The alt-history narrative from Japan's perspective is the only real thing driving the 7/10 on the story.

Overall: 7.5/10 (8)

Gameplay: 9/10
Story/Narrative: 7/10
Graphics/Visuals: 7/10
Audio/Soundtrack: 7/10

Superb world building, gameplay mechanics, and production value. However, I find the story is uninteresting and gameplay bland. It's a pretty usual revenge, outlaw, love narrative with a combination of riding horses/carriages for hours, then shooting some enemies. I can see the appeal, but it's not for me. I'm not much a fan of wild/old west period-piece games, but I figured I'd give this a shot, given it's currently the 7th all-time best-selling game.

But, again, the world building and set-piece design are about as good as they come. I also thought the illustration of the "taming of the west" was well done - showing the spread of factories and industrialization, the contrast of the barren west to budding industry.

Overall: 7.5/10 (8)

Gameplay: 7/10
Story/Narrative: 6/10
Graphics/Visuals: 10/10
Audio/Soundtrack: 7/10

Overall: 7.5/10 (8)

Gameplay: 8/10
Story/Narrative: 7/10
Graphics/Visuals: 9/10
Audio/Soundtrack: 6/10

Overall: 7.3/10 (7)

Gameplay: 8/10
Story/Narrative: 6/10
Graphics/Visuals: 9/10
Audio/Soundtrack: 6/10

As someone starting with OW2, I think it's a good game, and I've had more fun with it than not.

I think all the heroes have awesome characterization, animations, backstory, and more. Gameplay is fluid and punchy with a good Rock-Paper-Scissors set up to the character dynamic.

I've seen most of the complaints be about the monetization, and yeh the cost of a Legendary skin, for example, is on the higher end at ~$16, but it's not unprecedented versus other FTP games.

So much was/is so good about this game. My largest gripe now/then was the how stiff the movement felt. Not being able to go prone was also a big surprise to me. Other than that, this is about as peak as you can get for a single/multiplayer FPS.

The feeling of the tanks also cannot be matched by any other game. The tanks in BF3 felt extremely stiff and unsatisfying to fire - felt like an immediate downgrade.

Overall: 7/10

Gameplay: 7/10
Story/Narrative: 6/10
Graphics/Visuals: 7/10
Audio/Soundtrack: 8/10

Overall: 7.5/10 (8)

Gameplay: 7/10
Story/Narrative: 8/10
Graphics/Visuals: 8/10
Audio/Soundtrack: 7/10

I consider it the peak of the trilogy. Lots of backstory explanation and action in this one.

Overall: 7/10 game, 8/10 visual novel.

Gameplay: 5/10
Story/Narrative: 7/10
Graphics/Visuals: 8/10
Audio/Soundtrack: 8/10

Overall: 7.8/10 (8) game, 9/10 visual novel.

Gameplay: 5/10
Story/Narrative: 7/10
Graphics/Visuals: 10/10
Audio/Soundtrack: 9/10

Fairly similar to GFL, but if it was all 3D isometric. Great animations, superb OST and PVs. My largest painpoint with it is that its outfits/alt skins are individual characters w/ individual levels (like Princess Connect) - i.e. Shiroko, Shiroko (Cycling), Shiroko (Swimming). You having to individually level them up. I dislike that way of getting skins. I far prefer having a single character you can swap outfits on, like in GFL and Genshin.

Obviously, there is more to a game than just its outfit system, but this is particularly important for me.

Overall: 7/10

Gameplay: 6/10
Story/Narrative: 6/10
Graphics/Visuals: 7/10
Audio/Soundtrack: 9/10

It's just an FPS at heart, but the secondary abilities of all of the weapons really made for a unique and enjoyable experience - Laptop Gun for days. The graphics are obviously rough compared to present day, but they hold up modestly well. Story was a pretty good sci-fi narrative. The soundtrack, voice acting, and SFX were just too good, even compared to today. Replayability was surprisingly good, with easter eggs and split screen multiplayer. One of the very few games where I've run through the campaign/story more than once.