This is what games like Call of Duty and The Last of Us II should have been. A story that actually delves into the value of the human life and the pointlessness of war and murder. I'll admit that the controls and difficulty scale could've been handled a lot beter, I've yet to find a perfect game afterall, but I don't think movies will ever be able to reach this level of intensity and exploration as it requires the interactivity to make the player feel Walker's guilt. I absolutely understand why the developers didn't want to spoil the plot in the marketing. Yeah, it's unfortunate how that inevitably led to its commercial failure, but thankfully we have the internet to bring masterpieces that we initially glanced over into the spotlight.
Going back to the story, Walker has become one of my favorite video game characters and one of the best examples of an anti-hero. He's up there with James Sunderland from Silent Hill 2. I think Nathan Drake fits Nolan North's voice acting a lot better, but Walker is far more complex and interesting. Actually, the whole game is complex and interesting with its dark aesthetic, fantastic plot twist (that I will definitely not spoil) and the greatest incorporation of player choice I've ever seen in a video game. David Cage has got NOTHING on this.

To me, Spec Ops is the embodiment of the reason video games were blessed into our world. This is the new form of storytelling we've been waiting for since Citizen Kane set the standard in filmmaking. It broke me as a person and is only rivalled by Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill 2 as my favorite game ever made. But Resident Evil 4 is my favorite work of art, and you'd need a miracle to beat that.

It isn't often when you come across a piece of media as life-changing as Silent Hill 2. While definitely not perfect in its gameplay mechanics, it's one of the most brilliantly written and intuitive character studies in the history of fiction, with the game element used to immerse you into the strangeness of the little messed-up town and its dark and gritty atmosphere. While horror games of today's standards seem to be obsessed with throwing in jump scares with hideously animalistic monsters, SH2 is able to scare the audience through the way it messes with your sanity by the sheer amount of mental abuse it gives to its main character. It's a fascinating journey of despare, perversion and sadness that wraps up its story in a way that makes sense to the player depending on how well they can connect to James and the secrets behind his twisted mind.

A game fanatic that still hasn't played Silent Hill 2 is like a film fanatic that still hasn't watched Citizen Kane or The Godfather.

ICO is beautiful! Let this review’s long take on the negatives not discourage you from that because the things that work about it work wonders.
The story is simply a boy with horns who is abandoned by his tribe in a castle to be sacrificed. He manages to escape and comes across a mysterious girl who may be his only way out of the castle, but he also has to protect her as there are demons in the castle roaming around trying to take her away. And from there on out, I will avoid all spoilers.

It’s easy to follow but extremely effective, and in a way that also has me convincing harder that it belongs in the same universe as Shadow of the Colossus, because it already has very identical worldbuilding concepts. Strangely though, it seems to take a lot of inspiration from Silent Hill more than anything. The camera has a very cinematic feel to it, it’s a lot more puzzle-based, and it goes a lot more in the direction of survival than action. Don’t worry though, because it’s definitely not a horror game. But it does manage to create a beautiful environment and has you constantly questioning what’s going on with the girl you’re escorting.
Speaking of which, I was surprised by how well the escorting still holds up. It’s not super easy to the point of it being unnecessary like The Last of Us, or absolute perfection like Resident Evil 4, but this might have been the best you could find in the year 2001. My only real problem with it is the main controls and mechanics themselves. For some reason, the analog stick makes sure that your character walks slower at certain angles, but the camera moves around too much to work properly with the directional buttons. Also, there is the save system. I will say that I have seen games that handled it worse, but it’s REALLY bad here. Checkpoints are extremely far from one another and you never know exactly when they occur, and the seats that you can use to manually/permanently save can sometimes be really close to each other, while other times it will take at least 20 minutes before you find another one. These two problems combined gave me my moments of begrudgingly giving up, and are the only thing preventing me from perhaps even giving this 5 stars. It didn't make me rage or anything, but more so getting tired of trying over and over again.

To any first-timer, I suggest that you make sure to save as many times as possible, because I REALLY recommend ICO for the story and especially the atmosphere. Atmosphere to me is just as important as the story itself, because it’s the door that leads the audience into the world of the game, and in this area ICO absolutely excels! There is something so creepy yet authentic and profound about the sheer sense of loneliness you feel while playing this. The way the boy interacts with the girl really gives off the impression that these are two innocent children lost in an unfamiliar world trying to find their way back home. It’s not quite as engaging or greatly playable as Shadow of the Colossus, but Team Ico really have proven themselves to be great at subtle storytelling.

I do wish that I could log this game on the PS2 without getting this shitty poster, because the one they got for the PS3 looks MUCH better.

Guys, I need serious help. I think I'm going crazy.

This is my third time playing Spec Ops, and I feel more devastated with each and every single playthrough. The sheer sense of guilt keeps killing me inside. And yet, it's so captivatingly fucked up that I can't stop playing. This is not at all a game for people who like happy endings, because nothing can make one more aware of the harsh reality that games may not be as fun as you first thought.

And it's insane to think that a game like this was able to find its way into the PS3, a console generation that I cannot stand for being extremely lacking in originality and dignity of storytelling.

My favorite part of this game isn’t even fighting the colossi, despite Phalanx (colossus 13) being the one I am always most looking forward to. No, what I love most about Shadow of the Colossus is the freedom of roaming around the forbidden land. There is so much attention to detail and so many achievements and items to go for and unlock, and none of it is done through loading screens, cutscenes or any NPCs disturbing the experience. It’s just you, your horse, and the giant monsters between the wide open spaces waiting to be killed.

Over the last few months, I have grown a bit of an obsession with replaying games I am already far too familiar with. Although I am planning to play more games as soon as I'm done with school, I'm glad that I can use the limited amount of time that I have to quickly get through the things I already love so I can learn to love it even harder. SH2 remains one of my favorite works of fiction in history, and replaying and analyzing it NEVER gets tiring. If I get to write my own story one day (most definitely a film), I would want this game to be its main inspiration, because narrative and worldbuilding this good should be unworthy of us mortals.