Got so pissed after watching a video on changes the Remake made so I went back and finished this one.
An amazing game that got so many things right for being the first in the series. Not only that, but it's still the most eccentric and experimental and unconventional one of them all, and oh how I wish more of that attitude carried over into later titles. I respect Dark Souls 1 for how it expanded and polished what was presented here but there's still some ethereal quality that I feel was lost in the process.

I now need to replay all souls games and reevaluate where they all stand for me.

It is a miracle that I got to finish this brilliant game, and now people can stop bullying me because I haven't played it before.

My rating criteria for this game are games released in 2010 and prior. 
I had so many technical difficulties. Even by the standards of that time, this game has so many bugs that softlock you, tons of crashes, and buggy graphics settings. Also, controls got bugged, and I couldn't press the ESC key at all. I had to Alt-Tab every time to pause the game. These technical problems made me finish the game in a week, in about 25 sessions.

However, the story was intriguing, and the horror elements were used in such an amazing way that I got scared of my own shadow multiple times. The library part was made because they hate us players and they want us to have a heart attack. Plus. I liked the funny Ulman jokes.

Oh, the ending was also crazy! Here is footage of me during the ending!

...did we all play the same game?

'cause generic soundtrack aside, i don't even need to hesitate - this is superior to quake ii in just about every way. sure, there's no rocket jumping, but that hardly matters in a corridor shooter; what's important is gunplay and Q2 wishes it had weapons half as good as these. the shotgun? nailgun? the fucking bfg that shoots black holes? get the hell out of town and don't let me see you here again

...that praise being said, i'll be damned if it doesn't put its shakiest leg first

unlike quake ii, the start here isn't slow because of its shooting - that feels fantastic from the get go - instead it's the aggressively invasive 'story' that's constantly trying to pull you from the action. let me shoot. the fucking. aliens! that's all i wanna do, man!!

"nah nah - i hear you", calls tim willits, newly appointed president of the Carmack Fan Club, "here, you can shoot again - in a turret section! and after that, ohoho, mission briefing!! and then - two more vehicle segments!!!"

with one swift motion i knock that shit out of his fucking hands. then i scream, "I JUST WANT TO SHOOT THE STROGG WITH MY SHOTGUN. THAT'S LITERALLY ALL I WANT TO DO. I DON'T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT YOUR SET PIECES (besides the mech one - that was pretty cool) OR YOUR SPACE MARINE STORY - I DON'T EVEN CARE THAT I COULD PERSONALLY WALK FASTER THAN MY CHARACTER WITH WEIGHTS STRAPPED TO MY LEGS. THE GUNS FEEL GOOD, TIM. PLEASE JUST LET ME USE THE FUCKING GUNS!!!!"

i think he took that bit about space marines harshly given the events that transpired shortly after, but all of my prayers had been answered nonetheless! no longer was i walking back and forth through areas i'd already visited just to report to some dumbass military man that the elevator got unjammed or steve blum #3 successfully completed filing his tax returns; i was actually playing the game - uninterrupted

when quake 4 gets its shit fully together after the first 1/3 or so, it shifts from stop-and-go into maximum overdrive. there's zero bad weapons, enemy types continue to vary enough (not to mention there's actually a couple decent bosses - a rarity for shooters) and ironically even the mission objectives become significantly more engaging when they're things you're doing and not just details off sgt. pvt. blum's shopping list

environments start looking a lot cooler too. Q2 toyed with body horror in small doses, but ravensoft went all-in here. call me simple, edgy, whatever - i think giant entrails breaching through space corridors and limbless (but still alive and wiggling) bodies being used as power supplies are pretty fucking rad. say what you will about id tech 4 - doom 3 looks fantastic and this is no different. hands down the most underrated shooter engine

misguided start aside, this is the best fps (barring quake 1, obviously) that i've played in a considerably long time. can't wait to receive matthew kane's next orders in quake 5!

wait fuck

This is one of those situations where I don't know why this game is in my Steam library, but I've purchased enough bundles over the years and this seems to be one of those games that you get from some bundle somewhere. Either way, if you have this in your library and haven't played it yet, please do.

The pitch for Valfaris is that it's a Contra-style run-and-gun but with metal music, stop motion-style animation, more forgiving checkpoints, and a much greater focus on biomechanical creatures. It looks and sounds wonderful.

This is a pretty tough game -- the end boss took me an hour or so to beat -- but it's very well designed. Valfaris gives me the type of experience I always wanted out of a Contra game. Tough-but-fair action, great-feeling guns, sick bosses, and a rip-roaring power fantasy.

It is a game that gets dramatically close to 5 stars if not for a back chunk that features both a small difficulty spike and a couple levels that go on and on. Worth playing and I fully recommend it, but with that asterisk.

Going to buy its new sequel either at full price or the next time it goes on sale to support the developers.

I remember there was a Bowling centre near my hometown: it was pretty crowded and it also a bunch of arcade machines near the entrance: that was amazing, at it kinda sucks that now most of them are gone.

But also one of those cabinets literally scared me to death and always made me avoid eye contact with the left side of that hall for the rest of the time I went through

I remember vividly being haunted by this specific level, set at midnight, with unsettling zombies lurking around, alongside people crying or desperately trying to run away. Eventually your character became a zombie and starting vomiting blood all over the stage, all accompanied by a creepy music and all leading to an encounter with aliens??? Really tall and creepy aliens with worm heads?

I wondered for years what this title was about: what horror series was even allowed to be so publicly showcased? ... oh wait it was metal slug.

And that is the magic of metal slug, especially MS3: is a shooter that throws to you so many crazy things that while weirded me out as a kid, are so crazy and creative that now let me just.... go for the ride.

You got a cartoonishly sense of humor that doesn't shy away from more crude aesthetices, and lets you go from militry bases, horror themed settings, arctic ruins where you shoot yetis with an elephant loaded with machinge guns, aztec temples and deserts where you fight the military on top of a came (also loaded with machine guns), giant robots... and then you playable character is kidnapped by aliens and you gotta go to their base in space, defeat clones of them and fight a giant brain while falling back on earth.

It's ana amazing and memorable experience that outshines not only a lot of other arcade shooters, but also a lot of other SNK titles, famous for oozing with personality and charm from all their pores.

Of course it's tough as nails: it's a game that can result unfair at times because of the philosophy of arcade titles... but the charming graphics and incredibly addicting gameplay and options for combat are the reason why tons of people spend money on this in the first place.

MGS3 is a classic, absolutely something to try.

Having to make my own decisions was a terrifying experience. I will never do it again. And before anyone asks, I did it, everyone! I fixed her! (I got the good ending)
It was one of the best visual novels I have ever played. Great voice acting, great story, and the voices in my head are accurate. It's impressive that they are still updating the game, and a big update that'll extend the game by 25% is on its way. It's also not a very long game; I finished it in 5 hours because I took my sweet time and wandered around.
There was a sequence where I refused to continue doing what I was told, and the game shut down after the entity told me, "I will be here when you are ready" or something. I was flabbergasted. Next time I opened the game, that same entity welcomed me, and I continued where I left off.
I just wished that the Voice of the Hero and the Narrator's voice wasn't so identical.
It is truly a unique experience and a must-play.

After playing the original two MG titles thanks to the Master Collection, I was in the mood to revisit a classic I haven't played in years.

I've been a huge fan of Metal Gear since high school, Snake Eater was the first in the series I completed, then I went back and played the first two games (I tried MGS2 prior but wasn't into it) and my obsession began. Obviously this is a special game to me, so I'm happy to report that not only does it hold up, it's somehow even better than I remember. Revisiting Shadow Moses was every bit as fun and engaging as it was the first time I played through all those years ago. Obviously it took some relearning to get back into the swing of things, but once I did I played it over and over again.

I long maintained that this was the best MG title (I know 3 is the most beloved, but I slightly love this one more, and I didn't religiously replay 2 did the others), and I still feel confident in that opinion, although I'm likely going to set up my PS3 to play the HD collection since playing this again reignited my love for Metal Gear. It has my favorite story, my favorite cast, and several of my favorite lines and scenes in the series (plus the codec call with Mei Ling after the Hind boss fight is my favorite call in the series, still amazing after all these years).

I haven't played the VR missions until now so I wanted to try getting them out of the way before the main story (due to a misunderstanding with the trophy requirements, I ended up doing a few playthroughs on Integral to unlock a few missions). Some of the missions were super simple and straight forward, some needed trial-and-error, some were very funny (protecting Meryl from a Godzilla-sized guard was absurd in the best way). Many of them were rage-inducing horseshit that made me question whether or not it was worth it. To add insult to injury there were OVER 300 MISSIONS, I ended up taking almost 10 hours of playtime to finally finish them. I admit some of it was trial-and-error and a skill issue on my part, but many mission required you to play in ways that actively work against the gameplay loop (a good portion of them demand you kill guards as if you were Rambo, while still getting killed fast if you played poorly). Too many of the missions refuse to play to the game's strengths, and it leads to a very frustrating experience.

To say something else about my trophy hunting, my Fox playthrough was pretty funny. I did 5 (!) playthroughs in preparation and had most of it memorized, then the AI does things that actively tried to sabotaged my playthrough. In all my years of playing the game, it was the first time Mantis instantly shot Meryl before I had a chance to knock her out.

I admit this log isn't my most organized or most well written post here, but it's hard to post my thoughts on a game this special to me in a cohesive manner. I'll definitely replay it again soon, and likely will regularly replay it after. I think after revisiting it with the MC, I can safely say that this is my favorite game of all time.

10/10

Chrono Trigger is often considered one of the best games ever made, at least this is what I heard years ago. So I decided to give it a shot and... from the moment I noticed the characters going into a dance animation in the optional side roadof the festival, I knew I was in for a ride.

For a game from 1995, it's incredible how many things this masterpiece achieves: it's presentation is immaculate, able to convey a gorgeous spritework with incredible environments, set pieces and designs. A literal work of art that lives one to this day. Akira's Toriyama's characters are able to remain both simple and incredibly memorable, also because of the incredible characterization that makes you care for them so much (seriously stories and some bits about like Robo and Frog are just... tear-dropping).

The story is also impressivily realized: it's not easy to make a narrative based on time-travel can result so easy to follow, but also enthrilling and full of incredible settings and twists, ableto convey fun, fear and even sadder feelings.

Compared to other jrgps, Final Fantasy especially, it can result less deeper in mechanics, but the amount of combos between allies and the overall presentation makes it stand out even more.

I feel like that final section of the game, which is less linear, can drag a bit, especially because the requirements to get the "Best ending" can be kinda tedious to discover without a guide.

But overall Chrono Trigger is amazing. One of the best jrpgs of all time, and a title that deserves all the praises it gets!

The cinematic qualities of Max Payne still shine. Noir York during a freak blizzard is a beautiful thing, especially in these crisp early 2000s 3D graphics. Large skyscrapers shown as the camera flies through a blizzard and Max running in slow motion from an underground lab that's self destructing. Max isn't at his most self-destructive yet, it takes Mona to bring him there.

Remedy had peppered this thing full of cheap deaths. Sometimes you'll survive a shotgun blast and others right after you get out of one of the many comicbook cutscenes several armed goons will spawn in behind you. I was surprised that the parking structure shootout was one of the most difficult. Gunning your way all the way down is a pure gauntlet. Another levels filled with trial and error is the mob restaurant that catches fire. That one took like 15 tries to learn the right path. For some reason I found fighting the trained mercenary soldiers to be way easier than the mobsters. The AI director in this is a strange beast.

Max Payne 2 is my favorite game but this one is right up there especially considering this has a world that's a lot more vivid. Ragnarök is both a nightclub and the end of the world. Jack Lupino mixed the occult, including Cthulhu, and supersoldier drug Valkyr. There are plenty of mobsters, like the Finito brothers and the 'Trio', who have silly names but are deadly killers. Max Payne 1 turns into Half-Life 1 for a couple of levels with you fighting mercs, some of which lurk inside shipping containers, and has you blowing up lazer trip mines and going into an underground lab. There is a whole secret society plot going on.

One of the reasons I really love this one is that feels like a 3D Realms game even though it was developed by Finnish Remedy (3D Realms guys helped produce it). All the destructible environments (these mobsters really love blowing up their own businesses) and all the sinks you can turn on and toilets you can flush. There are secrets everywhere if you look. The lazer trip mines always remind me of messing around with these things for hours in Duke Nukem 3D. Duke Nukem 3D was a riff on all 80s and 90s action heroes, Shadow Warrior was a riff on kung fu and ninja movies, Blood was a riff on all things horror and Max Payne is a riff on film noir, John Woo, and all things heroic bloodshed.

My favorite video game.

A beautiful story of self-destruction. Max Payne's heightened superhero levels of slo-mo and shoot dodging abilities here are not able to save anyone. This is a story primary featuring the surviving characters from the original Max Payne and by the end of Max Payne 2, all except for Max have been killed.

The only real problems I have with Max Payne 2 are minor. Explosive barrels take way to long to blow up. By the time they do, you've around ran slo-mo circles around the cleaners and blasted them with dual uzis. If I had to say what's really a problem in this game it would be the overuse of the same levels. They recycle most of them in some way. You go through the fun house three times, until they have to finally let the place blow up.

I've seen several reviews on YouTube claiming they don't understand Max falling for Mona Sax. They say this "Mona thing" happened over a couple days, how could he be so deeply in love with her? Max Payne is a noir character and he's destined to lust for Mona until the bitter end. It's really out of his control. Max Payne 1 played with Norse mythology and Max Payne 2 explores the American mythology of the hardboiled hero and the femme fatale. He's a deadly killer, she's a deadly killer, and there is no way for both of them to get out of this alive.

Alright, strap in. I have a lot to say.

Let's get the elephant out of the room before I actually talk about this game. I am going to bring up issues I have with the game's art direction later on but none of that has to do with how sexualized the character designs are. I am fine with all of those other characters you want to use as a counterargument. That is not the core of my issue with this game, but before I get into that, I'll talk about what I DO like because I do still like this game.

I think on a graphical level, the game looks amazing. It runs consistently well and has been thoroughly play-tested which I shouldn't have to appreciate, but most great games usually have at least some small level of bugginess that this game does not have. Additionally, on this aesthetic front, I love the game's soundtrack, probably one of the year's standouts alongside Rebirth and Prince of Persia. I also think the linear and open-world missions in the game are, for the most part, quite fun! There are some survival horror-type missions that I found particularly memorable, even if they clash really hard with the rest of the game, but we're not there yet!

But the place where I have the hugest amount of praise for this game is its combat and enemy encounters. I'm gonna talk more about the game's "identity" later but this is where Stellar Blade's identity is strongest as it can't really be put in any camp for these 3D hack-and-slash games. It's not slow-paced and deliberate like a souls-like, but it's not super quick and combo-heavy like a DMC or a Bayonetta. The combat feels like a good mix of light comboing, really nice feeling parries, strong finishers, and a good amount of diversity in the way that you can approach combat. The enemies and bosses are also very well-designed and super difficult. The game shines brightest when focused on its great combat and there is a sequence near the end that works well for this game. It's great!

The game for the most part is really fun, super polished, and not particularly painful to go through. If someone might not have some of the same issues I do later on in this review, then I can see someone loving this game to pieces. But.. I have some SERIOUS issues with this game.

Starting off is the one that everyone, even the people who like the game is bringing up. On a narrative front, Stellar Blade is an absolute mess. The game's script is written so awkwardly, almost like it was machine-translated rather than actually localized. The dialogue is super awkwardly written and some moments in the side missions just feel kind of... embarrassing? The story setup is mildly interesting (until you notice something I'll bring up later), but the story's themes are barely explored apart from naming conventions and a couple of moments at the beginning and end.

The narrative didn't even need to be particularly deep or anything. Bayonetta and DMC games don't have deep stories, but A, they're not really trying to, and B, they do have a memorable cast with personalities at least. When I heard from reviews that Stellar Blade's cast isn't the strongest out there, what I DIDN'T expect to find was the most emotionless and barebones main character this side of The Callisto Protocol.

Eve is such a remarkably bland character, lacking a single actual personality trait. They try to develop Eve in a couple of ways regarding her ambiguous relationship with Tachy, who is also boring and has no character and then dies. They do a scene with this relationship in particular near the end of the game and it just felt so stilted and not super earned. But surely the other characters are better, right? I mean... I guess so? Lily at least has.. a personality and Adam, as boring as he is, at least has some interesting things happen with them later on, but the character writing is so incredibly weak in this game and the voice acting, both in Korean and English only makes it worse.

Okay, so that's the narrative stuff out of the way, what's that other major problem I have with the game that I've been edging you out of? This game does not have a fucking identity. I've been trying my best to hold back on comparing this game to NieR Automata up to this point, because I wanted to judge this game on its own, but it's so blatantly apparent just HOW MUCH of this game was derived from it. You play as a sexy android lady from a space base and are sent down to get rid of all of the bad guys that took over the Earth. You run around a semi-open world with a little drone that follows you around everywhere and talks to you. The game goes into detail on who the guys you are fighting and who you're working for REALLY ARE and there are themes of Identity and Religion and Life. The main character is very stoic and emotionless, but unlike 2B, here it's because they aren't written to have one. Hell, there are characters named Adam and Eve IN NIER AUTOMATA.

I know this all seems super surface level, but these comparisons wouldn't be such a huge problem if they had a super strong identity on their own and it really REALLY doesn't. The most distinctive thing about this game is that you're fighting Semi-religious gross penis monsters called Naytiba instead of robots. But that feels more like it clashes with the game's sci-fi aesthetic more than anything. Speaking of clashing, the character designs don't even really feel like they belong in the same game, most notably when you compare Eve, Lily, and Adam's designs. And they are the main 3 characters of the whole game. And most of the side characters don't even have faces, which is super weird? Why does the hairdresser have no hair? What are we doing here?

This also extends to the locations, Xion just feels like a pretty generic post-apocalyptic world. Half the time, in these linear missions, you fight in ruined cities and sewers and the two semi-open world areas you get are both bare empty deserts. I know asking for visual variety in a post-apocalyptic game is asking the wrong questions, but maybe have at least one of the open-world areas not be a desert??

All of these things combined, the art style clash between the different characters, friend, and foe, in this game, the super generic areas, the basic and derivative story, the lack of any characters with more than one personality trait, and the themes it doesn't touch on very much at all, leads to a game that doesn't really have an identity of its own. Hell, even though I love the music, it sounds very much like NieR music. The game's identity shines brightest in its combat, in its missions, in its boss encounters, and in one section near the end of the game that I thought was actually excellent.

This is clearly a talented team and the fact they were able to make a big console game this good on their first try is astounding. I can only hope their next game has more of a unique identity.

TLDR; The game is well-polished, has some great music, some decently fun linear and open world missions, and some exceptional combat and boss fights, but the character designs clash super hard with each other, the environments don't feel distinct, the story and character writing are incredibly bad, and the game just doesn't have a strong identity outside of copying NieR Automata's homework.