As someone who spent over a 1000 hours on this game, I can honestly say this is the best sandbox multiplayer I have ever played and don't think anything will ever surpass it.

It was really fun making tactics to win matches and this was specially easy to do in Rush (game mode) if you understood the map layout and had good fundamentals.

I was the leader of two platoons (Sniper Legion and a subdivision) and playing with the members was just a blast.

At the time I only had a PS3 (no PC) and this was revolutionary when it comes to the scale of the maps and sandbox experience for consoles.

Since then, I have played BF1, 1943, Bad Company 2 and BF4 and nothing compares.

While BF4 is a good contender to be the best, I played it way past its prime. Playing on non-official servers on PC is VERY unfun, they take away the sandbox experience out of the game with a lot of rules. It's also very derivative from BF3 so it doesn't have a lot of merit in my eyes.

One of the moments that best represent BF3 is the famous Rendezook:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOaGhE_sejI

A lot of people criticize the game for its story mode and while that's a valid point of view, singleplayer is not really the focus of this game; this game is all about the multiplayer experience.

AC3 comes close but this is my favorite Ace Combat due to the following reasons:
- Excellent controls and mission structure
- Great soundtrack as always
- Great story if you don't take it too seriously; it's very melodramatic and over-the-top but this fits Ace Combat perfectly and the 3D animated cutscenes are my personal favorite along the anime cutscenes from 3
- I really like the mechanic of giving orders to your squadron, it's balanced just right so if you tell them to attack they won't wipe the entire enemy force, just a couple of fighters at most at least on normal.
- Love the characters.

Bayo 2 improved on many things: graphics, less QTEs and the QTEs are less demanding and I found the level design to be superb, just the right amount of exploration for a game like this.

They sadly fucked up the combat, I just HATE how reliant the game is on Umbran Climax (after you get it you can basically spam any button and the enemies on-screen disappear) and the fact that you cannot air-combo mid-sized enemies anymore unless you are on Witch Time which goes against the twist of the first Bayo where you can beat the game on the highest difficulty without Witch Time. Some enemies in this game basically REQUIRE you to use Witch Time in order to kill them which I hate.

I think this is the character action game with the best combat out there and has very good movement as well but I really hate the gimmick levels and how prevalent the QTEs are.

A minor complaint is I don't like the way the cutscenes are done in this game but that doesn't really matter that much in a game like this.

edit: will re-review this after a couple of playthroughs in the future (going for all plat NSIC)

Excellent Zombies maps and it has a great blockbuster/cheesy story mode.

Playing Call of the Dead with friends is just an experience you need to have.

They kind of fucked up the multiplayer, especially sniping. If you want to play multiplayer, stick to MW2 but everything else this game does better.

Played the entire series over Discord calls (me playing and streaming to friends).

This was definitely the one that had the best trials, less plot holes and the ending was just a very bold move that made so many people seethe lmao.

I just think this was the game that took the most risks, went in a much different direction to the old ones in many aspects and I love the monokubs.

I think Danganronpa 2 has better characters (and fanservice) but that's about it.

On my first playthrough I didn't like the puzzles at all but on subsequent playthroughs it doesn't matter much because you already know what to do; this along with the level design -the game is just not about killing enemies going from room to room- makes it really entertaining.

While the mechanics for Dante are superior in DMC4 and DMC5, I don't like playing as Nero in DMC4 and I HATE playing as V in DMC5; that's the reason I prefer the gameplay in DMC3.

I still think this game has many issues: some enemies are really badly designed, it has some very boring boss fights and the DMD mode for this game is just meh.

Most people prefer Mother 3 and I can understand why, it has a way better story and it's more concise.

What I love about Earthbound is how open it feels, the feeling of being a kid just wandering around and doing whatever you want is unmatched. I think the enemies, music and random conversations were better in EB, I just really like the mundane American suburban life setting.

The "this game is so stupid" moments were more prevalent and Earthbound made me laugh so much more than Mother 3.

I also thought the NPCs were better in this game and I fell in love with Magicant.

This game just gives a very mysterious vibe and exploring the World feels so rewarding and good.

Earthbound is just a masterpiece and a lot of great games have taken inspiration from it -Yume Nikki, LISA, Undertale, the list goes on- but nothing has matched the authenticity and originality of Earthbound in my opinion.

The story kinda sucks -if it can be called a story- so I can understand why some people don't like this game as much as Mother 3.