Not counting the Nocturnal Missions (which I will eventually also play), I beat this one in a couple hours. Early on I was a little less than impressed, perhaps going from Doom and Doomclones to a predecessor was destined to initially disappoint, at least in technicality, but by the end i'd come away liking this one. The levels feel cramped and the enemies hit a bit too hard, but honestly those felt like positives the more I played. As much as playing this sort of game can be fun as a mindless powering through several hundred enemies, there's something just as satisfying about being more careful, and beating a level with minimal damage taken after sneaking your way around. It just fit the atmosphere of the game. Graphically it's obviously very primitive compared to a lot of the later retro FPS styles that i'd prefer aesthetically, but it was fine enough and I can't say I look to these kinds of games for stunning visual experiences. This did exactly what I needed it to do, and that was let me shoot my way through roughly thirty entertaining maps of enemies with boss fights that are mostly underwhelming. That's the Retro FPS way.

So first of all the Steam version sucks and crashes every time you tab out, but that's by the by. As a game there's a lot to love here, but there's also some significant stuff (mostly one big thing) holding it back somewhat. Obviously the main big points here are the look and gameplay. Lookwise, it's absolutely gorgeous. I'm not really a believer in good graphics being a necessity, but when a game looks this great its hard to deny, both graphically and stylistically very strong stuff. In terms of the gameplay, specifically the freerunning, it's really easy to get to grips with and very fun to get right. When things go well it just flows in a very satisfying way, which is definitely one of the best parts of the game. However, there is an element of gameplay that definitely holds things back, that being the combat. Anytime there's a section with people with guns where you can't just run away it really stunts the game's momentum. I much prefer the freerunner enemies (especially in their initial introduction where you are chased by them through basically a training ground to escape) than just being suddenly ambushed by a bunch of big gun henchmen and forced to fight back. The story is pretty basic, it wasn't really one I invested in at all but it didn't take away from things for me. In fact I think I remembered most of the story beats from watching videos of it about 10 years ago, so none of it came as a big surprise unfortunately. Overall a good, sometimes great game. Disappointing thinking about what happened with this later on, then again, better to just not think about.

More of the same of the main game, which is a good thing, but there are a few things that bring it down somewhat. Obviously the two episodes here don't end with boss fights in the way the main game's three episodes do, instead you end with a fight against multiple prior bosses instead. That, to be fair, is an issue i've had in a lot of games of this type (looking at Doom 64 in particular) but while I get it it's still a bit disappointing. I think the second episode here is the only proper trouble I had finding my way around levels in the whole game too, which is definitely more a thing of my inability than the game being at fault, but it did diminish my experience a tiny bit. Either way, it's a Doom style retro shooter and I like those a lot, and it took about a few hours to beat in total so it wasn't anything I regret. Worth the play if you like Heretic's first three episodes or just like Doom in general.

Only beat the singleplayer, not the multiplayer. There really isn't much to say about such a well-known oft-discussed beloved game like this that hasn't been said a million times already, but i'll go ahead and make a few points that are already overdone anyway. This game's characters have so much personality, much more than its predecessor in which Glados was already an extremely funny and well-done character. In this one she has a whole arc, and we also have more fantastic characters however important (Wheatley) or tertiary (Cave Johnson (I think he was called)) they were to the story, they all felt extremely well written. Also total sidenote, as a big fan of British comedy it's still weird to hear Stephen Merchant trying to be evil, but he's great in this. The puzzles are great stuff too, a lot of very creative additions to how the test chambers worked, loved all the gel stuff as it was both creatively challenging and extremely fun to fuck about with. It's just a really great game, as you'd expect. Portal 3 when

I would have played this for the first time in either 2009 or 2010, which makes it the first PC game I ever played. Pretty happy with that fact as returning to it here some 15 years later, it still rules. It's a very satisfying strategy game to actually have a successful strategy in, in pretty much every level where it's up to you to pick your system and run with it, and with a final boss that is quite tough but similarly rewarding (as the only one of the last levels in each "world" that wasn't just plant everything to win). Both the art style and sense of humour are really charming, things like having a little almanac to give silly personalities to each plant and zombie you encounter is a really great touch that just adds to that charm so much. It's just such a comfortable game, I think I could put it on at any time and play a few levels or some survival waves and be utterly at zen with it. Really great stuff.

I'm a big fan of classic shooters, retro shooters, boomer shooters or whatever you call them, so naturally I love the overall style of this game. I definitely agree with the overwhelming majority opinion that it wears its influences proudly on its sleeve but that is of course not a bad thing, the whole game plays like a cheesy 80's horror film or like a fan-made Blood spin-off and (incase you couldn't tell) that's awesome. However, the Wendigos are heart attack inducing nightmare creatures, and I am a coward, so I have not actually made my way through this whole game yet, and there is a strong chance I may never do so purely through being a massive wimp. Maybe one day though, I love everything about it that isn't the huge palpitations certain parts of the game cause me.
I've come back to this one much later, having spent a year vaguely wasting my time and deciding finally to finish Dusk. I'm very glad I did because, despite not being perfect or even my favourite of its kind, I definitely have a slightly higher opinion of the game. Though i'm not really emotionally cut out for horror, the atmosphere is fantastic throughout. Visually it's probably the most stunning retro shooter i've ever played, with some really ambitious areas to set levels in that really stick out in my head, similarly to Blood (a major influence on the game) where that carnival level has stuck with me forever, here you have some phenomenal looking places that really fit the murky cult vibe. I was going to say the most ambitious visual style of the shooters i've played, but then again i've played Cruelty Squad, so that would be lying. Gameplay-wise it's nothing hugely differentiating from the genre, though I do love some of the little touches such as being able to duel wield pistols and shotguns, much like Cruelty Squad (getting another mention)'s door kicking it feels like something that just belongs in the genre. I think it goes a bit over the top towards the end with all the enemies, in a bit of a Doom 64 way near the end (without trying to spoil anything), but it's nothing I couldn't get past so I can't hold it against the game too much. Overall just a really good playing experience, something that I generally look for in any game of this type. A big success and one I will definitely at least try to play again.

In the realm of classics I really have not played that much, and coupling that with the fact that i'm slowly running out of internal hard-drive space and NES games are very very small files, I felt compelled to give this a shot. I definitely enjoyed myself, though i'm still not much of a platformer fellow (besides maybe being a bit of a fiend for Rayman Origins several years ago). I fully understand the huge influence and beloved nature of the game, considering a lot of what occurs here has been reused, reworked or referenced in other Mario or general platformer games ever since it was released, and I definitely appreciate it a lot but I feel that at least on my first playthrough it was great but didn't blow me away. That is perhaps because I don't platform very often, perhaps because I didn't grow up with it, and perhaps because I was just a little bit shit at it, but that's ok as I definitely enjoyed myself. Although I would like to say, Worlds 7 and 8 are a pain in the arse and kicked my teeth in multiple times, felt like a hell of a difficulty spike but perhaps I was just not very good and being quite lazy. Either way, I enjoyed it and I get why it's such a huge historic game.

It's a Doom game, it's hard to say I didn't enjoy it. However, of all the Dooms I have played now, this is comfortably the weakest one. It has its moments, but gets pretty weak and lazy feeling towards the end, things become "here's a lot of aggressive enemies" and I know shooters aren't renouned for incredible boss fights but the last one here was stupid, having not got the secrets because of course I didn't on a first playthrough, it is a bit of a war of attrition and i'm not the biggest fan of that. I reckon that boss would be more rewarding if I replayed to get the secrets and beat that way, but I won't do that because time is precious and I need to play more games than just Doom over and over (though if I had to, I would be ok with playing the first over and over).

This one took me a while of off-again on-again playing to beat, not because it was bad but more due to my disinterest or non-committal to games generally when I'd first picked it up. I'm glad I beat it, it's not the best game i've ever played but it was a lot of fun. The final boss was total bullshit though it felt like a bit of a disappointing way to finish the game as a lot of what went on prior was fulfilling and creative only for the final boss to feel a lot more random chance and stressful. Other than that I enjoyed though, just perhaps wish I'd done it in closer sittings as maybe I lost out on some higher engagement in the full product.

I think this game has really ignited a passion for games in me once again. I was having fun with games like Doom and Quake again this year after thinking i'd never really get gaming like I did as a child or teenager, but I think this is the game that has dragged me right back into the medium. I think the general feel of the game is what dragged me in as the way it looks and plays really helps to bring Zebes to life atmospherically as a mysterious intriguing place to be discovered and explored from start to end. The learning curve was interesting as I wasn't too familiar with games like this or really many games before a certain time at all, but it was rewarding to play and learn and certainly rewarding to beat. It was exciting and fun to actually discover new items and abilities and rewarding to beat certain bosses that were a pain on a first few goes (mostly Phantoon because of those blue fire attacks). It was great to beat and I imagine after a while, it will be great to go back and 100% (which I think I want to do, not sure).