Good ole' fashioned Goat Simulator fun, second best of the DLCs. It's clear that I've kinda outgrown this type of gameplay despite my fond memories of the original - but even still, there's a lot to admire here. For one, I'm impressed with the sheer size of this map, like... holy cow this thing is massive and just packed with stuff to see. The Portal spoof in particular is very amusing, even if some of the other references aren't quite as strong. The neckbeard brony dude stuff in this is hilarious and bold for a game of this nature. And the quests finally feel semi-substantial here! Satisfied, but also glad to be done with these for a while.

Games I Like That Everybody Else Dislikes

I'm not at all opposed to more games being unabashed Human: Fall Flat clones - even if they don't do it quite as well. As a kid I was obsessed with ragdoll physics games, so I just know I would have sunk so many hours into this had it come out back then. Knowing that alone makes me happy, but this gets plenty of points in its own right for how hilarious and quick-paced its gameplay is. Every game should have its own dedicated fart button! Though like all these types of games, my one major complaint is that it feels far too short for how surprisingly large its map is and for how many missions/side content it offers therein. Still think this is super underrated, though some of the power-ups totally trivialize all the deliveries and exploration the game was clearly built around.

Top 50 Favorites: #41 (Included with Control: Ultimate Edition)

Just as rock-solid as the other Control expansion, but twenty times as deliciously trippy. The way this seamlessly blends two different game series into an awesome mindfuck love letter to both of them should forever be remembered - never feels forced and never reaches for cheap fan service, everything here feels 100% totally authentic. Gives away so much while actually revealing so little, mesmerizing. And like the base in addition to its aforementioned other DLC, there's sleek graphical fidelity and a pitch-perfect combat system to boot. Needs to be required playing before Alan Wake 2

One instance where I may actually prefer the original to the remake - what registered as endearingly rustic on the PS1 just feels kind of cheap, basic, and dull on the PS5 despite retaining pretty much everything the former had to offer and not even really looking bad per se. I still think this is a pretty good little platformer - but even looking at it as its own product there's still some depth problems, inconsistencies in the moveset (especially that damn rev roll), and seriously unreliable controls (most notably in original mode, where the amount of times you firmly press a direction and Pac just straight up ignores it is too high to ignore - especially in such fast-paced gameplay). It's fine but tbh it just really made me want to go back and replay Pac-Man World 2.

Very possibly the worst video game I've ever touched. I've been known to be relatively forgiving towards chintzy, blatant cash-grabs like this from the era - by which I mean, there tends to be a prior expectation that they're going to be pretty crappy already. But this is a new low even by that grading curve, and I didn't think the first Cars video game was even that bad, either. Muddy graphics, choppy framerate, track design that ranges from brutally boring to the most horrendous things ever, and handling that will legitimately make you curse your own soul. Those fucking Guido races are one of the top 5 worst things ever spat onto a video game disc - total luck whether or not you don't spin out for no reason (usually miliseconds before the finish line) and/or glitch right through the floor of the track. There are gripes to be made with the current state of gaming but come on, don't act like you aren't immensely glad that this borderline evil genre of games isn't poisoning the well so much anymore.

Just as endearingly clunky as it was when it initially released, but I'm kind of glad they kept the primitive mechanics intact rather than watering them down and/or replacing them with all-too-basic antiseptic controls like some current remakes/remasters tend to do. It's always a treat to go back and see what we used to expect out of triple-A games from the seventh gen, and both this along with the original still look rock-solid for the time. But mostly this thing just coasts off of charm - particularly the chemistry of Nathan and Sully; and there's always been something particularly special about mowing down foes with AK-47s and Desert Eagles in these games. Rough around the edges, but a very important piece of gaming history.

Top 50 Favorites: #30

Games I Like That Everybody Else Dislikes

Always loved the off-kilter, macabre simplicity of this one - its rich black-and-white visuals, classical soundtrack, and lovable silent protagonists among other aspects. What should feel like another one of Sony's underwhelming launch titles instead feels totally invigorating due to all these - on the surface - basic features implemented in the most unorthodox, freakish manner possible. Reminds me of the type of thing I'd come home to from middle school in 2011 and play on Newgrounds for a couple hours while chomping down Pringles and a pack of Starburst. A loving tribute to the flash games my generation grew up on just as the medium was starting to die out - a beautiful mix of kooky gimmick gameplay, deadly sadism, and zany humor. Only the seventh generation of gaming could have produced something so uniquely bizarre.

I'm probably (surely) alone in this, but this is easily the best entry in the series - yeah cutting its campaign down to only a few characters was an assy move but there's just no reconciling with how sturdy the gameplay and world are here. Wreaking havoc while ripping vehicles apart like grenade shrapnel and flattening on-fire NPCs like pancakes (which of course reward you points) as N.W.A., Sammy Hagar, Rob Zombie, and Patsy Cline play in the background is the most self-assured brand of awesome. The races are a great new addition - relying on you to destroy your enemies by any means necessary rather than traditionally surpass them is a nice spin on things. It just plays so much better, gone are the slippery convulsions of (the still good) Twisted Metal: Black and (comparative) clunkiness of the PS1 games. It still ain't perfect but it's an easy step up imo. And come on, how fucking badass is that gigantic Dollface mech boss thing? That was easily one of the best images spawned out of this gaming era. Can't at all subscribe to the popular opinion that this is mid (??), and even more shocked that the series has been dead in a ditch since - how was it not a complete haven for the Monster Energy-fueled, violence-addicted seventh gen of gaming? Strange, vicious, and wild.

Leon's campaign > Jake's campaign > Chris's campaign > Ada's campaign

Special people with special relationships - by far the best entry out of RE's "dumb era", totally encapsulating the series' long-standing theme of beauty versus beast: pitting male models, flawlessly gorgeous women, and massive hulking tank behemoth bros against the most disgusting, warped destructions of flesh imaginable. All that goes double the distance when it's one of the best looking video games I've ever played, every cent of its ludicrous budget is right there on the screen at any given moment. Imagine spooky haunted house horror mixed with early 2010s Call of Duty ripoff mixed with hilariously over-the-top action setpieces that would make Michael Bay quiver in his boots - then you get this beautiful specimen. I get why we all scoffed at this on release but it oddly seems like the antithesis of most of its criticisms in the current day. Great shit, needs to be seen to be believed. I guess everyone just forgot about quicktiming away from a colossal robot statue and doing Hollywood judo kicks to waves of enemies in glorified combat arenas in Resident Evil 4 because this really isn't much dumber than that.

Set the standard but can't keep the pace - an immense letdown of a revisit after being a series die-hard in my youth brought upon by dull + awkward charts, too many mid filler songs, and wonky hit detection. Also - and I'm sorry to say this - but it's damn ugly. I get it, it's supposed to look like a concert recording and all but holy hell does that lead to it looking super bland and samey - there is no sense of scale in any of these venues because of it either. Hammer-ons are so much harder to read here, but even if they weren't this doesn't feel nearly as fun and/or lively as - say - the godly Guitar Hero World Tour, which came out just a year later and was that series' first foray into full-band gameplay also. Saved from getting a 2.5 strictly for its vast DLC support (which, unlike GH you can still get to this day), but there are still some sick songs in the base setlist if you know where to look (Flirtin' with Disaster is essentially the perfect song for one of these games, I Think I'm Paranoid is one of my favorite songs ever, plus come on... SAY IT AIN'T SOOOooOOoOOO!!).

Might be controversial, but I prefer this ever so slightly to Guitar Hero III - mainly because it just feels more dynamic. More dynamic in its setlist (without those rough covers which GHIII still had [like Paranoid + Holiday in Cambodia.. ooof]), its wide docket of pretty venues, campaign, and of course full band gameplay. Charts are still weaker than GH overall (very possibly due to Harmonix's attitude that rhythm games should be played with 'music >> gameplay' in mind) but they're still mostly fun - and holy hell is it ever a VAST improvement over almost everything wrong with the first Rock Band - I'm very impressed with how much this still holds up! Still a few dropped notes here and there (especially with long lines of strum salads) and I'm not sure if I'm a fan of how much repetition you can expect in the campaign setlists, but there is just hours upon hours of good content here (with DLC support!) even just as a solo guitarist. Still can't touch Guitar Hero World Tour at all though imo.

Games I Dislike That Everybody Else Likes

Competent, not much else. Impressive for 1996 (especially the vast amount of racers they managed to cram onscreen without sacrificing a ton of performance, even surpassing a lot of the Mario Karts) but those deep-fried, chunky graphics haven't particularly aged that well (they honestly look sickly). The turbo system also kind of sucks but the magnetic grapple is pretty innovative and satisfying to use while snapping around corners. At first it's pretty neat to race on so many different terrains like this in one race, and there are a few really solid tracks but due to its horrid physics the difficulty is stupidly unforgiving to the point of being a chore. Just play Wipeout tbh.

A little sour about the campaign being so bare-bones, but it's clear the multiplayer was the main focus here anyway - and it's good! There are tons of fun modes that anyone can pick up and play right away (even if people these days are only playing one or two). Everything here works as intended and not surprisingly it's a graphical powerhouse with almost fully destructible environments to wreak havoc in - but this sort of game just isn't really my cup of tea to be honest. Most online multiplayer games like this I enjoy for maybe an hour tops before it starts feeling repetitive. Not to mention that I generally tend to be allergic to WWI/WWII stuff. Not a bad game by any means but I can't see myself going back to this after nabbing the plat. Online-only trophies are still a cancer no matter how generous they are.