FINISHED: January 5th
RATING: 8/10

Combat felt very limited, there were too many recycled bosses, and I was expecting a bit more in the way of exploration. But gadgets and stealth were real fun, there was an incredible atmosphere to the environments, and the writing and visuals captured the spirit of the comics in such a satisfying way. Had a great time despite some minor shortcomings.

FINISHED: January 25th
RATING: 8/10

Impressive and almost outstanding SNES title that I really enjoyed. Great pixel art, super-fun mechanics, quality Shimomura tunes and a neat little story to follow. Sadly let down for me a bit by some major balance issues that turn the whole second half of the game into an absolute cakewalk and render it not nearly as interesting as the first. But still, another ambitious, polished title from Square at the peak of their powers. Will probably play the PS1 extra scenario at some point.

FINISHED: February 2nd
RATING: 3/10

Woof, that was bad. Great art and nearly full voice acting, but unfortunately little else works here. The gameplay is clunky, painfully slow, and incredibly barebones, and the story feels sloppy and downright unfinished, with entire characters and plot threads serving no purpose, and some absolutely awful dialogue and character writing. Not the worst thing I've played, and it could have had potential in the hands of a more capable developer, but I think TamTam bit off more than they could chew.

FINISHED: February 7th
RATING: 9/10

Lovely game. Dialogue was charming and funny, had some really imaginative mechanics, and while the dual analogue controls had a slight learning curve, they were fantastic after that and felt totally unique. I did think the three modern day levels were a bit drab and dull compared to the rest, but the last level was great and made up for it. Will play the sequels.

FINISHED: February 17th
RATING: 4/10

Lovely aesthetics and a fascinating world and story that made me almost wish the franchise hadn't died. But has some major problems. Combat is dull and clunky, the pseudo-RPG mechanics are poorly conceived, and the difficulty curve is bonkers, with the first story being brutal and the rest being a cakewalk. The choice to split the stories and place the most crucial one first is also bizarre, leaving 3/4 of the game feeling anticlimactic. Not totally terrible, but should have been more.

FINISHED: March 3rd
RATING: 7/10

A tad too ambitious for its own good, with lots of janky elements to the combat, bugs both big and small, a story that is rushed and often barely there, and a final act and ending that feel straight up unfinished. But that ambition is also what makes it so interesting. There's nothing else quite like this on PS2, and it's a truly impressive achievement for a 2002 title by a dev that was new to the hardware. Far from perfect, but a fascinating and worthwhile experience.

FINISHED: March 7th
RATING: 8/10

A very faithful remake that I suspect won't please some who aren't already fond of the original and the era that birthed it. Still, it modernises the original in ways that count while retaining all of the dialogue, humour, and imagination that made it so charming. So I found it an absolutely joyous way to revisit an old favourite. I'm sure I'll play "better" games this year, but I'd be surprised if many make me quite so happy as this one. And that's what it's all about, at the end of the day.

FINISHED: April 4th
RATING: 8/10

A glorious fever dream of a game with a totally unique setting, a compellingly bizarre story, and some of the most gorgeous and inventive visuals I've ever seen. Neither the combat nor the platforming are that special, but when married to the game's incredible presentation, the game winds up feeling so much more captivating than it should be on paper. And at less than 10 hours, it never really has time to grow dull. Not a great game exactly, but absolutely a great experience, and glad I played.

FINISHED: April 20th
RATING: 9/10

Outstanding. Genma is much tougher and probably wasn't the best version for a first play, but loved the challenge. Locations ooze atmosphere, combat is fun and surprisingly technical, protagonist is effortlessly cool, and game is absolutely stunning visually and hardly looks dated at all, particularly on CRT. Not the longest game, but terrific fun while it lasted. Going to replay on the PS2 soon to compare, and will 100% play the sequels.

FINISHED: April 24th
RATING: 7/10

Humour is uneven, camera can be iffy, and voodoo concept is underused despite the many creative animations for Vince's powers. Difficulty spike in the last few stages was also a little too sharp for me. But liked a lot all the same. Great level design, diverse, fun objectives, a charming New Orleans setting, and a terrific jazzy soundtrack. Visuals hold up well too. A good ways off the Jaks or Slys of the era, but a quality platformer for a console that didn't have as many as its contemporaries.

FINISHED: April 29th
RATING: 5/10

Legendary music and terrific voice acting, fascinating story, great characters, and incredibly ambitious gameplay for a 3-D action game of the era. But completely falls apart through the devs' lack of experience with the genre, as well as the PS1's inability to realise the scope of the game's vision. A total mess, but a truly fascinating one, and there's a masterpiece worthy of Square's name buried in here somewhere. Glad I played despite its many issues, and absolutely deserves a remake.

FINISHED: May 10th
RATING: 7/10

A tough game to rate. Perhaps the least mechanically satisfying RPG I've played, and does frighteningly little to modernise the original game's design, which was dated even for 1994. But exceptional music, an enchanting, haunting story that is more than the sum of its parts, and some of the best (at least in Japanese) dialogue of any JRPG ever. The game is so uninterested in being fun to play that it might have fared better as a book or animated series. But where it succeeds, it truly excels.

FINISHED: July 26th
RATING: 9/10

A beautiful mess of a finale. Disappointing lack of gameplay (especially stealth sections) and some moments of real cringe, as well as some woefully mishandled female characters (oh Kojima...). But compellingly bonkers, and the highs are so very high. Even as a fairly casual fan, there were multiple points that gave me goosebumps and brought actual tears to my eyes. And I'm willing to overlook a lot for any game that achieves that. Hugely flawed, but kind of unforgettable all the same.

FINISHED: July 30th
RATING: 8/10

Disappointed with the forgettable dungeons and copy-paste canyons / ports, and feel like the later sections generally lacked a lot of the early game's polish. But while it felt a bit rushed to me at points, I still think this is easily one of the best Tales, with a stellar cast, great skits, an interesting world, surprisingly good music, and battle mechanics that finally put the 3-D games' combat on the level of the best 2-D ones. Had a great time, and will probably do Milla's side sometime.

FINISHED: August 2nd
RATING: 9/10

Story was kind of trite and predictable, combat was too easy and quickly grew stale, and was a bit overlong, with a quite unnecessary final act. But from its lore to its atmosphere and aesthetics, I found Rapture so totally compelling as a setting that I was more than willing to forgive the game's less remarkable aspects. I can count on one hand the game worlds I've enjoyed this much, and sometimes one truly great element is all a game needs. Not perfect, but I couldn't put my controller down.

FINISHED: August 4th
RATING: 7/10

All DLC. Dialogue wasn't as funny as what I remembered of the PS2 ones, and felt a bit phoned in at times. And framerate has some major issues. But the basic gameplay loop is no less fun for it, and rolling stuff up will never not put a smile on my face. Great music too. Not the best Katamari I've tried, but still a really enjoyable way to spend six hours. And I'll absolutely come back to this periodically to try for better scores.

FINISHED: August 6th
RATING: 9/10

Conflicted. In terms of pure gameplay this is exactly the evolution I wanted from 1, and one of the best platformers I've played. But Mario Galaxy was important to me on levels besides pure fun, and this has so little of that, choosing to largely discard the bittersweet story and sense of cosmic awe that made the previous game so special. The space setting feels disappointingly peripheral too. As a Mario game it's a 10/10, but as a Mario Galaxy sequel, I feel it's sadly only halfway there.

FINISHED: August 15th
RATING: 6/10

Lovely cast, nice music and character art, and a sweet (if slightly rushed) story. Not quite a true hidden gem for me due to bland dungeons, some dreary busywork, and the fact that a guide is all but mandatory to have a good time, as most events are easy to miss and the gameplay loop is a bit too simple to maintain interest during prolonged downtime. But while it falls a bit short of its considerable potential, this is still very fun, and a much better game than it appears at first glance.

FINISHED: August 17th
RATING: 9/10

Breathtaking music, stunning character art, well-implemented RPG elements, and tons of replay value. Suspect the fairly unique main combat gimmick might be divisive, but I loved it, and thought it really made the game stand out from other 3-D action brawlers. Characters are lovely too, and the strange, dreamlike story and world worked well for me. Had some issues with framerate and AI, and some stages were markedly better than others, but I really enjoyed this. Will replay for best ending.

FINISHED: August 17th
RATING: 9/10

Hot take, but I 100% prefer Child of Eden, both aesthetically and because I feel the lack of alternate fire and an incentive to time shots to the music makes this much less interesting. I wish I had played this one first. Still, a terrific game that hasn't aged in the slightest, and as visually striking as anything I've played. I do wish there was a checkpoint before the final boss, as the final stage is long and not especially challenging, and having to replay it is a drag and detracts from the majestic final battle. But amazing stuff.

FINISHED: August 24th
RATING: 7/10

Shows flashes of being a truly great horror game in its quieter moments. But devs seem worried that they'll lose players without a protracted firefight every other room, and it quickly grows stale and repetitive, robbing the game of any sense of tension. I don't expect every horror game to scare me, but when I'm outright bored for long stretches, it's a really bad sign. Enjoyed the story and gameplay refinements, and has some incredible highs, but a disappointing and vastly inferior sequel imo.

FINISHED: October 10th
RATING: 7/10

All of Infection's gameplay issues carry over to this second instalment, and some (particularly the grind of virus core hunting) have become even worse. But the story is building into something quite special - an exciting, slowly unfolding mystery with great characters and lore and a genuinely sinister atmosphere. And with all the groundwork already laid in Infection, I think I enjoyed this one even more. By no means a series I'd recommend unconditionally, but one I'm really liking so far.

FINISHED: August 12th (2024!)
RATING: 6/10

For the first fifteen hours, I was ready to call this underrated and a pretty good game, even if it doesn't work as a sequel. But that second half dropoff was fierce. The fun, playful story of the first half goes totally missing leaving... nothing, really, except a slew of dungeons strung together in very tenuous fashion. And while dungeon designs are quite strong, as they were in the first, the limitations of the game's primitive 3-D camera and controls become very apparent as the difficulty ratchets up, with designs that would be cool in 2-D just being fiddly and annoying here. So the tail end just isn't much fun, sadly. Still enjoyed in parts, especially early on, but feel it has big issues that go beyond it simply being a bad sequel.