Short Game Reviews: October 2022

Dino Stalker:

Honestly for a game that gets such a bad reputation and heard was bad, I had a decent time with it, I did play on easy so it could've mitigated the potential frustration everyone else might've had with the game but at the same time, the guns felt decent to shoot and the dinosaur killing felt pretty solid. I don't really care for light gun games, and I played on easy partly due to the fact I did not have the peripheral needed to play this game effectively. I might prefer this game over the first Dino Crisis since it's much shorter and I would much rather mow down dinos than run away from them and this game provides just that. Hearing the fan service call backs to Dino Crisis 2 with Dylan and especially the music was nice considering I just replayed Dino Crisis 2 again.

Issues I had where that the aiming controls, of course with an analog stick wasn't the greatest, it's generally easy on the foot segments since you can aim the reticle low and the enemies will be and jumping at you from that position but during the traditional on rails parts and boss fights, it can be a bit cumbersome since I can't aim as reliably as I could. The movement during on foot sections can be slow and awkward since moving and turning takes a little too long but this is only an issue with bosses.

So overall, I had a solid time, not the best game in the world, but not the worst, it's also weird how Dino Crisis 2's cliffhanger gets addressed in a light gun spin off of all things and no Regina is also a con but the game's combat feels decent and the game never over stays it's welcome to the point where I really got annoyed by the above mentioned issues.

Toem:

Pretty enjoyable and relaxing game but I prefer stuff like Alba and a Short Hike. Playing this game without a guide just felt like I was going around in circles. I did enjoy it with a walkthrough oddly enough but overally, I had a decent enough time, for a PS Plus game I got, this was enjoyable, not sure if I would actually go out of my way to buy this game otherwise.

Rollerdrome:

I was initally turned off by the mandatory challenge unlocks to progress through the game and I had to use assists in order to get them and the game by that point since I was so used to having them. It felt like the challenges were there to extend the play time since the game reuses maps a lot.

But outside of this major gripe, this game was a blast to play, the game feel and polish, the movement, and moving around at fast speeds getting quicks while switching weapons while getting multiple kills in slo mo just makes me feel like death defying stunt man. Mechanically, this game is fantastic and I don't have much to critique, I hope if they make a sequel or expansion, they have more maps and cut the mandatory "optional" objectives out.

Puppeteer:

This was a pretty solid 2d platformer. The game keeps things fresh and varied enough for it's run time to keep it entertaining throughout, the presentation is also well done and charming and giving the game a unique feel from other games of it's type.

My only big gripe with the game is that the live system is ultimately pointless and a red herring. You get so many that you never run out plus you have 3 HP that you can even get back if you recover your heads. So getting a full on game over is hard to do, and the game is already easy, it was really better off unlimited continues with how little the lives system ultimately added to the game.

Goldeneye 007:

The game can be dull compared to EA and Activision's Bond games. The latter games has so much more charm and feels like you are playing an action movie. Here it's just hitscan combat and completing objectives which I think stuff like the Medal of Honor games, Syphon Filter and Timesplitters 2 do better.

Goldeneye just feels so vanilla compared to Bond games that came later. Like how people bash Uncharted 1 for being lots of cover shooting and not enough specticle.

No original theme music, no car chases and over the top set pieces, no voice acting for the time this might be considered a major stride for Bond games and licensed games in general but now? The game feels like a relic even though I like the damage animations

I don't outright "dislike" the game but everything this does I can name other stuff that does it better. All though this is better than Perfect Dark from what I played for not being as scripted.

Sonic CD:

Wow, I actually kind of liked Sonic CD. It still has the same issues but if you don't try to get the good ending, you can breeze by 95% of the stages and they are much shorter than Sonic 1 and 2. The last two stages had some nasty difficulty spikes. I am still not a big fan but it's not as frustrating as Sonic 1 and 2 can be.

James Bond: Everything or Nothing:

Decent game overall, I might prefer the From Russia with Love game but this game is still a good enough rollar coaster ride. I played on easy since the game was a hitscan shooter with an awkward aiming and cover system. I did like how the game knew cover based shooting is generally not that interesting so it puts in car and bike chases, gadget use like the spiderbot, rappeling down areas to give the levels more spice, and different sections with the car like stealth and timed missions. Shooting is also satisfying and it was cool to see Willem Dafoe as a Bond villain or just being an over the top character in general.

My only major gripes is the awkward aiming and cover system which can make shootouts cumbersome at points especially when there are lots of enemies shooting at you and you trying to aim for that headshot and sometimes the enemies being so far away or high up that the auto aim can't track the enemies. The melee can feel weird at times since I am trying to use guns and comboing bad guys can get in the way when getting shot at so much. The controls aren't the greatest overall but I got used to them. That falling mission to save Sarena was a strange difficulty spike that was weirdly the hardest part of the game.

Prodeus:

It's overall a pretty solid fps game and it does have some of the death animations and weapon feel in the indie fps scene. The level design isn't too complicated and is straightforward enough to keep the action going at a solid pace. And while I do really like this game some there are some things that annoyed me about it.

First being the reloading, fine in the early levels but it feels especially grating towards the end of the game where the game just throws wave after wave of enemies at you and so much shit happens on screen the last thing you want is to have a gun reload when shooting an enemy. The next issue and this might bother a lot of people is the checkpoint system, you die and then respawn with how much ammo and enemies that were left standing before the game over happened. I feel like this system was in place because the devs just knew how crazy the waves get and to avoid frustration, they mitigated the consequnces of deaths. I won't deny during the late game, this checkpoint really mitigated a lot of frustration but then the final boss takes away the checkpoint system in a rather trollish way and it can come out of left field since the player was relying on it so much for 99.9% of the game.

Still a very good game, but I got some problems with it.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2(2009) Review

This goddamn game, I don't even know what is it with this title that keeps me coming back to it. I have beaten it a number of times on easy, normal and veteran and I am not even a big fan of it. I remember strongly disliking this game for the multiplayer and I still have strong hate boner for it since it, the CoD franchise from this point onwards and military shooters made me quit multiplayer gaming for years, while this remaster gets bashed strongly for the lack of it's mp, I am convinced if Activision were to bring back, the nostalgia would wear off and everyone would critcize the mp for the flawed mess that it is with the whole game basically being a game of run, shoot, and whoever points their gun with ADS first wins. Okay, enough ranting on the mp let's get to the single player.

The campaign, where to start, if you wanted to know where CoD became the infamous franchise that everyone ridicules to this day, it all started here. CoD before this game was basically the result of Medal of Honor becoming too one man army centric and the devs wanted to make the campaigns they made going forward more of a ground teamwork affair where a long soldier plays a role in a big battle. CoD4 did a good enough job at bringing this formula to the modern age with it's gritty grounded realism but MW2? Well this is the game where CoD's bro shooter image began. In CoD4, a lot of the missions were grounded military ops, this game? It's a wannabe Micheal Bay and James Bond movie with craploads of one man army setpieces that feel like something out of a dumb action movie than anything related to being gritty and grounded. And I wouldn't have a problem with this but the one man army set pieces conflict with the overly scripted nature of the game. The scripted style of previous CoDs was that you were supposed to be a lone solider working together with a group of soliders to win a battle, but now it feels like every time you try to act like a badass one man army, you get game overs and the game telling you aren't supposed to it do it this way because you aren't following the script. This is an issue I have with much of the later CoDs but it all started here. The MW2 fanboys will act like it's not true but it all began here.

But what puts this below stuff like Modern Warfare 3, Black Ops and some of the later CoDs in this style? Well the story in this game is stupid, and it's a stupid story that takes itself seriously. I am supposed to believe Makarov would go into an airport without a mask not even shooting out cameras and then shoots one American and then I am supposed to believe Russia would actually get into a war with the United States? And the way the fight between the two plays out isn't even nuclear for some reason and General Shepard despite Lance Henrikson having a great performance and does a great job with the material is just a poor man's General Hummel from the Rock.

And other issues I have with the game is that so many of the non SAS missions are you being bossed around by Keith David, I do like the guy but even Keith David can't save the fact that you are basically just one glorfied errand boy.

Also, the easy mode in this game isn't as enjoyable in other CoDs since it feels like Normal mode but enemies will miss more and you can't take a whole lot of hits to face which is so weird considering you can take so many bullets. I play CoD games on easy since you can be more proactive in combat and not spend nearly as much time waiting for health to regen.

So in spite of me complaining about this game and passionately ranting for multiple paragraphs, why have I beaten this game multiple times? I guess because the weapons feel nice and the campaign is brisk, the music is geniunely fantastic and is one of the best scores in fps games, and it never goes on long enough to really start to annoy me and considering how much I disliked the multiplayer, playing the campaign on Veteran back in the time period it came out despite not also being great was more enjoyable by comparison all though not by much. It's just so strange to see the love the game gets now and while I don't dislike it, I don't find it be all that amazing, the campaign that is. I feel like me giving it a 6 is generous but the game gets the fundamentals of decent feeling fps combat to the point where I won't give it something lower.

Dino Crisis 2 Review

Dino Crisis 2 is a rather peculiar game. It's a sequel to a game I am not a big fan of, was a completely different game from the original and did a number of things before it's more popular big brother series Resident Evil would examples being non contextual dodging, move and shooting and the much dreaded by the fandom, a heavy emphasis on third person shooting.

DC2 compared to the first is much more a third person shooter. You will be killing dinos a lot more than running away from them like in the first one which is what I vastly prefered since running away from them got old fast. Here is a heavy emphasis on running and gunning and the weapons are super satisfying and surprisingly enough there is no reloading either which is awfully old school 90s fps for a game like this, and it works to the game's favour since dinos will be high in number, attack you from all sides and will constantly rush you which makes sense for considering the enemies you are fighting. The game's overall campaign is like many have said, the Resident Evil Mercs mode but with a plot, which is interesting in of itself. The game would feel like it starts to loose steam considering you are going through the same enviroments shooting endlessly respawning dinos but luckily the devs knew that would start to get old so they break up the pace with turret sections, setpieces with big dinosaurs, a good underwater section, and some random backtracking here and there, a level where you follow land marks and more. So if you do get tired of shooting endlessly respawning dinosaurs just be ready to know that the game will shake things up enough to make the adventure interesting. The RPG elements are decently handled here as well and I enjoy buying upgrades and new guns.

So after all this praise, why a 7? Well, a big problem that saps what could be a great game is the camera, it really is a pain in the ass. So much damage will be caused is due to getting hit by enemies you won't see coming, or getting attacking off screen. This was an issue in the Onimusha games and it's an issue here as well. Also, the auto aim, I feel just isn't reliable enough to track all the enemies coming at you. Dylan's Solid Cannon is objectively the best gun in the game because of this since it kills most enemies in a few hits and it does area of effect damage where surronding enemies will get hit too mitigating the need to rely on precise aim. Regina's Dual SMGs are decent enough when you play as her but no weapon in the game that you can get easily and early on is as good as Dylan's Solid Cannon since it does much damage and it's area of effect damage makes it easier not to rely on the auto aim as much. I also wish the dodge button was better implemented, I'll give it credit over something like Resident Evil in that it's not contextual but I feel it could be better.

This is also going to sound weird since I am so strongly against remakes of good games but I feel DC2 unlike say Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill 2, an over the shoulder remake of this game would only benefit it since DC2 has a heavy emphasis on third person shooting and being able to see clearly what is in front of you and being able to freely aim would only make the game better and realize it's full potental, it would make the moment to moment action gameplay more refined and smooth.

Overall, massive step up over the first game but I feel Dino Crisis as a series never did reach the potential it could have.

Video Game Stories and Context

 

Alright, the whole gameplay vs. story in video games debacle has been around for a long time, ever since gaming was finally able to tell more fleshed out stories back in the late 90s era of video games where non RPGs were able to tell more fleshed out stories than "kill the bad guy". I will admit, I am a gameplay guy first and foremost and I always will be, but lately after playing racing games like Burnout 3 Takedown and Hot Wheels Unleashed, I am starting to value story more in games, not so much well written stories but the investment a game story can provide when adding context to the gameplay.

I have lately been dabbling in racing games when I finished Jak X recently a year ago, and I surprisingly really enjoyed it despite not being big on the genre beforehand and combined that with the Stockholm Syndrome I got when playing racing mini games in other genres like Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper and various mandatory missions in open world games and 3D platformers like the aforementioned Jak series, I decided to dabble in more racing games. After a playing a number of them, they made me realize just how important stories in games can be when it comes to adding investment to getting through to the end. Jak X stands above all the racing games I played after due its commitment to telling a story and adding context to the various races you will be partaking in. If Jak X didn't have this, I probably wouldn't have been able to see it through to the end. The fact that Jak X has a clear cut ending and that I am able to tell when the game is over makes Jak X more interesting than the number of racers I have dabbled in. This is not only because I have a strange obsession with wanting to finish a game every few days all though that is a part of it. It's also because while the story in Jak X won't win any awards outside of being a well written story for a racing game is that the game gives me the drive to want to me to see it through to the end and the game doing a good job at changing up the gameplay while having solid driving controls just adds even more to the overall package.

So in spite of the fact that I claim to be a gameplay person, why am I not a big fan of Hot Wheels Unleashed and Burnout 3 despite them controlling well, and feeling smooth to play? It's because both these games feature so little context as to why you are racing, and why you be number 1 at all the races. Both these games tend to feature the same tracks, the same game types, and reuse a ton of content yet the reason why I can't play these games for more than a few hours without getting bored is that there is no context as to why I should be invested to winning the races. Burnout 3 is mechanically superior to Jak X with its risk reward system and to most if not all racing games due to that system and how it motivates the player to make risks like missing ongoing cars, driving on the wrong side of the road, performing fancy drifts, doing the titular Takedowns and so on. This system is more mechanically involving than all the racing games I have ever played, yet I get so bored with this game within a couple of hours. Burnout 3 doesn't really have a traditional campaign and there is no beginning, middle and end to it, you just keep playing race tracks until you are number 1, and you keep doing this for hours. I wouldn't mind the endless reused content, if the game gave me more of a reason as to why I should be performing takedowns, and taking risks. Am I saying Burnout 3 should have a traditional Story Mode? I would certainly do even if the game could likely ruin it's pick up and play feel, the context a typical Story Mode can provide can make me want to play Burnout 3 more. It's why even as a kid, I got bored of Burnout 3 after a few hours despite the other issues the game has like super long tracks, AI that will catch up to you no matter how fast you are going and how repetitive the racing can get, a story or at least the feeling that I am conquering an overwhelming threat could be enough to get me through the game despite my issues with it. Much of this can apply to Hot Wheels as well. It's why stuff like the various Dragon Ball Z fighting games, Star Wars Battlefront particularly 2, and the Ratchet and Clank series engaged me more. There was more investment to be had in them because there were framing devices to the gameplay in these games even Battlefront's Galactic Conquest has more going for it in terms of factors going into them than a lot of racing games do where you have to beat the opposing faction in various battles and whoever beats the opposing faction wins, that's more than you get in your average racer.

Am asking every racing should have their own dedicated Story Mode with more indepth framing devices? In a perfect world, absolutely, but at the same time I get who those games appeal to, I doubt they are even targeting my demographic with these titles, and writing a story in these games is going to be harder to write than any other genre in gaming even more so than fighting games, and I am not sure how Burnout could work with a Story Mode if they somehow made another one but at the same time, I feel like the games provide an exhilarating sense of gameplay that I feel more context can add can go a long way. To use an anime example, the series "Initial D" is famous for its over the top street racing and of course, the Eurobeat soundtrack but if the series was nothing but that with little context leading up to each Eurobeat music street race, the show would be really dull as a result. A lot of racing games can get the moment to moment racing action down but lack the investment to want you to keep racing. I'll still play racing games but depending on which one, I will just do it for a few hours and then play something else.

With my thoughts on racing games aside, I feel like in general depending on what the game is going for, certain framing devices work for certain games. For example, platformers work with as little context as, "beat the main bad guy and his generals and get through the challenges" works well for the kind of game that it is. The games are about jumping through overwhelming obstacles and I wouldn't want constant cutscenes and exposition dumps to get in the way of the platforming action. As long as it feels like I am effecting the game world with my action  whether it's be gameplay where it adds different challenges or narrative where the villain get more annoyed with me winning, just a sense of progress.

Another example would be the original Doom from 1993, despite one of the game's creators, John Carmack infamously saying story in a game is like story in porn, that game ironically gives you just the amount of narrative needed to go your demon killing sprees through hell. You are a lone space marine fighting wave after wave of demons after a portal to hell has been opened. The game gives you plot dumps at end of every episode to keep remind the player what he has done during the pack of levels. Is it great? No, but it's just enough to make me keep going and I stay because of the shooting and level design. An example where you are given too much context is the Machine Games' Wolfenstein reboot games. The premise of Wolfenstein is about being a badass solider killing Nazis that alone should suffice on going on the power fantasy Nazi killing spree but yet the games bog down their pacing with needless cutscenes and drama in a game that ultimately boils down to killing lots of enemies. Compare this to the older Medal of Honor games where you are given briefings at the start of every mission giving the player the context needed when playing the missions and the player is given incentive to read the papers before the start of every mission due to the fact that it gives you tips to help you during the levels. This is enough needed, let me go shoot things.

Even games with infamously bad stories by the gaming community like Metal Gear Solid 5 the Phantom Pain gives you a decent amount of information needed to get through at least the first chapter of the game especially if you play Ground Zeroes, the prologue to the former. In GZ, you go on a mission that ultimately leads to your Mother Base and private army getting destroyed by a villain known as "Skull Face" and the player wakes up from a coma, is wanted by the world and needs to build his private army back. Say what you want about the story of TPP, but for an open world game that is about causing reckless abandon through stealth or guns blazing, this is really more than enough context needed for the kind of game MGS5 is, sure this is lacking in the wackiness that Kojima's games are known for and it doesn't drown in exposition but this level of context is just sufficient.

Similar games like Just Cause 3 despite my numerous issues with it and is a game where the writing can get derided by some people gave me enough to get me invested in to want me to see Rico kill the main villain of that game. Is it great? No. But this along with satisfying gunplay and the amazing traversal system was enough to make me spend 25 hours with the main story regardless of my many problems with the overall design.

Games like the Thief trilogy can be impressive in how much context can be given in such a short amount of time. Garrett is a down on his luck Thief, and the games are of course about stealing things, so the game smartly has most if not all of its cutscenes be dedicated to Garrett going over his plan to both himself and the player giving both enough motivation to get through the heist, it gives information and the games would be worse with this removed and the games were just stealth rooms with no story.

I don't even mind games like Hulk Ultimate Destruction and Splinter Cell Chaos Theory have a lot of their narratives be optional because the text entries are short and they don't get in the way of playing the game.

In conclusion, while I feel the whole gameplay vs. story debate is super over blown and gameplay will always be king, I am not completely against the idea of narratives in games. After all, beating the bad guy and triumphing over evil is enough of a motivator in any medium since I can't do that in real life and fiction can provide me a sense of victory in a safe environment, but I feel depending on the game and even when games with good mechanics can really benefit with interesting enough framing devices. 

Just Cause 3 Review

I give this game a 6 but I got to admit this game has to be one of the more thrilling 6 out of 10 games I played, it's just that there are so many things about this game I dislike. I'll start with that first. The main missions are either awful, or nothing too memorable. There are WAAAAAAAAAY too many escourt quests, more than I can even tolerate and for a game that is about blowing stuff up and causing recklass abandon, this felt extremely out of place. The game checkpoints well and the game brings back enough health for the people you are protecting to make these sections at least feel winnable but I still stand by that there are too many escourt quests and more than I can tolerate. Outside of that the other main missions are nothing really too memorable either, nothing bad but nothing stand out. I am still not done describing my issues, the game seems to know it's main missions aren't good so it makes you liberate Provinces to remind you that the game is in fact about blowing stuff up. Problem with this is that it starts to get old when doing it for the 50th time. I started to become more and bored blowing up the same red colored structures for the billionith time since all they do is revolve around blowing it up or shooting. I know the tether system is there but I find it easier just to shoot the structures since most of the guns are already hitscan. This now leads into my second issue, I already have a strong dislike for regenerating health and this game only cements that. So much of the game's challenge comes from getting swarmed by enemies and deaths are caused by the fact that you want to regen your health but since enemies are covering your every flank and possible hiding spots to recover your health so you will die over and over due to the fact that the enemies are so renlentless that they won't let you regenerate your health. Luckily, what saves this from being unplayable for me is that the game autosaves every time you destroy property and it checkpoints well like I said before so it mitigates potential frustration. And finally, why is over the shoulder aim locked behind side quests? I generally don't like using auto aim in a lot of shooters but the game has that be what you use first and then the ability to aim behind side quests an industry standard aiming system to be baffling. The game is also really glitchy and buggy even to this day.

After all my onslaught of complaining, why did I find the enjoyment from the game that I did. Simpily put, this game has one of the best traversal systems ever. The grappling hook is the best implementation of one in a game, chaining parachutes into wingsuit gliding does such a good job at capturing the superhero power fantasy that a lot of superhero games even ones I like don't provide. When you wingsuit in the air for so long without touching the ground, I feel so awesome. The shooting and weapons all feel good and unlocking over the shoulder aiming improves it a lot. All though much of the combat encounters over it's long runtime can start to wear thin since you all you do is fight human enemies using hitscan weapons and occasional vehicle battling, not bad but considering how long this game is, this style of combat can't really sustain the length of the game.

So overall, one of if not the best traversal systems in a game, surronded by overall structure and game design that is mediocre but is saved by quality of life additions.

Tenchu Stealth Assassins Review

This game is a pretty solid time even if it can be rough around the edges. Out of the 3 stealth games of 1998, I consider this above Metal Gear Solid and maybe a step below Thief the Dark Project.

The game gets a lot right for being the first 3D stealth game. The verticality with grappling hook, the mobility of being a ninja and the satisfying stealth kill and violence accompanying your adventure all do a great job at making you feel like a badass ninja. The music is also fantastic and is one of the best OSTs in gaming. The level design is also really solid for the time...for the most part, there are some bad levels here and there like Rescue the Princess, and to some degree the final level but everything else is solid. The game gives you enough information with the map and on the load screens to have a general idea on what the player is doing without force feeding them information. They also surprisingly feel open, and the draw distance issue isn't much of an issue if you can get used to the fact that it's best to hide and look at the "Ki Meter" carefully, always stay on rooftops, take cover, and remember to stay crouched when an enemy is about to see you which really comes in handy on more than one occasion. The voice acting outside of Rikimaru's is also so bad it's good which adds to the game's charm.

Now on to the bad, the game can feel awkward at times, while the controls are fine for the most part, there can be moments where you want to take cover and the game doesn't do it, rolling while crouched and the game doesn't let you or it could be my emulated controls. Also, while the grappling hook can work well, there are times where I wanted it to grab on to a far off ledge and the game simpily wouldn't decide to grab on and I would do it again and then it would. The bosses are also not good, which is not surprising considering it's a stealth game and I do like the random stuff that can happen during them like guards randomly attacking you or the fight taking place outside of the boss arena but the combat just isn't good enough to make these encounters any less frustrating, the tank controls and the lack of being able to be precise with your attacks can lead to moments of missing attacks or accidentally hitting the enemy. Some levels like Rescue the Princess, the tutorial and the final level has enemies way too close to you making stealth kills harder to pull off and risk getting seen by enemies due them being in such close proximity. There is no double jump in the game like in later Tenchus which can make jumping from rooftop to rooftop that are not too far away from one another a bit irritating when you miss a jump so close. The game also barely has much of a story either and this is something Tenchu 2 would improve on but it is strange that they would kill off Rikimaru at all in this game.

Also, while I did emulate this game, I view this as both a good thing and a bad thing, good thing in that when I die because say, I do a stealth kill and it was on the edge of a cliff or next to have it be next to lave thus leading to a death and a restart at the start of a mission can be very grating or dying to a horrible boss fight which tests me on how lucky I am with combat rather than my stealth kills, I feel relieved and less stressed. That and I don't have to watch unskippable cutscenes over and over. It is however bad in that it makes getting high ranks super easy and getting caught less tense and feels like I am didn't earn them through mastery of the game's mechanics. So it's both good and bad.

Overall, while games like Mark of the Ninja and the Aragami series out does this game, there is still some value to be had for the game accomplished at the time and for what for fuffling the power fantasy of being a stealthy ninja.

In Sound Mind Review

This is a really underrated "survival horror game" and this is coming from someone who is not a big fan of the genre, but this game feels like Resident Evil 7 but with a trippy "psychological" twist and I do enjoy RE7 so this is a good thing. It has the puzzle solving, the shooting and the gooey enemies of RE7, the only difference is that there is no item managment but there is enough similarities to warrant me to compare the two.

The game also generally handles "stalker" enemies well and this is a trope I am generally not a big fan of in games unless if it's scripted sequences but the "stalkers" in this game never stick around for so long to the point where they wear out their welcome. That and you get time to look around and solve puzzles.

The story and voice acting is pretty solid too. 

My only big gripes is that the combat isn't that great since enemies can get spongey or take a few hits depending on how well you aim for their weak spot and it can get cumbersume considering they run at you constantly and combat revolves around sprinting backwards and hoping you can line up your shots. The Factory level is also kind of boring since I don't like the asthesthic really much and there are a couple of cheap deaths here and there particularly by the stalker enemy of Lucas during the chase scenes.

But overall, if you want a more "psychological" take on what Resident Evil 7 did, then this is a good time.

Dino Crisis 1 Thoughts

After playing a couple of hours of Dino Crisis 1, I think I am stopping out of boredom. The game is just so underwhelming in every respect. It's hard to really put my finger around it but the best way of describing this game is basically Resident Evil but if it was nothing but running away, puzzles and backtracking. The dinosaurs hardly ever show up and when they do it's just a game of running away to the next door or laser grid. Fighting them is frustrating since you hardly get any ammo and the dinos barely react to your pistol. And I am now understanding why older RE games had combat to begin with. It's to reward you for all the exploring you did. You found a crapload of ammo for your pistol, shotgun and heavy weapons? Well fire away on the enemies for your reward and see the enemies fall to your power.

There was a sense of satisfaction and empowerment which Dino Crisis 1 lacks. It's just non stop running away backtracking and puzzles, and it starts to lose steam very quickly. You can argue that running away from enemies is "scary" but I argue it starts to get boring when doing it for 2-3 hours and especially when it's your only option since you get little ammo and guns feel so awful. Also the inventory management is weird, you get no item box but instead a plug box that is scattered super far and is grating to manage your stuff since inventory is management is kind of like Silent Hill 4 where ammo doesn't stack. And it can lead to situations where you need ammo for stronger guns and you have no choice but to waste ammo in order to make room. I do think Regina herself is a decent and entertaining character, but everything surronding the game is so dull.

The map also really sucks and making backtracking a chore since the rooms are never named on the map so when you want to backtrack, it's often a guessing game, a walkthrough can fix this but I find playing games excessively using walkthroughs to be boring.

I can see why this game had lukewarm reception even at the time, it's just not that great of a game compared to Resident Evil.

Batman Begins Game Review

This game was rather a surprise for me, I am not even kidding, it feels surprisingly accomplished for a movie licensed game and coming from a guy who has been lukewarm and outright apathetic towards the Batman character and IP in recent years, I really am shocked by how much I enjoyed the game, it feels a lot more accomplished than a lot of Marvel's movie tie in games and it pains me to say since I am a Marvel apologist of sorts. This game is much better than a lot of Marvel's movie tie in games especially those based on the Phase 1 MCU movies.

Introductions out of the way, the first thing I will comment on are the visuals and they look incredible for a movie tie in game even to this day. It almost looks like an early 7th gen game at times. The art style and the design of the enviroments really nail the atmosphere the movie was going for and the training missions really nails the atmosphere too with how tranquil and quiet everything feels and I also like how insync the player and Bruce Wayne are in how they are learning the gameplay mechanics at the same time. It's a nice attention to detail for a movie licensed games. I normally don't comment on visuals but I found this game to really stand out in that regard.

Now the gameplay is where it might divide people especially if they played the Arkham games. The thing with the gameplay in Batman Begins is that it's scripted, very scripted. You have to do platforming, combat as well as various traversal and enviromental puzzles. A lot of it is very trial and error much like the early Splinter Cell games in some ways. But I personally found at least the "fear" puzzle aspect very engaging. The game isn't really much of a stealth game as it is using Batman's method of guerilla warfare of "scaring" enemies first and then beating them up afterwards. A lot of the game when you are not hand to hand fighting is solving these enviromental, traversal and "fear" puzzles of sorts and while it can be offputting compared how the Arkham games can allow for more player expression, I do think this style of scripted Batman gameplay did grab me. I always felt the scenery destruction and the expressions enemies make when scared is a reward for solving the puzzle. It can be satisfying solving these challenges in one go. There isn't much of any actual stealth gameplay here, you will only be watching for guard patrols occasionally.

The combat however, isn't good. It's not terrible but it feels very unrefined and you have to fight a lot of the time, I did start to get used to the combat more when I used the multi purposed button of area of effect kicks, ground attacks, guard breaks and finishers but at the same time, camera zoomed in too close on Bruce and the enemy he is facing which can lead to disorientation, and trying to hit the enemy you want to hit can be cumbersome, and also due to the camera placement, enemies can hit you off screen a lot. There is flashbangs and smoke bombs but I used them on occasion and their contextual use made even more bothersome to use. Combat isn't super great but I do think it's enjoyable in tandem with the fear puzzles.

This is such a small part of the game but I wished there was more of is the Batmobile. Where it was dull in Arkham Knight, here it's honestly a blast, it's essentially Burnout with a Batman skin, controlling the car feels fast, smooth and responsive, and it has the vehicle "takedown" that the Burnout series features. It actually really works for this game since the Batmobile is supposed to feel like an unstoppable car and borrowing from Burnout was a smart thing the devs did. I wished there were more of these sections since "fear puzzles", automated platforming, traversal and combat did start wear thin at times. It even features improvements over Burnout regarding the takedown cam giving you an easier view of where your vehicle is relative to the destroyed ones AND you can control during the takedown cam.

Overall, coming from someone who is getting apathetic of the character of Batman day by day, this game feels really accomplished for a movie licensed game. The Arkham games are better, but this is a take on Batman that is worth checking out if you don't mind the overly scripted nature of the game.

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One Review

It certainly feels like CoD2 for what was basically "last gen" consoles at the time. While this game is better than United Offensive and CoD3, I can't help but feel this game felt like it was rethreading old ground that Infinity Ward already did in the first game. The weapon feel and damage animations feel like the first CoD, and I really got the feeling of "been there done that" when shooting down planes with a flak cannon, planting charges, blowing up tanks, and breaching through doors. I can see why CoD eventually changed to Modern Warfare and why Treyarch later for World at War made the game much darker, and had more mature content considering there were already at least around 5 games using the WW2 subset that IW did when they made the first CoD.

Not terrible and I would rather take this game over United Offensive anyday of the week, the whole game just feels like traditional CoD single player tropes with how scripted it is, nothing in the game ever happens or moves unless you the player does something.

The music is decent and the character interactions are okay, the gameplay feels fine and I also like and is also weird how it's the only CoD game ever made where you can geniunely use hip fire due to having a dedicated aiming reticle, so it gives this game some merit. I prefer the 7th gen CoD2 over this game, but as far as "spin offs" are concerned, this is a decent time, if by the numbers.

Resident Evil Dead Aim Review

Playing this game now considering how apathetic I am towards this franchise nowadays was a rather peculiar experience for me.

In many ways, while being a spin off, the game feels like a weird transitional period between old school RE and RE4. The game has the backtracking(no item management but you pick up items like RE4), health management, and going through and unlocking areas in somewhat interconnected maps, but it also has the emphasis on shooting, the lack of puzzles, the use of quick turning, and the awkward movement that RE4 would later have.

The action gameplay while "fine" for the most part and the weapon feel and headshots being satisfying, it can be rather jarring to switch from third person to move around and then first person to shoot. In fact, first person aiming makes the game feel like it's light gun origin with how much the reticle keeps tracking the enemies when close. It's not bad and is serviceable for the most part but it really is easy to see why RE4 would later have over the shoulder aiming. It just leads to less disorientation when lots of enemies are on screen and you have to aim at lots of enemies. Plus enemies get super damge spongey later but more on that later.

The old school aspects of this game while at first can be pretty charming in that it predates RE Revelations in how it emulates the older games style of backing tracking in one location, the ship section is not that long and the game becomes much linear later, so that inital charm slowly starts to go away. All though to this game's credit, this is the only game in the RE series I played where the tactic of running away from enemies actually felt reliable to me since enemies get so damage spongey later, I often had to run away and it worked well, since I don't have to worry about manveuring with the tank controls liked in the fixed camera angle games and have to worry about the zombies' unpredictable movement. This game also doesn't suffer from the same issues of REmakes 2 and 3 where the camera shakes so much to the point when a zombie grabs you, I lose my sense of direction and alignment every time I break out of the grab. In this game, I get grabbed and the camera never shakes.

Overall, my apathy towards Resident Evil and it's fans increase day by day, but this game was a surprisingly decent time.

FEAR 3 Review

Overall, I give this game a 6 if you play as Point Man but as Fettel, FEAR 3 feels like a completely different game. It's crazy. Where Point Man feels like an awkward FEAR 1 and 2, Fettel is like Point Man's gameplay except now it's about possesing enemies as a ghost rather than Bullet Time. When playing as Fettel, you can't use guns and in order to use firearms you have to possess an enemy, and when you do, you have to collect hearts to keep your "psychic link" with the enemy. It adds a lot more depth than you might think since using guns is something you have to obtain and maintain since you are a ghost.

My only issues that prevent me from calling this system great is that possesions are on a cooldown that you can't speed up by killing enemies and you have to wait adding boring gameplay when that involves hiding behind cover and the regen health is still there when possesing soldiers and enemies, so you can't kill enemies and gain health, you also have to regen your health too which I feel was a waste since it would make this game less cover based. This system even has more depth where you can control even non gun wielding enemies too. That and enemy holds up tend to be pretty OP at times, you can do it for a few seconds and then you can hold it back again and keep blasting them. This is an effective tactic on Phase Commanders, but you can possess them which is cool. Honestly, I was expecting Fettel to feel tacked on but he is worth playing the game again as to experience the better and more deeper parts of FEAR 3's combat.

They should've dropped Point Man and just have FEAR 3 be, "the Fettel game".

Twisted Metal Black Review

Despite me playing with cheats and I have managed to beat this game without them, I still really enjoy this game to this day. While it is really challenging and I get the appeal after all I get the idea of memorizing a stage layout, remembering every health recharge station, pick ups, and being careful when to attack and to avoid enemies, but at the same time, I just want to shoot and drive and do some serious vehicular carnage and cheats provide that.

And how is the vehicular carnage? It's the best it's ever been, no TM game or even car combat game really comes close to capturing the atmosphere and game feel that this game does. Shooting and blowing up other vehicles has never felt as good as it does here. The feedback you get is unmatched. What also put this game above the rest is how the story is handled, for a car combat game, the individual character stories are pretty engaging and the characters showing their thoughts during load times gives the player something to do and gives the battles more context without getting in the way of the gameplay. There is just enough story here for each main character to keep the player engaged with different kinds of plots from revenge, amnesia thrillers and redemption to name a few. The stories for all the characters do a good job at building intrigue and paying it off with the mid movies and endings.

Overall, this is the ultimate pick up and play game on the PS2 easily and is the best car combat and Twisted Metal game ever made. My only issues are that playing the same stages 10 times with mostly similar maps can start wear thin after a while and some characters like Shadow are not very enjoyable to play as, that and the levels with endless pits can get annoying and the final boss can be a pain in the ass with characters whose Specials don't home in on the enemy since you are fighting a helicoptor at an elevated position where the rest of the enemies in the game are at ground level. Still, must play and I surprisingly enjoyed playing the game 10 times, and I don't do that often.