This game made me feel how I imagine Japanese people feel when a new Dragon Quest game comes out. This is the first time I've played Killzone 2 all the way through, yet it feels so nostalgic and familiar. I never played this growing up because I was on team Xbox during the seventh generation. I got to approach this game from an impartial angle as well, with the bitter console wars of the Playstation 3 vs Xbox 360 long behind us as a society. I didn't need to come to this game like so many did back in 2009, coping that they couldn't play Halo 3 and had to play this instead. Rather, I enjoyed it on my own terms, and knew better than to compare it to Halo 3, which was a completely different game.
It's like going back to your favorite homecooked meal for the first time in a while. It's reminiscent of the golden age of Call of Duty, the games released in the seventh generation from Modern Warfare to Black Ops 2, while still having its own "girth" and unique identity as a WW2-esque military shooter with a sci-fi skin. This was one of the few games I've played recently where I was excited to keep playing when I got home.
The first thing I noticed was the stark difference between this game and the first Killzone. If the first Killzone game was a bologna sandwich (gets the job done, decent, and fills you up, but you've had better), then Killzone 2 is a really good hamburger from a diner you've never been to (familiar, comfortable, high quality, yet new at the same time).
The weapons all have that "girth" and punch, and the cover system is unique for a console FPS game. The one weapon and sidearm limit is frustrating and unnecessary because it tries to take what was a genre standard for console shooters at the time and tries to fix what isn't broken. Clicking the right stick to toggle aim is fine, because it works within the context of the cover system.
There is enough enemy and weapon variety to make things interesting enough to last the roughly eight hour span the game takes place over. I enjoyed some weapons like the bolt gun and the flamethrower. I do wish the more interesting weapons were more prevalent over the game, but it is what it is.
The game's levels have a certain forward momentum that makes the whole experience feel like one long epic battle. The pacing is excellent and, aside from a few of the later levels, maintains the perfect balance between downtime and action. The story is pretty standard for military shooters, with the lore behind the universe reminiscent of the events leading up to World War 2 being more interesting than the actual events of the game. You kill a bunch of enemy soldiers from another planet and win a decisive battle between factions. You know these soldiers are evil because they look like Nazis and have British accents.
The main villain Colonel Radec was a lot cooler than the whiney General Adams and General Lente of the first game. He remained cool as a cucumber until the end, defending Scolar Visari until his very last breath and having an iconic character design and intimidating presence throughout the story.
The graphics and set pieces are excellent, even holding up today. They have the proper weight within their contexts instead of feeling spammed at the player like modern CoD or a Michael Bay movie.
There's one problem, the difficulty. There are more than a few sections, which, even on normal, feel like playing the Gulag level in Modern Warfare 2. The cover feels insufficient in many points, and you feel like you're open to pot shots when you squat behind chest-high walls since your head pokes over. The final level is a can of worms in itself, because the level is stingy with checkpoints and pits you against every obnoxious FPS trope in the span of about 45 minutes. Starting with pushing up the stairs against infinite waves of enemies (annoying trope 1), then fighting against waves of enemies after getting through to the palace balcony (annoying trope 2). During this wave-based section and the ensuing boss, Rico constantly puts himself in the line of fire like a moron and gets downed (annoying trope 3). This culminates in the Colonel Radec fight, which involves a teleporting boss (annoying trope 4) with the powers of invisibility (annoying trope 5) and grenade spamming (annoying trope 6). This last section is unfortunately at the very end of the game, leaving a bad taste in your mouth as you finish the game up.
Overall, this one is worth playing. Especially if you're nostalgic for World War 2 shooters and seventh gen Call of Duty.

Platinumed it after ~110 hours, and it was really good even if it got really grindy and almost required buying at least a little DLC to reach level 70 as Ichiban.
The thing I appreciated the most is that it felt like a celebration of the games before it, and Kiryu in particular. This game started us on the path of closure and signified in one step towards Kiryu finally being allowed to be happy, without going into spoiler territory. I also appreciated how they treated the villains' endings, not falling into the same pitfalls as the rest of the series.
The gameplay was far improved from Yakuza 7, with the combat being almost reminiscent of Chrono Trigger. My only complaint was that the animations still take way too long to finish, which ends up wearing thin after so many hours of playing the game. The gear system also leaves much to be desired. Overall, a great game.

Looking past the numerous bugs that I've encountered in my playthrough, including Deadshot running around in circles during his boss fight, numerous amounts of clipping through structures unintentionally, MULTIPLE enemies/thugs getting stuck in walls, barrels, etc. and the frame rate dipping at points despite maintaining a somewhat stable fps 90% of the time, and other shit where im pretty sure i press the counter or ground takedown buttons but never registers (i had to make sure i wasn't trippin' because of a higher framerate and lo and behold i can keep up with the other games combat just fine and even the combat challenges in this but not the main campaign, wasn't just me, even saw similar complaints on steam forums) and what's not the hardest or bullshit Riddler trophies/side mission (that comes far later in City/Knight) but definitely the most tedious despite being the easiest in the series, This definitely doesn't deserve to be the redheaded step child of the Arkham franchise given how solid everything else is.

Albeit, There's the aforementioned BIG asterisk () given that theres a big elephant in the room being that this is a "you gotta make some thing while people wait for "the big game" to drop" game (think of this as the "Borderlands The Pre-Sequel" to Gearbox's Borderlands 3), I'd say a cashgrab but really its little more effort put into to be precisely called that but for the lack of a better term, that's basically what this was to WB. Even straight up Copied & Pasted AC's map with new additions to make it feel 2x bigger or denser than City including:

- needing a bridge to connect the 2 "hub central cities"
- needing fast travel points via batwing

and while i didn't notice at first, I eventually started to recognize where the locations and only made me appreciate the art direction rocksteady went for to make these locations stand out. I guess I can call that a backhanded compliment to WBM given the circumstances. They were originally the ones who developed Arkham City: Armored Edition (a Wii U port of AC) and many features in that made it into here like the shock gloves which made combat far easier than City/Knight despite again, borrowing City's Combat or investigative mode via detective vision where you can look for evidence and rewind/FF the crime scene like its a recording that even rocksteady took and ran with that idea in Arkham Knight.

Then there's 3 different changes to gadgets that weren't just straight up copied and pasted, the line launcher turns into the "remote claw" which you can string enemies up to gargoyles for a remote takedown, pull em into smoke or explosive canisters, make a tightrope you can walk on and use it as a regular line launcher. Its very versatile and easily the best change and makes me wonder why the hell bruce disassembles it by the time asylum rolls around. The 2nd being the "glue grenade" which is a prototype of the eventual "ice grenade" for Arkham City, only difference between the 2 is that one can be placed as a mine but only covering the enemies feet and not their whole body which is basically a handicap at that rate. Then the final and most useless change of all is going from the Remote electric charge gun into a "stun grenade" which functions the same purpose but is way more useless during combat more than i realized as i progress throughout the game. What makes things more puzzling is the fact that its SLOWER with its quickshot mechanic during combat than literally firing an electric projectile and only has one purpose. I've used the sonic batarang more than the stun grenade and i've rarely use that during this game than i did in asylum or city.

Its very very hard not to judge it compared to its predecessors and successor because it's got its DNA through and through but on its own merits, its got the best bosses in the series (not hard given Asylums was pretty braindead, City's rocksteady's peak and Knights was just... no.), Gave a good explanation to certain things in the series on how bane ended up being a Titan addict in asylum, or show killer croc in his VERY brief period when he was half-man/half-lizard with his human skeleton structure still intact, recontextualize batman's history with oracle/barbara gordon and her father James, The joker, the GCPD, the riddler, alfred, etc. through out the mainline arkham trilogy even if very heavy-handed and as subtle as a brick to the noggin'. But also makes room for villains not seen before in this series like Shiva, Copperhead, Anarky, Firefly & Deathstroke (Both reappear in Knight), and I'd also say electrocutioner but he's a walking punch line in game with one of the funniest but anti-climatic "boss fights" in the game.

Despite this game's eye rolling "Plot Twist" is definitely a slap in the face with the infamous Black Mask/Joker fakeout, This is an interesting story to Arkham Batman. Even more interesting factoring the DLC's to account for with the fullest extent of Batman's First encounters/training but still, seeing a much more aggressive, temperamental Bats played not by Kevin Conroy (R.I.P.) but by Roger Craig Smith, gives it enough distinction to stand out on his own. Including taking the time to include an arc Bruce's got with Alfred that really makes you feel like he truly cares about him and helps establish their relationship later on in the series.

Despite having the limitations of it being on the same framework as arkham city, it also does little things to help it stand out on its own. Like having Snow everywhere to set up the festive atmosphere taking place on Christmas Eve, really makes the atmosphere stand out with PhysX turned on making it a whole immersive experience walking through the snow. Having Bruce get his own batcave where he can do AR training to test his gadgets/combat and even talk to alfred from time to time. Even starting and ending on blackgate prison during riots, the one event that was heavily mentioned back in asylum. Even some new enemies introduced like the martial artists who you have to look out for, preemptively pressing the counter button to actually counter them in a thorough animation, and TN-1 mini bosses where they function like the armored enemies requiring the stun + combo beatdown but they charge at you like Titan Venom Bane in Arkham asylum and you have to evade quickly. Then there's "crimes in progress" pop ups or "Most wanted" side-content list that often break the monotony of flow going from one place to the next, I can definitely say I wasn't bored throughout especially after beating the main story and finishing up those. Like taking out black masks drug stashes or penguins arms deals, or finishing up lady shivas, anarky's, deadshot's & mad hatters storylines.

Well, 90% of them, The fucking riddler "most wanted" side mission is the only exception being bored out of my mind. Instead of trophies, you collect "data packs" and destroy "control towers" which are the size of cameras. And while i do think its clever to instead of dishing out recordings, make them be "encrypted" dirty blackmail pieces and having to "unencrypt" them, and they're often very close together on the map, and most are very relatively straightforward to where they can be easily missed and some require clever solutions, there are a very select few that are definitely tedious bullshit having to comb through and look up guides for.

Keep in mind: I've played the FIXED version (on GoG though apparently there's even bugs in this that wasn't on steam) and can actually 100% the main game, others don't even have that type of luxury.

Regardless, This is definitely worth having to go through alongside the arkham trilogy but be very aware of that lack of polish and even predictable but well told (for the most part) story that'll probably make you shake your head in bewilderment. There's even some plot threads from the series that this game even explains like why the asylum has to be reopened after the events of this and its subsequent mini-sequel, Arkham Origins Blackgate, and the plot thread that would have to unravel itself for the rest of the franchise.

Its a lot longer than i expected, but damn i didn't expect for this to hit so hard as it did. I played it back in January when it shadow dropped out of nowhere (only to wind up having my game pass expire go figure), and finally got the chance to wrap it up once i've renewed it.

The one word i can describe this game is.. unique. Sure, its a hack n slasher action game but its a hybrid of that plus rhythm gameplay you'd see out of guitar hero, meshed with a Saturday morning cartoon artstyle. On top of some corporate satire which kinda reminds me of ratchet and clank but with less cynicism. Also another word to describe this game is genuine, There's not some irony poisoned energy where, y'know, people taking the piss out of very bizarre and wacky situations. I mean this game stars a dude named chai who wants to become a rockstar that can summon a guitar out of scrap metal with a robotic hand he got from an assembly line who accidentally crushed his ipod into his chest. Best thing to do is just RUN with that premise and they did with flying colors. There's actual genuine convos between chai and the rest of his gang that actually did get a chuckle out of me. Even with the added touch of CNMN, your robo pal, having to constantly draw emotions on his face with a sharpie, that you can also see with the subtitles, will always get a kick out of me. That and The endless robots with either incompetent on doing work, suffering in a predicament or just fucking around.

Once i got a hold of the gameplay, that's when things really shine. Like ive said previously, its a hack n slash combat system with a rhythm beat behind it, Just like how games like metal hellsinger or BPM winds up being FPS games with rhythm behind it. You can summon your pals with very useful one off attacks with a cooldown via a tech cat named 808 (Tango really has a thing with cats, with evil within and this and ghostwire). On top of all that, everything is synonymous with the beat. And i do mean EVERYTHING. The environments, the guitar strings when you hit an enemy, the platforms you have to jump on, even the little miscellaneous things you gotta do to go through obstacles, EVERYTHING. I haven't seen anything like this since Def Jam Icon in 2008, where the environment reacts to the rapper you beat up synonymous with the beat. and that was 15 years ago. Really props to the musicians, designers and programmers because this definitely would be a pain in the ass to pull off properly but id say they'd did good. With a game with 0 expectations that they've developed in secret might i add.

Now, This game does have options for those who are rhythmically challenged (i sure was after not playing guitar hero since 2008), but i really did not wanna enable that and actually wanting to provide myself a challenge. Though i rarely scored an A on "Just timing" which much more skilled players wont have a problem with.

The bosses are actually kind of fun and unique. Have their own different quirks and ways to beat em and I always had fun and looked forward to the next one. Except the final one which is definitely bullshit and is responsible for the most deaths i've ever had in this game, and i just wind up button mash my way through and tossed everything and the kitchen sink at him.

And i gotta say, this game definitely feels like it could've dropped in the 2000s with the music choices here, like NIN to their own OSTs. Even surprised the shit out of me by playing the prodigy at one point, whom i haven't heard in ages ever since tv ads stopped using em. That's a definite deep cut right there. That mixed with some of the action mixed with the beats, got me impressed. On top of chai imagining a crowd of people chant his name like its a concert is the cherry on top.

Then there's the artstyle, Which i can best describe as Saturday morning anime/cartoon. It does stick out and its an almost reverse on what happened with Overstrike/Fuse whereas Insomniac went from a quirky tone to UBER serious military sci-fi shlock to be forgotten, with this seeing some concepts, I was baffled on how they went from basic scifi to THIS, which is far more suitable. I cant imagine what this game would've been like if they stuck with the original concept art. Because this game wears it on its sleeve, literally jumping from gameplay to cutscene is almost smooth, because it goes from an animated segment, usually chai breaking a window INTO gameplay. Its little touches like that, that makes this one big playable cartoon (in a good way). In game, it almost like they took Ratchet and Clanks industrial/futuristic dystopia design and mix it with jet set radio. I gotta say it is aesthetically pleasing to look at and even runs well since it isn't "photorealistic".

If you haven't heard me mention the story by now, its because there's not much to talk about there, if you played a game about a ragtag team going against a corporation, You've know where the stories gonna go. Including the plot reveals which, yeah, explains a lot. Only 1 plot twist actually surprised me but i wont spoil but it also impacts the gameplay a bit. But really the characters and the interaction between them is what elevates it for me.

Overall, Id say this is one of my favorite games in this generation because on how much fun i had with it. I HIGHLY recommend checking it out, especially if you have game pass, you aint got much to lose. After beating the campaign you can also do a lot of side objectives, a "BPM rush" mode where its a turbo mode to crank the beat higher and higher, or the tower mode where your abilities are gone and you have to rework your way to the top. Or the hardest difficulty being rhythm master which, screw that, this game already filtered me by the end lol

But seriously, i cant praise this game enough. Go play it.

In a stunning coup de grace, all-American developer Berkan Deneziaran opens up a riveting cinematic thread in the Half-Life universe by positing the question: who or what would Gordon and Alyx run into when Half-Life 3 inevitably comes out and they go to the Borealis? This game is filled with challenging gameplay reminiscent of the Dark Souls series (one could even call this the "Dark Souls of Half-Life". The main character Mitcher has the exaggerated swagger of a HECU soldier. The reveal of the antagonist Adam is a plot twist on par with the likes of Shutter Island and the Sixth Sense, where it turned out Bruce Willis had hair the entire time. The villain's death was made memorable as he uttered his iconic catch-phrase, "Mitch, Please!"
Talented and morally upstanding voice actors Sky Williams and Pyrocynical join the star-studded cast alongside President Keemstar.
The level design explores a bold new frontier in terms of gameplay, and immerses the player in the world of the visually impaired by refusing to put proper lighting in most areas, rendering the player unable to see.
I look forward to the GoldSrc port of this masterpiece.

Before the game came out I said it looked like the "MGS4 of RGG" and for the most part, that held up. It does much more than that though, and it stands on its own delivering a message about redemption and perseverance. This game tells you YOU HAVE TO LIVE. Both the mainline story and the side adventures had me emotional, many times. This might be my favorite cast in any JRPG, ever, it just happens to be a cap-off of one of my favorite series ever.

Game-wise: This is basically a 2:1 improvement of the first turn-based game. The way the combat unfolds in every battle is just SUPERB. I didn't even really expand myself on the job system either. It allows for so much diversity and creativity while also posing quite a challenge sometimes. Fantastic stuff.

Side content wise this is also the best the series has ever been, between the substories, minigames, and the incredible Dondoko island (which could be charged as a full game honestly), and the Sujimon game that runs along side everything had me hooked the whole way through.

I never played an RGG game that had its hooks in me this hard before which says a lot because I love every game in this series hard. This was a masterpiece through and through.

What a fucking game.

Yeah, it's obviously not perfect. The open world has some busy work, the ending will be controversial and leaves mixed feelings and it still has plenty of "hold the stick forward" moments, but it all doesn't subtract from the amazing package we've got.

I expected Square to go crazy when the Remake project reaches the open world portion. The original game always had tons of mini games and silly interactive moments but instead of getting rid of those they really went ALL IN. If something was a little mini game in the original that took a minute, it is now a full blown minigame with high scores and mechanics.

You can tell that they tried their utmost to please fans and not skip anything. And the things that are skipped will surely be in the final game, I'm absolutely confident nothing will be missing in the end.

The combat system feels even better than before, with aerial combat being improved for Cloud in particular and the added synergy attacks add a nice layer of strategy. The new controllable characters are really well integrated and I ended up using Red XIII for the majority of my playthrough.

The gigantic soundtrack is utterly ridiculous. The amount of remixes of classic titles kept throwing me off-guard and most of them are great! When the OST is uploaded on YT I'll definitely grind away at it.

Rebirth will certainly not be for everyone. People who are tired of big worlds and don't enjoy engaging with side activities will probably be annoyed and just want to get back to the main action. Which luckily are the best parts of the game at least.

Not 100% sure if the 5 stars will stick or if I'll go down to 4.5 later down the road, but in any case, this was an amazing time and the wait for Part 3 will be painful. Now excuse me, I still got some card games to play, arenas to beat and hard mode to tackle.

Knocked this one out after the main body of Remake. On a gameplay front, this feels like a great next step for the base combat of the trilogy - Yuffie's options and movement are quicker and snappier, there's more depth to her ability and gear options, she's got several unique mechanics that feel really good to engage with. Her synergy moves with Sonon are pretty fun too and it's not hard to see why they doubled down on those for Rebirth. This is a tight 4 hours long so I can't even say there's really all THAT much combat but learning her felt a lot more rewarding than anyone in the main game. Couple of fights here put up a nice challenge even if the major bosses didn't require more than one try.

Story is pretty sparse since they had to fit it in the gaps of the Midgar plot, but it's alright I guess. The focus on Scarlet is the real smart move here since she's a ton of fun to watch and listen to - excited to see more of her in Rebirth. Sonon and Yuffie as characters are pretty appealing, Yuffie definitely makes her mark and I can imagine it would be weird to play Rebirth without this. The Deepground stuff is handled pretty well. Music is a real highlight, I enjoyed a lot of the tracks in this one.

Despite its length and relative high price if you didn't get it bundled with Intergrade, this feels like a really good step forward for the remake trilogy. Establishes Yuffie well and takes a lot of steps to improve little things about combat, exploration, cutscenes, and overall gamefeel. Enjoyable time.

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!?

After being pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Frontiers my excitement for Superstars wasn't that high but I was still interested in playing. Come release and a good friend of mine got their hands on the game and to say they had a rough experience was an UNDERSTATEMENT, comparing it to some of Sonics worse like 4. Well after finishing up everything I'm here to say ITS EVEN FUCKING WORSE HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN SONIC TEAM/ARZEST. The fact this complete dumpster fire was full fucking price (the last 2D Sonic being Mania priced at $30 with the excellent DLC) proves that God is not real and we deserve everything that has damned humanity as a species.

If I had to say what I liked before the complete ripping apart I'd say the visuals aren't completely shit, with some zones like the first two being pretty pleasant on the eyes. OST is a mixed bag but when it hit it's pretty rock solid, with some pretty sweet tunes throughout (before the generic genesis shit reminds you what you're playing). All the character abilities feel like they should with Amy especially feeling pretty nice to play with her double jump and hammer melting some bosses. Oh and the special stages are bitch baby easy with only the fifth one having any form of challenge.

Because of how much this game gets wrong Imma go through the issues from smallest to biggest. First and foremost is just how fucking buggy this game can be. From soft locking various sections to a hard crash from collecting too many RINGS Superstars might rival 06 in the unfinished department technical wise. The overall control feels like the lovechild between Sonic 4s lack of speed and Forces general lack of polish, with it feeling all over the place which makes the levels a pain to navigate. On the subject of levels I'd like to briefly discuss an issue some Sonic fans have with the franchise that I never agreed with and that's originality=good. Mania gets this the most with how most of it is recycled and while I can understand this a bit the zones still go hard and showcase just how well Mania is designed. Superstars has every stage be original but MAN do they just not hit the mark. Out of the 11 present I only really enjoyed my time with Bridge Island, a solid enough first level with the best overall feel. The rest are either boring (Golden Capital being the most apparent) or some of the worst in a 2D Sonic game (whoever designed Press Factory needs to be blacklisted from the industry). Another interesting idea that falls flat is the Emerald Powers, with each emerald offering a unique power that can be used once before needing to be refreshed at a checkpoint. Out of them only three were useful, with Avatar being a useful screen nuke and Bullet/Slow helping in general platforming and some boss fights (emphasis on SOME). The rest are either only useful for select parts or useful FOR ONE FUCKING STAGE making the entire gimmick feel like a waste. It's genuinely embarrassing when I can give Wisps more credit (and Wisps are just alright).

With all those out of the way its time to talk about the elephant in the room: the bosses. Sonic bosses usually vary in quality but the general consensus for the 2D games is they're pretty simple fights that take about a minute or two tops (even the final bosses). Some games like the Rush spinoffs attempt to rev up the heat to various results but they still keep the same gameplan. Superstars decides to change things up by making EVERY.SINGLE.FIGHT take multiple minutes because you have to wait until the boss ALLOWS itself to be hit and only ONCE BECAUSE THE BOSSES HAVE MORE FUCKING I FRAMES THAN EVERY GENESIS GAME COMBINED WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY THIS IS SUCH A STUPID DECISION I FUCKING HATE THIS SHIT. The final bosses have this problem the most with each being double digits with no checkpoints inbetween meaning its back to square one if you get instakilled (which you will because each boss has one). Only saving grace in this regard is that Superstars ditches the traditional lives system so its more of a test of patience for when you'll beat the game.

All this would make Superstars a middling title on its own but one final kick in the teeth makes this truly the worst: Trips Story. A new OC integral to Superstars plot, her moveset is a combination of both Amys double jump and Knuckles climb and just like Amy she feels pretty solid to control. It's a real shame her unique stuff is JUST THE SAME FUCKING GAME BUT HARDER. Her levels throw every dogshit Sonic level design from bottomless pits,enemy placement,spikes,insta kill squeezing making it a truly dreadful experience. Adding to that is HER BOSSES ALSO TAKE LONGER which means you will be here longer compared to the base game (also you're forced to do the character-exclusive zones because fuck you). The already dogshit final zone is a nightmare for Trip, with the game just throwing everything it has before you limp to a final boss with some of the most bullshit attacks in the game (two instakills which basically force you to use powers to succeed). Also her super form is buggy as fuck and requires frequent switching out of to actually progress (a problem no other character has).

Superstars is the worst Sonic I've played no questions asked. Under no circumstances do I recommend this because you can just play Mania or one of the classic titles and get an infinitely better experience. I still am optimistic for the Blue Blurs future but man this was a miss of catastrophic proportions.

2/10

Like with most games I think there are two ways to look at Control. And in this case it's interesting because that's exactly what I did. Once in 2019 and today in 2024.

Back when I first played it I was basically expecting a super creative and wild shooter with supernatural elements, and in a way that's exactly what it is, but the shooting or rather the entire combat let me down quite a bit.

It certainly did not help that I first played it on a base PS4 that had some serious performance issues but that wasn't really the main issue. I wanted to shoot things, fly around, explore and use crazy powers and the game turned out to not be that fun.

Combat in Control is pretty broken honestly. I instantly figured out that the Launch ability is the way to go after seeing that every new unlocked skill gives it another insane damage boost. I one-shotted most of the enemies and the ones that survived simply got hit with another Launch attack. It made large amounts of the game very trivial. Even enemies that dodge your launch can just be hit with another one right after. And when your ability gauge is empty you can just shoot enemies with the pretty powerful Pierce weapon and you're probably already full again.

It's okay for the game not to be hard and nobody forced me to use the dominant strategy. I did mix it up a lot and tried to build an army with the seize ability in some fights. I also used the shield more often, but realistically these are just options that drag out fights and there are tons of them. Later on they get a little more crazy and you get to fly around a lot mid-battle and it's a layer of the combat I really enjoyed but after a while even that gets a little stale when you're still just launching items around and effectively make yourself a bigger target.

The skill tree and the mod system are things that make some sense in a longer and open game like this, but I don't think it really added much to the game since most skills simply are not interesting. 90% of it boils down to raising percentages. Ideally in a skilltree you're making some tough decisions to decide what character you're going for, but Control does not really have that.

You can't really be a specific version of Jesse Faden, you're always playing roughly the same. The whole combat system revolves around launching things and every point you're not putting into that effectively means you could be stronger. Putting some points into your energy and health is a given. Everything else is just a bonus. There are some cool perks you can acquire but most of them are in the Launch tree anyway ... I got the ground slam since that's a fun one, but it's the second thing you can unlock for levitation and you get it so late into the game that your character is mostly set anyway, so it's once again not really an interesting choice to make.

The mod system is similar. I'm not even gonna get into the inventory for it being too small, the whole thing is just there. I don't really want to repeat what I said above, so I'm making it short: It's another aspect of the game where you're just going to focus on damage and health. If you happen to get those drops anyway. Otherwise you'll just take more ammo or recharge or whatever. And even if you're trying to get some more niché stuff like more damage after a melee attack or less ammo consumption while levitating ... It changes up your playstyle very little. It's a system that's there for the player to have something to collect in chests and given as quest rewards, but barely adds anything to the gameplay.

The other part of the gameplay is exploration. I constantly read that the map is terrible and I can only agree. It barely helps you getting somewhere specific and mainly acts to show you where you haven't been. On paper it's an interesting concept to have this huge open place that opens up gradually, but aside from the levitation and the dash there's nothing that opens up to the player naturally. Most of the stuff is locked by keys and story progression ... Which is a shame, because it had the potential for a 3D metroidvania structure, which is very rare to begin with. I get that the storyline demands linear progression but there was definitely some opportunities to do some missions in a different order. Basically what I'm saying is that I never actually went back through that building to hunt for new areas, to look around for items or anything. There is lore scattered about in the game, but unless you care about literally every single bit of written text I don't think it's worth it.

And that was pretty much the criticism I had in 2019 and I feel like it all holds up. I wasn't really there for the story and it all flew over my head anyway, so that aspect did not really do much for me.

So here comes the "two ways to look at a game" part into play. Because this time I wasn't here for the gameplay. I just recently finished Alan Wake for the first time and I'm pretty excited to play the second one since it looks great. So when I replayed Control I was more interested in the story and lore because this whole Remedy universe is something fairly unique that I'm curious about.

On my second run I tried to view the game as more of an experience. Try to immerse myself in the setting, reading every paper, try to comprehend the story ... and it was pretty fun! The beginning is already amazing and there are some really great ideas here. The whole 'Oldest House' setting is fantastic and the visuals in this game are simply great. I'm not a person who does screenshot in video games, but here I couldn't help but take some. It might be a bit of bias since I love colored light (I love the aesthetic of Winding Refn movies) but the surreal parts of the world also manage to impress.

This time I tried to empathize more with Jesse as a character and tried to view the combat as more of a power trip than an actual challenge to overcome. It turned out to be a little more fun that way, but ultimately combat will never be the thing I play this game for and that's fine.

In the end it finally made me appreciate the game. I would say that I like it quite a lot now! But unfortunately even the story part does have it's problems. The countless texts that are scattered about do sometimes have interesting information but there is simply so much of it that it becomes a chore to read after a while. And lots of it is also just meaningless fluff.

The actual main story is engaging. Jesse, her brother, Polaris, the previous director, the board, the janitor ... There are lots of interesting characters here and the idea that Jesse is looking for her brother at this crazy place and ends up in this inescapable scenario is cool. I even like the fact she takes it all so well because it's the thing she was looking for all her life and supernatural stuff isn't exactly new to her.

The ashtray maze is something everybody mentions and for good reason, it's an amazing section. But I also like the Overlook hotel bit that makes me uncomfortable everytime, the section with the clocks, the flamingo bit and several other setpieces that simply look cool. The game offers some highlights but they are far and few between. The Objects of Power bit was the perfect opportunity to really go into some insane directions but often it just didn't. Like following a letter that teleports around and then doing the same thing with a rubber duck that also randomly changes places isn't really on the same level as some of the psychedelic stuff other objects make you go through.

And since this is getting way too long, I'm getting to the main story ... It ended on a somewhat disappointing note? I'm not spoiling it, but aside from setting up a sequel, which is fine, I think the antagonistic force did not turn out to be fit for an interesting finale. What one can consider the 'final boss fight' is a serious let down and even though the actual finale is pretty cool, I think it should have ended with a bigger bang.

Control is more of a worldbuilding game than a storyline game I would say. The world is fascinating to explore, but I wish it would have more character moments.

I'm not gonna get into the DLC too much, just wanna say that they're a nice addition overall. The Foundation adds some needed challenge to the game and the bit with the 'tunnel' (if you know, you know) was amazing. Definitely do the object of power quest in this one. The AWE DLC is a nice way to lead into Alan Wake 2. The added light mechanic wasn't all that interesting, but I liked the antagonist in this one. Curious how they pick this one up in AW2 and if Jesse will play a role there.

Despite all of my criticism ... I now like this game. I do think this universe is really cool and I'm actually excited for the sequel. I just hope they give Jesse some more powers to play around with and make her go through more wacky shit. Add some more character moments to the story and it'll probably be a real highlight. Fingers crossed!