DICE is not very well known for their single player campaigns, but to be honest, some of them in the Battlefield series are fine and even recommendable.

Now, this studio comes up with an idea about a very short single player, mostly movement based FPS, where you need to parkour around rooftops and escape from cops and soldiers to rescue your sister in a near future city. What could possibly go wrong?

To be honest, I finished this game several times in the past, in like 2010, and I had the urge to check it out now, and I found myself both amazed and disappointed. The visuals aged really well, and the overall atmosphere of the game is great, and the short length of the game is really appreciated.

However, while the game starts out fine, it quickly becomes this industrial parkour fest, where the narrow corridors, pipes and tight areas became standard, and the rooftops are rarely seen again.

This was not a big issue at first, but as you play the game, combat sections become more and more frequent, and the gunplay is not very good. Sounds upon firing are punchy, but the weapons lack any impact, and the enemies do not react to shots at all, making the guns feel weak, even though the game features a decent variety of them.

The game features hand-to-hand combat too, and this is more frustrating as you can literally beat any enemy type, with 3-4 punches, weaker ones are in like 2. It even becomes more OP, when you get close, and disarm them with one click. It is frustrating because the game degrades hand-to-hand combat to literally just clicking, without any combos or tricks.

At least the parkour system is good, not perfect, but totally fine. Sometimes it is a bit janky, and some of the segments are more tricky, because Faith does not like to grab pipes or ledges sometimes, but overall it feels good to run around.

Aside from the negatives, the game still looks great, it has a nice atmosphere, the idea of it is just not fleshed out enough, creating this cozy experience, from an era when games were simpler a bit. I never really played with the sequel, but I heard mixed things about it. I will definietly check it out in the future.

It is sad to say that I believe Half-Life 2, unlike the original, did not pass the test of time, and became a very frustrating experience for me.

I admit, it's graphical side is amazing, but everything else starting from the story, to the gameplay is such a mess, that I cannot believe how this was ever considered a masterpiece.

Some segments do not respect your time at all, (mainly the vehicle chapters) they just drag on, until you realise that these were mainly forced to show off the game's technical capabilities. The combat's main problem is the bullet sponge nature of the enemies, and the fact that the game lacks the weapon variety of the original.

I even hated the story, as everything that is Half-Life 2 feels so early 2000's that I simply do not like it at all. I feel like I should apologize, but I believe some people should also revisit this game, as it is really not that good. I respect the foundations it set (even though the original did those), I respect that it is still considered a classic, but I stick with the original.

Call of Cthulhu is probably the most underrated mainstream Lovecraft game right now, as people started to love The Sinking City, and the first Call of Cthulhu game, that was very problematic at launch, but it was patched to be an enjoyable experience.

This Call of Cthulhu however, is a very decent walking sim/detective game, that focuses on choices, which can lead up to 4 different endings. I am not gonna lie, this game really surprised me. The animations are rather janky, but the overall atmosphere and gameplay are top notch, and the graphics, especially the more gruesome and supernatural areas, are really well done, despite the lower budget.

For those who seek more Lovecraftian games, I can recommend Call of Cthulhu, especially if you enjoy atmospheric and slow burn horror. The only thing that can ruin the experience is the janky nature of the animations, but everything else is either okay, or excellent.

Give it a go, and visit Darkwater!

Let me just say, that I am a huge fan of Star Wars games. No, no the movies, or the series, or anything like that, the games. The Dark Forces games were a large part of my childhood, and after those early days, I went on to play the classics we know and love today. Jedi Academy, Republic Commando, Force Unleashed and the list goes on. I was never a fan of the Old Republic games, simply because of it's genre, but I pretty much tried everything that is now considered a great Star Wars game. Years went by, and Fallen Order came out, showing to the masses, that after the cancellation of 1313, we can still get wonderful games in this universe.

To be fair with everyone, Fallen Order is not the best game you will ever play, and some may even say that it is not that good of a game. This is completely valid criticism, as Fallen Order tried to replicate the elements of a soulslike game, without it actually being one. While certain elements were borrowed, many were streamlined and made to be enjoyable by everyone, not just the fan of that genre.

The combat is snappy, the fights feel really good, and the simpler combat scenarios will be gone eventually, as you learn to become a jedi knight. Every little trick is here from the classics: you can push, pull, even slow some things down and throw your weapon at enemies to slice them up.

The biggest problem with the game are the platforming elements, as the whole thing tends to be very buggy when it comes to movement in general. Do not get me wrong, the movement feels fine, but some segments are rather painful to play, as you encounter many irritating things. Characters will clip through the floor, some can walk in the air, you can actually get stuck in objects sometimes, and the list goes on.

However, the buggy nature of the game is just a minor thing compared to the excellent atmosphere and story, with a very likeable protagonist. Cal Kestis is an excellent character, with some clichés, acted out wonderfully to it's full extent. The supporting cast is also wonderful, and their provide the game with a charm that can only be done in this universe.

One thing that I did not like, but do not minded on the long run, is the lack of enjoyable side content. You can unlock chests, collect some much needed buffs, and upgrades, but never any meaningful stuff. The customization options while rather limited, they were enjoyable to some extent, but the overall way to find these items, were much more complicated, degrading the value of these items, and making them feel like they are basically not rewards, but chore. Still, I enjoyed finding these.

Overall, Fallen Order is a great game, that can be enjoyed by anyone. Fans of this universe will probably like it even more, but really, anyone can pick this one up. It is not that even long too, so you can 100% it during a weekend if you really want to dig into it.

A very short and not very pleasant soulslike game, that has an atmosphere, but not much else.

The combat system is flashy, but not very good, the bosses are cheap, and the hitboxes, yet again, are not very good.

A meh experience.

West of Dead is probably the worst roguelike I have ever tried so far, and I am not even kidding.

While the art style could be a positive, I found it very distracting and borderline annoying. The camera is placed in all the wrong places, the shooting feels slugish and unfun, the VA from Ron Perlman feels like he did this for a bottle of whiskey or something, because he sounds so tired and bored out of his mind.

You can easily do everything in this game under 7 hours, if you are not bored already, so if you want to experience style over substance, go on, try it.

I was very divided when this collection ended, about what to think about the Crash Bandicoot trilogy. Full of life, bright colors and amazing segments aside, this version of these games are not the optimal way to play them, at least this is what I experienced.

The hit boxes are awful, the controls are sometimes very unresponsive and the overall technical side is questionable at best, and the game is even locked behind 30 FPS on PS5, which makes it much worse.

My favorite one was the third entry, and the one that I hated the most was the second one.

I cannot say much about these individually, everyone knows them, so if you have the time, go check them out.

I literally did a James Bond marathon, which is still missing 2 games, and I replayed Half Life, just to avoid playing with Vampyr.

I always wanted to try this one, as I heard good things about the story. Basically, you play as a vampire, who needs to decide the fate of certain districts, because as you kill certain characters, others may notice the fact that they are missing, and their death will cause consequences, essentially making the game much more darker.

To be fair, Vampyr's premise is a really good one, and I appreciated how it tries to be different from the rest of the bunch, but you really need to bring out the big guns if you want to make a game like this. Not just because, the other alternative is Vampire: The Masquerade, but because old timers, who remember the Legacy of Kain games, will possibly try this one out, and if you make both group disappointed, well, it is over. The game has very janky animations, somewhat decent voice acting, and an RPG side, that needs more polish.

Aside from these problems, the worst part about this game, is the writing, as I never encountered such artificial writing before. The whole game reeks from being written like a vampire fanfiction, lacking any depth or original thought, and I was deeply sad that this was the aspect that was praised by some of my friends, and weirdly, it is the worst part of the game.

What I liked the most, is probably the mediocre combat, because you can unleash some vampire abilities, that are fun to use.

If you want to try something new in the vampire genre, give this one a try, but avoid it if your expectations are high.

Opposing Force is the expansion that fans love the most, simply because it brings a lot new to the table, and even creates a whole new race of aliens to fight against, many new weapons are given to the player, and even new mechanics are introduced.

That said, Opposing Force lacks the narrative that I liked about Blue Shift, and felt like the soldiers are just as desperate as the scientists, which really killed the overall theme of the expansion for me. I get that from a narrative standpoint, the game gives you a reason, why this group of soldiers are much more "friendly" than the ones we go against in Blue Shift, or the original. Still, I do not know why they completely changed the fact that you are basically playing as an enemy from the first game. I mean, I get it, players do not want to sympathize with someone who is ordered to shoot down scientists, but come on.

The criticism that Blue Shift faced was that nothing changed compared to the original, which is shockingly false from a narrative standpoint, and it only affects the gameplay side. Opposing Force on the other hand, has many gameplay changes, but I felt like the actual narrative stands much closer to the original experience, than Blue Shift.

Everything aside, Opposing Force is still Half Life, with every problem that the original had, and some new ones. It is still a great experience, and a must play to fully immerse yourself in the world of the first game.

Blue Shift, the second expansion for Half Life, is an amazing journey, which provides a short, but really good escape story from the perspective of an another character, namely, Barney Calhoun.

No new additions sadly, but the pace is great, the characters are fun and the whole package is just really neat. I did not wanted to comment much on the original game, but I want to talk about Blue Shift a bit.

After playing the original, the two expansions are a must play, but what makes this one so special to me, is that it does not change that much from a gameplay perspective, but rather, the experience itself changes, because the main goal is vastly different from Gordon's journey. While Barney's weapon arsenal and is pretty much the same, and he does not encounter new aliens, the way scientists talk with him, and how his adventure makes you feel like you are experiencing the story from a different perspective. This alone is beyond what I would expect from any game's expansion.

Yes, I know that from a gameplay perspective it is a disappointing, because of the first expansion, but come on. Give this one a new try, and escape Black Mesa with the science team!

I never thought I would say this but they tried to make a James Bond game that has elements from freaking Halo. From the grenade throw to the iconic sound of a shield being regenerated, they tried to pull a Halo with this one.

I am not going to blame EA for this one, James Bond titles were always a bunch of ideas thrown together. Sometimes they mix well enough and create a good experience, and sometimes they are 007 Racing. However, Goldeney: Rogue Agent is rough from the start, even when considering that they tried to sell it with the Goldneye name, which was the most successful Brosnan Bond movie, and also a legendary game. No wonder they tried to pull this "prank" off, basically every other game from the PS2 era included elements from the movie.

Rogue Agent starts with a mission that is seemingly serves as a tutorial, but sets of the main theme of the game really well. You are playing as the bad guy here essentially, and you are working with various Bond villains. Basically you are an overpowered henchman here, which is a fine concept executed rather poorly.

To be fair, Rogue Agent never tries to hide that it is just a bland shooter, and I give credit for that, but my god, how can you mess up a simple FPS? The main reason this game is so frustrating is the crosshair. It is not placed in the center of the screen, but in an upper position, which I cannot understand. Such a bad design choice, and even if someone wants to argue that the game wanted something unique, well, this was not the way to be unique.

What can I say? Rogue Agent is bland, generic, uninteresting and too long, with a concept that should have been more fun than this. We are really starting to get to the bottom of the barrel here.