Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is a game that is principally disinterested in answering any questions about morality, but in doing so it's able to leave you with a lot of really important questions regarding violence and the 'ugliness' of life that a game like Spec Ops: The Line is only able to achieve through its hamfisted, constantly in-your-face and tactless attempts to make you care about anything you do.

Kane & Lynch 2 does not give a shit if you care or not. It's fully committed to presenting ugliness to you and leaving it as exactly that: ugliness.

i couldnt identify any song in this besides dont stop believing. im a fake journey-head. anyway, to quote wikipedia:

"Although they have cartoon bodies, the faces of the members are shown as black-and-white photographs taken of the band while on tour. The photo technology was originally to be used in another game, which would take photos for the high scores. However, the game in question failed location testing when one player engaged in exhibitionism."

an incredibly uninteresting game with a bunch of weird shit surrounding it. just look up a playthough of it, you're not missing anything. need to meet the dude who presumably whipped his cock out at this midway location test

Now this is Puregaming.
Only learned of ThruSpace while haplessly browsing the now-threadbare wii dot com website out of sheer curiosity. A little official relic of late 00's web design, true to Nintendo's branding and visual language during the Wii era - Latestage Frutiger Aero, Hospital-core, perfectly scaled to suit for your 1024x768 XGA monitor. It's nice, I still love it! Anyway, I looked through the WiiWare page on the still-functioning Japanese wing of the website and the featured titles look great. I was aware of the Bit Generations' gorgeous minimalist games being on the GBA, but they also have WiiWare ports??? I gotta get into somethn!!!!

ThruSpace is dictionary definition neat. A snug 10 mb game w/ no fat. You get your cubes and you get a corridor and you will learn to love them. Not a whole lot to really wax poetic about, it's a simple shape rotation game where you position your tetromino as best you can to maximise your score, with extra feats to strive for in speed, accuracy, and painting the whole gap in if u dare. Looks absolute minty phresh, easy 2 learn hard 2 master. Ultimately I think this is great but find myself losing my grip on the shape's orientation very easily because of how few focal points you're given, I spent a lot of my time panic spinning.
Here's some gameplay from someone only a fraction as good as I am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1yao_PBRnQ

It is easy to be dismissive. Be it art, people, food, events, the rapid, continual pace of consumption necessitates the compartmentalisation and categorisation of happenings. One can be dismissive in the positive and in the negative. The complex emotions elicited through our lives fade as quickly as they arise. Perhaps it is a consequence of language, an inability to express the phenomenon of experience. A meal's interplay of tantalising nostalgic aroma and comforting warmth in the belly is, for most of our lives, recalled as good - if it is remembered at all. A film is so bad it's good, some self-fulfilling label that sets expectations and ebbs the need for analysis of artistic merit and failure. A book is well-written. Your ex is a bitch. Last Christmas was good.

In the new hyperactive mode, wherein consumption happens largely for the sake of consumption, categorisation happens more readily, more aggressively, less critically. A director is washed. Your favourite is 🐐-ed. Films are kino or coal. Aesthetics are reduced to haphazard strictures, art pinned as frutiger aero, frasurbane, girlypunk neo-Y2K vectorheart nu-brute. Games are flavour of the month, kusoge, kamige, kiige, bakage, normiecore. Bring something up, and everyone has an opinion, a rote repetition of regurgitated refuse. Exhibit passion for that outside the zeitgeist, and be lambasted. Convey discontent with the beloved, be accused of poor media literacy. Are we even partaking of that which we parade around, or are we playing an elaborate game of telephone?

Even Burger King Orientation CD-i Training cannot escape unharmed. A wave of ironic praise and genuine befuddlement at why this exists, why it is revisited. One must be seeking attention for having such a quirky thing on their profile. It is impossible that it is enjoyed on a deeper level, as a response to a wider fascination, as a dive into historical (non-)import. The new hyperactive mode intentionally seeks signifiers which mark the self as interesting. An intentional facade which begs it won't be scrutinised.

But just because you have constructed this mask does not mean we all wear it. And perhaps I am being dismissive of your own thoughts. The truth of the matter is you don't care what I think, or why I feel a certain way. And to be fair, I feel the same animosity towards you. We are strangers at the conflux of comparison of preference.

I am filled with a genuine glee when I 'play' Burger King Orientation CD-i Training, but maybe it is best I keep the reasons to myself, as with so much else.

After all, you care not for what I think, so what is the difference if those thoughts are no longer laid bare.

Skipped over Great Battle II and III because they looked pretty lousy for beatemups, ended up at IV which was a decent platformer, if a little overlong. The easiest comparison would probably be Mega Man X, with somewhat similar aesthetics (especially one level with a striking resemblance to Storm Eagle's) and mechanics. You have to switch between all the player characters a good amount for certain situations, making each one at least decently useful. Except, tragically, Kamen Rider. Justice for Kamen Rider.

There are also these arduous one-on-one mech battles at certain points in the game not unlike the ones in Rocket Knight Adventures, featuring a totally different set of rules from the rest of the game. Quite clunky, quite frustrating, easily the worst aspect here, but I didn't think it was necessarily bad enough to deduct points.

Software Creations supposedly began work on Equinox in March 1990, being the first Western developer to gain access to a SNES devkit. The game wasn't completed for another three years, reportedly at least partially due to visual bugs, and even in the final product you can still see glimpses of flickering and incorrect overlapping. Not only that, but there are weird glitches that can happen for unknown reasons that may lead to soft resets. The damn thing is barely holding itself together, and it nearly collapses under its ambitions alone even without the technical issues in mind.

Yet, in spite of all that, I mostly enjoyed myself. It definitely got a bit exhausting towards the end of its eight hour runtime as the dungeons became more and more massive, but it starts off surprisingly strong and still manages to keep things going acceptably throughout. My favorite aspect is probably the ambient soundtrack by the Follins, which I never found myself getting tired of throughout the entire game. Wasn't always a fan of the way the game looked, especially not that grimace Glendaal makes every time he dies, but there are some very pretty areas such as Quagmire and Atlena during the midgame. It reminds me a lot of Landstalker in that aspect - not just that they're both isometric action RPGs, but they're both kind of ugly for the most part yet still endearing. I'm not sure which I prefer.

The puzzles aren't so great either once you reach a certain point, mostly consisting of weird optical illusions and other sorts of perspective fuckery. An interview from 1994 mentions that 3D shadowing to allow for better depth perception wasn't really possible at the time, possibly indicating that a lot of these types of rooms were meant to be clearer than they really are. Hitboxes can also be pretty frustrating, especially with spikes, and I found that none of the bosses were very engaging. Combined with how long the game is, it seems like the negatives should outweigh the positives, but such is thankfully not the case for me this time.

Equinox is definitely more of a 'vibes game' than something I'd really entertain the thought of revisiting, but I had a pretty decent time regardless. Not very descriptive, of course, but surely it makes sense. The soothing soundtrack and smaller emphasis on combat really do wonders to the feel of the whole thing, despite the aggravating difficulty later on. I would definitely recommend this if you're super into Landstalker or Light Crusader. I don't know if it's necessarily better than those, and it's certainly a little janky, but it's worth a look if you're in that crowd.

Xenoblade Chronicles is probably the japanese game with the most cliches and stereotyped things I've ever played. Seriously, the whole time I was playing it felt like I was watching some generic shounen anime that comes out all the time, with various tropes you've seen in exhaustion before, it was kind of nostalgic in a funny way, it reminded me a lot of when I used to watch a lot of seasonal anime as a teenager. I don't mind that kind of thing, really, one of my favorite games is Persona, which is extremely weeb and has many stereotypes and cliches of the genre, it's just that in the case of Xenoblade I feel that overall it's a game without much substance, it's quite shallow. I really can't get anything amazing out of it when it comes to the narrative or the characters, is a bit uninteresting most of the time.

But despite the simplicity of the story and characters and not very creative narrative choices, the story has its moments and a few characters are endearing and charismatic, I really liked Shulk, Dunban and Fiora (especially Fiora). I won't give too many details because I don't want to spoil anything, but I really liked the chemistry between the three of them and how the game works with their relationship, making it very believable that they are very close, it really is like a family, it's nothing extremely deep or complex, nor does it need to be, it's just captivating and well-developed and I liked it, and in the end it's hard not to get attached to the main characters. Not only that, but the atmosphere and soundtrack are simply incredible (this game didn't deserve Yoko Shimomura), so exploring the map was very relaxing and comfy, it really manages to convey the feeling of the immensity of that world and immerses you in it in a very pleasant way, and it's a very interesting world conceptually, I really thought the whole Bionis and Mechonis thing was super cool.

The combat is very fun and engaging too, although I didn't like the fact that the game gives you very little exp, forcing you to grind, and grinding in this game is a bit torturous since the main missions don't give you any exp and most of the side missions don't either. I did all the side missions that the game put in front of me before moving on to the main story and defeated literally every enemy that came my way, but it still wasn't enough and I found myself underleveled in most of the main boss fights, so all you can do is spend an abnormal amount of time killing enemies with a higher level than yours until you level up, classic grind moment and it's fucking boring.

I really hoped that I would finish this game and write a much longer and more interesting review, but it's just that there's not much to say about this game, but in the end it's a good game and it has its charm despite everything. I'm just disappointed, as I was expecting one of the best jrpg's ever made due to all the acclaim and praise from the fanbase, but it doesn't come close to being everything they say it is. I honestly think that the Xenoblade fans should play more games.

In Tibetan Buddhism, there is a practice of creating detailed patterned mandelas out of colored sand. They spend days weaving these intricate patterns of profound beauty.

And then they destroy it. Sweep it up. Hours upon hours of labor gone. It's done to symbolise impermanence. How nothing lasts forever. And, without saying too much, I think dark souls 3's story manages to encapsulate that wonderfully.

The aesthetic is another thing.

Ash on top of ash. A bleak smouldering flame casts a boundless shadow on a vast nothing. Mounds of dust pile up on a bleak, dead world. The grey palette of this world accentuates this fact. And yet, there's beauty in it, beauty in the faded colours of tattered tapestries and stone monuments from a bygone era. The struggle of the worlds inhabitants, their hollowed bodies like broken down machines, their ideals and aspirations long gone, as their flesh twitches and moves by instinct alone. The mangled corpse of this world has been violated, moulded into an unrecognisable shape by forces that resist change. Something that was meant to burn with vigor and grace has now become unsightly cinders, begging to be snuffed out.

This is not even mentioning the combat. Being a zombie clad in rusted armour and tattered clothing has never felt this good. With each swing of my exile Greatsword, you feel the weight of the unwieldy hunk of steel. But the animations make you feel like it's something one can hold with grace. The swings cut through the air, and feel responsive and chunky. The bosses, giant figures that tower over you. Which makes it all the more gratifying when they get staggered when hit by a tiny undead carrying a comically large weapon. The combat, while not as tight as sekiro, still has a rhythm to it. The boss fights are the best out of any souls game, with the worst of them still being memorable experiences, but the best feeling like a dance. They swing, you roll. It takes two to tango, and Gael needs a dance partner. The responsive combat and fluid animations making it all the more satisfying to get in a fight.

The combat is tight. The story, a fitting for a conclusion to this long running saga. And the world is a sight to behold. I could not ask for a better conclusion to the series.

There's really no other way to put it. This game (and possibly franchise) is morally and creatively bankrupt. Between the shallow depictions of mental health whether there's dramatic zooms of the protagonist self harming or even going as far to have chapters end with you jumping off a building and the following interludes flash a suicide hotline message until the level loads or the awkward anime dub tier voice acting berate you with insults or commentary on your surroundings because Konami needs to remind you this is in a fact a serious game and they're afraid of leaving things to interpretation, I fail to see how the 2 hours I spent with this tech demo can leave me anticipation of the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake or "missing the point".

This whole experience ends up feeling like a parody of the thing it's trying to comment and I don't think that's the takeaway someone with diagnosed BPD should be feeling.

Just some quick thoughts for this one, apologies if it's a little scatterbrained.

As a game this is probably the most ""content"" for your dollar that you could possibly get out of a scripted game and I'm truly blown away by how much effort it must have been to put this whole thing together. Dondoko Island is a minigame with more mechanics than 98% of the games I play each month. If that were all there is to say then I'd be giving it a 10/10 - and I understand that everything after this point is going to make me sound like an insane person to 85% of people playing this - but the truth is that this game (like Y7) is so hell-bent on being silly at all times that it often undercuts itself when it comes to dramatic tension or consistency of plot/characters - again! Genuinely, if the Ichiban games just knew how to solve their tonal issues then I'd be giving this game an extra star, if not more. Classic Yakuza goofiness works best as a break from the drama - it's less effective when the cutscene establishes a legitimate, serious threat to your loved ones and then immediately warps to your female party member decked out in a coconut bra and maracas strumming a ukulele at a guy with a beach ball for a torso.

Some things (the combat and chain attacks, Hawaii, every non-Sujimon minigame) are miles better than they were in Y7, but the game also loves to tell the same jokes over and over so things that are initially endearing (seonhee fangirling over kiryu) become extremely grating by the end. I also think Yakuza Gaiden works better as a farewell tour for Kiryu because it's not just crammed into a game about someone else in a city he's barely been to - having Kiryu reminisce can be fun at points but so many of the locations are completely arbitrary and having Kiryu go "Remember all the times Date rescued me in a helicopter?" because he walked into a cafe feels dry and artificial, not fun. I'm almost resentful that so much of the focus is placed on him in this story when his main purpose for most (not all) of it is to be a cool friend who people on the street constantly recognize. The big Kiryu checklist wavers between being interesting (reflecting on basic things Kiryu never got to enjoy because of his insane life of constant fighting) and mind-numbing (do you remember the dancing minigame in Y0? how about the fishing minigame?). Ultimately though, it's part of a larger push to make these characters feel like they have lives outside of Ichiban's adventures (Ichiban included) and it works wonders... when it works at all. Tomizawa shines particularly brightly as someone whose drink links highlight a life that's been uprooted in a way that ties into the main plot while remaining personal to him and exposing more of his character. Saeko and the other women, however, mostly get these nothingburger chats that are about Ichiban or how cool Kiryu is or how stressful it is to run a business.

Also: It needs to be better about signposting when you're about to switch protagonists. At one point it splits your group between two locations and warns you that you're going to need good gear because there's some combat coming up, but it doesn't tell you that it's going to switch you to the other group first, leading me to 75 straight minutes of fighting with a party that is severely underpowered because I read the warning and assumed I'd be fighting with the group I was currently controlling.

Also also: I'm still not a fan of the enemies they cook up in the Ichiban games. A lot of them are creative and fun and a lot of them really, truly are not - it's cool to see what attacks they assign to random day jobs, it's not funny or interesting when the fat guy in ill-fitting clothes hits you with a big hot dog or the Chinese mafioso performs acupuncture in the middle of a fight. That shit is so fucking boring, dog. Ichiban could really use a better imagination.

I realize that this might seem overly negative for the rating I've given. I enjoyed myself for the vast majority of its runtime, but so much of this just collapses in on itself for me when I give it any thought at all. I'm still in awe at the production value here - this game blows my mind in much the same way that 2D mode in Dragon Quest XI did - they simply did not need to go so hard in crafting a big video game buffet. Combat has only seen a few changes but the changes that have been made take it from something I tolerated in Y7 to something I truly enjoy (as long as I'm not underleveled). Y8 addresses so many of the concerns I had with Y7 but about once an hour I'm reminded that the Daidoji faction is transparently complete nonsense (in the same way the Florist used to be), that the Drink Links still insist on having One Big Problem that each character must solve that ends in a fight (which means each character only gets to talk about a single thing during their moments in the spotlight), that both the English and the Japanese dubs feel inappropriate for the setting at least 50% of the time. There's a lot to like about this game and for significant chunks of it - mostly while I was ignoring the story - I was considering just giving it 5 stars and calling it a day, but the more I think about it, the less appropriate that feels.