"people shit on the library mission all the time, but they forget that the rest of the game is designed just as terribly"
~someone who didn't know shit about shit (2020)

i've been a halo fan for nearly my entire life, but the earliest memories i have of combat evolved are hazy at best. in reality, i am a halo 3 diehard and that game has been the benchmark i've used to judge the series by since 2007

such was the mentality i carried into CE's 2011 anniversary release, where i not only completely misunderstood its level design, but also willingly botched its incredible visuals via the god forsaken toggle for 343's flashlight-phobic and all-around heinously unfaithful overhaul

where halo 3 boasts a wide range of vibrant landscapes and fast-paced, mostly bite-sized levels, CE takes a slower, more methodical and surprisingly tactical approach to shooting (mostly because meleeing isn't as useful as it would later become). stages are designed less around their geometry and more their enemies - all of which are competent foes that pose reasonable threats, especially on legendary, which i feel is the best and only difficulty that demands a solid grasp of the game's mechanics and highlights how useful every weapon really is

the assault rifle particularly gets a lot of undeserved flak. it's a real piece of shit if you just spray and pray, but if you know how to manage your recoil (i.e. tapping the trigger in bursts) it becomes a nigh invaluable midrange tool that can effortlessly dispose of anything that isn't shielded. and when you can keep elites busy dodging grenades (which should be simple, because you usually have 8 of them stocked) it's pretty effective on them as well

and regarding the elephant in the room that is "the library": y'all are still babies. how can you be upset about the stage that finally allows you to use a shotgun nonstop?! the flood are some of the most fun to fight enemies in any shooter, the weapon selection they offer is infinite, and yet you're upset that the halls are same-y in a game where all of the halls are same-y?? are you fucking mad?!?!

that last remark isn't a slight towards the stages at large, either. in fact, i find myself commending levels i've previously bitched about vehemently - most notably "assault on the control room" and its counterpart "two betrayals". the fuck was i even thinking before? one variant is purely ground-based and the other spends half its duration in the air. that's not even mentioning the completely remixed enemy variety or how differently paced the two missions are altogether

oh yeah - cool narrative too. it's simple, but still very interesting especially after completing the marathon trilogy and knowing how similar the two franchises are; right down to details like the flood initially being a scrapped concept from marathon 2 and the forerunners being very similar to the jjaro in general

anyway, very good game. 3's still better though!

What Silent Hill does so well that I feel most horror media didn’t around the same time, was create a genuinely disturbing and memorable atmosphere.

Too many times in the 90s, horror media was all B tier blood and guts gory bullshit that didn’t leave an actual impact on you as the viewer. When a game can take what movies with higher budgets are attempting to do, and turn it into something I feel is top of the line in that category, it’s truly something special.

You will not find a plethora of cheap jump scares to make you squeal, but rather area after area of images and sounds that will bother something inside of you. A lot of the time during my play through, I would hesitantly go through a door or up a flight of stairs, worried the next images I am about to see are going to stick with me even more than the last.

I love psychological horror themes, often creating a sense of dread within your own mind rather than worrying only for Harry.

Even the slow movements and fixed camera compliment the tension while trying to escape as quickly as you can. It’s almost as if Toyama knew how the average Joe would respond to being in this type of situation.

Honestly the only thing here I’m not too fond of is how slow some of the melee attacks can be, considering a large portion of the in between areas encourage you to use them.

Nevertheless, Silent Hill is what more horror media should strive to be. 9/10.

This is THE definitive extreme sports game. Everything you could want is right here. Larger than life characters. Incredible, intense speed. Pulsing, blood-pumping music. Smooth, addictive gameplay. Flashy courses with monstrous drops and BIG air. Out of this world presentation & charm. Some of the highest levels of spectacle in a game. It's got it all. It's got it ALL.

Now if you played the original SSX in 2000 you may at first think that the game's returning characters, soundtrack and maps make it just a slight upgrade, but no. No, no no no. The characters have a mountain's worth of personality added, as well as a slew of new characters to check out (my favorites are both newcomers: Eddie and Psymon). There is a new "rival" system where each character has preset friends and enemies, and can improve or worsen relationships by how you interact with them in matches. The maps have all been updated with significantly better design decisions, as well as the new stages, the fantastic Garibaldi and Alaska maps, giving a solid beginning and ending to the newly improved World Circuit. These additions make a definitive version of this game; a perfect first taste for Gamecube and Xbox compared to the PS2-exclusive original.

But despite all these great additions, there is one thing that sets it far apart: a new mechanic that set the standard for every SSX game that followed, and wished it could top. This game's true crowning jewel is in it's name. "Tricky".

The already-ingenious boost/trick system is taken to lengths far above your wildest dreams with the new Tricky meter. Like the original game, when you do tricks you gain more boost energy, which incentivizes doing tricks and getting big air during races. But now when the boost is maxed out, the Tricky meter lights up and Run DMC's "It's Tricky" begins to play. Now you can do "UBER Tricks", granting you access to some of the most insane shit you've ever seen, before or after, fiction or non-fiction. Your character will take the board off of their feet and do things you never knew could be done with a snowboard. These tricks, as flashy and intense as they are, are not easy to pull off as they need to be timed just right and let their animations play out before you land, or else you bail. But when you time it right, you get the game yelling "TRICKAYYY HUH!" and a letter added to the word "Tricky" above the boost meter. When you do enough tricks to spell the whole word, you now have infinite boost meter and can speed your way to victory. Btw, every character has a signature trick, so you're gonna want to check them all out and master every character. You won't regret it either; every signature trick is specialized to accentuate each character's loud personality. IE, Eddie does the worm on his like he's at a disco party, and Psymon spins the board around his neck like a maniac. It's fucking glorious.

SSX Tricky does basically everything right. It's a triumph, it's a party, it's a hit, it's in-your-face, and it's a banger. It's the cream of the crop of extreme sports games, and most games in general should bow to it. No one does it like Tricky.

Tricky's only real flaws are as follows:
1. The rail detection when grinding is spotty (improved in the sequels)
2. You WILL want more of it's whole thing specifically but unfortunately the game ends (not improved in the sequels)
3. EA refuses to remake/rerelease it (fuck EA) or do anything with the SSX franchise at all (do I need to say it again)

Do not shy away. Play this game as frequently as possible. Then as it becomes easier for you, play this game once a day, or as needed. This perscription's my recital. I think it's very vital. To rock (a rhyme) that's right (on time) it's TRICKY ITS-HUH-HUH HERE WE GO