PinkCheese
2023
This is the game I always imagined Jet Set Radio would be before I actually played it. It feels and looks incredible, it has my favorite soundtrack of last year, and the story was surprisingly fun. This was a game made specifically for me.
2023
Everything about this game is basically perfect like I genuinely can't think of any real problems. It deserves all of the praise it has gotten.
2020
I don't think I can properly convey all of my feelings on this game, I've tried very hard but its just not happening. This is a very special game. Larian have truly outdone themselves. I would kill just for more time with these characters, I so desperately want there to be more game so I can just spend time with them. I'm already planning at least two more playthroughs.
I really like the new characters, all of the Kiryu stuff is great, and everything after the point of no return is a 10/10. I couldn't see my screen for the last 20 minutes. I wish the actual yakuza stuff lived up to it. Everything in that department fell a little flat. I did basically all of the side stuff this time and it was fun but definitely not something I would ever do before the end again as it made me way too overpowered and I melted all the story bosses.
Everything before Xen I'd say is either better or at least as good as the original Half-Life, but Xen really took the wind out of my sails. It looks gorgeous, but overall its just a slog. I liked the Xen chapter at first but it very quickly wore out its welcome and sadly the game never recovered. Gonarch's Lair made a bad boss fight just a mediocre one that took forever and Interloper is a warcrime, but Nihilanth is alright at least. This really solidified my opinion that Half-Life is mostly really good, but missions like Residue Processing and of course all of Xen are really rough. The game peaks at Surface Tension and doesn't recover. Sadly, Black Mesa just made that feel even worse by making the 90ish minute Xen of the original this four hour monstrosity.
2012
This is one of the best feeling third person shooters ever made. Every gun being capable of killing in one shot makes them all feel incredibly powerful and dangerous. On top of that, all of the violence in this is brutal and impactful, all of it leaving this grime over the whole thing that makes it feel dirty and gross. It's not Kane & Lynch 2 gross, but its still pretty gnarly. The airport is one of my favorite final levels in any game. It is just one long stretch of this incredible gunplay overlaid with this game's incredible score. HEALTH did an amazing job with the soundtrack and it is one of my favorite soundtracks ever. I've heard people complain about the angrier, more vulgar Max in this game, and I have to say I really don't get it. Dude's been through a lot it makes sense for him to be this fucked up. In general, I like this game's story a lot, I just don't love it like I did 2's. A game with this game's gunplay and 2's writing would be one of the best.
Rockstar will never re-release this game because they don't want you to know that they can make gunplay that feels this good so when GTA VI comes out and still has mediocre gunplay like V you won't know any better.
Rockstar will never re-release this game because they don't want you to know that they can make gunplay that feels this good so when GTA VI comes out and still has mediocre gunplay like V you won't know any better.
2008
Man, if they didn't make guns slow you down to a crawl and tightened up the story a bit this would be one of the best games ever. It's so short though that any real problems just kinda fly by and what sticks with me the most is the fun I have whenever I'm platforming.
2023
Its been a long time since I've had this much fun just running around in a game. The exploration in this game is incredible and the vibes are immaculate the whole way through. The only part that feels off is the combat. There isn't much of it so its not a huge deal, but its still enough of a problem given how short the game is. Overall this is a very fun game and more than worth the $6 it goes for. I am very excited for what the developer does next.
I will continue to at least pretend to be normal about Sybil I promise.
I will continue to at least pretend to be normal about Sybil I promise.
2012
This review contains spoilers
Man, remember when Ubisoft actually made really good games? While I enjoy playing 4 more, 3 is still a lot of fun and actually has a (mostly) well told story with good characters. Jason is actually a really compelling character unlike basically every other Far Cry protag. Vaas is a really good villain, sadly once he's out of the picture Hoyt doesn't really pick up the slack like you'd hope. At least the final island has Sam and he's a neat character. Sadly, the ending choice feels really forced and kinda ruins Citra's character just to force you to have a choice. Like kidnapping your friends makes no sense when they're already going to leave and Jason straight up told her he was staying. If they had put a moment before that where Jason hinted that maybe he was planning on leaving after all then this wouldn't be a problem, but they dropped the ball there. Also the bad ending makes no sense at all because even if she was going to kill Jason and groom their kid into a warrior, she wouldn't have had any way of knowing if the couple times they have sex actually made a baby that quickly and if it didn't work and she killed him she'd be fucked. If we cut to like a couple weeks later and she told him she was pregnant and then killed him so he couldn't stand in her way it would have worked a little better imo. Despite those problems though the story is quite good and does a pretty good job showing Jason's descent into madness, even if they rush it at the beginning.
This review contains spoilers
As a kid, I loved Spider-Man. My grandfather used to help me collect the comics as a kid, I loved the first Raimi movie and watched it more times than I could count, and I loved the games like the movie tie-in Spider-Man 2 and Web of Shadows. Sadly, at a certain point everything Spidey started to turn to shit. The Amazing movies weren’t great, the games were even worse, and I haven’t heard anything good about the comics in years. A lot of people like Tom Holland's Spidey but everything I’ve seen of him really rubs me the wrong way. In 2018, Insomniac released the first piece of Spider-Man media that made me feel happy in years. Miles Morales was also incredible, but Spider-Man 2 has reminded me why I love Spider-Man so much.
Something I really love about Spider-Man 2 is the humanity on display throughout. There is something incredibly heartwarming about the way Peter and Miles actually care about the villains they put away and actually want to see them turn things around. The way they handle Tombstone and Mysterio in this game is really great and seeing them actually care about Sandman and do everything they can for him even after he destroys part of the city was incredible. There are a few moments in the game that hit me in the gut, but two in particular really got to me, those being the Find Grandpa and Howard side missions. The grandpa mission was just a really sweet and human moment that games tend to gloss over. All it is is an old man wandering off and sitting on a park bench, but him talking about his late wife and being afraid of the end he knows is fastly approaching really got me. The Howard mission takes a character with a cute but ultimately inconsequential role in the first two games, and closes out his story in a more beautiful and touching way than some games can muster for main characters. It knocked me on my ass for a few minutes because despite him not having a big role before, he was a fun character that stuck with me. Part of what makes both of these missions work so well is they show just how much Spider-Man actually cares about the people in the city. He takes time out of his day just to stop and sit and talk with these people. He didn’t have to sit and listen to Grandpa talk about his wife, he didn’t have to stop and talk to Howard about his life and ultimately give his pigeons a new home, but he did because he genuinely cares about the people of the city.
The main story is expectedly amazing. Peter and Miles both come out the other end having grown a lot. Miles gets probably the best arc in the game with him learning how to deal with his hatred of Martin Li. Speaking of Li, the villains in general are really great. Kraven is incredibly menacing. He and his hunters truly feel like this unstoppable force. All that is great, but what I really want to talk about is Venom. Insomniac made one of the best versions of Doc Ock and then followed it up with one of my favorite interpretations of Venom. The tragedy of Harry succumbing to the symbiote and causing all this pain and suffering while thinking he is living out his dream of healing the world is a really good way to use it. Being able to play as him when the symbiote first takes over Harry made me fucking squeal I was so happy to be able to play as him again. The final fight with him is absolutely incredible.
Being able to come out of a Spider-Man game and feel this excited about this franchise again makes me feel so good. I love Spider-Man and I feel like I haven’t been able to feel that way in forever.
Thank you again Insomniac for Rio Morales.
Something I really love about Spider-Man 2 is the humanity on display throughout. There is something incredibly heartwarming about the way Peter and Miles actually care about the villains they put away and actually want to see them turn things around. The way they handle Tombstone and Mysterio in this game is really great and seeing them actually care about Sandman and do everything they can for him even after he destroys part of the city was incredible. There are a few moments in the game that hit me in the gut, but two in particular really got to me, those being the Find Grandpa and Howard side missions. The grandpa mission was just a really sweet and human moment that games tend to gloss over. All it is is an old man wandering off and sitting on a park bench, but him talking about his late wife and being afraid of the end he knows is fastly approaching really got me. The Howard mission takes a character with a cute but ultimately inconsequential role in the first two games, and closes out his story in a more beautiful and touching way than some games can muster for main characters. It knocked me on my ass for a few minutes because despite him not having a big role before, he was a fun character that stuck with me. Part of what makes both of these missions work so well is they show just how much Spider-Man actually cares about the people in the city. He takes time out of his day just to stop and sit and talk with these people. He didn’t have to sit and listen to Grandpa talk about his wife, he didn’t have to stop and talk to Howard about his life and ultimately give his pigeons a new home, but he did because he genuinely cares about the people of the city.
The main story is expectedly amazing. Peter and Miles both come out the other end having grown a lot. Miles gets probably the best arc in the game with him learning how to deal with his hatred of Martin Li. Speaking of Li, the villains in general are really great. Kraven is incredibly menacing. He and his hunters truly feel like this unstoppable force. All that is great, but what I really want to talk about is Venom. Insomniac made one of the best versions of Doc Ock and then followed it up with one of my favorite interpretations of Venom. The tragedy of Harry succumbing to the symbiote and causing all this pain and suffering while thinking he is living out his dream of healing the world is a really good way to use it. Being able to play as him when the symbiote first takes over Harry made me fucking squeal I was so happy to be able to play as him again. The final fight with him is absolutely incredible.
Being able to come out of a Spider-Man game and feel this excited about this franchise again makes me feel so good. I love Spider-Man and I feel like I haven’t been able to feel that way in forever.
Thank you again Insomniac for Rio Morales.
A very well told mafia story that ends a little too abruptly. The gunplay feels like a bit of a step down from Mafia 3 but the driving is still a lot of fun. I'm glad to see the more traditional structure come back. I'm excited for what they do next.
Miles Morales might have a couple spots that feel a little rough, like Phin just stops being written after she stabs Rhino and what the fuck is up with Uncle Aaron's beat I felt embarrassed for him, but overall the improvements to combat and Miles himself make up for it's faults and then some. I really like Miles in this game and his whole arc hits really hard for me.
Thank you Insomniac for Rio Morales.
Thank you Insomniac for Rio Morales.
2007
Manhunt is a game that felt like it was made with a vision and passion. It had a very consistent aesthetic and oppressive atmosphere. The stealth gameplay was really fun. They had an idea and ran with it. Manhunt 2 feels like a product made because they were told to. It feels like they saw the media response to 1 and decided to push it as far as they could go, without much of an idea where to go. The stealth gameplay is a massive step down. The AI is so inconsistent, ping-ponging between being too smart and too dumb. The level design also feels less inspired and less consistent. I was going to complain about the radar being gone but apparently playing on the second difficulty removes it. I wish I had known that. The guns didn't feel great in 1, but somehow they made them considerably worse. They just don't feel good at all. They feel weak and are far too inaccurate. The story is the only part of the game that felt like they had an idea, but didn't know how to build up a mystery. The twist is incredibly obvious from the first cutscene which led to there being no tension or intrigue throughout the entire thing. At least this one has some alright characters unlike 1 which just had The Director. I played the uncut PC version expecting it to be full of insane gore and violence, but no. It isn't much worse than the first and just like last time, it isn't any worse than any other horror media at the time. Actually while I'm on the subject, this game doesn't feel like a horror game anymore. Manhunt had a great horror atmosphere that 2 just doesn't have. I still think it is an alright game and probably worth a playthrough, but Manhunt is a game I could easily see myself revisiting, I don't think I'll be playing 2 again anytime soon.
2003
A neat little psychological horror stealth game that holds up surprisingly well. The stealth game part is really fun for the most part minus a few hiccups, but it loses its luster a bit when it turns into a straight up shooter in the second half. I feel like a lot of the appeal when this game came out was how violent and gory it was and while a couple things made me wince, most of it feels pretty tame honestly. I don't even think at the time most of it would have felt too out of place when you compare it to most horror media from the time. Brian Cox absolutely kills it as The Director.
I am now going to become one of those people that never shuts up about this game. I'm already planning out a second playthrough. There isn't enough cool vampire shit out there. Every character is so well written its absurd. I played as a Malkavian because I thought it would be fun and it turns out it really was. Every character looking at me and going "aw fuck one of you guys" was worth it. Stealth was really funny because even with it at level 2 people couldn't see me crouched right in front of them. Absolutely recommend.