Mega Man X is a fantastic game. One with issues of course, but that doesn’t detract from its greatness and its legacy as one of the greatest titles in the Super Nintendo library. With that reputation in mind, how does its PSP remake hold up? Well, I’ll start off with what I view as the positives of the title.

The art style of Maverick Hunter is fantastic. As a 2.5D remake of a SNES title, the developers did an amazing job of translating those sprites into 3D models. Unlike so many other remakes, this game still ‘feels’ like its source material. That 2.5D style has always been something that I find to be quite charming, and seeing it executed in Maverick Hunter as well as it has been is delightful.

Gameplay wise, there are mostly nothing but positives. I do really appreciate how, for the most part, Maverick Hunter plays exactly the same. One new appreciated addition was the inclusion of button mapping, allowing for more unique controls than what was offered in the original title. I myself found issue with how dashing worked in the original, and strongly appreciated being able to map the controls to function similarly to how dashing worked in the Mega Man Zero titles instead.

If you’re a veteran of the original title, there’s still a lot of new content to be discovered here as well. The armor upgrades have been swapped around for example, affecting how one may tackle the boss order. The bosses themselves have new attacks, making them a significant challenge if you are used to defeating them in one way or another. A mode to play as Vile has also been added, though I can’t say too much on that as I have only currently beaten the game with X.

There’s a lot of charm in how Maverick Hunter presents itself. New animated cutscenes have been added, and voice acting is now present in the game where it wasn’t before.

Now for the negatives.

Being a PSP remake, a lot of things had to suffer in order to get it to properly function. In some ways, the presentation of the title is worse than the original. For example, the screen is a tad zoomed in, causing one to take damage in areas they didn’t necessarily mean to, or die in ways that they likely wouldn’t have done so in the original.

Some of the cool moments in the original opening mission are gone, or altered in a way that is inferior to how the original title presented them. For example, the Vile fight in that mission now has a health bar, where in the original title he did not. This may not seem like a major difference, but in a lot of aspects this diminishes the wordless story telling that moment had. Where as X was fighting an enemy who seemed so impossibly strong only to lose the battle, it is now obvious how much health Vile has. This served to showcase X’s development in the original, and served to further showcase just how stronger he was by the end of the title, where Vile’s last boss fight has a health bar. That signified that Vile was no longer the hopelessly powerful titan he was at the start, but just another enemy who could be defeated, all because of the growth X went throughout the game. That subtle bit of storytelling is no present in Maverick Hunter.

The voice acting is…okay, to say the least. I don’t hate it, and it’s not as bad as other X titles in the series, but I can’t say it’s amazing or anything. It does get annoying to have X constantly scream an attack name when fighting a boss though.

The music is just not as good as the original title. It feels a bit too light in comparison, and basically has no punch or power on its own. Mega Man X’s original soundtrack felt energetic and powerful, and these new compositions just don’t convey that same feeling, leaving certain stages (such as storm eagle) to feel deeply underwhelming.

Overall though, I’d say this isn’t a terrible version of Mega Man X. While I’d still recommend the original title over this, there is definitely a lot of fun to be had here, and there is value to be found here. I’d say that in terms of the PSP’s library, this is a very solid game.

A few months ago, I joined a book club for visual novels. As a new fan of the medium through titles like Fata Morgana, Higurashi, and Umineko, I was incredibly excited for what was to come. Our first journey through the medium had me revisiting The House in Fata Morgana, which used to occupy my top 10. I still adore the game, but some of the elements that enchanted me on my first play-through of it were less magical on my second play-through, having read through masterpieces like Higurashi and Umineko. After that experience, I was more than ready to explore new Visual Novels, and the second title we played, Wonderful Everyday, did not disappoint at all.

If you were to ask me a few months ago what my top three favorite games were, I would have quickly stated that these included Umineko When They Cry as my most favorite, followed by Metal Gear Solid 2 and Final Fantasy VII. If you know how I feel about these games, you already know how difficult it would have been for any game to unseat any of these titles from their rankings. Wonderful Everyday managed to do the impossible however, with it currently sitting as one of my most favorite games of all time, which is something I do not say lightly.

Wonderful Everyday is a complicated experience to properly describe. It’s made me feel deeply uncomfortable and disturbed, while at the same time in awe of how genuine and beautiful the game can be. It’s hilarious and somber, beautiful and grotesque, sensible and absurd, all at the same time.

It's also a game that I think I needed to play through at this specific point of my life.

Depression and self-hatred have been consistent sources of various struggles for me for years, almost culminating at two separate points where I had attempted to end my own life. Learning to love and live with myself is a goal I’ve still yet to properly achieve.

Ever since I was 15, I’ve struggled to answer why I even bother to wake up each morning. Despite my efforts, it’s been difficult to truly justify living each day. That’s not something that goes away easy obviously, but my time with Wonderful Everyday has caused me to take a few steps back and reflect. Maybe one doesn’t need any specific ‘reason’ to keep going. Maybe it’s enough to just be able to laugh with friends occasionally. Maybe happiness can still be found even in the most hopeless of situations. Maybe simply ‘living happily’ is enough.

I think about Wonderful Everyday’s central message often. That idea of choosing to ‘live happily’, in spite of one’s own circumstances, has never felt more relevant to me than they have in the past few years. It’s certainly not an easy goal to accomplish, but it’s art like Wonderful Everyday that helps remind me that the pursuit is worth it no matter how far I’m away from it.

Wonderful Everyday is an experience like no other. Nothing has made me cry, laugh, and cringe like this game has. Even a month after finishing it, I can’t stop thinking about how this game has made me feel.

That being said, Wonderful Everyday is a really hard game to recommend, especially to those who are newcomers to the visual novel genre. I won’t go too deeply into spoiler territory here, but not only is it an experience that is viscerally uncomfortable and graphic at times, it’s a work that can tend to be intentionally cryptic at points. I don’t really believe that it’s something that a person who had never played through any visual novels before can properly appreciate. In one sense, it’s almost like throwing an infant into the deep end of a swimming pool. Even for myself, as someone who had a bit of experience with certain visual novels going in, Wonderful Everyday could be an incredibly uncomfortable experience at times.

I’d still say the experience was worth it and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I would write some contrived bullshit about how good art should “disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed” but I think at this point you get the idea. Even with how wildly unnerving the experience could be at times, Wonderful Everyday is still one of the best games I’ve had the pleasure of playing through.

Live happily.

Silent Hill is perhaps one of the greatest horror games out there. It’s not just one of the greatest PS1 titles, I’m comfortable calling it one of the best games out there.

The horror of Silent Hill is extremely effective in a way no other game is. Its aged flaws, while obviously dated, don’t at all detract from the experience. I’d even go as far as to say that those qualities ended up helping Silent Hill be the quality horror title it is.

Silent Hill is not a game that relies primarily on cheap jump scares or any other in your face moments. Rather than a loud and bombastic horror romp, Silent Hill is a quiet and mournful game. It’s a game that feels like wading through a nightmare, further supported with the cryptic nature of the puzzles and the sense of isolation present throughout every facet of the map. The fog and low draw distance-both features present entirely due to the low power of the PS1’s hardware-all serve to make the experience feel that more surreal and dreamlike, as well as the graphics and voice acting. This is not a game that could be remade and properly given justice: Silent Hill’s horror comes FROM its dated visuals and gameplay. Something that tried to “fix” Silent Hill by giving it remastered graphics and modern gameplay would be a title that would have missed out on what made the horror of Silent Hill so effective.

Silent Hill is a fantastic experience that is very much so worth checking out, even if you’re someone who typically doesn’t play older games. Through what might seem like a game that hasn’t aged the best, I think you’ll come to find that it’s a game drenched in atmosphere, and that it’s a title that remains superior even among horror releases to this day. It’s a fairly short game too, clocking in at about seven hours. I encourage you to check this title out.

And P.S. Watch Jacob’s Ladder.

If you’ve talked to me about this game before, you already know how much I’ve loved the experience. The House in Fata Morgana is incredible. It being my first real introduction into visual novels, I can safely say that this is what got me into the genre in the first place, and what showed me how incredibly poignant and beautiful titles within this space can be.

I wasn’t really a fan of the visual novel genre before playing this title. I had played through 999 with a group of friends beforehand, but apart from that I had no experience with the genre whatsoever. The House in Fata Morgana changed that. Within the span of a year, I went from knowing little about visual novels to the medium becoming one of my favorite video game genres, and that’s all thanks to my time with The House in Fata Morgana. I think it’s safe to say that if you’re at all curious about visual novels, The House in Fata Morgana is the best starting point you could possibly ask for.

I can’t stress enough just how The House in Fata Morgana resonated with me. This title excels with its queer representation, in a way that feels authentic and genuine. Out of every video game I’ve played so far, nothing has ever made me feel as seen and represented as this game does.

I won’t say too much regarding the narrative of The House in Fata Morgana. I think it’s best to go into this game as blindly as possible, but I do hope what I’ve said thus far has at least convinced you to give this game a fair chance. There is one thing that I will say, however.

Recently, with a group of friends, I reread The House in Fata Morgana for the second time. And after having read through other visual novels such as Higurashi and Umineko, I’m a little less enamored with this title than I was the first time I had read it through. That’s not to say that I think this game is now bad having read other visual novels, just that it isn’t as far up in my top 10 games as it once was. With that said however, The House in Fata Morgana is still easily one of my favorite games of all time, and easily a must play.

This game is practically a religious experience. I implore you, even if you aren’t currently a massive fan of the visual novel genre, to check this title out. The House in Fata Morgana is not something you’ll want to skip.

Those who know me likely already know what my stance on Guns of the Patriots is. To put it simply, Metal Gear Solid 4 is a mess of a game. Between the unnecessary plot additions, retcons, and a meager amount of game-play, there are a lot of valid reasons to criticize this title.

Metal Gear Solid 4’s gameplay is alright. Snake himself controls better than he ever has before in previous titles, but the level design itself is mediocre. Certain sections towards the end are greatly enjoyable, but either end too quickly to really be called great, or have some other specific flaw that prevent me from really calling it that.

Cutscenes themselves at times last for way longer than they need to be, and the game itself does a bit too much telling and not showing. The gameplay/cutscene balance is also kind of bad, which is doubly embarrassing considering that the previous three titles had a much better balance between cutscene and gameplay. When you are able to play the game, those sections feel like they last for a few minutes, while the mission debriefings feel as if they take hours.

That’s not to say that I think Metal Gear Solid 4 is a bad game or a bad experience, as the opposite is true. Even with the issues listed, I still adore Guns of the Patriots greatly, and I do genuinely believe that certain story moments in this title are among the best in all of gaming. As for the game-play itself, I do believe that Snake’s controls here are among the best the series has had, and I do hope that Metal Gear Solid Delta utilizes something like it. The story itself, while certainly not on the level that MGS1 – 3 were, is still pretty good in my eyes, and there were points near the end of the game that had my crying harder than any other moment in the series.

Now for the important question. Would I recommend this as a must play title for those new to the series? If you had asked me this a few months ago, I would have probably said no. I still don’t consider this a ‘must play’ in the way that the first three solid titles are, but I think I can still recommend it as a way to cap off an already excellently cohesive trilogy.

MGS4 might be a mess, but I’m glad it exists, even with its flaws.

Metal Gear Solid 2 ends in a way that makes it difficult to continue the story onward past that point, leaving any future game only one way forward; Going backward. Thus, Metal Gear Solid 3 acts as the starting point for the whole series, despite being a sequel to Metal Gear Solid 2.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is set in the early 60s, and the gameplay reflects this. Gone are the soliton radar and the Codec, leaving the player to rely on somewhat inferior technology in comparison to what the player had access to in previous titles. Taking the place of the soliton radar, the player must use devices such as the anti-personnel sensor and the motion detector to be able to detect the position of the enemy soldiers. However, these items have their own battery life, and become useless when the player depletes it. Thus, these items can’t be overused, and must be allowed to recharge when their batteries are running low.

Guns have a similar issue too when it comes to suppressors. Previous games would let you use the one suppressor you find for the entire game, whereas the suppressors you find in Metal Gear Solid 3 wear down with use, thus forcing you to be more deliberate with which guard you shoot. This contrasts with Metal Gear Solid 2, where guns like the tranquilizer and M9 could be used in a liberal manner when equipped with the suppressor, almost negating any difficulty the game had. Suppressors are generally hard to find as well, making Metal Gear Solid 3 a more engaging experience.

Snake Eater’s main gameplay philosophy revolves around the idea of survival, and thus the player must utilize whatever is around them to do so. You won’t be able to find rations as easily as you could have done in the previous two titles, and thus you must resort to hunting and eating the local wildlife to restore health. Unlike the previous titles, eating food does not automatically restore health. Instead, it restores your stamina gauge, and with that full, your health should slowly regenerate on its own. The animals that you hunt down or capture can expire as well, meaning that one can’t just stockpile food the whole game. There are food items that last much longer in the game, such as the Calorie Mate item, instant noodles, and the Russian rations. These however, are also difficult to find in comparison to just hunting down the animals present, so there’s a balance there. There is an item present known as life medicine that does restore the health bar, but these are sparse throughout the game as well and are best left saving for boss fights.

Combat is expanded as well, with the addition of CQC. Rather than just punch or choke an enemy, Snake can throw enemies to the ground to instantly knock them out, interrogate them, or use their body as a shield against other enemies. There’s also the added addition of the cure menu, adding a further bit of complexity into combat. If Snake gets injured in some way, the player’s health will decrease until they go into the cure menu to fix whatever issue they have.

Through these, the gameplay of Snake Eater becomes that much more fleshed out in comparison to Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear Solid. There’s a level of strategy necessary here that wasn’t present in the gameplay of any of the previous titles, making it an incredibly engaging experience. This is doubly true for someone playing these games in order of release, as it challenges any previously held notions about how a Metal Gear game should play by forcing the player to be more careful with how they approach combat. It took some getting used to for me personally, but eventually Snake Eater had grown to have one of the series’ best styles of gameplay. Out of the first three Solid titles, Snake Eater easily has the most refined style of gameplay. The only thing I’d really think of that would improve Snake Eater’s gameplay would be the addition of crouch walking, as the open style of the map kind of necessitates it. Other than that, however, what is here is great.

I won’t say too much about the specifics of the story for those who want to go in blind, but I will say that I felt that it was a tad weak in comparison to the previous two titles, especially Sons of Liberty. That’s not to say that I don’t like the story or that I don’t think it’s great, as I do. Even despite what qualms I have with the story, it’s still easily one of my own personal favorite games out there, and likely one of the greatest to have ever come out. However, I do feel that Snake Eater was a bit ‘safe’ in comparison to Sons of Liberty, thus leading it to be the less interesting of the first three. I don’t blame it for being that way, and I personally believe that this was the most reasonable direction that they could have gone. I also feel as if Metal Gear Solid on the PS1 had more iconic highs overall, though that’s not to say that Snake Eater is a bad experience. Snake’s arc is fantastic here, and the characters are all extremely memorable. The music is fantastic. The world of Snake Eater feels lived in and alive in a way that other titles in the series don’t.

Metal Gear Solid 3 is an incredible experience and is very much worth playing. It’s not a terrible place to start due to it being a prequel, but I would recommend playing these titles in order of release regardless. Though one won’t be lost playing 3 first, it’s a much more rewarding and enjoyable experience having the first two solid games under your belt beforehand. Though it isn’t my favorite out of the first three Metal Gear Solid titles, Snake Eater is still easily one of my favorite games ever, and even despite it not surpassing Sons of Liberty in my eyes, still serves to be an amazing experience.

To summarize: Peak game. Would feed on a tree frog again.

Play this game.

Those who dislike visual novels might try to argue that Umineko When They Cry is not a video game. In an ironic way, they’re right. Umineko When They Cry is not a video game. It’s a religious experience.

I can’t stress nearly enough just how much this game means to me personally. This experience changed me fundamentally as a person. It’s been months since I’ve completed it and I still regularly think about the title and what it wanted to say. I don’t think I’ll ever forget my time with it.

If you’re even moderately interested in visual novels as a genre, I implore you to check out Umineko When They Cry. I’d recommend starting with Higurashi first, since not only will it make your time with Umineko much more gratifying, Higurashi is an incredible experience in its own right.

Though the overall length might put some people off, I implore you to read through the title anyway, for it's all worth it. The Umineko experience is magical, and I can’t stress enough just how wonderful it is to play through.

I don’t know if I can say that there is a single greatest game ever. If I had to pick though, Umineko When They Cry would easily be my nomination.

For the love of god, do not skip this vn.

My previous review was kind of shit so I’m rewriting this to be a bit more specific about how I feel about this game.

To put it simply, Super Metroid is one of the greatest games Nintendo has ever put out. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is a strong contender for one of the greatest games ever made either.

In terms of gameplay, Super Metroid is king. It’s open in a way no other game in the series is, which is something I appreciate deeply. Depending on how extensive your knowledge of the game’s mechanics go, the bosses can be tackled in any order. There are times when items can be gained much earlier than intended too, sometimes letting you skip certain mini bosses entirely. Other developers might have seen this as an issue, but Super Metroid is a game that respects the player enough to let them play the game how they see fit.

Truly, the only thing limiting how you tackle your approach to completion is your own skill. Sequence breaking almost feels encouraged, and I’ve never felt more vindicated when learning the ins and outs of how a game works than when playing Super Metroid. Seeing my completion time get lower and lower whilst my item collection rate get higher and higher is maybe one of the greatest feelings ever.

Some people might prefer the tighter controls of the later titles, and that is a fair criticism of the game. I don’t personally believe it’s really that much of a barrier to entry though, and you get used to the physics fairly quickly.

Graphically, this game is amazing. I would easily say that this game has one of my favorite art styles ever, and it remains one of the best looking games on the Super Nintendo.

The music is fantastic as well. Each song has a sense of isolation and melancholy to it, making Super Metroid an incredibly unique experience. It’s atmospheric in ways that later Metroid games aren’t. While I love those titles to bits, I’ve always felt they were a bit too loud in comparison to Super.

In short, play this game. Curious about the Metroid series in the slightest? Play Super Metroid! Just want a fun Metroidvania? Play Super Metroid! Revisiting the title again? Play Super Metroid! Have no interest in Metroid as a series, Metroidvanias, or videogames in general? Play Super Metroid!

I want to preface this review by saying that I currently have 94 hours in this game.

Metal Gear Solid V is easily the weakest experience of the mainline titles. Its story, while an intriguing premise, is horribly botched by godawful pacing. Most of the game itself is filler, or at the very least feels like it is. Whatever bits of story that are there aren't strong enough to truly make the experience itself justifiable. Say what you will about a game like Metal Gear Solid 4, but at least in that game everything you did felt relevant to the plot at hand.

That's not to say it's a terrible game, because I don't think it's completely irredeemable. As I said earlier, I have roughly 94 hours in this title, and that's almost entirely because of the game play itself. The stealth action is the greatest it has ever been here, and the missions themselves can be tackled in any number of ways. Everything feels so fluid in ways that earlier titles weren't. However, in the second half of the game, everything starts to feel a bit samey. MGSV doesn't do enough with its latter half to truly justify playing through it in its entirety. Boss fights are disappointing here as well, with only two real boss fights throughout the entire game. It's incredibly embarrassing that the series had some of the most creative and engaging boss fights in gaming as a whole, while V only has two decent ones.

This game lacks any of the charm present in other titles. Characters in V (with few exceptions) pale in comparison to characters in other games. Nearly everyone present sounds flat too, and V is missing that characteristic theatricality that was present in other Metal Gear titles.

In summary, I would say that V is fun as its own experience. But as a Metal Gear title, it fails to properly maintain what made the series special. Play it if you wish, as its definitely enjoyable as a game. But it is far from being representative of Metal Gear as a whole.