viki_oh
Favorite Games
004
Total Games Played
000
Played in 2024
000
Games Backloggd
Recently Reviewed See More
Street Fighter 6 got a fire lit in my veins again for the fighting genre. Introducing the modern controls is exactly what the series needed and before long it felt like everyone could kick ass online. It was an exhilarating few months and I haven’t felt this in love with a fighting game since SF4. Everything feels amazing to pull off whether you’re in modern or classic controls. After the most electrifying EVO in years I am so excited for the future of Street Fighter and the fighting game community as a whole. There’s days when I want to devote more time to SF6 and become just a “Street Fighter” guy and that’s the best thing I can say about the game.
They made the best game ever made AGAIN.
Quickly my reservations about a remake were silenced when I was back in the shoes of Leon S. Kennedy, roundhouse kicking and shotgunning to my heart’s content. They took the best action movie in gaming and gave it a new burst of adrenaline. The knife, a Resident Evil staple, becomes your best friend when you parry a fucking chainsaw. You have more mobility and more tools, but enemies are more unrelenting and the action even more sweaty and frantic. It offers moment after moment of heart pumping, addictive gunplay and I just stood amazed that Capcom has done it again. It shouldn’t feel so good but it just does.
It hasn’t even changed that much! The presentation is absolutely gorgeous and it’s one of the best looking games to come out so far. Everything is mad detailed and the gun porn has been pushed to the max. I paused and used photo mode when reloading a rifle and each round is rendered as it’s being loaded in. That’s impeccable detail. All the characters have had a glow up and everyone is super hot. The story is better and characters that were lacking in the original like Ashley and Luis are better! They gave Luis a backstory! Is this better than the original!??
The only reason I won’t put it higher on my best of 2023 list is because it is after all a remake. Resident Evil 4 is vital, and pure gameplay bliss, and a necessary remake or not, it’s explosively fun.
Quickly my reservations about a remake were silenced when I was back in the shoes of Leon S. Kennedy, roundhouse kicking and shotgunning to my heart’s content. They took the best action movie in gaming and gave it a new burst of adrenaline. The knife, a Resident Evil staple, becomes your best friend when you parry a fucking chainsaw. You have more mobility and more tools, but enemies are more unrelenting and the action even more sweaty and frantic. It offers moment after moment of heart pumping, addictive gunplay and I just stood amazed that Capcom has done it again. It shouldn’t feel so good but it just does.
It hasn’t even changed that much! The presentation is absolutely gorgeous and it’s one of the best looking games to come out so far. Everything is mad detailed and the gun porn has been pushed to the max. I paused and used photo mode when reloading a rifle and each round is rendered as it’s being loaded in. That’s impeccable detail. All the characters have had a glow up and everyone is super hot. The story is better and characters that were lacking in the original like Ashley and Luis are better! They gave Luis a backstory! Is this better than the original!??
The only reason I won’t put it higher on my best of 2023 list is because it is after all a remake. Resident Evil 4 is vital, and pure gameplay bliss, and a necessary remake or not, it’s explosively fun.
For me 2023 was the year of the retro revival. Resident Evil 4 Remake did very little to shake up the formula of the original masterpiece and it’s all the better for it. Armored Core 6 absolutely plays like a game from the PS2 era with its mission structure and how it delivers the story. There’s something refreshing about bloat-free and gameplay-forward gaming experiences of old. Then there was Metroid Prime Remastered, a totally faithful-to-the-original remake on Switch. It was my opportunity to play it after first trying it on the GameCube and immediately not getting it. It was a headache game. I was confused.
Now I’m old enough to appreciate the lush world and exploration of Prime. It does little to hold your hand, the map usually being your best friend, and you have to rely on the environment for the rest. Again, the gameplay and level design is “dated.” But the level design is so tightly made and absolutely one of the best adventures I’ve had in a long time. The similarities to Dark Souls are interesting to note. The levels are segmented but connected via a large overworld, you have to save in certain spots and respawn enemies if you do. It can be gruelingly difficult as you explore with Samus, low on missiles, and desperately looking for a save station.
What’s insane is how perfectly they translate Metroid’s formula into 3D. Consider me a big fan of Metroid Prime now and I wonder if we will get the sequels on Switch. Retro has made magic happen with this remaster and it looks stunning on the Switch. I in fact made the decision to buy the OLED model only hours into Prime, and it was a very worthwhile purchase.
My only gripe is the huge amount of back tracking I had to do towards the end of the game. I hung my head in defeat when I realized I had not collected several of the relics necessary for the end game despite me being in the rooms they are hidden away in. The lack of fast travel is admittedly painful and morph balling my way through basically the entire world to collect the crap I missed was truthfully a chore. But that’s on me, really.
Now I’m old enough to appreciate the lush world and exploration of Prime. It does little to hold your hand, the map usually being your best friend, and you have to rely on the environment for the rest. Again, the gameplay and level design is “dated.” But the level design is so tightly made and absolutely one of the best adventures I’ve had in a long time. The similarities to Dark Souls are interesting to note. The levels are segmented but connected via a large overworld, you have to save in certain spots and respawn enemies if you do. It can be gruelingly difficult as you explore with Samus, low on missiles, and desperately looking for a save station.
What’s insane is how perfectly they translate Metroid’s formula into 3D. Consider me a big fan of Metroid Prime now and I wonder if we will get the sequels on Switch. Retro has made magic happen with this remaster and it looks stunning on the Switch. I in fact made the decision to buy the OLED model only hours into Prime, and it was a very worthwhile purchase.
My only gripe is the huge amount of back tracking I had to do towards the end of the game. I hung my head in defeat when I realized I had not collected several of the relics necessary for the end game despite me being in the rooms they are hidden away in. The lack of fast travel is admittedly painful and morph balling my way through basically the entire world to collect the crap I missed was truthfully a chore. But that’s on me, really.