Generalkenyobi
2020
While a fantastic and mostly faithful remake, Resident evil 3 suffers from having too short of a campaign that runs at about 5 hours long and while I understand it's a remake of a PS1 game, to have someone pay $60 for a brand new game and be able to finish it in the same day is a little bit ridiculous in todays day and age. Nemesis himself, who in the original could show up at any time while the player wasn't expecting it, in this one he has only scripted sections that he appears in and little else. He's supposed to be a more powerful version of Mr. X from the Resident evil 2 remake but he's less threatening and easier to get away from as long as you know where you need to go next. While the second remake had the player confined to the location (Like the RPD station) this game is supposed to be able to travel all over Raccoon city but yet still feels more linear than the previous entry. Not to imply that it should feel like an open world game, but a little more open than it was. Those criticisms aside, I still quite enjoy this game and have played through it a few times since it came out and am still not tired of it. I just hope that if Capcom so chooses to do another REmake that they don't make the same mistakes that they made with this one.
Resident Evil has been for the last few years an absolute godsend for me. Ever since I first got fully immersed in the series in 2017 with the release of Resident evil 7 and again in 2019 with the release of the Resident evil 2 remake, I've been able to find something to love about (almost) each game in the main series and 8 or Village is no exception to this rule. It was without a doubt the most hyped game of the year for me so was it worth all that hype? Well let's get into it. Resident evil Village, much like its predecessor is a first person shooter/Survival horror game but this time being more reminiscent of some of the more actiony titles in the series, such as Resident evil 4. In fact it's very clear that Resident evil 4 was a huge influence on this game, as it has a lot more action oriented gameplay as well as the setting which takes place in an Eastern European village much like the previously mentioned game did. In terms of gameplay, it's mostly the same as 7 but with some new elements added, such as the improved inventory system and some smaller adjustments like encouraging you to block and be more defensive than in 7. Enemies this time around range from Lycans and werewolves, to 9 foot vampire ladies and things I don't even want to describe in this review both for spoiler reasons but also because they really did terrify me. Speaking of which, while I admit to being a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to Horror games, there is one section of this game that has scared me more than any other horror content and has made me not want to ever go back and replay this game, simply because I don't ever want to experience that part of the game again, take that as you will. Story wise, this game has a few twists and turns that I will not talk about as that would ruin the purpose of playing the game, but the basic gist is that Ethan is in this village looking for his newborn daughter, Rose and has to face off against a new group of villains who make the Baker family look tame. You're all probably well aware of Lady Dimitrescu or as the internet calls her, "Mommy" but there's also some new villains that you don't see much of in the trailers like Lady Beneviento and Heisenberg who definitely add some depth to the games story and make it that much more exciting to play. The game may not be the best in the series, and it may also not be your GOTY but for me it was well worth the price of admission and I swear that one of these days I'll be brave enough to go back and play through it again and hopefully this time I won't go running straight towards Mommy Vampire and let her kill me again and again.
I mentioned in my reviews of other Dark pictures games that while they were alright by themselves, they paled in comparison with Supermassive's masterpiece of horror "Until Dawn". It's clear to me though that the company has listened to the fans complaints and took some extra time to improve upon this game as it was delayed and some extra work was done on it to make it a bit closer to their previous work, and I for one think it worked out in the end. First off, this game definitely feels longer than the previous two games which was one of my initial complaints, I don't expect an interactive drama to be very long but the previous two games felt very short, especially when compared to Until Dawn (And yes, I'm going to continue to use that game as a reference point) but this one felt like it was long enough without feeling so long that it ever dragged at any point. Another big improvement was the storyline and characters, while the characters were nothing to write home about, I did enjoy the drama between them and actually found myself caring a bit about them, and wanting to keep as many of them alive as I could, as is the main goal of the game. As for the storyline, I thought it was a pretty original take combining elements from movies such as John Carpenter's "The Thing" but mostly from "The Descent", an often overlooked but masterful and suspenseful horror film from 2005. I obviously don't want to get too into the story as I'll end up giving stuff away but I will say that it was much more enjoyable, particularly finding artifacts from past characters who have their own story to tell within the story of the game itself. If you were not a big fan of "Man of Medan" or "Little hope" like I was, then I encourage you to at least give this one a try, it's the same game for the most part but the story and characters are more reminiscent of Until Dawn so that fans of that game will likely be pleasantly surprised and find that this game is worth the price.
This review contains spoilers
I wanted to love this game, I really really did. I thought the concept was really cool as I'm very interested in the old Witch trials stories and when I saw the trailers for this game I thought it looked really spooky and like it'd be a lot of fun to play so I thought it would be a big improvement over Man of Medan, I was almost correct. OK first off if you've played Until dawn or Man of medan then you've pretty much already experienced this kind of gameplay so I'm gonna skip straight to the story, once again spoilers will be present.
So the story begins with a prologue where we meet a relatively normal family living in the 1970's, there's the two parents and 4 children. One night the house catches on fire and all but one of the people in the house are killed, this doesn't really seem to have anything to do with the story at first but we'll get back to it. Afterwards we meet a group of college students and their professor who are riding a bus and need to take a detour through a town called Little hope which is famous for its history in the witch trials of the old days. The bus crashes and the bus driver is nowhere to be seen when everyone wakes up so they must travel through the town in order to find a way out, along the way they find a bar where a strange man is seen drinking alone and says some rather strange things to you when you go in there, you encounter him a few more times throughout the game but he doesn't pay a big role just yet. Afterwards the group splits up and begin exploring the town together, as they do they encounter spirits that take them into the past to witness the witch trials that occurred and many of the people from the flashbacks represent the people in the modern world, as you make choices you can influence what happens in the flashbacks and the modern world. While exploring the town you also encounter some strange looking demons that all look like they've been killed in some gruesome way. You will often have to do quick time events and make decisions to help all your characters survive their encounters with these demons and it can be easier said than done. Anyways the game up until this point was pretty interesting and spooky for me but then we get to the ending and that's what ruined it for me. When the game ends you find out that all of the characters besides one are just illusions that the kid who survived the fire made up in his head, based on all his family members that died in the fire, the demons that chase them are all based on how the people in the fire died and so none of them were ever in any actual danger, it was just some guy hallucinating the whole time. Turns out he was the bus driver, driving an empty bus and the man in the bar was his sisters boyfriend back in the 70's, all the people you encounter from the witch trials are also hallucinations. The reason I didn't like this is because I feel like the whole "It was all just a dream" ending is so stupid and overdone that it just ruins whatever story is being told, I realize the developers basically just wanted to blow our minds like they did in Until Dawn but it just doesn't work here and honestly it disappointed me so much that I really have no desire to every try this game again even though it has multiple endings.
So the story begins with a prologue where we meet a relatively normal family living in the 1970's, there's the two parents and 4 children. One night the house catches on fire and all but one of the people in the house are killed, this doesn't really seem to have anything to do with the story at first but we'll get back to it. Afterwards we meet a group of college students and their professor who are riding a bus and need to take a detour through a town called Little hope which is famous for its history in the witch trials of the old days. The bus crashes and the bus driver is nowhere to be seen when everyone wakes up so they must travel through the town in order to find a way out, along the way they find a bar where a strange man is seen drinking alone and says some rather strange things to you when you go in there, you encounter him a few more times throughout the game but he doesn't pay a big role just yet. Afterwards the group splits up and begin exploring the town together, as they do they encounter spirits that take them into the past to witness the witch trials that occurred and many of the people from the flashbacks represent the people in the modern world, as you make choices you can influence what happens in the flashbacks and the modern world. While exploring the town you also encounter some strange looking demons that all look like they've been killed in some gruesome way. You will often have to do quick time events and make decisions to help all your characters survive their encounters with these demons and it can be easier said than done. Anyways the game up until this point was pretty interesting and spooky for me but then we get to the ending and that's what ruined it for me. When the game ends you find out that all of the characters besides one are just illusions that the kid who survived the fire made up in his head, based on all his family members that died in the fire, the demons that chase them are all based on how the people in the fire died and so none of them were ever in any actual danger, it was just some guy hallucinating the whole time. Turns out he was the bus driver, driving an empty bus and the man in the bar was his sisters boyfriend back in the 70's, all the people you encounter from the witch trials are also hallucinations. The reason I didn't like this is because I feel like the whole "It was all just a dream" ending is so stupid and overdone that it just ruins whatever story is being told, I realize the developers basically just wanted to blow our minds like they did in Until Dawn but it just doesn't work here and honestly it disappointed me so much that I really have no desire to every try this game again even though it has multiple endings.
Just a fair warning, I can't really review this game without spoilers so if that's not your thing then be warned.
So way back in 2015 Supermassive games came out with their absolute horror masterpiece game "Until Dawn", if you've read my review of Until dawn then you probably already know it's among my favorite games ever and probably my favorite horror game. While it is unlikely that Until Dawn will ever see a true sequel, the developers have been working on a new series of anthology games that are all spiritual successors to UD as they play very similarly and are all horror games where everyone can either live or die. The first of these was Man of Medan. So how does Man of Medan stand up to its predecessor? Well, not incredibly well, it's a good game no doubt, but it's kinda just OK in my opinion. First off the gameplay is mostly the same as Until dawn like I mentioned, you play as a group of characters who are trying to survive their horror movie setting and their fates are in your hands as you make decisions for them and manipulate the game's story based on those decisions. There is once again items for you to collect in the form of these portraits which give you possible hints at future events and there are plenty of exploring sections to go through, there's also a new feature where you have to press certain buttons in rhythm in order to avoid being detected by an enemy character, I found these to be a little frustrating but they didn't really explain them super well, no big deal though.
The real highlight of a game like this though is always its story so how's this one? Well like I said it's alright. First off this game is way shorter than Until Dawn, while Until Dawn can take the average person about 6-8 hours to complete assuming you're also trying to get all collectibles and explore as much as you can. This game I'd say will take you about half that time, again assuming you're exploring and trying to find everything. The story this time around is you are playing as 4 friends who are out on a deep sea diving trip looking for a lost WWII ship said to be full of treasure. While they are out at sea, they encounter a group of pirates who take them hostage and bring them to the ship in hopes that they will be able to force them to find the treasure known only as "The urca gold". Not much is known about the Urca gold or the sailors who died on the ship but based on the games prologue we can assume they saw some really crazy things on the ship prior to them all going missing. While you and the friends are on the ship your main objective is to find a way to escape from the pirates but also you begin encountering some weird things much like the sailors did, I'm going to get into spoiler territory now so be warned. It turns out that the Urca Gold is not gold at all but is actually a hallucinogen that causes the people who breathe it in to see weird and scary things but of course none of them are actually real. As they travel the ship, the group of friends and the pirates succumb to the effects of the drug and while the friends are able to figure it out, the pirates aren't so lucky. The game obviously has many different endings depending on how you play but somehow I managed to keep everybody alive on my first playthrough which I really was not expecting but I guess I've seen enough movies that I know what decisions to make. Anyways, I was also able to figure out the "twist" of this one fairly easily so it wasn't much of a surprise to me when it came up and overall I thought it was just OK, personally I don't like stories that rely heavily on a twist in order to make it exciting, and that's exactly the problem with this game, it just isn't that interesting. The characters I didn't feel like I knew at all and I frankly just didn't care whether any of them lived or died, add the lame twist into everything and I felt that this was a pretty disappointing and underwhelming experience especially when compared with the last game that this company made. If you love Until Dawn like I did then you might enjoy this one but don't expect too much.
So way back in 2015 Supermassive games came out with their absolute horror masterpiece game "Until Dawn", if you've read my review of Until dawn then you probably already know it's among my favorite games ever and probably my favorite horror game. While it is unlikely that Until Dawn will ever see a true sequel, the developers have been working on a new series of anthology games that are all spiritual successors to UD as they play very similarly and are all horror games where everyone can either live or die. The first of these was Man of Medan. So how does Man of Medan stand up to its predecessor? Well, not incredibly well, it's a good game no doubt, but it's kinda just OK in my opinion. First off the gameplay is mostly the same as Until dawn like I mentioned, you play as a group of characters who are trying to survive their horror movie setting and their fates are in your hands as you make decisions for them and manipulate the game's story based on those decisions. There is once again items for you to collect in the form of these portraits which give you possible hints at future events and there are plenty of exploring sections to go through, there's also a new feature where you have to press certain buttons in rhythm in order to avoid being detected by an enemy character, I found these to be a little frustrating but they didn't really explain them super well, no big deal though.
The real highlight of a game like this though is always its story so how's this one? Well like I said it's alright. First off this game is way shorter than Until Dawn, while Until Dawn can take the average person about 6-8 hours to complete assuming you're also trying to get all collectibles and explore as much as you can. This game I'd say will take you about half that time, again assuming you're exploring and trying to find everything. The story this time around is you are playing as 4 friends who are out on a deep sea diving trip looking for a lost WWII ship said to be full of treasure. While they are out at sea, they encounter a group of pirates who take them hostage and bring them to the ship in hopes that they will be able to force them to find the treasure known only as "The urca gold". Not much is known about the Urca gold or the sailors who died on the ship but based on the games prologue we can assume they saw some really crazy things on the ship prior to them all going missing. While you and the friends are on the ship your main objective is to find a way to escape from the pirates but also you begin encountering some weird things much like the sailors did, I'm going to get into spoiler territory now so be warned. It turns out that the Urca Gold is not gold at all but is actually a hallucinogen that causes the people who breathe it in to see weird and scary things but of course none of them are actually real. As they travel the ship, the group of friends and the pirates succumb to the effects of the drug and while the friends are able to figure it out, the pirates aren't so lucky. The game obviously has many different endings depending on how you play but somehow I managed to keep everybody alive on my first playthrough which I really was not expecting but I guess I've seen enough movies that I know what decisions to make. Anyways, I was also able to figure out the "twist" of this one fairly easily so it wasn't much of a surprise to me when it came up and overall I thought it was just OK, personally I don't like stories that rely heavily on a twist in order to make it exciting, and that's exactly the problem with this game, it just isn't that interesting. The characters I didn't feel like I knew at all and I frankly just didn't care whether any of them lived or died, add the lame twist into everything and I felt that this was a pretty disappointing and underwhelming experience especially when compared with the last game that this company made. If you love Until Dawn like I did then you might enjoy this one but don't expect too much.
For me and many others for that matter, this was the last Great Assassins creed game. Unfortunately after this one there came a new game every year and they were all virtually the same and for me personally this is what killed the franchise for me, I have yet to try Origins or any of the ones after but I'll be honest I don't have much interest in it. Anyways let's talk about this one though, not only was this the last great game in the series but it was also one of the absolute best too. Probably the thing that separates this the most from the other games was the ship mechanics, seeing as you play as a pirate in this game and most of the game itself is on the water while the rest is on several islands of the Caribbean. When controlling your ship you traverse the waters listening to your shipmates singing your favorite shanties and occasionally come across other ships that you can choose to fight and take down and get money and materials in return as well as coming across whales and sharks that you can hunt. As you play you upgrade your ship and add new features to it such as a diving bell which allows you to dive down and raid shipwrecks for treasures and materials, and when you're ready there's even "boss level" ships that you can fight and take down for huge rewards but I'll tell ya they're not easy.
The other parts of the game are played on land which is pretty much your standard Assassins creed gameplay, Edward Kenway carries a good plethora of weapons including hidden blades, flintlock pistols, two swords, etc. which you can use to fight enemies, hunt animals and of course there's all the climbing and parkour that you use to traverse the towns and islands to find treasures, new shanties, climb towers, etc.
Finally let's talk about the story, well if you played the last game you're aware of Haythem and Connor Kenway who fought on opposite sides in the Revolutionary war, however in this game you play as Connors grandfather Edward Kenway who was one of the greatest pirates during the golden age. Edward starts out as a standard pirate who accidentally comes across an assassin who he kills and then steals his weapons and gear and is later mistaken as part of the assassins order, which he chooses to join simply for the sake of collecting more pirate booty but also to get back at the the British Navy for being a constant pain in the neck. In true Assassins creed fashion, you come across plenty of real historical figures such as James Kidd, Mary Read, and of course our old boy Blackbeard himself, all of which are really well done in this game and as someone who's a huge fan of the real history of pirates I thought they did the real figures justice. Overall an awesome game and it's a shame that we likely won't see another game like this.
The other parts of the game are played on land which is pretty much your standard Assassins creed gameplay, Edward Kenway carries a good plethora of weapons including hidden blades, flintlock pistols, two swords, etc. which you can use to fight enemies, hunt animals and of course there's all the climbing and parkour that you use to traverse the towns and islands to find treasures, new shanties, climb towers, etc.
Finally let's talk about the story, well if you played the last game you're aware of Haythem and Connor Kenway who fought on opposite sides in the Revolutionary war, however in this game you play as Connors grandfather Edward Kenway who was one of the greatest pirates during the golden age. Edward starts out as a standard pirate who accidentally comes across an assassin who he kills and then steals his weapons and gear and is later mistaken as part of the assassins order, which he chooses to join simply for the sake of collecting more pirate booty but also to get back at the the British Navy for being a constant pain in the neck. In true Assassins creed fashion, you come across plenty of real historical figures such as James Kidd, Mary Read, and of course our old boy Blackbeard himself, all of which are really well done in this game and as someone who's a huge fan of the real history of pirates I thought they did the real figures justice. Overall an awesome game and it's a shame that we likely won't see another game like this.
So unless you've been living under a rock for the past 23 years or so then you've probably been made well aware of the hit fighting series known as "Super Smash bros", in practice it's such a simple concept but yet it works so damn well, the one most people consider to be the "best" in the series is of course the second entry on the gamecube (that's this one) and there's a good reason for it, I mean there's a reason why so many people still play this game to this day and swear that it's the only smash bros game that they will play in tournaments and such so let's get into it.
If you're unfamiliar with SSB, here's the basic gist of it. It's a 4 player fighting game where everyone controls some kind of Nintendo character, while the first game was considered a big hit and important for its time, it was this game that really set the standards for the series and for pretty much all fighting games that came after it. The thing that made this one in particular so much better than the first had to do with the hugely expanded roster of characters and stages, the introduction of many new game modes for both single player and multiplayer, as well as much improved moves and mechanics for all new and old characters. While most characters here are unique there are plenty of copycats (Dr. Mario, Young Link, Pichu, etc.) but that didn't deter people from wanting to unlock every character possible and let me tell ya, back then the stakes for doing so were brutal. In order to unlock Mewtwo, the one everyone wanted most you had to play the game for a total of 20 hours or 700 matches, now that's insane! Granted when we were kids we'd just keep the gamecube on all night and then play it again in the morning to unlock him but man I can still remember when someone finally told me the secret to unlocking him and I honestly couldn't even believe it. While many people will vouch for Smash ultimate on the switch as being the best smash game (and for good reason) there's just no beating a classic like Melee.
If you're unfamiliar with SSB, here's the basic gist of it. It's a 4 player fighting game where everyone controls some kind of Nintendo character, while the first game was considered a big hit and important for its time, it was this game that really set the standards for the series and for pretty much all fighting games that came after it. The thing that made this one in particular so much better than the first had to do with the hugely expanded roster of characters and stages, the introduction of many new game modes for both single player and multiplayer, as well as much improved moves and mechanics for all new and old characters. While most characters here are unique there are plenty of copycats (Dr. Mario, Young Link, Pichu, etc.) but that didn't deter people from wanting to unlock every character possible and let me tell ya, back then the stakes for doing so were brutal. In order to unlock Mewtwo, the one everyone wanted most you had to play the game for a total of 20 hours or 700 matches, now that's insane! Granted when we were kids we'd just keep the gamecube on all night and then play it again in the morning to unlock him but man I can still remember when someone finally told me the secret to unlocking him and I honestly couldn't even believe it. While many people will vouch for Smash ultimate on the switch as being the best smash game (and for good reason) there's just no beating a classic like Melee.
2012
Did I ever tell you, the definition of insanity? No? OK well Insanity is how often people quoted this game and still thinking it was clever. OK but seriously this game was really awesome when it came out and honestly it still holds up for me to this day. So I've never really been hugely into the Far Cry series, I never played the first two and I was not a fan of Far Cry 5 (though I might be willing to give it another chance). This however was a a seriously breath of fresh air in the FPS genre at a time when it was becoming stale and overly saturated. So first, the gameplay. This is more or less your standard FPS however it's also a totally open world game where you can explore this entire group of islands by foot or by vehicle and there's a ton for you to do besides just complete missions. There's plenty of radio towers for you to climb and give you access to more of the map, there's enemy outposts you can liberate in order to give you and your team their own bases, there's treasure hunting, animal hunting, crafting new items, there's a ton you can do here. One thing that I love about this one is how you really don't have to follow any sort of set path, you can just go anywhere you want and do things how you prefer to do them, do you prefer the stealth approach? Or do you prefer to just go in all guns blazing? Either approach is doable here and you play it how YOU want to.
OK now let's talk about the story, so the basic story is that you and your friends are supposed to be enjoying your vacation on a tropical island but instead you get kidnapped by pirates who are led by Vaas, a really awesome and absolutely crazy villain who you will encounter on many occasions. Vaas and his pirates basically rule this island and keep its inhabitants in check, however there is a small resistance group that you will help fight back against him and in exchange they will allow you and your friends a safe passage out of here. For the most part the story isn't amazing or anything, but it's good, the only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the ending which I won't spoil for you here but I will say that it involves you making a fatal choice at the end of all things, this choice will determine which ending you get and to be quite honest neither one is preferable, but the game is still well worth playing.
OK now let's talk about the story, so the basic story is that you and your friends are supposed to be enjoying your vacation on a tropical island but instead you get kidnapped by pirates who are led by Vaas, a really awesome and absolutely crazy villain who you will encounter on many occasions. Vaas and his pirates basically rule this island and keep its inhabitants in check, however there is a small resistance group that you will help fight back against him and in exchange they will allow you and your friends a safe passage out of here. For the most part the story isn't amazing or anything, but it's good, the only thing I wasn't a huge fan of was the ending which I won't spoil for you here but I will say that it involves you making a fatal choice at the end of all things, this choice will determine which ending you get and to be quite honest neither one is preferable, but the game is still well worth playing.
I'm gonna warn you now, this is going to be a really long review and will contain spoilers for the story mode, so if you can get through the whole thing then I really appreciate you, but boy do I have a lot to say about this game.
Red Dead Redemption may often just get called GTA in the old west and while that is a fairly accurate comparison, it's so much more than that and frankly I think this series is miles better than any GTA game I've ever played. First and foremost the environment in this game is G O R G E O U S, seriously it might be one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. The map is huge, the environments are full of life and realism, there's so so much for you to find and to do it's unbelievable that a game this huge could even exist but if anyone was to pull it off, it would be rockstar. There's also so much to do in this game, if following the story is not your thing (which if it is, shame on you because this story is one of the best ever!) but as you explore the game you'll find all kinds of things to do, there's fishing, hunting, people you can help or people you can rob, you can pull off train robberies and bank heists, you can play poker or dominoes, you can do so so much in this game! The gunplay is a little different this time around so it will take some getting used to but personally I like it as it's more realistic. See since most weapons back then had to be cocked manually before you could shoot them, you have to hit the trigger on the controller twice in order to shoot again regardless of what weapon you're using, some people won't like this but I found it to be more enjoyable and made a lot of encounters way more intense. As I mentioned the story is fantastic but the gameplay during a lot of these missions is so much fun to play, there's one mission in particular where you and most of the gang all walk up together to this big mansion in order to save a young boy who was kidnapped, and as you can expect you have to shoot your way out, and that's only one! there's train robberies, bank robberies, straight up gang wars between you and the rival gang the O'Driscols, there's just so much fun to be had here, but the real cream de la crop is the story, so let's talk about that now.
Now if you're familiar with the first game, you probably know who John Marston is, in the first game John would often talk about the old days of running in the Dutch Van Der Linde gang alongside many of his compadres. While John is present in this game he is not the main character this time around, this time you play as a man named Arthur Morgan, at first I did not know what to think of Arthur but as I played through the 60+ hour campaign I grew to love him in ways I never even thought possible, he is without a doubt my favorite video game character I've ever had the pleasure to play as, I realize that's a high honor but I do mean it. As Arthur you run with the gang to pull off jobs and run from the Pinkerton detective agency, as well as face off against rival gangs. Dutch, the leader of the gang is always talking to everyone about his dream for them to escape from America, a land once thought to be free but is now being plagued by modernization and the takeover of society, where people like Dutch and his gang are no longer welcome. Dutch always having been a dreamer believes that they must pull off "one last big score" and only then they will have enough to flee the country and go somewhere where they can truly be free to live out the rest of their days. There are many complex and amazing characters here besides Arthur, Dutch, Hosea, Charles, Sadie, I could go on and on, by the end the gang really felt like a family to me than just some characters in a game which is what makes it so much sadder at the end when the gang eventually splits up and people go their separate ways. I don't want to give away too much of the story but you likely know this by now, about 3 quarters into the story Arthur contracts Tiberculosis and is informed that he will soon die, so in his final moments he chooses who he wants to be remembered as. Now the player has the option to choose what kind of person Arthur is but I like to think he would have always made the "good" choices in all these situations, he spent time with the woman he loved but could never live with because of who he was, he helped John get away from the gang and find a way to keep his family safe, he helped many of the people whose lives he made worse prior to the end of the story. Arthur may not necessarily be the chaotic good character we want him to be, but by the end he definitely is a much better person than he was. There's one particular cutscene in the game that always makes me emotional every time I see it, where Arthur tells a nun he knows about his wife and son who sadly passed away years ago and how he wants to be a good person but feels that it's not possible because of who he's been in his past, and that while he thinks he's not worthy of much he's still afraid of dying now that death is staring him right in the face.This of course makes Arthurs eventual death that much tragic by the end and I'm not afraid to tell you that I shed a few tears when I saw him go out the way he did. After Arthur passes you play through a slow and not as exciting epilogue as John where he tries to begin his new life with his family (only to have him eventually be pursued by the pinkertons again and the set the events of the first game in motion) so while the game does end a bit on a lower note, the rest of it really makes up for it and makes this game undoubtedly one of my all time favorites.
Red Dead Redemption may often just get called GTA in the old west and while that is a fairly accurate comparison, it's so much more than that and frankly I think this series is miles better than any GTA game I've ever played. First and foremost the environment in this game is G O R G E O U S, seriously it might be one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. The map is huge, the environments are full of life and realism, there's so so much for you to find and to do it's unbelievable that a game this huge could even exist but if anyone was to pull it off, it would be rockstar. There's also so much to do in this game, if following the story is not your thing (which if it is, shame on you because this story is one of the best ever!) but as you explore the game you'll find all kinds of things to do, there's fishing, hunting, people you can help or people you can rob, you can pull off train robberies and bank heists, you can play poker or dominoes, you can do so so much in this game! The gunplay is a little different this time around so it will take some getting used to but personally I like it as it's more realistic. See since most weapons back then had to be cocked manually before you could shoot them, you have to hit the trigger on the controller twice in order to shoot again regardless of what weapon you're using, some people won't like this but I found it to be more enjoyable and made a lot of encounters way more intense. As I mentioned the story is fantastic but the gameplay during a lot of these missions is so much fun to play, there's one mission in particular where you and most of the gang all walk up together to this big mansion in order to save a young boy who was kidnapped, and as you can expect you have to shoot your way out, and that's only one! there's train robberies, bank robberies, straight up gang wars between you and the rival gang the O'Driscols, there's just so much fun to be had here, but the real cream de la crop is the story, so let's talk about that now.
Now if you're familiar with the first game, you probably know who John Marston is, in the first game John would often talk about the old days of running in the Dutch Van Der Linde gang alongside many of his compadres. While John is present in this game he is not the main character this time around, this time you play as a man named Arthur Morgan, at first I did not know what to think of Arthur but as I played through the 60+ hour campaign I grew to love him in ways I never even thought possible, he is without a doubt my favorite video game character I've ever had the pleasure to play as, I realize that's a high honor but I do mean it. As Arthur you run with the gang to pull off jobs and run from the Pinkerton detective agency, as well as face off against rival gangs. Dutch, the leader of the gang is always talking to everyone about his dream for them to escape from America, a land once thought to be free but is now being plagued by modernization and the takeover of society, where people like Dutch and his gang are no longer welcome. Dutch always having been a dreamer believes that they must pull off "one last big score" and only then they will have enough to flee the country and go somewhere where they can truly be free to live out the rest of their days. There are many complex and amazing characters here besides Arthur, Dutch, Hosea, Charles, Sadie, I could go on and on, by the end the gang really felt like a family to me than just some characters in a game which is what makes it so much sadder at the end when the gang eventually splits up and people go their separate ways. I don't want to give away too much of the story but you likely know this by now, about 3 quarters into the story Arthur contracts Tiberculosis and is informed that he will soon die, so in his final moments he chooses who he wants to be remembered as. Now the player has the option to choose what kind of person Arthur is but I like to think he would have always made the "good" choices in all these situations, he spent time with the woman he loved but could never live with because of who he was, he helped John get away from the gang and find a way to keep his family safe, he helped many of the people whose lives he made worse prior to the end of the story. Arthur may not necessarily be the chaotic good character we want him to be, but by the end he definitely is a much better person than he was. There's one particular cutscene in the game that always makes me emotional every time I see it, where Arthur tells a nun he knows about his wife and son who sadly passed away years ago and how he wants to be a good person but feels that it's not possible because of who he's been in his past, and that while he thinks he's not worthy of much he's still afraid of dying now that death is staring him right in the face.This of course makes Arthurs eventual death that much tragic by the end and I'm not afraid to tell you that I shed a few tears when I saw him go out the way he did. After Arthur passes you play through a slow and not as exciting epilogue as John where he tries to begin his new life with his family (only to have him eventually be pursued by the pinkertons again and the set the events of the first game in motion) so while the game does end a bit on a lower note, the rest of it really makes up for it and makes this game undoubtedly one of my all time favorites.
2019
I'd like to begin by saying that THIS IS HOW YOU REMAKE A GAME. OK so truth be told, years ago I was not the biggest Resident evil fan, while I loved Resident evil 4 I was not impressed with 5 or 6 and any of the ones that came before 4 while good games were very dated in my opinion. The graphics of those games had not aged well whatsoever and frankly I have never been a fan of the tank controls and fixed camera angles. So when I found out that they would be remaking resident evil 2 but in a similar style to 4 with the third person over the shoulder view I was very interested. This game also improves a lot of issues I had with 4 as well such as not being able to shoot and aim at the same time as well as making the movement controls much more solid and playable. On top of that the graphical improvement this game has faced is amazing, the monsters and zombies are terrifying and look horrendous, the human characters look and act real and overall the game just looks and plays in so many ways much better than the originals. The game gives you the option of playing two different campaigns, one as Leon Kennedy and one as Claire Redfield, both campaigns have some seriously intense and amazing moments as well as boss fights and puzzles to solve, each campaign will take you probably about 5 hours or so depending on how much you explore and try to collect stuff, personally I'm not much of a completionist so I skipped over a lot of the extra stuff or stuff I just couldn't find that easily, also what makes me really enjoy this game like other horror games is that it's all about survival and not so much about killing everything in your path. Ammo is limited, healing herbs are limited, you have a small inventory that while it can be made larger, you still need to think about what you're carrying and what you really need and what you don't, much like past games this one also has safety rooms where enemies can't get in and you can utilize the typewriter to save and the safety box to store items you might want to use later. Let's talk about the enemies next, the zombies are your standard enemies being killed fairly easily with a few shots to the head or if you shoot off their legs they'll have a harder time getting after you and attacking you. But the real scary things here are the lickers and of course the famous Mr. X. The lickers can be found in certain rooms, they are blind as bats but can hear you pretty well and can do some serious damage to you if they catch you, they are hard to kill so generally I advise just running past them unless you have a seriously powerful weapon to take them down with. But of course, none of them are even close to the dreaded Mr. X, Mr. X is completely unkillable and takes no damage so don't even bother trying, if you see this dude you run like hell! When you hear that music playing or you hear him stomping around, you know it ain't safe and you want to get out of there as quickly as you can. What's crazy to me though is that Mr. X isn't even the scariest part of this game for me, I don't want to give away too many spoilers but there's one part of the game where you play as a young defenseless girl named Sherry, who is being held captive by the Police chief at the local orphanage, as her you try to escape from him in this terrifying and sadistic game of hide and seek, if he finds you it's an automatic game over and you have to try again. I can't even begin to tell you how many times that mother fucker caught me and I had to hear the same dialogue over and over again, I swear I hear it in my dreams sometimes. Overall this is probably my favorite Resident evil game and one of my top 3 favorite horror games to boot, it is pretty short even when you complete both campaigns but it has a lot of replay value and I've played both campaigns a few times each already and the games only been out for 2 years now, can't wait to see what lies in store for future resident evil remakes.
This review contains spoilers
Oh boy, I've been dreading writing this review for quite some time just because of how divisive and controversial this whole game has been, alright well I'm gonna start by saying that if you disagree with me and you didn't like this game that I will respect your opinion even if I don't agree with it, however if your reasons for not liking it has anything to do with the fact that it includes LGBT characters then I have no desire to talk to you and ask you to kindly move on and not bother me, if it's for other legitimate reasons to not like the game then as I said I will respect your opinion, so long as you respect mine because clearly this was a game that was never going to please everyone, right let's get to the review. Oh and one more thing, there will be spoilers here so be warned.
Alright usually I start by discussing gameplay but why don't we start by addressing the very large elephant in the room. So back in May of 2020 about a month before this game was scheduled to be released, there was some cutscene footage that got leaked to the internet and people saw what was a major plot point of the games story, Joel's death. Now at the time it was perceived that Joel was killed by a complete nobody, although many referred to them by using plenty of slurs so again if that was your issue then I'm not acknowledging you. But in reality, Joel is killed by Abby who is the daughter of the Doctor Joel killed in the first game in order to save Ellies life, he is beaten to death by her with a golf club while Ellie is forced to watch. Now a lot of people complained about Joel getting a "shitty death" and that he "deserved better" but I highly disagree and here's why. First and foremost, not everybody is going to get a heroes death, people essentially wanted Joel to die in a blaze of glory by saving someone or dying in a heroic way or something but instead he got beat to death by someone he wronged and that leads me to my next point. JOEL IS NOT A HERO! While Joel is the main character of the first game and while he did save Ellie's life at the end of that game, he did not do the heroic thing, by killing the doctor and saving Ellie he doomed humanity to continue to live in a post apocalyptic world due to his own selfishness, also I addressed this in my review for the first game but it's heavily hinted at that Joel did some terrible things in the years leading up to the events of the first game, so yeah he is not a hero at all. Is he a bad guy? Well in some ways yes, is he a horrible evil monster with no redeeming qualities? No, did he kinda get what was coming to him though? Well kinda, if you had seen things from Abby's perspective from the beginning then you'd probably think so too but we'll get more into that in a moment, I just had to get that all off my chest.
OK well with that part out of the way, let's talk about the story of this game. So you begin by playing as Ellie as her and her girlfriend Dina travel to Seattle in order to get revenge on the people who killed Joel, they travel around the city fighting off infected as well as two new human factions known as the Wolves and the SCARS, who are simultaneously at war with each other. Ellie is able to infiltrate many of the areas where Abby's group is hiding out and kills several of them before she finds Abby herself. However Abby finds her first and threatens to kill her and her friends (which I'd argue would have been earned seeing as Ellie killed her friends), before we get to see what happens though we start to go into flashbacks and learn Abby's side of the story. Before we continue I want to start by addressing one thing that I think could have made this game a lot better than it was, the game has a lot of flashback sequences that both involve Ellie and Abby's personal stories and frankly I think if we had seen these flashbacks early in the game and if it was told in chronological order it would have improved the overall narrative of the story and might have angered less people about Joel's death now that they see what the consequences of his actions were, instead by including it early on it angered a lot of people who I'm sure didn't even want to continue the game or want to learn Abby's story as they probably already saw her as a cold blooded murderer already. I like to think I was a bit more open minded though and was willing to see her side of things and how she got to where she was in the games story. Anyways these flashbacks do reveal plenty of story to us both for Ellie and Abby. Ellie's reveal that she and Joel while they stayed close after the events at the hospital, she eventually went back and realized that Joel lied to her the whole time, this drove a huge wedge in their relationship and while Joel tried his damndest to make up for it later on, it didn't fully work out. For Abby we learned about who her father was and how he despite not wanting to kill Ellie, knew that it was the only thing that could possibly save humanity and so he was prepared to do what he had to, after her father is killed we then see how this fueled her to become stronger both physically and mentally and she never forgave Joel for what he did, while her priorities were always to her friends she never forgot what he did and knew she'd have her revenge one day. At this point we can see the cycle of violence has already been set in full motion, both Ellie and Abby have lost people at the hands of each other and while both desire to avenge their loved ones, Abby realizes as she's given the perfect opportunity to kill Ellie that this cycle will never end until one of them ends it themselves, so she chooses to spare Ellie's life and tells her she never wants to see her again. Now in my opinion, this would have actually been a good point to end the game but Naughty dog decided to continue anyways. After this we see Ellie start a new life with Dina and their new born child, Abby on the other hand is caught up in the worst part of the war between the wolves and the SCARS, during which she tries to help two SCAR siblings who have been exiled by their group, sadly things do not fully work out and only one of the siblings makes it out alive so Abby vows to protect him, she eventually leaves Seattle and tries to find a new home but gets caught by a whole other group and becomes their prisoner. Meanwhile Ellie unable to forgive what she did, goes after Abby once again and despite having her at a severe disadvantage decides at the last minute not to kill her and to let her live. While I understand the whole "The cycle of violence must end" thing, it really didn't make sense to me that Ellie would have gone all the way to where she went to find Abby and then just stop at the last second, Ellie like Joel, Abby, and many other people in this game had no problem with killing other people so why is it she decided to stop at the last minute? Well I can't say I know, and this is the part of the story I can understand some people being upset about but at the same time I also think this wouldn't have made things better for anyone so while I don't really like this part, I accept it. That's pretty much it for the story, the ending is left a bit open so I suppose there is a possibility of a third game but I will say that I wouldn't really be for or against that idea.
Phew, that was a lot to type, this is turning out to be my longest review yet so if you're still here I really appreciate it, let's talk about the gameplay now. The gameplay is more or less similar to the first game but with some much needed improvements, crafting supplies and ammo are much more scarce than before and make you really consider all your options before handling a situation and overall emphasizing that you must survive above all else. The game also emphasizes a lot on stealth this time around, giving you more options for silent weapons but also encouraging you to sneak around or even run moreso than kill people. Speaking of killing people, the enemies in this game feel much more human than they did in the last game, when you kill a human enemy the others will usually react accordingly by shouting their name or becoming more aggressive now that they've seen you killed one of their comrades. You still fight infected in this game but they're much less frequent and while there's a couple new classes of infected they really aren't the worst thing this time around like they were in the first game. For me the SCARS were easily the scariest thing I had to deal with, I remember when I first started the game I was walking through a dark wooded area and started hearing whistling but could not for the life of me figure out what it was, until I was shot by an arrow and was slowly dying before I could get to cover and heal myself. The SCARS to me are relentless and terrifying, the way they whistle to each other as a form of communication is very unsettling and always gave me anxiety when I came to a new area and couldn't see my enemies, but again that's what stealth is for. Speaking of stealth, you can go prone in this game which makes sneaking around way easier but you also will occasionally have enemies use dogs to track you and believe me I felt horrible having to kill these poor dogs who were just trying to protect their masters, that's one thing this game does super well, it really makes you feel for the people you're killing and look at yourself and think "Maybe I'm the bad guy?".
OK again this is without a doubt my longest review so if you read the whole thing then thanks again, whether you agree or disagree with me is fine, we're all allowed to have opinions, just remember to respect mine and I'll respect yours.
Alright usually I start by discussing gameplay but why don't we start by addressing the very large elephant in the room. So back in May of 2020 about a month before this game was scheduled to be released, there was some cutscene footage that got leaked to the internet and people saw what was a major plot point of the games story, Joel's death. Now at the time it was perceived that Joel was killed by a complete nobody, although many referred to them by using plenty of slurs so again if that was your issue then I'm not acknowledging you. But in reality, Joel is killed by Abby who is the daughter of the Doctor Joel killed in the first game in order to save Ellies life, he is beaten to death by her with a golf club while Ellie is forced to watch. Now a lot of people complained about Joel getting a "shitty death" and that he "deserved better" but I highly disagree and here's why. First and foremost, not everybody is going to get a heroes death, people essentially wanted Joel to die in a blaze of glory by saving someone or dying in a heroic way or something but instead he got beat to death by someone he wronged and that leads me to my next point. JOEL IS NOT A HERO! While Joel is the main character of the first game and while he did save Ellie's life at the end of that game, he did not do the heroic thing, by killing the doctor and saving Ellie he doomed humanity to continue to live in a post apocalyptic world due to his own selfishness, also I addressed this in my review for the first game but it's heavily hinted at that Joel did some terrible things in the years leading up to the events of the first game, so yeah he is not a hero at all. Is he a bad guy? Well in some ways yes, is he a horrible evil monster with no redeeming qualities? No, did he kinda get what was coming to him though? Well kinda, if you had seen things from Abby's perspective from the beginning then you'd probably think so too but we'll get more into that in a moment, I just had to get that all off my chest.
OK well with that part out of the way, let's talk about the story of this game. So you begin by playing as Ellie as her and her girlfriend Dina travel to Seattle in order to get revenge on the people who killed Joel, they travel around the city fighting off infected as well as two new human factions known as the Wolves and the SCARS, who are simultaneously at war with each other. Ellie is able to infiltrate many of the areas where Abby's group is hiding out and kills several of them before she finds Abby herself. However Abby finds her first and threatens to kill her and her friends (which I'd argue would have been earned seeing as Ellie killed her friends), before we get to see what happens though we start to go into flashbacks and learn Abby's side of the story. Before we continue I want to start by addressing one thing that I think could have made this game a lot better than it was, the game has a lot of flashback sequences that both involve Ellie and Abby's personal stories and frankly I think if we had seen these flashbacks early in the game and if it was told in chronological order it would have improved the overall narrative of the story and might have angered less people about Joel's death now that they see what the consequences of his actions were, instead by including it early on it angered a lot of people who I'm sure didn't even want to continue the game or want to learn Abby's story as they probably already saw her as a cold blooded murderer already. I like to think I was a bit more open minded though and was willing to see her side of things and how she got to where she was in the games story. Anyways these flashbacks do reveal plenty of story to us both for Ellie and Abby. Ellie's reveal that she and Joel while they stayed close after the events at the hospital, she eventually went back and realized that Joel lied to her the whole time, this drove a huge wedge in their relationship and while Joel tried his damndest to make up for it later on, it didn't fully work out. For Abby we learned about who her father was and how he despite not wanting to kill Ellie, knew that it was the only thing that could possibly save humanity and so he was prepared to do what he had to, after her father is killed we then see how this fueled her to become stronger both physically and mentally and she never forgave Joel for what he did, while her priorities were always to her friends she never forgot what he did and knew she'd have her revenge one day. At this point we can see the cycle of violence has already been set in full motion, both Ellie and Abby have lost people at the hands of each other and while both desire to avenge their loved ones, Abby realizes as she's given the perfect opportunity to kill Ellie that this cycle will never end until one of them ends it themselves, so she chooses to spare Ellie's life and tells her she never wants to see her again. Now in my opinion, this would have actually been a good point to end the game but Naughty dog decided to continue anyways. After this we see Ellie start a new life with Dina and their new born child, Abby on the other hand is caught up in the worst part of the war between the wolves and the SCARS, during which she tries to help two SCAR siblings who have been exiled by their group, sadly things do not fully work out and only one of the siblings makes it out alive so Abby vows to protect him, she eventually leaves Seattle and tries to find a new home but gets caught by a whole other group and becomes their prisoner. Meanwhile Ellie unable to forgive what she did, goes after Abby once again and despite having her at a severe disadvantage decides at the last minute not to kill her and to let her live. While I understand the whole "The cycle of violence must end" thing, it really didn't make sense to me that Ellie would have gone all the way to where she went to find Abby and then just stop at the last second, Ellie like Joel, Abby, and many other people in this game had no problem with killing other people so why is it she decided to stop at the last minute? Well I can't say I know, and this is the part of the story I can understand some people being upset about but at the same time I also think this wouldn't have made things better for anyone so while I don't really like this part, I accept it. That's pretty much it for the story, the ending is left a bit open so I suppose there is a possibility of a third game but I will say that I wouldn't really be for or against that idea.
Phew, that was a lot to type, this is turning out to be my longest review yet so if you're still here I really appreciate it, let's talk about the gameplay now. The gameplay is more or less similar to the first game but with some much needed improvements, crafting supplies and ammo are much more scarce than before and make you really consider all your options before handling a situation and overall emphasizing that you must survive above all else. The game also emphasizes a lot on stealth this time around, giving you more options for silent weapons but also encouraging you to sneak around or even run moreso than kill people. Speaking of killing people, the enemies in this game feel much more human than they did in the last game, when you kill a human enemy the others will usually react accordingly by shouting their name or becoming more aggressive now that they've seen you killed one of their comrades. You still fight infected in this game but they're much less frequent and while there's a couple new classes of infected they really aren't the worst thing this time around like they were in the first game. For me the SCARS were easily the scariest thing I had to deal with, I remember when I first started the game I was walking through a dark wooded area and started hearing whistling but could not for the life of me figure out what it was, until I was shot by an arrow and was slowly dying before I could get to cover and heal myself. The SCARS to me are relentless and terrifying, the way they whistle to each other as a form of communication is very unsettling and always gave me anxiety when I came to a new area and couldn't see my enemies, but again that's what stealth is for. Speaking of stealth, you can go prone in this game which makes sneaking around way easier but you also will occasionally have enemies use dogs to track you and believe me I felt horrible having to kill these poor dogs who were just trying to protect their masters, that's one thing this game does super well, it really makes you feel for the people you're killing and look at yourself and think "Maybe I'm the bad guy?".
OK again this is without a doubt my longest review so if you read the whole thing then thanks again, whether you agree or disagree with me is fine, we're all allowed to have opinions, just remember to respect mine and I'll respect yours.
2010
This review contains spoilers
I wanted to love this game, I really really did but I just couldn't, I cannot explain why unless I spoil the major plot points of the game so if that matters to you, this is your one and only warning. First let's talk about the gameplay, well this is a standard "make decisions for your character" kind of game similar to the likes of Until dawn, Detroit become human, or Man of Medan. In fact I think this was the first game of that kind that I ever heard of, at least on a console. Anyways you switch around between a few different characters and are presented with several different scenarios, some where you need to explore a level and complete tasks utilizing small motion control tasks, quick time events, choose different dialogues or make decisions, etc. It's not the most thrilling kind of gameplay but it's good enough for what this game is trying to do, some of the challenges that you're presented with as Ethan can be kinda tough at first and I like the challenge but as I said it's not a super thrilling experience.
OK now let's talk about the main appeal of this game, its story which at first I found incredibly engaging and kept wanting to know more and more, I had a hard time putting the game down because I just wanted to know what was coming next, sadly the ending ruined it for me. Now I know what you're thinking "there's multiple endings, you can replay and get another one" but that's not quite just it, the "twist" of this game does not make any sense to me and seemed incredibly forced and like the story was just trying to rely on this one aspect of the story to make it good, which is something I hate. Movies like "The usual suspects" and "The sixth Sense" are examples that also do this sort of thing, only they didn't bother me nearly as much as this game did, this felt like an insult at my intelligence. Right so the main story of the game is about a single father named Ethan, who recently lost his youngest son due to being hit by a car, seriously the kid just walks right out into the street without looking, I get that kids aren't always smart but come on! Anyways after his son died his wife divorces him and he falls into a deep depression while having to raise his other son, who later on is kidnapped and held hostage by someone known as "The origami killer", a notorious child killer who kidnaps kids and makes their parents play sadistic "Games" in order to prove that they love their kids, if they successfully complete these games in a certain amount of time they can save their kids, if not the kids are drowned by rainwater. The other major characters you play as is an FBI detective who has been tasked with finding the origami killer but also has a terrible drug problem, most of his scenarios involve investigating scenes and putting clues together in order to come to the right conclusion. Next is Scott, a private investigator who is also searching for the origami killer, as Scott you visit many of the parents who lost their kids to the origami killer, his scenarios also involve a lot of investigating and clue finding. Scott eventually meets up with a rich man whose name I don't remember that he believes is likely the killer, either him or his son, the rich man warns Scott to mind his own business and even tries to have him killed at a few points, Scott does survive though and swears he will prove that the rich man is guilty. Finally there's Madison, a journalist who meets Ethan and decides to try helping him with finding his son. So now here's the part that doesn't make sense to me (and if you can manage to explain it somehow feel free, because I can't figure it out) it turns out Scott is actually the origami killer, he experienced a traumatic event as a child where his brother died from getting stuck in a drain pipe that flooded with water and their drunken father did nothing about it so Scott decides to kill other kids and try to get their fathers to prove they love them by making them perform sadistic tasks, I'm not much of a psychologist but that definitely seems a bit extreme. Anyways the game keeps pushing the narrative that it was the rich man who was the killer and at one point he even confesses to the crime but somehow it's not him it's Scott? I can't figure it out but as it turns out Scott has only been "investigating" in order to destroy evidence that he may have left behind. Now as I mentioned the ending changes based on how the player plays the game and it's possible to get a better ending if you do things how the game wants you to but if you don't then you get a really horrible ending which is what I ended up with, all because I decided not to kill a man. Shaun ended up never being found and died just like all the other kids, Ethan as a result commits suicide, the FBI detective Overdoses on his drug because he failed to catch the killer, and Scott gets away with the whole thing and gets to live another day. I realize this is only one of many possible endings but it left such a bad taste in my mouth that I just could not bare to play the game again after and still to this day have no desire to play it again. If you liked the game, I understand why but for me it just wasn't worth it, I might try it again some day but for now I just can't bring myself to do it.
OK now let's talk about the main appeal of this game, its story which at first I found incredibly engaging and kept wanting to know more and more, I had a hard time putting the game down because I just wanted to know what was coming next, sadly the ending ruined it for me. Now I know what you're thinking "there's multiple endings, you can replay and get another one" but that's not quite just it, the "twist" of this game does not make any sense to me and seemed incredibly forced and like the story was just trying to rely on this one aspect of the story to make it good, which is something I hate. Movies like "The usual suspects" and "The sixth Sense" are examples that also do this sort of thing, only they didn't bother me nearly as much as this game did, this felt like an insult at my intelligence. Right so the main story of the game is about a single father named Ethan, who recently lost his youngest son due to being hit by a car, seriously the kid just walks right out into the street without looking, I get that kids aren't always smart but come on! Anyways after his son died his wife divorces him and he falls into a deep depression while having to raise his other son, who later on is kidnapped and held hostage by someone known as "The origami killer", a notorious child killer who kidnaps kids and makes their parents play sadistic "Games" in order to prove that they love their kids, if they successfully complete these games in a certain amount of time they can save their kids, if not the kids are drowned by rainwater. The other major characters you play as is an FBI detective who has been tasked with finding the origami killer but also has a terrible drug problem, most of his scenarios involve investigating scenes and putting clues together in order to come to the right conclusion. Next is Scott, a private investigator who is also searching for the origami killer, as Scott you visit many of the parents who lost their kids to the origami killer, his scenarios also involve a lot of investigating and clue finding. Scott eventually meets up with a rich man whose name I don't remember that he believes is likely the killer, either him or his son, the rich man warns Scott to mind his own business and even tries to have him killed at a few points, Scott does survive though and swears he will prove that the rich man is guilty. Finally there's Madison, a journalist who meets Ethan and decides to try helping him with finding his son. So now here's the part that doesn't make sense to me (and if you can manage to explain it somehow feel free, because I can't figure it out) it turns out Scott is actually the origami killer, he experienced a traumatic event as a child where his brother died from getting stuck in a drain pipe that flooded with water and their drunken father did nothing about it so Scott decides to kill other kids and try to get their fathers to prove they love them by making them perform sadistic tasks, I'm not much of a psychologist but that definitely seems a bit extreme. Anyways the game keeps pushing the narrative that it was the rich man who was the killer and at one point he even confesses to the crime but somehow it's not him it's Scott? I can't figure it out but as it turns out Scott has only been "investigating" in order to destroy evidence that he may have left behind. Now as I mentioned the ending changes based on how the player plays the game and it's possible to get a better ending if you do things how the game wants you to but if you don't then you get a really horrible ending which is what I ended up with, all because I decided not to kill a man. Shaun ended up never being found and died just like all the other kids, Ethan as a result commits suicide, the FBI detective Overdoses on his drug because he failed to catch the killer, and Scott gets away with the whole thing and gets to live another day. I realize this is only one of many possible endings but it left such a bad taste in my mouth that I just could not bare to play the game again after and still to this day have no desire to play it again. If you liked the game, I understand why but for me it just wasn't worth it, I might try it again some day but for now I just can't bring myself to do it.
Have you ever watched a show or a movie series that at first was amazing, one of the best of its kind, but then later down the road the whole thing just got worse and worse to the point where it's just beyond repair? Well that's more or less what happened with Paper Mario. After the original and Thousand year door being two of the best games I've ever played came the third entry "Super paper mario" on the wii. While this was in my opinion a great game, it was not a great paper mario game, more on that game when I actually review it. The main issue I had with SPM was that it wasn't an RPG anymore, well when sticker star was announced it was advertised as a "return to the roots" by being an RPG again, what we got though was a hefty disappointment. Right so first and foremost while Sticker star is technically an RPG (I use that term very loosely) it lacks almost all the things that made the first two Paper Mario games so great. No more badges, no more partners, you can't even level up in this game, yes an RPG game where you don't even level up. This gives you basically no incentive to fight enemies as the only thing you get from winning is a bunch of coins, coins which you use to buy things that will help you but only barely, without having the ability to level up this is hardly an RPG and it makes the game a real bore to go through. Secondly you can only fight enemies by using stickers, these stickers are things like items you can use against enemies or different moves you can use such as jumping or using your hammer, if you have no stickers you CANNOT fight enemies whatsoever and that frankly is just ridiculous. To add to this the bosses and enemies this time around are all just generic Mario enemies, nothing special like they used to be and every boss has some sort of gimmick that you have to figure out in order to defeat them, I only made it to the third boss in this game before I gave up completely but I could not for the life of me figure out how to beat this boss on my own even with all the clues the game gave me.
Now for the story, the story and characters of Paper Mario has always been a real highlight of the series but this time around there's absolutely no unique characters, first off Bowser is your main enemy and he doesn't even talk in this game like he did in previous entries, the only "partner" Mario has is this tiara whose name I can't be asked to remember as she's just incredibly annoying and other than that, that's really it. All other NPC's are just generic toads which became a staple in the series after this game and it's absolutely for the worst. I have personally given up on them ever making another great Paper Mario game, this for me was enough to stop me from ever buying one again but seeing as how the series has progressed since this game I just don't see it ever going back.
Now for the story, the story and characters of Paper Mario has always been a real highlight of the series but this time around there's absolutely no unique characters, first off Bowser is your main enemy and he doesn't even talk in this game like he did in previous entries, the only "partner" Mario has is this tiara whose name I can't be asked to remember as she's just incredibly annoying and other than that, that's really it. All other NPC's are just generic toads which became a staple in the series after this game and it's absolutely for the worst. I have personally given up on them ever making another great Paper Mario game, this for me was enough to stop me from ever buying one again but seeing as how the series has progressed since this game I just don't see it ever going back.
Let me begin by saying that THIS IS HOW YOU DO A SEQUEL. Paper Mario TTYD expands upon just about everything that made the first Paper Mario great, by adding new and memorable partners for you to use, more great bosses and other characters, a memorable and well written storyline, a battle system that works super well, etc. etc. The gameplay here is mostly the same although you'll be using new partners that help you solve new kinds of puzzles and will be utilized differently in battle than the last game but still manage to help out a lot and be fun to play as. The gameplay is more or less the same this time around although there are new power ups that Mario will acquire along the way that make more use of the whole "Paper" mechanic like when he can be turned into a paper plane to glide across spaces or a paper boat to move around the water, other than that it's more or less the same. The real highlight here though, is again the characters are story, you of course have the typical Mario characters making appearances here but since you're no longer in the Mushroom Kingdom and in a totally new place altogether you'll meet some new and seriously awesome characters who will tragically only appear in this game and no others, but fear not you get to spend plenty of time with them whether they be partners, enemies, or NPC's there's plenty to go around here. Now let's talk about the story this time around, so Princess Peach while on vacation in a new place called "Rogueport" comes across a map to a place called "The thousand year door" and learns that the map can only be opened by the use of crystal stars which are scattered all across this new land, she sends word to Mario and he makes his way there. Before he arrives however, Princess Peach is captured, not by Bowser this time but by Sir Grodus the leader of a new group of enemies called the X-nauts. Sir Grodus hopes to use Peach as a way to get into the Thousand year door himself and steal whatever riches lie beyond it, while his cohorts attempt to capture all the crystal stars before Mario (and fail of course) he eventually decides to use Mario instead to make his plan come to fruition and without getting too much into spoiler territory that's all I'm gonna say about the story. I gotta admit to you though, this is probably the best written story that has ever been in a Mario game and one of my all time favorite stories in any game ever made, this game is a bit hard to come by these days and is a bit pricey online but it's absolutely worth it and I hope many more people will choose to play this game and discover its greatness, maybe then we'll see it get a remaster for the switch or even a true sequel to the series, but let's not get too hopeful here folks.
PS. Rawk Hawk is the best Mario character ever, don't even @ me.
PS. Rawk Hawk is the best Mario character ever, don't even @ me.
2000
Paper Mario was a very unique game in its day and has garnered quite a loyal fanbase over the years due to its fun RPG mechanics, witty writing, and amazing characters. Sadly that legacy would be short lived as the series would change a lot over the years and lose a lot of the steam it once had but that can never change how much fun and amusing the original game was. First off you wouldn't think Mario would work much as an RPG, especially one as simple and appealing as this but I think that's exactly what makes Paper Mario so special. It's not a game made for RPG players, it's made for casual fans who are looking for a system that's easy to figure out but also fun and that's exactly what you get with this series. The battle system is pretty simple, you have Mario who can usually use one of two attacks, either jumping on enemies or by using his hammer. Figuring out which one is most effective on which enemies sometimes requires a bit of strategy but a lot of the time it comes down to jumping on flying enemies and hammering enemies with spike helmets (or other things that would hurt Mario if he touched them). There's also the partners, throughout the game Mario will pick up lots of new friends who will travel alongside him and help him both in and outside of battle, the partners are all very unique in many ways and can often come in very handy when used against certain enemies in battle. The levelling up system in this game is similarly simple with Mario earning star points after each battle and once he gets 100 he levels up and then has the option to upgrade his heart points, flower points (which are used for using special moves), or badge points which we'll get into next. Badges are utilized very well in this game as they all give you some sort of bonus, such as special attacks or ways to avoid certain attacks by enemies like the flame resistant badge lets Mario touch fire without getting hurt. Next we'll discuss the story.
While the story of this game is fairly simple, Bowser has once again captured Princess Peach (oh, who didn't see that coming?) again but this time he's done so by using an item called the Star Rod which makes him practically invincible to all of Mario's attacks, he's also kidnapped the 7 star spirits and given them each to one of his many minions which Mario must save if he ever hopes to defeat Bowser this time around. What really makes this game special though is its characters, whether they be allies or enemies, I think what I really loved about this game is that it established that all the normal enemies we see working for Bowser are not representative of their entire race, they just happen to work for him while others have various jobs or other things that they do, I thought this was a cool detail as I always kinda felt bad for all the koopas and goombas I jumped on in other games but it's nice to know that they aren't created simply so they can work for Bowser, but rather that they choose to. All of the partners you pick up are different kinds of enemies in other Mario games (goombas, koopas, bob-ombs, etc.) and they all have very unique personalities, you'll grow attached to plenty of them soon enough, then of course we have the bosses which again are all very special and unique in their own ways even if they are based on normal Mario enemies. This game has some of my favorite boss fights in any video game including General Shy-guy and the crystal king. If I haven't mentioned by now the dialogue and writing in this game is incredibly witty and at times has actually made me laugh, there's no voice acting in this one but it's easy to picture what each character sounds like and it makes encountering them rather humorous and at other times wholesome. But if you thought this game was good, wait till you play the next one...
While the story of this game is fairly simple, Bowser has once again captured Princess Peach (oh, who didn't see that coming?) again but this time he's done so by using an item called the Star Rod which makes him practically invincible to all of Mario's attacks, he's also kidnapped the 7 star spirits and given them each to one of his many minions which Mario must save if he ever hopes to defeat Bowser this time around. What really makes this game special though is its characters, whether they be allies or enemies, I think what I really loved about this game is that it established that all the normal enemies we see working for Bowser are not representative of their entire race, they just happen to work for him while others have various jobs or other things that they do, I thought this was a cool detail as I always kinda felt bad for all the koopas and goombas I jumped on in other games but it's nice to know that they aren't created simply so they can work for Bowser, but rather that they choose to. All of the partners you pick up are different kinds of enemies in other Mario games (goombas, koopas, bob-ombs, etc.) and they all have very unique personalities, you'll grow attached to plenty of them soon enough, then of course we have the bosses which again are all very special and unique in their own ways even if they are based on normal Mario enemies. This game has some of my favorite boss fights in any video game including General Shy-guy and the crystal king. If I haven't mentioned by now the dialogue and writing in this game is incredibly witty and at times has actually made me laugh, there's no voice acting in this one but it's easy to picture what each character sounds like and it makes encountering them rather humorous and at other times wholesome. But if you thought this game was good, wait till you play the next one...