Max Payne deserves its roses for being innovative and for having unique storytelling, but there are parts that are nigh unplayable. Sure, bullet time is great and playing as a smirking, noir, Johnny Knoxville is fun and funny, but that's pretty much where it stops for me.

When I first played this as a teenager, I remember being enthralled by the surrealistic nightmare sequences, but they ruined it for me as an adult. It's AWFUL gameplay. Imagine platforming a completely black abyss while straddling a rail-thin blood trail with sharp corners at ten frames per second. Now imagine getting to do that where the only sound you hear is a screaming baby and a sobbing woman. What? Why would you even make this?

I'd be lying if I said I had -NO- fun with the game, but I've been dying to be finished. Not worth completing in 2023.

Lofty and ambitious. Hot off the heels of their success with Knights of the Old Republic, Bioware seems to have tackled this project with the aims of making gameplay more diverse and engaging. There is a lot of fighting and support styles, magic, and transformations. I found it to lack balance however. I leveled up Toad Demon form and basically ran ramshod over every boss in the game. (There were weird, unfun difficulty spikes, but that could have been my fault for so narrowly focusing on one style.) Certainly a lot of work was put in, but I found myself bored more often than not and wanting to be done. Long, awful load times, frame rate dips. The characters, while above average, lack the fun and depth of KOTOR. The best character is nowhere near Carth, Bastila, HK, Canderous, or Jolee. They're all 'round about Mission Vao quality. Not bad at all, but not particularly memorable. I didn't feel a pressing need to choose one or the other to accompany me.

Music, environments, and lore are all better than the yearly franchises that get churned out so carelessly today, but everything about this game is so antiquated that there isn't much reason to play anymore. If you didnt play it to death when it came out, it's unlikely to make much of an impression now.

The credits are inexplicable.

Dark Souls II was always going to be a longshot. Following the masterful first entry, but without Hidetaka Miyazaki at the helm, it had it's back against the wall from the jump. In my opinion, the shadow looming was too large, but they still managed to craft a mostly-fun video game.

In terms of level design, it was always going to be outclassed. Most games are against DS1. There's plenty of variety to be found. All the poison swamps, shadowy forests, lava castles, and crumbling ruins a guy could ask for. They're absolutely fun to explore and there were moments that made me stand in awe. When I heaved open the doors to Aldia's Keep, I barely moved at all and rotated the camera around the entire room. Seeing an ancient, skeletal dragon draped over the grand staircases and balustrades had me completely frozen. I cherish these moments, but losing the labyrinthian interconnectedness will always be too huge of a blow, no matter the set pieces. There's also a lot of stupid bullshit. As fascinating as they are to look at, the Iron Keep and the Shrine of Amana are really frustrating and threaten to ruin the level with absolutely awful enemy placement and long-distance aggro. It's hard to revel at the landscape when samurai knights are sprinting ass from 2 miles away to throw you down the stairs. I can't take in the ethereal, drowned ruins when I'm being sniped by magic dicks from all across creation. (I really have to check my bias here, DS1 had some godawful sections too and I have no idea why I'm more forgiving) All that being said, I will say Majula's sunset and shoreline and music might be superior to the absolutely iconic Firelink Shrine.

Enemy, weapon, equipment, and magic variety are all present as well. Seems to me you can craft any manner or class of character you can conjure up. I love some of the creature design. It's not the most interesting fight, but the Rotten's design and concept is one of the more horrifying monsters I've seen in all of gaming. Amalgamated, tortured souls all bound together in chains to form one writhing, demonic mass shuffling across the stage because of the slithering and grasping of prisoners' bodies and limbs...I thought about that for years after the fact.

As a franchise fan, I can honestly say I like, enjoy, and appreciate this game. If you want the familiar difficulty, sprawling levels, and fun enemy battles, I couldn't possibly see how anyone could be disappointed with fairly-tempered expectations. It's not a masterpiece, but it's also clearly superior to damn near every other RPG on the market besides it's own kin. No Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls or whatever can touch it. They look clumsy, unimpressive, and bland stacked next to Souls. Even the worst of them are kings in this medium.

Alright, so this is gonna sound bad. BUT, if you go into this NOT expecting a good game...it might be okay. I avoided this game for a decade based on it's reputation. Clearly this is one of those "franchise-in-an-identity-crisis" kinda titles. Capcom must have been having a nervous breakdown around this time. Look at all the releases before and after: Resi 5, Revelations 1 & 2, Umbrella Corps, Umbrella and Darkside Chronicles, Mercenaries 3D, AND Resident Evil 6. They had SUCH breakout success with 4 that they were throwing everything at the wall and trying to see what stuck. It was a dark time, for sure. So, if you're expecting a GOOD, mainline RE game you're going to be really disappointed with it. If you're expecting a mindless, zombie-killer with a Raccoon City aesthetic, then, hey, we're here.

The gameplay is as plain as it gets. Get a gun and shoot the monsters. It's a silly, suspenseless Left 4 Dead clone. Thassit. There are no puzzles or atmosphere. No music that really matters. It honestly feels more like a Resident Evil movie than a game, if that makes sense. The story uses every contrivance in the book to tie in as many Raccoon City references it possibly can...and I don't care, really. All I wanted was a comfort game that had words and phrases that give me a dopamine drip: STARS, RPD, Gun Shop Kendo, Samurai Edge, Tyrant, Super Tyrant, Nemesis, Leon, Claire, Sherry, Ada, Hunters, Lickers, Crimson Heads. You visit a a TON of locations from 2 and 3. It's a very shallow veneer though. If it's a full-rendering and recreation of the RPD or Clock Tower or Dead Factory that you're expecting, you're going to be sad. Just manage your expectations. There are parts that I really appreciated. They used sfx from Resident Evil 4 and 5. They hired Alyson Court to do Claire's voice. It's not ALL bad. If you're like me and you've played the hell out of 2, 3, and the respective remakes and you're jonesin' for just ONE MORE stroll through RC chaos, then this will scratch that itch. It was NEVER worth $60, but the $8 I spent on eBay suits me fine.

There were only two inexcusable issues that I encountered. The first being the art style and voice of Nemesis. "Look what they did to my boy", etc. Secondly, the R2 button (default function - grenade) just stopped registering near the end of the game. I know it wasn't my controller because I immediately tested it on other games. Really lame to be in a boss fight and NOT be able to throw grenades. It fixed itself the next day, but it was really annoying.

I'm gonna say this right off the bat. I am guaranteeing that I am going to come back and revise this review with subsequent playthroughs. As it stands, this is my first foray into this and my feelings upon completion.

I've been playing RE since I was 12. Like...Nintendo 64 RE2. Dreamcast CV. I reserved the original RE4 at Gamestop and I still have the included art cel to prove it. (Check out my whining, pining review of that one, if you like.) Point being, I like to think I'm suited to review an RE game.

I have no idea what it would be like to approach this game with fresh eyes, having never played another RE. It's always going to be a comparison situation to me. "How does this stack up against the PS1 trilogy? The OG RE4? The Ethan Winters'? The other Remakes?" I will say that I was impressed by this game and I had some fun. But, I am still not convinced this needed to exist. Here's why.

If you don't know the impact of the original RE4, I'll try and sum it up. The classic gameplay style was floundering and affecting the reception of the series. Reviewers felt that it was outdated. By the time Resident Evil Zero came out, consumers and journalists alike thought the formula had grown stale. The series needed a revamp into the modern age immediately and Resident Evil 4 did just that. It changed Resident Evil and gaming in general forever. New movement speed, inventory, perspective, gameplay. It was all completely new and it was a smash hit. That was needed. A radical change, whether I like to admit it or not, was what was good for Resident Evil in the long-term.

This is not a radical change. This has all of the elements of the original with none of the originality. I know this is coming off aggressive, but hear me out. Resident Evil is defined by its movements. The fixed camera angles of 1-2-3, then the third-person key change of 4-5-6, yet another perspective change into first-person with 7 and 8, and now the modern remakes 2, 3, and 4. What made the Resident Evil 2 remake SO effective was its faithfulness to its claustrophobic setting juxtaposed with its movement speed. It works. It's different from the original RE2, but it captured that same feeling of a close escape and lurking doom. Say what you want about RE3, but I also think they did this effectively. The game is slightly more action-oriented, but that is compensated for by the dodge roll. It is a proper and equal ebb and flow. I think RE3 overall wasn't the best remake, but it was an attempt to take something overtly antiquated and update it to something more playable by today's standards. They did that. But, the original RE4 holds up. It's still familiar enough because it set the standard. Only elements of it needed to be modernized, not a complete gameplay overhaul. That's the immediate difference in these remakes.

So, what you have here, is a game modeled after its contemporaries, RE2 and 3, but chasing the goal of imitating a vastly different game. Just look at '98 RE2 side-by-side with its remake and compare it to 4's side-by-sides. It's not the same. This game felt like it had the slow, intentional movement of a game with a more confined setting. The openness of this game's environment betrayed it in my eyes. I found maneuvering so difficult. I never stopped slowly running through these larger areas and that, combined with the higher amount of enemies and points of attack, made my hands so goddamn sore. I hated that. I love the parry, that's a great addition, but I would have loved the dodge roll implemented too. They make Leon out to be a martial arts master in this one, so I don't see how it could possibly be unfaithful to his character. I would argue that it would improve immersion as well. I really wanted this game to make me FEEL like Leon S. Kennedy lmao. Just faster.

I think the side quests were too mundane and repetitive to really be a good implementation. I was excited at first, but it all basically boils down to "Shoot these medallions", "Kill these rats", "kill this enemy". Pretty dull by today's sidequest standards. I still love the shooting gallery though. That's fuckin' dope.

I like the new character designs as well. 2005's RE4 Leon seemed so goddamn sassy all the time. Now, he's a more sallow-eyed, cynical, and haunted individual which fits more appropriately with his character arc. I don't mind all the jokes being set aside. I really don't. I love this franchise's characters and I want to see them treated with the respect they deserve. (looking at you, Rebecca Chambers) I love what they did with RE3 Jill, RE8 Chris, and with Leon in this one. It makes sense. I wish they had gotten Jolene Anderson to be Ada Wong again. i don't have anything against Lily Gao at all, but it harms the continuity and broke my immersion every time she spoke. Just a shame.

I'm gonna go ahead and place some of the blame on myself for my somewhat-muddled enjoyment of this game. I shouldn't have let my arrogance do the talking by starting on Hardcore. I think the ass-kickings tainted my enjoyment on the first go-round. I'm looking forward to playing it again down the line now that I have expressed my biases fully and have satisfied my stupid-ass ego by trudging through it on Hard.

Alright, personal context for my review, I LOVE Resident Evil. It's my jam. I'll play whatever ridiculous mainline title they throw at us. I don't care. But, I have my preferences and biases. The original, fixed-camera, tank-controls will always be my favorites. And, to further my point, I've always loved horror movies that are just clearly bad films. Awful acting, terrible special effects, ridiculous killers or monsters. That's the height of cinema for me. And those are the original Resident Evil games up and down, through and through.

Resident Evil 4 has always stood out like a sore thumb to me. As it should. It was groundbreaking; it's an objective classic; it was the shock-to-the-chest the series needed for people, other than the diehards, to be interested. But, not so much for me. I recognize the series could have gone under without it. It's a fantastic game, but it was such a pivot from what I knew and loved that it broke my heart a little. I don't even have many complaints about the game itself other than, "this isn't really what I wanted, but thank you". But, it worked.

I watched some of Crowbcat's Youtube video comparing the OG and the Remake. I like the guy, but it seems he has a vested interest in tearing down newer games, often deservedly so, in favor of nostalgia while ignoring antiquated mechanics and QoL improvements. But, his video pointed out to me just how amazing the art direction of the original is. It's picturesque. Every frame looks like it could be a postcard. Working within the Gamecubes limitations and not having prerendered backgrounds to lean on must have been such a battle. But they did SO much with so little. While not overflowing with minute details like the newer titles, they opted for gorgeous composition of their set pieces and it makes the game infinitely more memorable. Every tree branch and lightning flash seems meticulously placed. Every grotesquerie is painted amongst its setting in stark contrast to an otherwise peaceful village. It all just stands out so easily. Not only that, but the music, the ambient background sounds, the sfx, the characters (down to the most insignificant villager "UN FORASTERO"), the locales: they are all amazing and burned into my brain in the best way. It all works with the perspective change, the new maneuverability, the absence of lock-on aiming, and the action. And here is where my personal gripes begin.

I never wanted "more action" out of an RE game. I never minded the interconnected item boxes or expendable ink ribbons or unpredictable angle changes or the desperate search for another box of ammo hidden away in the environment. I always loved the horror, the tension, the slow and purposeful gameplay and the obtuse puzzle-solving. It always gave me the feeling that I was in a horrible place where I didn't belong and I was not safe and I needed to escape immediately. I like being scared to death by media and it seemed like all that went away as soon as 4 came out. And I have never stopped resenting it for that reason. The new direction of the series put me off of it for years. I kinda hate 5 and everyone hates 6. And 7 and Village don't do much for me either.

Not only did I lose the gameplay that I liked, I lost the tone and setting as well. I mentioned awful horror movies earlier. If you're a fan of B-movies like I am, you know there is a HUGE difference between a movie that is not aware it's bad and trying hard to be really good, like The Room, opposed to something like, Cocaine Bear. A movie that KNOWS it's fucking stupid and leans into that, but loses everything endearing about it with its self-awareness. Now there are cues for laughter and any custom fun I can make with my friends is gone. There will never again be a RE1 Barry Burton or RE2 Robert Kendo. It'll always be a Salazar or whatever the fish guys name is from Village. "We know this is ludicrous, that's funny, right?" Ugh, I guess.

The game holds up to this day, except the dumb QTEs plaguing every bit of gameplay. There's a million admirable qualities about it, but it was a death knell for something I loved. You took a man with a polygon'd face, bizarre hand-gestures, and inexplicable speech cadence and put a pillow over his mouth and suffocated him in front of me to rousing applause. Yeah, it was a good show, but something unique died and I miss it terribly.

If you've never played RE4, ignore my self-pitying whining and go love it. Be free, little bird. You would probably find the ones I love unplayable and boring and I accept that.

It is crafted to be fun. To make every encounter a literal jungle gym of death and dismemberment. Every gun has its place and purpose and serves the fun of the game in it's own way. The Super Shotgun/Grapple hook combo is one of the best weapons in gaming history, no exaggeration. Blowing chunks out of demons is primally satisfying. The story is there, if you want it, but every hand that touched this game knows it plays second satanic fiddle to gameplay. Traversal during combat burns the pace into your mind with it's unceasing and boundless spontaneity.

I have three complaints.

It starts to feel bloated around 3/4s through. Taras Nabad, notably.

Sometimes the platforming sections got really annoying.

I am not the biggest fan of death metal and it rarely ever stops. I wish they had leaned heavier into the original synth-heavy Doom OST instead of the mind-numbing guitar, but, hey, horses for courses.

I got it on mega-sale and it was damn worth it. Ran mostly well on the Switch (one crash?). I wish I (and I assume we) didn't have such a massive backlog and catalogue because this one implores mastery. I can only imagine what a pro speedrunner looks like. Probably the seraphim himself.

No game looked like this in 2001. You'd still struggle to this day to find a game that has a better atmosphere and ambiance. Unless you're looking at the new REmakes or Bloodborne or something, it's not even close. If I'm ever a billionaire for whatever dumb reason never, I'd spend all of my fortune paying contractors to replicate this mansion for me to live in. With full-time employees dressed as zombies idgaf

Old-school Resident Evil polished to a transcendent shine. This is the formula perfected. The only thing that could make this game more perfecter is if you included an optional audio track for the original voice acting.

If you grew up with this game, then my experience is gonna be really familiar to you, I think.

My friend and I pooled our allowances and split the cost on an OG Xbox from a local comic book shop in the early 00's. The first games that hooked us were Dead or Alive 3 and Halo: Combat Evolved.

Halo is pure fun to me. I think the level design is brilliant, granted a little repetitive in places. I can picture the Pillar of Autumn, Halo, Truth and Reconciliation, the Silent Cartographer WHAT?! bro, these all feel so ICONIC to me. (Do notice this is the first half of the game. There is a noticeable drop-off around the middle. And The Library is genuinely horrible) The amount of hours I spent perfecting my paths and strategies through these are incalculable. What new thing can I even say? Everyone knows the music is incredible, how intuitive the controls and gameplay are, the fantastic plot, and memorable characters. As good as all of that is, it's the couch co-op multiplayer that sealed the deal forever.

And that's what made the experience, right? The friends who came over to play. Every Friday, we'd all get together after school and play Slayer, magnums, no shields, for hours and hours. This game was the binding glue to my longest and dearest friendships.

There will never be a time where I don't feel immense love and gratitude for this game and its developers.

Probably my favorite game of all-time. I love everything about it from top to bottom. My cousin and I rented this from Blockbuster during a sleepover when I was barely a teenager. I had no context for anything, so I remember "Raccoon City" and "Umbrella" making me laugh. The giggles melted away and turned into abject terror. They thrust you into the thick of it with no explanation of the controls or anything. I love it. And the jump scares had me literally jumping from a sitting position. Made a serious impression.

The police station has got to be my favorite locale in all of gaming. If you built it in real-life, I could navigate it with my eyes closed. The music is soo haunting. Of course I mean the save room theme (GOAT) and the Main Hall. The atmosphere is perfect and ludicrous. An art museum turned into a police station mid-apocalypse. Bro WHAT?!

OH GOD, the dialogueee. It's a MAJOR step up from the first game, but it still feels like a B-movie, which I objectively love. Especially Robert Kendo. "I ain't got no clue, darlin'!" YO LMFAO

Nothing sparks joy for me like this. I distinctly remember walking a mile or two downtown to the old comic/games shop and dropping $20 I earned mowing grass for my Nintendo 64 copy. I have an original promo poster, at least three copies of the game, and a framed vinyl record of the OST. GOAT.

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?

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

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.

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.