Ok I've beaten the 2 games in like 30 minutes. And after playing them back to back, this is just the first one but improved on every level. Better levels, level mechanics, gameplay mechanics, a better story, and unusally high quality of music for a 10 minute browser game. A lot of fun.

Score: 3.2/5
Letter Grade: B-

I am very pleasantly surprised by this. I didn't even know it existed until like 10 minutes ago, and that's honestly probably how long it takes to beat it. Yes this is a very very very very short browser game, but the gameplay mechanic of drawing to kill the ghosts is a really smart and fun. The game gets more challenging enough that it gets your heart racing a bit. Also love the art-style and the music was good. Maybe the best web browser game ever? Idk, I'll have to play the sequel to see.

Score: 3.1/5
Letter Grade: B-

This was one of those playthroughs you never wish you did. I still think of Bioshock as a masterpiece, however It has dropped down significantly for me on my favorite games list. From 8 all time to about 19. I'm also glad I played it at the same time, since I now have a better more accurate score. I just kinda wish it stayed in my mind as it originally was.

Moving on, besides it not being as great as I originally believed, the game is still fantastic. The Gameplay is tons of fun, whether it's the gunplay, the RPG mechanics you can toy with, Weapon Upgrades, Hacking, Saving the Littler sisters, and my personal favorite, the scavenging. I seriously cannot get enough of scavenging in video games. Just being able to look into every nook and cranny, in which the devs reward the player with loot, it's so fun and addicting. I love all the secrets hidden throughout the areas, and the things you find are pretty much always useful and rewarding. In terms of Gunplay, the second Bioshock does it better, but it's still good here, and honestly much better than Infinite. Infinite is the soul reason I even replayed this, I was so disappointed with Infinite, I just felt that I had to come back and replay it. It's better in Infinite in absolutely every way, except for maybe art style. Adam, that's what was the biggest thing missing in Infinite, at least to me. The upgrades you give your character were so crucial to the game, that its removal only hurt Infinite. The Plasmids to me were also much better in the first Bioshock. I love how they all work and interact with the world. All around, the gameplay is some of the best and most unique you'll find in the FPS Genre.

Now, the areas you explore are what I believe to still be the best in the Bioshock series. Not just in their look or how memorable they are, but also in their designs. I love how you can just go anywhere, pretty much from the moment you enter the area. So many secrets that are easy to miss, it makes it that much more exciting when you find one. They all look great, and even though Bioshock 2 had bigger areas that I loved, I kinda preferred the more tight smaller areas that had a lot of secrets crammed into them in Bioshock 1.

The areas weren't just well designed and looked nice, the atmosphere the devs created is so incredible, that no other game feels quite like Rapture does. It's one my personal places to return to in the medium of gaming. The atmosphere is thick, and at many times terrifying. It's something I struggle to describe, but just know that it's phenomenal.

Now the main reason I prefer this game over Bioshock 2. The original Bioshock's narrative/plot, is something that cannot be told in any other medium. I cannot believe how good it is, and that twist is honestly one of the best in anything, in a movie, in a book, and especially in a game. Andrew Ryan is one of the best, most vicious villains you'll ever have the pleasure of meeting, but Frank Fontaine is arguably more horrible, he's just a lot less interesting. Andrew created a City, a city that was impossible to build. Andrew Ryan made himself into a God like figure, he removed government and God out of his society, and with no real laws to go off of besides his own demented mind, the society collapsed as they seemed to lose their moral code and sanity, along with Andrew Ryan himself, even he ever had any to begin with. It's something so great to see play out, and the journey to get to him is incredibly memorable and fun.

However, I will say the game does fall off just a little bit after you deal with Andrew Ryan, and honestly takes much longer to finish than it should've. Also, on this playthrough at least, getting to Andrew Ryan felt really quick, and a little rushed. Now it's no doubt worth it once you get to him, but I just kinda wish the game took longer to get to Andrew, but took longer to get to Fontaine. Another complaint, not about the plot, but the game did have a bit of trouble running on the 360, so I experienced a bit of bugs. I'll just play it on a more powerful system next time.

After all of that, this is to no ones surprise one of the greatest games the gaming medium has ever produced, and it's following sequel continued the streak, only for the original director of this game decided to make a mess with Infinite. I know I shit on Infinite a lot, but it is very good, just not a masterpiece like this game or Bioshock 2. Anyways, if you like videogames just play it. Great Gameplay all around, A story unlike any other, incredible moments, so many secrets, an unbelievable atmosphere, and a setting that will freak you out, but one you'll only want to keep coming back to.

Score: 4.6/5
Letter Grade: A+

This was a slog to get through. Very difficult, at least for me. That doesn't make it bad, just something to keep in mind. Anyway, anything Retro Studios touches seems to turn into Gold. Thank God they were given the DKC series, because I can't imagine any other Studio having enough love and respect for the series, as well as talent to take on the daunting task to bring back such a beloved and revered series. Props to them, and props to Nintendo for having faith and trust in them to do it.

For starters before I say anything else, I want to get the worst out of the way. I know I just gave a ton of props to Retro Studios, but the game could've been perfect had the game not had it's decently big flaws. To me, the game peaks to early, mainly in the first 3-4 worlds. Also, some of the places you visit don't feel like DKC at all, especially whatever that factory World was, it felt so out of place. Something else that bothered me a bit, was how even the studio modernized the DKC series and did a great job, in many ways, the game felt a bit stuck in the past. Examples for what made me feel this way include, Hit detection is still a problem, checkpoints can be horrible, Boss Fights have are long and slow yet they have no checkpoints, Boss Fights also don't allow you to get your partner back which DKC2 did, Platforming with the sideways doesn't feel that good, and they still use the same plot of "DK loses his bananas" trope. These brought down the game from what I originally thought it to be, and It's just disappointing to me, knowing that all the good this game has, DKC Returns could've been the pinnacle of the series.

Alright, now the good. Let's start with the Levels and their designs. As I said, I believe the levels peaked to high in the earlier levels, but all the levels were fun and well designed. I don't feel the levels were as well Designed as DKC 2, Tropical Freeze, or even the original DKC, but that can be said for many games, and DKC Returns has stellar design in it's own right. I prefer the early level aesthetic, I loved the Pirates stuff. Anyway, the levels were fun and creative, and full of secrets. I do feel DKC2 did the secret mini games in the levels better, but they still did a good job.

The gameplay throughout the levels, though I don't like the Wii controllers on its side, I do think it was near perfect. I do wish they did a better job on the Rocket levels, I think those could've been the most fun in the game. Platforming was a little floaty, but felt nice and fun. Playing with Diddy Kong on your back was fun, but I'm not a fan of not being able to play as Diddy in single player. They make him into basically a power up, and you lose him to easily due to the difficulty. Also, the new mechanics with the Wii controller were ok, blowing on fire, pounding on the ground, etc, it doesn't feel very good to shake the Wii remote. I do think the gameplay was fun, just a few misses.

The Music was great, not as great as the SNES games in my opinion, but David Wise was on it, so it's pretty much guaranteed to be near perfect. If anyone else helped then they did a great job as well. I felt the music set a good atmosphere and was faithful to the DKC series. Nearly perfect job as usual.

The game looked fantastic. I loved the art style and the animations were unreal. It's seriously impressive what they were able to do in making the animations look so great. I do feel DK looked a bit weird in the Cutscenes, but it's fine, he's always looked a little weird. I also loved the look of the world maps, such great details in the environments. Also phenomenal details in all the levels. Can't say enough, it continues the streak of the DKC games looking fantastic.

I mentioned it already, but I do wish the plot was just a little more interesting than the "DK loses his bananas" trope. The story was great, as the adventure you go on is pretty awesome and full of memorable moments. However I do wish DK had some more serious motivation. It's whatever though, no one plays these games for the plot.

Alright, I have my complaints with the game, some major some minor. Complaints the unfortunately bring the game down for me. However, the score is still high. That should tell you, that even with it's flaws, it's a must play for anyone who likes to play videogames, and a must have for Wii owners. The Music, The Adventure, The Levels, The Art Style, The Platforming, it all culminates into a great game, and an impossible continuation of the DKC series. I hope everyday that we'll get a new DK game, one for just himself. These are some of my favorite games, and I loved playing DKC Returns. As I already said, if you like DKC games and/or video games in general, play this game.

Score: 4.5/5
Letter Grade: A

This shit was so damn sad. Beautiful yes, but sad. Maybe the all around most emotional and sad game I've ever played. There may be games with sadder moments, but this all throughout is pretty emotional.

Anyways, let's get on with the actual game. The gameplay wasn't anything to write home about, but the point isn't to blow you away with the gameplay, it's to tell an emotional narrative in which you solve puzzles and control multiple characters stories. It would be cool if the gameplay was more intuitive, I felt there was a bit to many cutscenes, but what there was I had fun.

Now as I mentioned before, the story is so damn sad. Spoiler, your wife dies and you become paralyzed. You get in a car crash and she dies and you don't. Now that should've been the saddest thing but the other characters also have really sad Memories that the player collects. The saddest character to me was "The Best Friend" story. She was in love with the protagonist since she was litte, but another girl (your wife) had him, and all she could do was watch as the love of her life married and fell for someone else. It was just so damn sad to unfold. The old man lost his wife, the kid has no friends, and the shotgun guy lost his dad, everyone's life is full of sadness, but there is a lot of romance in their stories, a lot of beauty. I also really liked the ending, I thought it was bittersweet, nice but also sad, but the ending the protagonist would've wanted.

Speaking of Beauty, the game looks pretty great. I thought it looked beautiful, and even if the characters look a bit weird without their eyes, but I thought it was nice and unique. The game has this water colored, almost blurred at times look, as if every pixel was brushed over. The characters were also voiced very well, even if they are just making gestures and noises. Very well done art style.

Another thing they did great was the Music. It just created a great atmosphere, and sounded really nice. It amplified the beauty and emotion of the games best moments, and I thought the guy who did it did a great job.

Now I will say there is something a bit wrong with the game. It's the fact that the main character is the worst driver in the history of anyone who ever lived, in fiction or in real life. Why the fuck does he feel the need to swerve? Why when he swerves does he keep accelerating? He causes the crash so many times, and in the end, one of them has to die. The game makes it seem like it's not anyone's fault, but it was just going to happen regardless. He straight up just kills his wife and has so much time to stop before whatever in front of him can be any danger to him. It made me laugh so many times, was just like, why the fuck does he freak the fuck out so bad?

Anyway, besides the hilariously bad driving, I really liked this game. It's really really really short, like maybe 2 hours at most, 2 and a half if you want to collect everything, but that's what I wanted from this game. Something nice and short. It's a memorable story with memorable characters and moments. Fun puzzles, a great colorful and detailed art style, and great soundtrack. If you want a nice, short, and emotional game to play, I'd recommend "Last Day of June".

Score: 3.6/5
Letter Grade: B

Well, the title is pretty on the nose. This was indeed a short hike. I'm actually glad it was so short, it was just a nice and calm game to play in the middle of some bigger stuff.

A Short Hike has been a pretty obvious inspiration for many independent games I've seen in the last few years. I can't describe in what ways, but so many things seem so similar to this game.

In terms of the world you explore, though it is small, it's also big. It's easy to traverse but it also has a lot of stuff to do in it. Playing games, racing, helping the NPCs with quests, finding treasure, fishing, etc. The way you traverse is also just fantastic, gliding, climbing, running fast, it all feels really good, and gets even better with the Golden Feathers.

The Golden Feathers are the main collectable, and I thought the devs did a great job with how the player obtains them and fines them. Some you can buy, but a lot are spread out throughout the world for the player to find, giving the player even more of an incentive to explore. It makes the gameplay smoother and the game even more satisfying.

The music was very subtle. It was great, quite, and fit the atmosphere. I also liked how they sometimes just didn't have any music, and let the world speak on its own. Kinda reminds me of BOTW music. Great stuff.

The Art-Style is nostalgic and charming. It reminds me of the DS games I grew up with, and has a lot of colors that all mesh well. I do feel at times it may be a little too pixelated, but for the most part it was really nice.

The game is lacking a bit in narrative, but the story of the adventure you have is really charming. That's pretty much the whole game, just a big charm fest. Clair is a really good protagonist who you see grow as a person, and the characters she interacts with are also nice. But the main thing is the adventure, and I loved it.

Not many complaints, I do hope we get a longer sequel or something, or maybe it's best this is a one off thing, maybe that would make it more special somehow. I thought the camera was quirky at times, I wish there was a map, and I do wish the Dialogue and narrative were both more compelling, but seriously, I don't have many complaints.

I think that this is a game that anyone can play and everyone should try. It's not a big enough world so it's hard to get lost, it has great music, loveable characters, a charming art-style, the short length, and some smooth gameplay. If you want to play a great short game, or just a great game in general, I'd recommend "A Short Hike".

Score: 4.1/5
Letter Grade: A-

When people talk about what the most "Important" or, "Influential" game of all time is, to me, I feel nothing compares to the original Super Mario. After the game crash in 83, Mario was the game that brought back the love people had lost for games. My rating of this game won't be influenced by it's impact, though I thought I should mention it anyway.

Design wise, I'm not sure how they got so much right on their first go. The levels are fun, intelligent, great to look at, and have a lot of challange. My favorite levels were probably just the first world, as they are pretty much perfect, though I also really love the look of World 3's levels. Some levels were too challenging to the point of it felt like BS. When I say "some", I really just mean 8-2, that shit was dumb. Other than that, very little complaints.

I remember when I started to look at Mario games a bit differently, where I started to think about why Mario was jumping. It sounds dumb but I'll try to explain. I watched videogamedunky's video on "Super Mario Bros. Wonder", and something he said changed my perspective a bit. He said "A lot of people confuse the plot of Mario with it's stroy. The Plot of Mario is Bowser Kidnaps Peach, the Story is the Journey you take to get to Bowser". For some reason, I never saw it that way, I only saw the platforms as something to jump on, but never considered why Mario was doing it in the first place. When you start thinking of the gameplay apart of the narrative itself, I began to see Mario as more of an Adventure than just a game where I jump because it's fun. It's sounds dumb and it probably is, but idk, it made me appreciete the great story Nintendo tells, not by dialouge, but by the gameplay and levels themselves.

Moving on, the OST for this game is legendary. It only has like 4 main songs, but they all work so well, and set such a great atmosphere. My favorite is probably the Cave theme. It's just so eerie, and it makes the expericence that much more immersive to me. The main theme is also legendary, and just a great tune. The Castle and Water themes are also great as well.

Gotta mention real quick how good I think the Pixel art is. It has a "Dark Fantasy" look to it that I hadn't seen in any other Mario. It has a much more midevil feel to it, and I really liked it.

I mentioned it before, but the diffculty can be a very aggrevating. Usually it's fine, but in the later levels it feels really challanging. I will say that Mario's jump deffinitely gets way better as the series went on, and though it's alright here, Mario's jump can be a little unpredictable. Sometimes he just goes to high up when you wanted him to have a smaller arc on his leap. It's usually fine, but the problem came up more often then I wanted it to. I do think that it was a bad choice to have Mario go small after one hit even if he had a fire flower, and thought it was also dumb he didn't get the flower power if he was small. I also hate that you can't go back to where you just left, something they didn't fix in the Mario Allstars remake for some reason. Just some dumb stuff that hurts the game, but all and all it really isn't that bad.

So, something that helps my ranking a bit, was the way I beat it. I had died a few times in the last Castle, and had 2 lives. I made it all the way to Bowser, I was doing alright, but a visual glitch happened with Bowser's fire, and it went invisible and killed me. I thought I was done, I thought I was fuckin dead and would have to reset. I make my way back barley dodging some bullshit along the way, and after like 30 seconds of waiting, he jumps and I hit the axe. I had one fuckin life left, if I got hit I was dead for good, and I lived. It was just awesome to me, and such a relief to kill that fucker.

In past reviews of other Mario games, I've said that some Marios were "Unique" compared to the other games. But looking back, that statement doesn't make much sense. We've gotten so use to Mario, that the slightest difference in a game, gives it the lable "Unique". All of these games are "Unique", and this game shows it. The idea of an Italian Plumber traveling through the "Mushroom Kingdom" stomping on Turtles, walking Mushrooms, and fighting a big spikey monster while trying to save a Kingdom full of Mushroom People and their Princess who is a Human, is something so creative that it's a weird thing to even think about because we've gotten so use to it. Super Mario Bros. is the start of something incredible, not just for Nintendo but for everything to come after. It set the standard for design and in some ways, story telling in the videogame medium. I feel that this game is a mandatory must play for anyone, even if it's not your favorite genre, this is the game of all the games, and to me a great game in its own right, one that will be talked about for the next century. If you like Platformers or games in general, I'd recomend for everyone to at least give it a try.

Score: 4.1/5
Letter Grade: A-

Better than Episode 1 no doubt. It was great to once again go back to Rapture. Ever since beating the first Bioshock, everytime I leave it, I miss it. Burial at Sea episode 2 has it's flaws but was all around a good experience.

Compared to Episode 1, I deffinitely enjoyed the single big open area as opposed to the multiple restrictive areas in Episode 1. The atmosphere of the original Bioshock is also still here as well. Though It still isn't as focused on exploring and scavenging like the original 2 Bioshocks, it was Infinites biggest problem (at least to me) as well, and it's present in the Burial at Sea DLCs.

Narrative wise, they continue to push the mess and convoluted story from the base game. It does get better as the story moves along, as it has some really great moments. The Lobotomy scene was really hard to watch though. I will say it's a big improvement from Episode 1 in every narrative facet. It was also great to see Andrew Ryan and Atlas, Andrew is just as menacing as he was in Bioshock 1. It was pretty amazing seeing the events that led up to the first game, and seeing how the player takes down the plane was pretty cool to me as well. It didn't start off great, but got a lot better with time.

Elizabeth isn't the best character, but she was alright. However, for some reason she is so weak that even the guns do less damage. I wouldn't mid her being physically weaker, but everything she did felt weak as shit. The gameplay was changed to a Stealth game, and I don't feel like they put much effort into the Stealth mechanics. It's pretty basic, just don't get seen. Nothing else to make it more immersive or fun. It is fun for the most part, though it doesn't start out the best since it's so much different from the normal Bioshock gameplay.

Burial at Sea - Episode 2 is a damn good DLC, though they still couldn't let go of some of the stuff Infinite did wrong, and return to the original formula, though it does feel like they wanted to. Story could've made more sense and the gameplay could've been expanded, but all and all, It's still good fun. Good gameplay, great Story moments, and a good big level to explore. If you enjoyed the Bioshock games and/or want a short FPS to play, I'd recommend Burial at Sea - Episode 2.

Score: 3.6/5
Letter Grade: B

Did y'all know this game wasn't actually meant to be a Mario game?! It was originally a japanese game called Doki Doki Panic! Crazy Right?!

Over used videogame trivia aside, this is no doubt the black sheep of the Super Mario series. However, I feel that people use that label as an insult, and maybe that's what "Black Sheep" is supposed to be, but I say it in the way it's just so much more different and "Unique" than any other Mario experience, at least in the main-line Mario's. I found this to be very good, and though it was challenging, it deserves to be remembered and talked about.

Mario games have the best level design in any game in any gaming franchises. Nintendo has done this since the very first Mario, making incredible creative levels that tell stories, not from words but from environments and adventure. Mario Bros. 2 continues on from the first Mario for the most part. I felt the story and exploration was better in this game, but the first Mario and SMB 3 had the more consistently great level design. Some mechanics, not may just a few, didn't always mesh well with the characters movements, but again, for the most part everything was fun.

The thing I loved the most about SMB 2, was that it was kinda like a puzzle. I say that, because some levels are better with certain characters, so you have to map out who to use. Levels also have those potion door things, and the player has to get every advantage with those, whether it's Mushrooms, warps, or coins. Coins were vital, at least for me. The more you got the more chances you had to get an extra life. This game is hard as shit, so the player needs to make sure they get as many as they can get. The gambling mini game to get the 1-Ups is actually pretty good, though it's pretty hard to get it right because of how fast it was. My strategy was to just spam the button and try and get a 1-Up, the most I ever had at one time was 14.

I've already touched on the gameplay a bit, but It's good as usual. I do feel it can be slippery, as do a lot of 2D Mario's. This killed me a few times, but it wasn't that bad. I did feel the hit detection could be complete bullshit, but that doesn't hurt the game that much. The main mechanic of throwing stuff is actually a lot of fun, and I love how they use it throughout every aspect of the game. The platforming is good, though it isn't the primary focus of the game like the other Mario's. It's more focused on being more of an adventure game, solving a few puzzles along the way. Like I said, not like the other Mario's at all, still very fun though.

I will say that the enemies and bosses could be pretty annoying at times. Like everyone else, I also hate the flying creepy face guy. He killed me so many times, and if I had a gun with 3 bullets, and Hitler, Stalin, and that flying face guy were in a room, I'd shoot the flying face guy 3 times. Besides him, I actually loved the design and mechanics of all the other enemies, and even though the Bosses were usually just Birdo getting stronger, I actually really liked those fights, and as I said the throwing mechanic is a lot of fun to use against them. The main bosses had cool designs, though it would be cool if you did something a little more than just waiting for the right time to throw stuff. I felt the crab one, even though it was at time BS, I felt it was the most creative. Picking up his attacks and throwing them back is really cool, at least to me. Wart was a good final boss, though I would've like him to have a little more to him in terms of how to defeat him.

The OST is honestly pretty great. There isn't a bad or even mediocre tune in this game. The main theme is one of my favorites. The Music usually sets the tone of the area pretty well, and this game continues the Mario games reputation of having the very best Music.

The Pixel art was a big step up from the previous game, not just in design but also in color. I think the game looks great and has it's own "unique" style that hasn't really been replicated in any other Mario game. Great stuff.

The biggest complaints with the game are, sometimes difficulty is bs, hit detection a little weird, some things being a little cryptic, and of course, not being able to continue after dying. Though I do feel like that not being able to continue kinda helps the game in a way, making it more like a puzzle as I previously stated. This stuff can kill you and be damn annoying at times, but you push forward and keep playing anyway.

I do feel like this is pretty underrated. I love Nintendo's ability to tell a story of adventure just by you playing through the environments, as well as there level design, platforming, Art, Music, Enemies/Bosses, and the "Unique" experiences no one has been able to replicate. Though this is one of the lower rated Mario's for me, the fact that I still find this game to be very good says a lot about the quality of this Franchise. SMB2 has it's flaws, but it's a very good experience that everyone should play at least once. If you want a hard Mario game unlike any in the main line series, or just a challenging platformer in general, I'd recommend SMB2.

Score: 3.8/5
Letter Grade: B+

TMNT: Shredder's Revenge is the love letter of all love letters. What they did here, what they did for the fanbase of TMNT is nothing short of just awesome. I've gotten much more into TMNT since last year, but I've always been a little bit of a fan since I was a kid.

To start off, the Level Design in side-scrolling always seems so simple, but I feel like it actually takes a bit more skill to pull off a truly great and fun one. That being said, Shredder's Revenge did the design of each level great. From the overall design of the pathways the player had to move through, to the set pieces and the enemy placements, I though they did a great job.

To add to the previous paragraph, the Levels also looked absolutely fantastic. The Art style and Pixel art is something that I just love looking at. I've always been a big fan of Pixel Art, and the amount of care, detail, and love that went into each pixel is so obvious in this. I can't say enough about how good it looks.

The Gameplay is a ton of fun. It's classic 2D Side-Scrolling fighting game fun, with a TMNT flair. Just so much fun to hit enemies, use your Special Attacks, finding Collectables. It's all just great fun, and I struggle to think of much wrong, besides the things all 2D Side-Scrolling fighting games struggle with, such as hit detection and perception depth, but it's not that bad.

To quickly mention the story, it's good. It'd entertaining with great moments and great characters. It's not much, since the game is far more focused on the Gameplay, but the narrative does it's job and it does it very well. Nothing groundbreaking, but that's not what I needed it to be.

Speaking of characters, Leo, Raph, Don, Mikey, April, and Splinter are all well done any fun to play. I usually just switched between the Turtles since I thought April was way to weak and Splinter was to slow. Mikey is by far the best one, I only found that out later in the game for some reason. His speed is just so great that the enemies can't even react. All and all, they're all a lot of fun to play. Besides them, Splinter and all the Bosses in the stories have great designs as well, and were all very expressive and cool.

To touch on the Bosses, they were pretty damn awesome. They're also pretty damn hard, but that kinda adds to the fun, considering this game isn't that BS difficulty, it's tough but it's fair like it should be. I though the bosses had great mechanics and had great design. Just great stuff.

I already mentioned it a little bit, but the enemies and their designs are just great. Though they could be very annoying, especially on "Gnarly" difficulty, but for the most part they were good and fun to punch. I do hate any robot enemies though, just harder to kill.

To finish off my gushing of the game, the OST is pretty much perfect. Every track is a banger and it all matches the games tone and aesthetic perfectly. Everyone with ears should listen to it.

I think they only thing that makes me give this a lower rating than the review would suggest is that it's pretty damn hard, and at times annoying. It never took me to long to get passed a level but it did hinder the score just a little bit. Besides me just sucking at games, this game is pretty much a perfect 2D Side-Scrolling Fighting game, and it's no doubt a perfect TMNT game. From the OST, to the Levels, the Art Style/Pixel Art, the Bosses/Enemies, the Characters, and the Gameplay, this is just a great time. If you like this Genre, TMNT, or games in general, I'd recommend you play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.

Score: 4.1/5
Letter Grade: A-

For some reason, It takes me multiple tries to fully get into a Fallout game. It took me like 5 times with Fallout 4, which eventually became one of my favorites, I've yet to fully get into Fallout NV though I have played about 10 hours, and it took me even longer to fully get into Fallout 3. Now that I have played over 80 hours of Fallout 3, I can say that this is pretty fantastic, and one of my favorite Open World games I've played.

Bethesda gets a lot of mostly deserved hate these days due to games like Fallout 76, Starfield, and games they published like Redfall. However, you can not deny, that before Bethesda's down fall, they were the very best at Open World RPGs, and this game, as well as some other titles, prove that. The Open World of Fallout 3 is not only fun to explore, but is Immersive, atmospheric, full of Unique locations, Unique Charcters, and Dangerous. The world Bethesda created, is harsh, hellish, and horrible. The world is full of things, things that only have one goal in mind, and that goal is to make sure you don't make it out of the Wasteland alive. It is quite possibly the most dangerous land to explore in any game, which can be said about almost every Fallout, but due to the great designs and mechanics of the enemies you encounter in the waste, this game feels just so much more brutal. The grey coloring and rough textures, though I really like those, create a depressing, oppressive atmosphere, one that I have yet to see replicated in anything else excluding the original Fallout games. Bethesda, at least to me, understood the Fallout product very well, and it shows in the world the created. In the other Bethesda games I've played, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Oblivion, Morrowind, the pure adventurous wonder they implement in each of these, is unrivaled, and is found here in Fallout 3 as well, with tons of places to explore and scavenge, as well as finding stories that the player allways feels is unique to their experience. Something I want to add really quick, the Towns and Cities you find in the world were all pretty memorable and interesting. Megaton is no doubt the best one, but Rivet City, Little Lamplight, and Big town, are all interesting places with interesting characters and unique themes that I love. Some left a little to be desired, but mostly no complaints, Fantastic job once again in the Open World department from Bethesda.

Besides the areas outside of DC, DC itself, though not as open or fun to explore, was scary, dangerous, and well done. I do wish they would've had the city more open, and though there are problems with the Metro system they make you go though, I thought they were still fun to explore. I just wish they didn't block the player off from exploring freely, hopefully that is something that can fix in a hypothetical Remake.

Moving on to something I wasn't as big a fan of, the Main Campaign. The best part of this game is the side quests. So I avoided doing the Main Quest a lot, just making sure I got stronger, because from past playthroughs the Main Quest has always been a struggle for me. I'm sure playing on Very Hard difficulty has something to do with that, but it's also due to the poor balancing of enemies in the game. Besides the tedious difficulty, the Main Story has one of my favorite beginnings to any game I've played. I agree it's definitely too long, which can be said about all Bethesda openings, but I also believe it was very well done and memorable. However, the rest of the campaign seems extremely rushed and poorly paced. I believe this is due to the struggles of trying to make things work on the hardware they had to work with, as well as the Engine Bethesda uses. I'm pretty certain they wanted this game to be much bigger, especially the Main Story. There are a lot of cool and good moments, but also there is a feeling of "I never got to experience the whole story".

The rushed story, as well as the bugs in the game, makes me think this is the game that is in most need of a Remake. Not a remaster to make it pretty, but a full Remake. Yes this game is great as it is, but playing this and realizing the potential it has for being the very best Fallout game makes me want one even more.

Moving on, the gameplay was good. From the RPG mechanics to the Gunplay and everything in between, I heavily enjoyed it. However, the Gunplay would be kinda shit without the V.A.T.S. carrying it. It's just ok by itself, which can be said about all Fallouts except 4 and 76, but the V.A.T.S. is so incredibly necessary. Besides the lack luster gunplay, the RPG elements are well done, and do seem to have a good amount of "Depth" behind them. My absolute favorite gameplay aspect, something that I touched on earlier, is the scavenging for recourses. I cannot describe how much I enjoy doing this in games. I don't know what it is, but just scavenging around for useful shit in games is so satisfying for me. Fallout 3, might just be the best at this. So much stuff to find, but also a lot fo stuff you can miss that makes it even more satisfying to find. I found it so awesome when you would literally have to pull out a little wooden bin and find some chems or bullets the devs randomly thought to enclude. It takes the Immersion to an entirely different level, and I couldn't get enough of it.

Fallout 3, especially compared to New Vegas and even 4, doesn't give you much choice on in what you can do. I'm pretty sure it has to do with hardware limitations and the amount of quests, but that doesn't change the fact that in Fallout 3, you are either really good, or really evil. Sometimes it doesn't even give you a choice between the two. In NV, I felt I didn't just have two choices, I felt like I could be neutral, I could be good, but go about it 3 different ways, and vice versa with being evil. Now I always just do the morally right things in games anyway, but it would've been so much better to get more options on how to go about missions.

Speaking of things Fallout NV and 4 do better than 3, especially NV, the Dialogue was honestly, at times, bad. Now the dialogue for the NPCs were usually fine, though there was way to many lines that they just randomly through in a "Fuck". The main Dialogue issue is what options they give the player. I swear, you can either be a generic hero, or a cornball psychopath. You can ask other stuff sometimes, but compared to NV, for every 3 Dialogue options in Fallout 3, Fallout NV has 7-8 options on how you can respond. Just disappointing, but it wasn't to bad.

The Soundtrack of Fallout 3, like all the Fallouts, is nothing short of fantastic. From GNR to the music without the radio, it all gives off this unique atmosphere and tone. There are times GNR messes up the tone of the area you're in, so I would just turn it off for those.

As I mentioned earlier, the cast of characters you find around the wasteland, Three Dog of GNR being the best of all of them, improves your experience and tone of the game. From your dad, Amata, the Overseer, Moira Brown, Lucas Simms, Three Dog, Sentinel Lyons, Elder Lyons, Liberty Prime, Doctor Li, Fawkes, Dog Meat, Moriorty, Gob, Nora, Mccreaty, Riley's Rangers, Harold, President Eden, and many more, Bethesda did and always does a pretty great job making memorable and interesting characters.

Now, there were 5 DLC's in the GOTY edition. These include Broken Steel, Mothership Zeta, The Pitt, Operation Anchorage, and Point Lookout. I'm going to give all of these their own little reviews, as well as their own ratings.

Starting off with: Broken Steel

Broken Steel was the first DLC, and that's how I'm going to review these, in the order I beat them. Broken Steel honestly shouldn't have even been DLC. The Game should've just continued on anyway after beating it. That being said, this was a solid DLC, though definitely in the "Fall of Duty" category of Bethesda Fallout DLCs. I do wish there was a bit more to it, but there is a lot of fun action and memorable moments, and it does let you continue the game. All and all, even if it is a bit disappointing, it was still a solid expansion to the base game.

Score: 3.2/5
Letter Grade: B-

The Pitt:
The Pitt was my most anticipated of the bunch, and I was hoping for much more than the end product. It was still good, but again, like a lot of the DLC in this game, it was a bit disappointing. I didn't even mean to start this DLC when I did, but I'm glad I did. It starts off much more interesting than it eventually becomes, but the story throughout is good, but it has the same feel of the Main Story, the feeling that "I feel like I didn't get the full experience". Besides the story, I've gotta give props for the great job Bethesda did on making the area of "The Pitt" in which you explore. It honestly makes my skin crawl, as it is just full of radiation, dying people, disease, slavery, and fire. I know that sounds bad, but that's exactly what they were going for, and they set the DLCs tone, pretty much to perfection. I do wish you could do more, especially after you finish the DLC, and I do wish the characters were more intriguing, but the area they created is very well done, and the story is good enough to keep the player wanting to play it more.

Score: 3.4/5
Letter Grade: B

Operation Anchorage:

The worst DLC by far. It's just straight up mediocre. Not only is it tedious and difficult as hell, they just didn't do the concept of a "VR war Simulation" that well. It could've been so cool with the Brotherhood Outcasts, but the decided to do this weird war simulation instead. You do get some good loot at the end, and it does start out cool, but eventually just becomes tedious, and the leat Fallout feeling DLC.

Score: 2.7/5
Letter Grade: C+

Mothership Zeta:

The DLC I was most pleasantly surprise by. People often say this is the worst Fallout DLC, but I honestly might like it more than Broken Steel. That's not a very high bar, and the rating I'll give Mothership Zeta isn't going to be that high, but still, I was expecting a mediocre mess, but I got a Solid and Unique well done concept. Though yes, it is definitely way to difficult. I came in with about 120, maybe more stimpacks, and I left with, no joke, 0. The aliens are just bullet sponges, and a bit annoying to take down. The best parts about the DLC, are the characters you meet on the ship and exploring the ship. Not just exploring the ship is well done, but the design of the spaceship was nailed by Bethesda. They did a lot better with the Sci-Fi aspect than I thought. It would've been cool if there was more, like maybe stuff you could do with the Aliens, but all and all, I thought it was fun and had good moments(especially the blowing up the ship part) and characters. It also gives you some really good loot.

Score: 3.2/5
Letter Grade: B-

Last but not least: Point Lookout

Talk about "Saving the best for last". I'm so glad this was the last DLC I played. This is by far, and it's not even close, the best Fallout 3 DLC. It is the only DLC in the game that I would consider "Complete". It's a whole new open area to explore, with fun to quests, new interesting characters, and though the loot you get leaves much to be desired, feels like a rewarding experience through and through. I do think the main quest could've been a little better, but I heavily enjoyed this DLC. A great sendoff for my playthrough.

Score: 3.8/5
Letter Grade: B+

After all that, after all I've played, I can say that this is an experience and playthrough that I will not forget. It has it's flaws no doubt, from the bugs to the flaws in the Main Quest, and the lack of "openness" of DC, it has it's problems that I'd love to see fixed. But besides that, the Open World, the Soundtrack, the DLCs, the Characters, the Quest Lines, the Gameplay, the Gunplay, the choices you make, the Tone, the Mood, the Atmosphere, all of that, adds up to one of gamings finest experiences. If you like Open World games, or Video games in general, I'd recommend Fallout 3.

Score: 4.5/5
Letter Grade: A


The best 3D Sonic game, to me, is the original Sonic Adventure. Sonic colors is the 2nd I've beaten so far out of the 3D Sonics. Is this better, or on the same level of Sonic Adventure? No. Is this still a very good entry in the Sonic franchise? Yes.

"Colors" is pretty on the nose for a title. This game really is just great to look at, and maybe the best looking Sonic game. It's at least the best looking 3D Sonic game. The Color plalet pops, and the enviroments are just awesome to play through and look at. Sometimes I died just because I was to focused on the backgrounds. Great Art style.

The Music matches the Style they went for, it's honestly pretty fantastic. Colors has a great OST. The Music is just fun, and that honestly encapsulation this games whole identity, from the soundtrack to the Art style and it's attitude, this game just screams "This is going to be fun".

The Gameplay is the Boost gameplay that SEGA was obssesed for like 15 years. I've always prefered the 2D Sonic and Adventure games Sonic gameplay, but the boost can be some good fun. However, they went way to heavy with the 2D sections. For me, I want my 2D Sonics and 3D Sonics to be complety seperate, so I was a bit disapointed with the lack of pure 3D sections. With the nunchuck, 2D platoforming is often clunky. My least favorite levels in the game were the 2D ones. Though they were mostly good, after playing a 3D level, you just want more of them, but SEGA keeps giving you 2D ones. It's not horrible, but I would've loved to see more 3D centered gameplay.

The Aliens weren't as big a part as I thought they would've been, and I think they could've done a lot better with them. They were fun most of the time, my favorites were Frenzy amd Drill, but things like Spikes and Hover weren't very good, and the block thing and the Rocket thing also could've been much better. After playing this game, I could'nt help but think that we'd been robbed of a sequal to this game. So many good ideas that weren't fully realized, that if we got a sequal, we could've been looking at one of the very best Sonic games, something to rival the best Sonic games.

To me, this game seems heavlily inspired by Mario Galaxy. It's inspiration doesn't revlove around the gameplay, like Lost World, but more so in the Setting, the art style, and even a bit of the music. This isn't a bad thing, Mario Galaxy is practically perfect, I just thought it was something to point out. Though I will say the ending is pretty much the exact same as the ending to Galaxy. Like literally, instead of Lumas saving you, It's the Aliens.

Speaking of the story, it's just alright. Nothing special, but it's nice and it does it's job well. Definitely not on the same level of Sonic stories like the Adventure games, or the 2D ones like 3 & Knuckles, 2, or Mania, but it still works well with some good moments.

The Boss fights throughout the story were'nt that great to me. They could be pretty damn agrevating, especially from some random weird hit detection, and the fact that you would have to completly restart, even in a longer fight. Though I will say, even though I died a lot, the Final Boss was actually really great, and had an awesome moment at the end, one that I won't spoil here.

The thing I dislike most about 3D Sonics, is the damn rating you get at the end of each Act. It started in Adventure 2, and they never stopped doing it. Adventure 1 and the 2D ones let you play at your own pace and don't make you feel like you suck at the end of each level. Now I know I could just "Get Good", but I'm not that good at games, so I don't have that ability. If it was me, they would get rid of the whole thing entirly. Maybe just reward for doing could, but why punish for making a few mistakes?

Anyway, this game was very good. Though it has it's flaws, flaws that I wish would be taken out with a seqaul, don't make the game bad in any way. The Music, Art Style, Gameplay, Levels, Final Boss, and Story, are all Good to Great aspects of the game. If you like Sonic Games or want a fun 3D/2D Platformer, I'd recomend Sonic Colors.

Score: 3.7/5
Letter Grade: B+

This feels like a demo for a complete experience we'll never get. I do think that what is here would be really cool in a bigger package. If the guy who made this had some more money, maybe a team of people to help, and better mic quality and voice acting, I think it would be a very good game. It has some really nice atmospheric music and an art style I really like, but there just isn't enough game to give this a better score. It has potential for a really cool game, but I unfortunately don't think we'll get it.

Score: 2.5/5
Letter Grade: C

Pretty good. Not as good as the base game, nor is it anywhere near the first 2 games, but it was still fun, and really cool to go back to Rapture.

For starters, I found the levels to have that Rapture atmosphere and design that was missing from Infinite, but the areas you visit always seem like they are trying to not allow you to explore. I found it way too linear, and just restrictive.

One of my favorite things, if not my favorite thing about the original 2 Bioshocks was the Scavenging for Items, an element that was unfortunatley missing from Infinite. I'd hoped it would be better in this, but it sucked. They start you off with like 3 Bullets, so it seems like they are setting you up for a lot of scavenging, and a lot of secerets. The Original 2 Bioshocks rewarded the player for exploring, by giving the player great rewards. Items were hidden in intelligent ways and were a blast to look for. Burial at See, sadly, does none of this. There are actually a good amount of things to find, unfornuetly nothing actually helps you. No bullets, you can't carry Heals or Salts so that sucks, barley any money, no upgrades, it's all just food or like 2 pennies. It's just a huge let down, a let down I also felt in the Base game.

The "Booker is Comstock" thing sucks. I'm not a fan of that shit. It's just so bizarre, and I'm not even sure if it makes any sense, no matter how hard they try and push it. I did like the plot for the most part, and they did a decent job with the in-game story telling, but the whole multiple time-line thing, should've gone to something else, something not named Bioshock.

Gameplay was fun, they actually let you carry more than one gun at a time. No clue why that wasn't in the base game but whatever. The amount of Money you lose after dying is unexceptable. It's so damn much it makes you never want to play again. The Plazmids were cool, but that's a given.

All and all, it's a good DLC. It's a DLC I'd consider it's own game, considering it's a seperate add-on from the Base game. It's held back by a narrative twist that isn't good yet they continue to push it, and level design that fails to capture the orinal magic of Rapture. However, I enjoyed the other story elements, the set pieces, the Dynamic of Booker and Elizabeth, the journey back to Rapture, and the Gameplay. If you enjoy the Bioshock games or want a really short FPS, I'd recommened Burial at Sea - Episode 1.

Score: 3.5/5
Letter Grade: B

2018

Talk about stunning. Seriously, this might be the best looking game I've ever seen. It has some other great elements, but the Art is what stands out.

The Artwork conveys so much emotion in one frame. Every area looks insane. So much color and detail. They took so much time and effort to make every piece of an area look incredible. I can't say enough, it's proably the best thing about the game.

The Music also has a case for the best element of the game. My gosh this shit is amazing. It also conveys so much emotion, and it works in perfect tandum with the Art work, and makes the story moments feel like they have so much more emotional weight. Just incredible stuff.

Gameplay wise, it was good. Nothing incredible, but some fun stuff. Platforming could have been better, but puzzles were usually well done and smart. I appreciate all the aditional mechanics they added in throughout the game. They should make a sequal to this and just develope the gameplay furthur.

The Narrative, though I don't understand eveything that happened. I'm sure it's all a metophor for something, I'm guessing death. However there are so many memorable and incredible moments in the game throughout the story. Lots of great set pieces and awesome fights with that black goo transforming thing.

I do wish this was a little longer, and I wish the gameplay was more fun, especially the platforming, but this was all and all a very good game. Gris is unlike anything I've ever played, it's a pure work of art. The Music, The Story, The Art style, I loved just looking and sitting back and expericing the game. If you want a truly beautiful work of art, and/or a short game to sit down and beat, I'd recommend Gris.

Score: 3.7/5
Letter Grade: B+