Story and Characters
-The story of Resident Evil 5 revolves around Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) agents Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar as they try to track down a bioterrorist threat in Kijuju, a fictional region of West Africa. As you can probably guess from that description, this is not your typical Resident Evil game as it feels far more like an action movie in both its story and gameplay, even more so than the previous game, Resident Evil 4. The story is fairly simplistic, but it works well enough even if it does lean heavily into the cheesiness of a B action movie. The villains are very over the top and the story lacks the tension of some of the previous games, but it works well as a fun action game.
-Chris and Sheva are both fairly generic characters that don’t get a ton of development, but they have good banter together and I liked seeing them work together as a team throughout the game. They are both highly trained operatives at this point, so the focus on action makes sense narratively as well. It would be hard to believe that someone who has been through as much as Chris Redfield would still be scared by the virus so the lack of horror works, although I do wish the game had a bit more of it.

Gameplay
-The gameplay in many ways really works, but there are also many frustrations I found with the game as well. The movement uses a somewhat modified version of the tank controls from the previous Resident Evil games and while I found myself getting used to it as I played, it still doesn’t feel as good as regular modern games’ movement like the movement in the remakes. Not being able to aim and shoot while moving can be a bit frustrating as can not being able to reload while moving. The gunplay itself feels pretty good however, and I like the various weapons that the game gives you to allow you to change up your playstyle.
-The main point of contention I have with the gameplay is the inclusion of the AI companion and the inventory system in place. To be clear, I like Sheva as a character and I like the idea of having a co-op action game. I did not play this game with another person which may be why certain aspects of this game really didn’t work for me because the AI can be very frustrating. Sheva was actually decent in most combat situations as she was a decent shot and I liked being able to customize her weapons. The issues would arise at certain times when we had to separate and she had to fend off enemies by herself and would get killed fairly quickly. She also would occasionally shoot at enemies for no reason that couldn’t be damaged and would waste all of her ammo. The biggest frustration for me though was the inventory management. Each player gets 9 slots for their inventory at the beginning and you never have a chance to expand that. That may seem like a lot, but because the game gives you so many weapons and ammo types to carry, it fills up very quickly. You are unable to drop items on the ground and so I would have many times when I really wanted a health item, but I would need to discard ammo or grenades to pick it up. Sheva would also pick things up on her own which at times can be helpful and other times, can be frustrating. During one of the boss fights, I had almost no health and was trying to pick up a green herb, but my inventory was totally full with weapons and ammo I needed for the fight. So I tried to bring Sheva over to grab it, and instead she grabbed some grenades off the ground. You cannot discard items directly from her inventory, instead you have to swap items with her, discard the items from your inventory, get your items back and then have her pick up the new item. The game doesn’t pause when you are in your inventory so as you can imagine, trying to do all of this while having to do QTEs to dodge the boss’s attacks was very aggravating and I ended up dying and having to restart. That isn’t the only frustration with the inventory either as you can’t combine items from the ground with items already in your inventory except for ammo. So if there was a green herb on the ground when my inventory was full, I couldn’t just combine it right there with a red herb that I already had. Again, this means if I really wanted the health item, I was having to discard something to get it. Usually though, the red herbs were useless anyways because I would have Sheva hold the herbs because I was low on space and she would always use the green herbs as soon as she got them. Essentially, the AI companion and the poor inventory management systems make this game far more frustrating than it otherwise should be. Playing with another actual person definitely would’ve helped with some of those problems, but the inventory would still be annoying to deal with.
-Another aspect of the game that I found to be rather frustrating at times were the boss fights. In the first half of the game, they really weren’t too bad and while they could sometimes be a bit challenging, they were never overly annoying. That changed with the second half of the game and there were a couple fights that really annoyed me. The main issue that I had with them is that they simply go on for too long at times. There is one particular one in a lab where it felt like you had to do the exact same thing eight times in a row. Then if Sheva or you die, you have to restart all over again and you likely don’t have many health items because they get used so quickly. The bosses can also feel inconsistent with their QTEs where sometimes I would get a prompt to dodge an attack and other times I wouldn’t and I would just get hit. The only saving grace is the rocket launcher which you can spend a bunch of money on but it essentially one shots any boss.
-This isn’t really a gameplay point, but the game does not have skippable cutscenes and so if you die to a boss, you will have to watch that same scene over and over again with no way to skip it.

Side Content
-The main game doesn’t really have any side content as it is a linear game. After you beat the main game, you unlock a new game mode called Mercenaries, but I didn’t play it at all, so I cannot comment on whether or not it is any fun.

World/Level Design
-The level design is very different from any of the previous Resident Evil games as the game is set in Africa and takes place predominantly during the day. Having the game set in a city and exploring the surrounding countryside does make the game far less scary and the atmosphere certainly isn’t as creepy as most of the other RE games, but again, this mostly works as the game is far more action oriented. I really liked a lot of the locations, especially the town and the marshlands and they were fun to explore and felt very unique. There is a part of the game where you are exploring these ancient ruins and it feels almost like a Tomb Raider game which I enjoyed. The game does have far less backtracking than its predecessors and you are always moving forward with the story instead of going back to explore old areas. I kinda missed the backtracking as I think that it can be fun and help you really become familiar with a location, but I did also like how many different places you go in RE5.
-Now I should address this topic as it is usually at the forefront of any discussion about RE5, but the game is set in Africa and there have been many people who feel it is racist for one reason or another with certain depictions. Naturally, with the game being set in Africa, you are going to be fighting a lot of black people who have been infected. This may rub some people the wrong way and I could see how someone may feel the “white savior” trope is at play here, but I personally was not too bothered by this. The part of the game that does feel a bit more problematic is when you leave the main city and go through the marshes where you encounter many enemies in grass skirts and using spears while being incredibly tribal. Again, you could argue that narratively, it is the virus infection that is causing the people to act this way, but it does feel like an outdated depiction of Africa and one that was a stereotype for a very long time. How much this will bother someone will differ depending on the individual, but it is worth mentioning that there are some questionable choices here, although I don’t think the intent was ever to be overtly racist.

Graphics, Music and Glitches
-The game was released 15 years ago now, so naturally the graphics are dated, but they still hold up pretty well and for a 2009 game, it all looks fairly good.
-The music in the game was good and it added to the tension of the action scenes when it needed to.
-I did not encounter any major glitches while playing the game.

Main Positives of the Game
-The characters of Chris and Sheva are likable and they have good chemistry with one another.
-The game has some cool locations like the city, the mine, the marshlands and the ruins you explore and I like how different the areas all felt. Driving around the boat in the marshes to explore new areas was really fun and was the most open the game ever felt.
-The combat actually holds up pretty well and the shooting all feels good. I also like that they have the different melee attacks you can do when enemies are stunned.
-The visuals hold up pretty well despite this being a 15 year old game.

Main Negatives of the Game
-The movement can be frustrating, especially by not giving you the ability to move and shoot or reload. Running can also feel a bit clunky at times.
-Unskippable cutscenes were very annoying as you had to rewatch them every time you died.
-The AI partner is very hit and miss and will often do things you don’t want them to do. They will waste your resources and will get killed fairly easily if you aren’t careful.
-The inventory system is awful and lacks so many simple quality of life changes that would make it so much better. Being able to drop items on the ground, combine items between inventories, and being able to upgrade the size of the inventory would all be very welcome additions. In an action game like this one, I don’t even know why they felt the need to limit your inventory so much in the first place as the survival horror element of the previous games is not really in play here.
-Some stereotypical African depictions that could be seen as problematic. I don’t think this is as big of an issue as some other people do, but it is something that should probably be handled a bit differently if they were ever to remake this game.
-The story is so over the top that it comes off as pretty cheesy, especially towards the end. The Resident Evil games have always had outlandish stories, but this one feels like it still managed to go a bit too far.
-Chris Redfield does in fact punch a boulder while in the middle of an active volcano and whether or not that is a positive or a negative is up to you, but that summarizes just how outlandish this game can truly be.

Overall Score: 6/10

I need to start this review with a large disclaimer. I have never played the original Resident Evil 3 game and so my review is specifically reviewing the RE3 Remake as its own game, and not as a comparison to the original. I also need to state that I did not buy this game at launch when it was $60 and if I had, that perhaps would have altered my opinions on it because of how short the game is.

Story and Characters
-The story of Resident Evil 3 is very much a familiar Resident Evil story. Without going into spoilers, the story follows Jill who is still in some ways dealing with the horrors that happened to her during the events of the original Resident Evil game. While she is in her apartment, a massive outbreak occurs in Raccoon City with people being turned into zombies and chaos erupting in the streets. She is quickly ambushed by a massive, relentless monster that pursues her through the streets and seems to be unstoppable. She meets up with Carlos, a mercenary for the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (UBCS) and together they try to help some people get out of the city and stop the virus from spreading anymore. This story isn’t anything all that original and in some ways it feels pretty similar to the story 2, but I think it is mostly effective. The story is not usually the strongest aspect of the Resident Evil games and that is no different here, but I think it is still enjoyable enough.
- The shortcomings of the story are slightly alleviated by the greatness of the characters in my opinion. Jill Valentine returning from the first game is a great character here and her voice acting is much improved from the 1996 original. She is a badass STARS member who has dealt with the zombies before so she feels much more confident in going about her mission. She also has a fun level of sass to her and she drops some great one liners throughout the game. Carlos is the other main character that you play as and he is also quite likable and charming. I thought it was cool playing as someone who works for Umbrella, who doesn’t yet realize all the terrible things that the company has done. It allows for some good character development and watching Jill and Carlos bond as the game progresses is fun to see.
-The voice acting across the board is really good, even for the side characters you meet like fellow UBCS members Mikhail Victor and Tyrell Patrick or the secondary antagonist of the game, Nicholai Ginovaef. The side characters don’t get too much screen time, but they are all good and Nicholai serves as a great villain in the game.

Gameplay
- The gameplay shifts a bit in the 3rd game from the gameplay in the 2nd as there is a lot more action and the game is more linear as well. The player now has the ability to dodge and timing it perfectly can help you better position yourself to take out approaching enemies. You are also given a lot more ammo and you are given far more damage heavy weapons earlier in the game. This gives the game a much faster pact to it as you often have to deal with larger groups of enemies and enemies that can take a lot more hits. I actually like this change because while you do lose some of the horror the second game had with its bigger emphasis on ammo preservation and threats behind every corner, this action focused shift works on a narrative level as well as a gameplay one. Jill and Carlos are both trained fighters who know how to deal with threats and dangerous situations. Jill fought tons of zombies and a giant snake in the first game, it would feel odd to have her slowly sneaking around and being incapable of effectively fighting back. In the second game, Leon was a rookie cop and Claire was a college student with some training from her brother, but neither of them had ever been in a situation like that before. It is cool that new mechanics like the dodge demonstrate a difference in skill level in the series’ protagonists.
- The gunplay feels quite similar to how it did in the second game, but it also feels like the zombies go down a bit quicker. This could also be a deliberate choice to show that the protagonists are more skilled fighters. Having the grenade launcher, shotgun and the assault rifle make you feel way more confident and as mentioned before, the game is far less scary because of that.
- Unfortunately, the game is far more linear than some of the other RE games and while there are sections of the game where you are exploring different areas by getting new supplies and keys, these sections are all fairly small. For example, the first area you are in after the exciting opening sequence is downtown Raccoon City. This location is really cool and looks incredible, but it is fairly small and the whole section can be completed in under an hour. Compared to the police department in RE2, it just feels a bit disappointing because there isn’t the same level of exploration and there are no real puzzles in the game.
- Nemesis is a big focus in this game and unfortunately, he is kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, it is a cool story idea to have this relentless monster chasing Jill through the city and he serves as an unstoppable force that you just can’t seem to kill. The various boss fights you have with him are all pretty good and I think they tend to be a step up from the boss fights in RE2. On the other hand, I found him to be far more annoying than scary and he was just kind of frustrating to deal with. While Mr X was a slow moving stalker enemy that you constantly had to worry about, there is only one section in RE3 where you are actually pursued by Nemesis and it feels more awkward than scary. He jumps around the city chasing you but he is also quite fast and can sprint at you so you are kinda just running around and trying to dodge attacks that you can’t see because he is off screen behind you. You can also be running away from him only to have him randomly jump right in front of you again. I never really found him to be very scary outside of a couple jump scares and I almost wanted to just rush though the sections when he was following me because it was annoying.
-The rest of the enemies in the game are all pretty good, it is mainly a lot of zombies, but there are some new additions as well. There is a section of the game where you are navigating a disgustingly overgrown power station that is full of these creatures called Drain Deimos and they are pretty freaky. You also have creatures called Hunter Gammas that would come out of the walls in the sewers and I liked learning the backstory on those. The coolest new enemy though are probably the Hunter Betas, they are fast and tough and have an attack that can instantly kill you if you aren’t careful.

Side Content
-The main game doesn’t really have any side content except for some optional loot that you can go back and try to collect. They do have a shop in the main menu where you can purchase special unlocks for future playthroughs which is a cool idea, but I wouldn’t really consider it side content.
-This game does have a multiplayer side game that came with it, but I did not play that so I cannot give my thoughts on it.

World/Level Design
-The level design here is pretty solid, but as mentioned before, I wish the levels were just a bit bigger so they didn’t feel so linear and would make the game a bit longer. My favorite area of the game would be the downtown sections as I thought it looked really cool and it was fun to see the main city, especially since Raccoon City is such a key location to the franchise. The other standout location to me was the hospital that you explore as you play as Carlos. It was a bit creepy and was fun to explore and read the notes from the people who died there.
- I also want to mention that I did think it was cool to see the RPD again from the second game and I liked that we went there before the actual events of RE2. Funnily enough, I actually think this game serves as a better kind of “B run” than the one we got in the actual game. I just liked seeing how certain things in RPD became damaged or what happened to certain characters and I wanted more of that in the B run of RE2, but that is a different discussion.

Graphics, Music and Glitches
-The graphics are legitimately very impressive, especially the faces on the characters in all of the cutscenes. I think they are probably the best looking character models in any RE game and they hold up very well. The locations are all very well crafted and I loved seeing the lighting from the fire and police lights in areas like the downtown section.
- This game actually had more music that I noticed then RE2 did, which I really liked. The save rooms had an ominous score that would play and certain parts of the game had creepy music that would play as you explored. It definitely added to the atmosphere and made for a better experience.
-I did not have any glitches on my playthrough.

Main Positives of the Game
- The characters of Jill and Carlos are very likable and I liked their chemistry throughout the game. It was cool playing as characters that are more capable fighters and I liked how the gameplay reflected that.
-The boss fights were an improvement over RE2 and I really liked how all of the action felt. The dodge button was a very nice addition and really added to the faster pace that the game has.
-Some cool locations like downtown Raccoon City, the hospital and the return of the west wing of the RPD. While I wanted to get more from many of the locations, the stuff we did get was all very well done.
-Phenomenal graphics, especially the face animations, they all looked really incredible.
-There are some fun, memorable sequences such as the opening Nemesis attack, the hospital zombie horde survival and the ending sequence.

Main Negatives of the Game
-The game is far too short in my opinion. Now, most Resident Evil games aren’t that long and probably clock in close to the 10 hour mark, but RE3 Remake I finished in under 7 hours. It also doesn’t have the same replayability as 2 as that one had two different characters you could play as with their own stories, even though the levels were mostly the same. I think adding more to some of the areas that they already had could have added more to the playtime, especially more in the downtown section.
- Nemesis isn’t really all that scary and he ends up being more annoying than anything. I get that they wanted to make him feel like an unstoppable threat that is always hunting you, but he gets old pretty fast, especially since the game kinda front loads a lot of the stuff with him so in the first few hours, you feel like you are constantly having to fight him or run away.
-I kinda already mentioned it, but the game is far more linear than 2 and I missed some of the puzzles and exploration that was present in that game as well as many of the other games in the series.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

Story and Characters
-The story of Resident Evil 2 is fairly straightforward, there is a zombie outbreak in Raccoon City and rookie cop Leon Kennedy or college student Claire Redfield have to navigate the horrors found in the city’s police station and the surrounding area. Depending on if you play as Leon or Claire, you will encounter different characters along the way that create sort of two different stories, even though the events that take place in both paths are quite similar. The story of an evil corporation creating a monster virus that gets loose is certainly not something we have never seen before, but that formula is iconic to the Resident Evil franchise and it still works in the remake over 20 years after the original game was released.
-The characters of Leon and Claire are both good, but they aren’t given a whole lot to really do or have much depth to them. They are both just good people trying to survive a zombie apocalypse and for a game like this one that isn’t super story heavy, I think that is actually enough. Would I like to see richer characters with more compelling story arcs? Sure, but the lack of that here isn’t massively detrimental like it can be in other games where the stories are more complex and more of the focal point of the game. Here, the focus is on the survival horror and the exploration of these iconic locations where you are trying to avoid terrifying creatures.
-Having both Leon and Claire be playable and having them have slightly different stories is a cool idea, but one I wish they took even a step further. Many of the locations you are in, puzzles you solve and bosses you fight are the same between both playthroughs so it doesn’t feel as worth it to play them back to back as you are essentially playing the same game. This isn’t a huge criticism though as I know making the stories too different would essentially be like creating an entirely different game, but it does feel a bit like a missed opportunity. And while you are doing the same things in the two playthroughs, the different side characters you interact with, Ada and Sherry, do drastically change the motivations of the protagonists so there are two separate stories there, even if the gameplay is very similar.
-Another small aspect of the story that I liked was the environmental storytelling that the game does. Similarly to The Last of Us, you can find notes and videos throughout the map that give more context to what happened and add more depth to the story without having to show the player directly what happened. They use this for gameplay purposes as well for the players who pay attention. For example, in one area I found a list of people who were going in and out of a certain room with a clock in and clock out time. At the end of the list, you can see that someone clocked in, but never clocked out. When I went to that room I was more cautious because of the note and sure enough, there was a zombie waiting for me there. Small things like that make every note worth reading and it is fun to solve puzzles by using context clues that the game gives you.

Gameplay
-The gameplay of RE2 Remake is a major highlight, particularly if you are coming off of playing the original Resident Evil. The gunplay feels very satisfying and you are given plenty of weapons to work with which keeps the shooting feeling fresh the entire playthrough. I do also appreciate that Claire and Leon have some different weapons they use as that also helps diversify the two playthroughs a bit more.
-The survival horror aspects of the game also really add to the gameplay as you have to manage your resources and be strategic when using your ammo. Luckily, this was never an issue where I didn’t have enough ammo or resources, but I was just aware that they were limited so I planned accordingly. Inventory management is something else you need to worry about, but that also never really felt like too much of an issue because there are plenty of boxes you can stash extra stuff in and it makes you prioritize which items you are grabbing and using.
-The puzzles and all the locks and keys really make the game a lot of fun to play and almost gives it a digital escape room feel. You are constantly finding clues and items that allow you to get to new areas to explore more and find better gear. I was never upset that I was backtracking around the police station because it is so well designed and the enemies that would spawn constantly kept you on high alert. Also I have to mention some really nice quality of life features that make the game even better. Having the map show exactly what rooms you have been to and left stuff behind in and marking which keys or items are needed for certain doors is extremely nice. I also really like how the game tells you when you no longer need to use an item so you can discard it without worry.
-The enemies in the game are not super numerous when it comes to variety, but they are all effective at being creepy and threatening. The zombies are not super dangerous on their own, but when you have bigger groups of them coming to attack you, you can quickly become overwhelmed. The zombies also move in very erratic ways which can make it difficult to line up your headshots. This adds to the stress of the game because you know every bullet matters so you really need to be precise. The lickers are a terrifying enemy that hunt based off of sound allowing you to creep by them undetected if you choose, but sometimes you will need to fight them head on which can be tough. The way they move on the walls and ceiling is very creepy and when they show up unexpectedly, they are some of the game's best jump scares. The most iconic enemy of the game however has to be Mr X, a relentless monster that will pursue you throughout the game. He adds a level of dread to the game that I haven’t seen many video games pull off as you are forced to solve puzzles and navigate the maze of the police station all while being slowly chased by this unstoppable figure.

Side Content
-The game does not really have any traditional side content as it is quite linear. You explore areas of the map and it is up to you how thoroughly you do so, but there aren’t side objectives or anything like that. The only thing that comes close is hunting for Mr Raccoon toys that are hidden throughout the game, but those are just simple collectibles.

World/Level Design
-The level design here is absolutely one of the game’s strong points. The Raccoon City police department is probably my favorite location out of all the Resident Evil games that I have played. It is very large and highly detailed and the fact that it used to be an art museum gives the building so much character.
-A minor complaint I would have is that I don’t think the locations outside of the police station are quite as good. The laboratory is pretty cool, but far more linear and the sewers are alright, but more forgettable. The game peaks with the police station which is a bit unfortunate as that is the first location you go to, but it is also the place you spend the most time at so it makes sense.

Graphics, Music and Glitches
-The graphics look great, from the character models to the creepy environments you walk around in, it all looks really good. The gore effects in the game also look very good and add to the horror the game creates. The lighting is very effective and when you are traveling through darker areas with just your flashlight, it feels quite tense. There are so many shadows and simple pieces of furniture that make you do a double take because you think you saw something that isn't really there.
-I need to mention the sound design because that is something else this game does exceptionally well. From the grunting of zombies behind a door to the sound of bullet shells hitting the floor as you reload, the game sounds incredible. Sound is key to any game, but especially a horror game like this one and they do a great job here. When you hear Mr X’s footsteps echoing around you, it significantly adds to the tension and makes you constantly feel on edge.
-The music in the game is very much put on the back burner which in some ways works and in others is a bit disappointing. When I played with headphones on, I could hear some background music a bit better, but without them, I could barely even hear music playing in the save rooms, areas that tend to have really good, eerie music playing. This is not a huge issue though as the lack of a lot of music also adds to the gameplay. I feel if there was too much music playing, it could take away from hearing the footsteps of Mr X or the groaning of zombies.
-I did not encounter any bugs or glitches while playing and everything ran incredibly smoothly.

Main Positives of the Game
-The locations and atmosphere are incredible, the game feels tense and legitimately scary at parts and the police department in particular is just a really cool place to explore.
-The gameplay is a lot of fun, I love the survival horror elements of conserving your resources and saving when you can and I like how satisfying the gunplay feels. I played the game on PS5 and the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback made everything feel so much better and more immersive. Each gun feels a bit different to shoot and feeling the controller vibrate when you reload each bullet was really cool.
-The characters are fairly basic as is the story, but it remains effective for the kind of game that this is. I actually became more invested in the story as the game went on and you learn more about the scientists and other people who played a part in the release of the viruses.
-Incredible sound design and great graphics really make this game feel like the perfect example of what a remake should be. Keep the essence of the original game, but update it so it feels like a game that would be released today.
-Another aspect of the game that I actually quite like is the length. I was able to complete a playthrough in around 8 hours, so probably close to 16 hours to do both Leon’s and Claire’s respective stories. While that isn’t very long compared to many other games, I feel that it was a good length for the kind of game that this is. I would have likely been okay with a couple more hours, but much more than that and I wonder if the game would start to feel too repetitive and wouldn’t have the same strong pacing.

Main Negatives of the Game
-I do not have any major criticisms with the game, but a few minor ones. As mentioned earlier, I do think the best part of the game is the police department and the areas after that are never as interesting to me. It isn’t that the game becomes bad, but it is far less scary and the locations just aren’t as engaging.
-I mentioned this as a positive, but I also wouldn’t have minded a bit more depth to the characters. While they are still likable enough, I think it could have been cool to get a bit more out of them so that they feel more memorable.
-I know it would be hard to create totally new environments and bosses, I would like it if there were a bit more change between the two playthroughs. As it stands, it creates a strange situation where the stories are kind of taking place at the same time, but they are also the same story so it feels a bit strange.

Overall Score: 9/10

Story and Characters
-The Quarry has a full cast of some recognizable faces from film and TV and all of the performances felt very good. None of the voice actors stuck out as weak or like they didn’t fit in with the rest of the game.
-The characters themselves are all mostly likable with some standing out as favorites, but none of the main cast felt like they were too annoying or unrealistic. Even when characters would make choices that would be upsetting, they tended to at least make sense in the context of that character.
-The story is basic, but works well for the type of game that it is. The summer camp is a horror staple and it works well here, but I do wish the story had a bit more mystery to it. There are still reveals along the way, but some of the bigger reveals are unveiled quite early so there is less suspense in the narrative. Until Dawn had the more interesting story in my opinion as there were more threats in play and more reveals as to what was really happening.
-Sometimes the story lacked a sense of urgency and tension as the characters would not always react as you would think they would. Someone gets their arm cut off and while they freak out for a second, it’s a moment that is passed over too quickly and takes from the seriousness of the scene. This works if the game is going for a horror satire, but it doesn’t seem to fully commit to this idea either so it feels off.

Gameplay
-Gameplay is very similar to the Dark Pictures games and Until Dawn. This game seems even more focused on cinematics and cutscenes though, and sometimes the gameplay feels a little lacking. The story is good enough that the game never gets boring, but it could have been fun to have more gameplay heavy sections.
-It feels there are less big choices than in some of the studios other games. Admittedly, I only have done one playthrough so there could be a lot of content that I never saw, but for the most part, I felt myself wanting a few bigger decisions that would really alter the story or certain characters.
-Characters have certain relationships with one another that can improve or worsen depending on dialogue options that are chosen, but this never really seemed to make a difference to the story. Again, I could be wrong about this and the system is deeper than I realize, but I wanted a bit more depth to the dynamic between the characters or certain scenarios that would only play out if people were close or distant enough.
-The inclusion of the different characters being assigned to different real players in a couch co-op is very nice and makes passing along the controller very simple. The movie mode feature where you can watch the game play out is a cool idea, even though I think playing the game and making the choices yourself is more fun.
-I do wish the game was a bit scarier as it is a horror game. There were some cool camera angles that added to the tension and a few suspenseful moments, but most of the game was not very scary and I wish it had felt just a bit more tense.

Side Content
-The game is really just one big interactive movie, so there really isn’t much side content to talk about. There are cards you can find that will show a potential future and there are some clues that sort of act as collectibles, but that is really all the side stuff. This is not a bad thing though as the game is not really built for side content and is far more linear.

World/Level Design
-Hackett’s Quarry Summer Camp is a fun location and the different buildings make for some good drama and tension. I do kind of wish there had been more side areas or other locations in the game, sort of like how Until Dawn had a mineshaft you explored, but that is really just a small nitpick.

Graphics, Music and Glitches
-The graphics in the game are very good, especially all of the different facial animations. The characters usually look quite realistic and they are able to be very expressive. The environments also look very good, especially the lighting in the brief daytime parts of the game.
-The music was good, although not particularly memorable.
-I did not encounter any bugs or glitches during my playthrough of the game.

Main Positives of the Game
-The game has lots of fun characters and a decent story that keeps you invested throughout the runtime of the game.
-The graphics, particularly the facial animations, are very good and help the characters feel even more expressive.
-The game is designed to be a perfect couch co-op or online game and it definitely succeeds in that regard, it is a very fun game to play with a group of friends.
-The game has a lot of replayability as there are many different outcomes and it will be fun to revisit to see what different scenarios might occur.

Main Negatives of the Game
-The story is alright, but reveals too many of its mysteries too early and doesn’t feel quite as engaging as the story from Until Dawn.
-Your choices don’t always feel super significant, especially when it comes to the character relationships and it felt like the player couldn’t drastically change the outcome of the game, but this again could be because I only played through the game once that it feels that way.
-Not quite as scary as you might want it to be and the game doesn’t have many scenes that are super tense, but more fun, QTE sections that while stressful, don’t feel as suspenseful.

Overall Score: 7/10

Uncharted 4 was the first Uncharted game to not be released on the Playstation 3 and the upgraded technology really helps elevate this game. Graphics may not be everything, but the visuals in this game still remain stunning and the animations in gameplay look incredibly smooth and make the game feel so much more realistic. Uncharted 4 has a few minor issues here and there, but overall, it remains an incredible game that really serves as a great send off for the Playstation icon, Nathan Drake.


Story and Characters
-The story of Uncharted 4 will be familiar to anyone who has played an Uncharted game before. There are clues to find scattered throughout the world and Nathan and his various companions will travel around doing lots of fighting and climbing as they try to find some old treasure that has been long since lost. The formula is admittedly repetitive and yet, it remains effective here because yet again, the characters are so well developed and the dialogue keeps you consistently engaged. Without going into spoilers, this game continues the theme of Uncharted 3 of Nathan Drake being pulled back into another adventure even though it may be at the detriment of those closest to him. He is now married to Elena and they seem to have a great life together, but Drake still cannot shake the desire to be out exploring in the world. When his long lost brother comes to him asking for help and a promise of another adventure, it is enough to get Nathan to leave his comfortable life behind and start traveling again. The themes of the game really work here because it feels like this is the constant battle that Nathan is facing. Having his final game have a “one last adventure” sort of feel really works and it makes the player all the more invested in what happens. The stakes are higher because you aren’t sure what will happen and with it being the final game starring Nathan Drake, you don’t know who could potentially not make it to the end.
-The characters are fantastic as usual in an Uncharted game, with Nathan being the most interesting yet. You get to learn more about his backstory and he is able to have great banter with all of the different characters he interacts with. Surprisingly, no one feels shortchanged in the game, all the side characters get a good amount of screen time. The new addition to the cast, Sam Drake, is a fun new character who is charming and knowledgeable, but also not entirely trustworthy and you can tell the stress he is facing. He is played excellently by Troy Baker who really manages to help the player connect with this character and you are able to buy him as Drake’s brother, something that can be hard to do when he is only interested in the final game.
-Sully and Elena are also present for a good amount of the game and I think they did a very good job incorporating them naturally into the story and when they are not present, it also makes sense. Unfortunately, Chloe does not make an appearance in this Uncharted game, but it may be for the best as too many characters could make the game feel overly crowded.
-Lastly, I want to touch on the main antagonists of the game, Rafe Adler and his hired hand, Nadine Ross. Rafe is a businessman/ treasure hunter who is tracking down the same treasure as the Drake brothers. He is not as skilled as them though and is often a few steps behind, but he has many resources at his disposal, such as Nadine and her private army. Rafe works well as a villain because he almost feels like Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark. A rival treasure hunter who is willing to play dirty to get what he wants. Nadine is a good addition to the game as well as she is able to add an extra layer to the side of the villains.

Gameplay
-Uncharted 4 keeps the same Uncharted gameplay loop of climbing, fighting and solving puzzles and doesn’t do too much to change from the familiar mold, but it does make a few nice changes. The climbing is better than ever with the addition of a grapple hook to swing and climb up different surfaces. Stealth is also a much more viable option now and many encounters give you the choice between going in guns blazing and taking out enemies one by one. The gunfights are also a bit more dynamic with the inclusion of destructible cover. If you stay behind a certain stone wall or wood table for too long, chances are it will be shot to pieces and you will be exposed. It makes the gunplay more fun and keeps you moving around the various levels.
-There are new driving sections in the game that give you more freedom to explore and it was actually really fun to drive around the plains of Madagascar and have to use a jeep to get around rough surfaces. The driving feels great and I liked using the winch to get up slick surfaces.
-There are a couple set pieces in the game that are truly epic, the main one being a car chase through a city that leads to a gunfight through a convoy. It feels very reminiscent of the convoy chase in Uncharted 3, but it feels even more open for player choice. I do feel that the game could’ve used a couple more epic scale action scenes though. This is a minor complaint, but coming off of Uncharted 3 which was full of crazy scenes, Uncharted 4 feels more tame by comparison. This may be one of the reasons that the story is better and more coherent, but I think a couple more action sequences would’ve elevated the game even further.
-I also applaud the game for including fun gameplay diversions such as being able to play a level of Crash Bandicoot in the game or having all these underwater diving mechanics for a 10 minute section of the game. Again, it makes the gameplay feel continuously engaging because you are always doing new things.

Side Content
-As with the other Uncharted games, there is no real side content in the game. You have treasures that you can find and the gameplay areas are more open than before to encourage you to explore more, but for the most part, it is a very linear game.

World/Level Design
-The levels created for Uncharted 4 are incredibly well designed and the increased graphics and resolution makes every location really pop. Whether you are at a mansion in Italy, the hills of Scotland or on tropical islands in Madagascar, the game is full of fun levels and well crafted world design.
-The game does a good job of continually keeping the levels interesting by taking you to new areas that all feel very unique from one another.

Graphics, Sound, Music and Glitches
-The graphics on showcase here are still remarkable almost 8 years later. The faces on the characters both in cutscenes and gameplay look incredible and still hold up very well. The animations in gameplay whether it be ducking behind a wall for cover or climbing up a rocky surface all look better than ever. The improved animations not only look good and make the gameplay feel better, but they also really help add to the immersion and help make it feel like you are playing a truly cinematic experience. One small example would be in the section where you are driving around Madagascar in your jeep and you are free to enter and exit your vehicle whenever you want to. When you are getting back into the car, there are different animations depending on if you are getting in from the front, back, left or right side. Small things like that make the game far more immersive and keeps the gameplay interesting as you are always finding new animations.
-Sound remains great in the series, the gunfights are loud and exciting and the splattering of mud under the car tires sounds great.
-The music is great, as it always is in an Uncharted game. The main theme is used very well and the epic scenes are all enhanced by the soundtrack as you are playing.
-I did not encounter any glitches or crashes while I was playing. The game runs incredibly well and is bug free from what I saw.

Main Positives of the Game
-The story is great and it works well as the conclusion to the franchise with Nathan Drake as the protagonist. The dialogue remains great and the cutscenes are never boring because you are so invested in everything that is happening on screen. All of the characters are done very well and get a good amount of time in the spotlight so no one feels like they had their time cut short.
-The gameplay is a ton of fun with the improvements to the gunplay, stealth and climbing. The fights are fun and the climbing manages to stay interesting by incorporating new mechanics like the grapple hook.
-The graphics and animations are incredible and still look amazing and even better than some new games released today. The visuals really add to the immersion and make the game feel so much better to play.
-The locations in the game are all great and the levels being more open was a fun minor change to the series.

Main Negatives of the Game
-I wish there were a few more set pieces and action moments in the game. The gunplay feels better than ever and yet there is less of it than there was in the previous games. There are only a couple stand out action sequences and I think a couple more would have gone a long way.
-The climbing is great and it feels really good, but there may be a bit too much of it. You are climbing more than you are fighting and I personally would have liked to see that ratio flipped.
-Minor complaint, but I am sad Chloe wasn’t in the game at all seeing how it is Nathan Drake’s last outing and their banter together was always very good.

Overall Score: 9/10

Uncharted 3 is a game that proves the Uncharted formula doesn’t need too much changing to still be effective. The game does very little to innovate from Uncharted 2, and yet it still manages to be a great game largely due to its larger focus on incredible set pieces that are a blast to play through. The story does feel like a step down from the previous game, but the action is able to keep the player engaged throughout the game’s roughly 10 hour runtime.

Story and Characters
-Uncharted 3 follows the same story formula as Uncharted 2, but perhaps not quite as effectively. The game follows Nathan and various side characters as they try to track down another lost city using clues found from journals and puzzles scattered throughout the world. The adventure is definitely there and there are moments that feel straight out of an Indiana Jones movie and yet there was still something a bit off with the story. The pacing feels a bit strange at times and certain story beats feel overly convenient and a bit too far fetched. It never goes too far into unbelievable territory, but the narrative overall feels off. For example, without giving anything away, there is a middle section in the game when a group of pirates is introduced and Nathan ends up fighting his way through dozens of enemies. The gameplay here is quite good and the set pieces are memorable, but narratively, the whole section is genuinely unnecessary and nothing would be lost if it was removed. It definitely feels that the story was written around the set pieces instead of the other way around. Luckily, this isn’t a major issue because of how good those set pieces are, but it does make the narrative feel a bit weaker than the previous game.
-The highlight of the game’s story and characters is once again the relationship between Nathan Drake and the other people who tag along on his adventure. Sully and Nathan get far more screen time together in this game and the game is far better for it. We get more backstory into how they first met through a series of flashbacks and I really enjoyed getting more development for both of those characters. Other side characters like Elena and Chloe return, although neither of them are in the game for very long. In the instance of Chloe, it seems she abandons the mission because she feels it is too dangerous, but this feels a bit contrary to who she is as a character as established in the previous game. Charlie Cutter is another side character who is in the game and he is fun to interact with, although like Chloe and Elena, he is not in the game for very long.
-The villains of the game, Katherine Marlowe and her right hand man Talbot, are both rather bland and underdeveloped. It is unclear exactly why Marlowe is so desperate to go after this treasure and when it is revealed, it makes even less sense. While the villains in Uncharted 2 weren’t the best written characters either, I do feel that Lazarevic was at least a bit more threatening and his reasoning made more sense than the villains in this game. Too often, the villains let the good guys escape when they should just shoot them and while that is a classic trope for action movies/video games, it happens a bit too much here.
-I also feel there was a bit too much story missing from the second game to this one. There is a part in the story where it is clear that things happened between Nathan and Elena after the credits rolled on the second game, and yet it is left rather vague. I would have liked to see more explanation as to what had happened in between games.

Gameplay
-The gameplay in Uncharted 3 is largely unchanged from the second game, but there are a few new additions like new weapons, revamped melee combat and the ability to throw back grenades.
-The puzzles in the game are still not super challenging, but there are a couple that are pretty cool.
-The set pieces in the game are an absolute standout. From escaping a burning building, to falling out of an airplane or escaping a sinking cruise ship, the action in the game is awesome and it keeps the game constantly engaging.
-A downside to the game is that the gunplay feels off and a bit worse than it did in the second game. While there are lots of new guns to use, the guns feel less satisfying largely due to the lack of enemy feedback when they are being shot.
-This is also a very subjective thing, but there are several points in the game where a hallucinogenic drug is used on Nate and you have to navigate the world while being drugged. I have never really liked these kinds of sequences in video games as it can be a bit annoying when the screen is trying to show that you are tripping so everything is just moving and shaking around.

Side Content
-The same as Uncharted 2, the side content is basically non-existent with the exception of collecting treasures that are hidden throughout the various levels.

World/Level Design
-The levels in the game remain very impressive with fun levels in an old museum, Cartagena, a French castle, a cruise ship and the Rub' al Khali desert. All the levels look great and are fun to walk around in.

Graphics, Sound, Music and Glitches
-The graphics are largely the same quality as the second game with some improvements to things like explosions and dust and smoke in the environment. Unfortunately, some of the face models look worse than they did in the previous game, especially with Chloe, who almost looks like a different person. The motion capture still looks really good however and all the animations feel very smooth.
-The sound design remains great as the sound of guns and explosions feels visceral and exciting.
-The music is also great and the game does a good job using tracks that match the locations of the story and the frenzy of what is happening on screen.
-I did not encounter any glitches in my playthrough.

Main Positives of the Game
-Seeing more backstory and more banter between Nathan and Sully is great and I am glad the game focused more on their relationship. The other side characters are also good in the game and Cutter was a nice addition to the cast.
-The set pieces are truly awesome and make you feel like you are playing through an action movie. The level design is really unique and allows all the action sequences to feel different from one another.
-The environments look great and the game goes to a large amount of locations which was a lot of fun.
-Another great soundtrack which at this point, is just a given for a Naughty Dog game.
-Melee combat is more fun with the addition of the grapple and ability to grab and throw people.

Main Negatives of the Game
-The story and villains feel like they were less developed than the previous game and at times, feel too similar at the same time. I don’t think the story is bad by any means, but it is too full of weird plot conveniences and random diverges from what should have been the story focus.
-The gunplay feels worse than Uncharted 2 and a big part of that is because the enemies don’t react as much to being shot. It makes everyone feel a bit more bullet spongey than they should be.
-Some downgrades in facial models make the characters look not quite as good as they did in the second game.

Overall Score: 8/10

Story and Characters
-The story for the game is quite simple, a group of special forces police officers are essentially trapped in a mansion and must figure out what is going on and why there are monsters and zombies everywhere. The game is older and the story is fairly minimal and cliched at this point. There are no dramatic story moments really and the story will rarely ever surprise you.
-The characters are all very basic and the voice acting isn’t great. None of the characters are developed in any meaningful ways and the characters often make choices that don’t make a lot of sense. For example, at one point a character tries to betray you and pulls a gun on you. You stop him and then fight a monster together and after that, you are totally fine with one another.
-The villain reveal is very obvious and also kind of pointless. Their motivations are not interesting at all and it isn’t really clear what their end goal is.
-Overall, pretty weak story and characters, but the game is from 1996, so I don’t think someone can judge it as harshly as they could if it was a game released in 2023.

Gameplay
-The gameplay is mainly oriented around exploration, solving puzzles and fighting monsters, with some boss fights in there as well. The puzzles can be fun sometimes although there are certain puzzles that feel overly complicated and unclear how you are supposed to solve them. Also, the inventory in the game is atrocious as you only get 8 slots including quest items. This means you are constantly backtracking to your stash so you can get whatever item you may need for a puzzle. But because the puzzles can sometimes be rather vague, you are having to carry a lot of puzzle items just in case you find one that works. This makes the game very frustrating and annoying at times.
-The combat is very basic and just consists of aiming and shooting, but because of the controls and camera angles, you cannot hit any head shots really and it can be very hard to avoid getting hit, especially by enemies like the dogs.
-There are loading screens every time you open a door which is very annoying and gets old quickly. It would make sense for the major areas, but they are there for every single door that you go through. This makes back tracking even more annoying.
-The boss fights are super basic and often very easy and forgettable. There isn’t any sort of dodge mechanic so you just have to run around and hope you don’t get hit while you try to shoot the enemies.
-The game only saves when you manually save at a typewriter station and use an ink ribbon. This would be more okay if it wasn’t for the fact that you die at random times because the game will occasionally throw enemies at you that you are not expecting. For example, there are areas where 2 or 3 dogs will rush to attack you and there is no way to really avoid being hit by them unless you have a shotgun and can hit them fast enough. This usually leads to you dying and then you lose a bunch of progress and have to do it all over again.

Side Content
-The game is quite linear so there is not any side content really. There are bits of lore you can find in the world, but there is no real side content. This is not a negative though because the game is more linear and is not open world, so it really doesn’t need any side content.

World/Level Design
-This is actually a strength of the game as the mansion with weird experiments going on underground and the surrounding forest make for a good location for a resident evil game. It is a cool, creepy atmosphere that is fun to explore even if the game is quite dated at this point.

Graphics, Music and Glitches
-The game is obviously quite old as the remake was released in 2002, but the game still looks decent. The faces and animations are obviously very dated, but the environments and different rooms in the mansion all look quite good.
-The music was good and helped build on the creepy atmosphere.
-I did not encounter any glitches really when I was playing which is always good.

Main Positives of the Game
-The mansion is a cool setting and the game has a creepy atmosphere that really works.
-It is cool to see how the gameplay would go on to be continued into even the modern Resident Evil games. Finding keys, solving puzzles, fighting enemies and running away from monsters are all key aspects of the series that started with this very first title.

Main Negatives of the Game
-The different camera angles in the game make walking around and fighting far more frustrating as you often will not go where you want to.
-The game has terrible inventory management that forces you to constantly be going back to your stash for different items. This would be fine if they made it so the quest items didn’t actually take up slots, just the health items, weapons and ammo, but this is not the case.
-The story, characters and voice acting are all pretty weak. It is an older game so it is hard to judge too harshly, but the game definitely struggles in those departments.
-You lose a lot of progress to deaths unless you are frequently saving which is annoying to do and you only get limited saves.
-Some of the puzzles are annoying and the solutions to solve them are not clear enough. This is even more annoying because again, you don’t have the inventory space to carry anywhere close to all of your items.

Overall Score: 5/10

Story and Characters
-Leon is back from Resident Evil 2 except now he is a sort of special forces agent that is on a mission to locate the president’s daughter and help her escape this crazy cult. Leon is a really fun protagonist with a lot of great one liners and a personality that can be both threatening and entertaining. His character is over the top, but never to a point that it ruins the tone or seriousness of the game.
-Ashley is the president’s daughter that you have to protect, but she is actually a fun character that you start feeling attached to. I never felt annoyed by her as sometimes can happen when you are stuck with a companion character.
-Luis and Ada are two other side characters that pop in sporadically and they are also very interesting and add to the overall story. You are not sure what their motivations are or if you should trust them, but it is always fun when they appear thanks to some great dialogue and performances.
-The villains in this game are great and while they are not in the game too frequently, they still feel memorable and it is fun to watch Leon interact with them.
-The story is an over the top action/horror story, but it actually works quite well in the game. You start learning more about the cult and the main antagonists as the game goes on and while the story never displays true shock or brilliance, it works well and makes the game fun to follow. They also do a good job of utilizing cliffhangers at the end of each chapter to make the player want to keep going.

Gameplay
-The combat in the game is fantastic, all of the guns feel good to use and the enemies can be challenging without feeling too frustrating. They can take a lot of hits, but never too much that it is annoying. This is also helped by the fact the game gives you plenty of ammo so you are never really stuck just having to run away.
-Adding a parrying system with a staggering move and melee attacks also help the combat feel great and adds some diversity to what you are doing. If you want to conserve bullets, you can just pull out your knife and parry incoming attacks until you defeat the enemy.
-The puzzles in the game are not as complex as some of the previous Resident Evil games, but this again works because the layout of the map is far more spread out. While games like the original RE and RE2 had large buildings like the mansion or police station to explore, RE4 is more spread out. You are still in areas like the village or castle, but you do far less backtracking. This works as it increases your desire to explore to make sure you find everything the world has to offer. The puzzles are usually more focused on solving something to progress without having to backtrack a bunch, but there are still some areas where you will need to.
-The movement and aiming feel really good and the PS5 controller only adds to the experience with great use of haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.
-This game also has some great boss fights and an impressive amount of them. I liked how many different types of bosses there were and how you have to fight them all in slightly different ways. They were challenging, but never so hard that I became frustrated. The game also always made sure you had plenty of ammo before fighting them.
-The upgrade system in the game is fantastic as you collect money and treasure in the world that you can then use to buy guns and upgrades for your weapons. It was very satisfying to use and made it feel like you were getting stronger as you played.

Side Content
-Unlike a lot of the other RE games, this one actually does have some side content. There are small requests that you can try to complete while playing the main game that give you additional rewards to allow you to get stronger. -There are also shooting galleries where you can complete challenges to get special charms that will help you. The side content is minimal, yet effective as it can be fun to track down a special enemy type or look for hidden medallions in the world.

World/Level Design
-RE4 is broken down into three main hub areas, the village, the castle and the island. All three of these sections are fantastic and feel very different from one another. The atmosphere is great in all of them as is the impressive enemy variety the game throws at you.
-The whole map is fun to explore and can be genuinely creepy in certain areas. The areas are also all very large with the village containing a large lake you can explore similar to 2018’s God of War, and the castle has an intricate mine system beneath it that is fun to look around.
-The game is mostly linear, but it never feels too restrictive. There are always a ton of areas to explore and the bigger areas meant for boss fights are always easy to maneuver around in.

Graphics, Music and Glitches
-The game looks fantastic, maybe not quite as good as Village that came out before it, but it is very close.
-The music is phenomenal and is definitely a stand out. The score could be action packed and exciting or more haunting and eerie depending on what you were doing and it worked very well.
-I did not encounter any bugs or glitches in my playthrough which was very nice.

Main Positives of the Game
-The characters in the game are a lot of fun and keep the game constantly entertaining.
-There was a great balance of horror and action. There are a few sections of the game that were a bit scary, particularly the parts when you play as Ashley or when you are exploring the labs on the island with the regeneradors.
-The combat and exploration is fantastic and made the game constantly fun to play through.
-The music is incredible and really adds to the atmosphere.
-The upgrade system with the merchant and the side quests he gives you are all great and really help you feel like you are getting stronger as you play. -Trying out new guns was really fun, as was upgrading them to do more damage or be more effective.
-Great map that was very diverse and detailed and never felt too repetitive or out of place.
-The game is also a good length at around 16 hours, which is longer than most of the other RE games, but I never felt bored with it.

Main Negatives of the Game
-A few story points could have been a bit more fleshed out, particularly the character of Krauser who is an antagonist that I never felt I fully understood. -The motivations of the villains were always fairly generic which works for the overall campiness of the game, but it also left me wanting maybe just a bit more depth.

Overall Score: 9.5/10

Story and Characters
-Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the best written open world games I have ever played. Your party consists of many different characters that you can interact with and they all have their own stories that you can help them with while working towards the main story. The characters are all engaging and believable, no one stood out as being too annoying or had poor voice acting.
-The main story is fairly simple, you are infected with a mind tadpole and you are trying to find out how to get rid of it, while discovering new secrets along the way. The simpleness of the story really works here though and the game does an excellent job raising the stakes over the course of the three main acts in the game.
-The voice acting is incredible across the board. Your party members' individual stories are all interesting and they all have real stakes. Your custom character does not have much dialogue, but the customization is great and your character really feels like they belong in this world.
-The villains in the game are also incredibly voice acted and they seem threatening, but also entertaining and they are not always one note characters. Everyone has their own agendas and stories and they are all interesting.
-Choices have genuine stakes and certain choices can have consequences that will alter the entire game. I have had characters die well before they were even important to the story and that changed major events that could have happened. There are a drastic amount of endings you can get and they all change the game significantly.

Gameplay
-The turn-based gameplay is incredible and it would take me forever to go into every detail of what you can do, but it is rare to see a game that lets you interact with the world in so many unique ways.
-The combat is extremely fun and very customizable, the moves you make and the characters you have in your party can drastically change how combat scenarios play out.
-The D&D gameplay works very well in video game format and you really feel like you can approach a situation in dozens of ways, it just depends on how clever you are. For example, there was a moment when someone was being burned alive and you have a limited amount of turns to save them. Instead of trying to get to them, I was able to just throw a jug of water and put out the fire. The game doesn’t tell you to do that, but the fact that it allows you to is awesome.
-They are able to make the gameplay very diverse with what you are doing and there are plenty of puzzles to solve, bosses to fight and monsters to clear. The diversity in the gameplay keeps the game fresh for the well over 100 hours I put into the game.

Side Content
-The side content in the game is some of the best in any open world game that I have played. All of the missions are well written and occasionally I was reminded of The Witcher 3 and some of the great quests in that game. You really care about the side characters and so I felt compelled to do the quests. The leveling system is also quite addictive as you really feel like you are getting stronger so you want to do the side stuff more.
-Again, I have to praise the voice acting as even all of the NPCs in the world sounded great and no one took me out of the game as can sometimes happen.

World/Level Design
-The game is broken up into three distinct acts and each one felt incredibly different from the previous one. The environments never felt too similar and they were even able to make many different dungeons and caves feel unique and diverse.
-The game made you interact with the world in unique and fun ways and traversal was no exception. Getting around certain areas could feel like a puzzle and you are constantly exploring new regions trying to find any and all secrets.

Graphics, Music and Glitches
-The graphics, especially for a game like this and this size, look really good. The top down view makes graphics less of a focus, but they still look great and all of the character models are very good. There were some awesome cutscenes and character movements always looked good.
-The music in the game is fantastic, the battle music was epic, but the exploration music is almost just as good and really helps make walking around soothing and fun.
-Glitches and performance are unfortunately the game’s weakest point, but I will say that things improved throughout my time playing. At launch, I played with a friend doing split screen and it became very lagging and would be frustrating to play as it would freeze up for 5-10 seconds after almost every action. When I went back and played by myself, performance was much better for a long time, but it struggled a bit in Act 3 and I had a point where it would crash on me consistently. After another patch though, the game works far better and while I still had some occasional freezes, by the time I finished, the game ran very well.

Main Positives of the Game
-Incredible characters with great interactions. Every member of your party was interesting and I wanted to do what I could to solve all of their problems.
-I really didn’t think the gameplay would be for me, but I was quickly proven wrong as the combat in the game is awesome and addictive. The amount of customization at your disposal is absolutely insane and the fact that there are so many classes blows me away. Every class is unique and plays completely differently than the others and they are all fun to use.
-The music is awesome and really makes the game feel alive and like a fantasy world.
-The missions are all fun and they did a great job making them feel diverse.
-You are able to interact with the game’s systems in ways I have really never seen before and the game encourages creativity and rewards you for it.
-The story is quite good and the side missions are all very well written as well.
Main Negatives of the Game
-I do wish there were a few more tutorials as the game can be extremely overwhelming at first. I definitely had to look up a lot to make sure I was utilizing my characters to their full potential.
-Performance issues were definitely an issue and while they seem to have mostly been fixed, they did impact a large part of my experience with the game so I feel it is necessary to mention them.

Overall Score: 9.5/10

Story and Characters
-Alan Wake is a fairly interesting character that is flawed, but also occasionally charming. He is a writer and can be arrogant at times, but he is also trying to save his wife and he is likable enough.
-Most of the side characters in the game are fairly basic and are not very fleshed out. Barry, Alan’s agent, is one of the main side characters and he is probably the most likable character in the game.
-Some of the side characters like Thomas Zane or Agent Nightingale could have used a bit more development as it is hard to truly understand them and their motivations unless you do research outside of the game.
-The story is an intriguing one that can be hard to follow at times, but it certainly feels unique. There are some aspects of the game that I feel were not addressed clearly enough, but for the most part the story is structured in a way that the player can follow. The ending feels very vague however and I would have liked something a bit more definitive.

Gameplay
-The gameplay is the weakest aspect of the game unfortunately. The combat can feel very tedious at times even though it is a unique idea to fight enemies with both guns and a flashlight. The combat starts feeling quite repetitive though because there is a lack of enemy variety and a lack of weapons or any sort of weapon upgrades. The guns don’t feel all that different and neither do the flashlights. Almost every chapter ends with you losing your weapons so you are constantly just getting the same weapons back again, but they all feel the same.
-The dodge mechanic in the game is very frustrating as the timing feels off on when you should do it. Oftentimes, you need to dodge well before the attack is near you which feels off.
-The enemy spawns are atrocious and are one of the worst aspects of the game. They will spawn behind you constantly and sometimes they spawn directly behind you so you are guaranteed to be hit. Sometimes the enemies will hit you two or three times in a row and you are unable to move until they finish attacking you. This leads to many frustrating deaths that feel cheap because the player didn’t do anything wrong.
-There are not really any puzzles or much gameplay outside of the basic combat, so the frustrations that come from the combat are magnified. The movement can also feel clunky at times and it is frustrating how quickly Alan will lose the ability to sprint and how much faster all of the enemies are than you.
-The game also has possessed objects that will throw themselves at you which also can lead to a lot of unavoidable damage as there is no way to destroy them all in time or avoid them. That is the biggest frustration with the game for me, there are too many times I would be hit or killed and it was because of bad gameplay mechanics, not necessarily because I made a mistake.

Side Content
-The game is mostly quite linear and there is no side content featured. The closest thing might be looking around the map for collectibles or extra ammo, but that doesn’t really count.

World/Level Design
-This is the game’s biggest strength as the map and town of Bright Falls are quite aesthetically pleasing and the game does a great job nailing that Northwestern United States vibe. Each location that you visit feels detailed and they all made sense to be in a small town. The game has a creepy, but beautiful atmosphere that works very well.
-One downside with the level design is that there are often areas that are quite large that the player can explore, but they don’t often have any purpose. The game gives you plenty of ammo and resources, so you don’t really feel a need to explore, but I also didn’t like the feeling of skipping over content. This issue was particularly prominent when you are in the car and can get in and out of your vehicle whenever you want. There are many locations you drive past on your way to your final destination and it can be hard to tell what is worth stopping by and what should be skipped.

Graphics, Music and Glitches
-When playing the remaster of Alan Wake I did not encounter any major bugs which was great.
-The graphics for the environments are good and the character models in this version have been updated from the original so they do look better, but obviously still worse than a new game released recently. I wouldn’t say any of the visuals are anything too remarkable, but it is a good looking remaster that allows the game to hold up pretty well in 2023.
-The music for the game is rather good and adds to the ambience and danger of the story. The soundtrack rarely ever really stood out to me as anything too incredible, but it complimented the game well.

Main Positives of the Game
-The setting of the game and the overall vibes of a small town in Washington really worked for me and it made the game enjoyable even when the combat was frustrating.
-The story is very unique and while at times it was a bit too convoluted, it managed to remain interesting throughout the game and I enjoyed following it.
-I do like how unique this game is with its meta narrative, some fun characters and a different combat system using light, there is nothing out there quite like it. This does not mean the game is amazing, but I like to see games do something different from most other games out there.

Main Negatives of the Game
-The combat can be repetitive at times and also very frustrating. The enemy spawns are awful and will often leave you being hit or killed without you doing anything wrong. The dodge feels a bit janky and does not work well when you are being attacked by multiple enemies.
-The story can be a bit too hard to follow at times and does not really wrap up in a way that feels satisfactory.
-Some characters feel underdeveloped and their motivations are not fully clear. For example, Agent Nightingale is relentlessly hunting Alan Wake, but it is not really clear why and I didn’t find out until I looked up more about his character after I beat the game. It could be that I missed a document that explained his motivations, but for a character that is as prominent as he is, I think his motivations should’ve been more clear.
-There is not a lot of enemy variety which again leads to the repetition with the combat.
-Large areas that can be explored, but the player does not always know when they should be or do they have much incentive to do so.

Overall Score: 7/10

Uncharted 2 is essentially the perfect sequel. It takes everything from the first game in the series, Drake’s Fortune, and improves upon it by adding more exciting set pieces, a better story and more varied gameplay. Although the game only came out two years after the original, you can tell that Naughty Dog really went the extra mile when crafting this game and didn’t just repeat what they had done before.

Story and Characters
-Nathan Drake is once again the star of the game and he continues to be an incredible character. He is charming and incredibly likable and also a very capable hero that is easy to root for. Uncharted 2 doesn’t do too much to add any new depth to his character from the first game, but it does continue to have him interacting with new characters that leads to a lot of great dynamics. He is voiced incredibly well by Nolan North and it is not hard to see why Nathan Drake became one of the most popular video game protagonists.
-The side characters in the game also really shine. Drake’s main companions in the game are Chloe Frazer and Elena Fisher, Elena being a character players saw in the first game. These female side characters are both fantastic and while they both serve as love interests to Nathan, they are much more than just parts in a love triangle. Chloe is a flirty, capable adventurer and you can never be entirely sure of her allegiance, while Elena comes off as more proper and not as experienced with Drake’s hectic world. Seeing the two characters interact with Nathan and each other is very entertaining largely due to the witty and fun dialogue. Nathan’s primary companion, Victor Sullivan, is put on the back burner for the large majority of the game which is a bit of a shame and the justification the game provides for it is also rather weak, but it does allow the story to focus on the female supporting characters which I enjoyed.
-The main antagonist of the game is Zoran Lazarević, a ruthless Russian mercenary who has his own nefarious reasons for pursuing the treasure. He is a decent enough villain, but fairly generic and really just serves as someone to provide an army of soldiers to fight and a bad guy to stop, but it also works given the type of story the game is telling.
-The main story of the game is a fun adventure that spans over several countries and is full of fun twists and turns and archeological reveals. The story opens with a fun suspenseful scene and the early chapters mess around with the order of events. The pacing of the story is well done and there is never a moment in the game that drags.

Gameplay
-The gameplay is very simple and consists mainly of a lot of shooting and climbing, but the game does a good job varying it up. In some missions, you are sneaking around a museum avoiding security guards, in another section, you are fighting off a helicopter while on a moving train. The game constantly changes things up and the various weapons you can collect from enemies also help add variety to the combat. I do wish you could hold more than two weapons at a time, but there is so much ammo and different guns that I suppose it isn’t too big of an issue.
-The set pieces in this game are really the best part and show how improved this game is from the first. Some standouts include a battle on top of a train, a car chase through a moving convoy and being pursued by a tank through a Tibetan town.
-I do wish there was a bit more side content as the game is very linear and there is nothing to collect besides treasures that don’t really add anything, but considering when the game was released, it isn’t too much of a negative. I tend to like when games have skill trees or upgrades, but the game doesn’t suffer too much despite not having them because of how fun and varied the settings and levels are.
-A minor complaint with the game would be there are some intense difficulty spikes in certain areas. I only played on the regular difficulty, but there would be certain areas where I would die several times. Sometimes it was because I made a mistake, but there are some other times when it feels like the game just throws a bit too much at you. It can be mildly annoying how bullet spongey some of the enemies are as well. Obviously it is a video game, but because it has such a good story and feels cinematic, it feels more out of place to have enemies that take a full magazine of ammo.

Side Content
-As mentioned before, there really isn’t any side content and the game is quite linear. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it would be nice to have a bit more to do or maybe some side objectives similar to Resident Evil 4.

World/Level Design
-This is another area where the game really shines. While the first game took place all on one tropical island, Uncharted 2 spans a large variety of locations that all feel very distinct from one another. You travel from Istanbul to Borneo, Nepal to Tibet and even into the Himalayas. All the locations look great, the remaster did a good job improving on the look of everything and makes it so a game that is around 15 years old, still really holds up.

Graphics, Sound, Music and Glitches
-As mentioned, the graphics are really good and you can tell that Naughty Dog did a lot of motion capture for their characters. The animations look very fluid and the environments are incredibly detailed.
-The sound design in the game is very good. The shots from machine guns and the collapsing of buildings all sound great. I am not sure why, but Nathan reloading his gun and throwing the old magazine on the ground always had a very satisfying clang in my opinion.
-The music in the game is fantastic, every location has its own tracks that really add to the atmosphere. The main Uncharted theme is also used very well and adds to the excitement of what is happening on screen.
-I did not encounter any glitches on my play through which is always a big win. The game was remastered so that may have provided an extra opportunity to give the game a layer of polish.

Main Positives of the Game
-Incredible story and characters that make the game extremely engaging throughout. All the characters are likable and the dialogue is extremely well done.
-The gameplay is a lot of fun and the gunplay holds up pretty well. The variety in the gameplay is quite good considering how simple the gameplay first appears. The puzzles are rather easy, but they are also decently fun.
-The settings and levels are very well crafted and I loved how much variety there was to all of them.
-Great soundtrack and sound design.

Main Negatives of the Game
-The game is very linear, it would be cool if the environments were a bit more open.
-Some areas that were rather difficult and a bit frustrating at times.
-Some enemies that are too bullet spongy.

Overall Score: 9/10