𝗙𝘂𝗰𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂.

Around three years ago, I played Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc for the first time. I really enjoyed it for what it is, it's not good, don't get me wrong, but it's a damn fun game if you're able to turn your mind off. The same holds true for Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, which I played around the same timeframe as well. I loved it, the writing isn't really good, but it was fun to play that game despite its flaws. Then, of course, I got to Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. A game I've been utterly confused by for so long now. Then around 2 years later, I met someone so insistent on Danganronpa V3 being some high kino, and I thought maybe I let it fly over my head, so I decided on a replay some time in the future.

Danganronpa V3 is admittedly a step up in every department from the first two games. The UI is much better, the music is genuinely amazing, I enjoyed the cast, and the writing of some of the later cases are genuinely good. Then there's Case 6. I keep running through it in my head as it moves about in there back and forth. The twist is genuinely something I'd normally adore, as the game forces me to confront the state of Danganronpa and what it's become. But I wish I could love it.

The problem with V3's twist is how much it wants to convince you about how it recognizes the faults of Danganronpa when it just doesn't. The impact of this twist nullifies when you consider that this game is written no different from any other Danganronpa game for the first 5 cases. Why do I have to give it praise for a message that I'm fond of and agree with when I know for a fact that it's handled so poorly that you're left with a sour taste in your mouth as you play through the final case? What am I praising? The existence of the message? I like the message but if it's not executed well I can't help but feel as though this game has huge missed potential.

Maybe I'm being hypocritical, maybe I'm being too harsh, but I can't agree with the lens that this game is supposed to be a parody of Danganronpa when it reuses the same tropes and plot points from the first two games but without the satirization. A parody that doesn't parody isn't a parody. It's a copy. Thing is, I'd probably forgive this game for playing into the Danganronpa formula if Danganronpa 2 didn't exist, but when that game already copied a lot of plot threads from the first game, I have to ask. Is this a parody, or is this just how the game was genuinely written? I think the direction of what the message of this game actually is was decided quite late into development, which is why it doesn't quite stick the landing. What really creates a huge dent in the twist is the fact that the game is written like a normal Danganronpa game for 90% of its playtime, which really doesn't mesh well with the message. It's hard for me at certain points to even say that if it was on purpose or a product of poor writing.

There's an emptiness that was felt in my heart when a major scene happened in Case 6. This isn't a game about Hope vs Despair. I thought it was about truth at first, but no. It's about Faith. V3 is a rejection of Danganronpa, and I absolutely love that concept; I just don't love V3. But I don't hate it either, there's a genuine heartfelt message that was put into this game and it's wrong for me to deny that, it's wrong for you to deny that.

The "fuck you" at the beginning of this review wasn't towards the game itself but to V3's loudest critics. I've seen many people call V3 an unsalvagable dumpster fire and rank it as one of their least favorite pieces of fiction. It leaves me utterly confused because 9 times out of 10, these people never even enjoyed the first 2 games to begin with. So what the fuck are you getting mad at? That the game series you've always hated has another bad entry? That your suspicions were confirmed? Danganronpa bad, LOL? The V3 hate doesn't bother me when it's by someone who enjoyed the first two games, or by someone who critiques V3 on its own merits. It's really the people who've never enjoyed Danganronpa in the first place calling this an "embarrassment" that confuses me because this game LITERALLY admits to Danganronpa being bad, but somehow that's not enough. Where does this sheer hatred even come from if you're not a fan of the first two entries? Most of these people deny the message's existence in the first place, which I'll never agree with. I may not like Kodaka's writing all that much, but he agrees with you, and that's still not enough for you, so what else do you want? If somehow a Danganronpa game is utterly loathed by you, then I'm genuinely baffled because at worst these games are nothing worse than a schlocky murder mystery with corny themes.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony aims high, and I'm sorry to say it kinda misses the mark, but I'll never deny the message Kodaka was trying to say. I apologize to my friend who wanted me to replay V3 to like it as much as him, while I can't say this is a 10/10, I do completely see why you like this game so much. I was reminded a lot of my memories of playing Danganronpa three years ago. Starting Trigger Happy Havoc at 5 am, not knowing what it is, spending 14 hours on Goodbye Despair at one play session, and being left confused at the end of Killing Harmony. I love this series, it's bad, but I had so much fun. So I don't care. I'm glad Kodaka was able to end it on his own terms, and I really hope Rain Code can knock it out of the park.

Concerning the ending, yeah, this "fiction" did touch me. I'll miss it, and I wanna go back to the time when I was able to turn my brain off and have fun with these games. But, in classic series fashion, I'm told to move on, so I will. But alas, I will miss you.

Goodbye, Danganronpa.

Even playing the worst version of this game was still a blast. Web of Shadows is the Eurojank Mutation of what my ideal Spider-Man game would be. Its super ambitious, its large, it innovates in spots noone thought to do so and yet it barely manages to hit any of its lofty goals. I love this game mainly for its combat, movement and moral choices. Web of Shadows actually gives you the option to be a real piece of work, the true Villain of the story while looking so damm cool. There is a real thick layer of dust on the graphics and Voice acting, but I have grown so fond of them, in a really autistic way.

What do I even say? What even can I say? While playing this game a melancholic feeling flowed through me across each level, as a creator took me throughout different stages of his life. From 80's arcades to early 2010 action games, a journey through his past and a look into the future he hopes for.

Travis is a completely different person now, and while I'd call it stupid and out of nowhere at first, I can't. There's no denying Travis represents a part of Suda, but he also represents you. Through Dr. Juvenile, we see what it means for the audience to connect to a creator via their works and how we come to understand them. While we may never meet them, we feel as if we know them, and how we have nothing but respect for them.

We're taken through worlds that echo a man's childhood, his aimless days and his magnum opus. Then it's all brought down as we're reminded of what we assumed he thinks to be an embarrassment, but he doesn't feel that way. Suda fully admits the faults with Shadows of The Damned, hell I think he may even be too meta with it, but he doesn't hold hate in his heart for it. He sees the good, he sees the bad, and asks himself to let go. Despite his ambitions being kicked down, it's not over yet.

Perhaps that's why this game has nothing but the utmost respect for the indie scene, as it boomed right around the time where most would say Suda was at his lowest. There's definitely something to be admired about indie games and their raw passion, which I think he felt was lost.

Each of the bosses represent something, such as Suda's past, his future, his fears and even his mentors. And every track accompanying the fight reminds you of this, the entire soundtrack is filled with nothing but bangers as you slice your way through as many bugs as possible. The gameplay didn't tire on me either, not one bit.

The first cutscene of this game calls it a "commemorative title", and I feel as though it's exactly that. A celebration of 20 years' worth of games, many of which I adore. Many of which also share one theme. A theme that also pulsates throughout this game like a beating heart. Each boss has something which is weighing them down, and you're reminded of those words everytime you fight one of them. Those three words that Suda wants to tell himself the most.

Kill the past.

The amount of praises I've seen people sing about this game had led me to believe that I was being played a fool, and a bunch of video game intellectuals™ with writing capabilities far better than mine had gotten around on a round table and decided "Hm yes this is the new niche PlayStation 1 video game we will be gassing up on Backloggd dot com this week."

After playing it through myself, yeah it's pretty good. I still don't get most of the praise but not like it should really matter. People like what they like and I like this game. I'm sorry Josh_The_Fourth.

Very big epic of a game that got a lot of well-deserved love for its immersion, fun world-building, and exciting gameplay. God of War is very much a type of game I don’t often reach for (very violent, visually bloody, etc), but I still tried to go with a fairly open mindset. I’m surprised to see the majority of the complaints here are about the gameplay over the story, as I found little issue with the actual feeling of the game. The platforming felt fine, and was actually pretty kind with how its double jump mechanic worked. The camera was very nice in its cinematic shots, as well. It even works in subtly telling you where you need to next go. My only issue with it control wise was if they were going to focus the camera so much on its visual quickshots, tank control would have made it feel a lot more natural, à la 2002 GameCube Resident Evil, but I can also understand that making the fighting absolutely god awful.

Gameplay wise, the enemies definitely felt a bit spongy, even with fully upgraded magic/weapons on normal mode. I imagine that was just done to pad the game out as much as they could, as the game itself is actually pretty short; I finished it in just 7 hours. But a short game doesn’t mean a bad game, don’t get me wrong! Metal Gear Solid and Pikmin take around 6 hours, and those are two of the best games ever made. The difference with those games versus God of War is that their short play time is an effect of trimming so much fat, all that’s left is the necessities for what it needs to be enjoyable. God of War on the other hand feels as if it’s stretching every aspect to at the very least make it to that 6 hour mark, whether that be with spongy enemies, shabby obstacles (the spinning spike towards the end comes freshly to mind…), and constant backtracking. While there are annoying elements like that to lengthen the game, there are others that are indicative of being very kind as well, such as how little it sends you back when you die and the wide availability of save points.

I imagine the game was on the shorter side because of the clear amount of focus on graphics. The game is absolutely gorgeous, and really successful in giving the player that feeling of being a small “mortal” who has to fight all these powerful Gods, with their statues and spiritual presence being large in size to assure that. Every area is very beautifully decorated, and obviously even if not the most historically accurate, still is able to fulfill that explorative desire to investigate what we imagine the temples of Ancient Greece to be. The music matches very well too, creating a very serious and mythical soundtrack with this sort-of contemporary classical sound as you travel throughout.

The story is where I found most of my issues. Even completely ignoring the obvious inaccuracies of Ancient Greece in the game, as it’s definitely focusing more on the entertainment aspect (which is totally fine, we’ve seen it a million times before with other war-drama medias (like the films 300 and Braveheart, for example) and I see no issue is making something fun focusing on the modern interpretation of ancient societies), but the plot of God of War makes no goddamn sense and seems to think it can just throw its message out without following up on it with actions. I understand the message they were aiming for of Kratos going through a journey of revenge with insane acts of violence without realizing the harm to loved ones he was causing, but the game so quickly seems to switch between him realizing his errors and then immediately killing an innocent person with no mercy that it’s unintentionally kind of comedic. The overall story that God of War is trying to guide the player through is just so bland. What kind of lame story is a man continuously killing others, only to feel regret when he sees it affects ONLY the people he loves. Not even in a meaningful way like, “Oh my God, I hurt my own family, which in truth, was really me hurting everyone's families and life in general,” but rather just, “Oh no, I’m killing my own family?? Nooooooooo!!”. Ugh, the game doesn’t even allow him to begin to crack open why his actions were truly self-serving and wrong, how boring. I guess it keeps the skull-crushing violent gameplay going, though. Maybe I wouldn’t be so bothered by God of War’s bland, lazy story if I didn’t constantly read it being hyped up as this deep, thought-provoking essayist of a game. Looking back at some of these reviews, they seem to at least mention that the best part of the whole thing is the “bad-ass” appeal over the actual revenge story, which truthfully I’m not going to be the target audience for. It was pretty funny that the ONE woman I could NOT brutally murder was regarded by the narrator as, “The worst mistake Kratos ever made EVER,” though.

God of War is fine. It’s stupid, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, which it very much is. While overall, I did have some fun, it does go a little below my expectations of what I expected. The story is nothing more than just fluff to hold it all together, the very end-game obstacles become more cruel than challenging, and finding that red necklace without a guide is practically impossible. It ended up both frustrating and annoying to a point I was more blah than happy with the game. That’s not to say I didn’t still enjoy parts of it, such as the bosses and cinematics, which I feel were likable enough to give credit to. But for the most part, I found myself a bit disappointed at certain aspects I can’t completely ignore.

3/5

Alright, let’s get this over with so I don’t have to spend any more time on this than I already have. This game sucks, but let's take a look at why:

First, let’s take a look at that long list of positives -

• UI is genuinely cute and looks very nice on the PS Vita

• Touko and Komaru are two female protagonists that have some fun banter and cute moments

• The final boss is fun in that you have to use all the moves you’ve learned and put yourself to the test in a satisfying way

Now let’s have a gander at those negatives:

• The camera sucked and made some bosses incredibly difficult

• The game is not so much action-adventure as it is my absolute least favorite formula of just run from point A to point B to see more cutscenes

• Touko is way too overpowered, making the game mind-numbingly boring, but as a game made for fans of the series’ visual novels and not so much action, I guess I can understand the lack of difficulty

• I was excited for the music as I loved it in the original Danganronpa, only for it to feel like they reused the same 3 songs over and over again here

• Bosses loudly repeat the same 2 lines over and over again, to the point I had to mute my Vita giving me a disadvantage on hearing non-verbal noise cues

• Has this kids vs adults theme, but oddly continuously calls Komaru and Toko adults even though they’re both underage and wear school uniforms to boot! It could have been a cool dilemma of adults vs kids and the teenage protagonists have this dilemma of figuring out in the chaos where they fit when they can socially fit both (and have a cool ‘growing up is scary, but it’s something we all go through’ lesson like in Persona 2), but no, they just straight assume they’re both adults with no further explanation, I’m guessing so the panty shots are more accepted. (Blah, turns out my memory is worse than I thought. Thank you to HaloBlues for the correction!)

• There’s just an open pedophile in the game that leads the adult group with no repercussions, in fact our protagonists even compliment him on it, when one of the little girl’s reasoning for killing adults was being sexually assaulted by them creating the most fucked-up messaging in a game I’ve ever played

• The girl who was sexually assaulted in turn tries to assault the protagonist with a… groping machine. Whole thing is played off for laughs, with additional panty shots of the literal elementary school aged girl during it. Touko then makes mentions of the little girl “taking your virginity” throughout the rest of the game

• The whole game is just shocking to be shocking with little thought put into what makes something funny or interesting, such as having to save on a children’s training potty, listening to a kid ramble on about ripping out and eating adult guts, and having to watch the children french-kiss each other

• Touko continuously brings up to Komaru that she thinks she has a sexual relationship with her own brother, which Komaru just giggles and waves off

• You get to watch the same scene of Togami getting whipped like 7 times, which wasn't even funny the first time they showed it, but my God, they’re gonna keep showing you it until you think it’s funny!!

• The ending sequence on whether or not you should break the controller was complete ass as the characters repeat the same lines of dialogue over and over to you. I immediately broke the controller and saw that was the wrong answer, so the constant moral dilemma of if I should break it or not was instantly gone, and actually very annoying as the next 15 minutes had me continuously choose on breaking the controller or not (it was 8 times, I counted) when I already knew the “right answer” was to not break it

There’s so much more I could go into, but I’ve wasted enough energy on this game. Similar to past Danganronpa games, Ultra Despair Girls tries to handle morals and messages way too advanced for its own good, instead creating something incredibly offensive and downright awful to watch. After finishing the game, I plan on selling it, as I have no reason to ever want to play it again, and the person who gifted it to me is no longer in my life.

I recommend Persona 2: Eternal Punishment if you want a story about the difficulties of growing up, and I recommend the Resident Evil series if you like the idea of hiding from and shooting enemies that are chasing after you.

1/5

Well, I think I have finally come to the end (for now) on my journey to blindly play the Metal Gear games in chronological order. What an amazing adventure this all has been, with Metal Gear Solid 3 still continuing strong in blowing my mind away at the innovations it created for the PS2 in 2004.

Every game since the first on MSX has been insanely advanced for the time it came out, and MGS3 is no exception. Stamina, camouflage, interactive cutscenes… and most amazing of all, strongly written female characters. MGS3 not only shocked me with its crazy advanced gameplay mechanics and 4th-wall breaking, but it’s improved writing. An issue that’s been following Metal Gear since the beginning, the women in MGS3 are finally actual characters with interesting backstories and confusing morals. I had kind of given up hope at this point for Metal Gear to have well-written female characters, especially as the whole series is based around 80’s action films that were notorious for doing the exact opposite, but MGS3 had me incredibly tickled pink to see the girls now so heavily involved. It definitely had to be the highlight of my playthrough.

The rest story-wise, I was glad to see the message of Metal Gear continue, and see how it really began with Big Boss in the terrifying but real issue of “what is a soldier to do when the world becomes peaceful and their purpose becomes useless.” I liked seeing the start of this message as chronologically (in story) we next see Grey Fox tell this to Snake when he breaks down in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. It’s cool seeing how the message originally comes up in MGS3 and how it molds to fit the different scenarios of the different Metal Gear games, as what is war in the overall view really good for? We see how it hurt Big Boss, which in turn he internalized and made to hurt many others, and so the cycle continues.

I could talk in great detail on how great the mechanics are, and how wonderfully mixed the gameplay has turned to fit with cinematic storytelling, but I’m sure it’s been properly beaten into our heads with how many newer games tried to copy this perfect formula. I will say my fears that MGS2 gave me of cutscenes > gameplay made me very happy to see MGS3 didn’t follow in its footsteps, at least in that technique.

Bosses in this game have to be the best I’ve ever fought, with the most fun and challenging battles yet, the survival addition was fun and immersive, and the weapons never felt better to play around with. Overall, MGS3 really is Metal Gear at its best.

I was talking to a friend about the series, and we both agreed that we have different games within it that we personally have strong connections to (me with MG2, and him with MGS1) but we can absolutely agree that MGS3 is just factually the best made game in the series. Hell, it might be one of the best made games of all time. If you told me you felt that about the game, I definitely wouldn’t bat an eye. I know I keep bringing up the ways the gameplay immerses you, but it really is astounding how involved it makes you feel, and how every moment has you ecstatic for the next.

Metal Gear is a very, very good series, and Metal Gear Solid 3 is the juiciest, most delicious cherry on top. I’ve heard very… mixed things about the series from here on out, so I am taking a bit of a break before deciding on if I want to move forward with MGS4 and onwards. Thank you to everyone who followed me on my little Metal Gear journey! I had an absolute blast.

Feel free to check out my other reviews of my first time experiences here:

MG1
MG2:SS
MGS1
MGS2

Played with my partner, giving me the best possible chance with this one. Playing games with her is always wonderful and Halo 1 is really special to her, whereas my memories of it basically boil down to some silliness on Blood Gulch.

This lies a bit awkwardly at the midpoint between the Unreals and Half-Lifes of the world and the then-newly solidifying modern shooter conventions, serving as one of the earliest examples of them present in one place. You've got your two equip slots, your obnoxiously self-serious military theming, your narration / guidance from an NPC through ever-present comms, your dedicated vehicle sections, etc. While that is all the case and is most interesting when thinking about Halo's place in history, what makes it truly stand out is its flirtation with the trends of the late 90s / early 00s that aren't so familiar today...namely the hilarious sandboxyness of it all. Everything is a physics object and constantly flying around the screen, with little thought given to how that can break levels (either in ways that benefit or completely fuck over the player), vehicles are so mobile and also floaty that they're constantly flipping over, being boosted into places they're not supposed to, and otherwise being extremely silly.

The best moments in Halo are when you're pushing the limits of that sandbox and being rewarded either with actual progression or with humor. The worst parts are when you're going step-by-step dryly doing whatever the voice in your head tells you to do in that moment. Strange to think that the latter is what stuck and became the default for shooters.