An alright third-person shooter enhanced due to its presentation, narrative, and bullet-time mechanic. Though nothing new is on offer in the narrative of Max Payne, it is stark and bleak in a shooter market that was a bit sillier than grimdark. Though the game controls well and functions like a dream on modern hardware (fan patches are highly encouraged, if not necessary), the difficulty is nuts considering the limited arsenal and bullet-time move set. Issues only compound when the only breaks from the flashy, frantic violence are frustrating mazes and platforming challenges. Though infrequent, the combat breaks are frustrating and fail to break the pacing of a mostly frantic experience.

An amazing technical showcase for what could be squeezed out of the 6th generation of consoles. Playing on modern Xbox hardware helps showcase Black's impressive destruction technology in a wide screen, HD picture. If you have the ability to play with great headphones or a surround system, Black additionally offers a robust sound profile with some of the meatiest, devastating sounding weapons of the generation. It is wild to see what Criterion was able to pull off in the last leg of the Xbox's life cycle, so much so this could easily be mistaken for an early 360 title at a glance.

The impressive tech and audio can only push Black so far, though. While it's understandable for the time considering we didn't quite have a universal FPS controller format, Black's controls can be a little confusing to get to grasp; amplified further if you're like me and are juggling this game alongside others. I honestly cannot think of another console shooter off the top of my head that uses the A/X button for a reload, and Y/triangle to equip suppressors, while you use the D-pad to swap weapons.

Once you finally have a grasp on Black's controls, you'll have to contend with its post-processing effects. I have different motion sickness triggers than others, but one thing that truly gets me feeling ill is excessive blur. Black, sadly, is chock-full of blur effects through its many reload animations. Yes, it is truly stunning to see the animation detail on each weapon's reload, but if you make the grave mistake of moving (especially turning) while reloading, you may find your stomach flipping over itself like me. This frequent camera blur is in addition to violent camera shakes on explosions, and bloom effects that border on the horrendous side of ugly. Motion sick and photosensitive people should approach Black with caution.

For a Game Pass title, the nearly 4 hours for a "normal" playthrough isn't so bad and is a bit of a joy in a market full of 20+hour minimum experiences. I can say that it's understandable why the short length would be an issue, especially at the time of release. Replaying the game is incentivized to get more collectibles and play with different weapons, but I could imagine running the same levels time and time again with the game's unskippable cutscenes and brutal, unfair checkpoints becoming a chore sooner than later. Black is an impressive shooter when taking a broad look at it, yet there isn't much of a "deep end" to immerse yourself in and get "genuine playtime" out of it.

As an old man who still puts Chrono Trigger at some of the highest peaks the genre can reach, this is one of those rare times where a "heavily inspired by" or "spiritual successor" type game didn't just outright make me want to play the inspiration game instead. I'm glad I'm finally starting to get more of the "hits" when it comes to games I've backed now that they're actually starting to release since my record with that was looking worse than whoever the Harlem Globetrotters go against.

The sprite art and animations are fluid and very well done, I would honestly say they are better animated than the actual animated scenes that are peppered throughout the game as a whole. The world is filled with enough varied races that make them all stand out, though I wish some more of that spread into the playable party. I thought for sure one character you meet was going to become one but they never did.

In terms of combat and systems I also thought it was very well done. This is true turn based, enemies on map like CT and regular battles never lasted too long along with the enemies had a visible number that showed on what turn they would act. The game also tried to break you out of your "hold onto magic and items for big attacks on bosses/large enemies only" habit by having a 10 useable item limit (which is just healing items), low mx mp threshold, having basic attacks recover mp, and needing to use specific damage types to break enemy locks. The lock system is fine. Its not a standard break system, thank god cuz I'm honestly sick of those, but it instead allows you to stop an enemy from casting/using skills (it does not show up for normal attacks) if you do enough of the visible damage type, similar to octopath or braverly, in enough turns. Though there were times were I didn't think it was possible to actually break them all before the cast went off, at the very least each lock you break reduces the power of the incoming attack by a visible percentage. Its was probably a deliberate design so you can't get the boss to just never cast a spell, ever. The game also outright tells you that the action commands are not required to be done correctly to get through the game. That's good. I love me some action commands, but I always agree they should be purely for bonus damage/reduction. Also for bonus points, any boss I used the delay causing skill on was actually effected by it so it was ACTUALLY USEFUL for when you would actually want to use it. The fact that character swapping in battle doesn't cost a turn is a LARGE plus. You don't need to worry about anyone being underleveled either because everyone is always going to be the same level, even if they leave the party. The characters don't have individual exp bars, its one shared one and when it fills then everyone gets their level up. Also you get X Strike in this game cuz any good CT inspired romp needs X Strike.

In terms of story and characters, it was ok. I think those are the weaker part of it and the main reason why this game is 4.5 instead of 5 for me. Only one character design wise really stuck with me and you can tell the team had A LOT of fun animating them. Writing was good at best and try hard memey at worst (especially for one character and some naming). Some emotional moments fell flat cuz I didn't care for the character in question. The ending also felt kind of anticlimactic but I have since learned there's a true ending (that you need to beat the game first to even attempt to get) so maybe my mind will change in that regard once I do it. The requirements for that though seem kind of annoying I'll be honest. Music was good the whole way through, with the battle theme being one of the best in the game and due to the battles not overstaying their welcome it didn't get old. The game also wasn't very long for a first time run, took me a little over 23 hours and that's with me going out of my way to do extra things which I think its a fine time. This is what I expected given its sources as this time was around that time during my last replays of CT. Brevity is lost in this medium and I'll always appreciate a game that knows when to end itself.

I found exploration to be a bit tedious. Not in terms of your first times going through areas, but on returns if you wanted to check those newly accessible puzzles with your unlocked abilities. The areas aren't long but that doesn't make the trek through them any better, especially when low level aggressive enemies still want to attack you. Thank god there's no encounters on the overworld map, but I would have appreciated getting the fastest form of travel anytime other than RIGHT before entering the final dungeon. Clearly they intended the player to do the return trips and cleanup at that point or later, and it will make that 18 times easier. Speaking of puzzles they were I think the perfect level. Most were easy and didn't take much though but the ones that did weren't horribly obtuse or asinine, they just took looking at it more than 10 seconds.


If you like Chrono Trigger or other games similar to it, you owe it to yourself to play this game. GOTY contender for me easily, though imo it doesn't have much non remaster/remake competition.

To get it out of the way, Metal Gear is my favorite series. While I didn't have many issues whilst playing the collection and I can understand that people wanted more, saying the ports outright suck due to your own overzealous imagination is not something I can get behind. Yes this collection is pretty barebones in terms of graphical touch ups but I'm someone who chooses to play games on actual hardware so I'm not drooling over playing something like MGS1 in 4k. I didn't notice framerate problems either, even in MGS3 but it takes some massive drops for me to notice those. The issues I did run into will be given in detail when talking about the game in question. But the short of it is, the games themselves are fully playable but I ran into issues in 2 and 3 that I never had on ps3 Hd collection or in the ps2 versions in all my years of playing that do not have anything to do with the 360 controls I am not used to.

In terms of Master collection specific content you have the entire screenplay and master books which while cool, I'd rather have those in my hand instead of on my tv and only skimmed them due to that. You got some music tracks too with a selection that could be described as random, however I don't turn on my consoles to listen to music so I never gave them much of a listen. I can just pull up songs on youtube or use these things called CDs of the osts I have should I ever want to listen anyway. On PS5 much like the Battle Network Legacy Collection, each thing has its own icon and install instead of it being one all encompassing package. Other language versions are options but in my experience some had to be downloaded as did the digital graphic novels but the main games (MG 1,2, MGS1, VR missions, 2 and 3) were on there from the get go. Pressing L1+R1 brings up a menu which you can use to pause cutscenes (thought it takes a few seconds) but I only had it work in MGS1. A shame cuz I really could have used it when going for no alerts in 2 and 3 since I couldn't get the usual reset code to work.

Onto the games themselves:

MG1 and 2- These are the ones from MGS3 subsistance/HD collection but ripped out and made its own launcher. They even still use the mgs3 save screen. Yes NES Metal Gear and Snakes revenge are in the master collection too but I will NOT play the NES one again and refuse to touch Snake's Revenge. As far as MG1 goes, I've never been a fan of it. It very easy to get yourself suck either due to missing a prisoner, card, ammo what have you and the hitboxes on the pitfalls were always absurd at best. Yeah I get it, old game design but still I find MG1 to be more annoying than enjoyable which is why I've only played it a couple times. I can only take so much near unavoidable damage cuz everything respawns on a screen change. As for Metal Gear 2, its honestly shameful how little I've played this one cuz it cannot be overstated how much of a step up it is compared to 1 and its where you see what the series will become take form. Still WAY too much backtracking especially at the end, and while MGS1 is close to a 3d version of this game, they were smart enough to cut back on it aspect. The other old game design aspects still apply but the addition of the radar at least let me be mostly prepared for the enemy on the other side of the screen change.

MGS1- Still my favorite game and always will be. No problems while playing for me other than johnny has pants on for some reason after Meryl knocks him out. Its the ps1 version complete with its weird texture warping quirk games on that system had. You can make fake save data for Mantis' stuff so this version is 1000% better than the pc release you can buy on GOG and its not up for debate. I didn't see these loading issues with cutscenes people keep bringing up either but even I'm not blind enough to not notice the fuzzyness the game had at times. I also went through VR missions and thats all I have to say about that cuz I never cared for VR missions. Integral is there too and it was my first time playing that version. While its cool to be able to listen to the TAPPY main theme at whim via codec instead of on a third playthrough (my favorite rendition), its not as novel now that youtube exists. Yes I know about Meryl's new costume in it but I pretty much went back to the original MGS1 after that initial playthrough.

MGS2- Still MGS2 where its 1/3 codec conversations despite being 3 feet from each other and why the codec has a bad name. If people weren't bitching about these games being some sort of 720p over the promised 1080p I wouldn't have known, and tbh I still didn't notice much. This was my first time experiencing the new controls that where part of the 360 version of the HD collection. In MGS2 they were fine but even after several playthroughs I still kept trying to play the game the normal way with pressure sensitive buttons that don't exist. It took me several playthroughs and a snake tale to internalize that the coolant spray uses the right stick now and not square. Being able to click the left stick to raise and lower your weapon is something I think is a good idea actually. Other than that I did have the game freeze on me twice for several seconds, one time on two different playthroughs and both on Big Shell while the Tanker had no issues. One of those times was during the Harrier boss and the other while escorting EE where you need to put out the fire. Both of these involved fire effects now that I think about it. As I said these were FREEZES not crashes, they sorted themselves out after like 5 seconds but in all my years of playing this game on PS2 and later ps3, I never saw this before. It reminded me of playing games with scratched discs but mine aint scratched even if somehow EVERY game that I order online is loose in case when I take it out of the mailbox without fail. Since it is the HD collection version it also means you don't get the best optional content in the series, SKATEBOARDING with a kick ass rendition of the main theme!

MGS3- While MGS1 is my favorite, I do think MGS3 is the overall best entry and because of that I have nothing much to say. The game is still amazing and I didn't notice any stock footage, apparently the reason why the original collection was delisted in the first place, missing. Here is where the new controls really screwed with me the most. Honestly kind of felt like it wasn't reading what I intended when trying to slam vs grab. I had a similar freeze moment like I did in 2, once while swimming and once during the bike sequence. The flashback scenes towards the end did look a bit fuzzy as well and some animal models in the food screen looked pretty rough but special mention goes to The End's parrot. I also missed a Kerotan on my first run and I have no idea where so I'm PISSED. And it should og without saying but its the HD collection version so no second disc bonuses. Even the previous bonus of MG1 and 2 are their own things now so its truly just MGS 3 subsistence diet edition.

I do hope a volume 2 happens whether its of similar barebones ports or not. MGS4 deserves better than to be locked on the ps3 though other than Peace Walker I can't imagine what else they are gonna put in it. Will they just throw in the definitive edition of 5? Will they actually go all in and put Portable ops and the Acid games on here? Ghost Babel (though that should have been in collection 1) Revengence?? Lord only knows. I'm just happy more people can play these great games now on more current platforms and don't have to either decide between starting with the likes MGS5 which is an awful decision or something unlike any of the other games like Revengence. As it stands I could see myself using this collection for MGS1 replays but for 2 and 3, ignoring the convenience of already having this collection installed and system set up, I don't think I see myself playing these versions over the ps3 hd collection or ps2 releases. I can't so easily overwrite almost 20 years of conditioning for pressure sensitive inputs.

I initially was gonna wait until all the parts were out so I could play the whole game in succession despite my gripes but since I got a copy of Final Fantasy 16 for Christmas and I want to play it, I decided to play this now so I can appreciate the gameplay without comparing it to the style of 16 and potential reacclimating I would need to do.

And I'm going to get this out of the way, I am a big fan of the original FF7. Though 9 is my favorite, I find 7 to be the far easier game to "pick up and play" as far as jrpgs are concerned. I am one of those people who does not like the direction the remake went narrative wise. I put a fair bit of weight on narrative when it comes to this genre and I do not like that its this is undeniably a sequel. If I wanted a different game or sequel then I wouldn't have bought something labeled as a REmake of FF7. Quite frankly this has made me wary of every single remake announced after it pulling one of these which is not something I needed in regards to my entertainment. I refer to this game as FF7-2 for a reason. At the very least, since that cat is out of the bag, I can look at the later parts without that baggage of being what I expect a remake to be.

Due to feeling the need to have Midgar have enough content to be its own game, the pacing jumps between well done to slower than molasses going down a hill in Janaury. Even if I wasn't taking the time to do all the side quests, missions, weapon leveling etc I still feel these pacing issues would have happened. Also, walk n talks. I HATE WALK N TALKS, not just in this game but all games. Maybe its the Metal Gear head in me but just make them goddamn cutscenes. Making it interactive to have to keep pace with an npc or else they stop due to you being too far away is not worthwhile gameplay. Its Replay poison. There also just felt like there was too much meandering disguised as "worldbuilding" and "fleshing out midgar". Characters who weren't super fleshed out in the original got their due (mainly Jessie from Avalanche) and in terms of the rest of the main cast I enjoyed seeing aspects of them I didn't in the original game. I had several moments where I was smiling like a dumbass. Spending more time in sector 7 before the big event did add to the moment but even if it didn't, seeing that cutscene and aftermath still would have left quite the impression.
Graphically the game is beautiful, except for a couple moments when you're really high up and the landscape underneath had that "its a jpeg" look to them and the two FMVs near the end where they were visibly worse but that one is clearly not in engine since it has Cloud wielding the buster sword despite me not using it at that time.

Gameplay wise I thought the remake was good. The combat felt very good to engage with (except for one aspect I will get into later) and swapping between characters was fast but making magic in of itself and giving orders to ai controller members need the atb system felt more like it halted combat flow more than helped imo. Also the fact using items needed that same bar, which on hard you can't use items at all which makes no sense since thats the difficulty I'd actually need to use them on, made me use them inside of battle less. That classic difficulty is a spit in the face though. There is nothing "classic" about characters moving, attacking and guarding on their own while you wait for the atb bar to fill up. Classic would be them standing in the line not doing a goddamn thing until I gave an input. I don't believe character in any turn based adjacent combat should move a damn muscle unless they were given auto type equipment and that why I didn't like Yakuza 7's combat despite being a turn based supporter. Materia also didn't create a fresh one once you mastered it which threw me for a loop and I'm honestly kind of sad about that, especially the enemy skill materia. Leveling up the weapons I am indifferent about. One one hand it feels like another grind to inflate playtime, but on the other hand the stats are worthwhile as is getting the specific abilities. The fact you could just add materia slots to weapons is a game changer. Having summon materia have its own dedicated slot away from your normal slots was a fantastic idea and whoever decided that should get a raise. The more limited materia selection of part 1 here is kind of detrimental to me but I fully understand why and won't fault the game for that. No playable Red also soured me cuz he's one of my favorites to use. I learned like a day before I started this playthrough that basically nothing is gonna carry over to Rebirth so I stopped caring about maxing all the materia out since I have no desire to play this game on hard where it would be necessary to have them. That did take the wind out of my sails a bit for the upcoming parts though I won't lie. Shame it ain't like .hack GU where the good stuff carries over. "But balancing!" Get outta here. If a ps2 game could figure it out, so can this.

So that one aspect of the combat that I alluded to earlier is how the game handles phase changes alongside its break/stagger mechanic. I just do no like break/stagger mechanics in general and how they are implemented in almost all jrgps that use them except like Bravely 2/Octopath. In 7R's case, it doesn't feel like I'm building up to this big damage but instead feels like my damage is nerfed for no reason until I hit the enemy enough. And then theres the cutscene phase changes...In most boss fights right about when I finally filled up that stagger meter the cutscene would activate and all that work is reset cuz no it doesn't carry over. Its just really annoying, it unnecessarily drags out fights and I don't understand the fascination with these things being put in jrpgs. The fight wouldn't be an more of a slugfest if this system was removed imo.

I enjoyed majority of the remake music and I'm excited for how something like Cosmo Canyon will sound like. Yes I found its disc but I wanna hear it without jukebox crust. I do like that the discs were a thing, cuz I really do love Tifa's theme. Its probably my favorite in 7's entire ost. I hope some sort of portable music system is implemented in REbirth if the disc system carries over. Actually since shit doesn't carry over it doesn't matter. Guess I'll stick to spotify if I wanna boot up a good chocobo theme. Can I also say I like how theres an npc in the party who will sing the classic victory fanfare since the games have gone action? Bonus points to the colosseum for having it as well as the classic victory animations AND having the characters line up while doing it.

I assume I'll continue being late to this party when REbirth and whatever part 3 is called comes out but if you're gonna split what was once a single multi disc game into three separate things Hobbit movie style then I'll stick to paying $20 each piece. That'll be the cost of one "new" by the end of it and I'll have the complete ff7 experience like I do on ps1. I probably come off as bitter, hater of change yada yada but I really did enjoy my time playing it for the most part (damn stagger system) which is why the score probably doesn't seem like it matches my words.