Creative, ambitious, fresh, and unique. At the same time, clunky, glitchy, and not so fine-tuned. Crash Twinsanity brings a lot of new ideas to the table for the Crash Bandicoot series, such as an open world setting with collectibles to find. In hindsight, it seems inevitable for the series to go in this direction but this game was the first to do it, and it does it well. I love that this game is focused primarily on the story and the gameplay is based around that. The settings/level themes in this game are lovely to see - a fully explorable N Sanity Island, the iceberg labs, N Gin's ship, and all of the Evil Academy, as well as Twinsanity Island. Almost all of the settings in this game are top notch. The level design, art direction, and great music coalesce into an experience that was just extremely enjoyable. The bosses are great: not particularly challenging, but creative and enjoyable. The final level along with the boss are very memorable and a tough but great ending to the game. As a long time Crash fan, I had not played this game until now, so I have no nostalgic connection to it. After seeing how safe Wrath of Cortex played it, Twinsanity is a breath of fresh air. The controls are good, most of the time. There are instances where too much precision is required for how imprecise the controls are (the rolling ball puzzles, cortex-boarding sections, etc.), but it does not affect most of the experience. What does affect the experience are the glitches that run rampant in this game. This game was completely rushed out the door which is why this game is either loved or hated. I personally am willing to look past the glitches and general jank that the game provides, but it was definitely there. That being said, this game was such a good direction to bring the franchise into. It is truly a shame it couldn't live up to its potential due to its rushed development. I am willing to appreciate what's here and admire the ambition and passion displayed by the developers.

Red Dead Redemption is quality from start to finish. The story of John Marston is complicated but sympathetic, and I was constantly driven to find out what happened next. This game is a true wild west fantasy. The environment and the atmosphere contribute to the open world being a joy to explore, and I appreciate that various missions sent you to different areas of the world to introduce those different environments to you. The gunplay feels snappy and responsive, and it is just fun to ride around your horse and explore the wild west. You can run into a stranger asking for your help, save somebody from a group of bandits, or help a lawman with runaway prisoners. There are many different opportunities and events that present themselves in the environment and it is just a blast to see them all. The variety of weapons have a different feel to them and each serve a different application. Running through the missions and blasting outlaws is fun because of how satisfying the gun combat is. Red Dead Redemption released 14 years ago, and playing it now for the first time was a wonderful experience. I did not expect this game to hold up so well. It is truly a classic and should be played by everyone at one point or another.

For what it is, Guardians of the Galaxy is a solid game. The combat is fun, fast paced, and stylistic. However, it lacks much depth and can grow stale by the end of the playthrough. The story in this game is probably the best part about it. There is a lot of detail put into these characters and they do not get along with each other well. The tension between them is palpable. Later in the game, however, after going through hard times together, the team learns to work together and value each other's company. There is a very simple mechanic where you can control characters to do basic commands in sequences between combat. At the beginning of the game, you have to command each team member to do each of these actions, but by the end of the game the team members will mostly do them by themselves, showing how the team has grown and how they can work together. Graphics in this game are absolutely phenomenal, it looks incredible on PS5. Environments are vibrant, colorful, and very deeply uniquely detailed. The licensed music was absolutely appreciated as it is not very common in modern games, and this game has quite a few licensed tracks. Overall, just a very solid experience with a great story and beautiful graphics/art direction.