Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
Azure Striker Gunvolt
Trails beyond the Horizon
We Love Katamari
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Resident Evil: Requiem
Resident Evil 2 (1998)
Final Fantasy X
Space Marine
Pragmata
Final Fantasy VII
Streets of Rage 4
Onimusha Warlords
Muramasa Rebirth
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny
Halo: Campaign Evolved
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Pokemon Leaf Green
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Metal Gear Solid 4
Onimusha 3: Demon's Siege
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve
Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies
Fatal Frame 2: Crimsom Butterfly
Resident Evil 2 (1998)
Dino Crisis
Eternal Darkness
Really cool horror game that I think serves as a fine example of 'greater than the sum of its parts' or at least what a cool idea/narrative can do to okay gameplay (Yes, Soul Reaver 2 that includes you). This is a battle of humanity against a cosmic evil that takes place over 2000 years, 12 or so people fight to uncover the mystery taking place in their time and everything they do feeds back to the main character in present day, what carries over isn't just knowledge but also abilities so after every chapter you find new parts of the mansion to unlock until finally she has the chance to step into the spotlight herself.
I do have some issues with it, some chapters are noticeably weaker than others, the combat in which you can target individual limbs is a cool idea that you don't ever really see taken advantage of, Alexandra's big moment is kind of short but I can se why this is such a cult classic.
It really should be on the NSO (Well a lot of games should be, or we'll have a Switch 3 before we see anything really cool), it feels like the exact sort of rare, exclusive that should be on here asap but for some reason it isn't. They added Luigi's Mansion near the end of last year's October, so fuck knows, maybe they'll drop Geist or something, you're a ghost in that right?
Between season 2 of the anime and the new update just dropped, I think I'm jumping back into Cyberpunk in the next day or so, might be on Xbox again, might be on Switch 2, we'll see.
I remember back in the day when KOTOR was first reviewed and it was a Really Big Deal that this Star Wars game was actually, properly good. I prefer the second game but I respect the first, especially for THAT scene, fast forward to the 360 era and I got one for Mass Effect which was absolutely worth it.
End of an era, crazy news
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance
Azure Striker Gunvolt
Trails beyond the Horizon
We Love Katamari
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Resident Evil: Requiem
Resident Evil 2 (1998)
Final Fantasy X
Space Marine
Pragmata
Final Fantasy VII
Streets of Rage 4
Onimusha Warlords
Muramasa Rebirth
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny
Halo: Campaign Evolved
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Pokemon Leaf Green
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Metal Gear Solid 4
Onimusha 3: Demon's Siege
Onimusha: Way of the Sword
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve
Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies
Fatal Frame 2: Crimsom Butterfly
Resident Evil 2 (1998)
Dino Crisis
Well, finally I can tick this off the backlog!
I enjoyed it for the most part but it's not got anything on the PS1 Resident Evil trilogy (Besides Regina, who I think makes most of the PS1 RE cast look like emotionless blocks of wood), I like the idea of it, it's a real survival horror, just not the execution so much.
It has the least memorable level design by far, some really unfun and convoluted puzzle design and extremely limited enemy variety…by which I mean there's really just Raptors for the exploration part of the game, no dino equivalent to Dogs, Spiders, Lickers, Hunters etc. I know I played this game blind but the level design in this is so clinical and soulless it doesn't really attach itself to my memories of the game, no one is going to say 'Man I love the facility from Dino Crisis man!' but toss out one of the lesser liked RE games even like Code Veronica and RE0 and you can practically feel the Prison and Train reconstruct itself inside your head. And Raptors are much more aggressive than zombies but to actually engage with them is kind of boring, you just put them to sleep or go around them, effectively making them kind of unmemorable despite the fact that they can follow you into rooms. This makes it feel more of a puzzle simulator at time, in a game where it doesn't record any files or memos and every file or memo might be integral to solving the puzzles…
I like Dino Crisis 2 but I really wish the sequel to DC1 was a more polished version of the concept of 'Survival Horror with Dinosaurs' instead of 'RE4 in 3rd person' that DC2 became. I dunno if I'll play that next, I kinda' want to but I should probably play something new again, it's definitely the better game anyway.
Alastor