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beargirl1

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Ajay's 2020 Games Log

Hi, thanks for reading! This is just my humble record of the games that I have played this year, along with little blurbs of my thoughts if I have any. This year, I'm going to try and continue the trend of playing the games that I want to play without getting super caught up in what's hot at the moment. This, of course means that I'm going to find an excuse to play Ninja Gaiden Black and all the Grand Theft Auto + Resident Evil games again, so please respect me in those trying times. Sorry again, Valkyria Chronicles.

xoxo

Ajay

Previous years: [2011] [2012] [2013] [2014] [2015] [2016] [2017] [2018] [2019]

List items

  • • January 2nd (and again on early May 19th with 🐶) • PlayStation 2 (via PS4 Backwards Compatibility) •

    ✓ Completed main story

    Not that I think anyone is itching to replay Grand Theft Auto III in fucking 2020, but I think that people seriously underestimate how god damn weird the PS2-era Grand Theft Auto games were. This feels less like it's in the same category as San Andreas or GTA IV and more along the lines of like... a 3D version of Grand Theft Auto 2. I mean this in the sense that Grand Theft Auto III doesn't really ever feel like it's trying to portray this ultra-realistic metropolis, but instead a vague parody playground built for complete mayhem. It's a step removed from GTA 2's oil slicks and hood-mounted machine guns, but there are still bizarre missions where you're running down drug dealers only for the mission text to say "DEALER MINCED!!!" or firing rockets at a dude encased in a bulletproof, full-body cast. It's even down to the tinier details like earning money for blowing up cars, or how the sound of running somebody over literally just sounds like somebody at DMA Design stepping on an orange.

    I guess this is all to say that Grand Theft Auto III is a glimpse into what this series (and Rockstar as a whole, I guess) could have been if it didn't blow up as colossally as it did. You can see the strive for movie-quality voice acting and cutscenes in Vice City, while III barely has any story to speak of whatsoever. It's to the point where you can just skip all the cutscenes and not miss a damn thing because every mission comes down to "go here and shoot this guy" or "drive to these three points in the city before the time runs out." I guess in that sense, Grand Theft Auto III is the most video game-ass video game because you can literally see the seams in how the missions were designed. It really drives home the point that no matter how many millions of dollars that Rockstar can spend on voice acting and polish, the archaic mission design always comes down to just going somewhere and doing something to fulfill a variable, or something like that.

    It's not bad by any means - in fact, I think it lends a ton of charm to a game that would likely be otherwise totally outdated nearly 19 years after its initial release. For as much as I can acknowledge the overwhelming amount of detail, polish and, well - labor that goes into something like Red Dead Redemption 2, Grand Theft Auto III feels like a honest-to-god video game made by normal people. It's full of busted-ass garbage like AI driving into walls and cars in traffic blowing themselves up with zero player intervention, but that's also what's so much fun about it. It's imperfect, and over-the-top, and it feels like a world to cause needless, cathartic wanton violence in as opposed to this finely crafted world that we're supposed to take so god damn seriously.

    I think that's why I have played through Grand Theft Auto III like, four times in the past couple of years and haven't even thought once about returning to Grand Theft Auto V or Red Dead 2 - as much as I loved my time with them. Grand Theft Auto III is just... fun, in a way that lets loose and knows, for as groundbreaking as it knew it was going to be, that this was still the same series that had a dedicated farting and burping button. Classy.

  • • January 17th • PlayStation 4 •

    ✓ Completed all missions on normal as Ranger

    I was extra depressed, so I bought Earth Defense Force 5 on a whim because I was hoping for it to keep me distracted for a while. Needless to say, this is the same junk that they've released for all the other entries. This is also to say that EDF 5 is fucking crazy. The last few missions have the most messed up enemy encounters and battlefields that I've seen in pretty much any game. The added splatter, weather effects and damage modeling are nice touches alongside a few class changes and weapon upgrades.

    It's the same shit, so I don't have much to say other than I had so much fun playing this game, and I know I will again when they release this exact same game again in five years.

  • • February 18th • PlayStation 2 (via PCSX 2 emulator) •

    ✓ Completed main story

    Revisiting Def Jam: Fight for NY in 2020 was one of those pleasant, though increasingly rare instances where something is not as good as you remember it, but instead much better. I liked this game for a lot of reasons - notably the blending of popular hip hop stars (at the time) with a seedy, back-alley premise and over-the-top, yet gruesome violence. In retrospect, however, it's apparent just how god damn weird the finished product is, given that it's just appropriating the AKI wrestling system for this bloodthirsty, illegal street fighting video game with Henry Rollins and Danny Trejo thrown into the mix. More so, it's even more baffling just how good it is. The speedy additions to the Vendetta's mechanics make this so much faster and give you a lot more tools to get out of some fucked up situations. It's fun, and there's an excellent attention to detail in just the little things - like how the hook of the current song will kick in after you hit your finishing move, and all the different kinds of dialogue and custom fighting styles that all the different celebrity characters have. In this way, it's surprisingly cohesive for a game that is essentially a mishmash of popular names of the day, especially since the voice work is quite good and the stars seem way into what they're doing.

    Something I'll say is that this is _definitely_ some 2004-ass shit, though. The male-only custom character looks absolutely ridiculous, no matter how much you try to make him look like, well... not a beefed-up male fantasy action figure. Couples with how throwaway the female cast in this game is and how they're used as fodder for the game's third act... a lot of that stuff hasn't aged all that well, but it's part of going back to essentially what is a time capsule of the early to mid-2000s. I'm okay with that.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - This was the first time I had ever heard of Christopher Judge and I always wondered if he was supposed to be some big-shot guy that I had just never crossed paths with. I still wonder this right now.

    - There is absolutely no fucking way that a game this wild would ever exist in 2020, but I like to think that the constant primordial twisting and turning of space and time can always prove me wrong

    - I don't really see myself coming back to this game for at least the next little while, but I think it would be fun to unlock all the cool secret characters sometime.

  • • February 23rd • PlayStation (via Retroarch emulator) •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story as Jill (best ending)

    It may come as no surprise to - well, just about anyone who keeps up with me but I had already played through the original Resident Evil recently. As a result, I don't have anything new to say about it except that I still love this game a whole lot.

    The catch for playing Resident Evil this time was that I played it with a boy that I'm very much in love with right now. He had never seen it to the end and I, for whatever reason, was looking for another flimsy reason to play this game again. It was thoroughly enjoyable, mostly to see his adorable reactions to just how strange this first game is. I will say that the dialogue in Jill's route is somehow more fundamentally busted than I ever remembered it being, and it got a ton of laughs and head scratches out of us. It was also super duper fun to see how he reacted to Barry's sub-human mannerisms and Jill's adorably stilted, vaguely sassy voice work.

    I think I could have fun with this game, no matter what but the fact that I got to share it with someone that I love and care for was special to me in ways that I can't express. I never, ever get the chance to show someone the things I love and get genuine interest, and a whole lot of mutual fun in return. I want to show him all the games that I love, and I want to see all the things that he loves, too. It's a new feeling to me - one that's definitely a little insecure but that uncertainty is consistently overpowered by eagerness and excitement. I could get used to this.

  • • March 6th • PlayStation (via Retroarch emulator) •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story as Claire (A Scenario)

    I've definitely said this in one form or another for the past several years, but the original Resident Evil 2 is by far my favorite game in the series. There is something about its gradual curtain reveal of sinister doings, increasingly morbid horror and pert sincerity that has made it stand out in my head as much as it has. It's not quite as campy as the first game (though it very much is campy) nor is it as action-packed and over-the-top as Resident Evil 3 ended up being. It finds a cosy middle-ground between the stuff that, in retrospect, makes Resident Evil so good.

    With all of that said, I was really, really glad that I got to experience this game again with my boyfriend. It was fun to see just how much of the same little details that we'd pick up, as well as the cool shit that I learned from his perspective. It was also really adorable to see how much he was taken aback by just how much better the horror had improved, and all sorts of creepy atmosphere and classic jump-scares. It's rare to experience this sort of game with someone who had never even played it before, so I was grateful for the chance and ecstatic over just how much fun it was playing this game with him. I can't wait to play more. ❤

    Some stray thoughts:

    - Last time I played this game, I was surprised by just how short it was. Boyfriend thought the same thing, and it made me realize that this game's pace just doesn't really have any sort of middle act. Or - well, it does, it just goes by very, very quickly. It almost feels like we missed a big chunk of the game and just somehow ended up in the endgame.

    - I love Claire and Sherry, so so so so *so* much. Every time I see their story, I end up loving them even more.

    - I kinda wish that we decided to play Leon B... there's a lot of cool little stuff in there but I'm still excited to move onto Resident Evil 3. He doesn't know anything about this game, so I'm excited to see how he reacts to everything it has going on. heehee...

    - Fuck spiders.

  • • (early) March 18th • PlayStation (via Retroarch emulator) •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story (Barry ending)

    We've hit Resident Evil 3 in the Jace & Ajay Resident Evil Romp, and it's still pretty good! I know that I just played this game like, not even six months ago but I still had a lot of fun wandering through the fucked up ruins of Raccoon City with someone that hasn't seen it before. Nemesis is still scary, city is still cool, Jill still rules, Carlos is still a dope.

    I don't know if I have much - if at all to say anything this time around. Jace picked different choices throughout the story than I did so we ended up seeing some cool, different paths and outcomes. I don't think he was as terrified of Nemesis as I was, mostly because I was the one that had to fucking run from him. We'd both blank on most of the puzzles that dragged on the game's latter half, so we were content just looking up solutions, guilt-free. I will say that it was really, really fucking fun to see how he inevitably reacted to Nicholai just, exploding all the time, the over-the-top story beats and just the absolute, complete lack of human chemistry that Jill and Carlos had. We also had a ton of fun just blowing dudes up with the excess ammunition and mostly just breezing through the game while chatting up our usual nonsense along the way.

    Though I'm glad to be done with the original trilogy, what comes next is... the point of no return.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - Jace pointed out the cute sweater around Jill's waist - i never noticed how much it complimented her outfit, honestly but her extra outfits in this game are also superb

    - Man, they really made Carlos just the most vague, unlikable non-character huh

    - The scene with Nicholai in the fuckin' gas station is, in retrospect, one of the funniest things that has ever been put into a video game. Actually, this game is more hilarious than it is scary, now that I've played it 3-4 times in the past few years

    - I'm writing this before trying the 3 remake demo... what scaries await me now...?

  • • April 1st • PlayStation 4 • Remastered •

    ✓ Completed campaign on recruit

    Man, it's not every day that you wake up to the news of one of your favorite campaigns ever being remastered and released on the same day. Unsurprisingly, Modern Warfare 2 is still something that I overwhelmingly enjoy - more than any of the campaigns in the following years in spite of how good *those* were. I just think that it ramps up such a frantic, globe-trotting pace with such excellence and it always takes you to cool places under fucked up circumstances and a ton of exciting set pieces. Not to mention the dialogue is still great (if not EXTREMELY dated) and the voice work is real nice too.

    Of course, there's a lot you can say about how this game (and basically every Call of Duty game) serves as a vehicle for pro-American, pro-imperialist & nationalist propaganda, so all the fun I have with it is always taken with a helping of salt. It certainly doesn't know *what* direction it's trying to go in politically speaking, which is why the Task Force 141 stuff is by leaps and bounds the most engaging and exciting stuff. Price and Soap were always the best part about the Modern Warfare series, and I think that notion holds up more and more as the US Marine oorah stuff continues to date itself.

    Something I noticed about why this game stands out so much to me, apart from rampant nostalgia is that there is just a ton of really great imagery in this game. From the way things are revealed, to gorgeous looking locations (thanks to a generous remaster from Beenox) and excellent POV framing on certain things like how Soap fires the flare in the gulag. There are just a ton of well-crafted spaces that stuck in my mind as I wandered through them - both then and now. Though I think the most recent Call of Duty games have had fantastic campaigns, it never quite feels on the same level of touch and love as it did when West and Zampella were working at Infinity Ward. Multiplayer and all, I think this and Black Ops were Call of Duty at its peak.

  • • April 5th • Xbox 360 (via Xbox One BC) •

    ✓ Completed campaign on recruit

    Given that it's the final game in the original Modern Warfare trilogy, it's only appropriate that Modern Warfare 3 serves as the catalyst for how fucking crazy the series would be for the next nine or ten years. I always underestimate this game before I play it, but it really is one hell of a fun experience. Though it completely eliminates any traces of perceived intelligence from the first two games, MW3 more than makes up for it with just how good at is at having everything fucking explode and creating near-death experiences every 15 to 30 minutes. It's loud, and dumb - sometimes for worse, but god damn is it ever entertaining, popcorn fun and at the very least, I can appreciate it for what it is.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - You could see this as the starting point of characters in Infinity Ward games dying needlessly for the sake of heroism. It's a really stupid one.

    - This game pumped my subwoofer to the max. I don't think I've ever heard it sound this chaotic before. It was a treat at the expense of my neighbors' peace. Sorry.

    - Again, this is the best ending that they could have possibly made for this story. Just, ugh. So good.

  • • April 7th • Xbox 360 (via Xbox One BC) •

    ✓ Completed campaign on recruit

    It's weird to me that, for as memorable as Call of Duty Black Ops has been for me, I don't really remember much about the campaign. I put most of that up to the fact that I came home and finished the story in one sitting on launch night, but even so, the numbers stuff and the wild twists at the end were more or less the only parts that stuck with me. I haven't revisited the Black Ops story since it came out, so I wasn't so sure what to expect going back into this one.

    It's OK. It's just OK, I guess. I really do think that the set-up and premise are all really, really cool especially if you think about what Treyarch did before this game. The heavy lean into mysterious cold war intrigue, numbers stations and sleeper cell terrorism still ends up building a cool-ass foundation if you can get past just how "ra-ra Americans are cool and Vietnam was great" the story ends up being. Even in retrospect 10 years later, Black Ops is probably one of the more ambitious games this colossal video game series has ever seen in virtually every aspect of its design. In that way, I can still appreciate it a lot.

    Things start to fall apart once you get into the nitty gritty of things, though. The voice work, for the most part is pretty damn rough, no thanks to some really, really awful dialogue. Woods and Ice Cube nail their performances, with the former having this really unhinged, fidgety feel to all of his delivery. It's great, and you can see why Woods ended up being the standout character considering his actor made gold out of some terrible stuff to work with. Sam Worthington is reliably terrible across the board, hilariously only putting in a convincing job when he's screaming in pain and terror. Again, his dialogue really sells just how lame of a character he is, in spite of everything that's done to give him a cool story. At least in comparison to how slick and cool Modern Warfare games are written, Black Ops feels like the plainest language delivered in the most uninteresting ways. It goes to show that strong writing in the minutia of things can really sell whatever's going on, regardless of how silly it is.

    There are other things too like constant discrepancies between dialogue and subtitles, as well as the weird quirks and typos sprinkled throughout. Animations look goofy, things pop in and out abruptly and overall it just feels... sloppy. Like these are things that should have been cleaned up for the biggest game in the world in 2010. This lack of polish combined with just how bad some of the effects are, it makes me wonder about the kind of budget that Treyarch had to work with post-World at War, and if it was ramped up severely given the rampant success of this game. It's a death by thousand cuts sort of thing - at some point Black Ops just feels amateurish, and janky in all the wrong ways.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - Weaver's voice is fucking hot.

    - The ending is really, really bad but at least the HILARIOUS imposition of Mason in that JFK still lightens the mood a little bit

    - I appreciated the callback to World at War, with Reznov and Dimitri, as well as returning weapons, equipment and music. I liked that game, and it was good to see Treyarch acknowledge their history in some way

    - My neighbors called us to turn the noise down when I was playing this game. I totally understand, but I wonder where they were during the explosion fest that was Modern Warfare 3?

  • • April 15th • Xbox 360 (via Xbox One BC) •

    ✓ Completed all missions

    This has been a awfully weird time for me, and - well, the world at large. So, I needed something awfully weird to distract me, and it just so happened that for as much as I love the series, I've never actually played the first Saints Row. I always figured that SR2 (the one I started with) was something that had more or less made the first game totally obsolete. From what I remember of playing SR2 over ten years ago, I'd say that I was pretty much dead-on.

    Still, I think there's merit to playing the first Saints Row, if only because the series continues to reference back to its events and characters over and over. In retrospect, for as fucking bonkers as the later Saints Row games got, this one isn't nearly as cool and composed as so many people remember it. In fact, I would say this game is real fucking weird in its own right. Sure, it's rooted in small-time street gang warfare, but it feels small and humble in the way that Grand Theft Auto III does. By that, I mean that you can see the edges of the game at every turn - not to mention, tons of little human errors like spelling, grammar and fucked up bugs. It's a lot more goofy and busted than I thought it'd be, thankfully to its merit since the story is surprisingly pretty good, with some sharply written characters and some oddly genuine-feeling dialogue.

    I never really felt like this was some sort of cliche pastiche-fest written by nerds, but instead it all comes together in a way that allows me to enjoy it as it is. I don't tend to feel that much in video games, especially older ones that are as fucked up and busted as this one. I don't know if that backhanded compliment sounds as good as I want it to, so I'll just say this - I liked Saints Row a whole bunch, and I'm glad I played it.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - Lin is such a great character for - well, what little of a character she is. She deserved better, though.

    - I can't believe stupid shit like Insurance Fraud was in this first game. It seems much more fitting for all the wacky nonsense that 2 tried to go for.

    - Not that Saints Row has ever had a reputation for bad writing, but this game is surprisingly funny? Like, the subtleties in this game are quick and really enjoyable. I didn't expect it, that's for sure.

    - Now I know why Benjamin King is such a big deal in IV. Good lord.

    - Pretty good fake credits sequence. I always knew how this game ended, and thought it was weird but seeing it in sequence with the rest of the game makes me like it a lot more.

    - You ready for this, playa?

  • • April 26th • Xbox 360 (via Xbox One BC) •

    ✓ Completed all missions + DLC

    Saints Row 2 is pretty much everything that I want in a sequel for this sort of game. It's mostly the same framework that the first game build, and just adding a boatload of customization, vehicles, weapons and little bits of polish here and there. Now that I've been able to revisit it after playing the original, this is a sequel that greatly pays off people who are returning players. I think it's almost to a fault, too - some of the story bits heavily rely on namedropping characters and events that you'd totally be in the dark with if this was your first game. At times, it makes the whole thing feel like a bit too much of a small world, where it's constantly referencing things that happen with your character, as if they're the complete center of attention. I could see why they'd do that, given the game's over-the-top power fantasy, but I still find it a little hokey even today.

    Regardless of eye-rolling story beats, I like the storyline in this game quite a bit. While the Sons of Samedi story continues to be dumb, stereotypical and completely forgettable, the Brotherhood and Ronin stories both have their own handful of really great moments. In particular, the Ronin story feels much like the actual meat of the game's writing, if only because it serves as a vehicle for another round of Johnny Gat's psychopathic exploits. He's OK in this game - I definitely think this is the best depiction of Johnny Gat because he's not quite the idolized, cult of personality sorta dude that later games made him out to be, yet he's still the boneheaded dude that just wants to kill a lot of people all the time. It helps that Daniel Dae Kim is just so fucking good at what he does - he definitely makes the character what it is.

    Normally I say some junk like "Games are rarely better than I remember them being" but this is an instance where it has completely engrossed me in a new way. I did all of the activities, got deep into the customization, roleplaying and just overall took my time having my fun with Saints Row 2. I rarely do that with games that I revisit, and given that I sunk so much time into this game and the co-op when it came out, it's validating to come back to it and see that all that time was well-spent.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - 2>3>4>1 (I've never played Gat out of Hell)

    - They try really, really hard to make the boss a total badass, but it just comes off as trying too hard sometimes. Though, I'm glad other characters call them out as just being a mindless moron.

    - Pierce isn't much of a character, but he deserved better than being the fodder for some pretty stale jokes.

    - I've never played the DLC before, so I spent too much money on it this time around and it was not worth it. Though - I'd see the appeal in all the different new vehicles if I was playing this game regularly when it was out.

  • • May 6th • PlayStation 4 •

    ✓ Completed True Shinobi Girls' Heart on easy

    It took me almost four years to get to this one, but this is one hell of a Senran Kagura game. As of this writing, it's definitely my favorite because of just how well it combines the sheer excess of characters and stories from previous games, and structures all of them in a way that gives them all the time to shine. This is something that genuinely surprised me - one of my biggest gripes about Shinovi Versus is that they were so many new characters, it was almost worrying to think about how they'd be able to make good on double the game's cast down the line. Instead, giving all the schools one coherent story allowed everyone to have a role in what I think is Senran Kagura's most coherent, emotional and important story yet. I loved it a lot, and going through these games always reminds me of why I always tend to hold them in high regard.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - Hanabi was my new favorite character, though the girls introduced in this game were universally pretty great

    - I cried. So much. What a great ending, too.

    - I'm running out of mainline Senran Kagura games, and with the director out of Tamsoft, I'm bummed to think about where the series goes from here, if anywhere.

  • • May 9th • PC •

    ✓ Completed Asuka's route with all heart pieces

    This is... not what I expected it to be - in a bad way. For the last little while - and when I was buying it, I was under the impression that Senran Kagura Reflexions was some sort of story-based visual novel with Asuka. As it turns out, it's some sort of bizarre massage simulator. There's no story, the cheesecake stuff barely exists and the controls are bad. It's even to the point where you can just skip all the bad minigames, as if the game knows you're just trying to skip through everything. So... yeah, it's bad.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - I paid 40 dollars for this. 40!!! I feel kinda burned, but I'm also sorta curious enough to wanna see if the other girls have something different going on.

    - I sincerely don't understand what this thing is supposed to be. There's no story, there's no booby stuff - what's the appeal supposed to be?

  • • May 11th • PC •

    ✓ Completed 7 out of 12 endings

    For as much as I like both the occult and eroge games, I feel a little bit ashamed that it took me so long to play the original Bible Black. To get to the point, it suffers from a lot of the weird stuff that eroge games do in general, like an emphasis on rape scenes and a cookie-cutter , boring male protagonist that all the girls end up liking. Those two things are a lot to stomach on their own, but once you're past that, Bible Black is a pretty creepy little visual novel, especially when it comes to the mystique surrounding black magic throughout the game. Though I'm always surprised by this, I did like a lot of the characters - so much so that it made playing the evil route pretty difficult to sit through. Still, I'm really glad I got to play this and just got to steep in its weird occult setting for a few hours.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - The evil route is really, really fucked up, so much so that I'm kind of glad that they went so far with it.

    - I love the early 3D backgrounds and the eerie MIDI tracks. There's a really nostalgic vibe here that brings me back to when I was a teenager

    - I usually love reading about a game or movie once I'm finished with it, and for as high-profile of a game as this, I'm bummed out that there isn't much written work at all about the game or its developers

  • • (early) May 22nd • PlayStation 2 (via PCSX 2 emulator) •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story with D rank

    When I first finished Resident Evil: Code Veronica X in 2017, I assured myself that I would never, ever play this video game again. At the time, I really did think that it was the absolute worst that Resident Evil had to offer. It was bloated, stale and unrewarding in virtually every single aspect of its being. In a rare instance of a high-profile sequel, Code Veronica did a unprecedented amount of damage to its story and characters than I ever could have imagined.

    Obviously, with the series rising from the grave that had been dug with this game, Code Veronica didn't do too much damage in retrospect. However, after painstakingly playing through this video game again, the takeaway from that is not that Code Veronica is good, but rather that Resident Evil 4 did the impossible. I say this, because through my second run, Code Veronica is by leaps and bounds a far worse video game than I remember it being. I remember it being exponentially terrible, but it goes beyond that - this game is a nightmare reincarnate.

    Where the fuck do you start with this? Initially it's kind of cool, but the immediate character dynamic between Claire and Steve (and what can be inferred from it) is what happens when a lack of chemistry blows back up in your face. The emotional beats are crafted on such a rocky foundation that it made every single character interaction grueling beyond words. Claire Redfield, in a harrowing display of inept character work, went from being the endearing, soft-spoken hero of Resident Evil 2 to a moron from hell, completely missing the sharp judgement that made her role in 2 so engaging. Steve is - god, Steve... and Chris has never, ever radiated virgin energy as much as he has in Code Veronica. This isn't to say that Resident Evil has ever boasted some sort of stellar writing profile, but it did enough to be totally endearing, silly and fun. By the mid-point of the story, Code Veronica is so far up its own ass that it is beyond faith or hope. It's bad - it starts bad, it gets miraculously worse and ends on a completely flat note.

    The game part is so fucking bad too - I can't even begin to explain it. I was playing it, while Jace was watching and he could see through my frustration, just how bad everything was. From extremely narrow, cheap enemy encounters, to excessive backtracking, to absolutely absurd boss battles - Code Veronica is a best-of when it comes to the bottom-barrel aspects of the Resident Evil series up to this point. The pacing and structure made me scream and groan and sigh into the abyss - it completely lacks the sense of intensity, fear and urgency that previous games in the series did so well. It's a slog the entire way through, dangling the potential of something cool before your eyes, until you realize that you need to find four more keys and emblems, and solve dull puzzles in the most dire of times.

    Look - I've tried to understand this game. I play a lot of weird games, bad games and old shit, and every time I play them with the intent of understanding them and looking at them in the context of when and how they were made. The second time through, the excessive praise that Code Veronica gets is even more baffling because I feel like we have been playing completely different games. What on earth is the appeal of Resident Evil: Code Veronica? Is this game for people that do not interact with other human beings? Is it a game for people that don't have critical thinking skills, or attribute value to their time or anything? Why? What do people see in this trash?

    I mean it this time - I am never fucking playing Resident Evil: Code Veronica again. I will die before I play this again. I promise.

  • • (early) May 27th • PlayStation 2 (via PCSX 2 emulator) •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story with cheats

    Still one of the best.

  • • June 10th • PlayStation 4 •

    ✓ Completed story with 77% item collection

    It's another Shantae game, which is maybe a little less exciting this time around for one of my favorite game series'. It feels less like the step up that every other sequel was, and more like an expansion pack to Half-Genie Hero - complete with the same animations, spirtes, items and a lot of the same enemies. This isn't to say that Shantae has ever been a series with artistic ambition or anything - if anything, a lot of the charm has come through because of so many returning gags and characters. It's just that it seems to be a little more thin this time around.

    This is predominately the case for the gameplay, where the boss battles are kinda uninspired, the level design is kind of non-distinct and the map is seriously dated. I think this is the first Shantae game since the GBC one that I haven't completed 100% because I just don't really wanna do this game's version of treasure hunts and doing spells in every room to find the hidden stuff. Games have gotten so much better at helping players get through finding collectibles and secrets without making it such a chore, and it feels mostly in this aspect that Shantae needs to evolve.

    Thankfully, virtually every other part of the game is pretty fantastic. The story is the same, heartwarming, tear-jerker sort of shit that I am so into. It's the sort of story where friendship and resolve defeats evil, in the typical style that Shantae generally is. The new characters are pretty good - especially when it comes to their design. The art is still beautiful and the new animated cutscenes are absolutely ADORABLE. The soundtrack is a lot more forgettable this time around, but there's still some pretty good tunes, especially when it kicks in the classic Shantae sound. It's really great, and you can see that this is where a lot of the love went into because in spite of its dated gameplay, Shantae has and will hopefully always have its bright heart. It's why I love the series so much, after all.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - The boss fights kinda stink, but the final boss is pretty cool. It nails the scale and severity that it goes for, though I feel it just wasn't as threatening as I'd like it to be.

    - Part of me thinks that the reason why this game feels like such a half-step might be because of their weird Apple Arcade deal. I wonder if Apple paid for just, well - another Shantae game.

    - Cristina Vee as Shantae is still so good, and the amateur-ish voice acting from the rest of the cast is pretty endearing.

    - The ending gave me the sniffles... I wonder if you get to see what's inside of the book if you complete the game 100%. Or, maybe they'll keep it a secret.

    - Slime Baron this time around has an uncanny resemblence to DarksydePhil... hmmm...

    - Lobster girl made me CRY and she doesn't say a single word.

    - Umm... let's see... Pirate's Curse > Risky's Revenge > Half-Genie Hero > Seven Sirens > Shantae

  • • June 12th • PlayStation 3 (via R&C Collection) •

    ✓ Completed story

    Man, this is still a really great game. There are definitely some dated parts - notably the difficulty, checkpointing and puzzles but when it comes to platforming and beating up baddies, this has held up remarkably well. The story and writing is still good, the weapons are fantastic and the menial task of smashing crates to collect bolts is still endlessly satisfying. I'm genuinely surprised, both by how little I remember and how much I remember of this game. I played a lot of it as a kid, but I didn't actually know that I retained some memories about planets, music cues and all sorts of weird other stuff. Pleasant surprise.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - The sense of humor in this game is fine, but I can't believe it makes all sorts of weird jokes about socioeconomic disparity, and how exploitative the military is and everything. That stuff holds up pretty well, surprisingly.

    - Please. PLEASE tell me that those stupid laser puzzles aren't in Going Commando. And checkpoints. Please tell me y'all discovered good checkpoints by 2003.

    - Given that a new Rachet & Clank was announced for PS5 yesterday, I picked a pretty good time to start playing these games, apparently.

  • • June 14th • PlayStation 3 (via R&C Collection) •

    ✓ Completed story

    It may be super iterative, but Going Commando is one hell of a sequel. It's faster, tighter, and a whole lot of fun while keeping in the spirit of what made the original game as good as it was. The emphasis on combat really works out in its favor, as playing as Ratchet throughout the game's general platforming and battles is by far the best part of this game. The Clank stuff, while functional is a bit of a wet blanket but at least it makes getting back to Ratchet all that much better. The hacking minigames are tremendously improved this time, too even if they're still not that great or intuitive. The checkpoints are still a little iffy, but it really helps that it actually tells you when the game is saving now.

    Probably the main complaint I have about Going Commando is its uneven difficulty - it feels like it often sways between being way too easy and frustratingly difficult. The way it scales its enemy damage (especially towards the end) means you really need to put your bolts into some armor instead of exploring all the cool, new weapons that the game has. Some of the mini-games, like the giant clank battles stink in this regard, too but thankfully they're few and far between. Otherwise, though, I don't really have much to complain about. The upgrade systems, strafing and added side missions just make this game feel so much better. It's not revolutionary by any means, but instead it builds upon the first game in some really smart - and much needed - ways and I honestly couldn't ask for much more than that.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - Fun fact: this was the first game that made me aware of the fact that different video regions exist. My bootleg version of this game came with greets and a loader at the beginning to choose your region, and I always thought it was glitched because I'd be playing it in PAL by accident and everything would look super fucked up. This game stuck with me because of that.

    - The writing is still pretty great, with some real, real weird jokes . The ending is really abrupt, though. I didn't even realize that I was in the endgame, but at least the final boss battle was pretty great.

  • • June 16th • PlayStation 3 (via R&C Collection) •

    ✓ Completed story

    It's kind of funny to see the gradual progression of Ratchet & Clank go from a mix of action and platforming, to a little more emphasis on action to just straight up being a third-person shooter. I'll give them that - Up Your Arsenal hones its focus on the absolute best part of the series (up to this point) by making the action a lot faster, tighter and making the weapon upgrade system a little more substantial. It was pretty telling from the beginning considering the game has a straight up shooter strafe control scheme - a pretty good one, at that. Though I will say that I did miss a lot of the exploration and side-quests and all of that other junk that was thrown out in favor of making it a more linear shooter type of game. Still - it's a whole lot of fun to dodge a hellstorm of bullets and lasers and fire back with ridiculous rocket launchers, or shock weapons and all sorts of other weird stuff that you can have in your arsenal. They iterated on the game in a way that makes a lot of sense and I admire the smarts and talent behind this game for that.

    I will say that this game rung a little bit more hollow. The environments aren't really much more than desert fields, and factories and other sort of vague planets. Up Your Arsenal is definitely lacking a lot of the creative level design and art that the last two games had. One exception is the absolutely stellar Courtney Gears level, and I really, really wish that they had honed in on more visually striking and distinct levels like that.

    Otherwise, though, this is a pretty solid cap to the PS2 trilogy. I remember absolutely loving this game when it came out and I can totally see why considering how heavy it just leans into its well-refined shooty gameplay. This is a great game - that's kind of all there is to it.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - GOD, Captain Qwark really wears out his welcome just about instantly. He is by far my least favorite part of the series and the fact that the first half leans so heavily on his well-worn archetype was... demoralizing.

    - Sasha is SO cute, but of course, they don't do well by their female characters. Why would they?

    - I'm glad I finally got to see 2 and 3 through to the end, and I definitely intend to check out the PS3 games, which I totally missed. A little break is in order first, however. ❤

  • • June 29th • PlayStation 4 •

    ✓ Completed story on Light

    I'm so tired.

  • • July 1st • PC (Rebuilt version) •

    ✓ Completed story with A Rank ending

    I don't have much to say about Corpse Party, honestly. I always had a squishy, little soft spot for old RPG Maker horror games, and the 1996 Corpse Party game in particular stood out as a classic to me. It's pretty good, and I like that it goes for creating an unsettling, isolating atmosphere more than it does direct scares. I think that's what RPG Maker horror games were always the best at - and just like those games, actually playing Corpse Party kinda stinks. The final battle is... weird and the frantic dash to classroom 2-9 after that just, doesn't really make any sense. Still, it was about two hours of my time to give a classic, trashy horror game some attention and I'm glad I played it.

  • • July 7th • PC •

    ✓ Completed first episode on normal

    Despite my history and fondness for Alien Shooter, I've always just appreciated how to-the-point this game is. It's literally a game where you shoot aliens - a whole fuckload of them, too. Nothing more, nothing less. Though this game is definitely from that age of straightforward, simple, mindless PC shooters, it's still a really nice breath of fresh air after something like The Last of Us. You blast aliens, and that's it. It still holds up as much as it needs to.

  • • July 12th • PC •

    ✓ Completed story with 100% completion + best ending

    As far as 3D erotic doujin games, Hajime's games are among my favorite because of how well he handles bondage fetishism and weaves it into solid action games. Huuma Mina 2 tries to do much more of an open-world, Dark Souls-y type of thing and while it's a little rough, it's also Hajime's best game to date. Once you're powerful enough, the combat is pretty fun and I always love customizing my character with tons of different sultry outfits in these games. I wish that he added more diverse outfits, since a lot of these seem to carry over from Cinderella 2, but that's honestly the only thing I'd add to this game, and there are already a whole ton of outfits to mix and match as it is.

    I liked this game so much that I even wrote a little Steam review to boost this game's rating. I was super looking forward to this game and it was as good as I could've ever wanted it to be. I can't wait for his next game - whatever it might be.

  • • July 13th • PC •

    ✓ Cleared game as Windia

    I have nothing bad to say about Deathsmiles. The gothic aesthetic is beautiful, the soundtrack is amazing, the enemy types are campy and wild, the bosses are creepy as hell and the stages (especially the last stage) look fantastic. It plays well, the systems are cool, the story and characters are cute and it's just... good. It's just good.

    I understand that the actual appeal of these sorts of games is about clearing the game with no continues and high score runs, and that's commendable and all but I just like to see all the cool stuff that these games have to offer. Maybe one day I'll get *really* good at side-scrolling shooters, but maybe not anytime soon.

  • • (early) August 11th • PC •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story

    Fuck, dude.

  • • August 11th • PC •

    ✓ Completed campaign on medium difficulty

    Jace and I are going to play the MachineGames Wolfenstein games soon, and just thinking about it made me really excited to play Return to Castle Wolfenstein by myself just to brush up. For the longest time, I considered this game to be my favorite PC shooter because I thought the single player was weirdly cool for a Wolfenstein game, and Wolf ET is my favorite multiplayer ever ever ever. Though, it had been well over ten years since I had last played RTCW, so I didn't actually remember much about why I liked this game in the first place.

    First off, I'll say that RTCW has one hell of an atmosphere. It's so good at making levels feel cold and creepy, or all espionage-like or all sterile and foreboding when it comes to the lab levels in particular. It's wild to think that this game is part horror game given just how well it sets the mood for occult creepiness and fucked up monsters. The levels are SO good, held back only by that old design where trial and error is how you get through most of the crazy encounters. That, and this is just how shooters were in this era - full of cheats, F5 quick saves and needing to bunny hop and crouch-jump to get through obstacles. It can get in the way, but I found it to be a great throwback given you know what you're in for.

    Man, this game still rules a whole bunch. I can see why baby Ajay liked it so much, and it was so worth playing just so I could appreciate it all over again.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - I turned on god mode for all the boss battles. Not sorry.

    - RTCW and Wolf ET have the funniest fucking sound effects - ESPECIALLY the gib sound which I think about on a daily basis.

    - It is really, really weird and cool that Wolf 09 and the MachineGames reboot continue the story from this game. Weird because it refers to characters and events in games that nobody played, cool because they acknowledge where they came from.

    - Something I find cool is how you can see Deathshead's disdain for the occult + emphasis on technological advancement, while Himmler's occult fascination drives the latter half of the game. It's a very small footnote, but I really appreciate how they stick to Deathshead's vision in the MachineGames series and go all-in on technological marvels. OK I'll stop talking now.

  • • (early) August 12th • PC •

    ✓ Completed campaign on Can I Play, Daddy?

    Raven Software's Wolfenstein is two things - extremely competent and extremely generic. I had a lot of fun playing this game, but I don't think I will remember most of it by the time I wake up tomorrow. It does nazi shooting perfectly fine, and it helps that it has some pretty over-the-top weapons that are **a lot** of fun to wipe dudes out with. The veil powers are completely forgettable. You'd think that giving BJ supernatural powers to shake things up would be more creative than "do more damage" and "block damage" and "slow time down." Actually, most of this game is completely forgettable. It fails to set a good atmosphere like RTCW did, trading in for generic warehouses, streets and whatever.

    it's not... bad. It's certainly not as bad as people say it is. It's just, I don't know. I wouldn't fault the general consensus that the Wolfenstein series doesn't inherently stand for anything, hence why nobody batted an eye when it was churned into a generic, completely fine first person shooter. I guess it's just that I don't feel that way. Because of that, I'm starting to get the feeling that RTCW is more formative on me than I initially thought, and that maybe I hoped it would be the same for the series as a whole.

    Don't get me wrong - The New Order and The New Colossus are excellent games in their own right, but that's just it - they're their own thing. Maybe I just long for a proper sequel to Return to Castle Wolfenstein, but you could probably count on one hand the number of people who'd want that in 2020.

    At least I'll give Wolfenstein this - this game sure as hell makes me want to try and make video games again, if only so I can create something I want. Who would've thought?

    Some stray thoughts:

    - When this game came out, I never finished it because I got stuck at the final boss fight. As it turns out, the final boss fight is hilarious, and crazy and great and I sincerely wish that Hans had much more time to shine than this.

    - It is REALLY fun dismembering nazis with grenades, axes, rocket launchers and a whole mess of other crazy shit. That's one thing that will never get old, I hope.

    - This game has no ending. Literally. What the hell.

  • • August 15th • PC •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed Wyatt story on Can I Play, Daddy?

    Man, I am genuinely blown away by how good The New Order still is - and just how much better it is than I remember. It's so slick and stylish, and the way it sets up its premise is golden. There's a real dedication to their alternate history WWII world, full of bizarre lore and creative right-turns on things that I wouldn't think twice about.

    Playing it still kinda stinks, though, with most of the gameplay merit going to playing on easy and sprinting around with dual shotguns and blasting dudes into bloody pieces. Navigating the bad levels is still a heavy anchor that weighs this game down, but the rest of its pieces fit so perfectly that it's something I was ultimately okay with dealing with.

    I think what makes this game age well is how well it complements and sets up Wolfenstein II. Going through this game again, it's so fun to see where bits of the story start to build up to pay off in II - not in grand ways like a Mass Effect game or whatever does, though. It's in the smaller details, and it goes to show just how well they characterize people in the story. I think most people - myself included - weren't prepared for a well-written, character-driven Wolfenstein game where you'd feel for BJ and his pals. Shit, man... J barely spoke the entire game and the way they close out his story left me with little more to say than "Fuck, that was good."

    Like... it's a good fucking game, man. Its flaws are heavy at the times when they're prominent, but I've rarely played games that are this shaprly-written, self-aware and (relatively) smart while being funny, exciting and able to get one hell of a reaction out of you.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - Short of actually having him behind the controller, playing this game with Jace was a uproariously good time. He picked the Wyatt timeline, which was a godsend since I had already played the Fergus timeline and his reaction to the over-the-top graphic violence and story beats was perfect. Not to mention how good he is at inciting absolute silliness in the both of us.

    - Speaking of Wyatt, he is so much better than I ever could've imagined. His quick temper, weak stomach and constant need to yell makes for a fun combo. His actor, alongside every other actor on the cast, puts in a fantastic performance.

    - Man... I'm so excited to get into Wolfenstein II. MAN.

  • • August 17th • PC •

    ✓ Completed story

    I like occult rituals, coffee, cafes, bartending and I'm very fascinated by death. Even so, I didn't expect Necrobarista to make me cry in the way that it did. It's such a human story - in that it's about people that truck through a lot of complicated shit in life in ways that aren't the best. Its perspective on death is beautiful, and heartbreaking, and loving and... shit, I don't know. It reminded me a lot of how I grew up seeing death, and how people I've talked to think about how they'll die one day, and how they want to react and UGH I have a lot of feelings about it. But I love it - that's what matters the most, I think.

  • • (early) August 19th • PC •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed Wyatt story on Can I Play, Daddy?

    Spectacular.

  • • August 30th • PC •

    ✓ Completed career mode

    For as full of bedlam as Bugbear's previous racing games have been, I wasn't really expecting to like Wreckfest as just a pure racing game. If anything, all the destruction derby and gimmick event stuff make up the least fun parts of the entire game. Instead, Wreckfest has one hell of a solid, SUPER heavy driving model that feels so good to play in all sorts of mixed-terrain tracks and monstrous racing vehicles. It's a lot more arcade-y than a Forza or whatever, but there's enough stakes in just how fucked up the damage model is for me to treat like an actual-ass driving game. Ideally, whatever Next Car Game 2.0. is will refine on all the wacky Flat Out shit that this game sorta lacked, but for what it is, Wreckfest is a really fun racing game. We don't really have enough of those anymore.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - I wish there was a wider variety of vehicles and customization options. At this point, though it seems like I should just end up playing an old Need for Speed game.

    - If the Burnout Paradise Remastered PC port wasn't so broken, I probably wouldn't have touched this game for a really long time. So.... thanks EA?

  • • August 31st • PC •

    ✓ Completed campaign on easy (I think?)

    Vanquish rules, man. You already know that.

  • • September 18th • PS2 (via PCSX 2 emulator) •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story

    Still my absolute favorite. Playing it with my favorite person was an extra sweet treat. ❤

    A stray thought:

    - https://youtu.be/EbZP13EbpgM

  • • (early) September 26th • PC • HD Remaster •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story...???

    I had fun playing Serious Sam TFE with Jace, but I don't think that it's a very good game. It is perfect at having silly weapons, even sillier enemies to blast and massive arenas for you to rocketjump around and mindlessly blast dudes. That's pretty much where the positives end, though as when you're not actively murdering waves of dudes, you're butting your head against levels that all look exactly the same. I can't tell when shit is locked or not, and/or when we were supposed to be looking for keys or doors as opposed to battling out hundreds of enemies. I guess it's its own sort of irony that for a game that was supposed to be old school at the time, it sure as hell has succumbed to design norms of early 2000s shooters.

    Still, if you can get all past that nonsense, it's fun shooting guys. I think that's the most important part.

  • • (early) October 1st • PC • HD Remaster •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story...??? Again???

    Weird game.

  • • (early) October 10th • PC • HD Remaster •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story?

    What the fuck man

  • • October 18th • PC •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story

    Wheelman is one hell of a litmus test. Not just for friends, or family but just for anyone that you'd want to have around you in your life. It's one of the most aggressively likable games that I've played in a long time, simply because it's nearly impossible to have a bad time playing this. It's absolutely off the fucking rails, with gratuitously explosions, interminably incomprehensible storytelling and laws of physics that have no basis in reality. It's a lot less of a GTA knockoff and more like a deformed successor to the Driver series. It has the same knack for Hollywood-style nonsense and car gymnastics, just with seemingly more self-awareness. I can't tell you what happened in Vin Diesel's Wheelman - but I can definitely tell you that I had a spectacular fucking time going through all of it.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - Jace and I have been watching the Fast & Furious movies, and it's remarkable how convincing Vin Diesel can be as an actor across the board. In this game though, it feels he is just talking at people without actually understanding anything. It's mind-boggling.

    - I can't even count the amount of times we were cracking the hell up and screaming at the camera cuts to breakdancing + exploding vehicles

    - It's fucked up to think that virtually every video game Vin Diesel has been a part of ended up being a horrific pile of trash, yet one of the only good ones was fated to suffer in legal and commercial limbo.

  • • (early) October 24th • PC •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story on fetish

    I didn't realize it until now, but Manhunt is representative of a special era for Rockstar Games. It's one between the gutter-trash they churned out in the mid-to-late 90s, and complete and absolute capitalist hell. I think I say that because Manhunt is kind of bizarre. It's an extremely sensationalist video game, built upon the provocative nature of killing a shit load of dudes in progressively brutal ways. And I guess from that outside perspective, Manhunt is shallow as hell. It's some weird bloodsport simulator for sadists, rooted in the most early 2000s depiction of anarchic gang violence. From that perspective, I don't know why you'd ever want to play Manhunt out of curiosity.

    In practice, it's so much more than that. I don't know if it was meant to be, but Manhunt is, in a way, pretty fucking amazing. I mean - sure, it's the same Rockstar pastiche, just with slasher flicks and horror games instead of mob movies, but that's the point. Rockstar North's sharp, seedy perspective on primal, bloodthirsty violence was as far as Western video games got to prestige. It was never original by any means, but it made up for that with boldness. Like a moron with a heart of gold, it was just so much fun to root for them when they were making weird shit like this, and The Warriors and Midnight Club II.

    I'm talking real grand here, but I'm not trying to talk about Manhunt as some sort of masterpiece. Certainly it has a lot going for it, like its fucking creepy backdrop, or the amazing score or, like, Brian Cox being Brian Cox. The stealth is intense as hell, and there are times where you're physically out of breath from dealing with so many fucked up situations. The gunplay, while not refined by any means, is blunt, and crude and imperfect in the same way it would be if you were struggling to get by in a world like Manhunt. The gore is nasty, and the entire world is so hellish and antagonistic that each and every encounter feels a little more claustrophobic and suffocating. It's one of the dirtiest, ugliest, unsettling worlds that I've ever played in - to this day.

    But, more than anything, Manhunt just makes me long for weirder times. Times where big studios *could* feasibly make weird concept games like this, or take enough of a risk to stir up the entire industry. More than anything, it felt like we rarely see games like this anymore. It's as stupid as it is bold, but I guess I like that about Manhunt? It isn't really trying to say anything at all - it's just trying to create a fucked up, scary world where you hide in the shadows and hack hundreds of dudes to death. It is remarkably effective at what it does and it knows exactly what it is. I guess I admire that more than I thought.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - As of this writing, the COVID-19 pandemic is still in full swing and the subway level made me miss the Montreal metro a whole fuckin' lot.

    - Jon Berenthal was in this game??? Why?????

    - Please put the soundtrack on Spotify. Please

  • • (early) October 29th • PC •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed story on normal

    Story stinks, combat is incredible. It's a fuckin' shame that Monilith is now making trash ass Lord of the Rings games now.

  • • November 24th • PS2 (via PCSX 2) + PC •

    ✓ Completed story on easy

    Hi, I haven't beaten any video games in a while. School, life and quarantine depression have kept me occupied for the past little while. It has been a weird time, so I felt that weird times called for weird games. Half-Life on PS2, for instance, is a version of this game that I probably shouldn't ever need to play considering how well the PC version runs. I was curious about it, though since scavenger hunts for this particular version on Half Life ended up at either dead ends, or exceedingly pricy ends. Software piracy can do wonders in times like this.

    Anyway, Half Life on PS2. It's good. Surprisingly good. Leave it to Gearbox to implement features like quick save, auto crouch-jump and 16:9 support. They're not just novel features, but practically required for a console part of what is such a PC-ass first person shooter. These features are pretty much what makes this PS2 version playable to begin with, as the chaotic, trial-and-nature style of Half-Life requires a lot of room to work with. It helps that the game runs pretty well to boot, except in some instances where the chaos on screen completely dips the frame rate. Still, though, this is a very competent way to revisit Half-Life, as this is just... that game - engine quirks, technology and everything.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - I would've LOVED this version as a kid. There's little weird graphical enhancements, UI stuff and it's overall just... the sort of port that you don't see anymore. For better.

    - In contrast to all the nice things I've said, the PS2 version glitched out and was impossible to progress through during the Xen levels. Upon transition to Gonarch's Lair, it gets rid of the UI and just leaves you stuck in a spot. I had to switch to PC to finish the Xen portion. Apart from being, yknow, unplayable, it's still pretty good.

    - I really adore the game's sound design. These days I've been playing games with podcasts on when they're not with Jace, but I had to embrace myself in the spectacular atmosphere that this game creates.

    - I have never - not once did the final boss without cheats.

  • • November 29th • PC •

    ✓ Completed story on easy

    I've never finished Opposing Force, to my knowledge. After just finishing it, I don't imagine I'll be any different for it. It's cool as hell to see other parts of Black Mesa, especially given so many different sectors were teased in the original HL tram ride. The new weapons are great, it's nice and short and I had fun playing it. Expansion packs are rarely, if ever remarkable and while this one isn't very exciting either, it is at the very least, inoffensive.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - What the hell was that weird dark tunnel area?

    - Gearbox makes bad games and are led by a total piece of burning trash, but you can at least see the trademarks (for better or worse) in this level design. Lots of puzzles, platforming and weird weapons.

  • • December 1st • PC •

    ✓ Completed story on easy

    I was waiting for Siege to patch, so I decided to play Blue Shift. I've also never finished this one, but that's mostly because I never heard anyone talk about it like it was essential. It doesn't have any of the extra weapons or enemies from Opposing Force (or, anything new actually) but it makes up for that with a bunch of story stuff. It's supplemental to the original HL story by like, explaining what actually happened and why any of it needed to happen in the first place. It's fine, and it's short as hell too so it's just as inoffensive. I actually think this is much more essential than Opposing Force is, because it actual things to add to the story. Plus, Barney is a whole-ass character in Half-Life 2, so... I guess Valve liked this one more.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - It's kinda cool that this came out at all, considering it was supposed to be a Dreamcast exclusive campaign. There's an early part where two aliens disappear as soon as you kill them and it reminded me of just how fucked up that Dreamcast version was.

    - Siege still hasn't finished patching yet.

  • • December 2nd • PC • Deleted Scenes •

    ✓ Completed story (?) on easy

    I hit credits on this, which I didn't even know was possible, but OK. It's all right, for a collection of levels that are not only barely coherent, but barely finished products. The level design stinks a lot of the time - the rules of traversal in Deleted Scenes is so vague that I'm never sure where I can or can't go. Not to mention, the locales are super duper hit or miss. Sometimes it's really cool stuff like a launch center, or narrow city streets, and other times it's really stereotypical, cliche, boring ass middle eastern/jungle warfare.

    I know I seem pretty down on it, but these collection of levels are way more interesting than what Condition Zero actually ended up being. If there was more work into making this a fully fledged product, I'm sure it still wouldn't be *great* but there's a lot more to explore and experience here than a bad reskin of Counter Strike 1.6.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - The M3 shotgun is AMAZING, and pulling off headshots with it rewards you with a hilariously gory blood splatter on any nearby surface.

    - There are a lot of weird little easter eggs in this game. Sometimes it's dev pictures (which are really fun to find) and other times it's WOMB RAIDER on a marquee screen. Weirdly representative of this game's sense of maturity, now that I think about it.

  • • (early) December 12th • PC (via Master Chief Collection) •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed co-op campaign on normal

    At this point, Halo is beyond a known quantity. It pretty much set the standard for first person shooters, twenty years on. It's easy to think about Halo as something generic when it pushed so many games to evolve beyond the standards of the early 2000s. You can see its influence in games released within the last month, even. I get why you might find it boring because of that, but instead I found it to be really, really fun.

    Playing through the Halo campaign for the first time in 2020, it's remarkable to see just how impressive this game still is. Like, the scale is massive, the weapons are great, the controls are intuitive as hell and it's all held together supremely well. When I think back to games from 2001, most of them didn't look, sound and feel nearly as good as Halo still does. Even games from 2008 feel supremely dated, but it's clear why this game made such a big impact back then. It has such a coherent vision, as the music and the story make it feel like this action-packed, big budget technical showpiece. If the game itself didn't back up Halo's hubris, the confidence in which the game presents itself is enough to convince me.

    It's like, a throwback to when the Xbox brand had an identity. It was about a hulking, massive console with the power to excel in graphics, features and online multiplayer. Halo was at the forefront of the Xbox's push into the market, and because of that, I think it's impossible for me to play Halo without thinking about how distinct the Xbox was at the time. While, yeah, this is just a cool first person shooter, it represented more than that. It's a symbol of some weird alternative brand that I think back at and miss dearly. It's the likes of Dead or Alive, and Project Gotham Racing, and fuckin' all the other weird shit that Microsoft was letting people make.

    I don't know. Even if the level design is absolutely hellish and the balance is kind of fucked up, I still find myself seeing past it because of how much Halo serves up rose-tinted nostalgia. It makes me think of when the Xbox and it's weird, killer lineup demanded that you pay attention to it... and now, I couldn't give less of a shit about whatever Xbox is doing.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - Playing this with Jace was as perfect of an experience that I could've had playing Halo for the first time. His willingness to enable chaos and, honestly, his mere presence immediately made me understand the appeal of the Halo campaign.

    - The unpredictability of Halo's combat carrying on into cutscenes is hilarious. You can just be dead on the floor in a co-op game and it'll still show your corpse in the cutscene. Fucked up, man.

    - I have much more of a history with Halo 2. I'm excited to revisit it just for that, even if I heard some funky things about its campaign.

  • • (early) December 16th • PC •

    🐶 + ✓ Completed co-op campaign on i don't know

    Bad

  • • December 25th • PlayStation 4 •

    ✓ Completed story

    While it's a pretty broad assumption, I understand when people get cynical over video games. After so many years of this shit, it's demoralizing to see hollow stories pushed to the top of the pile just because they have big budgets, or familiar names or some sort of prestige to them. I guess it's like, capitalism 101, but that doesn't stop the games industry's creative low bar from being a little harrowing.

    Yakuza: Like A Dragon feels like a total subversion of any cynicism you might have about video games. Sure, it's a long-running franchise, but it takes an exceptionally ambitious shift in a series that has been well-established for the past fifteen years. To go from a mashy brawler to a heavily inspired RPG system is fucking crazy, and as someone who cannot stick to RPGs, it was a gateway. The chemistry between characters, matching party jobs, upgrading weapons and the handful of absolutely preposterous spells are not just a tribute to RPGs past, but it's just as smooth, modern, accessible and rewarding. I know that's a lot of fuckin' games writing jargon, but this game feels really fucking good to play.

    Likewise, the game's story and thematic elements are among the most well-realized that I've seen in pretty much any video game. Ichiban Kasuga is fiery, and goofy, and heartfelt and passionate and violent and he's just... like, a normal person. He's a middle-aged dude, kicked down to rock bottom. His persistence isn't just inspiring, but it's fucking heartwarming. He's a weird dude who has gone through some shit - a guy down on his luck at every turn in his life. Games protagonists are often so dry, and lifeless - antiheroes spread enough for you to lose yourself in them. Ichiban is a man who has seen hell, and only wishes that nobody else would have to go through what he has.

    It's refreshing, I guess, to have such a big-budget, well-crafted open world video game with an equally-as-big heart. Ichiban's courage is profound - not just to me, but to his friends, his remaining family, to strangers and enemies and everyone in between. It's over-the-top in the way that most Yakuza stories are woven, but Ichiban's empathy and understanding and willingness to forgive, reform and be better triumphs over any sort of bumps the story might run into. I sincerely think that it's impossible to not like him.

    The game's mechanics and thematic elements are hand-in-hand to the greatest degree. Like, a story about a bunch of fucking gutter-trash losers, outlaws and desperate dudes lends itself perfectly to a game about assuming different ridiculous jobs, identities and life paths. Everyone's story is different, but they all come together on the basis of friendship, justice, being heroes and doing the right thing. It's probably the best, truest pairing of gameplay and narrative that I've seen in a very, very long time. I don't want to say it's perfect, because its story hitches in a few places and it deals in scarcely explained game mechanics, but I fuckin' bet this is the closest I've ever played to it.

    So... yeah. It's a little early to tell, but in my gut, I feel like Yakuza: Like A Dragon is one of the best games I've ever played in my life.

    Some stray thoughts:

    - 7 > 0 > 2 > 4 > 3 > 1 > 6 > 5

    - I have never cried so much at anything video game related in my life. Undertale, Yakuza 3 and Valkyria Chronicles are probably the closest.

    - Zhao is so fucking hot. And Ichiban Kasuga's voice actor puts in the god damn performance of his lifetime.

    - I want to play more RPGs. Please.
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