A seriously flawed, but highly under-rated, RPG. While the combat encounter design featured uninspired waves of enemies spawning out of thin air, the combat controls felt undoubtedly snappier and more impactful. While the heavily recycled environments often led to frustration at all the repetition, the decade-long story being told within those environments was a nuanced one; that waxed on the nature of choice, and how even a legendary hero can't stop the inevitable. This game is worth a play, even if just to see how devastating an effect stringent publisher deadlines can have, on even legendary studios in arguably their prime; and how in spite of all of it, some of the magic still shines through and creates something that many people love.

While there can never truly be a perfect video game, I'd argue that Guitar Hero 2 comes pretty close. Every qualm I had about Guitar Hero 1 was fixed, while 2 sports a bigger and better tracklist. Every other Guitar Hero game rightfully gets compared to this one when it comes to how it feels to hit notes. The unlockable characters, guitars, and bonus songs all add a ton of replay value. The visuals of the playable venues are all unique and memorable. The characters are diverse and loaded with personality. The gamefeel is nearly flawless.

It's hard to put into words how much I truly adore this game. Before its announcement, the notion of The Beatles, of all bands, getting their own Rock Band game was a pipe-dream. The fact that it even happened is worth celebrating, but on top of that, it's an amazing game! While it is VERY easy, it is still very fun to play. The game is loaded with fun collectibles to unlock through completing the story mode and beating challenges (one of my favorites is an old Beatles Christmas record that you can actually listen to.) The game has a wonderful art style. While not realistic looking, Paul, John, George, and Ringo are all modeled to be instantly recognizable; with lots of personality in their facial expressions. Another part of the game's presentation that blew me away was the "dreamscape" songs. Because they stopped touring so early, the band never played a lot of their most legendary songs to a live audience. So for the entirety of the Sgt Pepper era though Abbey Road era songs (and a few others before and after that time), the background visuals show the band in the studio, before transitioning to imaginary "dreamscapes" that reflect the lyrics and tone of the song. Getting to actually see the Yellow Submarine while playing Yellow Submarine is a treat, and it helps this game stand out from every other Rock Band game to this day. I am forever grateful I got to experience this masterpiece of a music game on the day of release.

The rushed production and slashed budget really shows in this game. While much of the writing is emotional and impactful, the number of dialogue choices is severely cut down from ME2, harming the roleplaying aspect severely. Characters that you think should have much more prominent roles, end up barely being in the game at all. The combat is another big improvement from ME2, and the weapon variety is the best of the trilogy. The rushed development really comes to a head with the infamously bad ending. While the free Extended Cut DLC does soften the blow a bit, the ending is still loaded with nonsensical leaps of logic that contradict the themes of the story, and a giant Deus Ex Machina, all while providing shockingly little closure for the characters you truly care about.