BULLSHITBLAZING
2023
One of the few games I've actually gone and Platinum'd cause it wasn't that hard to lmfao.
Yeah I spent plenty of time with this one and had a blast. Game's got some weird jank on the technical department at points, but it looks great. The new color grading of everything lends the game to look even more like all the Alien movies. You've got the darkness of Alien, Aliens deep Cameron blues and even Resurrections shit brown in any location with the flesh hives. It rules.
Biggest glow up in this is definitely how it feels to play compared to the original. Isaac and the framerate were fucking molasses in that game so when more than two Necromorphs were onscreen my god almighty. This one retains that 60fps in Performance Mode (how I always play games when given the option) which is such a welcome change. It also makes Impossible Mode actually a fun challenge this time around as opposed to the slog it felt like at points in the original. Saving and entering a room then clearing it and saving again if it has multiple waves the ideal strategy. If I wasn't so pussy I'd play that mode all the time.
Sound design still owns although I did notice that the sound mixing is a bit worse this time around? It feels like music and SFX get so loud at points it drowns out anything the characters are saying and it sucks cause the VA work is really good. Especially Isaac seeing as he was just making grunts and screams in the original. He gets to be an actual character this time. Honestly Isaac is like if James Sunderland wasn't so fucking pathetic. He's the PSM cover art James Sunderland in attitude.
Pretty damn good remake. Don't think it's as good as the RE ones (well it's better than RE3s remake lets not kid ourselves now...), but I do appreciate this one in a similar way to 4s remake expanding on the original and adding in new shit that's genuinely cool. Hope we get a Dead Space 2 remake. That'll be the one I'll really be looking at like a hawk to see if they fuck anything.
Yeah I spent plenty of time with this one and had a blast. Game's got some weird jank on the technical department at points, but it looks great. The new color grading of everything lends the game to look even more like all the Alien movies. You've got the darkness of Alien, Aliens deep Cameron blues and even Resurrections shit brown in any location with the flesh hives. It rules.
Biggest glow up in this is definitely how it feels to play compared to the original. Isaac and the framerate were fucking molasses in that game so when more than two Necromorphs were onscreen my god almighty. This one retains that 60fps in Performance Mode (how I always play games when given the option) which is such a welcome change. It also makes Impossible Mode actually a fun challenge this time around as opposed to the slog it felt like at points in the original. Saving and entering a room then clearing it and saving again if it has multiple waves the ideal strategy. If I wasn't so pussy I'd play that mode all the time.
Sound design still owns although I did notice that the sound mixing is a bit worse this time around? It feels like music and SFX get so loud at points it drowns out anything the characters are saying and it sucks cause the VA work is really good. Especially Isaac seeing as he was just making grunts and screams in the original. He gets to be an actual character this time. Honestly Isaac is like if James Sunderland wasn't so fucking pathetic. He's the PSM cover art James Sunderland in attitude.
Pretty damn good remake. Don't think it's as good as the RE ones (well it's better than RE3s remake lets not kid ourselves now...), but I do appreciate this one in a similar way to 4s remake expanding on the original and adding in new shit that's genuinely cool. Hope we get a Dead Space 2 remake. That'll be the one I'll really be looking at like a hawk to see if they fuck anything.
2010
Pure video games. First time playing this since it came out and I'd forgotten just how much of a "video game" it is. Vanquish isn't worried about telling a story let alone a good one. Like Doom 2016 and Eternal it has plenty of modern day gaming elements like actual cutscenes, but none of that shit matters. Get out there and shoot the shit out of robots for 4 and a half hours. It does this all so right and constantly that being upset about the near nonexistent story would just be silly. Game feels great and it's fun. All I need.
Platinum's output from Madworld all the way to Bayonetta 2 is just so, so special. It's such a sadness their CEO is going to lead them to a slow bleed out from working on live service bullshit.
Platinum's output from Madworld all the way to Bayonetta 2 is just so, so special. It's such a sadness their CEO is going to lead them to a slow bleed out from working on live service bullshit.
I'm gonna be real, I used to really love this game. Bought it on PS2 as a kid (one of the few games I actually could own and not just rent lmfao), and then played it again when the Ico collection came out on PS3. Replaying it now with this version I hate to say it, but I think I'm kind of over it. Just do not have the patience to deal with these controls anymore and I know the PS3 version was more fucky but I was also like 16 when that version came out.
Game still is a stand out of the medium as genuine art and the unique way to tell a story that only the format of video games ever could. In that regard I can't give it an outright terrible rating cause it's still an important landmark title for that, but man I really don't like playing this now. Maybe another playthrough in a few years will change that, but I'm sticking to this for now.
Also, this is probably Kow Otani's magnum opus. His Gamera and Godzilla scores plus his Gundam Wing OST (the best part of that series) were great but this, lord all mighty I'm boutta bust... I think I love his work for the music more than the game itself now. Get him to do some more video game soundtracks or work on things heavy on action please!
In conclusion... FUCK THIS GAME'S CAMERA
Game still is a stand out of the medium as genuine art and the unique way to tell a story that only the format of video games ever could. In that regard I can't give it an outright terrible rating cause it's still an important landmark title for that, but man I really don't like playing this now. Maybe another playthrough in a few years will change that, but I'm sticking to this for now.
Also, this is probably Kow Otani's magnum opus. His Gamera and Godzilla scores plus his Gundam Wing OST (the best part of that series) were great but this, lord all mighty I'm boutta bust... I think I love his work for the music more than the game itself now. Get him to do some more video game soundtracks or work on things heavy on action please!
In conclusion... FUCK THIS GAME'S CAMERA
Right off that bat just gonna say never played the mobile game, but I've known about it (and Narmaya) for years. Also been on and off following this specific game since it was announced year ago. Once it was pretty much set in stone with a release date I did kind of stop following news about it so imagine my surprise (positive) when the postgame for this is just Monster Hunter.
No sugarcoating it Relink isn't a really long game (story wise at least). This isn't a 40-50 hour JRPG. There are no real sidequests they're all mostly just fetch quests with items or collectibles you'll find during missions. So if you're one of those "well every dollar should amount to an hour of gameplay" psychopaths this might not be for you on that front.
So lets talk about that story. The story presented here isn't that original, a lot of it is stuff that's been seen before in numerous different Japanese media over the years. Evil church with fervent cult following, Vergil/Nero not a good guy but also not really a bad guy Jack Garland looking edgelord but actually a nice guy type, happy and willing to risk it all to save their friends and the day against all odds MC, main villain lackey's you beat the shit out of before they join in to help you at the end. For all intents and purposes Relink's story should feel tired and boring. It really doesn't have any crazy twists or development. You've seen this all before somewhere, but like a good Godzilla movie that shit don't matter when it's presented in the coolest and funnest ways possible. Granblue Relink luckily does go on to present its story in some of the most incredible ways imaginable. This shit has gacha money poured into it and it really is happy to show it all off. Visually the game is gorgeous. Actual art. That first wide shot of the Grandcypher with the most beautiful clouds I've ever seen in a video game during the title card my jaw fucking dropped. I was floored and the game never stops looking incredible. The painting aesthetic for all the background elements and even some of the characters clothes immediately sets this apart visually from so many other games that have tried this cell shaded style, but never have been able to capture it. BOTW-lite Genshin this is not.
As for how it plays well it's simple. Think a Platinum game's simple but fast paced combos (which they had a hand in for a bit of the dev cycle). However, instead of just 1 character you have 20 different characters that all play their own way and then that massive development cycle starts to make more sense. Everyone's gonna have their favorites and of course my gooner brain went straight to Narmaya, but funnily enough my major mains ended up being her, Zeta and Siegfried. Style switching and timing hits right for max damage feels good bro. There's parts where the game goes full kaiju mode with Bahamut and it becomes a bit of a simple beat em up but the two or so times it happens it's a nice power trip that doesn't overstay its welcome and as a huge fan of various Toku and Kaiju media that is my glup shitto moment in any media.
Through my whole play time I kept thinking: "Man this kind of feels like FF16..." Well while that game quickly fell off from being one of my favorites from last year upon the realization of how fucky the pacing was during my New Game Plus run and also being sick of only playing as Clive. Granblue Relink doesn't fall for those trappings. Instead it delivers a fast and furious, competent, and immensely satisfying 10-12 hour action rpg campaign. An action RPG with multiple characters with their own gameplay styles. Yes please, more of that. Sure you don't get as much time in this to get to know the characters as you would with 10 years worth of game and silly events the gacha has plus the anime and manga and probably something else too, but I think this does a good enough job of endearing you to them as a fun intro. In a way it's very much the game I was hoping Final Fantasy 16 would be! All of this is then topped off with the post game being Monster Hunter style (optional co-op no less!) missions to go in and slay various monsters, fight harder versions of the story bosses, or take on new bosses that weren't even in the story. And they have a roadmap for free upcoming content like recent Monster Hunter games? Hell if this shit gets wild they might hold me off until Wilds releases next year haha.
Really feel that if there's anything I would consider a real negative with this is maybe its length if you just do the story campaign and drop it after that? And the gameplay can get a bit brain dead once you figure out who you want to really use (Charlotta and Narmaya are full on Musou mode). Also, fuck having to grind for gold dahlia badges for the last character ticket. Those three things aside, game rocks and if you truly stick with it you'll get more than those 12 hours, but considering those 12 hours are already an insane banger of a single player game which gets rarer and rarer these days, well I consider that a gift. A PS2 era action game length JRPG. Weird game when you look it at it like that, but I got nearly 100 hours out of it before writing out this review so uh, the game's definitely a full package like Narmaya's tightly stuffed tits.
No sugarcoating it Relink isn't a really long game (story wise at least). This isn't a 40-50 hour JRPG. There are no real sidequests they're all mostly just fetch quests with items or collectibles you'll find during missions. So if you're one of those "well every dollar should amount to an hour of gameplay" psychopaths this might not be for you on that front.
So lets talk about that story. The story presented here isn't that original, a lot of it is stuff that's been seen before in numerous different Japanese media over the years. Evil church with fervent cult following, Vergil/Nero not a good guy but also not really a bad guy Jack Garland looking edgelord but actually a nice guy type, happy and willing to risk it all to save their friends and the day against all odds MC, main villain lackey's you beat the shit out of before they join in to help you at the end. For all intents and purposes Relink's story should feel tired and boring. It really doesn't have any crazy twists or development. You've seen this all before somewhere, but like a good Godzilla movie that shit don't matter when it's presented in the coolest and funnest ways possible. Granblue Relink luckily does go on to present its story in some of the most incredible ways imaginable. This shit has gacha money poured into it and it really is happy to show it all off. Visually the game is gorgeous. Actual art. That first wide shot of the Grandcypher with the most beautiful clouds I've ever seen in a video game during the title card my jaw fucking dropped. I was floored and the game never stops looking incredible. The painting aesthetic for all the background elements and even some of the characters clothes immediately sets this apart visually from so many other games that have tried this cell shaded style, but never have been able to capture it. BOTW-lite Genshin this is not.
As for how it plays well it's simple. Think a Platinum game's simple but fast paced combos (which they had a hand in for a bit of the dev cycle). However, instead of just 1 character you have 20 different characters that all play their own way and then that massive development cycle starts to make more sense. Everyone's gonna have their favorites and of course my gooner brain went straight to Narmaya, but funnily enough my major mains ended up being her, Zeta and Siegfried. Style switching and timing hits right for max damage feels good bro. There's parts where the game goes full kaiju mode with Bahamut and it becomes a bit of a simple beat em up but the two or so times it happens it's a nice power trip that doesn't overstay its welcome and as a huge fan of various Toku and Kaiju media that is my glup shitto moment in any media.
Through my whole play time I kept thinking: "Man this kind of feels like FF16..." Well while that game quickly fell off from being one of my favorites from last year upon the realization of how fucky the pacing was during my New Game Plus run and also being sick of only playing as Clive. Granblue Relink doesn't fall for those trappings. Instead it delivers a fast and furious, competent, and immensely satisfying 10-12 hour action rpg campaign. An action RPG with multiple characters with their own gameplay styles. Yes please, more of that. Sure you don't get as much time in this to get to know the characters as you would with 10 years worth of game and silly events the gacha has plus the anime and manga and probably something else too, but I think this does a good enough job of endearing you to them as a fun intro. In a way it's very much the game I was hoping Final Fantasy 16 would be! All of this is then topped off with the post game being Monster Hunter style (optional co-op no less!) missions to go in and slay various monsters, fight harder versions of the story bosses, or take on new bosses that weren't even in the story. And they have a roadmap for free upcoming content like recent Monster Hunter games? Hell if this shit gets wild they might hold me off until Wilds releases next year haha.
Really feel that if there's anything I would consider a real negative with this is maybe its length if you just do the story campaign and drop it after that? And the gameplay can get a bit brain dead once you figure out who you want to really use (Charlotta and Narmaya are full on Musou mode). Also, fuck having to grind for gold dahlia badges for the last character ticket. Those three things aside, game rocks and if you truly stick with it you'll get more than those 12 hours, but considering those 12 hours are already an insane banger of a single player game which gets rarer and rarer these days, well I consider that a gift. A PS2 era action game length JRPG. Weird game when you look it at it like that, but I got nearly 100 hours out of it before writing out this review so uh, the game's definitely a full package like Narmaya's tightly stuffed tits.
Playing this entire game through tear welled eyes knowing I can never feel the joy Kirby does in just his walk cycle alone.
Gonna preface this with Egoraptor is a fucking moron and single-handedly ruined all discussion of this franchise more than any annoying Nintendo fanboys could have.
Haven't played this in close to a decade so I was excited to give it a new run with the fresh perspective that comes from something like that. With that being said there is a lot of early 3D game transition crust in this. The amount of going through the menus to switch items or boots sucks. It runs like dogwater (I'll let it slide considering the original platform), the camera can be weird at points, and the mostly unskippable text boxes and cutscenes really do reveal how much of a relic of late 90s adventure games this is. Yet it still holds up nearly 30 years later. Ocarina of Time is a neat game to go back to after the near past decade of Wild/Tears and playing through a more traditional Zelda game that just feels more along the length of a standard adventure game now? Like, a Zelda game made up of around 15-20 hours of gameplay? Hell yeah, make more around that length too! Some weird early 3D stuff like the camera aside Link himself still controls pretty well and paired with the super simple story helps this game feel like such a breeze to playthrough.
Speaking of the story... I don't think Zelda games have the most incredible stories in gaming, but they're always serviceable fun adventure fare that feels like crazy ass Ghibli (Nausicaa and Mononoke) meets Disney renaissance and if I'm being honest? It does the job every time. Sure you can talk about the deeper implications and loss of innocence 11 year old Link being forced into an adult body and time traveling across both ages with the experience of the others can mean, but the game never focuses on that so neither will I.
The presentation as well is incredible. MGS is often the 1998 game people go to for cinematics and for good reason, but lordy OoT really does feel and capture the vibes of a fantasy anime from the era. Stuff like going fishing after finishing the water temple or getting Biggoron's eyedrops feel like the episodes where everyone gets to relax and enjoy their time or do some silly shit with penis music blasting as they get into silly shenanigans. The fishing minigame still rules by the way. Then when shit gets more serious like the final battle with Ganon shrouded in shadows it genuinely feels epic and looks right out of Escaflowne. Good shit.
There's plenty in this that we all take for granted nowadays both within its own franchise and other games, but I think when those things were new and groundbreaking there's a reason this and FF7 were probably the biggest games ever for the rest of the late 90s and early 2000s.
Also wow wow wow Twilight Princess is such a fucking full on stealth remake/sequel to this lmfao. May as well play them back to back if you can.
Haven't played this in close to a decade so I was excited to give it a new run with the fresh perspective that comes from something like that. With that being said there is a lot of early 3D game transition crust in this. The amount of going through the menus to switch items or boots sucks. It runs like dogwater (I'll let it slide considering the original platform), the camera can be weird at points, and the mostly unskippable text boxes and cutscenes really do reveal how much of a relic of late 90s adventure games this is. Yet it still holds up nearly 30 years later. Ocarina of Time is a neat game to go back to after the near past decade of Wild/Tears and playing through a more traditional Zelda game that just feels more along the length of a standard adventure game now? Like, a Zelda game made up of around 15-20 hours of gameplay? Hell yeah, make more around that length too! Some weird early 3D stuff like the camera aside Link himself still controls pretty well and paired with the super simple story helps this game feel like such a breeze to playthrough.
Speaking of the story... I don't think Zelda games have the most incredible stories in gaming, but they're always serviceable fun adventure fare that feels like crazy ass Ghibli (Nausicaa and Mononoke) meets Disney renaissance and if I'm being honest? It does the job every time. Sure you can talk about the deeper implications and loss of innocence 11 year old Link being forced into an adult body and time traveling across both ages with the experience of the others can mean, but the game never focuses on that so neither will I.
The presentation as well is incredible. MGS is often the 1998 game people go to for cinematics and for good reason, but lordy OoT really does feel and capture the vibes of a fantasy anime from the era. Stuff like going fishing after finishing the water temple or getting Biggoron's eyedrops feel like the episodes where everyone gets to relax and enjoy their time or do some silly shit with penis music blasting as they get into silly shenanigans. The fishing minigame still rules by the way. Then when shit gets more serious like the final battle with Ganon shrouded in shadows it genuinely feels epic and looks right out of Escaflowne. Good shit.
There's plenty in this that we all take for granted nowadays both within its own franchise and other games, but I think when those things were new and groundbreaking there's a reason this and FF7 were probably the biggest games ever for the rest of the late 90s and early 2000s.
Also wow wow wow Twilight Princess is such a fucking full on stealth remake/sequel to this lmfao. May as well play them back to back if you can.
2020
Needed to take a break from Granblue Relink and mashing attack as Narmaya so I went and played this where I will be tapping A a lot instead. Still holds up pretty well after all these years. Last played it maybe 15 years ago and after a quick refresher I figured out how Mario controls again, but for real tho having to constantly tap A with where it's at on the Switch controllers wears thin quick as hell. Also this game is much shorter than I remember it being as a kid. Using the BLJ definitely helped in that too. Still a classic, and probably the best "baby's first video game" with how easily and intuitively it eases you into playing in a 3D space.
Cannot listen to the end credits theme anymore without thinking about Fesh Pince of Blair.
Cannot listen to the end credits theme anymore without thinking about Fesh Pince of Blair.
These are just quick thoughts on it right now I guess I'll have something better to say like I do with MH games a year down the line as long as I remember...
Anyways I don't really play the gacha cause I ain't about that shit. I just really like fem Draphs, but putting that aside this shit always looked neat (Japan the only place really doing crazy fantasy settings that get my bonger going, shoutout to DD and Dark Souls) so I got this and I'm glad it really is cool. Don't really got much to say beyond it's one of the funner anime/animeesque fighters and the implementation of rollback netcode is a huge boon to it. Main thing that kept me away from the original release and DBFZ. Also shit dawg it was free so why not?
We will be playing Relink. Surely it will not get a last minute delay.
Anyways I don't really play the gacha cause I ain't about that shit. I just really like fem Draphs, but putting that aside this shit always looked neat (Japan the only place really doing crazy fantasy settings that get my bonger going, shoutout to DD and Dark Souls) so I got this and I'm glad it really is cool. Don't really got much to say beyond it's one of the funner anime/animeesque fighters and the implementation of rollback netcode is a huge boon to it. Main thing that kept me away from the original release and DBFZ. Also shit dawg it was free so why not?
We will be playing Relink. Surely it will not get a last minute delay.
As someone who became a huge Avatar fan after rewatching the first movie back in 2019 and realizing "Oh, this fucking owns actually." and then having this announced before The Way of Water even had footage for us to see had me so excited for another round at a game that actually could get what the film went for. Well for better or worse Ubisoft was the right publisher for this.
Gonna get it out of the way the movies are peak blockbuster cinema, end of. James Cameron has not lost his touch and continues to not miss (as long as he's not producing a movie or making a documentary). Both Avatars are everything a blockbuster should be perfectly blending spectacle, incredible VFX, and a gaggle of characters you root for. The game on the other hand and I'm not gonna sugercoat it kind of fumbles this. It's story isn't downright terrible and it's serviceable as "event we can't go too crazy with cause it's canon and happens between movie 1 and 2", but man does it really lack that punch Cameron's talents give his movies. It really feels kind of like the new Zelda games where they came up with this insane incredible world to traverse and then remembered they needed a reason for any of that to happen or connect. I don't know how to better explain it than it just feels super bland and safe compared to the movies. When we finally get something akin to the Destruction of the Hometree or the Tulkun Hunt it just sort of feels like "WELL WE NEED A BIT LIKE THAT!" and while it's visually impressive and oppressive it's so late in a story where I haven't been nearly as endeared to these characters that it just feels like filling out a checklist. Also a smaller, but just as problematic issue for me is the music. It's good, nothing really bad about it, but it's a damn shame they don't riff or just straight up use more of James Horner's (absolute real one RIP) or Simon Franglen's incredible work throughout. War and Bad Parents are insane bangers and god I just wish more of the combat music sounded that fucking good. There's good imitations of their works, but that's just it. It feels like imitation. Imagine if a Star Wars game didn't use some John Williams. People would freak the fuck out.
All that aside fuck the story, fuck the kinda not as good as the movie's music. Ignore all of that shit cause where this game owns is capturing the vibe of being on Pandora. Holy shit this phrase is overused for games, but you really feel like a Na'vi. You bump your head on the ceiling indoors and you're so fast and traverse the underbrush and trees like a spider monkey on pure 99.9% genuine meth. It's the closest a game has come to feeling like Titanfall 2 since Titanfall 2 and it's an Avatar game of all things. A game based on a movie that clearly had a heavy influence on Titanfall 2. It's a match made in heaven. I played this shit for 70 hours and never once got tired of slide kicking and Captain Falcon kneeing RDA goons across their skulls. Add in the fun as hell gunplay (with an insane Shotgun holy hell it's so sick) and like the best of games while the story may falter in the place that matters more for video games which is playing it? This shit passes with flying colors.
Being away from Ubisoft open world games since Blood Dragon has probably helped my enjoyment of this too. I don't know what's reused, old, or new and I don't care! I win! I am feasting.
I haven't even talked about being able to fly on an Ikran and how crazy that shit is to be chilling in the skies and then you dive bomb a Scorpion shooting out it's wings. It's good shit. Get it if you like the movies I cannot recommend this enough if that applies to you. Hope to god the DLC stories introduce Recoms I need that insane anime type beat contrast of natural Pandora Na'vi vs Na'vi decked out in future tactical military gear.
FUCK AVATAR IS SO SICK GRAAAAAAAAHHHHH
Gonna get it out of the way the movies are peak blockbuster cinema, end of. James Cameron has not lost his touch and continues to not miss (as long as he's not producing a movie or making a documentary). Both Avatars are everything a blockbuster should be perfectly blending spectacle, incredible VFX, and a gaggle of characters you root for. The game on the other hand and I'm not gonna sugercoat it kind of fumbles this. It's story isn't downright terrible and it's serviceable as "event we can't go too crazy with cause it's canon and happens between movie 1 and 2", but man does it really lack that punch Cameron's talents give his movies. It really feels kind of like the new Zelda games where they came up with this insane incredible world to traverse and then remembered they needed a reason for any of that to happen or connect. I don't know how to better explain it than it just feels super bland and safe compared to the movies. When we finally get something akin to the Destruction of the Hometree or the Tulkun Hunt it just sort of feels like "WELL WE NEED A BIT LIKE THAT!" and while it's visually impressive and oppressive it's so late in a story where I haven't been nearly as endeared to these characters that it just feels like filling out a checklist. Also a smaller, but just as problematic issue for me is the music. It's good, nothing really bad about it, but it's a damn shame they don't riff or just straight up use more of James Horner's (absolute real one RIP) or Simon Franglen's incredible work throughout. War and Bad Parents are insane bangers and god I just wish more of the combat music sounded that fucking good. There's good imitations of their works, but that's just it. It feels like imitation. Imagine if a Star Wars game didn't use some John Williams. People would freak the fuck out.
All that aside fuck the story, fuck the kinda not as good as the movie's music. Ignore all of that shit cause where this game owns is capturing the vibe of being on Pandora. Holy shit this phrase is overused for games, but you really feel like a Na'vi. You bump your head on the ceiling indoors and you're so fast and traverse the underbrush and trees like a spider monkey on pure 99.9% genuine meth. It's the closest a game has come to feeling like Titanfall 2 since Titanfall 2 and it's an Avatar game of all things. A game based on a movie that clearly had a heavy influence on Titanfall 2. It's a match made in heaven. I played this shit for 70 hours and never once got tired of slide kicking and Captain Falcon kneeing RDA goons across their skulls. Add in the fun as hell gunplay (with an insane Shotgun holy hell it's so sick) and like the best of games while the story may falter in the place that matters more for video games which is playing it? This shit passes with flying colors.
Being away from Ubisoft open world games since Blood Dragon has probably helped my enjoyment of this too. I don't know what's reused, old, or new and I don't care! I win! I am feasting.
I haven't even talked about being able to fly on an Ikran and how crazy that shit is to be chilling in the skies and then you dive bomb a Scorpion shooting out it's wings. It's good shit. Get it if you like the movies I cannot recommend this enough if that applies to you. Hope to god the DLC stories introduce Recoms I need that insane anime type beat contrast of natural Pandora Na'vi vs Na'vi decked out in future tactical military gear.
FUCK AVATAR IS SO SICK GRAAAAAAAAHHHHH
1999
Basically Doom 64 for Quake 2. Nothing terrible, but also nothing crazy or special like Call of the Machine. Expected since it's a game from 1999 that has to run on the N64 and the latter is an expansion made with 26 extra years of advancement in video game development. What you get is nice though. Short and brisk. Not a fan of some of the very Dissolution of Eternity type stuff where enemies are just dumped at you in tight spaces, but it's not unmanageable.
So I had a previous review that was a bit more negative on the game and very similar to my lame shitpost review of Xenoblade 2 where I simply said "objectively better than the first game." I feel I was a bit too harsh on Iceborne then. Now a lot of the problems I had back then are still there but 3 years away from this exclusively playing Rise and Sunbreak definitely helped in giving me a newfound outlook for Monster Hunter World and Iceborne. Especially the latter.
Post Monster Hunter 3 I haven't really disliked any Monster Hunter game. 3 has a really lackluster roster, but I understand why it was like that. I don't like it, but I get it. P3rd on though? Banger after banger full on 10 on 10 games baby. P3rd? Banger. 3U? Banger. 4U? ALL TIMER THE POPEYES CHICKEN OF MH. Gen? Banger. GU? Banger. World would be the first one to really sort of shake up this streak for me as while I never did find the game terrible I always felt it was lacking something. A sort of charm the previous games had that the 5th generation wouldn't really bring back until Rise. Iceborne only exacerbated this despite the return of some of the more vibrant and odd monsters from older games. Didn't stop me from putting over 2K hours and now another 295 into it with this replay lmfaooo.
So yeah getting it out of the way now. Iceborne is a bit of a janky load still. The clutch claw sucks. This is a lukewarm take, but man does it suck having to do this to even make WEX work. The movement of the characters also feels really off compared to the previous games and even Rise. There's a bit of that Rockstar Euphoria bullshit going on where I feel some control responses take like 3 hours at times and cool I just got one shot by Fatalis epic. I'd talk about the deco grinding (still sucks), Guiding Lands (kill me), or the FOMO events, but those are mostly a nonissue now. If you're playing MHWI in 2023 (enjoy by the way if you got it on the current sale that shit is a steal) none of these things will really matter as naturally grinding out what you want or deco events may just get you decent decos. For The Guiding Lands unless you really want to augment some gear (and there's no reason to really care about attack and health augments I didn't use any at all this playthrough) you can just avoid it besides the mandatory story quests or Raging Brachydios event (one of the best fights). FOMO events nonexistent since Fatalis dropped back in late 2020 and the game is so much better for it. This is what it should have been all along and it rules. Yeah I still have my issues with some annoying shit. Why does the game punish me for playing good by having that dumb Rajang wall grab and Fatalis falling over knock me down? But the good out weighs the bad. Also while I find Rise's art direction to be much better as I feel MH should be a very stylized (yet realistic) franchise I can definitely at least say that the environments in this game are gorgeous and the HDR is so goooood when you figure out how to make it work. Just the wonderful contrast and colors you can give it. On a technical level yeah World is genuinely impressive especially for a PS4 game, and now on PS5 with the minimized loadtimes and unbroken 60fps lordy... All that paired with the amount of content makes this at this point in time one of the most bang for your buck games. If you've ever been interested in Monster Hunter and wanted an idea of what the franchise is then yes this is the game to play. I may prefer Rise and feel in many ways it is more representative of the franchise as a whole post Tri (goofy yet earnest) World is the game Wilds will definitely build off of more than the former even if it takes some elements from it.
It's a bit of a mess (why is Nergigante turned into Monsterverse Godzilla and why are the ledges so fucking annoying and why are the maps so tight and cramped) and some things really feel like the devs at times are trying to counter the player trying to have any fun (CC tenderizing), but MHWI is in my opinion still one of the gold standards of what a AAA release should be. This doesn't just end at release content wise, but in post launch content with free additional monsters and events to keep the game alive. Yeah it may not be the best MH, but I'm thinking it's a pretty damn good game.
Now if you'll excuse me I'll be playing Monster Hunter Rise and the older ones until Wilds releases alongside any other games I want to play.
Post Monster Hunter 3 I haven't really disliked any Monster Hunter game. 3 has a really lackluster roster, but I understand why it was like that. I don't like it, but I get it. P3rd on though? Banger after banger full on 10 on 10 games baby. P3rd? Banger. 3U? Banger. 4U? ALL TIMER THE POPEYES CHICKEN OF MH. Gen? Banger. GU? Banger. World would be the first one to really sort of shake up this streak for me as while I never did find the game terrible I always felt it was lacking something. A sort of charm the previous games had that the 5th generation wouldn't really bring back until Rise. Iceborne only exacerbated this despite the return of some of the more vibrant and odd monsters from older games. Didn't stop me from putting over 2K hours and now another 295 into it with this replay lmfaooo.
So yeah getting it out of the way now. Iceborne is a bit of a janky load still. The clutch claw sucks. This is a lukewarm take, but man does it suck having to do this to even make WEX work. The movement of the characters also feels really off compared to the previous games and even Rise. There's a bit of that Rockstar Euphoria bullshit going on where I feel some control responses take like 3 hours at times and cool I just got one shot by Fatalis epic. I'd talk about the deco grinding (still sucks), Guiding Lands (kill me), or the FOMO events, but those are mostly a nonissue now. If you're playing MHWI in 2023 (enjoy by the way if you got it on the current sale that shit is a steal) none of these things will really matter as naturally grinding out what you want or deco events may just get you decent decos. For The Guiding Lands unless you really want to augment some gear (and there's no reason to really care about attack and health augments I didn't use any at all this playthrough) you can just avoid it besides the mandatory story quests or Raging Brachydios event (one of the best fights). FOMO events nonexistent since Fatalis dropped back in late 2020 and the game is so much better for it. This is what it should have been all along and it rules. Yeah I still have my issues with some annoying shit. Why does the game punish me for playing good by having that dumb Rajang wall grab and Fatalis falling over knock me down? But the good out weighs the bad. Also while I find Rise's art direction to be much better as I feel MH should be a very stylized (yet realistic) franchise I can definitely at least say that the environments in this game are gorgeous and the HDR is so goooood when you figure out how to make it work. Just the wonderful contrast and colors you can give it. On a technical level yeah World is genuinely impressive especially for a PS4 game, and now on PS5 with the minimized loadtimes and unbroken 60fps lordy... All that paired with the amount of content makes this at this point in time one of the most bang for your buck games. If you've ever been interested in Monster Hunter and wanted an idea of what the franchise is then yes this is the game to play. I may prefer Rise and feel in many ways it is more representative of the franchise as a whole post Tri (goofy yet earnest) World is the game Wilds will definitely build off of more than the former even if it takes some elements from it.
It's a bit of a mess (why is Nergigante turned into Monsterverse Godzilla and why are the ledges so fucking annoying and why are the maps so tight and cramped) and some things really feel like the devs at times are trying to counter the player trying to have any fun (CC tenderizing), but MHWI is in my opinion still one of the gold standards of what a AAA release should be. This doesn't just end at release content wise, but in post launch content with free additional monsters and events to keep the game alive. Yeah it may not be the best MH, but I'm thinking it's a pretty damn good game.
Now if you'll excuse me I'll be playing Monster Hunter Rise and the older ones until Wilds releases alongside any other games I want to play.
Why the fuck did they waste Doomguy's first time speaking on him saying shit like rip and tear when this has the better and less eye rolling wink to the camera way to do it raaaaaahhh!!! Also, this shit is just a Quake game that they called Doom lmfao. It's all right there. The nonsensically fucked up lore and legendary RPG Knight savior Doomslayer shit. The emphasis on movement and jumping, plus a fucking hammer. It's Quake it's goddamn Quake and we didn't even see it this whole time.
Fucking baller. Dare I say it's better than part 1? Honestly? Yeah it is. Everything in Part 1 and the base game has been expanded upon and brought to an even further insane level. Everything about Doom Eternal is cracked the fuck out. From the gameplay, to the music, to the story it's all crackhead shit that has me grinning like a psycho for the entire 30 or so hours I've spent between the campaign and the expansions. It's kind of funny how I feel that Doom 2, a game I used to (and still do!) unabashedly love feels like it overstays its welcome after replaying it yet Doom Eternal which is around twice the length just breezed through for me. Got a massive hard on every time I'd be on some psycho shootout with like 50 goons and then a fucking Cyberdemon joins in cause they're just cannon fodder now too. Disrupting that fucker Marauder's stun state into being even longer with the hammer. And the Sentinel Hammer goddamn it. Never has a game gotten me closer to feeling like Bob the Fucking Builder or Gaogaigar it's a 10/10 on that alone. So much better than The Crucible too since it refills with glory kills.
I could go on and on about how this shit rules and may actually be the best FPS of the past decade (contentious since for everyone else it's Titanfall 2, but I'm dying on this hill damn it!), but the tl;dr is that if you liked Doom Eternal you will like these expansions. Period.
If I was a woman this game would have probably been such a huge jolt to my hormones that I would have transitioned to the opposite gender.
Fucking baller. Dare I say it's better than part 1? Honestly? Yeah it is. Everything in Part 1 and the base game has been expanded upon and brought to an even further insane level. Everything about Doom Eternal is cracked the fuck out. From the gameplay, to the music, to the story it's all crackhead shit that has me grinning like a psycho for the entire 30 or so hours I've spent between the campaign and the expansions. It's kind of funny how I feel that Doom 2, a game I used to (and still do!) unabashedly love feels like it overstays its welcome after replaying it yet Doom Eternal which is around twice the length just breezed through for me. Got a massive hard on every time I'd be on some psycho shootout with like 50 goons and then a fucking Cyberdemon joins in cause they're just cannon fodder now too. Disrupting that fucker Marauder's stun state into being even longer with the hammer. And the Sentinel Hammer goddamn it. Never has a game gotten me closer to feeling like Bob the Fucking Builder or Gaogaigar it's a 10/10 on that alone. So much better than The Crucible too since it refills with glory kills.
I could go on and on about how this shit rules and may actually be the best FPS of the past decade (contentious since for everyone else it's Titanfall 2, but I'm dying on this hill damn it!), but the tl;dr is that if you liked Doom Eternal you will like these expansions. Period.
If I was a woman this game would have probably been such a huge jolt to my hormones that I would have transitioned to the opposite gender.
Absolutely hilarious that Samuel Hayden decides the best way to try to kill Doomguy after going through a William Birkin mutation is by hitting him with Touhou attacks.
Originally played this when it released, but I thought I was Big Dick McGamer and chose Ultraviolence after not playing the game that has you using your controllers and keyboard like you're playing Through the Fire and Flames and rightfully got my shit canned so bad I said "that's enough of that for today!" and never returned. Now I'm back and beat the game's ass so I think I'm doing pretty good.
The coolest part of TAG is how confident the devs are in your skills and the arsenal they've prepped that they just dump the most insane nonsense at you. It's the FPS version of DMCV dumping a Fury into a swarm or Bayonetta hitting you with Gracious and Glory and then telling you to do something about it. It rules. Yeah there's still the silly tutorials telling you how to deal with something but that's like 2% of the chapter. Also, Andrew Hulshult's tracks are really good too. Glad he didn't just try imitating Mick Gordon even if some things can't really be avoided seeing as this is the modern sound of Doom now. Especially after how brutal the falling out (LMFAOOO) he had with Bethesda and id would have been in really bad taste otherwise.
Excited to start Part Two and witness the conclusion to this absolute nonsense crackhead story.
Originally played this when it released, but I thought I was Big Dick McGamer and chose Ultraviolence after not playing the game that has you using your controllers and keyboard like you're playing Through the Fire and Flames and rightfully got my shit canned so bad I said "that's enough of that for today!" and never returned. Now I'm back and beat the game's ass so I think I'm doing pretty good.
The coolest part of TAG is how confident the devs are in your skills and the arsenal they've prepped that they just dump the most insane nonsense at you. It's the FPS version of DMCV dumping a Fury into a swarm or Bayonetta hitting you with Gracious and Glory and then telling you to do something about it. It rules. Yeah there's still the silly tutorials telling you how to deal with something but that's like 2% of the chapter. Also, Andrew Hulshult's tracks are really good too. Glad he didn't just try imitating Mick Gordon even if some things can't really be avoided seeing as this is the modern sound of Doom now. Especially after how brutal the falling out (LMFAOOO) he had with Bethesda and id would have been in really bad taste otherwise.
Excited to start Part Two and witness the conclusion to this absolute nonsense crackhead story.
2020
You would think the next review on here would be MHWI seeing as I did MHW, but then I reached MR200 and decided I wanted to play this and here we are.
Anyways, probably the most insane FPS of the last generation if not that entire decade. Doom Eternal is everything about Doom 2016, but launched from a catapult off a cliff, on crack, and on fire. The game's pacing and the speed at which enemies will attack is at such an insane level that I don't blame people who just don't enjoy playing through this. It demands your full attention in which you WILL use your entire arsenal or you will die and repeat battles until you win. Speaking of the arsenal it rocks. Every weapon has its purpose and every demon is weaker to a specific weapon. Yet like blast in MH everything is weak to the Super Shotgun and this is going to be your trusty Gunfu still even with the lowered ammo count and DMCesque weapon switching you have to do.
Alongside the arsenal beinf fantastic all the new melee elements that worked in 2016 like glory kills for health, chainsaw for ammo is taken even further as now you get the blood punch you receive from glory kills to just instakill weaker demons and since the chainsaw doesn't upgrade with ammo upgrades now instead of being an instakill button for big demons it's your ammo supply and the balancing act between all this is enough to put your brain into overdrive and eventually sensory overload blackout. All this across 13 massive levels that would make most other games green with envy. Funnily enough despite how big, long, and tiring this game should feel not once do I feel myself like it's overstaying its welcome like Doom 2 unfortunately did during my replay. Eternal occasionally gives you breathing room with levels that are easy to navigate and explore for secrets between battles with the great map they give you. Honestly the huge sprawling levels kind of remind me the classic Turok games but with less of the "where the fuck do I go" syndrome those games had. Urdak may as well be the Primagen's Lightship, but not fucking awful to traverse.
Is the game's story dog water? Yeah sure, but I really don't care. Not only don't I care I'm glad it's a fucking cheesefest of absolute nonsense that was clearly relegated to being mostly codex entries cause they basically decided this game wasn't Doom 5, it was Doom x Quake. The same way Tokyo Mirage Sessions clicked for me when I saw it less as SMT x FE and more as SMT, but with some Fire Emblem shit thrown in. Once I started playing Doom Eternal like Quake everything clicked and I was slaughtering my way through every stage. Also, seeing as I prefer Quake to do Doom after finally playing those I am in my fucking element. The most exhilarating and sweaty palm enducing FPS of the generation and probably my favorite Doom to be honest. Controversial perhaps, but fuck this does so much right. The ultraviolence paired with aggressive garish saturated colors, pacing, and a giant arsenal of guns was made for me specifically and no one else.
Doom has always been one of my favorite gaming franchises and I can see for some where Eternal goes too far into fanwank territory, but this franchise was over in that regard the moment Doom 3 had the slab with the OG Doom cover on it as some ancient fossil. Basically, yeah... like I said earlier I'm thinking this is my favorite Doom.
Also, do I even need to talk about the music? The score is a goddamn aural masterpiece of industrial rock, evil devil sounds, chanting choirs, and chainsaw revving skullfuckings and I hope everyone that fucked over Mick Gordon with how the official releases were handled eats shit for life.
Anyways, probably the most insane FPS of the last generation if not that entire decade. Doom Eternal is everything about Doom 2016, but launched from a catapult off a cliff, on crack, and on fire. The game's pacing and the speed at which enemies will attack is at such an insane level that I don't blame people who just don't enjoy playing through this. It demands your full attention in which you WILL use your entire arsenal or you will die and repeat battles until you win. Speaking of the arsenal it rocks. Every weapon has its purpose and every demon is weaker to a specific weapon. Yet like blast in MH everything is weak to the Super Shotgun and this is going to be your trusty Gunfu still even with the lowered ammo count and DMCesque weapon switching you have to do.
Alongside the arsenal beinf fantastic all the new melee elements that worked in 2016 like glory kills for health, chainsaw for ammo is taken even further as now you get the blood punch you receive from glory kills to just instakill weaker demons and since the chainsaw doesn't upgrade with ammo upgrades now instead of being an instakill button for big demons it's your ammo supply and the balancing act between all this is enough to put your brain into overdrive and eventually sensory overload blackout. All this across 13 massive levels that would make most other games green with envy. Funnily enough despite how big, long, and tiring this game should feel not once do I feel myself like it's overstaying its welcome like Doom 2 unfortunately did during my replay. Eternal occasionally gives you breathing room with levels that are easy to navigate and explore for secrets between battles with the great map they give you. Honestly the huge sprawling levels kind of remind me the classic Turok games but with less of the "where the fuck do I go" syndrome those games had. Urdak may as well be the Primagen's Lightship, but not fucking awful to traverse.
Is the game's story dog water? Yeah sure, but I really don't care. Not only don't I care I'm glad it's a fucking cheesefest of absolute nonsense that was clearly relegated to being mostly codex entries cause they basically decided this game wasn't Doom 5, it was Doom x Quake. The same way Tokyo Mirage Sessions clicked for me when I saw it less as SMT x FE and more as SMT, but with some Fire Emblem shit thrown in. Once I started playing Doom Eternal like Quake everything clicked and I was slaughtering my way through every stage. Also, seeing as I prefer Quake to do Doom after finally playing those I am in my fucking element. The most exhilarating and sweaty palm enducing FPS of the generation and probably my favorite Doom to be honest. Controversial perhaps, but fuck this does so much right. The ultraviolence paired with aggressive garish saturated colors, pacing, and a giant arsenal of guns was made for me specifically and no one else.
Doom has always been one of my favorite gaming franchises and I can see for some where Eternal goes too far into fanwank territory, but this franchise was over in that regard the moment Doom 3 had the slab with the OG Doom cover on it as some ancient fossil. Basically, yeah... like I said earlier I'm thinking this is my favorite Doom.
Also, do I even need to talk about the music? The score is a goddamn aural masterpiece of industrial rock, evil devil sounds, chanting choirs, and chainsaw revving skullfuckings and I hope everyone that fucked over Mick Gordon with how the official releases were handled eats shit for life.
Sunbreak coming to an end and the very high possibility of MH6 being announced real soon kind of got me itching to give this another shot. Won't be doing shit like Behemoth of The Leshen (unless I go back to cheese them with MR weapons), but I will be doing maybe a couple of the HR events to at least get some decos before Iceborne. Greatest Jagras here I come!
Anyways it holds up real good. Much shorter than I remember, but when this launched I also had a job that had me much busier and I was doing everything. This time around I've skipped a lot of quests and only really focused on making one armor set to get through HR (gotta have that Odogaron set with the slutty hips babe). Can confidently say people who called Rise too easy are fucking insane cause I steamrolled everything in this even in HR. The only real challenge coming from having an LR set while hunting something like an HR Odo or Bazel being a dickhead. None of that matters though when expeditions don't have real quest failure though.
Music is all around pretty good too. It's not Third gen or Fourth gen or even Rise/Sunbreak tier, but I may have judged it a bit too hard over the years. The Elder's Recess theme is genuinely underrated for starters and besides Bazel I think Vaal may actually have the best unique theme in the base game. It's so good.
Used Glaive and gotta say? Lots of fun! Can't believe I barely touched it in my initial playthrough. Used all the weapons in the game then, but eventually just defaulted to my usual of GS with some Switch Axe. Love the mobility IG received here and jumping up to dive down with that one move Iceborne added having the moth go apeshit spraying C4 Mothra dust everywhere is so good. Even if the game's choice of particle effects are so ugly and annoying as my screen becomes a mess of sparkles and embers, but who cares bug goes boom.
Gotta say while I think Rise (some really unfortunate Covid development cycle issues aside) and Sunbreak are definitely the better games of Monster Hunter's 5th generation and are also the ones with a better art direction that feels more in line with MH. World remains as impressive as it was back in 2018. It may not be perfect and it may have some annoying shit (I will find whoever programmed the constant roars in this one), but in a time where studios are willing to nickle and dime you for the smallest thing (which Capcom aren't exempt to by the way lmfao) this is still a game with so much content and so many things to do along the way with just the base entrance price. The time sink that comes along with it alone is worth the price and Iceborne will eventually just double that as MH expansions are basically just an entire extra game.
A genuine true modern classic and for all its faults... I think I kind of really love it still? Yes even the Handler cause now she'll just randomly put on the cat costume with the looping seasonal events and it has been HILARIOUS seeing her run around with that thing. Truly the Aqua Konosuba best useless loser of video games.
Also on a last note god bless the loading times while playing this on PS5, holy fuck.
Anyways it holds up real good. Much shorter than I remember, but when this launched I also had a job that had me much busier and I was doing everything. This time around I've skipped a lot of quests and only really focused on making one armor set to get through HR (gotta have that Odogaron set with the slutty hips babe). Can confidently say people who called Rise too easy are fucking insane cause I steamrolled everything in this even in HR. The only real challenge coming from having an LR set while hunting something like an HR Odo or Bazel being a dickhead. None of that matters though when expeditions don't have real quest failure though.
Music is all around pretty good too. It's not Third gen or Fourth gen or even Rise/Sunbreak tier, but I may have judged it a bit too hard over the years. The Elder's Recess theme is genuinely underrated for starters and besides Bazel I think Vaal may actually have the best unique theme in the base game. It's so good.
Used Glaive and gotta say? Lots of fun! Can't believe I barely touched it in my initial playthrough. Used all the weapons in the game then, but eventually just defaulted to my usual of GS with some Switch Axe. Love the mobility IG received here and jumping up to dive down with that one move Iceborne added having the moth go apeshit spraying C4 Mothra dust everywhere is so good. Even if the game's choice of particle effects are so ugly and annoying as my screen becomes a mess of sparkles and embers, but who cares bug goes boom.
Gotta say while I think Rise (some really unfortunate Covid development cycle issues aside) and Sunbreak are definitely the better games of Monster Hunter's 5th generation and are also the ones with a better art direction that feels more in line with MH. World remains as impressive as it was back in 2018. It may not be perfect and it may have some annoying shit (I will find whoever programmed the constant roars in this one), but in a time where studios are willing to nickle and dime you for the smallest thing (which Capcom aren't exempt to by the way lmfao) this is still a game with so much content and so many things to do along the way with just the base entrance price. The time sink that comes along with it alone is worth the price and Iceborne will eventually just double that as MH expansions are basically just an entire extra game.
A genuine true modern classic and for all its faults... I think I kind of really love it still? Yes even the Handler cause now she'll just randomly put on the cat costume with the looping seasonal events and it has been HILARIOUS seeing her run around with that thing. Truly the Aqua Konosuba best useless loser of video games.
Also on a last note god bless the loading times while playing this on PS5, holy fuck.