"Art's Dream" is about as imaginative and emotionally harmonic as any other Media Molecule product but - like others - I feel that chaining this down strictly to PS4 ultimately killed its creative potential. These days it's pretty much just a minigame machine that's fine for maybe 20 or so minutes until you realize that they don't even rival flash games or phone apps at the end of the day. This has all the features to be so much more but it seems to have been given up on by its own playerbase, so playing it now I'm not sure what I should be getting out of this that I can't get out of LBP3's way more interesting community levels/create mode. A shame and a huge letdown coming from one of my favorite game companies, but there's still some sort of a spark here waiting to be let out.

Top 50 Favorites: #22

Games I Like That Everybody Else Dislikes

Unfairly (but somewhat understandably) reviled, I get that everyone hated this because "oh no there isn't trash floating in the breeze" but it still looks fantastic these days even in its downgraded state - as someone from the Chicagoland area the fake Chicago in this remains not only a worthy reimagination but one of the finest, most living and breathing, fleshed-out open worlds I've ever played (everything to the random NPC encounters to the real sense of diversity in the different areas to the lovely fake Bean which I haven't stopped thinking about in the 2+ years since I played this just feels so crisp and lived-in). Elephant in the room - yes the story absolutely crashes and burns on or around the halfway point, and Aiden Pearce never emotes right when it feels like he's supposed to. But in terms of its gameplay the thing is a significant thirst-quencher, not sure what everyone expected but this is pretty much as-advertised for a 2014 tech-fetish GTA clone - sneaky hack combat is insanely fun but does get repetitive near the end like everything else here, I really like how vulnerable you are once your cover is blown from it. I even spent hours on the little phone games and street minigames, man - what a blast and half. Also helps that the soundtrack features some of the best songs ever recorded ("Private Eye" - Alkaline Trio, "Sparklers" - Gemini Club, "Day 'n' Nite" - Kid Cuidi) and a stellar collection of artists including Alice Cooper, Nas, Iggy Pop, 2 Chainz, Deadmau5, Wu-Tang Clan... come on man, it rules. It's got its warts (driving for instance feels unfinished) but sits incredibly well - an atmospheric force - something deep within it just demands interactivity for me. So, so incomparably better than its sequel, even if both games have a real "We live in a society" problem.

A definite improvement over the first game, the 2D prototype had some interesting ideas going on but from a personal standpoint the jump from 2D side-scroller to 3D platformer collectathon was the right move here. Breezy, fun, and full of charm. Even this early on these games were clearly developing their own identity. That being said, outside of the GBC port this is probably the weakest version of the game - so it doesn't really have anything on its other ports let alone something like Gex: Enter the Gecko which is tighter and more nuanced let alone a genre titan like Super Mario 64, both of which came out years prior. Not that it should be a one-or-the-other deal, this is still a good game - but it can't help feeling somewhat rudimentary in comparison.

Awful, awful, awful. I expected to find some underappreciated, perhaps ahead-of-its-time value here but this is a rare case where everybody was right, it sucks. It's easy to forget with how spoiled we are now on the genre, but horror games after the Left 4 Deads and before Outlast were (mostly) in dire fucking straits. It's a shame that so many spectacular ideas on display here (the overall A.I. protector system, contamination disguises, the puzzles ain't bad either) are snuffed out by a viciously atrocious execution. Even with a brand spankin' new 1 TB SSD this thing still runs like super glue and takes forever to load, and even if it did perform well - which, I cannot stress this enough, it doesn't - its systems are still finnicky and reliably unreliable. The of-the-era bullshit sci-fi aesthetic stuff is totally unnecessary, controls are hot garbage, and if The Order: 1886 was only half a game then this is like 1/4th of a game. Just makes me feel bad how shitty this is

"ACTIVATING JOY MODULE"

One major flaw in an otherwise splendid experience - and it's that, holy shit, even by PS3 standards this framerate can CRAWL at what feels like nearly a dead stop. Still, this is a spirited and gushing love letter to the series that more than stands on its own two feet. The heart powerups and prince hop (as long as you don't rely on half-responsive motion controls) are great new additions, as is the Roboking - there's a nice balance between his insecurity and the King of All Cosmos' narcissism that keeps this feeling fresh on a level-to-level basis. Even the remixed music is fun - sure, not all of them are as good as the originals (looking at you, "The Moon & The Prince" remix) but some of them are imo, and are seriously evocative tunes in their own right. Hub menu not as good as We Love Katamari, gameplay more engaging than Katamari Damacy Reroll. Has your usual repetition problems as can be expected with the series, but this is a sadly overlooked entry. Innovates just enough without taking away the core experience, which many game franchises were guilty of doing around this time. "Even Eternal mode can't last forever", "Why do humans adore what can hurt them so badly?".

Games I Like That Everybody Else Dislikes

Always preferred this to at least most of the Smash Bros. games, just feels more intuitive. There's no getting around the fact that this remains a pinnacle lesson in "How the Fuck Could You Possibly Fuck That Up??" 101 where shameless self-promotion (stupid 2013 fuckboy Dante instead of real Dante, the dude from Starhawk being in this for some reason) and confusing budget cuts (why did Sony commission so many high-scale products they had no faith in around this time?) in the place of elements for - what by all means should have been - the best fighting game ever produced. Where the fuck is Crash Bandicoot? Why does this feel so cheap and slapdash in presentation considering it handles a ton of Sony's ultimate cash-cow mascots? And oh Lord those idiotic png cutscenes still haunt my very nightmares to this day. But with that all out of the way, if you forget what this could have been then this is a damn good fighter with a fleshed-out control scheme and interesting in-fight level system that breeds fierce competition. Though the maps are the true standout here - it's been ten years (fuck I'm old) but the way levels based on one game series get invaded by elements from another game series never, ever gets old. It's a concept that really should have been copied by every franchise-fighter after this imo and absolutely should not only be stuck in this. Missed opportunity and undeniably a hot mess but still plays great even (perhaps especially) today.

Top 50 Favorites: #23

Bring back puzzle-platformers as major tentpole releases! A fantastic, fun-loving, seriously charismatic game just bursting at the seams with vibrancy and inventiveness. The type of experience that just leaves a big, fat grin slapped across your face the entire time - granted some of its strict completionist elements (wtf is up with the awful level replay system as it relates to collectibles resetting?) can be frustrating, but as someone obsessed with those sorts of elements I didn't mind much (especially when the control system is this satisfying). The way the music interacts with how you're playing? Chef's kiss. The adorable fake language the characters speak? Chef's kiss. The gorgeous, gorgeous color palette? Chef's kiss. The wonderful and always-evolving level designs that reward exploration to the highest degree? Well, you already know what I'm going to say. Even the story here is really cute and funny, just a great time all around.

Airless. Even by the standards of the reboot this feels dinky, and this is speaking as one of the few defenders of that game and literally every single other DLC from it (yes, even the cosmetic/vehicle packs). Like seriously, no Gwen homie?? The base only has 3-4 homies as it is, you couldn't have even given us the MAIN follower for this questline (who imo after The Nahualli is the best character in the game) as Volition continues to sweep these other three side characters who they once propped up so high under the rug? Not like the characters were all that good anyway, but damn this is embarrassing. The Chill Queen is a total nonentity in her own expansion, and the missions mostly feel rehashed and overwhelmingly mechanical - in fact this whole addition already seems like a lesser version of the LARP plot in the base game as it is, which actually was my favorite storyline from it! Some of the rewards are cool, the Ban Hammer is neat - and I actually decently enjoy the ghost events. But Vallejo << Sunshine Springs.

Impossible to overstate just how revolutionary this was for its time - now... it's still not bad! Certainly not a masterpiece by today's standards of course: movement can be a chore, driving feels impenetrable, and worst of all precision is way less than ideal in a game that really calls for it in middle/late maps. But this very clearly has its own appealing style, and systems/mechanics that are accessible enough to crack yet fleshed-out enough to always remain relatively intriguing. The American Revolt DLC is essentially a meme.

Top 50 Favorites: #2

Something special. Media Molecule's finest work as a developer in a career jam-packed with unforgettable gaming experiences. Every pixel of this game radiates the same comfort level as a warm log cabin in December, sitting in a soft chair with a mug of hot cocoa beside the fireplace. Makes your controller feel like a true magic utensil come to life, the gimmicks in this game genuinely made me feel like a kid again - "Ooh"-ing and "Ahh"-ing in giddy excitement with each new twist on the DualShock 4 (and your phone, which I highly recommend also using)'s utility. It really shows just how much Sony underutilized the PS Vita that all its features transferred over without compromise - nay, BETTER - from its original rendition. The sense of imagination here is so red-hot that it feels liable to beam out right off of your screen. Can't express enough how much I love this game, the dictionary definition of adventure. Comparing this to LittleBigPlanet, I feel, would be reductive - since this very much has its own unique identity - but it has more of that same 'energy' than that 2020 Sackboy game imo.

A cute, accomplished, clearly lovingly made game that I personally have zero emotional connection to. I get why others love this so dearly - it's no doubt a visionary achievement with loads of variety, recognizable characters, humor, and one of the most unique battle systems you're likely to come across. But for whatever reason I never saw this as anything more than a mere distraction that I'd instantly forget about after playing - with no desire to go back and replay it (it was a chore to even finish my first run imo). I was sort of with it at the beginning but once its quirky shtick wore off (and believe me, it does) it DRAGS so much around the halfway point. This gives me the same feeling as playing like a mobile app in the waiting room - sure it works as a time killer if you've got nothing else, but why would I want to play it on my own accord when I have so many better options to choose from? A good game that really did not stay with me, nor did I click with its (admittedly highly original) world much at all.

Games I Dislike That Everybody Else Likes

Holy shit. Outrageously, gobsmackingly bad - a shocking downgrade of every entry that came before it on the system (even including the unfinished build that can't get past the 2nd quarter). Let's get the only three positives out of the way now: the tackle animations look a bit better, the passing is the most responsive so far, and it's got the best intro movie up to this point. Otherwise this somehow manages to do everything way, way worse - the graphics in particular no joke unironically hurt my eyes: the fields look crappier and the characters all look like ass-ugly turds sporting T-1000 arms with less animations than previous games. The framerate is also unconscionably slow, even on menus (those are even so much inferior here, btw) - you'll have more eaten inputs than you can count on two hands, games run like molasses, and characters always flicker in and out of existence because the game can barely handle anything that's going on at any given second. You'll throw a ball to an invisible character who won't pop in until the last second which, for a football game where you're always passing to/receiving from/kicking to/dodging other players, makes this next to unplayable. Also the dash here looks like Fall Guys. Even setting the damn thing up is a cryptic, irritating chore. Sound sucks, too.

Not simulation-esque enough to be the Skate clone it wants to be, and not over-the-top arcadey enough to be a Tony Hawk game - so it rests in this awkward purgatory of "yeah, it exists I guess". Runs like molasses on the PS3 and is deeply, deeply ugly to look at (like most of these early seventh-generation games the color is just thoroughly sucked clean out of it and character models look like infected meat) but otherwise it's too inoffensive to be anything other than 'mediocre'. The mechanics are fine, the soundtrack is fine (MVPs "The Queen and I", "I Wanna Live", "Devotion ['92]", and "Club Foot"), it's fine. The open world never feels as entertaining, lush, or varied as Tony Hawk's American Wasteland and most of the different areas blend into the background due to their overall dullness. The random-ass difficulty spike is bizarre, and the way it implements Classic Mode in this is truly horrible. But... it plays. The spot challenges are the best new addition, providing hours of content on just a couple curbs. I don't hate it but I also see 100% why the series started to tank after this.

Cute, bright, weird, and fast - like any good Katamari game should be. I still think We Love Katamari smokes Damacy any day of the week, but fully understand why this one got the first reroll given that it released prior (and it's still a damn fine game in its own right). Like the best remasters, does very little to change the original gameplay experience - essentially just adds a fresh coat of paint and calls it a day. You can't just deny that music either, good shit! The controls being purposefully obtuse makes it all the better imo, fits the funky tone like a glove and otherwise this would be way too easy. All that being said, I feel similarly towards this game as I do to - say - a Splatoon, where I can play it for a couple hours at a time and be totally invested but anything more than that starts to drag. And like others have said, this does get super repetitive on or around the halfway point. But man, when it's on... this gimmick is satisfying.

Sturdy but also Another One of These™. I'm almost totally burned out on these online live service games complete with seasons, microtransactions, grinding, trash skill-based matchmaking, and alienating "you had to be there for it" moments. Speaking strictly from a personal standpoint I just don't understand how someone can play this for more than three or maybe a generous four matches without getting bored. That being said, you just can't help but admire how this just keeps going strong (seemingly strongER) now going on SEVEN years since its release (eons, in games as a service terms) - and there's a reason for that. Look, I slightly prefer Evil Dead: The Game to this, but at least this one has a little thing called a playerbase... and devs who actually give a shit about putting in the content. The amount of horror licenses all in one place here is simply astonishing, pretty much every horror game online forum prior to this's dream come true - and I dig that it still has its very definitive art style even with all that. It's not bad, but after two matches I'm just going through the motions. Sorry, not really my type of thing.