Celio1
If this won game of the year, 2014 must have been a bad year for video games. Shadow of Mordor isn't bad per say but it's not a 10/10.
My favorite thing about this about is the Sauron's army mechanic. Taking out captains, helping them rise through the ranks, pitting warchiefs against each other. That was a lot of fun and very unique too. Only complaint is having to open the menu so frequently. Combat is pretty fun and so is the stealth only I wish there was less of it.
There's not really a story here, it's just a series of events that take place until Talion decides he needs to move on with the plot. Game's main story feels like a bunch of side quests stringed together. Speaking of side quests, 10 missions for each weapon and 24 outcasts missions is a bit much. Fighting captains and warchiefs always pauses the game so you can hear them say some dumb line. Open world is dull and the inconsistent climbing makes it a slog to traverse. The two final bosses are The Tower and Sauron respectively. I have never fought a more underwhelming boss fight. The Tower, you just sneak up on him 3 times. Sauron is just 4 quick time events and 1 mashing the button moment. I was so confused I made to look up if that was the real ending. It was, but I think it's supposed to be a set up for Shadow of War. Making a video game just to set up a sequel instead of standing out individually is not looked up too highly by my eyes.
I do believe Shadow of Mordor is a fun game with great Lord of the Rings lore despite talking more negatively about it. It sucks because the issues I have don't make it a bad game, they hold it back from being a great game which it certainly has the potential to be. Or maybe I expected too much from a game my dad has been bugging me to play since it came free on ps plus and the fact that it says "Game of the Year"? So much so to the point where nitpicks made me rate it far harsher than I should have. Guess we'll never know.
My favorite thing about this about is the Sauron's army mechanic. Taking out captains, helping them rise through the ranks, pitting warchiefs against each other. That was a lot of fun and very unique too. Only complaint is having to open the menu so frequently. Combat is pretty fun and so is the stealth only I wish there was less of it.
There's not really a story here, it's just a series of events that take place until Talion decides he needs to move on with the plot. Game's main story feels like a bunch of side quests stringed together. Speaking of side quests, 10 missions for each weapon and 24 outcasts missions is a bit much. Fighting captains and warchiefs always pauses the game so you can hear them say some dumb line. Open world is dull and the inconsistent climbing makes it a slog to traverse. The two final bosses are The Tower and Sauron respectively. I have never fought a more underwhelming boss fight. The Tower, you just sneak up on him 3 times. Sauron is just 4 quick time events and 1 mashing the button moment. I was so confused I made to look up if that was the real ending. It was, but I think it's supposed to be a set up for Shadow of War. Making a video game just to set up a sequel instead of standing out individually is not looked up too highly by my eyes.
I do believe Shadow of Mordor is a fun game with great Lord of the Rings lore despite talking more negatively about it. It sucks because the issues I have don't make it a bad game, they hold it back from being a great game which it certainly has the potential to be. Or maybe I expected too much from a game my dad has been bugging me to play since it came free on ps plus and the fact that it says "Game of the Year"? So much so to the point where nitpicks made me rate it far harsher than I should have. Guess we'll never know.
For the longest time, For Honor has been my least favorite game. Maybe it’s because I suck at the game but I’ve never been more miserable playing a game. That was the case until Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III was released. I can say with full confidence that MWIII is the worst video game I have ever played. Here’s why.
Disclaimer: I did not buy MWIII! I fortunately have a friend who is dumb enough to have bought it but also kind enough to lend me his copy so I can try it out for the week. In case you’re curious, he also doesn’t like the game very much. Doesn’t hate it as much as me, but still thinks it’s ass.
Greed. The most obvious problem with COD as a franchise are the masterminds behind it. Activision does not care about quality! They only care about the money, which unfortunately is going to be a lot. Why put in effort making something at the very least half decent when you can sit on your ass, scratch your crack, sniff it, and make billions doing so? That’s the development for this game. Don’t even get me started on the price of this game. Over 100 CAD for a reskin of MWII which is already a reskin of MW 2019. Plus, add in the terrible microtransactions and battle passes each two months. Have fun doing that every year! Jesus! This game is an actual scam and people are oblivious to it.
Identity. People like to joke about COD and how it’s the same game every year. COD games at their core are “the same”, but there’s enough surrounding them that makes them unique and different enough from each other. MWIII is the exact same as MWII last year. Honestly, if you bought MWII last year, what’s the point of buying MWIII this year? Nothing’s new! Nothing’s been improved! Game is worse!
Campaign. MWIII has the worst story and missions. First off, I never played the original MW3 campaign, but I know the important events and that it wasn’t as good compared to MW and MW2 (those I played, and I loved their campaigns). I also never played MW 2019 or MWII’s campaign, but I watched some videos to get caught up on the narrative. First off, the campaign doesn’t even play out like a campaign. It feels more like the SPEC OPS mission in MW 2019, which is not a good thing. Very bad actually. SPECS OPS was repetitive and boring and MWIII’s campaign is no different. They tried replicating “No Russian” and it failed miserably. Soap dies the most unemotional death ever. In the OG MW3, you were devasted, shocked by his death. Here, “he dead, oh well”. A terrible campaign and a disgrace to the Modern Warfare franchise legacy.
Multiplayer. I will admit, I had fun playing the multiplayer. COD’s multiplayer is always fun, and it is what people play these games for. However, like the past 7 COD games, there’s not much content at launch and we must wait months for the game to go from shit to less shit. The multiplayer is fun, for now. A couple of days, you will get bored playing the same maps over and over, using the same gun over and over ultimately making each match the same as the last. Repetition becomes predictable and as a result boring. Also, they need to get rid of the gunsmith! Do you have any idea how tedious and long it is to level up every gun to the max? Then, you have to play Bob the Builder to get the best set of attachments to make your gun OP. I remember the days when COD was simple and super accessible. Here, I spend more time looking up what each attachment does than I do debunking or proving mathematical paradoxes for my university classes. Good grief!
Zombies. This is not zombies! The zombies I knew, the mode that hooked me to COD and is the reason why I even still bought some of these games has been completely massacred! Cool characters are replaced with dull, generic operators again. There’s no solo option so you must play with friends or randoms. You can just build wonder weapons via blueprints and start each game with them. Where’s the sense of progression? How’s a game fun when you start off on baby mode? It’s not round based so you must go around this huge map and do menial objectives. You could say the same thing for Easter eggs in past zombies, but at least those gave a rewarding sense of progression. Since the map is so big, you must find the zombies. How much sense does that make? Map is dull, there’s no unique aesthetic like feeding the dragons on Der Eisendrache, the afterlife in Mob of the Dead, the robots in Origins, nothing. Nothing that says “play me over those over maps. I got this and that that you can’t experience on those other maps”. Feels like I’m playing a beta customs map on BO3. Easter eggs are lame, short, easy. Never doing them again. I really don’t understand why we can’t have traditional zombies and have this as a separate game mode. Cold War had round based zombies and Outbreak. Giving your players more options is good, isn’t it? Activision doesn't seem to think so.
In conclusion, MWIII is a scam. I honestly believe this game should be held in court the same way Star Wars: Battlefront 2 was for its loot boxes. There is an important lesson to be learned here though. “You can put in as little effort as possible. You cannot care about anything in the world. But if you own something remotely popular in the mainstream media and put it out with the barest minimum, people will suck it up and you will make billions.” People like to say, “work smart, not hard.” Activision, they say “don’t work at all, make billions.” Moments like these make me question my life. Is working hard for a good career so I and my family can live a good future worth it when I can just follow Activision’s steps and potentially get better results?
Disclaimer: I did not buy MWIII! I fortunately have a friend who is dumb enough to have bought it but also kind enough to lend me his copy so I can try it out for the week. In case you’re curious, he also doesn’t like the game very much. Doesn’t hate it as much as me, but still thinks it’s ass.
Greed. The most obvious problem with COD as a franchise are the masterminds behind it. Activision does not care about quality! They only care about the money, which unfortunately is going to be a lot. Why put in effort making something at the very least half decent when you can sit on your ass, scratch your crack, sniff it, and make billions doing so? That’s the development for this game. Don’t even get me started on the price of this game. Over 100 CAD for a reskin of MWII which is already a reskin of MW 2019. Plus, add in the terrible microtransactions and battle passes each two months. Have fun doing that every year! Jesus! This game is an actual scam and people are oblivious to it.
Identity. People like to joke about COD and how it’s the same game every year. COD games at their core are “the same”, but there’s enough surrounding them that makes them unique and different enough from each other. MWIII is the exact same as MWII last year. Honestly, if you bought MWII last year, what’s the point of buying MWIII this year? Nothing’s new! Nothing’s been improved! Game is worse!
Campaign. MWIII has the worst story and missions. First off, I never played the original MW3 campaign, but I know the important events and that it wasn’t as good compared to MW and MW2 (those I played, and I loved their campaigns). I also never played MW 2019 or MWII’s campaign, but I watched some videos to get caught up on the narrative. First off, the campaign doesn’t even play out like a campaign. It feels more like the SPEC OPS mission in MW 2019, which is not a good thing. Very bad actually. SPECS OPS was repetitive and boring and MWIII’s campaign is no different. They tried replicating “No Russian” and it failed miserably. Soap dies the most unemotional death ever. In the OG MW3, you were devasted, shocked by his death. Here, “he dead, oh well”. A terrible campaign and a disgrace to the Modern Warfare franchise legacy.
Multiplayer. I will admit, I had fun playing the multiplayer. COD’s multiplayer is always fun, and it is what people play these games for. However, like the past 7 COD games, there’s not much content at launch and we must wait months for the game to go from shit to less shit. The multiplayer is fun, for now. A couple of days, you will get bored playing the same maps over and over, using the same gun over and over ultimately making each match the same as the last. Repetition becomes predictable and as a result boring. Also, they need to get rid of the gunsmith! Do you have any idea how tedious and long it is to level up every gun to the max? Then, you have to play Bob the Builder to get the best set of attachments to make your gun OP. I remember the days when COD was simple and super accessible. Here, I spend more time looking up what each attachment does than I do debunking or proving mathematical paradoxes for my university classes. Good grief!
Zombies. This is not zombies! The zombies I knew, the mode that hooked me to COD and is the reason why I even still bought some of these games has been completely massacred! Cool characters are replaced with dull, generic operators again. There’s no solo option so you must play with friends or randoms. You can just build wonder weapons via blueprints and start each game with them. Where’s the sense of progression? How’s a game fun when you start off on baby mode? It’s not round based so you must go around this huge map and do menial objectives. You could say the same thing for Easter eggs in past zombies, but at least those gave a rewarding sense of progression. Since the map is so big, you must find the zombies. How much sense does that make? Map is dull, there’s no unique aesthetic like feeding the dragons on Der Eisendrache, the afterlife in Mob of the Dead, the robots in Origins, nothing. Nothing that says “play me over those over maps. I got this and that that you can’t experience on those other maps”. Feels like I’m playing a beta customs map on BO3. Easter eggs are lame, short, easy. Never doing them again. I really don’t understand why we can’t have traditional zombies and have this as a separate game mode. Cold War had round based zombies and Outbreak. Giving your players more options is good, isn’t it? Activision doesn't seem to think so.
In conclusion, MWIII is a scam. I honestly believe this game should be held in court the same way Star Wars: Battlefront 2 was for its loot boxes. There is an important lesson to be learned here though. “You can put in as little effort as possible. You cannot care about anything in the world. But if you own something remotely popular in the mainstream media and put it out with the barest minimum, people will suck it up and you will make billions.” People like to say, “work smart, not hard.” Activision, they say “don’t work at all, make billions.” Moments like these make me question my life. Is working hard for a good career so I and my family can live a good future worth it when I can just follow Activision’s steps and potentially get better results?
The Callisto Protocol encapsulates everything wrong with modern video games. Yeah, on a technical level, the game's amazing but who cares if I'm not having fun. This game is the definition of boring and dull.
Gameplay's boring, especially with how many crawl and shimmy spaces there are. Don't care for the story or characters. I like Josh Duhamel but I didn't go ape shit realizing he was in this game unlike COD WWII. There's nothing original or special about this game that sets it apart from over other horror zombies games like The Last of Us, Resident Evil and Dead Space just to name a few.
The Callisto Protocol fails so hard at being a video game it hurts.
Gameplay's boring, especially with how many crawl and shimmy spaces there are. Don't care for the story or characters. I like Josh Duhamel but I didn't go ape shit realizing he was in this game unlike COD WWII. There's nothing original or special about this game that sets it apart from over other horror zombies games like The Last of Us, Resident Evil and Dead Space just to name a few.
The Callisto Protocol fails so hard at being a video game it hurts.
Truly, the best way to celebrate Halloween is to play this game and experience all the horrific fusion sprites.
This review contains spoilers
This is what a video game sequel show be! An improvement over the original, but doesn't deviate to the point where it's unrecognizable. Spider-Man 2 is just about as perfect of a sequel as you can get. Everything is refined. Combat, exploration, map traversal, graphics, load times, story, characters, side quests and their respective stories, everything! There are a lot more Spider-Man villains involved & some new playable characters I was not expecting to play as (you don't really play as them for long, but it's nice they got their own sections).
While this game does many great things, there two things holding it back. One's a nitpick, but the other is an overarching problem that honestly makes me want to lower the score.
Nitpick: Like the first one, there are some mini-games & MJ sequences. I consider this a nitpick because they're not as frequently or "bad" as the ones in the first. The MJ sequences are kind of fun because you got a gun this time and it's not purely hide & seek. The bee drones are fun as well. The molecule & plant hexagon puzzle is alright I guess. I do see the point of view where these sequences kill any replay value or incentive to start a New Game +.
The Big Problem: I know a lot of friends who've fallen out of gaming because they're too long. Long as in they're more like movies with how many cutscenes there are. Spider-Man 2 does not fall under this problem. The game is very fast-paced, but not just in gameplay, but also the story. I'm probably the only one who thinks this, but the story feels kind of rushed. Not the whole story, but some bits here & there.
First, I want to talk about when Peter gets the Symbiote suit. The symbiote is supposed to make Peter stronger, but takes away his humanity. Makes him heartless & mean. That happens here, but there's not really a build-up. Peter just starts getting mad. In Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, Peter was angry before he got the symbiote suit because he found out Sandman killed Uncle Ben. When the symbiote bonded with Peter, it just fueled an already existing anger. In the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, Peter was undergoing a lot of stress with school, his job & getting paid enough so he doesn't go broke, Aunt May getting a heart attack & being in the hospital, & all his previous villains breaking loose & forming the Sinister Six. We all know that stress can lead to anger. Again, the symbiote fueled the anger that was already there. In Spider-Man 2 PS5, there's nothing building up to Peter's descend. He snaps instantly. The only logical answer I have is that the symbiote was already pissed so it just transferred over that anger to Peter, but that doesn't really make any sense because Harry's had it before & his nut never cracked. I don't know maybe I'm thinking too deep.
Black Cat makes an appearance, albeit a very brief one. Wish we could have spent a little more time with her, flesh out her arc more but I guess I should have bought the DLC in the first one for that. Oh well...
Another criticism with the pacing is the ending. Very underwhelming in my opinion. It's cool to see Venom get wings, but his boss fight & the way he went out was kind of anti-climatic. The final boss with Doc Ock was epic, the stakes were high, the emotions were running, I was on the edge of my seat. Against Venom, not so much. The boss fight was easy, it ended with Miles & not both of them together for some reason. Hell, it would have been more awesome if MJ got in the action, too. But, no. Venom dies because you stick a meteorite inside a microwave. Lame sauce. I'm glad Harry lived & I'm curious to see if you're going to fight him all over again as the Green Goblin. However, I would have much preferred the symbiote not get destroyed & Harry could learned to control it & we get a playable Agent Venom character in Spider-Man 3. Instead, it seems Spider-Woman will be the third Spider-Hero we play as. I understand why Venom had to die. He's clearly too badass, strong & evil to stay alive, but the execution left a bad taste in my mouth.
I'm willing to overlook the pacing for the aforementioned problems & not dock off a point. However, my final criticism with the pacing, the one I'm considering lowering my score further is how quick the game is & how that correlate with the price. I live in Canada. I bought this game for 103.47 CAD (this includes taxes). For you Americans, this is about 75.47 USD. Pretty expensive! I'm not trying to stay afloat poor, but I'm not spending a million dollars a day rich. 100$ is a lot of money that could go into a lot of things far more important than ONE video game. If I spend that much money, I better be spending weeks trying to 100% the game. I 100% completed Spider-Man 2 in 4 days. Really? Game's got to last longer than that. This game does not feel worthy of $100. For the first time ever, I feel scammed buying a video game. So much so, that I'm considering returning the game for a refund. Normally, I leave it on the shelf for display, but here's where I draw the line. I love most of the video games I played! The ones I don't were either free on PS Plus or came cheap. To have a video game I genuinely enjoyed & spent a lot of money on make me feel this level of unsatisfaction is unnerving to say the least. Now I'm contemplating selling all the other games I haven't touched since beating them. I don't want to for emotional attachment, but money is king. I don't know I'm still considering my options.
Alright, let's ignore my dull contemplations with a vibrant recap. Overall, Spider-Man 2 PS5 is a perfect sequel & an absolute must-play if you own the PS5. If you're a Spider-Man fan, you'll definitely love this. I would even go so far to say this is THE SPIDER-MAN story (as in this feels like all the comics mashed together into one, and it's epic!) I had a great time playing this, even though it's giving me a mini existential crisis (if I can call it that).
While this game does many great things, there two things holding it back. One's a nitpick, but the other is an overarching problem that honestly makes me want to lower the score.
Nitpick: Like the first one, there are some mini-games & MJ sequences. I consider this a nitpick because they're not as frequently or "bad" as the ones in the first. The MJ sequences are kind of fun because you got a gun this time and it's not purely hide & seek. The bee drones are fun as well. The molecule & plant hexagon puzzle is alright I guess. I do see the point of view where these sequences kill any replay value or incentive to start a New Game +.
The Big Problem: I know a lot of friends who've fallen out of gaming because they're too long. Long as in they're more like movies with how many cutscenes there are. Spider-Man 2 does not fall under this problem. The game is very fast-paced, but not just in gameplay, but also the story. I'm probably the only one who thinks this, but the story feels kind of rushed. Not the whole story, but some bits here & there.
First, I want to talk about when Peter gets the Symbiote suit. The symbiote is supposed to make Peter stronger, but takes away his humanity. Makes him heartless & mean. That happens here, but there's not really a build-up. Peter just starts getting mad. In Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3, Peter was angry before he got the symbiote suit because he found out Sandman killed Uncle Ben. When the symbiote bonded with Peter, it just fueled an already existing anger. In the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, Peter was undergoing a lot of stress with school, his job & getting paid enough so he doesn't go broke, Aunt May getting a heart attack & being in the hospital, & all his previous villains breaking loose & forming the Sinister Six. We all know that stress can lead to anger. Again, the symbiote fueled the anger that was already there. In Spider-Man 2 PS5, there's nothing building up to Peter's descend. He snaps instantly. The only logical answer I have is that the symbiote was already pissed so it just transferred over that anger to Peter, but that doesn't really make any sense because Harry's had it before & his nut never cracked. I don't know maybe I'm thinking too deep.
Black Cat makes an appearance, albeit a very brief one. Wish we could have spent a little more time with her, flesh out her arc more but I guess I should have bought the DLC in the first one for that. Oh well...
Another criticism with the pacing is the ending. Very underwhelming in my opinion. It's cool to see Venom get wings, but his boss fight & the way he went out was kind of anti-climatic. The final boss with Doc Ock was epic, the stakes were high, the emotions were running, I was on the edge of my seat. Against Venom, not so much. The boss fight was easy, it ended with Miles & not both of them together for some reason. Hell, it would have been more awesome if MJ got in the action, too. But, no. Venom dies because you stick a meteorite inside a microwave. Lame sauce. I'm glad Harry lived & I'm curious to see if you're going to fight him all over again as the Green Goblin. However, I would have much preferred the symbiote not get destroyed & Harry could learned to control it & we get a playable Agent Venom character in Spider-Man 3. Instead, it seems Spider-Woman will be the third Spider-Hero we play as. I understand why Venom had to die. He's clearly too badass, strong & evil to stay alive, but the execution left a bad taste in my mouth.
I'm willing to overlook the pacing for the aforementioned problems & not dock off a point. However, my final criticism with the pacing, the one I'm considering lowering my score further is how quick the game is & how that correlate with the price. I live in Canada. I bought this game for 103.47 CAD (this includes taxes). For you Americans, this is about 75.47 USD. Pretty expensive! I'm not trying to stay afloat poor, but I'm not spending a million dollars a day rich. 100$ is a lot of money that could go into a lot of things far more important than ONE video game. If I spend that much money, I better be spending weeks trying to 100% the game. I 100% completed Spider-Man 2 in 4 days. Really? Game's got to last longer than that. This game does not feel worthy of $100. For the first time ever, I feel scammed buying a video game. So much so, that I'm considering returning the game for a refund. Normally, I leave it on the shelf for display, but here's where I draw the line. I love most of the video games I played! The ones I don't were either free on PS Plus or came cheap. To have a video game I genuinely enjoyed & spent a lot of money on make me feel this level of unsatisfaction is unnerving to say the least. Now I'm contemplating selling all the other games I haven't touched since beating them. I don't want to for emotional attachment, but money is king. I don't know I'm still considering my options.
Alright, let's ignore my dull contemplations with a vibrant recap. Overall, Spider-Man 2 PS5 is a perfect sequel & an absolute must-play if you own the PS5. If you're a Spider-Man fan, you'll definitely love this. I would even go so far to say this is THE SPIDER-MAN story (as in this feels like all the comics mashed together into one, and it's epic!) I had a great time playing this, even though it's giving me a mini existential crisis (if I can call it that).
2020
Average of RE2: 9/10 & RE3: 7/10.
Normally when I review bundles, I include everything and average the scores. However, Resident Evil Resistance is so random and from I heard bad that I'm willing to ignore its existence.
Normally when I review bundles, I include everything and average the scores. However, Resident Evil Resistance is so random and from I heard bad that I'm willing to ignore its existence.
Unpopular opinion, but I like Sens. I think their game makes for some fun gameplay & I like switching between the new AR and the 417 DMR. Unfortunately, Sens is the worst op in the game. They were the worst op back when they first released in June 14th, 2022 and they are still terrible as of October 17, 2023. Besides Sens, nothing else of importance occurred this season. Honestly, Vector Glare may be Siege's worst season yet.
2021
Pretty fun game. Love the music. Abilities are cool and you can discover some pretty neat secrets in the well-designed levels. Combat is hit or miss. It's not the hardest game I've played but I found myself dying pretty often. I like to blame the odd enemy attack patterns, but maybe I just suck. You don't really get punished for dying. Progress saves regularly. You won't need to redo puzzles or clear a certain area to open a gate or ladder. You die and you can simply avoid the enemies and keep progressing as if you didn't die. In one of the chest gauntlets, the final enemy & I died at the same time. I was frustrated at first because I would have to do the whole battle all over again. I was relieved when it immediately played the cutscene and gave my me bomb power-up spell.
One thing that is kind of lame is unlocking upgrades. In the main game, you unlock the basic abilities, upgrade your health and magic potency by one and that's it. There's three additionally weapons, but there's a trophy for playing through the game with only the umbrella (the weakest one). It's only after you beat the game, that upgrades for the abilities and an additional health and magic potency upgrade become available. By that point, there's only one real boss left. The Grave Digger. Collecting the 7 tablets are the end involve some cool puzzles, but the reward, the True Ending, is not worth it.
Overall, an enjoyable, short and somewhat forgettable game that kept my interest as I impatiently wait for Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
One thing that is kind of lame is unlocking upgrades. In the main game, you unlock the basic abilities, upgrade your health and magic potency by one and that's it. There's three additionally weapons, but there's a trophy for playing through the game with only the umbrella (the weakest one). It's only after you beat the game, that upgrades for the abilities and an additional health and magic potency upgrade become available. By that point, there's only one real boss left. The Grave Digger. Collecting the 7 tablets are the end involve some cool puzzles, but the reward, the True Ending, is not worth it.
Overall, an enjoyable, short and somewhat forgettable game that kept my interest as I impatiently wait for Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
2020
Compared to RE2, RE3 substitutes the puzzles for more shooting & action. I don't think this was a good idea considering how clunky and awkward the movement is. The rolling feature is nice, but is kind of inconsistent.
The biggest flaw with RE3 is Nemesis. It is such a horrible boss. You fight it like 10 times thorough out the game. Dude's practically invincible yet it can't seem to kill you. At one point, it picks up a rocket launcher and shoots it at you, but the rocket's have a blast radius the size of a frozen pizza at the supermarket. Tyrant in RE2 was scary & you always had to work around him. Every time Nemesis showed up, I was annoyed.
Jill is pretty and badass, but doesn't stand out as much as Leon, Ada or even Claire for that matter. Carlos is forgettable & Nicholai is such a nonsensical villain. His motives make no sense. I genuinely would have enjoyed the game more if he never existed.
Overall, I still had fun with RE3. It's an above-average game, but not good enough. This game feels like such a shadow of RE2. I do appreciate not having to do 6 or so playthroughs for the platinum.
The biggest flaw with RE3 is Nemesis. It is such a horrible boss. You fight it like 10 times thorough out the game. Dude's practically invincible yet it can't seem to kill you. At one point, it picks up a rocket launcher and shoots it at you, but the rocket's have a blast radius the size of a frozen pizza at the supermarket. Tyrant in RE2 was scary & you always had to work around him. Every time Nemesis showed up, I was annoyed.
Jill is pretty and badass, but doesn't stand out as much as Leon, Ada or even Claire for that matter. Carlos is forgettable & Nicholai is such a nonsensical villain. His motives make no sense. I genuinely would have enjoyed the game more if he never existed.
Overall, I still had fun with RE3. It's an above-average game, but not good enough. This game feels like such a shadow of RE2. I do appreciate not having to do 6 or so playthroughs for the platinum.
2019
I'm not a big fan of the horror genre in general, but if the other Resident Evils are as good as this one, I might change my mind.
Love the aesthetic and the puzzle solving. Not too complicated but it also requires you to use your brain. Similar gameplay to The Last of Us where items are scarce. However, they're even scarcer here with how much health the enemies have. I like it. Requires you to be conservative and plan ahead. Kind of like how you would go about it if a zombie apocalypse happened in real life. I like it when game get realistic.
This game is almost perfect. Almost. The one draw back for me is how many times you got to play through it for the platinum trophy. 4 playthroughs for both characters and both scenarios on Standard. Additional playthroughs may be needed to S rank, but I got them all on my first try somehow.
1 playthrough on Assisted for the no item box, no using healing items and walk less than 14,000 footsteps trophies. It's possible you won't get all these in 1 playthrough so you might need to do 1 or 2 more. Lastly, there's 2 hardcore playthroughs for both Leon and Claire. In all, that's 7 playthroughs minimum. I appreciate that the game's not too long, but considering both characters and their 2 scenarios are 80% the same to each other, it gets repetitive real quick.
Sure, the opening segment is different, and so are the puzzles, but you always got to get the 3 medallions, get a parking garage pass, get the chess pieces, use the crane to knock the dude over, get the pesticide solution, and fight the dude again. I love single player story games, there my favorite types of games, but one flaw they all share is that they're not all that replayable. 1 or 2 100% playthroughs is enough, but 7?! Playing the same story 7 times minimum can kind of numb your mind and take out the enjoyment the more times you play it.
Resident Evil 2 is still a great game. I would give it a perfect 5 stars if the trophies were a little more forgiving and didn't require so many playthroughs.
Love the aesthetic and the puzzle solving. Not too complicated but it also requires you to use your brain. Similar gameplay to The Last of Us where items are scarce. However, they're even scarcer here with how much health the enemies have. I like it. Requires you to be conservative and plan ahead. Kind of like how you would go about it if a zombie apocalypse happened in real life. I like it when game get realistic.
This game is almost perfect. Almost. The one draw back for me is how many times you got to play through it for the platinum trophy. 4 playthroughs for both characters and both scenarios on Standard. Additional playthroughs may be needed to S rank, but I got them all on my first try somehow.
1 playthrough on Assisted for the no item box, no using healing items and walk less than 14,000 footsteps trophies. It's possible you won't get all these in 1 playthrough so you might need to do 1 or 2 more. Lastly, there's 2 hardcore playthroughs for both Leon and Claire. In all, that's 7 playthroughs minimum. I appreciate that the game's not too long, but considering both characters and their 2 scenarios are 80% the same to each other, it gets repetitive real quick.
Sure, the opening segment is different, and so are the puzzles, but you always got to get the 3 medallions, get a parking garage pass, get the chess pieces, use the crane to knock the dude over, get the pesticide solution, and fight the dude again. I love single player story games, there my favorite types of games, but one flaw they all share is that they're not all that replayable. 1 or 2 100% playthroughs is enough, but 7?! Playing the same story 7 times minimum can kind of numb your mind and take out the enjoyment the more times you play it.
Resident Evil 2 is still a great game. I would give it a perfect 5 stars if the trophies were a little more forgiving and didn't require so many playthroughs.
2019
One thing I hate about some video games is that you are required to read collectable documents to understand the story. If I wanted to read, I'd pick up a book. I don't play video games to read shit. I don't mind collectable readings so long as they are exclusive to expanding the world building and not necessary to understand the plot. Games like God of War, Bioshock Infinite and recently Final Fantasy XVI did this excellently in my opinion. I understood the plot, themes, character motives and develop without needing to read a single thing. Control is the opposite. Right from the beginning, I was confused. Right from the start, Jesse Faden is made director of the FBC and is looking for her brother Dylan who is somewhere within the Oldest House. Dylan is locked here because he and Jesse encounter a slide projector as kids that gave them superpowers. Right from the jump, there is no context. How did they get their hands on this slide projector? How did Jesse avoid capture? How did Jesse get clearance to even get inside the FBC? I was so confused, I had to look up if this was a sequel to another game. It isn't. These questions are illusively answered later through dialogue. Why not have gameplay sections that explored the past of Jesse and Dylan? Or even a short cutscene? One thing about this game is that there are very few cutscenes altogether. If you hate excessive amounts of cutscenes then you might enjoy this more than me. Me, I prefer cutscenes. There's more substance in cutscenes than there is with Jesse sitting in a chair talking to Pope as they both have no facial and vocal expression. I don't even think they blink.
Story is very weak because of how confusing it is. And I'm not just talking about the little context given. What's the theme here? Why does the name "Control" have nothing to do with the game? What's being controlled? What are we trying to control? Who's in control of what? This game's narrative doesn't make sense!
So the story's pretty shit, but what about the gameplay? After all this is a video game. The gameplay is actually pretty fun and it's definitely what saves this game from being a dumpster fire. It's very fast pace action. The different variants to the Service Weapon are cool. My favorite being the Scatter/Shotgun variant. Attaching the damage boost mod allowed me to almost always one shot non-armored enemies which made for some really up close and aggressive combat. Playing this way reminded me of Doom: Eternal and I loved that game. The "Jedi" powers are also really fun to use and work well with the play style I adopted.
Control has no difficulty option, but is still very easy. There are a few annoying enemy types and bosses, but once you get the hang of their attack pattern, they're easy to deal with as well. One thing to note is that, like Mass Effect 3, there is no final boss. Just a few waves of the enemies you encountered a dozen times that for some reason die really easily. Once you cleared, all the enemies, you hold square of Dylan's noggin and the credits roll. I was so confused I genuinely didn't think that was the ending, but it was. The fast paced nature of this game definitely favors the gameplay tenfold more so than the story.
What really took me out of the fast paced action is the long load times when fast traveling or respawning at a control point. The game would also lag pretty horribly after unpausing the game even if it was only for 3 seconds. I guess that's what I get for playing the free PS4 version that came out on PS Plus two years ago.
The one thing I hate about this game more than it's terrible story is the lack of navigation. Where am I going? Where do these stairs lead? How do I get to that room? There is no overworld compass to lead you where you're going. It doesn't help that the map is also designed confusingly. After playing a while, you will get the flow of where you're going, but I really didn't like having to frequently use YouTube to know how to get to the next mission.
One neat thing I did like the game are the Alan Wake references. Funny thing is that I played Alan Wake Remastered before playing this. I had no idea they were in the same universe so the references definitely took me for surprise. A welcome one at that.
Another thing I like about Control is how easy and simple the platinum trophy is. I'm a trophy hunter and I like me some easy platinum trophies. I earned Control's platinum without ever needing to look up a trophy guide and in only 18 hours of gameplay. I like it when you can earn a game's platinum trophy simply by playing the game. There's no elaborate, stupid trophy like kill x amount of Hiss in one shot of the Charged service weapon.
In conclusion, Control's face paced and aggressive CQB along with its really easy platinum trophy more than makes up for it's terrible storytelling and lack of proper direction. As such, I feel giving it a rating of 5/10 is appropriate. I like a lot about the game, but also despise it a lot. So it balances out 50-50.
Story is very weak because of how confusing it is. And I'm not just talking about the little context given. What's the theme here? Why does the name "Control" have nothing to do with the game? What's being controlled? What are we trying to control? Who's in control of what? This game's narrative doesn't make sense!
So the story's pretty shit, but what about the gameplay? After all this is a video game. The gameplay is actually pretty fun and it's definitely what saves this game from being a dumpster fire. It's very fast pace action. The different variants to the Service Weapon are cool. My favorite being the Scatter/Shotgun variant. Attaching the damage boost mod allowed me to almost always one shot non-armored enemies which made for some really up close and aggressive combat. Playing this way reminded me of Doom: Eternal and I loved that game. The "Jedi" powers are also really fun to use and work well with the play style I adopted.
Control has no difficulty option, but is still very easy. There are a few annoying enemy types and bosses, but once you get the hang of their attack pattern, they're easy to deal with as well. One thing to note is that, like Mass Effect 3, there is no final boss. Just a few waves of the enemies you encountered a dozen times that for some reason die really easily. Once you cleared, all the enemies, you hold square of Dylan's noggin and the credits roll. I was so confused I genuinely didn't think that was the ending, but it was. The fast paced nature of this game definitely favors the gameplay tenfold more so than the story.
What really took me out of the fast paced action is the long load times when fast traveling or respawning at a control point. The game would also lag pretty horribly after unpausing the game even if it was only for 3 seconds. I guess that's what I get for playing the free PS4 version that came out on PS Plus two years ago.
The one thing I hate about this game more than it's terrible story is the lack of navigation. Where am I going? Where do these stairs lead? How do I get to that room? There is no overworld compass to lead you where you're going. It doesn't help that the map is also designed confusingly. After playing a while, you will get the flow of where you're going, but I really didn't like having to frequently use YouTube to know how to get to the next mission.
One neat thing I did like the game are the Alan Wake references. Funny thing is that I played Alan Wake Remastered before playing this. I had no idea they were in the same universe so the references definitely took me for surprise. A welcome one at that.
Another thing I like about Control is how easy and simple the platinum trophy is. I'm a trophy hunter and I like me some easy platinum trophies. I earned Control's platinum without ever needing to look up a trophy guide and in only 18 hours of gameplay. I like it when you can earn a game's platinum trophy simply by playing the game. There's no elaborate, stupid trophy like kill x amount of Hiss in one shot of the Charged service weapon.
In conclusion, Control's face paced and aggressive CQB along with its really easy platinum trophy more than makes up for it's terrible storytelling and lack of proper direction. As such, I feel giving it a rating of 5/10 is appropriate. I like a lot about the game, but also despise it a lot. So it balances out 50-50.
Average of all the games.
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix = 9/10
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories = 7/10
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days = 6/10
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix = 10/10
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix = 9/10
Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded = 4/10
Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance = 8/10
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 = 7/10
Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover = 7/10
Kingdom Hearts 3 = 10/10
Total = 77/10 which I will round up to 8/10. Bundle's very worth it.
Kingdom Hearts Final Mix = 9/10
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories = 7/10
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days = 6/10
Kingdom Hearts 2 Final Mix = 10/10
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix = 9/10
Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded = 4/10
Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance = 8/10
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 = 7/10
Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover = 7/10
Kingdom Hearts 3 = 10/10
Total = 77/10 which I will round up to 8/10. Bundle's very worth it.
2021
This game is what will happen if the writers win the strike lol.
On a more serious note, I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed playing this game. One thing about me is that I hate the horror genre. Movies, TV, games, you name it. I never found them compelling. They either were trying too hard to scare and they weren't or they were trying to hard to be gruesome to the point where I was super grossed out and wanted no part. Also, one thing they all have in common is stupid storytelling. Alan Wake's story is probably one of the dumbest and most confusing I've ever played through but the premise is so interesting that I was engaged till the very end. Normally, I would doze off if it were any other horror story. It's really strange. I should hate this but I don't.
Gameplay is pretty unique where light is your best weapon and not a shotgun. There is way too many collectibles but at least the game has a statistics menu that tracks everything. Really helpful for the trophies.
My biggest complaint is how the camera is always shifted towards the left. I don't there's a single game I've played where I've had this issue. You could shift the camera to the right by pressing down the right stick (R3) on the PS5 controller but the camera will always shift back to the left. Meaning I have to press R3 practically every 10 seconds. That really pissed me off. And it's so avoidable too. Why isn't there an option to set the camera in a certain position to the player's liking? Or why doesn't pressing R3 shift the position from left to right and stay that way? I would rate the game so much higher if it weren't for the stupid camera positioning.
On a more serious note, I'm surprised by how much I enjoyed playing this game. One thing about me is that I hate the horror genre. Movies, TV, games, you name it. I never found them compelling. They either were trying too hard to scare and they weren't or they were trying to hard to be gruesome to the point where I was super grossed out and wanted no part. Also, one thing they all have in common is stupid storytelling. Alan Wake's story is probably one of the dumbest and most confusing I've ever played through but the premise is so interesting that I was engaged till the very end. Normally, I would doze off if it were any other horror story. It's really strange. I should hate this but I don't.
Gameplay is pretty unique where light is your best weapon and not a shotgun. There is way too many collectibles but at least the game has a statistics menu that tracks everything. Really helpful for the trophies.
My biggest complaint is how the camera is always shifted towards the left. I don't there's a single game I've played where I've had this issue. You could shift the camera to the right by pressing down the right stick (R3) on the PS5 controller but the camera will always shift back to the left. Meaning I have to press R3 practically every 10 seconds. That really pissed me off. And it's so avoidable too. Why isn't there an option to set the camera in a certain position to the player's liking? Or why doesn't pressing R3 shift the position from left to right and stay that way? I would rate the game so much higher if it weren't for the stupid camera positioning.
The peak of COD zombies. So much value and content. A must have for new and old fans alike.
Such a cute dlc!
Ogerpon is so adorable and I love the gameplay surrounding her masks. Her backstory along with the loyal three is pretty neat. The loyal three are all really cool new additions. Dipplin is funny but like its Flapple and Appletun counterparts, is not very good (at least competitively). The Bloodmoon Ursaluna is raw. Sinistcha is a cool convergent backwards evolution.
The land of Kitakami may not be that big but it has a simple layout with lots of familiar old faces to catch.
Kieran is such a cute and relatable character and I'm a little worried to see what becomes of him in the Indigo disc. Perrin is cute. Not much else to say about her. But Carmine... Carmine is mommy. Love her hair, how tall she is, her outfit and her personality. She can act like the super bossy big sister at times, but when she isn't, she's a sweetheart. Her quirkiness makes for some funny and lighthearted moments. Love Carmine! Not as much as Rika though. No one can top Rika!
Overall great start to the dlc for Scarlet/Violet and I'm super excited for the Indigo disk because that one is looking to be more awesome than the Teal Mask.
One negative is the forgettable music. Scarlet/Violet has some memorable tracks but the new ones here are really generic. Unfortunate because Pokémon is known to have some banger themes.
Ogerpon is so adorable and I love the gameplay surrounding her masks. Her backstory along with the loyal three is pretty neat. The loyal three are all really cool new additions. Dipplin is funny but like its Flapple and Appletun counterparts, is not very good (at least competitively). The Bloodmoon Ursaluna is raw. Sinistcha is a cool convergent backwards evolution.
The land of Kitakami may not be that big but it has a simple layout with lots of familiar old faces to catch.
Kieran is such a cute and relatable character and I'm a little worried to see what becomes of him in the Indigo disc. Perrin is cute. Not much else to say about her. But Carmine... Carmine is mommy. Love her hair, how tall she is, her outfit and her personality. She can act like the super bossy big sister at times, but when she isn't, she's a sweetheart. Her quirkiness makes for some funny and lighthearted moments. Love Carmine! Not as much as Rika though. No one can top Rika!
Overall great start to the dlc for Scarlet/Violet and I'm super excited for the Indigo disk because that one is looking to be more awesome than the Teal Mask.
One negative is the forgettable music. Scarlet/Violet has some memorable tracks but the new ones here are really generic. Unfortunate because Pokémon is known to have some banger themes.