INaNBillington
Pretty superfluous, but could be worse. It's ugly and the music's kinda lame, but other than that and a few unnecessary changes it represents the first Mega Man X well enough. The Vile mode, though, is a complete waste of time. It takes away the mobility that set the X series apart from the classic series and, although the different weapons are pretty interesting, the bosses and most of the levels don't really call for them. As a whole, this doesn't match Dracula X Chronicles in terms of design and especially value, but at a time when it wasn't so easy to play Mega Man X on the go, it did its job.
1988
"Bro check this out, I figured out how to get the screen to scroll by itself."
"YOOOOO that's fucking SICK, what if we put that in every fucking level?"
"YOOOOO that's fucking SICK, what if we put that in every fucking level?"
It's Dead Rising 2 but you play as a caricature of Frank West instead of an actually interesting character. PS4 port is pretty ass: it crashed on me twice, the blood decals don't work properly, there were some really weird bugs with collision and items, and about halfway through the game all of Frank's audio cues were only coming out of the left speaker channel. I'm not sure if that's worse than the PC port that doesn't have proper controller support on Windows 10 for no reason, but it's worth noting.
1992
Was pretty good until the profoundly Kojima last act. Jesus Christ dude, why don't you just take the subtext and decapitate me with it?
2003
Fun when it's an arcadey stealth game, not so fun when it's a really unbalanced third-person shooter. The atmosphere is incredibly bleak and the Riz-Ortolani-meets-Nine-Inch-Nails soundtrack is tremendous, so I'll cut its more frustrating elements some slack.
There are so many problems with this game, but I'm far too exhausted by it to properly itemize them all in detail. All I'll say is that it was developed by the Crystal Dynamics B team and good lord does it ever feel like it.
2021
Simply amazing. It has some issues: sure, the dialogue's a little wonky and the voice acting isn't great, and there are a few technical problems here and there, but none of it is game breaking because this game is too fucking good to be broken. Fantastic and moody graphics, a haunting soundtrack, and best of all, tried-and-true gameplay that hearkens back to a time when survival horror games had survival and horror in them. Probably GOTY 2021 for me.
2005
Worse than Heroes, which is no small feat.
More of the first game's strengths with new, awesome characters and AI that isn't near unbeatable on the medium setting.
Played the Genesis version, not sure why it's not listed as it was actually released. An okay port of Turrican 2 with the levels all out of order, some really forgettable levels in place of the shoot 'em up ones, and some incredibly lame bosses in place of really cool ones. Just play Turrican 2.
2023
I can't believe a game has actually made me question if I was too hard on The Outer Worlds.
I've been meaning to replay this for the longest time because I remembered very little about it other than that I really enjoyed it. I wish I had done so earlier, because it reminded me just how fucking great it is. It's the total package: awesome mechanics, great level design, phenomenal graphics, killer soundtrack.
I remember griping about the Tactical Soul system on my first playthrough, not looking much further past the drop rates. While some of them are a little ridiculous, especially if you're trying to get all of them, you can still amass a hefty collection by the end of the game. I feel like the low drop rates even help in some regard, because the exhilaration of getting a rare soul while just casually strolling through a room is almost intoxicating. Add to that just how awesome some of the abilities are and it makes for an addictive and varied experience. I think I finally understand gacha games now.
I remember griping about the Tactical Soul system on my first playthrough, not looking much further past the drop rates. While some of them are a little ridiculous, especially if you're trying to get all of them, you can still amass a hefty collection by the end of the game. I feel like the low drop rates even help in some regard, because the exhilaration of getting a rare soul while just casually strolling through a room is almost intoxicating. Add to that just how awesome some of the abilities are and it makes for an addictive and varied experience. I think I finally understand gacha games now.
This game frustrated the fuck out of me, but I think as a whole it holds up pretty well. There are a few things that don't work too well like the fussy targetting system, sometimes unresponsive controls and the few missions that are just event trigger mayhem, but I always felt compelled to overcome the challenges rather than give up like in some other bullshit games from this time period. It may very well be the best Bond game.
The textbook definition of "mid." Rarely does it ever do anything egregious, but it never has any moments of genuine greatness either. There are some decent bosses here and there and some of the levels are fun to explore, but the wonky platforming, limited enemy variety, simple combat, spotty AI and generally banal presentation leave a lot to be desired. Stranger of Paradise is a legitimately better game on just about every front, which is not a statement that any human being should be allowed to utter, but this bizarre reality permits it.
Oh and the PC port is dogshit, as if that needed to be mentioned.
Oh and the PC port is dogshit, as if that needed to be mentioned.
1990
Kind of a Revenge of Shinobi situation where there's a lot of bullshit, but learning the levels is still a lot of fun. Controls are a little stiff at times and the position you have to be in to get the screen to scroll gets frustrating, but the mechanics are solid and the music is almost enough by itself to get you to keep playing.