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Fainaru fantajî VII (1997)
A Charming, Funny, Heartwarming, Excting Adventure
I didn't grow up with the PSX and after playing Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania Symphony of The Night and Final Fantasy 7 in my late teens to 20s I can now see what I was missing. It's a shame I couldn't afford both N64 and PSX but hey like they say "better late than never" After finally playing this game and completing it, all I can say is that I definitely see why this game is so popular.
I was easily able to get past the old graphics (as I usually can) and just be so entranced by this world and it's characters and I love these guys they're different enough to distinguish from one another while still having interesting interactions with each other (you can see why these people are friends) but they don't just talk about how awesome or different each character is, they'll poke jabs at each other like Cid telling Cloud to stop talking like a wimp before the big fight. Cloud, Barrett, and Tifa in particular have pretty big Spike, Jet, and Faye from Cowboy Bebop dynamic (The young reckless guy, the older gruff guy who can't take the younger guy's attitude and the tough tom boy with soft heart underneath) and they play off each other very well The story is also engaging, aside from the famous Aeris death scene (which is kinda impossible not to know about at this point. Thanks internet) everything else I didn't see coming and that was exciting. It kinda reminded me in parts of the anime Wolf's Rain. The promise land instead of Paradise, Red 13 just in general, and the rebels attacking a train in a dystopian city (Wonder if the creators of that show played this game).
I love how it starts out as sorta this cyberpunk dystopian story into a fantasy epic but never in a way that contrasts with itself like you're playing another game The bosses are cool and uniquely designed, and while the character graphics haven't aged well, I love looking at the backgrounds and exploring the environments cause they're so cool looking. Sometimes I felt like I was playing Myst with some of these environments It's also a really funny game at times despite all the dramatic moments like there's a bitch slapping mini game I'm not even joking it's hilarious.
There's popular things out there that are fads and then there's well deserved classics. This is a classic, while it's not my favorite game of all time (that still goes to Metal Gear Solid) I definitely see why this game is so beloved and has changed people's lives. You don't get this popular for this long for nothing P.S. Tifa is love, Tifa is life
Max Payne 3 (2012)
It's a fine game as long as you don't call it a Max Payne game
I love the first two Max Payne games. The game play was innovative and still a blast to play and when it comes to story and characters they're right up there with the likes of Metal Gear Solid and The Last of Us. That's how good they are and are some of the best that Neo Noir has to offer in any medium. So when I got around to Max Payne 3, I figured it could still work despite having a different studio making it. Dan Houser wrote both this and Red Dead Redemption and RDR is an amazing western game with a great story, a compelling main character (who also goes into bullet time) with interesting side characters so I figured if anybody could take the mantel from Sam Lake, Houser would be the right guy to do it... and then I played the game
A lot of fans hate this game and say it doesn't even feel like a Max Payne game and yeah it's hard for me to argue with them. It feels like R* only made this game so they could keep the rights to the character but before I talk about what I hate about this game, let me talk about what I do like about this game The graphics are good and the controls are good. The music by Health is cool, it makes you feel like you're going mad in a chaotic world. It's nice to hear the Max Payne theme and James McCaffrey as Max again.
Then there's everything else. First of, who the hell thought it was a good idea to put a cover system in a Max Payne game?! Max Payne is suppose to play like a John Woo movie, think of any heroic bloodshed film and anything inspired by that genre, do the characters ever duck and cover while conserve ammo throughout most of the shootout? No they go out guns a' blazing. Is it realistic? No but it's not suppose to be and that the first strike with this game is trying to make Max Payne more realistic which makes no sense at all. Is Max Payne gritty? Yes. Realistic? God no! While I said the graphics were good. I hate the art direction. Instead of those awesome comic book panels, we get these annoying block transitions with random words that pop up in some attempt to make it feel like a comic but instead makes me feel like I'm watching either 24 or a 60s spy show with these transitions. Plus the cut-scenes can't be skipped (great, I get a terrible story and I can't even skip them) Now lets get to the story and characters... ugh. The only character that's remotely good here is Max himself but even he has been stripped down. Max in this game does nothing but drink and complain about how much he hates everything and wants to die which is such a far cry from the cool poetic bad ass of the first two games who was proactive and never gave up and could even smile and joke every now again.
The rest of these "characters" aren't worth mentioning cause there's nothing to them other than being these shallow rich people stereotypes. Not even Max cares about any of these people so why the hell should I? (Remember characters like Mona Sax, Vladamir Lem, Vinnie Gognitti? Hey, I miss those guys already).
It's so sad to have a game named after the main character yet the story doesn't have anything to do with him. No kidding, the only reason Max is in this game is because the bad guys know of his violent past and they set him up to be the fall guy. You could literally put any other action hero in Max's place and the story wouldn't change in the slightest. What made the stories in the first two games worked as well as Red Dead Redemption was that it was personal for both Max Payne and John Marston. There was a drive that made you want to see it to the end. Here it feels more like homework to get to the end of the story
Are you starting to see why I think this game was only made for marketing reasons? This should tell you more than anything that there shouldn't have been a Max Payne 3 because Max's story is over. At the end of Max Payne 2 (and this isn't a spoiler so don't worry) Max says "I had a dream of wife. She was dead but it was alright" that's all you need to know that his arc is complete, everything got wrapped up at the end of MP2 but Rockstar just had to keep it going for, especially when Max says that never truly got over his wife's death in this game. Ugh
So if R* was going to change so much to the point that it doesn't even feel like a Noir comic book John Woo film hybrid then why call it Max Payne at all? Why not just make a different game and call it Rockstar's Man of Fire or something (Seriously this feels about as much like a Max Payne game as taking Spike Spiegel, throwing him into the world of Black Lagoon, shave his head and calling it Cowboy Bebop 2) and if they had to call it Max Payne why not just reboot it? You at least wouldn't make fans of they first two angry by pretending that it has anything to do with them
So yeah if you've never play a Max Payne game before you'll probably like this game fine but if you've played the first two already and love them like I do then don't bother with this one. Finish MP2 and leave it at that
P.S. There's also no nightmare sequences in this game which sucks
Zeruda no densetsu: Toki no okarina (1998)
I kinda feel I've grown out of this series in a way
Graphics are good for the time, nice music, and the controls are good but that's really the best I can see about this game as well as the rest of the series. I use to be a huge fan of Zelda but the series has gotten stagnant and it just doesn't hit home with me anymore and a lot of my problems with the series do sorta strike with this game.
If you're looking for a great story and interesting characters go elsewhere, the story is the same generic "save the princess from a dark lord" scenario and the characters are all stock, I wouldn't even call them characters, just people with weird quirks and nothing else so what's left is the game-play and I'm sorry but it just doesn't strike a core with me anymore, the enemies and bosses are far to easy to beat (just wait and hit them 3 or so times), the world is mostly empty with nothing to find except heart containers and rupees. The puzzles are good but if I want nothing but good puzzles I'd play Portal So what am I left with? A game with no story or characters so I can't be emotionally involved and the game-play while fine I don't think holds up, I don't like fighting people, I don't like exploring. I hate to use the term dated because they are plenty of games from this time that grabbed me but every time I play this game as well as most Zelda games I just think about how I would rather be playing Shadow of The Colossus, Uncharted, Dark Souls or just about any RPG.
I'm not trying to change anybody's mind if this game suits you perfectly, fine. I just hope I can come across why this game just doesn't do it for me as much anymore. I wish I could give this game a 10 but I know in my heart I can't. This game just doesn't impress me as much anymore
Kaubôi bibappu: Cowboy Bebop (1998)
A Must Watch Anime
People who hate anime, love this show. That should tell you something about it's quality.
If you ever wanted a show that combines Film Noir, Westerns, Hong Kong Action films, Bruce Lee martial arts, Science Fiction, Jazz, Blues and more then this is the show for you.
The Animation is beautiful, despite it being animated in the late 90s it still holds up well today. In fact it looking older adds to the flavor of Bebop because it has such a retro 70s noir feel that giving it that old grainy look works for it, it's a show that's aged like wine.
The story (or I should say stories) follow bounty hunters Spike, Jet, Faye, Ed and Ein traveling on their hub ship the Bebop just trying to catch criminals and make money but they also have their own personal demons to deal with, a tragic past that the characters are always trying to run away from. It's a great set up for a show because it gives you the chances to explore the world, do a bunch of stand alone stories and not be lost in what's going on while there still being arcs for the characters that you'll wanna come back to see more The characters are all likable, layered and subtle. The show balances lighthearted comedy and serious drama so well it's criminal. It's also the best directed anime I've seen, so many scenes that have no dialogue yet are understood perfectly (something a lot of anime lack) It's a action blockbuster, a romantic comedy, a dark crime drama, a thought provoking sci fi thriller on par with Blade Runner. I've never something that's so many things, so many genres yet is so cohesive at the same time.
It doesn't take a genius to see why film lovers will Cowboy Bebop and why it's one of the most critically acclaimed and popular animes of all time. It's an absolute masterpiece 10/10
Max Payne (2001)
14 years later, still a masterpiece
I played this game for the first time this year and this is one of the best games I've ever played in my life. The game-play, style, story, voice acting, all out of this world and is up there with the likes of Metal Gear Solid and The Last Of Us
Max Payne, a fugitive cop on the run who has been framed for the murder of his partner and is trying to track down the people responsible for the death of his family and has to take on the worst of the criminal underworld of New York in order to do it. Max is a very sympathetic and compelling character, you want him to win. He has a very interesting view on life and is surround by other interesting characters. If MGS makes you feel like you're watching a great movie than Max Payne makes you feel like you're reading a great graphic novel through it's comic book panels that it uses to tell it's story instead of full animated cut-scenes and the story is one of the best things about Max Payne. It's tragic, it's a compelling mystery story, a great psychological thriller about a man who may or not be insane in the case of Max as well as being a great revenge action game
Gameplay is also very exciting, shooting people in slow motion never gets old, you'd think it would've but the game find ways to keep things fresh with the brilliant level design. The game starts out simple enough but gets trickier and trickier, in a way the gun fights become a puzzle on to themselves It's really hard for me to think of anything really wrong wit this game, you just have to experience it for yourself. If I could I guess it would be that the graphics are a bit dated but it's a game from 2001 of course they're gonna be but the beautiful comic book panels and great voice acting more than make up for it for me. I haven't seen something that mixes the old and the new, western story telling with eastern story telling this well since Cowboy Bebop. If you love Film Noir, if you love John Woo movies, if you like comics then you owe it to yourself to play this game
If you're gonna play this game, PC version all the way. Graphics are better, controls a better, everything's better.
It's like 10 bucks on steam, do whatever you can to play this game 10/10