2and32
2016
Gorgeously rendered basic puzzle platformer that tells the story of somebody's nanna losing her marbles.
A game that succeeds in spite of itself. There are combat encounters in this game that surpass anything else in the Souls world but there's also a frustratingly mundane world, pacing that can make you feel like you've just smashed a maserati into a brick wall and an emphasis on stealth and deathblows that I just didn't care for.
It still gets 4 stars for combat alone though.
It still gets 4 stars for combat alone though.
2015
Pretty darn clever.
2015
When a game world is just FUN to move around in, it can make even the dullest mission design a hoot. This game starts to veer towards overly serious in some aspects of the story but for the most part it's just a blast to fly around knock off Malta in a wingsuit and blow shit up.
2010
You really need mods to unlock the game's full potential but it's still a hoot in vanilla to see this game's physics go bonkers when driving cars down mountains and such. A real free form playground.
2018
Just Cause 2 was the one that really set the formula. Just Cause 3 refined it even further and Just Cause 4 decided to try some things that go completely against what made the formula work.
The Vibe of the game overall is deathly serious which is a huge mistake. The series thrives on it's "playing with gi joe in the dirt' atmosphere so trying to commit to a story of guerilla warfare in another nameless South American country is an odd choice.
The mission structure is terrible, with missions that focus on gunplay which has always been the series weak point.
Lastly there is some kind of front lines war component that just sucks. Nothing about this game embraces the sheer fun and mayhem of the previous two. It's just a hard miss.
The Vibe of the game overall is deathly serious which is a huge mistake. The series thrives on it's "playing with gi joe in the dirt' atmosphere so trying to commit to a story of guerilla warfare in another nameless South American country is an odd choice.
The mission structure is terrible, with missions that focus on gunplay which has always been the series weak point.
Lastly there is some kind of front lines war component that just sucks. Nothing about this game embraces the sheer fun and mayhem of the previous two. It's just a hard miss.
2019
I feel like this Battle Royale brought enough quality of life improvements to the genre along with not-entirely-bland characters, good gunplay and fun mobility. QoL stuff that a seasoned FPS dev would know like pointing at things and saying "let's go there". Honestly kind of insane nobody had thought of that shit before.
2011
A perfect mobile conversion of the Mario Kart formula and having mario kart in your pocket is fun as hell.
1996
It can be tough to review a game from 1996 in the year 2020. Obviously since this game's release it's been iterated on and imrpoved upon in ways that leave it in the dust but the thing is... this was the real blueprint for those iterations. Mario Kart SNES is an interesting proof of concept but a pain to play. To this day this game holds it's own in terms of playability, game feel and overall fun. It holds up! There's a reason everybody from your friend Daryll to the Church Youthgroup room had a copy of this game. It was universally accessible, understandable and fun! A classic in the genre and probably one of the most important video games ever made.
Everything they did right in DMC 1 is done even better here. Better over the top action, better skill trees, better game feel and combat that had depth and creativity that my meager thumbs never even touched.
Hard tho... I never even beat it tbh.
Hard tho... I never even beat it tbh.
2001
Hell yeah this game was amazing. It just felt good back in the day. I remember playing it obsessively until I got to the ridiculous shooter boss which frankly was a weird left turn and kicked my ass. It feels like it's still got the old blood of those SNES and NES side scrollers running in it's veins but updated for a new dimension (yuk yuk yuk). Also there's a hot babe in the logo! C'mon!
Under appreciated sleeper classic. Still haven't found a feeling in gaming quite like ghost-possessing a car just to weave it into oncoming traffic and ice somebody in seconds. Amazingly batshit game, story and concept. Decent soundtrack too.
2004
Some of the later missions were a giant pain in the ass with some restrictive rule sets but still a really solid driving game (with a great replay editor).
2002
It's admirable that "realistic driving trick set" was turned into a fully fledged game but sadly it just wasn't that fun.
1999
Purer than Driver 2 which muddied the waters with gunplay, this game was a gem at the time. Launching low-poly muscle cars off the San Francisco hills?
Forget about it.
Forget about it.