BioShock has been hailed as one of the greatest games ever made, and when I first tried it, I didn't really see why. I didn't play the game for six months, and after being unable to get back into it, I made a new save around a week or two ago and fell in love with it. My appreciation for BioShock grew exponentially, and I'm really, really glad that I gave the game a second chance.

The strongest aspect of BioShock is its atmosphere. Rapture is an incredibly fascinating setting, with tons of lore and complex characters, and this already interesting setting is made even better thanks to its creepy, atmospheric sound design and beautifully unique art direction. Although it took me a while to get used to BioShock's gunplay, I loved how plasmids were implemented, especially with how they worked with elements from the environment, which makes each level seem less like just a simple area filled with enemies and more like a part of a dilapidated city.

Again, I'm really glad that I made that new save, because if I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate BioShock nearly as much as I do now.

I finally played Bioshock, after so many years hearing friends and people on the internet talking about it, that it is one of the best games of the 00s, that the story is great, the setting this, the characters that, etc. I hadn't played it before because it didn't appeal to me, it just didn't look special at all or that interesting, at least not as much as people made it look. But, less than a day has passed since the credits rolled and I can only wonder: why didn't I play it earlier?

There isn't much to say about this game at this point, everyone has already said everything there is to say about this game. Bioshock is a single-player FPS with failry simple and standard mechanics, but it doesn't get boring thanks to the different weapons and plasmids. Also the game is not long by any means. What makes Bioshock stand out from its peers in the genre is its compelling story and great atmosphere, which make it instantly recognizable and unique. In addition, it has good dialogue, characters, good level design, at least in my opinion (I never felt that the level was very long or very short, and except for certain moments in Arcadia, I also never felt lost or confused). I liked the sound design too, although the directional sound should have been polished a lot more, it was tough to pinpoint the location of an enemy by sound. The only bad thing I have to say is that with the remaster they could have made some small QoL improvements, like being able to zoom the map with the mousewheel, some audio fixes (vanilla audio is very compressed imo), stuff like that. Maybe this game could have a little more enemy variety, but it doesn't really bother me.

Bioshock has all the elements (and more) to be considered one of the best of its kind, and the passage of time has proved this true, nowadays is considered a classic, and with good reason. If by any chance you are reading this in the year of our Lord 2021 and you have not played it (like I did 3 days ago), play it now, before you end up thinking why didn't I play it earlier?

A very good game that has an impeccable atmosphere, solid story-telling, powerful dialogue, and pretty good enemy/character design. Unfortunately, the "remaster" of this doesn't add very much to the table at all and in some cases downgrades certain aspects such as the audio quality (can be modded back in very easily though).

If you love Atlas Shrugged and other works by Ayn Rand, do yourself a favor and play this game. Often times you can get the entire "remastered" trilogy for about $10 on PC which does luckily come with the original versions if you so choose to play the original. For this reason, I'm really not taking the downfalls of the remaster into much consideration with my opinion of this game.

That was a pretty good game, the gameplay was really fun with all the unique abilities and combos you could do.

The story it presents was quite interesting, I especially loved the setting and character design.

My only problem with the game was with the pc port, since it crashed about 4 times, but other than that I had a fun experience.

Bullet point thoughts!!

Very strong themes through the game of Libertarianism/Objectivism run amok, the plasmids being a very clear "This NEEDS to be regulated" coming to a head with a 'government' that really doesn't want to regulate anything at all
Art style is off the damn charts - the art deco holds it all together. People are weirdly all twisted, even the actual people. I want to call it strongly fallout inspired, but in fairness its just the 50s aesthetic they are both leaning on.
Combat is passable, bordering on good! Mixing plasmids and weapons feels pretty good, lots of different ammo types to play with. A lot of the weapons can lack some oomph however. Plasmids are a bit overdone, and too many are not that good for how much you have to invest in them. Enemies got VERY bullet-spongy at the end, until I just started freezing them solid + breaking them rather than fighting fair lol. Enemy variety isn't BAD but we needed another non-human splicer enemy other than robot + big daddy.
Despite the many options mentioned above, this is NOT an RPG or even an Immersive Sim. There are very little 'systems' to interact with using your abilities outside of the very obvious --> ice can be melted with fire, water can be electrified. That's basically it. While you can choose different plasmids you are always just hacking things and fighting dudes. Stealth/conversations are never options.
Level design is okay but not great - there are some secret spots tucked away to search but very little verticality or thought needed for exploration, basically just going through doors that the arrow DOESN'T point you toward. I can't recall any secrets or puzzles that required me to figure out what to do. The game really insists on holding your hand the whole way through.
Music! It's pretty dope... some 50s songs but also a strong orchestral theme. All of it plays into the fallen beauty and tragedy of Rapture.
The intro is 11/10, seriously.
Big Daddy's/Little Sisters are ICONIC
Morality system is REALLY poorly done - it actually works out BETTER for you to save them! What the hell is the point of being an actual monster and MURDERING LITTLE GIRLS to get a bit more of a resource you don't really need that much of?
The story twist - is it good? In a way, yes. In another way, it doesn't make a lot of sense. Why did Fontaine put on the "Atlas" disguise, when he could just order us to do literally everything we did anyway? Why not order us to harvest the little sisters? Why did Atlas bring us back when he did, and how exactly did he think one extra soldier would make the difference in bringing down Ryan? Why didn't he just order us to kill ourselves immediately? Why did he act like WE betrayed HIM? I have, I think, some partial answers to some of these but certainly not all. The easiest and most plain explanation for it is - "To surprise the player, duh!!", and that's not a bad reason, though I don't think it really passes the "Fridge Test". I had a lot of questions immediately after, but honestly I also knew the twist was coming so it is perhaps unfair of me to judge in this context? It works okay at the time at least

In my opinion Metroid Fusion is the finest this franchise has to offer.

Metroid Fusion was an interesting experience, even though I gave it the same rating as Zero Mission, Fusion is by far my favorite Metroid. Instead of following the "bigger and better" strategy I'm not really fond of, it went for "more precise and better".

It's funny how whenever I enjoy a game I appreciate practically everything in it, Metroid Fusion has my favorite areas and boss fights out of the entire franchise. Even the controls, while not as good as AM2R's, are from a 112% less "hardcore" game, so I adapted better to Fusion that I did to AM2R (I still find it funny how I dropped AM2R right after I got Speed Booster. The issue wasn't said ability, it was the game). Although I didn't really get "used" to Fusion's ambience until late in the game, since this is a highly unpredictable game.

If there's one thing I can say Metroid Fusion executes masterfully well, that'd be its unique atmosphere. I don't feel like I'm in a profound place with a beautiful history behind its husk as in Hollow Knight, nor I feel like I'm lost in the deepest and worst of hell (in a good way) as in Super Metroid or AM2R. Fusion takes place in an artificial environment, a research facility extremely well built and full of human traces. I did everything in the game amounting 100% completion, and while every sector had its own identity, I still could amount B.S.L. as a single place, which is incredible.

Fusion is not only my favorite Metroid just for being solid though, but also for succeeding where its predecessors have failed me. My biggest issue with Metroid so far was that I didn't feel the progression, just a bunch of "samey", uninteresting rooms and hallways filled 'til the brim with enemies. This Fusion solved greatly, finally stablishing a proper context with a story that, while not terribly convoluted, is much more than one can say about Samus' previous adventures, that couldn't even make a coherent progression. For example, in Super Metroid and Zero Mission, Kraid was kind of a "guardian", where defeating it would break a portion of a statue that gives the player access to the final area in the game at the other side of the planet... wtf. Fusion's attention to this kind of thing is my favorite aspect of the entire game; the iconic Gravity Suit is something achievable through defeating a boss that controls gravity, a boss that, just like all the others, has a reason to be where it is; In the other Metroid games, this "reason" would be just game design taking the shape of an annoying handicap preventing me from just finishing the damn game already, but not in Fusion. Not only they are mechanically sound, the fights were fairly short (with the exception of Nightmare, just fuck that bitch) so dying wasn't so utterly frustrating. I actively wanted to progress and do stuff in Fusion, not only because I felt they mattered but also because for the first time since Zero Mission playing Metroid felt fresh.

However, Fusion did not fix one of my biggest issues with Metroid: the agony and frustrationg I felt from being lost or stuck in some part where I had to shoot/check every damn square within 7-8 rooms (that when it's not just the entire fucking game as it is in Super). I can see the argument that these parts are tactics from the developers to force fear and discomfort upon the players, but those parts were still bothersome that pulled me away from the game and even though the "intentional" discomfort did exist, my sights of boredom were always louder. Not to mention that the parts where my fear and anxiety hit the hardest had nothing to do with difficulty or locking up a door and hiding away the fucking key. But the "keys" were only hidden once I was already captivated by the story (and by extent, by the game too) this huge problem turns into a minor downside. Not unlike Samus' X-parasyte, this problem is like a virus whose cure is already running within me. Now that I have completed the game I wouldn't have to pass through these problems ever again, assuming that I ever replay it.

From the aesthetics to the gameplay, Metroid Fusion screams modernity, it had it all: from an interesting and well-paced story to a wonderful level design. This was single-handedly the game that made not regret going through the journey that was playing every Metroid game. Because of Fusion, it was all worth it. This game is definitely gonna stick with me, what a ride.

Nearly four years in the making, Halo 3 was one of the most anticipated games of the last generation console launch. While it didn’t quite make the November 2005 360 launch, it did garner huge sales and broke records at the time. I remember playing Halo 3 shortly after release and thought it was the best of the trilogy. Now, after playing Halo 1 and 2 remastered I have to say 2 still stands superior. While Halo 3 is better balanced and has a better dual wielding system, it’s shorter in length and feels like too much of the same. How many times do we have to “stop” the Flood? How many Halo rings do we have to land on? It keeps boring and tiresome and for me, the series has hit a fatigue plateau that it needs to get out of. While the Brutes are a more relevant enemy and there are more Flood variations — I’m still tired of it all.

Despite those complaints, the game is still solid no matter what. It’s challenging for sure, and there are some added elements that change it up just enough to justify calling it a sequel. Remember those giant Scarabs from Halo 2? Now you get to battle several of them in the game. We can now drive Scorpions, new Covenant vehicles such as Choppers, but sadly we can no longer drive Wraiths. These balancing tweaks help make the gameplay better just like only certain weapons can be dual wielded. Dual Needlers can still be rocked around as well as Brute machine pistols, Brute shotguns, more energy weapons are available, as well as improved UNSC weapons.

The game is shorter than the last games, but each level is completely different. One level has us on a Halo ring, another on the derelict Ark, so it doesn’t get too boring, but everything is very familiar. The whole point of the game is to stop the Flood and the Prophet of Truth from firing the Halo rings and killing everything in the galaxy. While the story is just as brief as the last games, I still found myself disappointed in not seeing or hearing about more lore. The series hasn’t exactly been expanded upon just stretched out through the trilogy which I felt was disappointing.

Graphically Halo 2 remastered looks better than Halo 3, but this isn’t a surprise. Halo 3 was criticized for not having “next-gen” graphics at the time of launch and was claimed to just being marginally better looking than Halo 2. Halo 3 doesn’t get a remaster here and the gorgeous pre-rendered cut scenes are gone which is a huge letdown. Honestly, Halo 3‘s graphics are kind of all over the place with decent character models, but some textures look awful in spots and the physics seem weird and too floaty — even for Halo standards. Halo 3 received some lighting enhancements and certain areas look pretty good (mainly outdoor areas) but don’t expect to be wowed by the looks of this game at all.

Overall, Halo 3 does what it was supposed to — let us finish the fight against the Covenant Prophets and the Flood. The ending is satisfying enough and I felt the game was shorter than previous installments, but somehow just right for this game due to the samey feel it has. Sadly, the game was not remastered and feels inferior to the remastered version of Halo 1 and 2. There’s just enough variety and changes here to make it feel like a sequel, but not the earth-shattering sequel that Halo 2 was.