Kingdom Hearts on PS3! Considering they were "forced to buy a used copy" to reverse engineer the first game, it's impressive they were able to transfer it over so well, and with such amazing video output and flawless performance! The inclusion of the "between game story", with Re:Chain of Memories and the 358/2 Days cutscene movie are a nice inclusion for diehards, though casual fans are likely to skip or not appreciate them. This release is largely obsolete now with the PS4 version including 60fps and PC including higher framerates and modding support.

Sad to see the series' last hurrah (at least in the classic sense of Ridge Racer) be such a hollow retool of what already existed in 6, 7, and 3D. The music is great as always but there's no real campaign. You're asked to race with the only progression being that you get more car parts and higher speeds after some (???) races. Visuals are nice but not as impressive as Ridge Racer PSP for the time, and performance leaves a lot to be desired. If only the Vita was just a year or two later with nicer hardware...

This game is 5 stars but this port certainly isn't! The biggest selling point of this game is the gorgeous backgrounds. Some of them are much higher resolution than the Gamecube version. Some aren't. Many are in between at completely random and arbitrary changes in level of detail. The lighting engine seems to be quite a bit different, the difference is minor but I'd say mildly noticeable and just a little worse compared to the original release. The new models and textures are nice, though it's weird to have costumes where Chris and Jill have different face structures.

I do like the added difficulty levels, this game is ruthless for series newcomers. The new analog controls are a necessary evil for getting more people to try this game I understand, but I urge every new player to try using the d-pad and learning tank controls (it makes this game and others like it so much better) even if it feels tough at first.

Overhated? For sure, in the same way Sonic '06, Dark Souls 2, and many other notably unfinished games are. Though I would struggle to call it good either. Environments are some of the coziest in the series. I'd say the new characters are pretty fun, and the music is nice at times as well.

Combat is a chore, everyone knows this game is a blockfest but did you know this remaster has a shorter quickstep in some versions? Afaik this has never been officially fixed on PC for this game or Yakuza 4. That would have made my playthrough better. In fact, playing on any difficulty but Hard would have done that too...

Never before or after have I had such a memorable video game experience as the first playthrough of this game. I came in after playing a bit of Bloodborne and loving Dark Souls 3 so much I beat it thrice. And in my first impressions, I was frustrated here. I didn't like the clunkier rolling and lock on mechanics, the slower flow of combat, or the tighter spaces I was forced into fighting enemies in.

But as I progressed, I found more and more I was enraptured with Lordran. It felt so effortless how it all tied itself together, and it was just as effortless for me to find my way around it. After years of scouring maps in Metroid, here I was just mindlessly connecting completely opposite locations. And it all felt so vast, like there was so much revealed every time I passed a challenging part, or even gave up and wandered elsewhere.

This game has an atmosphere unlike any other. For all the games From has made about worlds in decay and disrepair, never before have I felt so immersed in the feelings of one. Everything is so far gone that at times it feels hopeless, yet other times the natural beauty of the world shines even stronger in the serenity of society itself nearly ceasing to function. When you first find your way into a man-made place, it can hit so many different emotions. Some are just as beautiful as the world untouched, while others can horrify in how such a place ever felt just to create.

The gameplay here is a completely different beast to From's later games in this style, so I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea. Combat is measured, generally slower but usually more thoughtful as well. You have to consider your build's strengths and weaknesses in relation to your surroundings many times in finding new places. And of builds, you can specialize in just about any playstyle and find success in this game, unlike games like Bloodborne and DS3 that either restrict or weaken many approaches in favor of faster combat.

I will never forget my first time getting cursed and spending hours making hell runs trying to return myself to normal. Or my amazement at learning I went through all of Blighttown without ever seeing half of the areas I could explore at that time. There were multiple times I felt I had a good grasp on the type of locations I'd be seeing just for the rug to be pulled by the game showing me some new area I never would have imagined I would see. And I have never felt accomplishment quite like beating Smough and Ornstein for the first time.

This game is legendary for the legends you live playing it. They're experiences you can share with friends who have played and will be shocked by the many turns your journey took, and you can then show this game to others who will in turn shock you in how they play and experience it. I have journeyed through this masterpiece over 10 times now and I suspect I won't stop coming back ever.

While earlier Ratchet and Clank games felt like trailblazing inventions, this game is the first of many in the series to feel like a slight iteration on what came before. It comes short in presentation apparently due to troubles with getting online multiplayer done within the same release schedule as the previous game. I definitely feel for the devs and think they still released something good, but I don't think I'll be coming back to this game like the first two.

The core gameplay is solid as always, mostly comperable to R&C2. Weapons feel good to use and have some interesting effects, but definitely don't feel particularly inventive. The biggest change from 2 is a shift from a large arsenal of weapons with one upgrade each to a slim roster with five levels per weapon. Effectively you get more time with each weapon, though by the end of the game you'll have cycled in some new weapons to replace early game ones, much like R&C1. Though many of the late game weapons are recycled weapons from 2, which feel a lot more unique in comparison to such inventive weapons as a plain sniper rifle again, "light cannon" shotgun again, throw bombs for the third game in a row, et cetera.

Where this game really falls flat is level design. Nearly the entire game is structured around shooting gallery levels like Notak (Canal City), Joba (Megacorp Games), and Todano (Megacorp Armory). None ever feel as bold or memorable as Boldan or scenic like R&C1 planets. In fact Kerwan (Metropolis) and Aridia (Outpost X11) from that game return in short and ugly form. Variety in general is low with the least amount of Clank stages, unique level gimmicks, and a lack of space flight stages. Though this game does have the most robust coliseum mode thus far, which is fun.

Music takes a pretty big hit as well, with the series for the first time feeling cliche. Same goes for the story, no longer as dry or funny as the series is known for. Some jokes land but not the same as it used to be, and the general plot is much less engaging. I sill give credit in that this game has the best bosses in the series so far, especially with a final boss on par with the first game's to make up for the limp one in R&C2.

For their first DLC of this kind, FromSoft really hit the ground running. From the moment you are pulled in to whichever boss you beat last, it's an enrapturing ride with the most consistently good gameplay throughout Dark Souls. The spectacle, storytelling, and just general detail of everything is some of the most complete and thorough to come out of the studio. And you can really tell this was a special project to them just as Dark Souls itself was, that everything they set aside during the game's development for this got all the attention it needed to fully shine.

Despite all that, I think this DLC pushes somewhat past the capabilities of Dark Souls 1 as a gameplay system. All bosses are fast and active enough that the flaws in input handling as well as limitations of the lock on and roll mechanics provide more deaths and wasted time than usual for this game. "git gud" me all you want but 15-ish playthroughs in and I still stop short after Artorias sometimes to not have to grind so long on bosses I don't like as much as him.

And frankly the reason it's 4.5 instead of 5 stars is this game codified the "Dark Souls formula" that I feel was run into the ground. Sure it's solid, but it's not as interesting as Demon's or Dark, and I think that's generally true of later Souls games as well.

This was a tough one to write for me. Somehow I've played almost every single numbered game in this series and I feel like I'm missing something here. Is it because I didn't watch the movies this game is trying so hard to emulate? Most likely. But I'll try to understand this game on its own terms as best I can. It's the logical endpoint of the sales of REs 4 and 5 in the US. Obviously people wanted more co-op, more action, more explosions, more gore, more hollywood style... The cutscenes are great schlock for the most part, don't get me wrong.

This game has really deep combat as far as I understand. I never got into it because to me the perks all felt superfluous and I never knew when I was or wasn't supposed to hang around and shoot things. That was always clear in 4/5, you'd always know when you were in danger and should kill enemies, and only rarely and when you understood would you be tasked with avoiding and running. There's great weight to some of the animations, but the base movement is far too fast and fluid for your character to feel like they actually inhabit the space their model occupies on screen.

In fact, I'd say most of the game feels flat and paper thin in the visuals department. This was at a point engines like this started to look horribly dated compared to games like Far Cry 3, Batman: Arkham City, Skyrim, Dark Souls, and many others in the console space. There's a pretty egregious overuse of almost-black shadows in this game, making the whole game poorly lit like a Christopher Nolan action movie. I guess if you've got your monitor/TV and game configured right you shouldn't have too much trouble with visibility... but then how does this dumb "art style choice" fit this gameplay style at all?

Perhaps I am too deep and I'm asking too many questions. I went in expecting dumb fun with a friend. That was the same thing I expected going into RE5. However, that game blew me away in having area design and combat variety. Maybe this got me thinking RE6 would continue the tradition? It certainly doesn't for me.