Ghostwire: Tokyo (PS5)

Hot off the success of The Evil Within and The Evil Within 2, Shinji Mikami and Ikumi Nakamura from Tango Gameworks would announce the studio’s next project, an action-adventure with horror elements called Ghostwire: Tokyo, at E3 2019. This project would later receive a generally positive reception following its official release in 2022, though it would notably depart in some ways from the survival horror gameplay of Tango’s first two games (before releasing something completely out of left field the next year with the acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush). Personally, E3 memes related to Nakamura aside, the original reveal had me interested in playing Ghostwire: Tokyo, to the point that I have the steelbook for it, although I would only get around to it after finally obtaining a physical copy of Hi-Fi Rush and after realizing that I owned every console Tango game physically. Though the wait felt worth it, I would agree on the repetitive nature of the gameplay, which had my initial enthusiasm for exploring every possible corner of the game gradually wane.

007 First Light (PS5)

As a fan of the Hitman games, the idea of IO Interactive tackling a James Bond game sounded like a match made in heaven. Although Bond himself isn’t a mercenary, his status as a secret agent lends itself well to a gameplay style emphasizing infiltration and stealth without undercutting his license to kill. Although IOI made it clear that such a game wouldn’t play exactly like the World of Assassination trilogy, I still felt excited for what they could do with the property, currently under the ownership of Amazon MGM (there’s even an exclusive skin for buying the game through Amazon, naturally). The final game, 007 First Light (First Light), managed to live up to my expectations, capturing the world of James Bond in a new and exciting way. Its cinematic direction, however, is a double-edged sword in places.

Second Look - Devil May Cry 2

Note: This review contains spoilers for Devil May Cry 2

Near the end of the production of the original Devil May Cry (DMC1), Capcom struck while the iron was hot and greenlit a sequel. Unfortunately, this sequel faced a very troubled production under its original director, who remains anonymous to this day. When Capcom assigned the second director, Hideaki Itsuno, to the project, he was shocked by the lack of any real progress, which amounted to almost nothing aside from the Stinger animation. With only a few months left, he built pretty much the entire rest of the game from scratch. The end result, Devil May Cry 2 (DMC2), released on the PS2 in 2003 to poor reviews, though it still established some series conventions and had high sales numbers. The game’s development disaster also motivated the team to improve their work, with most staying on for future entries. In fact, near the end of development, Itsuno successfully convinced Capcom to let him direct Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening from scratch because he didn’t want to be forever known as “the guy who directed DMC2.”

In the years since its release, DMC2 has gained a reputation as the worst game in the series, even more so than the controversial reboot, DmC: Devil May Cry (DmC). It really is. However, I’ve also felt unsatisfied with my coverage of the game in the past, both in my review of the original PS2 version and the other when talking about the Devil May Cry HD Collection as a whole. Since I re-reviewed DMC1 in the context of its origin as Resident Evil 4, I decided that even though DMC2 is certainly the worst game in the series, it deserved a better and more in-depth look. As with my re-review of DMC1, this re-review is based on DMC2 as presented in HD Collection.

Second Look - Starlink: Battle for Atlas (+ DLC) (Switch)

Back when the Toys-to-Life genre, established by the Skylanders franchise, was at its peak, the genre’s saturation and competition for physical shelf space led to a decline in popularity and eventually the dissolution of the big three brands, those being Skylanders itself, Disney Infinity and LEGO Dimensions. Many new IPs entering the market at the end of its lifespan went largely unnoticed as a result, one of which was Ubisoft’s Starlink: Battle for Atlas (Starlink), which sought to set itself apart with the premise of swappable and customizable ships, inspired by model kits. This announcement went largely ignored, that is until it was revealed that the Switch version would include a special appearance from Nintendo’s Star Fox franchise, complete with a playable Fox McCloud and Arwing. Even with the boost from a fanbase starved for new content after the divisive Wii U entry Star Fox: Zero, Ubisoft would eventually halt production of the physical toys due to poor sales, resulting in deep discounts, though they would still continue to support the game digitally.

When I first played the game out of curiosity, I picked up the Switch version just so I wouldn’t feel like I was missing out on anything, though I lacked the knowledge on Star Fox to truly appreciate the representation. After going through (nearly) all of the Star Fox games up until this writing, I decided to go back and revisit this game, this time putting more focus on the Star Fox content to see how well it was handled. Though a little rough in places, I had more of an appreciation for the content and thought it to be what Star Fox Zero should have been.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

Note: This review contains spoilers for Death Stranding.

Although Death Stranding (DS1) originally launched to mixed reception, Hideo Kojima considered creating a sequel to further establish the “Strand” genre. As it turned out, development had started when Kojima had written the story prior to 2020, but the way the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the world made him decide on a rewrite. Since then, he rewrote parts of the story again in response to positive reception from test audiences, fearing that he had created something too mainstream. The final game launched in June 2025 on the PS5, this time to more positive reception, with the name Death Stranding 2: On the Beach (DS2).

When DS1 came out, I felt like I was in a minority that liked the game in spite of its flaws, but I could still recognize the issues that had turned so many away during its initial release. As such, I liked that more people eventually came around on the game following its PC port, then more excited when I learned about the development of DS2. It should be no surprise, then, that I had been playing the game whenever I could since launch day, pouring as much time as I did before (about 50 hours) until I reached the credits. Where I found the original a flawed, but solid step forward for Kojima Productions, DS2 manages to go above and beyond as an example of a sequel outshining the original in almost every conceivable way.

Jaws Unleashed (PS2)

Although the 1975 film Jaws has had a lasting impact on pop culture (for better or worse), the film has had a number of product tie-ins over the decades, including in the video game space. While a handful of home console games exist, one that had caught my interest in particular was the 2006 game Jaws Unleashed, as while I wasn’t quite old enough to actually play it at the time, the idea of playing as the shark had always intrigued me, in spite of its reception. In the years since, I was reminded of this game by the existence of the game Maneater, which features a similar concept, and was recently lucky enough to find a wild PS2 copy of Jaws Unleashed. While I had been wanting to play the game anyway, this year being the 50^th anniversary of the original film provided motivation to finally boot it up for the first time. Although I found the expansion on the Jaws world interesting, the game unfortunately shows some age with the flawed execution of its gameplay.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Film)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

It’s amazing how much of a difference one change can make. Where I once felt disgusted by the earliest trailer for the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie, thanks entirely to “Ugly Sonic”, I later felt hyped for a third film based entirely on the mid-credits scene from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Based on how the film series had turned out so far, I felt confident that they could pull a hat trick with a third film, especially after learning that director Jeff Fowler had an early connection with one of the new characters, Shadow the Hedgehog, having worked on the pre-rendered cutscenes for the Shadow the Hedgehog game. I even went through the effort of playing Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 for the first time in anticipation of how the film would adapt the latter. After about two years of waiting, and watching the film on opening day, to an unthinkable Rotten Tomatoes score in the high 80s no less, I found it worth the wait and more.

Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (PS5)

After Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and its companion game, Power of Illusion, failed to meets sales expectations in 2012, the Epic Mickey franchise was shelved, cancelling the in-development Epic Donald along with it. This development also led to the character of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who was reacquired from Universal just for this series and reintroduced to a new generation of fans, to be relegated mostly to cameos in other Disney works, including a cancelled Disney+ series, until the company suddenly started paying more attention to him around his entry into the public domain. 12 years later, both the Epic Mickey franchise and Oswald were given a second chance with the announcement of a remake of the original game for modern platforms, dubbed Epic Mickey: Rebrushed (Rebrushed). As someone who enjoyed the original, this announcement got me excited, and I had faith in Purple Lamp as the developer due to their work on SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated. As someone who became an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit fan as a result of the original game, I was further surprised when I noticed that, according to the back of the box, Rebrushed is an official Oswald the Lucky Rabbit product.

 

A small, but interesting bit of branding.

Due to the proximity of its release to my birthday, I received the PS5 version of Rebrushed as a gift, at which point I felt hyped enough to play it as soon as possible, and found it to meet my expectations and more.

Second Look - Deadpool (Game) (PS4)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Deadpool.

Back in 2008, Daniel Way started his run on the Deadpool comic, which ran for 63 issues and ended in 2012. This run would give Deadpool more mainstream popularity, to the point he became the new “Wolverine” for selling Marvel comics, and served as many peoples’ gateway for the character, myself included. While the 2016 Deadpool film would expose the character to an even wider audience, including those who had otherwise never seen an X-Men film, the character also had one other notable mainstream release in 2013, the Deadpool video game developed by High Moon Studios, best known for the Transformers: War for Cybertron and Transformers: Fall of Cybtertron games, and written by Daniel Way. Although Acitivision would delist the initial PS3, 360 and PC release just a year after launch, a PS4 and Xbox One re-release would follow in 2015, likely to tie in to the film’s pre-release hype, followed by another permanent delisting in late 2017. Both releases garnered a mixed critical reception.

Back when I played the game in 2013, I had fun with it in spite of its faults and hoped for a sequel that never came. Fast-forward to now and our goal of catching up with the X-Men film series before the release of Deadpool & Wolverine inspired me to take another look at the game, this time through the PS4 port, and see how well it held up over a decade later. As a representation of an earlier point in Deadpool’s history, I still enjoyed the game for its writing, but the gameplay didn’t hold up very well.

Second Look - God of War: Ascension

Note: This review contains spoilers for the God of War series.

In the time between God of War: Ghost of Sparta and the 2018 Norse entry, a new entry in the Greek series, God of War: Ascension, was released on PS3. This not only sought to fill in another gap in Kratos’ story, it was also the first, and so far only, game in the series to feature an online multiplayer mode. While I did play it when it first came out, even getting the Collector’s Edition that came with a mini Kratos statue, I found it to be a largely underwhelming experience with stale gameplay that left me wanting something new. Revisiting this game again over a decade later did not really change my mind all that much, with technical hiccups and the fact that it was the final Greek game arguably making it worse.

Second Look - God of War: Ghost of Sparta

Note: This review contains spoilers for the God of War series.

Following the release of God of War III, a second God of War game was released on the PSP, subtitled Ghost of Sparta, which sought to expand on the character of Deimos teased in the original game and tie up loose ends with Kratos’ character arc. Like its other PSP contemporary, Chains of Olympus, Ghost of Sparta was later ported to the PS3, along with its original pre-order content, as part of God of War: Origins Collection, allowing players to experience the games in full HD and with minor gameplay tweaks to better suit the new platform. Much like Chains of Olympus, I had previously experienced the game on both platforms and found myself preferring the latter for its presentation and gameplay experience, and so chose to experience the game that way when reevaluating it. While I did like the game when I played it before, I felt like I got more out of it on my most recent playthrough, appreciating it even more as an integral part of Kratos’ backstory and motivations.

Second Look - God of War: Chains of Olympus

Note: This review contains spoilers for God of War: Chains of Olympus.

Between God of War II and III, two portable games were released to help fill in the gaps in both the release and the story. The second of these games was God of War: Chains of Olympus, released on the PSP and developed by Ready at Dawn, serving as a prequel to the original God of War. Following the release of God of War III, this game and the second PSP game, Ghost of Sparta, were later ported to PS3 as part of God of War: Origins Collection, featuring an HD presentation and gameplay tweaks to bring them more in line with their console brethren. Though I have had experience with the original PSP release and find it to be a good reason to own the handheld, I remembered having a much better time when it was ported to PS3, which was how I decided to re-experience the game while revisiting the original Greek series. Although the game is very definitely showing its age, especially by virtue of having been a handheld game first, I still found it worth playing as a proper installment in the franchise.

Second Look - God of War: Betrayal

In the intervening period between God of War II and God of War III, two other games in the series were released that expanded further on the story, both developed for handheld devices. The first of these was God of War: Betrayal, the only one to be developed for mobile phones, taking place between the events of the first two games. I actually played this game quite a bit in high school, back when I had a compatible phone that could play it, though the game’s canonicity had been debated over the years and has since become unavailable to download legally. Once it was confirmed that the game was canon, via a tweet from Santa Monica Studio animation director Bruno Velasquez, I scrambled to dig out an old phone I held on to that still had the game on it, or else have to resort to emulation just to play an old mobile game. Miraculously, after having to buy a charger, I managed to uncover an old LG Rumor phone that still had the game on it, allowing me to finally play it once again in its original glory.

 

The tweet confirming its canon status.

While the game was certainly groundbreaking at the time for its ability to translate the series to the mobile space, to where it was considered one of the best mobile games to play in the era before smart phones, its quality is now more hotly contested as a result of its antiquity.

Second Look - Devil May Cry

 

Note: This review contains spoilers for Devil May Cry

While the Devil May Cry series may be more popular than ever, the original game actually started off as more of a gamble, with its roots in the development of Resident Evil 4 (RE4). Fans of both franchises aren’t unfamiliar with the story, but it’s an interesting one nonetheless. The short version is that during development of RE4, the original version, directed by Hideki Kamiya, would have gone in a different direction from traditional Resident Evil (RE) titles by going for something more “stylish” and “cool”. The scenario for this version followed Tony Redgrave, an invincible man with superhuman abilities explained by biotechnology who would fight enemies within a gothic setting through more dynamic combat, while ditching the fixed camera angles and tank controls found within the previous RE games. Series producer Shinji Mikami found this iteration too far removed from RE to keep it within the same series, but instead suggested that Kamiya spin it off into its own IP. After some rewrites that affected the setting and scenario, including some influence from Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, this game turned into Devil May Cry (DMC) and the rest is history.

I’m no stranger to the Devil May Cry series myself, as I’ve previously reviewed every game in the series. While I’m not really proud of how I’ve covered most of them, this rereview actually came up during my journey through the Resident Evil series, as I thought it would be more interesting to play it after RE4 with the context of its unique development. In the nearly eleven years since I last played it, I’d say that just like the original RE4, it’s showing its age and although it's rough in places, it still remains a great game in its own right.

Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric

In 2013, Sega entered a three-game exclusivity contract with Nintendo for Sonic the Hedgehog content, which ended in 2014 with the release of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric on Wii U and Shattered Crystal on 3DS. These two games also marked the beginning of the short-lived Sonic Boom sub-franchise, for which I was formally introduced to through the cartoon series that the first two games were supposed to be a prequel to. While I had heard all the negative reviews of Rise of Lyric, including info on its rocky development, I couldn’t play it for the longest time due to not owning a Wii U at that point, but I didn’t really understand why the franchise failed to last that long since I thought the cartoon and 11-issue Archie comic were of good quality. When the Wii U and 3DS eShops were announced to be shutting down, I finally got a Wii U so I could play some games that were still stuck on the system, Rise of Lyric included. After finally getting to play such an infamous game, I now fully understand why the Sonic Boom franchise fell off the way it did, as the game leaves a rather terrible first impression.

God of War: Ragnarök

Note: This review contains spoilers for God of War (2018).

After God of War: Ascension milked the God of War series’ Greek mythology roots for all it was worth, the franchise went in a new direction and began exploring the realm of Norse mythology, seemingly inspired by creator David Jaffe’s original vision for God of War III, starting with God of War (2018). While this new chapter in the franchise was initially planned for at least three games, the increased development time and cost for AAA games led the Norse Era to be capped off at two games, concluding with God of War: Ragnarök (Ragnarök) in 2022. While I did not play this game at launch, I did play the PS5 version as soon as I could when I got it as a gift, as the game was high on my radar once it came out. While Ragnarök is an overall fantastic conclusion to the Norse Era that was worth the wait, the experience was still affected by the amount of content and some technical issues.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge

As far as action games go, the Devil May Cry series is easily one of the best. While certainly challenging for the most part, the games are rewarding to finish and have had a lasting influence on the genre in games like the Bayonetta series. I can even recall a period of time where licensed games copied either God of War or Devil May Cry, though usually not as good. Few games inspired by Devil May Cry, however, have the distinct honor of being made by Capcom themselves. In this case, it’s The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge, a 2004 sequel to the original 1993 stop motion film. While not a perfect game, what truly makes this licensed game stand out is not only its strong use of the license, but also its seeming influence on later Devil May Cry games, as it predates Devil May Cry 3 by one year.

Destroy All Humans! 2 (Xbox)

Following the success of the original release of Destroy All Humans! in 2005, developer Pandemic Studios released a follow-up in 2006, Destroy All Humans! 2. Much like the original game, I distinctly remember seeing this game in store displays, including a playable demo, and while I never played it, the name stuck with me. In my hype for the Destroy All Humans! remake, I bought a copy of Destroy All Humans! 2 on the original Xbox, not knowing if a remake of that game was in the works or not. Indeed, a remake of this game was announced as Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed, which made me realize I was in a unique position to compare the original release to the remake, since I went into the original game’s remake blind. Playing this game immediately following Destroy All Humans! (2020) is an interesting experience in itself, and while I liked it on a gameplay level, I had mixed feelings on it from a storytelling perspective.

Destroy All Humans! (2020) (PS4) - Ich Will

Destroy All Humans! is a game I was aware of at the time it first came out in 2005, including seeing it in store displays, so a vague interest in it was always somewhere in the back of my mind. The announcement of the 2020 remake from THQ Nordic, however, was when I felt more committed to actually checking it out through said remake, thanks in part to the announcement trailer’s expert use of “Ich Will” by Rammstein. Due to a number of factors though, I didn’t get around to playing it right away, though what pushed me to play it as soon as I could was listening to a physical CD of the original game’s soundtrack that I found in the wild. I was then pushed even further when, in that brief window of time, Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed, a remake of the 2006 sequel, was announced. After finally getting around to it, I found the Destroy All Humans! remake to be a flawed, yet ultimately satisfying experience.

Lightyear

Of all of Pixar’s IPs, Toy Story is easily one of their most popular and the most expansive. Starting from the original 1995 film, Toy Story would go on to have four films, several shorts, a few specials and now two spin-offs focused on the character Buzz Lightyear, including the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command TV series. For over twenty years, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command served as Buzz Lightyear’s in-universe origin, showcasing his adventures as a Space Ranger fighting the evil Emperor Zurg. Now, in 2022, Pixar has released Lightyear, an in-universe film meant to serve as the new official origin for Buzz. While the idea behind creating and releasing an in-universe movie is an interesting one, the execution in this case leaves a lot to be desired.