The last of us part II challenges its player to trust the storytelling even when it can seem frustrating, scary, or useless at times.

All things purposefully culminate in the most brutal, unflinching, and beautifully heartbreaking way… leaving you haunted by what you’ve experienced by the time it’s finished.

It’s hard to add new things to the conversation when it comes to this game. But it’s easy to confront some of the criticisms I’ve heard.

I’ve seen people talk about how Ellie is a completely different character with a different personality… and for that they’re upset. Yes, she was an easy going, optimistic, bright spirited kid who liked to make cheesy jokes in the first game. That’s gone here.

She’s so jaded by everything that’s happened since then that she’s less than half of the person she used to be… and that’s the point. It’s literally reflected in the song Joel sings to her. The same one she attempts to play at the very end of the game.

Of course there’s the argument of what happens to Joel in the game as well. I don’t see why this is an issue. They’ve been setting this story up in the first game… and it’s hilarious to think that there wouldn’t be consequences for Joel’s actions.

And of course… playing as Abby. Now this is the only criticism I’ve seen that I can understand on some level. It’s hard to pick up and play as a character that you initially loath. Especially when they’ve hurt another character that you love. With that said… I don’t think Neil Druckmann could have handled her story any better.

Though the initial disdain for Abby is set, it’s easier to connect to her journey as you continue playing. Thus building your own connection to her world of characters and goals. You’re supposed to dislike Abby at first. It was all written with extreme purpose and attention to detail. The dual stories colliding in the last few hours of the game is some of the most riveting storytelling I’ve ever experienced.

My only real issue with this behemoth of a game is it’s runtime. It can be… exhausting. I think if they trimmed a bit of fat off of both Ellie and Abby’s gameplay, it would be much more concise, and entertaining. Not to pretend that it isn’t already though.

This game is much more mean spirited than the first. It’s angrier. Its feral. It’s so ferocious it’s practically foaming at the mouth to bite you. Let it. The pain is worth enduring. You’ll be in for a real blood-soaked, bone shattering, metal-as-hell treat. With it’s ridiculously good game design, and one of a kind story telling… you’d be doing a disservice to yourself for passing it up.

This may single-handedly be the worst game I’ve ever finished.

Trying to fight in hand-to-hand combat in this game requires no real sense of skill. It’s all a crap shoot. It’s mashing the same three buttons hoping something good will come out of it, and praying that the only button for defense will actually work. But this is unlikely seeing how unresponsive, unreliable, and under developed this broken unholy combat system actually is.

The shooting gallery is a different kind of nightmare. Auto lock is somehow unresponsive too… which is so funny considering it can’t do the one thing it was designed for. It’s also remarkable how long it takes to actually lock onto a target.

Stealth missions? Can you even call them that? They’re like a parody of what stealth missions are supposed to be. Jaw droppingly bad. Don’t get me started on the driving. It’s one thing that doesn’t feel as horrible as it could be… but when you’re trying to get away from a car with an ungodly amount of health that’s firing fucking nukes out of their tiny pistol, it’s like trying to drudge through quicksand while being chased by a cheetah gassed up on coke.

It seems as though the developers thought it’d be a fun idea to make a game that resembles the kind of police movies that came out in the 80s and 90s with the “loose canon” cop and the partner he butts heads with. Well it didn’t really work for those movies, and it works even less here.

What a waste of an awesome cast. It’d be nice if the game was the slightest bit of fun… but this game being a technical failure in just about every department surely ruins all hope of even cracking a smile.

The open world feels empty, the environments are bland and nothing more than an eyesore to look at for too long. The variety in level types are monotonous, repetitive, and severely underbaked. The protagonist is unlikeable and one dimensional, just like everyone else in the game.

The voice acting is bad, and even offensive at times. This game is just a remarkable achievement in poor game design. It takes all of the elements of a game that should be fun, and shakes them right out, leaving only the carcass and framework to excite its players, and ultimately disappoint them at every turn when hoping to gain anything meaningful, or exciting from the experience.

Play Max Payne, or L.A. Noire, or Sleeping Dogs, or any other game that had a cop as the protagonist better than this.

I Entered the Matrix… and immediately wanted to leave.

I’ll start by saying there are some things here that could have really worked. The idea of the main characters existing in live action and entering the Matrix, now playable to us, is kind of cool and sort of fits the theme of the film.

Too bad they decided to have some cutscenes in game as well… instantly taking away from the coolest aspect it had going for itself. But that’s not the most frustrating part. The controls, are like muddled garbage.

Stiff, uncomfortable, unnatural. You can hardly move the way you want to. And what’s worse is that there is no aim with your weapons. Not unless you enter their self proclaimed “first person mode”… and good luck with that.

The martial art combat is kind of cool… too bad the character barely goes in the direction you want him to hit. But you know what? It’s still possible to see past that. But It became really bad when there were not one, but TWO helicopter boss battles in the first three missions. And trying to navigate those… no way. Forget it.

I’m all for a challenge. Just not when your challenge is playing an unfinished, sloppily thrown together video game with no real sense of consistency or coherence 👎

I was pretty worried going into this one because I’ve played some pretty bad Resident Evil clones that I gave up on fairly quickly. I was pleased to find that Cold Fear does just enough right to be a somewhat satisfying play-through.

The gameplay mechanics aren’t anything spectacular or new. You get a bit of a weapon variety that you can cycle through, and they’re all scattered for you to find over time; though not in a way that feels like a rewarding scavenger kind of way.

The shooting and hit detection were serviceable, and the music could be pretty fun at times. Though a lack of music would have helped the atmosphere a bit more. Even if they had scored it in a way that felt more akin to a horror game than an action game, I think it would have benefitted.

But speaking of the atmosphere, it’s great. Having the first half of the game take place on a ship that you have to maneuver around was awesome, and the rain/ moving boat effect was such a cool touch. Especially since they factor into the gameplay.

Having the second half of the game take place on the oil rig was cool too. I like how it still felt organic to the story, and it allowed for a change in scenery to keep the play-through interesting.

The problem is that Cold Fear suffers from a selection of detrimental issues that are just too hard to look past in order to call it a “great game”. An obvious issue that many people point out is the old school Resident Evil camera.

When I get caught in a tense situation where I’m taking on multiple enemies, my aim gets knocked away and the camera gets all fucked up, and I have to reface the enemy while I’m getting hit just to fix the aim, then finally start fighting again. What a pain.

It’s also one of those where the fuck do I go types of games. Which is pretty ironic considering the game tells you where to go. But it expects you to know where certain locations are, or to remember ones you’ve already been to despite how far you might be.

This wouldn’t be so bad if there were multiple ways to get to locations… but the game is very linear in it’s level design. So half of the time I was walking around looking for where to go… which was sometimes the most time consuming aspect.

The game also has a horrible way of saving. Instead of being able to pull up a pause menu and hitting save, or auto saving (though that wasn’t as popular at this time), you have to progress a certain amount in order to save the game.

If you die, you have to go back from your last save spot… and you better fucking hope that it wasn’t too far… because this game will punish you towards the end. To clarify, I don’t just mean the enemy types get harder… I mean the save spots feel further and further away. Making it tedious, and challenging to die and restart all over again.

It’s a frustrating, atmospheric, painful, thrilling, hair pulling, exciting game. Okay that was way too many adjectives… but all of them accurately describe the essence of the experience. It’s one I’d recommend to any players looking for a good resident evil experience outside of the actual resident evil games.

If you’re looking for a good story… once again… serviceable. But I can say that for the game itself too; And that isn’t a bad thing if it’s the kind of survival horror experience you’re looking for.

No one had prepared me for how ahead of its time this game would be, and the experience was all the better for it.

While I plan to play the original Metal Gear 1 and 2, I’m more than happy to have this as my introduction to the franchise. I’ve been playing Death Stranding, and while I love it so far, it felt wrong not to play Kojima’s earlier work knowing damn well I had this game sitting in my collection waiting to be played.

The opening for the game is awesome. It sets the perfect tone and atmosphere for what you’re about to experience. I’ll admit though, I wasn’t fully sold in the beginning.

The gameplay was a bit awkward and stiff in the first half. That’s of course to be expected with the ps1 territory… and I’ve played worse for the console, so I tried to be forgiving, and I’m glad I was.

I know some people feel this game gets worse after the psycho mantis fight… and to me that’s absolutely untrue. That was the point that this game actually began to pick up for me. At least with its story and gameplay.

Something began to click. Perhaps it was the uniqueness to its level design, or the well crafted boss battles throughout. I’m not sure, but I became fully on board. The story is great. It’s not as grounded as I was expecting, and it’s certainly over the top… but there’s an anime like quality that just works so well in its favor.

The last act is pretty astounding. So many great twists, so many iconic character moments, and so many awesome set pieces. Liquid is an antagonist I will not soon forget.

The game even manages to end on a shockingly poignant and mature note that’s completely unexpected, and wholeheartedly welcomed. In the end, I loved Metal Gear Solid. Though it’s not a game without its faults… and there are quite a few.

Some of the writing does not hold up well. Specifically with some of its female characters. Especially with the romance between snake and Meryl. It just felt forced and unnecessary in the first half. By the end, it didn’t quite bother me as much.

The gameplay is definitely stiff as a rock, and that final fight with Liquid can be infuriating for that reason. You also have to save like hell, or else you’ll pay from time to time. There’s just a lot of little details that can really work against it.

I can’t wait to see where this series goes. Considering the hardware will be more ready for Kojima going forward, I have a feeling I’ll be in for some really special experiences.

This is everything I was hoping David Cage’s ‘Indigo Prophecy’ would be.

At least in the sense that it’s narrative and gameplay mechanics operate and function in the same manner, but instead of devolving it’s story from a mature and compelling mystery into a 13 years old’s wet dream… it actually keeps up its sophistication with well written plotting while continually making each moment equally consequential.

Fuck yeah.

What a trip this was. The way they utilize and manipulate player expectations to tell a more complex and interwoven story is awesome. It never goes too far, and it almost always keeps you guessing. It’s easily my favorite horror narrative in any of the horror games I’ve played.

Its atmosphere is unmatched, and its characters are all well written- even when they’re not immediately likable. Supermassive clearly knows what they’re doing. Time to play The Quarry.

So we all watched the same trailer as kids right? The “edgy” Spider-Man slowly walking with his head down as everything around him crumbles apart over bleak music.

7 year old me was screaming over how cool I thought that was. 22 year old me is screaming over how frustrating the game actually is. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows was a game that showed promise. A game that I’d say even had a ton of potential.

It was the first open world Spider-Man game that wasn’t tied to any established movie franchise or comic book series. It was a wholly new venture for game developers to come up with their own Spider-Man story, and take on the character. They succeed some of the time at making it a memorable adaptation, but pale horribly in comparison to Insomniac’s passionate outing with the webslinger.

First off, it may be a bit unfair to compare the two as they came out exactly a decade apart. Technical limitations of course play a big part in things… but my criticisms with this game extend beyond those of technical problems. The story in Web of Shadows is severely undercooked, as it’s simply just an alien invasion plot like that of “Invasion of The Body Snatchers”.

It’s really cool to see how New York transforms over time through the game play, and I think that aspect is utilized well when pertaining to the story. I just can’t help but feel like there were some missed opportunities to make the games plot more memorable. The set pieces are pretty slim, and most things take place in the bland open world. Nothing about New York is vibrant, lived in, or exciting until the Symbiote shows up.

The colors are drenched in shades of gray, and the building designs are a bit lazy. In the Spider-Man 2 game, there were locations that stuck out to me because the developers designed them in a way that allowed me to interact with them, or admire them for how visually interesting they were. Here, I can hardly think of more than 3 spots that stuck out to me.

As far as gameplay was concerned, I mostly enjoyed myself. The swinging was a bit dull, and the target lock was completely useless a lot of the time as I often had to rotate through it to lock onto the person I really wanted to fight, causing me to get my head stomped in half of the time.

But otherwise, the combat was fantastic, and I often felt like I was in total control when I was fighting. At first, things felt a bit clunky as I was playing, but almost everything felt natural about a quarter of the way through and there were so many incredible combat options that I couldn’t help but enjoy myself.

The inclusion of wall battles was really cool, and I loved how well it fit the character… although I can see why later games ditched it due to how hard it can be to control where you’re trying to go.

The inclusion of the black suit was another cool feature. One that was reminiscent of the Spider-Man 3 game. Here, it felt better, and the combat was more distinguished. I also think the black vs red inclusion in the story is a great touch, and having the option to alter the story was a lot of fun.

Otherwise, I don’t have much else to say. The biggest thing that bothered me about the game, was just how middle of the road it ended up being… expectations aside, I try to rate things as fair as I can, and give all games an equal opportunity to leave some sort of an impression on me.

The problem here, is that I don’t see myself thinking back to this one all that fondly, as there just wasn’t a lot in the story or the gameplay that stuck out to me as unique, fresh, or all that fun even. It was fine for a playthrough, but other than trying the game again in an effort to favor black suit storyline as I went for the red this time… I don’t see myself coming back to it.

“I had a dream of my wife. She was dead, but it was alright.”

Max Payne 2 doubles down on its character driven storytelling by quite literally introducing a secondary playable character through Mona Sax.

The storytelling has never been better, and the stylistic graphic novel art choice has never been so compelling. With Exciting set pieces, a creative story structure, intriguing characters, and an incredible music score, Max Payne 2 is a worthy sequel to the masterful game that came before it.

Though it still has most of the same frame rate and gameplay issues as its predecessor. This is likely a port issue, but it’s hard to overlook. Especially when everything else is firing on all cylinders. This has the potential to be the better game out of the two. It’s just held back by the hardware I played it on.

I would love to revisit both games on PC or a later console port some day. They’re a couple of the greatest video games I’ve ever played.

I can’t even imagine the level of hype surrounding God of War III after the cliffhanger this left players on…

God of War II is an improvement over the first game in just about every regard. The gameplay is more refined, the storytelling is of epic scale without sacrificing the interpersonal storytelling, and the level design is just as good as the first game… if not even better.

It’s a more exciting experience as there’s so many new features that keep the game fresh. The infamous “Pegasus” sequences are exhilarating. Infamous during development… iconic while playing. The new weapons are welcomed… as are the new abilities. They were much more fun to use this time around, and felt like they served a real purpose.

The first game was the perfect origin story, told through the frame work of a revenge plot, and while this does something similar, it dials up the scope and makes the storytelling more grandiose. It’s so big that they couldn’t fit the whole thing into just this game.

It pays off so much after having played the first, and I can only imagine how it all culminates by the end of the third game. I’m really looking forward to it, as this was an awesome surprise.

Alan Wake marks the third Remedy game I’ve finished, and seeing how much I loved the first two Max Payne games, it’s safe to say I was pretty damn excited to jump into this.

Alan Wake introduces a new mechanic for Remedy that not only makes for a unique gameplay experience, but distinguishes its combat from that of Max Paynes run and gun style.

The introduction of flashlights to weaken your enemies was a really cool idea, and all of the light-based weaponry was fun to use. The combat was really difficult to get down at first. A lot of it feels stiff and uncomfortable more immediately as it’s very different from other games.

It took me about a quarter of the way through the game to really get the hang of things. But once that happened, I started to really enjoy myself. The variety in weapons could have been a little stronger, but it was nice to still be able to cycle through whatever I wanted to use.

Early on in the game, the level design is kind of dull, and I think that hurt the initial experience on top of the janky gameplay. I wasn’t enjoying myself as much as I would’ve liked to. What got me through it was the storytelling.

Yeah it can be overly referential, but it hardly bothered me most of the time. I liked how distinguished the storytelling was in this game from that of Max Payne. Those games utilize comic-like panels for their cutscenes, and it was refreshing to see something different here.

The mystery continued to pull me in early on, and I loved the pacific northwest setting. It really allowed for a cozy atmosphere whenever I wasn’t trapped in a woody hellscape. Fortunately the level design becomes more sophisticated and diverse later on. That really began to bring everything together.

The narrative ended on a pretty big high note, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes from here; though I would’ve been less satisfied had I not known there was a sequel coming soon. I mean god… people had to wait 13 years for a follow up to this?

The hardware can be limiting to the games experience, and some of the motion controls are still funky. And man, are the driving mechanics BAD… but despite it all, Alan Wake turned out to be another fantastic Remedy experience, and I can’t wait to play Control next!

What a cruel, punishing, unrelenting, albeit kind of beautiful fever dream of a video game. The cut scenes are fantastic for their time as so many state.

But are you kidding me with these boss battles??? It’s some of the hardest shit I’ve ever had to endure. And my god the hit detection… look I get it. It’s old. But I just played The Legend of Zelda and had no problems.

If I was right on top of my enemy, I wouldn’t hit him in this game. But he sure as hell would make me take damage for getting that close.

Does this game sell you on an offer you can’t refuse?

For me, I’d say it does. At least enough to get some enjoyment out of in one play through. This game certainly doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does a solid job at what it’s supposed to do.

Some people might call it a GTA clone, and I think in most instances that’s true. What The Godfather does to distinguish itself however, is it has a unique feature where you can overtake rackets, warehouses, and even battle rival families.

Another great quality about The Godfather is it’s open world (albeit underutilized). It captures the world of the film authentically and in a way that feels true to where things could be located in the movie. It’s also very atmospheric in the time it’s set in which really helps sell the mafia feel. The game definitely allows for some really intense moments when battling a rival family that is better than yours.

As for things this game didn’t quite land... it’s story. It’s pretty much just the film, but with the protagonist interjected in the plot. It’s cool for nostalgic purposes, but it barely holds up enough on its own. There’s a side plot that has an original story of its own and for the most part it works... but there’s not enough to keep you entertained.

The game also becomes super repetitive after a while and doesn’t find new ways to freshen the gameplay. A subtle yet effective edge the GTA series has over this is the car radio. It seems like a dumb critique, but at least with the GTA games you have some variety in the songs you listen to. Here, The Godfather theme just blares nonstop every time you get in the car. Don’t get me wrong, it can be awesome at times. Especially when you start the game. But once you’re at the end and you’ve been playing for hours, you wanna listen to something else.

Overall it’s a fun game and there are some really cool details that make it an enjoyable play through. I don’t know that I’d return to it anytime soon though.

This is perhaps the most mixed I’ve ever been on a play-through experience. On the one hand, it’s an awesome self-contained storytelling experience with some well polished gameplay and fantastic level design. The cutscenes still look great, the story is solid albeit not quite on par with the other two games, but the bullet time is just as good as ever.

Where Max Payne 3 really tests me, is its story and stylistic direction as it’s such a huge departure from what I’ve come to associate the series with. While I think the bright over saturated colors and dilapidated Brazilian atmosphere breathes some necessary new life into the franchise… I don’t know how well it works.

If it were a series like Grand Theft Auto or what have you, I think it’d work perfect. And at times it wasn’t so distracting. The new choices just feel like such a hard left turn that it almost doesn’t feel like this game is apart of the already established franchise. At times, it was hitting the right notes. It felt like I was back in one of my favorite franchises again. Other times, it just felt more like a typical rockstar game, and became easy to forget that I was playing a Max Payne entry.

Aside from this, there’s a ton of little nitpicks I have with some of the mechanics. While I think the core gameplay is clean as hell… I can’t help but be frustrated by some major oversights and lack of variety in other areas. You can hold less weapons than the first two games… which feels like a major step backwards.

I also don’t like the fact that you can’t hold a large weapon if you want to use dual wielding pistols. It was such an odd design choice that didn’t feel as though it held much purpose other than to disadvantage me. Another thing missing was projectiles. You can no longer throw grenades or molotov’s. You can’t throw anything. And that’s really frustrating. The enemies also take an ungodly amount of bullets, which is irritating when you have an underwhelming arsenal.

Whenever there’s a major difficulty spike and you keep dying, the devs answer was to throw random pill bottles in your inventory to help you get through it. While this should’ve been something I could’ve appreciated, it almost felt like a slap in the face because the levels where I struggled instead had many enemies that were bullet sponges. Thus taking away a lot of my ammo. So it wasn’t really the fact that I kept dying… it was the fact that I kept running out of ammunition, and there was no way to get more.

It’s easy to pick elements apart because there’s actually a lot I love about the game. I love a lot of the dialogue. I love almost all of the set pieces. Sometimes gameplay elements come together so well that you can’t help but feel giddy. The flashback sequences are so fun, and feel like classic Payne. James McCaffrey is legendary at slipping right back into the role, and he fucking carries A LOT. I nitpick because it’s so close to being one of my favorites, but it’s held back by so many little inconveniences that can turn it frustrating really fast.

I can overlook the stylistic deviations, but some of the games smaller problems get in its own way. Either way, It’s hard to deny that Max Payne 3 is a slick, badass, entertaining shoot ‘em up with some really cool storytelling. And hell… that last act is the closest I’ll ever get to an awesome “Die Hard” game.

Addictive, frustrating, simple. Overcooked is a game with a recipe that works. It’s cute, it’s entertaining, and it makes for an incredibly fun party game.

Its narrative doesn’t need to be too complex, and neither do it’s cutscenes. What makes it work is how it plays.

Though the buttons can sometimes feel unresponsive, the level design and cooking mechanics here shine. Especially when the tension ramps up.