Reviewed on: PlayStation 5 (PS4 HD Collection ver.)
Total play time: 18 Hours

When I played the original Devil May Cry around two years ago, I didn't necessarily enjoy my time with it, but I had great respect for it, as it birthed the entire Character Action genre.

Now, with Devil May Cry 3, I can say that this is, without a doubt, the best 'pure' character action game I have ever played. It features a robust, yet challenging combat system that consistently kept me on my toes throughout my playthrough, with tons of enemy variety and excellent boss battles to boot.

While the narrative takes somewhat of a back seat, I wouldn't consider that a bad thing. It does a good enough job of getting you from one incredible setpiece to the next, and the lack of complex storytelling is made up for by the complexity of the gameplay.

The characters themselves, however, are absolutely fantastic, oozing with personality and have some genuinely emotional moments throughout the game.
The way Dante and Virgil play off of each other's personalities has to be one of my favourite dynamics in gaming. Even the side characters, from Lady to Jester, everyone gets their own time to shine throughout the campaign.

The art direction is spectacular, blending gothic architecture and sci-fi aesthetics effortlessly. Its seriously difficult to believe this is a PS2 title because it looks so fantastic for its time.

So, after all this gushing praise, why 4.5 stars instead of 5?

....

The penultimate boss is easily the worst boss I have ever had the displeasure of fighting, to the point where I believe it is a stain on an otherwise perfect game. It is so incredibly frustrating, as the other bosses in the game rank among my favourite bosses ever. Really disappointing stuff.

Overall, this is fantastic, and you should absolutely play it (Just cheese your way through that one boss fight, and you'll be fine).

Reviewed on: PlayStation 2
Total play time: 12 Hours

Silent Hill 2 is a surreal and sickening experience, with some of the finest storytelling the gaming medium has to offer. There are layers upon layers of meaningful subtext and imagery, from subtle character design elements to reoccurring symbolism and narrative themes including guilt, domestic violence and sexual frustration.

There are things in this game that look like they simply should not exist. One of the greatest aspects of the enemy designs is that you can never quite tell what the hell you're looking at. Without going into much detail in order to avoid spoilers, I stumbled across a room with an enemy that had one of the most abstract yet disgusting designs I had ever seen. In addition to this, the walls in the room appeared to be made of skin, with mechanical pistons moving in and out of the walls. It was a truly strange sight that I still can't quite comprehend.

On top of this, the sound design adds another layer of terror to an already unsettling experience. You feel like you're being watched continuously, with strange growls and screams that pop up out of nowhere, voices that belong to nothing yet you feel like you're in danger regardless.

This is without a doubt one of the greatest pieces of horror fiction ever created, able to stand toe-to-toe with masterpieces such as Stephen King's 'The Shining' and Junji Ito's 'Uzumaki'.