This game is super charming and oozes personality. The level design and platforming feel like they take a backseat to the rest of the game at times, which can make for a few monotonous sections that leave you wishing you could just skip to the next story beat. The lack of much enemy variety doesn't help with this. But that being said, the rest of the game has so much to offer that it's worth looking past those few rough edges.

The story is very straightforward, but incredibly effective. They take such a simple premise and go absolutely crazy with it, with an incredibly creative and fun final act leaving the game on a high note. I'm really surprised I hadn't heard anything about this before playing, my only impression being the character designs that made me want to check it out when I got it in a Humble Choice. The longer I played it, the more confused I was that I hadn't heard about this game sooner.

The game draws many obvious similarities to the likes of Undertale and the Paper Mario series, but I think it stands very well on its own. If you're a fan of either of those, you should absolutely give Underhero a try. It's very close to being something really special.

Never played this as a kid, but if I did I think I would've been obsessed with it. With no nostalgia or attachment to the original before playing, I still loved it enough to 100% it and try to perfect all of the mechanics.

The mediocre PC port aside (with a neutered soundtrack no less, don't forget to mod that shit back in immediately for the full experience), I still think Crazy Taxi is something everyone should try if they're given the chance. The controls feel very awkward at first and take some getting used to, but once you learn the timing of everything it really starts to click.

I'll definitely have to track down an arcade version to try at some point. I have a feeling that'll be the definitive way to play.

Absolutely terrific. Despite writing this years after finishing it, every aspect of Myst remains stuck in my head. The atmosphere, the puzzles and their respective solutions, the corny live-action FMVs, the stories in each of the journals, everything about it.

Myst is such a wonderful and unique game that it's no wonder it's stood the test of time. The only reason I can't give this version a 10/10 is that the realMyst remake, despite its many improvements, has some annoying rough edges to it.

That being said, if you can look past a little bit of jank and don't have the patience for the imperfections of the original, realMyst is a very accessible way to experience Myst for the first time without sacrificing the vibes that make it so lovable like the 2020 remake.

As a whole the game doesn't hold up quite as well as some of its peers of the era, but it's still super fun to go back to and play around in. The variety of enemies, weapons, and vehicles are all incredibly memorable and impressive for the time. The atmosphere, music, and voice acting are also timeless.

The level design in Halo:CE, however, is a rollercoaster of quality. While playing through the game you can get a sense that the developers were a bit too ambitious when designing these massive open levels, leaving them feeling empty and repetitive at their worst. Control Room is a particularly egregious level that long overstays its welcome, combining some of the largest and most entertaining skirmishes in the game with the monotonous task of repeating the same copy-pasted indoor layouts four separate times across the famously drawn-out mission.

Thankfully this is followed by what's easily the best level in the game—343 Guilty Spark—when the entire formula of the game's combat is flipped on its head and the story delivers one of the most memorable plot-twists in gaming. This is then followed by The Library, famously considered to be the worst level in the series as a whole. It's a constant whiplash with this game.

Still, few FPS are without their fair shair of stinkers in regards to level design. The positives far outweight the negatives in this game, and it's totally worth a playthrough for both nostalgia and legacy's sake. Just be sure not to play it with the soulless anniversary graphics enabled.

Also, this is all without mentioning the multiplayer. If you ever get a chance to play this game with a group of friends, I highly encourage booting it up and giving CTF on Blood Gulch a try. They really don't make them like they used to.

A disappointing step down from Electrosphere. The removal of branching narratives and the complete lack of any unique wingmen really strips the game down to an experience that felt pretty hollow until its finale. But man, what a finale.

Though very brief, the story is engaging enough to give the mostly repetitive missions some semblance of emotional weight. Yellow Squadron gets a great build-up as rival aces, but without getting into spoilers, I found them to be very underwhelming by the end. A non-story related reason for that was the enemy AI in this game.

Every enemy fights the same, maneuvers the same, and shoots the same comically slow missiles. By the end it felt like there were only two types of enemies for the whole game; Yellow Squadron and regular fighters. Both of which barely put up any fight at all while the dozens of AA guns in most missions do the actual work in trying to shoot you down. And boy do you have to deal with a lot of them.

The biggest problem with the game lies in the sheer lack of variety and creativity in its brisk 18 missions. Nearly every mission plays out the same; do laps around the enemy base while peppering ground targets as a countdown timer in the corner of the screen solely exists to remind you not to fall asleep. There's also a dozen or so fighters buzzing around the sky in each mission, but for how little they contribute to your final mission score, dogfighting is often a waste of your time compared to ground targets. Baffling in a game that's supposed to be about planes shooting other planes.

It's extra frustrating that the missions were designed this way when the gameplay is as good as it is. The evolution from the rather barebones gameplay of Electrosphere into the PS2 era can be felt from the second you enter the cockpit. In fact, I enjoyed how the flying felt so much that when the actual objectives became too monotonous, I had to make my own fun by stunting on the air-to-ground targets that make up the bulk of the gameplay. Fighting dozens of tanks and SAMs grew to be so mind-numbing that the only thing to kill me in this whole game ended up being the ground.

All that being said, I do think it's a 'fine' game. Most of the missions suck, but the core gameplay and easy-to-follow story manages to keep it engaging for just enough time before you're hit with an incredibly memorable finale that blows the rest of the game out of the water. I won't spoil any specifics, but if you've been on the internet for any reasonable period of time you'll have at least heard part of why it's so memorable, even if you might not realize it. The sheer spectacle nearly lives up to some of the set-pieces in Electrosphere.

It's hard not to recommend the game. For such a short experience (3-4 hours) and a finale ending on the highest possible note, it's absolutely worth checking out.