Let me go ahead and start with my few praises for this game. It can be fun to mess around with the physics and find out solutions to things that have so many different ways of solving them. There's a lot to experiment with and they give the player a lot of freedom to really do anything they want. I had some fun with the game. That's just about it.

However, it's hard for me to give this game the praise I guess it deserves, because it is a good game. A good video game. But I don't think it's a good Zelda game. When I play a Zelda game, the main things that I want out of it are as follows: I want a memorable story with lovable characters set in some weird world that has some big twist to it (the Twilight Realm in TP, Great Sea in WW, the Sky in SS, etc), as well as an incredible soundtrack that sets you up for the adventure of a lifetime. And on that adventure you find incredible dungeons with well-thought out puzzles and memorable themes to distinguish them. And then, finally, a big emotional confrontation with whoever is behind all of it, and a satisfying ending to top all of that off.

Breath of the Wild has none of that to me. Its story is bland, being just that Zelda's father comes to Link and asks him to save her. There was a big battle 100 years ago that left Link with amnesia (meaning they removed all the personality he had in SS before this). There really isn't much in the realm of story, it's mostly just exploration. The characters aren't that great either. The only memorable ones are the Champions, but even then, none of them really stuck out to me much. One main thing I dislike about the story is how disconnected it is from Zelda. Not the character, even though it is, but the series as a whole. There's no mention of the triforce, past games or events, or really anything that makes this feel like a Zelda story. It really isn't.

But on the topic of the exploration- there isn't much I like there either. The world feels incredibly empty with copy + pasted korok seeds all around and not much else to do other than shrines (i'll get back to those in a minute.) Not to mention that I'm personally not that big on the art direction of the game, it looks kind of muddy and gross a lot of the time. I much preferred the art styles of previous games like WW and SS. And while you're exploring the empty world and seeing the somewhat ugly art direction, you'll hear- get this- the most underwhelming and unmemorable soundtrack in the series. Some piano notes. Sure, the music is decent at setting an atmosphere. But other games have set an atmosphere while still having their soundtracks be memorable and interesting. This game's just isn't. I've listened to the entire soundtrack multiple times outside of the game and I just can't find myself remembering any of the songs, even though half of them don't really have melodies or tunes at all, they're just scattered notes. There aren't really any bombastic adventure-like songs that really stick out to me.

You know what else doesn't stick out to me in this game? The dungeons. First, let's talk shrines. There's 120 of them scattered across the world for you to find. Going inside them gives you a small puzzle section or copy + pasted fight against a single miniboss, and what is this game's piece of heart. The shrines really make me angry. Since every shrine has to be short and bite-sized, it leaves the puzzle shrines feeling incredibly simple and shallow, because they don't have the time to build up their mechanics enough and since the game is open-world it can't rely on you having done any other shrines to flesh a mechanic out from another one well. They feel like hollow shells with nothing to them. And then, half of them are either just a single miniboss fight, or a "blessing" shrine which is just one where there's nothing inside it and you just take your piece of heart. Also, not to mention, all of the shrines look the exact same and not a single one is very memorable to me. But wait! There are other dungeons too! There are 4 dungeons that are more traditional- the Divine Beasts. As you might've guessed- I don't like them either. To start, as with the shrines, they all look the exact same, having a palette of tan and gray. Not exactly interesting to look at. Next, they're all incredibly short and simple, one usually taking me like maybe 10-15 minutes max. What really annoys me is how they're set up- they're basically just a couple shrines mixed into one. The progression of difficulty problem still lies here, because you can solve any of the puzzles in any order, with each of them being completely unrelated to each other. There's no items you get, nothing that progresses you as a player, nothing.

Once you've solved a few puzzles and activated everything, you fight one of the most bland and uninspired bosses in the entire series. A Blight Ganon. They're just blobs of goo that all look the exact same (noticing a pattern?) and don't have any interesting gimmicks to fighting them. Since this game's dungeons don't have key items you get to progress your character, there isn't really anything they can teach you and put to the test during the bossfight, Usually, bosses are a test of your ability to see if you've been paying attention and learned something new about the game and its world. This just isn't that. These bosses are no different from the other minibosses in the world, which are easily more interesting but not by much. One of the minibosses in the world is just a pile of rocks. However, some of the other ones like the Lynel and Molduga are alright. But those are the minibosses. What about the other standard enemies in the world? Don't even get me started. There is so little enemy variety in this game. It's all just bokoblins or moblins or lizalfos. Maybe an occasional guardian or chuchu. What happened to deku babas, leevers, peahats, beamos, stalfos (that aren't just normal enemies made out of bones), and DARKNUTS? the fights get very uninteresting very quickly when you're constantly fighting the same things over and over again. But here's the thing about fights- there's no reason to fight them. Because the game is so open, you have zero reason to fight enemies because there's obviously no EXP system or anything that promotes engaging in battles. Sometimes there's a random chest. It might give you a weapon worse than you already have, or a completely throwaway item you don't need. Because of weapon durability, you'd just be wasting your weapons on these kinds of fights. There's zero incentive to actually engage with them. The weapon durability on its own is fine. It's the way it's used to promote not fighting that bothers me.

Now, I feel like I've covered most stuff, so let's talk about the final boss and ending. It's not good. Not good at all. You fight another Blight Ganon, this one just being a combination of all of them. Then you go outside and fight a giant boar Ganon with light arrows. Sounds cool! But in actuality, it's just a playable cutscene. There isn't any challenge or intrigue whatsoever. Then, the game just ends. Ganon's gone and Zelda is saved. The end.

To wrap up, my main point here is that this game, while fun at times, feels incredibly directionless and bland. There is absolutely zero progression in this game, in the story or characters or in you. You don't get any new abilities or items, nothing happens in the story, it's all just sitting there static. I can't bring myself to be interested in anything it's trying to do or present to me. It's not what I want from Zelda.

As a challenge for the rest of the year, i've decided to only coonsoom videogames that are supposedly really good. The first stop is 13 sentinels, a game I barely seen anything negative about and kids in the block wouldn't stop calling it "peak medium".

If you like sci-fi, you got a lot here. It pulls pretty much every trope that you could think of, and while it's cool to see a lot of these references, it gets kind of overwhelming and I wish it went for something a little more unique.

I didn't really care for the tower defense part of the game, it was alright and doesn't require a lot of strategy, funny how most maps completely shit on the framerate. I think the most fun I had with the game was trying to piece everything together chronologically and uncovering the plot, despite the destination, well.. not being really that satisfying, the journey to get there was really fun to discover and it made me finish the game in less than a week. I also really liked most of the cast, shoutout to Takatoshi and Miura.

I'll probably appreciate it more on retrospective, would I recommend it to someone? Sure, if they like visual novels, it's probably the prettiest one ive seen.

If you're in your 30s or 40s and owned a Megadrive / Genesis? This could be the collection for you.

Sega over their history no matter what people think of them now have had some smashing games. Of the consoles they released though, by far and large my favorite of these was the Sega Genesis / Megadrive. Nostalgia factor aside there are some truly quality titles here spanning across all genres that will take hours to actually finish and at a good price.

Writing a mini review for each game would take too long, so lets just say there are some amazing games here. Not all the games in this compilation are gems though (I'm looking at you Alex Kidd and Altered Beast) however there are certain games on here that are almost worth the price on their own such as the brilliant role playing games Shining Force and Phantasy Star series which to buy an original of isn't cheap. There are classic beat 'em ups like Streets of Rage and Golden Axe, platformers like Ristar and Sonic, rare adventure titles like Beyond Oasis etc.

On top of all the original games Sega went one further with the original master system release of Phantasy Star so all 4 are in one set as well as arcade versions of Shinobi, Altered Beast and Space Harrier as a bonus throw in. A rating system for each game has also been included so the player can see what they like as they scroll through the list, a nice touch. There are also plenty of developer interviews about some of the original games and what they were trying to do back at the time as well as original box art for almost every title. Not bad going considering the RPG's alone will take a good 20 hours each never mind every other game.

Overall there are 49 games in this collection along with trophies and all the bonus features. There are few games that will give this sort of value for money and I for one would have paid double just for the Shining Force and Streets of Rage games. Now I wish Sega would release a Saturn and Dreamcast set with games like Panzer Dragoon Saga, Burning Rangers, Nights, Skies of Arcadia etc.

+ Great value for money.
+ Includes some very hard to get hold of titles....

- ....not all of which are worth playing.

Not a horror game, but with all the good things that come with a horror game and none of the bad (the jump scares, which there are none of thankfully) with multiple endings and lore that's too interesting not to get attached to.

You have to use logic to deduce who is lying to you. Is it your sister? Is it everyone around you? Or is it your own self?

Not a long game, but can easily be replayed to uncover more information and interesting twists that keep you invested in the two sisters.

It took a long time for them to grow on me, but once they did, I grew protective of them. A fun game for those that enjoy horror and ridiculous humor. Funny, dark, and heartwarming.

While other games, films and tv-shows in general have done a 'Make it darker' approach, I dont think a series steers so damn hard as Jak II does. The original Jak & Daxter game is a fun action platformer with a lot to see and do, its lighthearted, silly and a great example of what the PlayStation 2 could do.

Jak II threw a lot of that out of the window. Now the games in the future, theres corrupt evil corporations, characters die properly and Jak says fuck. Ok maybe he doesnt quite say that but he very much goes full grunge angst. Its a bit of a jarring tonal shift and not one that always works properly.

As for the game itself, when Jak II wants to be good, its a brilliant game. Its action packed, tough as nails and full of adrenaline filled moments that leave you buzzing long after you've done with them. The game is also surrounded by fun memorable characters, weird and wonderful locations and some absolutely gorgeous cartoony graphics, helping to set up some absolutely stupendous carnage.

However as I said, thats all when the game wants to be good. In between all those moments are some absolutely nightmarish ones as the crowded open-city makes for a horrendously difficult time as its all too easy to bash into things and be locked into near-unwinnable chases. Just like the tonal change I mentioned, Jak II just cant help but cross the line often into unfair territory and often pits you against ridiculous odds with minimal checkpointing.

Its such a brutal beast of a game. Is it still worth it in the long run? Sure. Will the cost of the therapy sessions be worth it afterwards? Not sure.

Originally I wasn't a huge fan but revisiting this years later with turbo mode modded into the PC version helped me to find the fun that I was missing from the DMC's before it. While I still find the monster designs to be a bit uninspired, getting to grips with Dante is so enjoyable and this is the first game in the series I actually bothered to Royal Guard properly in because MAN is it fun to learn. It's harder for me to go back to the older games now since this one cuts all the bullshit level/puzzle design from DMC3/4 and lets you focus on the fucking GAMEPLAY which is really the whole point. It doesn't feel as easy to cheese as the other games either which makes for a far more compelling and frustrating challenge at higher difficulties if you insist on holding off from Gold Orbs which I would absolutely recommend. The story is also a lot more enjoyable in it's own, different way; DMC3 will always hold the crown for the best story in the series but this still serves extremely fun and occasionally tender moments. Nico is a fantastic new character for the series and I hope this isn't the last we see of her.

I still prefer Bayonetta's approach to more focused gameplay and arcade-like scoring system, and I still maintain the soundtrack in this is mastered really strangely but this game has so much stuff in it that I can only respect having a million moves to pull off at any one time. Balrog best weapon.

[a step forward for variety, a step back for physics.]

colin mcrae rally 2005 is yet another iterative installment of the series (being more similar to 04 than 04 was to 3), and it had the potential to be the pinnacle of the pre-dirt cmr series. given that it's working off the framework of 04 but with more content (more cars, stages, a new location for the first time, and an all-new career mode), as well as more time to polish, surely it'd be the best series has to offer at this point, right? not quite. why? answer's simple:

they fucked up the physics.

well, actually the answer's kinda both simple and complicated. the physics are host to numerous faults that were not present in the previous game, which i can and will shortly proceed to describe in detail - and yet, once you've played the game for a few hours, you kinda just get used to it, and it feels very manageable. seriously, when i first started the game i felt like my rating could've been a full star (or more) lower, but by the end i quite enjoyed it.

anyway, about those physics - essentially, it seems like they tried to casualize the physics from 04 and find a middle ground between cmr4 and 3. they are more realistic than 3, but the cars feel significantly more floaty and weightless than 4 while also being less grippy. the reactions of the car are once again wily and random, much like in cmr3, and basically you're now spending more time reacting than acting. cars behave WEIRDLY on uneven surfaces - greece is a good example, where all the ridges in the gravel trails feel strangely rigid, with the bumps occasionally pushing the car around like wall collisions. damage reactions are still inconsistent, maybe even more so - crashes sometimes do major damage and other times the car just harmlessly bounces away. the pace notes don't even feel accurate, like they were made with cmr4's physics in mind but they got changed at the last minute and now you kinda just have to learn to ignore them and make your own interpretations of the turn markers. but like i said earlier, after some time with the game you just get accustomed to all this and the many problems actually start to fade into the background.

presentation-wise, the ui is very similar to cmr4 but with a few stylistic changes, and the graphics are not much different either, which doesn't really bother me but it does start to look a bit behind for 2005. there are some nice touches though, like better environmental detail and some really nice lighting effects. it's the first time playing one of these games that i thought "hey, thats actually pretty" on more than one occasion. for some reason the car sounds are a bit more dull this time. they're not all BAD per se, but it feels like they used to have more bite and growl and RAWR to them but here they kinda just sound like brrrrr vrrrrrr. i do like the environmental sounds though - things like rain and thunder sound quite nice.

as for the stages, the recycling of routes from the previous games has become increasingly prevalent, which is hardly surprising. its not all bad though - there's still some new material, and they've brought back elements from cmr3 that weren't used in 4, so it's not totally repetitive. also, each rally now has 8 stages as opposed to 6, and the time of day and weather are no longer tied to the stage and will vary each time you play a stage, so despite the reuse, there's actually significantly more variety in this game than its predecessors. on top of that, there's also the brand-new addition of germany, and while it isn't a stand-out rally, it's certainly fun and on par with the rest.

the biggest changeup in this game's formula, however, is the addition of the career mode, in which you progress through a tree of themed events requiring you use certain a car class, which will reward you with "driver rating" to unlock more events as well as the opportunity to earn upgrades for cars using the same testing minigame system that was introduced in the previous game (this time with unlimited attempts, despite the game claiming you only have two??). and it is a VERY welcome change of pace from the growing monotony of the championship format from previous games that makes cmr5 feel significantly more worthwhile. (there's also a championship mode where you play as colin mcrae and it's structured exactly like any championship from cmr4. it's kinda pointless. the career mode is really the only thing that matters.)

while the core of the career mode isn't all that different - in essence, just being a number of (generally) smaller championships using different cars - it just feels a lot nicer to have a sort of progression system, working your way up through faster classes and more difficult events and unlocking new vehicles as you go along. the different events requiring you use different cars adds a very nice element of variety, and ensures that the car lineup feels significantly less wasted. there are events for your standard 4wd cars, 2wd cars, 4x4s, 90s cars, group b cars, and even classics, and the gameplay feels a lot less stagnant for it. the difficulty still leaves something to be desired, though, being no harder than the previous games, and most events are still pieces of cake as long as you can drive.

colin mcrae rally 2005 feels like a very complete package, and the amount of additional content and features added over its predecessors are very much appreciated. however, taking into account all aspects of the game, the issues with the physics can't go ignored, making it sadly a sort of tradeoff with cmr04 and preventing it from becoming the clear essential of the early 2000s cmr era.

7.4/10