I missed the buzz around this game when it first came out, but when I saw that the sequel was going to be released this year, I figured now was the best time to finally check this game out. And I'm glad I did, in some ways.

First off, let's talk about the story because, honestly, this is the reason why people have praised this game so much. It is very impressive what Ninja Theory was able to pull off here. After watching the Hellblade Feature in game, I was able to respect even more all of the different aspects of psychosis that they were able to incorporate into the game's story and environment. I love the backdrop of Norse mythology that the story takes place in and the visuals in this game are incredible. As far as the story goes, I will say that I didn't really start to truly care for our main character, Senua, until the last third or so of the game, once all of the major story beats were revealed and started to wrap up together very nicely. Definitely go into this game blind if you can, as the story is by far the best aspect of this game.

Now we get to the actual gameplay, in this VIDEO GAME! And it is not that great to be honest. The combat is actually pretty decent in this game I thought, but it's very basic with only a handful of enemy types and very simple button ology. The puzzles are very basic as well and get pretty tedious as the game goes on. There are also quite a few walking simulator-esqe points throughout the game, which tended to kill the pacing for me. I hope that in the sequel they are able to add more variety and complexity to the fighting and puzzle mechanics to make the gameplay actually fun. If you're playing this game and expect great gameplay, then you are going to be very disappointed.

Overall, I feel like everyone should experience this story told here, as this is by far the best aspect of this game. That being said, maybe this would have worked better as a film, because the gameplay definitely drags the overall experience down quite a bit, which prevents me from fully loving this game. I wouldn't say this game is absolutely fantastic, as other popular reviewers have stated, as I still prefer having great gameplay over a great story in my games. I would recommend this game, but just know what you're getting into as far as the actual gameplay to story balance in quality is.

7/10

Happy 15th anniversary RE5! I decided to replay this game in light of its 15th anniversary, so here are my thoughts!

I played this game for the first time with a friend several years ago and I remember it being quite a blast. I played through this solo this time around, and like everyone else says, playing through this game with a real person or the AI is like night and day. This leads to either one of the biggest cons or pros of this game. Playing through this game with a friend is a pretty great experience overall. However, if you're stuck with the AI, this game can get frustrating very quickly. The AI either tries to do its own thing at certain points or get themselves killed or injured constantly, especially in the later chapters. Another huge downgrade that's talked about a lot is the switch from RE4's attache case method of inventory, to a 9 slot real-time inventory for each player. This is really frustrating throughout the whole game as I am constantly having to manage mine and my AI partner's inventory, while also consistently leaving valuable items on the ground since I maxed out my inventory. This game also plays exactly like RE4, which is fine with me! The chapters in this game just don't feel as good or as memorable as RE4's though and towards the end of the game, a lot of enemies end up shooting guns at you, which gets more and more annoying on higher difficulties. Still, I found the core gameplay to still be very enjoyable overall.

The story is fine, as is with most RE games. Most of the characters are great though. Wesker has several meme-worthy lines, Chris has his infamous boulder-punching scene at the end, and Sheva is a welcome companion. The only character I disliked was Irving, as his performance felt way too over-the-top.

The DLC for this game is fine overall. Lost in Nightmares is a nice homage to the original RE, with a lackluster boss fight at the end. Desperate Escape has you playing as Jill and Josh for about a single chapter's worth of just shooting bad guys. Both of these can be finished in just a couple hours.

Overall, I still really enjoy this game despite its flaws, even if it is one of my least favorites in the series. I would rate this game a solid 7/10 for solo and an 8/10 if playing co-op. So I will meet in the middle and rate it a 7.5/10. I recommend checking this game out if you haven't yet and you're an RE fan, especially if you can grab a buddy to play through this with.

I legitimately don't understand why people think this new rebooted MW trilogy is any good. This is the worst one and honestly, it's probably the worst COD I've played up to this point.

Campaign - Why? Just Why? This campaign is literally half typical COD missions, and the other half is single-player Warzone maps that, might I add, are recycled from Warzone itself!!! The story is horrible too. They reuse the missile plot device again and they kill off two of the main characters in two different horrendous ways. Also, Makarov is nowhere near as compelling in this new trilogy compared to the OG trilogy. Literally nothing is done well in this campaign. This is bottom 3 COD campaigns, next to Vanguard and BO3.

Multiplayer - This is just the same shitty MW rebooted trilogy multiplayer, except with faster movement. The matches still frequently hit time limits in spite of this. I can't for the life of me understand why people like these new MW multiplayer modes. Mostly horrible maps, super thick SBMM, and mostly horrible streaks are the key to a terrible match every time I play this game. Also, I believe that there is such a thing as too much content. This game has WAY too many guns, attachments, etc. All of it is recycled as well, which is amazing. Also, I hate that over half of the shit you have to unlock in this game is through completing daily challenges and by using shit you don't want to use to unlock things for the stuff you do want to use. Did they do this just to pad out the progression system? Also, $20 skins is and will always be ridiculous for a $70 game.

Zombies - To be fair, I only played about two matches of zombies, but this ain't it. It literally just feels like Warzone, but with zombies. It just feels so soulless and lacks any charm from previous zombies experiences.

COD keeps declining in quality at a steady rate ever since MW 2019 was released. The only COD I've enjoyed since then was Cold War, and even that game wasn't that great. This is the most soulless, cash-grab game I've seen in COD. And I still bought it, along with everyone else. I keep hoping that one day we will return back to the glory days of COD, but maybe it's just time for me to move on from this franchise. Wouldn't recommend at all. 3/10