I don’t really have as many memories of this game as most other people I know, and I thought this would be another game that you had to grow up with to enjoy. After finally giving it a shot though, I was pleasantly surprised. No wonder people mention this as one of the main examples of collectathon platformers.

It’s a damn solid game through and through. Every world I enter brings me back to this feeling of wonder I would get playing something like a 3D Mario game. I never really found it annoying to collect most of the jiggies or notes, which just helped in keeping me dedicated to collecting everything in the world. This game’s level design perfectly compliments everything else and I love that. Hell I’d say the final area with Gruntilda’s Furnace Fun proved that they created a memorable game if they can ask me questions about it and I can answer correctly most of the time. It’s a bit slower than I’d like, and the water levels sorta feel like shit but never did I feel like turning away and shelving the game.

This is definitely a recommendation from me. It left its mark in its genre and I can clearly see why now that I sat down and appreciated it years later. If you can, I recommend trying the Rare Replay version just for cleaner graphics and smoother performance. Either way, this will always be a fun game with a solid foundation.

The WarioWare series in my life has always been like that friend that disappears for a while but every time you hang out it’s enjoyable. This is one of the ones I played less than the others but there’s still a lot of fun to be had here despite it being the beginning. I can recommend this whole series to just about anyone and this game isn’t an exception.

This art direction is just iconic. You can go from really colorful and beautiful designs to flat out hilariously ugly designs in the time span of a few seconds and it just works so well flowing into each other, shaping the identity of WarioWare. Not to mention the music and sound design in this game’s great too. There’s so much here that makes the game distinct and memorable.

All of the mini games are simple to play and feed into an addicting game loop that I really love. A few of them don’t make sense at first on what you had to do and the selection gets reused a bit but it’s not something that brings down the game too much. This whole cycle of continuing your streak of wins while the games get progressively faster and slightly more difficult is what makes it so fun. It’s perfectly designed to be picked up and played so that anyone can have a good time.

I played Jedi Fallen Order years ago, and I loved the entire journey all the way through. Jedi Survivor is more of what made Fallen Order so great and even more. I was engaged all the way through, as if I never even stopped playing Fallen Order in the first place. Despite the disastrous launch, I can recommend Jedi Survivor now that most of the issues were fixed up.

At first I wasn’t sure how to feel when they made it more open-world but in the end it wasn’t such a big deal. The different locations all still contain that sense of wonder when you load in, wanting to explore it all. They worked really well off of what’s already established and maintained that feel of one giant adventure that continues to progress and grow. Everything about the game looks amazing and I even found it to have less graphical issues than Fallen Order. There’s not a thing I think I can knock it for presentation wise other than just wishing we got to see more than just Koboh most of the time but yet again, Koboh was made well enough that I didn’t get too tired of it.

For the sequel, I appreciate that they also gave more options of playing the way that you want to play. Every single stance has its purpose and unique feel to it and your style can be enhanced with the perk system added. With the 5 different stances, you can just switch and never get burnt out with the combat with the whole journey, especially now that they made it more Metroidvania-esque. I wish that there was a way to switch between all 5 stances but i was also okay just having two at a time. The level design remains good too; mostly linear outside of Koboh but it also keeps it focused on the story that way which I appreciate. There’s sometimes small periods within fights where you’re completely vulnerable but to me that just served as a way to try fighting with those moments in mind, adding an extra curve along with the enemies which I also loved to fight even if a few were a little spongey.

Something I’m always worried about when it comes to sequels is if they can maintain the same quality of story as the first. That’s not an issue here because the story is just as good as Fallen Order. Hell, you even get moments to speak with the characters outside of the story to find out more about them and get closer. Cal also hasn’t stagnated even though he has more experience under his belt. I was worried that he would become flatter in character after getting more experience but if anything it made him more interesting. He struggles with himself knowing he’s fighting a very uphill battle that he can’t seem to break away from. Everyone vital to the plot adds something to it and I struggled to really find a character that I thought had nothing to them.

Jedi Survivor continues to carry the torch that began with Jedi Fallen Order beautifully. There was rarely a dull moment, as it kept consistently good synergy all the way through. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the story will continue and I very much recommend this along with Fallen Order for great adventure games.

This has been the most conflicting game I’ve played so far this year. There’s so many things that I can appreciate about the game but there’s also a lot of things that just didn’t stick with me. I will say though, I like how focused this game is on its purpose. It knows it’s supposed to be a fun game first and I can feel that even though theres plenty of flaws. I saw this game on Game Pass and tried it on a whim, expecting to play something sort of like a mix of Evil Dead or Van Helsing. That’s what I got and it’s decently enjoyable, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t struggle to finish the game a few times.

For starters, I fucking love the entire aesthetic of it. It’s like I said earlier about feeling like a mix of Evil Dead and Van Helsing, and I’d even say it sort of reminds me of Darkwatch in some areas. I wasn't super immersed in the world, but it feels like they actually put passion into making it all interesting to traverse through. Not to mention, Jesse and Edgar’s designs look badass too. I can’t remember much from the soundtrack but I thought it fit most of what was going on decently enough. The visual presentation alone is strong enough to probably draw some people to this game and rightfully so. In fact, I don’t think they ever dropped the ball on the environments this whole time.

Okay, so when playing the game I thought it would be a lot more focused on the gun play, but surprisingly the melee combat is what they introduce first. It’s simple as shit but I appreciate that they made Jesse capable all around instead of making him a sitting duck without ammo. Speaking of which, there is no ammo. It’s a choice I welcome because with this combat I feel like it would be a slog trying to scavenge for ammo on top of managing the enemies. Now you could do a decent amount of mix-ups with your abilities to juggle and lay heavy damage on foes, but it’s honestly not as DMC-ish as I heard. I don’t feel like the juggling ever really advances past how it’s introduced. Also I gotta talk about the leveling system because my god it’s fucking atrocious. This alone makes the middle game feel so awkward to get through because you earn perks at this weirdly slow, yet not slow, pace that feels unnatural. This is where I put down the controller for multiple days just because it was like playing through mud. It should feel like you’re gradually getting stronger overall but instead it feels more like you’re still Jesse from the start but with a new trick. Granted, when you have most of your abilities towards the end game, the combat starts to feel natural again. It’s really satisfying holding crowds of enemies back while laying into a larger enemy then immediately shifting back towards other threats to take care of. Although this also brings about another issue where some of these enemies are spongey as hell, and it’s worse when they make you fight multiple of these large enemies at once because you’re just chipping all of their health bars away until they die. It’s better when they give you enough changes to get energy charges so you can mitigate this issue. The combat just feels like it’s taking both a step backwards and forwards, but I personally enjoy it more than I don’t.

Now for the part where I have issue finding what to say. To be honest, I didn’t have an interest on the story. It felt like they did try, but it all just comes out feeling flat with the dialogue, the characters, and the pacing. The pacing is something I noticed the most because it’s also sort of awkward to me. I know the game is very focused on being a game, but it just felt weird being dropped straight into every level after one or two scenes of exploring a mostly empty location. I wanted to like the characters more too but I feel like some of them don’t get enough time that they need, or the others are just characters that have mostly been done before but better. I would’ve loved to see Jesse and Edgar go back and forth more often since they’re long time friends but Edgar is one character that I don’t think is in the story as often as he should be. Felicity just feels like she has the same flat note of being the creepy little girl and I honestly couldn’t have been bothered to pay too much attention to her.

Evil West is a decently enjoyable time but my god it had some places where it should have grown a bit. I wanted to like it more than I did but I still liked it enough that I wouldn’t mind seeing Evil West come back in some way. If they ever did a sequel for this game that fixes the issues and polishes everything, then I’d gladly pick it up and play it. As it is now though, give it a cautious attempt through Game Pass or borrowing it if you can. It’s an interesting game that I think warrants a try, if at least so you can form your opinion on it and see if it’s something you’re interested in.

I want to start off saying that I’ve never “actually” played a Star Fox game before. My first exposure to Star Fox was playing Star Fox Assault multiplayer with a friend from when I was in elementary school. 2 days ago I was over at a friend’s house and we got on the topic of 3DS games we’ve played, and when I mentioned that I want to try Star Fox 64 3D someday, he pulled out his copy of the game and instantly gave it to me and told me to play it. A day later when I finally had free time, I started up the game and I was astonished by the fact such a simple and short game could be so damn captivating. By now I’ve beaten every level and have gotten both endings multiple times and I enjoyed almost every minute of it.

When I started playing the first level I was loving the art style and design of pretty much everything. It all had a good amount of spectacle to it which made me look forward to the next level so I can see the artistic design of everything. Star Fox 64 looked damn good already for a Nintendo 64 game but this version really improved the visuals that I think it would warrant another play through even if you’ve already played it. Not to mention that the sound design is amazing. There’s a lot of sounds that are iconic from the series and in mixture with the amazing soundtrack made it a beautiful experience the whole way through. Occasionally the draw distance can bother me with obstacles just sort of popping up out of nowhere but it’s not enough to put me off. The character designs are also iconic too despite them being sort of simple at a basic level. Everyone is so distinct and memorable in design which extends to their personalities too which I’ll get into. Overall, Star Fox 64 3D will guarantee a strong impression on you with how clean and flashy it all looks.

The gameplay is really simple too but I never really got bored of it because there’s enough changes with each level that the simplicity isn’t a problem. Never have I felt like I was struggling against the Arwing because it’s a really smooth controlling vehicle. The only moments I’ve had difficulties with it are when you take too much damage to the wings, causing it to handle a little worse. It’s sort of a whatever kind of feature to me. I don’t mind it but I don’t think I would’ve cared if it wasn’t in the game either. The Blue Marine controlled really decently too even if I didn’t like the level it was in. That brings me to the Landmaster, which at first I didn’t like how it felt because the aiming was weird that it was controlled by moving up and down on the stick. Over time I got used to it though and welcome the change of pace that the Landmaster brings. As I was saying earlier too, each level really brings out the simple gameplay. Sure you could just play it as a typical space shooter by dodging, shooting, and boosting through the level, but each level has their own environmental hazards that fit right in. The bonus objectives so you can take alternate paths is also welcome, even if some of the requirements for the alternate path aren’t clear sometimes. I do wish that there was more to do outside of the main story though because there really isn’t a lot else. The last thing I want to mention about the gameplay is the bosses, because this is honestly something that I wish I could give a simpler answer too. There’s a decent amount of bosses that I enjoy but there will be some that are a pain in the ass for no reason, or sort of a nothing boss. The boss as the end of blue marine just feels annoying, I can’t reliably dodge Vulcain’s dive attack even though everything else about him is a pushover, and the Macbeth boss fight is better off being ignored. Hell I also though Andross was disappointing. His first phase is easy and then his second just won’t get off your ass, making you perform some awkward maneuvers to get decent shots. I loved all the Star Wolf fights though with how you’re given chances to use your environment or simply out-maneuver your opponents.

Now moving on, the story is also decently intriguing. It’s not very deep at all but in all honesty it doesn’t need to be. Andross is waging war to try to take over the Lylat system and you’re sent to go stop him and his forces. There’s a few extra details that I won’t mention that do give it a bit more depth and helps add a bit more to certain characters. It’s very direct in what is going on and what you’re supposed to be doing and I can appreciate a game that takes a simple approach. I think more people actually remember the characters more than they remember the story itself and for good reason. Just like their designs, everyone has a distinct personality which makes their moments of banter with other characters that much better. As much as everyone shits on Slippy, I feel for the guy for trying his best to be useful to the team while Falco occasionally gives him a hard time for his shortcomings. I’ve always liked Falco’s personality too where he’s just a lovable asshole. Everyone included in the story feels like they have a proper role instead of having some that might as well be replaced with dead air. There’s nothing overly convoluted but it also isn’t too simple that the game might as well have not even tried to have a story. It hits just the right spot to be enjoyable.

This whole game was really enjoyable even when I had to replay some of the stages I’ve already done. I think that this was a damn good way to start the Star Fox series. The game can be beaten within just a few hours if you’re trying to see everything. There’s no harm in trying the game if you get the chance since it’s not gonna be a massive time sink. In fact I can see why my friend was so eager for me to try the game because it’s very well done and a lot of fun. It feels like a game that knew exactly what it wanted to be from the start. If you ever get a chance to play it, I honestly think you should.

I have never had a game absolutely beat me repeatedly as much as the Ninja Gaiden games. Many are most likely going to be put off by the difficulty but I think if you have the will to put your foot down and dedicate yourself to conquering the game then you’ll be in for an unforgettable experience. Although this is a simpler hack n’ slash to understand, the rest of the game makes sure that you learn these mechanics and utilize them to its absolute best if you want to beat the game. This was a decent collection to bring the series to modern consoles and I think is worth looking into.

As soon as you take control of Ryu you’ll realize that controlling him feels fluid. These controls feel smooth and responsive enough that when it comes down to moments where your inputs matter, it will always feel like it’s because of you instead of a bullshit delay or janky response. It doesn’t take much to get accustomed to them even without reading Ayane’s notes in the first game. Hell if you want to review the controls or combo inputs, it lays it all out for you in the weapons screen too on all three games. Something I do think should’ve had more emphasis though is the fact that blocking works right after making attacks instead of when you carry out the whole animation. This made me feel weird at first thinking I wouldn’t be able to block attacks until Ryu’s in position. I don’t feel like that takes too long to realize either though on your first time playing.

Every game I think also has a decently good presentation. The lighting I thought looked kind of weird in NG3:RE but can be adjusted a bit to make it less awkward. The level design in the first two games are really interesting and feel memorable enough that you’ll be able to enjoy traversing through them. In NG3:RE I felt like they were a bit too linear and slightly blander to the point some of them kind of blended in with each other. NG2 is linear as well but the environments were more distinct in my opinion.

As for the combat, it’s easy to learn but difficult to master. It gives you a lot of variety with the weapons, ninpo, and enemies that you’ll be satisfied enough experimenting and learning how each of these function. Most weapons feel unique enough that you can start finding out which one is more effective and comfortable for certain encounters. I wish I could say the same about the ninpo since I feel like in every game there’s always a worst and best ninpo, and they don’t have as much versatility as the weapons. I felt like in NG3:RE it was emphasized a bit more due to the recharge meters varying in length so I ended up neglecting every other ninpo except one just because I could use it faster than the rest; which I think fucking sucks because I would’ve liked the ninpo meter more in 3 than the other games if you could store multiple ninpo attacks and if the recharge didn’t make it obvious to stick to the ones with the shortest recharge time. In the end though I really liked being able to strategically position enemies and then destroy all of them with a good ninpo attack. As for the enemies, most of them are fair and fun to fight but some of them are sort of bullshit or annoying. The ghost fish and the larger enemies in 3 are the ones that come to mind but other than that, the rest I have no issue with. It’s satisfying to learn when to dodge and attack every enemy and then take what you learned and use it to get through the combat encounters with multiple different enemies. In 3 I really liked the Steel on Bone mechanic where I can chain together kills. The power I felt slicing through groups of enemies felt exhilarating. I think maybe there should have been a wider camera view, or an indicator of enemies that are going to attack off screen but this wasn’t as much of an issue as I thought it would be. It’s mostly fun from beginning to end.

Moving on to the bosses, my god this trilogy of games has both some of the best and worst bosses I’ve ever fought against. Getting the bad ones out of the way first, second form Alma is so annoying to fight just because you can’t reliably damage her and her grab attack isn’t telegraphed at all before she takes out of a chunk of your health bar. The final boss of NG3:RE is definitely the worst boss in any game I’ve ever played though just because you’re overloaded with too many attacks to reliably build up your ninpo meter that’s required to even get past her first phase. Not to mention I had to mute the game too because of the constant shrieking. As I said earlier though, some of these bosses are extremely fun. Doku and the final boss of NG1 made me feel like a badass when I beat them. Especially Doku, at that point he felt like the only one on Ryu Hayabusa’s level so it felt amazing fighting an enemy that is supposed to be the immovable object while you’re the unstoppable force. The Ryu clones were also a great fight too. In NG2 Vulf and Genshin were the two that stood out to me the most. They both followed that cycle that makes the combat fun of understanding your opponent, capitalizing on their weaknesses, and staying vigilant so you don’t end up getting killed either. I didn’t really care too much about the bosses in NG3:RE though. Most of them weren’t too bad but I just didn’t feel strongly about any of them except the goddess for a bad reason. There’s a lot of enjoyment to get out of a good amount of these bosses though.

Now for the story, to be honest I don’t have a lot to say about the actual story.l itself. They’re pretty straightforward in all of the games and I never really got too invested in any of the stories. Most of my amusement from the story just came from how ridiculous it can get. Ryu storms a military base to fight tanks and helicopters, beats the shit out of the devil in hell, and also destroys a goddess. I cannot recall most of the things that led up to those moments but the ideas alone entertain me. As for the characters themselves, they’re hit or miss. Some might think Ryu’s a boring protagonist since he’s so serious and focused but I’ve always felt like that seemed appropriate for him. He’s not completely devoid of character either since he has some brief interactions with other characters throughout the series that show a bit of what he’s like. In the third game he gets a lot more interaction with other people and the only issue to me was just that they tried to make him sort of regretful of killing people as if he already hasn’t killed thousands before. Nonetheless, I liked Ryu. I liked Ayane too since she’s almost the same case as Ryu but with a bit more sass. Rachel and Sonia/Irene are set up to seem very connected to Ryu even though they really don’t have any moments that would warrant them being close so it ended up feeling hollow. It made sense with Mizuki since she had the most interaction with Ryu but in the end he ends up with Sonia/Irene anyways. The villains all were intriguing too although in NG2 I didn’t really like most of them except Alexei, Vulf, and Genshin. I’m sure that others can say more about the actual story but for me it just came down to the characters and absurdity.

I’ve had a lot of things to say about the Ninja Gaiden trilogy and it has some very serious flaws but I still think that everything about it was memorable and fun enough to warrant a generous score. All 3 of the games were worth playing, even NG3:RE as much as I singled it out for being the weakest part of the trilogy. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun to play through it though. If you are going to play the games though I’d recommend checking Ninja Gaiden Black to see if it’s more in tune with what you prefer, but I’d argue NGB and Sigma are interchangeable. It all comes down to personal preference. I do think that for the other 2 games you should stick with the original NG2 and Razor’s Edge. The Ninja Gaiden trilogy is very flawed and difficult but you will not get many other experiences like this. You can get so much enjoyment and gratification from these games when you actually decide to give it a go. The Ninja Gaiden trilogy is something I can gladly recommend to people who love hack n slash games.

I absolutely love this game more than many people in my life will ever know. Yes it has a lot of flaws but in my opinion that just made the game more unique to me. Years ago I picked the game up for like $13 not expecting to become so invested in one of the most niche games I’ll ever come across. It has that same feeling as cartoons or anime that were made to sell toys with an incentive on collecting all of them which is pretty charming to me. Unfortunately it didn’t ever become as popular as it was aiming for, nonetheless it has left a significant mark on me. This isn’t a game that I would recommend for anyone freely, but I think everyone should at least see once in case it really strikes a chord with the specific people it was aiming for.

Right off the bat the art direction is captivating. It really does have the style of a Saturday morning anime with all these vibrant colors, intriguing designs, and distinct characters. It has such a strong presentation that it damn well makes me feel like a kid again when I get back to it. The voice acting, holy shit is it bad but honestly that is part of the charm to me. The in-game models and textures are also really simple too but it’s not something that I think clashes with what it’s going for.

As for the game itself, it’s another one where it’s just really easy to pick up and play. Most of the Gotcha Borgs are understandable the second that you put them in your squad and control them. Some of the borgs can feel clunky or janky when controlling them, but it’s something you can adapt to if you would like. There’s so many borgs that you’re bound to find one that controls the way you want it too. Even with the slight awkwardness of their movements at first, they can feel amazing once you learn how to utilize their abilities efficient to start doing combos on your enemies. A lot of the borgs are a bit too similar too each other although there’s also a decent amount of variety that you’ll be interested in seeing how these borgs behave, fight, and move when you come across one that you’ve never seen before. That also helps combat with how repetitive the game is. Within an hour or two it’s noticeable that the game has the same objective for every battle. All you pretty much have to do is use your team of Gotcha Borgs to win every battle. I wish there was a mechanic that let you swap out your borgs mid battle to add a bit more strategy and variety to the game instead of letting them die just so you could get to the one you want. The battles I feel like are carried enough by the vast amount of Gotcha Borgs that you’ll be able to have a few memorable ones even with how easy the game is. Not to mention the fact that you have a chance of collecting more Gotcha Borgs reels you in so that you can try to collect them and experiment with them once you do. It helps combat the games repetitiveness, although for most people I’d recommend playing it in short bursts.

The story itself is also pretty straightforward. There’s not much depth to it but honestly I don’t think it needed it. It’s simple enough in a way that isn’t bothersome. Planet Mega Borg was destroyed by the Death Force, the Gotcha Borgs escaped to Earth and get help from their human friends, and your job is to go kick Galactic Emperor’s ass before he destroys Earth too. That’s the gist of it. The characters themselves, despite their god awful voice acting, all feel distinct enough with their personalities that you may find some of them to be likable. They lack complexity, including Orochi, Sho, and Kou even though they’re given more important roles, but they also aren’t devoid of little interesting traits. Their interactions can be decently intriguing too, except I wish that everyone else interacted with their Gotcha Borgs more. G-Red and the Galactic Emperor are the only ones that talk, which just leaves a lot of room for more dynamic relationships between the Gotcha Borgs and humans that they unfortunately don’t capitalize on. The story had a lot of potential to be much more, but what we have serves it’s purpose well enough.

Gotcha Force is a very specific kind of game that when exposed to the right people, will really resonate with them. There’s a lot of issues, and realistically I’d say that most will think the game is just decent or good. This is a game too unique and rare to see that you can’t pass it up if you have the chance to play it at least once to develop your own opinion on it. A lot of fun can be had with the game if you were to invest a decent amount of your time to it. Which isn’t a lot either, the game is fairly short. There was so much potential for Gotcha Force; I really wish Capcom could bring it back or acknowledge it because it’s a very special game. What we got though is something that I still believe is wonderful and unforgettable.

This in my opinion is the closest thing that will ever come to a perfect zombie game. Left 4 Dead 2 is a game I have come back to many times whenever I feel like I need a good zombie shooter. There’s many games about zombies that have been made but this is one that I feel like almost everyone will enjoy no matter their preference or even if they are into zombie games as a whole. Hell I’ve bought this game 3 times because of how much damn fun it is, with one of those times being so I can give it to my friend so we can play it together.

Now, Left 4 Dead as whole is an interesting game because it really just feels like a game that doesn’t age. This was made back in 2009, but I never really hear anybody talk about it being dated whatsoever when it comes to anything except maybe the lighting. I do agree that there’s many areas where the game is extremely dark, making it hard to navigate. Notably on the Left 4 Dead 1 maps. I would recommend trying to fix the lighting. Other than that it looks and feels amazing to this day. Not to mention the game runs incredibly smoothly, even on less powerful hardware. Even when modding the game, it rarely ever has issues, which just helps overall feel like a complete and smooth experience.

In extension to my previous statement, even controlling and playing the game just feels right. The controls are very simple to learn and it’s easy to get into the fun of the game without being overwhelmed despite the amount of zombies that can appear on screen. Everything works as it should, and I’ve never had an issue with controls of the game. Now, it’s obviously known that Left 4 Dead is a co-op shooter, but to be honest you don’t really need other people to enjoy it, which I appreciate. Yes, it is more fun with friends but the carnage or entertainment you get from the game is still there if you want to play by yourself. The AI are decent enough that you don’t really ever lose the thrilling feeling the game is supposed to give you. Occasionally they can get stuck or make a dumb decision, but I’d say that it’s mostly not bothersome in the regular campaigns. Speaking of which, every campaign feels different enough that you don’t get tired of the satisfying gun play easily. I think that the variety of the infected helps with that too because even though you’re on alert when you hear their cues, every special infected is dealt with differently enough that they don’t feel the same. Every weapon feels impactful, the enemies are interesting, and the map design compliments the combat beautifully. One of my only issues is that I feel like the regular and dual wield pistols are the only exception to what I said earlier. They feel sort of useless, and I always swap them out for a melee weapon or the Deagle. Another issue I have is that the slow down when the zombies damage you is annoying. That would be about it though because I truly believe that Turtle Rock/Valve perfected the combat for their own game.

As for the story, well I think it’s the weakest part of Left 4 Dead but that’s not saying much. It’s sort of the same case with Doom where the story is there if you care but if you don’t, it doesn’t penalize you for it. Looking into it though, the world feels intriguing enough that I would willingly look into how this all happened, and the people that are involved. It tells you enough to get you hooked, but also leaves this air of mystery that gets you thinking about it still. The strongest part of the story though is easily the characters. I love that every single one of them has a distinct personality, mannerisms, and way of speaking. Their dynamic is really good too. It doesn’t feel that awkward when they exchange words with each other or like they’re trying to force their character type. Even Rochelle has a proper character now that they added back most of her lines that were cut. They did an amazing job making the characters we play as likable and they did it in a way that feels natural too. I love the world, the lore, the characters, and it just adds to everything else about the game that makes it a masterpiece.

It’s rare to see a game that comes together this perfectly with everything it has. Years have passed and this game is still fondly thought about by almost everyone that has played it. I’ve had so many memories playing Left 4 Dead and I’m glad that I can keep making more every time I come back. Without a doubt, I firmly believe that this game is a masterpiece in every way. I don’t say this about many games, but this is a must play for everyone.

As a massive fan of the Yakuza series I decided to try and give Kurohyou a try after finishing all the mainline games and most of the spin offs. Now I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect getting into it, but I felt like I was in for a decent experience. I can gladly say after completing the game, this is by far one of the most unexpected surprises I’ve ever had when it comes to games I’ve played. Kurohyou didn’t seem like much at first but it left me just as invested as some of the better installments in the entire series. This game deserves more attention then it has.

Once I began the game, I noticed how despite it being on more limited hardware, the experience still felt like a complete Yakuza game. It takes after the PS2 games the most when it comes to the world and honestly I think it keeps the feeling of Kamurocho just as well. Nothing seems lost at all and if I were told that this was actually a PS2 entry without prior knowledge, I would’ve believed it. They didn’t make it feel more empty or cut noticeably large areas at all. In fact I enjoyed the jobs they added in Kamurocho because it also adds to that feeling that you’re part of the city. Now you will notice the reused NPC models more than the other games but that’s never really stopped my immersion. The only thing that I felt was off about the world was the substories but that’s only because most of them felt really similar to each other. A lot of them were forgettable to me and they felt like they didn’t add much else to the world. There’s still some decent substories though that stopped Kamurocho from feeling like it’s lacking in personality in this title. I enjoyed going through Kamurocho just as much as the other games, although with a bit more intrigue from how they handled it on a PSP.

As for the gameplay, I believe that this is definitely what caught me off guard the most. The combat takes a different approach, putting a higher emphasis on fighting enemies one at a time like a fighting game. Due to this direction, something about every fight felt more personal than usual and it works to its advantage. Every single boss fight felt like you put in two starving wolves in a cage that were forced to fight for survival. Every single punch, kick, and grab had a slightly heavier weight to them than normal, which I thought compliments the one-on-one style because when you land a good hit, it feels like you really put your opponent out. On top of that, everything you do is something that your opponent can do to you which makes the back and forth feel more eccentric. There’s 20 styles in the game but I feel like the thrill of the fight always carries over when you find a good opponent. Although I do have a few criticisms, starting with the grabs. The grabs are extremely powerful in this game, and although you and your opponents are supposed to be on equal grounds it always feels like the one who can get more grabs in always has the advantage. This issue isn’t as big on bosses considering they seem to do a better job at not getting grabbed but the majority of the time you won’t be fighting bosses. Another thing, is that the heavy attacks that require a rotation of the D-Pad seem less viable in my opinion due to how enemies either always block it or parry it if they’re barrages of punches or kicks. The last criticism I have that doesn’t bug me as much is that I feel like some fighting styles don’t feel different enough to feel satisfying sometimes. As an example, the weapon mania style just feels like a worse version of the street brawler style with minor differences, which only ends up making a few styles feel a bit repetitive to use. Other than that, the combat in the game is definitely one of the most satisfying in the franchise. It’s a welcome change that I can see many people enjoying.

The last segment I’d like to talk about is the story and characters. At first it felt sort of similar to Tanimura’s story in Yakuza 4 with how I wasn’t too invested from the beginning and I didn’t enjoy the protagonists. Just like Yakuza 4 though, I soon came to love both Tatsuya and the story the longer it went on. Tatsuya seemed like a superficial asshole at the beginning. I really wasn’t sure how I’d feel about him by the end of the game, especially with the shorter length of the story. Despite the story being shorter though, they nailed Tatsuya’s development with what they had. Some might say that it’s a bit too quick in pace but I was fine with the pacing. Seeing such an unlikeable douche go on to become a respectable and likable character felt satisfying to see. Now the side characters and antagonists I didn’t feel were as complex (except maybe Taizan, Tenma, and Hyuga) but I still cared for them a good deal. Seeing Tatsuya interact with Taizan and Saki never got boring to me. I could say the same about Kuki. As Tatsuya came to find a reason for why he fights, it also was more entertaining to see these conversations with everyone play out. Hell even most of the bosses I found myself feeling strongly about despite them usually being gone after a chapter or two. I do think they maybe should have put less emphasis on a few to make certain ones more prominent characters but I’m still happy with what we got. The story starts off weak but when it kicks up, it carries that momentum almost to the end. I never expected the story to be this captivating. Sadly I do think that the ending just felt a bit flat in my opinion. There was a lot of build up and strong emotions with what happens to these characters but I feel like when the real final antagonist is revealed, he just didn’t live up to the build up. The ending fight was really good but to be honest the weight of the fight wasn’t anywhere near the earlier fights just due to how the events of the story at this point weren’t as strong. I don’t know how to explain this but there wasn’t that much characterization to warrant a drive to destroy them. They could’ve benefited from a longer focus on them, starting from potentially chapter 6 because as is, at the end of the day they just felt like bad guys that needed to be stopped but not much more. Although I do think the rest of the story is very good that the ending won’t be too much of a bother for people.

Overall, I highly recommend people play Kurohyou. There may be a lot of skepticism considering how different it is but this really deserves to be called an overlooked gem of a game. Kurohyou is a hell of an experience and a surprise that I’m glad I got around to playing.