit more variety introduced as the game progresses offers some light nuance. The story is bland, customers while likeable are not fleshed out, and the jumpscares just a bit boring. Within the last few days time based challenges are introduced, with failure resulting in a jump scare - repetition of these sequences is what killed my interest in the game. Alas, perhaps if absent I would have finished it, but nevertheless, I would not recommend The Boba Teashop. There are better horror experiences out there for your buck.