Anon
2011
not as bad as I thought it would be.
good gunplay with an decent array of weapons many of them returning from 3D as well and they are satisfying to shoot, not to mention the useful active items Duke has such as the Steroids or Holo Duke that can turn the tide of gunfights.
levels are varied with platforming and Vehicle sections throught it to spice things up and they are well-designed as well though not as much as in 3D since this one is way more linear and less original.
the interaction Gimmick that is famous on 3D makes an return here as well though much less that I was expecting at least on the normal levels which barely have interactions although the "guns-down" ones such as in second level or the Duke's Titty City have lots of interactivity.
Jon St. John's voice acting as Duke Nukem himself is still great and entertaing.
Forever looks very ugly though, especially considering this was released in 2011 in parallel with lots of visually interesting games at that time such as Arkham City or Uncharted 3. the game really looks like an PC game released on the 2000s because of the art-style and dead colors.
overall fun game though I can feel the dissapointement many fans had when this first released especially after the 2001 leak this year that showcases the original vision this had before.
good gunplay with an decent array of weapons many of them returning from 3D as well and they are satisfying to shoot, not to mention the useful active items Duke has such as the Steroids or Holo Duke that can turn the tide of gunfights.
levels are varied with platforming and Vehicle sections throught it to spice things up and they are well-designed as well though not as much as in 3D since this one is way more linear and less original.
the interaction Gimmick that is famous on 3D makes an return here as well though much less that I was expecting at least on the normal levels which barely have interactions although the "guns-down" ones such as in second level or the Duke's Titty City have lots of interactivity.
Jon St. John's voice acting as Duke Nukem himself is still great and entertaing.
Forever looks very ugly though, especially considering this was released in 2011 in parallel with lots of visually interesting games at that time such as Arkham City or Uncharted 3. the game really looks like an PC game released on the 2000s because of the art-style and dead colors.
overall fun game though I can feel the dissapointement many fans had when this first released especially after the 2001 leak this year that showcases the original vision this had before.
2016
replayed, still one of the best FPS campaigns out there. an real masterclass of Pacing, Level-design and gameplay in the genre.
the story is generic but the characters and the dialogue choices are interesting halfway through it.
the story is generic but the characters and the dialogue choices are interesting halfway through it.
1996
3D Realms's first-person classic.
fast-paced and fun gunplay, tons of creative and satisfying weapons and well done level-design throughout makes it a must-play.
the game's last 2 episodes that being Lunar Apocalypse and Shrapnel City are both a bit of a let-down when it comes to the maze-like level-design in comparison to the first but they are still interesting and worth playing!
fast-paced and fun gunplay, tons of creative and satisfying weapons and well done level-design throughout makes it a must-play.
the game's last 2 episodes that being Lunar Apocalypse and Shrapnel City are both a bit of a let-down when it comes to the maze-like level-design in comparison to the first but they are still interesting and worth playing!
2021
fucking crisp gameplay and entertaining campaign story-wise but it fall short quickly thanks to repetitive missions and open-world design.
still an good game and certainly better than it's predecessor but 343 still failed to hit the mark Bungie estabilished within the first trilogy.
still an good game and certainly better than it's predecessor but 343 still failed to hit the mark Bungie estabilished within the first trilogy.
2012
solid first entry by Halo's new home developer who has been estabilished following Bungie's departure.
Halo 4 takes place 4 years after Halo 3 and follows Master Chief on a quest to defeat the Prometheans a new race who threatens Earth once more.
in gameplay Halo 4 is solid, the gunplay felt great during the whole game and weapons were very satisfying to shoot, the game now features the Sprint button to be an permanent ability to the player to use though Armor Skills are still in the game following their debut in Reach.
the campaign is overall solid and the levels were varied enough and the game was paced quite well but the final boss "fight" was a joke to be honest, clearly they did not had the time to do it properly.
343 did a good job on the game's presentation, Halo 4 looked gorgeous back in 2012 on the Xbox 360 and it somewhat holds up very well even today, locations were very lively and beautiful and the character animations and facial expression is top-notch especially on cutscenes.
the game's story is good and I liked the expanded relationship between Chief and Cortana, the writing was also decent though the main villain and the Prometheans were very forgettable.
overall an very solid entry especially coming from a new developer taking over Halo at the time, let's see how they apparently fucked up the sequels.
Halo 4 takes place 4 years after Halo 3 and follows Master Chief on a quest to defeat the Prometheans a new race who threatens Earth once more.
in gameplay Halo 4 is solid, the gunplay felt great during the whole game and weapons were very satisfying to shoot, the game now features the Sprint button to be an permanent ability to the player to use though Armor Skills are still in the game following their debut in Reach.
the campaign is overall solid and the levels were varied enough and the game was paced quite well but the final boss "fight" was a joke to be honest, clearly they did not had the time to do it properly.
343 did a good job on the game's presentation, Halo 4 looked gorgeous back in 2012 on the Xbox 360 and it somewhat holds up very well even today, locations were very lively and beautiful and the character animations and facial expression is top-notch especially on cutscenes.
the game's story is good and I liked the expanded relationship between Chief and Cortana, the writing was also decent though the main villain and the Prometheans were very forgettable.
overall an very solid entry especially coming from a new developer taking over Halo at the time, let's see how they apparently fucked up the sequels.
2010
great send-off to Bungie's Halo games.
Reach takes place 1 month before the events of Combat Evolved and follows the Spartan Squad named Noble Team who the player assumes the role of "Six" who can be choosen between male or female respectively.
in gameplay, Reach follows the same first-person and Sandbox design from the previous games but this time with lots of technical and design choices. the gunplay is extremely punchy and satisfying, you can tell that Bungie was already working on Destiny up to Reach's development so they essentially nailed the first-person gunplay in Reach by a mile, there are a few new weapons to use here with a few replacements such as the new DMR over the Battle Rifle for example, there are new Armor Abilities to use who essentialy replaces the Equipment pickups from Halo 3, Armor Abilities include the ability to Sprint a first in the Halo series after the mechanic's popularity on the already sucessful Call of Duty games at the time or the Cloak to hide Six from enemies, there is a new "Bloom" mechanic on weapons this time meaning that precision is a must during combat.
the game's presentation is widely regarded to feature one of the best art-styles in the Halo franchise and I couldn't agree more, the game is still very gorgeous and good looking even today and is a massive improvement over Halo 3 especially regarding animation work, character models and some impressive world-building.
Reach's campaign is also great thanks to it's immaculate pacing and variety though it does offer lots of recycled objectives such as often having to defend an area from waves of enemies.
Reach's story is good, the Noble Team is interesting and the game's ending is very intense though not my favorite narrative in the franchise up to this point.
even if the gunplay was near perfect I had some faults regarding the enemies health overall, they felt very spongy especially in regards to the Elite type of enemies though I appreciated the extra challenge a bit.
Reach takes place 1 month before the events of Combat Evolved and follows the Spartan Squad named Noble Team who the player assumes the role of "Six" who can be choosen between male or female respectively.
in gameplay, Reach follows the same first-person and Sandbox design from the previous games but this time with lots of technical and design choices. the gunplay is extremely punchy and satisfying, you can tell that Bungie was already working on Destiny up to Reach's development so they essentially nailed the first-person gunplay in Reach by a mile, there are a few new weapons to use here with a few replacements such as the new DMR over the Battle Rifle for example, there are new Armor Abilities to use who essentialy replaces the Equipment pickups from Halo 3, Armor Abilities include the ability to Sprint a first in the Halo series after the mechanic's popularity on the already sucessful Call of Duty games at the time or the Cloak to hide Six from enemies, there is a new "Bloom" mechanic on weapons this time meaning that precision is a must during combat.
the game's presentation is widely regarded to feature one of the best art-styles in the Halo franchise and I couldn't agree more, the game is still very gorgeous and good looking even today and is a massive improvement over Halo 3 especially regarding animation work, character models and some impressive world-building.
Reach's campaign is also great thanks to it's immaculate pacing and variety though it does offer lots of recycled objectives such as often having to defend an area from waves of enemies.
Reach's story is good, the Noble Team is interesting and the game's ending is very intense though not my favorite narrative in the franchise up to this point.
even if the gunplay was near perfect I had some faults regarding the enemies health overall, they felt very spongy especially in regards to the Elite type of enemies though I appreciated the extra challenge a bit.
2009
an very unique game in the franchise.
ODST mainly takes place during the events of Halo 2 and follows the Rookie the newest member of the ODST soldier Squad after he is separated from the rest of the team following an attempt of landing in New Mombasa, as the Rookie the player needs to explore the ruins of the city to uncover what happened to your Squad.
in gameplay ODST shares the same core as Halo 3, strong shooting mechanics and smooth movement continue in the game, unfortunely there is no Dual-wielding mechanic in this game neither the passive Equipments you could use like in Halo 3 though they are still in the game since enemies use them in combat but for some reason the player can't find any of these during the game.
the campaign's structure is very unique coming after 3 previous Halo games, here you have an open world Hub area that you need to walk into to find clues of the missing Squad members and once you find a clue an Flashback showing what happened to that ODST member is shown and an more traditional Halo mission will play normally with Vehicle sections and strong combat scenarios. the levels are all very fun to play and even if the open-world sections were a bit of just walking here and there with no variation between each area playing throughout the traditional missions was never boring or frustating.
the atmosphere of the game is unmatched, walking on New Mombasa streets and the unique visual-style is honestly awesome not to mention the musical score that follows is amazing and really sets the tone in the game.
the main narrative is serviciable, the characters were interesting though a bit undeveloped and weaker in comparison to the Chief's games.
overall ODST is an great game and a very unique twist in the Halo formula, it could have had a better story and the open-world structure could have an really interesting design on them but nonetheless an polished and well thought game to start to finish.
ODST mainly takes place during the events of Halo 2 and follows the Rookie the newest member of the ODST soldier Squad after he is separated from the rest of the team following an attempt of landing in New Mombasa, as the Rookie the player needs to explore the ruins of the city to uncover what happened to your Squad.
in gameplay ODST shares the same core as Halo 3, strong shooting mechanics and smooth movement continue in the game, unfortunely there is no Dual-wielding mechanic in this game neither the passive Equipments you could use like in Halo 3 though they are still in the game since enemies use them in combat but for some reason the player can't find any of these during the game.
the campaign's structure is very unique coming after 3 previous Halo games, here you have an open world Hub area that you need to walk into to find clues of the missing Squad members and once you find a clue an Flashback showing what happened to that ODST member is shown and an more traditional Halo mission will play normally with Vehicle sections and strong combat scenarios. the levels are all very fun to play and even if the open-world sections were a bit of just walking here and there with no variation between each area playing throughout the traditional missions was never boring or frustating.
the atmosphere of the game is unmatched, walking on New Mombasa streets and the unique visual-style is honestly awesome not to mention the musical score that follows is amazing and really sets the tone in the game.
the main narrative is serviciable, the characters were interesting though a bit undeveloped and weaker in comparison to the Chief's games.
overall ODST is an great game and a very unique twist in the Halo formula, it could have had a better story and the open-world structure could have an really interesting design on them but nonetheless an polished and well thought game to start to finish.
2007
probably my favorite Halo yet as I am finally entering the midway in the series.
the gameplay has been improved with options in the "Sandbox" design in the series, gunplay is more punchier and satisfying than ever and weapons feel useful all around and the new Equipments such as the Bubble Shield or Cloak offer an interesting change of pace in combat, Vehicles sections are more interesting and fun and the new physics engine with debris flying all over the place really adds to overall enjoyment in the moment to moment gameplay.
3's visuals are more ambitious in part because of the Xbox 360's new hardware capabilities at the time, the visuals look very aged today but they still have some sort of iconic style into them and there are very interesting technical things like the Water for example that looks kinda good even today but Character models and facial expressions aged very badly in comparison.
Bungie really did improved their main campaign design this time around, the levels are all very fun and diverse and I think they did a good job on mixing up the more open and non-linear levels from Combat Evolved and the more linear/corridor-shooter from Halo 2.
the game's story provide an great closure to the Halo trilogy up to that point, the writing is a bit weaker in comparison to Halo 2 which had fantastic writing all around but 3 still provides very satisfying story bits though such as Master Chief and the Arbiter fighting together, Cortana and Chief's reunion and the game's ending are all incredible.
overall an incredible game and by far the best Halo yet for me.
the gameplay has been improved with options in the "Sandbox" design in the series, gunplay is more punchier and satisfying than ever and weapons feel useful all around and the new Equipments such as the Bubble Shield or Cloak offer an interesting change of pace in combat, Vehicles sections are more interesting and fun and the new physics engine with debris flying all over the place really adds to overall enjoyment in the moment to moment gameplay.
3's visuals are more ambitious in part because of the Xbox 360's new hardware capabilities at the time, the visuals look very aged today but they still have some sort of iconic style into them and there are very interesting technical things like the Water for example that looks kinda good even today but Character models and facial expressions aged very badly in comparison.
Bungie really did improved their main campaign design this time around, the levels are all very fun and diverse and I think they did a good job on mixing up the more open and non-linear levels from Combat Evolved and the more linear/corridor-shooter from Halo 2.
the game's story provide an great closure to the Halo trilogy up to that point, the writing is a bit weaker in comparison to Halo 2 which had fantastic writing all around but 3 still provides very satisfying story bits though such as Master Chief and the Arbiter fighting together, Cortana and Chief's reunion and the game's ending are all incredible.
overall an incredible game and by far the best Halo yet for me.
2004
an worthy sequel to Combat Evolved
the gameplay has been perfected by Bungie and it still feels amazing to play, Chief can now dual-wield weapons of his choice and create unique combinations such as a SMG and an Plasma Pistol to break shields and deal extra damage at the same time. there are questionable design choices in the game such as removing iconic weapons from the previous game like the Assault Rifle or making the Shield the main health source on Chief but I could live with that.
the presentation is improved overall, the visuals are more natural and the soundtrack is absolutely genius and completely unforgettable.
the narrative is vastly improved over CE, the writing is fantastic and the cutscenes are amazing in particular the new scenes by Blur Studio in the Anniversary version, being able to play as a Covenant and see their part of the story is very interesting.
the level-design is also much better than the previous game, no longer repetitive enviroments or maze-like levels overall though it lacks the open-world levels CE had and that is a bit of a shame.
the game's difficulty takes a big hit later on, the Brutes enemies introduced in the later half of the campaign are a bit spongey and not that exciting to fight with not to mention the overall Shield health Chief and Arbiter have is extremely squishy and they can die very fast without letting the player react.
the gameplay has been perfected by Bungie and it still feels amazing to play, Chief can now dual-wield weapons of his choice and create unique combinations such as a SMG and an Plasma Pistol to break shields and deal extra damage at the same time. there are questionable design choices in the game such as removing iconic weapons from the previous game like the Assault Rifle or making the Shield the main health source on Chief but I could live with that.
the presentation is improved overall, the visuals are more natural and the soundtrack is absolutely genius and completely unforgettable.
the narrative is vastly improved over CE, the writing is fantastic and the cutscenes are amazing in particular the new scenes by Blur Studio in the Anniversary version, being able to play as a Covenant and see their part of the story is very interesting.
the level-design is also much better than the previous game, no longer repetitive enviroments or maze-like levels overall though it lacks the open-world levels CE had and that is a bit of a shame.
the game's difficulty takes a big hit later on, the Brutes enemies introduced in the later half of the campaign are a bit spongey and not that exciting to fight with not to mention the overall Shield health Chief and Arbiter have is extremely squishy and they can die very fast without letting the player react.
2001
still holds up well considering it has been 21 years since release and that being my first Halo game too.
the gunplay is butterly smooth and so is the movement, enemy IA is flawless with their distinct behaviors on combat making things even more fun overall.
the presentation is also great and the soundtrack is brilliant.
the level-design is barebones to say the most, during the whole game the player will be walking inside Metallic corridors and Alien ship aesthetics everytime with no variation, that worsens even more with the maze-like levels introduced later in the game notably Mission 6 and 7, the open-world levels that being Halo and the Silent Cartographer are the expections though since they have interesting locations and tight pacing combined.
the Flood is also a bit of a letdown coming from the Covenant, their encounters are fairly annoying once they are introduced and can lead to even more frustation with the already repetitive and dragged on levels.
looking forward to the sequels
the gunplay is butterly smooth and so is the movement, enemy IA is flawless with their distinct behaviors on combat making things even more fun overall.
the presentation is also great and the soundtrack is brilliant.
the level-design is barebones to say the most, during the whole game the player will be walking inside Metallic corridors and Alien ship aesthetics everytime with no variation, that worsens even more with the maze-like levels introduced later in the game notably Mission 6 and 7, the open-world levels that being Halo and the Silent Cartographer are the expections though since they have interesting locations and tight pacing combined.
the Flood is also a bit of a letdown coming from the Covenant, their encounters are fairly annoying once they are introduced and can lead to even more frustation with the already repetitive and dragged on levels.
looking forward to the sequels
this game fucking slaps like wtf
masterful level-design, the combat is finally interesting again since HAL got back their Super Star approach now all the Copy Abilities have multiple move-sets and new attacks something that the series has not seen for nearly 15 years up to that point, the presentation is gorgeous for the Wii and the game is tightly polished to a degree that playing it just feels great.
by far my favorite Kirby game since I started my journey through this franchise recently and is just behind Super Star for me currently.
masterful level-design, the combat is finally interesting again since HAL got back their Super Star approach now all the Copy Abilities have multiple move-sets and new attacks something that the series has not seen for nearly 15 years up to that point, the presentation is gorgeous for the Wii and the game is tightly polished to a degree that playing it just feels great.
by far my favorite Kirby game since I started my journey through this franchise recently and is just behind Super Star for me currently.
2020
great presentation, narrative and decent gameplay though at the cost of being an flawed "Remake" of the original 1999 classic with lots of cut content and scripted sequences not to mention it's extremely short length.
2006
Kirby Squeak Squad is one of those games that have a lot of great design ideas but most of them are either underutilized or simply just don't live up to them looking back in the overall game.
the core gameplay is still solid like all of the previous Kirby games, similar to Amazing Mirror this game's combat system has Super Star's improved and expanded move-sets for Copy Abilities after it's long absense in Kirby's main games after Super Star and thanks to that the action-platforming gameplay is tight and fun as ever but Squeak Squad also introduces new gameplay systems in the recipe that being the new Inventory and Bubble management featured in the game, Kirby can pick up Bubbles across the game's levels and store them to allow them to be moved to combine items such as Food to create powerful health items and specifically Treasure Chests scattered across the game's levels which also take 1 slot of Kirby's current inventory.
these Treasure Chests when opened upon finishing the level contains special Items that unlock something for Kirby such as Ability Scrolls to enhance the current Copy Abilities like giving it more damage and Range for the Beam Ability for the example or something like an brand new move for that Ability like being able to Dash when using Fire and much more.
these Scrolls also contains an form of combination between Abilities similar to Kirby 64 like being able to fuse Sword and Fire into an single thing and then it becomes the Fire Sword but unfortunely these changes are essentially just cosmetic with no expanded movesets whatsoever for the Abilities that can be combined.
the Inventory management is downright annoying and underwhelming considering the amount of space that Kirby can store items on it, since you need to have free space to pick up Chests or Bubbles this can lead to situations where the player will lose an Chest or a Bubble because of having their Inventory currently full and there is no way to pause the game to prevent this to happen not to mention the amount of Treasure Chests that needs to be picked-up in every single level since there is like 3 of them and considering your Inventory's overall size the system is annoying and redundant overall.
the presentation is once again great, fluid Sprite work and the music is catchy like ever though it also re-uses a lot of graphics and assets from The Amazing Mirror.
the game's levels and the new Squeaks antagonists are decent enough to entertain the player apart from the levels themselves being extremely short and the final boss-fight that turns out so bad that you can't believe it that thing was the true final boss of the game.
Squeak Squad though a game with a lot of potential with it's great ideas that unfortunely probably because of the game's direction don't quite live up to anything it provides, it's still worth an playthrough since the game's still fun to play and it can be an satisfying action platformer sometimes.
the core gameplay is still solid like all of the previous Kirby games, similar to Amazing Mirror this game's combat system has Super Star's improved and expanded move-sets for Copy Abilities after it's long absense in Kirby's main games after Super Star and thanks to that the action-platforming gameplay is tight and fun as ever but Squeak Squad also introduces new gameplay systems in the recipe that being the new Inventory and Bubble management featured in the game, Kirby can pick up Bubbles across the game's levels and store them to allow them to be moved to combine items such as Food to create powerful health items and specifically Treasure Chests scattered across the game's levels which also take 1 slot of Kirby's current inventory.
these Treasure Chests when opened upon finishing the level contains special Items that unlock something for Kirby such as Ability Scrolls to enhance the current Copy Abilities like giving it more damage and Range for the Beam Ability for the example or something like an brand new move for that Ability like being able to Dash when using Fire and much more.
these Scrolls also contains an form of combination between Abilities similar to Kirby 64 like being able to fuse Sword and Fire into an single thing and then it becomes the Fire Sword but unfortunely these changes are essentially just cosmetic with no expanded movesets whatsoever for the Abilities that can be combined.
the Inventory management is downright annoying and underwhelming considering the amount of space that Kirby can store items on it, since you need to have free space to pick up Chests or Bubbles this can lead to situations where the player will lose an Chest or a Bubble because of having their Inventory currently full and there is no way to pause the game to prevent this to happen not to mention the amount of Treasure Chests that needs to be picked-up in every single level since there is like 3 of them and considering your Inventory's overall size the system is annoying and redundant overall.
the presentation is once again great, fluid Sprite work and the music is catchy like ever though it also re-uses a lot of graphics and assets from The Amazing Mirror.
the game's levels and the new Squeaks antagonists are decent enough to entertain the player apart from the levels themselves being extremely short and the final boss-fight that turns out so bad that you can't believe it that thing was the true final boss of the game.
Squeak Squad though a game with a lot of potential with it's great ideas that unfortunely probably because of the game's direction don't quite live up to anything it provides, it's still worth an playthrough since the game's still fun to play and it can be an satisfying action platformer sometimes.
an cute and polished platfomer, good visuals especially for the 64 and great design ideas with the ability of mixing Copy Abilities from enemies.
the level-design and variety carries the whole game well and the music is catchy af
Crystal Shard collection for the true ending is a bit annoying since they are behind on such annoying puzzles and the weird walls Kirby needs to break with an certain combination of abilities, just use an Guide and try not to get bored while collecting those.
the level-design and variety carries the whole game well and the music is catchy af
Crystal Shard collection for the true ending is a bit annoying since they are behind on such annoying puzzles and the weird walls Kirby needs to break with an certain combination of abilities, just use an Guide and try not to get bored while collecting those.
Capcom is really killing it huh? Village is one of those games that manages to get fresh and entertaining through all of it's gameplay thanks to immaculate pacing and variety, the RE4 inspired gameplay really helps with that although it lacks some iconic features that game has such as multiple unique upgrades for weapons for example.
the presentation is godlike really, gorgeous visuals and attention to detail not to mention that the game runs flawlessly in 60 FPS all the time.
it has an great replay-value as well, the Mercenaries mode is definitely not the best in the franchise (especially if you are looking to master the game) but I appreciate Capcom for at least providing some form of fun minigames after the storyline like they did with RE7 and REmake 2 as well which is something you would not see in modern gaming industry.
the presentation is godlike really, gorgeous visuals and attention to detail not to mention that the game runs flawlessly in 60 FPS all the time.
it has an great replay-value as well, the Mercenaries mode is definitely not the best in the franchise (especially if you are looking to master the game) but I appreciate Capcom for at least providing some form of fun minigames after the storyline like they did with RE7 and REmake 2 as well which is something you would not see in modern gaming industry.