Oh childhood nostalgia how I love thee.

As I get older and reflect on some of the amazing games I've played, very few stand out to me like Super Mario RPG. Self admittedly, I'm not the biggest Nintendo fan, especially now a days, as I prefer a focus on story, and narrative over gameplay and "fun" which Nintendo seems to excel at. However, this game longs from my childhood as one of my favorites, and something that (along with FF7) introduced me to JRPG's probably one of my favorite genres of games.

Re-visiting this now, while it doesn't hold up quite as well as I remember, it's still easily one of my favorite Nintendo games ever, and a true triumph for Square, especially for the time period.

The combat is nearly unmatched, and it's insane that more JRPG's don't use the timing mechanic (shout out to Sea of Stars for lovingly ripping it off and putting their own spin on it).

The story here is easily the best story in a Mario game, and it actually does perhaps the unthinkable, give a personality to Mario. All of the companions here are fantastic, and it's a true love letter to Mario, even today.

Now I do have some issues with this remake. I think overall I do prefer the original graphical style. While this is no doubt gorgeous (and pops on the OLED) there's just something so wonderful about the OG style I can't help but adore even more. Also the music, while again I like it, and it's great, I think I prefer the OG (thankfully that's easy to toggle on).

Overall though, I still really like this game quite a bit, even if it might not be one of my favorites of all time anymore, this is certainly a trip wroth taking once again, and a must play for anyone who has never experienced it.

I think to start this review one thing needs to be made very clear. I despite tactics gameplay. I do not like the challenge or the strategy involved, I do not like the difficulty, and it's just something I've personally never jived with,

I feel like Persona 5 Tactics was made for someone like me, more than the hardcore tactics fan. Someone who's a hardcore Persona fan, who maybe wants to dip their toe into something a little bit new.

Dare I say, by the end of this game, I enjoyed some of the creative style boss fights and gameplay. Not enough to try more difficult ones, but just enough to keep the experience from being Dull for me.

What really shines here for me is the story. Erina and Toshrio are fantastic characters, and just perfect additions to the persona cast. This is certainly more of a side story than Strikers (strikers was a proper epilogue really) but if I'm being honest, I think I enjoyed the story in this game even more than Strikers, based off the work by these two damn strong characters. Erina is someone so awesome I wish she was in the main cast. It's a shame she wasn't.

The music, as always is tremendous. My biggest complaints about this game (besides the gameplay being a style I don't really like), I think the side quests sucked. They were mostly puzzle based ones where you'd need a pretty exact solution to figure it out, and that just wasn't fun to me.

Overall though, This was a wonderful game, and a total surprise from me. I didn't even have plans to play it this year, but I gave it a shot and it hooked me. Persona games clearly hold a special place in my heart (from the tremendous Persona 5 Royal being one of my favorite games of all time) so I'll clearly give anything involving this cast a bit of a bump, but this one was genuinely fantastic in my opinion.

I have a unique perspective on Alan Wake 2, as a person who was very critical on the original game, and not a fan of the survival horror genre. Yet Remedy did something special and unique and intriguing here, that i was glued to my seat from the narrative perspective and even invested in the new protagonist Saga. Remedy also did the dual protagonist in a great way that didn't make any of them feel less important than others, or even making the new character uninteresting. They excelled this game alone from a writing perspective and I do hope if they don't win game of the year, they should win narrative of the year, Sam Lake is one of the industry's best writers. Now the gameplay, I think the combat works alot better when it feels more sparse and is not just spamming waves of enemies at you like the first game, because of that it felt more repetitive without the satisfying feeling. But here it was more sparse and the boss fights quite fun and unique, tho I must critique that the gameplay didn't feel as good as the first one, I dont know if clunky is the right word, but I believe this is on purpose because of the genre switch, to be more like resident evil. Also the soundtrack is good man, especially some cool story ones. The puzzles worked here for me, where i felt annoyed and bored in Resident Evil, the story made me care and the gameplay mechanics made the puzzles and mystery quite engaging to me. Gameplay is what it is, but does what it does for the focused narrative, also the backtracking isn't nearly as annoying in Resident Evil for me. I apologize for kind of rambling on here, but i applaud Sam Lake for making me enjoy a game this much, in a genre that really isn't my cup of tea.

Ps: This game made me want to give control another shot.

I didn't think this game was going to be this good after both hearing that it was made in 6 months and after playing Ishin and being a bit cold on it but this game turned out to be so much fun. From the two fighting styles that feel fresh, to the substories being integrated with the Akame Network creating an addictive gameplay loop, this is a masterclass of creating a spin off title.

The story was surprisingly good and better than even some of the main games, leading to one of the most memorable moments in the franchise from another perspective and an ending that I didn't expect that made me tear up a bit. RGG doesn't miss.

I really tried to find ways to lower the score of this one and I just couldn't. Such a great remake that made some of the worst parts of Dead Space (like the Boss fights or the Asteroid Shooting section) actually worth playing while introducing more story beats such as the side missions that dig deeper into the lore of the title.

While it still is a pretty linear title, introducing a dash of Metroidvania and backtracking with the aforementioned Side Missions or the Security Clearance doors, it made the Ishimura even more of a character and a fantastic setting than ever before.

So going into this game, this is probably the Metal Gear I was least nostalgic for/excited to replay. I do love all these games, so much, but for whatever reason MGS 2 doesn't have that same pull for me, despite being an obviously incredible game. After my replay, I can't say too much has changed, but it's clear that this is still an utter masterpiece.

The story is so so far ahead of it's time here, and that's been talked about to death. The early twist in this game is one of the best ever done, and it still makes me mad how upset "gamers" got about it (and would again get angry later in TLOU2 over it. Gamers do NOT like being fooled)

Raiden is awesome, Snake is awesome, all the characters are so great. The soundtrack in this game is phenomenal just heater after heater.

So what makes this not a 5/5 for me unlike the other MGS games (besides V?). I think for me, the only thing holding me back here is a couple of things. My nostalgia for some of the other games plays a huge part, but I also feel like the setting is one of the weakest in the series. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's still very good, but compared to shadow Moses and the jungle, I just enjoy this setting a little less, and that's really the only knock I have on this masterpiece of a game otherwise.

Kojima is a creator who is much discussed, but MGS has made him the GOAT. God I fucking love these games.

Being a Silent Hill fan IS our Silent Hill.

I am still in shock that this is the first formal return of the franchise in over a decade. Even without the predatory monetization and crappy aspects of the UI, the story and pacing are a mess. If anything it will serve as an experiment on how stuff like this is an inherently bad idea. I would have preferred this game in a Telltale episodic format.

Check out my initial impressions:
https://youtu.be/gSythbFhMGs?si=LIKz1e_XjCUzLD2F

While i ended up finishing this one and one point was enjoying it fairly, it has a pretty bad story with bad writing.

Some of the set pieces are cool but it's impossible to not compare it to the Arkham Series, specially with the middle combat that is lacking a ton of the abilities that you get way too late into the campaign.

Only try if you have some friends to waste time with.

Cerebral, mind-bending, macabre, and thrilling are all words that describe Alan Wake 2 perfectly. A masterclass in survival-horror that doubles as the culmination of everything Remedy Entertainment has learned over its 20+ years in the games industry. Tensions are high throughout the entirety of the 20 hour runtime of Alan Wake 2, not only through combat, but through auditory cues, jump scares, changes in scenery, and striking shifts in color. Remedy utilizes all these tools to keep you on the edge of your seat while your heart pounds in your chest as you slightly turn your eyes from the screen in an attempt to reduce your anxiety. All of the best parts of Alan Wake 2 can be summed up in one word. Atmosphere.
Atmosphere is this games strongest aspect, and unlike other games of the same ilk that released this year such as Resident Evil 4 Remake and Dead Space, there is less combat here than you would expect. I found the majority of my playtime was spent piecing together the story, exploring the different locales and looking for collectibles, callbacks to other Remedy games, and hints at future events in the story or the greater Remedy Connected Universe rather than fighting Taken. That being said, combat is a delight in this game. Every encounter is important due to scarcity of ammo and other items, especially during boss fights, but I do wish there were more enemies to defeat. Graphically, this game astounded me at every cutscene and set-piece, and was enhanced by a robust and vivid color palette that truly nails the feeling of Autumn in a small rural town.
The story in Alan Wake 2 answers so many questions that players were left with after the first game’s ending, but tactfully introduces just as many (if not more) new questions and ideas into the fold. No spoilers, but I DO wish some of the new stuff that was introduced here was explained/explored more fully, as they really did a fantastic job of weaving new characters, plotlines, and genuinely intriguing concepts into the Remedy Connected Universe. If Alan Wake and Control are anything to go off of, I’m sure we can expect some DLC to tie up these loose ends before too long, and I am more than excited to return to this universe.