Nicnac
1987
This review contains spoilers
Metal Gear has aged really well in a number of aspects- there was clearly a lot of thought put into it in pretty much every aspect and it feels limited by its hardware rather than its creativity.
For starters, the plot is actually pretty alright- considering it came out in 1987 there being a solid narrative with a genuinely good plot twist is a shocker. This is only two years after Super Mario Bros and we have a game not only trying to tell a story but having the story influence the gameplay.
The twist of Big Boss being the head of Outer Heaven all along ties into the gameplay a lot more than I would expect- throughout Metal Gear I was frustrated that he often gives shit advice (He tells you to put a gas mask on halfway through the gas room and later in the game when Snake is progressing more than he expected he outright leads you into traps multiple times) and chalked it up to either a translation error that had been left in for authenticity or just not great design- to have the twist suddenly recontextualise parts of the game in a lightbulb moment was great. I did not expect a game that came out this early in the medium's history to pull something like that, even with the franchise's reputation of getting clever.
In general, Metal Gear is definitely ahead of its time. Manually punching in a few different radio codes to speak to different characters is charming and the huge amount of items with only a use or two is really cute- it feels much more immersive than having a small set of tools you routinely cycle through. It's a primitive stealth game, no doubt, but it does its best to feel immersive.
Unfortunately time has shone light on a few flaws, most of them fairly big and the only reasons the game isn't rated significantly higher. The combat is pretty bad, there are only a scant few tracks on the OST, most of which you'll hear on loop, and the stealth feels very dated. It's worth emphasising that none of these are due to any sort of fault in Metal Gear's design, which I think is actually fairly bulletproof as a foundation- it's just that it's 36 years old and the hardware is puny by today's standards. The MSX is just not sophisticated enough for a good combat system or good stealth.
Definitely worth a play, very excited to get into the rest of this legendary franchise.
For starters, the plot is actually pretty alright- considering it came out in 1987 there being a solid narrative with a genuinely good plot twist is a shocker. This is only two years after Super Mario Bros and we have a game not only trying to tell a story but having the story influence the gameplay.
The twist of Big Boss being the head of Outer Heaven all along ties into the gameplay a lot more than I would expect- throughout Metal Gear I was frustrated that he often gives shit advice (He tells you to put a gas mask on halfway through the gas room and later in the game when Snake is progressing more than he expected he outright leads you into traps multiple times) and chalked it up to either a translation error that had been left in for authenticity or just not great design- to have the twist suddenly recontextualise parts of the game in a lightbulb moment was great. I did not expect a game that came out this early in the medium's history to pull something like that, even with the franchise's reputation of getting clever.
In general, Metal Gear is definitely ahead of its time. Manually punching in a few different radio codes to speak to different characters is charming and the huge amount of items with only a use or two is really cute- it feels much more immersive than having a small set of tools you routinely cycle through. It's a primitive stealth game, no doubt, but it does its best to feel immersive.
Unfortunately time has shone light on a few flaws, most of them fairly big and the only reasons the game isn't rated significantly higher. The combat is pretty bad, there are only a scant few tracks on the OST, most of which you'll hear on loop, and the stealth feels very dated. It's worth emphasising that none of these are due to any sort of fault in Metal Gear's design, which I think is actually fairly bulletproof as a foundation- it's just that it's 36 years old and the hardware is puny by today's standards. The MSX is just not sophisticated enough for a good combat system or good stealth.
Definitely worth a play, very excited to get into the rest of this legendary franchise.
I have reviews for all of these individual games- I'll shamelessly link them at the bottom (Overall the collection is a bit of a mixed bag so a 6/10 seems fair enough in my eyes)- so I really want to take this space to gush about Edmund McMillen, easily one of my favourite devs of all time.
Not only is he a fucking machine (Spewer, Meat Boy, Time Fcuk and Grey Matter were all made with just 3 months of dev time each), but his work is consistently of a high quality and it's always bursting with style and clever writing.
When he wants to be funny he's hilarious- Super Meat Boy, A.V.G.M and especially The Binding of Isaac have all made me laugh out loud multiple times- and when he wants to ditch his signature crass humour he's still a very good writer. The end of Time Fcuk really got under my skin and I'll be thinking about it for a long while.
The games in The Basement Collection are all little ones he made in a matter of months, but when he went back to double down on one of the stronger ones he shows a real mastery of the medium- Super Meat Boy controls like butter and, having the Ultimate Edition and being able to read his design philosophy on it, every little thing has an incredible attention to detail. A lot of SMB's biggest strengths are taken over to one of my favourite games of all time, Celeste! Though not made by McMillen in any capacity, a lot of Celeste's biggest strengths echo SMB's. The weight and speed of your character is very satisfying and the emphasis on "mini-levels" with as little dead air as possible to ensure you're less likely to rage quit is really clever.
But it's not just platformers McMillen is able to really show his skills on- The Binding of Isaac is indisputably his magnum opus. A sprawling, genre-defining roguelike that sets a gold standard, McMillen shows that if he's given enough time to make a game it's one of the best ever made.
Edmund McMillen is a genuine visionary. He's a phenomenal developer with a creative streak a mile wide and even his weakest games are about as far from boring as can possibly be.
INDIVIDUAL REVIEWS FROM THE COLLECTION:
Meat Boy | Coil | A.V.G.M | Aether | Spewer | Time Fcuk | Grey Matter | Triachnid
Not only is he a fucking machine (Spewer, Meat Boy, Time Fcuk and Grey Matter were all made with just 3 months of dev time each), but his work is consistently of a high quality and it's always bursting with style and clever writing.
When he wants to be funny he's hilarious- Super Meat Boy, A.V.G.M and especially The Binding of Isaac have all made me laugh out loud multiple times- and when he wants to ditch his signature crass humour he's still a very good writer. The end of Time Fcuk really got under my skin and I'll be thinking about it for a long while.
The games in The Basement Collection are all little ones he made in a matter of months, but when he went back to double down on one of the stronger ones he shows a real mastery of the medium- Super Meat Boy controls like butter and, having the Ultimate Edition and being able to read his design philosophy on it, every little thing has an incredible attention to detail. A lot of SMB's biggest strengths are taken over to one of my favourite games of all time, Celeste! Though not made by McMillen in any capacity, a lot of Celeste's biggest strengths echo SMB's. The weight and speed of your character is very satisfying and the emphasis on "mini-levels" with as little dead air as possible to ensure you're less likely to rage quit is really clever.
But it's not just platformers McMillen is able to really show his skills on- The Binding of Isaac is indisputably his magnum opus. A sprawling, genre-defining roguelike that sets a gold standard, McMillen shows that if he's given enough time to make a game it's one of the best ever made.
Edmund McMillen is a genuine visionary. He's a phenomenal developer with a creative streak a mile wide and even his weakest games are about as far from boring as can possibly be.
INDIVIDUAL REVIEWS FROM THE COLLECTION:
Meat Boy | Coil | A.V.G.M | Aether | Spewer | Time Fcuk | Grey Matter | Triachnid
2009
Neat concept with a pretty fun execution- I can't believe this was developed in only 3 months. Edmund McMillen's signature sense of humour now becomes the entire game as you vomit your way through a lab with varying powerups. Super charming, even though the lack of controller support is very much felt and some of the bonus levels are just horseshit.
2006
flat out did not enjoy this- the game runs like shit and the controls are (intentionally) terrible, which is a shame because the concept is cute and i quite like the art style. bit of a sour note to end The Basement Collection on but it's still not the worst thing ever.
2009
Unless Triachnid is a banger this is the best thing in the Basement Collection (running through it game-by-game at the time of this review). It's got a really fun premise and utilises it super well- if Edmund made a full-sized game out of this and not a quick flash game it could be an all-timer. The ending really sticks with you as well.
2008
Pretty fun game but it really suffers from a lack of controller support. Soundtrack is absolutely killer, though- Danny Baranowsky is a wizard.
2008
yeah it's pretty cute
2021
A genuinely staggering case of missed potential.
The game looks beautiful and has a killer soundtrack, the writing of character beats are snappy and funny and the worldbuilding is surprisingly solid for a tiny indie team.
Unfortunately the combat is fucking terrible, the bosses are all shit and while the writing of little moments is good the big-picture plot is okay-at-best for most of the run, the plot entirely falls off the deep end with a truly nonsensical twist in like the last ten minutes and ends on a shitty cliffhanger.
I was hovering around a 6/10 for TWR, but the final real boss fight (the final fight is just waves of minions) is ridiculously unfun and boring, the plot has a massive amount of unresolved threads that feel like sequel-bait and the game ends on a truly terrible twist.
What a shame.
The game looks beautiful and has a killer soundtrack, the writing of character beats are snappy and funny and the worldbuilding is surprisingly solid for a tiny indie team.
Unfortunately the combat is fucking terrible, the bosses are all shit and while the writing of little moments is good the big-picture plot is okay-at-best for most of the run, the plot entirely falls off the deep end with a truly nonsensical twist in like the last ten minutes and ends on a shitty cliffhanger.
I was hovering around a 6/10 for TWR, but the final real boss fight (the final fight is just waves of minions) is ridiculously unfun and boring, the plot has a massive amount of unresolved threads that feel like sequel-bait and the game ends on a truly terrible twist.
What a shame.
I love how fucking angry everything in The New Order is. The game is outraged at the injustice of its setting and everything is screaming at you to fight back. Wake up. Do SOMETHING.
From the moment you boot it up you're greeted with a hard wall of furious noise, and the soundtrack never lets up- every track is loaded with adrenaline and wrath. Blowing Nazi heads to paste is made ten times more satisfying when the backing guitar is roaring and the drums are thumping in time with every bullet.
Every single character is seething- it goes without saying that every member of the Resistance is from top-to-bottom livid at the Nazis, but even after the globe has fallen to pure evil the Nazis continue to burn the world to cinders in bigoted wrath. General Deathshead puts on a better front than most, but as his compound crumbles and his soldiers die in droves the mask of sophistication slips more and more until you're left with a shrieking, raving madman- far from the calculated cruelty he relishes in during the prologue.
Special mention goes to BJ, of course. Even when there's nothing but you and the corridors his inner voice is a whisper of controlled, focused fury. He's far from the chattiest protagonist in the medium but every single word out of his mouth oozes with contempt for the broken world he's woken up in.
The gameplay is visceral and mean. Knife wounds are deep and rough, blood pours out of each kill and explosions turn Nazis into goop. You relish in it.
An excellent revival of a classic series- can't wait to play the followups.
From the moment you boot it up you're greeted with a hard wall of furious noise, and the soundtrack never lets up- every track is loaded with adrenaline and wrath. Blowing Nazi heads to paste is made ten times more satisfying when the backing guitar is roaring and the drums are thumping in time with every bullet.
Every single character is seething- it goes without saying that every member of the Resistance is from top-to-bottom livid at the Nazis, but even after the globe has fallen to pure evil the Nazis continue to burn the world to cinders in bigoted wrath. General Deathshead puts on a better front than most, but as his compound crumbles and his soldiers die in droves the mask of sophistication slips more and more until you're left with a shrieking, raving madman- far from the calculated cruelty he relishes in during the prologue.
Special mention goes to BJ, of course. Even when there's nothing but you and the corridors his inner voice is a whisper of controlled, focused fury. He's far from the chattiest protagonist in the medium but every single word out of his mouth oozes with contempt for the broken world he's woken up in.
The gameplay is visceral and mean. Knife wounds are deep and rough, blood pours out of each kill and explosions turn Nazis into goop. You relish in it.
An excellent revival of a classic series- can't wait to play the followups.
1996
Not content to put out just two of the most influential games in history with Wolfenstein and Doom, id went all-in with their first foray into true 3D- and knocked it out of the park.
Quake feels like a more restrained companion piece to Doom's confident carnage. The combat here is slower and more methodical- Ranger isn't the human bullet Doomguy is so you have to play more carefully. Enemies do more damage- Shamblers, Fiends and Spawn are significantly more dangerous than your average demon, and they're a lot tankier. Quake is definitely the tougher of the two, even with health kits and ammo everywhere I found myself dying more than I would in Doom. It's not as much of a showcase of the player's power, but the harder difficulty means that even small encounters can feel like a huge triumph once you kill the last monster. Quake is full of those little moments of satisfaction.
Quake is also a lot less flashy and showy than Doom, which leaves the player focusing on the technical marvel for the time- it was released not even 3 years after Doom, which was already groundbreaking for the time, and feels like it belongs to an entirely different generation of gaming.
The lighting is dark and foreboding instead of bright and visceral, the music is ominous industrial groans (by fucking Nine-Inch Nails, how cool is that?) instead of roaring guitars and banging drums. Your enemies are deep browns instead of saturated reds, greens and white and even their blood is murky and oxidised instead of bright crimson. The most powerful gun is simply called the Thunderbolt instead of the Big Fucking Gun. The final boss is a puzzle, not a beef wall. The halls you stalk are brown and grey brick, not fleshy corridors. It's almost understated in its approach- apart from the fact you're still blowing ghouls into paste. But even then, it's not as loud and bloody as in Doom.
Despite all of these comparisons to Doom, Quake stands firmly on its own merits, and the contrasts to its sister game only serve to strengthen it. It's a landmark in game design and graphical fidelity, and that's not even mentioning its shadow looming large over pretty much every multiplayer shooter since its release. It's aged surprisingly well.
Quake feels like a more restrained companion piece to Doom's confident carnage. The combat here is slower and more methodical- Ranger isn't the human bullet Doomguy is so you have to play more carefully. Enemies do more damage- Shamblers, Fiends and Spawn are significantly more dangerous than your average demon, and they're a lot tankier. Quake is definitely the tougher of the two, even with health kits and ammo everywhere I found myself dying more than I would in Doom. It's not as much of a showcase of the player's power, but the harder difficulty means that even small encounters can feel like a huge triumph once you kill the last monster. Quake is full of those little moments of satisfaction.
Quake is also a lot less flashy and showy than Doom, which leaves the player focusing on the technical marvel for the time- it was released not even 3 years after Doom, which was already groundbreaking for the time, and feels like it belongs to an entirely different generation of gaming.
The lighting is dark and foreboding instead of bright and visceral, the music is ominous industrial groans (by fucking Nine-Inch Nails, how cool is that?) instead of roaring guitars and banging drums. Your enemies are deep browns instead of saturated reds, greens and white and even their blood is murky and oxidised instead of bright crimson. The most powerful gun is simply called the Thunderbolt instead of the Big Fucking Gun. The final boss is a puzzle, not a beef wall. The halls you stalk are brown and grey brick, not fleshy corridors. It's almost understated in its approach- apart from the fact you're still blowing ghouls into paste. But even then, it's not as loud and bloody as in Doom.
Despite all of these comparisons to Doom, Quake stands firmly on its own merits, and the contrasts to its sister game only serve to strengthen it. It's a landmark in game design and graphical fidelity, and that's not even mentioning its shadow looming large over pretty much every multiplayer shooter since its release. It's aged surprisingly well.
1997
Super mixed feelings on Doom 64. On one hand, I love the murky, muddy aesthetic and the spookier atmosphere, but I don't think it matches with classic Doom gameplay and the level design is a massive downgrade.
Compared to Doom I and II, 64 is a much gloomier game. Gone are the rip-roaring synthesised guitars and vibrant designs of red, yellow and white levels- in their place are grinding atmospheric tracks and deep greens, purples, greys and browns. I actually really like this change, it makes 64 feel distinct from its predecessors and makes it feel almost like a transitory game between the confident bloodbaths before and the grimy horror of Doom 3- but the gameplay is still the same as 1 and 2, which feels like a bit of a mismatch to me.
Doom 3's commitment to horror aesthetics is paired with much slower, tenser gameplay that lets both pop more, complimenting each other. In contrast, 64's gunplay is the same lightning-fast ballet of bullets that preceded it, but its aesthetics don't quite match. The dim lighting and the rumbling, eerie soundtrack are disconnected from the frantic killing sprees you've been accustomed to and I think if they went all the way in one direction it would have been good- as it stands, 64 is tonally confused.
The level design has also taken a massive hit. Levels are significantly longer than in previous games and loop back in labyrinthian fashion frequently. Now, Doom is no stranger to levels winding in on themselves, but it was mixed with shorter, more linear levels that had more action- compared to 1 and 2, 64 has much more wandering about looking for the next leg of the level, which is a real bummer. If you know where you're going in Dooms 1 & 2 you can wrap a level up in a few minutes, tops. Not in 64.
I really appreciate Doom 64 not wanting to be cookie-cutter in its aesthetics, but I think its level design falls flat compared to its legendary predecessors. Still alright, though.
Compared to Doom I and II, 64 is a much gloomier game. Gone are the rip-roaring synthesised guitars and vibrant designs of red, yellow and white levels- in their place are grinding atmospheric tracks and deep greens, purples, greys and browns. I actually really like this change, it makes 64 feel distinct from its predecessors and makes it feel almost like a transitory game between the confident bloodbaths before and the grimy horror of Doom 3- but the gameplay is still the same as 1 and 2, which feels like a bit of a mismatch to me.
Doom 3's commitment to horror aesthetics is paired with much slower, tenser gameplay that lets both pop more, complimenting each other. In contrast, 64's gunplay is the same lightning-fast ballet of bullets that preceded it, but its aesthetics don't quite match. The dim lighting and the rumbling, eerie soundtrack are disconnected from the frantic killing sprees you've been accustomed to and I think if they went all the way in one direction it would have been good- as it stands, 64 is tonally confused.
The level design has also taken a massive hit. Levels are significantly longer than in previous games and loop back in labyrinthian fashion frequently. Now, Doom is no stranger to levels winding in on themselves, but it was mixed with shorter, more linear levels that had more action- compared to 1 and 2, 64 has much more wandering about looking for the next leg of the level, which is a real bummer. If you know where you're going in Dooms 1 & 2 you can wrap a level up in a few minutes, tops. Not in 64.
I really appreciate Doom 64 not wanting to be cookie-cutter in its aesthetics, but I think its level design falls flat compared to its legendary predecessors. Still alright, though.
1993
I've played through Doom (and more specifically, Knee-Deep in the Dead- the other two chapters are a lot more varied in quality) more times than I can even count, and every time the timelessness and slickness of it surprises me. The movement is great, the level design is mostly excellent and the soundtrack is phenomenal. Suspense, Sign of Evil, I Sawed the Demons, Nobody Told Me about ID- the list of great Doom tracks is pretty much just an OST list. It's an all-timer.
Early, influential games don't always hold up. I LOVE the first Resident Evil, but the door animations and fixed camera angles haven't aged great- I don't mind them personally but they're a huge turn-off for most people, which is fair. The first Zelda game, the first Metroid game, the first Devil May Cry, all were very influential for their respective genres but none of them hold up all that well. Doom does. It's timeless in a way that even other all-time greats like Ocarina of Time aren't. Just phenomenal all-round, and I can't wait to play it for the thousandth time in a couple of days.
Early, influential games don't always hold up. I LOVE the first Resident Evil, but the door animations and fixed camera angles haven't aged great- I don't mind them personally but they're a huge turn-off for most people, which is fair. The first Zelda game, the first Metroid game, the first Devil May Cry, all were very influential for their respective genres but none of them hold up all that well. Doom does. It's timeless in a way that even other all-time greats like Ocarina of Time aren't. Just phenomenal all-round, and I can't wait to play it for the thousandth time in a couple of days.
2017
calling asia noodleland and africa watermelon central is just racism like sure man
game is fine but fuck whatever loser made it
edit: there's a fucking racial slur in the game files because of course there is. fuck this game LMAO
game is fine but fuck whatever loser made it
edit: there's a fucking racial slur in the game files because of course there is. fuck this game LMAO
2022
Overwatch 2’s PVE has been completely and utterly cancelled.
Blizzard killed the golden goose for good. The PvE initially promised as a sprawling experience got downgraded into small season excerpts, and now? Nothing.
One of the most promising, innovative and polished games of all time has been systematically butchered by executive incompetence. Overwatch 2’s whole existence was principled on this PvE. Now what is it built on?
A shop overhaul. No more free cosmetics every level. Pay for cosmetics. Pay for the Battle Pass. Spend. Spend. Spend.
Bleak stuff. I’ll always treasure the great memories I have of early Overwatch (heroes never die, after all), but I honestly doubt I’ll ever touch it again.
Blizzard killed the golden goose for good. The PvE initially promised as a sprawling experience got downgraded into small season excerpts, and now? Nothing.
One of the most promising, innovative and polished games of all time has been systematically butchered by executive incompetence. Overwatch 2’s whole existence was principled on this PvE. Now what is it built on?
A shop overhaul. No more free cosmetics every level. Pay for cosmetics. Pay for the Battle Pass. Spend. Spend. Spend.
Bleak stuff. I’ll always treasure the great memories I have of early Overwatch (heroes never die, after all), but I honestly doubt I’ll ever touch it again.
2006
OK so this game is absolutely fucking terrible and it singlehandedly tanked Sonic's reputation for years but to be honest it's not that much worse than a lot of shitty AAA releases nowadays. It's very fitting that Sonic beats other IPs to the punch here- he is the fastest thing alive after all, guess he's just ahead of the curve!
As the games industry gets more and more cynical with huge releases being unfinished on launch Sonic '06 feels more and more like a case of foreshadowing- publisher greed and ambition butchering the hard work of developers.
As the games industry gets more and more cynical with huge releases being unfinished on launch Sonic '06 feels more and more like a case of foreshadowing- publisher greed and ambition butchering the hard work of developers.