Pros:
Animation is top-notch
Variety of gameplay mechanics
Variety of missions
Character and level design
Voice acting is highly expressive

Cons:
Writing/story
Worst double jump
Range of camera
Lack of accessibility options
Worst health system

2001 was a hugely competitive year for gaming. The Gamecube and OG Xbox released with their big launch hits and PS2 dropped some of their most influential games to date. Super Smash Bros Melee, Halo: Combat Evolved, Grand Theft Auto 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, Max Payne, Pikmin, etc. Just a bananas release year. And Jak and Daxter was the first big 3D platformer of the new-gen by the Crash Bandicoot developer Naughty Dog who went on to be fuckin' legends. I gotta say, I'm surprised that this holds up as well as it does. There are plenty of entertaining mechanics here. Launch pads, vehicles, animal companions, power ups, decent platforming. Only decent because the double-jump sucks ass. It works when it feels like it and only if you haven't descended an INCH yet. Ugh. And the camera is utter balls half the time too, which can make or break a platformer. Sometimes the range is 360°, other times 90° and you can't even see the precise jump you have to make next. You have zero control over the Y-axis and the x-axis is permanently inverted with no alternative option. HATE that. I wish I had gotten to dive into it 20 years ago when it felt like fresh air amongst the 90 million Mario 64 clones because it just doesn't feel as original now as it was when it came out and that's not its fault. The world and denizens are well-crafted and they're all voiced in a way that's highly emotive. The only thing is EVERYTHING is voiced and they don't offer a subtitle option. And all the cutscenes are unskippable. I found myself bored to death with the constant conversational interruptions. And, despite being forced to watch, I really did not know and could not be bothered to care what the story was until the last hour. It was just an arbitrary excuse to get you into the variety of biomes on offer and that's fine with me. Just not memorable. What is memorable is the animation. The characters move in a way thats highly impressive. I've poured a lot of hours into other games from this year specifically and this game puts them to shame. GTA III's running and punching looks goofy af comparatively and this one's facial expressions just crush EVERYTHING. Especially Halo 1's muppet-mouth-ass characters. 😂. Last complaint: the health recovery is stupid af. You take three hits, then you die. Fine, okay. But to recover one chunk, you have to pick up like, FIFTY orbs. Might as well just die because the checkpoints are friendly enough. I'd bet money it's not in Jak 2.

I was alternatively annoyed and having a blast with this one. Completing the variety of objectives and acquiring all the collectables was genuinely great, aside from one or two annoying bike runs. The last boss was fun, but I've honestly forgotten if there was a single other boss in the game. Which is a shame. Anyway, I don't know if I can recommend playing this on PS2, but I'm pretty sure there are more modern releases with (hopefully) updated and refined gameplay which I'm sure would be a bit more pleasant.

Dark Souls III

The flame sputtered and flickered but was again kindled. The fire is linked and the Age of Dark's inevitable cascade has been abated. Whether that was noble or not, I still don't know. This game was fantastic. It's truly an excellent conclusion to one of the best game series I've ever played. Everything I loved about the previous titles is present and refined to a razor's edge. The quality of life improvements present were a welcome respite to the somewhat bewildering choices of the other games. There were moments, heaving open ancient doorways and beholding new vistas, that had my jaw on the floor. Every time I booted the game up, I had to marvel at the way the bonfire flames reflected off the stone and the plate of my armor for a few minutes before beginning in earnest. The level of intricate detail in the environment is baffling. I would often stand over scenic overlooks and gaze at all the painstakingly designed stonework and just marvel. And the fighting! Designing Bloodborne before this title clearly had an effect. The speed of movement and combat has been boosted to perfection. And I have so few complaints. The final boss was still too easy. It should have inspired fear and awe, but ended up a little lackluster. Also, maybe it was just me, but I barely used the shield parry the entire game. Had a lot of trouble finding the right timing compared to the others. And that's about it. If you're considering this series, but don't want to start on the older titles, then this is a reasonable place to start. Not ideal though. You'll miss out on valuable lore and experience, but I found it very intuitive and easy to pick up. Highest recommendations all around. I'm nearing the end of my From Software journey now and I can't tell you what a joy it's been. The triumphs and the fun have vastly outweighed the frustrations.

"Be safe, friend. Don't you dare go Hollow."

Got this one in a Humble Bundle five years ago and never touched it until now. I went in without much interest, due to no previous experience with the franchise, and low expectations. I'd say it wasn't bad. Being a decade old, the main characters facial animations were reliable and even impressive at times. The environments were a little homogenous and got stale pretty quick. Aside from the final area, which I found thrilling. Reminded me a lot of the Impact Crater from Metroid Prime. With the other areas though, they tried to encourage backtracking and exploration, but the landscapes can be so barren and the mech you pilot is so slow and cumbersome that it made it a hassle. I hardly bothered with any secondary objectives because of this, not that the rewards were much to speak of anyway. Don't wanna be completely negative though. The music was really unnerving at times with sinister strings reminiscent of Morricone's The Thing soundtrack. I enjoyed the story and I was genuinely curious about what would happen next. The characters were easy to connect with too, especially the husband/wife dynamic of your character. I found myself surprisingly invested in the relationships being expanded upon along the way. The combat is your standard over-the-shoulder shooter, but it's riddled with really awful QTE's that even permeated the final fight, robbing it of some momentum. I don't think I'll replay it, but I don't regret the once-over. The game also commits the cardinal sin of locking the platinum trophy behind multiplayer trophies which is often the nail in the coffin for me when it comes to replayability.

Lords of the Fallen is kind of a middling, Dark Souls stepchild. It has some technical issues that were pretty annoying. There was a long-term audio glitch that disabled dialogue for hours. There was another time a boss grabbed me from across the arena and I clipped through the wall and saw the whole map. There are some embarrassing spelling errors in BOSS NAMES (Worshiper?!) and items (Tyrany). All this adds up into a solid feeling that not a lot of polish and refinement went into this. All that being said, it's an easier, SLIGHTLY more accessible Soulslike experience. Getting good loot and fighting the big bads was pretty enjoyable. Figuring out how to utilize your skills to best deal with a new enemy is satisfying and fun. There is plenty of incentive to play multiple times and I probably will. It's usually on sale cheap AF, so if you like the Souls games, but for some reason don't want to play them (lol?), then this is worth a shot.

By the way, the most ludicrous mechanic this game has is revealing hidden walls. You cant hit them with light or heavy strikes. There is no hit animation or even an audio cue to indicate there is anything there. You cannot press the action button, jump into it, or smack it with your shield. The only way to do it is to sprint at the wall and lift the shield at the last second. How would anyone know that? Really stupid.

Alien: Isolation is a lovingly crafted, terrifying homage to the movie series and for fuck's sake, I am glad to be done with it.

The attention to detail is incredible. Being a fan of the franchise, it was easy to stand in awe of the environment and atmosphere that these developers have created. The sound design is amazing too. I wore good noise-canceling headphones and quickly felt completely immersed. I heard every creak and whine onboard the spaceship as well as the precise direction the Alien was banging around in the vents. The technology behind the Alien A.I. stalking you around the station far exceeds Mr. X, Nemesis, and Lady Dimitrescu easily. And it is not fun. It is dread-inducing and horrifying for about one-third of the game, and then it becomes irritating and frustrating. And that sucks, because the premise of this game (fleeing an unkillable, genius xenomorph that can show up at any time in any place on an apocalyptic space station) is brilliant. It became such a nuisance. The gameplay is a series of walking, hiding, boring crafting, and nothing hacking mini-games, so imagine doing these groanworthy tasks and being killed by the Alien by pure chance, then being sent back 10-15 minutes and having to do it all again. And goddamn, is this the most poorly-paced game I have ever played. It's bloated with neverending "turn the power back on", "turn the power off", hack this, turn this switch, flip this lever ERRANDS. I was constantly operating complicated machinery while having no clue what the objective is or was. And the amount of times I had to flee during what felt like a world-ending evacuation sequence, only to feel the screeching brakes applied and get hurled right back into the mundanity of the minute-to-minute gameplay was unbearable. There is a sequence about 3/4's of the way through that would have been a fantastic way to end it, but nope. It drags on another hour or two and ultimately concludes with a terribly slow, ponderous ending that makes you wonder what they intended you to get from it. As much as I want to, it breaks my heart that I can't recommend this to anybody but the most diehard Alien fans. It is not-great survival horror and doesn't work well as an action game either. I played it once and I doubt I'll ever do it again. Like I said, the imagery, the environment, the sound, and the Alien are marvels, but it is not a fun video game.

This one has been in the backlog forever. Last time I tried it I was enjoying it, but like a lot of old RPGs, it was remarkably easy to play myself into an unwinnable corner. (I'd highly recommend playing with a guide to mitigate the ancient frustrations.) Never left my mind though. I really like the presentation, the RE-style prerendered backgrounds, the characters, music, and ambient SFX. I honestly couldn't tell you if the story was nonsensical or brilliant, but it's definitely wackadoodle. And the ENDING is delightfully ridiculous.

I slept on Guacamelee for so long! I thought the art style was really lame, like Samurai Jack or something, but I'm pleased as punch to admit my mistake. Five minutes in and I didn't even think about it anymore. Whoever thought to make a Metroidvania beat-em-up is a freakin' genius. It's way more linear than a normal MV, which makes it much more accessible to those who don't play them. The combat is some of the purest fun I've had in a while and the platforming reminds me of Metroid at it's finest. Parts of the platforming can be very challenging, but also very forgiving. They don't make you replay entire sections and respawn time is instantaneous. I wouldn't say this has the most original gameplay elements out there, but I can undoubtedly say it's one of the most fun, successful amalgamations on the market. Next time you see it on sale, don't skip it! I paid maybe $3-$4 and I loved it from start to finish. Already bought the sequel and I can't wait to try it. 😁

Also, this game is rife with references to other titles. I got so much enjoyment out of finding them and picking them out. The sheer amount of Metroid love this game displays makes my heart swell 10x its size.

I haven't quit in the middle of a game in a while, but fuck this shit. I hate it. I hate it. Mechanics are far too antiquated and the camera is your worst enemy. Damn game is giving me a midlife crisis. I thought it was too childish from the jump, but I kept pushing and the feeling of "wtf am I doing" kept blooming over and over again. Also, continuing to play this game means I would also have to keep listening to its music. 🤢 (Rusty Bucket Bay) And on top of all that, it robbed me of genuine nostalgia. I grew up with Donkey Kong 64, and it's kind of a guilty pleasure, but now I realize how much of a copy/paste it is of this. One of my favorite game reviewers called this "concentrated fun", but there's no going backwards this far. Missed the boat.

Rather than review it normally, here is a chronicle of my first five runs. Know that I ranked it a 5, not because it's perfect, but because of how I feel about it

#1
This game is a clunky, muddled, overrated mess. They explain nothing, they set you up to fail, and the visual quality is awful. There must be some cognitive dissonance going on with you people to enjoy something so unfun. (couldn't beat Taurus Demon, lol)

#2
Never thought I would actually say this, but not only did I beat Dark Souls, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Don't let people tell you "if you die, it's your fault" or "tough, but fair", I got killed plenty of times by clipping or some glitch or other. (Not to mention some awful platforming 😆). But all that being said, the game is unmissable. Sure, the difficulty is high, but less from combat, more from being obtuse. The next move is rarely obvious, even frustrating, but constantly rewarding. Developing your skills, discovering new locales, triumphing over a challenge; these things are inimitable. After Sekiro, Bloodborne, and Souls 1, I am a FromSoftware fan. Praise the Sun.

#3
Mage build IS easy mode. Somehow Gwyn, Lord of Cinder gave me trouble. Still love this game though.

#4
Third time beating it this year. Still not easy. I love it. I'm a full-on fan, but this game is NOT perfect. The Anor Londo rooftops, O & S fight remains unfair and kinda shitty tbh, the Crystal Cave run to Seath with a curse on, Lost Izalith and the mf'ing Bed of Chaos is a joke. Some of it is so wack that cheesing it seems perfectly fair. I'm also going to say that Fromsoftware seems to craft minimal, yet immediately lovable side characters with stories that seem impossible to progress organically. They disappear to random locations, require some secret item, or bizarre timeline of interacting with others thats completely counterintuitive. It's beyond cryptic and it's disappointing. All that being said, natural progression remains some of the most satisfying in gaming, exploration is still awe-inspiring, and the circular verticality of the level design is still fascinating. Definitely worth a play, definitely real greatness, but holy hell is it a shit sandwich in places.

#5
I went from hating this game the first time I tried it to beating it four times within the last year. I cannot get enough. Top five of all-time, for sure. Played the DLC for the first time and it's thoroughly dope. Artorias, Kalameet, and Manus are superb bosses. Absolutely worth playing. By the way, Black Knight Halberd completely breaks the game. Easiest run through it yet. Final boss, first try.

If there is any part of you that wants to try it, expect to be crushed. Know that the more you push through the walls, the more you'll love it. Don't be ashamed to ask for tips or look at a guide. Avoid the graveyard at the beginning, level VIT END and STR and never RES, kill the dogs first, try tongue but whole, and don't fat roll.

And whatever you do, don't go Hollow, my friend.

I mean, really, what is it about this game that people go crazy about? In terms of Zelda, there are more in-depth epics told and in terms of open-world games, there are way more immersive. The incredible music and cutscenes you hear are about 30 minutes collectively of the whole experience. You find these beautiful or horrifying memories scattered few and far between over dozens of hours for only a few minutes. The iconic music in-game is almost completely missing until the last stretch. Even then, its not that great. Its just incredibly jarring to hear something besides the discordant keys of an enemy nearby or plain, ambient nature sounds. And the puzzles and dungeons WTF happened??! There are maybe 125 shrines to unlock, ALL of which have the same environment skin, so be prepared to look at the same shit over and over and over again. And as for the "dungeons", there are only four Divine beasts in the game, and they look very similar on the inside and so do their bosses!

Cooking was cool, but be prepared to memorize recipes 'cause theres no log. Going anywhere is cool, but its mostly empty space and some korok seeds. It's not like Skyrim where you go from A to B and get 12 sidequests and explore caves along the way. It's not like the Witcher 3 where even the most mundane side quest is part of a greater whole.

You get all the important tools at the beginning, so theres no new gameplay elements to look forward to. Sure, you can interact with every tree and, rock, but it's 1000x easier to run up to an enemy and smack them rather than dick around with a tree for 10 minutes. MGSV has more versatility options, Witcher 3 has quests and combat over it, Skyrim has the density, Elden Ring has all of it, so what does this REALLY have? The brand? I don't fucking get it.

Fired it up for an hour or two. It had corrected hardly any of my issues with the first one. Only thing they fixed was the insane health recovery system, which I predicted they would. Camera still makes pitfalls harder to cross than they ever should be. And combat. And everything. Why wouldn't you give me full rotational control? ESPECIALLY because there's no Y-axis control at all. Why can't I invert the camera? Double jump, high jump, and roll jump feel inconsistent as hell. The story has also taken a grim-dark tone because of what I can only assume is GTA 3's influence at the time. Yeah, you can steal cars too. I didn't get far, so this may not be fair, but I am thoroughly uninterested in the rest of this franchise.

Can't believe nobodys reviewed this. I loved this game when I was a kid. Incredibly cool and bizarre array of weapons like the Emaciator (which makes your character ridiculously skinny) and the Inflator (uh opposite). Bro, you could play as a velociraptor and these weird parasitic Mites. Tons of characters and skins. Great music and sfx. Its definitely got its faults though. Biggest of which is a glitch inherent in the original, black cartridge that prevents completion of the game. The company offered a mail-in replacement cartridge (grey) to make up for it. Super-rare if you've got one

I have no clue how many times I've been through this game, but I absolutely adore it. It's not the best Resident Evil title, but it's up there.

I'll always be biased towards the old-RE style. The fixed camera angles (actually more dynamic here), the tank controls, the slow and methodical puzzle-solving, and ammo conservation are all highlights for me, but I honestly understand why others don't like it.

I love the recurring franchise heroes, Claire and Chris, and the absolutely bizarre, outlandish, and hilarious villains, Alfred and Alexia.

The prison area is way more memorable than Antarctica or the research facility, but it never really stops being fun. The music is fantastic, forget about it. One of the best save room themes, the haunting musicbox melody, the shrieking strings when a bandersnatch (lol 😆) shows up.

If you don't know how to handle them, a couple of the bossfights can be ridiculously frustrating. Especially the Tyrant. For newcomers, that's gonna be a big wall.

If you're a fan of old school Resident Evil and somehow missed this one, jump on it nowwww. If you're looking for an experience more like 4 or Village, you're gonna be disappointed.

Capcom, remake this. Please?