I was alone. It was winter and I was sitting in my 17m² one-room apartment in Göttingen in my first semester of a study program that I hated. It was snowing quite heavily and on YouTube, a fresh let's player named Gronkh had uploaded a video series on Risen. I saw this game, knew it was from one of my favorite developers and had to have it. So I made my way through the snow to Media Markt and bought a way too overpriced version of the game. I didn't regret it. It was the Gothic 3 I had always dreamed of. To this day, this game has the best combat system Piranha Bytes has ever developed. Music, setting and quest design were again top notch and I could fully immerse myself for some time in this beautiful world. Why did I only play it once? I don't know. I watched a lot of let's plays but didn't play it again myself, maybe I should change that.

While technically a full complete standalone game, Pre-Sequel feels as tho it is simply a substantial extension of Borderlands 2 - and this massive DLC-like dynamic might explain why it feels just as janky and buggy as some of the DLCs do. The fact that this game serves mostly as fanservice for Handsome Jack makes it hard to care too much about its issues (tho maybe Gearbox took the wrong lessons from this)

Personally speaking, I was ready for more diversity in environments, and Elpis provides an excellent change in color palette; neon purples and blues and aquamarines. More time spent in space-age structures, lunar stations, energy refineries. Its a great vacation from Pandora, but I also feel like Pre-Sequel starts to pull the series out of orbit with too much focus on exposition, setting the series up to take itself too seriously. (The Handsome Jack stuff does whip ass tho)

I'm in love with the way EO leverages the DS to digitize manual mapping. absolutely wonderful, beautiful stuff that captures the spirit of the genre a billion million zillion times better than any automap ever could. in a perfect world this would've heralded imitative ports of every drpg under the sun, and all of them would've been strong contenders for the best versions by default. unfortunately we live in the eternal piss and shit dimension so I'm doomed to pout about the missed opportunity for the rest of my life

as for the rest: game's like one of those images where either you see the old crone or the smokin hot babe; the lamp or the smoking hot babe; the white and gold dress or the smokin hot babe. you know?

from what I gather if you're coming at it from an EO perspective this thing feels like it was coded straight into zhoukoudian limestone by the peking man. folks act like it's the dustiest, crustiest, most satanic verses ass antipathetic crawler ever made. they're out here throwing blankets over their ds at night like a furby to stop it from talking backwards and shit

but if you're coming at it from a broader drpg perspective it's almost the complete opposite: decidedly modern, breezy, and accommodating; its push toward transparency, telegraphs, and convenience at odds with the core tension loop pre-bradley wizardry clones fundamentally rely on

I fall into the second category and found most of this to be pretty dry. by the time I hit the 5th Stratum I was approaching vegetative status, zoning out and mashing A with one hand while reading scandalous celebrity gossip on my phone in the other. hovering out of body, well above the dungeon rather than being subsumed by it; existing outside of stress, anxiety, and uneasy decision making. EO just doesn't got the stomach to wrench your guts around, put you on the perpetual backstep, or fill the role of derelict steward the way the most successful clones do

which is fine! I like most of the experimentation here in isolation; there's a dialogue happening that's a lot more interesting than reheating 1980-1988 endlessly. the deterministic angle opens up a lot of unique design avenues; character building could easily swerve toward embracing shortform tactics over longform attrition, and moments like B20F show that FOEs can be more than softball fodder goin woop woop woop in a 3x3 grid. there's a lot to be excited about, it just needs to be contextualized in ways that flatter rather than compromise

more than anything EO needs to stop being uncomfortable in borrowed skin and start being comfortable in its own. no reason to be another mediocre wizardry when it could be a great etrian odyssey 🌈 ⭐❤️

It doesn't take an eagle eye to spot the problems with a Mana game, but Final Fantasy Adventure's flair for the melodramatic - dare I say romantic? - lingers beyond any quibbles with hit detection or inventory management. Between babies abandoned in caves, mysterious lost girls, teardrops with magic powers, and frequent acts of absolute sacrifice, Yoshinori Kitase's first step up to the plate is pulpy and grandiose in a way that hardly seems possible for the Game Boy. The purity of imagination here is almost touching.

Right from the off, Inscryption is just a wonderful card game. The folk-horror cabin ‘escape room’ and enigmatic card sacrificing gameplay are just impeccable vibes. [Slight spoilers ahead]: I think the reason the meta stuff that follows works is because the core card gameplay remains relatively consistent, alongside the brilliantly elusive scrybe characters that drive the story. I must admit the opening is the highlight for me, but I enjoyed the deviation into Marble Hornets / creepypasta territory, as well as uncovering PT levels of buried secrets that encourage another playthrough or two.

Only FromSoftware copy their own homework and get away with it. From Demons Souls to Elden Ring, the iconic brutal combat gameplay remains, only midly adjusted with each title.
I'll admit I'm late to the game, quite literally, but Dark Souls is my favourite of theirs so far, and maybe an all-timer.

The same level of immense satisfaction comes from conquering seemingly impossible forces, but it is the connectedness of the world here that makes you feel existentially insignificant and all the more bold in exploring unknown territory.
Whilst a notch down from the visual flair of subsequent titles - Bloodborne, Elden Ring, etc - the level design here is still superb: I think it is the vast size and sonic emptiness of places like the Demon Ruins or Great Hollow that make them utterly terrifying, especially upon uncovery of the indifferent creatures that lurk there. And if you don't have that special fast travel item, you must traverse between these places, miles sometimes deep into lava pits underground or at the peaks of castles in the clouds; I can't express enough that wondrously epic scale acheived here through such variation - it's probably not as big as Skyrim but by god it just feels bigger.

Another key strength is character design: from smaller, comical side characters such as the onion shaped knight Siegmeyer of Catarina to otherworldly beasts such as the primordial serpent Frampt (almost shat myself when I first saw him).

But essential to the bleak atmosphere of Dark Souls, alongside the sparingly used music and foggy, dingy locations, is the abundance of characters who simply sit there, beaten and tarnished - they have truly lost. In a game that places so much emphasis on dying, this highlights the whole point (of Souls games and gaming in general): you can die as many times as you like, but you only lose when you give up.

Pros:
+ the first act creates a brooding, foreboding atmosphere
+ biomes are distinct and the open areas are well designed
+ surprisingly good lightning, shadow and particle effects
+ technology equipment system is a smart and fresh new mechanic
+ Dolmen boss mechanic is a good idea that mostly works well
+ the reactor/elemental mechanic adds a lot of complexity to the combat
+ ranged attacks add a lot of options and gunplay is pretty satisfying
+ equipment crafting is quick and can be tailored to specific challenges
+ the (very limited) voice acting is pretty good
+ the relatively short playtime is quick and dirty
+ the cutscenes are stupidly enjoyable
+ performance mode is mostly stable

Cons:
- let's be honest here: the title is pretty terrible
- lack of polish: there's heaps of glitches, typos, clipping issues etc.
- the whole UI is flatout terrible and gives the game a cheap look
- damage numbers look amateurish and have an awful font
- enemy AI is mostly non-existent and bosses can easily be cheesed
- the various combat options can get confusing (7 buttons!)
- most animations are barebones and look unfinished
- close combat has no weight to it and hit feedback is weak
- enemy placement feels random and unintuitive
- most enemies have unreliable, unclear hitboxes
- many boss runs are far too long and tedious
- the camera freqently gets in the way of the action
- lock-on system is barely working at a greater range
- energy meter refills extremely slowly
- using a beacon (bonfire) does not refill batteries (flasks) in full
- crafting materials are not itemized in the menu
- the main antagonist is completely forgettable
- the music is bland and of low audio quality
- loading screens are in bad taste
- the final segment and the ending are short and laughable sequel bait

Magic Moment: Following frosty ranged attacks with a timed reactor hit and barely killing a big, wormy enemy in time.

Blagic Moment: Reading a random YT comment on how running in circles around a certain boss to kill him without resistance and asking myself: Is this fun?

Playtime: 17 hours at level 60 with all beacons, roughly half of all crafting items and all bosses, some killed repeatedly in Dolmen mode. Played in single player mode only - the multiplayer seems to be dead anyway.


Verdict:
Dolmen is a weird game. This debut by a Brazilian studio feels remarkably aggressive in its contradictoriness: with each new situation, it becomes clearer that this is not a good, or even a finished product, and yet, for some reason, it keeps you engaged through its relatively quick runtime. Each fresh new gameplay idea - of which there are many - is offset by subpar production values and lazy design decisions. The audio-visual quality oscilates between terrible and surprisingly decent, the atmosphere is involving until the broken enemies and mindless boss fights appear, and the combat is a collection of unfair but sometimes also incredibly satisfying situations. It almost feels like the team uncovered a lost PS3 game with bonkers PS2 cutscenes and added modern combat mechanics to it, while also, somehow, offering a surprising amount of fun to anyone willing to grind their way through a whole lot of jankiness along the way.

Most people should probably skip this, but if you are a die hard fan of Soulslikes and would like to know how the genre is evolving at the moment, take a look at it. However, finishing it is not really necessary to get something out of it and one playthrough is absolutely enough - there is no New Game+ anyway.

[Average Reading Time: 9 minutes]

The first-person shooter genre was rocked by Goldeneye in 1997 and then rocked again by Half-Life in 1998. In 1999, it would be time for EA and Dreamworks Interactive to rock the genre once more with Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor is a military shooter set during towards the end of World War II. Players take the role of Jimmy Patterson as he completes 7 missions for the OSS, each being broken up into 3-4 action-packed stages. Alongside this is a multiplayer mode that allows you to have shootouts with your friends. I haven't gotten to play much of the multiplayer, so this review will focus on the single-player aspects of this game.

Firstly, let me say that the presentation is immaculate. When you get past the developer logos and loading screen you're put in the War Room, which is your main menu. You'll be checking different areas of the room to check out things like the options and your stats, and while you do this, you'll hear the ambiance of the office activities while watching people walk between rooms. It's very cozy, and you'll quickly find it to be a comforting space. Hang out in the war room long enough without touching the controller, and you'll be treated to some trailers for the game. This was a treat to discover, and it made me wish more games were proud enough of their advertisements to stick them into the game as a way of preserving them.

Soon, you'll find your way to the first mission. Before each mission, you're briefed on what your objective is for the mission as war footage plays on a projector. You're being briefed vocally by Colonel Stanley Hargrove (voiced by William Morgan Sheppard), who proves to be a friendly yet stern superior. Hearing him speak to you about the missions was relaxing and fun, and I was surprised to hear moments where he felt a personal connection so some of your missions. The vocal performance easily enhanced the feeling of going into battle.

Before going into each stage of a mission, you are handed a note from Manon, a liaison from the French Resistance. She gives you an overview of each stage, letting you know things like what kinds of weapons the enemy are carrying, what your objectives are, and hints about secrets. It was always enjoyable reading her letters, hearing about her experiences as she fed you information about the Nazi's plans.

She's basically the equivalent of a radio buddy in a 7th gen game except her letters only pop up between stages, which is really funny when you do something like sneak onto a U-Boat minutes before it departs. How did she get the letter to you after you got on? How did she even know you successfully made it in the first place, considering how tight the timing was? Is she just anticipating you clearing all the objectives flawlessly and is writing letters in advance? Does Jimmy just receive all her letters in bulk before each mission? These are all questions we may never get answers to. I'll just pretend Manon is some French deity who has the mystical ability to keep Jimmy informed at all times and leave it at that.

With your briefings over, it's finally time to begin the game proper. The first thing you'll notice is how dark the game is, visually speaking. At least for me, I needed to crank my TV's brightness setting up in order to see most things. It's at its worst when you're doing outdoor missions at night.

That aside, you'll begin to move and aim and oh man they did it! They almost nailed what would become the standard control scheme for all future first-person shooters! Okay, let me get more specific. Medal of Honor has a number of control presets for the player to choose from. Of them all, I found that Controller Setting 4 came the closest to what would become standard in late 7th gen. The only thing that really upset me about this setting is how the Square and Triangle buttons go unused while R1 does two separate things! They could've easily put reload on Square and it would've felt fine, but what we have here is truly ahead of its time, so despite the shortcomings of this playstyle, I am impressed.

And so you're on your way through your first mission. Thankfully, if you forgot what your objectives were in your letter from Manon, you can pause the game at any time to check what objectives you have, as well as your kill count for that stage (which is important for something I'll get into later). Unlike in games like Goldeneye, you can't fail objectives, so that's one less thing to worry about as you play. Objectives are all required to complete, as well, as the game will refuse to allow you to leave a stage until you finish that checklist.

Most stages will have you going through guns blazing, shooting Nazis left and right while hunting for objectives. Some other stages take a different approach, having you infiltrate Nazi bases in disguise, blending in to tamper with tech and assassinate key officials. To blend in, you have a set of papers documenting your rank in your disguise. By taking out higher ranking Nazis, you can steal their papers and gain access to more areas, which can be a rewarding process that's quite engaging.

At least, it is when it works and the game doesn't pull pranks. There are some enemies that will approach you asking for your documentation, and in the early stealth stages you'll show them the papers and they'll leave you alone. In the later stealth stages, you'll begin to be faced with less trusting Nazis who will see through your disguise and attack you. Perhaps the weirdest part of this is as you try to show them your papers over and over, they'll repeat lines like "Show me your papers!" and "What is your name?" over and over in different pitches. I'm sure that the different pitches exist to make the Nazis all sound distinct, but hearing them come out of one Nazi was just bizarre.

The other prank that can get played on you here occurs when silently taking down some enemies. Most Nazis walking around can be easily neutralized with a headshot from your silenced pistol, which will prevent any other Nazis from being alerted to your presence. Nazis that guard doors that require you to have specific papers pose a unique threat. If you try to silently dispatch them, two Nazi soldiers will spawn in (usually behind you) and they will them quickly drain your life bar. Not the greatest feeling when this happens!

While I thought the stealth missions were an interesting idea, I had the most fun going through the regular action stages. Any stage can have you equipped with up to three guns and one throwable explosive. You get weapons like pistols, SMG's, shotguns and, later in the campaign, a bazooka! The weapon variety isn't very large at all, but what is here is serviceable for your adventure. All of the weapons reload very quickly, as well, leaving little to no downtime during heated shootouts.

My one complaint here is that if you want to use a specific weapon, you need to keep hitting the "Switch Weapon" button until you land on it. This also includes items like grenades, which don't have a unique button for them and are treated as another weapon. Because of this, I barely used grenades, which is a shame because watching Nazis interact with them is highly interesting. Some will lie flat on them to guard their friends from an explosion. Some will kick them away or throw them back. Others will just run from them. You'll also face dog enemies that will pick them up in their mouths and charge at you with them, which can be terrifying!

This isn't where the Nazi animations stop, either. There's a surprising number of animations for them in regard to their reactions to your shots. Their helmets can fly off their heads if you aim at their head, protecting them from a headshot. They might bounce around in pain if you shoot their leg. A powerful shot may knock them on their butt, causing them to take a few moments to get themselves together before standing and shooting at you once more. Of course, a well-aimed shotgun blast or an explosion will send them flying, which is endlessly satisfying to watch.

Of course, Nazis tend to shoot back at you as you shoot at them. In the top-left corner of your screen you have a compass that houses your health bar, which can be refilled with medical packs scattered through stages. This compass also houses another feature: it will flash red in the direction of enemy fire that is making contact with you. Getting hit from the front? The top flashes red. The back? The bottom flashes. The left or right? I don't think I need to answer that. It's a very handy feature that seems to be taken straight from Half-Life, showing just how influential that game was after it came out.

As you get deeper into the game Nazis get more and more aggressive, using more powerful weapons to take you down. One weapon they will use is the Panzerschreck, which is an anti-tank rocket launcher. The splash damage on the rockets these things fire can do a good job draining your health, and direct contact with a rocket will kill you instantly. I guess now's as good of a time as any to mention that if you die, you have to re-do the entire stage, which can be pretty annoying if a stage is longer or if you're doing good only to get a back full of rocket that you couldn't see coming. I used save-states to give myself checkpoints throughout stages to mitigate this issue, but real hardware players will face some difficulty here due to this.

When you clear a stage, you'll be taken to a screen showing how you did during a stage, detailing things such as your favorite weapon for the stage as well as your accuracy. Here, you'll also be awarded stars. You'll get one for just beating the stage, two for killing most of the Nazis in a stage, and three for clearing the stage with 75% or more health. That order is strictly implemented, by the way. Beat a stage without killing most of the Nazis but had over 75% health? You're only getting one star. So, what do stars do? Well, by getting all 3 stars on every stage of a mission, you'll not only be awarded a shiny medal, but you will also be given a "secret code". These are basically cheat menu options, doing things like adding power-ups to multiplayer, quadrupling your weapon fire speed, and turning all non-interactable environment textures into wireframes. They're mostly goofy stuff, which is a cute and welcome addition to this game to incentivize high-level play.

Also on this menu they detail which body parts you shot the most, which is an interesting statistic to see. You're also given a "Gunnery Evaluation" based on which parts you hit the most. You'll get called a "Winger" for hitting mostly arms, for example. Two that stood out to me the most were one for getting mostly headshots, which was "Discount Barber", and another for getting mostly groin shots, charmingly called "Homewrecker".

I would also like to bring up the music. The score done for this game is very well-done, making you feel like you're in an intense war movie! The soundtrack was composed by Michael Giacchino, who would go on to compose the score for numerous Disney movies such as Up and The Incredibles. Needless to say, he did an excellent job here, and I'll definitely be keeping my eye out for his name in future works!

Overall, I loved my time with Medal of Honor. The game truly felt ahead of its time in a number of ways and was an absolute joy from beginning to end. I highly recommend any lover of military FPS games to give this game a shot! This is a game that definitely deserves to be as well-remembered as games like Half-Life and Goldeneye!

We REALLY need to let Steven Spielberg make more games he's really good at this.

Even people who hate the prequels tend to love the podracing scenes. As much crap as those movies get, I think we can all appreciate how they opened up the door for a lot of fun and exciting avenues for "EU" or, as it's known these days, "Legends" (screw you very much for that Disney) to explore in ways the OT never did. A personal favorite from my childhood, seeing this ported over to more modern hardware does my heart good and getting to revisit it after all these years allowed me to happily realize it's still the absolute banger I remember it as.

What sets Racer apart, aside from the franchise's iconic aesthetic and score (Duel of the Fates plays over the main menu. Epic!), is its unparalleled sense of speed. The game is all about managing impossibly sharp turns and split-second reactions while moving at a rate that would make a certain anthropomorphic blue hedgehog jealous. Except for that stupid endgame race where you unlock Bozzie Baranta which forces you pump the breaks hard at a couple of points to avoid falling down to some lower tracks that will basically spell the end of any chance of victory if not avoided. Buncha Bantha poodoo, that one is.

This is accompanied by some fantastic track design that really tests your ability to remain in control at such an exhilarating pace. Their variety is also seriously impressive. You'll revisit the same handful of planets over and over again, so you'll have to watch their opening cutscenes multiple times, but the courses themselves always shake things up with big alterations or entirely new elements that ensure there's no feeling of repetition despite the reused assets. There's even a lot of surprise depth here in the form of purchasing parts to upgrade your roster of vehicles and alternate modes to help you practice to improve your lap times. The sole thing missing is better competitive play as your stuck with exclusively local two-player.

It will never happen as Disney is absolutely TERRIFIED of leaving their little post-prequel, pre-sequel trilogy era safe-space they are enjoying a modicum of success in, the fact that this saw a rerelease at all is something of a minor miracle, but I would ADORE this concept being revived with full 12-player online multiplayer. There are certainly enough unique racers here with their own stats to give you an idea of what an enticing prospect that would be. Regardless, this is the rare, basically single-player only racing title that will delight you nonetheless with how well it brings even the most devout haters favorite part of The Phantom Menace to life for you to experience for yourself. With shocking fidelity to boot! Actual actors from the film such as Jake Lloyd, Lewis MacLeod, and Andy Secombe reprise their roles for authenticity. Undoubtedly among the best Star Wars games that ever has been or will be made. Nobody did it like old school LucasArts.

9/10

The most overrated Star Wars game? This received strong reviews back in the day, is still held in high regard by the fanbase, and secondhand copies could go for pretty high up until it got rereleased on the Switch and PS4. I remember finding mine in a store years ago for roughly $21 and thinking that was a steal. Little did I know that when I would finally get around to playing it much later, I wouldn't end up having much fun.

Let me be clear, I absolutely LOVE what they were going for tonally. From the insurmountable odds, enemies that were fodder in the movies being turned into legitimate threats, and the occasional splatters of alien blood on your visor Republic Commando expertly captures the tone of a gritty war film. It does a better job of showing a darker, more desperate side of the franchise's conflicts from the perspective of an expendable grunt while still managing to stay true to that classic Star Wars feel than the likes of Rogue One or Andor have. At least until that ill-fitting credits song. If you thought Godsmack was out of place in Prince of Persia, let me tell you mid-2000s misplaced teen angst had nothing on this.

Unfortunately, the actual gameplay isn't as enjoyable. RC is a tactical first-person shooter that doesn't get the shooting, combat sequences, or arguably even the squad control mechanics right. I get you aren't supposed to be a gung-ho killing machine in these types of games, but I at least expected to be able to AIM properly. Targeting with the right joystick is bafflingly stiff, awkward, and clunky making it hard to hit exactly what you want to even with the overly large reticle taking up the center of the screen. To put it simply, Halo this ain't. That's a real problem when the campaign inexplicably wants to try its hand at being a regular FPS at points by stripping you of your AI-controlled allies and forcing you to go it alone. The poor gunplay and speed at which your enemies can kill you can make these stretches quite a drag.

Luckily, most of the time you're with your three AI teammates. It doesn't necessarily make things all that much better, but battles are less of a pain. Well, before they start artificially increasing the difficulty by continuously throwing more of the bullet-sponge special foes at you at once, that is. Your fellow members of Delta Squad are impressively competent on the battlefield. Honestly, the most you'll ever really have to do is point them to spots where they can lay down sniper or heavy weapons fire, focus all their attention on a specific threat, and occasionally tell them to heal up. For the most part though, they can handle themselves and whatever danger is headed their way so there's not always a reason to give them any direction at all. It kind of makes it hard to be excited about anything when you realize the action almost exclusively consists of walking forward until reaching the next area where you'll need to hunker down for a bit to fend of repetitive waves of hostiles, and that in most cases the smartest strategic leadership decision you can make is to just simply sit back and let your subordinates take care of everything. Especially in the stages where ammo pickups are scarce often leaving you with dry blasters. Also, I mean, come on... Ammo? In a SW title?

A shame, because the settings these firefights take place in are genuinely fantastic. From the massive canyons on Geonosis to the sprawling bowels of a Republic capital ship and the immense forest that is planet Kashyyyk, the level design has such a way with scope so that you're fully aware of exactly how VAST these locations actually are in a manner I've not personally experienced from another piece of Star Wars media despite the linear paths you travel through them. I caught myself wishing there was more going on with the writing to accompany the sights. RC is solely focused on delivering its central premise alone, so there's not much happening narratively. Delta are an amusing bunch, particularly Scorch who sounds and acts so similar with his constant sarcastic lines like Grif from Red vs. Blue I legitimately had to check to see if they were voiced by the same person (they're not, it's some dude named Raphael Sbarge), but they really aren't given a whole lot to do. There are some interesting lore tidbits such as the revelation that bullets were once a thing in the galaxy far, far away, and while I wasn't expecting something too significant from an EU story I did at least think there would be a semi-decent plot to keep me invested. Yet, after progressing through the three different scenarios you're treated to a hilariously abrupt conclusion that feels less as if intended to hammer home the theme of stepping into the role of a highly dispensable soldier, and more along the lines of they ran out of development time to include the final mission or two.

Republic Commando isn't a bad game. It simply never does anything it sets out to do all that well. Except maybe multiplayer, it's most praised aspect on release. Naturally however, the servers have long since been shut down so on the OG Xbox in 2024 that's far from a selling point. Even if you were up to go the split-screen route, man, I'd have to recommend you just choose Halo instead any day. As a hardcore fan of the property, I view this as an altogether skippable and forgettable experience. Of all the prequel era SW I've been annoyed by seeing get demoted to "Legends" status (because it's not like Disney is doing anything with this period of the franchise anyways), I'm not too sour about this one.

5/10

The best 2D Prince of Persia, and it's not close. The franchise’s first entry in roughly 14 years, save for a few mobile titles in between, goes the Metroidvania route. Let me tell you, it does a far better job of it than the previous attempt did. This is also the first installment to really take Warrior Within's concept of giving players a big, interconnected world to explore and fully run with it. The results are absolutely phenomenal.

Mount Qaf is an immediately enchanting place packed with a plethora of different biomes and interior settings, each featuring their own unique quirks such as staircases that change orientation depending on which way you're facing or rivers of poisonous sludge that will have you playing a toxiphobic version of the floor is lava, that I OBSESSED over exploring every inch of with the same verve I do when gradually taking all trailheads at new hiking spots I come across in real life. It's something that I was always rewarded for too in the form of treasures I could use to make myself more powerful, and because of that it is highly recommended you take the time to do so as well.

From platforming challenges that practically demand perfection to borderline Soulsborne caliber boss battles, the map is positively brimming with danger. Often the smartest decision you can make is to regularly hold off on your primary objective to check out all the new side-paths and quests that open up upon receiving the next experience-redefining ability in order to find stuff that will allow you to become stronger. A prospect that's made easier than ever thanks to the game-changing for the genre inclusion of being able to snap a picture of (or just place an icon next to) whatever obstacle or puzzle you don't know how to get past yet on the map to give you a reminder to come back to it later. I'm sure there are those who will take issue with this feature by viewing it as the devs cheapening the adventure by catering to the "casuals," but players are limited in the amount they can place down at one time and it's totally optional whether you use this or not.

There are actually a lot of options that allow you to customize the difficulty to your liking, be it going for a more guided structure with markers pointing you to the subsequent story mission or stripping back any info on where you're supposed to go next entirely to so much else. Everything right down to how tough regular enemies are can be tailored to make the package as accessible, hardcore, or immersive as you want it to be. It's similar to what we saw in Ubisoft's recent Avatar game, and is an approach to how they now design their products that I feel the company isn't being given enough (or truly any) credit for.

You have the same amount of flexibility when it comes to determining your playstyle as well thanks to the amulet system. These upgradable trinkets afford a near RPG level of depth to crafting your own build. I have a buddy who went for a nimble ranged warrior that could slow down time to line up the perfect shot and would punish foes foolish enough to get in close by dealing swift, painful retribution with every dodge. Far cleverer than the almost pure melee tank I opted for with its high damage resistance and output alongside the increased capability to charge special attacks with each sword swipe and well-timed parry, but as a dude who loves to be right up in the action, I wouldn't have traded it for the world.

What makes everything I've just talked about so fantastic is the nigh immaculate core platforming and combat mechanics at the heart of it all. You can clearly see the touches of Super Meat Boy in the former, but the manner in which you'll be regularly required to chain together the various midair dashes, double jumps, and phases through realities without touching the ground undeniably calls to mind the massively underrated Forgotten Sands. The sheer seamlessness with which you can do this on the fly is astounding, removing much of the frustration that would otherwise occur from repeated failures at the especially Herculean sequences you'll encounter. Fights feel mostly fantastic and provide a consistent healthy test of your skills. I had to get used to parrying slightly before when felt most natural due to the physically lengthier triggers on the Xbox controller taking a split second longer to fully pull inwards than PlayStation's or tapping a key on a keyboard in comparison. Also screw the occasional unavoidable boss attack, those flying ghost enemies you can't effectively deal with until the late-game, and the entirety of the brief Raging Sea area. Yet, despite these petty complaints the act of toppling Persia's massive deities and mightiest heroes is so immensely gratifying that my minor quibbles honestly don't matter.

Legitimately the only aspect of The Lost Crown I actively didn't enjoy was the plot. It's not bad, just runs into the same problem as the 2008 reboot where I didn't care enough about anyone onscreen (except Fariba) to become invested in what they were doing in the cutscenes. There's also some weird cultural appropriation thing going on. The main character is sporting the Killmonger haircut, Neith is obviously a black woman, Menolias wouldn't look out of place in Disney's old animated Mulan movie, and Queen Thomyris looks suspiciously Caucasian with that makeup. I get diversity is important, I simply find it weird there are so few people who seriously appear Persian in a game called Prince of Persia. I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised however, since the French have been a little backwards in this department for a minute now (relax, half my DNA is French so I can say that).

It's crazy to think that 2024 has basically just started and we already have an early contender for GOTY. I would recommend this as strongly to those unfamiliar with the genre as I would its seasoned veterans. It made transitioning to a more demanding style of gameplay than I traditionally go for painless to the degree that I went and unlocked every achievement. In the spirit of complete transparency, I will admit that I would have preferred another 3D outing as I would still take the Sands titles over this any day, even the Forgotten one, but if this is the direction they're intent on going you will hear no grumbling from me.

9/10

In a way this was almost a tough one to rate. It’s such a pitiful wad of nothing that it's hard to get genuinely offended by it, but at the same time doesn't deserve a score high enough to make people think it's more mediocre than it is tragically pathetic. With its isometric perspective a first glance will give you the impression that this is a throwback to the original 1997 title which started it all. That may have sort of been the intent, but the gameplay loop is entirely different. Rather than massacring everyone onscreen you're instead trekking to some point on the map, clicking through mundane dialogue boxes (I think the writing is trying to be funny and/or satirical, but misses both marks by a mile) once you get there, and then usually shooting the NPC you just got done talking to. Repeat ad nauseam for a brief handful of levels and with all the speed of a PowerPoint slideshow presentation.

To be clear, you CAN go on a rampaging killing spree in any of the fairly open and sizeable environments whenever you want. Cops will even spawn in to give you someone to fight back against. There's just absolutely no reason to do so other than I guess getting a higher score at the end of the stage (whoop-de-freaking-doo). Still, I could see that providing some mindless distraction while sitting in a waiting room or something, were it not for how bad the combat is. All you do is move forward until a green box indicating you've locked onto something appears and hold the fire key until it falls down or limply explodes. It's simplistic to an unexciting fault. Did I mention the only sound you'll hear is a single grating track played constantly on loop?

This is especially unacceptable and embarrassing for the developer when you consider that it came out back in 2010. Yeah, the year we got stuff like Spider-Man: Total Mayhem. I get that it's more than a little unfair to compare a Java game to one that came out on iPhone and Android, yet even on the J2ME scene there was a fully 3D Quake spin-off released around the same time. It wasn't exactly great either (an FPS on a keypad? No thank you!), but at least that was impressive for what it attempted given the technology. Postal's second outing on cellphones is a lifeless, dull, and ultimately empty experience not really worthy of so much as passing curiosity from the fanbase, however. The sole trace of depth comes in the form of the perks and guns that unlock as you go, which you can use to create your own loadout before each chapter. With that being a basically pointless feature though considering how little you do across the minuscule campaign I feel like at the end of the day even the mobile version of Metal Gear: Acid had more going on than this.

4.9/10

Silly little time-waster browser game I could see kids playing while stuck in computer lab or something. It's not the most exciting experience in the world from a gameplay standpoint as all you're doing is just dragging little boxes of text on top of each other to see what new words the AI systems running in the background will concoct as you do. So instead, the amusement comes from seeing exactly what kind of crazy things you can "create" for a cheap laugh with your dumb friends, and maybe the serotonin of the game congratulating you on being the first person to uncover some crazy new combination.

While personally none of that is enough to ever bring me back again for more, I can definitely still see this being super addictive for the right person. Plus, it is legitimately impressive the massive library of objects, creatures, concepts, celebrity names, fictional entities, and much more you can amass from the mere four classical elements you start off with. The fact that there's a mobile-friendly version of the site so that you can play on your phone whenever you have internet access, although not the ideal method due to the amount of scrolling you'll eventually have to do, is also a nice touch. All in all, not quite for me, but I think this succeeds pretty well at everything it sets out to do and is reasonably commendable regardless as a result.

7/10