Im not a big fan of Telltale or this style of game, and Borderlands only barely works in this format - but Tales From The Borderlands is captivating for one real reason: it is meta-commentary. I have no clue if its on purpose but Rhys running around haunted by the literal ghost of Handsome Jack seems to curiously mirror how the series struggled to get out from under the shadow of Jack itself. Its a very poetic observation.

Its even more poetic considering that it doesnt seem like its worked out for Borderlands as a franchise quite as well as it did for Rhys. I also personally mourn the loss of mystique for Hyperion, made all too mortal and comprehensible by the events of Tales (made partially as a companion to the events of Pre-Sequel). Something of a bittersweet feeling emerges here: yes, Tales From The Borderlands is entertaining but its also…. not really Borderlands.

While technically a full complete standalone game, Pre-Sequel feels as tho it is simply a substantial extension of Borderlands 2 - and this massive DLC-like dynamic might explain why it feels just as janky and buggy as some of the DLCs do. The fact that this game serves mostly as fanservice for Handsome Jack makes it hard to care too much about its issues (tho maybe Gearbox took the wrong lessons from this)

Personally speaking, I was ready for more diversity in environments, and Elpis provides an excellent change in color palette; neon purples and blues and aquamarines. More time spent in space-age structures, lunar stations, energy refineries. Its a great vacation from Pandora, but I also feel like Pre-Sequel starts to pull the series out of orbit with too much focus on exposition, setting the series up to take itself too seriously. (The Handsome Jack stuff does whip ass tho)

Whispers hushed upon from fellow gamer,
“Brother we live as his retainer”,
Hymn’s echo down the chosen aisle,
as the crowd adjourn in single file,
The cloud room not but lay silent until chapel doors slam violent.
“Together we prayer upon his chair”
the Priest declares onto compliant stares,
as he turns to B-L-J up big, grand case of stair,
and look upon the shunned, his crying heir,
“My sons gathered here in jury,
See the one who dares to question, one to query,
be this a lesson to those who's faith un-purely,
for see he shall receive Doug Bowser’s Fury”.

Love this crazy little game. It is crude and immature, fitting for the protagonist. It has a solid open world with good traversal options. Lots of memorable characters and tons of content. The story is so stupid and hilarious in all the right ways.


The motion controls work very very well for this version. Aiming is responsive and the extra enchantments and content add a lot to the experience.

It should be said as well, why I don't particularly care about games that do or don't have this, Jimmy can kiss guys or girls which makes him a very rare bisexual character, especially for a male character. I mainly appreciate how they don't draw any attention to it at all. If you make him one way or the other, or BOTH, it's not a big deal, which is how it should be in all media.

It's also very shocking how violent it is especially towards the younger students. You can full on body slam the middle schoolers in this game. I don't think that's something we're ever gonna see again...

This is just a great time throughout. Getting caught and chased by the adults can be annoying sometimes, but it's not enough to detract from the experience. It just oozes charm start to finish and you can't help but love it.

White man has been here? How can you tell? shows white people going loco oh wow they really amped up the drama hihihi, ok can you just follow me sir. I don't bite but they do. With one of the most bankruptely creative name in the industry yet, Dead Rising offers a painfully accurate american outbreak with all its quirks. It doesn't even feel that junk in retrospect... Oh i'm soooo lying that AI came out the wazzoo. Does it make some situations more memorable? Also yes, that's one of our realities. Holding hands has reached astronomical tediousness levels.

It's an interesting branch of roguelites. We could even call it a management sim the way you're gonna rewind that clock over and over in an attempt to maximize your PP, hard pause on that one but I done forgor what the letters stood for, I'll go ahead and make this up it means "Cock n' Ball Torture" there, no one's batting an eye because one knows what this game's really about. I'm getting that PP up when some woman zombie is munching on my private parts or when I'm taking a photo of a woman zombie munching on someone's private parts. A serious main story and the silliness we're subjected to outside of it is exactly the Yakuza brand, it's something the japanese really know how to do. They be knowin their silliness frfr.

I'm not even gonna discuss that main story, it's serviceable and survivors ratio + cope seethe. I don't know if survivors really is a good way to put it, they aren't surviving shit until the West comes along. And here I am changing into sneakers wearing a dress that would turn me into the belle of the bal, I'm built different they cannot mimic a fraction of my power. I can eat bullets no problem, chainsaws are a different issue but it's because West is wooden hard baby

Illusion of Gaia - presumably Soul Blazer's follow-up, set aside the town-building elements and opted for a linear, story-heavy action-adventure. This new approach awards stat boosts upon defeating monster rooms rather than hub progress, with unlockable special attacks serving as tools. But it's hard not to be reminded of Seiken Densetsu (and in particular its sequel, released a few months before IoG) while playing this Zelda/RPG hybrid: Unlike SD2, they aren't afraid to dabble in puzzles (best represented by its dedicated gimmick rooms). Unlike SD2, they can graft Zelda's clever solutions to the unique scenarios of JRPGs, and unlike SD2, combat's variety doesn't hinge on weapon types & magic (offering transformations, beat-em-up-esque collisions and follow-up strikes instead). They also compare favorably in regards to characters, dungeon designs + aesthetics, storytelling (whose emphasis, themes and quality were rare among action games at the time) and animations, losing only when it comes to battles (that turned to LoZ-grade poking with a few add-ons). If the RPG integration feels more cinematic than functional, and they've yet to learn how to balance boss fights, this game succeeds at recreating Final Fantasy Adventure from another - more narrative-driven and puzzle-y angle.