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2024 Complete

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Max Payne

1. Max Payne

There's a lot I like about Max Payne 1. There's some neat camera work, the soundtrack is superb, the graphic novel motif is neat, shootdoging is just fun and of course, James McCaffrey's narration. However, the game is just too hard to be fun. Having to quick save after every little encounter, hoping I having fucked up too much to make the later parts too hard is just more annoying than it is enjoyable. I get that's how PC games used to be but man, it just makes the game so much longer and annoying. Also James McCaffrey is undeniably great as Max.... but some of his readings in this is questionable at best. It's early voice acting and I know for a fact he gets better later in his career but really he's reading lines like he has to be out of the studio in 15 minutes. The game became much more enjoyable once I turned on god mode and infinite ammo. Update: So after beating Max Payne 2 I came right back to one and played on a harder difficulty and found it be much easier, and much more enjoyable overall. I dunno what changed in how I was playing but I guess I just needed to git gud. Still think McCaffrey's reading is a bit too hasty but I'm feeling much more positively towards the game/

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

2. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

Markedly better than the first game. A more satisfying difficulty curve, better feeling gameplay and a fantastic McCaffrey performance, this time he actually paces himself rather than reading at the speed of lightning. I'm sure the first game was under various monetary/time constraints thus leading to the speedy voice over but regardless, this is the definitive Remedy Max Payne game. In fact the only way the first game is better is in the fact that it used Sam Lake's likeness for Max Payne.

Sonic Adventure

3. Sonic Adventure

It's janky in some very annoying ways but it's easily the best 3D sonic game. A good story, told in an interesting way, a lot of varied gameplay and of course, the chao garden!

Doom

4. Doom

Unbreakable, Incorruptible, Unyielding This game still fucking rocks. Compared to Eternal it felt kind of bare bones for the first 3/4 but once the game kicks it up a notch for those last few levels it's just as engrossing.

Crisis Core –Final Fantasy VII– Reunion

5. Crisis Core –Final Fantasy VII– Reunion

Fucking hated 99% of the story bits that weren't lifted from FF7 but man playing *that* ending was pretty affecting. Ugh, all signs are pointing to the remake turning to shit.

Grand Theft Auto IV

6. Grand Theft Auto IV

Yup, still the best one. The story, the city, the protagonist. It's definitely the best work/writing R* have done.

Final Fantasy VII

7. Final Fantasy VII

Foolishly decided to look into mods for this near the end of the game and now here I am, starting from the beginning immediately after finishing it >.<

Final Fantasy VII Remake

8. Final Fantasy VII Remake

It's been 4 years and I still can't believe they're remaking this. It wasn't until re-reading my past entries for this game and now replaying that I remember how much of this game is kind of a tedious drag. I still love it though. The way this game uses nostalgia to compensate for it's monotony is masterful and as a statement about the future of this 'remake', I think it's very effective. I still roll my eyes at all the anime bullshit (and boy is there a lot of anime bullshit) but I'm still very intrigued about where the story is going, as well as spending more time with these characters who mean so much to me. Part 2 can't come soon enough.

File:Spiderman2marvelplaystation.jpg

9. Marvel's Spider-Man 2

For the first half of this I was questioning if I really wanted more Spider-Man games... But once the story starts picking up steam it reminded me of why these games are still awesome. That being said, hopefully with the Wolverine game on it's way there'll be a longer gap between these games because other than releasing for a new generation of hardware, im not sure how they keep this formula fresh.

Final Fantasy VIII

10. Final Fantasy VIII

And with this.... I think I've completed every mainline non-mmo Final Fantasy game? The ones I beat 2 decades ago I'll have to revisit to have any sort of tangible thoughts about but I'm pretty sure I've beaten them all in some capacity. Neato. For this entire game I tried to adopt the mindset of somebody who thought this was better than 7 and it wasn't until the entire story had been told that I was able to see where those people are coming from. Along the way there is some dodgy writing and lack of set ups for some of the plot points but by the end they do a good job of telling a complete, and compelling story. SQUALLS character arc is great, though I wish the other characters had as much time invested in them. The junction system has some neat ideas, but in practice it becomes a major drag. I felt using the 3x speed cheat really robbed me of the original experience, but honestly without it I wouldn't have finished the game (which may have been the reason for my previous failed attempts at finishing this). The high point of the game would definitely be the CG and general graphical fidelity. As endearing as Clouds toaster hands were, it's hard to deny how much better SQUALL generally looks. Though I don't think it did much to change, or increase, my investment in the story.

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