This is gonna sound harsh, but it's because I care. Know that what I say comes from a place of love. I love Thousand-Year Door. It's one of my favorite GameCube games. If you look here, you'll see that I named the original release my Eastern RPG of the Year for 2004:
https://www.backloggd.com/u/jamz92/list/eastern-rpg-of-the-year/
That being said, what a shitshow of a remake.

The more I play of this game, the less I like it compared to the GameCube release. Everything is so much SLOWER than the original. At the time I am reviewing this, there's no way to speed up the text scroll speed like there is in the original. Given how chatty this game is, that's a real problem.

Levelling up is significantly slower. When you levelled up in the original, your HP and FP were instantly filled. Now, it ticks up slowly. It acts like you were at zero, even if you were full.

The game runs at 30 FPS, whereas the GameCube version ran at 60 FPS. I assumed that better tech specs meant better performance, but I guess not. The graphics are way too glossy for the tone the original was trying to convey. I HATE the remixed music. Thankfully you can turn it off with a badge that is cheap, but I would prefer to have it in the options. So we have a worse looking, worse sounding, worse performing game that wastes your time compared to the original that costs more than the GameCube game originally did. I say wait for a price drop, or better yet, emulate the original. Don't incentivize Nintendo to cut corners like this with their own history. I haven't seen such a botched remake out of this company since the Diamond and Pearl remakes on Switch.

I have a question for you: Do you have a "happy place" game? When you have had a bad day, nothing's gone right, and you feel dead to the world, do you have a game that you just turn on and suddenly everything suddenly feels like it's going to be okay? Donkey Kong Country is that game to me. Every Donkey Kong Country has that effect on me, but it's most keenly felt with this one.

The story is pretty simple. One dark and stormy night, King K. Rool has stolen Donkey Kong's banana hoard and locked Diddy Kong in a barrel. It's your job to save Diddy and the banana hoard. It is admittedly light on story, but most of the game's emotions are carried in the moment to moment gameplay. This is an incredibly challenging game for first-timers. Sure, I can beat it now no problem, but that's because I have over 20 years of experience playing it. Its difficulty actually enhances the quest. With how high stakes the atmosphere of the levels make it, combined with David Wise's frankly haunting soundtrack, it really feels like a quest into danger more than a simple platforming romp. Some nights, I will just put on Aquatic Ambience from the soundtrack and just contemplate my place in the world. The music and atmosphere of this game make me feel wonderful things that I am not sure I can even put into words.

The platforming itself is a ton of fun. An incredibly high skill ceiling means that it is always engaging, and there is enough mechanical variation to keep you entertained through the whole journey. The same can arguably not be said about the stage variety. They could have called this game "Donkey Kong Cave" for how much time you spend in them. This is one aspect where its sequels have it beat admittedly, but it never really bothered me personally. The same can be said of the bosses. Of all the various bosses in the game, only King K. Rool himself stands out as memorable. Fortunately, the final fight with him is arguably one of the best the Super Nintendo has to offer.

It should also be noted that this game arguably saved the Super Nintendo from losing to the Genesis in North America. While the Sega Genesis did still beat the Super Nintendo in sales in 1994 and 1995, it would prove to be the years that a Sega console would ever be on top in the region. Sega would move on to the Saturn in 1995 in America, more or less abandoning the Genesis, allowing the Super Nintendo to catch up and eventually surpass it in sales globally. The Donkey Kong Country games were a major reason why, and it all began with this one. This game would prove to be the second best-selling game for the SNES, with Donkey Kong, for a few years at least, supplanting Mario as Nintendo's most popular character. A lot of that had to do with the graphics. No one had ever seen graphics like this before. When you play this game on a CRT TV now, they still hold up. With the right filters on an emulator, you can get a similar effect.

This game was a risk that paid off. I am not sure modern Nintendo would trust a third party to handle one of their biggest IPs in such a way. Perhaps they should. With its colorful graphics, interesting and challenging platofrming, excellent animation, and amazing soundtrack that elevates the whole experience into something that is emotional and poignant, Donkey Kong Country is simply one of the finest platforming games ever made, and my "happy place" game. Give it a shot and who knows? It just might become your "happy place" game, too.

This game is everything I love about computer roleplaying games. Deep, meaningful choices, fun characters, good music, crunchy, tactical combat, solid multiplayer if you wish it, and a compelling narrative. While the storytelling is not as interesting, in my opinion, as its predecessor, Baldur's Gate II, or Planescape: Torment, what is? This easily stands as the premiere gold standard for video games going forward. Any bugs and blatantly unfair combat sections that this game might have, I can easily forgive. Because when this game fires on all cylinders, there is nothing else like it. God bless you, Larian Studios. May you build on this into your next game and beyond. I'll be waiting with eager and bated breath.

All I have to say is wow. This game was created in the 1980s by a Caribbean French black woman named Muriel Tramis. You play as a slave on a Caribbean plantation in the 1700s. It is your job to rally your fellow slaves and stage a successful slave rebellion and escape to freedom. It combines strategy, combat from Sid Meier's Pirates, and a hint of RPG. It is also brutal in difficulty, and it does not shy away from the horrific realities that were faced by slaves. Given how this game deftly handles its subject matter with respect to history, I can't but feel like we might have regressed a bit in terms of narrative. in video games. Try it, play it in a DOS or Amiga emulator that has the option for save states, and experience one of the single greatest artistic expressions in gaming.

A lot of people on here seem to think that this is A Realm Reborn. This is actually the vanilla release of Final Fantasy XIV before it got taken offline. You can no longer play this version of the game, so you're just gonna have to trust me when I say it was a boring, grindy unplayable mess. Even Square seems to think so, since they nuked this version of the game off the map and built the foundations for a Realm Reborn on its ashes. It's quite an interesting saga. Final Fantasy XIV went from one of the worst games I've ever played to perhaps my favorite MMO over the course of a decade. But this version of the game was just awful.

When your vehicles controls are not the best, maybe don't have a mandatory escape scene in them to end the game. Call it a skill issue if you want, but I was stuck here for about an hour trying to just get through the last part of the last level. Spent three hours on Two Betrayals as well getting one-shotted by enemies I didn't have time to see because I'm playing on original hardware. Good thing the rest of the game is solid from a gunplay perspective, or I would be really soured on it. Keep in mind I was playing on the equivalent of the Hard Mode, so that could be the source of my problems.

Also, why is this game held up for its storytelling? Compared to what was being done with other games at the time (Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X, Ico, Max Payne 1, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Silent Hill 2 all also came out in 2001), Halo's story is nothing special.

Graphically speaking and from a sound perspective, this did set a bar that has yet to really be beaten. And the gameplay and story improve exponentially, beginning with Halo 2. I'd say play it, but you likely already have. If you haven't, there's a good game to be had here. Just on the easier difficulties.

I have been playing this game off and on since 2011, and it's finally finished. What a great game. It's like Ocarina of Time mixed with the exploration of Metroid. A really interesting story about the illusion of free choice and fate. It was written and directed by Amy Hennig, and in my opinion, her prose here, while flowery, is way more interesting than what she penned for the Uncharted series. Graphics were unparalleled for the time. It technically shouldn't even be possible to have these graphics on the original Playstation, but they were able to push past the limitations of the console. I played on Dreamcast though, and in my opinion, it's the definitive version, at least until the PC port comes back to Steam and GOG. The soundtrack is incredible. One listen to the game's theme song "Ozar Midrashim", and it will be in your head for the rest of your life.

So if I liked it so much, why only 4 and a half stars? Well, there's no in-game map, and in a Metroidvania, that makes it really easy to get lost. Super Metroid figured that out in 1994, so there is no excuse. The combat, while fun at first, lacks depth, as once you've figured it out, it stops being engaging and becomes more of an annoyance. Outside of the bosses, which are more like puzzles than actual fights, the combat does nothing of real note to add variety to its encounters. The game relies far, far too much on block puzzles for its own good. And lastly, there's the matter of the ending, or lack thereof. Anyone that's beaten this game can tell you Soul Reaver doesn't end so much as stop, with all of the payoff reserved for the second game. The narrative was nothing but buildup for a climax that just isn't there. Thankfully, it was good buildup. Perhaps, if Soul Raver 2 manages to stick the landing, I might come back and revise this to a perfect score.

As it stands now though, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is a solid action/adventure game with an engaging story, well-rounded, tragic characters, a gothic setting and world that is fun to explore, both in-game, and with analyzing the lore, fine combat and puzzles, and music that will keep you coming back for more. Play it on Dreamcast, Playstation, or PC. Play it any way you can, but just play it.

This was a journey. I think it's possibly my new favorite action game. The combat relies more on reflexes than memorizing combos. Playing it was invigorating, but I was also reminded that games like this were a dying breed.by 2005. Having a simple story of revenge was quickly becoming passe'. Contemporary to Ninja Gaiden Black were games like Devil May Cry 3 and Shadow of the Colossus, both of which released in 2005, as well Half-Life 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, which released a year prior to Black (The base game Ninja Gaiden released the same year as Half-Life 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3). All of them were doing more interesting things with how stories could be told in games. Ninja Gaiden's story isn't bad, mind. It's just simple, with plenty of worldbuilding, llore, ambient music, and atmosphere to soak in if one is so inclined.

And the game gives you plenty of time to take in the sights. The map is sprawling, with lots of collectibles to find, secrets to uncover, and puzzles to solve. It reminds me of a Resident Evil game or a Zelda game from the Nintendo 64 era in terms of level design, while also having a foot firmly planted in the glories of the NES. You have a Ninja that travels to an evil empire by airship, fights, using primarily a sword, bad guys with guns, other ninjas, zombies, demons, and dinosaurs, with the help of a beautiful woman. It's all stuff you would have seen in the 8-bit days. The aesthetics, plot, and gameplay would fit right in with that era, especially given how hard the game is to finish.

i won't try to sugarcoat it, folks: this game is hard. To the point where it might seem unfair. It has mobs, enemies that respawn, and even classic NES knockback into lava pits. This version of the game does have an easy mode, and it makes fun of you for using it. So naturally, I played on Normal, learned the moveset, got better, and had the time of my life doing so. Every weapon in the game has a use (except for the nunchuks, which are basically a worse version of the flail). In addition, the game is very generous with healing items, so make sure to stock up if you get stuck, and don't be afraid to use your magic. This game does have a ranking system, but the rankings don't seem to do much. Which is a good thing, as that means all the bonuses, costumes, and extra missions can be unlocked and earned simply by playing the game at your own pace.

In summary, this is a perfect reboot of an old franchise. Fun story, immaculate level design, a combat system that will really put a player's reflexes to the test, an interesting world to explore, and lots of bonuses to unlock make this an amazing game that could potentially keep a player busy for months. Probably the best Xbox exclusive not published by Microsoft themselves. Don't miss it. But ignore the remake of this game, Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Sigma eliminates a lot of the puzzle elements that made this game so interesting to explore, in my opinion. Sigma is a fine game on its own, but it is not a substitute for Black. There is no other game like Ninja Gaiden Black. And given the nature of video games now, there never will be.

I never made it through to the end without using cheats as a kid. Having played through it for Twitch recently, I understand why. This game is brutally hard at times. Enemies can drain your health with one burst of their smg, and you can't effectively dodge because of clunky PS1 collision detection. It's unfortunate, as this game's high points are very high. The catacomb level, Morocco, and the entire Crete section are incredibly atmospheric. Being able to play as a woman French resistance fighter is a nice touch, too, adding a bit of variety to the World War II first-person shooter genre. On top of that, this game has some of the best graphics the PS1 ever had. This could have been a better game than the first one, but its relentless, unfair difficulty and poor collision detection hold it back. This game is worth at least a look, but as far as first-person shooters from 2000 go, you'd be better off playing Perfect Dark, preferably the remake of it they did for the Xbox consoles, though the Nintendo 64 version works just fine, too.