The beauty of this game is in how complex and intuitive it is at the same time. It doesn't just do a good job of interpreting the rules of D&D, but also helps you understand them with their ingenious tool tips and encounter design. This is a D&D game that finally teaches you how to play Dungeons and Dragons.

The game does an excellent job of rewarding cleverness and is the first D&D to incorporate the creativity of the tabletop into gameplay. Need to break a character out of prison? Turn them invisible and waltz out the door. Need to make a silent assassination? Trap your prey in a bubble of Silence to finish the job. This has always been Larian's specialty - see the myriad of reality bending antics one can get up to in the Original Sin games - but it's been something that's always been missing from the Dungeons and Dragons games which have always focused solely on the most literal interpretation of combat.

The encounter design here is really ingenious and compelling. The game does a great job of balancing really complex encounters with more simple ones. The difficulty curve of this game is excellent. Even on Tactician the game threads the difficulty line so effortlessly that even when the fights are overwhelming you still get to feel powerful.

The plot in this game is also excellent. There's so many little details that you can get into and every quest feels filled out with characterization. There are some truly fantastic moments laid out across all three acts and it never felt like more than 10 minutes passed without something exciting or intriguing happening in the world.

My sole complaint with this game is its technical issues. Act 3 in particular was horrendously buggy for me with frequent crashes and bugs. At one point very close to the end my saves refused to load, and I went through about two hours of troubleshooting trying to fix this mysterious issue that almost led to me reinstalling my Windows OS. If this was a month after release maybe I'd be more forgiving, but I hit Act 3 almost 6 months after release and there are still people out there reporting issues.

But the most beautiful thing about this game is the reach that it's having. I've never seen such a diverse crowd of people getting into a computer RPG of this depth. It's a testament to how well designed this game is that it has such broad appeal between hardcore RPG fans, casual D&D observers, and the RPG curious. It also destroys the false myth that there is no market for games that are this complex. This feels like the kind of generation defining game that will hopefully change all games for the better.

The Sonic game that's the Sonic game that made Sonic Sonic (if that makes sense).

First thing that hits you is the visuals. The levels are much more colorful and detailed than in 1 and have a ton more personality to them. One of the best looking Genesis games and one of the finest looking platformers from this generation.

The gameplay here gets tightened up considerably. Levels feel like they have more paths than the first game and in general just flow better. The game loses some of the precision platforming of the slower paced original, but it's just as thrilling now as when I was a child getting up to BLAST PROCESSING SPEEDS in the levels and finding that path that lets you zip through a level in 1 minute. Shortening down to two acts also helps with the pace.

The music here is simply amazing and iconic.

There are a few levels that are a little on the frustrating side and I found that the final boss had some janky hit boxes but nothing that would ruin the game totally for me.

The proof of concept game.

Platforming here is excellent and there are some especially tricky and difficult parts. It takes a minute to get how the momentum works but once you get it down it feels really good to play. Of course the music is quite good and even though it's an early Genesis title there's some excellent music here.

The only downside of this game is that the levels are a little too long. This game makes you really grateful that they dropped the 3 act structure in Sonic 2. There's a lot of set pieces that are copy/pasted into the level at random so at times it feels like you've somehow looped back around.

A game that on paper I should absolutely enjoy but just has never clicked with me. Dropped after a little over 20 hours, with this version being my third attempt to play this game.

There's some slight remixing that I felt were for the better. Character progression has been sped up significantly thanks to how leveling works now. Magic users for example now get access to crucial skills like Meditate much earlier than before making the beginning of the game much quicker. Buff cards are added into the battle that add a great random effect and can make battles quicker and more exciting.

Some other changes are a bit more puzzling. I'm not sure why the level cap is in there or what purpose it is supposed to serve. It feels especially egregious because the difficulty of this game felt quite brutal compared with the previous version. Some of the fights feel unreasonably hard - especially the castle fights where bosses start out with an insane amount of buffs in addition to their stats. Even when you hit the level cap the enemies are still 1 to 2 levels above you. I'm not sure exactly how much of a difference that makes but often times I was getting crushed so easily that it felt like I was playing the game wrong in some way. I don't know why the game took away the option for me to brute force my way through if that's how I chose to play it.

My other gripes with this game haven't changed. I felt like the game gets repetitive pretty quickly. I don't feel like there's much diversity to the level design between missions and maps seem big for the sake of being big. Some maps get replayed multiple times and the enemy layout becomes quite monotonous.

The class system here didn't do much for me either. I've never liked how classes operate in the Ogre games and this is still the case here. I didn't feel like there was much individual build variety with characters. Give or take swapping out a few contextual skills I didn't spend a whole lot of time tinkering nor did I feel like I was rewarded for the times when I did do it (again, what's going on with this game's difficulty?).

The plot in this game I've always really wanted to like, but while the world is interesting I just found the story itself boring. I felt like the game lacks a human anchor to help me care about the world politics. Dialog became a tiresome listing of factions and families while I was wishing for a little emotion from a character.

This is definitely an excellent game but just not one that I could connect with. I probably would have finished it if it wasn't so frustrating and repetitive.

Another one of those games that I've played 100s of times and is so comfy and cozy to me.

I'm still struck by how great this game looks as an early SNES game. The graphics and music are amazing and it remains one of the best looking games on the system.

I also really appreciate the difficulty curve of this. There's some really tricky dungeons in this game - especially in the last third of the game. There's quite a lot of combat in this game compared with other Zelda titles which I enjoyed. The bosses are all pretty fun to fight.
 
As much as I enjoy the open world Zelda games, I would probably play through any of the classic 2D era games 100 times before I ever replay Breath of the Wild.

One of those mystical untranslated RPGs that you seemingly know everything about despite not being able to play it in English until just recently.

The game is open world and reminds me a lot of the Metal Max games. There's a time and season mechanic which is interesting and the economy is based entirely around monster materials which are used for equipment, healing, and making money. There's a lot of interesting ideas - most of which are squandered here.

What you'll actually spend a lot of time doing is just walking around catching monsters, and that's about it. The game loves to gate you behind grinding. Literally, characters will say "come back when you're level 3" or "come back in 6 months" which, in the game's defense, is needed in order for you to actually catch all the monsters, but it quickly becomes tiresome.

There's three scenarios each with no major gameplay changes aside from revealing more of the plot. The three hours I spent in Scenario A - the shortest and easiest one - was excruciating. Reading that Scenario B almost doubles the requirement, and then that Scenario C triples it is what made me ultimately quit this.

The combat is very simple and there are some interesting mechanics. Some animals have strengths and weaknesses based on the terrain and season, but as it typical of many JRPGs of this era hammering that attack command is what always gets the job done. There's not really any capturing mechanic here - just defeat the animal and you'll capture it. It appears that some of the later animals require special conditions to find them which is interesting but you're a loooong way from ever seeing any of that content.

Graphic wise the PSX version looks dull and washed out compared with the more colorful and charming PCECD version. The anime cutscenes are nice and no doubt you've seen the excellent concept art floating around on the internet which is the best part of this game. The music I found mostly repetitive with a few decent tracks.

As for the plot, who knows! What's the point when they keep it locked behind something so boring and repetitive? Read the Let's Play if you're curious.

First thing that strikes me about this game is the production values. There are some really gorgeous pre-rendered environments, and the models and animations all look great. This is one of the best looking PSX RPGs. The soundtrack is also an extremely underrated one and feels very unique.

The gameplay itself is pretty simple with a few gimmicks. The addition system is interesting and possesses a good element of risk/reward to it. It helps it stand out a bit more from all the other typical turn based games, but isn't quite as annoying as the Combo system in Xenogears and Legend of Legaia. The difficulty is mostly breezy outside of a few boss fights, but there's some really great, challenging side content in the game.

The plot is simple and not too engaging, but I found it was told really well. The plot kicks into gear pretty quickly and I found that there was very little downtime in the storytelling. This game does something that I really like in how there are moments in the game where the story is progressed by going and talking to all of your party members. This gives the characters an opportunity to feel alive whereas in most RPGs of this era your party members tend to fade into the background after their individual arc is completed.

My biggest issue with the game is with its animations. The animations look really great, but there are too many of them and they all run pretty long. The dragoon magic sequences get especially tiring considering how much of your time you'll spend in Dragoon form. There are some boss fights that took me between 30-45 minutes with at least a quarter of that time spent watching the overly elaborate boss attack sequences over and over again. It really drags down the game when even trash encounters take longer than they should. If possible play this in a way that lets you fast forward to make these segments more palatable.

There's a couple of other annoying and puzzling elements. There's a 32 item limit which I felt like I was always at. I ended up not picking up a lot of loot in dungeons simply because I didn't have item slots for it. The game also feels extremely stingy with its EXP and money. It felt like characters took forever to level up and characters on the bench would be quickly left behind. This is odd because the game definitely feels like it wants you to swap out party members to take advantage of elemental weaknesses, but characters could be left behind so easily and maintaining equipment for multiple people requires a lot of grinding.

There's a lot more effort in this game than they had to put in and it's just weighed down by a few really egregious feeling bugs.

This is probably my first 2K sports game in years. The golfing here is pretty good. I like that you have the option to change between the old school, three button swing approach or the analog stick system. There's a ton of adjustable sim options to make the game more or less difficult. This game is full of the typical modern 2K monetization. It feels like every screen is flanked by advertisements for premium passes and contents. I played through most of the MyCareer mode but stopped after I had obtained a pretty big lead in first place as the mode was pretty featureless. I didn't feel like I ever understand the overly complicated skill and fitting system. I didn't feel much of a difference in my performance as I progressed through MyCareer so there wasn't any satisfaction of feeling my character get better. There really wasn't a whole lot to the game other than the golfing which is solid, but I'm not the kind of person who obsesses over nuances between TPC Sawgrass and Pebble Beach. There's a create a course option which is fun as I was able to hit a few rounds on a recreation of my local municipal course. For $15, I was adequately entertained.

How do you remake what may consider a perfect game? Capcom's answer is to barely remake it at all (for better and worst).

This game is an incredibly faithful remake to the original with some gameplay updates. You have that fantastic Remake Gunplay which still feels amazing. Everything here is sped up from the original as enemies move quicker and are generally more aggressive, and it all works. A knife parry was added which is fun and satisfying to use.

Parts of the game have been remixed or condensed. The village section is very faithful, while the island chapter receives more of an overhaul for the better. Some of the boss fights are slightly different than the original.

This leads to my primary complaint against the game which is more conceptual than anything. As someone who has played Resident Evil 4 multiple times, I felt like there was almost nothing in this game that was surprising to me. The game doesn't really go to any length to play off of your past knowledge of the game mechanics or give you much in the way of new challenges. The new enemies that were introduced were all good and fun to fight, but there didn't seem to be enough of them.

When it comes to content that was changed, it felt like for everything that was done right (ashley's chapter, the island, the krauser boss fight) there was something that was done worse (the minecart segment, some moments from the castle being left out, the repetitive merchant requests). What you end up with is a bit of a wash and a game that feels like it plays it too safe with the original.

What's most disappointing is that we know the original went through many different version and permutations and this remake would have been a fantastic opportunity to dig back into that archive of unfinished material to put something in the game.

While this is a very good game, it just plays it too safe to make it really memorable. It makes one wonder if Capcom just plans to cruise through the inevitable remakes of 5 and 6 in a similar fashion.

After playing the disappointing remake I decided to boot up the original to wash that taste out of my mouth.

Resident Evil 3 isn't the huge leap that 2 was to 1, but it does add quite a few interesting elements that it took Capcom a while to reintroduce to the series.

The dodge is actually a big game changer here. Before, dodging enemies involved a tricky bait and switch hopscotch in order to scoot past enemies. It became less useful in 2 where you would be dealing with 4-5 zombies at a time, but in this game a well time dodge can knock down multiple enemies at a time to clear a path. It's difficult to master, but is a hugely valuable tool once you get it down. It's absolutely essential if you're planning on fighting Nemesis.

The gunpowder system is also used quite well. You'll pick up far less bullets than in the previous games and ammo for weapons like the magnum or grenade launcher are incredibly rare. It requires you to make some real resource management decisions based on how you're playing: Should you save up the gunpowder for powerful grenade rounds or magnum rounds? Can you afford to?

Then there's Nemesis which is the biggest gimmick here. Aside from the additional fear factor, Nemesis is just really fun to fight whether you're in a stand up brawl or getting him caught on level geometry. Fighting him requires you to really skilled with the game and the decision on how and when you want to fight really influences how you play the game. The way that the Resident Evil mechanics aren't really made to fight against something moving that fast and also shooting back at you makes it fun to learn he meta mechanics of the game. It's almost like a fighting game at times.

It's also an honorable mention that this is the only classic Resident Evil game with a final boss that's more than just running from corner to corner emptying bullets. My first go around I found the final boss a little frustrating, but on this playthrough I found it far more thrilling.

The criticisms against this game are valid, if a little unfair. There's some reused assets and music from 2 here, but I found that the models looked a little better and there's some new enemies introduced as well. The only repeated environment is the police station, but that whole segment is maybe 15-20 minutes and the rest of the game is new environments.

The game is also criticized for being short, but my playthrough came in at roughly 5 hours (add another 30 minutes onto that for game overs). It doesn't have the multiple campaigns of Resident Evil 2, but there are some nice extras. There are some alternate paths and scenes and the Mercenaries Mode is fun and challenging with some really great rewards.

This game made a few small, but notable changes and improvements to the Resident Evil formula and refined the pacing, but this is definitely the point where Capcom had squeezed every ounce out of this formula that they could. It's strange thinking that Code Veronica would toss out almost all the things that made this game interesting. This is probably my favorite PSX Resident Evil.

I came to this game ready to be as forgiving to it as I was to Resident Evil 5. I was anticipating that the game was a disappointment just because it followed the perfect 2 Remake. The general derision of this game is warranted.

The positives of this are that it's still that beautiful, slick 2 engine. The gunplay still feels great and the mechanics scale well with the increase in enemies and space. The addition of the dodge works well here even if it's a tad too generous to pull off. The boss fights are all pretty fun as well. You can put these bones on just about anything and at the very least it will be worth playing once.

My biggest complaint is how much of a disservice to the original this game is. 2 Remake was an astoundingly meticulous recreation with memorable scenes and environments recreated and enhanced. This game barely does any of that. The broad strokes of the game remain, but it's missing any resemblance to the big moments from the original. The game rushes through the streets segment with none of the eeriness that was in the PSX version. There's no alternate paths or scenes to see and none of the cutscenes are recreated. They cruelly rob of us a proper Brad face ripping scene and neglect to pay homage to 3's incredible opening CGI movie. The game feels way too much like an Uncharted game with its over reliance on cinematic game tropes. There's absolutely no love for the source material in this game that feels like it was made by people who read the wikipedia article for it instead of playing it.

The second major disappointment is the Nemesis. Mr. X laid some excellent ground work on it, but this game doesn't really do anything with those mechanics. Most of the tense scenes that would play out are instead played out in a cutscene with no player control. Nemesis feels more like a cinematic tool in his appearances than anything else. In the original game Nemesis was a true menace, requiring deft management of resources and a keen knowledge of game mechanics in order to fight successfully. Even though it was scripted to a certain degree, it felt like he could arrive anywhere, anytime. Mr. X felt the same way too. In his many brief appearances here, Nemesis is mostly there to hassle you slightly from point A to point B. Even when he shows up with the flamethrower or rocket launcher he didn't feel like much of a threat and the chances that you have to fight him outside of the prescribed boss battles didn't feel fun or rewarding (protip: keep some grenades handy at the beginning to bully Nemesis into surrendering treats).

There are some other frustrating parts to the game. Seeing Hunters in this engine was great, but of all the things to pull from the original series why bring back the instakill attacks? They felt poorly telegraphed and I racked up the majority of my game overs in the hospital which was quite frustrating as Carlos.

There's also a big lack of extras in this game as compared with 2make and the original. A mercenaries or extreme battle mode would have been nice.

I would recommend this game for anyone that wants more Resident Evil 2 or who enjoys a nice, breezy shooter. Fans of the original will be extremely disappointed and fans of the 2 Remake will be mildly disappointed.

One of the most gorgeous sounding and looking games of 1993. The sprite work here is incredible and it's no surprise that they would end up being copy/pasted into Symphony of the Night. It takes full advantage of the CD audio to deliver some really memorable music.

The gameplay feels like closer to Bloodlines than IV with its faster pace, but there are a few refinements. Castlevania finally does away with respawning enemies so no more taking two steps back and having to deal with that damn skeleton again. The bosses are all pretty memorable and fun to fight. The difficulty is somewhere between IV and Bloodlines - not quite as hard as Bloodlines but definitely harder than IV.

There's some branching paths and a few extras. Maria mode is a ton of fun making some really tricky parts of the game extremely trivial with her slide and double jump. Her super attacks can make humorously short work of the bosses as well.

This is a game that certainly deserves its reputation. This is the finest 2D Castlevania from this era.

The first Resident Evil remake set the standard for what people wanted from a remake - a mostly straight graphical upgrade with a few flourishes added in. The genius of the Resident Evil 2 Remake is how it completely changes the game while managing to retain the soul and feeling of the original.

The action and shooting in this game feels phenomenal. It's an ultra refined version of what they created with Resident Evil 4 with excellent feedback and feel to all the weapons. The game does a great job with making every encounter feel significant. The basic zombies in this game are challenging obstacles for once and every other enemy feels like they present a unique challenge. What the original Resident Evil 2 did over the first game was ramp up the scale of everything - rooms could be filled with 4-5 zombies instead of 1 or 2 like in the first game. This remake retains that. Zombies come pouring out of windows and through doors and it's an oh shit moment every time it happens as you scramble for that well placed grenade or have to think up an escape route. It's extremely thrilling.

Sense of place is always important in Resident Evil and the way this game recreates the police station is incredible. Little details are sprinkled throughout to make it feel more alive. Mapping the station is still incredibly satisfying and the game rewards smart and efficient planning. The other areas of the game (Sewer and NEST) are less thrilling but these segments are relatively short compared to the time you'll spend in the police station.

The most major gameplay mechanic is Mr. X. It's an ingenious addition especially in his sophisticated behavior. He's not just a magic boogeyman who teleports right behind you (most of the time) but a smart predator who will hunt you based on sound. The game does teleport him a few times, but it's always done for dramatic effect and works quite well. Mr. X forces you to employ all your knowledge of the game and requires you to have keen knowledge of the map and smart use of your resources. It's probably the crown achievement of this game.

The 2nd scenario I also felt was done well. While noticeably shorter, it did feel more different than the 2nd scenario in the original. While there's none of the "zapping" mechanics at play, I did appreciate how the game rewards you in the second scenario for knowledge gained from the first (remember to write down those locker and safe codes!).

Probably the most underwhelming part of this game is the music which is just fine, but Capcom wisely included an option to play music from the original.

I consider this a perfect game. Absolutely phenomenal in every aspect.

The MO for Sega at this time was refining the formulas for many of their classic franchises. We got the ideal version of their arcade racing franchises (OutRun 2 and Crazy Taxi 3) and this represents the absolute refinement of the Panzer Dragoon formula.

The production in this game is pretty stunning. It looks and runs fantastic on the original hardware. The frame rate remains smooth and consistent even when there's a ton of shit happening on screen. My mind was blown playing this at a demo kiosk back in the day and it's still impressive today. No doubt it looks even better running on the Series X. The music is pretty fantastic too and there's an occasional appearance of tracks from previous games which is great.

The gameplay is also very satisfying. There's a high skill ceiling to it and it's one of those games that feels good to get better at. Managing the different dragon forms can be tricky at first, but once you get into the zone on this game zapping between forms to defend and attack feels incredible. Even when you know the trick to beating the bosses they still feel fun to fight. This is one of the few score attack style games that I enjoy to play.

In addition there's a ton of unlockables in the Pandora's Box. These include some bonus missions and scenarios which are nice (especially the entirety of the original Panzer Dragoon). The world encyclopedia is especially cool to browse through.

I only have a few complaints for this game. Leveling up your dragon forms can be tricky as they occur by collecting power ups mid gameplay. I felt like sometimes these power ups were very hard to see and as someone who has played this game multiple times I still find myself powering up the wrong form all the time. I wish you could just bank all of the power ups and then distribute them the way you want at the end of the level.

It also feels like there are portions of the game with mandatory damage. I've played this game multiple times and have it pretty well mapped out but there are certain segments where I get hit and I don't know why. I've always struggled a little bit with dodging in Panzer Dragoon games - attacks don't feel as telegraphed as they do in a game like Starfox 64 - and I feel like it is really noticeable in this game given the expanded offensive and defensive vocabulary you have access to compared to the older games.

Panzer Dragoon Orta is a great swan song to the Panzer Dragoon franchise. It's a cinematic and technical spectacle that feels incredible to master and play.