A neat little Arkanoid/Breakout clone with some falling block DNA mixed in.
Gameplay is more or less what you'd expect from that description. Once a block (usually in the form of animals or anthropomorphic objects such as tiki statues and UFOs) are destroyed, the blocks above it fall down if they can fit in the grid-style space left. After falling down the blocks then merge together if theyre of similar size and color à la PuyoPuyo. Cool concept, but the implementation leaves a lot to be desired.

Rarely do the PuyoPuyo elements get to shine, mostly due to how limited control there is over the ball in Arkanoid-esque game. A majority of the level design also doesnt lend itself for combo oriented gameplay. Even after dumping a few hours into this and wasnt able to find a way to consistently play strategically - basically relying on luck the whole time for combos. By the end I just gave up and started treating combos as small bonues. As a result I'm left with the feeling this is a gimmicky clone, as opposed to have a unique identity.

Or maybe I'm just a scrub. Eitherway, still worth a playthrough if you enjoy the games its drawing inspiration from.

This game rules but the main story is ASS, possibly the worst RGG has made. Which is a real shame as a followup to Judgement, what I'd consider to be the best written game in the series. Or at least the one with the best pacing. On the other end of the spectrum; Lost Judgement's story doesnt execute anything well.

The game effectively reaches it's climax at Chapter7.... of 13 lol. After this point the story becomes reminiscent of the earlier Yakuza titles in the worst possible way. Things just start happening - Go to X. Now go talk to Y in a different city. Oh shit its person Z, time for a 20 minute infodump of things you pieced together 3 hours ago. This continues all the way till the end where you're told "maybe sometimes being a serial killer is justifed..." Great game for attack on titan fans!

Im not kidding when I say the sidestories (both the main overarching one & 4minute jokey ones) are written better.
On that note: Side content this time around is great, some of the best in the series even! Combat is also the best the Dragon Engine has to offer.

If youre playing these games in release order you know what youre in for by now - I had fun with it and you likely will too. But the difference in quality between the main story and everything else is extremely apparent.

Is some of the art nice? Yeah. Is the music enjoyable? Sure. Is anything else? Not really. Tthe story and gameplay are just flat out bad, but you wouldnt know that due to the (western) online culture surrounding NEC PC games.
Instead of actually engaging with pieces of media "we" sit inside of Plato's Cave ogling gifs from the opening cutscene and formulate a baseless opinion that the game must be incredible.

Most people who praise this havnt played it and on the offchance they did its for a maximum of 5 minutes to make a new version of the epic kino sovlful girl staring out the window gif for their ~Aesthetic~ Blogs.

Can everyone start marketing their games with Quake TCs as good as this?

Only real complaint is about Map3 - specifically switch placement. Too many sections with switches placed right around the corner or directly next to the last one you pressed. The map itself isnt bad, but I just get the feeling not as much care was put into it compared to every other aspect of this mod.
Otherwise theres some really great stuff here and I'd love for the team to potentially return to this in the future for an additional episode or two. Whether it be another free release or commerical one

God this sourceport was, and still remains a total disaster. dude. frame interpolation. lmao
Putting aside the "enhanced" graphics for a moment. Even after numerous patches the game is still littered with gamebreaking bugs, some that can completely softlock your save. Awesome!

Its understandable considering how little material the Nightdive crew had to work with between lacking the source code and original footage for the FMVs (nevermind the lack of budget). But the project shouldnt have even been greenlit under those circumstances. Barring consoles there isnt a single reason to play this version over the orginal in ScummVM

What an unbeliavable surprise to top off the year.
Were just a few months shy of Eviternity's 5th anniversary (holy shit how has it been this long), what many, including myself proclaimed to be the greatest megawad of all time. I've got nothing but praise to give it's sequel.

Maps are gorgeous, layouts simultaneously feel unique and straight forward, both combat encounters & puzzles are well thought out, dehacked monsters feel completely fair, and the midis are excellent.

Highlights are Maps 1,3,4,8,9,10,14,18, and especially 32. 32 might be my favorite level released in any wad, ever. 36 is also noteworthy for effectively being a sunlust map in terms of cruelty towards the player.
That being said, barring maybe Map33 (you'll know why when you get to it) you could release any 3-4 maps as it's own seperate entity and it would end up being a noteworthy wad of the year.

Nevermind greatest megawad anymore, Eviternity 2 is an easy contender for greatest pwad of all time. An absolute MUST play for anyone interested and/or invested in Doom's modding scene.

Oh man this sucks. Im extremely forgiving towards any 90s fps, or games that try to replicate them, but this barely qualifies as one. Its effectively a generic 00s corridor shooter masquerading as a "retro" fps for aesthetic & marketing reasons.
Level design is painfully bland & unfun. Its also mindnumbingly easy. I get wanting to do a power fantasy but this is an ongoing trend in recent entries to this genre. If I willingly choose the maximum difficulty there should actually be a challenge - Something that doesnt exist if every enemy dies in 2hits from the starter weapon.

If you really like 40K and want some slop go for it I guess. But this is arguably worse than the unreleased Dark Crusaders