When I finished Max Payne 1&2 back in 2021, I enjoyed them a lot and consider them among the best third-person shooters I've ever played. I was planning to play Max Payne 3 shortly thereafter, but upon seeing a gameplay video, I was kind of hesitant, but kept it in the back of my mind. Now, I've finished it and despite the game's positives slightly outweighing the negatives, a part of me wishes I had put it off indefinitely.

Max Payne 3 takes a sharp detour and completely replaces the noir style from the previous two games with far more vibrant visuals. There is great attention to detail and good set pieces, but the presentation is very GTA-esque and there was always that underlying feeling I was playing a GTA spin-off, rather than a Max Payne game.

Comic panels with some minor exceptions are done away with, which would typically be alright. You know, they were an essential part of what made the first two games special, but with all of the fancy hardware advancement that happened between the second game and this, Max could get some cool cutscenes to shine in.
They didn't handle it well in my opinion.
The cutscenes happen so often and for some of the smallest things (thought I realize a big chunck of those are masquerading as loading screens) that they become incredibly grating and ruin the pace.

The story is what it is. It largely ignores what happened in Max Payne 2 to work, because otherwise there would be no reason for the story to happen in the first place.
Max's one-liners sometimes hit the spot, but Sam Lake's absence is pretty apparent as a lot of lines end up sounding like cheap vulgar phrases or wannabe witty similes. The sophistication that made them so good is the first place is just not there.

Finally, the gameplay. It has it's moments, but it self-sabotages itself so often that it's just hard to enjoy for extended periods of time.
As already mentioned, the cutscenes ruin the pace and makes it far more difficult to just let the action flow. Not to mention the game likes taking away your weapons and replacing them with a pistol at least once every chapter.
At least the mechanics feels like the previous games. Bullet time is a joy to use.
You can run and gun, at least sometimes. Max isn't as sharp as he used to be in the previous games and moves kind of sluggishly now, so that kind of discourages you from going all guns blazing on your enemies as often as you'd like to.
For those who aren't used to the run and gun style there is also the cover system. Though I found that enemies can surround you and naturally have a far greater chance to hit you, so it's not a definitive way to play.

Overall, it's a decent shooter that still has that Max Payne essence in it (gameplay-wise) but it's also deeply flawed.

Outside of the good graphics and overall presentation, this is a pretty frustrating game, and arguably, one of the most difficult games on the SNES.

This is immediately felt when you play the first level. The enemies respawn very frequently, you're really slow, and the worst of all is the double jump and how they decided to go with it.
Double jumping quickly turns into a hard to control glide, and combined with the wide areas you need to jump through, together with badly placed enemies, be prepared to die and repeat the levels a lot.
These issues become more and more evident and annoying with each passing level, turning this into an unsatisfactory to beat game.

Rather than focusing on one big adventure, Kirby Super Star splits your experience into seven smaller games plus two mini-games. This keeps things fresh and actually works to the game's benefit, as despite having different stories and objectives, they largely retain the same gameplay mechanics.

Graphics are colorful and lovely to look at. The music was varied and pretty good as well.

Being able to gain the abilities of your enemies as your own was an awesome addition and added a lot of depth to the game. Being able to summon an ally was nice as well, but the AI felt inconsistent. There were times where the ally would mostly stand there and quickly perish, and times where it carried an entire boss battle on its own. Not to mention there's an exploit where you can transform your ally back into an item, consume them, and resummon them, which fully restores their HP.

The most positive impression I had of this game was how well it handled the difficulty. The initial modes, Spring Breeze and Dyna Blade, are on the easier side and serve as a sort of tutorial to familiarize yourself with the mechanics and what to expect.
The Great Cave Offensive throws a Metroidvania-esque spin on the gameplay formula. Unfortunately, I found out you can only achieve 100% completion of the mode in co-op, which is a shame. It was fun to explore and get through the four stages regardless.
Gourmet Race was on the more gimmicky side, and while I didn't enjoy it as much as the other modes, it's fine for what it is.
Revenge of Meta Knight, Milky Way Wishes, and the Arena kick the difficulty up a notch and put your previously gained knowledge of the game mechanics and enemies to the test.

Overall, I'd say this is easily one of the best platformers on the SNES and a great game in general.The choice of splitting the game into bite-sized experiences keeps it fresh; the gameplay is action-packed and has a nice layer of depth to it. The inconsistent AI of your ally can be a bit annoying, but there's always the option of co-op to circumvent that.

The overall presentation of the game is really good. The visuals, music, and sound create a majestic atmosphere. The game follows an episodic structure and is split into 8 episode (6 main story + 2 DLC), each filled with plenty of twists and cliffhangers, which sets up the upcoming sequel quite nicely.
The story has an interesting premise and creates a world, which if you like ambiguity and speculation, will be your cup of tea.

In contrast, the gameplay kind of felt like it was neglected, leading to a bit of a mixed experience.
Checkpoints are sometimes placed a bit weirdly, forcing you to replay large sections if you die.
Due to the way the character is presented, I don't mind him having stamina, but the decision to not add a visible stamina bar was odd.
Playing optimally is indirectly discouraged, at least on normal difficulty. You have very little reason not to waste a lot of your items, since not only do you get a lot of them, but they get taken away from you at the end of each episode anyway.
The worst offender, however, is the camera. It's placed so close to the character that when you try to run from enemies, you don't have much of a choice except to either blind dodge and hope for the best, or turn it around and hope you don't get hit. Unfortunately, the overall levels are pretty narrow and there are plenty of instances where a lot of enemies will chase you, further accentuating the problem.

Overall, the story and presentation are great and create an interesting world, but the gameplay feels lacking, although if you're used to clunkiness, it won't feel as bad.

It began with a Firebreather, but it turned into a Starevil. The Illuminator revealed the G-force and with it came Ooze and a Silver Sword. Everything was a Critical Bypass and watched through a Jupiter Scope. Alfredo decided it was time and launched Operation Full Moon. But before he could, those Dam Busters busted his Thrusters. It happened on a Haunted Hill and everyone wanted to Chill Out, but there were Sharks and that caused a feeling of Megalonia.
A French Baker suddenly appeared and an Atmos Quake happened. It made the cats Meong. The Space Dreams of the Streemerz on board were ruined. They wanted to Spread Fire, but Bubblegum Rossy and Micro Mike took them Underground to a Rocket Jock, who was a Non-Human, but not quite a Cry Baby.
Slashers appeared and everything was like a Crazy Shuffle. Their Fuzz Power at the Shooting Gallery was rewarded with Lollipops, given to them by the Evil Empire. No Sombreros were harmed.
It all happened during a crazy night while there was a Storm over the Desert. Mash Man came to save them from the precarious situation and shouted "They Came..."
It was the Lazer League, led by Billy Bob from the City of Doom. It was time to turn the villains into Bits 'n Pieces. Only Beeps 'n Blips could be heard. They arrived from the city of Manchester with their Boss called Deadant. He did the Hambo and caused a Time Warp. All they ever wanted was to solve a Jigsaw and now they had to experience a Ninja Assault.
Robbie Robot came to their aid with the assistance of The Cheetahmen.

Yeah, the game is horrible. No more needs to be said.

It's not the most sophisticated shooter, it doesn't have a revolutionary story setting, and neither is there mind-blowing level design, but its individual parts are woven in such a way that makes it fun to play, even if there are a few design choices I wasn't a fan of.

The story and the consequences of your actions naturally unveil themselves as you progress. No cutscenes or extensive dialogue is needed. This also leads to the game never taking control from the player, so there is always that satisfaction of feeling like you've done something, rather than the game making you watch a cutscene of the character doing something. This game is often praised for its environmental storytelling for a very good reason.

The atmosphere and sound design are really well done as well. It's a little difficult to put into words, but the game's setting gives off some survival horror vibes, combined with a feeling of isolation and desperation.

The gunplay felt pretty nice and you have a good variety of weapons. Nothing really to complain about there.

The level design felt kind of hit or miss, at least for me.
Your default speed is pretty fast and you'll have plenty of instances where you'll have to platform, sometimes on areas that aren't easy to land on. This becomes a lot more frustrating in the last few levels.
Puzzles were very easy and I almost have no idea why they were even in the game.

There were a couple of bugs that detracted from the experience, though some of them are admittedly nitpicks.
Whenever I needed to escort an NPC, I sometimes had to talk to it around 5-6 times so that it could begin following me. And it sometimes also just stopped following me until I didn't talk to it again.
There were 2 cases when killing an enemy resulted in that enemy continuing to walk around.
Worst of all was a bug in chapter 16. The boss, no matter how much I reset (did it around 30 times) didn't initiate its 3rd phase properly, although I learned it isn't necessary to kill it to finish the level, so that was a small relief. I wasted a lot of weapons to open that hole in the ground though.

Overall, a revolutionary shooter for its time and still a solid game today.
Certain areas feel a little clunky and the bugs can be annoying at times, but it has good gunplay and really good environmental storytelling, atmosphere, and sound design.
It will kick your ass in areas but felt satisfying to beat, even with its flaws.

It has a cool concept along with some interesting ideas, but their implementation was done in a subpar way, leaving much to be desired and made the game feel pretty mediocre.

You "technically" don't have a pause menu, an inventory, and an equipment system. When you press start, it sends you to a place called "The Sanctuary", which is where you can do these things, with the addition of stuff like fast travelling and buying some upgrades like increased melee, magic and gun damage. You have to teleport to a separate room where you have to run around for a bit at times in the search for a certain upgrade for the weapons, along with other things you may be interested in.
It's cool the first few times, but it makes what should be a simple process unnecessary monotonous and long. Sticking to a much simpler equipment, inventory, and upgrade system wouldn't have resulted in the game losing anything and made it much more appealing.

Combat felt ok at best. You have your melee weapon, gun and a few magics you unlock over time.
Enemies mostly felt like something you had to go through rather than an engaging part of the game. The encounters were pretty easy and most of them felt like they could be beaten through button mashing with occasional blocking.
If you find yourself overwhelmed, you can just stall a battle by running around since you don't have a health bar and could just wait for your health to regenerate.

The concept of gaining people's support towards reaching your ultimate goal sounds cool in concept, but the quests you have to do (for the most part) to achieve that are rather boring. Not to mention there don't seem to even be save files, so if you feel like you want to go back and try something different, you can't.
And without spoiling too much, the game takes a sharp turn in the 2nd half which made it feel like it was developed without a unified vision in mind.

Overall, the game tries to be original, but it doesn't work out well. Had less time been spent on trying to implement unique systems where they weren't needed and that effort was invested in other areas, they could've made a much better game.

Shows its age quite a bit.
Platforming can feel pretty rough.
The difficulty can make you pull your hair out.
At least it set a foundation to improve on and which has shown it could be quite fun when designed properly.
The soundtrack is undoubtedly the thing which has aged best and is still cool to listen to.

Sometimes, we must ask ourselves if a journey is worth finishing, however short it might be. The feeling that you'll see no improvement is there, yet you've already reached the halfway point and decided to see it through. And it wasn't worth it. This was a slog.

When you think of X-COM, your first thought will be of the tactical RPG series, not an arcady 3rd person shooter. And just like Ys Strategy, there is a reason why this game is rarely talked about by fans of the series.

The one word that sums up this game is lazy. The UI is lazy. The AI just charges at you without much thinking. The bosses are bullet sponges without much more to them. You don't even have a manual save option, the game just saves after you finish a mission. The mission design almost always revolves around either searching for and destroying certain enemies or finding and saving humans. And you'll have to sit through that for 35 missions. It only takes around 6 and a half hours, so it isn't long, but it becomes painful either way.

The story has no structure and you're just a random robot named Enforcer who together with a scientist, whose name I didn't bother to remember, fight aliens in all sorts of locations - arctic bases, football pitches, and sewers (you don't even get to meet the Ninja Turtles there) among others.

The gameplay is like an AliExpress Serious Sam. It's pretty fast-paced, you have a lot of enemies that will charge at you, and you need to beat them. You unlock a few weapons over time, but slightly before the halfway point, the enemy and weapon variety dries up and the level design is just there.

The only reason why I'm giving this a 1.5 is because, as crazy as it sounds, I found the game to be enjoyable during the first 12-13 missions. Shooting and going through hordes of enemies was fun, at least for a time. Had the game ended there, despite all its issues, I would've thought it was alright.

Overall, it's rushed, flawed, and overstays its welcome. Unless you're a superfan of the X-COM series and want to play through all of its games at least once, I strongly suggest you avoid this game.

This didn't click with me at all.

It's only slightly longer than an hour, but the choice of having the main character walk so slowly makes it feel longer and even pads the game length.
The game looks pretty (even if the environmental variety is lacking) and I wouldn't have been against slowing the player's speed in some areas to soak up and immerse them in the atmosphere, but the choice of the character being so slow all the time made it painful to play.

As for the story, well, it feels like it was incredibly uninspired. It was far too cryptic and there was nothing in it which made me think I should like or dislike a certain character. It was simply painful indifference. It also didn't help you couldn't interact with anything to give you the illusion you were at least playing a game, so you're stuck walking slowly while listening to a narration which neither felt gripping or interesting.

A decent and short puzzle game about getting two people to shake their hands.

The visual style isn't its strong point and there is unfortunately only 1 track that runs throughout the entire game, but it has some creative levels and introduces players to its mechanics at a good pace.

I'm looking forward to the planned sequel and how they'll expand on this idea. The last few levels of this one were tricky, so I'm imagining that an expanded version will be quite the handful. I'll see myself out now.

The game is very reminiscent of early FF games and Earthbound in terms of general gameplay feel, graphics and design.
Luckily, the game decides to remove a lot of the more punishing features of those games. Winning a battle will restore your party to max HP and revive all your downed characters, coupled with the fact that if you roam and fight in a dungeon for long enough, you'll stop getting random encounters being the two most prominent examples.

The story is good for what it is. It's meant to be a parody and I enjoyed a large part of the dialogue and self-awareness the game had. It also isn't long and can be beaten in 6-7 hours.

The gameplay is classical turn-based with the twist that enemies become stronger every turn, so stalling is not recommended as it will make any battle unnecessarily difficult.

Being able to branch your characters out further and further with each level-up was a nice addition, which adds some replay value.

The one thing that really hurts this game is how they deal with MP regen. You need MP if you're gonna deal a lot of damage, but the only way to regen it outside of save points is to battle by only using normal attacks and finishing a battle quickly on top of that. That's not easy to do in later stages because enemies get tougher and tougher. It would be fine if you could run away from these encounters, but here the only way to run away from battle is to have a character from your party who has a skill that costs 25 MP to use. Not to mention if the enemies kill her, you're screwed. This made the last two dungeons in the game annoying to go through.

Overall, if you're a fan of early 80s JRPGs and are looking for a game that is far more forgiving in its design while still retaining that 80s feel, this is a decent choice.