1994
Actually a competent little platformer, designed originally for the 3DO. Gex is an annoying dickhead whom I hope gets hit by a car, but I think his game is fine.
1998
"Licking my way to the top."
Same studio who made Soul Reaver and Tomb Raider 2013.
A game so violent and unpleasent it makes The Last of Us 2 look like Super Mario. The camera swings violently, plotting against you at all times, while Gex's rigid and jagged movements feel so stiff and unnatural. Meanwhile the audio design is working against you actively, annoying ass and cacophonous music coupling with Gex's inability to shut the fuck up to create a vomitous concoction that only the most bold gamers may feast. During the "Circle of Shit" section of Salo, they were eating Gex.
Same studio who made Soul Reaver and Tomb Raider 2013.
A game so violent and unpleasent it makes The Last of Us 2 look like Super Mario. The camera swings violently, plotting against you at all times, while Gex's rigid and jagged movements feel so stiff and unnatural. Meanwhile the audio design is working against you actively, annoying ass and cacophonous music coupling with Gex's inability to shut the fuck up to create a vomitous concoction that only the most bold gamers may feast. During the "Circle of Shit" section of Salo, they were eating Gex.
In this game we learn Gex has sex with a woman
wonderful combat system, great enemy encounters, and a lot of fun boss fights. also an incredible value for money with how much content is packed in here. 4 stars because Nioh 2 takes everything good about this game and cranks it up to eleven.
when people talk about this game, i feel like they are talking about the first few missions and vergil fights, which are showstoppers. the game opens and finishes so magnificently it's easy to forget how everything in the middle is a slog. the stupid ass chess pieces, dumbass bird enemies, and god forsaken jumping puzzles make plaything through this game a death march to the Good Parts.
2008
it's bizarre to me how capcom zeroes in on the worst aspects of DMC and just goes forward with them. more jumping puzzles, more enemies that are boring as shit to fight, the DICE GAME, WHAT THE FUCK??? It's a beautiful game with a lot going for it, but I just don't understand why their design principle for this series is "prevent the player from doing fun stuff and instead have them do annoying shit."
2003
haha, made you look. nah this game is crap.
yeah the writing is irritating, which is weird because NT usually do good work on a writing front. but that's kind of talked about to death. i think the game is fine, it felt hamstrung having to run on the then geriatric 360/PS3 hardware, but on the Xbone and PS4 there's a lot to like here. visual style and presentation is great and the platforming segments are wayyyy better than the mainline games.
2003
i love this game but while playing it i felt like my brain was melting out my ear. if you play this i'm begging of you use CHEATS. there is nothing you will gain trying to experience Drakengard the "True" way, except for nausea.
2005
i actually do like DoD2. the biggest issue is honestly with the pop-up messages, it's just insufferable how often gameplay gets interrupted for this shit. mechanically this game didn't make me pray for death like DoD1, and the story has good beats. i don't mind it!
Potentially one of the best games of all time, until some Joker on the development team said "combat mechanics." the combat is so cumbersome and time-consuming that it brings a nearly perfect game down with it, but then you get a joyous wall-running section or hear Farah and the Prince's snappy, excellent dialogue and you say, "ah, I can stomach ONE MORE combat encounter for this."
look how they massacred my boy...
2022
if it had ended at Leyndell it would be a 5 Star Masterpiece, but everything after the Fire Giant destroyed all the good will I had for this game and I never want to lay eyes on it ever again.
2001
Far from perfect, but there is just something about this game I love to pieces. The way Konoko is drawn differently in every single portrait, like 10 different artists worked on this game, the badass early 2000s electronic score, and the near flawless animation in the combat, this game could have been a true bonafide classic if Devil May Cry had come out during development. All this game is missing was something to take inspiration from and I feel like a style meter would have been huge for Oni.
2005
When you play a game this stylish, this creative, and this smart, you start to get pissed off when other games aren't like it. When a game has a way-too-long walking and talking segment or a dumbass crafting system, your mind will wander to an adventure game rail shooter where you can play a luchador that discusses the divide of east and west and think, "hmm, wouldn't it be cool if all games were amazing."