NoChillBen
BACKER
I never review DLC, but my god this may be the worst expansion I’ve ever played.
Just awful level design, completely missing the mark of what makes Fallout New Vegas so great. So much boring combat when the gunplay is the worst thing about the game. The story is fine, but the agony that is caused from how unfun it is to play overshadows it greatly. The collar stuff has to be some of the most annoying, frustrating, and pointless nonsense I’ve ever seen. Why make exploration as frustrating as possible? Add the toxic gas stupidity into it and I’ve had enough. There had to be a board meeting where everyone asked, “what’s the worst thing about this game? Let’s make an entire expansion based on it (combat) and make every moment excruciatingly painful and tedious.” What a disaster of an expansion.
Just awful level design, completely missing the mark of what makes Fallout New Vegas so great. So much boring combat when the gunplay is the worst thing about the game. The story is fine, but the agony that is caused from how unfun it is to play overshadows it greatly. The collar stuff has to be some of the most annoying, frustrating, and pointless nonsense I’ve ever seen. Why make exploration as frustrating as possible? Add the toxic gas stupidity into it and I’ve had enough. There had to be a board meeting where everyone asked, “what’s the worst thing about this game? Let’s make an entire expansion based on it (combat) and make every moment excruciatingly painful and tedious.” What a disaster of an expansion.
2013
Peak video game nostalgia for me. Shoutout to the guy who scammed me out of 2 mill when I was 11.
Kids nowadays will never know the joy of playing RuneScape for hours on end for months at a time. I had very bad internet growing up, so online gaming wasn’t an option for the vast majority of releases. Somehow, my garbage connection was enough to let me enjoy my favorite MMO.
Such a vast area to explore, so many quests, and tons of skills to level up, all in F2P. Membership opened the floodgates of new weapon types, skills, areas, quests, and housing options.
While the gameplay itself wasn’t really thrilling, the constant feeling of progression and improvement kept the dopamine flowing for years. I believe I capped out at a combat level of 75 with hundreds upon hundreds of hours played. I bought houses, conquered hundreds of quests, made friends, worked jobs given to me by real players, and explored the world to my hearts content.
Among the good times, dark times came as well. I was trying to buy a Dwarf Cannon, which to this day I don’t know if it’s good or not. It cost about 2-3 mill at the time, that’s about all I remember. I was at the grand exchange spamming “buying dwarf cannon” for hours. Many players opened a trade with me, realized I had 2 mill, and closed the offer because it wasn’t high enough. Then, one player saw my offer and had me follow him underground, I don’t remember the area. You had to have a candle in your hand that was lit to go to this area. When we got down to the cavern, the player told me to extinguish my flame. When this happened, bugs began to hurt my character for low damage. This wasn’t concerning, until the damage continued to bring my HP to dangerously low levels. The player told me to dig at the walls and maybe I could escape. Despite my frantic efforts to get above ground or save my lowering health, I eventually perished. Upon my resurrection in the graveyard, I realized I lost all my coins. When I went to message this player, they were already offline. It was that moment that I learned I could never trust a soul on this forsaken planet. I was 11 at the time.
Anyway, RuneScape is a fantastic MMO that is very approachable for most ages. The amount of hours I sank into it couldn’t be calculated by most modern computers. I still go back occasionally and play my new character I made a few years ago, who is now a combat level 50 F2P account. Nostalgia doesn’t get any better than RuneScape for me.
Kids nowadays will never know the joy of playing RuneScape for hours on end for months at a time. I had very bad internet growing up, so online gaming wasn’t an option for the vast majority of releases. Somehow, my garbage connection was enough to let me enjoy my favorite MMO.
Such a vast area to explore, so many quests, and tons of skills to level up, all in F2P. Membership opened the floodgates of new weapon types, skills, areas, quests, and housing options.
While the gameplay itself wasn’t really thrilling, the constant feeling of progression and improvement kept the dopamine flowing for years. I believe I capped out at a combat level of 75 with hundreds upon hundreds of hours played. I bought houses, conquered hundreds of quests, made friends, worked jobs given to me by real players, and explored the world to my hearts content.
Among the good times, dark times came as well. I was trying to buy a Dwarf Cannon, which to this day I don’t know if it’s good or not. It cost about 2-3 mill at the time, that’s about all I remember. I was at the grand exchange spamming “buying dwarf cannon” for hours. Many players opened a trade with me, realized I had 2 mill, and closed the offer because it wasn’t high enough. Then, one player saw my offer and had me follow him underground, I don’t remember the area. You had to have a candle in your hand that was lit to go to this area. When we got down to the cavern, the player told me to extinguish my flame. When this happened, bugs began to hurt my character for low damage. This wasn’t concerning, until the damage continued to bring my HP to dangerously low levels. The player told me to dig at the walls and maybe I could escape. Despite my frantic efforts to get above ground or save my lowering health, I eventually perished. Upon my resurrection in the graveyard, I realized I lost all my coins. When I went to message this player, they were already offline. It was that moment that I learned I could never trust a soul on this forsaken planet. I was 11 at the time.
Anyway, RuneScape is a fantastic MMO that is very approachable for most ages. The amount of hours I sank into it couldn’t be calculated by most modern computers. I still go back occasionally and play my new character I made a few years ago, who is now a combat level 50 F2P account. Nostalgia doesn’t get any better than RuneScape for me.
2016
While it’s over-hated, it still has some massive issues.
I had a rough relationship with this game for a long time. However, after a replay in 2024, I have a newfound appreciation for this entry in the RE franchise. It really is just more RE1, but not as good.
The coop aspect is the main difference from the rest of the franchise, at least at the time. It must be noted, even though RE5 and 6 did it way later, 0 has the best controls over your partner in single player. I rarely had times where my partner was causing issues for me, where the later entires were destroyed by bad AI. Whoever you’re not playing as has solid AI and can be controlled either by the right analog stick or with status settings in the inventory menu. Having a partner did not make the game worse, if only that could be said for 5 and 6.
While being able to drop items sounds like a great idea, the removal of the item box really sucks. Like really bad. Having to transport your stuff over and over throughout the game as you unlock new areas is very frustrating and tiring. I spent so much time traversing areas solely to keep hauling my items that it wasn’t even funny. I wonder if, during testing, they found item boxes to not work as intended or maybe they followed feedback from people saying they wanted to be able to drop items where ever they wanted. Regardless, this is the worst part of the game. Special shoutout to the hook shot that takes up 2 slots and you have to lug it around throughout most of the game.
Combat is the same as RE1R, so it’s what you would expect from a classic survival horror game. I never really felt like I was going to run out of ammo or ink ribbons, but that may be since I play very cautiously and try to avoid combat and save infrequently. Having a buddy to help you if you get grabbed is fun when it pays off. Weapons feel good to use and this may have the best shotgun in the series.
The story feels like they did their best to justify its existence, but it feels out of place in the series. Like how have we never heard of Dr. Marcus and why have the leeches never come up either? Wesker and Birkin were friends? Why did Rebecca not mention anything of what happened to her to Chris when he gets to the Mansion? Where on Earth is Billy Coen after 0? How did Alpha team not know about the giant explosion at the Training Facility or the Ecliptic Express’ derailment? I know, they wrote this game after the release of RE1 so they couldn’t account for these plot points, but the fact that this story has no repercussions for anything going forward in the series has always stuck out to me as very odd.
RE0 is absolutely worth playing for fans of classic survival horror. It has some quirks, and some baffling design choices, but it really is a great game overall. Not the best in the series by a long shot, but I really underestimated it over the years and I’m glad I came back and gave it another chance.
I had a rough relationship with this game for a long time. However, after a replay in 2024, I have a newfound appreciation for this entry in the RE franchise. It really is just more RE1, but not as good.
The coop aspect is the main difference from the rest of the franchise, at least at the time. It must be noted, even though RE5 and 6 did it way later, 0 has the best controls over your partner in single player. I rarely had times where my partner was causing issues for me, where the later entires were destroyed by bad AI. Whoever you’re not playing as has solid AI and can be controlled either by the right analog stick or with status settings in the inventory menu. Having a partner did not make the game worse, if only that could be said for 5 and 6.
While being able to drop items sounds like a great idea, the removal of the item box really sucks. Like really bad. Having to transport your stuff over and over throughout the game as you unlock new areas is very frustrating and tiring. I spent so much time traversing areas solely to keep hauling my items that it wasn’t even funny. I wonder if, during testing, they found item boxes to not work as intended or maybe they followed feedback from people saying they wanted to be able to drop items where ever they wanted. Regardless, this is the worst part of the game. Special shoutout to the hook shot that takes up 2 slots and you have to lug it around throughout most of the game.
Combat is the same as RE1R, so it’s what you would expect from a classic survival horror game. I never really felt like I was going to run out of ammo or ink ribbons, but that may be since I play very cautiously and try to avoid combat and save infrequently. Having a buddy to help you if you get grabbed is fun when it pays off. Weapons feel good to use and this may have the best shotgun in the series.
The story feels like they did their best to justify its existence, but it feels out of place in the series. Like how have we never heard of Dr. Marcus and why have the leeches never come up either? Wesker and Birkin were friends? Why did Rebecca not mention anything of what happened to her to Chris when he gets to the Mansion? Where on Earth is Billy Coen after 0? How did Alpha team not know about the giant explosion at the Training Facility or the Ecliptic Express’ derailment? I know, they wrote this game after the release of RE1 so they couldn’t account for these plot points, but the fact that this story has no repercussions for anything going forward in the series has always stuck out to me as very odd.
RE0 is absolutely worth playing for fans of classic survival horror. It has some quirks, and some baffling design choices, but it really is a great game overall. Not the best in the series by a long shot, but I really underestimated it over the years and I’m glad I came back and gave it another chance.
2007
Name a more hyped release than Halo 3. Then name a game that lived up to the hype like Halo 3.
One of the greatest single player FPS campaigns ever made. All the buildup from Halo 1 and 2 pays off in 3. I’m one of the weirdos who didn’t like Halo 2 very much, but loved Halo 1. Such a tight gameplay loop and it gives you so many new toys to play with in the Halo sandbox. Then, the story payoff at the end is emotional and so satisfying for people who love the series.
Multiplayer in Halo 3 was the place to be in 2007. Some of the best map design around and amazing weapons to play with. The progression was purely cosmetic, yet it kept people playing for years. Compare that to CoD nowadays where they are constantly giving you items to keep you interested, yet people bounce off faster.
Forge and theater were the first of their kinds, and they haven’t been matched in several aspects. The amount of time I spent in both of these as kid, not even playing, was more than I spend in modern shooters now.
Halo 3 wasn’t a game, it was an event. So much love and care went into this, and it shows 17 years later. So many memories were created because of it, and I’d never trade them for anything. There will never be another release this hyped ever again.
One of the greatest single player FPS campaigns ever made. All the buildup from Halo 1 and 2 pays off in 3. I’m one of the weirdos who didn’t like Halo 2 very much, but loved Halo 1. Such a tight gameplay loop and it gives you so many new toys to play with in the Halo sandbox. Then, the story payoff at the end is emotional and so satisfying for people who love the series.
Multiplayer in Halo 3 was the place to be in 2007. Some of the best map design around and amazing weapons to play with. The progression was purely cosmetic, yet it kept people playing for years. Compare that to CoD nowadays where they are constantly giving you items to keep you interested, yet people bounce off faster.
Forge and theater were the first of their kinds, and they haven’t been matched in several aspects. The amount of time I spent in both of these as kid, not even playing, was more than I spend in modern shooters now.
Halo 3 wasn’t a game, it was an event. So much love and care went into this, and it shows 17 years later. So many memories were created because of it, and I’d never trade them for anything. There will never be another release this hyped ever again.
2020
VR gaming will never top this.
The most immersive VR experience I’ve ever had. While there are several massive games of this type, Half Life Alyx feels the most like a real AAA experience. The control you have over Alyx is unmatched, creating the most intuitive control scheme VR has ever had. The way it integrates its story into the Half Life universe is so incredibly creative and rewarding to see until the end. Every chapter is memorable, and some are the best levels in a game I’ve ever experienced. Nothing compares to Alyx in the VR world, and it’s one of the best games ever made.
The most immersive VR experience I’ve ever had. While there are several massive games of this type, Half Life Alyx feels the most like a real AAA experience. The control you have over Alyx is unmatched, creating the most intuitive control scheme VR has ever had. The way it integrates its story into the Half Life universe is so incredibly creative and rewarding to see until the end. Every chapter is memorable, and some are the best levels in a game I’ve ever experienced. Nothing compares to Alyx in the VR world, and it’s one of the best games ever made.
2009
As a coop action game, RE5 is a great time with friends. However, if you are primarily a single player gamer like myself, it leaves a lot to be desired.
Replaying it in 2024 really highlights how much it reuses from RE4. Animations, bosses, survival sequences, there is so much taken from its predecessor that makes this feel like an RE4 highlight reel. Yet, somehow, it is less than half as long as RE4. While it takes all these aspects, having a partner makes it all less tense and more frustrating because you feel like it’s an escort mission when playing solo. There are also several bosses meant to be tackled with a coop partner, but the AI doesn’t seem to get the memo on how to work together in these sequences. Sheva really hurts this game in almost every aspect except the story. As I run through it, I keep thinking about how much better almost every area would’ve been improved if it were a single player experience.
The story and cinematography are very well done and fun. It has that Kojima style handheld camera look to the cutscenes and it looks great. The graphics also held up extremely well. The story, while insane, is engaging throughout and keeps you hooked until it ends.
RE5 also makes the mistake that RE4 made with having a gun-heavy ending area, which basically turns this into Gears of War. The beginning of this game is absolutely the highlight, and it continuously gets further away from what makes the game good as it goes on. Also, for some reason, there are multiple bosses in this game that leave me stumped. They give little to no indication if you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, leaving me dumbfounded and frustrated on several occasions.
This is the game where RE completely lost all recognition of being a horror franchise. While it has some dark corridors and a spooky story at times, it has zero puzzles, almost zero notes with lore, and way too much emphasis on combat over horror. The only thing that makes this game a RE entry is the story. This paved the way for the monstrosity that was RE6. Thankfully the series got back on track in 2017 with RE7.
Still a very fun game overall and worth playing, but several issues hold it back from greatness. While calling it RE4.5 is unfair, there are absolutely some serious issues with RE5. It’s very derivative of its predecessor and doesn’t bring a lot of new ideas to the table. I can’t stress enough how much would be fixed if they got rid of the coop aspect and redesigned it as a single player game. Since it looks like RE5 is next on the remake schedule, I seriously hope they go the single player route and make the version of this game we should’ve gotten in the first place. As a multiplayer game, it’s a 3.5/5, but for me as a single player gamer, it’s a 3/5. Even reaching a 2.5 at times.
Replaying it in 2024 really highlights how much it reuses from RE4. Animations, bosses, survival sequences, there is so much taken from its predecessor that makes this feel like an RE4 highlight reel. Yet, somehow, it is less than half as long as RE4. While it takes all these aspects, having a partner makes it all less tense and more frustrating because you feel like it’s an escort mission when playing solo. There are also several bosses meant to be tackled with a coop partner, but the AI doesn’t seem to get the memo on how to work together in these sequences. Sheva really hurts this game in almost every aspect except the story. As I run through it, I keep thinking about how much better almost every area would’ve been improved if it were a single player experience.
The story and cinematography are very well done and fun. It has that Kojima style handheld camera look to the cutscenes and it looks great. The graphics also held up extremely well. The story, while insane, is engaging throughout and keeps you hooked until it ends.
RE5 also makes the mistake that RE4 made with having a gun-heavy ending area, which basically turns this into Gears of War. The beginning of this game is absolutely the highlight, and it continuously gets further away from what makes the game good as it goes on. Also, for some reason, there are multiple bosses in this game that leave me stumped. They give little to no indication if you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing, leaving me dumbfounded and frustrated on several occasions.
This is the game where RE completely lost all recognition of being a horror franchise. While it has some dark corridors and a spooky story at times, it has zero puzzles, almost zero notes with lore, and way too much emphasis on combat over horror. The only thing that makes this game a RE entry is the story. This paved the way for the monstrosity that was RE6. Thankfully the series got back on track in 2017 with RE7.
Still a very fun game overall and worth playing, but several issues hold it back from greatness. While calling it RE4.5 is unfair, there are absolutely some serious issues with RE5. It’s very derivative of its predecessor and doesn’t bring a lot of new ideas to the table. I can’t stress enough how much would be fixed if they got rid of the coop aspect and redesigned it as a single player game. Since it looks like RE5 is next on the remake schedule, I seriously hope they go the single player route and make the version of this game we should’ve gotten in the first place. As a multiplayer game, it’s a 3.5/5, but for me as a single player gamer, it’s a 3/5. Even reaching a 2.5 at times.
2019
Great reimagining of the best ps1 survival horror game. The lack of a dodge feels odd after playing all the other modern RE games, but defensive items take their place. This game manages to make a room with 2 zombies in it feel like a roadblock, at least on hardcore. Inventory management is important, at least more so than in recent RE games. Campaigns are short, but playing both as an A and B scenario result in around 11 hours of gameplay. Other modes are fun, but only warrant one completion and you’ll most likely never come back. Overall, this is a great horror experience that mostly hits the mark.
I feel like RE4R and RE1R are better remakes. They fully recreate what made those games amazing and improve on them in almost every way. This game, while mostly getting everything right, just feels off in some ways that I can’t even describe. Similarly, while it’s a better game than RE3R, I found this game less fun to play than 3. In summary, this game (and all the RE games since 2017) is great and absolutely worth playing if you are a fan of classic or modern survival horror.
I feel like RE4R and RE1R are better remakes. They fully recreate what made those games amazing and improve on them in almost every way. This game, while mostly getting everything right, just feels off in some ways that I can’t even describe. Similarly, while it’s a better game than RE3R, I found this game less fun to play than 3. In summary, this game (and all the RE games since 2017) is great and absolutely worth playing if you are a fan of classic or modern survival horror.
2016
I adored this game for years back in the day, playing it every single day. The impeccable map design mixed with unique heroes made every match special in its own way. Over time, the strange design choices and over saturation of playable characters eventually turned me off. I will always remember and cherish the times I spent playing this game with friends and solo.
One of the most off-the-walls games I’ve ever played. Shooting mechanics are great, but the story is what glued me in from the start. The New Order is good, but this game improves on it in every way.
2022
Games do not have to be fun to be good, and my god this game is not fun. Very intriguing concept, but the moment to moment gameplay is just a chore. This type of horror game has potential, but it needs a little more to be enjoyable.
2020
Super solid game overall, but comparisons to the original bring this game down tremendously. So many sections were cut and replaced with nothing. Compared to the other remakes, it’s clearly the lowest quality entry. However, it’s still very fun and worth playing.
2022
The art design is worth 2.5 stars by itself. It feels like it was taken straight out of Alien and environments are expertly crafted. Beautifully grotesque throughout its short runtime. Too bad you actually have to play it. I have never played a more frustrating, uninteresting, and just boring game. If the gameplay matched the art design, it would’ve been a 5/5, but my god it misses the mark by a mile.
2014
This game walked so that The Evil Within 2 could become one of the best horror games ever made. This game is full of awesome ideas and some truly brilliant sections, but is held down by its terrible performance, floaty controls, and odd storytelling. It’s worth giving a try, but most people will probably bounce off pretty quickly. It did not age well, and felt slightly outdated when it came out. If you want to have the best possible experience of this game, just watch a story explanation and play the underrated and phenomenal sequel.
Side note, getting 100% completion for TEW may be the hardest gaming accomplishment I’ve ever done. Akumu difficulty was almost the death of me.
Side note, getting 100% completion for TEW may be the hardest gaming accomplishment I’ve ever done. Akumu difficulty was almost the death of me.
2007
I beat this game around 2009 and loved it. However, I would imagine it aged like milk. Assassin’s Creed 2 came and improved every aspect of the series and never looked back. This game felt “next gen” when it came out and blew me away. I’m going to hold onto my fond memories of this game and never play it again.
2010
Better overall gameplay than the first game, but I feel the story and areas do not hold up when compared to BioShock. Nothing about this game is inherently bad, and it even has an interesting (but short lived) multiplayer mode. However, I cannot understand when people say they think this is better than the first game. BioShock 2 still beats Infinite though, even if 2 is less creative.