As someone that is not good at any fighting games, I think this game ROCKS. I went to an arcade with a few friends that ARE good at certain fighting games, and I was actually able to stand up against them in this! That's because this game is the most barebones concept of a fighter, where spacing and reacting is key, but there's so little to the visual feedback that it makes it so much easier to understand than your modern fighters.

The stiff controls also add to how important every single one of your moves are. It adds a layer to understanding the spacing and such.

Fuck the haters, this game is dope. It aged so well, as all of us got really into this and competitive during our time there.

There's something swimming inside this sea of a terribly designed chase sim that is quality. I think parts of the story are written pretty well, especially the third act. That was the only part where me and my partner were at least somewhat invested. I also don't mind how much this is biting the likes of Silent Hill 2 and P.T. Deriving the work that inspired you is fine if the overall execution is satisfying. Which . . . some of it is, I guess.

However, the majority of the story was very shallow and uninteresting, and the amount of assurance that the message is NOT "Kill yourself lol" (ala The Medium, one of the worst games ever made which was also a Silent Hill biter) looped back around to being funny, speaking as two people that suffered from depression in our younger years.

"Don't commit suicide, everythin' gonna c alright." -This game when you load it, finish chapter 1, chapter 2, and chapter 3

The real brunt of this game's terrible design is at the end, at the 'final chase' sequence where not only are you expected to find 5 artifacts, trudge through a maze of rooms and doors, all while avoiding a thing chasing you, but Anita won't SHUT THE FUCK UP. I HATE HATE HATE this in horror games so much, it's more annoying than the stupid asshole you played as in Outlast. Yeah, she's panicked. No shit she's panicked. It's a panic-inducing situation I don't need her gutteral breathing voice bytes on repeat as I'm trying to solve a chase scene.

P.T. is LITERALLY one of the scariest pieces of horror media ever made, and Norman Reedus' blank ass character didn't SAY A GODDAMN THING. I hate this shit so much. You don't need to assure me that the character is scared, I know it's scary. Fuck off. The voice acting is mostly awful too, everyone sounds like 4Kids dubbers. It's all overacting and don't feel genuine for even a moment.

Anyway, bad (real) start to this Silent Hill resurgence. What a joke.

A very fine example of turning shit into gold. Where The Darkness comic mostly sucks ass, the game simplifies the concept to such a perfect balance, and provides a very endearing story with charming characters.

This feels like one of the last non-complacent FPS games out there during this period of video games, where it did not really understand what would be considered the most optimal design document at this point, something being wholly sharpened by the big shooter franchises during this time.

Yeah, it's clunky and slow, yeah the scenes are awkward with stilted acting, yeah the hubworld is kind of just a weird time sink, and ya know what? I fucking love it. I love the action, the darkness powers, the characters, and especially the music. It's all so fucking good, and didn't care how rickety it felt. And long-haired caveman Jackie spoke to me as an edgy teenager.

Twisted Metal already made a stunning, triumphant return with TM Black on the PS2, having most of the original crew handle that game's development. However, the team would struggle to properly keep that momentum going, likely due to the game's director --David Jaffe-- leaving the team in order to pursue a huge project with Sony's full support that would become "God of War." An opportunity he couldn't pass up.

Thus, this is the most straight-forward continuation of where Twisted Metal 2 left off, even bringing back a lot of the characters. However, much of the edge from the original game seems to have been sanded down in order to provide a slightly cleaner, less explicit vibe. Jaffe has gone on the record to say that has always been Singletrac/Incognito's natural path when he isn't the one steering the ship. More family-friendly stuff that he doesn't vibe with at all.

Even so, the presentation is good! This was a launch title for PSP, and it really boasted how good games can look on that little rectangle back in 2005. Level design's great, really sporting that world tour feel again, and I love the overall character designs as they went with the comic book feel once again.

The overall gameplay, however, is kind of lackluster. Not awful by any stretch of the word but felt like a snail's crawl after the ultra-tight, fast, rambunctious nature of TM Black I was used to. They stuck to their guns and left most of the design unchanged from TM2 and Black, but the speed of the gameplay is just not that crazy. It could be due to the PSP's own limitations, though, I can't be sure. Even so, neat little game to this day. As an early PSP adopter, I thought it was awesome back then! These days . . . still not too shabby.