10/10
It's another Persona 3 rerelease. And as with any Persona 3 rerelease, it comes with it's own sets of strengths, it's own lists of flaws, and it's own unique identity. While it misses the chance to double down on the original's quirks in favor of appealing to a wider audience, it does at least result in the smoothest playing experience across all iterations of the game, with tons of lovely narrative additions to boot. Argue with the wall over a "definitive edition" that will never be. I'll be crying for over the 50th adaptation of the greatest ending ever conceived. Kimi wo I will never leave you.

10/10
Even after everything I've heard through cultural osmosis, it wasn't enough to prepare me for my first full playthrough. Each one of its aspects are strong enough on their own. Its gameplay is simple in nature, but transformative; ever evolving to fit the emotion and weight behind each encounter. Its storytelling is compact yet dynamic, with an endless variety of micro interactions coming together in such a beautiful manner to shape the world based on the way the player interacts with it. Its presentation is deceptively minimalistic, particularly regarding its OST and the powerful emotions it's capable of conveying. And the way the game is able to keep all of these elements in 100% sync at all times, creating one of the most fascinating metanarratives I've ever witnessed, is beyond impressive. Sans Undertale rocked my world.

9/10
Definitely one of the most impressive modern games I've played in recent years, due to how intricate and well thought out its quest design is. With the freeform expressiveness of its combat system and the adventurous mystique of its narrative, it's like the ideal of RPGs that pride themselves on freedom and open ended design. It did start to lose steam in the final act, both due to what I thought was a lack of polish in terms of writing and the fact that the game in general feels like its held together by duct tape. Though I more than enjoyed myself the whole way through regardless. The first two acts were just so special. I will be coming back for another playthrough.

9/10
It doesn't do much outside of general polish to improve upon the mechanics of the first game, but I connected hard with this one's narrative and its more focused, psychoanalytical approach. It goes much greater lengths to deconstruct Payne as a person through choosing to depict his vulnerability and trauma in a much more visceral, multifaceted light and turning the series' self-aware meta humor into a much more overt extension of characterization for him. On top of that, it retains all the charm of the first game's aesthetical quirks or changes them to suit the more serious tone at the very least. Though even if it was overall a necessary change for the sake of its tone, I will miss face wrapped Sam Lake.

7/10
It's filled with a lot of the more annoying trends from shooters of this area, from unnecessary platforming to hilariously unrealistic enemy AI, but its bold commitment to its aesthetics does a lot to set it apart. The crude graphic novel cutscenes, the verbose narration, every gunfight boiling down to a brutal reaction check, and that goddamn theme song that plays every 15 minutes. It all does such a fascinating job at immersing you in Payne's hard boiled, narrow-focused world view and turns what's otherwise a mechanically simplistic TPS with a tropey noir revenge story into a game with a such memorable sense of charm.

6/10
Sigh. I did not see the vision. I give Remake a lot of leeway for its foundational place in the trilogy and taking on the ambitious goal of stretching 4 hours of plot into 35. With the sequels entirely free of these constrictions, I assumed the many design and writing flaws of Remake would not persist. However, they did. In fact, so many of them were made worse. While the slow pacing of Remake worked in some respects due to how much more focused the Midgar section of this story is, the same can not be said for Rebirth. Has a vapid first half, as you retread the damn near unchanged original story for more than half of the game, except much slower, more sterilized, and completely tonally lost. And while the second half picks up some slack, the padding issues return in full force. All of this while trudging through one of the blandest, formulaic, and repetitive open worlds I've ever experienced that destroys the mystical, dystopian vibes of the original's setting. The good of Remake still shines bright in many areas. Most notably in its stellar character writing, complex exploration of the cast's interpersonal relationships, and combat system. But it's so much more marred by both the bad and missed potential. Unfortunately it's all capped off by a convoluted ending that fumbles everything the first game promised. I'm still seated for Part 3, as I love these characters and combat system too much to lose complete faith. But man... what a disappointment.

6/10
Apparently this game restarted development three years into its initial cycle and it unfortunately shows. The foundation is strong and I like the core combat. It's wonderfully strategic through resource management and actions that require commitment. Very reminiscent of survival horror, but with the frantic pace of an action game. However, the game simply stops building itself up with genuinely new mechanical additions about two and a half chapters in, opting to simply reuse the same few encounters with different configurations. Doesn't help that they start getting longer after that point either. Though the typical charm associated with Remedy's titles is still here. A fun protagonist who's offers an intriguing perspective on the game's world. Clever usage of multimedia to forward characterization, lore, or their usual meta humor. And just in general, a strong narrative presented in such a unique way. Just wished the whole game felt a lot more varied.

6/10
It's fine enough. Really doesn't feel like there was much respect put into upholding the foundation Remedy left behind, because it looks and feels like any other Rockstar game. No poetic, noir-esque dialogue, no surrealism, no witty humor expressed through game design. Just cover shooting, scripted setpieces, and an insane overabundance of mid level cutscenes. Aside from feeling a lil bit racist, I liked the story. It took a respectable approach with the character of Max Payne and I enjoyed how the unfamiliar setting played off and contributed to his internal dilemmas. But I do think it treads a lot of familiar ground that the second game already covered. James McCaffrey's performance kicked ass though. Rest in peace.