There's only two words to describe this game;

Catgirl lesbian.

But more seriously, it's a masterpiece of RPG mechanics and story, alongside gameplay that mixes real-time combat with turn-based.

It blows Morrowind out of the water in accessibility, at least.

So going into this game, this is probably the Metal Gear I was least nostalgic for/excited to replay. I do love all these games, so much, but for whatever reason MGS 2 doesn't have that same pull for me, despite being an obviously incredible game. After my replay, I can't say too much has changed, but it's clear that this is still an utter masterpiece.

The story is so so far ahead of it's time here, and that's been talked about to death. The early twist in this game is one of the best ever done, and it still makes me mad how upset "gamers" got about it (and would again get angry later in TLOU2 over it. Gamers do NOT like being fooled)

Raiden is awesome, Snake is awesome, all the characters are so great. The soundtrack in this game is phenomenal just heater after heater.

So what makes this not a 5/5 for me unlike the other MGS games (besides V?). I think for me, the only thing holding me back here is a couple of things. My nostalgia for some of the other games plays a huge part, but I also feel like the setting is one of the weakest in the series. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's still very good, but compared to shadow Moses and the jungle, I just enjoy this setting a little less, and that's really the only knock I have on this masterpiece of a game otherwise.

Kojima is a creator who is much discussed, but MGS has made him the GOAT. God I fucking love these games.

Totally did not have my save wiped randomly after putting 70 hours into this and watch a playthrough for the rest of the game. Definitely did not happen at all...

Anyways, Persona 3 is a classic and many people have already written in length on the greatness of this title and its impact for the series going forward. The cast is amazing, the battle system still feels good to this day, the music is peak 2000s J-pop and Hip Hop edge, and atmosphere and central narrative is brilliantly dense and oppressive, and stands as the strongest in the entire series for me personally. Hyped to experience this world and Tartarus again in Reload in a few months.

god i want to like this game so much more but i just cant. i love 2 and 3, and so was looking forward to this one but im a bit disappointed by it. i found it extremely frustrating, and not in a way which made it more scary or anything like that.

the entire second half is an obnoxious escort mission with a girl who has all the AI intelligence of a spoon combined with you basically just revisiting areas that youve already seen in the first half over again. but now you have a handicap. whoopee.

enemies arent nearly as frightening or symbolic as they are in the other games (twin victims are pants shitting and very tragic tho, gj there lads). fuck the ghosts, such a consistent annoyance to deal with. the levels are kinda cool, but constantly going back and forth between them and the room isnt that great. storywise, its just a generic serial killer plot with elements of the silent hill cult kinda taped onto it. bit of a let down after the beautiful emotional potency of 2 and the legitimately terrifying coming-of-age of 3. the characters in this story are ok, and henry is a particularly relatable protagonist. theres a bunch of bells and whistles attached to the inventory system making inventory management a nightmare, plus the weird ass advanced combat system feels a bit out of place. if nothing else, i respect team silent for experimenting.

ok enough negativity, i think the concept of the room is really cool. watching it slowly change over time from a safe haven to a nightmare is legitimately really disturbing. its especially relatable after lockdown, good grief. because i liked the characters, i found the good ending a very pleasant reward for what is otherwise such a disheartening game. the bad end is also particularly depressing.

graphically SH4 looks amazing, and the soundtrack is also great, although not including the full version of tender sugar is a crime. general sound design is noticeably a lot quieter than other entries which i appreciate. big fan of how the room ties into certain puzzles, too. although such things are criminally underused.

in conclusion i kinda feel torn, because there is a lot to like here, but at the same time i think if SH4 didnt have the silent hill name attached it would be kinda forgotten about and not as critically acclaimed.

i know this game was not quite the vision team silent wanted to release, and we can only blame konami for that. i suppose the take away from this game and silent hill in general is screw konami. hard.

A really charming an creative entry in the Mario Bros series. The Wonder Effects and the three new Power-Ups really mixed things up, and provided many surprises throughout the game. The new animations, Sound Effects and jingles are incredibly charming and were honestly neccessary after seeing how soulles the "New" series had become after a while. The world/level themes were at leas a little bid more creative than in the previous games, but I still don't understand why some world were so much shorter than others. The badges were really fun to use as well, they definitely add lots of replayability. However, the game felt a little too short for my tastes, especially for a full price game (still better than Sonic tho, lol) and some of the Wonder Effects were a little repetitive and/or underwhelming at times.
All in all, I enjoyed my (short) time with the game, and I will probably come back to it sooner or later. It's not a masterpiece, it has serveral flaws, but it's still REALLY appreciated after the drought of original 2D Mario Games.

I don't think I can truly rate this game. I love it but it has so many flaws. This was my first MGS game, I was 11, and the whole world opened up to me about games being more than just a quick pastime (also played this at the same time as Kingdom Hearts). After playing about 10 or so hours in, I went back and discovered the older games and bought them all immediately. This game made me feel something I never really had before. Sorry for waxing but before this I never really saw games as art. I also played undertale at the same time, that might've helped too.