GearStrike
1997
An absolute fast-paced, head-spinning, explosive platformer/shooter hybrid with a killer mechanical techno soundtrack. Made by the Jumping Flash folks (Exact) and animation by Production I.G, a licensed tie-in that makes the epitome of an arcade-style game for a home console. Short, sweet, hard as nails, and repayable for not just speed but also score.
Excellent stuff.
Excellent stuff.
2006
I'll be honest, the only reason I have this at a 3.5/5 is because I legit sank over 100 hours in this just finding bugs, glitching the hell out of it, and speedrunning it. It's not a good game by any stretch but it's a fantastic case study of what went wrong with its development and honestly has a killer soundtrack.
A product of very unfortunate circumstances and it could've been a lot more.
A product of very unfortunate circumstances and it could've been a lot more.
2005
It's unfair how good everything in this game feels.
1980
Pac these nuts. Gottem.
1983
Gorgeously animated sequences with very...unfortunately hard to read gameplay. Later revisions/ports of this game definitely help it a lot with actual heads up displays. A lot of fun just failing to see what happens as well so death feels more like a gag than it does a punishment.
Also Dirk is a weenie and he rules.
Also Dirk is a weenie and he rules.
2021
One of the most intense, unnerving, hilarious, and disgusting immersive FPS I have ever played. Every sense is assaulted, every action you make is chastised, and the world is a god damn nightmare hellscape run by hyper capitalists and techbros.
Everything from level design to weapon functionality, to even the armor/body augments are so lovingly picked and crafted that it astonishes me that this is all done by one guy. An absolute marvel of a video game and one of the greatest titles I've played in my life.
Also peel the onion.
Everything from level design to weapon functionality, to even the armor/body augments are so lovingly picked and crafted that it astonishes me that this is all done by one guy. An absolute marvel of a video game and one of the greatest titles I've played in my life.
Also peel the onion.
1992
On the technical side of things, I find this game neat if insanely unoptimized. Sadly, as a whole the game's just kinda...alright.
Soundtrack mega-slams hard though.
Soundtrack mega-slams hard though.
Beefy Wizard solves puzzles to impossibly hot jams and it plays damn alright.
1998
An astonishing dungeon crawler/horror game with an absurd amount of story and lore with a very grim twist on everything. The gameplay, while a little sluggish, has so many tricks and ways to mess with inventory/enemies that you can always find a situation you can worm out of. A top to bottom masterclass of its time and still one of the most beautiful things I have ever played.
Highest marks, and my number one favorite game of all time.
Highest marks, and my number one favorite game of all time.
1998
One of my favorite messes of all time.
A game that's both outdated and ahead of the curve in terms of mechanics/flow in a platformer.
A genuinely interesting plot marred by such poor cutscene work in terms of camera/animation.
Captivating levels and worlds hampered by fiddly collision.
Legit have no idea how this game is simultaneously a huge disaster but also one of the greatest platformers released in the 90s and one of the best games I had ever played. You can tell the devs went out of their way to make it as "Sonic" as possible. Worth a play to just be enraptured by how a paradox of a game is one of the greatest things to ever play.
Also the soundtrack is legit the greatest thing to ever happen to video games.
A game that's both outdated and ahead of the curve in terms of mechanics/flow in a platformer.
A genuinely interesting plot marred by such poor cutscene work in terms of camera/animation.
Captivating levels and worlds hampered by fiddly collision.
Legit have no idea how this game is simultaneously a huge disaster but also one of the greatest platformers released in the 90s and one of the best games I had ever played. You can tell the devs went out of their way to make it as "Sonic" as possible. Worth a play to just be enraptured by how a paradox of a game is one of the greatest things to ever play.
Also the soundtrack is legit the greatest thing to ever happen to video games.
I'm struggling to put into words how I feel about this game as it's just a gorgeous and horrifying look into a dystopia gone mad. An 'aesthetic' game on many levels with a soundtrack that KILLS IT every second it's playing.
Others have gone into the political plot points and such and how it all ties together better than I ever could have. Absolutely worth your time.
Others have gone into the political plot points and such and how it all ties together better than I ever could have. Absolutely worth your time.
2016
World's best rail shooter gets an update with one of the greatest additions (Area X) of all time to go with it.
2001
An hour long rail shooter featuring some of the most gorgeous visuals and a soundtrack to compliment it perfectly. Simple to play, hard to master, ludicrous to score attack. A very transcendental game for me personally and one I can actively recommend to everyone looking for something that just goes above and beyond with so little.
A video game about making video games while showing love for video games but also the baggage that comes from making video games.
Suda's absolute masterpiece for putting himself out there in writing and showing his struggles and love for the industry he's put work into for decades now.
Everything from the bizarre levels, absolutely eccentric soundtrack, and writing that puts it at the top of Suda game. This game is a bizarrely bland but also engaging piece of work with some of the wildest choices I've seen in terms of aesthetics and references.
The gameplay definitely won't be for everyone and it definitely drags for too long in a few stages, but I'll tell you one thing:
The second DLC is one of the greatest pieces of gaming media ever created and drops this for a boss tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eemi8NrrPTE
Suda's absolute masterpiece for putting himself out there in writing and showing his struggles and love for the industry he's put work into for decades now.
Everything from the bizarre levels, absolutely eccentric soundtrack, and writing that puts it at the top of Suda game. This game is a bizarrely bland but also engaging piece of work with some of the wildest choices I've seen in terms of aesthetics and references.
The gameplay definitely won't be for everyone and it definitely drags for too long in a few stages, but I'll tell you one thing:
The second DLC is one of the greatest pieces of gaming media ever created and drops this for a boss tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eemi8NrrPTE
2007
Character Action Games peaked with this game and haven't come CLOSE to ever matching the writing/gameplay chops this game provides. Perfect implementation of dull with exciting, boring with visceral, quiet with loud. Absolutely worth a spin with the modern port on Switch.