Excellent follow-up to the rest of the series.
I really enjoyed the hell out of this game, and getting to explore some of the larger world outside of the Moscow Metro was hella fun. I also really loved the group dynamics and the game did a really good job of making me care about Anna and her well-being. You can literally sit for hours and listen to the crew yap at you about their lives and what they think about the situation - which is something I've always loved about this series.
I will say that the ending is a little lacklustre in comparison to the previous two entries, but the overall journey was very enjoyable.

A decent enough horror experience. A sort of "spiritual successor" to Dead Space, you can really see some of the DNA from that franchise here, but unfortunately just not executed as well.

The story is pretty boilerplate, with bland characters and cliche plot threads. In the year of our Lord 2023, I didn't think we'd ever get another boring, shaved-head, gruff-voiced main character, plucked straight from 2008.
The combat is heavily melee-focused and meaty, but it does get old and repetitive quickly as there are about 5 or 6 enemy types in the entire game - most of which you don't even encounter that often.
The scares are also lacklustre and unimpactful, which is something you DON'T want in a horror game. There was never a single moment that gave me actual dread or made my heart race.

Overall though, I didn't hate the game by any means. It's just very lacklustre and I was kinda hoping for something more the entire time I was going through it. Thankfully, it's not too long, although it can feel padded out at times. It also looks very good, even on PS4, with some nice, claustrophobic area design.

*Played as part of the Master Chief Collection

I actually played this game before on my cousin's 360 one night during a sleepover. I didn't really like it and thought the story was interesting but didn't get the hype for Halo as a franchise off this one experience.

Coming back to it now, fresh off the back of the rest of the MCC, and particularly Reach, I don't think my thoughts have changed much, to be honest. The story is interesting, particularly Cortana's rampancy (also they made her hella sexy for some reason? Like during the 4 year time gap in the story she just developed a gyatt?) and you can see that 343 is setting up a new storyline for the franchise, which is the most interesting part of the game for someone who is newly invested in the Halo lore like I am. The downside is that everything else in the game is just kinda mid.
The new enemy designs (and redesigns of the old enemies) are just lacking and for the redesigns, downright ugly. The gunplay doesn't feel as good or as visceral as it used to. Headshotting enemies in the previous games (or popping a grunt's little backpack thing) used to be so much fun, but now it all feels kinda limp. I can't even explain it properly, it's like a mixture of the guns not having enough oomph, and the enemy's dying animations being lacklustre.
Even the introduction of a dedicated sprint doesn't do enough to make the game feel fun to play. The level design is also noticeably worse, especially in the back half of the game.

It's a very mixed-bag experience overall, but I am tentatively interested in checking out where this story goes from here.
I'm kinda torn if I should wait around for an announcement of 5 coming to PC, or just check out Infinite? Would appreciate some suggestions from fans of the franchise.

Reminded me of the original Assassin's Creed games, for all the good and bad that entails. Clothes still clip through character models, physics is still janky and Basim will fling himself with the utmost confidence to his death even though that was not the direction I was holding on the analogue stick to jump in.

Ostensibly trying to capture the flavour of the first AC game, this was a nice nostalgia trip but also reminded me how tedious the original game's gameplay style could be. The game has a very strong beginning and end, but the entire meat in the middle gets boring and repetitive very quickly. There's very little mission variety, and the targets you take down in this game feel largely inconsequential for all the work you have to go through to uncover them. Thankfully, the experience is about as long as the first few games as well, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.

The environment, Baghdad, is honestly one of the most lacklustre settings in the entire franchise as well. After the visual treats we got used to with Origins, Odyssey, and certain parts of Valhalla, the bland desert and brown buildings of Baghdad feel so ugly and wonderless. There's also very little side content to explore - a grand total of 6 side missions, a few obligatory collectables, and some contracts that serve no real purpose other than to pad out the gameplay as a lot of them take you back to areas you explored as part of the main story.

Overall, I certainly didn't hate the game, but I did feel the story was not substantial or engaging enough to truly enjoy the experience. It felt more like a lesser spin-off title, not a mainline game in the series. I do hope Ubisoft continues to deliver these kinds of throwback titles with the original gameplay style going forward, but I do hope we get some bigger titles as well, as exploring the environments in the last 3 games was honestly a lot of fun. I also hope they hire some good writers because the stories have honestly been mid for the last few entries in this series. Origins was the last genuinely engaging story that we got and I hope moving forward we can get some actually meaningful stories from the series again.

My rating is just the average rating for all the games.
Overall, it's great that almost the entire series is in one complete package. Without this, I would've never experienced Halo.

Halo CE: 6/10
Halo 2: 9/10
Halo 3: 8/10
ODST: 7/10
Reach: 10/10
Halo 4: 6/10

I don't even know how to describe this game. It's just vibes. It's an experience you must go through for yourself, as blind as possible, to get the most out of it. It's about the choices you make, no matter how small. It's about trying to find the truth when there is never enough time. It's about living with the consequences of your actions. I don't think I've ever had an experience like this - where I felt the passing of time and the characters' growth so deeply. This one is going to live in my mind rent-free for a while.

Just got a PS5 and you know this had to be the game I finished it on it first. Now, while I did enjoy the game, I do think it's worse than the 2018 entry (which I consider my GOTY from that year).

I still don't like the redesigns of Pete and MJ, especially Peter because his face is no longer as emotive and natural-looking as it was. It's just a terrible redesign all around and completely unnecessary.

I also think the first half of the game is very weak story-wise. Kraven is not set up as well as Martin Li and even the Sinister 6 were in the first game, and the fact that he kills a few of the old baddies off-screen just feels flat-out wrong. His motivations are so flimsy and trite compared to the villains we fought in the first game and Miles Morales that he just feels hollow and unsympathetic. They should have honestly taken him out of the story sooner.
Once the actual plot of the game does get rolling, it is great though, and the back half is full of emotional moments and excellent set pieces and voice acting, but I cannot overlook the beginning half just feeling lacklustre.

Also, the writing for the Spidey quips is not up to par at all. I genuinely chuckled many times and had an absolute blast playing Peter and Miles in the previous entries of the franchise, and hearing them wisecrack was one of the highlights of that. This time around, a lot of the humour feels forced and the quips annoying instead of endearing. Maybe that's just me, but it really didn't feel as good.

Combat-wise and traversal-wise, though, the game is still a joy to play through. I love the smoothness of the combat, the variety of tools you have at your disposal at all times, and, of course, swinging around New York will never not be one of the most fun gaming experiences ever.

Overall, I had a good time with the game, but the beginning was very shaky for me and I didn't have the confidence that they could bring it back up to the level of the first game. If they hadn't fumbled the ball with the setup, I think this easily could've been another GOTY for me, but as it stands, it will settle into just a great game instead.

*Played as part of the Master Chief Collection

So the original Combat Evolved was one of the two Halo games I played, as it was the only one I knew of that was on PC at the time. I was just never an Xbox kid, so I completely skipped this series back during its heyday. Thankfully most of the series is on PC via the Collection (which I have definitely taken way too long to get around to as well), so are now more easily accessible (Halo 5 PC port though? When is that happening? I would like to eventually complete the series).

As a game, this is a pretty fun FPS experience, but it definitely feels dated now. The lack of accessibility options such as sprinting and weapon iron sights makes it feel like more of a slog to get through than it actually is, especially when redoing checkpoints. The level design is interesting though, with many large sections and maps that you circle around completely. This is something that I don't think I've really seen before in a linear game such as this. The vehicles are also fun to play with, although I hated driving the Warthog. For some reason, the Banshee handles like a dream, but the Warthog is this unwieldy thing that flips over every time you hit even a slight pothole or elevation change.

Overall, the story is enjoyable enough, but is still pretty bland and by-the-numbers. You also don't get much lore at all during the course of the game, with a lot of questions just left up in the air - I suppose for the later games to answer. Who are the Covenant? Why are we at war with them? Why is Master Chief such a unique badass? Why is Cortana so sassy? Who the fuck are the Forerunners and the Monitor? Anyway, I'm sure I'll get more answers as I go through the series, so I'm not too worried about these questions.
We continue onwards to Halo 2, which will be the first completely new game in the franchise I'll have played, so I'm looking forward to that.