Colonial Marines may be a bit better than I would orignally give it credit for solely for functioning alright compared to most other kusoge. It's clear that Colonial Marines was a Frankenstein's Monster of poorly thought-out story ideas stitched together by several contracted studios because Gearbox spent more time and money on Borderlands 2 and attempting to make something out of Duke Nukem Forever. Needless to say this spotty development approach and lack of care and interest in the IP (despite what that awful PR video tries to gaslight the audience into believing) births a half-baked shooting gallery at best, and technically unstable, infuriating fan fiction at its worst.

Colonial Marines' biggest praise is that being able to pick off fish in a barrel with a friend is somewhat fun. Obviously, playing this with my friend @Cody1075 meant we spent more time having fun at the game's expense rather than giving it much of a fair shot. Colonial Marines makes it hard to approach it with anything resembling fairness, though, considering how technically busted it is. While I was able to complete this most recent playthrough without crashes, that doesn't mean there weren't ceaseless audio-visual and gameplay related bugs happening to either of us on the frequent.

The fact Randy Pitchford had a shitfit and fell in it how Stephany Sterling and other critics at the time (rightfully) shat on this trash for what it was astounds me. History has rightfully placed Colonial Marines in the shitter with all the other bunk (if not entertaining) shooters that plagued the hardware generation. No, Randy, this game is not a 7/10; not even close.

Genuinely dreadful on nearly every aspect. Despite trying to "get my money's worth" from a stupid purchase of this game an hour before it was announced to headline April's PS+ offerings, I could not force myself through it.

Gameplay is vapid with barely any variety in level and enemy design, performance is god-awful despite being obviously upscaled with shimmery/muddy visuals, and the plot is unbearable with the worst protagonist I've ever been forced to play as. Every character is a Marvel-quipping smart-ass with ceaselessly annoying chatter and "jokes" that makes a lobotomy look attractive by comparison.

I got just over 40% according to my Playstation but I couldn't take it any longer, selling my copy and deleting this garbage off console storage for good.

The drastic change in quality from Harmony of Dissonance, in particular, came as a massive shock. Taking what worked and discarding what didn't of the previous GBA titles, Aria of Sorrow presents the leanest, most focused, and frankly best overall Castlevania experience the handled had to offer. The earlier entries had their merits and plenty, and they did well. Yet, there was always some Achilles heel that ultimately crippled the experience, hampering any future feelings to replay those titles.

Aria of Sorrow immediately struts its stuff with a more remarkable presentation than the previous titles. While Circle of the Moon still looks decent when playing on a backlit screen, Harmony of Dissonance was frankly disgusting to look at and listen to. Aria finally balances bright, readable visuals and a soundtrack that is as fantastic as its art direction. Though you no longer have a dash as overpowered as the one Juste had, Soma winds up being the most fluid-to-control protagonist of this series since Alucard in Symphony of the Night. Much of that comparison stems from the extensive leveling and equipment systems that parallel the item drops and build diversity of Symphony. Aria of Sorrow arguably gets one over on Symphony of the Night with the Tactical Soul System: an expansion of Circle of the Moon's Dual Setup System.

The DSS was a neat way to expand the limited combat offered in Circle, with the player solely sticking to a whip the entire game except for any changes the DSS would bring. Aria's systems allow for multiple weapons to switch around, as well as three different enemy souls that can provide a variety of effects. Some are direct replacements of progression upgrades from previous games, others are replicas of what was found in Circle, and others are brand new to this experience. While the DSS was neat, the number of cards that would drop didn't incentivize trying different potential builds due to the limited options. Unless you wanted to spend hours grinding for cards, you couldn't experiment with much on a first playthrough. While Aria's tangible souls are more numerous, many still have rancid drop rates, which means you're likely not seeing every ability on offer in a single playthrough. Thankfully, the sheer number of souls to obtain means there is something for everybody to roll with without considering grinding.

The other main factors of a rich Castlevania experience are map design and enemy variety, which Aria has in spades. Harmony of Dissonance was a frustrating slog through two identical castle areas to find the most essential upgrades to continue. The entire experience was teasing you with areas you couldn't explore until far later, as the pace at which progression items were handed out was miserable. Aria fixes this with a steady stream of upgrades and a structure that is hard to get lost in. In my case, I was seldom stuck and never needed to consult any walkthrough to get the true ending, unlike the ceaseless times I consulted the internet on how to finish Harmony. This is further enhanced by a great assortment of enemies and bosses that vastly differ from one another in appearance and function. The player is almost always on their toes for new and exciting enemies to experiment with and hardly has to backtrack.

Aria of Sorrow is just Symphony of the Night boiled down into a portable Super Nintendo. Complaints are, at a minimum, mainly about a crunchy-sounding soundtrack (which isn't the game's fault, more the hardware it was made for) and the fact that you're spending a lot of time scrolling around menus to test one thing, pause, then test something else. If these are the sacrifices needed to have arguably the best-paced Castleriod in the series, they are sacrifices I'm willing to have.

How in the HELL did this release in the state it did when we have perfectly functional ports already available on PC? You are essentially paying $30 for a "fresher" online community and Xbox DLC you could have modded in, yourself.

Netcode is terrible, hits do not register as they should. PTP servers do not work. Aspyr's servers crash all the time. No online support for split-screen modes and lacking crossplay when these games and community really needed it. Utter trash and I would have this refunded in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the fact this was a birthday gift from a friend and he has to authorize the refund.

This is an okay collection of mostly okay games. Capcom's assembly of original IP brawlers from their '90s arcade days is appreciated for making these available to modern audiences. Sadly, lackluster emulation and overall "meh" game quality make this a mixed bag when other emulation collections involving these titles are available.

Of course, Final Fight is the main attraction, with Armored Warriors being one of the best brawlers I've ever played, followed by the "fine" Battle Circuit, Warriors of Fate, and Captain Commando, and the D&D games Knights of the Round and The King of Dragons being total washes. This leads to a mixed bag in terms of quality, making you yearn for more titles to hopefully even out the quality. It's still worth a purchase, especially on sale, but I'd only advise this purchase to more "hardcore" arcade brawler fans.

It is wild that Koji Igarashi thought the previous Castlevania games developed by Kobe were so bad as to write them out of the canon and give us something as mediocre as Harmony of Dissonance. For every step forward Harmony brings in the wake of Circle of the Moon, Circle maintains a far more consistent experience than the peaks and valleys on offer here. The ability to dash with the shoulder buttons feels fantastic to pull off and immediately increases the speed of Circle, yet that is rendered mute with how much slower the player receives progression items in contrast.

Harmony of Dissonance is the most repetitive and sluggish entry of this "Igavania" direction with literal copy/paste map design and how painfully slow the player acquires meaningful upgrades. On top of a teleporting system that is not explained well in the slightest, this means repeatedly being subjected to the same hallways and enemies. I got to the point where the castle design was baked into the back of my head, and not for a good reason. The number of times I got lost looking for a specific upgrade I needed to progress in the game was frustrating, leading to multiple instances of consulting online walkthroughs. "Walkthrough games" are not inherently bad, especially considering physical manuals are all but dead, and digital ones are so muddied by menus you never think of their (alleged) existence. The sheer amount of consultation needed to overcome fundamental obstacles and reach the "true" conclusion is far too much for my taste. The game's not good if a YouTube video and/or GameFaqs needs to be constantly open in the background while I'm playing.

Despite my negative overall experience of this game, I can give credit for how it plays and offers variety on an enemy/boss front. While one could reasonably argue that Harmony has too many boss fights, the fights that are present are fun and offer enough of a challenge if you haven't cheesed the merchant for near-infinite potions. The issue is, for the sheer amount of backtracking the player does, there is no reason not to go hog wild on healing items to tank through even the most brutal battles. You will be swimming in what feels like near-infinite wealth on top of your rapid leveling up, trivializing what should be meaningful, challenging encounters.

A lack of challenge paired with poor progression pathing leads Harmony of Dissonance on a rollercoaster-like playthrough. The highs will feel phenomenal, and you'll be treated to smooth gameplay and neat bosses. The lows of being stuck for over an hour finding progression items feel as unfun as the entirety of Castlevania Legends.

Arguably the best Killzone game solely for its brevity and touch controls replacing what would otherwise be motion gimmicks in the PS3 titles. The performance is shaky (to put it nicely) but for the screen size and how ambitiously designed Mercenary is, I can look over hitches that would otherwise cripple its major console counterpart.

A total shame this formula couldn't be refined in later titles or some sort of port, as this is easily the best FPS the Vita ever had to offer. Not like there was much competition, though, seeing how the handheld ultimately failed in the mainstream market. It's additionally tragic that the multiplayer servers are long-gone now, yet I'm glad I was able to at least put in a few hours until services were shut down.