The job system does most of the heavy lifting here. Builds aren’t as flexible as they would eventually become in 7, Tactics, 12 etc. though you can get pretty creative in 5; there’s still plenty to sink your teeth into.

I would say everything else is just varying degrees of decent.

The story is serviceable (with some funny moments peppered throughout, at least in the GBA localisation), the way it’s structured is perfectly adequate, the visuals are functional, and the music is good—sometimes great—albeit not quite up to the standard that Uematsu set for himself on many other games, and there also just isn’t enough of it; perhaps it’s to be expected for a SNES game, but you’ll encounter a ton of repeating tracks.

That’s about all I have to say about FF5. I like it. I’ll replay it some day.

I’m very much a stranger to dating sims. I went into this one attracted mostly by my fascination upon hearing that the characters were actually good, and that some dating sims are weirdly complex.

Love Plus isn’t really complex, but the first chunk of the game presents you with just enough mechanically; for better or worse, it won’t turn your brain into mush. And the characters are indeed quite well-developed, especially for something that could be interpreted as bait for desperate nerds.

I actually enjoyed that ‘first half’ of the game. Building your stats by planning out your day, and divvying up your time with each girl to learn more about them was a lot of fun. Once you finally do start dating one of the girls, however, I quickly lost interest, primarily because the game no longer gave me a clear goal to work towards—I like at least a little bit of railroading in more laid-back games like this.

This opinion may lead to some worrying implications about how I behave in relationships, but I swear I don’t feel this way in real life. You have to believe me.

Neat game. Not really for me. I may return to it someday. Who knows?

This game rules.

Everything about the way this game looks and sounds is just perfect, and that’s saying a lot this side of PS1 town. All the 90s post FF7 Square pre-rendered goodness you could ever want, plus surprisingly sophisticated, moody 3D visuals during gameplay. The soundtrack—that is equal parts fusion, electronic and pop—combines with the visuals to create the perfect atmosphere.

The story is bonkers; I don’t wanna spoil anything, just play it.

The gameplay is what surprised me the most. It’s RPG mechanics are remarkably fleshed out for something that, on paper, reads like no more than a novel idea. Car handling feels really good, too—deceptively so for a game that, once again, sounds very gimmicky. The game also offers a diverse array of events, from street races, to rally races, to drag races, to chicken races, which might be my favourite.

It could use some refinement; for example, I got the impression from my playthrough that, despite the potential for many different builds, many didn’t seem too viable, so progression felt pretty linear. I’m also not a huge fan of having to relinquish a random part of your car upon losing a random race (and maybe the event races as well? I don’t remember). It’s such a harsh punishment, I would almost prefer a fail state. Additionally, the collision isn’t great; I never got used to the way you bounce off cars when you collide with them. It’s very jarring.

All of that is pretty minor when you consider what Racing Lagoon does achieve, however. The presentation is firing on all cylinders, and gameplay-wise, it’s far better than something with a premise this gimmicky should be.

And seriously, I cannot stress enough how stylish this game is. It’s unbelievable; worth playing just for that.

This is my favourite RE since the series’ ‘revival’ with 7.

It has a lot of variety, satisfying progression and level design, great atmosphere (perfect winter game), some of my favourite art direction in the entire series, fun characters (Ethan is still pretty boring, though), one of the better modern RE soundtracks.

Elaborating upon what I like about it will take too long, and I’m in a lazy mood, so I’ll just say I love this one, and I hope it’s a sign of things to come for Resident Evil.

Is it blasphemy to like this one more than 2 Remake?

I consider myself a pretty strong opposer to rereleases in all forms. What I like about this one is that it feels almost nothing like the original; a common, and valid point of criticism happens to be the primary reason why I like it so much. It’s much harder for me to compare it to the original, unlike 2 Remake.

Instead of a faithful remake, you get a pretty dramatic reimagining of it as an action game. It’s well-paced, looks great, the boss fights are really fun. It’s just a really good time.

I can see why this one is not very well liked, but given this current era of gaming where creativity is exceedingly rare, and rereleases keep our heads buried in the past-sand, it’s actually kinda nice to have one of those rereleases be nothing like the original. That’s my two cents.

I don’t dislike this game, however I don’t love it like most people seem to.

I recall not being a big fan of the way the game looks, in particular how dark it is. I don’t really know how to explain it; the darkness felt like more of a nuisance than something that enhances the spook factor. And it’s pretty washed out, too. Not terribly pleasing to look at.

Mr. X is pretty easy to just run around or away from; he’s too slow to be a much of a threat, and his omnipresence just makes him bothersome to deal with. I think the way he moves fast in unloaded rooms and whatnot is a little annoying too.

I think the separate campaigns are extremely under-utilised. The zapping system from the original isn’t expanded upon at all, and the B run gives rise to a ton of continuity errors. Continuity between the two campaigns was also questionable in the original, but there was enough differentiation between them to distract from it. Here, you don’t even get different boss fights until the end. And the new playable Ada and Sherry sections I found rather mundane.

I’m not too sure how to feel about zombies being able to follow you into other rooms. I know it was a thing in RE1 Remake; it happened so rarely though, so when it did happen it was a genuine shock. It happens all the time in 2 Remake and it sorta felt like I was unintentionally being discouraged from exploration. (This is definitely something I’d have to experience again—perhaps I’d like it now.)

It’s the music in RE2 Remake that’s possibly the greatest transgression. The original’s perfect soundtrack is almost completely scrapped in favour of one that’s so low key, it might as well not be there at all. As such, the game is sorely lacking in atmosphere. The most frustrating part is that the new, late game action tracks are fucking excellent; why couldn’t the rest of the soundtrack be as good?

For positives: I think the first few hours (from arriving at the police station, to the car park after the first Birkin fight) are fantastic, my qualms with the darkness and the OST aside. I’m still very sore about not having a fixed camera and pre-rendered backgrounds, but if it absolutely has to be third-person, the first few hours are about as close to a classic survival horror experience I could hope for from a modern game. Those first hours, the sewer, and the lab all excel at almost everything that survival horror should.