being honest this game helped me understand the influence of iconoclast culture among video game circles and how preconceived notions on products directly propagates user feedback in mostly negative ways against the creators

when i think of ridge racer usually what comes to mind is smoothness (in both its mechanical and aesthetic prowess) and profound representation of real world context that races concurrently with the game’s own individual racers. even the first title as a rudimentary beginning still has the flair of that early-console-post-arcade mindset. jungly breakbeats of the era kick hard, perhaps being the only motivating factor to indulge at all.
rage racer sees this and for some reason decides to evolve the formula in ways that seem like they’d be no-brainers to AVOID implementing. was there any need for unnecessarily narrow corridors and roads that twist, turn, and bump up and down? racing is of course a test of reaction and muscle memory but this one leans way too much into the muscle memory factor. with the constant up-and-down-and-all-around attitude of the course design it’s basically down to memorization to survive these anti-racer extravaganzas. for some reason drifting also uncontrollably brings you to slower speeds and then manually tries to put you back into a fixed position while relieving you of all control. so much for perfect cornering.
look, i get what they were going for. cities lined up against waterfalls with roads along the countryside bridges etc etc; of course it works on paper but it’s failing to immerse me here especially when the track design conflicts with the logic behind it all. i understand these are “rage” racers who don’t participate in normal races, but it’s still possible to walk the ludonarrative fine line while making the gameplay fun. it’s a racing game. maybe it’s called rage racer because they knew how much people would rage at how unfun it can be sometimes. the soundtrack is nice but weirdly unfitting? i don’t know. i don’t think the actual game embraces late 90s immaturity as much as the soundtrack does.
we do get to see how the series evolved i suppose. i can definitely see where they built off of this for R4 and subsequent titles. this is just a boring and sometimes frustrating game to play. scuffed racer. jank racer. shit racer. Might Need A Remake. this is what this game is like

TBD

akira yamaoka is without a doubt my favorite game composer. how he can switch from nine inch nails esc industrial pounding to angelo badalamenti style guitar riffing is nothing short of a stroke of genius. his influences are fairly obvious to someone like me yet he still manages to culminate them with his own style in such a palpable way. there’s no need for me to discuss this series’ sound design at this point in time — though how yamaoka was given full control as the sole sound designer still impresses me to this day. there’s not a single sound or noise that is misplaced or sways from its intentions. this alongside the visuals are what make silent hill 2 one of my favorite atmospheres in any game. corroded corridors soaked in dry blood, fencing coated in thick rust, sewers drenched and mossed… it’s all the small consolidating details that capture the realistic horror of silent hill. when james sticks his hand down a feces and rust infested toilet accompanied by bone-chilling sloshing sounds, there’s nothing more for me to do than contort my face at the sight attempting to imagine the grotty aroma that must’ve emitted. the density of the worn-out settings, crunchy sounds, constricting camera angles, and of course depictions of illness throughout, are what make the core of silent hill 2 so tangible to me, and i’m sure others could relate. you’ve probably heard this all before told in an exceedingly poetic manner than anything i could ever write up.

i’ve kind of lost the motivation to write anything long-form (or really any length) on this site but i do want to reflect on this one a little bit, and i hope you’ll excuse me if i sound like i’m superficially regurgitating what others have already shared.
anyway fatamoru is undeniably human at the end of the day; about how people aren’t born their current selves (whether they be “good” or “bad” in the eyes of some) and that there are always underlying circumstances that turned them into who they are today. the truth is a “weapon” — but not weapon-ized against others as it can so conspicuously be within popular works in this genre — no, the truth is not just something for an opposing force to use against those who experienced it, rather more deeply as an empathetic connection between people that is only a weapon if those who experienced it find resolve in burying it apprehensively. accepting reality and facing it head-on can be just as painful as the reality itself. no matter how dark it gets… there is always some light at the end of the tunnel. fatamoru is shockingly depressing and at times just absolutely fucking soul-crushing. at the same time, through all of the tragedy that it establishes, it still ignites some hopeful inspiration. everything does maintain a believable — and oftentimes relatable — level of realism as well that is probably the core of what makes the narrative hurt as much as it does. everything also has purpose: plenty of red herrings or details that spring up in the first half seem impossibly linked to the story but become completely logical and crucial inclusions by the end. i’m at a loss of what else i could mention so i guess i can briefly praise the characters. i don’t think there was a single one i didn’t find some form of relatability in or flat out didn’t like. they’re all distinctly special in their own ways. each with personal strategies to try and stay grounded among a world so cruel in their eyes. the value of perspective is a central theme throughout. this story fucked me up in more ways than one and i don’t think this will be an experience i’ll easily forget. i do still want to think about it more. this came to me at the right time in my life similarly to something like twewy when i played that a few years ago. shoutouts to the soundtrack for introducing me to “neoclassical darkwave.”

wₐⲕₑ ᵤ𝒑, ៳ₒ𝑛𝑑ₒ

the question that irked me during my playthrough was “what makes this any different or worse than no more heroes?” it’s easy to draw comparisons as they share similar gameplay systems with arguably surface level complexion that revel in mashy combos topped off with brutal finishers. though what makes killer is dead a few pegs lower than nmh in its gameplay is that it blindly takes itself too seriously. the game pleads to be on the same level as prominent action game contemporaries, yet doesn’t take enough of a leap from NMH’s base to reach that point. NMH’s somewhat simple gameplay works for me because it’s self-aware; it knows its combat isn’t super deep or nuanced and makes the most out of it with shorter levels that feature fun gimmicks and comedic flair. KiD is kind of mindless in its approach to this, with having all your action game standards like upgrades, mission based structure, etc etc… without doing much to help it stand out. missions outstay their welcome with noticeably bland level design and bosses where the player’s skills are rarely tested. and even if you take the mediocre level layouts out of the question, there’s nothing all that eye-catching about any of the stages. traversing areas in say killer7 introduced a cornucopia of moody camera angles and striking set-pieces that ominously wrapped around the gameplay. although killer is dead looks pretty, its locales are conversely too bland.

ₒ𝒑ₑ𝑛 𝑦ₒᵤᵣ ₑ𝑦ₑ𝑠, ᵢ𝑡𝑠 𝑡ᵢ𝑚ₑ 𝑡ₒ 𝑑ᵢₑ

overall feels a bit like a mashup of random aspects from NMH and killer7 to mediocre prevail. notably trying to replicate NMH’s humor in tandem with k7’s tone without understanding what makes either of which work so well. NMH’s comedy works because it recognizes itself as a parody/critique of the genres that influenced it. killer7’s notoriety stands tall on a secure horror and political thriller infested foundation. killer is dead’s humor and story fall flat because its writing lacks any sort of flair or legitimate intrigue. the moon shows up god knows how many times however i struggle to find any true motivation for its inclusion. it’s as if the devs looked back at games like the silver case and killer7, saw they had moons show up a few times, and figured it’d be a good idea to reuse that motif more obnoxiously in order to fit in. the same could be said for many analogous aspects in the game.

𝑦ₒᵤ’ᵣₑ 𝑚ₐⲕᵢ𝑛𝑔 𝑚ₑ 𝑏Լᵤ𝑠ⲏ

the worst offense here, without a doubt, are the “Mondo Girls” side missions. your goal? silently stare down your date’s body uncomfortably while they aren’t looking and receive compliments from them! sucks. terrible. garbage. mondo seems to enjoy diving headfirst into misogyny. even funnier during one of the later levels when he inquires “Is our game ethical?” it must’ve been rhetorical, right?

тⲏₑ ⱼₒ𝑏…ⲕᵢԼԼₑᵣ ᵢ𝑠 𝑑ₑₐ𝑑

maybe it’s unfair of me to compare this so closely to grasshopper’s previous titles, though i believe it’s justified with how much inspiration it draws from them. also i feel like grasshopper has that sort of reputation with a standard to uphold you know? i’ll still give this game points in that regard, because at least it’s better than no more heroes 2.

an impressive study on what makes yakuza tick. crosses a line that the other ps3 titles wouldn’t dare to even tread near. each character is pushed to their absolute limits, placing them under a stern spotlight that shakes the audience’s hearts incessantly. its length is often criticized but realistically demonstrates what a pure, fully thought-out yakuza experience looks like. every part is given their own respective time to shine in full.

where yakuza 5 succeeds is not in the grandiose scope of its overarching narrative (though i do like it better than the previous two titles), rather in the intimate character moments - kiryu’s stoicism against mayumi’s passion, saejima intently conversing with his cellmate recluses, park & haruka’s heart-to-hearts, shinada clashing with familiar faces from yesteryear - the series’ writing is at its peak here. there’s some real thought provoking analysis on each of our protagonists. truly feels like the whole team gave it their all in coordinating the entire experience to insure it felt balanced and emotionally rousing. this is the ultimate blend of every strength this series holds. and fortunately it doesn’t feature a climax that puts the entire narrative’s quality into question.

some other positives i can’t highlight enough would be the gameplay and sheer scope of everything. the combat is some of the most fun i’ve had since 2; i especially enjoy the frequent brawls filled with massive clusters of enemies. i thought they were formidable tests of your skills, almost feeling like a musou at points with how it demands precise spacial awareness to minimize damage taken. wandering around the new and old recontextualized cities in the new engine was just as immersive as it was for me when i sank into 1 & 2’s thick metropolises. something about them here feels more polished than in 3 or 4.

nothing gets left out, nothing is undercooked, and most importantly everything is impactful. i absolutely love the finale and how it wraps up everyone’s characters. kiryu’s final moments are some bone-chilling stuff. yakuza 5 is the quintessential embodiment of what this series stands for.

picturesque beaches, plains, and deserts lay the groundwork for our adventure. castles, tunnels, even pyramids swelter from the sun in the open air. the breeze caused by our bewilderingly precise driving is positively intoxicating. nothing else gets the blood pumping like so. the open road is a living obstacle course: dominated by family road trips, oil tankers, and party busses that only seem to get in the way of our high-octane blast-processed driving. heart-wrenching drifts and turns serve as dopamine infused climaxes when nailed with perfect accuracy. the retro-futuristic ost acts as a motivational serenade to keep us coming back. outrun 2 emphasizes the astounding journeys within driving (to an almost cliche degree), alongside continuing the original game’s legacy in an evolutionary way.

really wanted to like this but there’s so many design flaws that appear to be antithetical to what this series has accomplished in the past:

-the elephant in the room is the severe lack of environmental design with the various assets strewn across the islands. gone are the days of grinding on vines native to its forests or jumping across grassy platforms that could’ve emerged from the habitats that surround us. across every island we get the same navy blue rails and platforms haphazardly floating in the sky. what i would argue is that the facade of naturally occurring level assets is one of the most significant aspects of sonic gameplay as a whole. the world isn’t made for sonic. unfortunately the reverse of this idea is what plagues frontiers in many areas.

-could not get immersed into the game due to what i’ve said above & how barren and hollow the islands feel. maybe that was the point but… i severely doubt it considering sonic team’s track record. a civilization once thrived on these islands, and all that’s left for us to ponder upon are.. random pillars and “houses” that are no more than areas to hide collectables and not much else. the ruins aren’t even placed around cohesively to give the illusion of a village or somewhere once occupied by living beings.

-minigames were never sonic team’s expertise but i genuinely think frontiers takes the cake for the worst ones in the whole franchise; either they’re absolutely braindead, too easy, boring, or a combination of the three. don’t wanna get into this one too much.

-cyberspace levels almost had me excited at their introductions until i began to realize the level design is all unabashedly recycled from previous games without much amends to them to accommodate frontiers’ different control style. adding insult to injury is the copy and pasting of these levels onto aesthetics that are also recycled! remember green forest and savanna citadel? now their charm and details are completely erased in order to transfer their level layouts onto green hill, chemical plant, or sky sanctuary. it’s a real shame they resorted to this since it was proven they knew how to make engaging level design in the same game! the challenges present in climbing up the towers were some of the most fun i had in the game.

-the gameplay. to give credit where credit is due, sonic actually controls pretty good! unfortunately even this has problems behind it as it was pretty obvious the devs couldn’t craft good enough controls on their own, hence the freedom is given to the player to make the game feel right. anyway earlier i had said that frontiers was oppositional to the idea that “the world isn’t made for sonic.” here, everything is artificially curated for our hedgehog. i wouldn’t mind as much as i do if the assets and sections covering the islands felt natural and were fluently strung together, but nope. minor 5-to-10 second mostly-automated mini sections are everywhere. wholly uninteresting and sometimes irritating when i’m just trying to traverse the island and accidentally touch a spring or dashpad, 9 times out of 10 sending me into a forced 2D section without any way to escape.

after waiting five years… i could definitely say i was disappointed. but! i did enjoy the story & the soundtrack is unmatched as per sonic standard. it’s just unfortunate that there’s such an absence of attention to detail and contextualization despite what you’d think for an open world title such as this. as for the final boss… i’ll say it was probably my favorite part of the game since it steals from a game much better than it.

much has already been said by writers (or racers) more skilled than i on this site, but i felt the need to stress how aesthetically and mechanically mesmerizing the R4 and R5 combo is for me. their epoch stands as one of the most unique representations of the shift in era at the time. R4’s sharply stylized mellow post-90s tones have now been smoothened out in favor of industrial Y2K aggressiveness in R5. bubbly synths with deep pulsating electronic baselines hang over photorealistic cityscapes - genuinely still starstruck by how well this holds up visually as well.
R4 recognizes that racers are frequently perceived as limbs for their team manager’s goals while R5 displays individuality in racers as promoted by the lack of direct narrative: the announcer is never shy in enlightening us that all racers on the track deserve our respect. furthermore he’ll happily declare our tight corning as wicked or crazy. the steeper difficulty curve is also indicative of the millennial shift as racing has become more commercialized and widespread; making it to the top requires more perseverance than ever. races are broadcast over the radio due to their popularity and thus require enhanced narration layered on from the announcer.
would undoubtedly assert R5 as one of the most important games during its release. as far as ps2 launch titles go, this, the bouncer, & evergrace are some of the best in communicating 2000 as a year towards greater things in gaming.

the framerate was actually intentional in order to convey the inconsistent speeds at which taro’s brain operates

disenchanting poetic anarchy. quills soaked in blood transcribe fragmented stanzas across pages soiled with tragedy and insanity. hatred sows its seeds, obsessed with the universality of inner struggle. the seeds grow beneath lush fields of thriving imperialistic medievalism. faithful sacrifices are made in the strive towards a greater power personified by the beliefs of humanity. a single man who can only speak in genocidal tantrums sparks the beginning of the end. there is never motivation to continue forward nor is there ever a satisfying feeling of triumph. caim is just going through the motions while others beg for mercy at his feet. violence is a mundane necessity rather than an expressive resolve. not a single ending closes with excitement, only the depressive upset of loss. frenzied classical chords and pounding industrial symphonies amalgamate to feed the player’s own misery. drakengard is chaotically demoralizing, if nothing else.

the erasure of an era. whereas the original title thrives off of the glory of its 2000s commercialized suburbia, here we get…. yakuza 0’s kamurocho copied and pasted. even the gameplay is unfortunately a victim to this flagrant plagiarism. to give credit where credit is due, it’s still fun to play with the additions to 0’s combat, but sadly i can’t praise kiwami any more than that. bosses that were once quick and somewhat painless are now quadruple-health-bared damage tanks, with annoying health regeneration to boot. i would be more lenient if the special heat actions you can perform on the bosses were unique to each one, but nope. it’s the same moves every time. even more 0 pandering forces its way in with majima everywhere and the soundtrack. majima everywhere is a huge tonal disconnect from majima’s character narratively, because apparently we needed to cater to… actually i’m not even sure who would claim majima’s only defining characteristic to be his silliness. who is majima everywhere for exactly? also quite honestly him showing up at random times frequently ruined my pace, and it doesn’t help that you fight the same majima styles over and over. to add insult to injury i was flabbergasted that they locked an entire style behind this randomized time waster. last but not least is the soundtrack, which decided to inherit the techno-dubstep overlays of 0. the remixed tracks aren’t bad per se but they lack any distinctive personality that the original tracks had so much of.
what a strange game. kiwami is stuck between the crossroads of whether it wants to be its own thing, a sequel to 0, or retain the integrity of the original game. i don’t think there’s any malicious intent here, but what makes it worse is that this suppression of the original title was essentially done by accident. the laziness is rampant in how much is stolen from 0. i wouldn’t call it a bad game, however i would most certainly define it as a poor remake.

there’s dignity and honor in fighting, depending on who you ask. old men obsess and cling to this ideology, and in some ways it blinds them. blinded from ways of change; ideas that sprout anew in a time of economic boom and societal maturity. the old men consider it noble to defend their decaying ways, yet all the young want to do is break away from such. they fight not out of pretentious beliefs, but out of the need for expression, even if frequently careless. fighting becomes a common resolve between generations. both sides, young and old, fight unbeknownst of the weight they carry, merely knowing they need to fight back. fighting is their lifeblood, fighting is what defines who they are.

but fighting also turns into work. working towards self-righteous pursuit of a measly three squares obviously, but also towards money. money rests as less of an objectified obstacle and more as fuel that drives people’s spirits. in 1988 japan, money does actually make people happy, apparently. though despite what could be inferred… money can’t buy you everything. greed knows no bounds, and thus blurs the line between the economy and violent criminalized pavements. sure, you can pay, but it may only be your fists that let transactions sail, and the cost deadly.

yakuza 0’s ambitious nobility is arguably its defining characteristic. a sublime display of the series’ themes at birth. kamurocho and kansai suddenly become retro, and their industrialized features vanish. the cities proudly wear their grassy riversides and primitive slums on their sleeves. the usual trouble still familiarly runs amok though! style-switching a la DMC lends itself well to the series’ staple combat. always keeping the sense of urgency and energy pulsing throughout the veins of every battle.

fighting is the founding postulation of yakuza’s society. political disputes, romantic conflicts, street confusion, hell even entertainment; all act as open air for violence to spread its wings. y0 paints these outlets similarly to its brethren but in a fresh new-age way. i think some of the praise has been wildly misplaced but it holds weight in where it roots. yakuza 0 is a damn good yakuza game and stands proud as one the defining titles for its generation. not sure what else to say really, everybody gets what makes it so good. one of the only prequels i know that branches out to become a significant starting point for its series. definitely deserves the various titles and acclamation it’s received over the years.

Wandering about dreams, or reality

the infamy of love’s double edged sword. exerted above and beneath a euphoric night sky filled with stars of incomprehensible emotion.

LOVE IS FAKE

stars reach endlessly across the sea of night. though what they seek may only be fantasy.

LOVE IS RAINBOW

of the stars that twinkle, bright and dim, there is purity and harmony inside each and every one.

LOVE IS HERO

the curtain closes behind his feet. in his shadow, behind the curtain, footsteps lay permanently embedded into a meadow of sentiment. the stars remain entranced.

If there’s no bright future without him gone, then I’ll descend into hell with him by my side.

there is heartbreak among the stars. they are unable to ascertain their dream and reality.

A farce of my own selfishness

simply beautiful.