shatterball
1994
Nintendo (at least before Breath of the Wild) got a lot of flak for not experimenting enough with Zelda, so they would occasionally hand the franchise over to Capcom, where they would mix genuinely interesting mechanics (shrinking into the Minish world) with the stupidest shit you've ever seen (Kinstones, the figurine collection).
2002
2000
Has a bunch of weird little quibbles - the pointless time limit, the stinginess of spray cans on certain stages, stricter collision detection for grinding - that hold it back, but it has such a clarity of vision that when they made Future two years later, they kept the structure, story, and core gameplay loop essentially the same.
Trying to make D&D into a beat-em-up was probably the best decision in 1996, but now it just kind of feels like making an arcade game out of My Dinner with Andre. They certainly try to make the social/roleplay elements work, but it feels pretty slight, especially in comparison to the plethora of CRPGs that were out at the exact same time, so they just made it like if Golden Axe had an inventory system and a couple of fork in the road points.
2007
On one hand, this game completely shits the bed in the third act and has absolutely no idea what to do with itself when it ends, the 'moral choice' is the most moronic seventh gen tripe, and despite its posing, it has very little of value to say about politics.
On the other hand, it has probably the most engrossing and atmospheric game world ever created and I've memorized basically every line of dialogue over the 20+ playthroughs I've done, so who really knows how good it is?
On the other hand, it has probably the most engrossing and atmospheric game world ever created and I've memorized basically every line of dialogue over the 20+ playthroughs I've done, so who really knows how good it is?
1997
2021
A game made for a very niche audience (people whose favorite Quake is the first one, and people who also really enjoy Soviet aesthetics), which should immediately endear me to it, but it also understandably lacks a lot of the polish and creativity that Quake has. If the far superior Dusk or Amid Evil weren't enough for you, grab this on sale.
2011
1999
1994