Midway had way too much fun developing this. Every little sway of thee camera, every grand set piece, every chunking gib that erupts like a confetti machine after shooting away parts of bosses & enemies - truly a labor of love. Admittedly has that stench of "gross! cool!" 90s that i've grown to find irritating. Not my preferred kind of lowbrow. You're also just shooting. There aren't any good little secrets or easter eggs which is a bit of a letdown for a carnival themed game! Still, nearly great stuff here. Glad I made thee effort to finally put this together to play it even if I didn't love it.

Part of my Light/Rail Shooter list.

In no other game are you such a spectre. Sure, thee house is haunted but how many houses have you haunted in various first person games? A floating camera scurrying about, drifting aimlessly in & out of rooms attempting to accomplishing an arbitrary/negligible goal.

Earns its place as perhaps thee absolute scariest game I've ever played. Not just yr typical chiller-thriller type jumps either, but a sickening sour in yr stomach, frozen fingers on yr keyboard. You could likely convince me that I saw my own breath once or twice while playing.

For my money (you buy games with this) thee finest mini-golf experience. I would say that it claims this title for being thee one that requires a hearty swinging motion on yr end, but it crests beyond that hill into greenery. Life twirls & pops with colors, bright & vibrant. Gizmos jut out, vents bellow air around; each course lives its life with a bubbly personality. Between sinking various winged-animals, go on egg hunts for unique golf balls scattered around each course while yr microdosing motion sickness to accustom yrself to virtual reality.

Likely my second favorite VR game.

Love thee amount of tricks n licks some of these missions have (which you can string together at your own pace). That Oil Rig mission in particular is just brutal though, as are a few of thee bosses which brings me to my biggest issue: sometimes you just have to hip fire yr rifle & hope you get a well-placed shot on baddies. More so than any other entries in thee series, going against thee desired precision you've been conditioned to enjoy previously.

It's also a bit humorless in comparison but I can move past that. It's otherwise at its most refined & challenging, & a nice way to round out thee trilogy.

Part of my Light/Rail Shooter list.

Grindhouse of thee dead. It's something that's so obvious that it'd be a no brainer to see it thru. Can't say that I don't get tired of it by the carnival chapter though, particularly thee dialogue. Rowdy vulgarity can't hold its own against a sluggish trawl. While each level has a plethora of variety in terms of set pieces, thee complimentary hokey pokey gun & gore does it no favors. For a game that lifts everything it can from exploitative film genres, staving off general boredom shouldn't be a trait here.

Some positive perks though. I enjoy distinction in level design & this game is stuffed with it. Being able to upgrade + purchase new weaponry also feels like a logical step in light-guns & it was a noticeable difference in every incremental tune up. Not enough to keep me engaged thoroughly enough, though.

Part of my Light/Rail Shooter list.

Far & away thee best American Laser Game production. They're all quite funny, but Mad Dog is hilarious. In fact thee whole series is packed with quirky quotable characters, over thee top ragdoll deaths (some great stunts too). No doubt still suffers from ALG's signature flaw: thee 'fuck you'. Oh you don't know about that? Yeah, it's when a civilian peeps into your view sporting similar attire as baddies. This is especially frustrating seeing as your response time to hit yr target before getting capped yourself is a miniscule window. It's thee worst kind of punishing in gallery shooters like this, but in thee case of thee Mad Dog series, you just cannot get too ruffled about it because you're too busy chuckling your pain/quarters away.

Part of my Light/Rail Shooter list.

Spectacular. A completely succinct package where each level is a masterclass in this series' philosophy. I'm neutral on a submachine gun being your default gun (other weaponry can be unlocked later), but that riot shield being yr primary form of cover is a small stroke of genius. It doesn't function any different, it just allows this illusion of free flowing throughout each level, bobbing in & out to pop baddies.

My only hang-up is that thee bonus mission - exclusive to this PS2 port - drops thee ball about half way thru. That initial trawl thru thee vender-riddled streets, icing off in a freezer, fending off against a camouflaged tank - all sincerely highlight moments that would have fit nicely into any other game in thee series. Frantically flailing my reticle around in hopes of popping a leak in boat while weaving in & out of missiles is not my idea of a slick send off to thee mission though. Additional mini game inclusions, however, are something that I would never turn down. Wreaking havoc to media store stock, or firing up a staircase ala MGS1 was a rush of warm blood to my head. Do not miss this.

Part of my Light/Rail Shooter list.

Found this to be a bit unbalanced. Your roll, which is your primary form of weaving cheeks between bullets, absorbs damage far too often. Most enemies just phase in/out of thee board which feels quite lazy. Your gun is automatic yet hiccups every other second. Every encounter (boss or grunt) lacks physical depth, respective to thee playing field. Everything is a bit too large on-screen - rarely does combat extend to shooting something a few inches in front of you. Despite all of this, I really quite loved thee sprite work, & the credit system is one of thee most unique of this batch. They're not measured in lives, but instead in health.

Your character is named Waffle.

Part of my Light/Rail Shooter list.

Hard to dislike what is already such a singularly perfect rail shooter. Sadly, where this remaster of sorts fails its original is just about every facet (save for thee untouched OST) of what made thee 1995 classic so inspired.

Graphically an immediate downgrade. Nothing packs a punch. Accidental abstractions called "enemies" thanks to chunked pixelated models are no longer left to thee imagination of an already imaginative game. Sky soaring blurs are now corporeal; less fascinating. Spires of missiles are missing those high impacts crunches & rattling bolts sound like pea shooters.

Less was inarguably more, but that much you already knew.

Part of my Light/Rail Shooter list.

You die an absurd amount in these games, let alone any run n gun, & you will die often. It is not a matter of how - you will be shot, blown up, cut up to bits, made into ground beef, turned into a mummy then dissolved, plummet to your death - it is a matter of when. Threading a needle of stray fire will only happen sometimes & what a glorious sometimes it is.

All said, you pay no mind to it. Thee deaths are inconsequential, for thee most part. What deaths ultimately represent in Metal Slug games is thee harrowing loss of yr favorite weapon type. Even parting ways with a deadly friend you knew for so little hardly hurts - you will see it again in a matter of time. It is all forgiven for just how intricate thee sprite work is, how animated each frame is, how detailed thee screen can get, how inspired these games are. Every board is a new surprise, every enemy type a new obstacle course to jump over.

Alas, this game flattens so much of those loving details. Gone are any shocks! Surprises! Twists! There isn't even an inkling of a stupidly goofy narrative or unique moments. Ah, moments. Too much is reused: sprites, ideas, challenges. MS4's idea of difficulty can be boiled & simmered to more enemies, a static stand off of incoming gunfire heading straight for you.

In all of its chaos of flashing bullets & warm flames, speeding missiles & gooey particles, I am bored.

A (neon) genesis for rail gunning. Art haus shooter holy grail, diamond encrusted. Humanity alone is incapable of striving towards such innovation, ribbon & bowed; a true mechanical dream. Alternative Focault essay title.

Utilizes every iota of its arsenal at least once during any & all angle or angel. To peer at a target down thee barrel is to be on its opposite end all thee same. Never comfortable in a clean board, always pushing you to fill every inch of thee screen with unbridled chaos & in chaos, is warmth; is achievement.

Crowning royale of what 3D can be: not a mirror to our own world, but an ever-shifting perspective.

Part of my Light/Rail Shooter list.

By all accounts should not work as well as it does. Arguably creatively bankrupt given its lead designer is out of thee picture. Not a single original song that cannot be found in thee previous two installments are in here. There is one level, essentially.

Somehow, perhaps through brute force or a magical whim, it's a masterpiece of contextual compounding. Every Katamari game compounds. They all start thee same way, after all: microscopic. What is to be collected, rolled up into one wad, varies, but thee scale & scope also begins at ground level, only to eventually wage war with every building on earth.

What this game does so drastically different, intentionally or not, is leans its entire mission statement onto this concept. Practically every stage is thee exact same (time of day fluctuates): always starting small, increasing its scope level by level until you become thee all-consuming ball of joy. This repetition is a constant reminder of humble beginnings, a true Sisyphean feat, an accidental greatest hits.

Pitch a tent in it, I'm camped! There is a genius somewhere in here, likely taking form of innate complicity in being a voyeur to horrors for thee sake of capturing them in image(s). That in & of itself is a gut churner. Sadly, there are far too few opportunities to capitalize on such a theme. Limited interactivity is thee name of that game, baby, I would never ask for more control here. I would ask for more eroticisms, more moments for your eyes to be passive gashes. After all, its humor is intentional, the deathly sparse set designs are a complimentary nausea, but every facet of this game ends under-realized, even its finest strengths.