Don't hate me but, for me, it's the most inconsistent game of the original Team Silent run.
To start with some of it's many strengths, it's the best looking PS2 game I've ever played. The character models, monster and level designs and overall physics are highly impressive and ahead of their time. The atmosphere, particularly of the first title, is stronger here than ever. The game also boasts one of the franchise's scariest moments, involving a very particular mirror.

Some people's criticism comes from the fact that it takes half a game to actually get to the town of Silent Hill. But I would say the best half is the first, set at a shopping mall. The game's protagonist, Heather, is one of the most emotive and likeable in the series. The theme of transitioning into female adulthood is distinct in the design of this first half, as Heather battles monsters, some skinny, some overweight, phallic, bloody, long-legged and so on, through a shopping mall of various shops she no doubt visited in her teenage years. In the same way James of SH2 battles with his guilt and sexual frustration, Heather battles with body image, menstruation and emotional maturity.
The initial themes shift and arguably the game becomes less compelling when the second half becomes a straight revenge story, although there are some interesting points about the town's cult anticipating Heather's arranged birthing of god. There are even moments where Heather revisits some of the same locations from SH2, and as wonderful as they are, they go on for too long due to our familiarity. It also rehashes a boss battle from the first game, and is just as frustrating.
Regardless of the mixed feelings I have of the game, there's a lot to appreciate and it is still several tiers above even the best of the post-Team-Silent games.

Games about childhood are a dime a dozen but they tend to be focused on approaching childhood from a distinctly adult perspective. They're often ponderous, melancholic affairs about looking back at ages lost to time. It's a valid perspective and one I like to indulge in myself as a reasonably aged raisin.

Knights and Bikes takes a different approach and instead portrays growing up from the ground floor. Because when you're there, which is rarely ponderous or sombre, even in the darkest times. It's a game truly about play in a sense that feels oddly uncommon in video games. Not about playing to win or reach a conclusion, but play as a purely social activity.

You know when you were little and with your friends and someone suddenly shouts "first one to that lamp post wins!" and you all instinctly dart towards it like your life depended on it. That's the kind of play Knights and Bikes is built on.

I'm having a hard time thinking of any game that has managed to capture that exact friendship dynamic as well. Nor any game that so accurately portrays how enormous every aspect of life seems when you're that young, and how isolated you are from the adult world and the many terrifying unadventures it contains. At least we can always look back, remember, and relive.

The iconic rats are back, in a sequel that feels mostly like an extension of the first game’s plot and gameplay, albeit bigger, scarier and even more emotionally charged.

In much the same way that A Plague Tale: Innocence goes for that Last of Us movie-game drama feel, Requiem also favours the sparky sense of adventure of Uncharted, particularly in its mid-section. The game’s warmer moments and those of utter despair are better balanced, with each character given more defined emotions and inner conflicts, particularly the main heroes Amicia and Hugo. The writing of the characters has also improved: Hugo is somehow less annoying than before; there’s a real sense that the siblings are going through their own personal hell in finding peace amidst apocalyptic rat-riddled cities under control of imperial tyrants.

Innocence’s strengths are improved even further here. The puzzles of navigating hordes of rats manage to evoke similar feelings of dread and disgust while also being fun and constantly inventive - not only are they different enough from the first game, but adapt in interesting ways over the course of this one. The player is also given different possible methods of getting past rats and enemy soldiers alike, allowing a great deal of freedom, although some stealth sequences can be frustratingly tricky, leading to a simple rush through the map. Still, the level design is as beautiful as ever, encouraging the player to explore impressively vast stretches of land one minute, then struggle their way out of a nightmarishly endless cavern of those gooey rodent bastards the next.

Whilst the plot is engaging throughout, I’m unfortunately one of those people who found the ending, which I won’t spoil, to be underwhelming. The third act in general, while indeed fun to play, feels muddled and rushed in comparison to almost expert build up in the first two thirds. After hours of character development, the ending ultimately feels unjustified and… abrupt! Perhaps it’s the intention of the game to have that effect on the player, but I’d argue it doesn’t work in the same way as something like The Last of Us Part II.

That said, and it may not be too dissimilar from its predecessor and other games in its genre, but A Plague Tale: Requiem ranks as one of the most polished horror adventure titles in recent years, with moments both chilling and moving. It’s also quite an achievement to make something so incredibly bleak so fun and engaging to play.

I always feel these artsy indie type side scrolling relaxing platformers should be right up my street. Yet they never quite actually do it for me. I feel they are always missing something, and each one it's a different key ingredient needed to make it actually shine as much as the art and music tells me they should.

Hoa certainly nails presentation. The game is gorgeous with a great use of vivid greens, blues and other primary colours and the general art design is reminiscent of Studio Ghibli at times. Like a mixture of Laputa Castle in the Sky and Ponyo maybe? It does have an odd freeze or hitch sometimes when text appears or moving areas but not a big deal. The music is nearly all piano melodies but they are gorgeous and don't wear out their welcome unlike Squaresoft's RPG I am Setsuna.

I was enjoying a lot of the game even if it was a bit repetitive. Go to an area, explore by mostly jumping and collect 5 butterfly's to get a new move to progress to the next area and repeat. It was simple and relaxing and sometimes in the evening that's what I want. Not something that's going to take to much effort to play, just something that's generally pleasant. Unfortunately at the end Hoa just fumbles the ball and faceplates bashing out it's teeth and it's just really weird to me. There is a long sequence that should have been playable but isn't that goes on for too long but ok fine. However the last level following that is like every video game cardinal sin. Dream sequence? Check. Reverse controls? Check. Upside down sequence? Check. Reusing earlier game assets for padding? Check. Honestly it's awful and the actual ending felt extremely unsatisfying to boot.

The ending was either just pretentious, they didn't really have a full story plan or had to wrap up for budget. I'm not sure but in the end I finished feeling just...disappointed by it all.

+ Gorgeous artwork and use of colour.
+ Lovely piano tracks.
+ Generally easy going mostly.

- Has a weird hitch / freeze when transitioning screens or into text.
- Ending sequence is just awful.

The first Entropy: Zero was a fun but flawed experience. This sequel is so much polished and better paced. The level design is excellent, with interesting encounters and great art direction.
They've nailed the HL aesthetic. The HL lore is used in a very interesting way. All the creatures, items and locations seem to fit well in this universe. They've added a lot of creatures from Xen compared to the original HL2 which is fun.
Combats feel more punchy than the original game, and all the new weapon animations are great. There is also a new grenade with an interesting concept.
Puzzles are also interesting but not too difficult or repetitive/annoying to solve. (Not like the 50 cable puzzles in Black Mesa Xen for example).
The writing is also surprisingly good. At first it's a bit weird to have a talking protagonist in a HL experience, but the dialogue between 3650 and Wilson is fun and touching. 3650 seems like a standard asshole character at first, but we keep learning about his struggle and feelings towards the adventure. The voice acting is also pretty good, I was surprised that it was not actors but the developers themselves.
Took me around 7 hours to finish. It even has a great soundtrack and achievements. It's mind-blowing that it's free.

It can be both a strength and a weakness when a horror game is just too fucking scary. Nun Massacre is absolutely one of these.

As with many Puppet Combo classics, Nun Massacre can be completed in much less than an hour. But for some, myself included, it can take days, weeks, maybe months to find the courage to search the halls of the boarding school of your ill-fallen daughter, only to encounter the pants-shittingly frightening Nun character.

There’s no music in the game except the retro title screen and some of the nastiest, most ear-piercing metallic clashes and screams when the Nun finds you - it was almost enough to give me severe heart attacks! The sensory assault of terror and stressfully drawn out puzzles can be off-putting to anyone who isn’t already a dedicated horror pervert. Whilst the game can be less violent than prior Puppet games, the Grindhouse nastiness is as strong as ever, mainly in the disturbing notes left by the absent children, details of physical abuse to the point soiling oneself, it’s hardly any wonder.

Although the many endings you get can be generally underwhelming - well, how can you cleanly round off such a horrible nightmare anyway? - Nun Massacre is a real gem for those who want to be genuinely terrified, with some brilliantly old-school puzzles and hide-and-seek gameplay. Wouldn’t recommend for the faint-hearted.

I really enjoyed my time with Man of Medan but there is one thing that constantly went through my head; Juxtaposition.

Let me explain, this game is gorgeous, great looking environments and character models in atmospheric settings. The camera angles are obviously designed for a cinematic claustrophobic feeling setting up the feeling of dread and scares. This is entirely ruined by the terrible animations and controls, sometimes to hilarious effect. As an example fairly early in the game when walking down some hollow metal stairs the camera swoops down slowly behind the stairs watching your feet walk down them and giving a narrow view down a corridor. It's an angle I've seen films use before and the effect was really nice. The illusion is shattered like a glass hitting a wall though as my friend and I struggle to control our wooden walking puppet characters as they bump into each other and scenery as walking along even in a straight line felt like a constant battle. Sometimes it was like aliens had taken control of humans and weren't used to their bodies having so few limbs. Characters would stop sometimes for no reason, turning felt like trying to drive a T-34 tank and it generally felt like a cumbersome mess to actually play

A shame really, I like a lot of what this game does otherwise. The story is actually pretty well done with some interesting jump scares and revelations though I had figured out what was happening very early into the game due to one of my favorite TV shows from the 80's using a similar idea. It's actually based on a supposedly real ship and situation though its a bit sketchy on details how true the events are. Don't look it up until you finish the game as it will spoil it but a fascinating tale.

I played it through in co-op a few times with a friend and seeing the characters expressions every time we were making a decision was never not hilarious. The sudden silence, eyes darting around with a look as if they just realized they left their front door open before they went out never got old. Speaking of the co-op, it's got some really cool moments where you split up controlling different characters exploring different areas then re-meeting up again with decisions you make effecting how the story plays out and who lives and dies. The game wasn't hugely stable for us playing online though, had a few disconnections, bugs, glitches and crashes here and there sadly.

It's pretty short but with fairly decent replay value, collectables, endings and some making of documentaries attached. We are definitely interested in the others in the series as I hear they get better from here, and this one was pretty good. Recommend giving it a try.

Edit: So an update was released with a PS5 version but included a whole new ending, improved UI and other changes. The UI and difficulty options are good, as is the new ending and faster walking speed. It's still full of bugs though. The update introduced an infinite loading screen stopping movie night working and wiped game saves. Absolute mess.

+ Gorgeous visuals.
+ Co-op mode has some neat ideas.
+ Interesting story and atmosphere.

- Characters control like Octodad.
- Quite a few bugs and crashes.

There aren't enough words to describe how great this game is. From the gameplay, to the art, to the music, the story, everything is simply amazing. I'm not exaggerating when I say this could very well be as good as Undertale.
The way the game presents the story is so so good, the music also really helps elevate the feelings the game gives you. From just the second world I was already crying, I could really feel like I lived in that world and what the characters felt too.
Shout-out to the music again, it's amazing. One of the more important things a game has to nail for the emotions to work is the music, and I'm glad to say that its OST checks all the boxes (and the sound effects too!).
The gameplay is also superb. Its not just a quirky indie RPG, it really is inventive and engaging. By the time the game was ending I was already craving for more battles.
All in all, this game has become one of my favorite games of all time, and while it still has its flaws, what it does good does it so well that it overcomes those flaws.
I wish I could play this game blind all over again.

Easily one of the best Half-Life 2 mods out there. I pretty much went into this one blind as I wasn't really following it's development and only played the first one a few days before the release. I was pleasantly surprised by… pretty much everything.

The combat feels very nice, returning weapons feel fresh thanks to nice new animations and sounds, and the few new ones are fun to use. The squad system, while already present in the base Half-Life 2, is much improved here and fits very well with the Combine theme. The ability to kick stuff is also nice, it makes the game faster since you don't need to switch to the crowbar or something to break crates and stuff. It's also super cool that you can use it to disarm rebels and make them surrender. Enemy-wise I really enjoyed seeing some old ones return, and seeing more Xen stuff was super neat. Level design was also cool, especially enjoyed the sections where you have to hold up against waves of enemies.

Without spoiling too much, the story integrates really well into the Half-Life 2 storyline, I especially loved visiting location showed in the previous games.

Also the bonus maps are an okay addition, I enjoyed being able to replay combat encounters with different objectives, even if admittedly some more fun than others.

This review is about the collection as a package rather than the individual games. It's been nearly 10 years since I played this trilogy and it's been an absolute joy being able to relive them. I had forgotten many parts of them and not played all the DLC so having it all in one package? Couldn't be happier.

To start, all 3 games have been enhanced though to varying degrees. Each game plays extremely smoothly now with a near solid 60fps, increased resolution and textures for a really high level of performance and image quality all around. Mass Effect 1 especially had a complete overhaul needing it more than the others with completely new visuals in a lot of areas, improved lighting and the integration of later higher quality models from Mass Effect 3 brought into it. The changes here are frankly, huge. Mass Effect 2 and 3 haven't had quite the same attention though your Shepard character model is at least consistent for all three titles now. There have been other more subtle tweaks to user interface, controls etc. to enhance the overall experience and some slight moments of slow down I experienced in Mass Effect 1 in a couple of places aside they look and play better than they ever have.

The collection has all previously released DLC, mostly. It's missing one smaller piece of content for Mass Effect 1, Pinnacle Station as the source files for that were corrupted after initial release preventing it though it's not key content fortunately. All other DLC content has been included in the package big or small including armour packs, additional characters, weapons and quests supplying a huge amount of additional game.

My only complaints about this collection are that despite the obvious effort put into remastering the games, (which is the important part I fully acknowledge) the overall package feels threadbare on additional content. I would have liked to have seen more museum type extras like other remasters and collections include like concept and character art, a music gallery, history of or interviews with developers. A little disappointing. Additionally Mass Effect 3's multiplayer has been cut from the collection and whilst in most cases I'd be happy about that I seriously loved the co-op mode and would have loved to play through it with friends again.

Small gripes aside, this is the best way to play these three games now visually, performance wise and content wise (mostly). A celebration of one of the best trilogies in gaming. as a collection it could be better but it's a small complaint in what was clearly a surprising amount of effort and the first Electronic Arts game I've bought in literally years.

+ Games look and play brilliantly.
+ Mass Effect 1 improvements especially notable.
+ Nearly all content for the trilogy included in one package.

- Lack of extras.
- No Mass Effect 3 multiplayer.

I had no idea before dipping into the genre this year there were so many shoot 'em ups. Hundreds of them in fact and with that kind of knowledge comes the conclusion that many of these simply won't be very good and this is definitely the case of Galaxy Force II. Judging a very old game in the modern era always feels awkward for me unless I played it at the time as it feels unfair to judge it by modern standards. I simply don't think I'd have liked this even at the time of release however.

I played the Sega Mega Drive version for what it's worth but this just has nothing redeeming about it at all. Really disappointing considering the front cover is such 80s/90s peak sci-fi anime, it's gorgeous. The actual game though is hideous to look at. Sprites are ugly, backgrounds are uninspired, enemies are static and generic. It's a weirdly ugly game considering some of the beautiful titles available on the system.

The game plays like Super Thunder Blade, Space Harrier, Burning Force etc. Where you are flying forward away from the screen. (I never used to like Space Harrier much but have a new found respect for it the more these sort of titles I play in how much better it is than it's competition.) Each level has two parts, a part on a planet, and a part in a 'Fortress'. These sections use these fake squares to give the impression of 3D like you're going through a tunnel in a mixture of two colours. Perhaps it was impressive at the time but it just comes across as bland and ugly 34 years later for the genre it's in.

You only get one life and an energy bar that steadily ticks down like fuel until it runs out. Killing enemies in between level sections builds up an energy store you gain at section finish so to keep going you need to kill enemies is the arcade nature of it's design. The issue is your ship can fire homing rockets with an inconsistent lock on that sometimes does and sometimes doesn't making enemies hard to actually kill. Your ship does auto fire little bullets but as it's straight ahead and the ship handles like a snow plough modified with wings and a rocket booster I don't think I ever hit anything with them. All they did was make a grating 'pew, pew, pew' noise over and over. Speaking of sound, the music is equally bland really. A little irritating and forgettable.

Honestly, this game was awful. Additional half star for the cool cover. Otherwise just play Space Harrier.

+ Cool cover art.

- Ugly visuals.
- Annoying sound design.
- Plays terribly.