If Bioshock, Half-Life 2 and Portal had a baby. In some ways it seems like a formulaic cash in, but the story and setting (time travel in Russia) were unique and cool enough that I was really invested in it to the end. There are some neat puzzles, the gun play is satisfying, and the TMD device's powers are fun to mess around with. The early levels can be frustrating because of limited ammo and firepower, but soon you power up enough that it's no longer an issue. Overall a fun time and a game I'm really glad I played.

Took me a while to get the hang of this one (the third person combat is a bit tricky), but once I did I had a lot of fun. An espionage rpg is pretty accurate for its tagline, there's a slow skill progression tree, and a neat system where you find (or get through other means) money you can spend on the black market to get new weapons and gear. There's also an interesting story and the ability to interact with characters in ways that can improve or decrease what they think of you, which has implications in future missions. It all comes together in a neat package and definitely one to play if you are an action RPG fan. It's too bad the single 80's song music rights are keeping this one from modern platforms, hopefully the rumored remaster actually happens.

At first I enjoyed this, I was looking for an arcade style flight sim, and the variety of missions (Dog fights, Attack Helicopters, Spectre Gunships) seemed like it had everything I was looking for, but eventually I made it to a mission were that same feeling so many flight sims have came back - the endless chasing of an enemy that never quite stays in your sights and you spend a ton of time just flying in circles. When the game made me repeatedly restart a level after downing 10+ enemies that way, but still judged me not good enough to continue, I was done.

What I liked most about this game was that it was completely unique from any other game I've played. Being a 1940's detective is a great idea for a game and this one does an excellent job of creating that experience. Most of the stuff you would expect are there (cases, investigations, interrogations, solving crimes) but there are also a variety of action scenes (car chases, shootouts, foot chases) and even some light puzzle elements, although that's definitely not the focus. Really what they want is for you to live the life of Cole Phelps, and by the end of the game you really feel like you know him. From patrolman, to all his various assignments as a detective, (and flashbacks to his time in the war) you get to role play his life. I played the Complete Edition, and my only complaint is that by the end of 26 cases, the interrogations got a little tiresome. Thankfully they advance no matter if you pick the right answers or not, because it's basically a guess almost every time. At the beginning of the game I really stressed about getting answers wrong, but it turns out that's just part of the game... you really don't know what someone will say or how they will react to your lines of questioning, just like in a real investigation. Overall a great game and one I'm really glad I finally gave a chance.

Fun shooter that introduces some cool concepts. Because you are a cop, you get more points for arrests then kills, so it rewards you for being stealthy and having mercy. About half way through you get betrayed and get sent to prison. That creates new situations were you are trying to get away from other cops, and you get some real moral choices. But soon it devolves into mass killing as the levels get harder and you turn more to the criminal side. Fun game, lots of unique stuff I haven't seen in other games. Check this one out.