When we were so young, playing Doom all night long, tied our hearts together, and chose the left hand path~

It's hard to put into words just what this game did for the world. It spawned one of the most important genres in gaming history, brought about a new wave of video game violence, and redefined video games as something the whole world should pay attention to. For god's sake, it's DOOM, and even with it's age, dated mechanics, and overall archaic nature, I can't help but still love it.

The variety of enemies in Doom is minimal, but every single one is beyond iconic, and more importantly, fun to take down. Everything from Zombiemen to Cyberdemons require their own strategy and plan to take down efficiently, and it never gets old, in no small part thanks to the ever-iconic weapon selection. The shotgun, chainsaw, plasma rifle, rocket launcher, and of course the BFG, are all a blast to use from start to finish, but never left me feeling overpowered. The challenge ramped up slowly but surely, and nothing ever felt unfair. Challenging, sure, but completely fair, and even when it felt overwhelming, that kickass metal MIDI soundtrack kept me going through it all.

Doom is maybe the most important game ever made. But if you put that legacy aside, and treat it for what it is, does it still hold up? In my mind, yes, absolutely.

Obey is an action, obedience a state of being, come and join us to see, the video game violence~

You can't just blow mars.

Doom Eternal is exactly what makes Doom Doom. Incredibly kinetic, easy to understand/hard to master gameplay focused on movement and split second strategy, ass-kicking music, and a straight up dogshit story. Combining one of my favorite selections of weapons in video game history with an incredible rock-paper-scissors dynamic with managing your resources, Doom Eternal is a game that makes you feel like you're truly accomplishing something at every moment. Also, not gonna be all eloquent about this, but I just fucking adore slayer gates.

Not every level is a home run, not every enemy is fun to deal with, and that story is some ass, but Doom Eternal is exactly what it needs to be. It's DOOM.

Resident Evil 4's legacy is one that can't be fairly put into words, it functionally invented a genre, rose its franchise to legend status, and became the game to be for many, many years. following the announcement of its recently released remake, it became the focal point of a heated debate about whether or not we should attempt to recreate greatness. this is why i chose to sit down and fully complete the game, and, while i can't downplay how much of a masterpiece it is, it's one with many, many cracks.

the whole first half is incredible. controls are snappy, gunning down ganados through the village is incredibly satisfying, pushing your way through waves of cultists in the castle is consistently fun, but near the tail end of the castle, things take a noticeable turn. the fight with salazar was a slog, the first few areas of the island are full of bullet sponges and insanely high damage enemies, and it all just becomes repetitive and boring quick. the final boss against saddler is disappointingly short and easy, and the game ends on a pretty sour note. i adored my time with Resident Evil 4 overall, but at the end of the day, sometimes, masterpieces are far from perfect.