One of the first "Collectathon" style games I ever played and it was an absolute banger! So many weapons, so many planets, it blew my mind that this much 3D game could happen on such a small device. The PSP definitely had that Sony IP magic and this title shines because of it. Some mechanics are left a bit unpolished with the most glaring being lack of camera control on a platforming game. However, what it did well, like most R&C games it completely crushed. Fun humor (for teens) and a somewhat compelling if cliche storyline that moves at breakneck pace. I felt that the game keeps a good loop of visiting a new area, gaining some new gun or gadget and then being given a reason to go back to an earlier location and grind out those collectables. I also felt that the upgrades themselves were creative and well implemented. The vast majority of guns and gadgets get used in multiple situations making them feel like real objects rather than Checkov's Guns implemented for the sake of one plotline or moment. There are of course some guns that are more suited to puzzle platforming than direct combat but you usually run out of ammo at one point or another and have to really on a less ideal gun for the situation. This leads to a lot of play driven discovery and helps the player not just stick with the standard gun all the way through which I'm sure is possible but is much less rewarding. The characterization read well although these two suffer heavily from the furry franchise mascot craze of the early 2000's and even into the 2010's. Seriously, is anyone confused how we got so many furries??? This one definitely deserves all the praise it gets but honestly it's very much a one and done game. Once you've completed the story, unless you're a plat trophy fiend, there's not much else there for you. However, that did not stop me from picking it up every now and again just to shoot some stuff and have fun.

From the opening fight with Poseidon to the punishing final fight with Thanatos this game is absolutely gripping. Tons of fun new elements to the combat, lots more options for upgrades and alternate weaponry although the majority of the game still takes place with the blades or similar weapons. This game felt like it expanded much more on the deeper cuts of Greco-Roman lore, hitting on niche characters and weaving Kratos deeper into the games canonical mythos. It very much felt like the dev team were really hitting stride at this point, getting a bit stale in terms of mechanical upgrades and so turning inward and telling a compelling story on top of the solid foundation of gameplay built up over years of development.

Strangely one of the few games I've played more than once, finishing it handily two times over. Excellent stealth gameplay and interesting narrative if not a little dry. Definitely a more buttoned up Metal Gear style espionage game, although again, no silly gadgets and crazy spy weapons, more of a by the books spy thriller with interactivity built in. Great setting selection, docks, european cities, scientific research complexes, it hits all the beats but does it right on time. The play becomes exciting after the first few hours of slowly crouch hiding and silenced pistol'ing several dozen guards when you eventually start collecting gadgets that enhance and vary the ways you can move through the map. Can't say it was so gripping that I remember much but the pacing goes at a good clip and before you know it you're watching credits role. Definitely consistent with altering the gameplay as you go to introduce new challenges and gameplay mechanics so that the player is forced to be creative even if they are more comfortable with a certain play style.

Not much to say but in the best way possible, an absolute classic, there's a reason it's been released and re-released, genuinely surprised there's no remakes but as the series is still ongoing we may have a few years before that starts up. The combat is incredible if poorly balanced in your favor. Definitely speaks to the power fantasy of the early 2000's but tries to finesse in some introspective gesturing towards themes of redemption, sacrificial revenge etc etc. Awesome take on mythos if not a bit awkward and crossed, later games would take the time to nail the references and concepts in this integration. That said, pre Percy Jackson this was the most accessible and engaging content about Greco-Roman mythology out there and introduced a whole bunch of people to these ideas and themes applied to a modern narrative. Spent so many hours playing this in the basement on PSP, wore out my thumbstick on the attack that would swing the chains, I remember the techniques they used to render fire were just breathtaking. Was also one of the most mature games that Mom and Dad ever let us have although I chalk that up to an incredibly tame box art making his weaponry less an explicit focus of the image like other similarly mature games of the time. Seeing blood and breasts in a game for the first time was definitely formative and made me wonder about the possibilities for content in games considering the delineation in my mind was that you could either make a leisure suit larry, conker's fur day etc OR you could make a complete game with good narrative, solid mechanics etc. This was a revelation that there were indeed videogames made FOR older audiences, not just accessible to them.

Bit of a lackluster game imo, played several hours of the main campaign and found the top down perspective too small for the PSP's tiny screen, the controls were ok but again the PSP held it back, no dual analogue pretty much eliminated strafing and aiming independently, meaning it's back to the days of walking towards your opponent to shoot them or standing still and getting blasted yourself. I feel like much of the hype from this game is as a part of the larger killzone series, but to me it just felt a little poorly implemented on the console

I'll never forget the day I found this gem at the one and only (and non existent) USA Game Exchange in Lawrenceburg Kentucky. That store was next to what was at one time a historic pharmacy turned upscale shoe store then eventually back to a pharmacy and it was my first. I traded many games there and could never forget the look on Sam's face when I explained that even though we had traded all of our Xbox games and even the console away, we still were quite far from owning a Wii. One of my top 5's, I really think it's the nostalgia goggles, this was my intro to the Final Fantasy series and at that point was by far the most graphically and mechanically impressive software I had ever seen on the PSP. Turn based combat just never appealed to me (until now when gaming is more of a passive hobby) so at the time, the real time strategy system mixed with the cyber fantasy setting of Midgar and beyond totally drew me in. I can be the first to admit that it has issues with grind and especially with power walls that just crush you as a way of forcing you into the missions system. Unfortunately the missions system works more like a separate, lesser version of the main game. You have the same access to weapons and abilities, the same type of combat and foes, but you are limited to walking around on predetermined tilesets (meaning repeat missions get VERY repetitive) and fighting mostly hordes of lower enemies to progress to a boss fight at the end. This gives you a great chance to farm boss materials and additional items to help you out in the main story mode play. The story is as incredible as always although I feel like this particular point in the series (6,7,8 generally speaking) captures people due to the way it hits all the highlights of the setting without getting lost in the details. Even the original 7 with its monumental play times dwarfs the actual narrative with raw game hours. This feels like the perfect bite sized entry into the main line series although it works much better with the remakes creating a more cohesive artistic vision through the two games, crisis core and 7. The story was incredible even for someone who knew nothing about Final Fantasy other than the Blue Mage being used in the Wiz's graffiti and Cloud being the dude in Kingdom Hearts. That alone makes it amazing in my eyes, 7 also does well by kind of breaking the narrative to circle back around, welcoming new and old players alike. The story is mostly told through cutscenes, and seemingly pre-rendered ones at that but they look gorgeous, the pacing, dialogue and writing speaks volumes to the time Square Enix has had to refine the Final Fantasy style of story. The protagonist feels grounded and relatable, although for some might come across as saccharine, personally that's par for the Square Enix course at this point. Much like Cloud and Tidus, Zack has a very golden boy attitude that carries him through much of the plot. Unlike Cloud, however, there is much less moody brewing and much more action and reaction. Zack can come across as immature at times, throwing fits over small injustices or complaining loudly at the sight of extra responsibility but when push comes to shove he's gonna rally the squad and lead the charge rather than push everyone away to go on some hero or zero suicide mission....like Cloud. The direct contrasts don't end there though, you meet Cloud as a hesitant and and newly defected member of the Shinra organization, yet Zack is a card carrying SOLDIER member, immediately shocking you with his inundation into daily life serving Shinra. Through Cloud's eyes you see the monumentality of the corporation and slowly through the story become powerful enough to truly challenge it. Through Zack's eyes you see the hope that came first, the promise and vision of a world delivered from suffering through massive technological advancements. You can see the way that a young, underprivileged kid from the country could grow up idolizing the shiny city, the broad SOLDIERS with glowing blue eyes and enhanced bodies. This is slowly shattered as Zack comes to realize that the people he perceived to be his allies were actually just his coworkers. Where he is concerned with the black and white morality of an objectivist world, he sees Sephiroth, Angeal, and even Genesis grapple with a wider and more gray understanding of the world than he is capable of seeing. The story mainly follows Zack and this journey of self actualization, of breaking from what you thought was the pinnacle of your existence and embracing the ability to do what you can no matter the cost. I feel the game plays well with the themes of moralistic integrity, of developing a set of beliefs that inform how you interact with the world, then changing it, re-evaluating the world around you through the eyes of others. Zack is shown to be reluctant to accept the reality that there are no "good guys" there's just good people who do good things, often to their own detriment. To me the story kinda fizzles out towards the end, with Zack engaging in a somewhat pointless last stand as SOLDIER closes in on what is now an AWOL employee. He is thoughtlessly gunned down seemingly just to line up the continuity to 7 where Cloud ties his and Zack's identity together and has several mental breakdowns as the continuity between the two is torn. All in all the story delivers fantastically, being an absolute thrillride for myself and I'm sure with lots of fun references for long time Final Fantasy players. The game offers some new ideas to the combat that I adore, the first being Materia Fusion, allowing tons more combinations and interesting effects derived from the almost unlimited fusions and effects available. I believe this is similar to the materia orb system from FFX but I'm not sure if there's developmental crossover. The other major system is the DMW, a kind of slots reward where during battle the slots spin and when they line up with different characters from the story, buffs are applied. There's no downside and it's unlikely you would ever need to rely on these effects to win a battle but the free buffs sure can help you feel like there's still a chance when you're getting beat pretty bad. The games is one of the only games I've ever replayed and I'd very much like the chance to play through the remake but it seems there are some changes made to the narrative that I'm not fond of.

Incredible game, another mindless dungeon crawler in the best way possible, tons of awesome maps that look like scarred dreamscapes in some magical, post medieval parallel world. Honestly the aesthetics are giving FromSoft hardcore, excellent control scheme that allows for some really cool strategizing in the heat of battle. Definitely another monster hunter-like as it heavily rewards knowing your enemy, preparing your weapons and being as fast and as unharmed as possible leaves you with tons of extra rewards. Kinda skimpy "part-break" system that feels like it was better left unimplemented than the kinda half assed version here where you simply auto target a piece and blast away till it falls off, it's redeemed somewhat by having to balance breaking certain parts on certain runs as the health pool isn't big enough to sustain a "complete" defeat. The auto lock is super necessary though, just about every attack is somewhat ranged with the exceptions essentially being turn your arm into a giant (stone, flame, poison, wind, etc) arm and wail on the thing in front of you. It get's relegated mostly to a weed whacker for smaller units and boss spawns. Most of the boss monsters are so fast or large that you are better off grabbing something ranged and finding your moments to let off some shots. Voice acting is absolutely incredible with half the cast sounding like FromSoft characters and the others delivering on unique sounds and affects that are less gimmick and feel like fleshed out characters even though it mostly boils down to voice lines shouted in battle. The story telling is a bit bare bones but most of it is done through gameplay or in little tidbits shared through the mission briefing. The games takes influence less from the standard shinto/hindu mix of east asian mythos and focuses much more heavily on european or early american tales, featuring creative takes on werewolves, centaurs, dwarves, slimes, wraiths, etc. This lends an excellent visual style to the enemies steering away from elemental variations and instead seeming to pair the smaller units with the landscape having essentially a few different units per area, matching them with boss monsters depending on status effects, move type etc. Once again the player is rewarded tremendously for preparing ahead of time. Finally, this game offers the "Dark or Light" playthrough common to games of this era but again does something unique and creative to a typically underwhelming system. It is revealed early on that the monsters are actually mages like yourself who have succumbed to the madness of using the magic and turned into beasts themselves. The player can then choose to save this soul or banish it, earning not only upgrades towards the dark or light path, but also gaining instant buffs to magic attacks or healing when banishing or saving respectively. This allows for a lot of different play styles, while also reinforcing narrative through gameplay as the narrator will comment on your choice afterwards. The game will then repeat this choice to the player by marking it down in the book that serves as the quest menu as that beasts canonical ending. There's so much to the narrative of the game that the player then gets to participate in or experience first hand. Excellent design, amazing synergy and definitely one I will remember forever.

My intro to the Monster Hunter/ Dungeon Crawler genre of games. Perfect gameplay loop of fighting (somewhat repetitive) missions to get upgrade mats and then come back to town to gear back up. Really cool story, gothic fantasy setting with some really nice graphics for the PSP, kinda standard aesthetics insofar as the dungeons are concerned, a lot of different colored caves as well as your standard jungles, deserts and grasslands maps. I felt like there was always something a bit extra though, from the interestingly carved out paths of the desert inferring some long gone water or civilization to the sparkling caves glittering with some sparse mineral, the devs really threw some funk into the meshes or textures to get at something a little more unique. Weapon selection is kind of low and the grind really is monotonous for how few missions/mission types there are. The only thing that makes the grind more viable is the chance to distill rare materials out of the monster's corpse, complete with glistening rays of magic for a success to a dark and bloody collapse upon failure. This can end up doing more harm than good though, as many components can only be obtained through this transfiguration, causing a lot of repeat missions due to a failed transfiguration, I think there was a stat to help with this but it may have been a fixed chance. Never finished this one, wasn't given much of a reason to honestly, weakest part of the writing is the protagonist's motivations beyond MORE POWAAAAH

Incredible game, tons of fun dialogue but not enough to feel like a Stanley parable rip off or exhaustingly masturbatory. Solid writing paired with a game just long enough. Right as I was starting to wonder how long they could keep these systems interesting and engaging, I was looking at the credits. Initially I almost finished it in two marathon sessions (still clocking in at under 6 hours play time) but had to put it down as there was an insanely frustrating puzzle where the only object you could interact with simply shrunk and superimposed itself in front of the initial. That superposition ended up being the key as I had to move so that the trail of self replicating shapes would then "pop in front" of the ledge you were looking at, initially felt cheated, still kinda do, there was little in the rest of the room to indicate that this kind of superimposition was possible although it's entirely likely that I just missed a tutorial for this kind of interaction earlier in the game. Can't wait to play it with Dev Commentary as many puzzles seem to offer multiple solutions and I can't wait to hear the conception story for so many of these mind bending levels.