While I fully recognize and respect the influence this game has had on many, it is simply not as good as the original Underground.

They have improved many aspects of the original game, such as making the game open world, improving customization, and handling. But they've also needlessly padded the length of the game and made some questionable additions.

I didn't like the addition of URL and Street X races, which take place on generic tracks far removed from the open world. It doesn't help that the default number of laps you have to complete is way too many. I'd highly recommend downloading Lexal's The Smol Improvement mod, which reduces the number of laps to a more reasonable level.

Aside from these gripes, the game is fun to play, and customizing cars never gets old. Bayview is a nice setting with some iconic landmarks. It's just a shame that it feels underutilized in the races.

The soundtrack is also great, and the intense sense of nostalgia is largely due to it. I'd say it's on par with the original Underground.

Overall, I'd still recommend this game, but not in its default state. If you're playing on the PC, be sure to download the Smol Improvement, the Extra Options, and the widescreen mod. They are almost essential to fully enjoy the game.

Definitely an improvement from the first game in everything except for the fact that this game do be too got damn long for its own good. The main new addition to this is the free roaming map that ya drive around in to get to the various events scattered within, both visible on a big in-game map as well as secret stuff that can only be found through exploration. While it def makes everything slower than just pushing a button on a menu to get to the races, I actually did find the free-roaming quite fun as not only is the city reasonably sized and vibin' with its neon-coated glowing buildings and setpieces, but also it functions as a decent way to practice driving in a safe environment without having to constantly redo races n such. Considering the fact that a lot of the races take place in the giant city, having the familiarity of both the controls and the map through the free roaming do make it so that it's easier for me to get in the flow of things.

The game just kinda drags on a bit too much imo, has that same problem that a handful of racers I've played have where the mid-game is a bit more stagnant and difficult than the rest due to not having a properly upgraded/maintained car that the game might be expecting me to have. I feel like if they reduced the games length to like 2/3rds of its total runtime that this would be a lot more digestible. The open world explorable city already gives the game plenty of reason to go back to it and keep playing, they didn't need to have such high event complete quotas n whatnot. That being said though, it's really not like there's any gripping narrative going on here, it's just car gangs doing car gang things with very sparse cutscenes (that feel way lower budget than the CGI cutscenes the first game had but whatever). If I had this game back in the day I prob wouldn't have even cared about the story progression and just spent all my time just driving around the city taking in the wonderful 2000s ass visual and audio aesthetics that this game is rich with. I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of people that bought this game played it exactly that way.

(if i have to do ONE MORE drag race event i will go insane and drive into the highway, those events are ASS and I hope this is the last game in the series that they are featured in)

Wo Long is a very entertaining game with a clumsy execution. It's funny because it works flawlessly at times, but when it doesn't, it's awkward and heavily frustrating.

Wo Long's story is extremely forgettable and its presentation is... uh... bad, to put it simple. Also, I played it on Series S and by god that console struggled to deal with the most simples things. Nevertheless, the game is ugly and its environments are sort of repetitive. Without interesting characters and an engaging tale to keep you hooked, fun factor was foun in other things.

While the environments are dull, the level design can be pretty clever sometimes, with some main missions and sidquests being very well structured. I'm a sucker for shortcuts and hidden places and Wo Long is filled with them. It all comes to a full circle by the end of a level, as long as you don't miss out on anything.

Characters are very bland, but the way they help you during combat and their design is just really nice. Hero or villain, they look cool as shit. Hell, even the armors and weapons you get look super slick. The Divine Beasts are impressive as well but, unfortunately, not all of them are very useful. Monsters and bosses look nice too, but variety is UTTERLY low, killing the element of surprise.

But where Wo Long shines (and sometimes falters) the most is in its combat. I'm going to make the obvious comparison because there's no other way around it: this game tried to be Sekiro. Sometimes it nailed it, but sometimes it failed.

Fighting styles are sharp, every weapon is useful and has its own perks and strenghts, your character is highly customizable, learning damage partterns from enemies and bosses can be extremely fun, most spells are pretty sick and I loved the different kinds of martial arts you learn. This is where more than half of the fun in Wo Long lies and, like I said, when it works, it's amazing.

The problem is, it lacks a certain level of polishment, I think. From enemy placement to boss fights. In fact, ESPECIALLY in boss fights! This game really knocked it out of the park with bosses like the final one, Lu Bu, Dong Zhuo and Zhang Liang. Then completely dropped the ball with others like Aoye, Zhang Rang, Liu Bei and that weird demonic dragon. It is fun, yes, but also absolutely inconsistent.

I also feel like Koei keeps repeating the same mistakes since the first Nioh. An unnecessary amount of repetitive loot, too many systems and mechanics that could totally be cut from the game, the morale system can be quite inconvenient and the game feels bloated. The side quests aren't that good and rewarding as they can be very repetitive sometimes. So why keep it going for so long?

It may seem like Wo Long is a bad game from everything I wrote, but it's not. It's just... complicated. It is also a game that made me appreciate Sekiro even more, for inspiring more fun parry based combat systems like this, but also for how well it executed its original intricate formula.

If you're a fan of games like that, then do give it a go. Just do not expect anything near perfection.

Arx Fatalis is very much a relic of its time. A game that was made back when games were arguably much more willing to take creative risks to create a unique setting. It's the type of game that, even from a studio like Arkane, you probably wouldn't see. However, it being a relic of its time means that it comes with some drawbacks that are at their best jarring, and at their worst infuriating.

Arx's strongest aspect by far is the atmosphere it invokes. I always love living underground in sandbox games where it allows me to, so an entirely underground civilization is right up my alley. The artistic direction and sound design (barring some awkward transitions and harsher sounds) accentuates this beautifully, as does some of the humor the game pulls in the first half.

I also found the rather clunky combat growing on me over time. It's very slow nad methodical, but it was nice using that slower combat to weave in spells once I got more of them unlocked. Even the spell system is unique, drawing out combos of shapes to cast spells. If I do return to Arx at some point, a spell-based build is an absolute must for me.

However, these strengths are beset by some hefty negatives. The biggest issue by far was with Arx's infatuation with making things obscure. I can handle having to find some things out and puzzle solve without too much guidance, and I'll fully admit there's stuff I looked up that I probably should've pieced together. However, I can't imagine playing this game without several walkthroughs showing me how to do x, y, and z. Hell, I went through half the game completely misunderstanding the heavy attack system since it doesn't teach you.

Some of this can be explained by early PC games having manuals, but the way you progress the main quest can be unnecessarily vague and require random bits and bobs. It could be a pickaxe from a specific level here, or a specific spell there. It drew the runtime out immensely to where I eventually started noclipping through walls at times just so I could skip some parts of the busywork. One part was even necessary when one of the objectives just didn't spawn in.

The story also isn't anything to write home about. It's fairly bog standard for its time, and has plenty of exposition dumps for you to immediately forget. If you skip through most cutscenes then you should be fine, but it can be pretty tiring if you care a lot about lore like me.

I think Arx will jump comfortably in that pile of games that aren't bad, but could go so, so much further with a modern-day remake. Keeping that art direction and combat similar while not being so up its own ass with obscurity would go a lot way, as would making the main plot a little more intriguing. If you can appreciate an atmospheric RPG, and especially if you have Game Pass, this is still worth checking out.