ShadowBluegarden
2001
The X series is one of my favorite games ever. I love X1, X2, X4, X5 and X8. While I'm aware this series has flaws, I can't help but enjoy pretty much all games, X7 included, as I like the world setting, characters and the few themes they try and talk about here.
X6 is an oddity in the franchise. As in, this game takes concepts from the previous two games and adds a lot of interesting new concepts and mechanics to them, but it also falls flat on those overly experimental concepts, to the point that it almost expects the player to be using a specific character with a specific armor and parts throughout the game.
X as a core character feels much stronger than in previous games. Now wielding Zero's saber, he's able to do higher damage in close range, and also is able to use a weaker version of X5's Falcon Armor, that plays somewhat closer to the Fourth Armor but with the smaller buster blast.
With this in mind, the intro stage shows nicely how he should be played throughout the game: blocks that can only be destroyed by Zero's saber, air dashing to avoid enemies, ocasionally using the armor's weaker giga attack. And even more interestingly, you're not only introduced to a purple-ish Zero, but to High Max, a robot that X cannot damage with his buster or saber at all. It honestly is a cool intro stage! Hell, might be one of my favorite in the franchise after the iconic first game or the cooler second and fourth game's intros.
Now, the core game is introduced: Fight 8 "Investigators" this time around, as they're researching the "Nightmare", which are not only enemies, but stage-altering effects, that can infect reploids in need of rescue or hinder your progress on a stage. And this is where X6's problems start to show.
In many ways, this reminds me of Simon's Quest almost convoluted and messy way to teach the player on what they should be doing. The level design on most stages doesn't look that interesting, which is a major sin to a platform game like the X series, a lot of leap of faiths that might lead to a falling pit or spike traps, it's either way too hard to reach items or it's so easy it hurts. I do find it funny how you can cheese the Inami Temple's Armor part by gettign hit by the bats twice though.
So, let's talk about one of the main mechanics in this game: Nightmare Virus are enemies that can "possess" endangered reploids, but if you kill them and acquire their soul you can get gradually stronger, being able to install extra parts on X (what is this, dark souls?). And let me tell you: some parts feel almost REQUIRED for you to progress through the game with no problems. In the ice stage Alia mentions the "High Jump Part" (I'll get to the bad translation in a bit), which... you can only get on that very same stage, and if you had defeated the fire boss before.
Speaking of which, Post-Boss Stage Effects from X1 comes back in this! But instead of making places accesible to the player, it just makes your experience a living nightmare!
And speaking of nightmares, the "Nightmare Effects" in this game are the biggest pain in the ass. I don't mind a game trying to make my experience harder by RNG, but some of these just make the stages an absolute hell to go through.
For instance, Nightmare Dark makes the stage pretty much dark, with only a few seconds of light to help you see through. It's frustrating to say the very least, specially if you're attempting to collect all the stage's items.
And most of these can be somewhat avoided if you can understand what's happening, but much like Simon's Quest, this game has one of the worst translations a PS1 game could've gotten. The broken english in this is painful, and sometimes really funny (THE BADDLE HAZ JUST BEGUN).
And honestly, fuck Central Museum. Who in their right mind thought making every single room in a stage being RNG would be a good idea? Sometimes you can get such a bad RNG you'll never find the Dr. Light Capsule, or the Nightmare Teleporter/Another Route. Definitely one of the worst stages in the franchise.
Also, another big problem this game has is the fact that most stages either finish in one run or X will teleport by himself to a new area, but then you have Metal Shark Player's stage, in which the teleporter to the 2nd part of the stage looks the exact same to the Another Route teleporter.
Again, not a big problem since you should try and do the Another Route at least once. Zero is such a broken character it will make your general experience somewhat easier and fun, but... what if you go to it again, only to fight high max without his actual weaknesses (which are already convoluted enough) and you get stuck there dying at least 9 times to him until you can quit and go back to the stage select?
On this run, I actually went out of my way to NOT get Zero back, and play throughout all stages as X, either on Falcon or Blade armor. Again, the fact that the game seems to expect you to be using things like Jumper and Blade's Air Dash just make me wonder how much time they had to test the stages. Some of them are almost impossible to do as normal armor X or Shadow X. Central Museum (again, fuck this stage) has one of the rooms being unpassable as those two armors, since you need at least Falcon's weaker air dash to progress through. Unless the rng helps you and gives you a way out without the air dash!
And... the bosses, my god. They're so bad they barely do anything, and the few that do are so cheap it hurts my soul.
Infinity Mijinion is one of the most annoying bosses in the franchise, which by the point I was going through the stage I just gave up and stood still on one end of the boss room spamming blaze heatnix's sword attack until it died.
However.... I cannot say this game is an absolute mess.
As I mentioned, I really like how X plays in this. And with the right parts equipped, you can breeze through most stages and have fun!
And honestly? I absolutely love the story in this. I think the idea of it taking place after the Eurasia Crash/Destruction makes it more interesting, as X's mind is focused on rebuilding the world and holding Zero's hopes as his own. I also like the idea of the "Nightmare" a lot. The fact that all the Investigators are former Reploids who were destroyed (and most of these by Alia's hands, too!) makes them much darker in comparison to Repliforce's Soldiers from X4 or even the slowly corrupted Reploids in X5. Some of them shouting they don't want to die again can sound odd at first but... when Alia explains their fates, you can understand why they're doing that. Gate is also an interesting antagonist. Mad scientist type that wants absolute power is always a fun trope. Not a big fan of Sigma coming back in this, though. But I dig the fact that he's incomplete this time around. It really feels like we're beating a dead horse by this point.
The soundtrack in this game is fantastic, too! Might be one of my favorite in the franchise. Tracks like the intro stage and blaze heatnix's stage show a lot of quality, and considering this is the same composer as X5, it's a definite evolution.
I cannot say I despise this game. Personally, X3 and X7 are much less interesting games than X6, but this one feels absolutely rushed and messy, felt like CAPCOM was attempting to get some extra money from the few people who didn't own a PS2 yet. So what you get is a game who both tried too hard at being different from the previous games, but failed by not testing out these experiments before release. And yet, if I could I'd replay this again.
Naturally, if you read through all of this, my only advice is that you should get the Improvement Mod for this game. You can change a lot of what makes this game frustrating (the RNG in central museum, for instance) and improve the dialogue, character portraits etc. Sure you'll lose the ZELLLOOOOO but you get a much more coherent story and turned off nightmare effects so your experience is not a pain in the ass.
X6 is an oddity in the franchise. As in, this game takes concepts from the previous two games and adds a lot of interesting new concepts and mechanics to them, but it also falls flat on those overly experimental concepts, to the point that it almost expects the player to be using a specific character with a specific armor and parts throughout the game.
X as a core character feels much stronger than in previous games. Now wielding Zero's saber, he's able to do higher damage in close range, and also is able to use a weaker version of X5's Falcon Armor, that plays somewhat closer to the Fourth Armor but with the smaller buster blast.
With this in mind, the intro stage shows nicely how he should be played throughout the game: blocks that can only be destroyed by Zero's saber, air dashing to avoid enemies, ocasionally using the armor's weaker giga attack. And even more interestingly, you're not only introduced to a purple-ish Zero, but to High Max, a robot that X cannot damage with his buster or saber at all. It honestly is a cool intro stage! Hell, might be one of my favorite in the franchise after the iconic first game or the cooler second and fourth game's intros.
Now, the core game is introduced: Fight 8 "Investigators" this time around, as they're researching the "Nightmare", which are not only enemies, but stage-altering effects, that can infect reploids in need of rescue or hinder your progress on a stage. And this is where X6's problems start to show.
In many ways, this reminds me of Simon's Quest almost convoluted and messy way to teach the player on what they should be doing. The level design on most stages doesn't look that interesting, which is a major sin to a platform game like the X series, a lot of leap of faiths that might lead to a falling pit or spike traps, it's either way too hard to reach items or it's so easy it hurts. I do find it funny how you can cheese the Inami Temple's Armor part by gettign hit by the bats twice though.
So, let's talk about one of the main mechanics in this game: Nightmare Virus are enemies that can "possess" endangered reploids, but if you kill them and acquire their soul you can get gradually stronger, being able to install extra parts on X (what is this, dark souls?). And let me tell you: some parts feel almost REQUIRED for you to progress through the game with no problems. In the ice stage Alia mentions the "High Jump Part" (I'll get to the bad translation in a bit), which... you can only get on that very same stage, and if you had defeated the fire boss before.
Speaking of which, Post-Boss Stage Effects from X1 comes back in this! But instead of making places accesible to the player, it just makes your experience a living nightmare!
And speaking of nightmares, the "Nightmare Effects" in this game are the biggest pain in the ass. I don't mind a game trying to make my experience harder by RNG, but some of these just make the stages an absolute hell to go through.
For instance, Nightmare Dark makes the stage pretty much dark, with only a few seconds of light to help you see through. It's frustrating to say the very least, specially if you're attempting to collect all the stage's items.
And most of these can be somewhat avoided if you can understand what's happening, but much like Simon's Quest, this game has one of the worst translations a PS1 game could've gotten. The broken english in this is painful, and sometimes really funny (THE BADDLE HAZ JUST BEGUN).
And honestly, fuck Central Museum. Who in their right mind thought making every single room in a stage being RNG would be a good idea? Sometimes you can get such a bad RNG you'll never find the Dr. Light Capsule, or the Nightmare Teleporter/Another Route. Definitely one of the worst stages in the franchise.
Also, another big problem this game has is the fact that most stages either finish in one run or X will teleport by himself to a new area, but then you have Metal Shark Player's stage, in which the teleporter to the 2nd part of the stage looks the exact same to the Another Route teleporter.
Again, not a big problem since you should try and do the Another Route at least once. Zero is such a broken character it will make your general experience somewhat easier and fun, but... what if you go to it again, only to fight high max without his actual weaknesses (which are already convoluted enough) and you get stuck there dying at least 9 times to him until you can quit and go back to the stage select?
On this run, I actually went out of my way to NOT get Zero back, and play throughout all stages as X, either on Falcon or Blade armor. Again, the fact that the game seems to expect you to be using things like Jumper and Blade's Air Dash just make me wonder how much time they had to test the stages. Some of them are almost impossible to do as normal armor X or Shadow X. Central Museum (again, fuck this stage) has one of the rooms being unpassable as those two armors, since you need at least Falcon's weaker air dash to progress through. Unless the rng helps you and gives you a way out without the air dash!
And... the bosses, my god. They're so bad they barely do anything, and the few that do are so cheap it hurts my soul.
Infinity Mijinion is one of the most annoying bosses in the franchise, which by the point I was going through the stage I just gave up and stood still on one end of the boss room spamming blaze heatnix's sword attack until it died.
However.... I cannot say this game is an absolute mess.
As I mentioned, I really like how X plays in this. And with the right parts equipped, you can breeze through most stages and have fun!
And honestly? I absolutely love the story in this. I think the idea of it taking place after the Eurasia Crash/Destruction makes it more interesting, as X's mind is focused on rebuilding the world and holding Zero's hopes as his own. I also like the idea of the "Nightmare" a lot. The fact that all the Investigators are former Reploids who were destroyed (and most of these by Alia's hands, too!) makes them much darker in comparison to Repliforce's Soldiers from X4 or even the slowly corrupted Reploids in X5. Some of them shouting they don't want to die again can sound odd at first but... when Alia explains their fates, you can understand why they're doing that. Gate is also an interesting antagonist. Mad scientist type that wants absolute power is always a fun trope. Not a big fan of Sigma coming back in this, though. But I dig the fact that he's incomplete this time around. It really feels like we're beating a dead horse by this point.
The soundtrack in this game is fantastic, too! Might be one of my favorite in the franchise. Tracks like the intro stage and blaze heatnix's stage show a lot of quality, and considering this is the same composer as X5, it's a definite evolution.
I cannot say I despise this game. Personally, X3 and X7 are much less interesting games than X6, but this one feels absolutely rushed and messy, felt like CAPCOM was attempting to get some extra money from the few people who didn't own a PS2 yet. So what you get is a game who both tried too hard at being different from the previous games, but failed by not testing out these experiments before release. And yet, if I could I'd replay this again.
Naturally, if you read through all of this, my only advice is that you should get the Improvement Mod for this game. You can change a lot of what makes this game frustrating (the RNG in central museum, for instance) and improve the dialogue, character portraits etc. Sure you'll lose the ZELLLOOOOO but you get a much more coherent story and turned off nightmare effects so your experience is not a pain in the ass.
1999
The beginning of one of the most popular Konami franchises is filled with such an intense atmosphere, it still leaves me rather uneasy.
While not the first time I play this, it is the first time I went for the Good+ ending. And doing so is... rather bizarre.
My main gripe with this game is some of the puzzles are way too cryptid for me to solve without a guide or looking for a solution (My stupid ass was stuck on that zodiac puzzle for quite a bit... and I didn't understand the piano one at first, neither), and that some of the boss fights that feature flying enemies are just too hard to see where I'm shooting and even assume I'm doing damage properly.
And with those complaints out of the way...
God, the atmosphere in this game is just perfect. The soundtrack is fairly ambient early on, and whenever the "Other World" appears it just hits you with these industrial sounds that are the equivalent of the symphonic representation of a world ending.
I also love how this game reminds me of Twin Peaks. Not just because of the "Small Town filled with mysteries" thing going for it, but some of the side-plots here match a few events in the show as well. This obviously lacks that David Lynch weirdness, but it sure makes it up in a matching simplicity that only small towns can offer a person.
I really enjoyed the main plot in this one as well. It's simple, yes, but it also just escalates in such a way that you can almost match Harry Mason's confusion as you go on this journey with him.
Truly one of the greatest games in the PSX catalogue, and one I will be revisiting later on so I can get the UFO ending and testing the new weapons.
While not the first time I play this, it is the first time I went for the Good+ ending. And doing so is... rather bizarre.
My main gripe with this game is some of the puzzles are way too cryptid for me to solve without a guide or looking for a solution (My stupid ass was stuck on that zodiac puzzle for quite a bit... and I didn't understand the piano one at first, neither), and that some of the boss fights that feature flying enemies are just too hard to see where I'm shooting and even assume I'm doing damage properly.
And with those complaints out of the way...
God, the atmosphere in this game is just perfect. The soundtrack is fairly ambient early on, and whenever the "Other World" appears it just hits you with these industrial sounds that are the equivalent of the symphonic representation of a world ending.
I also love how this game reminds me of Twin Peaks. Not just because of the "Small Town filled with mysteries" thing going for it, but some of the side-plots here match a few events in the show as well. This obviously lacks that David Lynch weirdness, but it sure makes it up in a matching simplicity that only small towns can offer a person.
I really enjoyed the main plot in this one as well. It's simple, yes, but it also just escalates in such a way that you can almost match Harry Mason's confusion as you go on this journey with him.
Truly one of the greatest games in the PSX catalogue, and one I will be revisiting later on so I can get the UFO ending and testing the new weapons.
1990
The absolute platinum standard when it comes to platforming games. If SMB3 was a step forwards in comparison to SMB1, this one is a gigantic leap when it comes to level design, creativity, sound, difficulty and just overall player liberty.
My fear that nostalgia could be making my memories blurry when it came to how much I loved this one was just that, fear. Replaying this with an open mind and paying attention to what made this game work just made me remember why I stood in front of the tv day in day out playing this one.
It's not a particularly long game, the levels are very interesting and a bunch of them even have branching exits that lead to secrets or shortcuts. Naturally, I went for full completion so I did all the stages and did all possible exits for the ones that have that.
Difficulty wise, this one is a lot more forgiving in a good way. I may have finished the game with 99 Lives, but I lost quite a bunch on the Bowser levels and on the Special Stages (Tubular is still a pain in the butt lmao)
Overall, replaying this was pleasant, couldn't help but just keep a big smile on my face as I listened to the gorgeous soundtrack and saw the beautiful sprite work.
My fear that nostalgia could be making my memories blurry when it came to how much I loved this one was just that, fear. Replaying this with an open mind and paying attention to what made this game work just made me remember why I stood in front of the tv day in day out playing this one.
It's not a particularly long game, the levels are very interesting and a bunch of them even have branching exits that lead to secrets or shortcuts. Naturally, I went for full completion so I did all the stages and did all possible exits for the ones that have that.
Difficulty wise, this one is a lot more forgiving in a good way. I may have finished the game with 99 Lives, but I lost quite a bunch on the Bowser levels and on the Special Stages (Tubular is still a pain in the butt lmao)
Overall, replaying this was pleasant, couldn't help but just keep a big smile on my face as I listened to the gorgeous soundtrack and saw the beautiful sprite work.
I came to this game expecting to be a step forward from the great Resident Evil 7, improving on the gameplay elements, giving more soul to the characters and reducing trial and error.
I was not expecting this to be my favorite RE Engine Resident Evil game at all.
Sure, this game feels heavily inspired by the original RE4. It has a Village and Castle segments, sure, but it improves this with a somewhat open structure where exploration is rewarded with Treasures, Weapons and some of the weirdest enemies in the franchise. Hell, the antagonists have so much charisma to them, be Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters being borderline Evil Dead beings with how much they taunt Ethan, or Heisenberg being one of the coolest antagonists in this franchise. Dude reeks of charisma and I love him for it!
Hell, even the main antagonist is very interesting. It's been a while since a Resi sequel actually felt like a sequel, and so many things that happen on the previous game have big consequences here.
The gun combat might be one of my favorite in the franchise, it's obviously not as good as in 4R but it feels perfect to the FPS take that the game originally had.
Hell, Ethan actually FEELS like a proper character this time around. I find it so funny how they just refuse to show his face in the game though. Dude has been his own character since the end of Resi 7 and yet we can't see his beautiful eyes properly.
I honestly could talk about that one Lord moment here, or how this game jumps the shark in the most awesome way, but... this game needs to be experienced.
It's not my absolute favorite Resident Evil game (the original Resi 2 keeps the crown still), but this honestly hit my Top 5.
(Also, really funny how Chris is in the main artwork for this game. Poor Ethan lmao)
I was not expecting this to be my favorite RE Engine Resident Evil game at all.
Sure, this game feels heavily inspired by the original RE4. It has a Village and Castle segments, sure, but it improves this with a somewhat open structure where exploration is rewarded with Treasures, Weapons and some of the weirdest enemies in the franchise. Hell, the antagonists have so much charisma to them, be Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters being borderline Evil Dead beings with how much they taunt Ethan, or Heisenberg being one of the coolest antagonists in this franchise. Dude reeks of charisma and I love him for it!
Hell, even the main antagonist is very interesting. It's been a while since a Resi sequel actually felt like a sequel, and so many things that happen on the previous game have big consequences here.
The gun combat might be one of my favorite in the franchise, it's obviously not as good as in 4R but it feels perfect to the FPS take that the game originally had.
Hell, Ethan actually FEELS like a proper character this time around. I find it so funny how they just refuse to show his face in the game though. Dude has been his own character since the end of Resi 7 and yet we can't see his beautiful eyes properly.
I honestly could talk about that one Lord moment here, or how this game jumps the shark in the most awesome way, but... this game needs to be experienced.
It's not my absolute favorite Resident Evil game (the original Resi 2 keeps the crown still), but this honestly hit my Top 5.
(Also, really funny how Chris is in the main artwork for this game. Poor Ethan lmao)
1988
While I find SMB1 to be pretty good and Lost Levels/USA to be the standard messy sequel, SMB3 feels like the proper upgrade to the original SMB1 in everything possible.
More upgrades for Mario, tighter level design, one of the most beautiful soundtracks for a game of this time, a bunch of minigames and a ton of freedom for the player to do whatever they want to do.
Maybe my only grasp with this one is the obscene amount of scrollers in this bad boy.... doesn't help that every final stage in the world is pretty much one, too.
The difficulty in some spots can be borderline trial and error, too. Which is fine, the game hands you extra lives like a madman, but I'm not too fond of it. Possibly these two things are what push this game a bit back for me at least.
Still, this game was my absolute childhood, alongside SMW! It's definitely a gold standard when it comes to difficult platform games.
More upgrades for Mario, tighter level design, one of the most beautiful soundtracks for a game of this time, a bunch of minigames and a ton of freedom for the player to do whatever they want to do.
Maybe my only grasp with this one is the obscene amount of scrollers in this bad boy.... doesn't help that every final stage in the world is pretty much one, too.
The difficulty in some spots can be borderline trial and error, too. Which is fine, the game hands you extra lives like a madman, but I'm not too fond of it. Possibly these two things are what push this game a bit back for me at least.
Still, this game was my absolute childhood, alongside SMW! It's definitely a gold standard when it comes to difficult platform games.
2012
2012... I'll never forget it. It was the year when Resident Evil 6 was released to the public, after a campaign titled "No Hope Left" left us wondering what would be the theme of this game, who were the main characters and how the gameplay would change from Resident Evil 5. The game was hit with below the average reviews for the franchise, hitting the quite consistent franchise by this point to it's very foundation. After going through two of the four campaigns with my sister, I sold my PS3 copy, and for all intents and purposes, I was finished with Resident Evil 6...
Twelve years had passed since that horrendous incident...
And I finally started replaying this game from the beginning on the PC version, and after finishing all four campaigns by myself.... yeah, this is as bad as I remember.
In it's core, Resident Evil 6 should feel better to control than previous titles, and the combat should feel better as well in comparison to the stiff (but enjoyable) controls of RE4 and 5. But... that's the keyword here, SHOULD. It doesn't feel satisfying enough, the enemy combat is either a drag or it just forces you to do the exact same that you did in Resi 4, which was "headshot the enemy, approach it and melee combo/finisher so you preserve ammo". With the enemies on the previous two titles, it felt very satisfying doing this, since their method of attacking was usually with melee weapons, but here.... doing this to standard zombies just hurts my muscle memory of "avoid approaching them". And this is a recurring problem on all campaigns. It can be somewhat fixed by giving yourself more weapon damage (and extra drops from enemies), but.... in theory you shouldn't require such things to finish the game on your first playthrough.
If I can complain about more gameplay elements, this game is overly cinematographic, in a very annoyingly bad way. 4-5-6 all have quick time events, but the ones here are the most jarring ones in the entire series. In theory it should look ~cool~ but on the long run it's just annoying as hell to have to button mash or to time things properly.
As for the story... This is a hot mess even for Resident Evil standards. It's both a revenge story and an abuse story, where for some reason Chris and Leon are involved into dealing with "Ada Wong" being a possible terrorist. It doesn't really help that Leon and Chris are overly broody during this game, both of them improving only on their final chapters. Thank god the Jake/Sherry campaign was a lot more fun, the chemistry between those two was so good I was almost hoping Resi 6 just revolved around them. Sherry is a delight in this game and to be quite frank, it's more of her story than it is Jake's.
So... yeah, this is the longest Resi game to date, and it feels overly bloated. I did not play the extra modes, I simply don't have the energy for it. And... for the longest time I've considered Resi 6 my very own Nemesis. The one mainline Resi game I never bothered to complete. And finishing it, and... even actually having some fun during Jake and Ada's campaign made me create some appreciation for what it was trying to do. However, it's still a hot mess of a game.
I'm so glad Resi 7 and 8 went to a completely new route, it rejuvenated the franchise in a way that it really deserved.
As for Resi 6.... I don't feel like ever touching this game again.
Shame I can't say it was a fun ride...
Twelve years had passed since that horrendous incident...
And I finally started replaying this game from the beginning on the PC version, and after finishing all four campaigns by myself.... yeah, this is as bad as I remember.
In it's core, Resident Evil 6 should feel better to control than previous titles, and the combat should feel better as well in comparison to the stiff (but enjoyable) controls of RE4 and 5. But... that's the keyword here, SHOULD. It doesn't feel satisfying enough, the enemy combat is either a drag or it just forces you to do the exact same that you did in Resi 4, which was "headshot the enemy, approach it and melee combo/finisher so you preserve ammo". With the enemies on the previous two titles, it felt very satisfying doing this, since their method of attacking was usually with melee weapons, but here.... doing this to standard zombies just hurts my muscle memory of "avoid approaching them". And this is a recurring problem on all campaigns. It can be somewhat fixed by giving yourself more weapon damage (and extra drops from enemies), but.... in theory you shouldn't require such things to finish the game on your first playthrough.
If I can complain about more gameplay elements, this game is overly cinematographic, in a very annoyingly bad way. 4-5-6 all have quick time events, but the ones here are the most jarring ones in the entire series. In theory it should look ~cool~ but on the long run it's just annoying as hell to have to button mash or to time things properly.
As for the story... This is a hot mess even for Resident Evil standards. It's both a revenge story and an abuse story, where for some reason Chris and Leon are involved into dealing with "Ada Wong" being a possible terrorist. It doesn't really help that Leon and Chris are overly broody during this game, both of them improving only on their final chapters. Thank god the Jake/Sherry campaign was a lot more fun, the chemistry between those two was so good I was almost hoping Resi 6 just revolved around them. Sherry is a delight in this game and to be quite frank, it's more of her story than it is Jake's.
So... yeah, this is the longest Resi game to date, and it feels overly bloated. I did not play the extra modes, I simply don't have the energy for it. And... for the longest time I've considered Resi 6 my very own Nemesis. The one mainline Resi game I never bothered to complete. And finishing it, and... even actually having some fun during Jake and Ada's campaign made me create some appreciation for what it was trying to do. However, it's still a hot mess of a game.
I'm so glad Resi 7 and 8 went to a completely new route, it rejuvenated the franchise in a way that it really deserved.
As for Resi 6.... I don't feel like ever touching this game again.
Shame I can't say it was a fun ride...
1994
This review contains spoilers
DISCLAIMER: Played with an English patch that changes some of the dialogues. Bosses names and certain attacks also were maintained as they were on the Japanese version.
This is the best SNES MMX game, in my opinion.
It improves on a lot of the features that the first game had and makes the game even faster paced. The story itself is simple enough to understand and follows the events of the first game nicely. Counter-Hunters are trying to maintain Sigma's Revolution going, as X defeats the Mavericks one after the other. The game does imply that Serges might be a revived Doctor Wily, but it doesn't go much further than that.
Gameplay-wise, it's so much faster than X1 and the level design itself is much more interesting, almost forcing the player to use all available weapons if he wants to get all the extra items.
While soundtrack-wise it doesn't sound as complex as the first one, the compositions feel much more interesting and most of them returned in one way or another to the franchise at some point.
While "stage changes" are not so much of a thing anymore, I like that they maintained the whole "You can change how the boss looks depending on what you use against it" that started on X1.
Overall, this is my favorite SNES X game.
This is the best SNES MMX game, in my opinion.
It improves on a lot of the features that the first game had and makes the game even faster paced. The story itself is simple enough to understand and follows the events of the first game nicely. Counter-Hunters are trying to maintain Sigma's Revolution going, as X defeats the Mavericks one after the other. The game does imply that Serges might be a revived Doctor Wily, but it doesn't go much further than that.
Gameplay-wise, it's so much faster than X1 and the level design itself is much more interesting, almost forcing the player to use all available weapons if he wants to get all the extra items.
While soundtrack-wise it doesn't sound as complex as the first one, the compositions feel much more interesting and most of them returned in one way or another to the franchise at some point.
While "stage changes" are not so much of a thing anymore, I like that they maintained the whole "You can change how the boss looks depending on what you use against it" that started on X1.
Overall, this is my favorite SNES X game.
2023
Holy fuck.
Been forever since I played a Remedy Game, and it's been a couple years since my first playthrough of Alan Wake 1 as well. Decided to try this one out to see what I would get and...
Yeah, if there's a high-quality Twin Peaks ripoff out there, this one is absolutely that one. And boy I'm glad it exists, because the concepts and ideas this game has make the first game look so small in contrast.
I love the live action segments and the mixture of visuals, specially when playing as Alan. Saga's gameplay feels closer to how Alan played in the first game, with the very welcoming dodge button and weapon upgrade system to it.
I love how you can just explore the area around Bright Falls too, and the small fetch quests of finding the lunchboxes, nursery rhymes and stashes hidden around the map.
Welp, if I have to deduct half a star over anything... is just how this just won't run on a low-end laptop at ALL. I can see why it doesn't run, this motherfucker has a fuckton of post-processing happening in your face almost 24/7. If this ever releases on game pass or if I get a console in the near future, I am definitely replaying it.
Overall, the madmen at Remedy know how to make a high quality game that's absolutely weird from beginning to end. I am definitely replaying their stuff in the coming weeks as well. :)
Been forever since I played a Remedy Game, and it's been a couple years since my first playthrough of Alan Wake 1 as well. Decided to try this one out to see what I would get and...
Yeah, if there's a high-quality Twin Peaks ripoff out there, this one is absolutely that one. And boy I'm glad it exists, because the concepts and ideas this game has make the first game look so small in contrast.
I love the live action segments and the mixture of visuals, specially when playing as Alan. Saga's gameplay feels closer to how Alan played in the first game, with the very welcoming dodge button and weapon upgrade system to it.
I love how you can just explore the area around Bright Falls too, and the small fetch quests of finding the lunchboxes, nursery rhymes and stashes hidden around the map.
Welp, if I have to deduct half a star over anything... is just how this just won't run on a low-end laptop at ALL. I can see why it doesn't run, this motherfucker has a fuckton of post-processing happening in your face almost 24/7. If this ever releases on game pass or if I get a console in the near future, I am definitely replaying it.
Overall, the madmen at Remedy know how to make a high quality game that's absolutely weird from beginning to end. I am definitely replaying their stuff in the coming weeks as well. :)
1991
Not as bad as I recall, honestly.
The thing with Sonic as a franchise is that it's sold as "BE VERY QUICK DO FAST STUFF SPEED UP ETC" but if you take your time during the stages and explore, there's actually a very fun platforming game behind it. Hell, I even took my own time with the special stages and they didn't feel so jarring this time around.
However... as much as I'll credit these points to the game, it's still somewhat too early on for the franchise, so some enemies are a bit of a slog to deal with, the level design has some rough moments (Labyrinth and Scrap Brain act 3, specially), and I have a severe distate for the amount of bottomless pits in this...
Still, this game does share some nitpicks I have with the first Mega Man game, that thankfully were adressed and improved upon on the following games (specially Sonic CD!)
Not the greatest start to one of my favorite franchises ever... but still, it's only upwards from here on the Mega Drive era!
The thing with Sonic as a franchise is that it's sold as "BE VERY QUICK DO FAST STUFF SPEED UP ETC" but if you take your time during the stages and explore, there's actually a very fun platforming game behind it. Hell, I even took my own time with the special stages and they didn't feel so jarring this time around.
However... as much as I'll credit these points to the game, it's still somewhat too early on for the franchise, so some enemies are a bit of a slog to deal with, the level design has some rough moments (Labyrinth and Scrap Brain act 3, specially), and I have a severe distate for the amount of bottomless pits in this...
Still, this game does share some nitpicks I have with the first Mega Man game, that thankfully were adressed and improved upon on the following games (specially Sonic CD!)
Not the greatest start to one of my favorite franchises ever... but still, it's only upwards from here on the Mega Drive era!
2020
"Look, just so you know? This is the last fucking time."
I usually ask myself how the Gamecube remake of Resident Evil 1 became such a masterpiece. Was it because the original PS1 game was somewhat simple in visuals and concept that upgrading it, not only visually but gameplay and narrative-wise, made it seem larger than life? Because honestly, that one is still the gold standard for remakes even today. Get a basic idea and not only make it harder but more interesting for the player to play. Self-defense items, Lisa Trevor, etc.
As for the Remake of Resident Evil 2, as much as I like that one it just misses the mark a bit. Sure, it's a lot more accurate narrative-wise and it ironically enough, gives the police station a lot more life. I do have some gripes with it however, mostly in how the story feels off with both characters fighting pretty much the same Birkin forms.... but still.
The Remake for Resi 3 should've been an easy job. Get the gameplay format of the previous remake and give Jill her action movie-like mobility from the PS1 game, balancing the enemies and world around it, right? Instead, it feels weirdly sluggish to use Jill, at least early on, with you instead of dodging the enemies sometimes just hugging them and taking damage for it. And... welp, no self-defense items this time around. Sure, no breakable knife either but by this point the knife feels "useless" in a way? I dig the critical hit concept for guns, but as for zombies that you "Kill" and usually come back, sometimes their reaction time just feel borderline blink and you miss it, so you take damage again. And... god, Nemesis is both an annoying pushover and one of the easier enemies to deal with. If he hits you, he'll probably triple combo you to death before your character even recovers from the stagger... or you'll throw a frag grenade at him and he'll be temporarily put to rest. The original Nemesis was more of a glorified boss fight with an endurance contest in the middle. And I LOVED that about him. Taking your time to actually try and defeat him with whatever weapon you got felt so satisfying in the original game, and the rewards were absolutely worth the trouble. Here.... welp, he gives you a couple nice upgrades to the pistol.... and ammo. Poor dude became a slightly better version of Mr. X.... from the original Resi 2.
Also for another complaint of mine, why so many 1-hit-kill enemies in this? Welp, when I say "enemies" I generally mean the Hunters. Guess that leap slash thing was always kinda broken, even on the original Resi 1 and 3, but here not only they take ages to kill but the Gamma version can munch you with only one strike. Again, since the game is somewhat balanced around Jill's dodge I can see why they'd do that, but are they just expecting people to master perfect dodges from the get go? And Carlos' bash is pretty cool and all but it falls on the same ground as "miss it against a Hunter and you can kiss your neck goodbye".
Now I think I complained enough about the core gameplay. Which is an absolute shame, because the story here is really fucking good. Jill is amazing in this, Carlos' rework is so cool, I actually give a shit about this brazilian dude now! And Nicholai is such a prick in this. The characters and the city have been drastically improved here, there's a lot of charisma to the little that we see of Raccoon City before we go to the standard Sewer Level(tm) and Secret Lab(tm), but I'll say that this time around it felt satisfactory enough. I wonder how Umbrella Noodles taste like...
Again, this game SHOULD'VE been great. But it felt not only very rushed (The original game took me 4 hours to beat, this one took me 3 hours), but lacked some of the iconic places of the original game (Where's my clock tower...), and... where the heck is the mercenaries game mode?? Oh, they released this alongside a DBD-like live service game that nobody plays...? oh no....
Thank god CAPCOM took the fucking hint and gave Resi 4 Remake the time and treament it deserved. Because when I played this one in 2020, my hopes sure were low afterwards :(
Also what the hell CAPCOM. 2 bucks for the original outfit? What is wrong with yall lmao
I usually ask myself how the Gamecube remake of Resident Evil 1 became such a masterpiece. Was it because the original PS1 game was somewhat simple in visuals and concept that upgrading it, not only visually but gameplay and narrative-wise, made it seem larger than life? Because honestly, that one is still the gold standard for remakes even today. Get a basic idea and not only make it harder but more interesting for the player to play. Self-defense items, Lisa Trevor, etc.
As for the Remake of Resident Evil 2, as much as I like that one it just misses the mark a bit. Sure, it's a lot more accurate narrative-wise and it ironically enough, gives the police station a lot more life. I do have some gripes with it however, mostly in how the story feels off with both characters fighting pretty much the same Birkin forms.... but still.
The Remake for Resi 3 should've been an easy job. Get the gameplay format of the previous remake and give Jill her action movie-like mobility from the PS1 game, balancing the enemies and world around it, right? Instead, it feels weirdly sluggish to use Jill, at least early on, with you instead of dodging the enemies sometimes just hugging them and taking damage for it. And... welp, no self-defense items this time around. Sure, no breakable knife either but by this point the knife feels "useless" in a way? I dig the critical hit concept for guns, but as for zombies that you "Kill" and usually come back, sometimes their reaction time just feel borderline blink and you miss it, so you take damage again. And... god, Nemesis is both an annoying pushover and one of the easier enemies to deal with. If he hits you, he'll probably triple combo you to death before your character even recovers from the stagger... or you'll throw a frag grenade at him and he'll be temporarily put to rest. The original Nemesis was more of a glorified boss fight with an endurance contest in the middle. And I LOVED that about him. Taking your time to actually try and defeat him with whatever weapon you got felt so satisfying in the original game, and the rewards were absolutely worth the trouble. Here.... welp, he gives you a couple nice upgrades to the pistol.... and ammo. Poor dude became a slightly better version of Mr. X.... from the original Resi 2.
Also for another complaint of mine, why so many 1-hit-kill enemies in this? Welp, when I say "enemies" I generally mean the Hunters. Guess that leap slash thing was always kinda broken, even on the original Resi 1 and 3, but here not only they take ages to kill but the Gamma version can munch you with only one strike. Again, since the game is somewhat balanced around Jill's dodge I can see why they'd do that, but are they just expecting people to master perfect dodges from the get go? And Carlos' bash is pretty cool and all but it falls on the same ground as "miss it against a Hunter and you can kiss your neck goodbye".
Now I think I complained enough about the core gameplay. Which is an absolute shame, because the story here is really fucking good. Jill is amazing in this, Carlos' rework is so cool, I actually give a shit about this brazilian dude now! And Nicholai is such a prick in this. The characters and the city have been drastically improved here, there's a lot of charisma to the little that we see of Raccoon City before we go to the standard Sewer Level(tm) and Secret Lab(tm), but I'll say that this time around it felt satisfactory enough. I wonder how Umbrella Noodles taste like...
Again, this game SHOULD'VE been great. But it felt not only very rushed (The original game took me 4 hours to beat, this one took me 3 hours), but lacked some of the iconic places of the original game (Where's my clock tower...), and... where the heck is the mercenaries game mode?? Oh, they released this alongside a DBD-like live service game that nobody plays...? oh no....
Thank god CAPCOM took the fucking hint and gave Resi 4 Remake the time and treament it deserved. Because when I played this one in 2020, my hopes sure were low afterwards :(
Also what the hell CAPCOM. 2 bucks for the original outfit? What is wrong with yall lmao
2018
X6... gosh, what a weird game.
This one came after the "finale" on X5. It portrays the events that took place not too long afterwards.
And... to be frank, the original version of the game didn't do justice to this story's plot, because I think it might be one of the better ones.
Again, quite the dark game. Most of the "Investigators" you face are Reploids that were created by Gate and were killed in bizarre accidents or events (that apparently were arranged by the Hunters or the former Reploid Research Lab that Alia worked on, that part is not fully clear), and now that they were brought back to life, they feel even more dutiful to accomplish Gate's objectives. Hell, some of their dialogues are absolutely dark, and from their dialogues it's very implied that a few of them were friends with X or Zero as well.
I honestly like how the game, at least on the Tweaks version, feels much more optimistic as well. When facing Sigma, X pretty much goes "Alright, now stay dead for as long as possible, we are still fixing the problems you caused last time". It's quite amazing how this felt like a hopeful experience.
Of course, this doesn't take away the fact that the level design in this one is.... not that good. The Tweaks mod at least make it bearable enough so you can traverse through the stages with Normal X if you want to, but... yeah, this is kinda stinky.
The bosses were overall improved here as well (as in: they have more XP) and now we can at least see some of the extra patterns they have. Still, most can be cheesed quickly enough if you're playing as Zero.
The Tweaks mod does jump my rating from a 2.5 to a 3.5, the changes made are that good for the game.
On a better world, they'd have waited a bit to release this on the PS2, maybe with an expanded story and better levels / rng picks for it.
And by god if I have to be stuck on Central Museum for 30 minutes again just to get all the reploids I swear to Zero I will stab those reploids myself-
This one came after the "finale" on X5. It portrays the events that took place not too long afterwards.
And... to be frank, the original version of the game didn't do justice to this story's plot, because I think it might be one of the better ones.
Again, quite the dark game. Most of the "Investigators" you face are Reploids that were created by Gate and were killed in bizarre accidents or events (that apparently were arranged by the Hunters or the former Reploid Research Lab that Alia worked on, that part is not fully clear), and now that they were brought back to life, they feel even more dutiful to accomplish Gate's objectives. Hell, some of their dialogues are absolutely dark, and from their dialogues it's very implied that a few of them were friends with X or Zero as well.
I honestly like how the game, at least on the Tweaks version, feels much more optimistic as well. When facing Sigma, X pretty much goes "Alright, now stay dead for as long as possible, we are still fixing the problems you caused last time". It's quite amazing how this felt like a hopeful experience.
Of course, this doesn't take away the fact that the level design in this one is.... not that good. The Tweaks mod at least make it bearable enough so you can traverse through the stages with Normal X if you want to, but... yeah, this is kinda stinky.
The bosses were overall improved here as well (as in: they have more XP) and now we can at least see some of the extra patterns they have. Still, most can be cheesed quickly enough if you're playing as Zero.
The Tweaks mod does jump my rating from a 2.5 to a 3.5, the changes made are that good for the game.
On a better world, they'd have waited a bit to release this on the PS2, maybe with an expanded story and better levels / rng picks for it.
And by god if I have to be stuck on Central Museum for 30 minutes again just to get all the reploids I swear to Zero I will stab those reploids myself-
1998
This might be one of the weirder Resident Evil clones out there.
It's not particularly scary, nor survival per se, since the game gives you pretty much an infinite amount of healing items and ammo.
The story, atmosphere, hell, the soundtrack are the things that really make this game work for me. It's just SO WEIRD!
It works like a classic Resi game, the weirdness just made me keep going, even if the annoying dub or the horrid backtracking really were putting me off by the 7th hour.
Ah yes, speaking of those things. Jesus, the dub is so bad and annoying. I like cheesy dubs, hell, MMX4 is one of my favorite games, but this one commits the absolute sin of "I don't fucking understand what you are saying." And no, the post-production didn't help this at all. I couldn't understand a single sentence the final boss said after their transformation.
And god, the backtrack. Mix this and the fairly frequent loadings this game has and it just made the experience very jarring.
Still, I do find this game worth the playthrough if you're a fan of the genre. It's definitely one of the weirder titles I've played in a long time.
It's not particularly scary, nor survival per se, since the game gives you pretty much an infinite amount of healing items and ammo.
The story, atmosphere, hell, the soundtrack are the things that really make this game work for me. It's just SO WEIRD!
It works like a classic Resi game, the weirdness just made me keep going, even if the annoying dub or the horrid backtracking really were putting me off by the 7th hour.
Ah yes, speaking of those things. Jesus, the dub is so bad and annoying. I like cheesy dubs, hell, MMX4 is one of my favorite games, but this one commits the absolute sin of "I don't fucking understand what you are saying." And no, the post-production didn't help this at all. I couldn't understand a single sentence the final boss said after their transformation.
And god, the backtrack. Mix this and the fairly frequent loadings this game has and it just made the experience very jarring.
Still, I do find this game worth the playthrough if you're a fan of the genre. It's definitely one of the weirder titles I've played in a long time.
Joe is such a loveable overpowered protagonist I love him for it
My personal favorite of the DLCs of the game, just ridiculous enough that it made me wheeze at moments.
My personal favorite of the DLCs of the game, just ridiculous enough that it made me wheeze at moments.
Phantom Liberty does what Cyberpunk 2077 should've done from the beginning: a smaller town with a lot more for you to do, with a heavy focus on dialogue and skill checks.
It's also somewhat of a spy game on the cyberpunk genre, where a lot of weird but interesting stuff happens all around the characters. Be it weird tech that makes people disguise as other characters, huge machinery boss fights and even some borderline experimental stuff that I'd expect of Resident Evil (post seven) but not of this game.
it's such a monstruous upgrade over the main game, too. the boss fights feel more interesting, the "stages" are visually much more attractive with a lot more color to them (which yeah sure, it's dark future so everything is gray, but they do put some greenery here and there).
Also, the endings for this one.... gosh, they're all so good in their own way.
Idris Elba as Reed was a cool addition to the series, too. Quite a shame Johnny boy can only be seen by V, I'd love to see Reed dealing with Johnny's ever so frequent cynism.
I also loved the extra ending they put in the main game. Definitely one of the saddest (but hopeful) ones out there.
It's also somewhat of a spy game on the cyberpunk genre, where a lot of weird but interesting stuff happens all around the characters. Be it weird tech that makes people disguise as other characters, huge machinery boss fights and even some borderline experimental stuff that I'd expect of Resident Evil (post seven) but not of this game.
it's such a monstruous upgrade over the main game, too. the boss fights feel more interesting, the "stages" are visually much more attractive with a lot more color to them (which yeah sure, it's dark future so everything is gray, but they do put some greenery here and there).
Also, the endings for this one.... gosh, they're all so good in their own way.
Idris Elba as Reed was a cool addition to the series, too. Quite a shame Johnny boy can only be seen by V, I'd love to see Reed dealing with Johnny's ever so frequent cynism.
I also loved the extra ending they put in the main game. Definitely one of the saddest (but hopeful) ones out there.
1993
Disclaimer: I played an English patch version of Rockman X. DIalogues and bosses names are based on the japanese script.
Still one of the best games in the franchise. Pretty much untouchable when it comes to OST and pacing. Plot-wise, it's quite simple, much like a classic Mega Man game.
The intro stage in this game is possibly one of my favorites in the franchise, and when you get the dash the game becomes a complete different beast than classic Mega Man. Faster pacing, tighter jumps, trickier dodges... you name it.
It's one of my favorite X games, though I do feel some of the later games improve on it a lot.
Still one of the best games in the franchise. Pretty much untouchable when it comes to OST and pacing. Plot-wise, it's quite simple, much like a classic Mega Man game.
The intro stage in this game is possibly one of my favorites in the franchise, and when you get the dash the game becomes a complete different beast than classic Mega Man. Faster pacing, tighter jumps, trickier dodges... you name it.
It's one of my favorite X games, though I do feel some of the later games improve on it a lot.