I like the gameloop, the vibes are unreal, and even some of the story moments are pretty great, but man whenever I think back on the writing stumbles, I keep thinking about how HARD it stumbles.

Even disregarding the transphobia (that I am unsure if the expanded rerelease even bothers to try and fix), the pacing and some segments within the story just feel rather odd and drag it down, particularly in the midway point where it doesn't exactly justify as to why you go on for another few hours.

I wish the rest of the game was as good as the peaks...

Since I can't find a good place to put it in the review proper I'll mention I played the Nights, Yoshi, and Zelda DLC after beating the main game, the latter two being done thanks to this mod. The Nights DLC is a short boss rush that's rather fine, the Yoshi DLC is neat, and the Zelda DLC was shockingly fun and high value.

Sonic Lost World is one of those games I heard infamy to exhausted moans of, but always figured I'd see it as just kind of an OK game that simply exists. After playing it for the first time on PC though, it slowly became one of my least favorite Sonic games ever.

I won't really get into the writing cause Midrulean has said all I wanted to say in their review, but the TL;DR is that it's abysmal. Obnoxious humor, no attempts of sincerity and seriousness is fully attempted, the Deadly Six are just checkboxes of various caricatural stereotypes (The Fat One, The Crazy One, The Girl, etc etc), Sonic and Tails rarely, if ever, act like they should, and overall feels incredibly phoned in. I know some people don't really care about the writing when it comes to Sonic games, or really any sort of game within this vein, but not only do I find Sonic's foray to this being a part of its identity since even the Genesis days, but it's made even more annoying and aggravating since again, it seems like the Happy Tree Friends folks just gave up here. Nowadays, I focus on not immediately calling something "lazy" when it comes to the development of an idea or piece of media since there's a lot of factors that goes on during the process, but this is one of recent ventures where I seriously can't help but feel that way.

Even the OST, one of the biggest draws of a Sonic game, doesn't feel up to snuff in this regard. I JUST finished this game, and I can barely muster the energy to remember a single tune. I guess Desert Ruins Zone 2's music is cool? Same with this song that plays in a few spots in the game. Other than that though it feels like the most stock and painfully mediocre idea of what a Sonic music usually sounds like. Don't wanna act like a general consensus is the end-all, be-all for things like this, but it's a little telling this OST usually isn't brought up when talking about bangin tunes from the franchise... but whatever, music is subjective and at the end of it all, I'll at least say it didn't annoy me too much.

The writing itself was already bringing this game down a lot, but damn if the gameplay does a good job of pulling it down too. I'm not gonna mince words here, this might be the jankiest mainline Sonic game I've played in a good bit. Not exactly the worst in the series' entire history since there's more infamous controls out there - Secret Rings as one example - but to reiterate, in terms of mainline, I straight up never got the hang of how this is supposed to work, and this is coming from someone that finds the controls of Heroes decent, thinks most of Sonic 06 handles tolerably, and this game made me reflect and go "you know what, Shadow The Hedgehog didn't control that badly in hindsight, I could at least figure out how it works". There's two factors for this, first is the actual movement. By now, I'm sure you heard how this game has a run button. I get the game did this so that you balance between more precise and slower platforming and doing the high-speed thrills and newly introduced parkour mechanics, but the default walking speed is incredibly sluggish and there isn't that many opportunities where you even need to do such a thing. There's the 2D sections, sure, but even there's more cases of being fine just holding the run button down than not, and it also doesn't help walking makes you way more likely to undershoot a platform when jumping towards it. Running though, feels slippery as hell. I feel like Sonic turns way too loosely and uncomfortably to really get into the groove of handling him, and it doesn't help that the jump arcs are in the opposite extreme and now I'm more likely to OVERshoot something I'm trying to jump over. Add in some inconsistency - sometimes the Charged Homing Shot just doesn't work, the positioning and speed of Sonic can outright fuck with you in gauging how and when to jump, etc etc - and I almost never figured out just how exactly this is supposed to function.

One could say that a replay and/or more cautious approach could alleviate my woes, and while both are valid arguments, the former requires me liking or finding stuff within the game that could make me think there's more available to offer and uh, obviously I didn't find that to be the case for me here, and try as I might for the latter, I still ended up feeling the same from where I started.

The second thing that ruins the controls for me is the actual design of the game. I wouldn't exactly say this game doesn't encourage you to do parkour as much as others have been saying, but I also think the game doesn't really give you enough incentive to really try and use the feature in the first place unless otherwise required regardless. Yea, the idea could make for more creative level designs, but the most that really happens is "you can go through a route this way instead of that", and idk I find that to be one of the lamer ways to experience a Sonic level. Also like, there were a fair number of instances where Sonic randomly just decides to do the parkour wall runup, solely because I was slightly next to one when doing some basic platforming, alongside just, getting stuck (though not to a degree where I needed to back out, it's not THAT awful). Alongside this, some of these stages either end way too quickly, or go on longer than they probably should've, sometimes happening in the same world even, it's so bizarre how shot the pacing is. On a rather related note, what doesn't help with that is how Lost World doubles down on one of Colors' biggest weaknesses, the amount of gimmicks used. I don't think the 2D sections this time around are that annoying, but in contrast every world has to have at least one gimmick in it, usually around Zone 3. Either rolling up as a ball, guiding fruits to mixers, pseudo-Mach Speed sections from 06, rail grinding, shit even utilizing the Sandopolis light pulley idea under the guise of a DKC Returns visual shadow theming, as well as Colors' "autoscrolling jump pad" shtick, hell even bringing back Wisps too for some odd reason. It feels like it's trying to appeal to as many people - more specifically, people who aren't that into Sonic in the first place - and as a result the level design pummels down into either being below average at best (most of Frozen Factory, entirety of Silent Forest, Tropical Coast Zone 1), or obnoxiously dickish at worst (Sky Road Zone 2 and Lava Mountain Zone 2 are some of the worst levels I've gone through in a Sonic game), with the only part of the game I ended up enjoying being the entirety of Desert Ruins and Frozen Factory Zone 3.

Finally, what the hell is up with these bosses? They're so pathetically easy even by Sonic game standards. Just get them off of whatever they're doing, charge up a homing attack to its max value, do this process one more time, and boom you're done. Hell one fight with Zavok is nearly just a NSMB climb with Bowser. Pretty much the only times I died here was when I was rushing and being stupid.

Lost World, as a whole, just makes me sad. It really feels like this game was solely made, just so Sega can pony up on the Wii U exclusivity deal they made with Nintendo. I can see some of these ideas working individually or in tangent with something else, since it seems like Sonic Frontiers is doing more with the parkour movement this time around, but other than that? I don't see myself really revisiting it. There's still the 3DS version though, and I really gotta wonder how that is gonna compare with the console release.

As a separate yet related anecdote before the review begins, I want to talk about this series' developer studio, Square Enix Montreal, for a bit. Most of you have most likely learned this, but last year in May, Embracer Group entered into an agreement to acquire it, Crystal Dynamics, and Eidos Montreal from Square, which they succeeded in doing in August. The studio even decided to do a rebranding as a way to acclimatize the situation. Just three months after that, Embracer announced it was closing the studio down in favor of AAA investment affecting a few hundred people, and later on the studio announced four of their games were gonna get delisted from the mobile stores. You know the song and dance by now, shit like this fuckin sucks, DOUBLY so for the smartphone gaming market since its state is more precarious and wayward due to their inherently digital nature. I dunno if the other SEM/Onoma titles will get hit with the same fate since they're still up and available on other stores, but I figured to give this as a word of caution in case you are or will become interested in any of them in the future.

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You remember those GO titles Hitman, Tomb Raider, and Deus Ex got? I'm vaguely aware of this diorama-framed puzzle set of games due to seeing them here and there, but have yet to really dive since I wanted to at least do more of their mainline titles... which I've done with Tomb Raider not that long ago! Makes for a nice warm up and refresh from my burnout before diving back into the thick of it again.

As stated, this is a puzzle game where the gameplay has you moving Lara around one notch at a time, planning then reacting to circumstances involving enemies, switches, pillars, what have you. If you play this on PC like I do, you can use either a control or the mouse, and I stuck with the latter which worked fine enough. It responds to what my cursor was doing splendidly, but well, the main moving function has you clicking then dragging the mouse, let go of left click, then Lara will move. Kind of awkward, and I rather prefer just clicking on the notches instead, but it is what it is. Presentation usually gets the most amount of praise from these games, and with good reason. The use of foreground environments and background shadows to convey scenery and invoke wonder is downscaled yet similar to what was available in the main series proper, even as far back as the PS1 days. There's always a sense that each new book (effectively the equivalent to a world) adds onto the mysticism of the lite narrative and events, made even better with how much the game is nudging you to face down enemies instead of hobbling away from them in order to activate stuff to move on. On top of the aesthetics themselves being so wonderful to look at and see in action, the team did a great job translating the fundamentals onto this format.

Now, take all of what I said... and barely translate it into the mechanics proper. I dunno, I wouldn't say it's an entirely easy puzzle game since I got stumped a few times, but it's also quite telling that the time I felt like I was consistently challenged was in its two bonus books, one of which was developed in collaboration with Ko_op who are known for GNOG and the upcoming Goodbye Volcano High. Cave Of Fire utilizes a revitalization system for the enemies which leads to more creative solves, and Mirror Of Spirits does the 'dual world of you and the shadow' approach which are always a treat, settled in Croft Manor and similarly does it with more thought and engaging ruminations. The main package itself is... fine? The escalation aspect is there, but it feels bare, never really spreading its wings or incorporate more intricate systems and layouts across the runtime until near the very end. Once you see the type of mechanics shown in one level, there's a good chance it's gonna stay for the whole ride with little innovation done to entice the following layouts, with exception to the torches and boulders having multiple use cases in order to solve an ordeal, or crumbling floors to make the best use of the reactive elements this offers. Now, I can handle a puzzler that decides to center on the lax side than an involved one, but the low dopamine hit from each solved conundrum doesn't bode well considering this is all that's available. The collectibles being akin to treasures and relics are welcome, and I like being rewarded with outfits from across the series, and even an adequately tied set of Hitman, DE, and Just Cause attire plus the silly Midas Touched Croft look, but I wouldn't mind an extra set of levels for a job well done.

I suppose this bears fruit to the discussion of the type of expectations to set, since this is a mobile title first and foremost instead of an at-home console or PC one. In that regard, I can see this tickling the fancy more, but even then I can't help but wonder that an opportunity was missed, especially considering how many other cross-platform puzzle titles are available like (from what I hear) the Layton games or (what I've actually played) the Monument Valley duology. Probably doesn't help that not only did I finish and enjoy Looney Tunes Sheep Raider not that long ago, but I also played a fair bit of Baba Is You prior which so far has been tickling my fancy tenfold. To be clear and in complete fairness to LCGO, I did have some fun with it, and I appreciate both its outings and its approach on what it's doing to try out Hitman GO when I get the chance to do so. I just wish more was done on the formula in a way that appeases me. At least it makes for an easy 100% trophy run?

LAST TIME: TOMB RAIDER UNDERWORLD / BENEATH THE ASHES & LARA'S SHADOW

NEXT TIME: TOMB RAIDER II

I, like many I'm assuming, found out about this thanks to James Rolfe's/AVGN's video on the game from several years ago. I already knew I'd play it one day for curiosity sake, and upon learning that it's only 40-50 minutes long, I figured now was a time as any considering how many other cinematic platformers I went through.

And to start, I actually don't think it controls that badly. Not on the same realms of smoothness and reliability as its contemporaries in this time period such as Another World or Flashback, granted, but the weight and arc of the jump are pretty easy to grow accustomed to, along with the general speed of Lester to be just right. I also appreciate a detail not a whole lot of games were attempting at the time, which is how Lester starts of as a scared piss-ass wimp, to becoming more confident once you hit the halfway point, never really hesitating to perform jumps or seeing enemies, culminating in fighting with pirates even! Of course, this begs the question of how this dude can swim all the way to the island's beach yet pisses himself at the mere sight of a crab, but eh.

Still, I did give it a 2/5 - or with my preferred scale, 4/10 - and that's cause while conceptually this game sounds pretty cool, everything else besides the controls aren't up to par, and it falls under one of media's cardinal sin: being utterly boring.

Like damn, this is one of the most plain ass 2D platformers I've ever played thus far. Nothing about it really sticks out in some manner, least of all the presentation. I get that the game takes place in a tropical island with beaches, forests populated with tribal people (that thankfully don't ride on harmful stereotypes too much), and caverns, but the drab color palette doesn't really invoke a strong sense of atmosphere, and the way the wildlife and humans are crafted is ugly. Lester and the pirates in particular look sunburnt as hell, eesh. Also, though I found his one example to be pretty weak, I do agree with Rolfe in that a number of objects needed to progress do tend to blend too well with the background, in the sense that they're so ordinary that I wouldn't think to use them until I refer to the longplay video I have on standby, a candle needed to burn something in the tribal village being one instance. There's also the music, which is so annoyingly high-pitched and overreliant on the same percussion and brass instrumentals with the same 2-3 song repeats, it makes post-2006 Dragon Quest scores Sugiyama composed sound like grand operas.

The levels themselves are like, fine? They're designed competently enough but again, they don't really stick out well due to underutilized setpieces and unique puzzles There's a section you do where you're chased by an animal, and have to run and jump across using vines in time to escape it. Despite the finnicky nature of maintaining the distance between you and the animal, the is one of very few moments I can recall the game actually pushing its mold out instead of sitting inside it. Most of the time the structure of a level actually tends to loop as well, and I don't mean that as a joke, I mean they tend to use most if not all of the same layout and enemy placements when going through them, a couple being super blatant about it. On the note of enemies, not that many enemies pose that much of a threat surprisingly enough, the only times they become that way is when they just drop them on you, like in one section with moving across water via wooden rafts, there are snakes you can just barely see at the very top of the screen. I'm also not really sure where this trial-and-error aspect the people who played this say, cause it's super sparse in this aspect too. There's only like... 4, probably, that can be classified as this, usually it's rudimentary sidescrolling gameplay, or being extremely tedious like having to go back-and-forth in a hostile-free environment just to make sure the right switch is activated to open a door, or having to deal with a stupidly fast spider as you throw a boomerang to a web-covered outing to escape the cave.

Honestly, I can see why Rolfe structured the video the way he did. Sure, he gave the game a harsher light that it didn't exactly deserve, but considering the mundane nature, it'd make for a more entertaining video. Not to mention he at least makes it clear - at least relatively speaking to bad YTers that play off obviously poor performance as ""jokes"" - that it's all just for entertainment purpose. As for Lester himself, he supposedly would've come back from the way the end credits is rolled out for a new game, which is funny cause I can't really think of anything else this nerdy boy can tackle.

btw this has one of the lamest title drops I've ever seen. It couldn't even get THAT right, smh.

It's the first 3D WorldRunner game but with a more sickly presentation - compare this screenshot of the prior game to this one here - as well as a faster speed. This is supposedly the more difficult followup, yet I actually found myself having a much easier time due to there being way, way less "do or die" scenarios, even if they are still present here, and having its increasing amount of onscreen enemies feel more like a step up in challenge instead of throwing them on the screen to ostensibly form a sense of "difficulty". For instance, the sixth world in 3DWR has you making precise jumps to land exactly on pipes in order to get while having to deal with distance differences, which means getting to land on all of them consistently while maneuvering towards them tends to feel more like luck than skillful plays. The sixth world here, meanwhile, feels a lot more like a traditional auto-run platformer, having to balance around jumping over the enemies and gaps while minding the flame pillars and overhead bugs, all while never feeling overwhelming and giving way to tight moments. I've obtained far more lives here, powerups never felt too far apart, levels tended to feel shorter instead of overlong, and even the Space Harrier-esque boss encounters were far easier to handle due to seemingly having a lowered health pool. The only thing I can say the first game does better is having variety in obstacles, but when most of them, especially in the middle section, tended to drive me up a wall with how stupidly exact they are, I'd say it was for the better this is more straightforward and instead rehashes only a portion of them.

There's not much to say as a review for either title, since Cadensia gave a far better outline of the formula and history in a far more eloquent and concise manner than I would've shared. Only thing I could've added was an interview on Next Generation magazine were Hironobu Sakaguchi explained the game's sale figures and why it was created, and that this one right here was the last game Square made before Final Fantasy released onto the public.

I feel like people forget just how influential the first Ninja Gaiden game was, its difficulty eclipsing its ambition.

It's not the first game from this era to put the story in the actual field instead of regulating it to supplementary materials, but it's one of the most notable outings on putting it up the forefront, having cutscenes play both before and during gameplay via interruptions, as well as one that plays out when waiting long enough on the main menu. Gorgeous spritework and art being contributed by a few people such as Masato Kato - yes, that Masato Kato - alongside impressive framing and direction, it's a great showing of how a game's story can be presented within the medium. The story itself is antiquated, sure, and I doubt people back then weren't too blown away by it, but the scale is nothin to scoff at all the same, especially since Hideo Yoshizawa goes on to pen and direct some of the Klonoa games.

The difficulty, however, overshadows this aspect nowadays, being one of the more infamous cases of "NES Hard" difficulty, which I don't think it really deserves... mostly. I will concede the last third or so, starting with Stage 5, is where my patience was being tested. A lot of enemies being thrown at you and requiring near-tight reflexes to dodge or hit lest you lose a life or bar of health, jumps and obstacles requiring near-pixel perfect positioning in order to land safely, it's kind of a mess and the more I went through it, the more I believed the people at Tecmo couldn't be able to properly playtest it. Nowhere is this more evident, though, than the trio gauntlet at the end, the first fight being hard to manage the enemy below as well as a shitton of fireballs being made from the orb you need to hit, the second fight being one of the most poorly designed bosses I've faced in a 2D game yet, and the third one... actually being kinda OK and easy to get a grasp of, surprisingly enough, though the attacks dealing three damage is a bit much. All of this, being compounded by the USA release forcing you to go all the way back at 6-1, instead of the Japan release sending you back to 6-3, so do what I did and play with the restoration patch (don't use the free movement option though, take it like a man/woman/enby/whatever you identify as).

But like I said, that's only the last third that angered me, the other two-thirds was actually pretty smooth sailing. If you have any experience with the Classicvania formula, you'll feel right at home; taking it easy and dealing with what's available now while getting a feel for the patterns, utilizing each subweapon you pick up as best you can and adapting to the situations on the fly, all that jazz. Difference being that, unlike Classicvania wanting you to play more methodically and commit to the actions, NG is faster and looser with what you're capable of, jumping much higher as well as controlling more freely compared to the Belmonts, Morrises, and Lecardes. Enemy encounters are also a bit more forgiving by comparison, the birds might take out three health points, but their arcs and range are predictable enough for a crouch attack, unlike the Medusa Heads (though this game also has a Fleaman equivalent to balance it out). As for the points about respawning enemies and wallgrab loops, again this becomes an actual issue in the last third, I find that just moving forward - which, well, you're supposed to be doing anyway - and ignoring any objects that could lead to hazards, and you'll do just fine. Even the rest of bosses aren't so bad, usually by either just being pathetic in general (Stage 1, 3, and 4) or having the "just tank the hits approach" be super lenient enough to abuse (Stage 2 and 5). It's not perfect at points, but it's still pretty overblown for the overall sequences regardless.

I'm much more willing to play Classicvanis (sans the supreme mid that is SCIV) or even Contra 1 and Super C, but NG1's still a pretty good time. I'd recommend checking it out anyway, solely cause its importance in gaming is very much something to behold over.

Before I get started, I want to say that the state of the PC port is pitiful. PCGamingWiki has all this shit listed, and even though you can ignore fine-tuning some - or in my case, most - of them, that doesn't change how it is in-game. I've had some random disappearances happen while in fights, the microstutter is abundant, animation errors from both play and AI being wonky, instances where an interaction prompt wouldn't appear until I backed off a certain distance, it's sad. Far, far from the worst PC port available, and I imagine some of these issues could have cropped up due to advancements in OSes compared to what it was like in 2012, but it's still a shame to see. You'd think Ubisoft would've tried to make some adjustments so that it's in a better state instead of weirdly and randomly getting rid of online and DLC support for it and several other games, but nnnnnope. I would also like to apologize in advance if this gets very wordy.

So, Far Cry 3. Deriving from an abundant sources like Apocalypse Now, Deliverance, and Deer Hunter and 1989's Prince Of Persia, numerous folks over the years have said this was the Patient Zero for how modern, AAA games have structured their open world environment. A claim that's both warranted and unwarranted, if I must be honest, which ironically enough was because Ubisoft themselves failed to learn about what makes this game work in isolation compared to entries both before and after. Rook Island, as a whole, is actually fairly light and breezy to explore, even back in 2012. Yultimona talks about this, but by the time FC3 released, you had games like Ubi's own Assassin's Creed, some of Rockstar's non-GTA titles like Bully and Red Dead Redemption, Sucker Punch's inFamous, even cult hits like Saints Row 2, and - from the same year no less - Sleeping Dogs. I could go on and on with these namedrops, but you get my point, the whole aspect of the genre mold was being and already formulated by then.

The distinction FC3 attempts from, and in most cases succeeded in, setting Rook Island apart was utilizing the setting as both the foundation of the gameplay loop, as well as being characterized within the narrative. Whether it's from (frankly underutilized) old letters from long-dead Japanese soldiers that once laid out here, the various wildlife you can find, the hallucination sequences in the story itself, even old, rotted temples and caverns, the island beats a pulse as you go along. Sure, some of the games I've previously listed have done this to a degree, but not to this grand and consistent degree. That being said, the actual core activities you can do are pretty rudimentary. Clearing outposts, using different vehicles to go around, hunting the plants and animals as well as doing some races via supply runs or actual lapped stuff or poker games are still fairly enjoyable, but I also forgot how dull the human bounties are, climbing the radio towers always stays as a stagnant and menial chore, and you have like, little to no reason to do the side quests considering obtaining money can be done from the previously mentioned items, or just looting and selling shit. There's also collecting relics or memory cards which is fine enough I suppose. Considering the bite-size nature of each mission arcs, as well as how doing each activity leads into a mini-escapade to do after, I'd say the loop is pretty founded... until you hit the last third where it just sort of does an Ouroboros as to give the remaining story beats some space since it uh, blatantly becomes a typical linear FPS by then.

Another aspect that gets utilized in both ends are the three skill trees. After getting tatted by Dennis, a follower of Citra's tribe the Rakyat, from escaping Vaas and his entourage's trap, main white boy Jason Brody goes under the tribunal influences, and from this he gains power after getting the designated experience, and alongside this there's also the crafting system you can use to upgrade your various possessions, like wallets, holsters, etc etc., needing this in order to rescue the rest of his friends and brother. Narratively it works super well, and functionally it strikes a fair bit better than other games trying to use this approach, mainly cause a chunk of them are stuff that makes sense to get as an upgrade. Granted though, there's still the occasional power that feels like it should've been included by default. Like yea OK, I can kinda see why a longer time underwater or different syringe types are gated off, but do you really need to make investments on halving your vehicle damages, or having to make mandatory beelines for ammo upgrades since you start off so pitifully small? A silver lining from this, at least, is that it's pretty easy, I've gotten all the necessary skill upgrades in the first third, almost all the ones in the second third, and got all of them right before the final stretch of missions, as well as maxing out half of the crafting upgrades during the transitional phase to that second third, and then all of them not that long after.

As for combat itself, there's two flavors, assault and stealth. The assault part's good! A majority of the guns had the right amount of oomph and punch to them, making the encounters pretty enjoyable to go through. I stuck with Assault Rifle for mid-long range, Shotgun and Pistols for close-mid range, and the Bow just cause it's fun as hell and activates that sweet dopamine when I land a shot from far away, and I was swappin and pickup up weapons when needed to scrape by. Stealth's... fine, but it very much needed more time to be built upon. You got a distraction tool, a weird implementation of leaning (you have to get close to a wall or cover while iron sighted and it does it automatically, like I said it's weird), a camera to tag enemies with, and you get a few - and I do stress, few - ways to sneak inside or go past enemies. The problem is that it's super rooted into the linearity and rigid aspect of the gunplay, meaning that despite all these fancy tools and skills to use on enemies, sometimes you're inevitably gonna have to fight em off when exposed. You can be able to kill everyone undetected, and the opportunities of doing so is rather plentiful, so it isn't too bad, but it's still rather annoying anyway. Really, it was at its best when outside elements trickled in, such as wild animals causing a ruckus for either me or the enemies, as well as guards driving by yet stopping when they get in an alert state.

The story's gonna make up the rest of the review now, as a heads up. If you, miraculously, have little to no info as to what happens, I'll make a line break before and after the section, since it's... quite something. I like some aspects and the ideas it offers, but the execution of it is very muddled and doesn't utilize it enough to mean much, if you want a summary. I sure do wish Backloggd incorporates a spoiler text format already instead of only giving us an ultimatum.

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The main point of the narrative is how violence can degrade and mentally warp a person's wellbeing, being emphasized by Jason becoming more bloodlust as you continue on, as well as being the focal point of the previously-mentioned Vaas, who's the brother of Citra and was once a part of the Rakyat, the sleazy Australian sexual predator Buck, holding one of the friends hostage, and snobby prick Hoyt, the ringleader of the whole shebang and also an avid fan of poker allusions, each knife fight against them warping away from reality and becoming a dance floor reminiscent of one of the clubs prior to the island visit. Allies throughout are Dr. Alec Earnhardt, a drug-dealing botanist who gives your friends a safe retreat from the ongoings as they repair a boat to escape, CIA Operative Willis Huntley who's just as deranged as the rest of the inhabitants despite trying his best to convince you otherwise, and then Sam Becker, an undercover op posing as one of Hoyt's privateers that gives you a way-in to help take him down. As noted earlier, Rook Island, is the force for each one of these people, affecting them and making them go quite looney, maybe with the exception of Willis who's just kind of like that to begin with.

Thing is... it doesn't really give them the best of character. The simplicity of the friends works due to how they really, really just want to get the fuck out of there, and also note how Jason grows quite a strange development as it continues on. It works for Willis since he delivers some of the funniest and batshit lines in the game, as well as giving his own commentary on things in this game's codex equivalent. It works for Vaas due to his role designed to not only be a dualism approach as to being a mirrored position of Jason, but also be like Darth Vader, a villain lacking screentime yet stealing the spotlight whenever they appear due to how they enhance and upheld the actions of the story - which, ironically enough, worked considering this game's lasting legacy is quoting the famous insanity speech from Albert Einstein despite it being one of his last appearance in the game, also being helped out by how the voice behind him, Michael Mando, decided to improvise when acting him out, causing the team to plan him out even further after giving him immense praise. It doesn't really work for half of the key players cause there's barely anything that makes them stick out aside from their fucked-up, sinful caricature (Buck = Lust, Hoyt = Greed, Sam = Wrath, Earnhardt = Sloth). It probably was the point, sure, but considering how well the others slotted in, I don't think it ultimately speaks as much by comparison.

And then you get to Citra who's somewhat emblematic on the writing's messy nature. I neglected to mention it until now, but there was a bit of a debacle on the game as to how it depicted the culture of the Rakyat, and also cause well, you're playing as a white guy pretty much helping them out so strongly. One of the sources I linked earlier had producer Dan Hay briefly talk about this, but lead writer Jeffrey Yohalem goes into further detail in this Rock Paper Shotgun article, one point being that Jason's position was more so that of a used gun, hopping from owner to owner in order to carry out their own deeds through the acts of violence. To a degree I can see this being the intent, there's more than enough implication that Citra has and will continue to do this on other people, little of the actual hallucination sequences actually showcase any sort of insensitivity, and ultimately, you were pretty much at the wrong place at the wrong time once the story started. Thing is though, the way some of these tropes come off seems rather rocky, especially given that one of these sequences uses has the act of stabbing the eye of a demonic giant be used as an allusion to Jason climaxing inside her, and also cause the tribe members themselves don't really do much of anything to begin with, only Dennis actively contributes.

It's really disappointing since I never minded the abundant use of Alice In Wonderland quotes found in chapter transitions, and it doesn't become outright awful, but it left me a lot to desire upon seeing it all unfold again after so many years.

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Though this is the first time since I've played FC3 after several years and never getting the drive of just doing so, I've gotta say it mostly lived up to what I can remember it. Despite the rocky and inconsistent quality throughout, I did end up still liking the game to a fair degree. I feel like this is one of those cases where it's the sum of the parts that makes the experience enjoyable, rather than one or two individual aspects carrying it all together. This is far from my favorite Ubisoft title that I've gone through thus far, yet for some reason I often think about this. Maybe it's cause of the ambitious nature, maybe it's cause of how it was one of the final release the brand as a whole made before fully becoming the """apolitical""" tepid sludge it is today, maybe it's both, but it's a piece of art that's somehow stuck by me. I am interested as to how the first and especially second game fair, as well as Blood Dragon too since I never played it, but I'm pretty fine not touching the following entries. Maybe 4, but that's about it.

Brightly lit beams from the CRT fills the room back in 03, his introduction then follows to the companies and the urban aesthetics that'll soon become his introductory grounds for basketball. Moving beyond the street art and the wall-mounted copyright, it's here where he learns of what'll soon become his favored and championed genre of music: Hip-Hop, through the words of the Mecca and the production flips courtesy of the #1 Soul Brother.

What follows is a school of soft knocks across the pavement in an alley. The dunks, the passes, the alley-oops, the norms. Soon though comes the arcade twists, following special twists and slamming showstoppers, fakeouts that serve to mock the oppositions, and gratifying taunts and tricks to show you're the chief rocker that's not meant to be fronted. It takes a while to get the flow of, but the kinetics and rhythms soon take shape, something needed for the singleplayer modes since the AI can barely muster the brainpower to handle the 3-on-3 match of athletic prowess. Such is the way of an early 2000s sports title, I suppose, he's rarely dabbled with this before nor since.

More gabs and trades of samples soon come through the speaker. The eclectic showstopper on the first power with the second power being a blaring warning that shit's finally comin down for the other team. MC Lyte, a female rapper from the 80s showing off more gusto than he would've expected. Long Island influencer Erick Sermon from that same decade alongside Redman, one of the funkiest New Jersian to have graced the mic. Benzino. Nelly and Memphis Bleak who he's still only vaguely familiar with. Couple of others that he's since realized have been a part of him since the beginning and, albeit in strange ways on occasion, middle of his life. All connected with the beats of secret movement pusher Just Blaze. Could've used some soul of De Las or mischief from 93' til infinity though.

Suddenly, the slots snug into place. Focus on the aggression in order to bite back. Don't front or hesitate else that's how they'll get the upper hand. Always dribble unless you risk a travel penalty. Give it to the guy/gal/enby that's open to do the plays instead of relying on everything to you. As cool as dunking is it isn't wholly reliable. You always pick the person with the better looking stats cause that's wha- actually wait no scratch that, that's stupid. It's how he, me, and others got up and just started to get invigorated. I'm far from mastering this game, not helping cause of how I come back to this very infrequently, but I always plop it in either physically or on PCSX2 just for the hell of it, who's gonna stop me?

I don't try and keep tabs on the current NBA leagues, but I am someone that likes to play the sport whenever possible and at least try to learn what's going on within that world of sport. I have friends and other methods viable to learn about newly made albums from artists modern, old, or those in between.

They were the things that helped me to learn that I'll always have methods of expressing myself.

One of those cases where it feels weird to rate due to someone, in this case Charlotte Broccard, clearly making it more as a passionate outing and share instead of a full-on product. In that regard though I admit it was nice to see Vietnamese culture and festivities more in some form of game, plus I learned a fair bit about the dishes "used" as a result which is appreciated!

The GAME part comes from the WarioWare-esque minigames and they're... fine. Nothing mindblowing but this is a short, totally for-free thing you can do in 5-minutes tops so ya know, lil unfair to critique. Thought the food spread would be a bit more extravagant though...

This review's gonna be different, since I'm really just gonna recollect on this instead of getting into the nitty-gritty of the plot and mechanical workings of Sakura Wars 1. I do have a replay in-progress, but stopped around Chapter 5 since I was still focusing on other stuff at the time, so once I get off my ass and finish it, I'll make a(n actual) review talking about all that. Also there'll be some slight endgame spoilers, nothing major but I'll describe a few events that're isolated from context as much as possible.

Anyway, Sakura Wars. Originally one of my Gaming White Whales, I learned about it in 2016 when Sega revealed and got feedback on the large amount of people wanting a revival of the series, which it did 3 (4 for international release) years later in the form of a PS4 soft reboot. An adventure format? With VN and dating elements? Even containing SRPG combat sequences? Sounds like my thing! Only, there was one problem: Japan-only, no English translation available outside of guides. Hence why I referred to it as a white whale, there was no way I, someone still in their Junior year of high school, was gonna comfortably learn Japanese alongside other studies, and having to follow a guide for a text-heavy game is ludicrous to me. Granted, there was the anime OVAs of the games that had English subs, an alternate retelling of the first game via a Madhouse-produced TV series that aired overseas, as well as Sakura Wars 5 becoming available for PS2 and Wii versions thanks to NISA, but the OVAs are more or less continuations of the games so doing that would mean having little context, the TV series is a retelling like I said and I'd rather have gone through the original first, and the 5th game... I actually did pick up and put some amount of time into, but at the time of writing I've yet to finish it cause I keep getting distracted.

Then, in mid-December 2019, it happened. A group of people were able to finally translate the game, start to finish. Not even kidding when I say that was one of the biggest pieces of joy I've gotten in recent years. Sure, it meant having to figure out Saturn emulation, configuring Mednafen and (at the time, I don't use this anymore) Retroarch, all at once, but man I didn't care, as long as it meant I could finally play the first entry in a series I've had my eyes on for so long, going through it on-and-off for other games, as well as to avoid burnout.

As you can tell from the score, it lived up to my expectations pretty comfortably. There were some drawbacks and questionable decisions that bog it down that, again, I'll get into when I finish my replay, but for the most part I got exactly what I was hoping: Great adventure walk-arounds with a soothing and fantastic atmosphere, blending nicely with the VN and dating elements of talking to crew within the Imperial Combat Revue, and the SRPG element that, while very simple (it cannot be stressed that combat sequences are not the main focus, the stuff pertaining to the crew and adventure/VN format is), was still pretty fun and hilariously easy to break.

What really stood out to me - and really, the series in general - was how earnest and sincere it was in telling its tale. Amongst all the banter, fun, and the of-the-times anime tropes and such, laid a story about trust, forgiveness, and standing together despite the differences and difficulties that lay face as it goes along. We're talking about a story that doesn't shy away from the fact that the (initial) Big Bad is just a Conservative mad about the fact Japan has been taking influences from the Western side of the world, wanting to isolate it from those they deem unholy. We're talking about a story that contains two individual moments practically resembling a Goku Spirit Bomb attack, purely because they believe and have the heart to stand above the evil. We're talking about literal, actual angels and demons getting involved in order to loop these themings and threads back around in a full manner. I won't act like sincerity is lost or whatever, but in the recent years where creators and even normal individuals have taken the route of irony, cynicism, and just never taking things as what they are and judging them for what they aren't, coupled with the fact that, to reiterate, I was finally playing this within the timeframe of early 2020, seeing something like this unfold, was pretty refreshing and breathtaking. It may not be exactly for everyone, but you can't deny there's a ton of heart and soul that goes into each entry, even the spinoffs, as time went on.

The only other games available in English are the aforementioned PS4 game, which I already finished and also like (though not to the same degree as this), 5, which as I said I need to get back to, and some spinoffs like the sequel to a previous Columns game, and a Game Boy title, which I also played and rather enjoyed nicely, with another translation being done for the third game, which I should mention finally being that 1, 3, 5, and the SR are standalone and can be enjoyed without prior knowledge of either game. I dunno when I'll sign back on, but since I already waited three years to delve into the series' roots, I don't mind waiting that much, maybe even more, for the title everyone beholds as one of Sega's all-timers.

Though my affection for them has waned over the years, I’m still a pretty big fan of Leliana. Sheryl Chee did a great job outlining a character who, clearly being the youngest of the crew, went through a troubling development via toxic relationship with Orlesian bard mastermind Marjolaine coinciding with her increased skill and knowledge of the trade, culminating in a broken bond and fractured belief before finding a new, spirited sect to take refuge under once her tragedy had ran its course, and Corinne Kempa does an equally commendable job at giving her the softspoken yet cunning mannerism that fits the character like a glove. Really, I’m just bummed she’s segued into the Archer line for the main game, cause (cross)bow builds are severely outclassed in every regard when it comes to the Rogue and Warrior options, but it’s not like she didn’t pick up the slack I guess.

I assume her popularity amongst the crowd was large enough to earn her own add-on, cause what you do here is essentially play out that story. It’s not quite 1:1 in detail, since you’re in Denerim and not Orlais like where the betrayal happens for instance, but it doesn’t really matter much. Another thing to note is that Lukas Kristjanson was the main writer for this, which I could somewhat pick up since its vibe and appeal is much more in-line with the Orzammar arc which is where he was one of the penners; saboteurs, parasocial intrigue, various ways to handle a situation (a particularly hilarious one being implicating a knocked out guard for all the crimes you did), things of that nature. This is fun, and thankfully it doesn’t feel like a haphazard plot like Warden’s Keep or overly exhausting as Darkspawn Chronicles, but like… it still shares the same problem of being too short to really mean much. Plus, I don’t know, I think I’d rather have one centered on Zevran’s dilemma. I was very satisfied with what Leliana told that I wasn’t burning for more, meanwhile Zevran’s monologuing on his turning point is vague enough to really make something out of it.

Still though, it’s good enough. This time it actually does feel like a 1-2 hour side adventure for starters, not to mention it really lets you get a feel for how hilariously busted the dual-wielding rogue/dodge-tanking warrior/mage composition is in DAO alongside again, all the quirky funny bits you can partake in. This is already a game with hit-and-miss DLC content, so this standing out as something I can replay after each new session without it being out of obligation means something. Plus, going through this and doing a specific quest unlocks Battledress of the Provocateur, which of all the busted-ass armaments the DLCs inserted onto the base game (and Awakening) through one reason or another, this stands out for being, hands down, the single best armor you could give to a Rogue. I had to willingly stop myself short of equipping it onto my MC on top of every other item I wanted to get some semblance of balancing in a game already uneven in that regard.

I'm truly amazed at the type of entries IGDB has that Backloggd can use.

If you have no idea what the hell this is, it's a short module the team made to show off the game's toolset, distributed by and in collaboration with PC Gamer in their November 2009 magazine issue. No voice-acting, no extensive storyline, just you and a Dwarven partner going down to the Aeducan Thaig - here referred to as "Ruined Thaig" - in order to help Bhelen set the stage for the Dwarven Noble origin storyline. Simple, to the point, and even provides a fair bit more intrigue to the game's Dwarf setting, which was always one of the better parts of the game (Deep Roads isn't real).

There's no real reason to go through this nowadays, especially since it's only pre-installed on GOG versions with Steam and Ori- er, "EA App" having to rely on an install with its dazip file. If nothing else it's an OK distraction, and though I don't know how popular the toolset was when it came to creating custom campaigns, I do know it did help with a couple of mods and tweaks due to how its infrastructure is laid out, so that's cool!

For this preamble, I want to talk about my play order here before starting proper. I did Anniversary after the first game since nowadays, I like doing remakes and originals right next to each other for easier dissecting of both, and compare/contrast their inner workings and whatnot (so like, for Yakuza, I'd go Y1 -> K1 -> Y2 -> K2). I was going to go back to TR2, but since DJSCheddar started and finished around that timeframe, I decided to go on and finish this era of the franchise for a bit of distance, even if it doesn't matter that much. To be clear here, you can start with Legend or Anniversary, you just have to have Underworld as the last game since it's the one connecting the plots together.

With that said, lemme talk about sprucing up the PC port, cause unlike TR1 which was the victim of advancements in technology and Anniversary being a solid port altogether, Legend is a rather shoddy port since the initial release, and it seems like it's one of the few port mishaps Nixxes Software faced. The good news is, most of the issues are laid within the Next Generation Content, due to being one of those uncommon ports at the time allowing for either PS2/Xbox visuals or the then-fresh 360 ones, so you can just turn it off altogether, and the thing with forcing AA through GPU drivers and using TRAWindowed still applies as well. That said, some amount of texture issues remain available, so you're gonna have to do some tinkering prepared in a ZIP file to have a far more presentable state. There's still some texture errors, and you'll see and feel the jank physics and controls this port likely causes/accentuates regardless, but overall it's minor and ameliorated enough to not be as bad as to what you could've faced. If you wish to be safe and have the means, you can play this on the 360, or even the Xbone and Series X/S consoles due to being a back-compact title, or instead settle on the Trilogy Collection set if you're a PS3 owner, though it doesn't have Underworld's DLCs and I believe Legend and Anniversary are remastered PS2 versions and not ports of the 360 verison, alongside having a few framerate issues.

Right then, let's jump forward (or back, in this case) to 2004. After Angel Of Darkness released to a low critical reception and lukewarm sales, this meant the original developer studio, Core Design, was pretty much on death's row. Their dissolvement was already written in stone by then, we just had the final nail in the coffin, especially since a couple of people both within and outside the studio were growing weary and enervated with Tomb Raider as a franchise due to several factors. Then, pre-Square Enix owned publisher Eidos Interactive, realizing they kinda fucked up when it came to AoD's development period needed a new studio to work on the series moving forward, decided to hand over the IP to Crystal Dynamics. Insert joke about the irony of an American studio behind Gex and Legacy Of Kain studio working on British-made franchise here. With Morgan Gray producing and Riley Cooper being one of the key designers, they also managed to rope in the brain child, Toby Gard, during pre-production and had him do... pretty much a chunk of the design process. Character creator and designer, co-story writer and creative consultant, the works. They even had Doug Church who's done work on the Ultima Underworld duology, System Shock, and the Thief trilogy help out for this as well, which is really interesting. Obviously they had the first game as a basis, but they also looked at its sequel, used upgraded tech from the first Soul Reaver (far left of the page, second question asked), even took a look at Ico when it come to drawing in atmosphere and controls (have yet to find the actual page from the EGM source via Wayback Machine, this was the closest I got for now). This was also when they picked up Keeley Hawes for the new voice and model Karima Adebibe for portrayal at public events, though they also approached Shelley Blond as well to audition and reprise the role, but ultimately settled on Hawes cause... she was the bigger name. Go figure, but she was pretty supportive of her at least. A lot of ambition and pride was being put into this, which is to be expected since this was THE moment to get Lara back on top after the years of stumbles.

You can guess what the result was. Legend was a critical and commercial success, cementing Crystal Dynamics' as the developer for the (mainline entries of this) series to this day, and from what I can gather, Legend's usually one of the more revered titles amongst the community as well. While I don't share the same feverish level of enthusiasm, I very much get it: This is a Fun Ass Game right here, folks, even having a boot up cinematic sort of being a cross of 2000s Charlie's Angels, Mission Impossible, and 007.

Something you'll immediately notice upon start, outside the revamped continuity and plot elements which I'll get into later, are two things. Firstly, and a very minor detail, is that you can't do the entirety of Croft Manor until you do the first level. I'm not exactly sure why this was done, considering I can't recall that many people ever starting the game proper first before the tutorial, but it's whatever. The second thing is that Lara has an actual crew of people this time. Winston who's been a thing from TR2 is here of course, but there's also the tech expert Zip, who's been repurposed after his introduction in Chronicles, and new face Alister who you can view as the uptight history nerd of the group. I can see some people not really gel with the idea of having human companions, especially if the Survivor games are anything to go by, but I grew to like their presence here. Sure, there are a few times I wish I could cut the transmission short so I wouldn't hear them, but other times their commentary and back-and-forth banter can give me some good chuckles, or even full-on laughs, plus they don't detract from the atmosphere and puzzle solving that often in my experience. That being said, I do think the enemies mainly being humans do cut into that. This isn't the first time human adversaries have been introduced to the combat as I understand, and while there are levels like Japan and England where it makes sense their the main target, along with the narrative placing great importance that you and the leader of this group, Amanda, are racing towards the artifacts of Excalibur first and even only using them when actually necessary, I can't help but feel like animal threats are noticeably downplayed. You still fight the occasional bats and the diverse species of aggressive felines, but not to the same degree as TR1 or even Anniversary, which while not a huge deal (yet) is a bit of a shame regardless.

With that said, the presentation and locales on offer are VERY good. Starting off at the tropical Bolivia, or the more secluded waters and ruinous caverns of Ghana, or a sterile Soviet factory in the harsh, cold climate of Kazakhstan, or spelunking on down a crypt built on top of an abandoned King Arthur amusement park in England (my personal favorite level in the game), there's a lot of different and diverse environmental theming this time around, and there's a great sense of balancing these more grounded areas with the tombs and other desolate places you're exploring. It also helps that, unlike in Anniversary, there's actual color this time, alongside a consistent sense of scale and importance for each of these places you're visiting. Trekking through a small town and then motorbiking your way back to an old dig site in the oranges of Peru, or climbing up and swinging around various construction spots under the dark sky filled with various neon colors contrasting the metallic grays or wooden browns inside the different buildings in Japan (my other favorite level), it definitely bridges the color mapping from the initial games in the franchise to the more modern techniques and principles of cinematic platformers/linear puzzleventure games that cropped up in the Sixth Gen. As stated before, I turned off the Next Gen Content option to prevent abundant texture issues, but I did look at the 360 version and it's actually damn good for an early release, cross-gen title, particularly with the lighting. If there's any big issue I have, it's that once again this feels a bit too strong in the linearity department. Now listen, you can take a look at my 9s and 10s and know that I'm not wholly against this format at all, but I gotta admit it was rather disappointing the game still feels rather automated at parts, contributed because of the once again low difficulty ceiling - I played the first half on Medium and the second half on Hard and didn't really notice a difference outside the damage you receive. This aspect is especially noticeable in the "penultimate" (really final) level in Nepal, where after doing rather automated yet still decently motivated jumps across the slopes of ice, fragile icicles and ledges in caves as you gaze upon the wreck of a plane Lara was on as a child, then shoot up Amanda's goons, rickety blocks sitting atop platforms, you then just kinda go straight to the finish line? Like the actual temple and look of the place is great, but you have a simple weight puzzle to get a block at the top to open the door. It ends up very short than it should've been, and this is already a short game compared to the rest since it took me ~12 hours to beat the game with all the secrets nabbed.

Granted, I'll give credit where it's due and say that, alongside the Therapeutic Flow and Cinematic Cool presentation being way more pronounced here, puzzles are a fair bit more involved this time. There's a lot more momentum, physics-based contraptions and puzzle solving here, and they're actually fun to see and figure out both within a gameplay and worldbuilding sense. For example, after turning on a power core in Kazakhstan, metal objects within its vicinity are now applied from its grasp, and you have to use the grapple in order to move it back into a machine. From this, power cords that were dangling in the room before are now active which triggers electrified fields, and the way to have them deactivate for a period to cross is to use that grapple to pull on them, having them swing back and forth at intervals for easy crossing. There's also using the graves in the underground crypt as makeshift rafts in England, as well as blocks and pressures to use in Ghana to activate water wheels which in turn open gates. There's even little touches like being able to kick a ball into a makeshift goal in Peru, or seeing a turret trap in a building and either using a ball as a bullet shield or going around the corner, activate the fire alarm and reveal laser traps to roll and jump over! It's all very cool to see in action and sells the world more than ever, which does help in cutting back the feeling of boredom. Troels Brun Folmann's compositions have also helped in this department as well, though this time it focuses more on atmosphere and simple loop and note progressions instead of being a mixture of that and casual listening with more dynamic and bombastic feelings. There's still some tracks I'm now adding on my offtime listenings, there's even more variety in genre and/or instrument usage as well, and yet again the main theme's supremely solid, but I'm less likely to listen to this as I would with TR1 though perhaps a fair bit more often than TRA. Again though, it's still very good all the same.

As for the controls and feel, they're roughly the same as they were in Anniversary, though since this was the predecessor some tweaks and touchups that game did obviously aren't in Legend, such as chain pole swings being more rigid to execute here, no post hopping as a mechanic, and the camera accounting for where you are in conjunction to where its at when shimmying on ledges, IE if a camera is angled then you move either perpendicular or along that angle it's on. Perhaps my ease into the control method from last time helped, alongside this being very much its own thing instead of a mixture of old and new philosophies, but I've had a much easier time controlling Lara through the perils of tomb raiding, unlike before where I was struggling a fair bit often. It's still not perfect though, cause while I again wouldn't be surprised if the PC port accentuates the issues, there's a fair bit of clunk under the hood regardless. Lara's still a bit springy for my taste even if jumping and gauging the distance is more manageable, turning is a little rougher, there's still a couple of instances of Lara's grab being magnetized to whatever is in front of you, jumping off slopes still feels super awkward, the camera still has a tendency to act erratically albeit not as often, and I've seen way more instances of that "press this button to hang on!!!" prompt now which got annoying. Still, overall this control feel is much more my speed, more often I felt any death or misstep in the obstacles and challenges were on me instead of the game either dropping my input or being stingy with it, but like I said I wouldn't be surprised if playing Anniversary first helped with that.

Combat and QTEs are also structured differently by comparison. QTEs here aren't regulated to bosses thank god, they're like the RE4 method of doing them during action setpieces, and they're... fine. Not as invigorating or tense as how RE4 does it, but the cinematic flair and framing of these events do make them a little more fun to watch, especially when you once again factor in the failures these can bring in, plus you do have ACTUAL setpiece moments to control through in order to survive as well to break them up. Combat though, through my innate ability to read too deeply into things that may or may not have been intended, does a great job of showcasing Lara's growth within this continuity when you compare it with the prequel. Now, she can use and throw grenades, (jump) kick or dive underneath enemies to disorient them, or perhaps do a vault jump for this slow-mo, adrenaline mode that deals more damage to anyone you target until you reach the ground. It actually makes combat a fair bit more exciting, even if its still the weakest aspect of the games. That said, there's been some weird changes to the formula here. Now, instead of having a full arsenal of guns, you're instead reduced to your pistol and one other weapon you pick up from enemies. I'm, not really sure on this change. On the one hand it does freshen up the encounters for more intensity, and it at least follows the Halo design of making sure you have the right weapon for the job when needed, but on the other they don't really do much to capitalize on this. Now instead of having a weapon for every occasion, I'm forced to use a pistol for short-mid range, then keep a rifle for long range. There's also moments where you have to press a button a few times to cause explosions or crumbling debris, which is... somethin I guess. It also doesn't help that said range kind of feels deliberately hampered? I've had more instances of the greyed out reticle appearing than ever! Weird! They also tried applying a sort of upgrade system to the pistols depending on how many secrets you get, which SOUNDS cool and rewarding, but what this means is following the arbitrary sense of progression and being like "you have now upgraded its clip, range, and damage", which makes me wonder why they even bothered.

Boss encounters are... actually kind of decent this time around? They're still easy and have clunk to them, don't get me wrong, but the way the fights play out are at least different each time. One boss has you using bells to distract it as you grapple-pull levels to drop something down on it, another has you dodge and ignore it entirely to activate power to drop down the MacGuffin needed, and the whole final stretch is using the sword Excalibur as a coolass beam thing to decimate everything in that area. Just a spice of excitement to make them standout, though at this point in the marathon I'm gonna refrain from talking about bosses unless they're actually noteworthy for positive or negative reasons.

Finally, the writing. I already talked about the other characters being pretty solid, but I gotta be honest, I wasn't expecting the narrative itself to be surprisingly good? This is far from a deep and introspective tale, but there's some good things to dig into here. The thread of the past being a thing to reflect upon, as it shapes us and the future of the world as we know it, is done very well with the characterization of Lara here. Points where she reflects on the situation at hand as she continues on in the thin attempt that she could possibly bring her mother back from an incident several years prior is handled MUCH better since it's like The focus now, also enhanced by Hawes having a much better performance here, to the point I think she manages to sound a bit better than Blonde from before, such as when Lara effortlessly and coldly tells the Yakuza boss off when they meet up or the ending cutscene in its entirety. Even the way it ties the Arthurian Myth into that aspect is pretty well-realized, having it be a constant push for the legends despite it never fully being cemented as real onto the world, truly feeling like a modern step for this franchise to face. It's not perfect here, Amanda's goal for wanting to get the sword isn't super clear and her boyfriend, James Rutland, is completely underutilized, but what is here is good enough, satisfyingly delivering a sorta campy B-Grade adventure romp.

So yea, had a solid time with TR Legend, which is good after feeling let down from TRA. Out of all the modern reboots that began to sprout up during this era of gaming, this stands out as one of the better examples of doing a franchise justice.

LAST TIME: TOMB RAIDER ANNIVERSARY

NEXT TIME: TOMB RAIDER UNDERWORLD