It’s not at all a shock to me that this is easily one of my favorite games of all time, I was expecting nothing less (which is a stupid and risky mindset to go into a game with I recognize) but despite having the highest expectations possible, this game absolutely demolished them.

Everything here is an improvement on the last, gameplay especially is something I figured would be about as good but holy shit they blew the other 2 games out of the water. Combat feels as smooth as ever but new attack types from enemies, and all new abilities and a parry for the Spider-Men lead to a vast improvement over one of my favorite combat systems in a game already. It never got tiring to nail a parry to lay on damage, the new abilities were incredibly satisfying on their own but also were clearly designed with the idea of comboing them together in mind because that worked exceptionally well! Nowhere did it work better than with the bosses, which oh my GOD are such a vast improvement over the original. I wouldn’t say the bosses in the first game were terrible by any means but they were all pretty damn easy and didn’t stand out too much. The bosses here, especially in the later half of the game are insanely satisfying to play. Fun environmental gimmicks to let you lay on some extra damage, comboing your main abilities to take huge chunks of health, and learning patterns to nail parry chains was all so insanely fun. The main sets of enemies had some upgrades too, not as substantial but there’s a lot more diversity between the varying groups. It feels less like the same 3 enemy types in different outfits but each different clan of enemy feels like it has a different approach or take which is really refreshing. The stealth didn’t have much to improve but web lines add a fun layer of depth to stealth and mitigate that frustrating feeling of an enemy being just out of perch takedown range. Each Spider-Man feels unique as well, obviously a lot of the smaller moves are shared but their unique abilities are a ton of fun! I was a bit worried Peter would feel a bit lesser than Miles going in since I felt Miles was so much more fun in his solo game. They did a great job at making Peter compare though, and by the end with all the Symbiote powers and what not I even ended up having a bit more fun with him, but they’re about as close as possible. The one complaint I do have is the gadgets being as limited as they are. I wish there were a few more, but to be fair the abilities do entirely overshadow them so I get it.

Graphically it’s obviously fucking beautiful. Not only is the standard New York prettier than ever, they also take a lot more chances with what they can do visually. It’s still largely New York but the added islands do a lot for visuals and even just swinging across bridges was a very welcome visual change. They also get crazier with the lasting effects enemies have on the city. I won’t go into too many specifics for spoiler reasons but the way New York looked in the last 3/4 missions of the game was so insanely cool and breathtaking. The new animations for all the abilities and whatnot are beautiful, there’s so many team up takedowns now that look insanely cool, and even smaller things like stopping a car for a small level crime has so much more style and visual flair to it. It’s all an absolute treat to watch.

The story was another improvement to me! I loved everything that was happening, I think i’m very much a hype person so I could see someone not feeling like it reaches the emotional heights of the first and preferring the story there somewhat but either way I think it’d be hard to argue that Insomniac isn’t consistently delivering some of the best Spider-Man stories out there. Miles arc was a huge highlight, there was a period in the middle of the game where I felt like he was being a bit neglected (almost like it was happening in the actual story itself and it was an intentional parallel whaaaat) but by the end of the game he just had such a perfect arc and I can’t wait to see where he goes in future games. I always love seeing Peter become an asshole with the symbiote, I realize the symbiote doesn’t always have to do that but it’s how I prefer it because it’s a funny side of Peter we don’t get to see a ton and it worked really well here. Harry’s relationship with Peter and MJ was a lot of fun to watch, I was enjoying the smaller character moments a ton here. Harry and Peter riding bikes reminiscing about the time they snuck into their old high school, or all three of them at the Coney Island fair having a blast doing all the rides. It was all a lot of fun to watch! The only changes I’d make to the story would be giving more time to things like Kraven and a deeper dive into his mindset. It made a ton of sense, but I feel like we could have gotten deeper into that and his family. I also wouldn’t have minded a bit more of Peter being a dick to Harry, but both of these things IMO aren’t super required, and part of my desire for them is just wanting more video game to be completely honest. The side content I’ve done so far is pretty solid as well, if you’re like me and liked how it was done in the original and love it just being more ways to continue playing the game you’ll have a good time, but I know some wanted an overhaul of the open world content and side stuff which you didn’t really get. Like I said, I love the way it’s done but just figured I’d mention it.

I played Zelda Tears of the Kingdom this year and essentially told myself “yea, it sucks so many games I know i’ll love will come out and won’t compare to this!” Spider-Man 2 being the main game I thought of when I was thinking that. The more I continued Spider-Man though, the more I kept thinking “well, surely this doesn’t keep topping itself? is this really this much better than the first 2?” and it was! It really was! Not that GOTYs matter or anything, especially some random dude on a video game logging sites GOTY, but the brawl between TOTK and Spider-Man 2 is a lot closer than I thought it’d be and if you understand how much I loved TOTK I can’t really believe I’m saying that. There’s a lot of aspects of this game that just feel so perfectly crafted for me and my personal tastes that it leads to a series of games I’ve wanted to be perfected as hard as they have here for a long time and I’m extremely grateful they did. I hope Insomniac makes Spider-Man games forever man they’re just so fucking good.

After about 40 hours I'm accepting that this isn't for me and moving on. The most fun I had was designing my ship. The quests and characters were all really bland. I liked the vibe of the setting initially but it just feels hollow the more I go. Hit a significant story moment in the main quest that I'm sure I was meant to feel shocked or excited by. Instead I just didn't care because everything leading to it was so bland and the dialogue around it unnatural. Decided then that I wasn't going to have a good time with this even if I went through the grind of skill points to do outpost building (something I suspect I would have loved). Some things I actually liked: the ship builder, some of the visuals are beautiful, the background/trait system. Though I wish the background had mattered more from a roleplay perspective.

this game felt really weird to finally beat, i got it for super cheap in 2015 and was really excited to finally play it on my shitty lame laptop which broke before i could finish it. i ended up going back to it in like 2018 or something, got about halfway through and again just kinda forgot about it and never finished it. this time i finally played it, and kinda just tore through it. took me less than 4 hours to complete! it was a solid time, but really nothing special. not much to say about this one even it's just a pretty generic metroidvania. combat is a bit mindless, controls are solid, movement feels fun, it looks alright, and has some fun bosses! the new powerups are also pretty generic, i wish the new forms of the saber changed up how it felt a bit more. the last one changes it up a bit but the other 3 are almost identical just with some elemental effects. not much else to say, pretty fun but forgettable!

I have never played any of the jet set radio games so I had literally no idea what I was getting into this movement wise and gameplay wise. Needless to say after watching this games development for years I am happy. This game is funnnn man. It just feels good. Thats it plain and simple. It feels GREAT actually to just continue combos and move around the world. Most of the time I would stumble into areas accidentally while just trying to keep a combo going and it just felt good. The character design in this game is sick too, each character just fits perfectly in this world. Red specifically is such a simple yet peak design. Also Bel <3. Ofc I gotta complain because I am a hater at the end of the day. The game's story is kinda uninteresting and I really didnt care cause the twist was super duper obvious. The game is also really short which is kind of a bummer but small indie team blah blah I get it. The combo system itself also isnt super complex which isnt inherently a bad thing but sometimes I just wished there was a little more to them. Lets see uhhhh music is really catchy and good, but there isnt too many tracks altogether and it overplays just a weebit near the end. Overall this game is super worth playing if you're looking for an enjoyable experience.

yea it's exactly what you thought/wanted it to be and it fucking rocks! it is unapologetically jet set radio, borderline fan game level similar at points. it is so clearly a love letter to jet set radio and jet set future in every aspect! art style, music style, general gameplay, even some level design and animations are almost 1 to 1 from those games! i can see this being an issue for some one and wanting a bit more of its own identity, and if they do make another one i think i'd like it to get a bit more of its own voice but i think as a love letter to games that haven't been around for so long makes it just really fun and sweet to experience as a fan of those games.

the game looks AMAZING, absolutely nails the style and is just a joy to look at. the shots of the map whenever you got to a new area was always exciting and looked so good. the animations are smooth, the graffiti is beautiful (i'd say personally i liked it more than jet set radio's graffiti) and the overall package is almost entirely perfect. the only presentation aspect i'd say is a bit of a let down is the cutscenes. no voice acting and the faces having 1 emotion that doesn't change whatsoever is pretty silly. i realize that's how it was in jet set radio for the most part but i feel like that was an evolution that no one would have minded and similar to the new lego star wars game, could just be a toggle in the options.

the soundtrack is something everyone was looking forward to and hyping up immensly and it absolutely delivers! so many hits and every track fits the vibe so perfectly. i think the obvious excitment came from hideki naganuma being apart of this game, and those songs do rock but man the entire soundtrack is just so great! i was gonna list off a few of my favorite tracks but genuinely i just loved way too much of it to do that LOL.

gameplay is really great! a clear improvement controls wise to jet set radio and future, everything feels so smooth and great and the boost pack was a wonderful idea. the level design was phenomenal and each area was a joy to explore. genuinely no low points, but just the whole aesthetic and vibe of millenium mall was my favorite probably. i wish the crew battles had a bit more challenge to them, but they were still fun utilizing the level design to get as high a score as possible but i was winning by 100s of thousands of points with ease on my first try on every battle. honestly the biggest excitement from finishing each area was the really sick linear dream sequences after each crew battle. those were always visually a blast and really fun to run through! my only complaint is that i did wish the various forms of traversal felt a bit different. the animations are unique for the skateboard, bmx bike, and rollerblades but generally they all feel borderline identical at a base level which was a bit of a bummer. i realize they can't be TOO different so each item could do every task but i still feel there could be a bit more variance. i also wish you could just insta swap to them with some sort of vehicle wheel or something but that's not as big a deal. overall it felt amazing, was super smooth, and it was exhilirating to keep a combo running.

all in all this is game has no real surprises, if you had been following it for as long as most people here i assume have you know what you're getting into and it'll deliver that with ease. i hope they make more of these cause they're a blast! i'd hope there was a bit more evolution in a theoretical sequel but for what this game set out to do it nails it 100%.

Even though I greatly enjoyed my time with this game after a three-year wait, I still felt unsatisfied. I guess that's what I get for setting unreasonably high expectations.

I will say that they hit the nail on the head with the aesthetic and music! There's really good tracks like the main menu and the three Hideki Naganuma songs.

Even with the new mobility options that help you maintain your momentum, I still wish that the trick system was a little more technical than "Press X/Y/B in consecutive order while holding RT". All of the movement styles felt the same because of that.

If you like Jet Set Radio, you would like this, just don't set your bar too high.

god. GOD!!!! this is just the best character action game of all time. i have so much i love here but man it just blew me away. after having played every game in the franchise i had built this game up in my head a LOT. i finally beat the dmc reboot and my reward was playing this game... the only problem was this game did NOT click right away. it's not really any fault of the game, it's actually entirely on me for playing the reboot right before this and having the muscle memory of that game fresh in my mind. that coupled with nero being pretty significantly different out the gate and i felt so fucking sluggish and clunky and weird for the first couple missions. i ended up taking a break from the game for a day or two to wash away that damned muscle memory and when i finally came back everything connected how i thought it would and i couldn't have been more in love

before i get into the obvious biggest high point in the gameplay let me just say this game is absolutely GORGEOUS. i know 2019 isn't THAT long ago but the environments are gorgeous, the combat looks better than it ever has with insane and exciting effects and particles. the cutscenes stood out as really well done especially, it feels like they didn't really need to put this much effort into them but they're beautifully animated. the soundtrack is great as well, nero's theme especially stood out as super exciting and blood pumping.

speaking of the cutscenes the story was solid here! it jumps around a lot and i don't think is winning any awards, but it's saved by the return of insane over the top action sequences in most cutscenes! i don't know if they quite reach the absurdity and fun of DMC 3 but it's so much more true to what i loved compared to 4 and they were so exciting to watch. nero as a character becomes so much more likable and fun, nico is an amazing addition and the way she interacts with nero was great. her fan girling over dante when they first meet was amazing as well. i wasn't that big into V as a character but i did like griffon! i got way too excited for vergil after dealing with how much i didn't like him in the reboot. lady and trish don't really do much unfortunately but i was happy to see them regardless. dante of course is still a standout and as wonderful as ever, him getting dr. faust was amazing.

okay this section might be a bit all over the place but i just have to kind of gush about the gameplay here. nero starts out pretty different and it was a bit awkward but once you start unlocking more variation in the devil breakers and understanding what each one does it's unbelievably fun. there's so much love put into each other, but being a huge mega man nerd i loved the mega buster, not only it just literally being a mega buster but nero doing the mega man jump animation and doing the teleport at the start of stages whenever he's using it made me smile a lot. some of my other favorites were punch line namely for it's charge attack being you get to ride on it like a hoverboard, the tomboy for the entirely new moveset that felt super weighty and fun to use, the buster arm because it was a great throwback, and gerbera for it's giant kamehameha charge attack and juggling enemies with the aerial dash was super fun. none of this is to mention how nero changes by the end of the game which i won't spoil but really just takes him up to 11 and makes him so insanely badass and fun.

V was okay, but easily my least favorite of the main 3. i don't hate the idea they were going for, and it did feel pretty badass ocassionally i wasn't miserable playing him by any means. he just felt much less involved, since you're controlling the summons and not attacking with V himself. i also maybe was just not fully understanding how he worked, but i found that the summons, shadow especially just whiffed his attacks constantly. griffon didn't feel particularly satisfying to use, and especially on a first playthrough since he wasn't clicking with me i didn't really wanna use my red orbs on him and opted to generally save them for nero and dante which didn't help. he's not terrible but i would have just preferred more nero/dante missions really lol.

okay this is where i'm just gonna gush like a dork for a little bit BUT OH MY GOD DANTE IN THIS GAME!!!!!! it felt odd going back to dante initially after playing the reboot and doing all the nero/v missions and similarly to the start of this game i had this weird worried feeling they kinda jumped the shark and it wasn't gonna be as fun. this mostly came from general starting awkwardness of having to get back into the groove but especially not super understanding how balrog worked intitially. this was a huge red flag to me, because even in the reboot the gauntlets were easily my favorite weapon archetype throughout the series and they felt so off/confusing initially in this game. it took me like a full mission to understand but holy shit these are the best gaunlets in the entire series. once you fully understand and start swapping between stances and utilizing all of the moves it is so absurdly exhilirating. i do still miss the charge punches a little bit but everything else is so much fucking fun that it didn't matter by the end. on the topic of these being the best gauntlet weapons in the series oh my god is this the best set of weapons in the series. devil sword dante is the best sword in the franchise easily, but even before that rebellion and sparda feel great. this series generally has tried some insane high concept weapons, and while i'm sure they're very satisfying if you learn them they generally felt a bit awkward and hard to justify swapping to for me (nevan in DMC 3, and lucifer in DMC 4) but cavaliere absolutely fucking nailed it. it's an INSANE weapon that's just 2 halves of a motorcycle that absolutely tear enemies up and with the swordmaster style you can combine them and ride the motorcycle to destroy demons. they also brought back the cerberus nunchucks, but not only did they bring them back but they made them even better! they added multiple elements to it, including an electric whip type charge attack, and with swordmaster style equipped a huge flame staff. DMC 3 still has the biggest variety of weapons in the series for dante but this game just absolutely perfected every style of weapon it added and has the best version of them all. the returning guns are fun, but don't really feel any different. dr. faust is the main new gun and it's really cool, but it also uses red orbs (although you can gain a ton back if you utilize it well) and i was too greedy to use it too much. there's just so much fucking depth with dante, it feels like you could play for hundreds of hours and still learn new fun ways to swap between weapons and styles in a satisfying way. i see myself going back to this game a ton to replay missions and just mess around with the combat in bloody palace. there's so much love and passion put into making all of these characters feel absolutely amazing throughout the entire series but it's truly perfected in this game. it's easily the greatest character action game i've played, and i can't imagine any game even comparing that isn't a new devil may cry game. i'm saying all this and i haven't even played as vergil yet!!! god this game rocks!!!

this game was an absolute blast to play. it made me so happy the whole way through. even without having the context of being a devil may cry fan before this year and experencing the lows that led to this, it still just feels like such a beautiful love letter to the franchise as a whole. i'm so glad i didn't start with this game because it made it even more satisfying to finally get here and absolutely understand the love put into this game and why it's so easily one of the best DMC games and character action games as a whole. this series had some highs and lows but 3 and especially this game made the lows so worth it. i'd like to thank all of my friends who hounded me to finally give this series a try, namely my good friend alex who i tortured by refusing to play this series for way too long LOL it was incredibly worth it and i'm a huge fan now :)

by the way, after playing them all my list is as follows
1. Devil May Cry 5
very close 2. Devil May Cry 3
3. Devil May Cry 4 = DmC: Devil May Cry
4. Devil May Cry 1
significantly below the rest 5. Devil May Cry 2

this was fine! i think there's a lot of context as to why this game would be upsetting to a devil may cry fan, and even as a new fan to the series i can understand most of it but it's a lot easier for me to overall go "yea i don't love that it's a dmc game but i have 5 other games in this franchise to play if i want that! i don't care that much!" which is a pretty unfair stance for me to take compared to other long term DMC fans but impossible to avoid.

that's all to say, the characters and story here overall are rough. i think dante winds up being solid near the end of the game but his first impression is really bad. kat is cool and her dynamic with dante is good aside from the slight romantic undertones which i don't love. i think they work better as friends and a someone for dante to actually care for. virgil sucks, and the villains are overall pretty uninteresting but bob barbas is pretty fucking funny. i actually was kind of a fan of dante and virgil's dynamic in this game. it was something unique, and it was cool seeing them being buddies! (SPOILERS) the end of the game completely throws this out of the window, throwing a random lame twist of him wanting to rule the world epically! the writing overall is okay, again i think it gives a pretty awful first impression, but dante becomes likable and he has some solid dynamics with kat and virgil especially that make me not wanna say it's TERRIBLE but it in general i think tries way too hard to be edgy and badass especially with dialogue between dante and the various villains. i did genuinely get some laughs from those, namely the bob barbas boss fight and dante screaming fuck you back and forth with the succubus. i wouldn't say this writing/story was good by any means, and i understand not being able to recover from the terrible first impression the first few missions give but it's also not the worst thing i've ever experienced by the end, at least when it came to the characters. them trying to convey a message was pretty sloppy and uninteresting.

this game visually is very split for me. i genuinely think some of the things they do here with the limbo gimmick and stylistic choices are pretty cool! i also think it's like peak 360/ps3 era disgusting at some points. some of that to be fair is intentional, like the succubus lair or mundus' spawn but it still just isn't particularly what i love in my games visually. i think it's cool how visually distinct so much of the game is though, that's something pretty new for this franchise and it was nice to see. there's also a lot of crazy pretty cool gimmicks in some of the levels, namely the devil has talent. visually was super crazy and fun to run through. i don't have a ton to say about the music overall but it was pretty good, it's not particularly my style but i caught myself head thumping here and there.

the gameplay here is really sick, not on the same level as dmc 3 or 4 for sure but still lots of fun! solid selection of weapons that all generally feel pretty satisfying to use and a pretty fun grapple hook that was exciting in combat and made platforming/traversal exciting and more fun as well! level design as a whole is pretty solid. platforming and exploring the levels is fun and pretty satisfying and the locations are super varied. enemy design is okay, some of the later enemies are kind of annoying to deal with. i don't even super mind the whole angel/devil gimmick because of how easy it is to swap between weapons. i realize it can discourage using what weapons you want to use but realistically those enemies were pretty few and far between and if anything it encouraged me to use things like my angel weapons more than i was. if there's one thing DMC will always get right it's punch and kick gauntlet weapons because eryx is still the most fun here. the aquilla were really fun on the angel side and rebellion was pretty standard for DMC. the guns were pretty weak here, and devil trigger especially was really fucking lame. i didn't hate the visual flare of it but it just being a freeze time every enemy floats in the air thing was boring and lame.

i think overall this is surprisingly one of the most full and complete devil may cry games. i can't say i had a terrible time, it's a pretty fun character action game! i know it's kind of a popular sentiment that everyone says but if this wasn't a devil may cry game i think so much of it would sting a lot less. there's still problems here regardless of that but the characters and story especially i think would be a lot less frustrating. i think it being devil may cry though sets your expectations in terms of combat and characters at a certain standard and it just doesn't really live up to that. i'd say i liked this more than DMC 1 and especially 2, but it's about on the same level as 4. i'd say it's a better game overall than 4 but the combat and characters in 4 clicked so much more for me that i had a better time with that one. i'm really excited to get into DMC 5 after everything i've heard but also i heard nothing but the worst of the worst for this game and it was a decent time so who knows... (it'll be awesome)

i had a fun time here, but man there's a lot of stuff that makes it pretty disappointing. worth a play if you liked any of the previous games in this franchise but so much missed potential.

the big new thing here is the new playable character (and new main character!) nero. i think nero is a fine enough character, his voice performance is really solid but his part of the story is so overly dramatic and takes itself so seriously that it wasn't nearly as fun to experience. the story isn't anything special, and to be fair it never has been in this series but dmc 3 had me excited for every new cutscene to see what insane shit they would do and this time i just kinda wanted to get them over with. there's still some wacky devil may cry charm here and there but it's bogged down by soap opera level drama that just wasn't particularly interesting to me. dante's part of the story picks up from here (and even pokes fun at the way characters are so overly dramatic) but it's over so fast and still doesn't come anywhere near the heights of 3s action and spectacle that i still wasn't particularly invested.

at the end of the day though, that doesn't matter because this series has alwasy pretty clearly been gameplay first, and man the combat is arguably the best it has ever been here. there's a lot less in terms of weapons than dmc 3 offered but everything else just feels so good and is done so well that it more than makes up for it. nero especially is fresh and super fun to play as. devil bringer is so fucking fun in all of its uses, nero has only 1 sword and gun but devil bringer was so incredibly satisfying to use it never got tiring. launching an enemy up, slicing them, and then grabbing them to slam them back down to the ground genuinely never got old and felt so good. using devil bringing to grab little enemies and bring them closer to you, or launch yourself over to larger enemies always felt great as well. the speed and depth that it added to the game overall was so sick and made nero an absolute blast to play. that's not even mentioning his own sword the red queen which felt great. it's not particularly special compared to other standard swords in the series but the big stand out is the exceed mechanic where you rev the sword like an engine. there's some abilities that really unlock its potenital namely the ones that with perfectly timed presses of the trigger give you charges between swings. it all takes a lot of getting used to but feels super rewarding to learn and get good at. i may feel whatever on nero character wise but gameplay wise he was a phenomenal addition to the series and someone i'm excited to mess around with in 5.

dante feels pretty identical to how he did in 3 really but there's less weapons and variety in how he plays so i didn't have as much fun with him here compared to 3. he's still great don't get me wrong, but with how great he felt in 3 and how fresh and amazing nero felt he's a bit weaker in comparison. i did love gilgamesh though, and pandora's box might be my favorite gun in the series so far.

with the amazing combat out of the way the biggest negative to this game and the biggest bummer is how kind of awful the full campaign is LOL. it's not nearly dmc2 bad and i'd even say because the combat is as good as it is it was more fun than 1 but wow is the level design and exploration so much less fun and interesting here. it's something that you feel while running through the game with nero the entire time, even at its best it's just pretty boring and uninteresting level design. at its worst though, you'll be doing the dumbest least fun pushing block puzzles and dumbass board games that make you wanna scream. the bosses are okay but nothing ever really compares to the heights of 3s boss design. it's really frustrating how phenomenal the combat system is but it's bogged down by really boring to straight up frustrating level designs. the enemy vareity is pretty weak too, once you encounter your first mephistos and white knights the game really only feeds you those and some little scare crow enemies for the entire rest of the game. this all comes together to make neros part of the campaign immensly frustrating and having a ton of missed potential, but the worst part has yet to come. 10 missions into the game you lose control of nero and take control of dante! this would be cool if he had unique levels or gimmicks but what the game instead decides to do is have you run through the entire game backwards just as dante this time. often throwing stupid gimmicks at you while you do it, like poisonous gas constantly taking health, a timer before the area you're in explodes, or even purple mist that teleports you to random unrelated parts of the map. not only do you repeat the same levels but less fun, you also get to fight every one of the bosses but again! except now you don't get the cool grab animations, or the ability to counter attacks with your grab. the good news at least, is if you loved those bosses you get to fight them a THIRD time but as nero again in a boss rush that repeats the shitty fucking board game from earlier. lots of fun!!! it's really a bummer how much you just replay the game but worse as dante. it's nice they skip out some of the lamer aspects of neros run like the board game but it still is the same boring level design often throwing in their own frustrating and lame aspects as well. that combined with more boss refights and the shitty board game returning make the second half of this campaign drag to an absurd degree. it's so disheartening because of how amazing the combat was to see the level design take such a huge nose dive was unfortunate. they clearly wanted to pad the time out here but it just made for a rough campaign.

this game had a lot of missed potential, it looks pretty good (although i just don't love the aesthetic of this era of games) has a solid soundtrack, and arguably the best gameplay of the series so far. it's just bogged down by being clearly unfinished and some development issues. i see myself returning to this game to do blood palace and try out the extra characters and just have fun with this combat system from time to time but the campaign is such a big missed opportunity that i wish lived up to the phenomenal combat. excited for 5 but man this one bums me out a little bit.

genuinely my favorite call of duty of all time

campaign is amazing
multiplayer is the best cod has been for years
zombies is the best zombies mode ever made

I wish cods were better i like when games are good

hands down the most enjoyable NFS game we've had in the franchise's "rebrand/reboot" with the release of NFS2015. this game fixes a lot of, if not all the issues I had with Heat that made playing it less enjoyable. From a gameplay standpoint, the game did feel brutal in races and during cop chases but I got to a certain point past the initial couple of playthroughs where I understood what was BS and what was me making mistakes. the story and dialogue itself is pretty cheese but nothing really felt unbearable (even when the literal political mayor election subplot ended abruptly). the inclusion of A$AP Rocky is pretty entertaining simply because he sounds like himself so everything he says doesn't really connect to anything (which I find hilarious). The licensed soundtrack was mostly solid and the car selection was nice, real props to the developers for including real aftermarket brands. I wish they committed to a genuine mapping of Chicago but I understand wanting to make a map design that doesn't result in unsatisfying high speed racing. the only real critique I'll give is the way this game tries to connect itself to actual Chicago culture LOL. they need to commit to all cel shading next game