Replayed this a few times to obtain the platinum trophy.

RE3 is one of the coolest presenting games out there. Jill and Carlos are awesome and the game plays out like Zombie Die Hard. It has so much cool imagery and all of the locations are really fun. RE3 also looks phenomenal. It's maybe still the best looking RE game for me.

Replaying this really made RE3's flaws more apparent to me. I always scoffed at the criticism of the game being short because short games are still dope. The length of a game should never equate to it's quality.

But I think in RE3's case, the length is indicative of a very tangible lack of depth. Especially when compared to RE2. The game's linearity robs the player of almost any meaningful decision-making. And that kind of decision making (should I try to go back to the save room? or push through this new area with my limited ammo?) is what makes RE games so special.

So yeah. Still really good but not as great as it could be.

The amount of emotion this game can create out of the player from it just being on a Game Boy Advance is astonishing. Although it is more streamlined than other Metroid titles, I don't see that as a negative as long as you go in aware of that. The story gives reason for more streamlined sections and exploration never felt neutered from that decision.

This story may be the best one in the series, with many horror beats and creating an antagonist that is there to simply torment you throughout. The sequences with the SA-X are extremely hard to predict when they will come which adds tremendously to the tension. I understand how some can say the pacing at the start feels slow but it never bothered me, the tension and environment of the world always captivated me enough that it never dragged, and when it gets going, it never slows down.

I can't say many more amazing things besides this is my favorite game of all time. I could give more technical details, the sprite work is amazing, bosses and upgrades are a blast, music is phenomenal, it feels amazing to play on the GBA, which I do think is the best way to play it. But at the end of the day, I like it just because it gives me such a unique experience and resonates so deeply with me in a way I can't really describe. Hoping for a remake one day for the music alone.

Pros:
+ Extremely innovative and interesting metroidvania with an engaging story, lore and focus on philosophical themes
+ Tens of cool weapons to obtain and almost every one of them is useful in different situations
+ Fascinatingly unique abilities, upgrades
+ Amazing art and character designs
+ Graphics pop really well on handhelds like the Switch
+ Really good music for the most part, even listenable outside of the game which isn't always a given in metroidvanias (check out Cellular Skies if you're unsure)
+ Fun to speedrun
+ Sets up an infinitely entertaining storyline that I can't wait to see completed

Cons:
- For such a fascinating and deeply layered game, its ending and final boss is a bit of a letdown. Not spoiling anything, but the main character is seemingly given an option to choose his ending or at least affect it in some way, but then it's not carried through. In general, the ending feels just a tad bit unfinished even though the rest is phenomenal
- Secret Worlds should maybe be just a bit easier to find
- A few tracks can get a bit jarring when repeated, like Inexorable
- Music also doesn't properly loop around, the tracks just abruptly end and start back up from the beginning again without any mixing which can break immersion
- Some bosses are great, while others are easy button-mashers if you know the exact place where to stand
- Fast travel can be a bit of a pain and is improved upon greatly in the sequel
- Some weapons and abilities feel a bit clunky to use with the aim lock controls

This game got a lot of bad press when it came out. Most people called it bad. Recently, it has been called misunderstood masterpiece, a hidden gem. So how is it?

It's okay. It's not terrible, but also not a great game waiting to be recognized by the masses. There's nothing particularly wrong with the game.

Days Gone is like State of Decay with higher production values and a better story. Go from camp to camp, looking for supplies, helping survivors, and killing zombies. The loop in State of Decay is more satisfying though. As for the story, it's better than expected.

The storytelling is janky though. There's distracting cuts to black between cut scene and gameplay. The sound mixing in this game is also bad. The main actor Sam Witwer is great. However, his dialog is either delivered as a mumbled whisper or top of the lungs shout. It's quickly realized that most of the dialog is like this. Background sounds tend to overwhelm foreground sounds throughout the game.

Days Gone is a fine time. It will not disappoint. However, it is not a must play. It's well thought and janky and adequate.

I could barely finish this game. Performance is really bad, people aren't exaggerating. This is probably one of the buggiest games I've played since Skyrim. Beyond that, the open world and story of the game just isn't very fun. It feels like a very lifeless map with items and trainers just tossed onto it haphazardly. The scale is weird, the textures look awful, storming villain bases is a painful chore, hunting Titans and battling gyms offered no challenge. There are some pretty good Pokemon designs in this generation though to be fair. Unfortunately, I think this will be the last new Pokemon game I play unless there are drastic improvements to the series.

I have a huge soft spot for this particular entry due to this being my first game in the Halo series. Although I played this way later than its release date, I had a blast playing this when I was younger thanks to the backwards compatibility of the Xbox 360. The soundtrack, atmosphere, and the option for co-op campaign was probably the highlight for me when coming back to CE. I feel like the soundtrack and art design set the mood just right in the games story as well. The plot and cutscenes while simple, is mostly great.

What holds this game back is some of the later levels especially The Library and others reusing assets but Two Betrayals was pretty cool. I loved waiting for the covenant and flood forces to fight each other first and then rush through. Another thing that is not great is the assault rifle, something just doesn't hit right when firing it. Though it is useful for clearing out grunts and sometimes the flood. I also wish the Marines were better in this game as they can be useless at times, but when they have a sniper rifle they are amazing to have by your side definitely keep them alive. It's a shame because the marines in CE look awesome.

Multiplayer was an important component of this game as several names for modes and maps were established here first. Playing split screen versus was amazing I loved the Boarding Action and Blood Gulch maps. Sidewinder was another great one. Thanks to MCC it supports Halo CE online and its really chaotic with some awful spawns, but CE online is still fun.

Overall, Halo CE is a solid entry for a first in the series. Bungie showed passion in making this game with its amazing atmosphere and soundtrack. Though it is held back by later level design and useless marines, the positives outweigh the negatives in this entry. I still look back at CE and the rest of the series as my inspiration for my liking of the sci-fi genre.

Played Originally: Xbox
Replayed: On MCC and Custom Edition

Tarnished

After persevering through Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro I was finally ready to experience a FromSoft game with the community and the hype for Elden Ring was REAL that first week of this games release combined with all of my friends talking about it and playing it was fkn awesome.

I am just gonna get my negatives out. I must admit I was slightly disappointed with the choice to use Souls' combat style rather than Sekiro's or perhaps something new. I know there were new playstyles introduced but the overall feel was very similar. I don't have a problem with it hell I went for a dual wield fuck off sword build and it was awesome it's just this felt like a Dark Souls 4 rather than a brand new IP. Also the performance across every release is just not good under 60 FPS on every console besides PS4 version played in backwards compatibility on PS5 and terrible stuttering on any PC configuration. FromSoft are notorious for terrible optimisation and I wish they ironed it out. Lastly the quests are just fucked like I refuse to believe anyone is completing these without a tutorial.

Now the world, it's probably the best gaming has seen to date right, the best way that I can describe it is that it is just full of layers so many different levels, areas, heights, depth, secrets and it's seriously on a scale and quality that no other game has achieved yet. The exploration is similar to BOTW and some inspiration can be seen from it but it is seriously turned up to 1000.

The art direction is on another level too, beautifully realised environments with amazing vistas. The character designs across the world are elite and it all comes together across the different areas you encounter in the game.

FromSoft games are obviously known for their difficulty and I have seen many critiquing the balancing and I agree it can be terrible at times but due to the nature of the game you can always visit other areas to explore and get stronger before returning to previous fights that I wasn't able to beat. There are also methods of grinding runes to level up earlier which result in an easier time if that is your style.

Soundtrack is elite too and you feel like a badass during boss fights.