I played this when it first came out on PS4 and have been returning to it with the EGS version. People might scoff and say "it's tetris lol" but this game means business. Taking a rather unknown music producer by the name of Hydelic, asking him to make like 40+ songs of varying genres and styles, and managing to have an art team keep up with the pace is like the planets aligning. As far as single-player Tetris experiences go, it really doesn't get much better than this (Besides maybe DS or Axis). The journey mode is dope, the effect mode has all the side modes that die-hards love, and even just the general feel of the controls is at a peak of the franchise. The worries I had that this game might be plagued by the visual/latency problems that other UE4 games have seen were in the past once I got my pace really going. The only real thing this game makes me yearn for is some sort of multiplayer experience (especially considering the marketing reliance on the word "connected"), but the new edition coming next year seems to be taking my desires blowing them out of the water. The developers seemed to set out on a specific vision and completely nailed what they were going for. To me, that's the mark of a perfect game.

I exclusively borrowed a friend's VR headset on my minimum-VR spec computer to play this. I had to deal with terrible load times, often frame-rate stutters and de-syncing a bunch. Upon closing all other programs and getting my base stations right, it hit me. This game DOES leave a lot to be desired (melee combat, two handed weapons, more enemies) but it's so insane that it just works with what it provides. I've never done VR before so I can't attest for it compared to Boneworks or Pavlov, but interacting with the world in Alyx was such a treat. Almost every object oozes with a high level of techincal prowess, and every encounter feels notably distinct, making replays very fun for memorizing enemy locations and experiementing. Linear games rarely have me desiring to play a specific level just because I like how it flowed, but HL:A just made it easy and fun. Plus, the feeling the ending (and the post-credits ending sting) leaves in your body is something I think no game will ever re-create. I wasn't too sure Valve needed to make this game in VR, but they made me into a believer

Getting tripped up by other people diving too much, losing because your team is just not putting any effort in a team game or just being bored playing a mode that's just too easy are the biggest plagues of this game. It's a really fun experience for the most part, but the challenge it poses is less on the levels themselves, but more on the sheer randomness that other players and object physics may provide. Cheap losses are endless. The game is based on individual success yet it commonly places you in a mode where you have to rely on a team to make it to the final round. Two of the final round levels are absolutely non-dynamic and just feel like blind luck with no strategy. The idea of future content and rotating out levels makes me hopeful for the game's future, and I do like it a lot. I just think it's a little too frustrating and unreliable for skilled players to win.
Also Slime Climb is the best level

Super Mario 64 definitely holds up in 2020 as being a fun and semi-mesmerizing 3D platformer. The movement offered in games since might be a little tighter, but the expansive moveset is impressive, especially considering this is essentially the first of it's kind. Levels can vary in quality with the more enclosed stages taking the lead, and larger stages surrounded by an endless void tending to feel more bland in comparison. Tiny Huge Island is a special case of a stage I'll dread on a replay.
While the game is definitely good, I think it's obvious that some games have done 3D platforming better in the time since. Context is important, though, and trying to imagine just how daring and risky the game's programmers and designers were for making such a landmark of game design is important. Super Mario 64 barely even feels like it belongs in the same franchise as those that came before it, with it's objective design being wildly different than most anything previously seen, and a large focus on exploration and experimentation, as opposed to just progressing towards a linear goal.
The game has a surprising amount of love and care put into it for what could cynically be viewed as simply a way to push more console sales for the big N. The primitive geometry of the levels and the inconsistent elements paint a picture of a confused and learning-as-they-went development team trying to adopt a whole new dimension of design. Nowadays, some may consider it as ugly, or lacking in good camera controls, or just a little too easy. Those claims make for good arguments, but all of them become mute noise when first hearing the music of Jolly Roger Bay as you drop into the stage, and the credits sequence paired with it's song never fail to put a smile on my face.
Not perfect, but a masterpiece nonetheless, and a monument to risk-taking

Harmonix set out to make a Rock Band game featuring nothing but Beatles songs and visuals to match. It succeeds on all those fronts AND is really fun, so they basically perfected their vision in making this game. The only caveat is it could have borrowed from Guitar Hero's band-specific game formula by lifting tracks from similar artists, because although the songs in this game are good, none of them really push the boundaries of difficulty in a challenging way. But yeah, this is an all-time classic

Since 1.6 the amount of key changes/additions to the series's core gameplay has shaken up minimally. CS:GO took away ammo purchasing, added decoys, fire grenades, (and as it was updated) some new guns with their own quirks (R8 and such). This lack of messing with a proven formula, combined with the constant playerbase is proof to just how strong Counter Strike's game design is. Simply put, it's the best team e-sport ever designed. Imitators and other shooters try their best to swing at the king, but they miss every time. CS:GO applies modern F2P principles in a way that never infringes on the key gameplay, and that gameplay is sick. You're expected (and essentially required) to communicate with your team to succeed, which creates for some of the most memorable gaming moments I've had the pleasure to despise and enjoy. The maps are proven, so even though the key pool is around eight or so, they provide an endless amount of situations that make replaying them a different experience every time. You'll rage, you'll lose faith in humanity, or you'll grab a competent five-stack, and co-ordinate some sick plays and pull off some wild flick shots that make you feel like a legend. I could understand emotionally how some people could give this a low rating, but on the average day, CS:GO is a perfected multiplayer game.