DestroyerTriple
1989
(Just remembered to list this one as I've played it a couple of times). I really love the vibes, art direction and music of this game. It's an obvious classic that has inspired a ton of my favorite games. It just has that capcom arcade difficulty that gets under my skin. I'm sure there is a mastery that can be achieved with this, but I could never really wrap my head around it's difficulty, and I'd just quarter spam my way through it.This is definitely my bias for Streets of Rage 2 talking, but it's certainly not as tuned as that game is and has a more loose feel for better and worse. Someday I'll really sit down with it and go for 1cc runs, but for now, eh.
1995
I really love the live action cutscenes and look of this game. It gives it a life all its own and it looks very distinct from other action platformers. The music (in Shinobi X) is quite good and lends to the games atmosphere. That's where my positives end. This game sucks ass and it's one of the most tedious things I've ever played. It controls so much worse than shinobi 3. The levels in this are absolute cock and ball torture. There is this mine cart level and it just never ends, it neeeeever ends. There is nothing in this game that feels satisfying. I was certainly getting better at it, there is definitely a feeling of being able to get through stuff faster. But my only reward was more tedious bullshit. It's definitely worth checking out as an interesting oddity in the series but I would rather not touch this again.
This game has incredibly rewarding design. It has limited lives and continues but they feel purposeful in that the game is pushing you to get better with each playthrough. I streamed this game for my channel (link below). In my first playthrough I made it to the final level and lost all of my continues. In my second, I was able to get to the final boss with all my continues, but lost all of my continues trying to fight him. It was a crushing defeat that felt bad to me. After a while though, I wanted to try again. I streamed it again a couple days later and I was able to beat it with all of my continues in tact.
The reason I was able to go back to this again and again is because of how well designed every sequence of this is. The controls are a little weird to learn at first, but are incredibly fun once you master them. It's one of the best controlling 2D action platformers I've played yet. This is also carried by its carefully designed and varied levels. Every challenge feels fair and the games rising difficulty is expertly tuned. It also just has awesome level themes and the music really enhances the experience. The boss fights are incredibly sick, the final boss is a huge highlight, it was the perfect way to end the game. My only issue with this game is that it could have used proper support for the six button controller. I didn't know you could block by holding the attack button for the longest time. Also having Kunai and the sword mapped to the same button is incredibly silly. But these are things I was able to learn and adapt to.
I don't have any major problems with this one honestly. It just got better and more refined the more I played it. Conquering it felt like a great accomplishment. I consider it a definitive action platformer that I think everyone should play.
https://youtu.be/IL2gYrQBLbY?si=lIB6H2nFowgZOhDU
The reason I was able to go back to this again and again is because of how well designed every sequence of this is. The controls are a little weird to learn at first, but are incredibly fun once you master them. It's one of the best controlling 2D action platformers I've played yet. This is also carried by its carefully designed and varied levels. Every challenge feels fair and the games rising difficulty is expertly tuned. It also just has awesome level themes and the music really enhances the experience. The boss fights are incredibly sick, the final boss is a huge highlight, it was the perfect way to end the game. My only issue with this game is that it could have used proper support for the six button controller. I didn't know you could block by holding the attack button for the longest time. Also having Kunai and the sword mapped to the same button is incredibly silly. But these are things I was able to learn and adapt to.
I don't have any major problems with this one honestly. It just got better and more refined the more I played it. Conquering it felt like a great accomplishment. I consider it a definitive action platformer that I think everyone should play.
https://youtu.be/IL2gYrQBLbY?si=lIB6H2nFowgZOhDU
This has always been a rather underrated entry in the many spider-man games that exist. I remember, when I was a kid, being really disappointed that Shattered Dimensions threw away the open city gameplay that had been developing since Spider-Man 2 back in 2004. I think Edge of Time was doubly head scratching since that only had two of the four spider-men available from Shattered Dimensions. This is probably why I skipped the Beenox spidey games and why their reputation had been buried for so long. Now that Insomniac is making their own high quality Spidey games exclusive to Sony, there is no way these games can be ported or remastered, as Activision lost the rights to Spider-Man games a while back. Years later, I started hearing some pretty positive things about the storytelling in this game, and it seems to have gained a cult following amongst spider-man fans. I finally checked this out for myself and it was immediately apparent that I missed out on quite the hidden gem.
This games narrative is handled by an all time great comic writer, Peter David. He not only invented 2099, but he also wrote some of the best Peter Parker stories out there (I'd highly recommend Death of Jean DeWolfe). He was absolutely the perfect choice for creating this Peter and Miguel centric story. It results in this great and creative team up story that deconstructs Spider-Man as a character, and has fun time travel sci fi stuff going on. It's a very comic book story, but it's written with a lot of heart and understanding of the two characters. Peter and Miguel are a fantastic duo. The way their relationship develops through the in game banter is really great. The time paradox concept allows for some inventivs setpiece moments and it never feels overcomplicated. It's a narrative that's really surprising and smartly thought out, and it's what holds this game together.
It was interesting to go back to the Era before the hyper polished insomniac games were a thing. Instead of a high budget open world spidey game. You get a highly linear mid budget affair. This game has a lot of problems. It's combat is really limp feeling and never really gets much better or escalates in difficulty all that much. The world design is really boring and it's all just metallic complexes that look the same throughout the whole game. I do wish it took a page from Shattered Dimensions and made the two timelines visually distinct from one another. It is a very middling video game that has a very repetitious gameplay loop, but what escalates it so much is its pacing and time paradox concepts. The strict linearity allows for it to have a controlled narrative that keeps moving forward. Playing this makes me wish more linear spider-man games can exist right now. Playing as both spider-men across two timelines is seamless. You are constantly switching between both characters and solving problems for eachother. This aspect gives it a ticking clock element throughout most of it. Right before a section gets boring you are thrust into another engaging sequence. It has a constant sense of danger that really gripped me. Even if the games mechanics aren't polished, it works well enough and the games constantly shifting level design and challenges really brought the game together.
This combination of linearity and great storytelling makes this one of my absolute favorite Spider-Man games. It is also just the right length. It never overstayed its welcome and it ends at the right time. It's a game that's really intellegent in that it really understands its limitations and the advantages of its narrative. It also just has great adaptations of Peter and Miguel, some of the best ever put to screen. Josh Keaton and Christopher Daniel Barnes are perfect casting for Peter and Miguel, and I think it might have some of their best voice work in general. It was a feast for me as a fan of both characters. I am really happy I played this. I highly recommend this if you have a way to access it. It is a great spider-man game.
This games narrative is handled by an all time great comic writer, Peter David. He not only invented 2099, but he also wrote some of the best Peter Parker stories out there (I'd highly recommend Death of Jean DeWolfe). He was absolutely the perfect choice for creating this Peter and Miguel centric story. It results in this great and creative team up story that deconstructs Spider-Man as a character, and has fun time travel sci fi stuff going on. It's a very comic book story, but it's written with a lot of heart and understanding of the two characters. Peter and Miguel are a fantastic duo. The way their relationship develops through the in game banter is really great. The time paradox concept allows for some inventivs setpiece moments and it never feels overcomplicated. It's a narrative that's really surprising and smartly thought out, and it's what holds this game together.
It was interesting to go back to the Era before the hyper polished insomniac games were a thing. Instead of a high budget open world spidey game. You get a highly linear mid budget affair. This game has a lot of problems. It's combat is really limp feeling and never really gets much better or escalates in difficulty all that much. The world design is really boring and it's all just metallic complexes that look the same throughout the whole game. I do wish it took a page from Shattered Dimensions and made the two timelines visually distinct from one another. It is a very middling video game that has a very repetitious gameplay loop, but what escalates it so much is its pacing and time paradox concepts. The strict linearity allows for it to have a controlled narrative that keeps moving forward. Playing this makes me wish more linear spider-man games can exist right now. Playing as both spider-men across two timelines is seamless. You are constantly switching between both characters and solving problems for eachother. This aspect gives it a ticking clock element throughout most of it. Right before a section gets boring you are thrust into another engaging sequence. It has a constant sense of danger that really gripped me. Even if the games mechanics aren't polished, it works well enough and the games constantly shifting level design and challenges really brought the game together.
This combination of linearity and great storytelling makes this one of my absolute favorite Spider-Man games. It is also just the right length. It never overstayed its welcome and it ends at the right time. It's a game that's really intellegent in that it really understands its limitations and the advantages of its narrative. It also just has great adaptations of Peter and Miguel, some of the best ever put to screen. Josh Keaton and Christopher Daniel Barnes are perfect casting for Peter and Miguel, and I think it might have some of their best voice work in general. It was a feast for me as a fan of both characters. I am really happy I played this. I highly recommend this if you have a way to access it. It is a great spider-man game.
2019
While my score is a bit low for this game. I would like to stress that this is a really excellent game that I'd recommend to almost anyone. It carries all of the strengths of the franchise and its interpretation of survival horror in the third person viewpoint is great most of the time! My criticisms of it come from a place of bias for the original and the unease I feel about its place in this series.
When I first picked it up, I felt it might be even better than the original. Stronger puzzles with stronger item placements makes for a really engaging redo of the RPD. It has some really good story reinterpretations that feel grounded, but it never shys too far away from the cheesy spirit of the original games. It's just that as I played it, more and more little things kept popping up that made me prefer the original. I really miss those fixed cameras, and I wish Capcom wouldn't keep stomping that style in the dirt. I find that it's stylish and claustrophobic angles added a lot of tension to the horror. Enemies always felt like a huge threat, its often shot in a way where its you being smaller against this dominant threat. I think this feeling is mostly gone in the change to third person. The advantage is that when enemies get really close to you, they really feel close to YOU, but it sacrifices those feelings of claustrophobia and dynamism I felt so much in those original games.
I hate to be this guy, but I really didn't like Mr. X in this game. The first few times he shows up are brilliant. I love how he is a constant threat to your progression. Eventually though, I found his appearances a bit annoying more than anything. The feelings of intimidation were lost the more times he showed up, and it was a pace breaker in a way that didnt feel good to me. I do also think the visuals aren't that great. I love the artistry of the original, I feel like that's mostly missing here. The lighting is often very strangely done, and of course the large amounts of dark hallways made the experience more samey than it was in the original. I feel like I can remember every room in the first RE2, but here, it's kinda fuzzy to me.
I did have a great time with this game. I had a lot of really tense moments and there was a lot of emergent gameplay mokents that were super memorable. But I wish Capcom didn't have to keep erasing and remaking these classic timeless games to give me that kind of experience. I would have appreciated this more if this was a new numbered entry with its own level design and ideas. These remakes really have their finger on the pulse for what makes the series so good, but it bugs me how much they leave behind from the originals to get there.
When I first picked it up, I felt it might be even better than the original. Stronger puzzles with stronger item placements makes for a really engaging redo of the RPD. It has some really good story reinterpretations that feel grounded, but it never shys too far away from the cheesy spirit of the original games. It's just that as I played it, more and more little things kept popping up that made me prefer the original. I really miss those fixed cameras, and I wish Capcom wouldn't keep stomping that style in the dirt. I find that it's stylish and claustrophobic angles added a lot of tension to the horror. Enemies always felt like a huge threat, its often shot in a way where its you being smaller against this dominant threat. I think this feeling is mostly gone in the change to third person. The advantage is that when enemies get really close to you, they really feel close to YOU, but it sacrifices those feelings of claustrophobia and dynamism I felt so much in those original games.
I hate to be this guy, but I really didn't like Mr. X in this game. The first few times he shows up are brilliant. I love how he is a constant threat to your progression. Eventually though, I found his appearances a bit annoying more than anything. The feelings of intimidation were lost the more times he showed up, and it was a pace breaker in a way that didnt feel good to me. I do also think the visuals aren't that great. I love the artistry of the original, I feel like that's mostly missing here. The lighting is often very strangely done, and of course the large amounts of dark hallways made the experience more samey than it was in the original. I feel like I can remember every room in the first RE2, but here, it's kinda fuzzy to me.
I did have a great time with this game. I had a lot of really tense moments and there was a lot of emergent gameplay mokents that were super memorable. But I wish Capcom didn't have to keep erasing and remaking these classic timeless games to give me that kind of experience. I would have appreciated this more if this was a new numbered entry with its own level design and ideas. These remakes really have their finger on the pulse for what makes the series so good, but it bugs me how much they leave behind from the originals to get there.
It's shocking how much this spins its wheels. It could have added so much to the FF7 story by being a prequel but nothing is gained at all. At its worst it's ruinous to the intentions of FF7's narrative. It overexplains things that absolutely did not need to be explained. It attempts to make Shinra and the Turks more likeable and less scummy, which misses the point of them to me.
Zack is a terrible character. He has this generic Shonen protagonist persona and its insufferable. The terrible writing does not help this. It thinks it's so smart, that it has so much to say. But it doesn't, it's a mindless narrative about honor and heroism or whatever. The relationships that Zack makes throughout the journey are so insisted on in the narrative and the game mechanics but they are all so one dimensional. I feel like this game is trying so hard to pretend that it's such a beautiful and meaningful story rather than actually being that. We have FF7! It's right there!
I'm very mixed on the gameplay. It has a lot of really cool ideas, and as far as reunion goes, the action always felt really crunchy and satisfying. At its best it does feel like a good translation of FF7s mechanics into a KH styled action RPG. But what absolutely kills it is the structure and the balancing. This game was made to be played on the go, so it has to have all of these really small bite sized optional missions. They are SO boring. They are there to give Zack new materia and new items, but they all play out the same in the same like four areas each time. I think the idea is that when the main game gets really hard they encourage you to do them. But the problem with that is the game is so easy all the time! The roulette wheel feels so tilted in your favor all the time. The materia fusion system is so busted and you just get these crazy strong materia that deletes encounters and ridiculously buffs your stats. I understand FF7 was like this too, but finding the powerful materia and making them grow stronger has you put in the work to do so. In Crisis Core, it feels like everything is just handed to you immediately. It makes it's systems and enemy encounters so boring. Why should I do more missions if I'm already overpowered throughout the entire storyline? It's really silly how this game is on the cusp of some really unique gameplay but it has so many cracks that show their face the more you play it.
I really wanted to like this game. There is appealing things about its gameplay loop that could be great if it was more finely tuned. It is very ambitious and I respect some of the creative things it's trying to do within the world of ff7. It's really trying, but it never sticks the landing. It's yet another unnecessary addition to FF7s story.
Zack is a terrible character. He has this generic Shonen protagonist persona and its insufferable. The terrible writing does not help this. It thinks it's so smart, that it has so much to say. But it doesn't, it's a mindless narrative about honor and heroism or whatever. The relationships that Zack makes throughout the journey are so insisted on in the narrative and the game mechanics but they are all so one dimensional. I feel like this game is trying so hard to pretend that it's such a beautiful and meaningful story rather than actually being that. We have FF7! It's right there!
I'm very mixed on the gameplay. It has a lot of really cool ideas, and as far as reunion goes, the action always felt really crunchy and satisfying. At its best it does feel like a good translation of FF7s mechanics into a KH styled action RPG. But what absolutely kills it is the structure and the balancing. This game was made to be played on the go, so it has to have all of these really small bite sized optional missions. They are SO boring. They are there to give Zack new materia and new items, but they all play out the same in the same like four areas each time. I think the idea is that when the main game gets really hard they encourage you to do them. But the problem with that is the game is so easy all the time! The roulette wheel feels so tilted in your favor all the time. The materia fusion system is so busted and you just get these crazy strong materia that deletes encounters and ridiculously buffs your stats. I understand FF7 was like this too, but finding the powerful materia and making them grow stronger has you put in the work to do so. In Crisis Core, it feels like everything is just handed to you immediately. It makes it's systems and enemy encounters so boring. Why should I do more missions if I'm already overpowered throughout the entire storyline? It's really silly how this game is on the cusp of some really unique gameplay but it has so many cracks that show their face the more you play it.
I really wanted to like this game. There is appealing things about its gameplay loop that could be great if it was more finely tuned. It is very ambitious and I respect some of the creative things it's trying to do within the world of ff7. It's really trying, but it never sticks the landing. It's yet another unnecessary addition to FF7s story.
This game is so bizarre because its very derided and I always heard it was bad, but playing it now, even with the context of FF7, I find this game to be kinda good.
I played this with the mouse injector hack on PCSX2 which I imagine makes this game a lot more playable. The mouse controls are terrible otherwise and I dont think this would have worked as well for me without a controller. That being said this game was often really fun, the ff7 injection into third person shooter mechanics did it for me. Its certainly not the most amazing feeling game ever and some of the mechanics in this game felt poorly implemented, but it has this simple arcadey feel to it. It kinda feels like a fully controllable light gun game. It feels like it sidestepped a lot of the innovations that max payne and resident evil 4 made to the genre, but I think thats okay, it gives it a lot of charm. Some of those boss fights are pretty fun, I think playing as Vincent is fun because hes a cool character. At first I didnt really care for the visuals all that much but it kinda comes into its own as the game goes on. Its colors and environments fit the ps2 like a glove. All around this game is just kinda cozy and relaxing to play. Its never to difficult or frustrating, its kind of just a vibe.
The story is kinda funny. Its all over the place, the new characters arent likeable at all, and its additions to Vincents backstory are largely unecessary and really stupid. That being said, it kinda came together for me? I love the big twist near the end involving Hojo. It was so silly, but I loved how the finale was about Vincent facing his past and overcoming the trauma he experienced with Hojo and Lucrecia. Vincent felt more complete as a character here, I really love his stoic but kind personality. He never really came off as too over the top edgy for me, and his development in this game kind of won me over by the end of it. I also kind of like how the wider cast was implemented, they felt properly important to his narrative but didnt steal the spotlight or anything. It really fumbles by adding way too much unnecessary context to his past, the stuff with Lucrecia and Vincents dad was all just kind of bad. Deepground is also largely forgettable. Just really one note characters and they didnt really feel threatening as an antagonist at all. Overall im mixed on the narrative. It feels really genuine in some cases but also really boring and unecessary in others. But I had a good time with it. Its definitely not as offensive as Advent Children.
Im not sure this is a game you really need to play at all. Its a bit of a mess sometimes but im glad I played it! It had some good moments and is a decent third person shooter. Im not sure if I would play it again, but I dont think its that bad either.
I played this with the mouse injector hack on PCSX2 which I imagine makes this game a lot more playable. The mouse controls are terrible otherwise and I dont think this would have worked as well for me without a controller. That being said this game was often really fun, the ff7 injection into third person shooter mechanics did it for me. Its certainly not the most amazing feeling game ever and some of the mechanics in this game felt poorly implemented, but it has this simple arcadey feel to it. It kinda feels like a fully controllable light gun game. It feels like it sidestepped a lot of the innovations that max payne and resident evil 4 made to the genre, but I think thats okay, it gives it a lot of charm. Some of those boss fights are pretty fun, I think playing as Vincent is fun because hes a cool character. At first I didnt really care for the visuals all that much but it kinda comes into its own as the game goes on. Its colors and environments fit the ps2 like a glove. All around this game is just kinda cozy and relaxing to play. Its never to difficult or frustrating, its kind of just a vibe.
The story is kinda funny. Its all over the place, the new characters arent likeable at all, and its additions to Vincents backstory are largely unecessary and really stupid. That being said, it kinda came together for me? I love the big twist near the end involving Hojo. It was so silly, but I loved how the finale was about Vincent facing his past and overcoming the trauma he experienced with Hojo and Lucrecia. Vincent felt more complete as a character here, I really love his stoic but kind personality. He never really came off as too over the top edgy for me, and his development in this game kind of won me over by the end of it. I also kind of like how the wider cast was implemented, they felt properly important to his narrative but didnt steal the spotlight or anything. It really fumbles by adding way too much unnecessary context to his past, the stuff with Lucrecia and Vincents dad was all just kind of bad. Deepground is also largely forgettable. Just really one note characters and they didnt really feel threatening as an antagonist at all. Overall im mixed on the narrative. It feels really genuine in some cases but also really boring and unecessary in others. But I had a good time with it. Its definitely not as offensive as Advent Children.
Im not sure this is a game you really need to play at all. Its a bit of a mess sometimes but im glad I played it! It had some good moments and is a decent third person shooter. Im not sure if I would play it again, but I dont think its that bad either.
Yeah this is okay. This adds in a lot of the stuff that was missing from the original RE4, but it kinda feels dull in its implementation. I think Ada's perspective is kinda fun sometimes but it doesnt really add much to the overall experience. I think its definitely worth the ten dollars, and the mercenaries content is probably really good. I just dont think it really completes the RE4 Remake experience its just kind of more of it, and thats okay.
1997
RETROSPECTIVE PREAMBLE
I don't really play rpgs that much. I'm not sure why, something about the length or the gameplay of them have always kept me largely uninvested in this prolific genre. The only ones I've really played were a few Pokémon games as a kid, Undertale, Omori, and Panzer Dragoon Saga. I love the ones I listed (Undertale is my favorite game after all) but I wouldn't really say most of those are really traditional or all that lengthy really.
I've tried playing a few square rpgs. I nearly completed chrono trigger but I couldn't keep invested with it. I've touched a few traditional ff games like 4 and 6, but I wasn't hooked for long. I decided to go with 7 because I just love that games aesthetic. The character designs are awesome and I always heard a lot about it that would be appealing for me, so I gave it an honest shot.
THE REVIEW
What I ended up getting was something unbelievable even with the cosmic praise it gets. From the very beginning I was hooked line and sinker into this huge and dense story. I think the single biggest thing I can praise this game for is it's pacing. There wasn't a single moment of my time where I was uninterested enough to stop. I always had a reason to keep going and I was always seeing something new and fun. I love that opening so much, how this calming and earthly music makes way for this exciting espionage esq tone. It really encapsulates what the game is gonna feel like throughout.
Midgar is just incredible, it's one of the coolest cityscapes I've ever seen. The pre rendered backgrounds breathe it to life and every inch of it is memorable. Everything in Midgar keeps escalating to this bombastic raid of shin ra headquarters and as you step out into the wider world you realize it's just the beggining.
FF7s story is really timeless in that it kind of has something for everyone. It's big and exciting, but it's also tender and thoughtful. It also has thematic clarity. Life, death and rebirth are probably the main things this deals with. But there are also themes of capitalism, nature, identity and loss. This is all very fresh to me so I'm not gonna try and really analyze it. This is to say that this games story is very fruitful.
I think I love every character with a few of them might be some of my favorite characters in any game. Cloud is such a great protagonist, his journey and development feel earned and he is the focalpoint of the games themes. Tifa and Cait Sith in particular were some of my favorite characters. The only ones I really felt were lacking were Yuffie and Cid, though I don't think I went back and did Yuffies side content. Aerith is great because she is really useful in the first bit of the game and losing her is conveyed well in gameplay. You don't have her protection and guidance any more, your good healing is gone and now you have to figure out your party dynamics without her. Her story is also really touching and her backstory made me tear up a bit. Sephiroth is also a great antagonist. He felt like a wraith over the story and his backstory and relationship with Cloud is compelling.
I was actually really into the gameplay here. Something that always happens to me in RPGs is that I will get so many moves and abilities before I am really encouraged to experiment with them. RPGs are about party customization, but the bloat of options usually gets to me. This happened to me with chrono trigger. I just kept getting a bunch of moves and I shut down on learning how to use them. FF7 retains a lot of core FF combat but makes changes that kept me invested in it. The Limit Break system is cool as hell and makes every fight feel like a true back and fourth. Big damage can also mean a big comeback and it gave a lot of texture to the basic physical attack that I wasn't expecting. I really love the materia system. It's a brilliant way of conveying its capitalistic world that people siphon and itemize magic to sell it. But it also makes the customization of magics really engaging to me. being able to put spells on anyone is really cool, and the game encourages you to use your materia a lot. I'm not gonna lie, there was a lot of materia I didn't get or use with which gave me some issues near the end where I probably wasn't fully equipped to deal with everything it threw at me. But for the bulk of it I was experimenting and the combat rarely felt tedious.
The final area of this game rules. I had a really memorable experience with it because like I said I was barely equipped to deal with it. I ended up save stating near the end of it, but this had the knock on effect of me feeling like I might have locked myself out of victory. I was threading the needle through every fight with Jenova and Sephiroth. Earning that win felt triumphant. I love how the game presents galactic stakes to you, but then it ends with this personal beat down of Sephiroth. Everything he has done to Cloud and the gang makes his death cathartic. It makes this big bombastic ending feel deeply personal in a way most of these rarely ever do (FF16 eat your heart out).
I'm really really glad I stuck through with this. There is obviously a lot more I can say, but the game speaks for itself. It's a legendary game that rocked the industry and all that. It means a lot to me. Everything about it really resonated with me, and it also just felt good being able to put aside my rpg biases and really conquer one of the big ones. I knew it was gonna be one of my favorites early on and it didn't disappoint.
I don't really play rpgs that much. I'm not sure why, something about the length or the gameplay of them have always kept me largely uninvested in this prolific genre. The only ones I've really played were a few Pokémon games as a kid, Undertale, Omori, and Panzer Dragoon Saga. I love the ones I listed (Undertale is my favorite game after all) but I wouldn't really say most of those are really traditional or all that lengthy really.
I've tried playing a few square rpgs. I nearly completed chrono trigger but I couldn't keep invested with it. I've touched a few traditional ff games like 4 and 6, but I wasn't hooked for long. I decided to go with 7 because I just love that games aesthetic. The character designs are awesome and I always heard a lot about it that would be appealing for me, so I gave it an honest shot.
THE REVIEW
What I ended up getting was something unbelievable even with the cosmic praise it gets. From the very beginning I was hooked line and sinker into this huge and dense story. I think the single biggest thing I can praise this game for is it's pacing. There wasn't a single moment of my time where I was uninterested enough to stop. I always had a reason to keep going and I was always seeing something new and fun. I love that opening so much, how this calming and earthly music makes way for this exciting espionage esq tone. It really encapsulates what the game is gonna feel like throughout.
Midgar is just incredible, it's one of the coolest cityscapes I've ever seen. The pre rendered backgrounds breathe it to life and every inch of it is memorable. Everything in Midgar keeps escalating to this bombastic raid of shin ra headquarters and as you step out into the wider world you realize it's just the beggining.
FF7s story is really timeless in that it kind of has something for everyone. It's big and exciting, but it's also tender and thoughtful. It also has thematic clarity. Life, death and rebirth are probably the main things this deals with. But there are also themes of capitalism, nature, identity and loss. This is all very fresh to me so I'm not gonna try and really analyze it. This is to say that this games story is very fruitful.
I think I love every character with a few of them might be some of my favorite characters in any game. Cloud is such a great protagonist, his journey and development feel earned and he is the focalpoint of the games themes. Tifa and Cait Sith in particular were some of my favorite characters. The only ones I really felt were lacking were Yuffie and Cid, though I don't think I went back and did Yuffies side content. Aerith is great because she is really useful in the first bit of the game and losing her is conveyed well in gameplay. You don't have her protection and guidance any more, your good healing is gone and now you have to figure out your party dynamics without her. Her story is also really touching and her backstory made me tear up a bit. Sephiroth is also a great antagonist. He felt like a wraith over the story and his backstory and relationship with Cloud is compelling.
I was actually really into the gameplay here. Something that always happens to me in RPGs is that I will get so many moves and abilities before I am really encouraged to experiment with them. RPGs are about party customization, but the bloat of options usually gets to me. This happened to me with chrono trigger. I just kept getting a bunch of moves and I shut down on learning how to use them. FF7 retains a lot of core FF combat but makes changes that kept me invested in it. The Limit Break system is cool as hell and makes every fight feel like a true back and fourth. Big damage can also mean a big comeback and it gave a lot of texture to the basic physical attack that I wasn't expecting. I really love the materia system. It's a brilliant way of conveying its capitalistic world that people siphon and itemize magic to sell it. But it also makes the customization of magics really engaging to me. being able to put spells on anyone is really cool, and the game encourages you to use your materia a lot. I'm not gonna lie, there was a lot of materia I didn't get or use with which gave me some issues near the end where I probably wasn't fully equipped to deal with everything it threw at me. But for the bulk of it I was experimenting and the combat rarely felt tedious.
The final area of this game rules. I had a really memorable experience with it because like I said I was barely equipped to deal with it. I ended up save stating near the end of it, but this had the knock on effect of me feeling like I might have locked myself out of victory. I was threading the needle through every fight with Jenova and Sephiroth. Earning that win felt triumphant. I love how the game presents galactic stakes to you, but then it ends with this personal beat down of Sephiroth. Everything he has done to Cloud and the gang makes his death cathartic. It makes this big bombastic ending feel deeply personal in a way most of these rarely ever do (FF16 eat your heart out).
I'm really really glad I stuck through with this. There is obviously a lot more I can say, but the game speaks for itself. It's a legendary game that rocked the industry and all that. It means a lot to me. Everything about it really resonated with me, and it also just felt good being able to put aside my rpg biases and really conquer one of the big ones. I knew it was gonna be one of my favorites early on and it didn't disappoint.
2014
(I used the Upscale Mod for the textures since the upscale capcom did for this game is a little fugly)
This game is absolutely phenomenal in every way. It is the standard for survival horror games to me. I've played the original on Sega Saturn (yes its a great version of the game) and I already thought that was great. I'm usually doubtful on remakes "replacing" the originals, and I still stand by that, but REmake is just much better than the original in every way. The story is still cheesy but it has more clarity and a stronger sense of pacing. The visuals are some of the most gorgeous I've ever seen in a game. I think every single new thing in this game only improves the experience. This game is delightfully frightening, there are a bunch of moments that are experienced purely through gameplay that really got me.
I've played a few other resident evil games and I think this one boils down the appeal of it to a science. It's drenched in atmosphere, and you are overwhelmed with zombies and low on resources. But it has a earnest cheesy fun to it that shines through. Every shot feels incredibly good in this and the action feels like the reward to the survival more often then not.
When people are clamoring for yet another remake of resident evil 1, I always get really confused. We already have the perfect remake to an already great game. It's controls are so finely tuned and the visual side of it is so timeless. This is the genesis of tank controlled survival horror and I'd rather that be preserved than to be disturbed yet again.
This game is absolutely phenomenal in every way. It is the standard for survival horror games to me. I've played the original on Sega Saturn (yes its a great version of the game) and I already thought that was great. I'm usually doubtful on remakes "replacing" the originals, and I still stand by that, but REmake is just much better than the original in every way. The story is still cheesy but it has more clarity and a stronger sense of pacing. The visuals are some of the most gorgeous I've ever seen in a game. I think every single new thing in this game only improves the experience. This game is delightfully frightening, there are a bunch of moments that are experienced purely through gameplay that really got me.
I've played a few other resident evil games and I think this one boils down the appeal of it to a science. It's drenched in atmosphere, and you are overwhelmed with zombies and low on resources. But it has a earnest cheesy fun to it that shines through. Every shot feels incredibly good in this and the action feels like the reward to the survival more often then not.
When people are clamoring for yet another remake of resident evil 1, I always get really confused. We already have the perfect remake to an already great game. It's controls are so finely tuned and the visual side of it is so timeless. This is the genesis of tank controlled survival horror and I'd rather that be preserved than to be disturbed yet again.
This review contains spoilers
just upon thinking about it some more and now that I'm recovering from recency bias, I think it's still really good and really fun but it does have some issues that hold it back a tad for me.
It has a really slow set of missions near the beginning that are gonna kill my enjoyment of it on replay. A lot of that walking and talking stuff that plagues modern games. I wish more time was spent on Venom and the symbiote Invasion. I do really like this version of Venom but he suffers from just not being there enough. There is a scene later on that's starting to really bug me where it's implied that Harry was not lucid during the final boss and that weakens the character a lot for me. I really love the stuff with Peter and Mary Jane where the symbiote seems like it's enabling their anger by bringing out their issues that are deep rooted. But with this portrayal of Venom like it makes it seem like that's just the symbiote taking the wheel and I'm not the biggest fan of that.
I still really love a lot of the story, and a lot of it feels really well justified. I really love the Miles stuff in particular. I think some of the side stuff is a bit weaker here overall save for a couple of really emotionally charged side content that actually got me.
The game has a big suit problem. The Peter suits are mostly bad. I really dislike their insistence to have every movie suit. I totally understand why they feel like they need to but it cripples the variety of suits Peter has. I also just don't like MOST of the movie suits in general. The two suits that you are forced to wear at the end of the game are also really bad looking. I like the idea of the anti Venom suit but that fleshy symbiote look in white makes it look...
I'm also really disappointed that it didn't launch with new game plus. It has happened to multiple playstation exclusives now and I'd love to re experience the game without having to painstakingly unlock everything again.
This is still a great game and a lot of my previous good points still stand! I love the swinging, I like the combat more here, and most of the story is still quite excellent. I think I still prefer this to the first game. It just still has some of the mud that I wish modern big budget games could escape from.
It has a really slow set of missions near the beginning that are gonna kill my enjoyment of it on replay. A lot of that walking and talking stuff that plagues modern games. I wish more time was spent on Venom and the symbiote Invasion. I do really like this version of Venom but he suffers from just not being there enough. There is a scene later on that's starting to really bug me where it's implied that Harry was not lucid during the final boss and that weakens the character a lot for me. I really love the stuff with Peter and Mary Jane where the symbiote seems like it's enabling their anger by bringing out their issues that are deep rooted. But with this portrayal of Venom like it makes it seem like that's just the symbiote taking the wheel and I'm not the biggest fan of that.
I still really love a lot of the story, and a lot of it feels really well justified. I really love the Miles stuff in particular. I think some of the side stuff is a bit weaker here overall save for a couple of really emotionally charged side content that actually got me.
The game has a big suit problem. The Peter suits are mostly bad. I really dislike their insistence to have every movie suit. I totally understand why they feel like they need to but it cripples the variety of suits Peter has. I also just don't like MOST of the movie suits in general. The two suits that you are forced to wear at the end of the game are also really bad looking. I like the idea of the anti Venom suit but that fleshy symbiote look in white makes it look...
I'm also really disappointed that it didn't launch with new game plus. It has happened to multiple playstation exclusives now and I'd love to re experience the game without having to painstakingly unlock everything again.
This is still a great game and a lot of my previous good points still stand! I love the swinging, I like the combat more here, and most of the story is still quite excellent. I think I still prefer this to the first game. It just still has some of the mud that I wish modern big budget games could escape from.
---------------------------- NON SPOILER REVIEW------------------------------
I think this game is a nice improvement from the previous two. From a pure gameplay standpoint its a very nice upgrade of the mechanics. It still does carry a lot of the same problems as the first game though. Its still very much a Sony Playstation title where a ton of the experience is handholdy and made to look cool first and be mechanically satisfying later. This game has a fair amount of bugs actually, more than I was expecting. A lot of sound issues, cutscenes would black out on me and id have to reset, id be stuck in a tutorial thing and cant press anything. Fortunately the checkpoint system is very generous, so these issues were just a load away from being fixed. I think the swinging is much better and I love how momentum is actually finally a thing. Turning the difficulty sliders all the way to their hardest settings makes the swinging have a pretty sizeable skill ceiling and its really satisfying to overcome that. Some of the context sensitive elements do get in the way sometimes so I think its still flawed in that way. A lot of like accidentally wall running or flinging off of a pole when I dont want to. The combat and mission structure are also very good. I actually really enjoyed the combat in the first game and I think this is a good upgrade. Miles and Peter feel similar but different enough for their combat to work. The parry mechanic adds a lot to the game and allows for some sick boss fights. Playing as the two Spider-Men is always a treat and its so seamless how its done, its doing really impressive things with the ps5. The mission structure is still kind of repetitive but its also a bit better. I feel the game has a much better sense of momentum with a city that changes a lot more consistently. It stayed really fun for me for the full extent of it. If you really liked the first game, I think you will really love this, its a no brainer. Critically I think this game is like an 8 or a 7 but some of the stuff I talk about in the spoiler section bring it up to a ten for me! (Also I love Spider-Man too much)
---------------------------------- SPOILER REVIEW --------------------------------
The stuff that I want to talk about more is how I think this is an excellent Spider-Man game and its why I personally rated this a 10. Im a huge Spider-Man fan, hes my favorite character, and I wasnt disappointed with the stuff this game was doing. This game feels incredibly huge, like it might be doing way too much, but it never buckles under its own weight. I think thats what impresses me so much about it.
This game incorperates Kravens Last Hunt, The Symbiote Saga, elements of Donny Cates Venom and more, yet I think it unifies them really well. This might be a bit controversial but I think this is the best self contained, single narrative, Symbiote and Venom story ive seen yet. These definitely arent my favorite versions of these characters. I still prefer the comic interpretations of the black suit and Venom but I think its well done for what it is. I think a lot of people are gonna be disappointed it wasnt Eddie and that Venom seems to be a one and done thing here, but they did the absolute most they could with it. It incorperates much of the symbiotes history in a really short amount of time but its all really well thought out. I do think Venom is a weaker villain than Doc Ock, but he was really really cool and as a Venom fan I was really happy with it. Kraven is really good in particular. It feels like its pulling a lot from Kravens Last Hunt without being a rip off of that story. Its a pretty definitive version of the character for me.
I think this is probably the best Spider-Man game. It feels like a celebration of all the video games, comics, movies, and cartoons that ive been experiencing since I was a kid. Im still shocked at how well this comes together. I really love how confident Insomniac is about their own version of Spider-Man, yet they always really respect his mythos and with this game they listened to a lot of feedback and corrected a lot of stuff I felt was wrong with the first game. I took off of work and had a three day weekend to just play the hell out of this game and I had a really great time with it.
I think this game is a nice improvement from the previous two. From a pure gameplay standpoint its a very nice upgrade of the mechanics. It still does carry a lot of the same problems as the first game though. Its still very much a Sony Playstation title where a ton of the experience is handholdy and made to look cool first and be mechanically satisfying later. This game has a fair amount of bugs actually, more than I was expecting. A lot of sound issues, cutscenes would black out on me and id have to reset, id be stuck in a tutorial thing and cant press anything. Fortunately the checkpoint system is very generous, so these issues were just a load away from being fixed. I think the swinging is much better and I love how momentum is actually finally a thing. Turning the difficulty sliders all the way to their hardest settings makes the swinging have a pretty sizeable skill ceiling and its really satisfying to overcome that. Some of the context sensitive elements do get in the way sometimes so I think its still flawed in that way. A lot of like accidentally wall running or flinging off of a pole when I dont want to. The combat and mission structure are also very good. I actually really enjoyed the combat in the first game and I think this is a good upgrade. Miles and Peter feel similar but different enough for their combat to work. The parry mechanic adds a lot to the game and allows for some sick boss fights. Playing as the two Spider-Men is always a treat and its so seamless how its done, its doing really impressive things with the ps5. The mission structure is still kind of repetitive but its also a bit better. I feel the game has a much better sense of momentum with a city that changes a lot more consistently. It stayed really fun for me for the full extent of it. If you really liked the first game, I think you will really love this, its a no brainer. Critically I think this game is like an 8 or a 7 but some of the stuff I talk about in the spoiler section bring it up to a ten for me! (Also I love Spider-Man too much)
---------------------------------- SPOILER REVIEW --------------------------------
The stuff that I want to talk about more is how I think this is an excellent Spider-Man game and its why I personally rated this a 10. Im a huge Spider-Man fan, hes my favorite character, and I wasnt disappointed with the stuff this game was doing. This game feels incredibly huge, like it might be doing way too much, but it never buckles under its own weight. I think thats what impresses me so much about it.
This game incorperates Kravens Last Hunt, The Symbiote Saga, elements of Donny Cates Venom and more, yet I think it unifies them really well. This might be a bit controversial but I think this is the best self contained, single narrative, Symbiote and Venom story ive seen yet. These definitely arent my favorite versions of these characters. I still prefer the comic interpretations of the black suit and Venom but I think its well done for what it is. I think a lot of people are gonna be disappointed it wasnt Eddie and that Venom seems to be a one and done thing here, but they did the absolute most they could with it. It incorperates much of the symbiotes history in a really short amount of time but its all really well thought out. I do think Venom is a weaker villain than Doc Ock, but he was really really cool and as a Venom fan I was really happy with it. Kraven is really good in particular. It feels like its pulling a lot from Kravens Last Hunt without being a rip off of that story. Its a pretty definitive version of the character for me.
I think this is probably the best Spider-Man game. It feels like a celebration of all the video games, comics, movies, and cartoons that ive been experiencing since I was a kid. Im still shocked at how well this comes together. I really love how confident Insomniac is about their own version of Spider-Man, yet they always really respect his mythos and with this game they listened to a lot of feedback and corrected a lot of stuff I felt was wrong with the first game. I took off of work and had a three day weekend to just play the hell out of this game and I had a really great time with it.
2023
Yeah, I mean I only played one match of this, but its Counter Strike and Counter Strike is Counter Strike so its good! Ive always felt uncomplicated about my enjoyment of these games, they are just great competitive games with a unique game loop. It has that appealing Source feel to it and the simplicity has always captured me for some reason. Source 2 looks good it turns out and I had fun on Dust 2! Easy Backlog.
2023
I never really got into Jet Set Radio and this game makes me wanna try it again. When I first played it I thought it was a little boring because it was doing Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 stuff without the the skill ceiling that makes it so good. But the game clicked a lot more for me when I thought of it as a 3D platformer collectathon with Tony hawks mechanics. Exploring to find places to tag is easily the best part of the game. I love all of the secret areas you can get into and the game has a lot of linear platforming sections that just rule. I think this game controls a lot better than Jet Set, and it allows you to keep trick combos for a lot longer. It just feels great to move around, I'd often just go around aimlessly to do tricks instead of progressing just because it's so fun.
I think the game is at its weakest in its storytelling. The presentation is really flat, the content of the story is really dull and it just feels like it wants to be out of your way more than anything. Yet the game keeps on insisting on it? Also the missions involving the story are usually really easy once you figure out how the controls work. I wish there was more variety and challenge to the game overall. I've heard the post game content is better and I'm looking forward to that! I really like this game though and it's definitely worth playing.
I think the game is at its weakest in its storytelling. The presentation is really flat, the content of the story is really dull and it just feels like it wants to be out of your way more than anything. Yet the game keeps on insisting on it? Also the missions involving the story are usually really easy once you figure out how the controls work. I wish there was more variety and challenge to the game overall. I've heard the post game content is better and I'm looking forward to that! I really like this game though and it's definitely worth playing.
2023
Very early thoughts of course. Might review this again once it has a couple years in.
This game is extremely cool. It's surprising how much this works, and they take great lengths to make the game more hectic but also feel like classic F-Zero.
I think the fusion of modern f-zero and classic F-Zero is really cool to see, and I like how it informs the battle royal gameplay. Boosting feels like a precious resource that is a big risk when you do it even once. The spin feels more like a defensive move here rather than an offensive one. I really like how the rival system of previous games is interpreted here, allowing you to attain goals other than getting first.
This game actually kinda feels like Mario Kart in some ways. The new Super boost mechanic feels like the mario kart item equivalent. It's not as useful and attainable when you are in first place but people near last place have an easier time catching up. But they do a good job of making the more hectic gameplay still fit in an f-zero mold. The alternate modes are really fun as well. The two Grand Prix modes are really cool in a battle royal context.
I do have some gripes though. I think this game controls well but I do feel like the gaining of momentum is less felt here. But im gonna chalk it up to just how many players are on screen at once. It feels a tad different from the SNES game overall. So the game is gonna have more tracks as the first Gran Prix's roll out, but I'm uncertain that the f-zero 1 roster of stages is gonna be enough. I think it would be great if we could get some 'BS F-Zero 2' stages as well as maybe some of the GBA ones? I also feel the red cars that blow up immediately are a little unfair considering how they get mixed up with so many other racers.
I mean I'd rather have a port of F-Zero GX with a map editor and more stages, but I'm quite taken by this. It's already some of the most fun I've had with nintendo online multiplayer. The net code is also really good (though I'm on ethernet and my internet is good overall) and it's fun to just jump in and play.
This game is extremely cool. It's surprising how much this works, and they take great lengths to make the game more hectic but also feel like classic F-Zero.
I think the fusion of modern f-zero and classic F-Zero is really cool to see, and I like how it informs the battle royal gameplay. Boosting feels like a precious resource that is a big risk when you do it even once. The spin feels more like a defensive move here rather than an offensive one. I really like how the rival system of previous games is interpreted here, allowing you to attain goals other than getting first.
This game actually kinda feels like Mario Kart in some ways. The new Super boost mechanic feels like the mario kart item equivalent. It's not as useful and attainable when you are in first place but people near last place have an easier time catching up. But they do a good job of making the more hectic gameplay still fit in an f-zero mold. The alternate modes are really fun as well. The two Grand Prix modes are really cool in a battle royal context.
I do have some gripes though. I think this game controls well but I do feel like the gaining of momentum is less felt here. But im gonna chalk it up to just how many players are on screen at once. It feels a tad different from the SNES game overall. So the game is gonna have more tracks as the first Gran Prix's roll out, but I'm uncertain that the f-zero 1 roster of stages is gonna be enough. I think it would be great if we could get some 'BS F-Zero 2' stages as well as maybe some of the GBA ones? I also feel the red cars that blow up immediately are a little unfair considering how they get mixed up with so many other racers.
I mean I'd rather have a port of F-Zero GX with a map editor and more stages, but I'm quite taken by this. It's already some of the most fun I've had with nintendo online multiplayer. The net code is also really good (though I'm on ethernet and my internet is good overall) and it's fun to just jump in and play.