Advent Rising, a game that was supposed to be the Halo killer. While it fails to do that, it does manage to be a mood killer, at least for me.

Almost every aspect of this game is poorly executed. The story is mediocre, and the characters are forgettable. The dialog is poorly written, and the voice acting performance tries too hard to make the dialog work but ends up making it sound annoying.

A small nitpick, but most of the cutscenes have that 'old, amateur GMod video' feel to them, and I don't mean that in a good way. Some aspects of the cutscenes, such as the camera movements, look like someone used “noclip” and recorded themselves moving around the level's environment, and given the rough development of this game, I wouldn't be surprised if that's how they did it.

The gameplay is very repetitive, and it's mainly because of the generic enemy designs and dull weapon and power choices. The combat is not fun to do and the lock-on system is one of the worst thing ever made. The vehicles are also very, very janky to control. The whole game in general is just full of jankiness. Even if you install the fan patch, you're not guaranteed to have a bug-free experience. The game also crashes quite often, and there are tons of glitches that detracted from my enjoyment of the game.

The only good thing about this game is the easter eggs. Other than that, not recommended.

A few months ago, I played American McGee's Alice for the first time. As someone who isn't a big fan of the horror genre in general, I ended up really liking the game, and it made me quite excited to try out the sequel, Alice: Madness Returns. Now, after finishing the game, all I can say is wow. This game is a masterpiece.

The story of this game is phenomenal. I still don't know anything about the original version of Alice in Wonderland, but at least I know a little more about McGee's dark version, and I think the continuation of the story from the first game is great. This game deals with the same topics of the first game, but this time it's more focused on trauma and abuse, and it handles the subject matter very well. The game doesn’t diminish the weight of these topics and instead handles it with care respect, while still managing to tell an emotional and intriguing story that isn't difficult to follow or understand. The lore, writing, dialogue, and voice acting in this game are very engaging to read and listen to.

Every characters in this game are fantastic. From the ordinary humans in the real world, and to the creatures that wander around in Wonderland, they are all very well written and very well designed. With that said, my favorite character of the entire game is the main protagonist, Alice Liddell. Everything from her appearance to her character is very well designed and written. I also love when, depending on the chapter, Alice will wear different dresses with designs that match the mood or vibe of the chapter. That kind of attention to detail is always something I appreciate.

The art style of this game is improved in so many ways compared to the first game, and I love it. From the cutscenes, to the actual levels of the game, the art style manages to balance dark and gritty, along with bright and pretty. The game's scenery and environments are simply beautiful. There is a certain beauty found in the mundanity nature of the real world, and the extraordinary nature of Wonderland. The game's soundtrack is also great. The main theme song is very iconic, and the other OST songs perfectly match the mood of the chapters. I can't decide which chapter of the whole game is my favorite, but if I had to choose, then I would either choose Deluded Depths or Queensland. But honestly every chapter in this game is great and each one has its own merits that make it great.

The gameplay is another aspect that's improved a lot from the first game. The gameplay loop is still the same, but it's now crafted so that you have to be more strategic in approaching certain enemies, especially when they're in groups. This helps to make combats more interesting and challenging. There are no useless weapons, and each weapon has its own power that can help you defeat enemies that also vary in difficulty. Each chapter also has its own puzzles and minigames in between combats to keep the flow from getting repetitive. The movement is now much more fluid and responsive, and it makes the platforming sections less frustrating to do. Overall, the game is just more fun and enjoyable to play.

Nearing the end of this pile of thoughts, I need to add a little disclaimer. If you plan to play this game on PC, it’s important to know that the PC port of this game isn’t perfect. You might experience some crashes and freezes throughout your playthrough, and you might also need to do some tinkering with the files to make this game run a bit better. For me personally, it didn’t ruin the overall experience of the game, but it might for you, so do keep that in mind whenever you want to try this game in the future.

With that said, I can safely say that Alice: Madness Returns has become one of my favorite games of all time. What a fantastic game from start to finish. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to replay this game on NG+ Nightmare difficulty.

Oh, and also, RIP Alice Asylum.

Another game that I remember playing on PS3. I played the original version back in 2014, and I remember liking it. 10 years later, I decided to try the remastered version to see if my opinion on Crysis 2 is still the same, and I'm sad to say that it's not as good as I remembered.

Positives:
+ Solid gameplay. Gunplay and shooting feels satisfying.
+ You can do stealth (aka just walk past through the enemies) in most levels, which is nice.
+ Decent soundtrack.
+ Great easter eggs. My favorite is the elevator easter egg. If you know, you know.

Negatives:
- Inconsistent AI behavior. They can either be very smart or very stupid. The aliens are my least favorite enemy because of that.
- Inconsistent checkpoint system. They are too spread out and it's frustrating when you lose 15 minutes of progress because of it.
- The story is not good. The characters are annoying and the dialog is even more annoying. I basically gave up on trying to understand the story halfway through the game.

Overall, Crysis 2 is a game that does not aged well, in my opinion.