Thus far, the Resident Evil I’ve played and seen is the fun kind of horror, your John Carpenter, George Romero kind of horror. This one dips into some hard-ass David Cronenberg, Wes Craven kind of horror, your grotesque, grungy kind of horror, your loved ones trying to kill you, upsetting, psychological kind of horror. Also unlike the other ones, it never lets you get to that point where you feel you’re ready to take on anything guns ablazing, you’re always second guessing whether or not you’ll be ready for what’s around the next corner. Ethan isn’t a cop or a soldier like you play as in the other games, he isn’t killing zombies with roundhouse kicks or haymakers (though I like how those moves come back in the dlc when you’re playing as Chris, to draw that contrast), he’s just some guy, vulnerable and afraid. I appreciate the everyman’s perspective on the events of a Resident Evil game, it makes the game far more intimidating and suspenseful.

This game is a bold departure from it’s predecessors while at the same time staying faithful to the franchise’s roots, and I honestly think it’s one of the series’ best.

I love how genuinely nasty this is for a AAA release in 2017; in one game you get your hand chopped by a chainsaw in first person, fist a dead guy's neckhole, watch a crackhead rip his nails off and shoot a half-naked grandma's bulging beehive crotch inbetween moments of listening to her give birth to a swarm of locusts. There's something beautiful in the fact that under all the Evil Dead and Texas Chainsaw inspiration, Biohazard makes room for its own irreverence as one of the filthiest games you'll ever play from a high-budget studio production.
I don't have much to add to the gameplay discussion that hasn't been said yet. I guess the last third was not nearly as bad as people build it up to be, it's decently short and functions well enough as a climax. Hope nothing bad happens to the Winters family after this kooky quest!

I absolutely loved this. Right now, this is only a free prologue that lasted me about an hour, but what's here is so fucking cool and striking that I'm very excited for the full release, whenever that ends up happening. This game believes its the sickest motherfucker ever born, just like one of the protagonists, and by god does it end up actually kinda selling that idea. The music was excellent and memorable for such a short experience, and the awful dump of a city the protagonists are stuck in is full of weirdos to talk to and murder, and I enjoyed a lot just exploring the small section available in this prologue. The combat feels pretty messy, but it can be quite fun and even challenging on one of the bosses present here, though I do hope they keep refining it for Episode 1. This is the kind of game that really reminds me why video games are the coolest medium out there, and jesus christ the industry really needs more like it.

(Note: This is a review of the Community Version. Buy the official release to support French Bread, but use the Community Version if you wanna actually find a match online)

Now, I've never read Tsukihime. I know absolutely nothing about the Nasuverse or Fates or whatever the hell a TATARI is. What I do know is what makes a good fighting game, and Melty Blood is a damn good fighting game.

Melty Blood's allure lies in the options it provides the player. When you pick a character, you can choose between 3 moon types: Crescent, Half, and Full. Crescent is balanced with tons of control over your meter, Half is for a more aggressive playstyle with less meter control, and Full emphasizes big damage with less combo potential. With 3 Moon types per character and 31 playable characters, the roster effectively caps out at a whopping 93 characters, meaning you’re guaranteed to find someone with the playstyle just for you.

The other draw to Melty Blood is its focus on aerial combat. The amount of maneuverability options at any given moment is staggering. Regular jumps that can be ever so subtly influenced, super jumps that can bound across the stage, an air dash that can be inserted before or after your double jump and depending on your Moon type, a dedicated dodge that works both on the ground and midair. The gameplay really shines when you and the opponent stop flying around the screen and you've managed to launch them into the air and pull off that sick air combo you've been labbing in practice mode for the past few hours!

The online is phenomenal as well. I'm from the Southern US and I had a match with someone from Europe, and it was so smooth I almost forgot I was playing online! You're gonna have to join the community Discord if you wanna match up with randos online, but with netcode this smooth you'll have no problem finding a game.

On the downside, there's not a whole lot of single player content outside of Arcade and Training Mode, so if you're not looking to play online, you're shit outta luck. But overall, Melty Blood is just so much god damn fun, and I already know I'm still gonna be putting in hours after this review.

Shelved/Maybe Abandoned: Aug 6 2021
Time: 30 Hours
Platform: Switch

This game is interesting in a lot of ways. Story-wise, it's the template Bioware would use for the next 10 years on all their biggest titles, Kotor and Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Influence-wise, it's easy to see how many of this game's user interface ideas and general gameplay pacing ideas have wormed their way into pretty much every big budget RPG for computers released today, especially WoW and SWTOR, which are where I see it the most, with the mild exception of the modern isometric CRPG revival. Mechanically, it's managed to translate the absurdly math-heavy rules of D&D Third Edition into a playable and understandable core, even for novices.

Hell, maybe the most interesting part is how this is Bioware's first foray into a game that focuses less on it's story, and more on pushing mechanical boundaries! In this case, there's a huge amount of multiplayer support, not only for playing premade content with friends, but you can actually create your own campaigns! Fully! From just the tools they provide!! Unfortunately this mode isn't on the console versions, but even the consoles can play multiplayer with other people running custom campaigns!

So why didn't I finish it, and why am I not in love with it? Welllllllll, the main campaign, the one that came with the game all those years ago, is kinda... boring as hell. It's slow paced to the point of tears, not particularly envelope pushing, and leans much harder on dungeon crawling than any other CRPG I've ever played. Not to mention, the combat here is much less tactical than a game like Baldur's Gate, on account of only being able to truly control one character, which certainly doesn't help the situation.

That's not to say nothing interesting happens during the story, or that it doesn't connect at all! In chapter one, there's a section in a jail that I particularly liked, and in chapter two, which is where I fell off, there were actually a few interesting quests to do. But the overbearing amount of slow, auto-pilot combat, mixed with writing that is often minimal and generally not Bioware's best, made the game harder and harder to come back to every day.

I'm still interested in the expansions, as I've heard they're better, and the sequel + it's expansions, as I've heard they're actually super super good (plus the sequel gives you an actual party to control), but as for this base game? If I come back to it, it'll be for when I wanna play D&D, but I don't wanna think.

Bought this game on a whim on PSN, it was only 99 cents. I thought I try something different. It's kind of a time resource management game. The basic premise is that your just a regular joe cop who protrols the same street everyday and your task with completing basic assignments everyday. Each day your required to write out parking tickets based on things like broken lights, worn tires and parking violations. Every day there is some kinda mini narrative that the police force wants you to do that day. From solving a domestic disupute to even bomb disposal.

The game is setup so there are three competing factions all buying for you attention. There's the normal police work, a mafia boss and a street gang. You can decided if you wanna be a straight shooter or blur the lines of what's right and wrong and side with a gang here or there. Everytime you do one positive thing for one faction it negitivly effects another one. Get too low on the mafia or street gangs side and they will put a hit out for you making it an instant game over. On the flip side with one gang too long and you will get fired from the police force. It's all a balancing act and choice as time passes freely. Maybe you don't have time to do everything this day or maybe youd like to focus on this one thing. Gameplay feels fresh for the first time through but on follow up plays it does degrade quite a bit into repititvness with it being so script heavy.

There is a little story narritive about you being set up and trying to solve who framed you which is nice from keeping the game moving in one direction and not feel completly episodic. The game leans super heavy on the comedic side and has really outlandish things happen which does make it more entertaining than it really is. Lots of movie refrences and call outs to 80's/90's pop culture. It can get pretty raunchy despite it's low graphics depiction in the story. It's kinda the best part about it.

Overall it was a definite steal for a buck and if you wanna try something a bit different I'd say give Beat Cop a try. It's a great weekend game.

Platinum #151

Stellaris is another magnificent grand strategy title from Paradox Development Studio that is incredibly deep, immensely detailed and highly ambitious. The game is also championed by a vastly improved user interface when compared with other Paradox games and has a far more inviting learning curve without losing the challenge or depth that the other games by this highly regarded developer offer.

Paradox are widely known for their catalogue of strategy games over the years which are of a very high quality but are also remarkably complex to an extent; some newcomers and even veterans of the genre felt alienated, confused and simply overwhelmed. Stellaris however, has a fully fledged tutorial integrated into the main campaign which not only guides you through the general mechanics along with each feature in a constructive manner; it explains aspects clearly and this is further supported by a far more user friendly interface. The screen is less cluttered when compared with the likes of Europa Universalis IV and all the information is clear, condensed and well presented.

The game takes place in space which is an almost Call of Duty style departure from the typical Paradox titles of classic eras and a real world setting. The premise is also slightly different as you create your colony from scratch or by selecting some preset examples instead of guiding an already established country. Your goal in the galaxy is to explore, build, research, expand, conquer and even exterminate all other races you come across - basically exactly what you'd expect from a 4X title. You can play this game however you wish and at your own pace - you may opt to be a fanatic militarist or simply want to discover as much of the universe as possible whilst befriending and benefitting from other races you meet along the way. It is a massively detailed and highly engrossing experience in which the developers have made the transition from reality to sci-fi in a very credible fashion.

Stellaris runs superbly too and is bolstered by truly fantastic atmosphere enhancing audio that complements your game throughout. The visuals are very good too and the galaxy map whilst despite looking rather basic, is easy to grasp and understand which is another massive plus. Overall; Stellaris is another superb Paradox title that is riddled with depth and a long term challenge but is also presented and executed in a far more appealing and enjoyable way than some previous titles by the studio. This game will have a bright future and is sure to provide many hours of entertainment