Don’t like it quite as much as the original but still a fantastic remake. Gameplay manages to feel just like classic RE despite all the changes, which is pretty impressive. This is mostly due to resource and enemy balancing which is spot on. Was a bit worried about the removal of ink ribbons on standard difficulty but this didn’t seem to make much of a difference in terms of tension or strategic gameplay.

Storytelling gets an upgrade in a lot of ways which makes this feel less like a schlocky b movie and more like a James Cameron film. I still enjoyed the story and appreciated the game going for a different tone but I imagine this might be a turn off to some.

Overall enjoyed it a lot and think it’s really cool capcom was able to largely replicate the gameplay experience of the original despite changing so much.

An ambiguous story that flips a lot of the hero-dependent narratives of the period on their head. I get the whole Yoko Taro story structure thing has been done to death now that we live in a post-Nier world, but it's pretty fresh here. I dig this.

Playing this game will kind of make you want to die, but honestly it's pretty disorienting in the most captivating way possible.

I see a lot of people form the conclusion that this game is "bad on purpose" but I sort of resent the implication of that. I feel like this game was good on purpose. Often games are reduced to being either "fun" or "not fun" and that's so boring. Let a game make you feel like shit once or twice, you'll be better for it (and cooler, more badass etc. etc.)

Pep's Detective Deep Dive - Game 8
Going from "the two good non-Team Silent Silent Hill games" to this is a hell of jump for Sam Barlow. A far cry from the psychological horrors of his previous work, Her Story is a quiet, FMV murder-mystery that definitely goes into the "not for everyone" pile.

The gameplay is relatively simple: you're presented with an archaic police database system, full of clips from a series of detective interviews with a woman whose missing husband has turned up murdered. Your job is to use the search system to find clips, watch them, and find out what happened. That's it.

It's not immediately obvious at first, but you don't need to do anything other than watch the clips. You don't have to place them on a timeline in the correct order or anything like that. Hell, you don't even need to watch every clip to "finish" the game. At a certain point, the game will decide that you've seen enough to know what happened and gives you the option to roll the credits, should you so choose. But you absolutely should try to watch as much as you can. Why? Because of Her.

Viva Seifert's performance as the titular Her is nothing short of mesmerising. She's natural, she's likeable, and the gamut of emotions she runs through in a relatively short series of videos is astounding. Once you reach a certain point in the story, you begin to really notice all these subtleties in her acting, and it really brings the game to another level. That Game Award she won was well-deserved.

The narrative twists and turns as well as any good crime thriller. The non-linear nature of finding the clips means that you only get the story in bite-size chunks, and your interpretation is always changing based on what new info you've just seen. It's like Sam Barlow dumps all the puzzle pieces in front of you and says "figure it out".

The joy is in paying attention, making notes of any potential keywords and finding that next important clip to give you another chunk of the story. Finding the one clip that recontextualises the entire story was an incredibly satisfying moment for me. And even then, when you've seen every clip there is to see, there's just enough ambiguity left in certain story threads to keep you wondering long after the credits have rolled.

It's absolutely not for everyone - hell, a few years back this wouldn't have been for me either - but if you've got a few hours then grab some friends, a notebook and pen and get sleuthing.

Citra decided to stop working mid-game, and I honestly can't be bothered to play the whole thing from zero right now. First impressions from what I played so far are not great, though. AM2R is light-years ahead in terms of charm, specially because of the added variety to the different levels that here are just an ugly mess. Easily the worst looking Metroid. Apart from that, I wasn't enjoying the gameplay, but I guess I didn't play enough to be sure. I'll play it again sometime in the future, but that is what I gathered right now.

(Obligatory fuck Nintendo for stopping development of AM2R for this ugly ass game.)

The fact this isn't a mainstay in every arcade in America is proof that this country is full of fucking shit.

Borderline perfect. The amount of style on display with this game feels a little underappreciated. The iconic voice bellowing "THE HOUSE...OF THE DEAD" over Dracula's Castle organ music. The incredibly varied and inspired monster designs, all moving and animating just beautifully, dismembering in ways that surely had to have blown your fucking mind in 1996. The way every sound-effect is perfected, from the gunshot to headshot to "RE-RE-RELOAD!" I have to blame preservation as to why this game is not a stone-cold classic like House Of The Dead 2 rightfully is.

Playing this thing is such a fucking hassle that I can understand why you might not even bother. The Saturn version is a very watered-down version, having to push a LOT of polygons on the ill-equipped Saturn. The PC version is a headache to get running in any year after 2007. The remake is...oooouuugh the fucking remake.

Your best option to play this beautiful little game is to get it running on MAME, which is tricky since MAME is a total pain in the fucking ass to get working and nobody is going to care enough to do it.

So, let's say you get ALL OF THAT up and running, and you are finally able to play The House...of the Dead.

It's a 30 minute long rail shooter.

This is why it needs to be back in physical arcades!! The experience is neutered by the headache required to play it along with the fact it is such a short game by design. If I ever got rich, I guarantee you my first wasteful rich guy purchase is a cabinet of House Of The Dead and inviting everyone over to play it.

It's just a tragedy that the hideous remake is now people's image of the game, with just some of the most ghastly visuals I've ever seen. The original has such a great color palette, it looks a very distinct way, very sharp and direct. It's impossible to replicate with modern day slop graphics.

I also think we need to appreciate the Magician more. That might be one of the best monster designs I've ever seen. He looks noble and elegant yet beastly. He stands dignified and it is absolutely believable he would be some mad genius's crowning jewel.

I think this game is stellar. The music is more brilliance from Sega's music department and creates the perfect symphony for one of the best light-gun games ever made. It's just a shame you can't play it in its original form in any way that is convenient.

Put the goggles on, we are going to enter the time when Acitvision dropped perfect shooters one after another.

(Campaign Only)
-Gameplay is obviously the selling point. Playing it right now doesn't seem like a big deal; but it was. Compared the previous game of the series (windows), CoD4 has much smoother gameplay; but it doesn't have the great variety of weapons. There is no tank mission, but there is a mission where you have to shoot down the enemies in a C-130 aircraft.

-The level design is great but not perfect. Some parts like the bunkers are weird because you can go through both paths and get to the same place; but there are enemies in both of them and they will come after you if you the other way. Not a big deal when you play on easy mod; but otherwise you are going to die A LOT. The variety of environments is also good, but again not perfect. There are some missions in the middle east, some Azerbaijan, and some Russia. So overall your eyes aren't going to get tired from seeing the same place again and again.

-The Graphics are alright for 2007, but it wasn't ground breaking. Nevertheless, Captain Price smoking a cigar in the helicopter is, and forever will be one the coolest, most badass scenes in the history of video games.

-Unlike CoD2, this game actually has a story. Its not Shakespeare, but it's very engaging and keeps you interested in pushing forward. I want to say it's bit short, but maybe I played it very fast.

It might seem like I am criticizing this game a little too much; but when something is so good, seeing the bad parts won't be such hard job. I personally didn't enjoy this game as much as I enjoyed CoD2, but that doesn't lessen the respect I have for it.

15

(Non-spoiler review, but the third paragraph contains minor spoilers for the second half of the game)

I probably shouldn’t have made Silent Hill: The Short Message my first foray into the Silent Hill franchise, and although it shares no connection to the other entries, I wish I would’ve played those first to be able to give more insight into how well it stands against them, but the damage is done… so whatever! I’m not going to go too deep into this one, as it’s a free—two hour horror game akin to some random steam indie, and I don’t want to spend too much time thinking about this—honestly? Complete and utter fucking waste of potential.

The idea of a self-contained, standalone, high-budget horror game aiming to convey a brutally honest and sincere story of anguish with mental health undertones is brilliant, but the execution is shockingly piss poor here. At times—most times… it feels as if this was written by a film student without a single creative bone in their body. It’s generic, with blatantly underdeveloped themes due to its tight—not even two hour—runtime, and its worst aspect is how on the nose the writing is; throwing constant talking points at you with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Some people are excusing and chalking this up to how short the game is, and that’d make sense—clearly that’s part of the issue, but it’s still an issue. It doesn’t matter if there’s a reason for a particular shortcoming… a shortcoming is still a shortcoming. And for me personally, if a game is talking at you rather than guiding you through the experience… it becomes exhausting to play. “Bullying is bad”, “Suicide is not the answer”, “Talk to people you’re close to about your problems”, is it me or did I just get transported back to 2017 when Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why released? Like fuck me! Come up with something more interesting to say about such complicated issues. I know this isn’t the best comparison, but a game called Gris delved into similar topics and was substantially more subtle and in-turn meaningful about them—and not only that, it had gameplay that meshed well with its writing and aesthetic to a degree. But that’s on the completely opposite side of the spectrum as people said it felt too abstract; and I guess that’s a line these games have to toe sometimes… but I much prefer the latter.

And it pains me to say all of this, because there are some good ideas at play here. Specifically the whole child abuse angle, I think the game does well to showcase the dread of having to endure a parent’s—a monster’s spiraling mental stability; circumstances continuously worsen until you finally break and all of their mistakes ripple into the rest of your life… leaving you to pick up the pieces. Like a dark cloud hanging over you, chasing you through every step of the way known as life—every loud thud, getting closer and closer; wondering if you’ll ever escape them... It’s a haunting metaphor that the game doesn’t fully pursue, as I’m sure “the monster” is linked more so to Anita’s friend: Maya, as they both share the same sweater—rather than her mother. I suppose the metaphor works both ways. Maya and Anita’s mother are two sides of the same coin, both events drastically propelled Anita’s life into chaos and pure misery; so I think it makes sense if they’re both chasing her throughout the maze, acting as a personification for life itself. But that’s sadly where the positives end. The 15 points I gave has everything to do with that thread. Whereas everything to do with the: “I’m ugly”, “She gets more likes and followers than me” story is woefully inept at conveying anything engaging… at least for me. And I’m not saying real people don’t experience feelings like that—they obviously, very much do! It’s sometimes hard not to when so much of your life is based around seeing the highlight reels of other people’s lives in the form of social media, but a game isn’t real life—and I don’t think it has any business portraying something so mundane with nothing new to say. I genuinely think my personal experience with bullying is more creative, and it feels weird to power scale “bullying”, but fuck me if it isn’t true! You’ll have to take my word on that one though, I am not elaborating further… But that’s pretty much the entire reason why the story didn’t click with me; and so the ending with the clear, hopeful sunrise directly contrasted against the bleak and fog-filled start menu… didn’t feel earned to me. It’s a nice way of conveying an arc of sorts, but at the same time… was it impactful enough to make me care about it? Nope, I can’t say that it was. But that’s not even the worst part… the gameplay is.

I’m not well-versed with walking sims, I don’t think I’ve ever really played one for longer than a few hours. But as far as I can tell, there doesn’t seem to be much here? It’s very linear in the way that the player is literally tasked with going from one room/hallway to the next, to look at notes, which more often than not will trigger a chase section—you then complete it, and the cycle restarts. It’s nothing groundbreaking—in fact, it’s among the most generic gameplay loops I’ve ever seen; and along with all the issues I’ve gone over forms a really dull experience. Its most aggravating aspect are the aforementioned chase sections. These are little “puzzles” that you have to solve by finding the correct door in a maze while outrunning a monster. And there’s definitely something exhilarating about them; running—but seemingly never being able to escape it, hearing those powerful footsteps bang against the concrete floor every step of the way—right behind you, while you slowly open doors and what-not… but when it’s so heavily rooted in trial and error—which it is, it becomes a slog. The final chase is the most guilty of this, because you’re essentially running through countless rooms that all look the same trying to find five random photographs, and if by chance you die then you'll have to repeat the entire thing; and I can’t emphasize this enough… it’s BORING, it’s AWFUL, it’s HEADACHE INDUCING. I had exactly zero fun with it.

The funniest thing by far is that Silent Hill: The Short Message is basically a UE5 tech demo… with the one huge downside being that it runs like complete fucking ass! The FPS go from the high 50s to the 30s very often due to how many assets are on screen. I’m convinced there’s forced motion blur too? But I’ve seen nobody mention this so I can’t be sure, all I know is that turning the camera felt like shit—and I couldn’t see anything. Lip syncing is also terrible, although maybe that’s intentional? Either way, it doesn’t look good and makes focusing on the cutscenes difficult because I’m constantly distracted by its weird visuals. And if this is what the future of UE5 looks like for the Playstation 5… then I don’t want it. I’d rather get a technically competent UE4 game with consistent performance that doesn’t take me out of the experience. I don’t think UE5 is viable for this console generation, as the only way to achieve stable performance would be through very heavy-handed upscaling techniques that we’ve seen plenty of games use so far ahem Jedi: Survivor, ahem Final Fantasy XVI; and both of these are using older engines! So yeah... but maybe on the Playstation 6!

All in all? This game made me want to kill myself.

Playtime: 1.6 hours

Every Game I’ve Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Playstation Exclusives - Ranked
Silent Hill - Ranked
2024 - Ranked

jogo extremamente bonito
já começo falando sobre isso pq eu diria que é o ponto alto dele, as fases até que são bem criativas, os cenários não deixam a desejar e tem várias entradas opcionais pra quem quer tentar platinar pegando todos os itens, mas pra quem quer só andar reto e jogar na moral, o jogo funciona muito bem também

as cutscenes do jogo são partes da animação original, porém não perderam muita qualidade na compressão, diferente das cutscenes do famigerado stuart little 2 que viraram quase uma creepypasta de tão ruim

os cenários e história parecem bem fiéis ao produto original da disney e é até chocante que eu já joguei 3 jogos bons os quais foram todos feitos a partir de obras da gigante das animações... hoje em dia eu sinto que isso nunca mais aconteceria

o único defeito que consigo pensar nesse jogo, é que quando você morre, você volta pro menu inicial, algo que acontece em vários jogos de ps1, mas por alguma razão nesse aqui se torna meio incomodativo... talvez por eu não levar ele muito a sério eu espero o mínimo de coisas facilitadas dele... não sei

ah... a parte de deslizar nos galhos... eu não faço ideia como faz pra saber quando vai vir um galho ou não, visto que do nada eles só surgem e te dão meio milésimo pra reagir e se esquivar... nem ideia como deveria ser

é isso, jogo maneiro, jogo supimpa e que provou mais uma vez que os jogos considerados bons do ps1 na minha infância seguem sendo bons atualmente

pena que é curtíssimo, mas dá pra ganhar uma hora extra nele platinando eu acho

I liked the art design but didn't like much else in this game.

The art design of Columbia is great! Completely different from Bioshock 1 & 2 but it's very unique and holds up over a decade later. That's probably the only aspect of this game I really liked without complaints.

The gameplay is nothing like the previous Bioshock games, it can be described as an arena shooter in the same vein as Doom Eternal in terms of its combat, where It emphasizes movement and long distance combat in an enclosed space. I think it can be good on paper, but the elements that make up the combat drag down the whole system.

Combat feels like it doesn't take advantage of the new vigor system enough due to arenas being HUGE now. Medium and long range combat is much safer and reliable than getting up close with vigors and close range weapons like the shotgun or crank gun. Even when indoors it feels like you really don't have any defensive options besides cover until you get Return to Sender, which you only get in the 2nd half of the game. Build variety could've been really cool to encourage but since you're limited to only two weapons it's a huge risk to take something like the shotgun over the carbine.

While Bioshock 1 and Infinite have completely different designs, in 1 you had flexibility in what you specialize in; you could focus on shock + melee, or misdirect enemies with enrage or target dummy, etc, and there were enough weapon upgrade stations to drastically improve weapons you enjoy using. Infinite lets you upgrade weapons and vigors using a universal currency, which could've worked best in a game that prioritized resource management, which Infinite is definitely not. You end up with less opportunities for upgrades to both vigors and weapons unless you solely focus on one category. Gear in Infinite is a great example of the problems with simplifying the tonic system 1 had. It's harder to justify running a niche gear modifier when you only have 4 slots compared to the 18 you got in 1.

Skyhooks would seem like a good addition since they let you enhance your mobility and give you a new way to attack enemies, but how they function and their quirks really drag them down. Shooting while riding a skyline feels unviable since you just jerked around when you aren't at a full stop, though it was fun doing quick attacks using the volley gun or the RPG. Quick use of the skylines or freighthooks feels impossible since the camera will try to center(?) before you can freelook, which makes doing quick traversal or skyline strikes a pain.

The tear system is kinda cool but it feels like it doesn't add that much to the combat, since the most you can hope for is some cover or a new weapon when ammo runs low. Spawning companions is interesting since they have a more meaningful change to combat, taking some of the pressure off temporarily. Overall it doesn't do much to make combat more dynamic.

When you do use vigors it feels like their uses overlap, since crows, shock, and bucking bronco are all just different ways of damaging and stunning enemies. Patriots and handymen show how limiting the vigor system is since the only two vigors worth using on them is possession or shock jockey.

The enemies you have to fight with this combat system don't do it many favors as well. Enemy variety is pretty lacking, with only really 3 types of basic enemies you'll be fighting for most the game, and 2 of those you'll only see very rarely. Patriots are a pushover since you can just spam shock jockey and get behind them, handymen are similar since if you don't shock stun them you'll have to deal with the screenshake they induce that makes it impossible to aim (Why is there no option to disable combat screenshake?).

Generally I just didn't like the combat, it's elements either didn't mesh well together or made combat feel bad.

Story is just alright, it's a multiverse story before they became popular so it's not impossible to understand but they don't do the best job at explaining the rules of this world. Nothing remarkable really.

I wouldn't recommend this game unless you REALLY liked Bioshock 1 & 2 and are OK with it being a completely different take on the Bioshock design, flaws and all.

The next game in this Mario Kart marathon, Mario Kart DS, is actually the first one I had played beforehand and isn't brand new to me. I don't think I ever owned it back in the day, and apparently I still don't seeing as I had to emulate this one, but I remember playing it all the time with friends on the bus. Though, since I never owned it, I always had to use Shy Guy and also never really played the mission mode. That changes now as I got gold on every 150cc cup and did every mission, including the secret one you unlock.

I'm gonna start with my gripes I have. First, I think in terms of how the characters look, this is the weakest in the series. Some of them just look so off and blocky. Mario Kart 64 didn't have this issue obviously because they weren't actual models but this one really does. Some are better than others but, I guess I can cut it a little slack since it's the first portable title in 3D, a chunk of them just look kinda ugly. While the new courses have some really solid picks, some of them are just really forgettable. There are some absolute bangers like Waluigi Pinball, Tik Tok Clock and Airship Fortress. But then there's courses I find to be super bland like Figure 8 Circuit, Yoshi Falls or Desert Hills. Overall, I'd say it's a decent new track line-up but it's hit or miss. The retro track selection though, I found really weak. Half of the courses are from Super Mario Kart and Super Circuit so I just found them boring and then some of the picks from 64 and Double Dash are meh. The last cup does have Banshee Boardwalk and Yoshi Circuit so it was probably my favorite cup, but then it also has an awful course in Choco Island 2 so it's a bit conflicting. Overall, not a great selection of courses between both new and old but again there are some bangers here and there.

In terms of how the game controls, it controls leagues better than the last portable title Super Circuit. Instead of feeling super slippery, it feels way more similar to the newer titles. Only thing is, it has the old speed boost where its dependent on you going left and right on the d-pad rather than holding your drift for as long as possible. If you're used to Wii and beyond, it takes a little getting used to, but once you got it down it's pretty fun.

That's all fine and dandy, racing is fun but not that great in this game. What I remember the most was the battle mode and while I barely played it this time around, I remember absolutely loving it. Considering what Wii and 7 does with their battle modes, this is one of the better ones in the series. The maps are mostly all great and both balloon battle and shine runners were a ton of fun. Again, I'm mostly going off memory but this truly was the most fun aspect of this game at least when I played it as a young lad.

As I said before, I never played missions as a kid, but I can tell you I would've enjoyed them a lot back then. This along with the battle mode really saves DS from it's faults I listed before. None of the other games have something like this so you have a reason to come back to this one for sure. With so many missions, there's bound to be some that aren't the best but most of them were really cool. The fact there were bosses at the end of each level, and almost all of them are really fun, is just icing on the cake when it comes to mission mode. They should really bring this back for Mario Kart 9, would love to see what stuff they could come up with nowadays.

Of the 4 Mario Kart games I've played thus far, this is my favorite. While I didn't think the actual racing aspect was the best due to the course quality, the battle mode and missions make up for it and are THE reason to come back to this one. Been a long while since I played DS, had a ton of nostalgia when playing the battle mode specifically, so I'm very glad I was able to play this one again. Next in the series is the fan favorite Wii, I always liked DS more than Wii but that may change cuz I forgot how good that game's tracks were. Either way, look out for a Mario Kart Wii review coming soon!