Before we begin, we must talk about sprucing this PC port up since it is a 1996 game and we have the tech to make it better. After getting it on either GOG or Steam, you'll need the Automated Fix installer someone made. Basically gives you all that's needed to make the game work as intended: OG PS1 water color, the Unfinished Business expansion that for some reason isn't bundled by default, the whole soundtrack, higher resolution, etc etc, some of which being customizable. That alone should suffice some, but if you're like me and want some extra pizzazz, you'll need one of those engine thingamabobs, a more modern iteration I used being Tomb1Main. This has loads more custom options, like re-activating the PS1 and Saturn versions' save crystals, using control tweaks TR2 and 3 have, allow for enemy health bars, extended draw distance and more. Again, all customizable, so if you're really just aiming to have it look and run better with extra polish, you can opt to use little to none.

Tomb Raider 1996. Another entry in my long list of "I've heard, watched, and looked up everything related to this classic while yet to have actually gone through it". I dunno what exactly compelled me to finally give it a look, but I suspect it might have to do with the fact I got hit with a cinematic platformer bug and this happens to fall inline, albeit more as an adventure title. Whatever the case, I'm pretty glad I did cause quite honestly? It's supremely dope, and despite what I have to say, no amount of "aged" or "clunk" could undermine how surprising of a heavy hitter this ended up being.

In fact, I'm gonna say right now, I struggle to really agree with some of these people regarding the mechanics and operation within the environment and overall lateral edges and blocks you interact with. Just seems like one of those "It's slow and deliberate which equates to having to grapple and learn the feel and rhythm of the movement to get the most out of it, which I don't like nor want to do" cases, which funnily enough is probably the reason I ended up grooving to the control scheme to the same level as tank controls; just becomes second nature in terms of what could be jumped via a standard or running start, sidestep and/or walking around to orient yourself, and bouncing around chaining all these sorts of maneuvers together. I'm also rather pleased to say the camera's also commendable for the most part, opting to stay behind you while you move around and follow along from there. There's a Look option you have to press and hold down in case you need to see what's above and below, and this also works when you're in tight spots and aren't quite sure what's safe and what isn't, so it goes without saying that it's one of the most vital tools in your kit. In fairness to those I mocked though, I'll concede in that some moments, particularly near the end of the game, do end up getting too rambunctious to properly handle the challenge and flow of what lies ahead, but rarely is it because of the platforming predicament and more on the combat and enemies, but I'll save that for later.

Indiana Jones is always brought up as a point of reference to the series, but there's a couple of other influences that helped give Toby Gard the concept and design plan needed to create Lara Croft, and it's something that especially clicks in if you're familiar with it: Ultima Underworld. The play-by-play of the environment and the trappings within it, interactions with objects, puzzles, and other action-based pulls and levers, and that whole boxy dungeon feel is present throughout as it goes along, and doubling with the whole spelunking atmosphere, if the controls weren't doing so already, this gives a lot of weight in selling the idea that she's been going through this multiple times. It's also just, funny as someone who's only experience was the 2013 reboot, to see this Lara gleefully blowtorch an elevator cable up to the rooftop of the villain's Big Office Building, invade their office, and then read their hired goon's journal in a manner that makes it seem like she's the one in charge. Also, that motorcycle stunt she does during the ending Egypt FMV? Hilarious, probably the best thing about the whole package right there. I don't aim to knock the Modern Era games just yet, but it's wild to see how different these two interpretations are irregardless of the time difference between them.

Another aspect I grew to appreciate was the framing of discoveries. For example, after going through the beginning portion of St. Francis' Folly, you come across a corridor that, at the end of it, you'll then need to climb up on. After this, you'll then see a Jenga-like tower construct, with the music beginning to play while you go on over and examine it, all while fighting off bats and getting a timed secret that reveals after activating a specific panel. Upon closer inspection, you find four levels of four different Greek Go- oh wait, Toby messed up and accidentally added in Neptune, a Roman god, and Thor, a Norse god, into the mix. Whoops! At least he amends that blunder in the remake. Anyway, four levels, four puzzle rooms based on each deity's strength and iconographies, each containing a key needed to unlock a door at the bottom, where at some point you'll also encounter Frenchmen Pierre as he learns about your arrival and aims to stop you dead. It's a fantastic setpiece and layer of design mechanically, in the soundscape, and visual feedback, culminating in one of my favorite levels in the game.

Sadly though, that's what a lot of my favorite events in the game end up as: moments. Like, everyone knows about the random appearance of dinosaurs in Lost Valley as one example, and there's this random outburst during the endgame of Tomb Of Tihocan where an experimented Atlantean Centaur comes to life and starts firing explosive at you, or pretty much the final levels doubling down on horror aspects of body gore and weird meat as you see these enemies burst to life... but the actual game ends up being just good enough in most cases. Like, Peru's set starts the venture off good, then Greece became slightly gooder than it, then Egypt became the goodest set, and Atlantis starts off good but then ends slightly less good. I've had dips and peaks between them - Palace Midas and The Great Pyramid ended up as my least favorites while I love the aforementioned St. Francis' Folly, Natla's Mines, and Sanctuary of the Scion - but there wasn't a specific stretch where I can say the game achieves greatness, if that makes sense.

The curve and exposure feels very rocky, due to having times where I've had a smooth ride from one area to the next, then suddenly got slammed headfirst into Padding Zones that serve more so to waste resources and time than to heighten the danger and mystique of these tombs I be raiding. I'm largely glad combat isn't entirely the main focus and it does showcase the puzzle, the platforming, or a mixture of both at most circumstances, but it gets a bizarre sense of focus willy-nilly in ways that I don't feel is quite right. It's especially at its worse when the Atlanteans become the common enemy and not the bats, crocs, and other standard animal wildlife since not only are they spongey no matter if you use the unlimited Pistol, the strong and reliable Shotgun, the quick yet efficient Magnums, and the beastly Uzi, there's also plain obnoxious, more often choosing to hone in to your location and claw at you repeatedly, a few times even getting you stuck due to positioning or cause they're the culprits making the camera freak out and start losing track of what's important. They also explode after death, but considering how surprisingly easy it is to stock up on small and large medpacks even without secret hunting like I did, this becomes a moot quirk of theirs.

Enemies aren't the only thing that can make things exhausting. When there's a consistent string of tough challenges after tough challenges, the toll starts to weigh in heavily, something I even debate on being worsened if I turned on the Save Crystal feature (while I did save scum near the end, for a grand majority I opted to do checkpoint-like saves, doing it at the beginning then doing another once I deemed necessary, culminating in about 3-4 usually being done). In Palace Midas, there's three challenge rooms you have to do in order to get lead bars that you then turn into gold thanks to Midas' "hand". One of these was pretty alright, save for a pretty bad Gotcha! right at the end, but the other two were pure slogs, due to requiring tightly-made jumps, shimmies, what have you. Despite being only 20-30 minutes, it took me almost triple that just to be able to finish it due to all this. It can be quite exhausting at points, and while thankfully it's a rare occurrence, it still feels like an unfortunate blemish regardless, but in this instance, it probably didn't help that I marathon most of the levels within a particular region in about a day, sometimes almost immediately after getting home from work.

Still, I do want to stress and underline something. This was a game released in 1996 developed within 18 months, the tailend also suffering from a bit of crunch overload (a thing that will seem to be a constant baggage for Core Design as a whole...), with a budget of at the time £440,000 - I believe this becomes like £810,034.51, or roughly 976kUSD when adjusted for inflation - largely developed by six people, those being Gavin Rummery, Jason Gosling, Toby Gard, Heather Gibson, Neal Boyd and Paul Douglas, with some extra work such as composer Nathan McCree and the OG Trailblazer for many Lara voices to come, Shelley Blond. Everything considered, it seriously does begin to show how much of a genuine marvel this was once it hit the shelves in the same year as Super Mario 64, as well as being two years shy before Ocarina Of Time did its whole song and dance. Lara Croft may not have been the first female lead in gaming, but she sure as hell gave a giant push for the medium nonetheless. That's powerful, and in some respects this gave me an even larger impression and scope to the strengths this does manage to achieve. I'm pretty in-the-dark as to how the OG Timeline sequels fair, but I'd be more willing to give a look now. For now though, I'm aiming to look at the remake next.

EXPANSION: UNFINISHED BUSINESS

NEXT TIME: TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY

I have a weird relationship with Twilight Princess. I don't dislike it, I grew up with it much like other Zelda titles released during this span such as Wind Waker and its DS sequels, Minish Cap, Four Swords Adventure, and even that dang Link's Crossbow Training game, I always like playing it, and there's so much to appreciate... but I continuously struggle to pick apart what makes it really special? Lemme put this in perspective: I can tell you a lot of the things that made me fell out of and started to loathe Skyward Sword, a game I don't even think is bad, yet with TP you'll only get a measly "yea, it's really good :)", along with a couple of other details that I don't entirely agree with followed by But Wells. Still, lemme go over the ones I do agree with containing no asterisks.

First, Midna is awesome, easily the best assistant companion during this time, and probably the best in the whole franchise. She encapsulates all the best attributes of the previous ones to a whimsical degree: the helpfulness of Navi, providing good insight as to what you need to do without being too handholdy or obnoxious about it; the contextual and thematical involvement regarding the narrative a la King Of Red Lions and Ezlo, really weighing on this game's sense of power regarding responsibility and upholding the grand mantle either thrust upon, born into, or outright steal from; and a sense of character growth much like Tatl and perhaps Marin from Link's Awakening, giving you a much stronger connection to your journey and the world, especially when That Moment finally happens... until the combat music starts and interrupts the tension both in the original versions, and this HD one. Whoops. Anyway, even disregarding the rather vocal NSFW side of the fandom - which hey, I Get It, but relax - there's a reason she's been a fan favorite of the series since her debut, which is shocking since she was initially for a completely separate and wholly original project. The only other assistant I can think of that can even outpace Midna is Zelda herself in Spirit Tracks, but even then I haven't replayed it since I was a teen so who knows maybe I'm wrong about that.

I also find that the kinematics of the combat and the general soundscape to be quite excellent. While this isn't much like the puzzle box playground Wind Waker and, to a lesser degree, Majora's Mask can offer, nor is it the simple elegance and Get Shit Done attitude like Ocarina Of Time, the focused aspects of maneuvering around enemies and using your sword is very stunning, especially on the Wii with the Wiimote feedback functionalities. Hell, each time I replay this I discover new moves I never even knew I could do, such as the one from two years ago where after doing a roll, if you time your attack just right, Link will do a forward stab popping out, which is great for closing the gap! I'm also glad Hidden Skills do get actual mileage the more you obtain them, instead of falling off the wayside as you progress, with the only exceptions being Mortal Draw (useful, but has very niche capabilities) and Jump Strike (not really that viable in heated encounters). Plus, as silly and meaningless as it is, I can't deny The Flourish Sheath is sick as fuck. Not to mention the music, I already think Zelda's track record with this subject is second to none, and TP props that claim up by containing great pieces like an Ennio Morricone homage, the fact that Hyrule Field's theme is a leitmotif for each boss fight advantage, and so many other examples to choose from, this is an easy contender for the best soundtrack in the series.

Other than those though... I can't say I quite share the same love as others do unfortunately. I've racked it around my brain as to why that is, and I believe I found the reason: I like these ideas and even executions more in a vacuum than in the overall scheme. Like, let's take a look at the dungeons. I've seen so many people proclaim TP has one of, if not the best dungeon sets in the series, and I'm sorry but I really don't see it. Yes, Snowpeak Ruins is a fantastic Sweet Home/Resident Evil homage and I wish this series would tackle it again. Yes, Goron Mines and Temple Of Time are linear dungeons that does a better job than most of Wind Waker's dungeon by a longshot. Yes, this version of the Hyrule Castle climb is perhaps the most daunting it's been, with a score becoming more and more ominous as you escalate higher and higher to face Ganondorf, yet I find that doesn't mean much when the rest of the dungeons are either merely good like with Forest Temple, Twilight Realm, and Arbiter's Ground, or are Lakebed Temple and City In The Sky which are two of the absolute worst in the entire series, or at the very least in the 3D line. Say what you will about WW's dungeons and their linearity, at the very least its far more consistent in the quality department, to the point the weakest dungeon there (Wind Temple) is still better than a portion of the dungeons here. Say what you will about Ocarina and Majora's Mask, those dive way deeper into the puzzle elements as well as delving into the environmental ambiance and aesthetics outclassing the similarly dressed ones found here a la Spirit Temple and Stone Tower Temple. Even Link's Awakening and Minish Cap, two handheld titles, had more enthralling and cleverly designed dungeons to pick apart here and there. I just don't see what the hubbub for this game's lineup is all about, sorry.

Tangentially connected to that, when I (re)played these games last year, I was doing 100% runs of all the entries mentioned here sans Skyward Sword, and of these, TP was easily the second-worst in this regard, just slightly better than Minish Cap's attempt. It isn't cause the world itself is "Worse Ocarina" like some often posit during discussion, cause I find this newfound expansion of the titular setting to be rather wonderful to poke around in with how many optional caverns there is to find, sometimes in more creative ways. It also boasts a number of NPC interacting with the world outside their established spots, like being able to see Agatha outside Castle Town in a flower bed, or conversing with the Gorons at Death Mountain and finding secrets amongst the rocky terrain, which again ties back into that secret find aspect being creative. The way it reinvents the "dual world" motif that's been around since Link TO The Past via the "Dusk"/Twilight Realm and "Dawn"/Real Realm is seriously great, providing ample opportunity to get the lay of the land first and see from the other perspective, and flipping back over once it's been restored from the harmful apparitions. From all this, there's a sense of kinship with each new person you come to meet, be they familiar faces or new ones. Sure, I have some qualms about Link - either in Human or Wolf form - not utilizing his kit as much as before, but I'm willing to overlook this to a fair degree cause the multiple races of each area's denizens are so charmingly esoteric and flat-out odd to witness in this lived-in world... but then I remember one of, if not the most common item you will find in this game, are Rupees, and suddenly that sense of illusion is shattered.

I'm assuming this was the team answering a criticism regarding the Tingle Tower pays WW had, cause it's the only way to explain why a majority of the chests in a dungeon, even by Zelda standards, are just the various pays of the currency. This was to such a degree TPHD had to tout a QoL update that, when you open a Rupee chest while your wallet is full, it automatically discards it since the original game placed it back into the chest, which outright fucked with the completion. TPHD, much like WWHD, also dabbled with replacing a chunk of the chests with a new reward, this time being about Miiverse Stamps... which is now fucking worthless since the service for it has been shut down for years. Add on top the Wolf Link Amiibo adding a new dungeon where the main reward is a damn Wallet upgrade, and this becomes a case much like SM64DS and the previously mentioned WWHD where instead of fixing issues, a Nintendo remake/remaster/whatever instead circumvents that and inadvertently "adds" to it, which snowballs into an even bigger problem. It's not like fun activities and quests aren't in this game, I quite like the Golden Bug Hunt, some activities like fishing and snowboarding are relaxing and enjoyable, and the redone Poe Souls questline is about as adequate as it was in OoT(3D), but like, if the core exploration is just being handed so many of the currency I can find elsewhere or a now effectively useless item, that just diminishes the reward factor. Much like before, I find that the other games simply did a better job in this department, even if they each have their own issue, something I even highlighted a fair bit in regard to WW.

The biggest thing that really drives this individual pickings than overall execution though, is the story. To reiterate, Twilight Princess is a story regarding the immense weight responsibility can have on not only a person, but the fate of a kingdom you inhabit. It does this by following the other route with this iteration of Link; if Hero Of Time was forcefully given the whole which robbed him of his free will and adolescence, and Toon Link was using his more as a way to explore the world he's content and enamored with, then this Link takes up the mantle solely cause he felt it was the right thing to do, especially since his humble village was the victim of the assaults the rampant Shadow Beasts. Each new area cleared is a step forward to righting the wrongs that the diabolic tyrant Ganondorf has heavily influenced within this game's plot, which is also why the treatment of Zant is ACTUALLY GOOD because this egocentric dork-a-doofus being harpooned into a demigod to be used as a pawn of Ganon's master plan just ties back into the whole theme (they also literally spell this out in the Twilight Realm, so). Yet, before that dungeon and after Arbiter's Ground, the game has you railroaded on a subplot about a group of resistance fighters that doesn't really contribute much of anything? Aside from Rusl the Ordon villager and Telma who was already an involved figure within the advancements of the plot, I genuinely forget these people and this whole thing even exist cause they don't... do any resisting. Even their inclusion in Hyrule Castle feels rather forced, like there was gonna be nothing else but then someone at the team was like "aw fuck we forgot to resolve this group" and hastily incorporated them a little under 3/4 of the way in. Plus, I dunno if this was the intention or not, but Zelda here feels very undercooked, not really doing much of anything and going on about Prophecies and Legends and all that jazz. An erroneous criticism this franchise tends to face is how they characterize Zelda as they start to experiment and grow larger in scale, since it only applies to TP, the Vaati games, and maybe BOTW but it's been a while since I played that so I'm not certain. I'm very down with Zelda here being a more inactive support than a reactive trooper, it's a fantastic juxtaposition of how OoT and WW characterize her and there's a semblance that's what they were aiming for here, but she doesn't have the depth to really stick the landing unfortunately. TP gets brought up as a victim of haphazard pacing, when really it's more that the game's script seemingly expunged some of the details to highlight the importance of these events and why they matter, cause the throughline of these events and how the dungeons are structured are justly spanned for each beat.

So... yea. I guess that's where I land with TP. It doesn't have the thematic richness of OoT and Link's Awakening, I much prefer the brood and downtrodden atmosphere of MM, and its sense of mysticism and adventure isn't quite to the grand epic WW can provide, but it's still really good overall, especially whenever the ball rolls onto the peaks, and sometimes, that's more than enough for a game to be good. As for which version, that's rather tough to say. Despite the shit I gave it in this review, there are some legitimate positive changes HD made to make the venture easier to swallow, such as speeding up most of the animation, cutting down the Tears Of Light objective to 12 pellets instead of 16, gyroscope functionality which is better for stuff like the Boomerang and Bow, makes Epona and swimming a little easier to control, has Ghost Lantern which makes the Poe sidequest even easier to do, it smartly envelops the GC and Wii version by having the former be the main mode and the latter's reflected world be the the Hero mode, and more. I also think the changes to graphics are more in-line with how OoT3D was handled, in that it majorly contains the artstyle during overhaul, even if some aspects became diluted in the transition. However, it is trapped on the Wii U, which means that system's eShop feature isn't gonna be viable for that much longer, and since it was amiibo-bundled, that means it got a price hike even if you're looking for just the game itself. There is the emulator Cemu of course, which is what I used when I replayed it, but the specs in order to run that properly are a bit more than you'd find with Dolphin where an early-2010 potato can be just fine for it. I'd say just pick whichever is more accessible to you, physical or emulation wise.

I thought about making a review for this but, let's be honest here, it's a South Park game Trey Parker and Matt Stone crafted with help from Obsidian, with influences from Paper Mario and Earthbound, with a bit of Zelda and Skyrim thrown in, that can last up to 12-22 hours, a feat I was able to do by starting it yesterday for said 12 hours and then finished this evening. Your feelings on it is already pre-determined from the get-go just from that explanation.

I was pretty much feeling the urge to revisit something related to the IP since I remembered my fondness for the first... 7 or 8 seasons of it, and this was a good way to satiate that urge. A lot of my positives (the writing, the presentation and pacing, the way this game is organized to break with the right amount of effort and battles containing a fun rhythm in them) and negatives (being overly simple despite all that and putting it on Hardcore difficulty, dungeons being lukewarm, hit-and-miss side content) are more or less the same when I first played this several years ago. I suppose another thing that's changed is that I didn't laugh as frequently, but this is less of a fault on the game's humor and more so me just not finding it funny enough to respond to it... if that makes sense. Like, I recognize the funny and how the structure of said funny is well done, I just don't laugh at it, ya know?

If nothing else it was also a good way to ease up on my burnout. I have to watch the post-COVID specials, as well as the movie, at some point too, I haven't bothered with those yet and I'm not sure why. If you want my favorite moments from this, they're Night 2, a majority of the Girls' Quest, and the sewers.

played via remaster on Steam

Gonna be retiring this on my Class B License for the time being, if only cause I've had my fill atm and want to have another racing title on the side. Still about as good as I remembered! The only big negatives I've developed in this replay is the open world - not necessarily the idea or execution, but its double edge nature. While exploring Paradise City and finding all its little secrets and cool stunts/shortcuts is still enjoyable, it unfortunately obfuscates the career progression - instead of rising up thanks to tight finishes, style mastery, or hard evasion/ram tactics, it becomes a bit of an errand duty where the "progression" comes from simply having to do more tasks, some of which you've likely already finished, just to "feel" higher. I wouldn't exactly mind this too much, but it doesn't exactly put in a good drive of engaging with the systems or other cars if you only ever have the desire to change them on the rare mission that gives you trouble, or all the Burning Routes the game has littered about. Need For Speed Most Wanted 2005, while not necessarily an exact replica of the formula and structure, does a much better job at incentivizing all the challenges and goals to push further along. I didn't do much with the Big Surf Island content, nor all the other DLCs the Remaster has bundled in, so I'm not quite sure how those would affect the structure and loop.

Like I said, it's a double edge sword, but I do get the other side of the intention. NFSMW05 was about pushing further and further along for street cred and revenge, this one's just about cruising to deliciously mid-late 2000s pop/rock/occasional metal tunes as I drift and swerve around pedestrians, do barrel rolls and flat spins on ramps, and just cruise around Paradise City on my own leisure. Handling for each of the cars I dabbled with feel how they should, with Aggressive and Stunts being my go-tos for all manner of the occasion. The way each of the key areas are designated to each point of the compass also contributes to a general sense of where specific challenges and aesthetics are, to the point I didn't really bring up the map as often and went with my gut and flow. Despite its contentious nature for the playerbase back then and uncommonly now, Alex Ward, the creative director, did right for the direction considering he was really trying to push this up for the EA suits. Also he's a GOAT for recognizing the underrated sandbox thrill that is Mercenaries Playgrounds Of Destruction fr fr. I'm not sure how much the open world aspect of Burnout Paradise impacted the racing genre as a whole, since again this wasn't necessarily the first stab at it, but there's been drips of titles aiming to capture that summertime vibe and leisure, and considering I've seen people look upon this as fondly as the earlier Burnout titles - specifically 3 and revenge - its success is more than warranted.

...Also holy fucking shit I hate EA's stupid ass Not Origin software, it's actually aggravating the amount of times I threw myself getting this to work on PC. Stick with a PS4/Xbone/Switch release for this one.

In Journey, the player could meditate at any time they wanted to with a simple press of a button. It rarely, if ever, brings attention to this, and once they have found out about this feature, they could choose to partake in the practice at any point for a variety of reasons. In Abzu, the player can go to a designated spot in a "hub" area, press a button that's brought to their attention the moment they step into the vicinity, and can then choose to meditate to look at all the different species of marine life within that "hub". You cannot do it outside these specific spots.

I think you can see the discrepancy of the two approaches

This problem with Abzu becomes more poignant as you go on. More often you are simply strung into grandiose setpieces with the control either mostly or fully pulled away from you just to "observe". You find random craters on the ground where upon activating them, more life sprout into existence. They repeat several jetstream events, ad nauseum, in an attempt to wow and lure you into the fascination and mystique of the ocean, yet rarely giving you natural, organic opportunities dwelling upon what has happened. Sure, there are moments where the game states becomes lax and opens you up to whatever possibility you want to tackle, and even does cool twists to the formula such as being able to walk about near the end, but does that really matter when I'm constantly reminded of my goal just a couple yards away, or how the next section forces me upon one linear path to The End?

This also becomes a bit of a problem when you realize Giant Squid's exact goal was trying to replicate the dreamlike feeling we can cultivate and experience from the blue water, as well as being one of a handful of games using Sumerian practices and utilizing the cosmic ocean philosophy that gets used as influences ever now and then. Really? You immediately brush this aspect away by directly showcasing these two aspects from word "go", the personal aspiration and connection is already washed away cause I'm living someone else's story and not my own. Even if you want to play ball, as I said earlier, the game contains constant reminders that you're on a set path to an endgoal, and rarely allow you to hitch a ride with a fish, or check out other forms of the sea like the kelp, coral, or reefs. This is a minor issue with Flower and even a major reason I didn't enjoy Stray that much, but the former expands and even reiterates itself during the venture and idealistic state, and the latter at least doesn't shy away from the fact that you're playing as a cat and gives you multiple different hubs to act as one.

The application of auteurism in gaming is a rather continuous problem the medium faces, such as a particularly infamous case where an IGN staff member erroneously credits Warren Spector as "the creator of Thief and Deus Ex" directly after dispelling and calling out this cold practice. With that said, despite having some of the same people involved with Journey and/or Flower such as art and creative director Matt Nava and composer Austin Wintory, it doesn't really feel like they were able to follow the same footsteps Jenova Chen, Nicholas Clark, Kellee Santiago and Robin Hunicke laid down. Journey felt like a massive endeavor through various states of the desert to achieve enlightenment in some fashion. Flower, while taking a bit to set itself up, finely crafts a tale about the synaptic relationship humanity and fauna have even within the crux of a more modern, urban setting. Abzu does not feel like this same approach but with the use of Sumerian culture and the cosmic ocean philosophy; it instead feels like a SeaWorld presentation that's so scared it'll lose your attention it constantly has to drag you along, even if you don't want to.

It also didn't help I was already drifting away from the cadences and waves of shifting noise and relistened to some lush samples catering to a nice paradise not too long prior.

played using the Super Castlevania IV Uncensored hack

"Mid July, 2017: Now that I've been getting into games before my time, it's time to finally dive into Castlevania. I picked up Aria Of Sorrow, since I already saw footage of it thanks to a YouTube video, and Super Castlevania IV cause it was supposed to be a great entry point. Time to start with this one and... huh? This was what I was hyped up to believe was one of the best 2D platformers ever, let alone on the SNES? A visual drivel containing unmemorable setpieces and music, and a dull difficulty "curve" that doesn't become truly challenging until near the end because I can whip in any direction like a moron? Pass, guess I'm just gonna one of the guys that's a fan of the Metroidvania (fuck you I'm not using Search Action, that's legit a more limiting term) style... wait, the first game's actually super good and not nearly as hard as people make it out to be? The third game is truly one of the best 2D outings you can buy so long as its the Famicom release? Bloodlines is a better 16-bit showcase of what the franchise can now do? Rondo Of Blood is now one of my favorite games ever? Huh... I'm pretty glad I kept pushing on with Classicvania, but now I'm left with one question:

why did people like this?"

Late January, 2023: Man there's been an obnoxious amount of people trying to act like this was "when the franchise became good", they're becoming the same annoying pricks who think turn based RPGs are only good when they're INSERT NINTENDO FRANCHISE HERE. They're just fans of this specific entry, which would be fine if they stopped acting so high and mighty about it and think they know what they're talking about with "archaic design" (purposefully built on positioning and adaptability like a Mega Man game) and "obnoxious enemy placement" (becoming impatient, not utilizing the many different subweapons for optimal attack, and failing to recognize patterns, with exceptions of course). The only thing keeping me from becoming uber-aggressive about it is from the radical shift in public opinion SCIV has been receiving, probably cause RoB's gotten more ways to be played and more people are talking about Bloodlines. I've been feeling stubborn about replaying this for years, but fuck it, I have nothin to do for the moment, and I'm motivated after Weatherby wrote their review for it, might as well.

What's the point of having the Holy Water, Dagger, and even Axe be here if whipping in any which way and doing the whip dangle is just as, if not more effective? I can do a diagonal attack at a standstill and hit the aerial enemies, crouch down or jump and hit a small enemy in a pendulum motion, and even attack on stairs with the whip now. What happened to that careful planning from before? Now I just feel more encouraged to stockpile hearts for the Cross, which at least still requires some tactful plays, and the Stopwatch. Also doesn't help some of these bosses are so pitifully easy, excluding or including the cross. Let's see here, the only time this mindset doesn't apply is in... 5-8 situations throughout the game's 11 stages, each containing about 2-4 sections within them. Great.... wait wait wait, why is this game so long now that I think about it? Wouldn't it be better to have some of these paths in alt routes like Dracula's Curse did? It'd not only make for replayability, but also lessen this feeling of arduous tedium from having to do all of them at once.

Why do people like this?

The music's like, fine, but what's with the reverence for it? Sounds like the composition team were told to make an atmospheric soundscape and went from there. Simon's Theme has some alright synths and gorgeous organs, but the drums are so tinny and the bass is lacking, making this one of the few times I feel like the rearrangements and remixes majorly stomp all over the original piece. What'd they do to Beginnings and Vampire Killer? This doesn't feel like the final stretch, feels like Simon's just about to keel over and take a nap! The Caves is pretty alright, some nice alteration the two instrument's melodies and, but it doesn't really have anything on Clockwork Mansion a few stages over with its drum rolls, plucks of strings, and more beautiful organs. Entrance Hall and The Chandeliers are pretty good too. Still though, this isn't what I consider to be "grand music", and of the SNES games I've dabbled in, it's nowhere near the best OST.

I'm still not really sure I understand...

I know this was a launch title, but the aesthetics are unruly garish, and not in an appealing way. Nothing really stands out compared to what you can find in the NES games, even including Simon's Quest, and the other two 16-bit titles. Colors are so needlessly saturated even with Ares' CRT filter applied, and stuff like 3-1 feel like hurtful noise to the senses. Goofy Halloween vibes? The only thing goofy about it is... oh, whoa, I don't remember Stage 3-3 having these lovely blues as the water. Did the halls of Stage 4 and Stage 6 always contain these different hues and tones, I only remembered the Mode 7 setpieces. I wish Stage 8 didn't contain such similar looking palettes, cause the actual detail within the foreground and background are pretty damn good, but at least Stage 9 makes up for it with how the treasury is laid out. Hm... though it still doesn't suit my senses and I doubt I'd still remember everything like I could for the other entries, maybe it isn't as bad as I once thought, there's some good stuff going on here.

I... think I get it?

Hmmm.... I still loathe the changes to the whip and changes to the subweapons, but I gotta admit once 3-3 comes on, this can be pretty fun to break open. I could've sworn the whole grapple aspect fell off after Stage 4, but this gets some fair mileage actually, though they still should've leaned harder on what the whip can now do instead of keeping it mostly the same. Wow, finally some fun encounters and thinking with the enemy, it took until the midway point but better late than never I guess. These bosses are still kinda lame though, but I'll concede in that maybe holding onto the Stopwatch is becoming guilty of the same stubbornness I criticize others of doing since Sir Grakul, Akmodan, Slogra, and Death got me to put in more effort into what I"m doing, and I felt limited since I can't be able to use it in this game like in the first game. That being said, why'd they gotta go all-in on the understandably cheap aspects of insta-pits and one hit spikes? These are already pretty adequately laid out such as the use of turning platforms and tight object drops, they could've cut it back a bit. Man some of these scenarios are gimmicky, but I'll gladly take the block paths in Stage 4-4, the intermediate and lax nature of Stage 5, pretty much everything in Stage 7, and of course the Clock Tower, they stand out. Aw fuck, now that I'm writing this, I learned there's some pretty cool secret rooms to uncover, I don't usually dabble in doing this but they look cool.

This Dracula fight is somethin... it's probably the only time in the game to really get me to act like how I usually am with the other Classicvanias. The fire attack sucks shit, and the timing window for the lightning pillar is a smidge too tight for my liking... yet there's something about this allurement that pushes me to keep trying. Feels like even the designers figured this out with that secret invisible staircase right before the actual leadup. I gotta admit, timing the triple shot cross attack, combining the jump turns with whip movements, finalizing the kinks of these patterns... seems like there's still a little bit of the old formula under the hood after all. Would never recommend this as a starting point at all cause of the extremities taken in streamlining this, especially since there's still the first games and even Bloodlines if people really wanna go at it, but I guess I was a wee bit harsher on SCIV than necessary.

Alright, I get it now. This isn't and won't ever be for me, but I understand the appeal finally, after all these years.

replayed via Master Chief Collection w/ co-op partner MagesticSapling on Heroic

Hmmm, not much I can say for this log or review. I will say that I am gonna concede a bit and admit that the common critique of repetition and exact room layout does show itself now that I've replayed it after a good while. People rightfully point to Library as the quality falloff, but Assault On The Control Room's when the ugliness shows. Having to do the same objective three times amidst constant onslaughts of enemy waves, as both of us haphazardly and confusingly figure out where to go despite our previous outings with the game, kinda sucked! Same goes for the "boss" fight at Maw, dunno why they'd expect you to keep scrounging for explosives for a precise shot against shafts at the top. I don't really mind that the back half of the game's just a mirrored reflection of the prior levels though, it makes sense from a narrative standpoint and some of the best moments, such as Keyes and 343 Guilty Spark, are found here anyway.

It's not truly nostalgia that's keeping me from marking it lower - this is actually the third Halo game I touched after 2 and 3, and one I've played the least of - because I still find the overall package to be pretty stellar despite its obvious and glaring trappings. Seeing a streak of explosions happen from grenades, Needler shots, rockets, Flood carriers, shit all of the above, activates a tank of dopamine within my head, even if later game's soundscapes (music included) are better on that front. Plus, I dunno, playing this on Heroic is still a fun time, and there's some quirks from either the AI or weaponry available that makes it pretty exhilarating that's either understandably or unfortunately lost later on that keeps it from feeling too obsolete from its sequels. Maybe I'm just a bit of a masochist though...

I've always maintained Halo's stories, within the games themselves anyway, don't become interesting and like, 'layered' with themes until the next one, but looking at this from the perspective of a pseudo-continuation of Bungie's Marathon trilogy makes it a little more exciting, Monitor and Cortana being the AI standees as they drivel and spout against one another. It's pretty cool, even if at certain points I check out and go through other stuff on my phone. Also listen I know this is pretty much something everyone brings up but like, oh my god, the Anniversary graphics suck so much ass. Just the absolute pinnacle of a """remaster""" missing the point of the original's art direction. The only time Sap and I found the remaster graphics to be an actual addition to what the original was doing is with Keyes' Alien homage fuckery.

I played this intermittently of reading I'm In Love With The Villainess' first light novel volume, the Kase-San& manga series, as well as Boogiepop Phantom and its preceding LN volume. Clearly, this was what Microsoft and Bungie wanted to happen all along, and I recommend you do the same. Or just go through those separately, idk I ain't the boss of you.

To my knowledge, Looney Tunes is of a few licensed properties to get not one, but multiple games that are deemed to be Actually Good. Makes sense, when something’s been around as long as those dastardly scoundrels, ruffians, and downright bonkers bamboozlers, you’re bound to find nuggets of gold among the pile. I actually tried Sheep Raider - known as Sheep Dog N Wolf in PAL regions - out for a fair bit back in 2019 with its PC port, which is quite easy to set up surprisingly enough, but only now finished it w/ the PS1 version cause of convenience, CRT shader option, and finally cause I was too lazy to adjust the brightness option of the PC port to be on the same level as the PS1’s. As for why I chose this as my first LT venture over the likes of the two racing games, the more known cult classic Lost In Time, or dive into the wacky world that is the Crazy Castle series, there’s two reasons: the soundtrack composed by Eric Caspar, and the use of Sam Sheepdog and Ralph Wolf.

It’s become rather childish and demeaning to go “why’d they go THIS HARD for a LICENSED GAME SOUNDTRACK” in regards to compositions, but I am nonetheless stunned over the effort Eric has exerted when it came to crafting the Jazzstep sound. In more (woefully) simplified terms, it’s the merry and melodic relationship of Jazzy acoustics and instrumentals, mixed in with Jungle’s breakneck layers via the synaptic tones of steady bass and chaotic drums, resulting in a wonderfully atmospheric, head-boppin, laid-back and just plain bangin ass music. It might not fit the Tunes’ brand in your ears at first, but over time you’ll quickly get used to it when doing the puzzles, thanks to when they’re used in each level. Similar thought process went to the two characters here; I don’t think Sam and Ralph are particularly popular within the massive gallery, so seeing something revolve around their formula as a whole puzzle package makes it, to me, much more distinct and appealing to pick up and try out in comparison. Not to say it’s just them and the sheep though, Daffy Duck’s the host and is readily providing quips and/or contributions to the goings on of a level dressed in appropriate costumes, Roadrunner shows up at the beginning in a familiar sequence, folks like Porky Pig, Toro The Bull, Yosemite Sam and Marvin The Martian are used for a level or two for something, even the audience in this faux game show setting are just the various casts found within the shorts… repeated multiple times even! It might be Ralph’s time on the spotlight, but it’ll never let up on the classic antics, devious contraptions sometimes provided by ACME, and aesthetical charm both in loading screens and gameplay. This level of detail is supposedly a common element during Infogrames’ run of the IP, and if that’s the case with the other titles, at least I know I’m in good hands.

Dedicating a paragraph covering the oozing charm understandably gives off a worrying omen, but it should be stressed that the core puzzle elements of this are pretty damn good as well. One level will have you tiptoeing into and around rocks to avoid Sam’s gaze, guiding a sheep back away with lettuce. Another will have you using a metal detector to unveil where mines could be hidden under the snow, then when picking a sheep up using the newly made footprints as a sign to go back the way you came. Two more will center around traveling to and back in periods of time, changing one part of the past to influence the structure of the present. It’s not often levels of differing environments will share the same sort of objects, and with the intro sequence of each being a flyby of what’s to come as a signifier of the game show frame - or, perhaps, a cartoon - as well as a way to gauge certain ideas to carry out, it helps keep each locale fresh. The various tools you pick up from mailboxes or interact within the stage keeps it up too, such as having to use a hairdryer to melt sheep after pushing/putting one down the icy water in order to bring them to the other side, or using the bungee rope in a variety of ways to move onward. Do wish there was more centering around the brand itself, though. I mean, it’s Looney Tunes! These rascals always carry out some sort of mischief and mayhem to themselves and/or others! While it was nice to see Sam carry out a cheeky counter after a failed flute hypnosis following a level focused squarely on that, or Gossamer being chased by Toro, or how the time clocks of Ralph and Sam’s cartoons are now objectified as hidden collectibles to obtain bonus points, it still feels somewhat lacking in this regard to a degree. Other than that personal nitpick, along with there being a low curve when it comes to upping the ante (despite appearing in the select menu, you don’t do much item combining until the 11th level of a 17-run deal), I’m surprised at how consistent the game is in terms of quality. There’s only a handful of low points during the runtime, and it’s when they’re the amalgamation of the two major issues in the package: the camera and wait tax.

As much of an easy target as it is to point out a bad camera during this era, it really has to be said due to its dessssssssspicable nature. You can only move the camera left or right with the shoulder buttons or the right stick of a dualshock, with up and down movements being done either a first person view or whenever the game provides fixed angles sufficient and needed when reaching specific spots of the area. While this sounds fine on paper and even sometimes in execution, there are cases where the camera swings and snags onto the boundary so wildly, it can cause an eyesore, ‘death’ (there’s no lives or a game over, getting hit just sends you back from before what happened), or both. While granted it didn’t lead to too many unfair circumstances, the occurrence of them was just enough that I felt it was a harm to the experience. There’s also the abundant of little moment-to-moment plays that add up to the tedium of waiting on things to happen. The swim speed is pathetically slow, meaning that it was slightly faster to just rise up to the surface and continuously jump to get somewhere; the device that allows you to time travel has animations that play out each and every time you get into the vortex, and considering your time in the past isn’t spent so much, the amount you see from this back-and-forth add up to a rather dull experience; even certain levels unnecessarily pad themselves out, like in Level 10 where after doing a dull and rather strict cannon launches compounded by ones that’ll automatically fire at you the moment you enter their field, you also have a three-pattern bout against Gossamer right before the finish line, having to dizzy it up and rotate a cog for a beam of light to shine onto it. Puzzle games by design are made to be played for a few hours or so before putting it down, and Sheep Raider certainly feels as such with how often I took breaks between each section. I’m also questioning if some sequences even properly indicate what you’re supposed to do before moving on, but considering the last few levels were when I was feeling quite bitter and impatient (unrelated to the game itself, to be clear), as well as it generously giving you back the items needed to progress after a capture and how this only happened like, two or three times overall, I’m willing to chalk this up to being a rare yet preventable problem that, at worst, means having to face an intentional loss.

Yea... not much else to say, really! Fun game, glad I finally got around to finishing this after almost half a decade of time has passed. Dunno when I’ll do another licensed marathon, but hopefully some will be able to entertain me as much as this one has, whenever that may be.

Much like with Looney Tunes: Sheep Raider, Burning Rangers was something I played back in 2019, yet am only now finishing, although I have even less of an excuse this time around. Longplays and even HowLongToBeat clock this at or under 2 hours, with the game boasting a grand total of 4 levels, meaning procrastination had once again gripped its claws onto my mortal body. Of course, I didn’t spend that little time on it, more was spent via replaying some levels and a little extra speciality cause surprise surprise, this one’s a keeper. Also gonna make a PSA to say you should not play this with the regular Saturn pad, and instead use this esoteric, albeit somewhat ahead of the curve design of a 3D controller. Kronos and Mednafen both support it as well, so no excuses for other emulation nerds!

While Burning Rangers’ fundamentals have nuances to go over, its development process is rife with factoids to share before diving into it properly. Most of these were gathered from a behind the scene section from 2008’s games™ magazine and an old issue of UK’s Official Sega Saturn Magazine, both of which I suggest reading in full since I’m going over the highlights for brevity. Did you know this was directed by Naoto Oshima with lead designer Takao Miyoshi, among other Nights Into Dreams alumni, carefully going over the process to incorporate distinctly beautiful effects for the fire? How about the original conceivement as an online title, before it was decided to be used for Phantasy Star Online? The conception of the firefighting setting came from the desire to craft a game about rescuing instead of killing, the location travels for inspiration included Hong Kong and Universal Studios Hollywood’s Backdraft attraction, formatting the use of the NID engine, the pitches for the title of the game went through a few other steps, the initial idea of motion capture was to be used for the entirety of the animations before being reduced to just the walk cycles, and there’s also a reason as to why there’s usually no music during gameplay: they wanted to entice the tension and thrill of the firefighting experience! Sonic Team housed, and still house, some of the most creative workers in the industry, and this is another example of everyone’s involvement being delivered with much aplomb and energy.

Because of the low stage pool as well as the previously mentioned utilization of sound, BR’s design pathos is akin to arcade experiences, with content forming as how well you’re ranked. Performance is gauged by how many people you’ve rescued, the amount of crystals accumulated during the run, how quickly you dispatched the boss, and how low or high you’ve kept the fire limit on, following the rule of S as the highest, D as the lowest. While there is a story mode, the reason I marked this as “Retired” instead of “Completed” comes from what happens after beating the game once; the four missions are now able to randomize their layout and survivor counts, wherein the possibility for this are seemingly massive, upwards of up to 3125 routes are touted, an extraordinarily bold claim… but let’s shift back to the main meat of the package. As Shou or Tillis, you go through a series of linear hallways putting out fire with a laser blaster, either tapping or holding the button against the small reds, moderate greens/magentas, and potent blues. There’s two buttons you can use to call in your team leader Chris for support on where to go, though with how strict and funneled the linearity is, I didn’t really feel like I had to use this often thankfully, though if you need to be aware this follows the logic of “contingent placement”, so stand still first to get the best read of your surroundings. In terms of maneuvers, you’re equipped with a thruster pack that, with the tap of any direction, will have you backflip, side dodge, or forward dash. All of that can be used in tandem with a (double) jump, giving way for a sick amount of movement options to handle any situation when needed. I believe the sensitivity for the stick could’ve been ironed out however, I dunno if this is an emulation issue or an actual one the 3D Control Pad faced, but any tap of my left Xbone stick, no matter if intentional or not, activated these actions immediately, and while it didn’t majorly affect my platforming or shooting it was annoying regardless. The first three stages have a variable amount of civilians to transport away from danger, 5 crystals is more than enough but having 10+ of them will do that and give you continues in case you game over, and it’s here you realize that the English voice acting is… surprisingly competent? Yea, I couldn’t believe it either! Not all the delivery hits, mind, but even then this is still a fair bit above what was the usual market at the time. Even the camera’s well handled here, left and right triggers having it move 90 degrees at a time and usually not getting stuck on objects to make navigation a chore. Alongside the weight and turning being just right, this quickly settled into becoming one of numerous titles under my Games To Become A Speed Demon belt. Seriously, it’s fun just blasting through each room and corridors ASAP, even if time isn’t a factor to the ranking.

Sega’s internal studios during their time in the console market (and even nowadays, albeit more scarcely) have always had a knack for cutting edge presentation and production values, and due to the fact this was a late Saturn title, BR has this covered in spades. Sure, granted, you can make a drinking game over the amount of times models or particle effects are visually clipped through walls, and the collision on the floor can be rather chaotic due to the edges of any kind causes the character to auto-jump, but everything else is top notch. The use of color is sublime, and helps to accentuate the differences in each level’s setting. The dim hues, the stark lighting, the way the ambiance is used in conjunction with the current predicaments, it’s all wonderfully crafted. I’ve seen people criticize the low use of music during these sections, and I do not get nor agree with this at all. Due to the emphasis on character interactions and slowly having the player familiarize with these areas, I’d say forgoing it and only having them be used for special circumstances was a great call, it’s a fine example of moments being heightened in its impact on the events. I mean, would the music that plays in the vehicle section towards the end be truly the same, if you could hear it everywhere else? What about other instances within the game? I’d say not. Even if you completely disagree with me, know that special passwords allow you to play as other members of the squad in the four missions, complete with music and no audio guide if you’re that picky about it. How do you get these passwords? Why, rescue the Sonic Team staff and check their mail, such as designer Satoshi Okano of course! In fact, you can read mail from a number of the people you helped save during the missions, adding a nice layer of worldbuilding and personality into the mix. It might be light with character stakes and drama, but it’s bursting with charm regardless.

Let’s see, what else… combat’s a thing! Every stage concludes with boss fights, some of their music I linked earlier! Thankfully, though, the team took a page out of Core’s Tomb Raider books, since here not only is it barely a presence into the package, the times when you do fight are wholly simple, just charge up the blaster to the robots enough times and it gets destroyed. Almost all of them have basic and exploitable patterns too, meaning you can just stand a fair distance away and down them painlessly. Seriously, the only trouble here is how poor the soft lock is, since even when standing still shots can tend to miss… which only really becomes a major annoyance against the robot bees in the space station. Those are just, way too small to reliably hit. Boss fights are also very straightforward, not requiring that much acrobatics funnily enough since standing still and maybe jumping are all that's needed to handle them, especially in the case of the Level 4 boss which is taking place on the top of a spaceship and it stands there absentmindedly, for story purposes of course. Not to say there aren’t any involved bosses, but the robotic fish in the aquatic lab/theme park (who gave off some MASSIVE SA1 Chaos 4 vibes, due to both having the same layout and even attack patterns) and the final one aren’t too troublesome either, in fact they ended up being my two favorites due to having the right amount of player effort and challenge that made it much more rewarding to beat under shorter time.

Burning Rangers’ one of the most well known cult hits on the Saturn, and count me among the feverish crew. There’s so much going right that I’m shocked Sega, let alone Sonic Team, hasn’t tried to further embellish, reiterate the formula onto something else, or even have it be rereleased on modern platforms. There’s a few old guards hanging out at the two places, and iirc some of the new blood has dabbled into their newer ideas too, so it’s not like it can’t be done, especially since one Andreas Scholl provided a Unity remake of the first mission as a SAGE2021 entry. On the other, I’d at least like it if Oshima and/or Miysohi contributed in some capacity, and perhaps there simply isn’t much else to do with the IP in their eyes. Not to mention reworks of Sega’s classic stuff tends to have lower budget priorities, and while I wouldn’t say I’m that picky about it since most of them turn out well, it would at least be welcome if it obtained a modest one instead, be it licensed out to another company or in-house. Eh, whatever happens in the future, I’ll be sure to do some video firefight gaming once more.

On Friday, January 5th, I got a ping in a discord server consisted of one friend group about an impromptu Fortnite get-together. Since I admittedly regained an interest in playing it, and because said friend server has yet to really do much for several months, I decided to take the opportunity to see how the game has transformed and evolved over the years. Installed the dreaded EGS launcher, got marginally but not totally surprised by the increased file size, and proceeded to log back into my account from years prior. After all, it's only gonna be just for a few days, and then I’m off to uninstall it...

...but things didn't pan out that way. What has happened instead, was a transformation into becoming an Epic Fortnite Gamer. A near 3-week foray, money spent on the Battle Pass and both Gambit and Rouge skins, and grinding my way towards unlocking Peter Griffin's page, all while accumulating levels, Ranked medals, and other knick-knacks along the way. Life really does come at ya fast when you least expect it!

To go more in-depth into my prior experience: I'm very much someone who first played Fornite's at-the-time new Battle Royale format, played a couple of matches - both with my completely separate and no longer in touch friend group and solo - and thought it was kinda neat but really lacking in staying power. I'm uncertain if I was also one of many that thought it was simply gonna be a fad that'll fade away, since this was nearly 7 years ago now, but it matters naught since it's still here, and about as popular as it was since then. There's no need to cover much of what it's about, cause even if you never played it, you certainly know of it and the appeal, so I'm just gonna make this a thorough dumping ground of my thoughts as someone who finally came back to the bus.

Firstly, and more importantly, I'm glad that Zero Build is a mode that can be opted into. Now, I'm not besmirching the mechanic in its holistic entity, but I will admit one of the reasons I fell off pretty quickly originally was because of the gap between people who can build (especially PC players), and people who can't (especially console players). You can be a quickshot all you want, but as long as the other guy can spontaneously build a Jenga tower or a Minecraft fortress to recuperate quickly, your choices are to either eat shit, continue to pester them, or just give up and bolt out entirely. These types of encounters, to me, are fine in doses - the risk-reward allure is just balanced enough that it isn't entirely irritating, and the satisfaction method is incredible! That, however, begins to dissolve into ruin when it occurs ad nauseum, tying itself into state of the loop, and altogether just demotivates my ass since the most I can do is a stairway to heaven and maybe a few walls despite my flicks of the mouse and sensitivity zones. Even with the practice mentality, there's also the fact that, again, it's been 7 years - if you've played any sort of multiplayer shooter in mind, you'd know that there's a good chance that any sort of tech people know about, will inject and hone their craft to it to days on end, and I've seen plenty opponents do some shit that simultaneously leaves me fascinated and discontented. So, just having a mode where there's little frills to that, is appreciated, even if I do tap back into the regular option every now and then.

The other thing is that there's like... actual POIs and side activities now. I recall these being a thing in 2017, but it was a lot more minimalistic and very much in the vein of "we needed something to have players distract themselves and play the game with". Solid enough base, but combine that with the haphazard loop I had before, it again just made the dull grind even more prevalent. That nagging aspect is still present, but it's way easier to tolerate and avoid now. Vehicles, more movement options when doing on-foot roaming, an entourage group to pick off and reap rewards from to better your gamestate, and just the overall map layout is way, way more satisfying to convey and poke around than ever, even if I'm not entirely sure how prior seasons were like. Hell, this also obfuscates the other big critique that was going on at the time, which was how spacious people could become. Rarely has the thought of "man this is kinda boring" occur now since everything feels more fulfilling to explore and do, especially using grapple blades atop various points and just ZOOOOOOOOMING to where I need to go, or just ramming bogeys and guffawing at how high they get launched, or doing dopey motorbike tricks across hilltops. It's neat! It's exciting! It just about upends most of the issues I had to begin with!

I really don't have much else to like, add at this point, aside from some qualms:

- The bots here are on the opposite spectrum end of TF2's Bot Crisis; instead of being hammered down by some flagrant creations stopping any sort of enjoyment I can muster, there's more of an awe factor over how braindead they can be. I'm not quite sure how the system itself operates, but while I know and understand they're a necessity to fill up empty spaces, that becomes highly questionable when I see these guys fuck up easy picks, do some bizarre pathfinding and routine interactions, and somehow overcompensate within a quarter at most of the 100-player pool. This is the least egregious of the three ire I'm covering, but even then it's just... confounding. Not sure what's going on here!

- Aside from BR, there's now Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Festival. I only used LF briefly cause of an XP exploit, but I did at least put actual time into RR and Festival, and I'm thoroughly unimpressed with both. The former's a really dull and barebones arcade racer that couldn't even compete with some of the more straightforward affairs during the 5th Console Gen Boom, and well, Cold_Comfort goes over the woes of Festival even if I'm not that harsh about it. One could say these can be ignored since the main aspect is BR, but since they're easily visible upon the main bar of the lobby, I feel like it's fair game to expect these to be in a commendable quality - especially since Epic Games have been making big talk about user-generated content and have seemingly been in a stronger push in competing with Roblox.

- Since this is an ongoing season, solidifying and boxing the current meta state is tricky. What I can say for now though is that, with the feel of everything being good on a base level, there's a clear power imbalance. There's absolutely no reason to pick up the Hammer Pump variant of the shotgun, since Frenzy Auto has a strictly higher DPS and can easily mulch people by comparison; same goes for the Enforcer AR, being pitifully outclassed in speed and output by the Nemesis and especially Striker variants; I don't have any major beef with the Lock-On Pistol, due to its four-charge shots contains a slight buffer between each piece + all while leaving the player vulnerable should they be careless (especially to someone who Knows What They're Doing)... but the availability of this is perplexes me. I've gone entire games without either my downed foes or myself finding it, meanwhile I can simply trip across Ballistic Shields, a weapon that sounds about as good as it does while also not being nearly as OP as it sounds or others postulate, despite that being in a higher rarity color. Weird little quirks like that making the fights distinct but also just sort of headscratching as to where they could go. Also, maybe an Issue Of Skill, but I’ve seen instances of a bullet from my sniper shots clearly hitting its mark, but then somehow never registering?

I actually can’t recall the last time a multiplayer game had its pull on me quite like this, perhaps Among Us which had faced similar views. May keep this on for the time being until I actually do procure the Griffin or maybe Solid Snake since he’s close to being unleashed upon the world. I’m not sure where and how this chapter will go next, but if nothing else, it at least pulled me back in after years of inquisitive glances and intrigue. It is also carrying one of the most important mantles of any piece of fiction: having multiple patient zeros that will cajole someone into becoming a furry. Truly, this is a blessed time!