One of the best controlling games on the PS2. Ratchet is as effortless to maneuver as ever, with his movement being some of the best to ever grace a console. Bad news is, they forgot to design any levels this time around!
I feel like with each subsequent Ratchet game, I go back and rate the last one higher for what the sequel is lacking. By the time I finish Into the Nexus, Ratchet and Clank 2002 will have 13 stars added to it.
Up Your Arsenal is widely considered the best in the series, and I've also seen people who despise this game. I can't find it in my heart to hate Up Your Arsenal, but I also am not in love with it either, but I find it a bit weak to say I'm somewhere in the middle. The problem is how unfinished the game feels at points, it makes it difficult TO make any grand statement on it when it feels like a dev studio who has been worked to fucking death is starting to burn at both ends. I wish they had been allowed to, you know, take a break and let this game cook, because there's a lot to love here! When a game is made in not even an entire year and has a multiplayer shoehorned into it, it's a miracle the game doesn't mircowave your PS2.
The biggest casualty here, as I alluded to up top, is the level design. There are very few proper Ratchet and Clank levels here: interesting platforming and combat challenges with branching paths and unique level gimmicks. They had started to dissipate by the end of Going Commando, and in Up Your Arsenal they are almost completely M.I.A. In their place you will find a bunch of repurposed multiplayer maps made into Battelfield missions, which I honestly wouldn't have an issue with, if the enemy design was more engaging. Enemies are nowhere near as dynamic as the old games, and are repeated ad nauseam to the point the action just becomes a lot of noise.
This is a tragedy, as the action is the best it has ever been! The guns look and sound great, they upgrade regularly keeping your rotation constantly relevant, and Ratchet's quickness means you can pull off some awesome fucking stunts during the combat, it's just dying for a cast of enemies that compliment it.
Gone is also the biting satire that gave the first two games an anarchic edge. The toll gates are gone, which for games about how self-serving every single person is, fit perfectly. It feels like everything that gave Ratchet and Clank a unique identity is in the process of being sanded down: a process that will be hideously complete with Ratchet and Clank 2016. Here, it is being sanded down into a very fun third-person action game, so I'm not TOO bent out of shape about it, but I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the vibrant and enigmatic nature of 1 and hell, even Going Commando. The colors are just gone! The terrain is just a straight shot to the end with a couple of jumps here and there to remind you of old times. The menus and hud are nasty fucking orange and lack any and all identity. Also what happened to the main menu?? Insomniac have always had some great main menus but now it's just Fugly Orange Boxes. What They Do To You Ratchet!!! During the Giant Clank fight at the Holovid studio, it occurred to me that the fight was less visually dynamic than the Godzilla fight in Gex: Enter The Gecko, a game for the PS1. It finally dawned on me that this is a visually very ugly game, even while the character animations are at their peak. It's a very odd contradiction for the game to be living.
The story is also here, and it's whatever. Nefarious is entertainingly hammy and his butler Lawrence is a great foil. Qwark's plans, drawn in crayon, showing Ratchet constantly having to put himself into dangerous scenarios is very funny, and Jim Ward continues to deliver absolute gold as Qwark. James Arnold Taylor also gets some incredible voice work done here as Ratchet, after his personality was in a weird transitory period in GC. I still found the dialogue to be entertaining and snappy enough to keep me going until the end, but nothing was as delightfully clever as it used to be. A main plot about an evil robot wanting to destroy humans is so by-the-books, what happened to the game I love.
This is the first game to have actual writers on board, which, along with 2016's putrid stench still hanging around, leads me to believe that professional writers are hacks. Much to think about here.
The forced-in multiplayer, which obviously affected the single player's development, can't be played anymore, so, cool. Nice. It was a lot of fun back in the day though, they were kind of cooking with that one.
No grind-rails, no space fighting, no racing, only one arena, there is just so much missing here from Going Commando that while I think Up Your Arsenal is more mechanically solid than GC, I just can't agree with anyone saying it's some kind of masterpiece when I am really starting to think this series peaked with the first one and just goes downhill from there.
I feel like with each subsequent Ratchet game, I go back and rate the last one higher for what the sequel is lacking. By the time I finish Into the Nexus, Ratchet and Clank 2002 will have 13 stars added to it.
Up Your Arsenal is widely considered the best in the series, and I've also seen people who despise this game. I can't find it in my heart to hate Up Your Arsenal, but I also am not in love with it either, but I find it a bit weak to say I'm somewhere in the middle. The problem is how unfinished the game feels at points, it makes it difficult TO make any grand statement on it when it feels like a dev studio who has been worked to fucking death is starting to burn at both ends. I wish they had been allowed to, you know, take a break and let this game cook, because there's a lot to love here! When a game is made in not even an entire year and has a multiplayer shoehorned into it, it's a miracle the game doesn't mircowave your PS2.
The biggest casualty here, as I alluded to up top, is the level design. There are very few proper Ratchet and Clank levels here: interesting platforming and combat challenges with branching paths and unique level gimmicks. They had started to dissipate by the end of Going Commando, and in Up Your Arsenal they are almost completely M.I.A. In their place you will find a bunch of repurposed multiplayer maps made into Battelfield missions, which I honestly wouldn't have an issue with, if the enemy design was more engaging. Enemies are nowhere near as dynamic as the old games, and are repeated ad nauseam to the point the action just becomes a lot of noise.
This is a tragedy, as the action is the best it has ever been! The guns look and sound great, they upgrade regularly keeping your rotation constantly relevant, and Ratchet's quickness means you can pull off some awesome fucking stunts during the combat, it's just dying for a cast of enemies that compliment it.
Gone is also the biting satire that gave the first two games an anarchic edge. The toll gates are gone, which for games about how self-serving every single person is, fit perfectly. It feels like everything that gave Ratchet and Clank a unique identity is in the process of being sanded down: a process that will be hideously complete with Ratchet and Clank 2016. Here, it is being sanded down into a very fun third-person action game, so I'm not TOO bent out of shape about it, but I would be lying if I said I didn't miss the vibrant and enigmatic nature of 1 and hell, even Going Commando. The colors are just gone! The terrain is just a straight shot to the end with a couple of jumps here and there to remind you of old times. The menus and hud are nasty fucking orange and lack any and all identity. Also what happened to the main menu?? Insomniac have always had some great main menus but now it's just Fugly Orange Boxes. What They Do To You Ratchet!!! During the Giant Clank fight at the Holovid studio, it occurred to me that the fight was less visually dynamic than the Godzilla fight in Gex: Enter The Gecko, a game for the PS1. It finally dawned on me that this is a visually very ugly game, even while the character animations are at their peak. It's a very odd contradiction for the game to be living.
The story is also here, and it's whatever. Nefarious is entertainingly hammy and his butler Lawrence is a great foil. Qwark's plans, drawn in crayon, showing Ratchet constantly having to put himself into dangerous scenarios is very funny, and Jim Ward continues to deliver absolute gold as Qwark. James Arnold Taylor also gets some incredible voice work done here as Ratchet, after his personality was in a weird transitory period in GC. I still found the dialogue to be entertaining and snappy enough to keep me going until the end, but nothing was as delightfully clever as it used to be. A main plot about an evil robot wanting to destroy humans is so by-the-books, what happened to the game I love.
This is the first game to have actual writers on board, which, along with 2016's putrid stench still hanging around, leads me to believe that professional writers are hacks. Much to think about here.
The forced-in multiplayer, which obviously affected the single player's development, can't be played anymore, so, cool. Nice. It was a lot of fun back in the day though, they were kind of cooking with that one.
No grind-rails, no space fighting, no racing, only one arena, there is just so much missing here from Going Commando that while I think Up Your Arsenal is more mechanically solid than GC, I just can't agree with anyone saying it's some kind of masterpiece when I am really starting to think this series peaked with the first one and just goes downhill from there.
2023
Only played the demo. Despite being inspired by FEAR it lacks basically everything that makes FEAR the best shoot ever. Arenas are nowhere near as tightly designed or cleanly readable, instead being blanketed in a lot of darkness and confusing clutter so you can't play and execute with the degree of simplicity that you might in FEAR.
The chaos of gunfights is also severely neutered by this over complication of design, as you will never ever get the sensation of blowing an office to a billion fucking pieces like you do in FEAR. Not to mention I find the arsenal not as compelling and too busy for its own good.
Also some SCP meme stuff going on. Whatever man, I don't care. Not buying.
The chaos of gunfights is also severely neutered by this over complication of design, as you will never ever get the sensation of blowing an office to a billion fucking pieces like you do in FEAR. Not to mention I find the arsenal not as compelling and too busy for its own good.
Also some SCP meme stuff going on. Whatever man, I don't care. Not buying.
2014
This was the first game I ever got to use Steam's refund system on a few years ago. I got my 10 dollars back! Yay! I went to buy a sandwich from Jimmy John's instead. It was fuckin' tasty.
Incredibly detailed and intricate in some ways, shockingly inept in so many others. Taking a walk through an updated Black Mesa is just as awe-inspiring as you would think it is, especially if you have Half-Life as committed to memory as most fans do. The amount of work put into making it feel as exciting and novel as it was in Half-Life is not to be dismissed, they nail a lot of the minutiae that that made that game feel so disarmingly real in a medium where the game world's tangibility was not the priority.
But throughout the mod there is this weird push-and-pull going on between wanting to put new and interesting spins on the experience and spinning its wheels with fanservice or ideas that aren't very good. The awkward "They're waiting for you Gordon, in the test chamberrrr" is preserved for no good reason, the JUMPING PUZZLES are for some godforsaken reason even more prevalent, and Xen is capital T Terrible. They've made it longer! I actually like the Xen levels in Half-Life and generally think the hatred for them is overblown, but not in a million years would I have suggested making Interloper a TWO HOUR level to improve its reputation.
Xen is definitely visually stunning, but even then that loses what makes Xen so frightening and hostile in Half-Life: it looks like shit! It's a bunch of otherworldly nightmare platforms in a Hell dimension, it shouldn't look like Metroid Prime! I am at odds here because it definitely IS a new take on something old, which I appreciate. But it feels like such an obvious attempt at a course correction that it still ends up feeling desperate for approval.
There are other things I hate: the gunfights. The gunfights in Half-Life kick ass. They are chaotic, loud, exciting, and genuinely make you feel like you are solving problems when you just barely survive every one. Black Mesa just feels turgid in a way that is hard to quantify. The Marines feel less dynamic, like they just backpedal while dumping magazines into you. It's the same problem that keeps the Combine from ever truly being exciting to fight. Not to mention the updated artstyle means they blend in with the environment more, which while certainly more realistic, makes it feel less carefully designed than Half-Life 1.
That is the big difference, really, is that Half-Life is such a carefully and smartly designed game that every time Black Mesa stumbles it only manages to enhance Valve's brilliance with the original game. Realistically, should the BMRF have more doors around instead of room sthat lead to nowhere? Yes, but it also makes the design more cluttered and less elegant at guiding the player through the facility. It feels like they used Freeman's Mind as a design document at times.
I also have to say the music is completely at odds with the game's tone. Half-Life uses a lot of alien sounding synths and samples, creating a tone of mystery and unease, cold and careless science that goes too far. When action picks up you get very synthetic tracks with pulsing electronics. The rock music playing dramatic minor chords during action scenes just doesn't fit at all. Again, I respect the desire to try something different, but it's so wildly off the mark that I'm not even sure what they were going for.
There's other things that annoy me as a fan: I don't like the Nihilanth's voice, he doesn't sound quite as unknowable and more like a generic monster. I miss the maze in On A Rail because navigating it IS a puzzle. The ending is deflated by feeling like the game wants us to stand up and start clapping when we see the G-man instead of having the original's understated mystery. A lot of this is coming off like I'm an irritating fanboy, which is true, but the game is so indecisive if it wants to be a complete overhaul or a fresh coat of paint that I don't feel bad about doing so.
There is one thing here they do SO WELL, better than I could have anticipated, and that is the amount of world building here. I just absolutely adore the radios scattered about that gives you an idea of what is happening outside of Black Mesa. It makes the world feel so much larger and real, while also making you feel more isolated and out of your depth. It's little things like that that makes it hard for me to truly Hate this game, even with all of the irritating shit they add to it.
This is not a suitable replacement for Half-Life. I think that game is still so readily available and instantly playable that if you can't get into it that seems like a genuine personal failing on your part that you SHOULD be ashamed of. But if you do dig Half-Life, i think Black Mesa is a fine companion piece to get a second look at the same events. But I would never suggest you throw Half-Life in the dumpster and just move on with this, because it will make you think Half-Life wasn't that good.
But throughout the mod there is this weird push-and-pull going on between wanting to put new and interesting spins on the experience and spinning its wheels with fanservice or ideas that aren't very good. The awkward "They're waiting for you Gordon, in the test chamberrrr" is preserved for no good reason, the JUMPING PUZZLES are for some godforsaken reason even more prevalent, and Xen is capital T Terrible. They've made it longer! I actually like the Xen levels in Half-Life and generally think the hatred for them is overblown, but not in a million years would I have suggested making Interloper a TWO HOUR level to improve its reputation.
Xen is definitely visually stunning, but even then that loses what makes Xen so frightening and hostile in Half-Life: it looks like shit! It's a bunch of otherworldly nightmare platforms in a Hell dimension, it shouldn't look like Metroid Prime! I am at odds here because it definitely IS a new take on something old, which I appreciate. But it feels like such an obvious attempt at a course correction that it still ends up feeling desperate for approval.
There are other things I hate: the gunfights. The gunfights in Half-Life kick ass. They are chaotic, loud, exciting, and genuinely make you feel like you are solving problems when you just barely survive every one. Black Mesa just feels turgid in a way that is hard to quantify. The Marines feel less dynamic, like they just backpedal while dumping magazines into you. It's the same problem that keeps the Combine from ever truly being exciting to fight. Not to mention the updated artstyle means they blend in with the environment more, which while certainly more realistic, makes it feel less carefully designed than Half-Life 1.
That is the big difference, really, is that Half-Life is such a carefully and smartly designed game that every time Black Mesa stumbles it only manages to enhance Valve's brilliance with the original game. Realistically, should the BMRF have more doors around instead of room sthat lead to nowhere? Yes, but it also makes the design more cluttered and less elegant at guiding the player through the facility. It feels like they used Freeman's Mind as a design document at times.
I also have to say the music is completely at odds with the game's tone. Half-Life uses a lot of alien sounding synths and samples, creating a tone of mystery and unease, cold and careless science that goes too far. When action picks up you get very synthetic tracks with pulsing electronics. The rock music playing dramatic minor chords during action scenes just doesn't fit at all. Again, I respect the desire to try something different, but it's so wildly off the mark that I'm not even sure what they were going for.
There's other things that annoy me as a fan: I don't like the Nihilanth's voice, he doesn't sound quite as unknowable and more like a generic monster. I miss the maze in On A Rail because navigating it IS a puzzle. The ending is deflated by feeling like the game wants us to stand up and start clapping when we see the G-man instead of having the original's understated mystery. A lot of this is coming off like I'm an irritating fanboy, which is true, but the game is so indecisive if it wants to be a complete overhaul or a fresh coat of paint that I don't feel bad about doing so.
There is one thing here they do SO WELL, better than I could have anticipated, and that is the amount of world building here. I just absolutely adore the radios scattered about that gives you an idea of what is happening outside of Black Mesa. It makes the world feel so much larger and real, while also making you feel more isolated and out of your depth. It's little things like that that makes it hard for me to truly Hate this game, even with all of the irritating shit they add to it.
This is not a suitable replacement for Half-Life. I think that game is still so readily available and instantly playable that if you can't get into it that seems like a genuine personal failing on your part that you SHOULD be ashamed of. But if you do dig Half-Life, i think Black Mesa is a fine companion piece to get a second look at the same events. But I would never suggest you throw Half-Life in the dumpster and just move on with this, because it will make you think Half-Life wasn't that good.
1992
Who has the funnier run? Edward or Logan from Syphon Filter?
I think the biggest thing that prevents this from being more easily playable is how it follows the early 90s adventure game creed of "murder the player any chance you get." surprisingly a lot of it is forewarned in a way King's Quest never gave you the luxury of. Yeah, that trap door in the attic is probably going to reveal a monster, better cover that up! Even though the game can be brutally slow to do anything, in a lot of ways it's approachable still, and very knowingly goofy in others while still maintaining effective tension because of how good the game is at killing you.
Edward taking a pugilist stance and punching out zombies with the loudest SMACK sound effect is one of the many examples of Alone in the Dark's brilliance.
I wish it used the mouse though, that's the big thing that kills me with this. It was the same with Grim Fandango before its remaster, but Manny didn't have to dodge monsters from beyond the veil. It has a learning curve and a shockingly unhelpful manual but it isn't impossible to get it down.
Also shout out to the voice acting, surprisingly well-done, charming deliveries. Emily's southern drawl is making me realize more women in games need to be from Louisiana.
I love early 3d models, monsters, southern gothic horror, scary houses, and pre-rendered backgrounds so I was made in a lab to like this game. I just can't believe it took me so long to get around to such an important piece of gaming history.
I think the biggest thing that prevents this from being more easily playable is how it follows the early 90s adventure game creed of "murder the player any chance you get." surprisingly a lot of it is forewarned in a way King's Quest never gave you the luxury of. Yeah, that trap door in the attic is probably going to reveal a monster, better cover that up! Even though the game can be brutally slow to do anything, in a lot of ways it's approachable still, and very knowingly goofy in others while still maintaining effective tension because of how good the game is at killing you.
Edward taking a pugilist stance and punching out zombies with the loudest SMACK sound effect is one of the many examples of Alone in the Dark's brilliance.
I wish it used the mouse though, that's the big thing that kills me with this. It was the same with Grim Fandango before its remaster, but Manny didn't have to dodge monsters from beyond the veil. It has a learning curve and a shockingly unhelpful manual but it isn't impossible to get it down.
Also shout out to the voice acting, surprisingly well-done, charming deliveries. Emily's southern drawl is making me realize more women in games need to be from Louisiana.
I love early 3d models, monsters, southern gothic horror, scary houses, and pre-rendered backgrounds so I was made in a lab to like this game. I just can't believe it took me so long to get around to such an important piece of gaming history.
1997
You don't play as Swagman
1993
I hate to rock the boat, but Doom is pretty good. Also shame on first-person shooters for not concocting sound effects even half as good until Halo came out.
Alright, first thing's first: that is some good fucking cover art. When I first saw Resistance in 2006 I was desperate for even half a PS3 just to play this, THIS is a launch title. Like Deadrising, the vast amount of carnage and intensity being rendered was unreal. This game is loud, intense, and honestly, pretty fuckin' good still.
This feels like a game stuck in time, in a good way. It's a war shooter set in an alternate history, battling alien bugmen called Chimeras. Except it's NOT a passive shooter, it's an incredibly vicious boomer shooter in disguise, requiring circle strafing and dodging projectiles, enemies NOT using any hitscans in favor of creating what is almost like a first-person bullet hell experience. This game is genuinely pretty visceral.
A lot of it is down to Insomniac's elite sound design team. The 2 machine guns you are going to be using for the majority of the game sound amazing, the bullseye in particular being not only the game's reliable workhorse, but also one of the best machine guns I've ever used in a game.
The rest of the arsenal feels a little bit more hit-or-miss to me. The sniper rifle is rotten, as nothing short of headshots will do anything to the chimera, and while the slowdown feature is explicitly to help you line up those headshots, the cooldown between shots when you miss is just so punishing. The shotgun is very nice, but combat is so engulfing that you almost never need close quarters weaponry. The auger can shoot through walls, but to balance it out they made it tickle enemies rather than kill them.
The more specialized weapons though, like the trusty rocket launcher, a chain gun that can launch a miniturret, and a bizarre blob mine gun that is actually incredibly handy near the end game. These enigmatic weapons that have come to define Insomniac are really where Resistance becomes something special.
But what is a weapon without an enemy? Insomniac struck gold with the Chimera. They are an underrated shooter enemy, as fun to fight as the Replicas in F.E.A.R and just as brutal to fight. They are incredibly efficient at killing you, if you're running low on health they will just outright rush you, will flank you, flush you out, all of the general behaviors of fun A.I to fight. It's the kind of intensity where even taking out a couple guys is rewarding as, oh thank god, I have given myself more breathing room. It's INCREDIBLE action.
Their design has also stuck with me since I first saw them. The large glowing spines, the insectoid heads, their freaky spindly legs. I have no idea why we don't talk about these guys more, they are stellar. None of the other enemies are even half as interesting and it doesn't even matter, because they nailed the most important enemy in the game.
My biggest complaint though is the downright nightmarish difficulty. Halfway through I had to drop it down to Easy as there was a level that was just kicking my fucking ass so hard that I had to call uncle. In classic Insomniac fashion, the checkpoints fucking stink. Your allies are terrible and will do anything they can to get in your way. Your health is the same little four bars the entire length of the game, no way to upgrade or reinforce it. Even on Easy some of the endgame levels were using me like a speedbag, I can't imagine this on Hard mode. It might as well spawn you into a game over the second you pick it.
The plot is also really confusing. I tried to pay attention but there are so few cutscenes and actual plot events rarely ever happen in them. It'll usually be in the History Channel slide shows that any plot happens, and it never becomes clear exactly what you're doing and why. I'm guessing they didn't have the budget for too many cutscenes, because the plot clearly has stuff going on. The intel you collect showcases a rather interesting lore, but there is just no character to latch onto, no major goal to drive you forward. It's just you and the living firework show Sergent Nathan Hale to just shoot stuff until the game is over.
I also find the premise a little troubling, as humanity is just so fucked it's hard to ever feel like you are making any ground. Halo made this work as you played AS the last hope personified. In Resistance we are just a Guy who is Resistant to the Chimeran virus. That's pretty interesting, but the game doesn't seem to really care about it, so why should I?
Also, bit of a moot point as the servers are gone, but the multiplayer, which hosted FORTY player matches, was unbelievable. The PS3 was absolutely worth buying for this game, no joke. It's definitely still worth buying today...OR if you want to play it with enhanced FOV and unlocked FPS, I'm sure SOME way exists to do that, and I'm SURE it looks amazing to do so. But it's a mystery to me!
This feels like a game stuck in time, in a good way. It's a war shooter set in an alternate history, battling alien bugmen called Chimeras. Except it's NOT a passive shooter, it's an incredibly vicious boomer shooter in disguise, requiring circle strafing and dodging projectiles, enemies NOT using any hitscans in favor of creating what is almost like a first-person bullet hell experience. This game is genuinely pretty visceral.
A lot of it is down to Insomniac's elite sound design team. The 2 machine guns you are going to be using for the majority of the game sound amazing, the bullseye in particular being not only the game's reliable workhorse, but also one of the best machine guns I've ever used in a game.
The rest of the arsenal feels a little bit more hit-or-miss to me. The sniper rifle is rotten, as nothing short of headshots will do anything to the chimera, and while the slowdown feature is explicitly to help you line up those headshots, the cooldown between shots when you miss is just so punishing. The shotgun is very nice, but combat is so engulfing that you almost never need close quarters weaponry. The auger can shoot through walls, but to balance it out they made it tickle enemies rather than kill them.
The more specialized weapons though, like the trusty rocket launcher, a chain gun that can launch a miniturret, and a bizarre blob mine gun that is actually incredibly handy near the end game. These enigmatic weapons that have come to define Insomniac are really where Resistance becomes something special.
But what is a weapon without an enemy? Insomniac struck gold with the Chimera. They are an underrated shooter enemy, as fun to fight as the Replicas in F.E.A.R and just as brutal to fight. They are incredibly efficient at killing you, if you're running low on health they will just outright rush you, will flank you, flush you out, all of the general behaviors of fun A.I to fight. It's the kind of intensity where even taking out a couple guys is rewarding as, oh thank god, I have given myself more breathing room. It's INCREDIBLE action.
Their design has also stuck with me since I first saw them. The large glowing spines, the insectoid heads, their freaky spindly legs. I have no idea why we don't talk about these guys more, they are stellar. None of the other enemies are even half as interesting and it doesn't even matter, because they nailed the most important enemy in the game.
My biggest complaint though is the downright nightmarish difficulty. Halfway through I had to drop it down to Easy as there was a level that was just kicking my fucking ass so hard that I had to call uncle. In classic Insomniac fashion, the checkpoints fucking stink. Your allies are terrible and will do anything they can to get in your way. Your health is the same little four bars the entire length of the game, no way to upgrade or reinforce it. Even on Easy some of the endgame levels were using me like a speedbag, I can't imagine this on Hard mode. It might as well spawn you into a game over the second you pick it.
The plot is also really confusing. I tried to pay attention but there are so few cutscenes and actual plot events rarely ever happen in them. It'll usually be in the History Channel slide shows that any plot happens, and it never becomes clear exactly what you're doing and why. I'm guessing they didn't have the budget for too many cutscenes, because the plot clearly has stuff going on. The intel you collect showcases a rather interesting lore, but there is just no character to latch onto, no major goal to drive you forward. It's just you and the living firework show Sergent Nathan Hale to just shoot stuff until the game is over.
I also find the premise a little troubling, as humanity is just so fucked it's hard to ever feel like you are making any ground. Halo made this work as you played AS the last hope personified. In Resistance we are just a Guy who is Resistant to the Chimeran virus. That's pretty interesting, but the game doesn't seem to really care about it, so why should I?
Also, bit of a moot point as the servers are gone, but the multiplayer, which hosted FORTY player matches, was unbelievable. The PS3 was absolutely worth buying for this game, no joke. It's definitely still worth buying today...OR if you want to play it with enhanced FOV and unlocked FPS, I'm sure SOME way exists to do that, and I'm SURE it looks amazing to do so. But it's a mystery to me!
2003
haha, made you look. nah this game is crap.
2020
Now that RE4 Remake is out it makes better sense what this game is. It's clear the RE2 Remake team wanted to do RE4, therefore, someone had to do RE3, but the release of it shouldn't conflict with Village, so it HAS to be out by 2020, hence: a game that barely resembles Resident Evil 3 and more closely resembles a piece of crap DLC. I could almost guarantee that if you asked the director what happened to this game, he'd say, "Well we had a year to develop a AAA Resident Evil release. It's a miracle any of this happened at all." He'd be right, too!
There is no doubt they probably wanted a more dynamic Nemesis system, but that has to be a pain in the fucking ass to program and playtest, so he is restricted to much easier to manage scripted-sequences. Every problem this game has easily points to the idea that they didn't have time to make this while the main teams were developing Village and 4. This is a total bummer because Nemesis is such a fun game with so many great set-pieces, and RE3 2020 barely resembles that game.
Carlos rules though. Carlos alone justifies rating this 3 stars.
There is no doubt they probably wanted a more dynamic Nemesis system, but that has to be a pain in the fucking ass to program and playtest, so he is restricted to much easier to manage scripted-sequences. Every problem this game has easily points to the idea that they didn't have time to make this while the main teams were developing Village and 4. This is a total bummer because Nemesis is such a fun game with so many great set-pieces, and RE3 2020 barely resembles that game.
Carlos rules though. Carlos alone justifies rating this 3 stars.
2023
it was so nice of them to release my favorite games (Metroid Prime, RE4) again!
i think this is leaps and bounds better than the RE2make, which just stops being interesting as soon as you're done at the police station, and the RE3make, which fails to be interesting period. But I don't think this is as novel and batshit weird as RE7 and 8 could be in their best moments. Its best moments are because it is being made off the framework on what might be the best game of all time, so they had a kickass design doc to work with.
Basically it's very hard to come to a conclusion about this game without acknowledging that Resident Evil 4 (2005) was a fucking slam dunk of game design and RE4make basically lifting encounters wholesale is the ultimate testament to that.
I love what they've done with Luis and Ashley, I honestly like Leon being a huge fucking dork who happens to be an action badass. Having Ashley comment on your shooting range abilities like she is watching you play games at the state fair is delightful. There's a lot here to love that I can almost forgive some of the more upsetting omissions, but fuck it, RE4 is great. I've played RE4 so many times I can draw you a map of it so I'm glad this exists to mix up the formula, and I consider myself lucky that I'm a fan of a franchise that can do that.
What I can't stand however is locking the original's GOAT level music and sfx behind a paywall. Look, I'm sure some sound designer worked hard on those affect less sound effects and white noise music, but the original had such a distinct sound that I really see no reason to pretend you can do better. So instead you can pay 3 bucks for it. and i DID because I SUCK.
i think this is leaps and bounds better than the RE2make, which just stops being interesting as soon as you're done at the police station, and the RE3make, which fails to be interesting period. But I don't think this is as novel and batshit weird as RE7 and 8 could be in their best moments. Its best moments are because it is being made off the framework on what might be the best game of all time, so they had a kickass design doc to work with.
Basically it's very hard to come to a conclusion about this game without acknowledging that Resident Evil 4 (2005) was a fucking slam dunk of game design and RE4make basically lifting encounters wholesale is the ultimate testament to that.
I love what they've done with Luis and Ashley, I honestly like Leon being a huge fucking dork who happens to be an action badass. Having Ashley comment on your shooting range abilities like she is watching you play games at the state fair is delightful. There's a lot here to love that I can almost forgive some of the more upsetting omissions, but fuck it, RE4 is great. I've played RE4 so many times I can draw you a map of it so I'm glad this exists to mix up the formula, and I consider myself lucky that I'm a fan of a franchise that can do that.
What I can't stand however is locking the original's GOAT level music and sfx behind a paywall. Look, I'm sure some sound designer worked hard on those affect less sound effects and white noise music, but the original had such a distinct sound that I really see no reason to pretend you can do better. So instead you can pay 3 bucks for it. and i DID because I SUCK.
2002
Shinobi is a very conflicting game for me. As I said in my Nightshade review, I find it far too hostile and unwelcoming for me to truly love it, and at some points I really hate playing it. But sometimes it all clicks and the concept on hand shines through.
It never manages to with the aerial combat though, which despite hours testing it out and figuring out how Hotsuma can reset jumps, nothing ever felt consistent or good to do. While Nightshade had very clear rules on how Hibana could deal with enemies in air, Hotsuma feels more rigid and inflexible in this regard, making stages like 6-A absolute nightmares whereas in Nightshade they would have been highlights. Having the kick be a directional move also is a massive pain-in-the-ass as the camera can often make inputs like that difficult to pull-off in the moment. While I think Shinobi tests the player on different skill-sets than Nightshade does, i felt like Nightshade better gave me the means to pass the test.
The level design in general is nothing special, the bosses are middling and the controls feel really stiff, with a lock-on that is just never on the same page as you. What is there to like about this game?
Style, really. The TATE sequences, Hotsuma's incredibly long scarf, the brooding and dramatic narrative, and the brilliant music are what kept me motivated to play this to the end. The design of Hotsuma is fantastic, and maneuvering through dudes to drum'n'bass is always a hook I'll fall right into. Hotsuma looks impossibley cool all of the time and animates stunningly, as I could watch him just stand there with his arms folded for hours.
While Nightshade is a game I adore and love, Shinobi is only a game I can like strongly. It's worth playing on an emulator with save states; I could not in a million years recommend you try something this punitive with its checkpoints on original hardware. Also note the American release excises Easy mode entirely, which is very odd as I think this game needs a mode just for on-boarding as the actual game is not interested in teaching you shit like that. The downside of THAT though is that the whole appeal of Shinobi is the difficulty, so stripping that from it renders the game rather non-descript. So, what the fuck.
I will warn you though, that if you aren't very fond of dogs, the dog enemies in chapter 3 that can block your attacks might make you apply at your local kill shelter. They are some of the most annoying fucking enemies in a game, ever. Miyazaki only wishes his games could have dog enemies this irritating.
That's all I 've got. it's a very simple game, and I love it for that! No extraneous bells and whilstles, just Shinobi brilliance.
It never manages to with the aerial combat though, which despite hours testing it out and figuring out how Hotsuma can reset jumps, nothing ever felt consistent or good to do. While Nightshade had very clear rules on how Hibana could deal with enemies in air, Hotsuma feels more rigid and inflexible in this regard, making stages like 6-A absolute nightmares whereas in Nightshade they would have been highlights. Having the kick be a directional move also is a massive pain-in-the-ass as the camera can often make inputs like that difficult to pull-off in the moment. While I think Shinobi tests the player on different skill-sets than Nightshade does, i felt like Nightshade better gave me the means to pass the test.
The level design in general is nothing special, the bosses are middling and the controls feel really stiff, with a lock-on that is just never on the same page as you. What is there to like about this game?
Style, really. The TATE sequences, Hotsuma's incredibly long scarf, the brooding and dramatic narrative, and the brilliant music are what kept me motivated to play this to the end. The design of Hotsuma is fantastic, and maneuvering through dudes to drum'n'bass is always a hook I'll fall right into. Hotsuma looks impossibley cool all of the time and animates stunningly, as I could watch him just stand there with his arms folded for hours.
While Nightshade is a game I adore and love, Shinobi is only a game I can like strongly. It's worth playing on an emulator with save states; I could not in a million years recommend you try something this punitive with its checkpoints on original hardware. Also note the American release excises Easy mode entirely, which is very odd as I think this game needs a mode just for on-boarding as the actual game is not interested in teaching you shit like that. The downside of THAT though is that the whole appeal of Shinobi is the difficulty, so stripping that from it renders the game rather non-descript. So, what the fuck.
I will warn you though, that if you aren't very fond of dogs, the dog enemies in chapter 3 that can block your attacks might make you apply at your local kill shelter. They are some of the most annoying fucking enemies in a game, ever. Miyazaki only wishes his games could have dog enemies this irritating.
That's all I 've got. it's a very simple game, and I love it for that! No extraneous bells and whilstles, just Shinobi brilliance.
Spoony will never see the gates of Heaven for how he treated this game.
One of my all-time favorites, the peak of FMV adventure games in one of the weirdest, most fucked up packages. The acting on display is actually above and beyond what you expect from FMV games, and compared to Phantasmagoria 1's incredible display of the stupidest people of al time, Phantasmagoria 2 is entertaining from start to finish, and the endgame is a SLAM DUNK winner.
This game rules, Curtis is one of the top 10 best gaming protagonists, Blob Gang Rise Up.
One of my all-time favorites, the peak of FMV adventure games in one of the weirdest, most fucked up packages. The acting on display is actually above and beyond what you expect from FMV games, and compared to Phantasmagoria 1's incredible display of the stupidest people of al time, Phantasmagoria 2 is entertaining from start to finish, and the endgame is a SLAM DUNK winner.
This game rules, Curtis is one of the top 10 best gaming protagonists, Blob Gang Rise Up.
1994
One of my most beloved games from when I was a kid, that on every replay I find something new that I don't like about it. It was animated by a virulent transphobe with nasty fucking nails and Tommy Tallarico regularly lies about having composed the music for it when he absolutely did not. Nice stuff!!
I want to preface it right now, on the Genesis this is a 2 STAR GAME. The PC/Sega CD versions I think are 3 stars for many technical reasons and for having the very fun Big Bruty level.
The Genesis version though kind of SUCKS. It's not because EWJ is already an incredibly uneven game, but because the whip has the most particular hitbox you could imagine, requiring precision that really feels unnecessarily strict. The helicopter head never ever feels like it works right, and makes the Use Your Head portion of the final level nearly fucking impossible. The Genesis version plays so bad that I can see why it being readily available on Switch, along with its insipid creator has lead to people turning HARD on Jim.
The Sega CD version still doesn't play perfect, because at its heart Earthworm Jim is still kind of a mess, but I still think it's light years better than Earthworm Jim 2, which is a game that experiments with every level being the bad level. Tube Race and Snot a Problem are the only levels here that I think are just so shit that it brings the experience down. I think For Pete's Sake is pretty fun actually :)
Levels that are pure platforming challenges are usually pretty fun, with a huge asterisk, as sometimes Jim just doesn't control great or his sprite feels a little bit bigger than it needs to be, but I still think New Junk City, Level 5, and Buttville provide good enough platforming challenges. I am a biased observer though, as I really don't care about most 2D games and would rather playing Earthworm Jim than any boring ass Mega Man game, so take my words with a grain of salt.
The music is great though! It was absolutely not composed by Tallarico, despite his insistence it was. I doubt the Special Edition music was even done by him, even the guitars, as he pretty infamously plays to a backing track with VGL. Can he even play guitar? No one knows! Notice how EWJ2 is credited to him and half of it is music he didn't even compose? Weird, huh. I did listen to the music here a TON growing up, and still think it's brilliant stuff.
What this game is rightfully famous for is the animation, character design, all of it being REALLY great looking. The various Jim idle animations, the way Evil the Cat's gun knocks him back during his boss fight, and, even though it stinks to play, the animations in Snot a Problem are so beautifully done. It's a shame the most annoying piece of shit was behind these!
This game is so hard to go back to today for reasons that honestly don't have much to do with the actual game: it's an eccentric 90s platformer, not much to write home about. The fact that it's attached to the hip to the legacies of the most irritating fucking losers is really brutal. Still worth a shot on the Sega CD or PC, as the Genesis version is too clunky to even recommend casually.
I want to preface it right now, on the Genesis this is a 2 STAR GAME. The PC/Sega CD versions I think are 3 stars for many technical reasons and for having the very fun Big Bruty level.
The Genesis version though kind of SUCKS. It's not because EWJ is already an incredibly uneven game, but because the whip has the most particular hitbox you could imagine, requiring precision that really feels unnecessarily strict. The helicopter head never ever feels like it works right, and makes the Use Your Head portion of the final level nearly fucking impossible. The Genesis version plays so bad that I can see why it being readily available on Switch, along with its insipid creator has lead to people turning HARD on Jim.
The Sega CD version still doesn't play perfect, because at its heart Earthworm Jim is still kind of a mess, but I still think it's light years better than Earthworm Jim 2, which is a game that experiments with every level being the bad level. Tube Race and Snot a Problem are the only levels here that I think are just so shit that it brings the experience down. I think For Pete's Sake is pretty fun actually :)
Levels that are pure platforming challenges are usually pretty fun, with a huge asterisk, as sometimes Jim just doesn't control great or his sprite feels a little bit bigger than it needs to be, but I still think New Junk City, Level 5, and Buttville provide good enough platforming challenges. I am a biased observer though, as I really don't care about most 2D games and would rather playing Earthworm Jim than any boring ass Mega Man game, so take my words with a grain of salt.
The music is great though! It was absolutely not composed by Tallarico, despite his insistence it was. I doubt the Special Edition music was even done by him, even the guitars, as he pretty infamously plays to a backing track with VGL. Can he even play guitar? No one knows! Notice how EWJ2 is credited to him and half of it is music he didn't even compose? Weird, huh. I did listen to the music here a TON growing up, and still think it's brilliant stuff.
What this game is rightfully famous for is the animation, character design, all of it being REALLY great looking. The various Jim idle animations, the way Evil the Cat's gun knocks him back during his boss fight, and, even though it stinks to play, the animations in Snot a Problem are so beautifully done. It's a shame the most annoying piece of shit was behind these!
This game is so hard to go back to today for reasons that honestly don't have much to do with the actual game: it's an eccentric 90s platformer, not much to write home about. The fact that it's attached to the hip to the legacies of the most irritating fucking losers is really brutal. Still worth a shot on the Sega CD or PC, as the Genesis version is too clunky to even recommend casually.
1995
The good levels are better than EWJ1, but the bad levels are so bad that I think someone should actually be punished for them. Whoever came up with Puppy Love and determined it needed 3 rounds? I want that guy killed, clean shot. Level Ate consantly bombarding you with enemies and salt shakers? The Iron Maiden. The sick fucking monster who brought in the Flyin' King? The Baptist Hell. Suffer endlessly.
I want to rate this higher than Earthworm Jim 1 because there is stuff I love here: the animation is even better and more expressive, the game actually makes me laugh pretty consistently, it's pretty funny! The good levels like Udderly Abducted, Tangerines, Lorenzo's Soil, and Jim Is A Blind Cave Salamander are actually FUN and have INTERESTING GIMMICKS. But the rotten is like a limb blackened by frostbite, functionless and chipping off before your very eyes, and the only thing we need to do is get it to a hospital so amputation can happen.
A game that would gain more stars if content was actively REMOVED. Puppy Love is T.E.R.R.I.B.L.E. I cannot stand by For Pete's Sake being slandered while this nightmare is given a slap on the wrist. The fucking marshmallow you have to bounce the puppies off of has the most inconsistent hitbox in a game loaded with them by a company who is bad at them. It is a level so bad that I actively encourage cheating. If something fucking stinks: cheat. Don't feel bad about it, if it sucks, skip it. Under no circumstance should you beat Puppy Love how they actually intended, because they intended you to be a gaming God who can nail frame precise movements like you are fucking Simple Flips. You are not. I am not. Skip the shitty level.
Love this music though! It's known that Tommy Tallarico did not compose any actual music in his fucking life, and he especially didn't come up with any of the really great original music here. I highly doubt he even had the inspired choice to put Moonlight Sonata in the Salamnder level. It's a very fun soundtrack that once again has its name attached to a ding dong. Can't win with this franchise!
What I suggest is attributing every bad decision to Doug, notorious shithead. Puppy Love? His idea. Flyin' King? He programmed all of it! Level Ate? He wanted MORE Salt shakers! The game goes down so much easier once you do this.
I want to rate this higher than Earthworm Jim 1 because there is stuff I love here: the animation is even better and more expressive, the game actually makes me laugh pretty consistently, it's pretty funny! The good levels like Udderly Abducted, Tangerines, Lorenzo's Soil, and Jim Is A Blind Cave Salamander are actually FUN and have INTERESTING GIMMICKS. But the rotten is like a limb blackened by frostbite, functionless and chipping off before your very eyes, and the only thing we need to do is get it to a hospital so amputation can happen.
A game that would gain more stars if content was actively REMOVED. Puppy Love is T.E.R.R.I.B.L.E. I cannot stand by For Pete's Sake being slandered while this nightmare is given a slap on the wrist. The fucking marshmallow you have to bounce the puppies off of has the most inconsistent hitbox in a game loaded with them by a company who is bad at them. It is a level so bad that I actively encourage cheating. If something fucking stinks: cheat. Don't feel bad about it, if it sucks, skip it. Under no circumstance should you beat Puppy Love how they actually intended, because they intended you to be a gaming God who can nail frame precise movements like you are fucking Simple Flips. You are not. I am not. Skip the shitty level.
Love this music though! It's known that Tommy Tallarico did not compose any actual music in his fucking life, and he especially didn't come up with any of the really great original music here. I highly doubt he even had the inspired choice to put Moonlight Sonata in the Salamnder level. It's a very fun soundtrack that once again has its name attached to a ding dong. Can't win with this franchise!
What I suggest is attributing every bad decision to Doug, notorious shithead. Puppy Love? His idea. Flyin' King? He programmed all of it! Level Ate? He wanted MORE Salt shakers! The game goes down so much easier once you do this.