If you play Resident Evil 7, you need to play this version.

The base game of RE7 was already a strong experience: with a thick atmosphere, decent gameplay, and gripping story. But, Gold Edition takes everything that made the base game good and builds on it beautifully. The different side modes add new story details and character moments that bring closure to the main game and make it better in hindsight. The added gameplay variety is an excellent touch as well; there are a whopping 8 sidemodes added in this package, at least doubling the amount of content from the standard game, and no two modes play alike. I liked every single side mode to some degree, and I can't imagine the game without them.

Re7's DLC package may be among the best in gaming history, and I can't recommend the game without it.

There's plenty I like about Psychonauts, but I don't like it as a game.

The game is worth experiencing at least once for sure, providing a surreal, charming, and unconventional experience which could only have come from the mind of Tim Schafer. Psychonauts brings to life such entertaining characters and ingenious levels that I would recommend at least watching a playthrough to see this delightfully absurd tale you couldn't have seen anywhere else. But, this doesn't change the fact that I don't think the game is fun to play.

Item collecting in this game can be insanely-tedious, the platforming is often frustrating, and the combat is shallow and underwhelming. The countless abilities provided to you in the game feel cluttered and unhelpful. I rarely made use of them and when I did I still didn't enjoy the combat or the platforming. The ideas were brilliant for sure, but the gameplay wore me down with its repetition and lack of polish too much for a second playthrough to be appealing.

I don't love this game, but I really wish I did. I would love to say I enjoyed this game as much as Grim Fandango, but that game just provided an experience that, while certainly shorter and less varied; was much more polished, compact, and focused. To those out there who love Psychonauts to death, that's great. I honestly wish I could relate. Perhaps part 2 will provide the 3D platforming bliss I'd wanted in part 1. I'm going to start it soon, fingers crossed!

The level design in this game is fantastic, everything else in the game isn't.

The Level Design:

Gex 3 seriously has some of the best levels of any 3D platformer I've ever played. No two main levels have the same theme, even the hub worlds and some of the side levels are unique. Every main level feels big and sprawling, big enough to be impressive and give a sense of accomplishment for making it to the end, but linear enough so that the player doesn't get lost. Each level is loaded with background gags, unique enemies, and objectives that are well-separated enough to cut back on backtracking when going for different remotes(most of the time). Gex's unique costumes and quips for each level are a nice touch too. I can run through most of the levels in this game a thousand times and never get tired of them.

The Everything Else:

This game's story was likely the inspiration for Sonic 06. I find it hilarious that this random woman who never appeared in the previous games is suddenly the driving force behind the plot, and not hilarious in the way the game intended. The soundtrack is pretty good and Gex's quips are occasionally funny, but if you feel the need to throw your TV out a window by the end of the story after hearing Gex's 15th flirty conversation with a human playboy model, I won't blame you. The actual gameplay can be pretty stale and repetitive, and the 100 fly coin objective in each level would probably ruin the game for me were the levels not so good. The boss fights are joke(Rez excluded) and most of the collectables are worthless, only feeding into a lame 100% completion reward that is not worth your time. The main villain never has a speaking line in the whole game, making Gex 3's connection to the previous 2 games feel tenuous; this game has the Sly Cooper 3 problem. This game is unpolished and lackluster in many ways.

Altogether, I loved this game for the level design alone. If great levels themselves are enough to spark your interest, Gex 3 will scratch that itch. If that isn't enough for you, then I'm sad to say this is a game to skip.

The average of two scores:

ReMind: 2/10

Worst piece of sit DLC I ever wasted money on. I had to pay $30 just to play the main game again and re-watch a ton of cutscenes with the only added feature being the option to play as a much weaker character? It's amazing how much this DLC learns nothing from the flaws of the main game and provides debatably the worst experience in KH history. This is an outrage!

Limit Cut: 10/10

Holy sit, best boss roster in years. Each boss is challenging, distinct, loaded with great music and unique mechanics. Limit Cut offers 12 of the best bosses in KH history(Dark Riku is there too), and it doesn't stop there. I never thought Lingering Will would be topped in terms of difficulty, but I haven't beaten Yozora to this day. Be that as it may, I never found myself frustrated. This boss roster must be experienced!

Overall: 6/10

You know ReMind is bad if having one of the greatest boss collections in gaming history waiting for you at the end just barely justified the purchase. I would have much preferred it if ReMind was removed or at least shortened and the price was dropped down to at most $20, but I'll take Limit Cut however I can get it. If you buy this DLC, please don't stop playing until you finish ReMind, it will be worth it.

Link Between worlds is carried by its gameplay.

Plenty of other Zelda games have told much more interesting stories, had much more memorable characters, and showcased better soundtracks and designs. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't care for how many of the characters in LBW looked. I also felt that too many plot-crucial moments and character revelations were crammed into the final few minutes of the game, and they felt very rushed and not nearly as compelling as they could have been.

All that said, the game is still worth playing. The sense of freedom the game gives is refreshing, and the item purchase system is a brilliant way to slowly introduce players to new items without overwhelming them, and still punishing them for death. The game can provide more of a challenge than most other Zelda games I've played, and the wide variety of monsters, dungeons, and collectables is a treat made even better by the freedom to tackle dungeons in whatever order you please.

The underdeveloped characters and rushed story do hold LBW back from being one of the great Zelda games in my opinion. But, even though the Link between story and gameplay wasn't as strong as I'd have liked, A Link Between Worlds is still well worth your time for the gameplay alone.

The magnum opus of the 3D superhero game.

Succinctly conveying everything worth loving about the caped crusader's night in Arkham City may very well be beyond this review's skill. From Arkham City's exciting opening to its chilling end, the game provided varied gameplay, meaningful side quests, and memorable characters all supported by one of the best stories ever told about Batman. The improved presentation, new gameplay mechanics, and fantastic boss fights made the flaws of the previous game feel like distant memories. So many of Batman's iconic characters make appearances without ever feeling forced redundant. Collecting Riddler trophies is satisfying, the side quests often rival the main quest in urgency, and the gameplay is so strong that the combat/stealth side modes can provide hours of senseless fun.

It was hard for me to convey everything great about this game, I just adored it. Ten years later, and it has aged like a fine wine. I don't think we will ever have a better superhero game.

The game that revolutionized the 3D superhero experience.

In 2009, the charm and aesthetic from the beloved animated series came to home consoles and took gamers by storm, creating an experience that was varied, atmospheric, and just damn fun. The unforgettable events of Batman's trek through the cursed asylum saw him bouncing between fun combat and pulse-pounding stealth. Unraveling the mysteries of Arkham, confronting Batman's rogues gallery, and saving Gotham is an enthralling experience worth having to this day.

Though I'd love to say this game remained the greatest of its contemporaries, some aspects of the game do feel basic and unpolished. I didn't care for many of the character designs(almost anyone other than Joker or Batman), and the NPCs can look dreadful in motion. While the stealth and combat are fun, they can feel rather basic without the variations brought by later games in the series. Lastly... the boss fights suck. Just about every single boss in the game relies heavily on grunt enemies and repetitive mechanics, some of them have good presence and aesthetics, none of them are enjoyable from a gameplay standpoint. Mr. Freeze and Deathstroke would not join us for some time. However, while the initial experience may have been flawed, it was well worth the time.

From Spiderman to Middle-Earth, so many games owe respects to Arkham Asylum to this day, the landscape simply would not be the same without it. While it is a cliché to say this game makes you feel like Batman, it is a cliché for a reason, and it is hardly a bad thing.

Video Game junk food: brief, unsubstantial, and satisfying in the moment.

I wouldn't claim bashing large droves of enemies as the garlic-loving glutton isn't fun for a time, but the combat is so simplistic and unvaried that it manages to wear out its welcome before the end of Wario World's short campaign. The collectibles can be satisfying to earn, but there are far too many of them, and they serve as little more than fleeting dopamine cookies in the long run. Still, I have to recommend going for 100% in this game, because you'll be done in about an hour otherwise.

Buy the game cheap and take it for what it's worth, you'll have a good time, a short time, but a good one.

A unique, enduring classic which deserves every bit of the love it gets.

In Thousand-Year Door, you don the red, 2-dimensional hat of Mario as you explore some of the most distinct, unconventional and fleshed-out worlds ever brought to life in a Nintendo game. While it is true that other Mario games may have this one beat in terms of inventive gameplay mechanics, this one succeeds at creating worlds that feel inhabited, characters with meaningful issues and stories and an overarching narrative that is gripping and memorable both chapter by chapter and when looked at on a grander scale.

Take any of Mario's new, and frankly, wonderful companions into varied and rewarding battles. Although simplistic, the combat in this game is fun, addictive and endlessly customizable with the different upgrade options. The main quest offers plenty of challenge, but the game also hides away a few crushing hurtles to overcome for those wishing to push themselves further. Whether you wish to play the game casually, or to 100%, there is something here for every gamer.

Sadly, the trip to 100% does bring attention to some of the games issues. The side quests found at Rougeport's Trouble Center are amazingly tedious and repetitive; I'd have to recommend skipping as many of them as possible. Completion of the recipe log is very daunting as well, even with a guide in hand, and I can't recommend that either. Lastly, I was disappointed with the rushed epilogue and overall lack of postgame. The game created such wonderful characters, but I feel the conclusions to many of their stories weren't as satisfying as they could have been.

Even if the game didn't end on its strongest note, I would still highly recommend Thousand-Year Door to nearly anyone. The versatile gameplay, character-driven story and charming world with even more charming inhabitants award Thousand-Year Door the distinction of 'Favorite Paper Mario Game' to many long-time fans, myself included.

Few games are hampered by their own ambition the way this one is.

The worlds of Banjo-Tooie are massive yet mostly empty. The open world approach simply does not fit the Banjo series, which benefited much more from compact, meaningful levels wherein everything serves a purpose, like in the previous game. Trekking through these massive landscapes, switching between characters and effecting elements in future levels only to come back can feel extremely tedious. I do not recommend playing this game to 100% at all.

The abundance of new moves for the iconic duo, new gameplay styles and new boss fights are all fine ideas on paper, but the game bounces back and forth between ideas far too often for anything to leave an impression. Very little in this game feels polished or inspired, instead opting to throw every idea at the wall and see what sticks.

I can play the original Banjo-Kazooie to 100% anytime, anywhere, and I remember so much from that game, yet so little from this one. I think the overall experience would have been much stronger if some ideas were cut and the levels were shortened.

With that said, the game is still enjoyable up to a point. Many of the levels, while huge and unfocused, still provide fun objectives from time to time. The game will make you work very hard for many of those golden puzzle pieces, but they can be very satisfying to collect for those willing to spend the time.

Altogether, I can still recommend this game for a casual playthrough, but it would have benefitted greatly from keeping its ambition in check.