It's hard for me to express just how much I love this game. Like even from the demo on the first XBox Exhibiton Demo Disc. I've been with this game since Day 1. I didn't even know this was a series back then, like I just assumed that 3 was a weird symbol.

I can see why a lot of people wouldn't like this game for how weird and annoying it can be with all of its characters and music tho. Still, this came out when I was 5 and I've been doing yearly playthroughs of it since. Sometimes more than once a year.

So much I ended up loving the whole series, got all the cutscenes from this game uploaded to my YT channel on top of beta/scrapped scenes, got the Dreamcast beta files on hand and 4 prototypes for Xbox that were leaked recently. Checked all those for differences. Like I've done everything I can with this game and I still don't get tired of it. Like the amount of excitement I had when I found out Xemu could run this so I could finally stream it for my partner.

Anyways, it's only a little bit like 1 in that you walk around levels, pick up presents to use, and get to the elevator. Just more to it. There's objectives for each level and enemies to "Funkify". Just 2 boss fights and minigames in between. Vinyls that act sorta like stars in SM64. I guess you could call it a collectathon, but I think it keeps itself fresh enough. Every character has their own special attributes, too. Even 3 DLC characters you can get through the 2nd XBox Exhibition Demo Disc. It's repetitive, yes. But, I'm biased and it's fun. At least try it. This one was buried by Sega and they really made sure nobody remembered this series save for the first game. Really did the whole series dirty. And if you do try it and like it, god forbid you tell me you like it. I can talk about this series for Hours.

Got to play this with the devs once and it ended up just being a learning experience of how maps work. As we tore maps apart. Because that's what this is. Tearing maps apart. It's way more fun than it should be lmao

I was way into this from 2008-2011. Didn't touch it much at all until just recently this year I decided to see what people could do with it.
Like yeah it's impressive what people can do with Lua scripting and all that now. But it really takes away the charm it had in 2008-11. Maybe I'm just old and miss it idk.

I know you can do it in any Valve game and a lot of other FPS's, but there's something special about looking at someone, both stopping dead in your tracks and staring at each other for like 5 seconds, then violently shaking the mouse up and down then moving on

Main character was one of my first fictional crushes so I've been a gay furry my entire life 10/10

feel like shit just want her back

Ngl the only thing saving this from being a 1.5 for me is Sam and Glados. Maybe I just really /REALLY/ hate Borderlands, but something about Claptrap and Ash specifically. I remember actually turning off voices after unlocking a couple rewards.

Some of my first exposure to racism (at least online) and porn at the same time thanks to the pixel art servers

I'm so conflicted with this one. Like I've been playing it since 2014 iirc. I remember even enjoying the early access version more, just exploring planets with no real goal and building shit.

Something about the full game and having a story you can easily beat. Idk, like after I beat it I was just like "ok now what". And that's it. Now what? You can mod it, but imo (and most other peoples' from what I've seen) it just gets boring fast af.

This is ok. Like it uses the THPS3-4 engine so
I mean it's just feels weird saying it's actually kinda ok.
Also this game made introduced me to Reel Big Fish and I kinda hate it for that.

I went to Furry Weekend Atlanta in 2017 and I saw someone there with a big cardboard Gregg mask. Like meant to look like how his head looks in game.

Anyways I saw him in the adult section of the Dealer's Den buying a Bad Dragon dildo so make of that what you will

5.
If you mod it.
Please mod this game if you intend on enjoying it for longer than a couple of sessions.

This is one of those games I give the "Doom 3 effect". Like it's good, but is it really what the series originally was? It definitely captures it, but it feels so different. Obviously way more polished and all since MM2 was starting to look a bit dated by 2003.
The real highlight, imo, is how it actually has more of a story mode to it. One for each city. It's a lot more narrated and over the top weird. Still, not bad. Shame it had to Xbox only since modding is what made MM1 and 2 so great imo.

This review contains spoilers

I hate this ending so fucking much
You just win the final tournament and there's a cutscene of your characters stiff ass face just saying like I Win :)

then you get a car you can easily buy at any point in the game fuck you

Anyways it's pretty fun to progress through and all. Maybe tiring and repetitive after a while, but it gets the job done.
Also the maps (2 of them) are huge holy shit

NEVER play this alone. It can get so boring alone.

Anyways. Take the board off of Mario Party and just have minigames. That's pretty much all this is. Very fun if you have some friends to play it with at least. Obviously very gritty since early 2000's Xbox exclusive, but it's a good time.