Everything I say here is also applicable to the original 2004 Monster Hunter PS2 game.
This game is the Dark Souls of hunting monsters. What? Are you expecting some kind of joke or meme? I'm being pretty serious. Monster Hunter has had many faces over the years, but most people will remember the deeply saturated, light-hearted trend that came with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and continued trough all Gen 4 (Which are usually the most played "old school" MH games) until Gen 5 that went for a more realistic apporach. But before that monster hunter games were more grim and opaque. Specially the Gen 1 ones, while all of Gen 2 and Monster Hunter Tri were still dark they tried to ease things up and those games are more "standard" MH games.
But Gen 1 is kinda wild, a lot of Gen 1 monsters like Cephadrome, Plesioth and Khezu are terrifying, most maps are eerie and creepy. It's true that even in Monster Hunter 1 you still had walking cats that cooked for you but there aren't many more things like that in that game. And speaking of cats, you didn't even have a palico with you during hunts, you were totally alone unless playing online.
Where I'm trying to get is that Monster Hunter 1, Monster Hunter G and Monster Hunter Freedom are games that make you small. You are just a little guy with a toy weapon that is trying its best to survive. The first gathering missions and the Velocidrome may be easy but the Yian Kut-Ku, the second large monster of the game is already a huge deal. Everything is oppresive, you get little money and you must stop at the farm after every mission to try to get some lost items back.
But that, at least for me, makes it all more appealing. The preparation before every hunt, learning every monster's weakness and patterns and memorizing all the gathering spots of every map makes victory feel all the more amazing.
In conclusion, Gen 1 is a different yet similar experience comapred to other games in the franchise. I don't actually think Monster Hunter Freedom is the Dark Souls of MH games but the similarities are there and Gen 1 Monster Hunter has a lot of similarities of what later Dark Souls would be praised for by most people.
This game is the Dark Souls of hunting monsters. What? Are you expecting some kind of joke or meme? I'm being pretty serious. Monster Hunter has had many faces over the years, but most people will remember the deeply saturated, light-hearted trend that came with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and continued trough all Gen 4 (Which are usually the most played "old school" MH games) until Gen 5 that went for a more realistic apporach. But before that monster hunter games were more grim and opaque. Specially the Gen 1 ones, while all of Gen 2 and Monster Hunter Tri were still dark they tried to ease things up and those games are more "standard" MH games.
But Gen 1 is kinda wild, a lot of Gen 1 monsters like Cephadrome, Plesioth and Khezu are terrifying, most maps are eerie and creepy. It's true that even in Monster Hunter 1 you still had walking cats that cooked for you but there aren't many more things like that in that game. And speaking of cats, you didn't even have a palico with you during hunts, you were totally alone unless playing online.
Where I'm trying to get is that Monster Hunter 1, Monster Hunter G and Monster Hunter Freedom are games that make you small. You are just a little guy with a toy weapon that is trying its best to survive. The first gathering missions and the Velocidrome may be easy but the Yian Kut-Ku, the second large monster of the game is already a huge deal. Everything is oppresive, you get little money and you must stop at the farm after every mission to try to get some lost items back.
But that, at least for me, makes it all more appealing. The preparation before every hunt, learning every monster's weakness and patterns and memorizing all the gathering spots of every map makes victory feel all the more amazing.
In conclusion, Gen 1 is a different yet similar experience comapred to other games in the franchise. I don't actually think Monster Hunter Freedom is the Dark Souls of MH games but the similarities are there and Gen 1 Monster Hunter has a lot of similarities of what later Dark Souls would be praised for by most people.
For me Ace Combat 5 will always have a special place in my heart and will probably be my favourite game of the franchise. But this one just... man. It looks so good, it sounds so good, it flies so good, it FEELS so good to play. That's all, nothing more is needed. Just the sheer joy of picking your fave plane, your fave weaponry and blow shit up is the only thing I need to give this game a nearly perfect score even if I think is not as good as other games in the franchise.
2002
It's a strange feeling when you don't enjoy a game highly regarded as one of the best of its kind. It's even stranger when I played the first one just fine, which is considered inferior to its succesor, and enjoyed it regardless. I thought TimeSplitters 2 would be just more fun shooting time with better graphics, sound, gameplay and imporvements overall.
But I couldn't do it. I gave this game so many oportunities, I forced myself to play it numerous times thinking to myself "Come on, it's short and everyone says it's good, just do it". But as I said I couldn't do it.
But why? Why did I enjoy the first, more archaic TimeSplitters more than the second one? For me at least, comes to the Goldeneye style aiming system which was the same for the first TS too so you must be thinking that I'm going insane. But the truth is that in the first game guns were more spammy, with higher rates of fire so aiming wasn't such a problem. Also TS 1 was simpler, you usually just ran to the end of a level and ran back to the beggining. TS 2 is similar in concept but there are more objectives to do, both main and secondary and little explaining on what to do most of the time. And finally, the worst for me, the quantity of enemies which I think in TS 2 is exagerated to the point that it's barely managable. Basically the awful aiming, slow weapons and overwhelming number of enemies made me want to quit.
You could say that all that whining like a baby was due to severe lack of hands, and I would agree but in the end video games are art, and art is subjective. You may like TS 2, and even I like TS 2, its charming aesthetics make me smile. But most important, video games are for having fun, and I wasn't having fun at all so I stopped playing.
But I couldn't do it. I gave this game so many oportunities, I forced myself to play it numerous times thinking to myself "Come on, it's short and everyone says it's good, just do it". But as I said I couldn't do it.
But why? Why did I enjoy the first, more archaic TimeSplitters more than the second one? For me at least, comes to the Goldeneye style aiming system which was the same for the first TS too so you must be thinking that I'm going insane. But the truth is that in the first game guns were more spammy, with higher rates of fire so aiming wasn't such a problem. Also TS 1 was simpler, you usually just ran to the end of a level and ran back to the beggining. TS 2 is similar in concept but there are more objectives to do, both main and secondary and little explaining on what to do most of the time. And finally, the worst for me, the quantity of enemies which I think in TS 2 is exagerated to the point that it's barely managable. Basically the awful aiming, slow weapons and overwhelming number of enemies made me want to quit.
You could say that all that whining like a baby was due to severe lack of hands, and I would agree but in the end video games are art, and art is subjective. You may like TS 2, and even I like TS 2, its charming aesthetics make me smile. But most important, video games are for having fun, and I wasn't having fun at all so I stopped playing.
2024
While it started like a fresh new coop game to mess around with your friends it quickly began to unmask itself as a buggy mess with too much content and too little polish. Don't get me wrong, when this game works it's so much fun but in my case that's not the usual thing.
Nearly every mission, I got some kind of game breaking bug that made my life more miserable. And the worst thing for me is how the devs managed the situation, the way they added more battle passes and rebalanced random weapons without aim or purpose instead of fixing their barely functional game just baffles me.
At the beginning I couldn't get enough but now just thinking about playing makes me want to puke. This is one of the only games I lowered the score from 4 stars to 3 stars.
Nearly every mission, I got some kind of game breaking bug that made my life more miserable. And the worst thing for me is how the devs managed the situation, the way they added more battle passes and rebalanced random weapons without aim or purpose instead of fixing their barely functional game just baffles me.
At the beginning I couldn't get enough but now just thinking about playing makes me want to puke. This is one of the only games I lowered the score from 4 stars to 3 stars.
2013
I was expecting way worse to be honest but at the end I had fun, I loved the little story this game has and I enjoyed the time with this group of kids having a pokémon adventure.
It's not everything fine and dandy however, as this game came out after the gen 5 games which are considered by many (me included) the peak of the franchise. Such a massive downgrade. 3D models are probably the worst decision The Pokémon Company has ever made. The game is way too easy, I had to nerf myself and still breezed through it. A.Z. is one of the better characters of the entire series and has a total of 3 seconds of screen time. Megaevolutions are cool and all but are not well implemented, why give Mewtwo (an already crazy powerful pokémon) not one but two powered up versions. And Finally a disappointing lack of endgame, even though the extra story with Looker and Emma was cute, it was not enough.
Don't get fooled by the negativity, this game is fine as it is, it's not the best and it's not the worst. It's a solid middle of the ground pokémon experience.
It's not everything fine and dandy however, as this game came out after the gen 5 games which are considered by many (me included) the peak of the franchise. Such a massive downgrade. 3D models are probably the worst decision The Pokémon Company has ever made. The game is way too easy, I had to nerf myself and still breezed through it. A.Z. is one of the better characters of the entire series and has a total of 3 seconds of screen time. Megaevolutions are cool and all but are not well implemented, why give Mewtwo (an already crazy powerful pokémon) not one but two powered up versions. And Finally a disappointing lack of endgame, even though the extra story with Looker and Emma was cute, it was not enough.
Don't get fooled by the negativity, this game is fine as it is, it's not the best and it's not the worst. It's a solid middle of the ground pokémon experience.
2009
It's not my favourite Monster Hunter game but it's the most important for me.
Just the fact of thinking about this game makes me feel things, just the fact of hearing the OST makes me tear up. Feeling nostalgic about a game I did not play back in 2009 but pretty recently. What a wonderful experience.
Just the fact of thinking about this game makes me feel things, just the fact of hearing the OST makes me tear up. Feeling nostalgic about a game I did not play back in 2009 but pretty recently. What a wonderful experience.
2024
I don't get the hype surrounding this game however it's fine if you need some fast pokémon gameplay directly into your veins.
1998
Cute racing game, with not the most interesting driving but oozing with style, just perfect if you just want to vibe and drive for a bit.
Imagine having this fat ass game on a Game Boy Color back in 2001
Look how they massacred my boy
After waiting for so long the hype got the best of me and I was really afraid that it would ruin my experience however that was far from the truth, not only that, it far surpassed my expectations. This is truly a godly experience specially coming from the original 2014 gacha game which has a special place in my heart. So many lovely details and references from the main source and still feels a completely different and unique game. This game was made just for me and I was made just for this game.
I really like Girls und Panzer so I really like this game
2005
This game goes hard.
A hidden gem even though aiming is iffy, aim assist screws you more than helps and the game overstays its welcome, I still had a ton of fun playing trough this.
It reminds me of Gungrave.
A hidden gem even though aiming is iffy, aim assist screws you more than helps and the game overstays its welcome, I still had a ton of fun playing trough this.
It reminds me of Gungrave.
This is supposed to be the "bad" Ace Combat, the one everyone seems to agree that is the worst among the main titles and I really don't get why. I've been on a 30 year journey playing every mainline Ace Combat from Air Combat to Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown and I don't see what makes AC6 be so hated.
AC6 reminds me of AC4, both are the first game of its console generation, both look gorgeous, both feature a short campaign of mostly repetitive missions, and both stories are unremarkable yet Ace Combat 04 doesn't get nearly as much flak as 6 does
The core gameplay is the same, fuck the core gameplay has been the same since the first game released in 1993 with some improvements like special weaponry and better controls. So it's not the gameplay and it's not the story then what is it? And I might know the answer and its probably because it's a Xbox 360 exclusive and because it's capped at 30 fps too. To that I say just emulate it, you can play it on PC and even get it to run at 60 fps.
In conclusion, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is a great game and quality wise probably sits in the middle of the rest of the main games and it's totally not worth skipping if playing though all the mainline titles.
AC6 reminds me of AC4, both are the first game of its console generation, both look gorgeous, both feature a short campaign of mostly repetitive missions, and both stories are unremarkable yet Ace Combat 04 doesn't get nearly as much flak as 6 does
The core gameplay is the same, fuck the core gameplay has been the same since the first game released in 1993 with some improvements like special weaponry and better controls. So it's not the gameplay and it's not the story then what is it? And I might know the answer and its probably because it's a Xbox 360 exclusive and because it's capped at 30 fps too. To that I say just emulate it, you can play it on PC and even get it to run at 60 fps.
In conclusion, Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation is a great game and quality wise probably sits in the middle of the rest of the main games and it's totally not worth skipping if playing though all the mainline titles.
I only play DMZ