Flameyboy928
2008
This review contains spoilers
This review will contain main story spoilers
Finally after like 4 attempts I managed to fully complete GTA 4... kind of. I will properly go into it later but technically I didn't complete the final mission but I am marking it as completed as I played the entire game and was already well aware of the ending and ill be damned if after all the time it took me to complete this game to not have it marked complete.
Grand Theft Auto 4 is as much of a classic as you can get. Alongside a few other notable titles this game really encapsulates the Xbox 360/PS3 era. Like a lot of games I have played this year, this was the first time I played through this game in its entirety. I messed around with it on the 360 when I was younger and made a few attempts to get through it on PC but only got around a quarter into the main story. Comparing it to the other narratives in the GTA series, 4 leads the pack with its iconic dark and gritty mafia story, along side a bunch of great characters.
The story itself is very enjoyable. It revolves around Niko Bellic, a former soldier turned gun for hire as he tries to track down the traitor who turned on his friends and left him to die. Arriving fresh off the boat in Liberty City, Niko ends up working with all sorts of the cities criminals in order to make money in pursuit of the American dream. The main story is I believe 88 missions long which I do feel is a bit too long. There were lots of times when I felt that the game could of and should of been starting to wrap up, only for there to be another 20 missions with a whole new cast of side characters. The game can be sort of broken down by looking at the characters Niko is interacting with, Act 1 sees him working alongside the Russian Mob where he is betrayed by Dimitri Rascalov who serves as the games main antagonist. The second act sees Niko working with the McCreary family who are part of the Irish Mob. Finally the 3rd act has Niko working for the Pegarino crime family, who are part of the Italian mafia. This is quite a broad assessment and there are lots of other people who Niko also interacts with like a corrupt cop, a federal agent and many street gangs.
The characters, especially the protagonist are this games best area. Niko Bellic is by a long shot the best GTA protagonist and in my opinion the 3rd best Rockstar protagonist behind Arthur Morgan and John Marston. Niko has real motivations and genuinely seems to want to better his life in order to move on from his past. While being a cold blooded gun for hire, there are many moments when you can see Niko reflect on his past actions with clear regret. Which is a lot more than you see from any other GTA protagonist. The side characters are also a great bunch. Roman, Niko's gambling addict cousin who sold him on the American dream. Packie McCreary the 2nd youngest of the McCreary brother eager to restore his family name and my personal favourite Little Jacob who is just the best.
Most missions follow a similar format, either shoot up a large gauntlet of enemies, chase someone in a car and kill them, tail someone in a car and follow them to a gauntlet of enemies. We all know the rockstar gameplay format. While these missions are all quite fun and a lot of cool action movie set pieces are put into these somewhat repetitive missions in order to keep it fresh, as the game progresses you start to see a lot of the same. This game is often praised for its physics which were ground breaking at the time. To this day I am still very impressed with the water physics. Mantling on ledges sounds way cooler than it actually is, its only used properly in like 2 missions and normally is just quite janky. Im not a fan of the shooting mechanics, with the lock on feature either locking onto an enemy across the room instead of the guy shooting you in the face right in front of you, or aiming at a guy behind a wall. I got the hang of it eventually but I much prefer the free aim style they used in GTA 5.
The friend system is something I believe is unique to this game and i'm quite happy it never properly made the jump to 5. Certain side characters you are able to do activities with will call you randomly and ask you to hang out. This is normally fine but it gets to a point in the late game where there are too many to keep track of. On multiple occasions I was heading to meet one person when another would call me up which ends up with you loosing relationships with certain characters which sucks.
Another thing unique to this game was the strange amount of choices you were given throughtout. Obviously GTA 5 had this with its ending but throughout GTA 4 you are given choices between characters to kill. Normally there are benefits for doing either which make for an interesting spin on gameplay. What I like the most about this is that normally there wont be much of an impact outside of different dialogue so its more of a moral decision of who you would rather save (If you ignore the rewards). It's something I hope returns in GTA 6. Speaking of dialogue, I was very surprised by the sheer amount of it, during retries of missions there are sometimes 2 to 3 cycles of dialogue that can happen on the journey to an objective. It helps keep things less stale especially when having to repeat a drive.
Graphics wise this game has aged extremely well. Liberty City looks great, very dingy and run down in certain places and full of life in others. I did sometimes have a bit of trouble with the lighting as the city can get very dark and grey. The music is iconic. That main theme is one of Rockstar's best, even down to the little motives that play after completing missions.
Unfortunately I have one major complaint, the lack of checkpoints. Now this may fall under a "Get Gud" opinion but this is something that really bothered me throughout my playthrough. Now most missions are only around 5 minutes in length and that's ok to repeat but can get annoying with repeated attempts but dear God some of these missions are so long. One in particular that stood out to me was involving stealing drugs from the Triads. to start you have to drive to pick up a truck, then drive this slow ass truck half way across the map, then kill a massive gauntlet of enemies and finally escape on a boat, all without a checkpoint. This is made even more annoying by the fact that your health doesn't regenerate at all, and the medkits are so far between and more or less impossible to find that you end up running through a gauntlet with a slither of health praying you dont die. This is also made more irritating by the fact your ammo isnt reset when you die, so you end up going in with barely any ammo in your good weapons. The amount of times I got within one enemy of completing a mission only to get blasted away and have to do the entire thing again almost made me give up on a few missions lol. Something I am soooo glad they changed in GTA 5.
Now as you may have noticed at the start of this review I said that technically I haven't completed the game. That is because Grand Theft Auto 4 is more or less impossible to complete on Xbox Series X. The final mission has a segment where you need to jump from a bike onto a helicopter in order to kill the final guy. After jumping you have to spam the A button to climb up but due to the Series X running at 60 fps, this is impossible to do. I say borderline impossible as it has been done using certain methods but personally due to my previously mentioned complaint about the games checkpoints, I am not going to constantly replay the entire shooting segment before hand multiple times in order to master the technique. I'm slightly conflicted whether or not to let this effect the score I will give it as it seems more like a software problem than the game problem. As of now my score is 4/5 stars (Or an 8/10) but if anyone has any input on whether or not this issue should affect the score, feel free to leave a comment!
All in all I think GTA 4 is starting to become a bit dated. Not taking anything away from its fantastic story, great characters and genuinely fun missions, but some of its gameplay choices seem like they may make it a bit more inaccessible as the years go on. I'm thinking about grabbing The ballad of Gay Tony and The lost and the damned when they are next on sale to try them out at some point. Still a solid recommendation but look out for that game breaking bug
Finally after like 4 attempts I managed to fully complete GTA 4... kind of. I will properly go into it later but technically I didn't complete the final mission but I am marking it as completed as I played the entire game and was already well aware of the ending and ill be damned if after all the time it took me to complete this game to not have it marked complete.
Grand Theft Auto 4 is as much of a classic as you can get. Alongside a few other notable titles this game really encapsulates the Xbox 360/PS3 era. Like a lot of games I have played this year, this was the first time I played through this game in its entirety. I messed around with it on the 360 when I was younger and made a few attempts to get through it on PC but only got around a quarter into the main story. Comparing it to the other narratives in the GTA series, 4 leads the pack with its iconic dark and gritty mafia story, along side a bunch of great characters.
The story itself is very enjoyable. It revolves around Niko Bellic, a former soldier turned gun for hire as he tries to track down the traitor who turned on his friends and left him to die. Arriving fresh off the boat in Liberty City, Niko ends up working with all sorts of the cities criminals in order to make money in pursuit of the American dream. The main story is I believe 88 missions long which I do feel is a bit too long. There were lots of times when I felt that the game could of and should of been starting to wrap up, only for there to be another 20 missions with a whole new cast of side characters. The game can be sort of broken down by looking at the characters Niko is interacting with, Act 1 sees him working alongside the Russian Mob where he is betrayed by Dimitri Rascalov who serves as the games main antagonist. The second act sees Niko working with the McCreary family who are part of the Irish Mob. Finally the 3rd act has Niko working for the Pegarino crime family, who are part of the Italian mafia. This is quite a broad assessment and there are lots of other people who Niko also interacts with like a corrupt cop, a federal agent and many street gangs.
The characters, especially the protagonist are this games best area. Niko Bellic is by a long shot the best GTA protagonist and in my opinion the 3rd best Rockstar protagonist behind Arthur Morgan and John Marston. Niko has real motivations and genuinely seems to want to better his life in order to move on from his past. While being a cold blooded gun for hire, there are many moments when you can see Niko reflect on his past actions with clear regret. Which is a lot more than you see from any other GTA protagonist. The side characters are also a great bunch. Roman, Niko's gambling addict cousin who sold him on the American dream. Packie McCreary the 2nd youngest of the McCreary brother eager to restore his family name and my personal favourite Little Jacob who is just the best.
Most missions follow a similar format, either shoot up a large gauntlet of enemies, chase someone in a car and kill them, tail someone in a car and follow them to a gauntlet of enemies. We all know the rockstar gameplay format. While these missions are all quite fun and a lot of cool action movie set pieces are put into these somewhat repetitive missions in order to keep it fresh, as the game progresses you start to see a lot of the same. This game is often praised for its physics which were ground breaking at the time. To this day I am still very impressed with the water physics. Mantling on ledges sounds way cooler than it actually is, its only used properly in like 2 missions and normally is just quite janky. Im not a fan of the shooting mechanics, with the lock on feature either locking onto an enemy across the room instead of the guy shooting you in the face right in front of you, or aiming at a guy behind a wall. I got the hang of it eventually but I much prefer the free aim style they used in GTA 5.
The friend system is something I believe is unique to this game and i'm quite happy it never properly made the jump to 5. Certain side characters you are able to do activities with will call you randomly and ask you to hang out. This is normally fine but it gets to a point in the late game where there are too many to keep track of. On multiple occasions I was heading to meet one person when another would call me up which ends up with you loosing relationships with certain characters which sucks.
Another thing unique to this game was the strange amount of choices you were given throughtout. Obviously GTA 5 had this with its ending but throughout GTA 4 you are given choices between characters to kill. Normally there are benefits for doing either which make for an interesting spin on gameplay. What I like the most about this is that normally there wont be much of an impact outside of different dialogue so its more of a moral decision of who you would rather save (If you ignore the rewards). It's something I hope returns in GTA 6. Speaking of dialogue, I was very surprised by the sheer amount of it, during retries of missions there are sometimes 2 to 3 cycles of dialogue that can happen on the journey to an objective. It helps keep things less stale especially when having to repeat a drive.
Graphics wise this game has aged extremely well. Liberty City looks great, very dingy and run down in certain places and full of life in others. I did sometimes have a bit of trouble with the lighting as the city can get very dark and grey. The music is iconic. That main theme is one of Rockstar's best, even down to the little motives that play after completing missions.
Unfortunately I have one major complaint, the lack of checkpoints. Now this may fall under a "Get Gud" opinion but this is something that really bothered me throughout my playthrough. Now most missions are only around 5 minutes in length and that's ok to repeat but can get annoying with repeated attempts but dear God some of these missions are so long. One in particular that stood out to me was involving stealing drugs from the Triads. to start you have to drive to pick up a truck, then drive this slow ass truck half way across the map, then kill a massive gauntlet of enemies and finally escape on a boat, all without a checkpoint. This is made even more annoying by the fact that your health doesn't regenerate at all, and the medkits are so far between and more or less impossible to find that you end up running through a gauntlet with a slither of health praying you dont die. This is also made more irritating by the fact your ammo isnt reset when you die, so you end up going in with barely any ammo in your good weapons. The amount of times I got within one enemy of completing a mission only to get blasted away and have to do the entire thing again almost made me give up on a few missions lol. Something I am soooo glad they changed in GTA 5.
Now as you may have noticed at the start of this review I said that technically I haven't completed the game. That is because Grand Theft Auto 4 is more or less impossible to complete on Xbox Series X. The final mission has a segment where you need to jump from a bike onto a helicopter in order to kill the final guy. After jumping you have to spam the A button to climb up but due to the Series X running at 60 fps, this is impossible to do. I say borderline impossible as it has been done using certain methods but personally due to my previously mentioned complaint about the games checkpoints, I am not going to constantly replay the entire shooting segment before hand multiple times in order to master the technique. I'm slightly conflicted whether or not to let this effect the score I will give it as it seems more like a software problem than the game problem. As of now my score is 4/5 stars (Or an 8/10) but if anyone has any input on whether or not this issue should affect the score, feel free to leave a comment!
All in all I think GTA 4 is starting to become a bit dated. Not taking anything away from its fantastic story, great characters and genuinely fun missions, but some of its gameplay choices seem like they may make it a bit more inaccessible as the years go on. I'm thinking about grabbing The ballad of Gay Tony and The lost and the damned when they are next on sale to try them out at some point. Still a solid recommendation but look out for that game breaking bug
Heard a lot of fun things about this game and decided to give it a shot since it was free on game pass.
Very fun basic premise, creating battle like simulations with different groups of soldiers like Vikings, Romans and Greeks. A lot of fun to mess around with for a while but nothing to keep you playing for excessive amounts of time.
I like the addition of mods, it helps add to the amount of content available. Also its just awesome to set up massive clone wars battles with all the starwars mods.
Id recommend this if you are looking for a quick timewaster game to sink a bit of time into. Ill probably dip in and out of it if im bored but wont keep at it consistently. A lot of fun regardless.
Very fun basic premise, creating battle like simulations with different groups of soldiers like Vikings, Romans and Greeks. A lot of fun to mess around with for a while but nothing to keep you playing for excessive amounts of time.
I like the addition of mods, it helps add to the amount of content available. Also its just awesome to set up massive clone wars battles with all the starwars mods.
Id recommend this if you are looking for a quick timewaster game to sink a bit of time into. Ill probably dip in and out of it if im bored but wont keep at it consistently. A lot of fun regardless.
Ill prefix before I start that I completed a half finished save file from an old playthrough I started around a year ago. Similar to my Cuphead review im still reviewing it as technically I beat the game this year despite having played a decent chunk a while prior.
Majora's mask is one of my favourite games of all time and if it were not for Red Dead 2 I would have no problems calling it my favourite. I think that not only is it the best game Nintendo have ever made, I believe that they will not make another game that will be as amazing as this in their company lifetime.
The story goes the same way as Links Awakening, featuring none of the recuring things from other Zelda games. No Zelda, No Ganon, No Hyrule and No Triforce. Instead Link is travelling in search of Navi before being cursed by the mischievous skull kid and turned into a Deku scrub. Awaking in the land of Termina where the mysterious Happy Mask Salesman tasks Link with recovering Majora's Mask for him. Simple enough, until you step outside and gaze upwards. With three days on the clock and the moon rapidly falling towards Termina, Link has to race against time. With an already bleak story, pair that with a cast of side characters that each deal with their impending doom in a unique way. Some stay in denial, others run and hide while some just stay to face it. This is the only Zelda game where I will walk around and talk to every NPC every chance I get, just to see if what they say will be different depending on the day. The main meat of the game involves Link traveling to the 4 regions of termina and lifting the curse put over them. Each area features tragic characters like Darmani the Goron, Mikau the Zora and the King of Ikana who's small amount of screen time is so impactful to this games main theme. What I love most about this games general narrative is the air of mystery surrounding it, why are all the characters the same as Ocarina of Time? What exactly is Termina? Who is the Happy Mask Salesman? Things that keep people theorising and talking about this game well into the modern day. It has my favourite atmosphere out of any game I have played, slightly beating Arkham Asylum.
The gameplay changes up a lot of what I found slow about Ocarina. The fast travel is a lot better handled since most side content can be done any time so saving it till after all the fast travel points are unlocked is good move so you can jump around as you wish. The temples are a bit of a drop from Ocarina, I love Woodfall temple and Snowhead temple, I enjoyed Stone tower but Great bay temple isnt great.
A massive part of this game is the time management system. Having to move quickly in order to get to a certain area before you miss it adds urgency to your tasks. The ability to slow down time and skip forward helps a lot and is made more useful on the 3ds version I believe. Pair this with the masks which make for both really fun and useful gameplay objects and great side quests. Some masks may be borderline useless but the quest to get it makes it worth it. The transformation masks are great and getting to play as a Goron is a personal highlight.
Visually it looks the same as Ocarina, which looked amazing in the 3ds remake. No frame or texture issues at all. This game also features my favourite soundtrack of all time. It is heavenly. The music pairs with the atmosphere so well, simple things like the clock town theme speeding up as the days progress, the temple themes each pair with the surroundings extremely well and very few recycled tracks from Ocarina. Please put your music on Spotify Nintendo.
Im honestly surprised that this game turned out as amazing as it did. The history of this game is really interesting to look into. Majoras mask was made with a third of the development team that Ocarina of time had and was crafted in just one year. Which provides an explanation for the recycled character models and repeating day cycle. Due to this Majora's mask feels very compact which I love, nothing is too far out of reach and the map is very easy to traverse.
Now the 3ds remake. I have never played the original game, I once again debated it like I did with Ocarina but decided to go with the 3ds version as its what im more comfortable with. After researching, there seems to be two vaild criticisms, the boss fights having the massive eyes to indicate weak spots and the changes to the Zora controls. Everything else is completely down to nostalgic bias. The small QoL changes the remake made dont drastically change anything about the original. Even the valid criticisms should not attract as much hate as this remake has.
Normally I am fairly safe with my takes but one I will defend no matter what is that Majora's Mask is Nintendo's magnum opus and they never have nor will make a game as good as this ever again. I cannot recommend this enough.
Majora's mask is one of my favourite games of all time and if it were not for Red Dead 2 I would have no problems calling it my favourite. I think that not only is it the best game Nintendo have ever made, I believe that they will not make another game that will be as amazing as this in their company lifetime.
The story goes the same way as Links Awakening, featuring none of the recuring things from other Zelda games. No Zelda, No Ganon, No Hyrule and No Triforce. Instead Link is travelling in search of Navi before being cursed by the mischievous skull kid and turned into a Deku scrub. Awaking in the land of Termina where the mysterious Happy Mask Salesman tasks Link with recovering Majora's Mask for him. Simple enough, until you step outside and gaze upwards. With three days on the clock and the moon rapidly falling towards Termina, Link has to race against time. With an already bleak story, pair that with a cast of side characters that each deal with their impending doom in a unique way. Some stay in denial, others run and hide while some just stay to face it. This is the only Zelda game where I will walk around and talk to every NPC every chance I get, just to see if what they say will be different depending on the day. The main meat of the game involves Link traveling to the 4 regions of termina and lifting the curse put over them. Each area features tragic characters like Darmani the Goron, Mikau the Zora and the King of Ikana who's small amount of screen time is so impactful to this games main theme. What I love most about this games general narrative is the air of mystery surrounding it, why are all the characters the same as Ocarina of Time? What exactly is Termina? Who is the Happy Mask Salesman? Things that keep people theorising and talking about this game well into the modern day. It has my favourite atmosphere out of any game I have played, slightly beating Arkham Asylum.
The gameplay changes up a lot of what I found slow about Ocarina. The fast travel is a lot better handled since most side content can be done any time so saving it till after all the fast travel points are unlocked is good move so you can jump around as you wish. The temples are a bit of a drop from Ocarina, I love Woodfall temple and Snowhead temple, I enjoyed Stone tower but Great bay temple isnt great.
A massive part of this game is the time management system. Having to move quickly in order to get to a certain area before you miss it adds urgency to your tasks. The ability to slow down time and skip forward helps a lot and is made more useful on the 3ds version I believe. Pair this with the masks which make for both really fun and useful gameplay objects and great side quests. Some masks may be borderline useless but the quest to get it makes it worth it. The transformation masks are great and getting to play as a Goron is a personal highlight.
Visually it looks the same as Ocarina, which looked amazing in the 3ds remake. No frame or texture issues at all. This game also features my favourite soundtrack of all time. It is heavenly. The music pairs with the atmosphere so well, simple things like the clock town theme speeding up as the days progress, the temple themes each pair with the surroundings extremely well and very few recycled tracks from Ocarina. Please put your music on Spotify Nintendo.
Im honestly surprised that this game turned out as amazing as it did. The history of this game is really interesting to look into. Majoras mask was made with a third of the development team that Ocarina of time had and was crafted in just one year. Which provides an explanation for the recycled character models and repeating day cycle. Due to this Majora's mask feels very compact which I love, nothing is too far out of reach and the map is very easy to traverse.
Now the 3ds remake. I have never played the original game, I once again debated it like I did with Ocarina but decided to go with the 3ds version as its what im more comfortable with. After researching, there seems to be two vaild criticisms, the boss fights having the massive eyes to indicate weak spots and the changes to the Zora controls. Everything else is completely down to nostalgic bias. The small QoL changes the remake made dont drastically change anything about the original. Even the valid criticisms should not attract as much hate as this remake has.
Normally I am fairly safe with my takes but one I will defend no matter what is that Majora's Mask is Nintendo's magnum opus and they never have nor will make a game as good as this ever again. I cannot recommend this enough.
2015
Originally this was the only game in the series I had played and I was very excited to come back to it having played the first two. Having finished it again it builds off of everything fun about Just Cause 2 and makes it better. My favourite of the series and I don't see it changing.
First off the story, shock horror Rico is thrown into a politically unstable country and has to kill the dictator. However Just Cause 3 makes its main story much more interesting than the previous two. The Mediterranean island of Medici is where Rico was raised, coming back to it for the first time in years to kill the ruthless dictator General DiRaviello. This is my favourite version of Rico by far as he isn't just a one note action star that only speaks in one liners, he actually has relationships with the side characters and seems to care about who he is fighting against. Once again both Rico and Sheldon have been recast, I'm not sure as to why this is but the actor does a good job to not make Rico as one note as the previous games. DiRaviello is by far the best antagonist as he appears frequently enough so you don't forget about him. The small cast of side characters make for good interactions in cutscenes and it is nice to have meaningful characters other than Sheldon.
The gameplay is the best part of this. This game is a blast to playthrough. Everything great about 2 is here with updated fluidity and fixed the janky controls. Thankfully instead of the chaos system which Just Cause 2 had where you had to get a certain amount of chaos points before the next main mission unlocked, Just Cause 3 uses a liberation system where certain missions are locked until you have liberated enough provinces on the island. This is a way better alternative as it is just the dumb fun that this game is best known for. Rico can zip across power plants blowing up everything in his path and its the most entertaining part of the game. The gun combat is a little bit tricky to get the hang of as there isnt really a lock on feature and most enemies are armoured so it takes a while to kill them.
Visually the islands of Medici are stunning to look at. A lot of inspiration from Italian style architecture can be seen primarily in the villages. A couple decent tracks on the soundtrack but nothing I would seek out. Im very surprised for a 9 year old game that I experienced no frame drop even when loads of things were exploding around me.
There are a few things that I think bring this down a bit. I think that Rico is far too weak in this game. They switched up the health system where Rico no longer needs medkits to heal and will heal automatically and I suppose to balance this they made his health a bit lower. However pair this with the bullet hells that are clearing out bases and you will find yourself dying quite a lot. I also found a lot of loading screens that took especially long which kills the pace a bit, especially after dying. Ill put this more down to its age than anything else. Ironically there is a bit less fluidity in the animations, mainly when skydiving, I suppose this is to make grappling in mid air easier but its a shame when Just Cause 2 had very fluid animations for an older game.
Just Cause 3 is the perfect amount of dumb fun mixed with a fairly interesting story. If you want to play a Just Cause game but don't want to play the whole series, just play this one. You get everything good about the last game, without any of the bad the next game adds. Solid recommendation
First off the story, shock horror Rico is thrown into a politically unstable country and has to kill the dictator. However Just Cause 3 makes its main story much more interesting than the previous two. The Mediterranean island of Medici is where Rico was raised, coming back to it for the first time in years to kill the ruthless dictator General DiRaviello. This is my favourite version of Rico by far as he isn't just a one note action star that only speaks in one liners, he actually has relationships with the side characters and seems to care about who he is fighting against. Once again both Rico and Sheldon have been recast, I'm not sure as to why this is but the actor does a good job to not make Rico as one note as the previous games. DiRaviello is by far the best antagonist as he appears frequently enough so you don't forget about him. The small cast of side characters make for good interactions in cutscenes and it is nice to have meaningful characters other than Sheldon.
The gameplay is the best part of this. This game is a blast to playthrough. Everything great about 2 is here with updated fluidity and fixed the janky controls. Thankfully instead of the chaos system which Just Cause 2 had where you had to get a certain amount of chaos points before the next main mission unlocked, Just Cause 3 uses a liberation system where certain missions are locked until you have liberated enough provinces on the island. This is a way better alternative as it is just the dumb fun that this game is best known for. Rico can zip across power plants blowing up everything in his path and its the most entertaining part of the game. The gun combat is a little bit tricky to get the hang of as there isnt really a lock on feature and most enemies are armoured so it takes a while to kill them.
Visually the islands of Medici are stunning to look at. A lot of inspiration from Italian style architecture can be seen primarily in the villages. A couple decent tracks on the soundtrack but nothing I would seek out. Im very surprised for a 9 year old game that I experienced no frame drop even when loads of things were exploding around me.
There are a few things that I think bring this down a bit. I think that Rico is far too weak in this game. They switched up the health system where Rico no longer needs medkits to heal and will heal automatically and I suppose to balance this they made his health a bit lower. However pair this with the bullet hells that are clearing out bases and you will find yourself dying quite a lot. I also found a lot of loading screens that took especially long which kills the pace a bit, especially after dying. Ill put this more down to its age than anything else. Ironically there is a bit less fluidity in the animations, mainly when skydiving, I suppose this is to make grappling in mid air easier but its a shame when Just Cause 2 had very fluid animations for an older game.
Just Cause 3 is the perfect amount of dumb fun mixed with a fairly interesting story. If you want to play a Just Cause game but don't want to play the whole series, just play this one. You get everything good about the last game, without any of the bad the next game adds. Solid recommendation
2010
A massive improvement on the first game in pretty much everyway imaginable. Not without its problems but Just Cause 2 is a way more enjoyable experience than the clunky mess that its predecessor was.
The story is as simple as can be, Rico is once again thrown into a politically volatile country and has to kill its dictator. This time it is the island of Panau. I much prefer Rico in this game than the first, he doesn't only speak in one liners and has a smidge more personality to him. For some reason the entire voice cast was switched so the three returning characters all have new voice actors which is also the case for every game going forward, not sure if there is any specific reason. The main story itself is only 7 missions long but the game is padded out with required side content which I will go on to talk about in a bit.
The gameplay is an absolute blast. It improves so much on the first game through stuff like the grapple hook actually working, making health an actual concern instead of Rico being a bullet sponge and all around better controls. Don't get me wrong there is still a lot of jank, the flying controls are very hard to get used to and the camera doesn't always help and instead of the driving being more like gliding, I found it to feel really stiff. Best way to describe it is if I was trying to make a turn, the car wouldn't turn till the last moment and I would normally go flying off the road. Dont get me started on trying to use planes. Trying to take off on a plane was so weirdly frustrating as if you even breathe on the joystick the plane goes full tilt into the nearest wall. Sometimes it would just hit off something on the road and go flying backwards. It was like trying to ride a scooter on an ice rink. Despite all that they really nailed down series staples like the grapple mechanic and the gun combat. All in all it feels like a less polished version of Just Cause 3 which is to be expected.
Visually its a massive upgrade, thankfully they decided to ditch the uncanny valley cutscenes for more fitting character designs and cutscenes you would see on Xbox 360 games. Nothing really to note score wise.
My biggest complaint with this game is the chaos feature. Which I believe does become a staple going forward so it will be a bit of a reoccurring issue. Basically the main story is 7 missions long, to combat this in order to unlock the next story mission you have to run around doing missions all be it fun missions for the three biggest gang leaders in Panau. Now these missions were fun, none felt stale or repetitive and most where short enough to not drag on. My problem is with the fact that there are only so many of them. While waiting to unlock the last missions I had no faction missions left to do so I had to just fly around blowing up stuff in order to get enough chaos points to unlock more missions. Which again, was really fun but its something that did put me off a bit.
To put it simply, Just Cause 2 is really really fun. You get to fly around blowing stuff up and actually able to have an enjoyable experience in this game as it fixes what was terrible about the first one. Despite the lack of substance in the main story, I had a blast with this game. Im looking forward to replaying Just Cause 3 next to see if its as good as I remember. Solid recommendation.
The story is as simple as can be, Rico is once again thrown into a politically volatile country and has to kill its dictator. This time it is the island of Panau. I much prefer Rico in this game than the first, he doesn't only speak in one liners and has a smidge more personality to him. For some reason the entire voice cast was switched so the three returning characters all have new voice actors which is also the case for every game going forward, not sure if there is any specific reason. The main story itself is only 7 missions long but the game is padded out with required side content which I will go on to talk about in a bit.
The gameplay is an absolute blast. It improves so much on the first game through stuff like the grapple hook actually working, making health an actual concern instead of Rico being a bullet sponge and all around better controls. Don't get me wrong there is still a lot of jank, the flying controls are very hard to get used to and the camera doesn't always help and instead of the driving being more like gliding, I found it to feel really stiff. Best way to describe it is if I was trying to make a turn, the car wouldn't turn till the last moment and I would normally go flying off the road. Dont get me started on trying to use planes. Trying to take off on a plane was so weirdly frustrating as if you even breathe on the joystick the plane goes full tilt into the nearest wall. Sometimes it would just hit off something on the road and go flying backwards. It was like trying to ride a scooter on an ice rink. Despite all that they really nailed down series staples like the grapple mechanic and the gun combat. All in all it feels like a less polished version of Just Cause 3 which is to be expected.
Visually its a massive upgrade, thankfully they decided to ditch the uncanny valley cutscenes for more fitting character designs and cutscenes you would see on Xbox 360 games. Nothing really to note score wise.
My biggest complaint with this game is the chaos feature. Which I believe does become a staple going forward so it will be a bit of a reoccurring issue. Basically the main story is 7 missions long, to combat this in order to unlock the next story mission you have to run around doing missions all be it fun missions for the three biggest gang leaders in Panau. Now these missions were fun, none felt stale or repetitive and most where short enough to not drag on. My problem is with the fact that there are only so many of them. While waiting to unlock the last missions I had no faction missions left to do so I had to just fly around blowing up stuff in order to get enough chaos points to unlock more missions. Which again, was really fun but its something that did put me off a bit.
To put it simply, Just Cause 2 is really really fun. You get to fly around blowing stuff up and actually able to have an enjoyable experience in this game as it fixes what was terrible about the first one. Despite the lack of substance in the main story, I had a blast with this game. Im looking forward to replaying Just Cause 3 next to see if its as good as I remember. Solid recommendation.
Ocarina of Time was my entry into the Zelda franchise way back in 2012 when I first got my copy of this game. I believe I have completed it 3 times and started countless other playthroughs that have been abandoned along the way. Despite how many times I have played it, this is still one of the Zelda games I looked most forward to playing again as not only does it hold a special place in my heart, it is regarded as one of the greatest games of all time.
Obviously this is the 3ds remake, not the N64 classic. I was debating playing the OG version through the switch as I had never played that version before but the 3ds version is so much more polished and all around more fun to play.
To start off, Ocarina of Time carries on the trend started by Link's awakening and puts way more effort into the narrative. While the story is the same as most others, Ocarina of Time excels due to its environmental storytelling. The main quest is the same as always, Ganon wants the Triforce so Link has to go beat some dungeons and then save Zelda. Ocarina keeps this but makes the world around it feel so lived in. Each NPC has unique dialogue and will tell you more about the area you are in, The first instance of the different races across the land of Hyrule with the Gorons, Zora's and Gerudo's and a decent amount of side quests to allow you to explore the whole map.
One thing I don't think Ocarina of Time gets enough credit for is how dark it is. Obviously it is overshadowed by its harrowing younger brother, Majora's Mask, but Ocarina is by no means a bright and happy game. Ranging from how after the time jump Hyrule Town is completely destroyed and full of ReDeads, People who get lost in the Lost Woods turn into Stalfos, the whole concept of the shadow temple which I will talk about later. Its no Majora, but hardly a laugh riot.
Ocarina's gimmick involves the time jump mechanic. It works in a similar way to the dark world in Alttp where the majority of the games content is found there. Once young link gets the three spiritual stones and obtains the master sword, he is awoken 7 years later to find Hyrule in ruin. The time jump gives Link a whole new arsenal of items, new characters and large differences to main locations. It never feels stale, as Nintendo managed to use the same map locations and make them feel completely different after the time jump.
Where of course Ocarina shines is in its dungeons. I briefly wanted to talk about each one as I have a lot of thoughts about them. First off the three child dungeons which are: Inside the Deku Tree, Dodongo's Cavern and Inside Jabu-Jabu's belly. Each increase in difficulty to provide more of a challenge. I love the aesthetic of each especially Dodongo's cavern with the giant skull and the lava lakes. I have a special liking for each of these as I have probably played them around 20 times each over the years. Forest Temple is the first of the adult temples and is my personal favourite. I love the atmosphere, with it looking like an abandoned Manor house with ghosts everywhere. The boss is great and the dungeon is a good mix of challenging but fair. The fire temple is often forgotten as it isn't as memorable as the rest. I liked the boss but i found the puzzles annoying. The infamous Water temple, I actually found fairly easy this time around, the boss is very easy but managing the water level is really annoying. The water temple is made way easier of the 3ds version so maybe that's why. The shadow temple is probably my second favourite. The atmosphere is so creepy, with the murals on the walls and that horrifying dead hand monster. The lore of this temple is the most interesting as it used to be a torture chamber where the Sheikah would interrogate prisoners, Also the boss Bongo Bongo looks eerily like someone who has been beheaded. The Spirit temple is whatever, I like that you have to do it both as a kid and adult. I think its lacking because there is no connection to it as all other temples had a connection via a character like Darunia for the fire temple or Ruto for the water temple but Link isnt required to visit Gerudo valley at all when he is a kid. This games dungeons are amazing, probably my favourite in the series thus far.
Gameplay wise it plays amazingly. Combat is satisfying with the lock on targeting. The items are fun to use, like the biggoron sword which is so OP. Also for the first time in the series so far, this game is completely possible to play without a guide as it does a great job of telling you where to go and what specifically to do. That of course comes with a downside of having Navi never always yelling at you but you end up tuning it out eventually.
Visually the 3ds version has aged great. I hope that in the future Nintendo will port these versions to switch as they are so much more fun to play, this goes for Ocarina, Majora and even games like Mario 64. Also the Score is fantastic but that's a given, Forest temple and the Deku tree theme are my favourites.
I have a couple small complaints. I wish that there was a useful fast travel system. The one this game has isnt the best as it puts places you in weird spots and you dont unlock them until you are about to do that dungeon. Meaning that you dont get fast travel to Kakariko village until the 2nd last dungeon and by that point you probably have done everything there is to do there. Also Epona in this game is pretty much useless, the controls are janky and she can only be used in Hyrule field and small parts of gerudo valley. Also I wish the day/night cycle was a bit longer as it passes so quickly that is you are to walk normally you cannot make it from Kokiri forest to Hyrule castle in a single day cycle.
This game is very special to me as it was the first one I played which got me into this fantastic series. I especially love the young link segment as it feels so alive compared to the darker adult section. I have played the three starter dungeons over so many times that I know them top to bottom even years on from the last time I played. There is a reason that this is considered not only one of the best Zelda games but one of the best games of all time. It was revolutionary at the time and is still an absolute delight to play through. 100% recommended
Obviously this is the 3ds remake, not the N64 classic. I was debating playing the OG version through the switch as I had never played that version before but the 3ds version is so much more polished and all around more fun to play.
To start off, Ocarina of Time carries on the trend started by Link's awakening and puts way more effort into the narrative. While the story is the same as most others, Ocarina of Time excels due to its environmental storytelling. The main quest is the same as always, Ganon wants the Triforce so Link has to go beat some dungeons and then save Zelda. Ocarina keeps this but makes the world around it feel so lived in. Each NPC has unique dialogue and will tell you more about the area you are in, The first instance of the different races across the land of Hyrule with the Gorons, Zora's and Gerudo's and a decent amount of side quests to allow you to explore the whole map.
One thing I don't think Ocarina of Time gets enough credit for is how dark it is. Obviously it is overshadowed by its harrowing younger brother, Majora's Mask, but Ocarina is by no means a bright and happy game. Ranging from how after the time jump Hyrule Town is completely destroyed and full of ReDeads, People who get lost in the Lost Woods turn into Stalfos, the whole concept of the shadow temple which I will talk about later. Its no Majora, but hardly a laugh riot.
Ocarina's gimmick involves the time jump mechanic. It works in a similar way to the dark world in Alttp where the majority of the games content is found there. Once young link gets the three spiritual stones and obtains the master sword, he is awoken 7 years later to find Hyrule in ruin. The time jump gives Link a whole new arsenal of items, new characters and large differences to main locations. It never feels stale, as Nintendo managed to use the same map locations and make them feel completely different after the time jump.
Where of course Ocarina shines is in its dungeons. I briefly wanted to talk about each one as I have a lot of thoughts about them. First off the three child dungeons which are: Inside the Deku Tree, Dodongo's Cavern and Inside Jabu-Jabu's belly. Each increase in difficulty to provide more of a challenge. I love the aesthetic of each especially Dodongo's cavern with the giant skull and the lava lakes. I have a special liking for each of these as I have probably played them around 20 times each over the years. Forest Temple is the first of the adult temples and is my personal favourite. I love the atmosphere, with it looking like an abandoned Manor house with ghosts everywhere. The boss is great and the dungeon is a good mix of challenging but fair. The fire temple is often forgotten as it isn't as memorable as the rest. I liked the boss but i found the puzzles annoying. The infamous Water temple, I actually found fairly easy this time around, the boss is very easy but managing the water level is really annoying. The water temple is made way easier of the 3ds version so maybe that's why. The shadow temple is probably my second favourite. The atmosphere is so creepy, with the murals on the walls and that horrifying dead hand monster. The lore of this temple is the most interesting as it used to be a torture chamber where the Sheikah would interrogate prisoners, Also the boss Bongo Bongo looks eerily like someone who has been beheaded. The Spirit temple is whatever, I like that you have to do it both as a kid and adult. I think its lacking because there is no connection to it as all other temples had a connection via a character like Darunia for the fire temple or Ruto for the water temple but Link isnt required to visit Gerudo valley at all when he is a kid. This games dungeons are amazing, probably my favourite in the series thus far.
Gameplay wise it plays amazingly. Combat is satisfying with the lock on targeting. The items are fun to use, like the biggoron sword which is so OP. Also for the first time in the series so far, this game is completely possible to play without a guide as it does a great job of telling you where to go and what specifically to do. That of course comes with a downside of having Navi never always yelling at you but you end up tuning it out eventually.
Visually the 3ds version has aged great. I hope that in the future Nintendo will port these versions to switch as they are so much more fun to play, this goes for Ocarina, Majora and even games like Mario 64. Also the Score is fantastic but that's a given, Forest temple and the Deku tree theme are my favourites.
I have a couple small complaints. I wish that there was a useful fast travel system. The one this game has isnt the best as it puts places you in weird spots and you dont unlock them until you are about to do that dungeon. Meaning that you dont get fast travel to Kakariko village until the 2nd last dungeon and by that point you probably have done everything there is to do there. Also Epona in this game is pretty much useless, the controls are janky and she can only be used in Hyrule field and small parts of gerudo valley. Also I wish the day/night cycle was a bit longer as it passes so quickly that is you are to walk normally you cannot make it from Kokiri forest to Hyrule castle in a single day cycle.
This game is very special to me as it was the first one I played which got me into this fantastic series. I especially love the young link segment as it feels so alive compared to the darker adult section. I have played the three starter dungeons over so many times that I know them top to bottom even years on from the last time I played. There is a reason that this is considered not only one of the best Zelda games but one of the best games of all time. It was revolutionary at the time and is still an absolute delight to play through. 100% recommended
2006
This game took a lot of strength to get through as I nearly gave up on it twice throughout my playthrough. To put it in one sentence, this game has aged like milk.
The story is so bland and boring but that's not the main focus as each games story is really similar where Rico is tossed into a politically unstable country and has to kill a dictator. The characters are also really dull, with Rico never speaking outside of a cheesy one liner and the two other side characters are there only to tell Rico his mission. Pair this with eerie almost uncanny valley cutscenes with character models I can only describe as something you would see in a low budget 2000's animated movie.
The map is enormous, which I will commend the game on for its time being of that big a scale. There is also lots of side content which I never touched as it all looked exactly the same. This was clearly a game created to spend more time on than just completing the main story, which I did just over 5 hours, across like 2 days as I couldn't take much more of it after two hours.
Now onto the rest. Gameplay wise, there is nothing special to note. Instead of enemies being bullet sponges, Rico is a bullet sponge. Due to there being no form of a cover mechanic, Rico can take stupid amounts of damage, so much so that I spent around 3/4 of the game with around half health and never had any problems outside of 1 mission. Enemies will never hit you, the only way you can die is by blowing yourself up or getting hit with a rocket. The driving acts like the entire game is on ice and is really hard to control. Enemy vehicles rubberband onto your car so ridiculously quick that they are impossible to escape, meaning that every piece of downtime between missions I was being chased by helicopters and armed cars. Also at one point my entire loadout disappeared, dunno what happened there.
Two missions in particular nearly made me quit. The 1st time was the far cry 3 esq burn a field of drugs mission as it was so painstakingly long and had no efficient way to burn anything (also featured no dubstep). Plus my game crashed after I burned everything and I had to do it again which nearly made me quit. The worst of them all, the 19th mission, where there are infinitly spawning helicopters and jets, a ridiculously bad checkpoint and an almost impossible objective if you dont manage to get a helicopter. This mission took me like 15 attempts and I nearly just called it quits but pushed through just to say that I did.
A game that was no doubt groundbreaking at its time but has aged as well as warm milk. I'm gonna play the rest of the Just Cause series as I have only played the third game and wanted to try them all out. A bad start unfortunately
The story is so bland and boring but that's not the main focus as each games story is really similar where Rico is tossed into a politically unstable country and has to kill a dictator. The characters are also really dull, with Rico never speaking outside of a cheesy one liner and the two other side characters are there only to tell Rico his mission. Pair this with eerie almost uncanny valley cutscenes with character models I can only describe as something you would see in a low budget 2000's animated movie.
The map is enormous, which I will commend the game on for its time being of that big a scale. There is also lots of side content which I never touched as it all looked exactly the same. This was clearly a game created to spend more time on than just completing the main story, which I did just over 5 hours, across like 2 days as I couldn't take much more of it after two hours.
Now onto the rest. Gameplay wise, there is nothing special to note. Instead of enemies being bullet sponges, Rico is a bullet sponge. Due to there being no form of a cover mechanic, Rico can take stupid amounts of damage, so much so that I spent around 3/4 of the game with around half health and never had any problems outside of 1 mission. Enemies will never hit you, the only way you can die is by blowing yourself up or getting hit with a rocket. The driving acts like the entire game is on ice and is really hard to control. Enemy vehicles rubberband onto your car so ridiculously quick that they are impossible to escape, meaning that every piece of downtime between missions I was being chased by helicopters and armed cars. Also at one point my entire loadout disappeared, dunno what happened there.
Two missions in particular nearly made me quit. The 1st time was the far cry 3 esq burn a field of drugs mission as it was so painstakingly long and had no efficient way to burn anything (also featured no dubstep). Plus my game crashed after I burned everything and I had to do it again which nearly made me quit. The worst of them all, the 19th mission, where there are infinitly spawning helicopters and jets, a ridiculously bad checkpoint and an almost impossible objective if you dont manage to get a helicopter. This mission took me like 15 attempts and I nearly just called it quits but pushed through just to say that I did.
A game that was no doubt groundbreaking at its time but has aged as well as warm milk. I'm gonna play the rest of the Just Cause series as I have only played the third game and wanted to try them all out. A bad start unfortunately
This review will contain mild spoilers
I was originally going to play the DX version but remembered that I had a half finished save file of the remake so I decided to just finish that instead of playing the whole game through the switch Gameboy collection. Im going to be kinda combining two reviews in one here, talking a lot about the original game but referring to the remake when it comes to gameplay and visuals.
I was a big fan of Links Awakening having played the DX version on the 3ds years ago, but I put off getting this remake for quite a long time until it went down in price. I ended up getting it late last year after playing Tears of the Kingdom and being in a bit of a Zelda phase. Whilst the DX version has a lot of charm to it, this is the definitive way to play this game in the modern day.
Links Awakening is the first Zelda game in my opinion to really prioritize its story. It's the first game chronologically not set in Hyrule and not to feature Zelda or Ganon (Kind of). Instead Link is washed up on Koholint Island after a deadly storm, he is tasked with waking the mysterious wind fish with the eight instruments of the sirens in order to get back home. On the surface its very clean cut, but features a secret that is gradually revealed as Link progresses through the dungeons which really effects the atmosphere of the game. One thing I noticed was that this game makes it very obvious that it is set after A Link to the Past which I think is one of the only times that it is specified what order the games take place in outside of Ocarina/Majora and BoTW/ToTK. There are a lot of similarities in characters and locations but most obviously is that in the final boss fight, the entity takes the form of both Agahnim and Ganon from Alttp. This was a really cool detail that I never knew and thought it would be interesting to add here.
Gameplay wise the remake makes all the right changes. The Gameboy version was heavily restricted due to hardware but was great for its time, the remake removes a lot of the hindrances that the original version had. Most notably, making some items usable without having to equip them, this is done with the Pegasus boots and power bracelets and means you dont have to constantly be switching things out in the menu. Im not a huge fan of having some items only be obtainable through the shop instead of being in a dungeon, but im pretty sure the whole game is possible without buying anything so it isn't a massive issue. Link's awakening also is a lot easier to blindly play through with the addition of phone huts where you can get a small hint as to where you need to go next. In the remake you can replay NPC conversations to catch any info you missed. Unfortunately not everything is told to you and you can still be left wandering around without a clue but I played everything from dungeon 5 to the end of the game without following a guide and only had to check up on stuff twice so its already way better than all previous games. I'm not a huge fan of the map as it seemed that there is always one very specific way to get to each location and loads of paths seemed needlessly blocked off just to confuse you.
The dungeons in this game are on par with Alttp in terms of size but I found them way more confusing to get through. Im not sure how the remake compares to the original but most dungeons, especially the last three, are very confusing to get through, but still enjoyable enough where it doesnt get frustrating. Eagle Tower is my favourite one by far.
Visually I do like the remake art style but I much prefer the DX retro look over the more toy like style the remake has. One of my favourite parts of this game is its score. They really started to add more diversity in their music at this stage with most buildings having music, multiple overworld tracks and each dungeon has its own track as well. My favourite part however is that dungeons 1 to 5 all have these booming action pieces until the twist is revealed in the 6th dungeon and from then on all the dungeon tracks are much more creepy sounding, my favourite is the eagle tower track, I'd recommend checking it out, either the OG or remake. The remake does ditch the retro sounding score for a more modern one and it works really well with the new look. I do prefer the retro score a little bit but I would happily listen to either. I also liked the anime style cutscenes for the beginning and credits, a good improvement from the old versions
Graphics wise I noticed a lot of frame drop, most notably in the grassy plains areas beside the main village. Since the remake ditched the screen style the original had and has massive areas all loaded in at once, plus enemy sprites and destructible objects plus the fact the switch's hardware is very outdated, makes for a bit of frame drop. Nothing game breaking by any means but something to note.
A solid remake of a classic game. Falters in a couple places for me compared to the original but still makes for a fun experience.
I was originally going to play the DX version but remembered that I had a half finished save file of the remake so I decided to just finish that instead of playing the whole game through the switch Gameboy collection. Im going to be kinda combining two reviews in one here, talking a lot about the original game but referring to the remake when it comes to gameplay and visuals.
I was a big fan of Links Awakening having played the DX version on the 3ds years ago, but I put off getting this remake for quite a long time until it went down in price. I ended up getting it late last year after playing Tears of the Kingdom and being in a bit of a Zelda phase. Whilst the DX version has a lot of charm to it, this is the definitive way to play this game in the modern day.
Links Awakening is the first Zelda game in my opinion to really prioritize its story. It's the first game chronologically not set in Hyrule and not to feature Zelda or Ganon (Kind of). Instead Link is washed up on Koholint Island after a deadly storm, he is tasked with waking the mysterious wind fish with the eight instruments of the sirens in order to get back home. On the surface its very clean cut, but features a secret that is gradually revealed as Link progresses through the dungeons which really effects the atmosphere of the game. One thing I noticed was that this game makes it very obvious that it is set after A Link to the Past which I think is one of the only times that it is specified what order the games take place in outside of Ocarina/Majora and BoTW/ToTK. There are a lot of similarities in characters and locations but most obviously is that in the final boss fight, the entity takes the form of both Agahnim and Ganon from Alttp. This was a really cool detail that I never knew and thought it would be interesting to add here.
Gameplay wise the remake makes all the right changes. The Gameboy version was heavily restricted due to hardware but was great for its time, the remake removes a lot of the hindrances that the original version had. Most notably, making some items usable without having to equip them, this is done with the Pegasus boots and power bracelets and means you dont have to constantly be switching things out in the menu. Im not a huge fan of having some items only be obtainable through the shop instead of being in a dungeon, but im pretty sure the whole game is possible without buying anything so it isn't a massive issue. Link's awakening also is a lot easier to blindly play through with the addition of phone huts where you can get a small hint as to where you need to go next. In the remake you can replay NPC conversations to catch any info you missed. Unfortunately not everything is told to you and you can still be left wandering around without a clue but I played everything from dungeon 5 to the end of the game without following a guide and only had to check up on stuff twice so its already way better than all previous games. I'm not a huge fan of the map as it seemed that there is always one very specific way to get to each location and loads of paths seemed needlessly blocked off just to confuse you.
The dungeons in this game are on par with Alttp in terms of size but I found them way more confusing to get through. Im not sure how the remake compares to the original but most dungeons, especially the last three, are very confusing to get through, but still enjoyable enough where it doesnt get frustrating. Eagle Tower is my favourite one by far.
Visually I do like the remake art style but I much prefer the DX retro look over the more toy like style the remake has. One of my favourite parts of this game is its score. They really started to add more diversity in their music at this stage with most buildings having music, multiple overworld tracks and each dungeon has its own track as well. My favourite part however is that dungeons 1 to 5 all have these booming action pieces until the twist is revealed in the 6th dungeon and from then on all the dungeon tracks are much more creepy sounding, my favourite is the eagle tower track, I'd recommend checking it out, either the OG or remake. The remake does ditch the retro sounding score for a more modern one and it works really well with the new look. I do prefer the retro score a little bit but I would happily listen to either. I also liked the anime style cutscenes for the beginning and credits, a good improvement from the old versions
Graphics wise I noticed a lot of frame drop, most notably in the grassy plains areas beside the main village. Since the remake ditched the screen style the original had and has massive areas all loaded in at once, plus enemy sprites and destructible objects plus the fact the switch's hardware is very outdated, makes for a bit of frame drop. Nothing game breaking by any means but something to note.
A solid remake of a classic game. Falters in a couple places for me compared to the original but still makes for a fun experience.
2023
I was eager to try this game after I saw it blowing up on TikTok/YouTube and when I saw that the steam port was released I decided to give it a try.
The game is a spin of russian roulette where a shotgun is used instead of a revolver. You are put in a game against this creepy entity and need to get rid of all its hit points before it does the same to you. You get a selection of items at the start of each round ranging from cigarettes to ironically heal yourself, A switchblade to cut the barrel of the shotgun and deal double damage and handcuffs to give you an extra turn. Games are 3 rounds long with increased health and shells each time. It can be a fun brain puzzle trying to weight up the probability of a live shell being next.
I'm a big fan of the aesthetic, everything looks really dirty and rusty. It reminds me a lot of Iron Lung, with the very similar colour palette.
I see myself randomly coming back to this if I am bored and want to kill 15 - 30 mins but I probably wont play consistently as I think the gameplay loop can grow quite repetitive after a few games.
The game is a spin of russian roulette where a shotgun is used instead of a revolver. You are put in a game against this creepy entity and need to get rid of all its hit points before it does the same to you. You get a selection of items at the start of each round ranging from cigarettes to ironically heal yourself, A switchblade to cut the barrel of the shotgun and deal double damage and handcuffs to give you an extra turn. Games are 3 rounds long with increased health and shells each time. It can be a fun brain puzzle trying to weight up the probability of a live shell being next.
I'm a big fan of the aesthetic, everything looks really dirty and rusty. It reminds me a lot of Iron Lung, with the very similar colour palette.
I see myself randomly coming back to this if I am bored and want to kill 15 - 30 mins but I probably wont play consistently as I think the gameplay loop can grow quite repetitive after a few games.
Quick prefix, I played this using the SNES thing on switch
I was always very interested in why this game is held as highly as it is. Still to this day being regarded as one of the best Zelda games and it came out 33 years ago. Needless to say this was one of the titles I was looking forward going into during this series replay I'm doing. Upon completion I do really get where the praise comes from, but it still unfortunately suffers from one big issue.
A Link to the Past is the first game in the series to properly nail down the format that the later games can follow. By that I mean that this game adds way more life into its open world through more NPC's, side content and slightly more detailed narrative. Comparing this to Zelda 1 its almost night and day, where that game was as basic as move from dungeon to dungeon, Link to the Past adds so much more to do. It also massively improves upon some framework started in Zelda 2 with towns and proper NPC's. This game is also the introduction of so many franchise mainstays being the first appearance of The Master Sword, Kakariko Village, Hyrule Castle and The Lost Woods. To sum up, this game is where the franchise properly kicks into gear in my opinion.
The dungeons are where this game properly shines. There is 11 dungeons in total if you include Ganon's tower at the end. Each dungeon feels very unique with varying enemy types and layout. The bosses are a big highlight for me as they provide a decent challenge and tend to get tougher as the dungeons go on and also as Link gets stronger. I like that most items are made useful throughout the game unlike in Zelda 1 where most were useless outside of the dungeon you got it in. Traversal is made less boring with the addition of the Pegasus boots letting Link dash across the screen, also allowing fast travel using the flute item which can annoyingly only be used in the light word.
This is also the first Zelda game to have a "Gimmick", such as how Majora's mask has the masks and Tears of the Kingdom has the ultra hand stuff, Link to the Past has the ability to switch between the light and dark world. The dark world is much more of a challenge with enemies dealing way more damage and being harder to kill with weaker weapons. I think this is a great feature for its time but I wish that you got to spend more time properly in the light world as outside of the three introductory dungeons, you spend the entire game in the dark world. Obviously you can jump back and forth to collect items/heart pieces but I wish there was more main quest to do in the light world.
Im a big fan of the SNES art style on a lot of games, something about it just feels nice. It keeps the retro aesthetic but adds in more colour. A lot of enemy variety with sprites and Links design is very unique when comparing to later games. Soundtrack wise it has a slightly more diverse track list than Zelda 1 and 2 but still ends up with tracks becoming repetitive. I also had this issue where whenever I would enter somewhere like Kakariko Village or The Lost Woods, the regular overworld theme would play instead of the specific theme which was annoying.
Now all the positives that I have said about this game come with this one massive * beside them. This game is borderline impossible without a guide. If you want to be on level with the dungeon you are going to, good luck finding the items/heart pieces you need as they are so well hidden that its a surprise people found them in the first place. I think a big reason for this is because of all the advances this game makes in its story and gameplay, it neglected to fix the biggest issue with the first Zelda which was "I don't know how to find anything" which is in turn made worse in this game due to its bigger scale. If it were not for the guide I would of had no clue how to get all the heart pieces I needed, how to get certain items or that you can upgrade the master sword twice. This problem comes with age as Videogames used to be designed with no hand holding whatsoever so that people would spend more time looking around and combing the game for secrets, unfortunately this has not aged well at all. I should also mention a few dungeons are like mazes with lots of unnecessary rooms just to throw you off. Its a massive problem that effects most games on OG Nintendo consoles not just this specifically. There is no shame in using a guide to play this game as you will have a 10 times more enjoyable experience that way and not be walking around lost.
That being said I will still give this game a decently high score. It properly starts a lot of trends the franchise follows from here on out. Besides the caveat of the aged game design, its still a great Zelda game and one of the best 2d Zelda's. For the love of God though, use a guide.
I was always very interested in why this game is held as highly as it is. Still to this day being regarded as one of the best Zelda games and it came out 33 years ago. Needless to say this was one of the titles I was looking forward going into during this series replay I'm doing. Upon completion I do really get where the praise comes from, but it still unfortunately suffers from one big issue.
A Link to the Past is the first game in the series to properly nail down the format that the later games can follow. By that I mean that this game adds way more life into its open world through more NPC's, side content and slightly more detailed narrative. Comparing this to Zelda 1 its almost night and day, where that game was as basic as move from dungeon to dungeon, Link to the Past adds so much more to do. It also massively improves upon some framework started in Zelda 2 with towns and proper NPC's. This game is also the introduction of so many franchise mainstays being the first appearance of The Master Sword, Kakariko Village, Hyrule Castle and The Lost Woods. To sum up, this game is where the franchise properly kicks into gear in my opinion.
The dungeons are where this game properly shines. There is 11 dungeons in total if you include Ganon's tower at the end. Each dungeon feels very unique with varying enemy types and layout. The bosses are a big highlight for me as they provide a decent challenge and tend to get tougher as the dungeons go on and also as Link gets stronger. I like that most items are made useful throughout the game unlike in Zelda 1 where most were useless outside of the dungeon you got it in. Traversal is made less boring with the addition of the Pegasus boots letting Link dash across the screen, also allowing fast travel using the flute item which can annoyingly only be used in the light word.
This is also the first Zelda game to have a "Gimmick", such as how Majora's mask has the masks and Tears of the Kingdom has the ultra hand stuff, Link to the Past has the ability to switch between the light and dark world. The dark world is much more of a challenge with enemies dealing way more damage and being harder to kill with weaker weapons. I think this is a great feature for its time but I wish that you got to spend more time properly in the light world as outside of the three introductory dungeons, you spend the entire game in the dark world. Obviously you can jump back and forth to collect items/heart pieces but I wish there was more main quest to do in the light world.
Im a big fan of the SNES art style on a lot of games, something about it just feels nice. It keeps the retro aesthetic but adds in more colour. A lot of enemy variety with sprites and Links design is very unique when comparing to later games. Soundtrack wise it has a slightly more diverse track list than Zelda 1 and 2 but still ends up with tracks becoming repetitive. I also had this issue where whenever I would enter somewhere like Kakariko Village or The Lost Woods, the regular overworld theme would play instead of the specific theme which was annoying.
Now all the positives that I have said about this game come with this one massive * beside them. This game is borderline impossible without a guide. If you want to be on level with the dungeon you are going to, good luck finding the items/heart pieces you need as they are so well hidden that its a surprise people found them in the first place. I think a big reason for this is because of all the advances this game makes in its story and gameplay, it neglected to fix the biggest issue with the first Zelda which was "I don't know how to find anything" which is in turn made worse in this game due to its bigger scale. If it were not for the guide I would of had no clue how to get all the heart pieces I needed, how to get certain items or that you can upgrade the master sword twice. This problem comes with age as Videogames used to be designed with no hand holding whatsoever so that people would spend more time looking around and combing the game for secrets, unfortunately this has not aged well at all. I should also mention a few dungeons are like mazes with lots of unnecessary rooms just to throw you off. Its a massive problem that effects most games on OG Nintendo consoles not just this specifically. There is no shame in using a guide to play this game as you will have a 10 times more enjoyable experience that way and not be walking around lost.
That being said I will still give this game a decently high score. It properly starts a lot of trends the franchise follows from here on out. Besides the caveat of the aged game design, its still a great Zelda game and one of the best 2d Zelda's. For the love of God though, use a guide.
After coming back to finish the game I decided to get the DLC and give it a try just to definitively finish off the game and I had a really great time with it. Check out my review for the main game here - https://www.backloggd.com/u/Flameyboy928/review/1506125/
It has everything amazing about the first game which I have already talked about at length in my Cuphead review. Still with the amazing art style and music mixed with a good bunch of unique boss fights. I managed to beat most of the bosses with ease with the exception of the ice wizard guy and the salt shaker due to the sheer amount of projectiles you need to dodge at one time being a bit too much. I played most of the game as Miss Chalice, because she is very OP and I wanted as little of a headache as possible lol.
The DLC adds a lot of new power ups and shot types. I never tried most of them due to how ridiculously OP crackshot is. Pair that with Miss Chalice and no wonder most of the bosses feel easier.
The Delicious Last Course makes for a really fun and enjoyable DLC, well worth the price for the content that it gives you. I do wonder where Studio MDHR will go from here, if they will make more Cuphead games or move to something different. Great DLC that is actually worth the money for once.
It has everything amazing about the first game which I have already talked about at length in my Cuphead review. Still with the amazing art style and music mixed with a good bunch of unique boss fights. I managed to beat most of the bosses with ease with the exception of the ice wizard guy and the salt shaker due to the sheer amount of projectiles you need to dodge at one time being a bit too much. I played most of the game as Miss Chalice, because she is very OP and I wanted as little of a headache as possible lol.
The DLC adds a lot of new power ups and shot types. I never tried most of them due to how ridiculously OP crackshot is. Pair that with Miss Chalice and no wonder most of the bosses feel easier.
The Delicious Last Course makes for a really fun and enjoyable DLC, well worth the price for the content that it gives you. I do wonder where Studio MDHR will go from here, if they will make more Cuphead games or move to something different. Great DLC that is actually worth the money for once.
2017
I was randomly talking about Cuphead with a couple of my friends and remembered that I never completed it so I decided to finally finish it for good. I got the game in late 2020 and played through everything before getting stuck on King Dice around mid 2021 and shelving it for a while. I tried a couple times to try and beat it but gave up until today when I finally managed to beat King Dice and the devil. So i figured I would log it as I technically beat it despite playing most of it years ago.
Cuphead is up there with some of the best Indie games of all time with its incredibly unique art style and creative boss fights. The main attraction is of course the boss fights who all feel really unique and challenging Challenging might be a bit of an understatement actually as this game is actually really hard at time with certain boss fights like King Dice, Grim Matchsticks and Beppi the Clown being some standouts in the difficulty area. Whether its due to the flurry of attacks or the sheer amount of stuff on screen, most of the bosses will slap you around the first few times you try. Despite all that, none of the bosses feel impossible as attack patterns can be learned with enough attempts and after death seeing the progress bar serves as a good motivator to get back in there and finish it off. There are two main types of fights, regular ones and plane fights. The plane fights are quite fun but serve as some of the most challenging fights due to the bullet hell type attacks you have to dodge. There are also 6 run and gun stages which are ok, im not a huge fan of them as they feel quite rushed.
Your attacks can be upgraded using coins obtained from the run and gun stages. These coins can by weapon types and charms to help you. Some are way better than others and you only really need to buy the ones that you are going to use as switching between them isn't really necessary. I personally used the Charge shot type and the Spread shot type alongside the smoke bomb charm as it is insanely OP.
I can't praise this game enough for its visuals and score. Cuphead takes heavy inspiration from the 1920's cartoon animation style called "Rubber Hose". Each stage has a hand draw backdrop that changes when the boss phases change. Each boss looks like something straight out of an old Disney cartoon, alongside Cuphead himself. Each stage is so satisfying to look at I sometimes found myself getting hit as I was too distracted looking at the cool details in the backdrops and boss designs. The score is also phenomenal, every track is a banger. The boss fights go so well with there chosen music its unbelievable. Studio MDHR knocked it out of the park with both visuals and music.
My only complaint about this game is on some bosses the RNG is a bit dodgy. Mostly with the amount of stuff on screen at once, sometimes there is no way to dodge without getting hit. I noticed it particularly while fighting the devil where I would be forced to one side to dodge an attack but have one of the purple demons come from that side and hit me before I can react. Might be a skill issue but I remember some bosses like Grim Matchsticks and Baroness Von BonBon being very RNG orientated and making them more difficult in turn.
Cuphead is one of my favourite Indie games of all time. Its one of the only "hard games" that I have ever been any good at so beating it finally feels like a bit accomplishment lol. I'm currently playing the DLC and will review that once its completed. 100% worth playing.
Cuphead is up there with some of the best Indie games of all time with its incredibly unique art style and creative boss fights. The main attraction is of course the boss fights who all feel really unique and challenging Challenging might be a bit of an understatement actually as this game is actually really hard at time with certain boss fights like King Dice, Grim Matchsticks and Beppi the Clown being some standouts in the difficulty area. Whether its due to the flurry of attacks or the sheer amount of stuff on screen, most of the bosses will slap you around the first few times you try. Despite all that, none of the bosses feel impossible as attack patterns can be learned with enough attempts and after death seeing the progress bar serves as a good motivator to get back in there and finish it off. There are two main types of fights, regular ones and plane fights. The plane fights are quite fun but serve as some of the most challenging fights due to the bullet hell type attacks you have to dodge. There are also 6 run and gun stages which are ok, im not a huge fan of them as they feel quite rushed.
Your attacks can be upgraded using coins obtained from the run and gun stages. These coins can by weapon types and charms to help you. Some are way better than others and you only really need to buy the ones that you are going to use as switching between them isn't really necessary. I personally used the Charge shot type and the Spread shot type alongside the smoke bomb charm as it is insanely OP.
I can't praise this game enough for its visuals and score. Cuphead takes heavy inspiration from the 1920's cartoon animation style called "Rubber Hose". Each stage has a hand draw backdrop that changes when the boss phases change. Each boss looks like something straight out of an old Disney cartoon, alongside Cuphead himself. Each stage is so satisfying to look at I sometimes found myself getting hit as I was too distracted looking at the cool details in the backdrops and boss designs. The score is also phenomenal, every track is a banger. The boss fights go so well with there chosen music its unbelievable. Studio MDHR knocked it out of the park with both visuals and music.
My only complaint about this game is on some bosses the RNG is a bit dodgy. Mostly with the amount of stuff on screen at once, sometimes there is no way to dodge without getting hit. I noticed it particularly while fighting the devil where I would be forced to one side to dodge an attack but have one of the purple demons come from that side and hit me before I can react. Might be a skill issue but I remember some bosses like Grim Matchsticks and Baroness Von BonBon being very RNG orientated and making them more difficult in turn.
Cuphead is one of my favourite Indie games of all time. Its one of the only "hard games" that I have ever been any good at so beating it finally feels like a bit accomplishment lol. I'm currently playing the DLC and will review that once its completed. 100% worth playing.
This was the one game in the franchise that I was dreading coming back to. I got to the area just before the 2nd dungeon and genuinely just couldn't take anymore of it. I played this using the NES switch thing and eventually switched to the "SP" version which gives you most upgrades off the bat.
Due to me not finishing it I cant really talk about it in full detail but from what I played, the world design is horrific. I really did not like the top down world view especially with enemies popping out every 3 seconds and being impossible to dodge. Some enemies are designed really poorly, having to be frame perfect with attacks in order to do damage, also similarly to the first game, when Link has full health he shoots a sword beam, in this game it doesn't damage half the enemies so its totally pointless.
The impression that I got was that if you want to be appropriately levelled their would be a lot of back tracking and with a game as slow as this I just couldn't bring myself to keep at it.
I do have a couple positives. I really like the music, there is a decent diversity in tracks as supposed to the first game. Also you can see a lot of the framework that goes into the future games come around here with towns and villagers, i think a large issue for this game is it was too ambitious with the hardware it was on.
I may come back to it but I highly doubt it and if I do it will be out of pure spite just to finish it.
Due to me not finishing it I cant really talk about it in full detail but from what I played, the world design is horrific. I really did not like the top down world view especially with enemies popping out every 3 seconds and being impossible to dodge. Some enemies are designed really poorly, having to be frame perfect with attacks in order to do damage, also similarly to the first game, when Link has full health he shoots a sword beam, in this game it doesn't damage half the enemies so its totally pointless.
The impression that I got was that if you want to be appropriately levelled their would be a lot of back tracking and with a game as slow as this I just couldn't bring myself to keep at it.
I do have a couple positives. I really like the music, there is a decent diversity in tracks as supposed to the first game. Also you can see a lot of the framework that goes into the future games come around here with towns and villagers, i think a large issue for this game is it was too ambitious with the hardware it was on.
I may come back to it but I highly doubt it and if I do it will be out of pure spite just to finish it.
1986
Im going to slowly playthrough most of the mainline Zelda games as there are very few I have properly completed so no better place to start than the 1986 classic. Prefix, I played this using the NES collection thing on the Switch.
Like most NES games there isn't any narrative, just a quest. Link has to save Princess Zelda from the evil Ganon. Very simple and the groundwork that the later entries build off. The meat of the game is in the dungeons and overworld exploration. The map is very easy to navigate if you find one online, it makes everything much easier. For the most part the dungeons are good and age surprisingly well, but the last two dungeons ramps the difficulty up out of nowhere which was quite rewarding considering how OP the sword is in this game. Most items were useless besides the candle and bombs as most of them have a single use for the dungeon you get it in. The overworld is mostly just a forest looking area with Death Mountain up to the north and a graveyard to the west, fun to explore and find all the secret hidden rooms, which I have absolutely no idea how people were meant to find these back in the day.
When it comes to visuals, the 8 bit art style is really charming and I love all the enemy sprites, good variety of enemies as well for the first game in the series. Score wise it is iconic, The Legend of Zelda franchise has some of my favourite tracks of all time in it and the first game in the series sets it up well. There are a handful of tracks in this game but the one you hear the most is the overworld theme which is pretty much synonymous with the franchise at this point.
A true classic. I think this game has aged quite for an NES game,. By todays standards it is borderline required to either use a guide or at least a map to save yourself walking around lost, but besides that its a good start to my favourite franchise of all time.
Like most NES games there isn't any narrative, just a quest. Link has to save Princess Zelda from the evil Ganon. Very simple and the groundwork that the later entries build off. The meat of the game is in the dungeons and overworld exploration. The map is very easy to navigate if you find one online, it makes everything much easier. For the most part the dungeons are good and age surprisingly well, but the last two dungeons ramps the difficulty up out of nowhere which was quite rewarding considering how OP the sword is in this game. Most items were useless besides the candle and bombs as most of them have a single use for the dungeon you get it in. The overworld is mostly just a forest looking area with Death Mountain up to the north and a graveyard to the west, fun to explore and find all the secret hidden rooms, which I have absolutely no idea how people were meant to find these back in the day.
When it comes to visuals, the 8 bit art style is really charming and I love all the enemy sprites, good variety of enemies as well for the first game in the series. Score wise it is iconic, The Legend of Zelda franchise has some of my favourite tracks of all time in it and the first game in the series sets it up well. There are a handful of tracks in this game but the one you hear the most is the overworld theme which is pretty much synonymous with the franchise at this point.
A true classic. I think this game has aged quite for an NES game,. By todays standards it is borderline required to either use a guide or at least a map to save yourself walking around lost, but besides that its a good start to my favourite franchise of all time.
I saw some clips of this game on TikTok and as a massive Papers Please fan I decided to give it a try.
You play as a doorman to an apartment building in a world overrun with evil doppelgangers and you have to make sure that you dont let them inside. This singles out specific areas of Papers Please' gameplay with checking I.D cards, lists of people allowed in and managing lots of information to make sure you let the correct people through. The game uses body horror quite effectively with some dopplegangers having very obvious deformities, makes for a creepy site without needing a jumpscare.
As previously mentioned I am a massive Papers Please fan so I really enjoy this gameplay loop but it does get old quite fast. From what I can tell, the developer is currently working on more gameplay modes which I look forward too. I hope for some kind of a narrative game mode as there is very interesting potential in the world that has been created.
I will 100% keep an eye out for future updates as I see a lot of potential in this game to be something great. With some tweaks to make the gameplay feel more fluid and if the game modes added are good, I will raise my rating higher in the future
You play as a doorman to an apartment building in a world overrun with evil doppelgangers and you have to make sure that you dont let them inside. This singles out specific areas of Papers Please' gameplay with checking I.D cards, lists of people allowed in and managing lots of information to make sure you let the correct people through. The game uses body horror quite effectively with some dopplegangers having very obvious deformities, makes for a creepy site without needing a jumpscare.
As previously mentioned I am a massive Papers Please fan so I really enjoy this gameplay loop but it does get old quite fast. From what I can tell, the developer is currently working on more gameplay modes which I look forward too. I hope for some kind of a narrative game mode as there is very interesting potential in the world that has been created.
I will 100% keep an eye out for future updates as I see a lot of potential in this game to be something great. With some tweaks to make the gameplay feel more fluid and if the game modes added are good, I will raise my rating higher in the future