Half Life Black Mesa should serve as the absolute model for all 1990's game remakes, it doesn't change whole areas or fundamentally redesign content to make it almost a different story like some games do, it takes what works and just simply makes it beautiful.

I recommend Black Mesa for people who have caught on to the series since the original game, which I never initially made it too far in. Everything from the physics, silly NPC's, horrific enemies, and bizarre world return with fantastic graphics and updated engine. This is the supreme way to start your journey with Half Life.

FFVII is one of the most famous stories in all of gaming, and easily one of its best, but can you really review and rate a game just because the story is good? The answer is no.

If FFVII was the exact same game but with Remake controls and looks, it would be the best game of all time but there are two things that keep this game from being the best from a pure gameplay perspective and they both boil down to the fact that this came out in 1997. The first is the graphics, early 3D is DIFFICULT to look at now in a lot of games and FFVII is no stranger. Series mainstays like Cloud, Sephiroth, and Aerith in non cutscenes are all boiled down to a few bare-faced polygons which is unflattering. The second major thing that keeps this from being a five star is the lack of quest direction and subsequent random encounters associated with getting lost for any period of time. Because of outdated gameplay mechanics and visuals, FFVII can be hard to recommend to someone in the current year, however I'd suggest at least playing the game with game assists to experience its story.

Music and writing are two very high highlights of the story of Cloud and his rivalry with the most dastard villain in the history of gaming. Everyone knows who lives and who dies within the story, but how do they arrive at these conclusions?

I have so much nostalgia attached to WC3: Frozen Throne its almost hard to start a review on it. Frozen Throne was the best time I've ever had playing an RTS, which is a genre I've played (in terms of length) almost more than any other, because of the many ways players can have fun in a way that caters to their interests.

If you like campaign? This was the last time a Blizzard campaign was good. If you like standard RTS multiplayer? The four playable races all have something entertaining and have vastly different playstyles. For me though, the icing on the cake was the seemingly endless volume of custom games that existed within Frozen Throne. Hours upon hours were spent playing games like DotA, Wintermaul, Island Defense, Castle Fight, Sheep Tag, the list goes on... Everyday before and after school I would jump on custom games and play until I had other obligations, it was that entertaining.

It's a shame reforged was such a dumpster fire and the community has gone toxic because otherwise I'd still be playing until this day.

I have absolutely no idea how I fell in love with this game as much as I did, you ever have that video game/television show/album that just hits every note that you didn't even know you were looking for? Fire Emblem Three Houses is the first game in the storied Nintendo franchise that I had ever played as I never owned a handheld and didn't get into the games on the Gamecube/Wii and I think I benefitted greatly.

Three Houses is Persona-like in the way that it is split into two sections: School & War. In the school section through what was a thirty-five hour playthrough (shorter on subsequent five playthroughs) I got to meet tons of different students who had an impressive amount of depth and interactions with eachother. I was honestly blown away from each playthrough when I found out how much dialogue was written & recorded between just about every character in the game. While some characters are fairly one dimensional (Raphael & Bernadetta) for example, there were more with some extreme depth that operated in that grey area of hero & villain/good & bad. Even though it sounds dumb, there was something extremely cathartic about taking these unique characters on tea-dates, eating dinner, or singing with them in the Church choir. You got to learn and experience what made them so different and appreciate the backgrounds they came from due in effort to hard work by IntSys' lore team. On the topic of characters, the romance aspect was something I never knew I'd appreciate as much as I did. Even though Byleth is a silent protagonist which is NEVER my favorite, the unique personalities of every in Garreg Mach Monestary made romancing one of the best things to look forward to each playthrough.

To rank my romances: Rhea > Flayn > Hapi > Dorothea > Catherine > Edelgard.

The combat/war sections are another great part about 3H and something that opened up a whole world to me. I was never a fan of the tactics genre, why? Because I simply had never dipped my toes into it and always found it a bit dense, however FE3H is inviting and easy enough to understand that it made the battle sections in the side stories and main story something to look forward to rather than an afterthought. I still have yet (looking forward to a seventh playthrough soon) to experiment a ton with unit classes and skills but the tools you are given through recruitment to create a party that forms to your liking is much appreciated.

One thing that did surprise me was how well done the story was in 3H. The major twist that happens throughout the game (that I'm sure everyone knows by now) I didn't see coming the first time through and blew me out of the water and got me to apprciate when games just pull a full 180 on the player. I had to rethink my alleigances, rethink the cost-benefit of doing the morally RIGHT thing versus doing what is technically CORRECT. There is a lot of social dilemma and intricate politics woven into the lore of Three Houses that make the games narrative 100x more interesting. Are the Church the good guys, or is it the eventual villain?Is the Crest system valuable or is it a terrifying way to control populations? Seeing major characters like Rhea, Edelgard, and Dimitri in a different light from the first half in the second half is something I will never take for granted. I think character growth and contrast is one of the most valuable aspects of a game and Three Houses nails it. Though the plot line with TWISD could have been done a bit better, I think the story is great overall, especially in how varied it is across each house you pick.

In terms of House Story that I played: Blue Lions > Church Route > Black Eagles > Golden Deer

I haven't included the music yet in this review but I'll be darned if it isn't one of the best things about this game, my favorite song is easily The Edge of Dawn which I think is one of the best vocal video game songs ever made.

Super Smash Brothers Ultimate is the most balanced and enjoyable party fighting game to have ever been made, and that should be no surprise to anybody who has heard the name. The series has been Masahiro Sakurai's pet project for the last twenty years and some change, and each game builds upon the success and mechanics of the game previous. While Melee purists might proclaim that the series peaked then, I think Ultimate is the best Smash experience in the history of the franchise.

Boasting a roster of over eighty characters from both blockbuster franchises and lesser known titles from the days of yore, SSBU has tons of options and reasons for newbies and veterans of Smash to be interested. There's a character and playing style for just about everyone; be it that you were a fan of the game/series or just really like how a certain fighter plays, its there for you and the movesets continue to be extremely faithful to the games they come from. An added benefit of SSBU is the plethora of available music and stages for the eighty-one fighters. One such example is the addition of Joker from Persona 5 who brought alone themes from all over the Persona Franchise to his own Mementos stage.

Mechanically SSBU is not insanely deep like its fighting game peers or ancestry in SSBM but it feels rewarding to be good at. True combos don't (really) exist meaning that read based combos and playing a successful guessing game with your opponent are most prevalent. Being able to predict roll options, opponent tech's and di's, and shield breakage is all rewarded. With the massive roster available there is naturally a certain tierlist where some fighters are theoretically better than others, but your skill with them seems to matter more than anything as opposed to an instant lose scenario, for instance a Duck Hunt player made it to top eight in the last EVO which is extremely impressive. Because SSBU doesn't require ten degrees of combo knowledge to understand, it is easy for the casual player to get into and have fun. Smash continues to be a great party game in this regard, however because of the offensive and defensive options as well as crisp movement and maps offered in SSBU, it also rewards those who have a competitive itch.

In all, SSBU combines all aspects of Smash that have made the series as successful as it is: a large roster, fun maps, casual and competitive balance, clean UI, uniform art, and a developer who truly cares.