Postal 2: Paradise Lost is a follow-up to Apocalypse Weekend built on top of Postal 2 as an apology to fans for Postal 3. Postal fans often consider it to be tied with 2 as the best game in the series, with some even referring to it as the “real” Postal 3. I disagree with both of these sentiments. Paradise Lost is very much just more Postal 2. It reuses the entire map from the base game, has most of the same characters, and contains just about every system and mechanic in the base game. The few original mechanics it does have were added into the base game in one of the anniversary patches, which in turn makes it feel like even less of a standalone package. More than anything else, Paradise Lost is an unabashed work of fan service.

But unfortunately for me, even though I’ve played all of these Postal games, I am not a fan of the series. In fact, I’m getting pretty fucking sick of it. Postal 2 is the only one I enjoyed, and everything else ranges from horrendous to mediocre. Paradise Lost is in the mediocre category. It is Postal 2 with an Apocalypse Weekend skin and a reference to Postal 3 that doesn’t do anything interesting. I’ve put off writing about this game for nearly a month and a half because I genuinely cannot think of anything interesting to say about it (and frankly due to irl things too but whatever). I am putting minimum effort into this review because I was already exhausted from both this game and the franchise less than halfway through playing it. Since the game is based around a (rather terrible) story and each day begins at a different area of the map, the general pacing of the game is fucking terrible. It is exhausting to walk across the same ugly, retextured map over and over again for seemingly every chore. I just want to stop thinking about this game because I’ve already said most of my thoughts when I wrote about Postal 2 and 3. Maybe 4 and Brain Damaged will be different. I hope they are. I just want to stop thinking about Apocalypse Weekend and Paradise Lost. They are neither good games, nor interesting to think about. I’m tired of RWS, and I don’t know how they aren’t tired of being known for nothing but Postal. It’s a shitty franchise with 1 game that is remotely engaging and another game that is so bad that it’s entertaining.

I’m sorry this is rushed and repetitive, but I just want to be done with this. I’m not even editing this tbh.

We are about a fourth of the way through 2024, and so far this port of Resident Evil might be the only game I have played to completetion this year. I'm at the final stretch of getting my Bachelor's degree, so in the rare times I can actually sit down and play a game, it's typically something I can turn my brain off to while talking with friends. I have played the original Resident Evil games enough to be able run through them in my sleep, so I occasionally pop one in when I have a couple of hours to spare. However this particular version of RE1 has alluded me for a while, so I decided to give it a spin AND MAN, did I love this!

Beyond some of the more DS-specific additions, the minor tweaks Deadly Silence makes to the gameplay of Resident Evil probably makes it the best playing of any of the classic tank controlled entries.

You can do a 180° turn, the knife is bound to the left bumper and no longer takes up an inventory slot, you can reload mid-clip without having to go to the menu, you can switch auto-aim targets, and can SKIP DOOR ANIMATIONS AMD CUTSCENES! In terms of base gameplay, the is without a doubt the best classic RE games has ever played. It's so good that I'm legit angry that CAPCOM never did similar ports for RE2 or RE3.

The new Rebirth mode has a bunch of curveballs for returning fans like me. This includes stuff like new puzzles and remixed enemy encounters that now include multiple enemy variants in the same room, which never happened before! The only thing that isn't a straight upgrade (outside of the lower resolution and more compressed FMVs and backgrounds) is the music, which just sounds a bit to tinny to me.

It has always baffled me that CAPCOM hasn't attempted to make their classic entries more available. As cool as the remakes are, I don't believe they actually replace the originals (even if I think REmake is better than RE1), and people should be able to play them without having to resort to becoming a fucking nerd and setting up an emulator.

I know gamers think that just cause it's easy to set up that everyone could just emulate stuff, but I'm not gonna lie, if it wasn't for things like the PS1 Classics on the PS3, there would be no way my 12 year old ass would have gone through the effort of setting up EPSXE just to play RE1 back in 2010. Having a more convenient way for people to play older stuff is how new folks typically find classic games like these, and it's a real shame that older games are just left to languish on older hardware, which only really benefits folks selling this stuff on the second hand market to dorks with too much money to spend.

Rant aside, Deadly Silence is so good that it elevated a game that I only sorta liked enough to revisit occasionally, to one that I am itching to jump back into again! IT'S SO GOOD, DUDE!

Insanely dated and juvenile. Parker and Stone themselves would cringe.

... buuuuuut, you can't deny that they made a fun sandbox to screw around in. Rewards exploration and lateral thinking at every opportunity. Very playful design underneath the toilet stuff.

It's worthwhile despite itself.

I was aware of Zelda II's reputation for being an odd duck going into this, but even that did not prepare me. This is a weird game. The leveling system is really strange. How combat is initiated in the overworld is kinda goofy. There's nothing really wrong with the side scrolling action, other than it being punishingly difficult. So it's really different from the first game, which is admirable since the spirit of the first one is still kinda in there.

What really knocks this down is how punishing it all is. Dying brings you back to the shrine at the start of the game, initiating a trek through the ENTIRE overworld to get back. And boy did I die a lot. It's brutal and got so tiring. Mele combat is clunky. Come to mention it, all the actions are rather clunky. It's just not all that fun to actually play.

I commend the game for trying many new things, and I'm aware aspects of it were kind of groundbreaking at the time. But the parts here do not gel into a whole, and there are some just plain bad ideas in the mix (the aforementioned leveling and backtracking, chief among them). This is one of those, glad I experienced it, but will never revisit kind of games. Going by how Nintendo pivoted the series from here, they seemed to feel the same.

Played on NES Classic.

While I've always enjoyed the Mr. Driller series, they were never the kind of games that I would play for hours at a time. That all changed when I played Drill Land. Originally a Japan only Gamecube game released in 2002, Bandai Namco decided to localize and remaster this game in 2020 as part of its Encore series.

For those unfamiliar with how Mr. Driller plays, your goal is to drill your way to the bottom of the stage while avoiding any falling blocks from above that will crush you if you’re not careful. Your oxygen meter will also deplete over time so you need to collect air capsules to replenish it. Where this game really shows its depth is in its puzzle mechanics. When 4 or more blocks of the same color connect, they’re cleared from the board. Skillful drilling can result in massive chain reactions which lead to big point bonuses. It’s a simple, yet addictive game that is easy to learn but hard to master.

Drill Land consists of five unique gameplay modes presented as theme park attractions:
First up is Drill Land World Tour, the standard Mr. Driller gameplay mode with 6 playable characters to choose from, each having their own unique abilities. Then there’s Star Driller, which adds power-ups to the mix, ranging from screen clearing bombs to black holes that suck up everything in its path, including you if you’re not careful. Drindy Adventure is an Indiana Jones inspired mode where you must collect a certain number of golden idols before reaching the goal, all while avoiding spike traps and rolling boulders. Horror Night House has you hunting for ghosts hiding in blocks. To capture them, you first need to collect holy water and then inject the blocks containing the ghosts; otherwise, all of the ghosts on screen turn into a swarm of bats and hurt you. Last, but not least, is The Hole of Druaga, my personal favorite. This mode basically turns Mr. Driller into a dungeon crawling RPG complete with side rooms to explore, an item inventory system, enemy encounters, and boss battles. This one mode is so feature rich, it could have easily been its own game.

In addition to the story mode, there’s also two multiplayer modes that are playable for up to four players. Race mode is exactly what it sounds like; it’s a split-screen game where players race to the goal. Battle mode has players competing on the same screen as they search for hidden medals. Your controller will vibrate when you’re close to one. These modes are fun, but they’re not really games that you’d want to play for more than 20 minutes. It’s a shame that none of the main Drill Land modes are playable in multiplayer. The Hole of Druaga is really the only mode that might be considered too complex to turn into a multiplayer game, but all the other modes could have easily been playable in split-screen. The barebones multiplayer is the only blemish on an otherwise stellar game.

Drill Land is widely considered to be the best game in the series, and I totally understand why. It takes the simple gameplay formula of the arcade original and over the course of its five game modes, explores every possible way to expand and build upon that groundwork. Add to that a stylish presentation with fully voiced animated cutscenes, a catchy and diverse soundtrack, and a charming art direction and this game is the complete package.