thundafellow
1994
Revolutionary, and still fun to this day!
2014
I had heard about Sunset Overdrive. It sounded like some racing game with powerups or whatever. i did not expect to be parkouring around a punk-rock urban setting as an emo dude blasting zombies in the face with vinyl records and a penis shotgun.
2009
It's got some goofy dialogue and runs you only 2 hours, so...
2005
More of a side-story than actual canon. Takes the idea of the gladiator arenas and turns them into a full game.
Story is: basically Ratchet gets kidnapped by the villainous showrunner of Dreadzone, a gladiator show. Ratchet is forced to compete and beat all the champions.
Gameplay is a third-person twin-stick shooter as opposed to 3D platformer. Short but sweet. Not essential to main plot but is an interesting little footnote.
Story is: basically Ratchet gets kidnapped by the villainous showrunner of Dreadzone, a gladiator show. Ratchet is forced to compete and beat all the champions.
Gameplay is a third-person twin-stick shooter as opposed to 3D platformer. Short but sweet. Not essential to main plot but is an interesting little footnote.
Least favorite From Software game, but it has its merits.
Gameplay is really janky compared to literally every other From Software game. Adaptability is a dumb stat. Enemy spawns are not balanced. Frigid Outskirts. Shrine of Amana. Some bosses are lame. Boss run-ups are stupid.
HOWEVER. The visuals, the art direction, the story, and the music are still top notch. DLC slaps. I will still recommend this game simply due to that.
Gameplay is really janky compared to literally every other From Software game. Adaptability is a dumb stat. Enemy spawns are not balanced. Frigid Outskirts. Shrine of Amana. Some bosses are lame. Boss run-ups are stupid.
HOWEVER. The visuals, the art direction, the story, and the music are still top notch. DLC slaps. I will still recommend this game simply due to that.
In my opinion, the From Software game with the overall coolest combat. Fast paced, deflection-based, posture-based, tough but fair, and dope as hell.
Grapple and jump are fun to have, exploration is awesome.
Beat all the endings, really fascinating story about immortality and the consequences of the desire to achieve it.
Fantastic bosses, great music, amazing voice acting.
Once you fall into the swing of things, this game is addicting. Give it a shot!
Not a souls-like, more of an action-adventure that happens to have bonfire style checkpoints and a similar death mechanic. Similarities end there.
Grapple and jump are fun to have, exploration is awesome.
Beat all the endings, really fascinating story about immortality and the consequences of the desire to achieve it.
Fantastic bosses, great music, amazing voice acting.
Once you fall into the swing of things, this game is addicting. Give it a shot!
Not a souls-like, more of an action-adventure that happens to have bonfire style checkpoints and a similar death mechanic. Similarities end there.
2013
Best of the three in my opinion. Plays the best, looks the best, has the most interesting story. Bow is fun to use, and just like the others, tough but fun, balls-to-the-wall sci-fi action.
2011
Tough but fun, balls-to-the-wall sci-fi action, improved mechanics and graphics, I recommend.
I played this as a kid but never beat it, so I went back and beat it.
It's a pretty standard 3D platformer/collect-a-thon where you play as Scooby Doo in a mystery where there's a haunted estate filled with all the foes of the gang's past from the original television series.
It's goofy and has charm. Uses laugh tracks and all of the classic Hanna-Barbera sound effects that we know and love. It also uses the music from the original show, as well as some tracks made specifically for the game.
Some platforming sections are super frustrating, but aside from that, it doesn't do anything too crazy for a platformer. It actually kinda functions as a metroidvania, in that you gather abilities that you use to gain access to new areas or get items that were previously not reachable.
Fun little game!
It's a pretty standard 3D platformer/collect-a-thon where you play as Scooby Doo in a mystery where there's a haunted estate filled with all the foes of the gang's past from the original television series.
It's goofy and has charm. Uses laugh tracks and all of the classic Hanna-Barbera sound effects that we know and love. It also uses the music from the original show, as well as some tracks made specifically for the game.
Some platforming sections are super frustrating, but aside from that, it doesn't do anything too crazy for a platformer. It actually kinda functions as a metroidvania, in that you gather abilities that you use to gain access to new areas or get items that were previously not reachable.
Fun little game!
2001
A cute little game where you play as Luigi as he looks for Mario in a haunted mansion and sucks up ghosts with a vacuum cleaner.
Music is catchy, Luigi is a fun character, it has a satisfying gameplay loop, and has a lot of charm.
One of the bosses really got on my nerves though, the controls were a bit wonky, and there were a handful of ghost encounters (mainly Boos) that were frustrating to complete and involved a lot of tedious back-and-forth between rooms.
Aside from that, fun little game, and it doesn't take long to complete! If you don't have a GameCube or Wii, play it on the Dolphin emulator.
Music is catchy, Luigi is a fun character, it has a satisfying gameplay loop, and has a lot of charm.
One of the bosses really got on my nerves though, the controls were a bit wonky, and there were a handful of ghost encounters (mainly Boos) that were frustrating to complete and involved a lot of tedious back-and-forth between rooms.
Aside from that, fun little game, and it doesn't take long to complete! If you don't have a GameCube or Wii, play it on the Dolphin emulator.
2015
Destiny, but with a Halo skin.
Halo 5's is a very peculiar entry to the franchise. Gameplay wise, it's pretty solid, and I hear the multiplayer was great.
The campaign, however...damn. And that's not a good "damn".
This game takes place 8 months after Halo 4, and you play as both Master Chief and Spartan Locke. Both Chief's squad (Blue Team) and Locke's team (Fireteam Osiris) are attempting to stop the splinter Covenant faction that was introduced in 4. However, Chief gets a vision from Cortana (who is supposed to be dead) that leads to him along with Blue Team deserting their main mission to go look for her. Fireteam Osiris is sent to track them down and arrest them. They later find out that Cortana survived, got access to the Forerunner quantum realm called the Domain and has decided that AI should be the rulers of the universe, and she's the one to lead them. So now in addition to stopping the splinter Covenant faction, they need to stop Cortana from waking up a bunch of giant Forerunner robots called Guardians that she plans to use to enact her goal of universe domination.
So there's a lot going on, and it's happening fast. The opening cutscene is corny as hell, the pacing is rushed, the Covenant commander is killed in a cutscene instead of a bossfight, Cortana is unceremoniously brought back and made a villain, there's a fight between Chief and Locke that also was done in a cutscene, there's an annoying recurring boss called the Warden, the Aribiter shows up again (cool!) but doesn't really have an important role and when he and Chief meet up again after four years they don't say anything to each other (not cool), and it all ends in a huge cliffhanger that ends up getting retconned in Infinite.
It's super messy and the overall style they went for felt more akin to Destiny than Halo.
I personally wouldn't recommend it, but if you can borrow it or nab it for free, then yeah, play it simply so you can know the story leading up to Infinite.
Halo 5's is a very peculiar entry to the franchise. Gameplay wise, it's pretty solid, and I hear the multiplayer was great.
The campaign, however...damn. And that's not a good "damn".
This game takes place 8 months after Halo 4, and you play as both Master Chief and Spartan Locke. Both Chief's squad (Blue Team) and Locke's team (Fireteam Osiris) are attempting to stop the splinter Covenant faction that was introduced in 4. However, Chief gets a vision from Cortana (who is supposed to be dead) that leads to him along with Blue Team deserting their main mission to go look for her. Fireteam Osiris is sent to track them down and arrest them. They later find out that Cortana survived, got access to the Forerunner quantum realm called the Domain and has decided that AI should be the rulers of the universe, and she's the one to lead them. So now in addition to stopping the splinter Covenant faction, they need to stop Cortana from waking up a bunch of giant Forerunner robots called Guardians that she plans to use to enact her goal of universe domination.
So there's a lot going on, and it's happening fast. The opening cutscene is corny as hell, the pacing is rushed, the Covenant commander is killed in a cutscene instead of a bossfight, Cortana is unceremoniously brought back and made a villain, there's a fight between Chief and Locke that also was done in a cutscene, there's an annoying recurring boss called the Warden, the Aribiter shows up again (cool!) but doesn't really have an important role and when he and Chief meet up again after four years they don't say anything to each other (not cool), and it all ends in a huge cliffhanger that ends up getting retconned in Infinite.
It's super messy and the overall style they went for felt more akin to Destiny than Halo.
I personally wouldn't recommend it, but if you can borrow it or nab it for free, then yeah, play it simply so you can know the story leading up to Infinite.
2012
This is the first Halo that I owned (but not the first I played), so it does have a certain special place in my heart for that, but that mainly applies to the multiplayer aspect. I think Halo 4 has very good multiplayer. I only ever played the campaign once, though, and after playing the previous entries to the franchise, Halo 4's campaign is...ok.
Halo 4 takes place four years after Halo 3. Master Chief's half of Forward Unto Dawn drifts within range of the Forerunner Shield World, Requiem, and a splinter cell of Covenant forces boards the ship. Cortana wakes Chief, and they land on the planet. Cortana reveals that she is going "rampant", which means she is past her intended lifespan and is now in the process of deteriorating. In addition to this, Chief accidentally frees the Didact, an ancient Forerunner being who intends to reclaim the "Mantle of Responsibility", which essentially means he wants to govern all of the space-faring races, and in his case, with an iron fist. Eventually the UNSC Infinity arrives and crashes on Requiem, and now an all-out fight to stop the Didact, fix Cortana's rampancy, and escape Requiem begins.
The first half of the campaign is actually pretty good, I enjoyed it a lot. One of the biggest changes that I wasn't too fond of, however, was changing the Covenant dialogue. Instead of speaking English and saying occasionally funny lines, they now all speak in an alien language, which I guess makes sense, but Halo 4 ended up being the only game to do this in. New enemies are also introduced, and I didn't really care too much for them either. The Prometheans are just not as fun to fight against as the Covenant. Their weapons are cool though.
In the second half, Chief delves into Requiem's depths and eventually faces off against the Didact, almost dying, but Cortana saves him, and sacrifices herself in the process. The game ends with the Didact defeated, the UNSC having escaped Requiem, and Chief alone.
Overall, I liked the plot, but as opposed to the OG trilogy, which had more of a feeling of being a part of a much larger conflict with a grand purpose, Halo 4 felt like just a cool sci-fi adventure with Chief as the main character. Honestly, they could have just left Chief floating in space and I would've been fine with it. It was a nice, bittersweet, open-ended ending. But now we have a new story on our hands, and hopefully its good! (Spoiler alert: it wasn't).
Gameplay-wise: sprint became permanent, a ton of new weapons were introduced, and a couple new vehicles were added.
I'd recommend this because the multiplayer and forge are super fun, but if you're here for the campaign, it's aight.
Halo 4 takes place four years after Halo 3. Master Chief's half of Forward Unto Dawn drifts within range of the Forerunner Shield World, Requiem, and a splinter cell of Covenant forces boards the ship. Cortana wakes Chief, and they land on the planet. Cortana reveals that she is going "rampant", which means she is past her intended lifespan and is now in the process of deteriorating. In addition to this, Chief accidentally frees the Didact, an ancient Forerunner being who intends to reclaim the "Mantle of Responsibility", which essentially means he wants to govern all of the space-faring races, and in his case, with an iron fist. Eventually the UNSC Infinity arrives and crashes on Requiem, and now an all-out fight to stop the Didact, fix Cortana's rampancy, and escape Requiem begins.
The first half of the campaign is actually pretty good, I enjoyed it a lot. One of the biggest changes that I wasn't too fond of, however, was changing the Covenant dialogue. Instead of speaking English and saying occasionally funny lines, they now all speak in an alien language, which I guess makes sense, but Halo 4 ended up being the only game to do this in. New enemies are also introduced, and I didn't really care too much for them either. The Prometheans are just not as fun to fight against as the Covenant. Their weapons are cool though.
In the second half, Chief delves into Requiem's depths and eventually faces off against the Didact, almost dying, but Cortana saves him, and sacrifices herself in the process. The game ends with the Didact defeated, the UNSC having escaped Requiem, and Chief alone.
Overall, I liked the plot, but as opposed to the OG trilogy, which had more of a feeling of being a part of a much larger conflict with a grand purpose, Halo 4 felt like just a cool sci-fi adventure with Chief as the main character. Honestly, they could have just left Chief floating in space and I would've been fine with it. It was a nice, bittersweet, open-ended ending. But now we have a new story on our hands, and hopefully its good! (Spoiler alert: it wasn't).
Gameplay-wise: sprint became permanent, a ton of new weapons were introduced, and a couple new vehicles were added.
I'd recommend this because the multiplayer and forge are super fun, but if you're here for the campaign, it's aight.
2010
Current Objective:
Survive
Taking place before CE, this prequel tells the tragic story of the downfall of Reach, the last human colony that stood between the Covenant and Earth. You play as Noble 6, a Spartan who is part of the squad called Noble Team. Throughout the game, your goal is to stop the ongoing Covenant invasion, but as you progress, more members of your squad are killed, until only you remain, and then, at the end of it all, you lose, and Reach is glassed by the Covenant.
A sad but powerful story that leads, seamlessly, straight into the events of Halo CE.
Gameplay-wise, Reach plays the same as previous Halo games (excepting ODST, where you are not a Spartan). Reach adds Armor Abilities, temporary abilities that you can pick up and hold one at a time, and perform infinitely in between cooldown periods. Sprinting was introduced as an Armor Ability here, and goes on to become a regular ability in future Halo games. Armor Lock was another popular ability, which involves using your shield's energy to create a shockwave and makes you temporarily invincible and immobile during its usage.
Reach was also the final Halo game developed by Bungie before 343i took over the franchise. RIP Bungie Halo. Their final game was truly a testament to their strength and passion in storytelling and worldbuilding.
Survive
Taking place before CE, this prequel tells the tragic story of the downfall of Reach, the last human colony that stood between the Covenant and Earth. You play as Noble 6, a Spartan who is part of the squad called Noble Team. Throughout the game, your goal is to stop the ongoing Covenant invasion, but as you progress, more members of your squad are killed, until only you remain, and then, at the end of it all, you lose, and Reach is glassed by the Covenant.
A sad but powerful story that leads, seamlessly, straight into the events of Halo CE.
Gameplay-wise, Reach plays the same as previous Halo games (excepting ODST, where you are not a Spartan). Reach adds Armor Abilities, temporary abilities that you can pick up and hold one at a time, and perform infinitely in between cooldown periods. Sprinting was introduced as an Armor Ability here, and goes on to become a regular ability in future Halo games. Armor Lock was another popular ability, which involves using your shield's energy to create a shockwave and makes you temporarily invincible and immobile during its usage.
Reach was also the final Halo game developed by Bungie before 343i took over the franchise. RIP Bungie Halo. Their final game was truly a testament to their strength and passion in storytelling and worldbuilding.
2009
The most vibe-y halo for sure. You roam the rainy, nighttime New Mombasa streets with piano music in the background as you play the silent role of The Rookie, an ODST (Orbital Drop Shock Trooper) who is trying to regroup with their squad after being separated when the Covenant retreat from the city via slipspace in Halo 2.
The story takes place entirely in New Mombasa during the events of both Halo 2 and 3. The climax of the game occurs when the Covenant return to excavate the Forerunner artifact that eventually leads to the Ark.
The plot is broken up into sections where you eventually end up playing as each squad member. The main through-line is playing The Rookie as they locate clues as to where the squad has gone, and with each clue, a flashback occurs and you play as the respective squad member.
Since you are not a Spartan, instead of the shield mechanic for health you get a stamina mechanic. The more time you spend actively engaged in combat, the more it drains, and the more susceptible you are to damage. You also get a map, objective markers, a quest log, and lore entries. Aside from that, it functions mostly the same as the other Halo games. Meaning guns, grenades, melee, vehicles.
This is the second Halo game where you play as someone other than the Master Chief, the first being Halo Wars, but that's more of an RTS than an FPS, and it's made by a different developer.
Highly recommend this one if you want more story from outside of Chief's perspective during the main plot arc.
The story takes place entirely in New Mombasa during the events of both Halo 2 and 3. The climax of the game occurs when the Covenant return to excavate the Forerunner artifact that eventually leads to the Ark.
The plot is broken up into sections where you eventually end up playing as each squad member. The main through-line is playing The Rookie as they locate clues as to where the squad has gone, and with each clue, a flashback occurs and you play as the respective squad member.
Since you are not a Spartan, instead of the shield mechanic for health you get a stamina mechanic. The more time you spend actively engaged in combat, the more it drains, and the more susceptible you are to damage. You also get a map, objective markers, a quest log, and lore entries. Aside from that, it functions mostly the same as the other Halo games. Meaning guns, grenades, melee, vehicles.
This is the second Halo game where you play as someone other than the Master Chief, the first being Halo Wars, but that's more of an RTS than an FPS, and it's made by a different developer.
Highly recommend this one if you want more story from outside of Chief's perspective during the main plot arc.
2007
This review contains spoilers
“Wake me…when you need me.”
Halo 3 is and was meant to be the final game in Chief’s story. The other two Bungie titles, Halo 3 ODST and Halo: Reach both follow different characters at different times in the chronology. As such, Halo 3 is the culmination of all the events of CE and 2, and picks up right where 2 left off.
Chief crashes down on Earth and is recovered by Johnson, the Arbiter, and a team of Marines. This will be the first time Chief and the Arbiter meet directly. The last Prophet, Truth, has invaded Earth with the Covenant. They are excavating a Forerunner artifact in an area close to New Mombasa, a city in East Africa. This artifact will allow them to reach the Ark, the Forerunner installation that will allow them to simultaneously fire the Halo Array that has since been put on standby during the events of Halo 2. What ensues is the final stand, that ends up making its way to the Ark, where Chief and the Arbiter, along with their respective armies, must launch an assault on the Core, to stop Truth before he activates the Array.
They succeed, but the Gravemind now has the upper hand, and it’s up to Chief and Arbiter to put an end to the Flood once and for all. What ends up happening is a new Ring is constructed by the Ark to replace the one Chief destroyed in CE. He decides to activate it as a means to eliminate Gravemind and the Flood. Chief reunites with Cortana, who has the Index, they get to the Control Room, and face off against Guilty Spark (who doesn’t want them to destroy its shiny new ring). They activate the Ring and flee on the human frigate “Forward Unto Dawn”. Once the pulse fires, the ship enters slipspace. However, the ship is cut in half, and the half containing Arbiter returns to Earth, while the half containing Chief and Cortana ends up floating in deep space. The game ends with Chief having no other choice but to enter cryo-sleep and wait to be found. On Earth, a service is held for all who perished in the fight. This includes Keyes and Johnson. Afterwards, the Arbiter and the Elites finally head back to their home world.
This campaign was my personal favorite. The epic scale of it, the overwhelming odds humanity must face to survive, the alliance between humanity and the Elites…it was all done so well. The visuals in this were stunning, too. Even though subsequent games had better overall graphics, Halo 3 had some of the most well-crafted visuals in terms of artistic direction. And the grandiose soundtrack to top it off made it clear that when Halo 3 released, it was the gaming event of a lifetime. I didn’t experience this in its heyday, but the closest thing I can compare it to, in terms of the feelings it evoked, was when I went to go see the final Harry Potter movie in theaters. The realization that this was the end, that it was the final battle, after all this time…it was awesome. Granted, I can only imagine how fans of Halo felt, especially ones who had played CE when it came out, and had been following the series ever since.
Narrative aside, the game plays much the same as Halo 2, but introduced equipment, which are extra abilities (aside from Active Camo and Overshield) that can be held one at a time. Halo 3 also introduced the wildly popular Forge mode, which is a map editor. Halo 3 plays very smoothly, and the level design is on par with Halo 2’s. For me, there is very little to criticize about Halo 3, maybe aside from some enemy encounters that felt a little unbalanced and maybe a couple of one-liners that missed the mark. It takes about 9 hours to beat, so it’s par for the course.
Halo 3 is and was meant to be the final game in Chief’s story. The other two Bungie titles, Halo 3 ODST and Halo: Reach both follow different characters at different times in the chronology. As such, Halo 3 is the culmination of all the events of CE and 2, and picks up right where 2 left off.
Chief crashes down on Earth and is recovered by Johnson, the Arbiter, and a team of Marines. This will be the first time Chief and the Arbiter meet directly. The last Prophet, Truth, has invaded Earth with the Covenant. They are excavating a Forerunner artifact in an area close to New Mombasa, a city in East Africa. This artifact will allow them to reach the Ark, the Forerunner installation that will allow them to simultaneously fire the Halo Array that has since been put on standby during the events of Halo 2. What ensues is the final stand, that ends up making its way to the Ark, where Chief and the Arbiter, along with their respective armies, must launch an assault on the Core, to stop Truth before he activates the Array.
They succeed, but the Gravemind now has the upper hand, and it’s up to Chief and Arbiter to put an end to the Flood once and for all. What ends up happening is a new Ring is constructed by the Ark to replace the one Chief destroyed in CE. He decides to activate it as a means to eliminate Gravemind and the Flood. Chief reunites with Cortana, who has the Index, they get to the Control Room, and face off against Guilty Spark (who doesn’t want them to destroy its shiny new ring). They activate the Ring and flee on the human frigate “Forward Unto Dawn”. Once the pulse fires, the ship enters slipspace. However, the ship is cut in half, and the half containing Arbiter returns to Earth, while the half containing Chief and Cortana ends up floating in deep space. The game ends with Chief having no other choice but to enter cryo-sleep and wait to be found. On Earth, a service is held for all who perished in the fight. This includes Keyes and Johnson. Afterwards, the Arbiter and the Elites finally head back to their home world.
This campaign was my personal favorite. The epic scale of it, the overwhelming odds humanity must face to survive, the alliance between humanity and the Elites…it was all done so well. The visuals in this were stunning, too. Even though subsequent games had better overall graphics, Halo 3 had some of the most well-crafted visuals in terms of artistic direction. And the grandiose soundtrack to top it off made it clear that when Halo 3 released, it was the gaming event of a lifetime. I didn’t experience this in its heyday, but the closest thing I can compare it to, in terms of the feelings it evoked, was when I went to go see the final Harry Potter movie in theaters. The realization that this was the end, that it was the final battle, after all this time…it was awesome. Granted, I can only imagine how fans of Halo felt, especially ones who had played CE when it came out, and had been following the series ever since.
Narrative aside, the game plays much the same as Halo 2, but introduced equipment, which are extra abilities (aside from Active Camo and Overshield) that can be held one at a time. Halo 3 also introduced the wildly popular Forge mode, which is a map editor. Halo 3 plays very smoothly, and the level design is on par with Halo 2’s. For me, there is very little to criticize about Halo 3, maybe aside from some enemy encounters that felt a little unbalanced and maybe a couple of one-liners that missed the mark. It takes about 9 hours to beat, so it’s par for the course.