I've made WAY too many reviews on SOR2/3 and BK3, but I just can't help it. I love these games to death, and nowadays, they go under the radar too often (ESPECIALLY SOR3). All of them get my highest recommendation.

Anyway, this time going through, I did a 1CC on Hard, and Jesus, if there's 1 problem with BK3, its just way too easy. Not only did I do it on my first try, I also beat Robot Y with 8 lives remaining. Looks like i'll have to play on Very Hard to be able to have a challenge lmao (i did beat sor3 on normal, so maybe i'm desensitized idk).

It's always hard to summarize your thoughts on a game you love, so all i'll say is that it's fucking GOOD.

HELL YEAHHH this shit goes hard. More fun than the first Isaac, and alot fairer too, especially with the addition of seeds! Instead of restarting a run over and over waiting for the right items, all you have to do is get a single one, then input the seed for it on the character select screen.

As I said in my first review, i'm not a big fan of the boring ass pixel art, but thankfully in the options menu you can smooth it out to make it look more like the original. The animation in the ending looks fucking beautiful too, so it's an alright trade off.

In a world where indie developers pump out generic rogue-like after generic rogue-like, TBOI:R really stands out as the king of it's genre. Excited to try out Afterbirth, +, and Repentance!

The original Binding Of Isaac is still pretty good, especially considering it was one of the first of its respective genre!

This is actually my first time playing the flash Isaac, though I have played Rebirth (which is obv better lmao) and one thing I have to say is that I do NOT remember Rebirth being this hard. Even when I get a great set-up, I end up dying really quickly in the later levels. The game just doesn't feel all that fair, but if i'm being honest, most rogue-likes aren't fair.

One thing I do prefer over Rebirth is the art style. I love the SMB esque style, but sadly, the remake decided to go the pixel-art approach. It still looks excellent, but fucking hell man pixel-art in indie games is so overused. It makes it much less distinct, but maybe that's a hot-take idk

If you have £4, I would recommend giving this a try, even if you have Rebirth or Repentance or whatever. Just don't expect to beat it without hours of practice and luck.

With games where you practically require a guide, it feels that your enjoyment will derive from how good the walkthrough you're using is. One of the people I follow on here mentioned that the guide provided by IGN doesn't make much sense, so just in case that is true, USE THIS GUIDE: https://www.zeldadungeon.net/the-legend-of-zelda-walkthrough/ . It tells you exactly where to go and what to do, no waffling or bs.

Even without a guide, this game can be fun. Just jumping in and seeing what you can find or discover is a great time.

If this game wasn't so cryptic, and had better hints (and if the darknuts didn't exist, I FUCKING HATE THEM SO MUCH STOP TURNING AROUND I HATE DEATH MOUNTAIN), the rating would be alot higher, but I used a guide so idk what i'm talking about. All in all, its pretty good. Not sure Zelda 2 will hold up to that standard though lmao

I DID IT WOOOOOOOOOOOO

still traumatized by the stress i experienced during my playthrough so instead of reviewing it (which i've already done 2/3 times) i'll just summarize my winning run.

So let me just first say that I was starting off fucking AMAZINGLY. I messed up a little on Yamato, but was still able to beat Robot X with 1 life and 2 continues left. This was it. All I had to do was not mess up.

I then beat the 1st part of Stage 6 before the timer ran out, and completed it with 1 continue and 4 lives left. God had blessed me. NO matter what I did, I couldn't mess this up, I was sure of it.

I then lost 3 lives during the 1st part of Stage 7, and 4 in the 2nd part with those stupid ass conveyor belts.
I was mortified. If I didn't get the fights against Dr Dahm and Robot X perfect, it would end my perfect run.

Thankfully, I DESTROYED Dr Dahm with no damage taken (he IS the easiest boss in the game though), and got ready to take on Robot X.

I went in for a jump-kick as soon as the fight started, however, instead of going in the circle movement he usually goes in, he immediately grabbed me and slammed me onto the floor. However, a few seconds after that, one of my specials knocked him off-screen, which allowed me to use the jump-kick strategy (if you don't know what that is, i'll leave a link showing it in action right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07-Zi2ynuPE). I continued it until he only had 2 health bars left, which was when he broke out of it. I was thankfully able to get him back into the cycle, and watched as his life-bar went lower than mine. I allowed myself to enjoy my victory. Mr X is killed, and All is Well.

Would I recommend putting in the effort to beat this game on normal? Well, it's your choice, man. All i'll say is that BK3 and SOR3 are both very different experiences. Even if it's a butchered version of a way better game, this shit still fucks.

This rating is for Episode 4, Thy Flesh Consumed, not the full game.
Not as good as the first 3 episodes, but it's still alright. The main design philosophy here seems to be getting mauled by enemies from all angles at all times. E4 M2 is also really overrated in terms of difficulty, Personally, I think M6 and M8 were harder. Also, idk why they decided to make you go through a whole level before fighting the spider-mastermind.

Glad to finally have this off my chest, but if I ever revisit Doom, I am NOT playing this episode again.

Nowhere near as good as 3D Land. It drags on for too long, the amount of Green Stars needed for the last 2 castles are fucking ludicrous, and basically every gimmick in this game is annoying. Even the final boss is boring. All you do is climb this long ass tower and.. that's it.

I do love the Captain Toad and Mystery House levels though, if they made a full game of Mystery House levels just like how they did a full game of Captain Toad levels in treasure tracker, I would buy that shit instantly.

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT. I want to like shoot-em-ups so bad, but they aren't fun to me. The only way i could've beat this is because the ROM I was playing let me use infinite lives, and it was a GODSEND.

This shit just isn't fair, there's so much happening on the screen and background that half of the time i couldn't figure out what killed me, the bosses take fucking FOREVER to kill, some of the attacks they send out are borderline undodgeable, and finding the one piece would probably be easier than finding their hit-boxes.

If this is the peak of the genre, it looks like I won't be finding much else. MID

I've played through the first episode of Doom many times in the past, but have never truly gave it a chance until now, and yeah, it's just as good as everyone says it is.

Even 31 years later, Doom is still just as atmospheric, labyrinthine, and fun as it was in 1993. Hell, it's even a bit scary at times, especially in Episode 3.
It has stood the test of time brilliantly.

fuck limbo though, all my homies hate limbo

I don't usually understand why certain games are so highly rated here on backloggd. BOTW, Celeste, Sonic 3 etc, so I wasn't expecting to love this. I mean, I hate backtracking, so why would I like something that basically revolves around it?

After about 2 hours of playing, I put down my controller, looked into the sky and said "I get it".

Yeah this game fucking fucks. Slashing through everything in sight, finding new relics to find new areas to find new items is so much fun. At a point, your inventory does become cluttered with useless shit, and some of the stuff you have to do to progress can be cryptic (waiting in a room for a minute) but those are really my only critiques.

The inverted castle is pretty infamous, but I don't think its AS bad as people make it out to be, especially if you get the Crissaegrim early into it (like I did).

Man, I have to start playing more Metroidvanias. I better go check out Super Metroid, since everyone loves that one.

I felt the urge to replay this after beating Bare Knuckle 3, and obviously put the difficulty on Easy. But, instead of not enjoying myself, I was having alot of fun! Yeah, the enemies drain your health too quickly, but I was able to beat Easy mode (which gives you a bad ending, btw) with 3 lives left, and no continues used. That sort of gave me hope, and I thought maybe I can beat this on Normal! So I tried it, sort of got my ass kicked, and Game Over'ed on the last phase of the Yamato boss. Even after that, I don't feel discouraged. Considering Bare Knuckle 3 is now one of my favourite games of all time, I feel I owe it to myself to finish this.

I'll continue working on beating this game, and the day I do, I think i'll finally be able to call myself a true fucking gamer.

Its actually insane to see how Sega turned what may be the best beat-em-up oat into a miserable slog.

My only problem with the American SOR3 is with the difficulty, enemies can drain your HP within a few seconds, and they usually circle around you so fast you can hit them.
This game is what Streets of Rage 3 should've been.

There's no bullshit, the control is amazing (something you wouldn't notice in sor3 because you spent most of your time playing getting knocked down), and, hot take, I fucking LOVE the soundtrack. It fits the visual style and tone of this game perfectly.

In my opinion, this is the definitive Streets game. The ambition paid off.