Recent reviews by Catinkontti

I never played Silent Hills in 00s so I find it so exciting to be introduced with it two decades later! All I knew that original SH2 is considered the best of the original series (some may prefer SH3) and possibly the best game of its genre at least psychological horror genre. For starters this remake does not disappoint, it scared me, hooked me, but more than everything made me to think, deeply think the message of the game. SH2 is not just about scares in zombie epidemic or just any regular survival horror just to make out alive. This game has a philosophy and deeper meaning - something much much more than its excellent gameplay and designs first show. Of course you can watch and play it like normal horror game, but if you really delve into it you may realize how sad and depressing the story is and how its outcomes might shift on how you interact with it (wink wink). The game is like an ode for the struggle of humanity - hurt and suffering and there is no exactly very likable person in entire game. This makes James Sunderland - the games protagonist so remarkably fantastic! He is not neccessarely that superman - not Leon Kennedy nor Sebastian Castellanos, but more like a fall out drifter with a desperate rather unsolved, insecure motive to arrive into Silent Hill, the place where all poor souls and their fears and obsessions meet.

Silent Hill 2 is both audio-visually and emotionally outstanding masterpiece and I found it surprising that it was made by Blooper Team SA (Layers of Fear, Medium), only designed by KONAMI, but devs surely knew what they were doing and this is just another title to fill their wonderful portfolio. The game's terrifying atmosphere with eerie sounds and quite imaginative and variable super detail rich environments create a very disturbing feeling. Moreover the quality of the use of shadows and lights is just divine and the spacing of horror, ambient exploring and few warmer moments of lingering hope always hit their mark. Only bigger complaint becomes from the narrow variation of enemy types - if you do not count the bosses there is just a fistful of enemy models - they are good and perhaps serve some bigger meaning, but compared to other games of the genre this one falls behind. However this problem is a minor one.

Otherwise SH2 is a super well made remake and totally hope that the fans of the originals have accepted it as well. For me it was a super nice introduction into series that I only knew by name and I am already eager to see what is coming next! The herald of horror gaming has awoken from its sleep!

I find this overrated and I want to throw that "wanted to like it" into the trash canister right away just to point out that the Emperor wears no clothes. Postal BD is very typical bullet hell game which tries to be those modern DOOM games, but just with underwhelming graphics and kinda disappointing execution all together. Although the game starts promisingly - you start at the american dream neighborhood with nice dreamy twists and lively Sims inspired theme is ringing at background- yet again you go postal and there is random hillybillys trying to waste you and rest are panicking and hiding from you. Your task is simple and kill as many as you can. Is it alluring or perhaps stimulating? Kinda, but after the first stage the game begins to lean too much on retro and boomer shooting area designs for few maps and hours that almost made me uninstall the game. If you like boomer shooters be my guest but if you think that it is great idea to give you just few different weapons and throw dozens of enemy waves in area where each room feels repetitive and extremely cramped you have understood the term "fun" in a really wrong way at least on my account. Luckily the areas get bigger after a while and the action began to remind me more of Serious Sam games - especially when you pick up more weaponry.

The game's story overall doesn't impress too much either. Throughout the whole game you chase your "evil" twin or something and it doesn't develop anywhere except you keep chasing him deeper and deeper in to your crazy mind, yet again through level - and enemy designs the path feels just random - from different games and genres. There was something special and original in Comic Con festival map however, delivering that essence the series are known about. Being an antichrist who arrives to punish those whose actions annoy the mainstream. Postal and its Dude still seem to enjoy wide, but controversial reputation which stems from then infamous Postal 2, but yet again Brain Damaged's themes are usually more undefined and unconnected.

This leads to very harsh fact, that maybe I am out of the customer base. I never thought highly about the series and this retro bullet hell shoot them up mixture is not my thing moreover when it's clear that this game is not gonna be noticed of its story and deep character progressing either - so the reasons to like this game go very thin. Time to time I enjoyed the action but the rest of it I felt that I was more grinding than actually living it.

In short: Did I like to game at all? A bit and sometimes, but clearly not enough to provide positive rating. Completed it only because it is my stern but rather idiotic principle. That's it - goodbye.

A mixed bag of good and bad. I prolly had my hopes too high in this one. Definitely there is that unique Swery's touch and I did feel the story and its characters, but nevertheless it just felt bit flat and simple. As much as I was hyped for its first input text saying "This game was made with the belief that nobody is wrong for being what they are" and info that this game is about gender-identity, I still was left a little disappointed in the end.

This reason for the sullenness might actually become from feeling of lost opportunity because I really was waiting some deeper story and even more this philosophic pondering about body, existence and identity. While the story brings these things up I did not like or care too much of supporting storylines, which although matter but mostly they are just nonsense with poor writing and moreover the chat windows for minor characters is not the most effective way to build tension or emotion. The game's story imo could have been so much better with live characters with voices feeling shame, anger, grit, happiness and joy. I also felt that some characters were written in just to add some so obvious stereotype of over conservative parent or a rich bully and the dialogue just made me sneer rather than getting deeply into. That alas is a huge shame for ending part again is quite good and warming, but it could have been so much better if that journey into that time and place'd have offered more.

In gameplay aspect it's very medicore platformer with the light puzzle designs, but I did find the gore theme very unique and an original and a bit pervert feature to actually hurt yourself to get further and solving puzzles takes the cake. Sometimes the game can even punish you by making clarification that you could have gotten past something without severing your limbs or cracking your skull. In the end this won't matter too much for protagonist can heal herself back to normal, but I have to say that every mistake I made during this game felt much more grim than any other platformer.

This self harm plays huge part in the game and I felt that its presence was one of the best feats in the game technically but especially in storytelling aspect - for the pain can be and is a metaphor about something else.. If I should recommend this game for anybody I'd say those beautiful people and souls who struggle with identity or have a crisis in their existence. I have read some other reviews and I do have a positive impression that this game possibly can offer some support and courage to push forth in life. The Missing J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories ain't truely the best or most wholesome game in the market but I totally can see the potential it can offer to people if the timing is right. <3 The most powerful thing is love.

I never had thought that I would find this game a masterpiece which went under my radar for 9 years.. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is damn solid and wholesome gaming experience and the way that how it succeeds to invent itself over and over again chaining me to my chair for hours and hours, made me realize how addicting and destructing the gaming can be to busy adult life. ^^

Jokes aside, the thing which makes it even more amazing is that its almost a decade old game and technically nothing becomes even close to the features that let's you to be an ultimate commando going guns and cannons blazing like Rambo or wiping an entire village of enemies in silence like a Predator. Stealth is one of or even the hardest genre to create properly for it needs so strict and delicate work to provide an outcome that gameplay won't feel too frustrating or too easy. The experience should be hard to master, but yet again so easy to learn and rewarding. This is the thing where the game shines like a diamond thanks to features like Reflex Mode and eternal freedom to choose your tactical approach on big wide open areas that gives you just the right amount of freedom and mercy to fix a mistake, but yet again won't forgive you much more than that. Although even if you should mess up bad you are usually gonna be okay for Snake can take a bullet or two, especially if you have handled most of the enemies at breaking point. In my whole playthrough I cursed unfairness only few times while messing my well proceeding stealth and all the rest of hundreds of times I knew that blowing was on me and only my own mistake. While stealth gets a bit more complicated when the game proceeds this is compensated by achieved technology making the game even more entertaining! By unlocking even better assets and weaponry with money achieved throughout main missions, side missions and sold resources you'll find yourself taking the enemies quicker and badassier and just when you might feel satisfied the game provides you with something even better. All this huge variety of tactical approach is set into big open world of two large areas welcoming you always with something fresh.

In addition of doing missions and earning money you also manage your base that is pretty straightforward, but adds a nice features to fill it by volunteers and enemies you extract from battlefields. Each recruited has different skills and especially in the beginning it is always exciting to be able to extract some very talented enemy to your ranks, especially after you have risked the whole operation to neutralize that one guy non lethally. The safest and most stable way is to kill enemies of course, but getting some specialist to your team can be that crucial it'll be wothy to take the chance. The better your staff is the better your stuff is - shortly describing this is about your gear, support, intel gathering tools, and medical assets. After certain point getting enemies extracted and volunteers become so easy that this is no longer so huge deal, but especially in the early missions the talented specialist or elite among normal soldiers is like a rare Pokemon waiting to be tamed.

After spending over 90 hours with it and beating the main storyline, only thing which bugs me could be described as phantom pain for the feeling that something is missing and was cut out - a flaw in the game which despite of this ranks so high in my book. The storyline is odd and unfinished and while it delivers some epic cutscenes with twists and turns somehow the execution dryes out a little bit, but just enough that it is obvious that devs and Hideo Kojima might have ran out of time to transcribe the plot and rearrange/recompose some scenes. Knowing that many mock this game for the story I therefore add that I am not claiming that the story would be bad, but rather a disappointment of the lost opportunity that had made this an ultimate game with a plot which the rest of the game's majesty should have deserved. On the other hand knowing Hideo's nature to create mysterious phenomons like P.T. it could have been a plan all along to leave the player wondering "whatta feck" time to time. Although there is some material of deleted scenes which prove that something was meant to be attached and this have made a fans all over the world to theorize and speculate how the things would have wrapped originally - some even say that the missing chapter is still hidden in the game never to be discovered and this just underlines how epic this game is and how its legend lives on. Lives on in Tabula Rasa, for Kojima got actually fired for the game, as ridiculous it sounds, but game industry is business like any other and this game took 80 million dollars to make, which technically shows, but the selling numbers did not match nearly with this.

Nevertheless, buy this game! I don't care in full price or in sale, for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is a classic and it's value priceless and solid like a platinum even with its loose end! Just remember to pick The Definitive Edition to pick the short, but vital introduction chapter Ground Zeroes.

It's melancholic, a bit gay and definitely woke but so am I so I find it kind of nice. Totally not GOAT, for in the end it does not have branching storylines, the dialogue choices won't have a significant effect and even if you would like to go rather offensive with the stressed dialogue option it just flattens out by actual dialogue which is played by your choice. So yeah - even if I said I am woke, I still wouldn't mind that the game had a bit of spice in it. I do act like a jerk sometimes when I am mad, even being part of LGBTQ+. I mean that sometimes life can be a real bummer and arguing can be more identifiable than it being filtered softer and peaceful even incoherent perhaps..

Nevertheless the story in total is still pretty good and time to time there is hard relationship issues and arguments, but devs keep the story strictly on rails and no matter what everything is gonna be really static despite of your choices. And yes the rhythm parts are also ultimately meaningless and they do not have any impact on the story no matter how you perform, but yet again that does not need to mean to lose your marbles about it when we could just enjoy of them! I felt that they were casual, but refreshing and gave that tiny adrenaline kick to push forward. At least there is achievements related to them..

Some people are also claiming that the game ain't actually a Visual Novel, but more like an animated movie or series that were never aired, and I take it as a good thing because it is! Animation is smooth, likable and original imo and the script is touching and bittersweet and all main characters have their own poses and manners making each of them feel unique person.

I do recommend despite of some hatred it has gathered. Try to get it discounted. Peace.

The glass can be half empty but...

..it could be also half full. After trying this out recently and having completed 2, The Third and IV: Re-Elected I see that there is point for disappointment and even hatred towards the remake, but every riot has its limit as well. No need to shout or yell for I am not going to actually praise the game but some things can be better than expected when having expectations low and looking at the bride side.

Volition, may god have mercy on its soul, now dead and buried was no doubt cornered themselves within this title. Taking absolutely unbelievable and brave routes in their games before that actually went to universe domination and hell and heaven as well wrapping all the possible things up with no possible loose ends there was actually not much other option than just to reboot the series. This itself wasn't mistake but how they executed it was.. well the results I've seen now.

So Saints Row ain't a perfect game, time to time I can see that they did try to lift that essence which made the series feel so special and unique, but hate say that it just isn't enough to actually fall in love with it. Waffle maker scene especially still gives me creeps - that is not a good way to lit the storyline. The chaotic and anarchic nature in the game is like a beast gotten old and grey and tamed. I wouldn't call the script awful but it's lazy and feeble and atmosphere becomes watery without potency. To describe all this with one word: meh..

But still "meh" means to me not great, but not too terrible either. Actually was the story ever the thing you played the series for? In every single game you go guns blazing across the city or virtual reality taking the enemy factions down sovereignly and this reboot is not an exception. The story has been decent in its best times and while all the action between might not be a specific improvement, but it has provided some nice times on past evenings and I'm not gonna stop yet. There is dozens of different activities to do and while some of them like landscape history lessons are as entertaining as putting hand in a waffle ma..erm.. a toaster I just ignore them and concentrate on the good content.

And when you give the game a chance there is something good as well even something excellent. The graphics - Visually Saints Row is a gorgeous game with astonishing lightning effects creating very variant and remarkable looking landscapes on every daytime. The driving is super arcade but fun and responsive and there is a lot of radio stations to listen. I haven't heard any bangers though but sometimes quantity challenges quality. Also the controls on foot are good enough and action is nice, maybe some enemy types are like bullet pillows for some but I have been already able to unlock some weapon upgrades and skills to take the annoying enemies faster.

Another thing which was absolutely phenomenal especially in SR2 was a wide wardrobe options making your character looking always like a super badass, super funky or super crazy and after more limited times of The Third and IV the remake gets back on the freedom and also making it easier than ever to modify your character for you can recreate your character at any time, any where and dress them up with clothes you have found or bought and pick any colour mix to fit your tastes. I say that to make your dream character haven't been this easy and rich in the series ever before.

Speaking of before there is no after - for now at least. The series is dead, the company defunct and I find it a huge shame but also indifferent. Good franchises come and go and while the Saints Row reboot might go down in the history as the flop that lost its way and killed the series, yet again I wonder where the series lost their way to begin with? To be frank I'd say that this game became closest to the original formula of the first two titles. And peeps who are claiming this woke do exaggerate or clearly have a very edgy opinion about it. This is far from woke. Just give this deadbeat game a chance while its on sale and see for yourself can it deliver anything for your Open World gaming needs. I was lucky to have this for free but I'd buy this for few bucks at anytime for sure.

It was this one winter day I opened Steam
Scrolled down my wishlist out of theme
Stopped my movement for once or two
Just to sneeze my nose due the flue
The list must have had games I no longer needed
Despite of this I further proceeded
It must have been more than a hundred games I passed
Appeared the thing which I waited at last
Tags of Walking Simulator and Atmospheric it wore
Bodur's name as its maker and price discounted

No longer I dared to wait
but slightly open my wallet for a coin or pair
Few moments I have spent to play it
Writing a poem as a review I see fit

Genie's gameplay value is medium as its best
But I'd be fool to decline it has put my mind to rest
So if you want to take a break and a moment of stop
Then Genie won't be a jiff destined to flop

However to make sure not praise the game too much and call it genius
For many can write a poem or a book of them and that should be obvious

Vice City is a pinnacle of the Trilogy I think. There is just something incredible in the 80s Miami and while map is not huge compared to nowadays standards being presented first on San Andreas there is no empty gameplay either for every minute spent is a treasure. I did above 66% of the game completing all the main tasks and side missions and assets - so now to avoid the grinding I have uninstalled the game and left this edited review behind.

Thank you The Definitive Edition for letting me to visit Vice City one more time.

Yesterday is gone forever.
Tomorrow will never be here
So live for today...

That most outdated game in the trilogy which after certain patches deserves more love.. its not perfect but much better than yesterday, hopefully even more honed in the future.

It never will feel as good as decades ago but the memory lives and now enjoying them and the present as well. <3 Forever..

No, n0, no, no no nOoo, no and one no on the top of that, right Zach?

I'm gonna be straight (despite being queer) up with you. Deadly Premonition 2 ain't a good game. It might have some value for the people who praised the first one, but it never felt it led me home- So if you did not like the first game pass this, if you haven't played first game pass this and find a way to play the first one (good luck), but if you love the first one as much as I do then I need to spill few beans below.

One of the feats which made DP1 feel so special was alluring ambition creating a huge map where you could go almost everywhere you wish and despite there was not much to do there was time to time some side missions you could easily miss if you did not go exploring a bit at right time. Le Carre might be literally size of the downtown of Greenvale and now for some odd mishap presented in the beginning York's only available vehicle is skateboard - but alright - it is forgivable for it is a nutty Deadly Premonition, right Zach??

Let's move on to the atmosphere, which was the core of the awe of Deadly Premonition 1. The trick Swery, the game's director used so well was to create a very harmonic storyline which started like a quirky detective tale, but the further you played the things got slowly more serious and fatal. The environment which felt almost like a dream or nightmare or both at the same time, still felt like it could be from this reality. Not sure how large role the influence of Twin Peaks had in its artistic success, but it never felt like a pure replica mixing also some features seen in Silent Hill and imaginative choices by Swery himself.

This unique feeling was also partly owing it to wonderful casting where everybody had their quirks and quacks, but it still felt like an almost normal society leaving very inspired feeling. However this oddness which maybe should be considered charming is taken to the whole new level. While this might sound like a proper and reasoned recipe - I felt that the change wiped out all that personality and identification of the characters and story. Like, wau there is a guy who speaks like a radio transmitter at the graveyard district - what is his backstory?? not explained, move on. I wanted something as epic as Mr. Stuart and his assistant! Almost all the side characters even brightly interesting ones are layerless figures which might have only that one trick in their sleeve and then fall into surpriseless medicority. In DP1 was those meaningful deep deep conversations between the main cast were the ones which made them seem like humans almost making you forget what were you playing. And 'boy there was some good writing time to time! These moments are one of the treasures why DP1 shines so brightly and as unfortunate as it is we are not getting there in this game except few very faint moments. One such case made me actually shed a tear or two for there was something for me to be personally identified with so it was not completely dried out trip but like I said it does not have it to be worthy sequel in this aspect.

And what about the Otherworld where environments turned to eerie nightmares with terrifying enemies? In original game the Otherworld was set as replica of the real world and executed well. You might be walking hospital corridors, mansion's lobby or forest path when suddenly after reaching the certain point environment changed - usually these red vein looking things were growing everywhere, walls turned moldy and sky red, attached with ominous music. In this game however the "Otherworld" is just some kind of static space with rooms which look pretty much insignificant with no detail and imagination. When I first set my foot in it I was mesmerized at best, but the moment of realization that they are all the same was a huge disappointment.

Speaking of Otherworld which are the places were games surviving horror happens - while in DP1 you needed some effort or bad luck to die on normal enemies, but there was usually that special someone to be chased by and I do remember dying many times as short game over theme is still tattooed on my eardrums. Make a short guess how many times I died in DP2 for the answer is ---------> only once*, and even that was for I am chronic achievement chaser and one made me to die. So am I a super pro gamer or is the game just a little casual, right Zach???. There is even a couple achivements related to boss matches and I unlocked them too having full HP when taking them down. And this was supposed to be something super epic like clash of titans, final countdown, divine intervention??? Not even half as epic as in the original... At least there is some tiny tint of effort to wrap up the storylines of both games, but this merge felt more bluntly forced than carefully knitted having holes and so on. The ending is kind of sweet but nowhere as deep as the first one.

One of the setbacks of first game was the lack of gameplay and this is the side to which the sequel tries it hard to invest in. There is a fistful of minigames like bowling, stone skipping and skateboarding - but alas none of them are exactly entertaining either complicated and nothing to yearn for after few try-outs. After long grinding they provide some rewards though to upgrade your weapons, but considering the game's minuscule difficulty they become forgettable. The main mission designs underperform as well - you need to chase a dog across the town turning the game lifeless walking-sim, fetch some stupid items for THE LORD HUNGERS and after that you are rewarded to fetch some more freaking items for THE LORD still HUNGERS?!?! You might have heard about this lord thing already and it might be funny once or twice but after that incarnates to a bad joke with no punch-line. Btw the lord asks you to shoot some squirrels and skin them. Once you actually need to solve a puzzle where the solution is provided before you got started... like wtf, why? I also found game's many conversations awfully tedious underlining every trivia for me who was already too fed up of the disaster and just wanted to see the ending..

It makes me sad even mad that it's so hard for me to point out any silver lining in this game, for even York who I found very enthusiastic, but eccentric detective in DP1 gave a reason to take him as an idiot few times and if the protagonist causes you to sneer, something is terribly wrong! Ironically the port might be the best thing providing solid 60fps when the games Switch version had fps set to 15-20, but I heard a rumor that even this was originally a feat rather than a problem beyond repair - isn't that clever Zach???!? Maybe in some parallel universe there is a reality where this game was never made and they got a proper Remastered/Definitive edition of Deadly Premonition 1. I believe that could be a huge hit and yes - the phrase really wraps it how I feel about this game. I'd not mind if this game ever existed at all!

So if you are considering to try Deadly Premonition -series then don't be a moron and purchase the first one and if you find the compatibility issues overwhelming then refund and forget the whole thing. Although if you are the game's fan in to the mind and spine then try to keep your expectations low and buy this only in significant sale. IMO it is the only scenario to get that pinch of value for your spent money.