1994
2008
2005
2013
i absolutely fucking hate AAA design sensibilities. I hate unskippable cutscenes disguised as gameplay, I hate rote narratives that feel engineered to win GOTY, and I hate zombies. But damn, this game is amazing. It's that ending really, it's perfect. It makes everything click into place. This one is actually worth the hype.
2005
When you play a game this stylish, this creative, and this smart, you start to get pissed off when other games aren't like it. When a game has a way-too-long walking and talking segment or a dumbass crafting system, your mind will wander to an adventure game rail shooter where you can play a luchador that discusses the divide of east and west and think, "hmm, wouldn't it be cool if all games were amazing."
2001
Far from perfect, but there is just something about this game I love to pieces. The way Konoko is drawn differently in every single portrait, like 10 different artists worked on this game, the badass early 2000s electronic score, and the near flawless animation in the combat, this game could have been a true bonafide classic if Devil May Cry had come out during development. All this game is missing was something to take inspiration from and I feel like a style meter would have been huge for Oni.
2022
Potentially one of the best games of all time, until some Joker on the development team said "combat mechanics." the combat is so cumbersome and time-consuming that it brings a nearly perfect game down with it, but then you get a joyous wall-running section or hear Farah and the Prince's snappy, excellent dialogue and you say, "ah, I can stomach ONE MORE combat encounter for this."
2005
2003
yeah the writing is irritating, which is weird because NT usually do good work on a writing front. but that's kind of talked about to death. i think the game is fine, it felt hamstrung having to run on the then geriatric 360/PS3 hardware, but on the Xbone and PS4 there's a lot to like here. visual style and presentation is great and the platforming segments are wayyyy better than the mainline games.
2003
2008
it's bizarre to me how capcom zeroes in on the worst aspects of DMC and just goes forward with them. more jumping puzzles, more enemies that are boring as shit to fight, the DICE GAME, WHAT THE FUCK??? It's a beautiful game with a lot going for it, but I just don't understand why their design principle for this series is "prevent the player from doing fun stuff and instead have them do annoying shit."
when people talk about this game, i feel like they are talking about the first few missions and vergil fights, which are showstoppers. the game opens and finishes so magnificently it's easy to forget how everything in the middle is a slog. the stupid ass chess pieces, dumbass bird enemies, and god forsaken jumping puzzles make plaything through this game a death march to the Good Parts.