While this sequel brings some welcome gameplay improvements, I liked the original better. I didn't like that the "neutral" ending from the first game is canon, meaning that the choices players made in the original don't really matter.

The combat and gunplay is slightly more satisfying than in the original, but the enemy count has been increased, often resulting in frustrating combat encounters. I didn't like that some enemies could only be killed in insanity mode. They've also made some puzzling decisions, such as reducing the weapon limit and removing the healing inventory. The game also feels more linear than the first.

Even though it's a sequel that didn't need to be made, it's still decent and can be finished relatively quickly. Just make sure you play it on the easy difficulty, otherwise you'll have a very frustrating time with it.

A prison is an interesting setting for an action-horror game, one that you don't see very often. I like how most of the enemies you encounter are meant to be manifestations of various crimes and vices. The game maintains a creepy atmosphere throughout, but I wouldn't call it scary. It's an action game throughout, and you have more than enough weapons to handle anything the game throws at you.

There's also a morality system at play that affects the ending you get. I found that it's much better to be moral (good) during your first playthrough, as the NPCs you save can come in handy.

You can also switch between first and third person at will and play the entire game in either perspective, which is a nice touch.

What I didn't like were the often lengthy enemy encounters. It doesn't help that most enemies, even the weak-looking ones, are bullet sponges. I'd strongly recommend playing on easy difficulty to make the combat more satisfying.

And as always, be sure to check out the PCGamingWiki for troubleshooting common problems, as this game is prone to crashing on the PC.

I think the marketing campaign for this game had a detrimental effect on how B4B was perceived by the community. Instead of going for that L4D spiritual successor angle, they should have just done their own thing.

Still, I enjoyed playing it more than L4D2. Especially the combat felt much more satisfying. There's an elaborate "build your own class" system using card decks, although I felt a lot of cards were a bit redundant. The game ran really well on the PC, which is a big plus.

The only major drawback to this game are the characters, which are not nearly as appealing as the ones in the L4D games. Also, some chapters reuse environments, which can get boring after repeated playthroughs.

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys co-op horde shooters. Definitely pick up the deluxe edition on sale as it includes two new chapters.

This is truly one of the most unimaginative military shooters I've played in a long time. Even Delta Force Xtreme feels more original than this, and that's saying something. I don't know how you can make a game about aliens and conspiracy theories so boring.

At least the shooting is serviceable, the driving feels okay, and the assault rifle is fun to use. The environments are very forgettable, they all look the same. The chapter set in the suburbs was a standout, but that's not saying much.

If you're going to play this game on the PC, be sure to check out the PCGamingWiki on how to turn off the post-processing effects. Not only does it make the game look better, but it also fixes a lot of graphical artifacts.

The best thing about this game is that it's free. Unlockable Illuminati video log entries is a close second.

It's a very standard mid-2000s FPS. That alone should tell you everything you need to know. The shooting feels okay, and the story, which should have been the best part, ends up being forgettable. Some celebrities have lent their voices to some of the characters, but that hardly makes the experience better.

At least you can beat it quickly, but there are better options out there.

I tried to give this game another chance after trying it years ago. It didn't appeal to me then or now.

The positives are the gunplay and the soundtrack. Everything else was a chore. The game is set in this semi-open world environment, which doesn't help the pacing at all. In order to progress through the story missions, you must first unlock them by completing challenges, which are very repetitive.

I think I would have preferred it to be a linear shooter. From the looks of it, they did that for the PSP sequel, Chili Con Carnage. I might check it out one day and see how it compares to the original.

If you're looking for a Max Payne level of quality here, you're going to be disappointed. That said, it's a fun arcade action game with bullet time mechanics and highly destructible environments that doesn't overstay its welcome.

The destructible environments, environmental interaction, and power-ups are the biggest differentiators from other Max Payne-inspired titles. Destructible environments in particular deserve some special praise here, as you can really trash most of the levels in the game.

Environmental interaction is another mechanic that the game relies heavily on, but I didn't find it to be that exciting. Performing various moves always felt clunky, and it relied on you finding a trigger point that would lock your character in place (like running along the handrails). Also, for some reason you cannot jump manually, which was a puzzling omission.

Still, there's fun to be had here, but don't expect much. The story can be completely ignored. I found that it takes itself too seriously, and the voice acting is pretty bad, too.

As always, if you're playing on a PC, check out the PCGamingWiki for instructions on how to run the game at higher resolutions.

I've always been curious about this game. Almost all of my peers at the time had played it, but for some reason I avoided it all these years. Now that I've finally played it, I can say that Gun feels more like a true prequel to Red Dead Redemption than Red Dead Revolver.

It's an open-world third-person shooter set in the Wild West. The map is relatively small, but on the plus side, you never spend that much time getting from point A to point B. In fact, you never spend that much time doing anything in this game: the story missions are quick to complete, and so are the side activities. This game doesn't waste your time, and you can easily finish it in a couple of hours. It could take longer if you decide to do all the side activities. As an added bonus, you can continue playing the game after completing the main story.

As for the main gameplay loop, it's very similar to Red Dead Redeption, but obviously with less budget and ambition behind it. However, I'm willing to bet money that Rockstar took a page or two from Gun when designing RDR. I'm convinced that RDR would not have turned out the way it did without Gun.

Shooting feels really satisfying, and as you unlock new weapons, you start to feel really powerful. By the end of the game, it's almost impossible to die on normal difficulty.

It's a shame that the PC port is really bad. The performance isn't that great as it's stuck at 30fps. It's based on the original Xbox version, which means you won't get all the graphical benefits of the Xbox 360 version. There are also many graphical artifacts, such as no mipmapping, open polygon faces, visible texture seams, and so on.

I had a lot of fun with Gun, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a solid open-world title. I'd especially recommend it to fans of the RDR series.

I remember seeing Xbox 360 footage of this game back in 2006 and being amazed at how "next gen" it looked. It must have been the per-object motion blur and snow rendering that caught my attention. To be honest, it still looks good today.

As for the game itself, you'll be killing all kinds of weird creatures with glowing orange bits, human enemies, and mechs. Speaking of mechs, you can control them too, and there are several types at your disposal. Oddly enough, your human character feels more resilient than the mechs.

The levels are relatively large, and you can approach your objectives with some freedom of traversal. You also have a grappling hook at your disposal, though to be honest I found it a bit limiting. You can only grab onto surfaces and that's it. You can't use it to pull enemies or items towards you.

The game has this chill, easy going vibe throughout. It's super easy to just pick up and play. It's just challenging enough on normal difficulty without feeling unfair. That being said, expect to be juggled a lot by mechs and bosses if you find yourself on foot.

The final boss deserves special mention. Without getting into spoilers, it throws a bunch of new gameplay mechanics at you, and the whole fight feels cheap and unfair. It kind of soured the experience for me.

I'd still recommend it to anyone looking for a solid third-person shooter. The PC port is solid and works really well.

The atmosphere is what makes this game stand out. If you're used to Marvel's take on Norse mythology, you're going to be very disappointed. The universe presented here is nasty, creepy, and unforgiving. This is probably the first piece of media to portray dwarves as evil, disgusting, troll-like creatures, as opposed to the more common LOTR approach.

The gameplay is simple and responsive. Traversing levels never felt like a chore. Even though the levels are large and almost maze-like in their design, I never got lost, unlike in similar games from that era.

My biggest gripe would be with the combat and some of the enemies in the later stages of the game. Unlike traversal, combat can feel really clunky. It doesn't help that special abilities don't recharge and can only be replenished with scarce special runes. I actually didn't get a chance to try some of the abilities in the game because I was strapped for rune energy.

The sound design deserves a special mention. Just keep in mind that sound mixing is kind of broken on the PC. Be sure to download the OpenAL Soft patch for Rune classic for proper surround sound implementation.

I'd recommend this game to anyone interested in Norse mythology or just atmospheric games in general.

As always, if you're playing on the PC, be sure to check out the PCGamingWiki for important fixes.

The game definitely shows its age, but it was still interesting to see where the Red Dead series started. It can be finished in a couple of sessions, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.

The story was interesting throughout, and you get to experience it from multiple character perspectives. Even though the entire game takes place in the dusty South, there's still plenty of variety in missions, gameplay, and visuals.

However, this is a third-person shooter from the early 2000s, and it feels very clunky as a result. It helps that the game runs at a smooth 60 fps.

I'd still recommend it to fans of the Red Dead series, especially if you have access to Xbox One X or Xbox Series consoles.

First of all, I was surprised at how well this game holds up visually. It looks better than most current gen games, with the characters being a standout. It runs really well too.

The gameplay is more COD that we all know and love, but this time you have special abilities. Some are fun to use, but honestly they always felt tacked on to me. The game can be played and enjoyed without them.

The story is told and presented in a unique way, but even after finishing the game twice, I still had little idea what was going on. I felt it was too confusing for its own good.

It's worth mentioning that this is the only COD game that can be played entirely in co-op. I really hope they bring that back at some point.

I haven't had a chance to try out the Zombies mode yet, but it seems to be very popular. There are currently over 300 active servers for this mode alone.

This is probably the most unique game in the series. It's not for everyone, but I respect them for trying to innovate the COD formula.

If you like score-attack games, you'll love this one. It's a focused arcade shooter that does one thing and does it well. The closest alternative would probably be the Mercenaries mode in the Resident Evil series. Trying to get the high score and improving your runs is very addictive. It can easily be played in short bursts, as most levels don't take too long to complete.

My complaints would be the insanely high score cap on the highest difficulty, and confusing level design that can make you lose precious time and combo.

It can be a bit of a pain to set up if you're playing on the PC. I'd highly recommend checking out the PC Gaming Wiki on how to install GFWL and the automatic title update.

I've always been curious about this game, but never had a chance to play it until recently. It was better than I expected.

Swinging around levels like Spiderman and throwing props at enemies never got old. The game was well paced and flowed from level to level. I didn't get bored or tired of playing.

The inclusion of weapons felt a bit redundant when you have a bionic arm at your disposal. Some levels didn't feel like they were built with swinging in mind. I often found myself crashing into geometry, which broke up the flow a bit. I also wish that the bionic arm's cable was longer so that you could grab onto surfaces from further away.

I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a simple action game that can be completed in a couple of sessions.

Need for Speed The Run is part Need for Speed, part Outrun with some cinematic flair mixed in. It's an interesting concept that was judged too harshly when it first came out.

The goal of the game is to race from the west coast to the east coast of the United States. It's all broken up into stages with different race modes to mix things up.

If they ever make a sequel, I'd love to see a truly seamless race from start to finish, with no stages in between. With the advent of open-world racing, the technology is there.

A word of advice if you're playing on a PC: make sure you keep the framerate to 30fps and set the effects quality to high or lower. This helps a lot with the stability of the game. As always, PCGamingWiki is your best reference.

Also, don't make the same mistake I did and play on Hard. The AI rubber banding is insane in the later stages of the game.