Sonic Colors: Ultimate

Following the release of Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Team and Dimps decided to try a new approach based on fan feedback that saw Sonic returning to his roots. Not only would they make Sonic the only playable character, but the balance between speed and platforming would hearken back to the Genesis days and there wouldn’t be any gimmicks as in Sonic and the Black Knight. Additionally, there would be two notable personnel changes: Ken Pontac and Warren Graff, best known at the time for their work on Happy Tree Friends, would take over writing duties and the entire English dub cast would change once more, with the exception of Mike Pollock continuing his role as Doctor Eggman. This approach led to mostly positive reviews in 2010, though the game would only see a release on the Nintendo Wii and DS.

A decade later, Sonic Colors would receive a remastered release, Sonic Colors: Ultimate, due to both the influx of fans from more recent games and the first Sonic the Hedgehog film, as well as the fact that Colors remains locked to the Wii and DS platforms. Blind Squirrel Games would develop this remaster, based on the Wii version, and add in a good amount of new content, including mechanics meant to help beginner players. Unlike the original game, however, Ultimate would receive more mixed reviews due to a number of newer bugs and glitches. Although I bought a PS4 copy day one back in 2021, as I had never owned or played the original Colors, the controversy over the release led me to waiting until well after the “Play Date” had passed before taking a crack at playing it. I may be biased, but after coming right off of Sonic Superstars, I found Sonic Colors: Ultimate a rather enjoyable, if flawed, experience.

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (PS4)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil: Revelations and Resident Evil: Revelations 2.

Soon after the release of Resident Evil: Revelations (REV1), Capcom greenlit a sequel, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (REV2), this time for home consoles and the PlayStation Vita instead of the Nintendo 3DS. For this entry, however, producer Michiteru Okabe suggested taking the episodic structure of REV1 one step further and releasing REV2 with a weekly episodic model like a traditional TV series, as popularized by Telltale Games. As such, the writing took more influence from episodic TV shows, which included ending each part with a cliffhanger to encourage players to download the next part. Each of the four episodes released as planned in 2015, followed shortly after by a complete retail release that also included both Bonus Episodes, originally released as DLC. REV2 garnered positive critical reception and, as of 2022, outsold REV1.

Since I committed to playing the Revelations games as part of my deep dive through Resident Evil (RE), I ended up at REV2 on PS4 after playing through Resident Evil 6 (RE6) instead of jumping straight to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (one of my personal favorites). Due to my disappointment with both preceding titles, I didn’t expect much from REV2 and thought I’d face another boring slog before “getting back to the good stuff”. Instead, much like how I felt going from Code: Veronica X to Resident Evil 0 (RE0), I found myself actually having fun with REV2, as it had learned from the mistakes of its predecessor and ended the pre-Winters portion of the mainline series (according to the Resident Evil Wiki) on a high note.

Resident Evil 6 (PS4)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil 2 (1998), Resident Evil 4 (2005), Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6.

Following the success of Resident Evil 5 (RE5) in 2009, Capcom took the next natural step and started development on Resident Evil 6 (RE6). Much like Resident Evil 4 (RE4) and RE5 before it, RE6 had its own share of development woes, apart from attaching a less-experienced director to the project, whose only prior directing experience included Resident Evil: Outbreak - File #2 and the lesser-known Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure. The short version is that early in development, the focus shifted from survival horror to “the ultimate horror entertainment”, which included increasing its scope beyond the traditional bounds of a Resident Evil (RE) title and leaning even harder into the “action” genre than RE5 in an attempt at appealing to new players. This increased scope led to the inclusion of four distinct campaigns (much more on that later), each one tailored to appeal to a different corner of the RE fanbase, which also meant throwing over 600 people at the project to complete effectively four games’ worth of work in only three years. This effort proved fruitless, however, as RE6 sold fewer copies than its predecessors and received a frosty reception from critics during its initial 2012 release, as well as a lasting reputation as one of the worst games in the series.

Compared with RE4 and RE5, I had even less experience with RE6 before my series deep dive, as I had only played a small part of the demo without understanding the controls and watched a Clueless Gamer segment poking fun at it. Of course, I have much more experience with the series than I did twelve years ago, so I went into a full playthrough armed with far more knowledge and patience than before, this time through the more complete PS4 port from 2016 (though I played on a PS5). While I can see why it has its fans nowadays, I can’t say that I didn’t understand why it gained such a negative reputation, as I found it easily among the worst of the mainline games (apart from Code: Veronica X) thanks to its unfocused vision and how it plays more like a bombastic playable action movie than a proper RE game.

Resident Evil: Revelations (PS4)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil: Revelations

As the years wore on, so did Capcom’s development of the Resident Evil series. While Resident Evil 5 (RE5) felt like a sort of conclusion to the main story, the series’ popularity meant that Capcom would continue development of future numbered entries, including Resident Evil 6 (RE6). In between RE5 and RE6, however, came Resident Evil: Revelations (Revelations), which released in 2012 on the Nintendo 3DS. Developed at the same time as the controversial The Mercenaries 3D, the team behind Revelations wanted to take advantage of the 3DS’ capabilities for handheld while also providing a uniquely portable experience in both the story structure and optional Raid Mode, which would let friends talk to one another as they played the game together. Despite the game’s intention for portable systems, it would receive ports for seventh generation consoles in 2013 and eight generation consoles in 2017.

While I would have jumped straight from RE5 to RE6 for my journey through the series, I also included Revelations, both because it received a PS4 port alongside the other numbered titles and because the Resident Evil Wiki labeled it as a major entry. Playing the game for myself made me doubt its supposed “major entry” status, but I nonetheless found myself feeling mixed on the experience, largely in regards to its technical accomplishments versus its writing.

Resident Evil 5 (PS4)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil, Resident Evil 3 (2020), Resident Evil Code: Veronica X, Resident Evil 4 (2005) and Resident Evil 5

The same year that Capcom released the original Resident Evil 4 (2005) (RE4), they already got to work on the next main game, Resident Evil 5 (RE5), with the goal to take advantage of the capabilities of seventh-generation consoles. Development of RE5 involved multiple scenario rewrites and changes in direction, which included scrapping ideas like having enemies attacking from the shadows or having the camera reflect the player character adjusting their eyes to darkness (not unlike Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater), the main constants were setting the game in Africa during the day, both to explore the origins of the Progenitor Virus and take advantage of the then-upcoming seventh console generation, and using RE4 as a foundation for gameplay due to its popularity. Although RE5 wouldn’t release completely without incident in 2009, it still garnered generally positive reception, though critics and fans noted a shift away from survival horror and more towards action. The following year, Capcom would also release an updated Gold Edition, which included additional content not found in the original release, as well as Move support for the PS3 version; PS3 copies of Gold Edition had all of the content on the disc while 360 copies still required a separate download of the new content (owners of the original version could also purchase the Gold Edition content separately).

As with RE4, I actually had a little bit of experience with RE5, specifically the PS3 Gold Edition, before I really got invested in the series with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. However, I didn’t actually get very far, not even past Chapter 1-1, as I found the controls too awkward and didn’t have the patience for it at the time. Naturally, my deep dive brought me back to RE5, this time through the PS4 rerelease, and while I enjoyed it much more this time around, I can also see why reception remains mixed.

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 III Remastered

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

Following the release of God of War: Chains of Olympus on PSP in 2008 came the long-awaited God of War III in 2010, the first to be released on the PS3. This installment happens to be my personal favorite in the series and one I have a fond memory of playing, in part since I attended a midnight launch of the game in my senior year of high school and, due to the timing of its release, was able to play through the entirety of the game across two days since I was able to skip most of those two days (I was also admittedly a little obsessive of its development during the pre-release hype). While God of War III also got the remaster treatment like most of the other Greek games, in the form of God of War III Remastered, this is also notably the only one of those games to be released on PS4, likely as a way of hyping the then-upcoming 2018 game. Naturally, I also played the remaster when it came out, and found it only fitting to revisit this game through said remaster. While I liked the original version well enough as a teenager, I got a lot more out of the game’s story on this playthrough, allowing me to appreciate it even further.

Transformers: EarthSpark - Expedition

As most Transformers fans are familiar with, the franchise goes through a refresh every three years in an effort to attract new fans. 2022 saw the launch of the most recent incarnation, Transformers: EarthSpark, on Paramount+, which follows the batch release format and completed its first Season last year, with a second on the way as of this writing. As someone who has been watching it in an effort to stay current with the TV side of the franchise as much as possible, I so far don’t find it to be on the same level as Prime or Animated in terms of story, but I think it has some great animation and interesting ideas, such as the concept of the Terrans and the Season 1 antagonist Mandroid, and I’m at least curious to see what the second season will bring (that said, the Season 1 ending was a little rough).

Last year, a video game based on the cartoon was also announced called Transformers: EarthSpark – Expedition (Expedition), which caught my interest due to being what seemed more like the sort of Transformers console gaming experience I been wanting since Fall of Cybertron, though I had already tempered my expectations due to it being a family-oriented game published by Outright Games. Said expectations were met just by glancing at gameplay on display at Comic-Con that year, but I still wanted to experience it myself, eventually getting it on sale for Black Friday after it came out later in the year. Despite a PS5 version having been announced, I could not find any evidence of its availability in the US, which led me to get the PS4 version with a free PS5 upgrade. While the game did meet my already tempered expectations, I feel like it could still have been better.

The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom (PS4)

Note: This review contains spoilers for The Last Kids on Earth.

Over the last year or so, I’ve become a big fan of The Last Kids on Earth (TLKOE), a Middle Grade series by Max Brallier that provides a lighthearted take on the zombie apocalypse and elements of cosmic horror. Thanks to my local library, I got hooked on the book series, which gave me a greater interest in watching the animated Netflix adaptation (through the DVDs, since I don’t have a Netflix account). During my journey through TLKOE, I also learned that the animated series, which Netflix sadly canceled after three seasons and a special, received a tie-in video game, The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom (Staff of Doom), developed by Stage Clear Studios and published by Outright Games in 2021.

While I would love to give more meta information about the game here, I unfortunately cannot. There are no articles about it apart from press releases, a handful of reviews or whatever is available on the publisher’s website. All I know for sure is that the developer’s games have received positive reviews on Steam, though I can’t personally vouch for the quality, that Outright Games has a track record of publishing at least somewhat decent licensed games and that Staff of Doom has a rather mixed reception from what few user reviews I saw before diving in. The only other thing I can say for sure is that I sure am glad I only paid $9 for a used copy instead of the full $30 for a new one.

Resident Evil 4 (2005) (PS4)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil 4 (2005)

Since its original release in 2005, Resident Evil 4 (RE4) has seen continuous praise and success, including over a dozen different hardware ports, enough that it is widely considered one of the greatest video games ever made. Of all the Resident Evil games, however, this one had one of the most troubled developments. The short version is that starting in 1998, four different versions were proposed and subsequently discarded before the final release. The first of these, and the most well-known, started as an attempt at a more “stylish” action game directed by Hideki Kamiya that was spun off and retooled into the original Devil May Cry, which released in 2001. The second, known internally as the “Castle” version, would include story elements that made their way into the 2005 survival horror game Haunting Ground. The third and fourth versions, “Hallucination” and the lesser-known “Zombie”, were scrapped for technical reasons, though elements from both would still make their way into the final game. Interestingly, “Hallucination” would have taken some influence from the Silent Hill series and “Zombie” was criticized by Shinji Mikami for being too similar to previous Resident Evil games, as he didn’t want to bore fans by relying on tired tropes.

This consistent desire for a different kind of Resident Evil game resulted in a more action-oriented game, a direction that had a ripple effect on the rest of the franchise until Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (RE7). In the intervening time, I had tried getting into Resident Evil through the PS2 version of RE4 and the PS3 version of Resident Evil 5, but only got to around Chapter 2-1 in the former and barley got anywhere in the latter before I moved on to other games. However, with the release of Resident Evil 4 (2023), as well as a personal deep dive of the series following a playthrough of Resident Evil Village, I finally had an excuse to go back and finish what I had started in RE4, this time through the 2016 PS4 release. With this zombie from the past finally slain, I can safely say that while it’s a little rough now, RE4 has aged much better than many of its predecessors and has definitely earned its longstanding reputation.

Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster (PS4)

Note: This review contains spoilers for Resident Evil (2002)

With the success of the original release of Resident Evil 2 (1999), Capcom greenlit multiple Resident Evil projects. Alongside the projects that became Code: Veronica and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, they approved Resident Evil 0, which would serve as a prequel for the original Resident Evil (1996) and the series as a whole. Though originally intended for the Nintendo 64 and its failed 64DD expansion, development restarted in earnest for the GameCube, solving a storage issue that had previously halted development and allowed for an eventual release in late 2002, the same year as the remake of the original Resident Evil, to critical acclaim save for the criticism of sticking with archaic tank controls. With the success of Resident Evil HD Remaster in 2015, this game would receive the same treatment, releasing in 2016 as Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster.

After playing perhaps the worst of the “classic” Resident Evil games, my journey brought me to the last, as Resident Evil 0 was the last based on the fixed camera angle style, which smoothed the transition between games compared with going from Resident Evil 3 (2020) to Code: Veronica X (CVX). While still flawed in its own right, this game still proved far more enjoyable than CVX in just about every way, to the point that I feel the classic entries ended on a high note.

Resident Evil HD Remaster (PS4)

When Resident Evil originally released in 1996, it helped define the Survival Horror genre as we know it. It even reportedly had an influence on zombie storytellers like Alex Garland, who wrote 28 Days Later, and Robert Kirkman, who created The Walking Dead. Although the game was popular and released to critical acclaim, director Shinji Mikami, as part of Capcom’s GameCube exclusivity deal, decided to produce a remake, as he thought the original hadn’t aged well and wanted to bring it closer to his original vision. This version released in 2002 and despite its general status as one of the best video game remakes of all time, it sold poorly, which led to the action-oriented direction of later games starting from Resident Evil 4. The 2015 HD Remaster rerelease, on the other hand, would sell far better, with 2.8 million copies sold by June 2020.

As for my own experience with Resident Evil, I formally started the series with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, so I’m more familiar with the tone and style of the first-person entries. After a major lore reference made at the end of Resident Evil Village, however, I decided to do my due diligence and play through all of the mainline entries, much like I did with the Silent Hill series. Not only did I want a better understanding of the series’ lore, but also a greater appreciation of the developments that eventually led to the Ethan Winters storyline. Naturally, I started at the very beginning with the remake of the original Resident Evil and, after two playthroughs, I can see why it was so acclaimed, even if certain aspects didn’t age as well.

Katamari Damacy Reroll (PS4)

 

With the increasing complexity of the gaming landscape at the time, director Keita Takahashi created Katamari Damacy with the intent of creating something simpler that was also fun, though he had difficulty getting it off the ground due to him being in Namco’s art department at the time. When the game first released for the PS2 in 2004, his efforts paid off, spawning a long-running franchise across multiple console generations, only for it to becomes largely dormant following Touch My Katamari on the PS Vita in 2012 before coming back into full swing in 2020 with Katamari Damacy Reroll, a remaster of the original game for then-modern hardware. When I first played the original game on the PS2, I was instantly hooked by its simple, yet addictive nature, leading to it becoming one of my all-time favorite series. Due to the large gap of time following the PS Vita game, I became instantly excited by Katamari Damacy Reroll (Reroll) when it released for the Switch, but ended up holding out until it received a PS4 release, as it was my preferred platform anyway since I more heavily associate the series with the PlayStation brand, though the timing of its release led me to not play it until recently when its sequel, We Love Katamari, received a remaster of its own. After having not played the game for so long, Katamari Damacy Reroll served as a great reminder of why I loved the series in the first place.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake (PS4)

When developer Purple Lamp made SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated in 2020, I became curious about their next SpongeBob endeavor, The Cosmic Shake, since I overall liked how their previous game turned out. However, I didn’t know that the game had come out earlier this year until I saw reviews come out, since I hadn’t been aware of any release date prior. Once I finally got a PS4 copy, which I played through a PS5, I generally enjoyed it, though not quite as much as Rehydrated.

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time

 

Note: This review contains spoilers for Samurai Jack.

As an avid Cartoon Network watcher growing up, one series that I consistently tried to watch every Friday, and one that would consider one of the network’s greatest shows, was Genndy Tartakovsky’s Samurai Jack, about a time-displaced Japanese samurai trying to get back to the past to defeat an evil entity known as Aku. When the series didn’t make it that far in its initial run, with the IDW comic holding me over in the interim, I was excited when [adult swim] finally brought it back more than a decade later for a fifth and final season to give it proper closure, a season which I found ultimately satisfying. When I heard about a new video game based on the series, Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, and that it would take place during the final episode, I eagerly played it after a lengthy wait from Limited Run and ultimately enjoyed it, which then led me down a Cartoon Network nostalgia trip. Upon going through another nostalgia trip, I decided to revisit the game and found it to be just as good on my second playthrough as I did the first.

Endling - Extinction is Forever

Around the same time as Spirit of the North, another game that caught my interest featuring a playable fox protagonist was Endling - Extinction is Forever, mainly due to the art style and the concept of having to play as a mother fox caring for her cubs and any of their deaths is permanent. I was interested enough that I played a demo for the game through Steam to get a better idea of the concept, albeit with some fumbling around as I grasped what exactly to do. Once the game actually came out, I opted for a physical PS4 copy, which I received as a gift, using my experience from the demo to ensure that I would make it to the end with every cub alive. After managing to accomplish this goal during my initial playthrough, I felt that the game was ultimately worth the wait.

Second Look - P.T.

Note: The following review contains spoilers for P.T. and other Silent Hill games.

When I first reviewed P.T., I didn’t have much experience with the Silent Hill games outside of itself and Silent Hill 2 (SH2), but I still went out of my way to thoroughly document it due to its history and unique legacy. After playing through every main Silent Hill title in a row, however, my viewpoint changed on P.T. and I better appreciated its connection with the rest of the series. As such, I wanted to take another look at this legendary delisted demo to document my new perspective on it, though without retreading everything I wrote in the first review. I will start off, however, by repeating that P.T., the Playable Teaser for the canceled Silent Hills project, still holds up well as an incredible horror experience and serves as a powerful testament to what could have been.

Hitman 3: Ambrose Island (DLC)

Note: The following review contains spoilers for the Hitman World of Assassination Trilogy.

After about eighteen months of single-player content focused largely on Elusive Targets, Contracts and weapon variations, IO Interactive finally added a new level, Ambrose Island, to Hitman 3 in a free update. As someone who enjoyed the base Hitman 3, the announcement of Ambrose Island intrigued me, partly because it acted as a sign that IOI had finally decided to add more meaningful content to increase player retention instead of timed missions. Although Ambrose Island doesn’t actually last that long, it’s still a great step in the right direction for any future Hitman 3 content.

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.

Moss: Book II

From its initial announcement, I was hooked on the world of Moss (Book I), which I found to be an amazing showcase of third-person VR. When the ending of the game revealed itself to be an episodic release and that what I had played was Book I, I eagerly awaited for the next chapter in Quill’s journey. This would not happen until the release of Moss: Book II four years later, as a digital-only title despite Book I getting a physical release, though I made sure to play it as soon as possible so I could continue the story and get more mileage out of the PlayStation VR. While I found it to be quite the step up from the original game that takes more advantage of the PS4’s power, I wasn’t entirely sure it was quite worth the $40 price tag.