I have said before that Ragnarok is my easily my favorite GoW game. The way it weaved its massive tale of the Norse mythology, how it neatly tied it all at the end, and the massive strides it took to flesh out GoW 2018's combat fundamentals; it's a crowning achievement. And yet, it doesn't stop there. Valhalla feels like another leap forward, one that is taken with a good reason. While Ragnarok mostly deals with the world around Kratos, Valhalla looks within him, as he deals with a possible path to the future that is deeply connected with his past; a self he no longer wishes to be. Utilizing various lessons learned from the booming Roguelike genre, Valhalla shows this struggle through gameplay, as each repeated attempt to understand the self are displayed outwards: gaining a variety of powerups to approach things differently each time. Looking at things from a slightly different perspective. To keep moving onwards even when you have to start over, and over, and over, until clarity is achieved. But there is no end to self improvement. Valhalla always awaits you, and it is why this DLC is a gift that we all should be grateful of.

I must admit, I haven't been super interested to these story-driven "walking sim" games in the past few years. But this game just absolutely grabbed me. I was particularly intrigued by the so-called Atompunk aesthetics and the quality of writing shown by the trailers. Now, I'm glad to say that I'm very satisfied with it, as somebody who is not familiar at all with the source material.

For the most part, the game is very technically sound, which a lot of walking sims don't get to say. The art direction is just mesmerizing sometimes, lots of beautiful natural sceneries and retro-futuristic structures to take in (or to take pictures of. Pretty good photo mode!). The lighting in many of the environments are just spot on. The music/soundtrack doesn't stand out as much but it does its job of helping to set individual moods.

Gameplay is obviously basic, mostly involving simple exploration actions and dialogue choices. But it never got in the way, and there's barely any frustrating/uneccessary gameplay sections that usually would sour the experience on these kind of games. The minimalist UI and restrained handholding techniques achieved a good balance of giving you pointers for progression, but still maintain a high sense of immersion. I also liked the weighty-ness of the movement, it translates the feeling of being in a space suit well enough.

The story is definitely the best part. Its themes of facing insurmountable odds works out great, as the main two characters are constantly in a race to save as much of themselves (and others) as they can. The writing is solid, and the voice acting is great (especially for the main character, really loved her as a character overall). The pacing is pretty much spotless, I was scared of feeling too bored (I forgive it a bit, because you know, it's normal to feel at least a tiny bit bored exploring an empty planet by yourself) but it never got close to that point. Every new bit of story felt exciting, which are again helped by the writing and VO. Looking at the hidden trophies, there seems to be a decent amount of story branching as well. The ending I got is absolutely trippy, in a good way.

And that's it! This is a polished, well made story experience that successfully presents the most interesting parts of itself in a elegant manner. I know nothing about the novel, but this makes me want to read it, which I count as a success for the game.

What a torture. The game is so dark that 70% of the time I can't see what the lock on system is aiming at. Heck, most of the time I just see silhouettes. Call me schizophrenic, because I'm literally just shooting at shadows. Combine it with the horrendously dated controls and nonsensical level design, and you'll get a sure-fire way to discombobulate your senses. The only good thing here is the soundtrack, it's a legitimate banger, I can't recommend it enough. Would have quit the game much earlier without it.

Let me first say that I have not watched the movie, most of the pre-2000s 007 movies are a blind spot to me. So I'll be talking about the game with limited context.

TND is one of those games that is so visibly hampered by a lack of ideas. The game is pretty short, but it barely has any variety in its gameplay. Just keep running around while shooting everything in sight. You have a silenced pistol as a starter weapon, but it barely matters since trying to stealth kill with the clunky controls are an absolute hassle, and it is usually not rewarded accordingly, since the other enemies will most often instantly know whenever one of their mates die. There are a couple skiing sections here and there, but they're horrendous. In the second half of the game, they also throw in a couple "bosses", which are boring/annoying bullet sponges with minimal differences to regular enemies in terms of how they attack you. They will probably drain you of your medkits and extra lifes just to make you replay the whole level all over again.

It also doesn't help that the difficulty progression is done lazily. Enemies in the later levels will hit you faster and with more damage, which is annoying, since the limited draw distance gives them the advantage, and there's a lot of moments where they can just decimate your health before you can even react. For example, when you're opening a door and the enemy behind it is already shooting you before the game's aiming system locks in.

It's not to say that I didn't have fun with the game. I actually enjoyed about 60% of the game, where you're not dealing with the game's pitiful attempts of varying things up. The gunplay is objectively clunky, with its tank controls and limited capability to aim, but it still feels satisfying, mostly because of the inherently fun concept of quickly reacting to enemies. There's also good variety in the level environments (although gameplay-wise they have to adhere to the limitations set by the wieldy controls), and the soundtrack is actually pretty great.

All in all, TND is mostly average, with the occasional flashes of frustratingly punishing moments. Can only recommend it to 007-heads and if you're a console/gamepad shooter freak like me (─‿─)

Played on PC, with the fan-made "Definitive Edition" mods pack installed.

You know what, this is way better than I thought it would be. Sure, it doesn't compare all that well to the GTAs of the time (especially San Andreas that was released in the same year), but I think the different ways this game approaches similar concepts makes it at least just as interesting to play and/or think about, even if it often feels half baked or not fully polished.

Let's get this out of the way first: the story sucks. It's plot driven but the plot is not worth thinking about. There's no good characters to latch on to either. At least the cutscenes are mostly short and decently directed.

The biggest addition to the series' formula is that there's a lot of on-foot combat gameplay, which I am sure was in response to GTA. Honestly, these are only slightly worse than GTA's combat back then. There's the same awkward feeling in the shootouts, especially with maneuvering around cover, since the enemies can quickly end you if you just stand still in the open. But most of the shootouts are decently designed, with checkpoints to help minimize the frustration. Still, these are the least interesting part of the gameplay.

On the other hand, I think the driving handling and physics holds up real well. Each of the different car's characteristics are communicated quite well, and most of the chases that they designed are pretty fun. The handling feels weighty, but responsive. Sometimes the physics can respond in a way that you might not expect, and that can be slightly annoying, especially in some of the missions later on, where the tolerance of error is so small. But in my experience, it usually only adds a bit more tension and chaos in the moment, and it didn't make me fail the mission. Compared to the on-foot combat sections, the driving sections are usually much more exciting and varied as well. One of the best missions is about rushing across the map to steal three cars, and then quickly storing them in a big truck that is continuously driving across the map.

My favorite part of the game is having three entirely distinct cities to explore. Despite having not much to do, each of them have their own vibes which is portrayed well enough through the art direction. I think it speaks volumes to the quality of their vision, when I was just awestruck by how beautiful the cityscape looks at certain times (especially at dawn and dusk), even with the game's suboptimal technical aspects, like the horrendous object draw distance. It has stronger cinematic look and feel than pretty much everything else in the genre, except the newer GTAs. I was reminded of films like Paris, Texas and Heat. Also, it's cool as heck that most of the game is in non US cities! Being in Nice and Istanbul felt like a gust of fresh air.

Lastly, the soundtrack of this game fucking rules. I'm especially impressed by the percussions, they feel so eclectic and energetic. I would recommend everyone to check the soundtrack out, especially if you're a fan of old crime action movies.

I can't say that Driv3r stands out all that much in the genre, but there's clear signs of the developers trying to do just that. Ultimately, a handful amount of issues and jank hold the game back, and yet every once in a while, there are glimmers of the beautiful heights this game can reach.

Blood Stone is perhaps one of my personal favorite 007 games. As somebody who is particularly fond of PS3 era cinematic cover shooters, there's enough slickness to this game's combat and set pieces that impressed me back when it came out. Revisiting it now, I realize that there's a lot of flaws, particularly unevenness, that holds it back. But I can't say that I don't love it still.

The game starts with a pretty solid set piece sequence. "Stealthy" infiltration goes terribly loud, and a epic chase ensues. It's a nice vertical slice of the games' main gameplay loop: start slow, throw in a couple shootouts in the middle, (try) to end it spectacularly, and start all over again.

The problem is that some sections are noticeably weaker than others. There's a particularly egregious part right in Act 2 where you're exploring a drab, gray, snowy refinery area that lasts way longer than it should, and there's nothing particularly interesting about it. It's sandwiched by a luxurious night time casino heist mission, and a legitimately great set piece sequence that is hands down my favorite part of the game. I also don't care for the final half of the last act, it pulls off 2 of my least favorite gaming tropes. Thankfully most of the game is at least decent fun, but these sections sour the experience a bit.

Putting that aside, there's a handful of neat things that the game does. They did a good job of mimicking the first two Daniel Craig 007 movies in terms of presentation: there's a decent Bond AMV intro, the soundtrack is a decent imitation of the movie soundtracks, and the mannerisms of 007 is very much in line with how Craig portrayed him. He doesn't talk that much, which is kinda refreshing considering the state of modern gaming's chatty protagonists. It also means that the game barely has any crazy gadgets to play with, other than your Detective Mode-copycat smartphone, which is a slight shame.

I do like that they tried to translate his aggressiveness to the gameplay. You can earn "focus points" by doing close quarters takedowns (which are probably the most well-animated actions in the game), and they're used to automatically lock to an enemy and kill him in one shot with any weapon. You can only hold three points at a time, so the game clearly wants you to keep closing in to enemies to do takedowns and use the ability frequently. But the enemies are not that aggressive (even on Hard), and they don't have a lot of ways to push you out from cover (like throwing grenades), so most of the time you will match their tempo and keep your distance as well. Despite somewhat botching the execution, I do appreciate the attempt. Doing John Wick-style gameplay by shooting enemies in the leg, taking them down up close, then using your focus points to cleanly kill farther enemies is pretty sick.

On the other hand, I really think that the stealth sections could be done better, and there's a simple solution for it: just introduce sections where you'll be meaningfully penalized if you break stealth, and it will make these sections much more meaningful and intense. Instead, they feel mostly flat, since there's no real stakes for making mistakes. Usually you'll only be noticed by the enemies in the immediate vicinity if you break stealth, and there are rarely more than 5 enemies at a time in these sections.

There's also vehicle sections, which are mostly about chasing another vehicle while dodging hazards like incoming traffic, and they're pretty fun. The level of crazy stuff happening on screen reminds me of something like Split/Second, although it's not quite as insane. The vehicle physics can be a bit bouncy sometimes, but it's nothing too fatal.

Lastly, I have to say that the story and characters are barely worth mentioning. The game just doesn't spend any time to properly flesh out any interesting detail, which works out well for the gameplay pacing but doesn't do the story any favors.

It kinda hurts seeing the "James Bond Will Return" tagline at the credits. The game sets up a sequel with its ending, and I would love to see a bigger, better direct sequel. But at least it's easy to be optimistic about the future of 007 games now, I believe IO Interactive will hit it out of the park. Until their game comes out, I should just try out the other 007 games. I wonder how well Everything or Nothing holds up....

As somebody who's not exactly a survival horror enjoyer, I have to say that gameplay-wise I kinda lost interest in the middle of it (the Nowhere section or whatever it's called). Dealing with the enemies started to feel like a hassle at some point. But the art direction of the game is just so incredibly well executed, that is the thing that kept me going through the game. The first time I see what the game does when I refuse to save the game, I legit got one of the heaviest chills I ever got from experiencing art. I respect the heck out of the game, even if I don't enjoy playing it as much as I would like to. Also the story is a mindfuck that I do enjoy to a certain extent, although ultimately it's too obtuse for me.

This game essentially tries to answer the 2 decade old question of "what if Mega Man X7 is actually good?" It's basically a 3D Mega Man game, you'll instantly see it even if you only see how it plays in the trailers. It's pretty decent in the gameplay part, at least the lock on system won't be an active obstacle. But I think the game is too... skeletal. The art style is unspiring and boring to look at. The level and enemy design aren't memorable. The story and writing is kinda enjoyable but it's not enough to keep me going. Still, I do recommend to check it out when it's on sale, the idea of a good 3D Mega Man style game is a pretty novel thing.

You know what, call me crazy, it's probably true, but I I really enjoyed this game. I can't say it's a great game. Heck, I'm pretty sure it's mediocre. But it certainly has its charms.

At this point you probably have wondered, who the fuck is Matt Hazard? He's basically an alternate universe Duke Nukem, but with everything problematic toned way down. In the game's world, he's a legendary video game character that have fallen through the cracks after a string of bad spinoff games, but he's got one more chance to be in a good game. Obviously things doesn't go as planned, and now he has to fight his way through a ton of bad enemy AI to prevent his deletion from the game company's server, which will effectively turn him into lost media. While the main idea of the story is nothing too unique, and the writing is just meh, I grew to enjoy the game's messed up virtual game world gimmick a lot. It leads to a handful of neat moments and details, like seeing Matt's wholesome interactions with his fellow famous video game character compatriots (expect some lazy parodies of real game characters). I can't say that the humor lands, but it never feels like the game is trying too hard to be funny, and honestly that is enough to make the story feel enjoyable. Having Will Arnett and Neil Patrick Harris as voice actors also helps, they did an okay job here.

The gimmick is also used as an excuse to throw a bunch of different enemy art styles together. Matt has lived a long life, and he's been in all sorts of games. Now, old enemies from his past gets uploaded to the game occasionally. You can expect to see regular modern setting enemies, old timey cowboys with revolvers, space marines, zombies, and even water gun soldiers. It does lead to a messy visual identity, and on the mechanics side, they didn't do quite enough to differentiate them, but I think it adds to the charm of the game. There's something fun about seeing how honest the game is at presenting its virtual world setting. It's not a game that is trying to fool you to thinking that its set in the real world, in fact it's the opposite of that. Sometimes I get reminded of much cooler games like No More Heroes, there's clearly a vision that the devs are aiming for, even if a lot of it gets lost in execution.

As a cover shooter aficionado, I think that the gunplay is pretty decent. The impact of the gun effects are not that satisfying, and it doesn't really feel like you're shooting powerful weapons. But there's a decent amount of challenge here, although it can wildly spike at times, leading to some pretty frustrating moments. Thankfully the checkpoint system is excellent, it saves often and respawning after dying happens in like a second. The weapon variety is pretty good, although the lack of grenades or any throwable weapons is quite confusing. The cover system is functional enough, I rarely had problems such as hunkering down in a spot that I didn't intend to.

Lastly, I can't say the "boss fights" in this game are any good, except one. It happens to be a spoof of a stereotypical turn based JRPG boss fight, but you're still fighting it in real time with guns, while the boss attacks by waiting for his MP to fill up before selecting his attacks (which you can see as a floating menu with classic blue Final Fantasy style textbox). It's actually really neat, haven't played any other game that does it like this.

Eat Lead is a respectable attempt at a "game about games" game, even if it can feel like it barely got in the finish line just in time. It's one of the games that you wished would get a sequel, there's just so much to flesh out and improve on, the jump in quality could be night and day.

Rising Sun, like most other MoH games, is a heroic portrayal of the finest soldiers the WW2-era Allies has to offer. It kicks off with a bombastic but respectful set piece recreation of the Pearl Harbor incident, letting you experience the frantic chaos that occured, while giving you just a tiny sample of the horror and trauma. From there on, it slowly sets up a tale of a skilled soldier selected to thwart a Japanese secret plan, but not before showing you what its like to fight in some of the most pivotal battles of the eastern theatre as a regular joe.

There's a good balance between well known epic battles and the more fantastical infiltration missions, and there's a lot of cool settings to shoot your way through, like the night time Singapore harbor-city (my personal highlight, I can't stress how cool it is to see this era of urban Asia being realized). But I have to admit that there seems to be a slight lack of polish or some sort of lackluster design. There's a handful times where I was confused about what to do or where to go, particularly in the jungle themed levels. There are also some visually ugly sections, where it seems like the models or textures are a bit distracting in their relative downgrade. It's not dangerously frequent, but it happens enough times to worth talking about.

Gunplay-wise it's pretty decent. Usually the game won't just throw a ton of enemies at you at once (except in the last level, which is my least favorite level gameplay-wise), and the restrain is appreciated, especially since there's a good amount of enemies hiding in the trees or in some hidden pothole. The selection of weapons feel somewhat limiting, there's a lot of weapons that are only available in some levels, which adds a bit to the repetitiveness. But I always liked how exaggerated the enemy animations are when you shoot or kill them. It's a part of older MoH games that I'm most fond of, not only because they're fun to watch but also because it supports the "epic but cheesy war film" vibe of the game.

Another part of the presentation that supports the vibe is the orchestral soundtrack. It's a classic war film orchestra through and through, it never fails to support whatever scenario you're in. It's at least enough to balance out the awkwardly timed and animated set pieces, or the previously mentioned flaws in the level design.

Rising Sun can be uneven and rough at times, but there's still a lot to enjoy in its dramatic war tale, especially if you're fond of the exoticness of 1940s Asia.

I've not touched this game in almost a decade, and to my surprise, it held up much better than I expected. The vehicle physics are just exaggerated enough to make it feel chaotic, but not alarmingly so. The wide-and-large approach to the track design is quite interesting, especially with the different terrain types and how each of the vehicle types have their own preferred terrains, which adds an extra layer of complexity to the mostly straight forward racing gameplay. Visually the game still looks great, especially with how it presents the sense of high speed, and the usage of slow motion. The soundtrack is pretty good too. I think the game only lacks in the amount of tracks and variety in gameplay types. As it stands, it's a very fun but limited racing game that most people won't finish.

A mechanically sloppy skateboarding game that fortunately has other nice things to enjoy about it. The mostly chill and funk-ish base soundtrack is delightful, and the more skateboard culture adjacent ska-punk rock collectible tracks are quite solid. There's a fun cartoon-y story about a group of birds trying to help their owner from losing their job, it has that trademark Xalavier Nelson oddball silly tone. And the cute gimmick of playing as a little birb and being able to customize them with silly clothing is a big endearing factor. As long as you're not expecting this to be a serious skateboarding game that will test your mechanical skills, it will be a pretty decent time.

Eternights is a very easy game to misunderstand. On one hand, it tries quite hard to channel an essence similar to that of older Japanese romance visual novels/dating sims. On the other hand, it also takes many cues from more recent games, especially the Persona series, which may have the same roots as those VNs, but ultimately has grown to be its own thing, with a different set of expectations. Eternights tries to be a lot of things, but at its core, just like the VNs/dating sims of old, it's fantasy fulfillment. It asks the question: what if you're the key to saving the world, and you can score some baddies in the process? It's a cliche that has been fantasized countless times, and yet Eternights stands out due to its earnestness in its goals. It's not trying to be something greater than it is, and it's a big part of the game's charm.

The story itself is nothing special for the most part, but what I like about it is that it keep things simple by not overexplaining things and having too much dialogue and exposition. It's not about the lore or other worldbuilding aspects, it's about you and the gang, getting closer to each other (and maybe getting real close to at least one of them), and being the heroes of the story. The humor is either chuckle-worthy or mildly cringe, while the romance feels appropriately cheesy and wholesome. There's also some stereotypically anime vulgar moments that might not be for many people's tastes, but they don't overstay their welcome. All in all, it's a casual story that doesn't take it self too seriously.

The cast of characters is pretty good overall. There was a short period in the first 2 acts where the MC's best friend was annoyingly unlikeable, but he's cool in every other time. I liked Sia's backstory the most out of all the girls, but Min's just too adorable most of the time. Yuna seems like the least interesting one for me, but I have a disinterest for showbiz stuff so it's not a surprise for me. And yeah, Yohan is a pretty good twink. I can't say I care for the villains at all though.

The combat feels very janky, but there's a lot of fun to be had here once you know how the game wants you to play. Your normal attacks can't interrupt enemy attacks, and it can mess with how you think about dodge timings and such. It promotes a more reactive approach, like only attacking after you dodged an enemy attack, rather than attacking first. The combat also starts pretty slow in the first hour, as you're very limited in abilities, but you can get more abilities later on, like being able to parry, throw energy waves, and so on. It doesn't take long for you to be able to commit the combat's most fun sin: being able to delete bosses within a short period after breaking their shields without letting them attack. It's quite a flashy display, but there's still a hefty amount of jank to get over. At least there's some okay-ish puzzles in the dungeons to take some weight off the combat's shoulders.

There's also confidant skills, which are extra skills you can perform (if the character who owns them are with you), like Yuna's healing ability, or Min's protective shield. You can upgrade or earn new skills by getting closer to each character. Each character also has their own elemental attacks, which are essential in breaking down bosses' shields. These are also upgraded in the same way, and it only adds to the value of advancing your relationships. The relationship system is very similar to the recent Persona games, so I won't explain too much other than that it is well made enough.

One of the lesser parts of the game is the overall audiovisual presentation. Most of the game's music is just unsophisticated ambient music that is barely good enough to set the mood. The environments are similarly one-note as well, it always has the same vibe of being in a neon-lit dark corridor. At least the characters themselves look more competent, even if their animations can be a bit lacking. There's also some other issues, like weird audio mix in some scenes. But considering that this is made by a very small group of people, it's something that I can and willing to look past.

As a final note, I have to say that the final act (and the little gimmick at the very end) made me bump up the score a bit. It's perhaps a good way to encapsulate the experience: even with all its faults, Eternights still hits the most important goals, and for a hyperniche game like this, it's something that can't be taken for granted.