Well, we’re already at the end of another month. Two down, ten to go. February has flown by for me, between starting a new job and trying to tackle the backlog, it’s been a whirlwind! Still, I did manage to find the time to type this up, and play some games. So, without any further delay, let’s get straight into it and talk about what February looked like for me in the gaming world!
Going into February, I was already knee deep into a game that I started towards the end of January, and that’s Super Mario 64. Super Mario 64 is a game I’ve tried to complete before, notably as a child using the Wii Virtual Console port, and then again when Super Mario 3D All-Stars launched in 2020. Both attempts resulted in me not quite getting to the end of the game, but this time I was determined. Over the course of the last week of January, I finally beat this one on January 31st, but I figured it’s only fair to include it in February’s post! I ended up giving Super Mario 64 a 9.0/10. Fantastic level design, music and colourful characters, however the controls are very difficult to get used to in the modern day.
A screenshot that was 19 years in the making. 9 year old me never got this far, the basement was my limit!
Now, my next game in February was a big departure from the games I’ve finished in 2026 so far, but was one I’d been waiting to play for a little while. I purchased Metal Eden during the Xbox Store’s Winter Sale, and hadn’t quite got round to it over the holiday season. However, after a long playthrough of Final Fantasy XIII, and two 3D Mario platformers, I was in the mood for a palate cleanser! Metal Eden was a great shooter, and I finished it in 2 sittings over the first weekend. Metal Eden is like a mix of the modern Doom games, Ghostrunner and a tiny bit of Metroid Prime sprinkled in, and it’s one that works incredibly well. It did have some downsides, such as the performance on Xbox Series X, but overall I settled on a solid 7.5/10 rating. Gameplay was genuinely very fun, but game was also quite short, so definitely wait for a sale!
I have to hand it to the developers, that is certainly a novel name for your game completion achievement.
After Metal Eden, I then stumbled on some other games that I thought I’d try, but none of them really stuck with me. I tried The Outer Worlds 2 for a bit, but ended up dropping it quickly. In the end, after chatting to some friends, I settled on trying the first Code Vein game, as I did see the second had just released. Code Vein is a game that I wish I hadn’t put off playing for so long. Very Dark Souls coded, but with a lovely art style and a character creator to dream of! I ended up finishing it in around a week, taking on a couple of different levels each night of the week. It definitely was a bit easier than Dark Souls, which helped out in terms of completion. For me, Code Vein settled in at a 8.2/10. Long loading times and some characters just being useless knocked some points off, but if you like Dark Souls, I’d definitely recommend picking this one up!
In typical Souls fashion, the game has multiple endings. Maybe one day!!
The big release for me this February was Mario Tennis Fever! When Nintendo first announced this at the September 2025 Nintendo Direct, I wasn’t overly impressed or excited, I shrugged my shoulders and quickly forgot about it. A few weeks before launch, I managed to read through some previews and was pleasantly surprised at how much people seemed to be enjoying the game, so with that in mind (and the fact I hadn’t played much on my Switch 2), I put my preorder in. After spending a good 15 hours with Mario Tennis Fever and beating all the single player content, I can genuinely say this is one of the better Mario sports games I’ve played, going all the way back to Mario Strikers Charged Football on the Wii. I struggled to put it down, and the game looked fantastic in Switch 2 handheld mode. The Fever rackets really do add another dimension to the already stellar tennis gameplay, my favourite was the Star Racket, by far. I did see a lot of discourse online about how people were disappointed with the single player offering, and I wonder if they got the same game I did, as I thought there was a lot of content across Trials, Tournament and Adventure Mode. I settled on a 8.5/10 rating overall, I need to try more of the online but I throughly recommend this one if you have a Switch 2.
Did you really expect me to pick any other character? Come on now, you know whose blog this is right?
Shifting focus a little bit, it’s time to talk about what physical games I’ve bought this month! And for once, there really wasn’t many. In fact, it was just a couple. It’s been a busy month of travelling and starting a new job, so I’ve mainly been focussing on the games on the backlog. Surprise surprise, this months pickups were:
- Mario Tennis Fever (Nintendo Switch 2)
- Sonic Racing: Crossworlds (PlayStation 5)
- Resident Evil Requiem (Xbox Series X)
Back to the actual gameplay, after Mario Tennis Fever, I finally got around to finishing Ratchet and Clank HD on PlayStation Vita. I say finally, as this one was a marathon. I started this one on the 1st January, and it took over a month and a half to reach the final cutscene. The game isn’t that long, it’s just a chore to play on PS Vita, and that’s a real shame. The platforming is made tougher by the nature of the controls, the frame-rate stutters in places and the lack of additional trigger buttons (L2/R2) did make certain moves harder to pull off, namely in the hoverboard races. I could definitely see elements where the game would shine, and I really did enjoy this game’s remake on PlayStation 4 a few years ago. The gadgets are really cool however, and I do really enjoy the nature of the series. Definitely going to play the other PS2 games, but I do think I’ll be playing the HD collection on PS3 for those. It’s a shame, because God of War on PS Vita was more than playable. After a lot of internal debate, I landed on a 6.5/10 for this specific version of Ratchet and Clank.
Over a month later, and I was free of my Ratchet and Clank prison. I feel rehabilitated and ready to reintegrate.
The final game I tackled this February was another one on the Nintendo Switch 2, and this was Pikmin 2! I played the original Pikmin last year for the first time and it was a sleeper hit for me. I really did enjoy my time with it, and was annoyed at myself for neglecting the series for so long. I decided to jump into the sequel this year and it’s equally as fun as the first, even better I’d say. New Pikmin types add some new challenges to areas, with poison fields and big enemies to take down, needing the white and purple Pikmin respectively. It’s a chunk longer than the first one too, my playtime clocking in at about 12 hours to beat the main story. Would highly recommend the Pikmin 1+2 if you have a Switch or Switch 2 console, as that’s the bundle I played them through on. I gave Pikmin 2 a 8.3/10, a great adventure that doesn’t outstay its welcome, and forces you to think on your feet.
The little Nintendo nostalgia trinkets also went a long way for me. I love this stuff, and would love to see Nintendo do more of it!
To round off, I’m going to finish this blog post with a quick look at how I’m doing with my “Games to Complete” list for 2026. Ratchet and Clank was another off the list this month, and joins January’s completions of Final Fantasy XIII and Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc. 3 down, 10 to go, with 10 months left of the year. The 10 we’ve got left are these:
- Silent Hill Downpour (carry over from 2025)
- Yakuza 6: Song of Life
- Hollow Knight: Silksong
- Sly Racoon
- Returnal
- Xenoblade Chronicles
- Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Call of Duty: Vanguard
- Jak and Daxter
What game will I tackle next? You’ll have to come back next month to find that out, I need all the traction I can get at this place!! Spoiler alert: it might be one you’re expecting.
Love,
Squash