As someone who owned and actively played on a Wii U back during what might've been the absolute worst time to be a Nintendo fan, I'm surprised at just how many games I didn't bother picking up while the console was still being supported, with one of my bigger regrets being me not playing either of the two Bayonetta games that were on there. Years later, I've still wanted to give this franchise a shot, and since I've been playing quite a few character action games recently, I figured I might as well throw the first Bayonetta into the mix for good measure. This was one of those games that I've heard practically nothing but good things about from both general internet discourse and my actual friends who've played through it, and I think that this general excitement and acclaim towards it might've contributed to just how disappointing of an experience Bayonetta was for me, even if I wouldn't call it a bad game by any means.

For the first few hours of my 10 hour playthrough, I was having an absolute blast with Bayonetta, and most of my enjoyment can be found in the excellent combat system. The vast amount of flashy moves, lengthy combos, and dynamic upgrades made controlling the titular Umbra Witch feel fast, fluid, and buttery-smooth, and activating Witch Time by dodging an attack at the last second was satisfying pretty much every time I pulled it off successfully. Unlike the ranking systems you'd find in something like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta ranks how well you've done in each of the level's individual combat encounters rather than just the level as a whole, and while that didn't really change my approach to fighting enemies all that much (mostly because it was so harsh and required absolute perfection that I just ignored it and did what I wanted), it was still an interesting choice. Although the plot verges on the incomprehensible (especially with how the sound mixing in the cutscenes is so bad that you can't even hear the characters under the sound effects and music), the stylish presentation had me look forward to each cutscene, with the detailed artstyle and gleefully over-the-top choreography working well alongside the lead character's charming personality and the great voice performance from Hellena Taylor. The soundtrack of Bayonetta also greatly added to the game as a whole, and its eclectic mix of genres fit pretty much every scene that the music was used in.

Bayonetta is one of those rare cases where, despite how great the core mechanics are, it feels like every other element of this game is trying to drag that gameplay down to the point where you can't even appreciate it, and a lot of that can be felt with just how bloated this game is with gimmicky nonsense. Whether it comes in the form of clunky vehicle sections, bad platforming, or annoying bosses and enemies that can only be killed using one or two techniques, Bayonetta constantly interrupts you from just getting to the fun parts of the game, and the sheer amount of repeated encounters makes this problem even worse. Even at its best, the gameplay of Bayonetta still manages to get held back, as the genuinely awful camera moves around so much that you can't even see who or what you're supposed to be fighting and dodging (a trend among these character action games that I'm starting to get sick of) and the frame rate can drop so low that it actively ruins your timing for combos and last-second dodges. Bayonetta also has some really irritating quicktime events that occasionally result in an instant death, and since this game decreases your rewards at the end of each level if you die even once, these can end up being straight-up frustrating. The heights that Bayonetta reaches were enough to make me say that I liked it overall, but I won't pretend like I wasn't let down by it or that it wasn't a deeply flawed game, and I hope that Bayonetta 2 makes up for it.

I’ve been meaning to play the ’Yakuza’ games for a long while now, but always found myself caught up in different franchises constantly. I can confidently say I hate myself for not playing it sooner. I fucking loved ’Yakuza’. I was hooked to a point where the moment I woke up I thought “I really want to play ‘Yakuza’ right now.” This game exceeded my expectations and then some. It has joined along side ’Silent Hill 4: The Room’ and ’Fatal Frame’ as one of my favorite titles on the Playstation 2 ever. I was in love the entire way through its gameplay, narrative, music, world design, basically everything. Now, the game does have a few issues and in certain aspects hasn’t aged perfectly, but it was still impressive to me how accessible and good ’Yakuza’ felt more than fifteen years later.

The game uses a fixed camera perspective as it's easier for the developers to mask some areas loading in with this technique. I’ve always preferred tank controls you’d find from ’Alone in the Dark’ or ’Resident Evil’ with this camera system, but due to ’Yakuza’ being much faster and action oriented, the 3D control scheme works for the better here. I tend to believe that this movement feels worse in enclosed locations, but ’Yakuza’ has very few moments in small areas and focuses more on a large, wide space to traverse through which works towards its benefit to not feel as awkward. The approach taken here was a good one and it doesn’t get in the way of combat either.

The fights in ’Yakuza’ are fantastic. It may be a bit repetitive for some, but I feel the game gives enough options and risk/reward moments to always make it feel like it doesn’t overstay its welcome. You’ll have a few basic combos that you can use to fight baddies with variations of punches, kicks, and grabs. You’ll also be able to stomp on someone before they get up when you knock them down. Then the big thing that helps it from being too tedious is that almost anything can be a weapon. Grabbing a bicycle and twirling around with it knocking everyone around you down never gets old. It remains fun and some weapons can even have different effects such as the tasers and guns. There are other systems to take note of such as dodging and blocking. Blocking is easy by just guarding at the right time, but dodging I never really got the hang of since it felt awkward to me. Dodging isn’t something that is really required though and you can pretty much go through the whole game without needing to worry about it much. The only time combat feels frustrating is when enemies have weapons that can stunlock you for a long time. There were moments where I would get tased by a guy and after Kiryu takes a few years to stand back up he would get tased again. This looped over and over and that can be annoying, but you can sometimes knock weapons out of enemies hands so that helps balance it out a bit.

The other major part of the combat that I haven't mentioned is the heat gauge. When you do enough damage to enemies, a meter will fill and Kiryu will be engrossed with blue flames and at this moment you can do multiple special moves. The main one you have from the start is you can grab an enemy and slam them against a wall. This does a huge amount of damage, but if you take too long dragging an enemy to a wall, your meter will run out or they can break your grab. This can be difficult to pull off so when you do it, it feels really satisfying especially since it's complemented with a big flashy scene. Sometimes in these moments you’ll get a very quick QTE to stomp them while they are down which just adds to the gratification of the moment. I feel though it can be a bit inconsistent at times. Sometimes I would have gotten the special prompt and would’ve interacted with it at the right time, but it would lead to the same punch he would do when he normally grabs an enemy. It always left me feeling a little empty when this happened as I know I did what I needed to do. There are other kinds of special attacks though. After a few upgrades, you can do two extra special moves. A special stomp while an enemy is on the ground and a special attack with a weapon. Neither of these do anywhere near as much damage as the main one, but still do a good amount. Although they don’t do as much damage, they are much easier to pull off. It leads into the risk/reward system I mentioned perfectly as it makes you choose whether you will go for a full blow or one of the other more simple moves. The choice has to be made quickly as the heat gauge will deplete over time and can fall even quicker if you take enough damage. I adore how the heat gauge works and I think it’s what ends up saving the combat from getting too mundane near the end.

The upgrade system in ’Yakuza’ is very simple, but serves the game well. You have three choices with upgrading being soul, technique, and body. These basically are an improved heat gauge, new combos and moves, and health. You’ll unlock experience from simply engaging in combat which can come at a strikingly fast rate. It isn’t too complex and doesn’t need to be. It feels fleshed out and complements the game's systems and combat really well. I spent almost all my points entirely on health and technique as I found I was able to make choices with the heat gauge quickly and it’s always fun unlocking a new combo or attack and trying it out for the first time.

A majority of the game is spent in a small open world that I enjoy. I tend to be very critical of open world games, but ’Yakuza’ is by far one of the bests I’ve seen with the style. The world is small and compact which leads to you memorizing the world over time and just naturally knowing where to go when you need to go to a certain place. I adore these types of games where over time you look at the map less and less as you learn the layout and have it in the back of your head. It always is extraordinarily satisfying getting to that point. A majority of the side quests are simple and tend to be a civilian losing an item and you need to go find and give it to them, but there are a few notable ones which act out as more important and story driven. These ones were very memorable. There’s also a good amount of stores and places you can actually go into such as arcades, restaurants (from simple chains to fancy bars), casinos, and strip clubs. These all make the world feel real especially since you’ll end up learning where these locations exactly are by heart. There is also a feature where random people in the world will just go up to you and fight you for the dumbest reasons. These were funny, but it is a bit difficult to avoid the encounters sometimes if you are meaning to because of the camera angle. This can be quite annoying, especially when you are at the end of the game and just want to do story stuff, but it isn’t too frustrating that it ruins the game’s pacing or anything.

The normal main storyline campaign is also really well paced and structured. The game doesn’t overstay its welcome and knows how long to keep certain chapters and to keep you engaged… mostly. There can be a few times where it feels the game is padding itself a little bit by making you do small fetch quests, but these aren’t ever too long to be noticeable, usually lasting around fifteen or twenty minutes. I felt it was worth mentioning because this does happen here and there, but it doesn’t waste too much of your time which is why I believe it’s as well paced as it is, especially compared to other open world games that drag itself on for a miserable amount of time.

’Yakuza’ has a wild fucking story. So many twists, turns, and insane things happening. I fucking love it. The plot centers around three specific people being Detective Date, Haruka, and of course, Kazuma Kiryu. Haruka is a little girl that you and Date try to protect throughout the game as she has a pendant that is worth ten billion yen that was given to her from her missing mother. With a strong focus on characters, that is the best aspect of the story. The more time you spend with these people, the more you care about them. The way they interact with each other and trust one another more is especially well executed. They don’t just do this through cutscenes, but even gameplay at times. I know a lot of people may not enjoy escorting Haruka around the city, but I loved going to arcades and ice cream shops with her. It doesn’t just make the father/daughter dynamic between them feel stronger, but it also makes you care so much more for her. I wanted to do these activities with her because I was so immersed into the game’s world that I felt she needed a break from all the chaos around her. Oh, and Detective Date I obviously love since I always crush hard on detective characters lol.

The characters aren’t the only strong aspect though. The pacing of the story is phenomenal. You pretty much are stuck in the middle between mafia families, street gangs, politicians, the feds. The whole way through you feel like you’re one step behind all of them, not seeing the whole picture. The payoffs at the end feel especially satisfying because it's a moment of full clarity. The amount of people that are pulling at the strings while you desperately try to find leads is very well done. There are a few more things about it that are great, but I don’t want to go overboard and end up spoiling, but I fucking love the narrative of ’Yakuza’ as well as the characters in the world.

The writing and english dub of the game is very of its time, but I mean that in the best way possible. It’s very charming and had me laughing a lot of the time. This isn’t the case for all characters though. Specifically, Detective Date’s voice actor did an incredible job with his performance and it’s honestly no surprise that he’s coming back for the new game as well. Oh, Kiryu’s voice actor in this game rocks as well and I love his stupid one liners before he beats the shit out of someone.

’Yakuza’ looks amazing. Probably one of the best looking PS2 games ever made. The thing that makes it stick out to me especially is how good the models look. I feel the models in this game look even better than the ones you’d get from some games in the seventh generation. The world itself looks great too. I especially like the chapter where there’s slight snowfall, but I feel it's obvious enough I would enjoy that lol. The atmosphere of the world is unforgettable. It’s also optimized pretty well although when the camera switches angles the game will pause for a few seconds which can feel like it lasts a lot longer than it should. I think it’s a fair compromise though for how well detailed the world is as well as the characters in it. I think the fixed camera adds a lot to the atmosphere of the game as well.

The sound design helps elevate its atmosphere with every busy street being filled with people talking and laughing, but can help in more empty moments when no one is in a building. The fights also sound punchy and responsive which greatly improve the impact they have. It is impossible for me to look over the soundtrack as it is fantastic. So many memorable tracks. I love how almost every song with guitars uses harmonics or dead mutes constantly. I’ve always had a soft spot for those in music. Both the sound design of the game and the OST is fantastic and is just another thing ’Yakuza’ excels at.

I loved ’Yakuza’. It has its flaws and can be a bit janky depending on how used to older games one may be, but everything about it just clicked with me. I didn’t want to do anything but play this game when I was going through it. If you are interested in getting into the franchise just like I was, this is an amazing starting point. (Thanks for reading! I tried to make this review so much shorter, but there was so much I wanted to talk about lol)

I really wanted to love this game, and in a way I do, but it isn't what I hoped it would be. It's a lot of clever ideas and some strong horror imagery wrapped up in a pretty tantalising package, but once you get deep into the game you realise that it's all flash and no fury.

Let me try to explain better. I don't think any of this counts as a spoiler, but I'll be careful anyway... the game has a strong start and clearly this developer is meant to be working on horror games in some capacity. The audio is suitably chilling, some of the creature designs are off-putting in just the right way (even when one is ripped directly from a Zdislaw Beksinski painting), and the sense of dread that you feel as you descend deeper into this nightmare is straight out of Silent Hill. Certain moments are absolute genius, like a certain unavoidable death, what you thought was a static object turning into an enemy, and a puzzle involving a doll head.

As the game went on and I waited patiently for answers as to what was going on and how this all ties into the protagonist's psyche, it slowly started to dawn on me that... almost none of it does. Then I thought maybe it was about sort of "exorcising" the demons of those who left notes in the different "acts", but that was really only in the act 1 subway area. Most of the disturbing imagery is just there to freak you out rather than "mean" anything. There are two (and a half) endings, but it hardly matters. Both of them are essentially just a text overlay and don't feel satisfying at all. There may as well not be a story in this game at all; just horror themes and imagery. Actually, that's kind of what the extra modes and optional Tape scenarios are. Suitably spooky, but not part of a larger story.

In short, Lost in Vivo is fun, but that's all it is. A few brilliant singular moments do not make this a must-play and left me wanting something more. It's a horror snack; don't expect a meal and you'll probably have fun.