I think in hindsight, this game really did a lot of good. At the time, the disappointment around it in the gaming community was palpable, but despite that, I think Watch Dogs is a great open world action game. The story is solid and does a lot of cool things, Aiden as a protagonist is honestly really interesting and compelling, and the gameplay being a mix of stealth, hacking and gunplay is really responsive, satisfying, and offers that wish fulfillment of being a John Wick kinda character just wrecking goons. It's great fun. Give it a shot.

"Death at the gates again. Howling my name. Can't greet you today. I have a war to win."

The more I remember playing New Order, the more I really love it. It really captures the alternate history feeling of rebellion and oppression it espouses. With solid, very maneuver focused gunplay, fun stealth mechanics, a fantastic narrative with very memorable and lovable characters, along with hateful but effective villains, this one should satisfy the need to take down Nazis and experience a revolution.

Zestiria is a great case of what happens when a lot of great ideas come together, but just can't stick the landing. I do see the idea behind it: an anniversary title that both aims to advance the series, while also calling back to the very first game. Overall, it was a very fun time for me, I found it very charming, but there are some real issues with it. The battle system is still a ton of fun and has enough depth to satisfy, the equipment system is needlessly complex, and camera control during battles, especially in dungeons is quite bad. The narrative also doesn't especially hit all those high points, the characters are pretty great though. And the game just feels like it couldn't wrap it's systems and ideas together.

Still, if you're a fan, check it out, especially when playing in relation to Berseria.

I feel as if I like this game more than most did. It doesn't reach the same heights as it's predecessor, but it really is a solid experience. The gameplay is much smoother and faster, though it does sacrifice the more strategic element New Order had. The story is...out there. It puts more focus on it's protagonist and his mindset with rebelling against Nazi fascism which is very compelling, but it isn't as prominent as I feel it should have been. Still great though. It's worth going through for the insanity it throws you into. I think the idea of the revolution going to Nazi occupied America is pretty cool, and the game does mix Americana culture, Nazi symbols, and the drug fueled counterculture to interesting effect, though I feel they don't utilize it enough. The characters that return are still great, the new ones I'm fairly mixed on, but they're still fun. Overall, I'd play this after New Order if you just want to see where the narrative goes.

I think this game sums up my feelings around 3D anime arena fighters in general: It's some fun novelty for the characters, artstyle and seeing moves from your favorite show done in cool 3D, but the depth of the mechanics really don't warrant a ton of playing of this game. Also there's no local multiplayer, only online, which is very silly. Eyes of Heaven, and really any kind of 3D anime fighter, is really meant for fans than most. The story mode for this game though is cracked and I kinda love it.

Pre-Sequel got dealt a bad hand. It’s got so much to it that makes it, simply, better than Borderlands 2. More variance in classes and builds compared to 2, the zero gravity mechanics, cryo weapons, and laser weapons are great, the setting is fun, and seeing the origin of Handsome Jack is fantastic with a great story to be told here. Even smaller details such as your character commenting on what they’re doing either in battle or not, something not present in 2, is here, and it makes a difference. Unfortunately with a lack of DLC besides the amazing Claptastic Voyage and the Holodome, and post game support, Pre-Sequel falls to wayside much too often, when it really be considered the real best Borderlands game.

I think Borderlands 3 has the best, most smoothest gameplay in the series thus far. It's traversal is responsive and smooth, it just feels good to play. Otherwise, it's still more or less the same. The story...man I can't lie. It's bad. It feels like the writers of 3 saw the success of Tales from the Borderlands' narrative(which is excellent btw), and was so spited that they retconned and made characters shadows of what made them so interesting. It's unfortunate that the gameplay is JUST SO FUN, cause being here for the story is a bit of a waste.

L.A. Noire I feel had a ton of untapped potential that could have been realized had the director of the game(total ass, look him up.), not sunk his own project. I think the game looks and feels great, the facial capture looks pretty good by the standards of the time(in certain cases it looks pretty odd), the investigation style play is intricate and fun, and the central story is pretty solid noir stuff. The open world is empty though, there's not much else to do besides drive around, which is funny cause the game as an option where an AI partner can drive for the player. The main interrogation gameplay though is pretty hit or miss. It's a neat idea, but the vagueness of the facial expressions don't really clue the player into the right choice to make. One day, a better crime noir game like this will come around and I will love it.

I don't get the critical acclaim, I really don't. This must be how people feel when they just don't gel with a popular game.

I still had a lot of fun with this game. The visuals are absolutely stunning, the music is amazing, and the characters are endlessly charming. But, this game fails as an RPG. The combat while having some depth just isn't that good and your tools end up being very limited. The game is incredibly linear, and honestly I'm not sure how on board I am with the fact this only equates to the first ten hours of the original. No overworld, bland, formulaic side quests, I couldn't experiment with the combat system because the game would not let me, it wanted to keep moving to each linear story beat without letting me just take in it's world. How great would this be if you could actually explore? The level cap is 50 but you really only need to be at about 30 for the "final boss". I'm even on board with the weird changes to the central narrative from the original! It's different! I think a lot of my gripes come from the fact this is a "Part 1" kind of game. I'll probably go into the next parts, but still, this installment just didn't land for me.

Style over substance, but not in the fun way.