IriidaV
2004
What's left to say about this game? It single-handedly set the bar for how superhero games should be whilst providing one of the best experiences with web-swinging that future games would struggle to surpass. Having played the more recent titles from Insomniac, this definitely feels dated in many ways, but it's still a fun time if you have the nostalgia for it and the movie.
The ports just get worse and worse as they release more and more based on the previouss iteration. It expands very little upon the Dreamcast version, and the main issues that were present in the original - namely the bad audio mixing and sensitive controls - are still here. The improvements to the art aren't immediately noticeable either but it's at least a better Gamecube port than what the original Sonic Adventure got.
2004
I don't think it's possible for me to be impartial with this game - it was my watershed moment for the quality of storytelling in video-games and remains my favourite conclusion to a trilogy of all time, possibly in all media. I was 10 when this came out and I had never been so hyped for a video game release before.
The story manages to balance out the edginess of it's predecessor, making it the integral theme to it's narrative, all the while improving gunplay, having more platforming segments, and creating a whole driving mechanic that still feels satisfying to control today.
The Last of Us? Uncharted? This is Naughty Dog's true opus.
The story manages to balance out the edginess of it's predecessor, making it the integral theme to it's narrative, all the while improving gunplay, having more platforming segments, and creating a whole driving mechanic that still feels satisfying to control today.
The Last of Us? Uncharted? This is Naughty Dog's true opus.
In the wake of Alice: Madness Returns and revitalisation of "disturbing Alice" content, the Alice is Dead trilogy of flash games were an excellent addition to the large mythos of Alice in Wonderland media.
A collection of fairly simplistic point and click puzzle games were you usually had to escape from an enclosed environment, Alice is Dead put a great deal of emphasis on story-telling and playing with your expectations. It created a wonderfully creepy experience through clever sound design and music choices while the art style never felt too amateurish or forced.
The whole series can be played through in roughly half an hour and is still a fairly engrossing experience. Shout out to episode 3's night club song especially.
A collection of fairly simplistic point and click puzzle games were you usually had to escape from an enclosed environment, Alice is Dead put a great deal of emphasis on story-telling and playing with your expectations. It created a wonderfully creepy experience through clever sound design and music choices while the art style never felt too amateurish or forced.
The whole series can be played through in roughly half an hour and is still a fairly engrossing experience. Shout out to episode 3's night club song especially.
2009
Assassin's Creed II is a complete improvement of every facet over its predecessor - the gameplay is more fluid, the level design is more engaging, the story is more interesting. Even bland boy Desmond gets a little character injected into him here and that's a pretty big boost here.
After 2007, Assassin's Creed was the new big hotness in gaming - merchandise, comics, animations. It was the biggest multi-media franchise in gaming, arguably since Halo. It was a new idea that had enough sci-fi and fantasy in it whilst grounding everything in a layer of suspended realism to really appeal to anyone and Ubisoft knew it. There was so much hype after people played the first game - what would the sequel do, what weapons would it introduce, where would the plot go? The question of what time and place the new Assassin's Creed game will take place in is one that still gets asked today, if with a little less enthusiasm now than it was back then.
So, Renaissance Italy? People were maybe hoping for Japan or maybe China, but Italy? This was actually a genius idea, and one that was inkeeping with the first 5-ish years of AC's life - pick a period we know relatively a good chunk about in terms of history and famous people, the cultures at play, etc, and the Renaissance period was enough of a jump from the Crusades to really distance itself in terms of expectations and art direction.
ACII really was the perfect sequel in every way.
After 2007, Assassin's Creed was the new big hotness in gaming - merchandise, comics, animations. It was the biggest multi-media franchise in gaming, arguably since Halo. It was a new idea that had enough sci-fi and fantasy in it whilst grounding everything in a layer of suspended realism to really appeal to anyone and Ubisoft knew it. There was so much hype after people played the first game - what would the sequel do, what weapons would it introduce, where would the plot go? The question of what time and place the new Assassin's Creed game will take place in is one that still gets asked today, if with a little less enthusiasm now than it was back then.
So, Renaissance Italy? People were maybe hoping for Japan or maybe China, but Italy? This was actually a genius idea, and one that was inkeeping with the first 5-ish years of AC's life - pick a period we know relatively a good chunk about in terms of history and famous people, the cultures at play, etc, and the Renaissance period was enough of a jump from the Crusades to really distance itself in terms of expectations and art direction.
ACII really was the perfect sequel in every way.
2010
I enjoyed my time with this game at the time but in recent years, it shows its age and limitations in comparison to its contemporary Sonic titles. The continuation and evolution of the boost mechanic is welcome, and with the additional power of the Whisps (that future Sonic games would oddly return to, creating a very strange sense of continuity without fully commiting) it makes stage traversal fun and imaginitive.
Obviously being on the Wii, Sonic Colours runs at 480p but thankfully also at 60hz so it at least feels like a smooth experience even if it being between Unleashed and Generations leaves it feeling like a forced mid-trilogy downgrade. Sound direction is solid as always and the soundtrack is brightly poppy with great electronic beats. The story is a much more low-key affair in comparison to previous titles of Eggman's quest for world domination via an elder god of some kind but its really here where the "meta" era of Sonic begins in the English scripts, with a lot of self references to its franchise whilst poking fun at itself. It's fine, it does its job at maintaining the family-friendly vibe, but there's also a sense of cynicism creeping in which I've recently grown weary of.
Overall, a solid Sonic title for the Wii - a shame it was only released for that console (at the time) but hardly any worse compared to Unleashed and Generations because of it.
Obviously being on the Wii, Sonic Colours runs at 480p but thankfully also at 60hz so it at least feels like a smooth experience even if it being between Unleashed and Generations leaves it feeling like a forced mid-trilogy downgrade. Sound direction is solid as always and the soundtrack is brightly poppy with great electronic beats. The story is a much more low-key affair in comparison to previous titles of Eggman's quest for world domination via an elder god of some kind but its really here where the "meta" era of Sonic begins in the English scripts, with a lot of self references to its franchise whilst poking fun at itself. It's fine, it does its job at maintaining the family-friendly vibe, but there's also a sense of cynicism creeping in which I've recently grown weary of.
Overall, a solid Sonic title for the Wii - a shame it was only released for that console (at the time) but hardly any worse compared to Unleashed and Generations because of it.
2011
EU copy played on a Xbox 360.
The perfect sequel and bigger in virtually every way. The original Portal birthed somewhat of a miniature meme culture around it with the whole cake and sarcastic AI business, and while it was a great, small-scale experience, it was rather straight forward once you'd arrive at its narrative twist. Portal 2 however ramps everything up in terms of its world, gameplay and puzzle design, and executes it all flawlessly. The co-op stuff was similarly fun but if you managed to find yourself playing with a friend who had either blasted through it with someone else already or had a different skill level of problem solving to you it could be a frustrating experience at times.
The perfect sequel and bigger in virtually every way. The original Portal birthed somewhat of a miniature meme culture around it with the whole cake and sarcastic AI business, and while it was a great, small-scale experience, it was rather straight forward once you'd arrive at its narrative twist. Portal 2 however ramps everything up in terms of its world, gameplay and puzzle design, and executes it all flawlessly. The co-op stuff was similarly fun but if you managed to find yourself playing with a friend who had either blasted through it with someone else already or had a different skill level of problem solving to you it could be a frustrating experience at times.
2011
EU copy played on a Xbox 360.
After experimenting with the gameplay gimmicks of Unleashed and Colours, Sonic Team decided to (almost) ditch all that in favour of pure focus on tthe boost mechanics. But then they threw Classic Sonic into the mix and Sonic games were never the same.
I like the Classic segments just fine to be honest although it's a weird addition, especially since the Modern stages feature 2D sections too due to the use of Unleashed's Hedgehog Engine. The boost stages' inclusion of these sections always felt like an appeasal for the fans who couldn't stop yammering on about how Sonic never had good 3D games, so to carry on with that design philosophy as well as include the Classic stages was just an inbalance that never felt right to me. This also went on to have ripple effects in the franchise's future with the split between Classic and Modern as "separate timelines" or some other Zelda nonsense, as well as using the Classic Sonic character as a crutch in the future installment of Sonic Forces, largely led to the slump in quality during the 2010s period.
But anyway, this is 2011 - it's Sonic's 20th anniversary and as a celebration of his history it's easily one of the best. Sonic Team got the formula right for both gameplay aspects as well as mixing up the level design and soundtrack to keep old fans pleasantly surprised and exposing new fans to a highlight reel.
The bonuses are nice too but to be perfectly honest I never went for them - it felt like they offered to change up the gameplay more than providing more of a history lesson for the franchise which is what I would have personally preferred.
Overall a really solid Sonic game - uncertain if I'd call it the best title in the franchise's latter half, due to some contextual grievances but it's certainly a strong contender.
After experimenting with the gameplay gimmicks of Unleashed and Colours, Sonic Team decided to (almost) ditch all that in favour of pure focus on tthe boost mechanics. But then they threw Classic Sonic into the mix and Sonic games were never the same.
I like the Classic segments just fine to be honest although it's a weird addition, especially since the Modern stages feature 2D sections too due to the use of Unleashed's Hedgehog Engine. The boost stages' inclusion of these sections always felt like an appeasal for the fans who couldn't stop yammering on about how Sonic never had good 3D games, so to carry on with that design philosophy as well as include the Classic stages was just an inbalance that never felt right to me. This also went on to have ripple effects in the franchise's future with the split between Classic and Modern as "separate timelines" or some other Zelda nonsense, as well as using the Classic Sonic character as a crutch in the future installment of Sonic Forces, largely led to the slump in quality during the 2010s period.
But anyway, this is 2011 - it's Sonic's 20th anniversary and as a celebration of his history it's easily one of the best. Sonic Team got the formula right for both gameplay aspects as well as mixing up the level design and soundtrack to keep old fans pleasantly surprised and exposing new fans to a highlight reel.
The bonuses are nice too but to be perfectly honest I never went for them - it felt like they offered to change up the gameplay more than providing more of a history lesson for the franchise which is what I would have personally preferred.
Overall a really solid Sonic game - uncertain if I'd call it the best title in the franchise's latter half, due to some contextual grievances but it's certainly a strong contender.
This, accompanied with the earlier Sonic Mega Collection, made for a great way to house (nearly) all of Sonic's games prior to the Adventure duology on two discs. Admittedly, they're not the best of the series (no, you're wrong, Sonic CD is fine at best) nor are the port jobs perfect, but it was a great way to experience the rest of the hidden gems outside of SegaSonic Arcade and Sonic Jam.
2010
EU copy played on a PlayStation 3 Slim.
On your own, Heavy Rain is not a gripping game - it's a depressing slog of a story that telegraphs its twists in an unremarkably obvious way with a control scheme that is downright frustrating at the best of times.
In a party setting though? Like the slasher movie, this game takes on a whole life of its own. Assigning a person to a character for the entire playthrough in one sitting is an experience I'll never forget, and with a healthy dose of alcohol and snacks this game become so much more entertaining than the developers intended.
I will take the revelation of discovering I had been the killer all along and rolling with it to try and kill my friends in the finale to my final days.
On your own, Heavy Rain is not a gripping game - it's a depressing slog of a story that telegraphs its twists in an unremarkably obvious way with a control scheme that is downright frustrating at the best of times.
In a party setting though? Like the slasher movie, this game takes on a whole life of its own. Assigning a person to a character for the entire playthrough in one sitting is an experience I'll never forget, and with a healthy dose of alcohol and snacks this game become so much more entertaining than the developers intended.
I will take the revelation of discovering I had been the killer all along and rolling with it to try and kill my friends in the finale to my final days.
2008
EU copy played via the Complete Edition on a PlayStation 3 Super Slim.
GTAIII changed the gaming landscape forever; Vice City expanded on the entertaining gameplay; San Andreas provided a compelling story. So what did Grand Theft Auto IV do?
Well, all of the above all over again really, albeit to a lesser extent in comparison to the combined trilogy. GTA had a reputation of being THE open-world satirical crime drama with real violence, which over the course of the PlayStation 2's life cycle slowly morphed into "with cartoonish violence". Not that the violence on display was any less shocking, but in comparison to other games around San Andreas' release, Rockstar's engine was beginning to show its age a little.
So when GTAIV dropped on the scene, with a new art direction more grounded in realism, it was quite the shock to many people. Movement felt less arcadey, with a real sense of weight and delay to character animations and driving maneuvability. The story itself expanded on the tone SA had already established but also pushed itself by focussing in the here and now. There was no glorification of past time periods here, it was very much a depressing look at the situation modern immigrants can find themselves in whilst moving to America, and GTAIV held no punches.
Mission design felt a lot more seemless, with the huge expanse of a city made of various islands alongside multiple buildings you would traverse on top of and through throughout the story and the lack of required loading screens making the game feel more natural.
The core gamplay itself was fun, with the classic playground exploration still being encouraged via secrets and extra activities, and the overall story of Nico arriving in an America completely devoid of the expectations he had was incredibly compelling. GTAIV marked a huge turning point in the franchise's overall style and presentation but it never quite felt like the wrong turn to me.
GTAIII changed the gaming landscape forever; Vice City expanded on the entertaining gameplay; San Andreas provided a compelling story. So what did Grand Theft Auto IV do?
Well, all of the above all over again really, albeit to a lesser extent in comparison to the combined trilogy. GTA had a reputation of being THE open-world satirical crime drama with real violence, which over the course of the PlayStation 2's life cycle slowly morphed into "with cartoonish violence". Not that the violence on display was any less shocking, but in comparison to other games around San Andreas' release, Rockstar's engine was beginning to show its age a little.
So when GTAIV dropped on the scene, with a new art direction more grounded in realism, it was quite the shock to many people. Movement felt less arcadey, with a real sense of weight and delay to character animations and driving maneuvability. The story itself expanded on the tone SA had already established but also pushed itself by focussing in the here and now. There was no glorification of past time periods here, it was very much a depressing look at the situation modern immigrants can find themselves in whilst moving to America, and GTAIV held no punches.
Mission design felt a lot more seemless, with the huge expanse of a city made of various islands alongside multiple buildings you would traverse on top of and through throughout the story and the lack of required loading screens making the game feel more natural.
The core gamplay itself was fun, with the classic playground exploration still being encouraged via secrets and extra activities, and the overall story of Nico arriving in an America completely devoid of the expectations he had was incredibly compelling. GTAIV marked a huge turning point in the franchise's overall style and presentation but it never quite felt like the wrong turn to me.
EU copy played on a PlayStation 3 Super Slim.
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is not a very good game. It attempts to be a Devil May Cry-esque action game with combos and the unique gimmick of stealing enemies' weapons to use against them. The controls can be kinda floaty at times and take a while to get accustomed to. The story is bat-shit insane and kinda difficult to follow due to the lack of any real substantial exposition.
That being said I kinda love this game. The artstyle is the first to pop out at you - it does it's best to feel like what the forces of heaven and hell imagine the mortal plane of existance to look like and it does a damn good job at that with a mixture of harmonising, light colours and incredibly abstract environments and character designs. The design of the player character and the angel helping him feels jarring at first but when you realise they're agents of heaven just wearing some jeans and a shirt with some plate armour, the intent of all these design choices all kind of clicks in your head.
The flow of combat takes a while to get used to and honestly is probably the weaker parts of the game. Stealing enemy weapons and cleansing them feels satisfying but it can be easy in some of the later stages to get overwhelmed and some bosses will intentionally kick your ass with little to no explanation that it was supposed to happen.
The story itself can be very hit or miss depending on how literal and expository you like your plots to be - you play as Enoch, the biblical scribe before the flood, and your task is to hunt down seven fallen angels to stop the flood from destroying the world. On your first play through there is absolutely no way you're going to catch all of that and it feels like the game is being intentionally vague and hand wavy at the best of times. However, if old biblical lore through a modern Japanese lense is your kind of jam then I'd recommend you at least check this game out. If nothing else your eyes will enjoy what they're looking at.
El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron is not a very good game. It attempts to be a Devil May Cry-esque action game with combos and the unique gimmick of stealing enemies' weapons to use against them. The controls can be kinda floaty at times and take a while to get accustomed to. The story is bat-shit insane and kinda difficult to follow due to the lack of any real substantial exposition.
That being said I kinda love this game. The artstyle is the first to pop out at you - it does it's best to feel like what the forces of heaven and hell imagine the mortal plane of existance to look like and it does a damn good job at that with a mixture of harmonising, light colours and incredibly abstract environments and character designs. The design of the player character and the angel helping him feels jarring at first but when you realise they're agents of heaven just wearing some jeans and a shirt with some plate armour, the intent of all these design choices all kind of clicks in your head.
The flow of combat takes a while to get used to and honestly is probably the weaker parts of the game. Stealing enemy weapons and cleansing them feels satisfying but it can be easy in some of the later stages to get overwhelmed and some bosses will intentionally kick your ass with little to no explanation that it was supposed to happen.
The story itself can be very hit or miss depending on how literal and expository you like your plots to be - you play as Enoch, the biblical scribe before the flood, and your task is to hunt down seven fallen angels to stop the flood from destroying the world. On your first play through there is absolutely no way you're going to catch all of that and it feels like the game is being intentionally vague and hand wavy at the best of times. However, if old biblical lore through a modern Japanese lense is your kind of jam then I'd recommend you at least check this game out. If nothing else your eyes will enjoy what they're looking at.
EU copy played on a PlayStation 3 Super Slim.
A fairly solid port of the PlayStation 2 trilogy. Doesn't add any bells or whistles, just the straight conversion to 1080p.
A fairly solid port of the PlayStation 2 trilogy. Doesn't add any bells or whistles, just the straight conversion to 1080p.
EU copy played on a Nintendo 3DS XL.
Even on the 3DS this is an absolute blast of a kart racer - I got far more enjoyment out of this title with its blazing speeds and interesting track design compared to Mario Kart 7 which seemed pedestrian. It has a fun range of unlockables and bonus features and characters, with a great selection of remixed tracks from Sega history.
Even on the 3DS this is an absolute blast of a kart racer - I got far more enjoyment out of this title with its blazing speeds and interesting track design compared to Mario Kart 7 which seemed pedestrian. It has a fun range of unlockables and bonus features and characters, with a great selection of remixed tracks from Sega history.
1998
Played via the Steam release with BetterSADX mods installed.
Another year, another replay of Sonic Adventure, this time with Frontiers now having released and seemingly broken the era of the stale Boost formula. It's odd too, because a lot of my criticisms with that game, especially towards the animations and cutscene directions can be also applied here, giving the impression that Sonic Team never really did have a handle on those to begin with. It doesn't help that Sonic Adventure feels older than ever before, with a camera system that's positively decrepit and any port of the game without heavy modding looking and playing like a complete travesty. Still, it remains a charming time with good controls, a decent art direction, and a banging soundtrack.
Regardless, I wanted something a little fresher from my nth playthrough of this game and attempting a chronological route (with the aid of mods allowing the unlocking of all stories straight from the get-go) really helped hold my attention this time around. If, like me, this is a comfort game for you but you want it to feel a little fresher I recommend the route laid out below. Be aware of a game-locking bug (unless you can familiarise yourself with how the SASave tool functions) when playing Tails' story, so always keep the emblem across from his workshop free for collection until a specified point. Also whilst this was a fun exercise, the cutscenes never perfectly line up and you'll have to stretch your imagination a little as to how the chronological events connect in a cohesive manner.
Knuckles - intro
Big - intro
Sonic - intro / Chaos 0
Tails - intro
Sonic - Emerald Coast / Tails - post crash
Sonic / Tails - Egg Hornet
Knuckles - Speed Highway
Sonic / Tails - Windy Valley / Casinopolis
Knuckles - Casinopolis / vision #1 / Chaos 2
Big - Twinkle Park
Sonic / Tails - Ice Cap
Knuckles - Red Mountain
Sonic / Tails / Knuckles - Character bosses / Chaos 4
Sonic / Tails - Sky Chase
Gamma - intro / Final Egg / Beta
Big - Ice Cap
Tails - Sand Hill / vision #2
Tails / Big - character cutscene (collect the emblem across from Tails' workshop immediately after meeting Big - this saves the game and prevents being locked in the vision sequence)
Amy - intro
Sonic / Amy - Casino area / Twinkle Park
Sonic - Speed Highway
Amy /Sonic - abduction
Big - Emerald Coast
Gamma - Emerald Coast
Knuckles - Lost World
Gamma - vision #3
Knuckles - vision #4 / board Egg Carrier
Sonic - Mystic Ruins cutscene
Tails - Tornado 2
Sonic - Red Mountain
Sonic / Tails - Sky Chase 2
Gamma / Amy - character cutscene
Amy - Hot Shelter / vision #5
Big - Hot Shelter
Sonic / Tails / Knuckles - Egg Carrier transform / Sky Deck
Sonic / Tails / Gamma - character bosses
Sonic - change ship shape
Big - vision #6
Knuckles - vision #7
Big - Chaos 6 [story complete]
Sonic - Chaos 6
Knuckles - Chaos 6 [story complete]
Gamma - Windy Valley
Tails - Speed Highway / Egg Walker [story complete]
Gamma - Red Mountain
Sonic - Lost World / vision #8
Gamma - Hot Shelter
Amy - Final Egg
Gamma - Beta [story complete]
Amy - Zero [story complete]
Sonic - Final Egg / Egg Viper [story complete]
Super Sonic - vision #9 / Perfect Chaos [story complete]
Another year, another replay of Sonic Adventure, this time with Frontiers now having released and seemingly broken the era of the stale Boost formula. It's odd too, because a lot of my criticisms with that game, especially towards the animations and cutscene directions can be also applied here, giving the impression that Sonic Team never really did have a handle on those to begin with. It doesn't help that Sonic Adventure feels older than ever before, with a camera system that's positively decrepit and any port of the game without heavy modding looking and playing like a complete travesty. Still, it remains a charming time with good controls, a decent art direction, and a banging soundtrack.
Regardless, I wanted something a little fresher from my nth playthrough of this game and attempting a chronological route (with the aid of mods allowing the unlocking of all stories straight from the get-go) really helped hold my attention this time around. If, like me, this is a comfort game for you but you want it to feel a little fresher I recommend the route laid out below. Be aware of a game-locking bug (unless you can familiarise yourself with how the SASave tool functions) when playing Tails' story, so always keep the emblem across from his workshop free for collection until a specified point. Also whilst this was a fun exercise, the cutscenes never perfectly line up and you'll have to stretch your imagination a little as to how the chronological events connect in a cohesive manner.
Knuckles - intro
Big - intro
Sonic - intro / Chaos 0
Tails - intro
Sonic - Emerald Coast / Tails - post crash
Sonic / Tails - Egg Hornet
Knuckles - Speed Highway
Sonic / Tails - Windy Valley / Casinopolis
Knuckles - Casinopolis / vision #1 / Chaos 2
Big - Twinkle Park
Sonic / Tails - Ice Cap
Knuckles - Red Mountain
Sonic / Tails / Knuckles - Character bosses / Chaos 4
Sonic / Tails - Sky Chase
Gamma - intro / Final Egg / Beta
Big - Ice Cap
Tails - Sand Hill / vision #2
Tails / Big - character cutscene (collect the emblem across from Tails' workshop immediately after meeting Big - this saves the game and prevents being locked in the vision sequence)
Amy - intro
Sonic / Amy - Casino area / Twinkle Park
Sonic - Speed Highway
Amy /Sonic - abduction
Big - Emerald Coast
Gamma - Emerald Coast
Knuckles - Lost World
Gamma - vision #3
Knuckles - vision #4 / board Egg Carrier
Sonic - Mystic Ruins cutscene
Tails - Tornado 2
Sonic - Red Mountain
Sonic / Tails - Sky Chase 2
Gamma / Amy - character cutscene
Amy - Hot Shelter / vision #5
Big - Hot Shelter
Sonic / Tails / Knuckles - Egg Carrier transform / Sky Deck
Sonic / Tails / Gamma - character bosses
Sonic - change ship shape
Big - vision #6
Knuckles - vision #7
Big - Chaos 6 [story complete]
Sonic - Chaos 6
Knuckles - Chaos 6 [story complete]
Gamma - Windy Valley
Tails - Speed Highway / Egg Walker [story complete]
Gamma - Red Mountain
Sonic - Lost World / vision #8
Gamma - Hot Shelter
Amy - Final Egg
Gamma - Beta [story complete]
Amy - Zero [story complete]
Sonic - Final Egg / Egg Viper [story complete]
Super Sonic - vision #9 / Perfect Chaos [story complete]