"By the gods... what have I become?"

Sony's flagship franchise didn't start slow. It was an explosion of a brazen subversion, featuring the most angry gonzo of a man that defied all connotations of the typical underdog narrative. Wrought in deep layers of tragedy lies a curious character broken by his own lust for power and neck deep in personal anguish. His bloodlust and indulgence were made into a riveting narrative device. Santa Monica overindulges where most would exercise caution, crafting ceaseless processions of a bald Spartan rampaging through the ancient seas and the land of Greece. His unflinching killing spree stems from the very ounce of humanity within him. A shattered past of seismic guilt reveals itself piece by piece via fragmented cutscenes. It is these haunting memories, bloodlust and tits where you find the very fascination that acts as the primary gel between the player's interest and Kratos' hard-boiled emotions. The writing and world-building are both stellar and hilarious, in mere seconds it builds intrigue from its opening and as the game continues it creates a vivid picture of Athens at war with a moronic double-digit IQ God of War Ares, stupid white women and endless "foreshadowing" that is as subtle as a brick to a face. At one point it just outright tells you what's gonna happen in the next game. Like woah, he's chained by his weapons! The painting says Zeus will fight a mortal man! Wonder what any of that could mean 😲 The gameplay leverages DMC's ingenious hack n slash design and dungeon aesthetics, offering enough experimentation, spatial range, brute damage, and combos to keep the game fresh for its short duration. Enemies are by and large engaging and varied, whilst platforming is funny because you get to control Kratos tiptoe his way over ceilings, ropes, and beams of wood, which never gets old. Puzzles, if anything, are both clever and fit the narrative context. There's just one instance where it got lazy and just put Tetris and called it a day. The gameplay offers enough leeway for newcomers to not be overwhelmed, but it is still challenging enough that it doesn't turn into simple button mashing (some sections, however, can get really, really annoying. Like the Siren one.) Pandora's Box deserves an entire essay on how great it is. The level designs are also far more elaborate than I ever expected, capturing an immense level of depth, intricacy, and scale. You're rewarded handsomely for being demonic. Killing civilians gives you health. You throw a man to his entrail-ridden doom because you don't like his tone (and you return to do it once more because you really hate his swag.) You get to drag and fry a chicken, I mean a living human for gaining passage. It's all very wholesome and is accompanied by an epic orchestral soundscape that makes you feel like a tragic bald mortal with anger issues and zero moral consciences.

Thus the game with a transgressive angry bald Spartan as the protagonist became one of the most popular games of all time.

Overindulgence might be the key people.

7/10

Spending a year and a half slowly navigating the empty framework of botw world has been, an experience to say the least. Tens upon hundreds of hours spent scaling every nook and crany of a cyclical world where each element builds upon itself into a world that feels boundless yet is also, limited in its constituents. The first few hours are agony because the game is designed to let you loose into a world where you don't really know what's going on. It brings a sense of adventure like none other but also takes away the safe feeling of pop up tutorials that tell you "hey dont do this! hey dont do that!" so your hero's path looks like if sisyphus decided to hop onto the game and fight Boroklins with a twig and kept doing that for 2 hours straight hoping that something would change. (another reason why the game was so difficult to navigate was because I didn't set my emulator up properly so it was essentially running at 10 fps for the first 18 hours 😭) It's a wonder that I never dropped this game and kept coming back to it from time to time, week after week or month after month like a moth to a flame. Eventually I realise that everything I ever needed to know was already told to me from the beginning. After that realization struck, the journey became a lot more bearable until it eventually became so that I couldn't stop thinking about it for hours, even days on end. The quiet soundtrack, the sorrowful tales of hyrule, the interactions with all its colourful and eccentric habitants. The emptiness itself became my home, something I never wanted to sever myself from.

The game works. It just works. There's no lengthy essay than can properly state how homogeneous every tiny aspect of the world is. How each individual element can be extrapolated and experimented on. Complete with a set of wonderfully realised score and a timeless story that deals with loss, grief, tragedy and heroism in a world of inspired mythology. It wears its influence on its sleeves. Just take on look at the Koroks or Ganon's second form. It's basically a Princess Mononoke open world game and if that doesn't sound like the best thing ever then I don't know what to tell you. The detractors confound me, claiming that the game loses its sheen after the first few hours or that they don't understand why the game is so celebrated. But botw simply offers creative freedom unlike any other and it only becomes more evident to the player the more they spend time on it. It's just a creative firework and every game that has copied it since is all the better for it. For those who argue that the only reason BOTW is popular is because of the Zelda tag, I present to you: Genshin Impact. Exact same game down to the minutest details but without the Zelda tag and it won best mobile game.

Is it flawless? No. But that's a redundant question to begin with. Is it the best an open world formula has ever been implemented? That entirely depends on you. For me however, Breath of the Wild stands head and shoulder above its peers. There's nothing quite like it. It offered a liberating escape from the shackles of my mundane life and I'm eternally grateful for it.

Let's see if Tears of the Kingdom can shift my opinion.

10/10

Arkham City feels unbound by the passing of time. Its ambition and scale is palpable from the second you boot up the game. The opening segment, the pace, the adrenaline. I remember a few of these sequences because a friend used to play this a lot and gosh are these just iconic. City is such a massive leap from its predecessor in terms of everything else that you almost question if they were actually made by the same team. Visually, audibly, mechanically it is lightyears ahead to the point where even today, more than a decade since release it still feels like it came out yesterday. The open-world approach to Batman is completely different from Asylum. Asylum felt enclosed, claustrophobic but City is massive. Traversing the sprawling nightscapes of Gotham as Batman is an indescribable feeling.

The game basks itself in an atmosphere that fills you with this ominous, seeping sensation. The grunts of thugs, the cries for help. The dark, the grime, the wet, the blood and the dirt. The pathetic state of the city. The skyline against the backdrop of a cloudy hemisphere penetrated by a stark moonlight. All of this culminates into a constant image of eerie beauty that is inimitable, but more so oddly soothing. You could spend hours soaking in the feel of Gotham's nightscapes, and that itself is an experience you won't easily find in many games, or even films. Even the latest Batman film is aesthetically derived from Arkham.

Yet if there is one thing from Asylum that City didn't adapt and improve, it's the linearity and focus of its villains. It's the one aspect of Arkham City that hinders it from being a perfect title. That and the main storyline, which aside from being far too short, is also far too unfocused and convoluted. A variety of iconic characters are introduced with unique attributes to test the fluidity of the game mechanics (something which City excels at immensely) and they're all treated as mainline villains at some point just for the sake of it. Asylum had some level of progression with its villains and those villains did have some weight to the story. Here it felt like we were given every villain imaginable, but not one of them left a mark. Except for Joker but even he leaves the spotlight for the majority of the game.

Most would not mind this because of the medium. In a film this lack of focus would be detrimental, but in an open world game where you control your own pacing, it’s not that big an issue. Even so these villains are only tied together by a fine thread, and they don’t bring anything aside from immediate consequences for the plot.

Batman still keeps brooding but he also looks tired. He is tired. By the end of the game he's full of bruises, his cape is all torn up and he looks like he's about to collapse yet he still keeps moving forward. His all black look, and serious tone is well juxtaposed by Selina Kyle, who is elegant, sexy and selfish and even more so by the Joker, who's a joy to watch. His antics are comical. At one point he pulls out a detonator with a big red button. Modern iterations of Batman and Joker, especially post-Nolan, are so self-serious that it sucks the fun out of these stories. These are comic book characters after all and this game is very aware of that fact. Arkham City is a special game made by special people, there's no doubt about that. Yet the story teeters between poetry and conflict. It does not understand who it wants to give the spotlight to and by the time it ends all you can think of is just, "huh, that's it?"

There is no catharsis. There is no satisfaction. The ending is hardly abrupt yet the journey still feels underwhelming. It's so incredibly performed and so vastly impressive yet the story just suffices. Leaving you with nothing but a vague recollection of an immense adventure.

Aside from all that, Arkham City also continues to expand on the lore of hot, flirtatious women with the introduction of Catwoman. This sums up my thoughts on her. There's also a scene where Harley Quinn is tied up and duct taped, and you can remove and put back on the duct tape, how many times you want. I was laughing my ass off at this like the devs have ZERO shame and I’m not even complaining. I know Quinn's relationship with Joker is tragic. It's a manipulative one and Joker is being abusive towards her even when he's on the verge of death. Yet still... goodness gracious…

Rocksteady I was NOT familiar with your game.

8/10

"The fear of the blood tends to create fear for the flesh."

A child's psyche materializes into shifting nightmares. Abstraction becomes the norm, and degradation follows suit. Mere sounds induce terror, yet the horror lies in the physical space itself.

Will you run or will you face the unknown terror?

Silent Hill begins with a montage that quickly establishes a vibe of dread and curiosity with its odd musical composition of folky, eerie strings and adventurous guitar. The game brazenly employs creative camera angles, adopting a visual style that is inventive and distinct. The limitations of the PS1 led to the addition of fog to limit vision, creating a lurking sense of claustrophobia despite being in an open area. Harry is characterized by the gameplay itself. He staggers and puts his hands up when he runs into walls. He gasps for breath after running. His aim is unpredictable, either landing headshots after headshots or just completely missing the enemy 5 times in a row. It's obvious the guy has no experience with the situation he finds himself in, but he's intelligent enough to deduce from the clues around him. It disempowers him, which in turn disempowers us, the players. The everyman aspect of Harry Mason is also what makes him an endearing protagonist, navigating and overcoming otherworldly obstacles in search of his daughter. It makes him more believable in his fatherly plight. He also behaves like a father. I mean, marking stuff on your map, charging at freaky creatures with a pistol, going, "Have you seen a little girl? Short, black hair? Just turned seven last month?" every time he meets someone? No bachelor is doing that shit in a haunted town. As Harry explores the desolate town, the details start to get muddier, the plot makes less sense, and even the physical space starts to wildly contradict itself as you go from "Fog World" to "Otherworld" and finally "Nowhere."

The side characters are really interesting on their own and reveal a ton of details about Silent Hill. Cybill is a fearless officer who comes to Silent Hill to investigate the lack of communication in the town. She's the rational, skeptical voice, questioning the paranormal and attributing the cultists to craziness or drugs. She trusts Harry with her gun and takes it upon herself to do whatever it takes to find Cheryl. She's an unfortunate soul dragged into the wrong place at the wrong time. The blues of Cybill stand out starkly in her environment, especially in comparison to Lisa, who wears a red jacket and red shoes. Lisa is another innocent yet tragic character who had to endure years and years of abuse from Kaufman. Oblivious to her dark fate and refusing to come to terms with it, she cries out for help from Harry until she starts bleeding. It's a devastating moment because, unlike Cybill, you can't save Lisa. That melancholic, guilt-ridden score that plays right after does NOT help either. Kaufman himself is an odd figure. He's the director of Alchemilla Hospital who forms a contract with Dahlia to station Alessa in the hospital. The mutual benefits of this flew over my head. Presumably, Kaufmann wanted money, and Dahlia just wanted Alessa taken care of. Kaufman stations Lisa and hooks her on drugs to take care of the unhealing Alessa. Dahlia is the creepy, abusive cult leader nun trying to invoke god into a physical form by having her psychic daughter supernaturally impregnated or some shit. Tame stuff like that, you know. Alessa does not want to do that, so she splits her soul in half. One half turns into Cheryl, who is abandoned and later adopted by Harry and his wife, and the other remains with the cult. In the end, both Lisa and Alessa get to enact some form of vengeance, either by electrocuting their abuser alive or by taking them to the pits of unending nightmares. So there is catharsis, somewhat.

The apocalyptic world is a nightmare in its purest form. The level designs are basic at first but reveal themselves to be brimming with details. Degradation follows wherever you look. Hospital wards coated in blood, rooms with stained beds, mutilated bodies hung on crosses, and school corridors filled with the quiet laughs of children and murky, disgusting creatures roaming about. All of these are manifestations of Alessa's psyche. Her distorted perceptions of classmates, her fear of animals, insects, creatures from fairy tales, doctors, and nurses who kept her alive. 240p baddies die bloody ass deaths for no reason. Innocence and purity are tainted with blood. These buildings that are usually bustling with people and kids are in bottomless decay, reflecting the deep psychological and physical scars inflicted upon Alessa by these spaces and its inhabitants. It's unsettling, and that feeling is accentuated by the ingenious sound design. Every footstep, every door crack, and every shriek of every enemy is designed to induce terror. You don't ever get used to it. Least of all that industrial, solemn background music. It's beautiful, serene, yet creepy. I don't know how to describe it properly, but it is etched in my mind. It's one of those aesthetics that just does not leave you. It sets an astonishingly high bar for later horror games to follow. Within the depths of hidden items, comes its replay value. One playthrough is satisfactory but to truly experience the story you have to play it more than once. I made the "mistake" of not saving this game at relevant points. So after I landed the Bad+ ending, I had to replay it in New Fear mode from the beginning. The surprising thing is that that only grew my appreciation for this game. And that's really the lasting brilliance of this 25 year old game.

The more I play these pre-extinction PS1 games (MGS1 and that's about it), the more I realise that graphics are just not that important if the game is made by talented people and can bear its weight despite the technological limitations. As I mentioned earlier, the said technological limitations birthed one of the most iconic looks of a video game ever. As you play games from that era, it becomes so much easier to lose yourself in the world. You stop caring about the number of pixels that you can probably count on your fingers, you stop caring about the fiddly controls of the PS1 era (I'm not even gonna pretend these were a bitch to get used to at first), and you stop caring about Harry jittering all the time for no reason. You just lose yourself in this bewildering, mystifying world. I don't wanna say it, but it is soothing in a way.

I think what I find fascinating is how much the story is treated as a means to explore psychological breakdown, rather than solely concerned with being part of a larger narrative or mystery. Even if your experience ends up being somewhat like mine and the story doesn't make much sense unless you read the Wikipedia page, there's still a basic understanding of mental deterioration that makes itself evident through the environment alone. That, to me, is a commendable feat of storytelling. The various endings further prove that Silent Hill is essentially a player's own story. It doesn't matter what speaks to you.

There's always something for someone in Silent Hill.

9/10.

Kojima has done it again.

He seems to be a master of turning obtuse concepts into grounded emotional journeys, where every thread of nonsensical plotting is woven into this massive, cathartic climax that leaves you stripped of any doubts or confusion and wholly fills you with wonder and astonishment. Every plot twist is built upon another plot twist, which is then capped off by an even bigger plot twist after the credits roll. Everything culminates in what can only be described as an ingenious narrative masterpiece.

The game is surprisingly less dense than the previous installments (which isn't really saying much), with its emotional underpinnings given far more weight than expected. It is written with the intent of completely engrossing the player in its world and philosophies. Snake/Jack/John (he gets a new name in the end just because) navigates his way through a Soviet jungle setting in this weird web of government secrets, conspiracies, every type of military intelligence, superhuman psychos, an illuminati-like faction of world leaders, all set during the cold war in 1964, and it is the most glorious thing you can ask for. I keep saying this every time I play an MGS title, but what the actual fuck Kojima? How high was this dude when he made this?

The gameplay itself is by far the most polished and streamlined aspect of this game. Every time I felt like the bosses got too difficult, I had the option of trying 20 different methods of approaching them, each more unhinged than the other. Every piece of equipment and each weapon can be utilised to craft a completely unique experience, to the point where I feel if I showed my gameplay to any hardcore fans, I'd get shunned because of how insanely odd I was with my tactics and logic (and I enjoyed every second of it, mind you).

The game oozes creativity with its utilisation of space and combat/enemy variety, sure, but it's the near limitless combinations and techniques provided to the player that make for a truly remarkable achievement and experience. The game is ground-breaking in general. The addition of crouching makes life so much easier. Hunting for food, a new camera angle, camouflage outfits, tighter focus on direction rather than exposition, and redefining the stealth genre while birthing an entirely new foundation for the survival genre. The story itself is worthy of an essay. It deftly explores a multitude of topics surrounding war and love. The unquestioned patriotism of a soldier, the love of a mother and son tangled up against the odds of fate, the facade of eternal enemies, and the fact that everything is bound to change. 

The concept of "scene" is introduced, which is different from "gene" and "meme" introduced in 1 and 2, respectively. It deals with the idea of cultural relativism in response to ideology and personal doctrines, which it states is heavily influenced by the time and location we live in. "Eternal" is a concept not applicable to ideology, enemies, or allies. They are transitive and change in response to the "times" we live in. This is heavily illustrated in the character of "The Boss," a mentor and maternal figure to Snake, who becomes a victim of circumstance. This theme echoes through all the major characters. "Big Boss," for example, was considered a major antagonist in the previous games, but here he is a patriotic, heroic man. Eva is forced into playing a defect agent and participating in a deadly game of espionage where she falls in love, which ultimately causes heartbreak. Patriotism is also shown to be a relative idea, where one person can be publicly acknowledged, yet the true patriot can have their entire legacy tainted forever. Loyalty is also relative to the "times" where Snake was forced into choosing his own nation over his mentor, until he later decided to abandon it. It wasn't he who chose his loyalty, but the "times."

What a thrill

Everything I've mentioned is just the cherry on top compared to the opening theme. The lyrics are poignant, to say the least. This being my favourite,

I give my life
Not for honor, but for you

The theme has many loaded words. The gravity of them will not be apparent until you finish the game, which is full of these tiny allusions. Of course, lyrics aside, the music itself doesn't hold back.

Oh my god, how can you listen to it without being completely swayed and struck by it? That shit had me FLOORED. Cynthia Harrell's captivating vocals and the weight of the lyrics are some of the best of the best. Listening to it alone was so ethereal, even more so paired with scenes like the infamous ladder scene that sets the tone for the rest of the game and the final fight with The Boss that moves you to shed manly tears. The boot-up credit sequence itself was unskippable. I'll never stop playing it in my head and go

I'M STIIIIIIIIILL IN A DREEEEEEEEAAM SNAKE EATERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

Truly one of the greatest games ever made. What the hell Kojima

Rushed production, comedic level design, and ostensibly unfleshed character writing, yet I still rate this game. Why? Because it retains the unfettered swag of its characters AND introduces Nero. Nero is an interesting character to add, and he flourishes really well. He's fun to play with, he's fun to watch, and he's fun to listen to. His writing is solid and adds a fresh and distinct voice to the franchise. The game design is odd, specifically with how Dante/Nero works. You start with Nero, who's a completely fresh face, and just as you start to get used to him, the game switches to Dante, which is fine and all because "oooo Dante I like Dante." Then you start getting used to his playstyle, and when you're JUST getting slid into his style, the game AGAIN pulls you out and switches you with Nero. LIKE OMFG GIVE ME SOME TIME. The backtracking in the second half is funny, but when the cinematics hit ooooooooh THEY HIT. With one step, you can go from a snowy castle to a rainforest and fight the same three elemental bosses twice because why not, with the final one being this bigass statue. It's the most imposing DMC title that isn't DMC 5. The actual game is easy enough to breeze through, but it's the little tidbits of character interaction or whatever sprinkled throughout that make this so enjoyable, like basically every time Dante and Dante 2, I mean Nero, encounter each other, or when Nero goes "KYRIEEEEE" for the millionth time, and when the big plot twist was that the skimpy snow baddie Gloria was actually Trish the whole time (what was even the point, Capcom?). I might be reaching with this take, but DMC4 is by far the only title that feels like it has a tinge of emotionality to it. Kyrie's brother's final moments or Nero's textbook determination to save his damsel in distress are surprisingly fun to watch and engage with. The ending is cute, but I wish Kyrie was an actual character because they really nailed her design. That's like the only big complaint I have. 8.5/10

"Wanna know the name? Devil May Cry"

I'm crying they for real made the worst game ever and directly followed it with one of the best games ever.

Iconic opening. Effortlessly cool. Sincere as much as it is stylish. DMC3 offers everything you could ask for in an action hack and slash title, with the combat and characters being the obvious draws. Despite having certain drawbacks in level and boss design, the fact that there are multiple moments where the music, combos, and choreography all mesh together in perfect harmony should alone guarantee this a near, if not perfect score. Genuinely jaw-dropping stuff. Especially the cutscenes man "Jackpot" I LIVE FOR THIS STUFF. Timeless game.

Yeah it's a great spiderman game and is a fresh breath of air story-wise since unlike most modern adaptations of the web-slinger, this one isn't taking place during high school and he's a fully grown adult living in a shitty apartment with due rent until he eventually gets fucking evicted and there's a lot more focus on the nature of consequences in Peter's world that makes his "relatability" factor that much more palpable but also means that you're *literally" swinging through both the lowest and highest points of Peters life and for an everyman superhero who is a verbatim cultural icon that has made everyone's childhood for decades, you're more likely than not to be heavily, emotionally, mentally, hell even physically invested in Peter's journey that ends in the most tragic note imaginable where he finds himself in an age old dilemma of "should I sacrifice someone close to me for the greater good of this city and its people I so dearly cherish?" and after all that he still stands up because of course he fucking does. It's truly a remarkable feat to understand, write, and present a character with innumerable iterations spanning decades across multiple mediums in such a fresh light without undermining the core values of our said beloved character, and all that is good and all, but I just wanted to say that there was fundamentally ZERO reason for Insomniac to make every woman so bad in this game like bro Silver Sable? MJ? Black Cat? I was having the most devious thoughts the entire game even the in-game tweets passed the vibe check holy shit the crew knew what they were doing. I swear Insomniac give me a DLC with all three of them doing mischievous deeds and I'll pay you my entire fortune (not that I have much) peanuts and all, kidney, soul, body whatever you need no questions asked.

9.5/10

"The real bucket was inside of him all along. It was incredibly painful." - The Narrator

WHAT A FUCKING TRIP HOLYYYY

A tremendous, comedic, metafictional masterpiece that is also a REMARKABLY tedious game that I believe everyone should experience at least once in their lives. It's so full of ideas and has purposeful core messages about meaningful choices, about the dichotomy between personal artistry and a demand for content and sequels, and about video game narratives, despite appearing to be contrary. You have to 100% this game to really soak in all the incredible stuff, regardless of the dullness of repeat playthroughs. A true rebel of a video game. 8.5/10

Kojima has done it again.

Words can't do this justice. I really can't come up with anything that can summarize what this experience means to me. What a stroke of genius. A revolutionary title. Way ahead of its time. I had so much fun playing this. Even the gameplay was enjoyable this time because I played with a controller, which allowed me to appreciate just how much finesse the game was designed with. The jump in quality from mgs1 to this is mind-boggling to me. This is an extremely dense game, and the way Kojima overwrites dialogue or exposition doesn't make it any easier to ingest the message that is being conveyed. But my god mgs2 has some of the most profound and elaborate moments in any game or media ever. I seriously was not expecting to be so taken aback even though I loved the original mgs. This is just on a completely different level. Truly one of the greatest games ever made. What the hell Kojima