⠻⣦⡈⠛⢿⡌⢆⢂⠹⣿⣧⡄⡄⠹⡄⢆⡟⢄⠉⢟⣮⣷⢄⠐⢤⡤⢤⣬⣭⣭
⣷⣤⠙⣶⣦⠙⡌⢻⠂⠘⣿⣷⢹⠄⢳⠘⣿⡟⣿⡄⢳⡆⢳⠛⢢⠈⠉⠛⠛⠛
⢿⣿⣷⣀⠈⠓⠌⠂⠘⢆⠈⢙⣎⢣⠘⡆⢣⡛⣿⡇⢀⡙⠚⠶⠶⠿⠷⠶⠒⠒
⣾⠿⣿⣿⣦⣄⣁⣀⣠⡀⠡⠄⠳⡛⢆⠱⠈⢧⣿⡇⠸⠟⠉⠐⠠⠄⠄⠄⣼⣿
⣿⣷⣬⣉⣛⣛⠛⠿⠿⣧⣷⣦⣄⠘⢿⡆⠡⠘⣀⡇⢠⣶⣷⣮⣤⣤⣴⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⡀⢿⡀⠄⠉⡇⢸⣿⣿⣿⣉⣉⣉⣉⣉⣰
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡏⣿⣦⡙⠄⠄⠁⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⡙⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠿⠁⣿⣿⣷⣌⠄⠄⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣦⣀⡨⣝⡻⠿⣻⣿⣧⣄⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⡀⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⢿⡛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠘⣿⣛⣻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣤⡿⢿⠿⣛⡃⠄⣸⣿
⡹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣼⣷⣶⣝⢿⣿⣿⣿⣧⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠟⣿⢇⣈⣼⣿⣿
⣿⣜⢿⣭⢻⣿⣿⣿⣯⢧⠙⢻⠛⣛⣛⠛⠛⠿⠿⠟⣛⣥⣶⣼⢏⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣎⠿⣇⢻⣿⣿⣿⡌⢷⣆⢭⣓⣒⣒⣛⣣⣶⠞⣵⣿⣿⣿⡿⣱⣾⡟⣵⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣤⣻⡘⣿⣿⣿⣷⡜⢻⣮⣛⣛⣟⣫⡿⣛⣴⣿⣿⣿⣿⢃⣿⣿⣷⣿⣿
⣿⣿⣿⣿⣷⣣⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣯⡙⠛⠛⠛⢛⣺⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⣼⢫⣵⣿⣿

My whole world changed one day when all these random cards started raining down everywhere. At first they seemed harmless enough, so a bunch of us kids invented this cool new game. That's when we realized those cards weren't so harmless after all: they were packed with incredible powers from another world! My name is Dan, and together with my friends Runo, Marucho, Julie, not to mention Mr. Hotshot himself Shun, and Alice, we are...THE BAKUGAN BATTLE BRAWLERS. BAKUGAN. ONE GOAL, TWO WORLDS!!!!!!

WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO

THE ODDS ARE STACKED AGAINST YOU

BACK AGAINST THE WALL

GOTTA GIVE IT YOUR ALL
AH AH AH AH AH AH
THIS IS THE FINAL STAND
AH AH AH AH AH AH
THE POWER'S IN YOUR HAND

TWO WORLDS COLLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE, ON THE IIIIIIIINSIDE!!!!!!!!

YOU GOTTA FIGHT FOR WHAT'S RIIIIIIIIGHT, BEFORE IT'S GONE, GONE, GONE

THIS IS BAKUGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A really good 3D collectathon and nothing much beside that. I 100% the game on ps4…which is not exactly the best version to play the game.
Story is rather simplistic, especially considering what the series turns out into afterwards. For this game, the story does a serviceable job and serves as just enough motivation to make you finish it.
The real highlight is the gameplay. It’s the usual collectathon addiction, but it’s Jak’s amazing platforming and traversal moveset (one of the best in any 3D platformers to this day) and the really good level design (for the most part) that makes the whole adventure a blast to go through. Bosses are not that good, with the only exception being the final boss. The length is just perfect enough for the game not to get repetitive or stale, while not being too short to reach its full potential either. It also encourages replayability so that’s another nice bonus.
Presentation is really impressive for an early ps2 game. While character models do show their age, they still look really good, especially paired with the amazing animation and great art direction. Textures are also solid. Easily the most impressive achievement of all is the “no loading screen” approach that lasts throughout the whole game, years before any other games attempted this approach. Truly ahead of its time. Combined with the dynamic day and night cycle, it makes the world feel more connected and immersive as a result, rather than a bunch of levels tacked on together. It really makes you feel like you are going on an adventure.
Music is pretty forgettable, as it goes for a more ambient music approach, which works when playing the game, but doesn’t stick with you after you finish it.
Performance criticisms won’t affect how i view this game overall, as the ps2 and ps3 version perform really well, whereas the ps4 version is simply a shoddy emulation of the ps2. Any framerate drops or graphical glitches that i experienced here are nowhere to be found in those versions.
Overall, it’s a great game. The positives (great level design, the platforming thanks to jak’s movement, the presentation, no loading screens, collectathon addiction) far overshadow the flaws (1-2 mediocre levels, simplistic story, forgettable music and painfully average bosses). As a result, i would gladly recommend this game to anyone looking for a fun time with a collectathon game.

Jak 3 is a great conclusion to a trilogy of also great games, but one that ends up being slightly weaker than its predecessor in some areas.
Storywise, jak 3’s story is pretty good. It’s a very fitting narrative for a conclusion, with higher stakes than ever before. The writing is good and engaging, the dialogue is awesome, the new characters introduced are great as well (Seem was bland though) and the villains are amazing, all improved even more by strong voice performances from the entire cast. However, i can’t help but feel that it’s a weaker story than Jak 2. The pacing is pretty odd for the first 1/3 of the game and there are signs of weak writing here and there (jak and ashelin romance…really?). It’s still a good story nonetheless.
The gameplay is the same as the previous game, although with a new big addition in the form of buggy combat in the wasteland. The wasteland is really fun to travel and the vehicles control much better than jak 2. The gunplay is as fun as it was before, now with 12 guns instead of 4. Sadly, about 2/3 of the guns are just there for style instead of utility, since i only ended up finding…well 4 of them to be actually useful and 1 of them to be so extremely overpowered, it makes the other guns even more useless. The level design is also fun, but flawed. There is a bigger focus on gunplay in the levels, with platforming being even more relegated to very basic sections, instead of the fine balance that jak 2 managed between the two. The platforming that is there is nowhere near as challenging or fun as jak 2, which is a shame since Jak still has all his amazing platforming and jetboard movements from the previous games, with new additions to the jetboard as well. The variety in mission design is still there and i feel most of it is done well, although it steps into “crash warped” territories of too much variety. Difficulty is hit and miss. The more consistent checkpoint system and adaptive difficulty are welcome changes, but they result in the game being really easy, so completing a mission doesn’t feel as rewarding or earned as it did in jak 2.
The presentation has aged really well. Character models, textures, environments and cutscenes still look good in 2021, thanks to the same solid art and cutscene direction.
Music is improved, although sadly the multiple versions of the same song playing depending on your actions (dynamic if you will) are gone. It’s a good OST either way.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, the main theme of this review is “good, but weaker” in basically all aspects for jak 3. Story is good, but weaker than 2. Writing is good, but weaker than 2. Gameplay is fun, but weaker than 2. Levels are good, but weaker than 2. You get the idea. Nevertheless, jak 3 is still a fun great game that manages to tie up this trilogy of bangers nicely.

A masterclass in just about everything it sets out to achieve, Deus Ex is an amazing experience and truly worthy of being considered one of the greatest PC games ever and one of my personal favourites ever.
The thing that makes Deus Ex special the most compared to other games released before and after is the sheer amount of options you are given to progress through the story. Never before have I seen such a massive amount of attention and effort put into every possible method the player might go for to tackle its intricately-designed big levels, bordering on "overdesigned" in many cases. Every decision you make, from the most important ones to the minor or goofy ones, will come back and either play a role in the story or be mentioned again. It's absolutely fucking insane. You can choose to either go gunsblazing and kill the enemies, sneak by them, stealthily kill them, smoke bomb your way through, fucking camo your way through levels, use swimming, lockpick and hack your way through, let bots or other people do your bidding, be a sarcastic jackass and have everyone hate you, throw vending machines at them, kill every single character (important or not) YOU NAME IT, THIS GAME LETS YOU DO IT AND ACKNOWLEDGES IT. HOW COOL IS THAT??? Best part is that none of them feel forced or tacked on and are instead very well-fleshed out mechanics and playstyles, thanks in no small part to its skill and augmentation system.
Every skill and augment in the game is useful in some shape or form and are well-worth going out of your way to explore each level and hub to have enough skill points to upgrade your skills or find augmentation canisters to gain new augments. Skill systems include general upgrades to the core mechanics you're gonna use through the game like: hacking, lockpicking, shooting, using melee weapons, swimming, resistance to environmental hazards. Because of that, they remain useful throughout because every level is littered with opportunities to use them. The augmentation system is just additional abilities that are used in addition with your general skills to open up even more opportunities to tackle levels in a different or easier way. All of the augmentations are useful too, depending on your playstyle, and are fun to use as well.
Of course, deus ex wouldn't be as well remembered if it weren't for the story too. Basically a "what if every single insane conspiracy theory is true" narrative, the game uses it effectively to tackle themes of freedom, capitalism, influence, dependence on technology, philosophy and politics, placing them in the near-future (which still looks like modern times, minus the robots) to make its commentary stick even more with players. It's very intriguing and keeps you guessing at every turn. Not only that, but YOU are able to shape how the story plays out. While the storyline has a fairly linear structure, you still have control on how it's shaped based on your choices and playstyle, making the game highly replayable. The dialogue writing and voice acting is also top-notch, making for some highly quotable and memorable moments. The characters are all written well, especially JC Denton (who has the most memorable and hilarious dialogue options).
The music is well-done too. Composed by Alexander Brandon, the music is a variety of different genres, all of whom perfectly fit each hub and level where they appear and help to elevate the atmosphere around the whole game (they're also bangers in their own way sooooo)
No game is perfect sadly, and there are two minor complaints i have for this game. The game doesn't look that good, even for year 2000 standards. Its optimization is also all over the place. Sometimes it runs good and in other places it runs like complete ass. They are extremely minor when compared to everything else the game does really well.
I think i've said enough regarding why this game deserves to be praised as much as it is. Its gameplay and story are a true showcase of what the industry can accomplish, accompanied by a great soundtrack to boot. While its presentation and performance on pc may leave a lot to be desired, those complaints disappear when you look at the package as a whole. This is a game you have to play before you di. If you don't, I will hunt you down with a GEP gun.

KOF '99 is such a strange entry in the franchise to me. The mood of this game is strong, you can really feel the rise of the NESTS and their technological advancements (a great example being both of Krizalid's boss themes, as they use mechanical sounds as instruments). Many of the backgrounds are a bit more muted in color compared to the bright and colorful environments of '98.
I'll hop into gameplay and stuff a bit more before I discuss some story elements. Unfortunately, KOF 99 does not feel as good to play as '98. The striker system, while cool, feels somewhat underutilized, and most of the time they didn't help very much (although maybe it's just a problem with the enemy AI always reading my inputs). From what I've heard, 2000 actually expands upon this mechanic and is much better, so I'll look forward to that. Aside from the striker system, KOF 99 feels like the last game but just slightly gimped. You can't even use advanced mode (temporarily making you stronger and giving a better super move at the cost of one bar stock) like in the last few games, which is disappointing.
But what had to be my favorite thing about this title is what is going on with the cast/story. Kyo's character in this game is so engaging, he's a modest hero who's now at his lowest point, due to him being mass cloned and missing for two years after the defeat of Orochi. His theme "Tears", perfectly encapsulates this portrayal of the character, it's amazing. '99 is also the introduction of some popular characters, most notably K' (the protagonist of the NESTS saga who is a clone of Kyo), and the new Ikari Warrior member Whip. The fact that SNK had the balls to replace such a popular character as Kyo with a NEW protagonist is very honorable, especially compared to other fg protagonists.
And of course, the soundtrack is boss. What else is there to say?
Overall, KOF '99 is a solid game, but the actual "game" part of it feels like a step backwards from '98. I love the presentation, the characters, and the story, but I find playing this one a bit disappointing. Still solid, but also less impactful then the last game due to the gameplay feel. At least K' and Whip are based.
7/10