Peak Suda writing, just like MGS2 the themes from this game are still prevalent today. Gameplay is a rail shooter with some light puzzles like go from point a to b with a key item or something on a note (The guitar riff that plays when near a puzzle and kikazaru will make sure you're never lost on where the puzzles are), however that's just stripping it down to it's basics. Heaven smiles change up a bit from hidden weak spots to requiring a different smith to tackle them on (great example are the protectors killed by Mask deSMith) and the need to switch around to different personalities to reach high places, destroy barriers, run fast, zoom in and clean up kept the gameplay fresh until I got critical lock on. The remnant psyches as a device to tell the story was great, all the pieces were there the whole time with Travis knowing what you are and referring to you as such. Finding out that remnant psyches are those who have been killed by the killer7 and assimilated into Harman was a great twist as well.

With the basics of the game aside, the writing is some of the best I've ever seen in a game. The game is about the east and the wests constant battle symbolized by Harman Smith (the west) and Kun lan( the east). These two are immortal and will always return as the war between the east and the west will never die out even if you nuked the east and stopped the heaven smiles, or destroyed the west it all ends up fanning the flames of war and ends with a battle between Harman and Kunlan again shown by the Shanghai epilogue. The smiths are some of my favorite characters of all time, especially Garcian a pawn of the east and the west his whole life and forced to kill the killer7 which makes the reveal at the end heartbreaking as he killed those who were a part of him this whole Journey which explains his reaction. The smiths powers are heartbreaking as the powers they gained are what would've saved them from Emir, like Kevin gaining invisibility as his disguise failed, Dan Smith being able to back up his words as he died as a dog with all bark no bite, Con having enhanced hearing as Emir snuck up on him and Coyote gaining the cunning skills that would've saved him. Reading up on their backstories made me love them more especially Coyote being of Puerto Rican descent like me, like Kevin killing his lover before being assimilated into harman, Kaede being betrayed by her brother, and Dan disposed of by Blackburn his mentor because of a plan by montana to get rid of him. Emir's backstory himself is horrible, being raped by his mother, used as a pawn y the west and east and killing himself shortly after before being assimilated. Emir however became the dominant personality even if Harman still runs the show. I found myself reading every characters wiki page after finishing, because I was so invested. Some may hate interrupting the terrorist plot to go over Emirs backstory, but that ending scene more than makes up for it, it can't be described what looking at that for the first time is. Before wrapping it up I'd like to talk about my favorite stage Cloudman. Ulmeyda's city was based on a real military town, the level itself is littered with propaganda on Umeyda's Utopia and Has Humans for what seems to be the first time as Ulmeyda had his followers drink his blood and created vaccines as he had infected himself with every virus. The leadup to it all being a front and his perfect city being just as front which I chose to interpret as a way to show politicians making these promises on their campaigns, posing infront of kids and spreading propaganda for ultimately nothing in the end, just used the Yakumo to make his cult. The scenes with Ulmeyda and his follower at the end of the chapter was genuinely chilling with clemence driving himself to death as Ulmeyda narrates it. The military coming to cover everything up and making Ulmeyda a Heaven Smile was a great way to end my favorite chapter.

To give some final thoughts here as discussing the whole thing would take hours, I hope I was able to further spark anyones love for the game. This is my favorite game of all time with some fun gameplay, abstract storytelling and a great satire of War and the west vs the east. The alter ego chapter was a great way to express problems with the comic industry and the Handsome 7 ending up in the hands of the west and outliving its creator. Masafumi Takada did an excellent Job with the ost and has many classics such as Rave on, Blackburn, Dissociative identity and Angels Despair. I find this game hard to recommend as the on the rails gameplay and abstract storytelling may drive away some, but I wholeheartedly recommend this game and invite some discussion on it. Let's end it off with my favorite quote: "Harnman, the world won't change, all it does is turn."

After playing both versions of this game, I can say this is the definitive experience. Starting off, the beginning section works as an introduction to racoon city and how bad it's gotten making you walk through hordes of the undead to racoon city. It does a more convincing job of making you want to go to the RPD as places like the gunshop were rundown and infested. Racoon city also is just really cool, and I've always wanted the remakes to explore more of it. I prefer some of these puzzles to the remake like the burning man painting which drive the point that the RPD was a museum before it's acquisition. The game also features a much better yet more gruesome way to show chief Irons true identity with the hidden cellar filled with bone, chloroform and various tools. The Claire and Sherry segments are great as always, with Claire just trying to get her to her parents as they both know how it feels like to grow up without a parent. I like that Claire and Sherry are more involved before Sherry's infection with them exploring the sewers together and an accident leading to them being separated. It makes the bond feel more believable, and makes it more convincing that Claire would give her life to make Sherry better again. Claire giving sherry her Jacket still makes me swell up, it's such a beautiful moment. The sewer layout is far better than in RE2 with a more clear goal of where you're supposed to go and the only backtracking being done for the medallions. The spiders are a great enemy type as always and terrifying. The weapons factory was a neat area, and a good build up to the lab. The game doesn't have a frustrating g2 fight as well. The a and b scenarios make for some great replay value and encourage you to see both Leon and Claire's perspective with remixed item placements and enemies. I love the fixed camera angles as always, since it adds some tension of what's watching you and what lays ahead. The game has become just as beloved as RE1 for me and I may be leaning towards putting this one higher as the dialogue and story beats are much better even if RE1's dialogue is charming. I'm glad I gave the original version a shot, and vastly prefer it. I wish I'd played it before like I did with the og RE3 and recommend anybody to pick up the sourcenext version, or play this on a ps3. Enter the survival horror.

I came out this game a changed man. The themes it explores are very profound and very well done. The game shows you everything instead of telling. The world itself even tells you a story with the constant changing of different character's silent hills'. For example James Silent Hill consists of Mariah to remind him of his sins alongside Pyramid Head to punish him. James is forced to relive his sin, he repressed due to trauma over and over again. James is the only one to see these monsters, and even sees Mary's clothes on the first Mannequin. Even with this trauma he relives through he truly cares for the other main characters Eddie and Angela. The moment James learns of his sin is one of the hardest cutscenes to watch, the pure despair of reliving that trauma and knowing he killed his wife. The cinematography and the camera angles only helped this moment, alongside Laura being there. James tries to convince himself he did it out of mercy, but eventually succumbs and admits he did it because he was so angry with the life that was robbed of him thanks to Mary's disease. James seeing his wife's mood change so rapidly trying to cope with the grief of having a terminal disease, only further worsened his mental state. James realizes he no longer needs a punisher in the form of Pyramid head and faces his sins head on. The pyramid head's kill themselves after which unfortunately foreshadowed my own fate, in the ending I received. In the ending I got the final moment James sees Mary like this almost brought me to tears, even with all the sleep deprivation I truly felt sad James went out the way he did. Brought to silent hill to kill himself, convincing himself he came because of a letter that doesn't exist. I hope to get the other endings, even if none of them are canon to understand more of James' character. I loved Harry and I'm glad James met my expectations and just went way over them. James is truly a complex protagonist and is the definition of Morally Grey. Eddie is forced to see blobs of meat everywhere and people laughing at him. Eddie keeps killing as he did in the real world, tired of being a reject and undergoes extreme psychosis. Eddie's twist was very well done starting him out as a joke character and slowly revealing his intentions with a body present at every encounter. Whom he denies killing. Angela (I'm so embarrassed I kept forgetting her name) is a very profound character and the one I feel the most for. Angela a victim of trauma from her father seen by the use of Abstract Daddy, and her reaction to James getting near her. Angela is looking for her dead mother in Silent Hill, a person that can maybe heal all the wounds she has. Her Silent Hill is constantly on fire forced to remember what I can only assume is her mother's death. Just like James she holds on to the hope that her Mother is here going though hoops and hurdles and holding out hope. Unfortunately she ends up giving up her pursuit after meeting James a final time. James meant well and tried to comfort her, but she's a broken woman. She knows James won't take care of her, heal her wounds and stay with her. With this final bit of hope lost we see her silent hill and she undergoes self immolation. Many think James could see her silent hill for a second, but it is implied we saw her silent hill through her eyes like we did with Eddie as the player, and James just felt the heat. Laura's silent hill is free from monsters and instead filled with these letter's from Mary her old friend. A child does not have any sins to punish, but the town of Silent Hill still only reminds her of the friend she lost. Silent Hill even puts her with the murderer of her friend. The depression of such an incident seemed to trigger her connection to silent hill. It brings me to tears seeing her draw a cat, as she seems to have done when she met Mary. She hides a lot of trauma through her veil of childhood innocence and is in Silent Hill to fulfill the wishes of her late friend and honor her wishes. Even with such a "bad ending" It fits what we've seen with the Gluttonous dying (Eddie) alongside the Seductress (Angela) and Finally the Opressor (James). These three are highlighted even in the patient files in the Hospital. The game revolves around these three and their trauma and how it's expressed in their silent hills. I'm sad to see James gone, but it thematically fit, with his sins collapsing on him. I hope these other endings will allow me to see how James handles his trauma in other ways and maybe even come out alive, and free of his sins.

I'm really glad to have talked about these characters, but this discussion would last forever therefore I'm moving onto the music. Akira Yamaoka is a master of his time. His work on the SFX of this game and the Music really makes the experience so much better. The sound design is genious and a great way to keep tension high with random sounds playing at random intervals alongside some Jumpscares to release this tension. For example, the dogs at the beginning of the game that never come out as you're running in the lake. The player is tense and scared of the unknown and what really lies in this town. It's a great introduction to the town. For an example of a Jumpscare, after traversing the silent hill memorial society, you come to a bathroom and are finally free from all the monsters for now. There is no radio static and just James in the room when suddenly a random noise plays and releases all this built up tension from running around the Jail and hearing the grotesque sounds of the lying figures. The player is truly scared, and it makes them fear what else can come from the area, the jumpscare not only releases the tension but makes you anxious as you're not done yet. Moving onto music, theme of Laura is the best thing to go along with the intro. The feeling of hearing the guitar start up after Maria's line about the VHS tape. Akira Yamaoka busted his ass for one week to perfect this theme and it payed off. I couldn't tell you how it makes me feel as I do not know much about music theory, but ask people the emotion they feel and you'll be met with various answers. The guitar strums in between are my favorite part. This song only already made me want to check out his work. I'm glad he's worked on various titles I love and am happy he's still creating. White noise (track no2) is so comforting and yet makes me feel melancholic. This entire soundtrack is just full of emotion and passion and it truly moves me. I hope to buy this ost, as to support Yamaoka. Akira Yamaoka could not have done a better job and I'm glad of all he's done for team silent.

Finally onto Gameplay. Starting off the game let's people who don't like tank controls included with the 3d controls can play in the 2d controls setting and move with the analog stick. The control scheme is pretty simple and can be figured out with button pressing and/or the manual. The only thing I felt the game could have explained is stomping, but it's fine. It was introduced in it's predecessor either way and can prolly be found through button mashing. There are various memos that explain the monsters behavior, and the first fight is an excellent way to introduce combat and let you get a feel for it before throwing you into it. It forces you to fight and get used to it so you can pick your battles later. The survival horror mechanics are there with saving ammo being essential and deciding whether you want to give up health and/or ammo. If you're good enough enemies can be run through without consequences. The camera angles are quite good and make me feel like something is always watching. They don't reveal too much and forces you to have your radio handy or risk a monster encounter you didn't expect. Bosses are a resource check and force you to come up with some interesting strategies with their mechanics. Eddie on his 3rd phase will rush you if you have a gun, and hide if you have a melee weapon and use a revolver. Knowing this you can switch to a rifle and then back to a melee weapon to get around this and it's peak gameplay design. Players who experiment are rewarded, with the ability to stunlock bosses like pyramid head and eddie with certain weapons.I wasted all my resources on the final pyramid heads yet still beat the final boss thanks to a stunlock with the lead pipe. The game is as hard as you make it especially with the difficulty setting, and I strongly advise against choosing hard combat on a fist playthrough. It will be worth it to prevail after experimentation, but can lead to frustration to some. I want to end off gameplay with the puzzles. These puzzles are genius,, I played on hard and figuring out some of these were a treat (ex. Henry Matilda and Scott (Hours Minutes Seconds) and VV2 being roman numerals) while others really had to make you think (ex. Hospital pin code being "T" ( Hint : Draw the letter and use the numbers from where the line starts and ends)). I unfortunately had to get some hints to figure some of these out, but I'm glad I didn't use a guide. These puzzles reminded me of my time with zero escape and it was fun to write things down and try to make sense of it.

I want to say that this game truly did change me and these characters had me emotionally invested the whole way. It dealt with some heavy themes, some even hitting close to home and overall was one of the best games I've played and sits in my top 2 alongside Metal Gear Solid 2. I'm glad I got to experience this game thanks to a friend. Please play this if you haven't and feel free to discuss your thoughts. "In my restless dreams, I see that town. Silent Hill."

After Getting every ending as of April 27, this game will always have a special place. I'm so glad James got better.

Peak dead rising. Keiji Inafune took an oversaturated genre and made something great out of it. It's themes are great and the satire of the American government stands true to this day. The excellent themes are carried further by Carlos' amazing performance, and his backstory is excellent. The Santa Cabeza incident does a great job of exposing the ugly side of the current system and what it takes to keep a consumer driven society afloat. Frank is a compelling and reckless protagonist who only wants to get to the bottom of this incident. Frank and Isabella's dynamic is quite moving and more than anything they just want to uncover such incidents for the sake of the truth and to bring Isabella some peace of mind. The game taking place in a mall, and with survivors like Ronald to remind you what it's making fun of. The psychopaths are a genius way to showcase the effects of an apocalypse on the people. Psychopaths like Cliff showing how it can break a man, and others like the Gun owner showing mistrust. The psychopaths don't feel great to kill and are mostly victims of circumstance with the exception of the evil ones like the prisoners, and the cop. The games themes alone are enough to warrant a purchase and a look at the game. The gameplay is solid and set a great foundation with the player left in a sandbox like area to do what they please. The player can choose to let the truth be lost forever if they please, and bash zombies head in. The time limit is a great way to let the players make decisions and manage resources, many events are locked to specific time limits and get the player thinking how to traverse the mall in a timely manner while getting the required missions done. The survivors are one of the key aspects of dead rising, saving the little that's left of humanity and a great way to cement the themes of the game. Some survivors only care to gorge themselves, some are victims of a psychopath and can even be a psychopath themselves. Their gameplay implementation can be frustrating and lead to the time limit dangling above the player's heads seem daunting, but it's been the best in the series. Not every survivor is supposed to be a badass, the nerves of the situation have them stumbling around and struggling with simple orders due to circumstance. Victims of a psychopath, or the apocalypse aren't ready for this and will need your help every step of the way physically or mentally. The survivors are a great way to make sure the player isn't mowing through the levels or ignoring the zombies placed around the mall, and force the player to use the tools around them to devise a strategy that can beat the clock. This game is the best one without a doubt, and I wish I could experience it with a friend. I have completed this game many times, and gotten every ending, finding new ways to traverse the mall each playthrough alongside getting all the survivors. It's unfortunate capcom vancouver couldn't understand Inafune's vision and the series as a result fell without him.

One of the more grounded SCI;ADV games, that I found myself enjoying quite a lot. Even while being a fan of the subplot it's not really the main focus, as such I'll leave it for later. The characters are nothing short of Amazing, and complement each other very well. It's story is more focused on slice of life, with an interesting subplot I quite liked. It's music is nothing short of excellent Tanegashima's theme being my favorite as it's a remix of Neutrals from Chaos;Child. Overall, I recommend this game and despite some awkward keybinds hope the experience is great. Remember to use a spoiler free guide for the routes, as they are a little too specific and feel like one of those fake pokemon rumors (Mew under the truck) with how specific it can be.
Kaito is a hardass and a shutin that deeply cares for AKiho and only wants to protect her in the end. Throughout the game he keeps everything to himself because of the fear of losing those around him. This is only confimed by what happened to Mizuke. Kaito dedicates himself to his fighting game to become number 1 and get recognized by Misaki. Kaito is a scarred individual that is hard to open up, but cares for those around him he's a great protagonist and has shown he'd do anything to keep Akiho safe. Akiho is the best character in the game, and is there to fulfill her ambitions of making a giant robot based on Gunvarell Just like her sister wanted. She only wishes to make people like robots like she does, and is very helpful to all members of the robot club. Her sister betraying her was one of the worst scenes in the game, and Kaito helping her up was heartwarming and endearing. The two have an excellent dynamic and look out for each other even if the other doesn't realize it. Even with the betrayal she stands strong and makes her dreams come true. Akiho really is an excellent character and the glue to the main cast, she keeps up her cheery attitude at all times and helps out the others disregarding herself just like Kaito. Subaru is the son of a fisherman, that loves robots and uses them as a side hobby. He keeps this love for robots secrets and the various times he is caught, are heartwrenching scenes as he is forced to give up what he loves and tear it apart. Akiho always is there to help him rekindle his love for robots, and get him through his situation. Despite his accident he continues to help the robotics club make their robot, and seems to care a lot for Daikotu even if he doesn't show it. Daitoku is a great character with a huge fear of robots, which she can't get over. She blames herself for what happened to doc's business and shuts herself out. Her route has to be the best one. She gets over her fear of robots after seeing the photo with her grandfather. She is willing to get near the robot that hurt her, to get close to her grandfather and help him realize his dreams of humans getting along with robots. Daitoku also greatly cares for her family and brothers acting like a mother for them. Even with her limits, she acts towards her dream of being a karate master and doesn't give up. Finally we have Frau Kojiro, I don't really like the perverted characters in the SCi;ADV series and it's just uncomfortable most of the time. Fraus character does suffer from these issues, but her backstory and writing is pretty good and does alleviate some of these problems. She's the developer of the fighting game Kai loves, and is on an endless pursuit of her mother. She became a shut-in because of the trauma of losing her mother. She has two robot assistants that are gunvarell characters as it is her mothers life work. She hasn't really grown because of these traumatic events in her life and only opens up to Kaito. When Gunvarel became hated, she tried to take her own life as her mothers work was desecrated. Her character has a lot to it, and her story is horrible. I may hate the perverted comments, but her writing is nothing short of excellent and her dedication to the robot club and her mothers work is inspirational. Going nights without food or sleep. As you can see, all of the characters have their own trauma and they all work alongside each other to get over it and accomplish their dreams. They all started as shutins. One of the Main themes of the game is trauma and getting over it. This game quite frankly left quite an impact on me and even if it's ending was a little rushed to tie all those knots with the subplot and Kimijima. It really was great. I only went over the Main members and missed Airi, Mizuka and Misaki which all have stories revolving around the main theme as well. Please check out the game on full price or sale. I haven't even gone over half of the game, and why it's so good. Watching all these events unfold is it's own experience and I recommend it. I talk a little about the subplot below, but I really feel like what's above is the real meat and bones of the game.

I was a big fan of the Subplot Kai was tangled in. The cover ups and restriction of information flow. Inhumane experiments sealed behind closed doors, and using the player as a puppet. The Komijima reports are excellent bait to the player, helped only by the sick music that plays when you read them. Just like Kai the player feels compelled to solve this mystery, wanting to be the protagonist to the play just like in Metal Gear Solid only to end up playing into the committee's hands. The chess pieces lined up perfectly. I really did expect the reports to be true, tons of trite information on the internet is passed everyday. It's not unreasonable for the government to cover up anything unfavorable to them and these weird events were happening in Kai's life. The Gunvarrel episode was bone chilling and seemed like a prophecy. The subplot was a great way to raise the tension, we as the player were given nothing and chilling things like the lost episode and Kagome Kagome alongside the music made it thrilling.

Non Spoiler Summary
One of the Best in the SCI;ADV series. It has solid characters, with none leaving much to be desired like in Chaos;Child. It's a pretty grounded piece of fiction, and has some allusion to real things. Play a blind first playthrough, and then feel free to finish the rest with a guide. It's a damn good time travel story, with a complex protagonist.

Spoiler parts
Okabe works as a character which at a first glance the player can't put his shoes in, and will probably hat ehis actions. As the story moves on, with everything that OKabe has been through all his decisions are understandable, and the pure misery he experiences knowing he can't save Mayurii always makes me tear up. You can see throughout the entire book he's always cared for her buying her the Upa, making sure she doesn't see the body when Kurisu gets attacked, and is always watching out for her. Mayurii constantly dying no matter what the protag did just wrecks you, the pure desperation you hear in Okabe's voice always gets me. Okabe receiving such immense power, and being forced to make the decisions he makes is what makes him Forced to choose who dies, and other awful things. It brings us closer to him, and really makes him a great character. Okabe can't just reset the timeline back to the first one as his other friend and interest Kurisu dies. Kurisu is the tsundere character archtype and even with that archetype Kurisu is done great. All she wants is to be recognized by her dad, and even takes a stabbing to protect him. She acts the hardass, just like Okabe but she cares for him and is trying to guide him along the whole story. She was there for Okabe when he gave up, and was just lying on the floor in misery. She cares for the other lab members like Mayushii and Lukako even if she's just met them and protects them. She's even willing to take the sacrifice at the end and die just to make Okabe happy, and reunite him with Mayurii. I won't talk about 0 in here, but feel free to play it to learn more about Okabe and that other timeline between episodes 22 and 23 in the anime. I want to talk about my favorite character before I wrap up. Lukako is a great tragic character, in love with our protagonist but wishes he was born a girl. When she gets her wish in the other worldline and has a date with Okabe, that shit moved me to tears knowing it wasn't meant to be. Lukako would never let his childhood friend die, and accepted losing the love of his life and his deepest wish to save Mayurii. Lukako has always been my favorite character, and I wish he didn't always have to suffer no matter the worldline. That picture of the last day with Mayurii in Lukako's ending is devastating man. There's just a lot to the characters, especially with the worldlines. The game does such an excellent job of building the other characters and not just the protagonist. The betrayal in the game stings just as much as all other entries in the series. It's peak fiction, if you can get past the fan service and Daru. Play it or watch the anime, it's not for everybody but I sincerely hope you enjoy it. I could talk more about it, but I feel it'd be too long.