A great way to get into Devil May Cry or even just the action genre. The style changing system was an incredible decision and invention (this gets even better with the freestyle mode on switch, allowing you to use every style even quicksilver and doppelganger at anytime.) allowing you to switch between a more melee, movement, ranged (albeit I find gunslinger underwhelming to use especially without gun stinger for the shotgun.) or a parry focused playstyle at anytime with the mode I just mentioned. If you want to play devil may cry 3 and have access to a switch I definitely recommend this version as you can also go back to the original PS2 mode where you only have 1 style at a time if that's what you prefer.


To add onto this bombastic party are the equally badass characters like the stylish demon hunter Dante, just showing off how much of a fun loving badass this guy is while he mocks his demon foes. Watching him duel it out and back and fourth dialogues between his more calm and collected brother Vergil is always a treat. Seriously, every cutscene with these two are entertaining as all hell to watch. The music just adds on to how damn cool this game is, devils never cry, while it doesn't play too much in the game is a song that will get you pumped up to beat up some demon arse, the devil and angel voices singing alongside each other in the latter part of the song as well.

Though my complaints mostly stem from me enjoying DMC5's less exploration focused levels. I did not enjoy exploring the demon tower, my enjoyment of the exploration just kept getting worse since I found it boring finding these items back and fourth when I was here to bury some demons 6 feet underground yknow? Speaking of demons, I take issue with some of these enemies. While a lot of them are fun to fight (I enjoy fighting the spiders with Royal Guard a lot.) I can't stand the soul eaters and the fallen angels. Soul eaters are miserable to fight with you having to face your back to make them appear and THEN being able to attack them, thankfully spiral + royal guard makes quick work of them but these blue shit heads are more than capable of being a pace breaker to this otherwise active combat system. The fallen angels being able to go into the walls and basically rendering them unhittable is such a baffling decision. With their sword attacks having huge hitboxes as well. Not to mention you having to take out their face armour to deal any damage to them. Thankfully some of the bosses are incredible really. The three of the 3 Vergil fights, Agni and Rudra and Beowulf being the stand outs for me.


Overall, while Devil May Cry 3 does have some issues that bother me to no end it's still a fantastic game that I'd recommend anyone that wants to get into Devil May Cry to play.

Absolutely loved this game, the first in the trilogy. It's such an atmospheric experience; I enjoyed every second of it, except maybe the Bed of Chaos, that "boss" really sucks! Its everything but a test of skill.
The soundtrack is full of bangers. Even the character creation theme goes crazy and gets you in the mood from the start. My favorite track is the Ornstein & Smough theme, which also happens to be my favorite boss fight in the game. The music during this encounter amplifies the intensity and epic scale of the battle, making it an epic fight.

Yes, the game feels a bit rushed in the second half, especially in areas like Lost Izalith, which seemed less polished compared to the earlier parts of the game. However... the DLC really redeems it. The additional content was excellent, with top-notch boss fights that were challenging and well-designed. The Artorias of the Abyss DLC stands out with its deep lore and intense battles against tough opponents like Knight Artorias or Manus, Father of the Abyss.
The graphics may be a bit outdated even for 2011, but the game still features some stunning locations that look beautiful, such as Anor Londo with its majestic, cathedral-like architecture, and Ash Lake with its eerie, otherworldly ambiance. These environments contribute significantly to the game's immersive atmosphere.
Additionally, I loved the story and the lore. The narrative is subtle, requiring players to piece together the plot through item descriptions, environmental storytelling, and character interactions. This method of storytelling makes the game's world feel alive and encourages players to explore and discover its secrets. The lore behind characters like Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, and the tragic tale of Sif, the Great Grey Wolf, adds depth to the experience and makes the journey all the more compelling.

Overall, despite a few flaws, this game remains a masterpiece in its genre. It offers a deeply engaging experience with its challenging gameplay, atmospheric world, and rich storytelling. It's a game that stays with you long after you've put down the controller.

OO VENATOOOR
Beatus Sanctus
Bonum fati par dia.
Domus aeternus fiat morte
Erit sanguinem opulentuuum

This is Bloodborne, the best PlayStation exclusive in my opinion. It was my first FromSoftware game, and man, I loved it!
They really nailed the atmosphere in this one, blending Gothic, Victorian, and Lovecraftian horror into a seamless and immersive experience. The game's world is dark and strange with every corner hiding new horrors and secrets. The specific architecture, the environmental storytelling, and the overall aesthetic create a unique and captivating setting that draws you in and doesn't let go.

The soundtrack... my God, what a soundtrack. It's art, nothing else. The haunting melodies and powerful orchestral arrangements perfectly complement the game's dark and mysterious atmosphere. Each piece of music enhances the tension and drama of the encounters, making every moment feel epic and significant.

I gotta be honest, though, The Old Hunters DLC is what makes this game a complete masterpiece. It's definitely one of the best DLCs ever created. Without this DLC, Bloodborne would still be a great game, but it wouldn't reach the same level of excellence. The Old Hunters adds new areas, weapons, and some of the most memorable and challenging boss fights, elevating the entire experience to new heights.

The game itself was very easy, the easiest in the series (excluding Demon's Souls). No boss fight took me more than five tries, and it was my first FromSoftware game, like I said. Despite this, the game still offers a satisfying challenge and requires players to learn its mechanics and master its fast-paced combat.
Personally, I don't want a remaster or remake; I'd rather have Bloodborne II. But maybe we can have them both at some point. The original game still holds up remarkably well, and a sequel would be the perfect way to expand on its rich lore and gameplay mechanics.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End puts a fitting end to Nathan Drake's story, and it felt like a true next-gen experience when it was released. The game holds up amazingly well even today. It was one of the first games I played on PS4, and I was so engrossed that I finished it in a day or so.

The story is very good, introducing new characters while also bringing back the classic ones. Nathan’s brother, Sam Drake, is a significant addition, adding layers to Nate’s backstory and motivations. The dynamic between the brothers is well-developed and emotional. The scenery is breathtaking, taking you to incredible places like Scotland, where the atmospheric and moody landscapes enhance the sense of adventure, and Madagascar, with its vibrant and expansive environments. The semi-open world approach, especially in Madagascar, made me feel like I was in a safari simulator, exploring vast areas with a sense of freedom. The inclusion of a jeep for exploration in open areas was a fun addition, allowing for more varied gameplay. The scripted events were seamlessly integrated, adding to the flow of the gameplay. However, I wasn't a huge fan of Libertalia. While it wasn't bad, it dragged on for too long, and at some point, I lost some of the initial excitement, I wasn't feeling it anymore.

The graphics are stunning and are a joy to look at. The detailed environments, character models, and realistic lighting make the game visually spectacular. It's rarely that I care much about graphics, but I was genuinely amazed by this game. The gameplay didn't reinvent the wheel, but the new additions were very well integrated. The shooting felt solid, the climbing was improved with new mechanics like the grappling hook, which made the traversal more complex, and the overall mechanics were smooth and engaging. This game had lots of memorable moments that stick with you long after you’ve finished playing.
One of the highlights of the game is its detailed and expansive environments. Whether you’re scaling cliffs, exploring old ruins, or driving through muddy trails, each location feels meticulously crafted. The game’s attention to detail, from the lush vegetation to the intricate architecture of the ruins, enhances the experience.
The puzzles in Uncharted 4 are also worth mentioning. They are well-designed and integrate seamlessly into the environment, offering a good balance of challenge and enjoyment without breaking the flow of the game. The use of Nathan’s journal and Sam’s input adds a collaborative element to solving these puzzles, making them feel more organic to the story.

⚠️SPOILERS⚠️
I won't discuss much about the story, but I will say this: finally, an ending that doesn't involve destroying an ancient city! It was a refreshing change and a satisfying conclusion to Nathan Drake's adventures. The final scenes are poignant, wrapping up the character arcs in a heartfelt way that pretty much every fan of the series appreciated, it was a satisfying ending.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End is on par with Uncharted 3 as my favorite from the Nathan Drake quadrilogy. I'm not sure which one I like more, but both hold a special place for their memorable moments, engaging gameplay, and stunning visuals. This game is a testament to how far the series has come and how well it has evolved over the years. Uncharted 4 stands as a crowning achievement in the action-adventure genre, combining cinematic storytelling with exhilarating gameplay to deliver an unforgettable experience.

This game has a massive scope but is still so laser focused, for both good and bad. This game has a new combat system which I feel is much more simple to learn, at the cost of the deeper control over ur party, streamlining in a pretty acceptable way. No more struggling thru menus equipping ur party with species specific armour or micromanaging their weapon mods, bullet types, packing their lunches, giving them a kiss on the cheek (that one was saved special for Ashley only! oo lala!! <3 my wife Ashley! hooray!) a lot of the RPG stuff was changed in favour of a more straightforward buy shit with coins and resources from probing planets, companions are more focused and have less upgradeable skills, weapons were found lying around in mission areas, and its pretty good for letting the player spend less time on a menu. Everything is focused on the shooting, kind of like how focused I am when I'm watching an episode of suits on netflix.

... To a fault. Pretty much every mission mechanically goes the same; go inside a room, sit behind the cover closest to the door, do a 3 minute wave shooting bit until it gets boring and then one of your companions yell CLEAR and you move to the next room. Maybe you'll press a button or do a hacking game. But that's pretty much how it'll go for the whole time you're playing. It's like red dead redemption 2, but at least red dead 2 had the decency to let you go on a hot air balloon or go fuck off and fish for 3 real life days. It gets to the point where there's one tailing mission and I was fucking ENJOYING THAT SHIT. Tali's quest was the absolute worst, spoilers for tali's loyalty quest but she gets framed for a crime, you go onto the flotilla (COOL AF TO SEE IT BUT ITS LIKE TWO ROOMS.) You speak to the judges and nothing you say convinces them. She is said to have brought geth onboard, and they reactivated. She says she didn't know it would do that, one guy says "it doesn't matter if you did it purposely its still a crime by negligence" which is true, according to my legal knowledge. You can't really defend her in any way, you can tell them "your honour she fought geth all the time" they say IDC. So to prove her innocence, they make her.... go to the infected ship in the fleet and kill all the geth. Rly? she needs to kill geth to prove herself? like she hasn't killed enough? whatever, stupid logic, but whatever. Cue another identical 20 minute shooting gallery. Come back. Go up to the court again. They still don't believe. Blue dialogue option pops up. I click it. Patriotic American music starts playing and reginald shepard reiterates what he said before he did the 20 minute shooting gallery. Forgoing the interesting-ish ethical dilemma between throwing her father's legacy under the bus or getting her exiled from the fleet for good. Committing space perjury aside, that was a cool ass idea for a mission completely wasted and that was just another one of the other missions I did room for room but wearing the dead carcass of an episode of suits on netflix.

The repetitive nature of the gameplay was doubled down by the lack of healing. The description on backloggd says they removed the healing gel system to focus on making you regen behind cover, which is a assface move. You have to grind health and shield and damage upgrades with money or resources, so you can do more damage for more time before you have to go back into cover for less time. Getting these resources is done in the space menu. The only other gameplay type being just getting resources from a menu or walking around the normandy can get old, it came to the point where I missed the mako parts or the long and bordering-on-tedious fetch quests in places like the citadel. There are more areas like the citadel in this game, but they're less detailed and connected. The dead, mostly empty planets from ME1 were kind of pointless and repetitive, but it made the universe feel pretty big and had a cool sense of loneliness and scale, y’know? I had a lot of solemn and wistful and cool and quiet moments just walking around on these empty planets, heading to an artifact I saw on the map. But that’s mostly gone in 2. It got to the point where I could only do one or two missions before getting bored and watching an episode of suits on netflix.

I’ve been hard as fuck on this game tho, haven’t I? I gave this a 4.5/5, one of the best scores I could give anything. So I’m gonna say some nice things about this game. 9 aspects out of 10, this makes mass effect 1 look like a tech demo. More companions, all of them have deep stories and fun conversations, they have unique weapon combos and special moves, they interact in unique ways with the environment and you can have full conversations with them about shit you see on planets. The companions themselves are great. Mordin was so charming I completely forgave him for all the genocide he did. Jack is cool and was a nice rebound for me after my ex wife Ashley broke up with me for being in cerberus. NOT MY CHOICE, ASH. I just woke up and they told me to do shit. What was I gonna do? Cerberus brought me into this world, they’re like my mom now. Speaking of mom, Samara had me sitting there asking about every last aspect of her culture and heritage because I actually cared. Justicars are cool as hell and Mass Effect has got to have the coolest fictional lore of any universe because I was sitting there reading every codex entry, pointing out in-universe consistencies in my mind, and they went all in on fleshing the world out. The shadow broker’s computer has info on all your companions and allies, and you can see their internet history. It is very illuminating. Legion is a big gamer and Miranda goes on dating sites but asks for her matches’ medical history via PDF before conversing in any way. Weirdo!! Jack likes poetry which is why I rebounded with her, cus Ashley liked poetry too. Kasumi also wrote poetry but hers is cringy and I didn’t like her. And as much as I talked about many missions blending together, the ones that manage to rise above and overcome their genetic makeup to be varied and cool are amazing. Mostly the DLC stuff. The first half of the shadow broker Liara mission is amazing. The project overlord is amazing. Thane’s loyalty quest is amazing (and you don’t even shoot a single bullet in that one. Huh. Imagine that.) And same with Samara’s. That shit had enough melodrama and tight, witty dialogue to have the makings of an episode of suits on netflix.

The suicide mission at the end there is, by far, no holds barred, one of my favourite missions of any videogame i’ve played in my career. That thing had such palpable buildup throughout the whole game. The structure of the whole of mass effect 2 was finding people in this universe who are loyal or crazy enough to do that shit with you, and by the end you feel like you want everyone to make it. While I was doing it, every close call in a cutscene felt genuinely tense because I knew there were stakes and I knew this would carry over in ME3. Some parts had me flashing back and forth to my adventures with these crazy dorks. Heh. I remember last week I was checking up on Tali. I really didn’t like Tali in mass effect 1. She was really shallow and weak, and every word out of her mouth was about “her people” this or “her people” that. People make fun of me for dating Ashley who is just a teensy weensy bit racist but at least she has a personality. She’s racist, but Tali was just her race. Now? She’s probably my favourite character. She really came into her own and the expanded scope helped her be more fleshed out and less ‘Expository McTell-the-player-about-quarians-and-have-no-room-for-personality’. I could never romance her though, but I see her like a daughter. Which is really weird when mass effect did its mass effect thing and one of my random kind platonic dialogue options had Shepard say the nastiest grossest sex thing of all time. Which I walked back on in our next conversation. Phew, right? Saved? Not so much. You see, my friend who told me to play these games romanced Tali and I'm facing him in a heated bro code court battle right now. He agreed not to romance lae’zel, but now that I flirted with tali ACCIDENTALLY, he wants full rights to go after my baldur’s gate wife like it’s nothing. This is getting out of hand, this whole thing is playing out like an episode of suits on netflix.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is almost everything I seek out of retro games. A visually appealing art direction, colorful (and at times very dark and unsettling) environments, action throughout, and a beautiful 16 bit OST. Couple this with a classic “adventure” and you get a game that forever stands the test of the time.

I have struggled to try and get into the Zelda franchise. I’ve dumped hours in the first game, the second game, Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, you name it, it’s never appealed to me. Maybe I needed to start with a game in the franchise that appeals to a wider audience due to how early its release was. Well, that’s exactly what A Link to the Past is. It was refreshing returning to a game that looks so similar to the GBA games I grew up with. I’m happy to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this game.

When it comes to gaming, lore isn’t something I often care about. I’m typically just here for a good time. But, there’s something special to the lore of the Zelda franchise; a long-running series that intrigues you with its deep lore and encourages you to learn about it. It was a blast discovering all of the little secrets Hyrule had to offer. A sizable game on a console from decades ago, begging to be a modern experience. Whether it was the secret caves found through planting bombs, or the hidden entryways underneath big rocks, I couldn’t have asked for more game-to-player engagement.

Even though I do enjoy the OST, it can get a little stale at times. Especially when you’re wandering through the world trying to piece puzzles together to acquire items. I wish there was a bit more variety within the OST, rather than a set track in the 7 or so areas we get to explore.

I also for the life of me couldn’t figure out the hit box at times. It was mostly on “Blind” (red devil) and at times Gannon. I would swipe away with my sword, yes, during the appropriate times to be using the sword, and nothing would happen. Only to try again and hit the same spot, but this time with success. It wasn’t a huge issue, just something I occasionally noticed.

As much as I do enjoy exploring in a game with a map like this, acquiring weapons and items can get tedious. There’s the occasional backtracking due to not having a single weapon you didn’t know you would need in the future, referencing the Ice Rod of course. It's found in a random cave rather than the dungeon that is literally ice. Also the lack of explanation of what to do in order to progress at times. There was never a single mention of the Dwarves, which need saved to get the super bomb. If you can’t get the super bomb, you can’t get the silver arrows. If you don’t get the silver arrows, you can’t beat Gannon. I really wasn’t a fan of how many bosses required specific weapons, despite there being little to no evidence beforehand.

The dungeons are extremely varied and intriguing on their own, with seemingly endless puzzles to fill time and a plethora of enemy variety. It’s a lot of fun going from dungeon to dungeon seeing what new and wacky treasuries or enemies will be waiting for you on the other side of the entrance.

A Link to the Past is a game worth returning to at least once a year. There aren’t really any moments that make you want to quit, and it’s consistent in its fast-paced gameplay. This could be the gold standard of similar games on the SNES, and it’s definitely a new favorite of mine on the console. 8/10.

Alright, that's cool.

3rd Strike is not only the definitive Street Fighter, but the definitive fighting game, period. Ever since I first played it a few years ago, it's been comfortably slotted in my Top 10 favourite games of all time, and after this replay, it might be in my Top 5.

To start this off, let's talk about the gameplay. Simply, it's the best Street Fighter has ever been. Everything runs butter smooth, specials and super arts work perfectly, hits feel like orgasms, and to top it off, it's insanely addictive. Hell, after typing that last line, I started playing it again, this time as Chun-Li. I ended up getting to the 5th stage before stopping and coming back to finish this, and I know damn well that right after I do, i'll hop back in.

Next on the list is the atmosphere and OST (i'm including them together since they basically go hand in hand in this), and fucking hell, they nail it. It really leans into a late 90's and early 2000's vibe with the soundtrack, even having the announcer be the same guy who sings the opening and character select music. On that topic, holy shit idk his name but he fucking COOKED with the character select music. It's probably my favourite song in the entire game, that or Chun-Li's theme.

Now, since I talk about the final boss in most of these reviews, I might as well do it here too. Gill is a tough boss, no, a REALLY tough boss, but unlike another game cough Alpha 3 cough you don't get a single try to beat him. Also, there's no input reading, the AI is just really good, and it makes for a tough, but fair opponent. That's the best way to describe the difficulty of this masterpiece.

I don't believe any game is perfect, no matter how much I love them. Goddamn though, does 3rd Strike come close. Peak game.

"We await your return, Warrior."

Now, if you came here to read about 3rd Strike, you can stop reading now, this part has nothing to do about it. I wanted to mention that my 2nd Impact review was my 200th on this site! To all of my followers, anyone who liked my reviews, commented on them, etc, I just want to say thank you for all the great times, and God bless you all.