"Remember me, and your true self as well, also that which you must become. The one who will lead us to Paradise with blood stained hands!"

I'm not a really big fan of survival horror games, or horror games in general, because I get scared easily, so I feel like I never get to fully enjoy these games and their qualities, mostly because I end up looking for guides and walkthroughs online.
Before the Silent Hill games that I played for the first time last summer, I had only played RE 2 and 3 remakes, and those were both games that i didn't like very much. Luckily,  that wasn't the case for the Silent Hill games, because I loved them. After finishing Silent Hill 2 in one day and loving it, I decided to play Silent Hill 3, which quickly became my favorite in the series, even more after playing Silent Hill 1. After one year, while watching my friend play sh2, I decided to replay sh3, and my opinion on it hasn't changed.
I think that Silent Hill 3 is the best game in the original trilogy for a different number of reasons, from the gameplay to the even more absurd horror elements and the incredible story and characters.

First of all i wanted to talk about how good all the different "levels" in this game were, they were all perfectly crafted and scary but fun to go trough, my favorite one was the hilltop center, mostly bc i really liked the change to the otherworld and also i feel like they are the most scary ones with the church, that is one of the best parts in the game with the recalls to silent hill one, the shopping mall and the subway were also good but in this replay i found them really fast to go through and didn't think much of them other than the fact that the mall is a perfect preview of what the game is going to be, then bookhaven hospital is in my opinion the least fun one because you already go through it already in sh2 so its a bit repetitive in its normal form; overall i think that every place visited is good in its own way and doesn't fail at making you feel scared thanks to the perfect sound design but also to its little eastereggs like the cutscene in the subway that always freaks me out.

The gameplay is also better than in sh2, thats because theres more types of weapons that make the gameplay more fun and engaging, also i love the ng plus weapons like the infinite flamethrower, the infinte submachinegun and my favorite one which is the beam saber. Also the costumes add to the game a lot of replayability thanks to all the different shirts and outfits that Heather can wear, even though in my opinion her original outfit is the best one bc its more iconic and particular.

I loved the cult story and how it managed to deliver an interesting and particular narrative, even though it can be considered more "common" than the one in Silent Hill 2.

My favorite characters were Heather, Douglas, and Vincent. The best one is Heather, who has probably become my favorite female character, she acts like a real person during the game by showing a wide range of emotions but also by her interactions with the world around her, and I love how she has her own unique personality, i also really liked Douglas because i think hes a really intricate charachter and i love how the game makes you hate him at the start but then not only he becomes a very important part in the plot, but he also becomes an important person to Heather, then theres Vincent which I really liked because of its contrast with claudia about their beliefs and their different view on the same religion.

The themes of the game are very delicate but at the same time very important to talk about, like unwanted pregnancy, abortion, and womanhood in general. I would love to talk more precisely about each one of them, but I think that since they are a big part of the game, I would end up spoiling something.

I can say that Silent Hill 3 is, at least in my opinion, the peak of horror gaming, and even if I don't play a lot of horror games myself, I don't think that there will ever be a game that surpasses the feeling of anxiety, terror, and also sadness that Silent Hill 3 gave me. This game is a must-play for everyone, even for the people who, like me, aren't really big fans of the horror genre.


PS:
Even though the review is finished, I wanted to share 2 of my favorite quotes from the game:
"Is every person here a mental case?"
"Monsters? They looked like monsters to you?"

Going from playing this game on the PS3 to the Series X is, well...forgive me for using the most obvious joke, but

The difference is night and day.

It took over a decade to get technology that caught up to Sonic Unleashed, which is silly to think about, but I'm not going to complain. I'm going to play this game at peak performance, nothing in the way of my judgement. Almost no load times. A perfect 60 FPS. Will this embellish my opinion on the game? Almost definitely.

The daytime stages are considered "Peak Boost Sonic" by many for a justified reason: They are actually that good. The camera work is top-notch, and the gameplay, while fairly linear, is reactionary in the most satisfying way possible. The levels are stylized after real world locations, but they don't hesitate to stretch the laws of reality to make entertaining 3D Sonic setpieces. There's an inherent charm to running down (not) The Great Wall of China or blasting through the local farmers market, but then you're swirling through corkscrew walkways or jumping across ruins with constantly moving platforms. How do normal humans commute on these paths? Who cares, it looks cool as hell! Don't take my word for it though, Sonic loves these stages so much, he can't stop running his mouth! Phrases like "WOO! Feelin' good!" are ingrained into my memory, but his enthusiasm is infectious. It's one of those little things that bring the experience together, I would sorely miss it if it were absent.

Approaching the Werehog on its own merits has brought the cataclysmic side effect of me actually enjoying it. He's a big fluffy boy with funny stretchy arms, a trait that assists him in both combat and platforming. In fact, I'd argue it leans a bit more on the latter. There's a lot of funny moves and combos to unlock, including mechanics such as guard-canceling, and you can get surprisingly creative if you don't just settle on mindlessly mashing out your basic combos. The Werehog is at its best when it's giving you jungle gym-esque obstacle courses to monkey around on. You can find some pretty nifty shortcuts if you're paying attention, too. There's a LOT of stuff to collect if you go looking for it, and you should! Exploring these stages gives you a chance to listen to the phenomenal night stage music, and soak in the moody atmosphere. The night stages are inherently longer and slower-paced, and they serve as a good supplement to the breakneck daytime stages.

Even if the locations in Unleashed are fictional, they're based off of very real locations and cultures. It honestly makes me want to travel abroad. Big Sonic Unleashed fan excited to learn that Apotos is very real. This is the one time in the series where I actually like the presence of humans. They contribute to giving each area their own little slice of culture, and their Pixar-adjacent designs mesh well with Sonic and company. Also, hats off the the entirety of Sega Sound Team. I couldn't possibly name any one person as a figurehead for a soundtrack this diverse in genres, instrumentation, and composition. "Endless Possibility" is definitely a top 3 vocal track on my personal list. Probably even top 1, if I'm being honest!

Out of all the areas though, I feel like the real showstopper is Eggmanland, and I think that's because it's not loosely based on any real world location. It's just the artists flaunting their raw talent. After hours of running through locales filled with nature and society, you're greeted by the one stage that's cold and manufactured. Aside from a menacing piano, the music primarily opts for frantic artificial synths. The stage itself is constantly straddling the line between "comically hard" and "reasonably difficult", a marathon that serves as a test of all your skills. It all culminates in what I think is one of my favorite final levels in any game, ever.

My complicated stance on Sonic Unleashed can be concisely summed up with the antithesis of Sonic: Taking it slow. I like combing the Werehog stages for all their secrets. Hell, I like doing that in the Hedgehog stages too, to an exent. I love chilling in the hub areas, chatting up the locals and watching many of them go on their own little World Adventures over the course of the story. I also never have any real issues meeting the sun/moon medal requirements. I'm thorough in the Werehog stages, and I play the extra acts that show up and nab the medals from those too. Granted, I've played through this game multiple times, so I know to collect medals in anticipation of the thresholds, and I don't hit that roadblock. With the interest of being fair about mentioning the games flaws, here's a wall of general gripes:

-Sonic's drift flat-out doesn't fucking work. Not a fun mechanic.
-Spending time doing requests for the locals is only fun if you're a freak like me and don't expect meaningful rewards. The least they could've done was give you 100-500 EXP for finishing each one.
-The Were:Hedge ratio is (naturally) leaning pretty damn far to the Werehog's side. I get that most people probably aren't going into a Sonic game expecting a 3D beat-em-up, which is where most of the ire comes from. Just because I like it doesn't mean everyone will.
-Yeah, the Werehog battle theme is absurdly overused. The most irritating part about it is the first few seconds of the theme, something you'll hear A LOT as you start and end encounters. What else can I say, aside from "I got used to it."
-The constant quick time events can be a bit much. The doorbell sound effect for succeeding at one probably drove an entire generation of canines up the wall.
-The level order is just bizarre. I think it's like that so you naturally revisit villages as the game's story progresses (and you get a chance to see how the locals react), but it's more confusing to constantly hop around areas like this.
-Hot Dog Missions are terrible. Just unashamed, unoriginal padding. God forbid you want all the cheevos in this game.

I feel like one of the rules of being a Sonic fan is that you have one game in the whole series that you can't get enough of. Well, at long last, I can say without a doubt that Sonic Unleashed is that game for me. This is the last game in the entire Sonic franchise where it feels like they actually had the time and resources to make something with scope. This series never seems to stick to one idea, but every game seems to have its fans all the same. So I'll keep dreaming of a PC port so more people will give this game a second look. After all, the possibilities are never-ending.

No other Sonic game, 2D or 3D, has kept me coming back to play it more often than Sonic Adventure 2. It exists in that rare Goldilocks zone for video games since it has both a low skill floor and a high skill ceiling. This means the game is accessible to anyone willing to learn it while still rewarding those seeking a challenge. More impressively, it achieves this balance across multiple different gameplay styles, and there's even an adorable virtual pet game thrown into the mix.

Despite this breadth of content, SA2 never feels like it's spreading itself thin. The speed, mech shooting, and treasure hunting stages all expand on the mechanics of the most successful gameplay styles from SA1 (trading the shared character-level layouts of its predecessor for more focused courses suiting the movement options of each playstyle). This is one of those games that feels satisfying just to move around in, so the fact that the levels are so tightly structured on top of that creates an a real sense of flow. Trying to achieve the A-rank point requirements for each stage gives me an adrenaline rush comparable to mastering a track in a racing sim. These stages are stylish too, thanks to a very unique art direction; even the cheesy anime OVA-style cutscenes have a cinematic flair to them, especially noticeable in the final act. The soundtrack impresses me the most with how ambitious it is: each playable character gets a different genre for their level themes tying into their overall vibe — just about every track is a banger. It’s easy to spend hours raising Chao too, the cutest virtual pets I’ve seen in a game, and they're actively supported by PC mods to this day, so you can pretend the Dreamcast is still dropping DLC for the little guys.

This game takes many risks, so it’ll always be more polarising than a by-the-books platformer, but that's also why it earns my respect.

"Your friends...
What kind of... people are they?
I wonder...
Do those people...
think of you... as a friend?"

Majoras Mask is one of my favorite games of all time, but even though I say this, my opinion on it was very different at the start. When I first played the remake on my 3DS last summer, I completely hated it. To this day, I don't really understand why I didn't like it. Maybe it was the time limit or the confusing start, or maybe even the fact that to fully enjoy the game, I had to complete all the sidequests (I don't really like to 100% games), but after giving it another try in September 2023, again on the 3DS, I realized that all of these "negative sides" were actually the best part of the game, was when Majoras Mask became one of my favorite games oat.
But since i had always heard that the n64 version was better, i decided with the new recompilation project to get all the masks and finish the game for a second time, and i can say that it was one of the best decisions i made because this playthrough helped me fully realize how much i apreciate this game, so much that i even grabbed all the fairies in the temples!
The temples are one of my favorite parts about Majoras Mask, and I think that they are some of the best in the whole series. Even though Twilight Princess has the best ones, imo, if I had to rank them, I would say that:

-Snowhead was probably my favorite one since I love how it uses the goron's mask abilities and also how it looks, which, in my opinion, is the second most creepy after Stone Tower. The OST also sets a perfect tone for how it looks and feels while playing.

-my second favorite is the Stone Tower temple, the ost is amazing, i love how it reverses when the temple is turned around. Also, it's amazing how it combines all the things you learned in the previous temples in this sort of final test before the fight with the skull kid.

-Great bay temple was also amazing but kind of confusing in my opinion. I loved how the zora abilities were used since it was my favorite mask in the game.

-Woodfall temple was also very good for a first dungeon, I loved its ost but unfortunately, it is overshadowed by how good the others are.
Another thing that i love about Majoras Masks are the masks, they are all so cool, and i love all the different uses they have. My favorites are probably the zora mask, the bremen mask, the bunny hat, and the captain's mask. The ost was amazing, and it compliments the game's atmosphere and vibe so well. My favorite tracks were the Astral Observatory, the Song of Healing, and the Termina Field.
The most particular thing for me is that this game isn't afraid of talking about more mature themes like death, loss, grief, and most of all, the concept of masking your true identity, and I like how these themes are not forced into the game but instead are represented in a very natural way through its characters and their quests.
Majoras Mask is, in my opinion, one of the best games of all time, and even if its gameplay loop and mechanics may not be liked by everyone, I think that it's one of those games that needs to be played at least once in their lives since there will never be something like it again.




EDIT:i forgot to say that destroying Majora's with the fierce deity mask was one of the best feelings i've ever had while playing a videogame, imo getting all the masks is worth just for that alone.

I had this game at a 9/10 for the longest time, and now on this replay I realize that that was just pure foolishness. I've played this game so many times throughout my childhood and enjoyed the hell out of it, the level design is so fresh and Mario's moveset, while simplified from 64 and Sunshine, fits the game so perfectly and still allows for some cool tricks once you get used to it. The freedom of choice that the expanding comet observatory gives you in choosing a level is done masterfully, having tons of incredibly well designed galaxies and stars to choose from and being able to ignore stars or galaxies you don't like is simply genius game design and something that should be a staple in these types of games. The presentation of the game is also phenomonal, having an incredible sense of atmosphere in nearly every level, that is only backed by the fantastic visuals (that still hold up really well for a game from 2007) and the majestic orchestral soundtrack that I could never imagine this game without. And finally, there's the story which is something that has never been done this well in a Mario game nor do I think it will be again. The plot is the same basic setup, Bowser kidnaps Peach and Mario has to go on a long journey to save her only this time the journey is to the center of the universe and is therefore much more cinematic. As it plays out you become attached to the key character of Rosalina, a character shrouded in mystery that slowly becomes unveiled through her backstory told in the storybook in the library, as well as becoming endeared to the lumas and how sweet and selfless they are and just how much the Comet Observatory feels like a home, not just to Rosalina and them, but to you, the player. The final level and all of its accompanying cinematic cutscenes in this game are just done so right as well, the fight with Bowser is one of epic proportions and you really feel his power in this game which is unlike most other Mario games, and the scenes showing the aftermath of it and the lumas sacrificing themselves en masse to stop the universe from imploding in on itself is such a powerful and moving scene not just for a Mario game, but for any video game I've ever played. From the moment it began to when the credits roll Mario Galaxy tells a fantastical and cinematic story. Despite whether I prefer it or not, Super Mario Galaxy is a masterpiece in the medium of video games and one that deserves the universal praise and respect it gets.