382 reviews liked by bamdumtss


This is a game that I really had collect my thoughts on and sit on it for a while. There are a lot of problems with this game. The Cyberspace levels were mostly bad, it has tons of jank that leads to frustration, and the last few islands were clearly rushed. But the stuff that I enjoyed was able to keep me engaged despite all these shortcomings.

Once I go into the groove of things I found exploring all of the islands really fun. The base gameplay is still fun even if it can be janky. The writing, courtesy of Ian Flynn, is really good and this is the best that Sonic and the gang have been characterized in years. The character interactions are really well done and it does a good job keeping continuity with the rest of the series. The music is great, especially in boss fights. The boss fights are awesome spectacles even if they're mechanically pretty shallow. And the fishing minigame with Big is relaxing and pretty useful for farming items that I needed when I got tired of playing the Cyberspace levels or hunting for Memory Tokens.

This game is far from perfect but it still made me happy and it is a promising direction for the series. Just please let the next game cook for a bit longer Sonic Team. Also please keep Ian Flynn as the writer.

Battlefield Vietnam with a Star Wars skin.

It's dumb Star Wars sandbox fun that we always wanted as kids. It hasn't really aged well in terms of the gameplay department. Everything feels stiff and shooting things is not very satisfying. But back in the day this was really well made. A lot of good content for star wars fans.

Two eras with a handful amount of well made maps. Lots of different classes to choose from. A good selection of vehicles in every map. There's just so many ways to play, any fan of SW will find some sort of fun.

The best thing about Battlefront are how large scale the battles feel, like they were right out of the movie. You see blasters, lasers, ships, explosions all around you as you are running to your next objective and makes you feel like you're on Normandy beach. You can have a lot of fun with this one with just Singleplayer mode, but Multiplayer is also there as an option for those who want more longevity from the title.

I know the original Resi 4 was considered a game-changer back in the day and caused a storm among anyone with even a passing interest in survival horror, but I wasn't one to heap praise on to it. I did like it, it was a solid 8 outta 10 for me, but its kitchen sink approach to storytelling and tonal whiplash really worked against it for me. It was a game that wanted to be a legit horror experience and a batshit Looney Tunes cartoon at the same time, and that didn't sit right with me. I came for the gameplay, but I sure as hell didn't stay for all the nonsense surrounding it.

This remake goes some way to legitimising Resident Evil 4's core story. While the goofiness remains in places, it manages to be a lot more cohesive in tone. The acting performances across the board are far stronger (with one notable exception), and there are some moments of genuine pathos to be found; a rarity in a franchise that often demands to be taken seriously, but is far easier to laugh at. The adrenaline-pumping second fight against Krauser, the uneasy bromance between Leon and Luis, the mutual respect that Leon and Ashley gradually find for each other - it's all unequivocally improved here. The horror works better, the comedy works better, and the silly absurdities that remain are easier to forgive.

In terms of pure gameplay, it's hard to think of a survival horror that plays better. The original was no slouch in this department, but the remake manages to take everything that worked before and refine it to perfection. Tackling the hordes of enemies that swamp Leon from all directions, the strangely addictive inventory management mini-game that is Leon's suitcase, the shooting gallery that showcases just how fundamentally satisfying the controls are... REmake 4 really is a joy to play from start to finish.

If I have any qualms, it's that Ada and Leon don't have near the same kind of chemistry in this that they had in REmake 2. How much of that is specifically down to the much-maligned acting performance of Ada's new actress I don't know. Maybe she received bad direction during recording. Maybe the devs missed an opportunity to flesh out her character more this time around. I get that Ada Wong is meant to be a morally-dubious ice queen, but all her lines are delivered with a wooden, almost lifeless quality. It's a shame, because the interplay between Leon and Ada was an undeniable highlight of REmake 2, and I would've liked to see that built upon. Also, the merchant never shuts up. He just keeps on prattling on, and by the second half of the game I had enough of hearing him repeat the same lines over and over again.

Those are mere nit-picks though. If REmake 4 doesn't quite represent the high-water mark of the entire franchise (that honour is still bestowed upon REmake 2), then it comes incredibly close at least.

My jaw is a little slack at this, lol.

DMC1 is unrivaled. It’s clunky and cute. It’s goofiness is tame. It’s story lies in the realm of unreality and unspecification that so many great budget-narratives are. But I thought all of that would prepare me for what came after it.

Absolutely NOT, somehow. DMC3 is the Game That Never Stops. Every scene is either total goofball antics, wacky demon mystery, or a tonal whiplash-inducing cacophony of asshole humor and Real As Fuck moments. I think the most interesting advancement we can recognize by observing DMC3 is how the technical advancements and higher story ambitions add all sorts of new aesthetic flavor to this gameplay format. DMC1’s comedy was mostly contained to Dante being wacky. There weren’t as many characters actively ‘there’ in that damn castle, so we weren’t exposed to so many varied reactions to this. DMC3 has so many more humorous flavors to it because of the new situation.

To name an example or four: Dante being pissed off at that freak, The Jester, brings me so much glee. If there’s one thing you’ll recognize from talking to me about any stories at all, you’ll know I inherently love to see protagonists annoyed, pissed off, or uncomfortable. This is not an inherent distaste for the point of view we see the story through, but rather an intense enjoyment of seeing someone who’s emotionally incapable of dealing with minor annoyances be subject to them. Bonus points if this annoyance is necessary for their larger quest.

That’s just the most important one, for me. This hilarity informs so many other aspects. For example- when Lady, someone more capable and fit to be the protagonist of this story by virtue of their olacement, reveals her tragic backstory to Dante, he keeps acting like a total fucking dick throughout it. Dante she just said her mom is dead! Not cool! And then, after this dispute, it all escalates in Dante no questions asked agreeing to help her. It’s so characterizin! It’s so weird! It’s so playful!

Hey- let’s stop talking about funny haha jokes for a moment. DMCheads hear me out. Doesn’t Lady as Dante’s rival kind of make more sense to you? I feel like everything about the plot is pushing me to see Virgil as Dante’s opposite. Ah! They’re as similar as they are different, though! AND they were BROTHERS! Of course they’r be rivals, right!?

That idea is not as compelling to me, though, as Lady being the rival is. The two wildly different personalities clashing despite their situation necessitating their allyship- not to mention their disagreements being entirely gut reactions to the other’s surface-level personality. I think there’s something to that.

The dialogues in this game are a total marvel, they have some of the best dialogues I have ever seen in a video game, fascinating, the feeling it gave me is different, I have not cried, nor has it impacted me emotionally much, but it has impacted me in another way that I cannot explain, it is simply beautiful what Kojima wants to convey, this game is perfect in all its splendor, I thought that MGS3 was the pinnacle of all MGS , but in my opinion MGS2 is a little better, either because of the rhythm and consistency, the incredible dialogues and how everything is executed perfectly, there is no gap in the script, and the game explores themes that are wonderful, as such it can be existentialism, free will and the purpose of being, which in Raiden is present throughout the game and in the end it explodes perfectly, the ending is incredible. This is a message towards life, an emotional impact with a purpose beyond that, a life lesson.
I love you Kojima, FUCKKK.

A game that I have waited decades to play. Did it live up to the hype?

Yes.

This masterpiece of a game, which I only dreamed about playing while looking at the pages of the Strategy Guide I bought years ago, is a beautiful and quirky saga brought to us by Shoji Masuda, the same one who also impacted us with "Tengai Makyō II: Manjimaru", which is another solid jRPG.

Linda Cube goes against most of the odds and conventions of its time and presents a more mature, down-to-earth journey of broken characters, alongside AMAZING art and gaming design, with a focus on surviving the perilous wilderness while completing the given task than anything else.

If you like quirky, charming jRPGs from the 90s, you MUST play this one!

Puts you in a trance from the beginning, where you’ll be under its spell till the end. Lingering even after that, begging you to come back and take flight once again. Electrosophere may not be as mechanically sound as the previous entry in the franchise, which is why it speaks volumes that it’s able to grip you tightly regardless, where you’ll dance to its tunes and fly through its skies. It’s more than just a pretty aesthetic, it’s more than just anti-war.

AC3’s view on war itself is that of a sick game played by sick old men and it treats it as such. What are you fighting for, really? Every mission feels like you’re nothing more than a pawn for powers greater than yourself, it's all a ploy. All of it. Every one wants a piece of the pie, a taste of power, a chance to reign supreme. Your actions are not your own, your decisions are not your own. It's all an illusion, a trick, and at the end of the day what are you fighting for, really? To maintain the status quo? The same one in which people live under corporations that only exist to suck them dry even further? What was it all for? Do you the connections you hold have any meaning?

The true ending which you unlock after having done all five routes is the ultimate showcase of this, showing why wars are really fought. Nothing noble, nothing special. Just a personal vendetta. Did it even matter? It's just a game at the end of the day.

𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗦𝗣𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘

I was really having fun with this. It's set up like a TV show; broken into episodes complete with recaps and previews and credits for each chapter. It's a lot of fun, over the top nonsense, like a guy punching a guy so hard it breaks the entire planet in half. Even though it has a lot of QTE-laden cutscenes I was really enjoying the wild characters and art style.

Uuuuuuntil chapter 10. In this scene, apropos of nothing, our hero visits some sort of hot springs resort. There the player is treated to a first-person interactive scene in which he first spends time ogling the staff, then moves quickly on to exposing himself, before finally just straight up sexually assaulting a service worker. But don't worry, because it's all played for laughs! Technically it's only an attempted assault, because he's comically punched by his father figure as a "Denied!" achievement pops.

I just don't know. This is so normalized I couldn't even find mention of it in any reviews. The IGN review, written by a woman, specifically mentions the scene but carefully leaves out the attempted assault. Instead it's described as "the objective is to stop Asura from staring for too long at the generous assets of a hot-springs attendant" which as far as I can tell is completely false; you cannot progress in the game until you've gone through the whole menu of sex pest behaviors.

Like I didn't just fall off the fucking redneck truck I know women have always had it bad. But the misogyny in some of these Japanese games in particular feels almost compulsory. It's like there's some regulatory body that comes through and is like, "You allowed the player to go 5 hours without being horrible in some fucked up regressive way to a woman. Back to the drawing board!" From my many minutes of googling about it I know everything about how shitty it is to be a woman in Japan. Obviously nothing I do is going to change any of that, I just wish we as gamers were, like, slightly less inured to it.

Anyway, in Chapter 9, you're a badass demigod going through a wild narrative. In Chapter 11, you're a badass demigod going through a wild narrative, and for no particular reason, a hilarious wannabe rapist! Somehow the experience lost its luster once I realized I was playing as Donald Trump's self-image.