played remastered version on PC

An utter delight. It boggles my mind how something that's so frequently about the corruption and ineptitude found within the legal system has been such a comfort to me in the weeks it's taken me to get through it. It's just so charming, filled with all sorts of memorable characters (Edgeworth my beloved), not to mention that it's quite easily the funniest game I've played. Objectively speaking, I probably wouldn't rate this so high - it seems to sacrifice a bit to appeal to a younger audience, as the tone feels ever so slightly childish despite the somewhat gory murders, plus the archaic investigation sequences are a little bit tedious every now and then. The progression can be slightly unintuitive as well, as the investigation sequences are a bit convoluted while their courtroom counterparts have an annoyingly strict method of progression that will sometimes actively punish you for figuring out the mystery out of sequence. Regardless, it's really endearing, and the mysteries/characters are genuinely quite well-constructed. Also, as I'm likely liable to forget as I progress through the franchise, might as well summarize my thoughts on the individual cases as well.

Case 1-1: 6/10
Admirably succinct and functional as a tutorial, and the mechanics instantly hooked me although the case doesn't have much meat to it.

Case 1-2: 7/10
Feels like this one sort of exists to ease the players into the general structure and characters, plus it introduces a bit of emotional substance (though it often feels bizarrely light for what the subject matter is? I suppose the gradually introduced supernatural elements do make it carry a bit less weight). With all that considered, it is a pretty simple case, but also a lot of fun in its own regard.

Case 1-3: 6.5/10
The investigation portion struck me as a bit tedious here, which is a bit weird as it kinda feels like filler. Nonetheless, it is satisfying once the details click into place, and the game's absurd sense of humour is finally given a chance to breathe.

Case 1-4: 9/10
Hands-down some of the most fun I've had playing any game. Excellent mystery, incredible character development, and it was surprisingly evocative - a bit of a surprise when contrasted with the madcap puzzles of the preceding case, but a wholly welcome one.

Case 1-5: 8/10
Took me a solid ~6 hours to get through, almost as long as the other cases combined, and I don't think the length is entirely warranted. It's extended by stupid puzzles and some over-written segments, as well as the sheer excess of evidence to keep track of. The pacing is a bit rough to start with, but it improves once the mystery really gets going - and it's spectacular once it does. The latter segments entirely compensate for the uneven quality of what precedes them, and the ending is simply lovely.

Anyways I'll stop yapping now, far from a perfect game but I love it with all my heart anyways. Can't wait to play the sequels!

lots to love here - the story structure and premise are incredible, the themes are interesting (mostly in the ethical ramifications of altering memory and if living a delusion is as emotionally valuable as real life), and the visual style is quite nice. but it suffers from some annoying dialogue, with shoehorned in pop culture references and self-referential humour that creates an uneven tone, plus one of the big reveals is a bit much for me to believe and the way it portrays autism is a mixed bag though clearly well-intentioned. its a very poignant story weighed down by some weird and contrived elements - I found the bulk of it pretty fun to play but it kinda jumps the shark towards the end, despite a beautiful closing scene that really encapsulates everything I liked about the experience. weird story digressions aside there's a great game at the core of this, and I'd gladly check out the sequel at some point

kind of a mess? the first few chapters were quite promising yet it dies off with a second act that behaves more as a franchise retread than anything. and the last third is the most frustrating - it has all the brightest ideas yet production was clearly rushed, leading to an abundance of clunky set pieces marred with some truly awful combat.

speaking of combat, the levels are constructed very poorly. as per usual with this trilogy, the core gameplay loop involves these massive settings with row after row of enemies to fight that just drag on for far too long - and even with smoother shooting controls it just doesn't quite work. the opponents are like cardboard, and the hand-to-hand combat emphasized in this installment doesn't really work. for example: it's very easy to get locked into fisticuffs when an enemy approaches you, and as such the dodge mechanics don't work in a wider setting, so you can easily get sniped. the brute enemies are really annoying as well, as was the final boss - really just a glorified qte. and for a cover-based shooter, the actual cover mechanics were awfully unreliable. little things like that or the poorly developed stealth controls make the gameplay loop rather irritating.

as far as these grand set pieces go, the absurd maximalism makes this less of an adventure movie homage than a pastiche of modern hollywood. and it's a lot of fun at times! but the ideas never synthesize well with each other - the poorly constructed story has us moving from place to place, shooting gallery to puzzle to shooting gallery to big set piece with some utterly awful chase scenes and zero cohesion. it just doesn't work. a game of this length has no reason to be so repetitive. there's a lot of dedication to the game's influences here, yet the passion and tension is lost in indulgence after a while. i can only watch so many structures collapse in one game, everyone.

the story is disappointing too, finally offering some sort of commentary on drake and his impact on those around him only to abandon that development in favour of a happy ending. very little changes for these characters, it's almost a total retread of uncharted 2 without the ingenuity that makes uncharted 2 decent. there are some cool narrative strokes though - one of the principal villains deciding that the best way to combat drake is to have him trip on some unexplained hallucinogenic is hilarious. i just did not care for a single thing that was occurring otherwise.

with all that being said, there were some things here i quite liked. the trek through the desert is quite good, as is the preceding plane sequence (although thats the one thing in the game that shouldve been longer!). there are other good environments that simply aren't developed in an interesting way, with most introduced mechanics not being enough to stop each shootout from feeling exactly like the last. i do harbour a weird nostalgia for these games as they were the first i bought for my playstation, but i'm glad to get this one out of my backlog lol. here's hoping for uncharted 4 to be an improvement when i inevitably forget my frustrations with this franchise 🙏

posits that even if humanity is irrevocably fucked, even with an end of the world seemingly approaching, it is worth making the changes for our own betterment. it is worth trying to reconstruct from the embers, even in the shadow of an apocalypse, and it is worth forging connections with others. there is value even in the wreckage of humanity, and we will always have the capacity to rebuild from whatever we have left. our links to others are what define and strengthen us throughout our darkest hours. every bit of tedious gameplay is forgivable when confronted with what it serves; the idea that connection is necessary no matter the lengths one goes to.

optimism about the human condition asides, it is also shocking how empathetic this game is on a more minute scale. characters who are set up as villains are treated with such emotional fidelity and have complexity to their actions (there is one exception but i imagine his development is being saved for the second strand type game). the cast of characters are all so memorable and usually quite easy to connect with. malingen, die-hardman, fragile, heartman, etc. clifford unger would have to be my favourite though - mads mikkelsen knocks it out of the park, and his character arc is perhaps the most poignant out of everything here.

admittedly, this game is messy at points, yet that adds a certain endearing nature to it. the sincerity here is something you hardly ever come by. it's so wonderfully dedicated to itself and the story/themes it carries out that i can pardon a few irritating moments here and there. optimistic and earnest and unbelievably human through and through. i cannot thank kojima enough.

the combat mechanics are phenomenal. like... shooting bullets out of the air? mario jumping on enemies to kill them? fun as fuck.
but it all feels a tad underdeveloped, as does the often hamfisted narrative. it is executed very well at first, and the mind control concepts being tossed around initially terrified me. but it never really elaborates on those ideas as the game progresses, leaving you with nothing more than "video games control your brain!!" and some overly long cutscene-esque sequences about how video game addiction is bad or whatever. perhaps there's something interseting in how the levels imitate typical action movie scenes, but whatever that was is ultimately buried under the heavyhanded central message. idk, its ultimately an enjoyable experience but also a fundamentally unfulfilling one

A few levels are frustrating as shit, yet it's more than made up for by the narrative and themes, which are generally a huge step over the first. Wrong Number functions incredibly well as a sequel, both in its narrative work and general commentary. (e.g. how Jacket's murder spree is treated by the characters, from how his actions are sensationalized in Midnight Animal to those who are directly inspired by it.) As an examination of violence's portrayal in the media, this is oddly great, with much greater nuance and scope than the first. The plot is scattered and often absurd, yet I've had a lot of fun analyzing the crumbs the game provides you with. Also found each character to be compelling enough, in both metaphor and direct text, and quite like how the game attempts to humanize and rationalize with each one in its own way. And yeah, I can't see this franchise reasonably ending in any other manner than it does here. It's both hilarious and deeply uncomfortable, which I'd say summarizes the game well enough as well.

My largest issue comes from level structure. The difficulty doesn't bother me as much as how the conflicts themselves are staged - while I remember the first game allowing for a decent bit of experimentation in style and strategy, a good bit of Wrong Number feels like an elongated game of peek-a-boo, which grows pretty tedious when combined with the sheer number of enemies and variables. (though that should be taken with a grain, i'm kinda shit at these games)

Still a strong 4/5, could see myself upping the rating once I'm a bit further removed from the mildly infuriating gameplay

despite the obvious twin peaks and steven king influences i have to give this credit for the narrative. its nothing mindblowing yet its kind of lynchian antics kept me entirely invested throughout. at some points i feel this takes itself far too seriously for what often reads as goofy pastiche yet theres some very intriguing concepts at play here - the thomas zane/barbara jagger backstory especially along with the general "darkness" concept is interesting and genuinely eerie at times. wish the characters had a bit more to them, barry is great (and the game improves immensely when hes present) but the rest kind of the supporting cast generally lack interesting characterization. the eponymous hero himself is often pretty dull, to the point where i had trouble believing he was an acclaimed author with how dry the narration was, yet theres definitely potential to him that i hope the sequel will properly harness.

i'd say the major flaw here is the length and repetition. the combat is already clunky enough and after spending hours running through a forest shooting at the same types of enemies with the same weapons... it grows really boring. the movement mechanics are a pain to handle as well. i like the episodic format enough but i feel the tedious gameplay lets it down a bit. more variety couldve helped this game a lot, imo. you could probably lose the bulk of episodes 2-3 without missing much. things do pick up by the 4th, and it shines in the ocassional fun set piece (especially the "children of the elder god" scene, prob one of the most enjoyable i've played) yet the gameplay as a whole is pretty underwhelming.

above all i found this to be quite charming, if not very clunky throughout. wish it was shorter, yet i dont regret playing. solid 7/10.

would rank the episodes 4 > 5 > 6 > 1 > 2 > 3