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Giving a whole game a 0 because they don't speak Russian is literally the same as hating the entire planet because everyone doesn't speak Russian yet. Excuse me for being a hypocritical English speaker, but you know the planet isn't obliged to serve you specifically, right? Like... just because you heard of something doesn't mean it must automatically be catered to you. It would make more sense to complain about lack of translated subtitles. Complaining about lack of dubs is some serious weeb ish. This game was made in the U.S. It only has one language; The dominant language in the U.S. (and the world) Plenty of MAJOR games don't have alternate languages, yet an independent studio must be held to higher standards? To phrase it as RUSSIAN being the only language requirement to raise the rating means you don't even care about other languages; What about Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish, French, Arabic, and Bengali? These languages are all more popular than Russian. Why are specifically Russians bombing this review? Also, nobody cares about your console war. Please mature past middle school.

A decent game with procedurally generated dungeons. Mostly pretty straightforward. Though I consider the sequel MUCH better, this game does add context to that game. So if you already played DC2, this might be up your alley. Try that one first. The biggest problem with this game is that your weapons are destroyed if they run out of weapon health points (WHP). DESTROYED. That means that if you've been building up a weapon for hours and randomly come across an enemy that makes your WHP drain faster, you're probably going to reset your game in order to not lose the thing you've been building up for hours. I must've reset the game at least 20 times in the first chapter just because I ran into a dragon or rock monster that drains like half of my weapons HP. IT'S SO ANNOYING. And it definitely makes the game feel more repetitive than it already is. Aside from that, the main character seems to only exist to look surprised. The other characters are pretty interesting, but could still be fleshed out more. The story works well enough. The soundtrack is mostly pretty decent. Controls function well enough. Nothing too complicated or clunky. Not a bad game. The set-up is kind of addicting, but it can get frustrating. A lot of aspects of this game are WAY better in the sequel, though.

So I'm gonna be real, I never beat this game. I think I only did the first half (as there are two halves to this game). But that experience was so memorable that I'm positive of my rating. Graphics, sound, and controls are ok. Voice acting borders on B movie (just like any RE game, especially the first). However, the environments, gameplay flow, difficulty and different scenarios overall are so very memorable. The graveyard, the giant worm, the bats in the tower on the hill, the moving body bag, the trapped researcher... Every room is worth remembering. A prison island is truly a terrifying place for a zombie outbreak. There's a little bit of backtracking, but that's always been part of these games, avoiding zombies you couldn't previously handle. You can very easily run out of ammo, especially at the beginning, and you do need to save it for later boss fights; I think this works great in the survival horror setting, and adds a sort of pressure to make sure you handle things properly which I personally find very engaging, as you shouldn't be reckless in these kinds of games. If you like classic Resident Evil, this game easily fits in as a sequel to the originals. I really wish they'd remake this one!

On a replay: Complaints after the first level: - Please don't render environments within jumping distance if I can't actually land on it. I complain about this way too much. - The jump pads operate in slow motion for no reason; it's kind of annoying. This is minor, though. - They advertised this as cinematic on the cover... "Cinematic" doesn't really matter so much two console generations behind. They just make things blow up while you're on grind rails, pretty much. And they put effort into making it feel more like Pixar with speech patterns and mannerisms, but the original games already had a certain charm to them that lacks here a bit. - The antagonist isn't very believable. I mean, I get it's kid-friendly, but Ratchet breaks this guy's robo-suit to escape in the intro level, and I'm like "...so we beat him?" The story works fine as a set-up for the Future series. But I don't really care about the protagonist's allies. Plus, the unlockable skins aren't really good, so why should I try to get Gold Bolts? By far, my least favorite part of this game is the mandatory flying levels, as they move in a fixed direction instead of the free-flying combat of 2, or even A Crack In Time. Also, the arena is really underwhelming compared to other games, like 2 or 3. They could've easily added 10 more challenges. There aren't really any side games aside from those; No racing or moon missions like in 2. The gadget mini-games aren't annoying, but the pirate dance is strictly novel, totally nonsensical, and really plain and boring to me. Again, this disguise portion was done better in 3. It's really easy to have enough money at any point in the game. I personally prefer having to be strategic with investments. In challenge mode, the only real incentive is to buy everything... Challenge mode is honestly a little easier to me. What else is there? The weapon selection interplays well between different types of weapons, but certain weapons seriously lack power compared to others as the game goes on (fusion grenades get pretty pointless). If there were more weapons, the arena could've been easily expanded further. On the plus side? The environments in these games usually do look pretty nice from certain angles, despite their cartoonishness. The level lay-outs are memorable, and the progression of difficulty is engaging. I think this is where they really locked into the best weapon upgrade system, but I still think it improved slightly on subsequent releases. Overall, decent game for any fan of the series. Worth playing as a starting point to this Future sub-series on PS3, but if you only play one on PS3, pick A Crack In Time. I also like Into the Nexus more than this. If you can pick ANY R&C game to start with, just do the first three that were released on PS2.

There's something about this game that's really hard to pinpoint. I'm well aware there are a couple of flaws, but I can't help but love it to the point of being a 10. If I were to talk about it strictly technically, you could assume these aspects would bring down the quality of the game: - The dungeons are kind of blocky in design. (Disregarding the graphical design, which is blocky like any PS1 game, but has a nice touch with cell-shade lighting) - The alternate weapons become unbalanced throughout the game. It'd be great if they were closer to each other in damage capabilities when maxed out. That's kind of it, though. Despite how the dungeons look, they're set up in an engaging fashion that may make you think in order to reach special items; These special items could then be used to create alternate weapons (like the missile launcher, ground crawler, drill, or laser sword) and equipment (like the charge boots), which really makes you want to search harder, because you legitimately might need it in order to not get wrecked in the next dungeon. You don't only find weapon parts in dungeons; There's a fairly well-knit element of interacting with characters, like townspeople, to help them in trade for something they have. Overall, nothing feels tacked on because every character is integral to the environment. For something that's minimally designed to meet PS1 specifications, the world feels lived in. The characters are endearing and feel personal, and the story definitely had effort put into it. I actually really like that, before the title screen even comes up, there's a 9 minute (skippable) cutscene that often makes me forget I didn't even start the game yet. I occasionally get the impression like I'm watching an anime. Apparently there're like 90 minutes of cutscenes throughout. But that's the thing is that it doesn't feel like a cinematic game because all of the aspects of this game mold together very well. Combat: There's a lock-on/strafe function here that works fluently. You can modify basic stats on your default buster gun. Enemies drop money based on the difficulty that you personally chose; You actually take tests (inside dungeons) to upgrade your digger's license, which grants more money in trade for higher difficulty and access to later optional areas. The enemies are basically all robots (keeping this game kid-friendly) which mostly have memorable designs. Boss fights are fair and challenging. I know there's still something I'm missing here in terms of why I enjoy this game so much... Like it just has heart. The story somehow doesn't feel segmented, despite having clear plot points. Everything seems to happen naturally, which ultimately makes this game a highly immersive experience.

A ridiculously unique game clearly geared towards puzzle enthusiasts, as it gets mind-bendingly difficult towards the later stages of the game. If you're not into logic/physics puzzles, this game might not be an easy sell. However, I've spent hours playing this, going through what seems like just about every motion so I could figure out how to finish most of these levels. While movement originally seems limited, being able to control the stage more than the character does further engage the puzzle element in a deceptively nuanced way. At first, I thought "how complicated can this get with this little maneuverability?" But then by a few levels in, I realized I had to bypass what seemed like a closed loop with a very specific motion... The amount of finesse and thought required to push through these levels makes me wonder how on Earth someone came up with all this stuff! Maybe it's just beyond me because I'm not a physics major, so I don't understand what math must've been applied to determine how the physics can breach the logical barriers. Regardless, they did a fantastic job of applying complex concepts to create a logically engrossing experience. (Hopefully my description doesn't make it seem too intimidating, as they do start off fairly simple.) The graphics all appear hand-drawn, which is actually really immersive as it adds to the element of diving into your own thoughts for the sake of progressing understanding through exploration. The music isn't a show-stealer, but it adds to this feeling that things might take an unexpected turn while maintaining its composure, so I'd say it clearly adds to the immersion. The only real major issue is the pace, and that's because, like a good puzzle game, you really have to stop and think... and it might be easy to get stuck and think you've tried everything. But ultimately, this game does exactly what it should do within its format exceedingly well, and I definitely wouldn't dissuade someone from buying this game if they were interested.

A worthwhile remaster of the best Spyro games. Still feels like the original, with better graphics, and freshly recorded voice acting. Manages to maintain a cartoonish feel very well with the updated graphics. Everything that was good about the originals is good about these. EXCEPT: Regarding Spyro 2 (Ripto's Rage): - They rerecorded Moneybags' voice lines with the voice actor from Spyro 3; It's still good, but the original voice actor for Moneybags was absolutely precious; He originally came off more like part of a bougie bourgeoisie, which showed the faults of his logic, but was still slightly endearing; The current voice actor's original role (3) made him more readily malicious for the sake of profit (which might be more accurate, but this is still a kid's game, essentially.); He literally imprisons your friends and then threatens to imprison you at one point. - They also rerecorded Hunter's voice. Originally, he came off like a stoner who kept forgetting to give you orbs and kept challenging you to games for them, which is kind of hilarious as an adult, and totally off-the-radar for kids. Again, the re-do isn't bad, but ultimately, RR lost a slight bit of it's charm here. It's still good, though! Elora and the Professor are at least as endearing as before. - Spyro's physics were originally different in Spyro 2 from 1 and 3. They applied the same physics to all three games, which is... not really a complaint, honestly. Spyro 2 was just one of my favorite games to speed-run and it doesn't operate the same here. It's inevitable. So ultimately, there's still a reason to buy the original Spyro 2. But aside from that, little differences like there being more grass to hide gems in, or more unique dragon designs, generally make this an improvement. This title did not stifle its spirit, and levels operate just as well as they originally did. I would say don't shun this if you're a fan, and give it a go if you've never tried it. Pretty fun game for kids, just going around, collecting treasures, helping magical creatures, looking for new areas.

Dark Cloud 2 is fantastically addicting, complex, long, and often very fun, though the amount of content it has to offer can be a bit unbalanced as a whole. This game has many layers to it. Of these layers are: - A story based on time travelling to reunite the main characters with their parents while saving the planet from chaos. I honestly played this game because my girlfriend had recommended it, and she originally played it just after she lost her mom, which kind of made it really sad, tbh. - Randomized dungeons with specific sets of objectives and enemies; This helps keep gameplay fresh. - There's an invention system that's impressively elaborate, involving taking potentially hundreds of pictures and combining these picture ideas to give the main character(s) the capacity to create important items and equipment, which can then be accomplished by combining materials. A good few pictures are miss-able, like pictures of bosses doing special attacks. - There's a very intricate leveling system to the weaponry with multiple paths that's a lot of fun to plan out. You can also transmute weapons into other weapons in order to maximize stats on your main weapons. (I had no clue about that for a while.) - There's a dynamic that lets you turn into creatures from dungeons after you effectively use the right lure on them to unlock the ability. Sadly, this is the most under-utilized aspect of the game, as most of these creatures become pointless to use towards the latter half of the game. Contrasting that, the roughly built mech you can use maintains significance as it becomes the fastest way to move in dungeons. If you're looking for a good retro game where you can transform into other creatures, Threads of Fate for PS1 was pretty interesting. - You can play an alternate version of golf in dungeons called Spheda, which is a combination of game mechanics I don't think I've ever seen anywhere else. This is actually really fun, as unexpected as it is in this type of game. Although! The randomization of levels may make it a total pain to complete this objective in certain areas, making the game feel severely unbalanced to complete 100%. Particularly, playing golf in the canyon area was daunting, since you have to clear out the area every time before you try again. - There's a town-building dynamic; You learn what objects you need to build by completing dungeons. Building these objects and having specific people move in to these locations then causes changes when travelling to the future that allow the main character to progress and acquire rare items. - You can fish. It's not my favorite part of the game, but it works. Overall there are a lot of optional tasks. - Many unique, unforgettable characters. - A quirky and endearing style, in terms of art, graphics, characters, voices, and plot choices. All of these elements come together to do an excellent job of pulling you into an alternate world. Strong recommendation.

Dark Cloud 2 is fantastically addicting, complex, long, and often very fun, though the amount of content it has to offer can be a bit unbalanced as a whole. This game has many layers to it. Of these layers are: - A story based on time travelling to reunite the main characters with their parents while saving the planet from chaos. I honestly played this game because my girlfriend had recommended it, and she originally played it just after she lost her mom, which kind of made it really sad, tbh. - Randomized dungeons with specific sets of objectives and enemies; This helps keep gameplay fresh. - There's an invention system that's impressively elaborate, involving taking potentially hundreds of pictures and combining these picture ideas to give the main character(s) the capacity to create important items and equipment, which can then be accomplished by combining materials. A good few pictures are miss-able, like pictures of bosses doing special attacks. - There's a very intricate leveling system to the weaponry with multiple paths that's a lot of fun to plan out. You can also transmute weapons into other weapons in order to maximize stats on your main weapons. (I had no clue about that for a while.) - There's a dynamic that lets you turn into creatures from dungeons after you effectively use the right lure on them to unlock the ability. Sadly, this is the most under-utilized aspect of the game, as most of these creatures become pointless to use towards the latter half of the game. Contrasting that, the roughly built mech you can use maintains significance as it becomes the fastest way to move in dungeons. If you're looking for a good retro game where you can transform into other creatures, Threads of Fate for PS1 was pretty interesting. - You can play an alternate version of golf in dungeons called Spheda, which is a combination of game mechanics I don't think I've ever seen anywhere else. This is actually really fun, as unexpected as it is in this type of game. Although! The randomization of levels may make it a total pain to complete this objective in certain areas, making the game feel severely unbalanced to complete 100%. Particularly, playing golf in the canyon area was daunting, since you have to clear out the area every time before you try again. - There's a town-building dynamic; You learn what objects you need to build by completing dungeons. Building these objects and having specific people move in to these locations then causes changes when travelling to the future that allow the main character to progress and acquire rare items. - You can fish. It's not my favorite part of the game, but it works. Overall there are a lot of optional tasks. - Many unique, unforgettable characters. - A quirky and endearing style, in terms of art, graphics, characters, voices, and plot choices. All of these elements come together to do an excellent job of pulling you into an alternate world. Strong recommendation.

Going off of memory, I gave this an 8. But replaying it, I had to drop it, as the major faults start to really add up towards later in the game to the point of just being infuriatingly frustrating, honestly. BIGGEST PROBLEMS: - Rail detection (for grinding) is RIDICULOUSLY inconsistent on the X Box version. There's a race where you start by grinding a short log in front of the start gate, and my character bonked off of it more than once; That clearly has nothing to do with my skill level (like I can't tell the difference). I noticed this issue between the PS2 and Gamecube versions of Tricky; Some specific rails on PS2 would connect half as often as the same rails on the Gamecube version. This plays worse than the PS2 version of Tricky. - Bonk detection: Sometimes, flying into a tree at the right angle will make you bounce off of it. Sometimes, bonking it head-on at 5mph makes you start flopping like a fish out of water for seconds on end. I've had countless "are you freaking kidding me!?" moments. - While adding random riders to the mountain's environment increases immersion in a way, it REALLY messes up some challenges, particularly ones involving collecting markers along a specific route within a time limit. - Ramp gravity: Sometimes the shape of a wall will draw you into it. This can be a useful dynamic in a lot of games like Tony Hawk, and is often useful here, but is implemented in a way that draws you away from a route you would otherwise make it to. - The format of these levels means if you want to get everything, or mess up towards the end of a race because of bad hit detection, you have to restart at the top of the 2+ minute portion, or 8+ minute race late game. Very time consuming and repetitive. - The format of having one giant mountain worked out amazingly in SSX3; Here, it also works out quite well. However, most challenges make you travel through at least two areas of the mountain, making the second half of a lot of races feel like they're dragging on by the time you've memorized every route. Some of the transitional portions feel more like filler. - The further you get into the increasing difficulty (that keeps you from selecting easier unfinished challenges, for some reason), the longer the races get. So if you need to restart... that's another 7 minutes spent because of one mistake that might not have actually been your fault. By late game, you can basically only take one path, maybe two to win races; It kind of ruins the point of having so many paths in a level if you can't use most of them to win anymore. - The revert-to-track button is still as broken as in any other SSX game. - Every time you do a special trick, slow-motion activates and the camera spins around the character; This can be cool at first for helping you spot new areas, but I really wish they let you turn it off. That all said, there are still MAJOR POSITIVES: - The mountain is mostly really well done. There are quite a lot of routes to explore! One of my favorite reasons to play an SSX game (or any game, in general). Top-to-bottom runs take maybe 20-25 minutes, which is similar to SSX3. Entire sections more consistently split and come back together, as opposed to needing to take a specific route down the mountain in SSX3. The environments feel more naturally fitting, with heavier forestation (can be a negative to gameplay, positive to visual immersion), a heavier emphasis on slope shapes, and more believable buildings in populated areas. - Control scheme is largely similar to SSX3, which was the most effective in the series, with handplants and manuals available for combos. Handplants can help you reach rails, though it is very impractical for races and slope-styles as it basically brings you to a dead stop. - The art direction does actually add an interesting touch compared to the other titles. - Higher level of customizability means there's a lot more to do in a single run of the game. Overall, a decent game. Worth looking into for the level design. But definitely very, VERY frustrating for a completionist like myself. If anything, this is the perfect example **** that has an enticing lay-out that just isn't handled right, making it that much more frustrating to want to play. **** keeps making me want to play it just so it can piss me off... I don't really consider that fun. But it's fun in short bursts.

For a short period of time, this was one of the premier extreme sport video games. This game introduced skitching before THPS4 did. There are levels that change drastically as you activate parts of the environment, including dropping a boulder on a movie set, and unhinging a Ferris wheel. These levels are surprisingly huge, with sometimes a whole other half of the level hidden behind doors that require keys from other levels. Every level is distinctly memorable, including the amusement park, the museum, the airport, and the cannery. You can skitch on a plane, sink a ship, grind roller coaster tracks... Abilities level up as you use them, which can be pretty addicting, and adds a natural progression to the game. Ultimately functions like a Tony Hawk game. It introduced non-timed runs based in an open level where you can activate challenges before they did. Definitely an innovator for the genre, and worth considering playing if you appreciate this type of game. The only downsides I can think of about this game: - Leveling up doesn't occur evenly, as wall-riding and manuals will always be a lower level than all the more important stats. - Some parts of levels might take some finagling to reach properly. - Level editor is underwhelming. Just play the main game.

As someone who was a huge fan of the original trilogy to the point of learning how to draw the characters when I was a kid, I have exactly one reason that my rating for this is so low: They changed the physics / hit box on Crash's jump (you know, the thing platformer protagonists do to win the game), and it doesn't mesh with the levels that were specifically designed for the previous physics. This game is a better version of the originals in just about every other realm, which is what, sound and graphics? Any team of developers could've done that to a game that already exists and sold millions. But despite having a perfectly simple task to accomplish for an easy cash-in, they just couldn't help but tweak a linear platformer to have the physics of a non-linear platformer, essentially cutting Crash's jump short every time you try to control the direction he's going in mid-air (which is a HUGE difference in levels like Slippery Climb, one of the hardest levels from the first game). This one decision that they didn't have to make makes it's very apparent that they couldn't just let something perfect stay perfect because they felt the need to prove themselves in a context that was completely unnecessary; It's not like this choice made anyone trust the developers more. It's just an absolutely silly, non-sensical decision that emphasizes the jarring contrast between cartoonish-ness and realism. For anyone who hasn't played the originals: I can see why you wouldn't understand my complaint if you haven't played them, but the difference is definitely noticeable, and consistently leads to the scenario of "well, I guess the game didn't like me doing that, so let's just slide down the edge of this platform." Trial and error is supposed to be fun in games (no, it's not simply too hard; yes, I got the Plat trophies), but the style of Crash's gameplay regarding level design requires mid-air finagling; That was always a central gameplay mechanic. Here it's about tuning into a nuance that bares faulty indication of someone's mastery, as the game wasn't originally designed to accommodate it. Yes, you're supposed to be able to slide under an elevated Nitro crate from next to it without blowing up. There are areas where you specifically have to do that. And that's not even the jump physics, it's just expanding the character's hit detection. I still recommend the original games over this. Though perhaps the nostalgia of my imagination makes the old graphics still seem engaging, they truly do feel like finely tuned adventures. And credit where credit is due for the original developers making such a pivotal 3D platformer. I don't mean to dissuade anyone from trying this, I just consider level design and gameplay correlation to be THE most important aspect ****, just ahead of story. This took an L on that front. Still could be fun for the kids, and Warped seems to still work similarly to the original somehow.

Seeing as this game typically goes for half the price of a full release, there only being 4 main levels (and a home area) works out pretty well, as every area is expansive and differentiates itself really well. The game-play feels smooth the vast majority of the time, and I had a lot of fun, and a good few laughs. The levels are reminiscent of 3D Mario titles like Sunshine and Galaxy, with nods to other games on occasion, but overall this definitely has its own flavor and identity. Definitely a worthy experience for fans of platformer / adventure games.

Ahhh... The game of guns and puns. I bought this before it had add-ons, and the difference between it's launch and final versions is absolutely massive. I honestly don't remember some of the issues the game used to have anymore. But what's here now is an immensely addictive game with a stupid (good) amount of replay value. What's here: - Over 200 different guns that mostly function vastly differently. At least 100 active and passive items. Passive items are usually more important, but active items can completely change an outcome when used properly. - Synergies. SO MANY SYNERGIES. HUNDREDS OF SYNERGIES. LITERALLY EVERY POSSIBLE PUN AND REFERENCE YOU COULD EVER THINK OF IS A SYNERGY. A perfect example: There's a gun called a Barrel. You can shoot fish out of it. "Shooting fish in a barrel," right? Well the synergy is literally a fish chilling in the barrel with it's own gun, shooting. So it's still "shooting fish in a barrel." THE PUN PLAY IS ON POINT, B. This game just gets me. * Even without synergies, some abilities work amazingly in conjunction with each other, leading to different playstyles in different playthroughs. - Unlockable playable characters. The final character you unlock automatically activates every synergy on every gun, which turns some weapons that were originally just okay into absolutely essential, potentially total overkill. - Unlockable game modes, including Challenge Mode (adds random handicaps to every room), Random Gun Mode, Rainbow Chest mode (gives you one high-quality gun or item at the start of every floor), and Fast Mode (always on for me). - Hidden floors. What was initially 5 floors with a 6th bonus floor is now potentially 10 floors, if you handle yourself well enough. - Randomly generated dungeons with the occasional curve-ball thrown in. I had no clue what a glitched chest was until I'd already died over 200 times. The Black Market is always exciting to find. Also, Sir Junken was a pleasant surprise! Of which there are many throughout this game. - Overall, a fair level of difficulty. Once it really sinks in that you're invincible for half a second during your dodge roll, you should be able to make it through with just about any weapon. My only complaint at this point is that I can't unlock a mode with twice as many enemies, since I already got the platinum trophy, every unlockable, and still occasionally get an itch to play this. Only major downsides I can note off the top of my head are repetition, and a small number of guns and items aren't really worth it, which is inevitable with so many options. I almost always die when I pick up the red scarf. The special, nail gun, and pea shooter are pretty atrocious, even synergized. Def recommend if you're looking for a fun, addicting time-waster. Sometimes I go to games like this if I'm listening to something but still want to play a game. (Soundtrack isn't essential. Main theme makes me chuckle, though.)

This basically just being Skyrim: Special Edition, it has the same strengths and weaknesses as that game. However... I'll just put it this way: You know how some people just like trying to jump their way up the sides of mountains, and you can use that to reach the highest mountaintop before it's opened? I tried that, and perceiving just how high up I was and how loose the footing was was actually making my palms sweat. Adding some real depth perception to these environments is an absolute treat, whether it be the snow falling in the northern mountains, the vast machinations of the Dwemer ruins, or the cavernous glow of Blackreach. One of the biggest improvements here is just how easy it is to aim*. Most people reviewing this game seem to have chosen to focus on archery as it feels greatly improved, as have I; The arrow literally goes directly towards the center of your vision in whatever direction you face your head towards, which is astoundingly intuitive in it's simplicity, and mixed with the perks of unlocking slow-motion and whatnot, it feels pretty badass, honestly. *I really MUST note just how much easier it is to simply interact with specific items on shelves! Even just noticing items is easier. Do you have any clue how many times, while playing the original Skyrim, I accidentally picked up things I didn't want and then had to do menu work, dropping stuff? That's practically gone here, and it makes the game so much more fluent and enjoyable. This isn't to say that you have to choose archery in order to fully enjoy this game, as melee combat can't help but feel more impactful as you move in and out for attacks. Sneaking is much more interesting as you can actually peer out around a corner slightly, which wouldn't have worked the same playing first person in the O.G. Load times are equivalent to the PS4 Skyrim: Special Edition release. In terms of graphics... I really think people should take into account that wearing a PSVR headset is akin to stretching PS4 graphics to the resolution of an entire wall. Nothing's going to look as good as it does on a regular-sized TV without an upgrade. That said, while some occasional textures seem vanilla, they're sparse enough to not detract from a thoroughly engaging experience; There's still plenty to gasp in awe at. I mean, seriously, I stared at the skill tree menu for like 5 minutes straight the first time I opened it up. This is one of the best VR games out right now, and probably for a while, and in my opinion, the truest and most engaging way to experience Skyrim. I'm kind of jealous of anyone who gets to play this game for the first time with this version. Edit: I'm currently experiencing the Dragonborn DLC for the first time, and I WAS NOT MENTALLY READY TO OPEN THAT BLACK BOOK. WHY AM I SUDDENLY DEALING WITH CTHULHU SPAWN IN A HELLISH ABYSS? I want my mommy... P.S. I use the standard Dualshock controller, as I don't own a Move. I prefer standing up when traversing (as it doesn't feel quite right to be sitting down when there's a giant dragon screaming in my face), and sitting down when I handle town-based stuff.

Overall, pretty fun! Engaging graphics. The controls and gameplay are simple yet nuanced. Soundtrack is fitting. My biggest complaint at the moment (while I'm still slogging my way through the campaign with occasional frustration) is that there are very clearly platforms I should be able to land on to reach hidden areas that the developers just block off with invisible walls. Like... I get you intended for me to go a different way, but you could've just planned your levels so that it doesn't have so many misleading jumps; I shouldn't be pretty sure I figured something out, only for an invisible wall to reject me into a pit... more than once in a level, I might add. I could stand on a moving platform that I would assume sends me to a secret when I cause it to change direction... Instead I get reloaded on the ground floor. I could try jumping towards some very clear horizontal swing jumps... It counts me as out-of-bounds mid-jump and damages me. For a game that's part platformer, I don't think that aspect really holds up on it's own. As someone highly invested in level design, it seems kind of lazy to keep blocking off areas I should otherwise be able to reach if the platforms were just rendered to match their physical appearance. There is such a thing as a natural flow to a level, and the developers seem to rely way too heavily on just putting up walls and boundaries in places to keep forcing level designs to work. The Doom game from 2016 had impressive maps where I really had to think out my route in order to come across secrets; Applying that level of care to this game often makes me feel like I'm overthinking and wasting time. It kind of feels like they're just putting me in a playground with a coat of hellish paint over it. I mean, it works to an extent; It's just not the most immersive Doom game I've played. While the level design isn't awful as a whole, it can be a bit disappointing that a lot of the most visually pleasing aspects of levels are areas you probably won't ever reach or interact with, whereas the maps consist of a lot of deathmatch-type areas connected by platforming that comes off as somewhat rigid due to the detection of the environment. Overall, this contrast of gameplay dynamics seems a bit less fluent than in the last game, with the closed off rooms getting repetitive kind of early. Overall, Doom (2016) was slightly better. This is still worth getting if you played that game and want another, though. Not particularly disappointing, but not really groundbreaking, either. Kind of just more of the same, but at least they didn't mess up a working formula.

It's no wonder that Croteam have yet to outdo this game, as it is damn near perfect. Looking back on the history of video games, there may arguably be one major element that separates the old school from the new: As technology advances, money becomes a greater driving factor for production. What had at one point been someone's personal creative project may require hundreds of personnel and potentially millions of dollars to pull off in today's market. Even disregarding how many games have come out in the past 10-20 years that have been obvious cash grabs, there's still an element of honest companies trying to satisfy expectations based on the trends of other popular games of the time. This brings us to Serious Sam: A shining example of what happens when you let passionate, hungry developers be their own greatest critic. While many developers started focusing on adding a more cinematic approach to their games around the PS3 era, this came from just before that. While the first 3D gaming systems were severely limited in hardware and processing power, by the time we reached PS2 and X Box, developers were finally being able to enact concepts they couldn't initially pull off, while still having more incentive to make a game as memorable as possible in every manner other than graphics. In a way, this could be considered one of the furthest true progressions from old-school gaming, as this game excels at everything that made old games classics, while taking elements of some staple 90s FPS games (like Doom) and making them better. Best parts of this game: - The level design is vast* and expertly layered. Secrets are consistent, but never cheaply hidden, and almost never obvious. The act of uncovering secrets can legitimately keep you on your toes as they do WAY too good of a job at either bringing up enemies when you least expect or taking you to an area you didn't initially conceive of being part of the environment. I'm SERIOUS when I say that these people mastered the average person's expectations to the point of being able to toy with it, like a master poker player who already knew what your next move was going to be. *Oftentimes, you'll think to yourself "there's no way they programmed this entire area just to hide a secret." They did. And good thing, because it was way too tempting to explore, especially as a breather from the constant action. - The enemies. The kinds of enemies and how many you have to take on. This is the absolute epitome of triggering "fight or flight" mentality, minus the "flight." While there are enemies with different levels of intimidating, there's one particular enemy that's pretty much officially synonymous with this whole series; For anyone who doesn't know, this game is the perfect first experience with it. My first experience: "What's that sound? What's that thing running straight at me from the distance? Why's he yelling like that? OH GOD, WHERE IS IT'S HEAD!? WHY IS IT SCREAMING WITHOUT A FACE!?" [Starts running backwards] ...Ahem. While you would think facing literally tens of thousands of enemies throughout the game would get repetitive, it's kind of crazy how the constant variations in the environment actually make the repetition more of a strength; There's a very specific dynamic that keeps this game from being overbearing, between excessive battle scenarios, explorable environments, and a very ironic sense of humor. This leads me to my next point: - The writing. I'm assuming if you've come across this game, you've at some point heard of Duke Nukem. While the Duke Nukem series ranges from endearing humor at one point to tastelessly low brow and potentially misogynistic, the character writing here takes a cue from the more self-aware glimpses of Duke Nukem's character, and in turn makes a cliche action hero that's so over-the-top that it enters the realm of pure satire. Not to mention, I would NEVER expect Sam to indicate anything remotely condescending to a female character as he's more the type of person who accepts that life is chaos and jumps straight into it rather than trying to feed a negative, insecure stereotype of manliness; The satire wouldn't be as effective if it wasn't thoroughly aware of what normal should be, or what really makes a man a... manly man. While later Serious Sam games would falter here or there by making Sam seem like a sort of expectable, gritty action hero, every line in this game adds to him effectively being the epitome of a protagonist for a totally over-the-top game with just the right aspects of believability to make suspending disbelief feel realistically welcome. Altogether, this title is an absolute gem for enthusiasts of intense FPS games, or anyone who longs for a different era of game development when the GAME was the absolute most important part of a video game. This is a prime example **** flaws being used as it's strengths, and I still enjoy this more than any specific Doom game that's come out to date.

This game would be an 8 (based strictly on gameplay) if it wasn't basically Stan Lee's last cameo, and a fitting one at that. Enough has been said about this game that needs to be said. Basically: Pros and cons: + Story feels professionally acted. Writing is actually pretty good; Despite some things being obvious in the long run, they're still delivered well enough to keep you invested. + Gameplay is fluent, particularly moving around the city. The wide availability of side objectives makes it easy to sink into a flow of moving around the map that stays fun for hours. Combat isn't too complex; It's easy to grasp and reliably functional. Though: - Despite the wide range of special abilities, you can only have one (out of over 30) equipped, which leaves a missed opportunity to shake up the combat more, as it does get fairly repetitive by late game. - Mary-Jane stealth missions break up the flow of the game. (As well as the Miles stealth portions.) It's very clear that having Spider Man's abilities is what makes Spider Man games fun, and they don't really add enough nuance to make up for it. Though hacking electronics was a nice touch. + Clever redesigns of certain villains that believably fit into this game's universe. + Some segments of the game are pretty unforgettable, like this one point where you're trying to escape a poison-induced hallucination. Overall... my personal experience with Spider Man hasn't been with the comics, so I can't really speak as to what this game would mean to a hardcore comic fan, but compared to other Spider Man media I've taken in (multiple movies, two whole cartoon series, and the original game), this is probably the most moving, engaging, and believable in its execution. So I definitely recommend this game to anyone looking for a sandbox / superhero type of deal, as well as anyone casually interested in Spider Man.

How have I not put a review of this on here yet? This is basically the game you play when you want to think about the meaning of your own life. If you've ever known anyone (especially yourself) who has been, in some sense, a slave to the functions of their own mind, whether it be a mental illness or something that's just very hard to deal with... This is the game you play to access that different level of thought that may change the way you make your decisions. If you could visualize exactly what it is that gets in the way of a healthy mentality and conquer it like one of these levels, you just might stop doing that thing you don't really want to be doing. This'll make you think about your life in a very realistic fashion, despite the particularly cartoonish aesthetic that's necessary to portray these somewhat abstract mental processes; It's ******* brilliant. I'm literally only writing this review because remembering this game right now is actually seriously making me think about my life. And you will remember this game because there's just about nothing exactly like this. Before I go off really explaining why this is one of the few 10s I'll ever give out, let me just knock the negatives off the list: - There're a couple points where background voice lines get a little repetitive, specifically Coach Oleander's training level. - The progression of the game could use more levels after you've unlocked all your abilities, since it takes like 2/3 of the game to actually learn all of them. This just makes me anticipate the sequel even more, though. Psychonauts is an action/adventure/platformer set at a summer camp for kids with psychic abilities. In some sense, you could compare this to games like Banjo Kazooie or Jak and Daxter, though neither of those games really does what this game excels at (as fantastic as those games are). While there is a somewhat innocent nature to the overall premise, a good number of characters have secrets that one might keep while purposely emphasizing a carefree demeanor. Trying to avoid spoilers, but somebody who's all sunshine is definitely trying their best to not feel haunted; The fact that this realization is optional makes it all the more impactful, like "I wasn't supposed to be here, was I?" That's just one tiny example of the dynamic employed that carries the whole experience: It really is about your subjective experience. This isn't "let's throw engaging objectives in here because that's what makes a good game," this is "We have to express these things; What's the most engaging way to interact?" This is sort of an epitome **** aiming to be personally artistically fulfilling as opposed to a product meant to market and sell. I really want to talk about just how many things occur through the story that just feel so wildly new when you experience them for the first time, but I really don't want to take away from the feeling of being caught up in a story of unexpected turns, so all I'm going to say at this point is... Getting chased by a monster and fighting it, only to realize you're going to have to go into this monster's mind to progress, is nothing short of EPIC. Every time you're about to enter a new level, there's a thorough sense of "I have no clue what's about to happen, but I know it's going to be crazy." Every level is my favorite level, despite them all being drastically different from each other, and on occasion I've gone past being wowed to actually getting a little emotional (the bi-polar performer was pretty sad, and the purposely monotone-yet-expressive delivery actually made it a lot sadder). Despite this game having some substantial things to express... much like how the innocent theme of a summer camp juxtaposes the adult supervisors dealing with serious issues, there's a thorough sense of humor to juxtapose these bordering-on-psychedelic journeys, creating a pretty endearing dynamic. When I heard the seductive voice of the underground transportation system, I really couldn't help but smile; They're clearly doing things to influence your mind, much like the main character does in the levels. What else is there to talk about? The gameplay itself has a nice diversity of abilities. The levitation ball is literally my favorite movement dynamic in any video game. It's kind of wild to me nobody else has tried to pull that off. You can roll around on a thought bubble, bounce with it into a high jump, and then float down using it like a balloon... It all flows very smoothly. The soundtrack isn't impressive as a standalone, but it definitely serves its purpose exceptionally well. Considering how cheap this game is, it's one of the best purchases an open-minded gamer could make. Now that that's out of the way... Does anyone else think that ending was incredibly suspicious? I'm not sure I trust who I'm supposed to. Someone could've been framed... I really can't wait til the sequel comes out next year.

This is absolutely what I wanted from an Id Software Doom game. Fast-paced action. Easy controls. Well-refined gameplay dynamics. Hellish landscape with exceptionally gory glory kill death sequences, which... this is one of the few games where this level of gore is not only acceptable, but necessary. (You're killing frickin' demons!) Plus just enough unlockables to keep the game feeling like it's progressing, aside from the environments switching up a decent amount for what could be a repetitive experience if it wasn't handled properly. (Plus a very fitting soundtrack.) Literally my only complaint here keeping it from a 10 is that I just didn't feel any need to come back to this game when I was 100% done, despite how much fun I had playing through the main campaign the first time. It's intense-but-shallow fun, done very well. I feel like that was very specifically their aim, and they definitely hit the mark and made a great game by sticking to the point.

I was on the fence between an 8 or a 9, but I went with 9 because I ultimately wished this game went on longer than it did even though I spent a few days straight getting 100%. You've probably already read that this game is a spiritual successor to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. If you've never played that game, it is an absolutely fantastic, fun, and highly memorable side-scrolling action/platformer with minor RPG elements where you fight hordes of mythical monsters and demons (in a castle), but if you haven't and don't have access to it, this is absolutely a great place to start, and definitely improves on the formula in a few ways. Pros: - Impressively wide range of abilities: Every type of enemy offers a new ability (plus there're more abilities you can find or craft). Every type of weapon has multiple hidden abilities. - Controls are highly intuitive and accessible, with a shortcuts menu that let's you change entire gear/magic set-ups. - The movement is also MUCH faster and more maneuverable, particularly later in the game, compared to SotN. - You can craft the majority of items in the game, including equipment, potions, and cooking meals for permanents stat increases. - Well thought-out map with a diverse-but-logical set-up, emphasizing grandeur to add to that feeling of going on an adventure. Many secrets are well-hidden. - Visuals are often lavish to emphasize the grandness of the environment, adding a sense of depth to the 2D plane. - Soundtrack is very pleasant and engaging: Largely classical-type compositions with an occasional rock edge. - Certain voice lines are pretty funny. "Kill those murderers dead!" Cons: - The story's exposition isn't the most gripping a lot of the time. They kind of just throw information at you towards the beginning, in the intro sequence and whenever you talk to Johannes for an upgrade the first few times; I accidentally skipped some info because I just wanted to make stuff. Though it's not bad and serves it's purpose for the first playthrough, it's just not particularly astounding. Most of the dialogue wasn't worth hearing more than once, so you'll end up skipping it if you have to retry something. - There can be a bit of grinding if you're a completionist, so it's kind of important to be careful what you use your items for. - With such a wide range of abilities, some may end up being impractical and thus generally useless; When I got Bolide Blast halfway through, that was pretty much the last offensive spell I actually needed to use. What I wish I knew beforehand: - Items that are crafted show up in the shop for future purchases. - You need to master a technique on one weapon before using it with other weapons of that type. (It's worth the effort) - You can unlock Nightmare difficulty before your first playthrough by typing in "NIGHTMARE" as the name; You can change your name after it unlocks. While some people don't recommend this, it puts way more enemies on the map, which can actually help shave time off of acquiring rare items later in game (though the enemies are doing more damage). - There's an accelerator ability in the second-to-last area (Den of Behemoths) that makes you move like Sonic fast. It's great. Get it ASAP. Also, High Jump lets you have infinite jumps. Strongly recommended gaming experience.

I remember seeing information about this game before it came out that got me excited. I'd played Abe's Odyssey and Munch's Odyssey, and I enjoyed both; They put you in interesting, immersive (though fairly linear) environments where you feel a strange familiarity with foreign creatures, in a sense commenting on our own connection with nature. So when I saw they were making more of a shooter, I was pretty excited; These developers have a sense of grittiness that's relatable, so I was curious to see how that would turn out in an outlaw-type protagonist. Personally I am a fan of platformer / shooter games, like Ratchet and Clank. However, this title unfortunately didn't feel quite like an organically pointed experience like the other Oddworld titles I played, though I never did finish this game. My main issue with it is that it seemed to get a bit repetitive to me, which was strange considering the mechanics weren't exactly stale. I think it was a mix of controls being just short of precise, without much guiding the way in terms of incentive for side questing, leading to a little bit too linear of a progression for me. That said, it is still an Oddworld game so the characters still have their own unique charm. Still recommended for any fans of the series, though I'd recommend starting with a different game if you haven't tried an Oddworld game yet.

God bless their hearts, but this is just straight whack. Also, it's $1.49 in the PS store right now, not F2P, so...

As one of the many people who would consider Final Fantasy VII to be the fondest video game of their childhood, I had to sit with this remake for a while to figure out how I really feel about it, as I've had some very strong mixed feelings. To stay organized and to-the-point, I'm going to focus on pros and cons, as they are very often closely related. Biggest improvements: - The battle system is easily an improvement from the original. Individualized abilities gives every character a different advantage (though Aerith's power attack is absolutely pointless). Some materia are much more useful than they originally were. The new leveling system for weapons makes old weapons stay relevant. Overall, the progression of experience / difficulty is totally appropriate, but of course that's easier to do when limiting the experience to just Midgar rather than the whole original game. However... Pro / Con: - Instead of random battles, creatures are given real-world contexts that make them truly inhabit the world. Towns are filled with people, and minor characters are further established in ways they never originally were; I'd complain about Johnny if I didn't have more time with Jesse... A couple added characters did throw me off; Chadley seems to fit the aesthetic of a post-FFX character, while eventually adding another story element that you would think would be more central to the plot. - Side quests, though necessary, can be a little bit redundant. While that alone isn't a deal-breaker, there're way too many scenarios where you're forced to walk slowly when there isn't really anything happening, which is fine on the first playthrough, but you're going to get really sick of it before finishing hard mode. - Though the environments are so much more what they should be, some textures did appear to come from PS3-era development, particularly the slum areas. (we get it! it's supposed to look crummy!) - Voice acting is 99% on-point, both overall tone and delivery; However, a good amount of added dialogue scenarios can seem kind of forced. Which leads to what is easily the greatest factor to the quality of this game: The Writing. (The major con) Playing through this, I can't even explain how good most of the chapters were in terms of hitting home with emotionally pertinent moments from the original game. I was actually really feeling the train station flashback with Ifalna in a way I never did. If it delivers on the goods, then what's the issue? Am I just being nitpicky because there're additions to the story? No. Not even remotely. I'm positive multiple additions to this game will forever remain canonical to the original experience as choices originally intended by the writers. But there's one singular element that legitimately ruined the game as a whole, and honestly, it's just not going to come with a spoiler warning because it's completely irrelevant to anything else that's a legitimate story device in the game; They actualized destiny with an entity that solely exists to fill gaps in writing that didn't exist because the original story didn't need holes plugged; They cheapened human motive. If you know the original story, you know challenging destiny was never mentioned once in the entire texts, and it should be really obvious as to why if you actually appreciated it, which would be because these people are driven by their own will; The people involved are driven to continue because of complex situations affecting their deepest desires snowballing into a scenario where the fate of all life on the planet is clearly in the hands of the main characters through inevitability. Do you realize how much gets taken away from that when the outcome of these events rests on imposing forces that have no discernable sense of reasoning? When it's stated plainly and given actualization through visual spectacle? If there's any phrase that comes to mind when I think about the future of this series, it's "Winter is Coming." Comparing this to what the Game of Thrones show turned into seems inevitable. The first season was fairly accurate to the quality of the book, but then writers just kept making decisions like "wouldn't this be cool? and it'd give our special effects people something to work on" when it's really just undoing a wonderfully complex weave of story just to feed someone else's momentary inspiration that belongs on a totally different project. Please, Square Enix, please don't mess this up. Considering how minor every other issue is, you could've had an actual perfect remake if you just trusted the source material more. Literally the entire last boss fight, I was saying out loud "This doesn't make any sense. Why am I even here?" That's such a jarring difference from literally crying a few chapters earlier. Overall... Definitely check this game out. But be ready to have the quality drop significantly by the end if good story-telling is what you care about.

This is, by far, one of the most addicting AND frustrating games I have ever played. And, fortunately, it can also be quite fun. I got this game because: a. It was recommended by other users in their reviews for other racing games. b. It offers track-building. c. It offers racing in VR. Positives: - * The variability of the track lay-outs is highly diverse, which means game-play can stay fresh for as long as you enjoy how it operates; Having access to thousands of user-created maps is a major plus. - Trackbuilder - This is particularly appealing to creative types like myself, and probably the biggest plus of the game to me (though I wish the Lagoon maps let me fit more on them because I'd fill it to the brim with twisting, interwoven magnetic tracks if they let me). There's a wide range of styles of game-play you could apply to racing on custom maps; Watch a video (perhaps on YouTube) of a "full throttle" style custom level and you can get a pretty good idea of the scale of ideas you can work with. - The visuals can be quite pleasing. - ** "Easy to pick up, hard to master." - Simple control scheme and split-screen multiplayer can make this a great game to try with friends. - *** Having a quick restart button generally makes the shorter tracks a breeze. Negatives: - * There aren't enough filters while searching for user-created maps to actually pinpoint a specific person or map. I don't know why they couldn't include that. - ** The controls, though functional and easy to pick up, lack certain nuances with no manual boost or aerial vehicle manipulation (in most modes) and no vehicle performance modifications. - *** It was WAY too easy for a minor hiccup (including hitting barely visible pebbles) to send you way off track or upside down, typically requiring you to restart a whole level, as checkpoints are frequently not well-placed in campaign mode. I have to note that this is really a significant issue: While doing track 143, I raced through the entire track more times than I can keep track of to the point of mind-numbing repetition, and I've only made it past the final jump once because it's impossible to finish the race by reverting to last checkpoint once you pass it. WHY!? Why do I have to keep retrying this one race I already have dedicated to memory? That's not good design... I know it's not because I can make better levels. It's just a poorly placed checkpoint, and it's not the only one. Not only did it take me 50+ tries to get silver (the requirement for progressing), but I immediately got silver in the next race on the first try. That's a really bad difficulty curve. - Controlling your vehicle's traction feels particularly delayed in sand, which I'm sure was intentional, but the process of adjusting is notably more frustrating than fun. - The announcer gets unbearable when you're playing a tricky level; He'll comment every single time you hit something, including saying stuff like "watch the paint job!"; EXCUSE ME FOR TRYING TO HAVE FUN. Why are you making the main character race in someone else's car anyways? Is he an inmate and you're strapping him to a vehicle and making him race for his freedom? What's the story here? Why not just make the announcer the main character so I don't have to deal with him complaining anymore? 1/10, would not be friends with the guy. (Yeah, you can shut it off.) - The main reason I bought this is that I was hoping to experience Trackbuilder with VR; It turns out the VR experience is severely limited. You can only play specific tracks, which there are a few of, but I couldn't get the camera to switch to first-person; It seemed to hover over the track instead of the car, which completely killed off the point of seeking further immersion in VR. Overall, this could've been the greatest racing game for VR out right now, which is why I'm particularly disappointed with this aspect. I am not qualified to comment on multi-player right now. Overall, not my favorite racing game at it's core, but probably the most worthwhile experience in a racing game for your money, and for sure worth familiarizing with if you are a fan of racing games in general, particularly arcade-style.

There are a lot of things I could say about this game. I've spent a ton of time enjoying this game, and I honestly haven't beaten it yet because I got stuck on a main story mission. There are plenty of reviews you could read that will tell you exactly what you need to know about this game, so all I'm going to say is... For a strategy RPG, the storytelling occurs very naturally, and actually works amazingly well in conjunction with very finely tuned and challenging battle scenarios to create an experience that's surprisingly engaging for a game that looks like a more complicated version of chess; The writing and game play (difficulty curve / battle mechanics) are of a very high standard, having clearly been refined with care and thought. It's not exactly perfection: Particularly the mechanics of character growth could be explained better. However, it is definitely a prime experience I would recommend to anyone open to the genre. I can't say I've played too many strategy RPGs, but this is definitely quality right here.

There really isn't much here. The physics and controls clearly favor ridiculousness over ease of use. The missions are generally aimless, hence it being called a "simulator." Plus, more than half (4 of) the levels have to be purchased with add-ons, $5 per level, or $25 for the whole bundle. I get that this game is supposed to be a novelty and a joke, but I really feel like it could've done that and have actually been a good game, sort of like Tony Hawk mixed with GTA with a hint of Katamari; That would've been brilliant. Instead, I ended up with a clunky world (which seems intentional) and not much incentive for me to spend money on most of the game other than to get the full experience.

Since this is a well-known, thoroughly reviewed title, I'm going to focus on the differences in this specific title from the other versions of this game. On its own: The major improvement to this game on this version is the ability to move in any direction at any point, as opposed to using left and right to turn your character, which may have built more suspense in the original, or led to cheaper deaths, depending on your personal opinion. It might seem tricky with the fixed camera angles, but if you just keep the analogue stick in place over angle switches, you'll run in a straight line until you redirect the character, which is pretty easy to get the hang of. Overall, the controls and added outfits are the strong points for this version. Compared to the Gamecube version: I only just tried the GC version of the game, and this is where some of the faults start to become a lot more obvious when viewing it through the lens of a nearly 20 year old game. The aspects that were easily better on Gamecube: - Grittier graphics, inspiring a more haunted feeling. In contrast, HDR looks a little too smooth and clean. - Better lighting. - Occasionally different camera angles, sometimes hinting at the suggestion of being stalked by someone. - Enemies moved notably faster, even on Easy setting. I got killed by the first dog. - The lay-out was actually slightly trickier on GC, with some halls/items being placed in slightly more dangerous positions. Overall, if you have a Gamecube, that version is overall more engaging, but the PS4 version has a control scheme that may appeal to people who don't like the original control scheme. Still worth getting, ALTHOUGH when you beat the game in a manner that unlocks the infinite ammo pistol, they add this one zombie strapped with bombs that auto-kills you when you shoot it, you can't turn it off, and it blows chunks.

I feel really bad for whoever is playing the Switch version, as that is very clearly affecting the score ratio for what is otherwise a fairly enjoyable game. I actually got this game for $3.99 on sale on the PSN, and based on the first three championships, I'd say this game is easily worth much more than that. This kind of mimics the experience I had buying XGIII for the same price when I was a teenager; A surprisingly good game for a surprisingly cheap purchase. I wouldn't recommend picking up on the PSN at full price, though, as the hard copy is $20 compared to $40 on the PSN. I could do a pros and cons list, but honestly this game is pretty straightforward; It's all about drifting. The game operates on a dynamic of building up turbo boosts from drifting, which keeps the pace engaging and gets me trying really hard, making brash moves to push myself to catch up if I'm behind. As of writing this review, the PS4 version has been patched up multiple times with added vehicles and tracks, as well as some very notable differences from what I read in the other user reviews on here. Actually... I haven't had any issues with controller responsiveness other than maybe once or twice it didn't catch when I tried changing directions on a drift (which I adjusted my technique to consistently avoid after not long). Personally, I had zero issues getting used to turning in this game, given all racing games take a little adjustment to get used to tight turns on a track. I haven't noticed a bad frame rate, I can definitely see the turn indicators on the track, and you constantly have a mini-map in the corner to confirm your distance from where you should start drifting. I barely noticed the announcer's voice. He'll literally say like 1-3 words maybe a quarter-to-half of the time you pass someone out or hit something. Very random, but the Italian accent that only comes up when you win is kind of funny to me. ^.^; If the other reviews were actually accurate, they definitely listened and fixed it, as far as I can tell. I only have two particular complaints: 1. The time-out challenges can be unforgiving on the first marker. 2. The enemy AI occasionally sabotages you if you're not careful. It can get ridiculous, but it only happens a small fraction of the time. So overall, would recommend, especially considering how the developers aren't exactly giants in the industry. Follow-up edit: Beat the main game after 4 days. I really have to admit that reading the professional reviews has me convinced none of these people actually know how the controls work. x.x It's not hard! Instructions for you all: Hit the gas. On an average turn, tap R2 and control your drift, which is adjustable in the garage, along with all sorts of other typical variables like handling, acceleration, etc... The only time you really need to lay off the gas is on tight turns. If you start and stop, THAT is why it seems difficult, as you can DEFINITELY maintain your speed around corners if you execute a mix of the normal slide (tap R2) and the handbrake (tap X repeatedly/as necessary to adjust while minimizing speed loss.) Then there's a boost button... that's it! Obviously if someone can't turn at the right moment and ram their car into a wall over and over again, it'd be pretty cheap to not penalize them for that, because you're not supposed to keep hitting the wall! Obviously! I have not once had my car reach max damage more than once in a race. You folks really need to try harder. -.-

I actually wrote an essay on this game that I had to cut pages off of. I would say don't judge this game by how it is without the add-ons; It'd be about 8/10, maybe even 7. However, the picture becomes incredibly clear that the story is not what it appears as you uncover more information throughout the game, doing added missions in expansive areas with Far Harbor and Nuka-World; This is the most clever twist I've ever seen in a Bethesda game. It's a shame the publicists couldn't give the writers their due credit because it would ruin the plot device. I'm not going to do a full review of the game because I've already put a ton of effort into analyzing the story, which is easily the game's biggest selling point. If you're looking for a post-apocalyptic world mixed with something like Blade Runner, this is a great place to go. If you're looking for an exploration-heavy open-world RPG FPS with base-building elements, this is a great place to go. (Though I wish they could've just made bases in this game online instead of trying to do it with F76) I very strongly recommend playing this in Survival mode if you're looking for a challenge; Though loss of fast travel may seem like a turn-off, there's definitely an added layer of immersion with the limitations (needing to eat and drink to survive, needing to sleep like a normal human to function, ammo having weight, being prone to more illnesses, etc...). Gun and gear customization is great / better with add-ons. Game-play accommodates many play-styles very well: I've done a play-through all melee, as well as with minimal VATS-usage using mostly automatic weapons. Are you the experiment?

All you need to know about the reason for my rating: Grinding is automatically balanced. (So you're not allowed to get too creative with your approach to derailing) Tricks don't require so much finesse. The wing suit sounds like it'd be a cool idea, but it actually disrupts the flow of the track a bit. It did not take me very long to reach the impression that this game doesn't really deserve the title of SSX, especially after SSX represented two of the best snowboarding games ever (plus a really solid game with On Tour). They might as well have done a remaster or called this SSX4 instead of trying to rebrand it while missing the essence of what made SSX good.

Oh, Halo; My first foray into "next gen" 3d graphics that weren't just blocky figures. It was particularly impressive at the time, comparable to very few games of that generation graphically, and I still wouldn't call it an eyesore by today's standards. The campaign is a strong point with many unforgettable sections, but the absolute best reason to play this game, even now, is because of the co-op in campaign mode; I have so many good memories of feeling myself get more intensely engaged as I cover for my friend, and vice versa. Easily worth playing through all 10 levels. Other strong points include a cinematic-level soundtrack, effective/engaging controls, and occasionally highly unpredictable AI. Multi-player outside of co-op was solid, but much better in Halo 2, while the campaign for Halo 2 was less engaging to me story-wise. The weakest point about this game is that it's just not for everyone; I can imagine someone wanting Borderlands or Call of Duty and shunning this, though they probably both got a little bit of their magic from this. If you're not picky, definitely recommend starting here.