Resident Evil 4

Capcom - 2005 - Gamecube/PS2/PS3/Wii/X360/PC

In order to help commemorate the release of the “Ultimate HD Edition” of Resident Evil 4 on Steam this week, I figured I’d post about how awesome this game is. It's actually difficult for me to put my finger on why I like this game so much. On paper, it seems like a game I would absolutely hate. The story is pretty much ridiculous. The puzzles feel tacked on and unnecessary. There's instant death quick time events in cutscenes. All things I hate. Plus it's a shooter, and I'm not usually enthralled with action/shooters. But somehow this game really won me over and became one of my favorites.

Resident Evil 4 marked a huge shift in the franchise's gameplay. RE 1-3 were really more pure survival horror games. Ammo was scarce. Enemies were scarce, which made it more intense when you encountered one. Aiming was kind of awkward which gave a real sense of vulnerability. The emphasis was on atmosphere and trying to creep the player out. I liked these games, especially the first Resident Evil. RE4 is a very different kind of game. There's enemies all over the place, the controls are tight, and the emphasis is on the shooting and action. It's a different kind of fun. It still does atmosphere sort of well through the first half of the game, but kind of abandons it through the second half in my opinion.

What I think this game does very well is variety. Variety in enemies, variety in weapons, variety in locations and so on. While I think RE4 does some sections of the game better than others, at least you never get the sense that you're doing the same thing over and over which I frequently get while playing shooters. There's the atmospheric lonely feeling of the village in the beginning of the game, the creepy cultists in the castle, the unnerving bizarre science experiments in the laboratory and the over the top action sequences near the end of the game.

There are lots of unique and memorable experiences in RE4. There's everything from being trapped in a cabin with legions of zombies trying to break in to running from an invisible monster through dimly lit sewers. There's even epic gigantic boss fights and a few vehicle sections as well. It's not as nerve-wrackingly scary as the first RE games, but there are a few jump scares scattered throughout RE4. There's a sort of fun metagame of deciding which weapons and items you'll take with you with limited inventory space. And deciding which guns to upgrade and which upgrades to purchase is fun too.

Summary:
It's just good old zombie killing fun. Check it out

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door

Intelligent Systems (Nintendo) - 2004 - Gamecube

(On my Top 10 Favorite Games list)

One of my all-time favorite games. I’m madly in love with this game and I’ve replayed it more times than I can remember now. This game somehow gets overlooked and forgotten quite a bit despite the fact that it’s a Mario game. Probably because hardly anyone owned a Gamecube and even fewer of those people were into RPGs. They unfortunately missed out on a fantastic game.

The story seems kind of formulaic at first. The game begins, predictably, with Princess Peach being kidnapped, but not by Bowser. You find out shortly that she was kidnapped by a group of people who call themselves the x-nauts. The x-nauts’ leader, Grodus, kidnapped Peach because he believes there is a connection between her and opening the titular Thousand Year Door. Legends tell of a great treasure hidden behind the Thousand Year Door that Grodus becomes obsessed with finding.

The story and writing strikes a perfect balance between being light hearted and fun but also not being too childish or silly. I think the writing might be one of my favorite things about the game, I think it’s one of the best-written games I've ever played. Which sounds ridiculous considering it’s a Mario game aimed at kids, but the writing is really quite humorous and charming. It’s very self aware and often breaks the fourth wall to communicate directly to the player. The characters are well defined and are brought to life through excellent writing and exaggerated cartoony animations. Even though I've played through the game a bunch of times, I still crack a smile at some of the silly jokes and running gags.

The gameplay is typical turn based JRPG combat, but with an additional skill-based “action/timing” mechanic that can boost your attack power or defense if executed correctly. For instance, pressing the A button just before Mario is hit by an enemy will decrease the damage he takes. Or if you’re feeling bold, you can try to press the B button before an enemy attack to counter and inflict damage on the enemy, but the required timing for pressing the B button is more precise. Mario can be assisted in battle by several companions that he encounters throughout the story. Each companion has their own stats and skill set and can also be upgraded by finding hidden items throughout the game. Each time Mario levels up, you can either increase his HP (Heart Points), FP (Flower Points, required for special attacks) or BP (Badge Points). Badge points are probably the most interesting to upgrade because they allow Mario to equip badges that grant him extra abilities. For example, you could equip the Double Dip badge which allows Mario to use 2 items per turn, providing that you've already found the Double Dip badge and have enough BP to equip it.

The BP system keeps the battles interesting because you’ll constantly be experimenting with new badge setups in battle and the “action/timing” mechanic keeps you engaged trying to learn how to defend each enemies’ attack timings.The pacing is also excellent, you’ll never feel like you’re doing the same thing twice. One chapter has you entering into a wrestling tournament, while another has you solving a series of mysteries while riding a train.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door Video Review

Summary:
The only drawbacks I can think of with this game are with the difficulty. It’s pretty easy. It’s more of an intro to RPGs, so if you’re used to playing these kinds of games, you’ll probably breeze through it. Also the game starts a bit slow. The first two chapters, compared to the rest, are kind of bland. But stick with it, the game gets better the father into it you get. I think it’s worth tracking down a Gamecube and a copy of this game to play it. Or if you know me personally, ask me and I’ll let you borrow my copy. If you only take one of my recommendations seriously, let it be this game

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Naughty Dog - 2009 - PS3

A copy of The Last of Us has literally been sitting, unplayed, on my TV shelf for the last 3 months because of Uncharted 2. Not because I've been busy playing Uncharted 2, but because I finished Uncharted 2 a couple years ago and it had to be one of the most overhyped and uninteresting games I think I've ever played. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Uncharted 2 is a bad game, but I don’t quite understand how it won over so many critics and sold so many copies.

The platforming sections are slow and unremarkable. The puzzle solving sections are too simple and usually just involve opening Drake’s notebook to the proper page to find the solution. The cover based shooting is just… cover based shooting. There’s nothing new here, this game retreads ground that many other games have already tread. By the way, I really hope you like cover based shooting because there’s A LOT of it here. Granted, I played Uncharted 2 immediately after finished the first Uncharted, so I might have burned myself out on Uncharted.

But I think the issue is deeper than that for me. I think I’m burned out on shooters. If the 90s were the era of the platformer, the 00s are definitely the era of shooters. I think I’m just bored and ready for something else. Modern shooters have to do something else interesting in order to hold my attention. Tell an interesting story. Layer an interesting mechanic on top of the shooting. I don’t think I can handle any more pure shooters though. Not that Uncharted is a pure shooter, but it feels close enough. The story feels like a script to a typical Hollywood action movie, it’s kind of forgettable and bland. I never felt invested in the story at all or any of the characters in it for that matter. Nathan Drake comes across as very smug and cocky to me which really started to rub me the wrong way after a while. I feel like the player should never be put off by the character he’s controlling unless it’s intentionally comedic or something.

Summary:
There’s really nothing about this game that I found warranted the praise and acclaim that it got at its release. I guess it does look really graphically impressive, but that usually never matters me especially if the game itself isn't that fun. I’m hoping none of the things I've just described are true about The Last of Us, but I've yet to work up the nerve to try and play through that game.

Final Fantasy V

Squaresoft - 1992 - SNES/PS1/GBA/iOS/Android

See Also My Top 10 Final Fantasy Games List

(Author's note: This review was initially posted on 2/17/2014 and was rewritten on 9/25/2015. You can read the initial review below as a comment)

I have somewhat of a soft spot for old school turn-based JRPGS, and this is one of my favorites. FFV tragically gets overlooked quite a bit because it didn't have an official U.S. release/translation until 1999, seven years after it came out. This is really a shame because I think FFV outshines the other SNES era Final Fantasy games in a lot of ways. I'm sure this is a controversial opinion as debating which games in the Final Fantasy series always tends to get heated, but if you don't believe me and you haven't played this game, you really should.

FFV's story is kind of... ehhh. It's pretty standard template "heroes save the world" writing. Story is not where this game shines, but pretty early in the game, you’ll unlock FFV’s job system. FFV's job system is what sets this game apart from other Final Fantasy titles, for better or for worse. The various jobs are slowly unlocked at key story points as you progress through the game. You initially unlock knight, monk, thief, white mage, black mage and blue mage but will eventually unlock all 21 jobs (25 in the enhanced remake). You can assign any of your 4 party members any job and can reassign them at any time. Changing jobs will affect your character’s stats and what items they're able to equip as well as grant them different abilities to use in battle. Once you master a job’s ability you can carry it over to use with other jobs. This, to me, is where FFV is at its best. Trying to figure out which combinations of jobs and abilities were powerful and which were useless was really fun and rewarding. For instance, combining the Ninja job's "dual wield" ability with the knight class' high innate defense and ability to equip high damage longswords was pretty good if my memory serves. FFV is paced pretty well such that you'll unlock more jobs just as you were mastering previous ones so you always have new combinations and tricks to try out and experiment with. The ending of the game comes right about the time you've mastered enough jobs to be dangerous. Unleashing all of your ridiculous tricks and crazy combinations on the final boss feels like an adequate final exam of your mastery of the job system.

I think FFV is one of Nobuo Uematsu’s first really excellent soundtracks . Not that any that came before were inferior, but FFV really showcases Uematsu's musical range and his ability to create timeless and catchy tunes one right after the other, over and over again. “To the North Mountain”, “Home, Sweet Home" and "Clash on the Big Bridge" are some of my favorite tracks.

Summary:
If you enjoy old school RPGs or are a FF fan who missed out on this game the first time around, you should check this game out. If you don't mind the slower pacing of the turn-based combat, I've found experimenting with FFV's job system while listening to the genius of Uematsu to be a really enjoyable experience