I am a big fan of the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, and having this mentality when it comes to making anything is usually the best to have, but at the same time, sometimes the product in question, like a sequel to a popular video game, needs to have a little kick in the ass, or one or two changes here or there, to really make it feel justified in its existence. This can directly be applied to Final Fight 2, which in all aspects was still a good game, and a decent follow-up to the original game, but it introduced pretty much nothing to change up the gameplay from the original game, which could be good for those that loved the original game to death, but for those that didn’t, it wouldn’t give them much of a reason to seek that, or any of the other FF games, out. But hey, the game still sold pretty well, so it was naturally gonna get a follow-up regardless, and we would get that follow-up just two years later with Final Fight 3.

I was actually pretty excited to come to this game, cause it has been quite a bit now since I last played one of these games, and I was curious to see how this one would turn out. I didn’t think it was necessarily gonna be too special, but I have been in a big beat-’em-up mood lately, and I was curious to see if they were actually gonna do more with this rather than just being “another Final Fight again”. So, I played through the thing, and as it turns out, it is just another Final Fight again!......... but only kinda. It does feel like somewhat of a proper follow-up to the previous games, since this one does actually offer some new additions compared to the previous game, but most of it is still your typical Final Fight beat-’em-up action, which is all good for me, yet it could be tiring for others.

The story is fairly straightforward, where after the defeat of the Mad Gear Gang in the previous game, the streets of Metro City have grown rampant with crime groups terrorizing the place, with the new Skull Cross Gang taking over as the dominant gang of the city, leading to a large riot being started in the prospect of taking over said city, so it is up to Mike Haggar and Guy, along with newcomers Lucia and Dean, to set out to defeat this new gang once and for all, and to save Metro City once again. Once again, it is a pretty straightforward story, one that we have seen plenty of times in beat-’em-up games, and like with most beat-’em-ups, you don’t need that complex of a plot to go out and start kicking ass all over again, so it is fine by me.

The graphics are good, looking almost identical to that from the previous two games, yet having just enough differences when it comes to the character sprites that you can at least tell something has changed….. barely, the music is also good, having plenty of decent tracks throughout, but nothing that is gonna get me raving and bobbing my head like the tracks you would hear from Streets of Rage 3 (random example, but it works, cause beat-’em-up), and the gameplay/control is pretty much what you think it is if you have played any of the previous Final Fight games, with there being some new additions sprinkled in to spice up your Final Fighting, but it is pretty much another Tuesday for fanatics of the genre.

The game is your typical beat-’em-up romp, where you take control of one of four characters, but if you know me at this point, you already know that I am gonna play as Mike Haggar, while refusing to play as anybody else for even a fraction of a second, go through six different levels through many different locations throughout Metro City, beat down a seemingly endless horde of thugs from the Skull Cross Gang using a plethora of moves at your disposal, gather plenty of weapons to help lay the smackdown on your foes while also gathering plenty of food and point items to assist you along the way, and take on plenty of big, beefy bosses that are relatively easy to defeat, just as long as you don’t mind the giant health bars that a lot of them have. You know the drill, ya punch people, they die, and you can have even more fun punching said people with a buddy, which is all well and good in my book, even if I wouldn’t be so quick to try to get anyone to play this with me, especially if they have already played any of the other Final Fights.

New to the series in this game is that now, instead of having the basic movesets that we have had, we now have additional moves that you can pull off while facing opponents, such as a dash manuver, a charging attack for that dash, throwing attacks, and unique techniques that can be performed for specific characters. This doesn’t change up the gameplay too much from what you are used to, but it is enough to make this game feel like the series is progressing forward, giving the player more to work with and making for a much more fun and versatile experience, so I can definitely appreciate that. Also new in this game is the addition of Super Moves, which pretty much work exactly how they would in a Street Fighter game: you go around, beat dudes up, and when it is charged, you enter a button combination and use it to absolutely ANNIHILATE an opponent. I didn’t really use these all too often, cause the difficulty wasn’t extreme enough to the point where I felt it was a necessity, but it did come in handy against plenty of boss fights, so it is definitely a much welcomed edition.

Now, for this next new feature, I have to ask those Final Fight 3 experts a question real quick….. am I a fucking idiot? Cause I didn’t notice this shit at all when I was playing the game. Apparently, according to what I have read online, there are multiple pathways that you can take in the game, to reach new areas and potentially hidden goodies, but I for the life of me didn’t see that at all in the main game. Yeah, I know there are hidden bonus stages that you can find in order to get more points, but most of the game seems like a clear straight shot from beginning to end, just like with the first two games, so either these branching paths are really well hidden, or I am just incredibly stupid. I will let you all in the comment section decide for yourself why it is the latter option rather than the former.

With all that out of the way though, most of the game is still your basic beat-’em-up through and through at the end of the day, meaning there isn’t really that much here for you to be excited about or want to try out if you weren’t too big into the previous two games. Yeah, the new moves and branching paths do make the game more fun and replayable, but in an era were there were already so many different beat-’em-ups out there, this one doesn’t do anything to make itself stand out from the crowd other than being “another Final Fight”, which is fine for me, but it probably wouldn’t be for others. Also, in terms of actual problems with the game, the dialogue that shows up in the cutscenes in this game is TERRIBLE, holy shit! Like, I am well aware that plenty of games back in the day had mistranslations up the whazoo, which is fine, but I don’t remember this ever being an issue for Final Fight before, yet it is plain as day here. Seriously, it even goes as far as being Mega Man and SNK levels of bad, it is hilarious. Look up the cutscenes at some point later, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.

Overall, despite its lack of major change and some horrible translations for the dialogue, Final Fight 3 is still a decent beat-’em-up and entry in this series all around, with plenty of stages to go through with a buddy, while also not feeling like they last forever (cough, Final Fight 2, cough), plenty of new moves to try out, and just that overall energy and sense of fun that these games haven’t failed to deliver on just yet. I would recommend it for those who were big fans of the previous two games, as well as those who are big beat-’em-up fans in general, because while it isn’t too revolutionary or unique, it can still provide a decent hour of entertainment, especially with a buddy along for the ride. After all that though, I’m just wondering what the next game in the series is gonna- AAAAAAAND it’s a fighting game, GODDAMMIT, CAPCOM! Look, I get it, the games take place in the Street Fighter universe, so it makes sense, but not everything needs to be a fighting game! There’s only so much punching and kicking and killing one can do before they grow completely numb to it, I swear….

Game #597

Dark souls. A game with Full of soul but with a little bit of daring hollowness inside it

In my journey to play souls titles, I played dark souls 3 first but didn't finish, then played bloodborne, then demons souls and now this. Dark souls.

Just like demon's souls, I find this game still worth experiencing. It doesn't do everything great unfortunately but one thing it does great, it really does GREAT.

You see, souls titles in it's core is just a cliche fantasy game with lots of monsters to fight something like castlevania, but what makes it carry to next point, the castlevania symphony of the night if you will... The World that is.

There are tons of 2d metroidvania's in the gaming, but 3d ones are hecking rare. But this game, with it's connected world, actually managed to give me that feeling again. The cohesive world that expands and connects with every step of the way. Especially it's first half with you somehow be able to go wherever you want from the world and not just that come back to it again and again and again... It's so good that in fact that, it's gets twice more disappointing the moment it stops doing that.

Yeah I am talking about the last 1/3 of the game unfortunately.

Before the whole franchise became just a boss tier list titles, it cared about it's world before the most and this game is the result of that idea. But like I said there are soooo many shortcomings as well.

First 1/3 of the game is about ringing the bells but it's so open that you can go wherever you wanted and it's the best part of it and I can easily give 5/5 for it. For example myself went to new londo ruins first, get f####, return to hub, find the right way, ring the first bell, don't know where to go next, go down and find out catacombs, go there and arrive tomb of the giants, realize there is no shortcuts back to hub, get stuck, get f####, get raped, finally manage to return back to hub with barely be able to breath, look up a guide, learn the right way, go to more boring version of swamp, ring the second bell

Second 1/3 is about getting the lord vessel and there are small bumps that takes it down to 4/5 but still enjoyable, go to the boring ass forest, barely stay alive from the boss and get the ring, go to awesome fortress and get killed to traps bazillion amounts of times, finally go to anor londo, then hidden painting and then back to anor londo and... Other than the excellent boss fights, enemy reusage starts to show itself, anyway game is still great and we get the lord vessel.

Then last 1/3 happens and game becomes a mess. You need to get to 4 zones with gimmicks, be it lava, curse, darkness etc. While this in itself not a bad thing, where it gets ridiculous is there is almost no shortcut or almost no connectedness between them. Game gets linear as it gets and boss runs gets longer as it gets, also enemy variety gets lower as it gets.


I am gonna be honest even tho late bosses are mostly easy, variety and boss runs to them really soured me from the experience and resulted me almost leaving the game. I mean I finished it but for what cost?

You see, I always find souls titles endgame areas to be quite lacking and dark souls is no exception. But unfortunately dark souls is much much worse for it. Because it breaks it's consistency of level design. And the world feels more the worse because of it

At least dlc is cool tho?... I finished the dlc as well(but I find out I miss kalameet dragon boss... Dang it) and it was cool.

Unfortunately it reuses the bland forest area in the first zone, but the moment you finish that rest is great. It's especially good when it comes to level design with you somehow find yourself at the bonfire every single time with shortcuts just like in the main game. But one thing almost ruined everything for me and that is, it's last boss Manus.

You see, I made a full on light equipped fast rolling stamina heavy character, say glass cannon dps if you will. But Manus is like a dark souls 3 boss(also it's the first one that with the trend that unending combos). He is fast, super aggressive and just Does. Not. Stop.

It's the first time in the entire game I felt hopeless. I managed to beat him after god know how many tries but felt nothing but fatigue(also my new job internship stress adds to it tenfold). Unfortunately because of it I am mixed when it comes to the dlc but at least it's still worth it just for the high quality areas you traverse

So yeah this was dark souls. Quite the polarizing game for me with every step gets best to worse. It's a game where I can't find it's awesome connected world anywhere else, but never had that much frustrating moments in any game. So because of that I give to base game 3 stars, but with the dlc it goes up to 4 for me

So what can I say... one can only wish a better second half when it comes to consistency because even it's older cousin demon's souls shows it's value more and more to me.

Angustiante e esquisito.

Tudo parece fora de lugar nesse mundo, gritos na rua, estruturas impossíveis, uma praga consciente e costumes bizarros e inflexíveis. É com essa ambientação que é criado uma das melhores experiências opressivas que eu já presenciei em vídeo game.

De bandidos e maníacos até inocentes infectados, tudo joga contra você, dados são jogados brincando com a vida aqueles que você se importa e dependendo da sua atenção no momento ou da sua administração de recursos não existe nada que você possa fazer. E se não bastasse, o próprio tempo parece se manifestar ativamente contra você, forçando os dias passarem mais rápido e tirando completamente qualquer planinho raso e minúsculo que você tenha naquele dia.

Eu gosto de vídeo game, jogos, brinquedos digitais e utilizo eles como brincava com meus antigos brinquedos. Desmontando, batendo, jogando, fazendo roleplay, desdobrando o máximo que posso pra satisfazer minha curiosidade e gerar diversão. Pathologic 2 não quer isso, é uma peça muito bem regrada e dirigida, nos meus primeiros dias (in game) eu menosprezei essa ideia e paguei caro. Esse jogo habilmente emula bem o que é um trabalho, seja de ator, seja de médico. Nenhum trabalho que se preze tolera ineficiência. Você é punido por atrapalhar que a peça se desdobre como foi pretendida, você é punido por qualquer gracinha que você queira fazer. "3 bandidos, eu consigo, vou matar" morto e punido. "Vou pular dessa altura pra cortar caminho" morto e devidamente punido. "Vou invadir uma casa sem recurso pra me defender porque eu sou o fodão" 5 pessoas em você, morto e punido.

Metade do meu HP limitado, escassez de recursos e racionalização de alimentos é algo que eu precisei superar durante toda minha gameplay puramente pela arrogância de querer jogar o jogo como se fosse mais um, isto, somado ao ambiente opressivo e os saves muito bem localizados para que você sinta seu progresso sendo desperdiçado não importa o quanto você salve torna o jogo interessante o suficiente. Situações em que você está extremamente confiante e sua arma trava, situações que você está minimamente distraído e a praga aparece na tua frente... É interessante pensar nesse jogo na perspectiva da praga realmente ter consciência, ela brinca com você, ela ativamente parece perceber o mínimo desleixo pra jogar uma nuvem diretamente me cima de você. É um simulador de Osasco depois das 22:00.

Uma das coisas fundamentais desse jogo e que mais te envolvem é a administração de tempo. Todos os dias a cada lugar que você vai você é colocado em uma situação de resolver pequenos quebra cabeças pra proteger quem você gosta. "Como eu vou chegar lá com só isso de comida?" "Se eu farmar planta agora, será que dá tempo de curar o Abutre?" são pensamentos comuns que passaram em diversos momentos diferentes da minha gameplay. Não existe rota que te recompense mais, é tudo jogado ao acaso. Você pode dar o seu melhor e dar o azar daqueles que você tentou proteger acabarem falecendo. Eu confesso que tive mais sorte do que juízo em diversos pontos da minha playthrough, deixei de dar a devida atenção à alguns que no final eu me importava muito e mesmo assim eles sobreviveram. A morte joga dados e você provavelmente vai ser injustiçado.

Eu amei o jogo e não tenho reclamações, tudo que eu deixei de sentir eu sinto que é culpa minha, talvez não culpa, mas coisas que funcionam diferente em mim, tal qual o significado de morte. Mesmo sendo limitado e deixando minha gameplay mais miserável eu não me frustrava, não chegava nem próximo de me irritar ou de pensar, como o Mark Sugere, em desistir. Quando é me oferecido o acordo de tirar as limitações eu não pensei duas vezes em recusar, não é tentador, eu não vejo a morte em videogame como algo vergonhoso, frustrante ou que me incomode. É só algo que tá ali e que é minha culpa na maioria dos casos. Eu senti falta de algum motivo pra preservar a Estirpe além do fato deles serem criaturas mágicas e sobrenaturais, sinceramente, sinto que faltou alguma articulação ou linhas de diálogos que me convençam que eles e os seus costumes valem mais do que tirar as amarras de uma cidade que precisa evoluir e se tornar mais do que eles são, no momento. Eu nem cogitei em momento algum ficar do lado da estirpe, tive pena deles, tive dó, mas só. A decisão já havia sido tomada sem pestanejar.

Enjoei de escrever, mas esse aí são meus sentimentos para com o jogo, isso não é uma review e eu tô escrevendo no completo foda-se, deve ter erros de escrita entre outras coisas, mas senti vontade de falar o que senti com esse jogo.

Talk about a fall off. Definitely a decline in quality on all fronts hidden behind wack ass Mario mini games and an unnecessary hub world that only exists so they could use chao. More of the same shitty bottomless pits and hail mary level design. Every zone after the first 2 are awful. Every boss sucks, special stages suck, couldn't fight the true final boss cuz it wouldn't work, but it probably sucks. The team shit exists. I didn't use anyone as partner besides Tails, his abilities were okay. I'd rather just have my air dash, as Sonic. Biggest issue is all the sauce they added in 2, they just eviscerated lol, like all of it. Pretty funny. I see why we never got another after this, but it's unfortunate cuz 2 was really on the right track.

More Sonic Advance, but better. Although there's a lot more hail Mary bottomless pits in this one, which I wasn't a fan of, and I didn't like any of the bosses, aside from the last one. Special stages are way better here as well, actually playable, but I did just cheat again, cuz I wasn't about to playthrough and get emeralds with all characters. Above all else though, this game has more sauce, sprite work is great as always, the cutscenes were cool too. I also like the way they did end goals, and you really feel the speed in this one, especially with the afterimages. Trick system is dope too, although I didn't realize it existed until the last zone lol. Pretty solid game, really enjoying running through these.

Wow. The only enjoyable thing about this game is the dismemberment, and even that is very basic, I also like the visuals. Otherwise, this game blows. The weapons aren't interesting at all, and enemies are bullet sponges that do way too much damage. Bosses are terrible, some of the worst boomer shooter bosses I've experienced. Levels are confusing even with a map due to half the time you can't tell what is or isn't interactable, and you're constantly fighting too many enemies in too small of rooms or hallways. There's a few instant death things that without prior knowledge you'd have no clue about, and this is a classic boomy shooty so unless you were saving get ready to start the whole level over. The locations were all bland and unmemorable, just like the games ost. Game is also very short for its price, although I got it on sale, thank god. Terrible game, terrible experience. I wouldn't recommend unless for some reason this is the last fps on Earth you need to play, even then just replay one of your favs. Fuck this game.