H4wke

It's no secret that GTA IV is the black sheep of the franchise. Critically acclaimed upon release, this entry - nearly two decades and many Rockstar games later - has faded amongst the Vinewood pillars of San Andreas and GTA V. But for all its faults, I think Rockstar tackling the American Dream in IV provides the most compelling tale in GTA thus far.

Its surrounding entries are solid enough, there's no doubt of that, but the missions tend to feel quite gamey; linear to a fault, bombastic, diverse maps that don't make sense geographically.

Liberty City is the most grounded, realistic setting in the franchise. Trains shake overhead rails, airliners glisten and roar briefly between skyscrapers, rain pelts uncountable cars. It is less a sandbox and more a character - a small map in comparison but you'll likely never notice it.

The objectives throughout the main game are rather dull. Go here, shoot this, steal that. But it sharpens every bit of satire, every zany character and off-the-rails radio segment, while hammering in the oppressive concrete jungle atmosphere.

Niko Bellic is a unique protagonist: a war-torn immigrant fresh off the boat into what should have been fame and fortune.

Throughout the game there's a great sense of progression - guns given sparingly, no tanks or helicopters, limited supercars - with a thread of revenge to propel the player through it all.

The further the player gets, the more we realise how damaged this man truly is, no matter the environment, and the consequences of such a ride won't please everyone.

I played the entire game with a controller. Gunplay was clunky and rather one-note, but the driving was slick as hell. By the end of the game I was the God of the Road. Pedestrians feared me, side mirrors folded upon hearing my engine, bikers unwillingly reached heights that most would call dangerous.

The radio stations are really an ingenious invention, spicing up most traveling, removing any potential tedium. You could track Niko's American indoctrination using them - Vladivostok FM blared out broken windows at the start, The Beat and Liberty Rock accompanied his sick drifts and stunt jumps by the end.

The main campaign is probably too long. It does the Rockstar trick where they pad out the middle and pray you don't notice, interestingly the disconnected nature of all the quests does lend a sense to the city harbouring many people, prospects and dreams.

As for the DLCs, I can't say I was a fan of Lost and the Damned. You can see the stones that would become the Red Dead 2 avalanche here, but it's just too monotone and anticlimactic for me to find interesting.

The Ballad of Gay Tony is much more exciting, almost to a fault. It's harder to take seriously - this DLC is far more in line with GTA V's missions (so many helicopters, and golf!) - but playing it last was a fun capstone to the experience.

I'm impressed in returning to this game, I never really gave it a chance as a teenager. The other GTAs were livelier and shinier on the surface, but this one just seeps through the screen. Liberty City is grey, and muggy, but the flashing lights are all the more brighter.

Yes, it's flawed as hell. Yes, you won't enjoy all of it. Yes, that's ok. And yes, Roman, I will go bowling.

In the same way that Resi 3's remake is almost an action payoff to Resi 2's, this original version is lightspeed after the ominous mansion in 1. The menu is snappier, guns fire faster, and going through doors takes 2 business days instead of 3.

That's not to say the previous game is bad, this entry just immediately lets you know what it's about with its opening action set piece: weaving through a fiery cityscape infested with zombies.

It never achieves the suffocation of that first game, only really coming close during the initial police station sojourn. It was strange to be playing this second to its remake, and I was dreading Mr. X around every corner (yes, even in the A playthrough). Knowing roughly where things were without touching the game prior made me understand psychics just a little more.

The jumpscares absolutely got me this time round, but they're a poor replacement in the scare department. Sure, palpitations spiked, but I never had to work up the courage to charge into the unknown. In this, I was a machine, eviscerating every potential grievance down the line. Rookie cop? No. Terminator? Yes.

The atmosphere is fantastic. Areas are all very distinct; the sewer didn't overstay its welcome - I've done my fair share of sludge trudging in the first two Souls games alone - and the gradual unraveling of the "science" behind the supernatural is my favourite part of these games.

Inventory management is here to stay, I only had to run back to get a valve or crank (to crank it) 3 times. We're improving. I did reload Leon's save one time cause I yoinked both the shared items and mentally processed the warning text after the button push. There are times to slow down after all.

B routes are definitely better here. I was pretty impressed by how different Claire's experience was. It still doesn't really quite line up with Leon's plot, nor does it achieve its full potential of cross-save connectivity, but it's still kinda neat.

Everything here is accompanied by the best soundtrack I've come across in the franchise. You bet your ass I'll be switching over to it when I replay the remake - it'll probably be jarring but you gotta let the vibes flow sometimes.

The game overall is easier, much more casual-friendly than the first one. Usually I would rebel against the Skyrimification, but here, I don't mind so much. RE2 specifically has the roots of aspects I kinda love about the series (a middle ground of action and horror, slightly more goofy geopolitics, chad Leon).

I'm glad I went back and played this. I love seeing how the series mutated, every little piece aligning closer and closer to what I know it as today. It's easy to see why there were no breaks on the "bigger is better" school of thought until 6. So far, so good.

I've seen criticisms that Superman starts in the middle of an ongoing story - chuck me in the deep end cause my bloated ass loves that stuff.

This is the remedy for starting a mega universe 17 years into the Marvelthon and not having it feel cheap or hollow. The DCEU already tried playing catch up once before, shoving its barely established heroes together to fight more and more ultimate evils. The problem is that by emulating Marvel's formula, DC was made lesser. It is, and always has been, different than Marvel. The great thing is: there's room for both.

Superman 2025 flies in with a fresh start and a crazy new style of colour grading: bright.

We are assaulted with ramifications of an ongoing conflict - if you don't know Superman's origin by now then keep touching grass. It's all apprehensible and adds a veneer of roots to the reboot; the first third doesn't feel at all like an artificial start to a universe, rather a piece of an ongoing chronology.

Fantastical elements are frequently shown to us, this is a much more alternate Earth than what Marvel usually offers.

Oh, and here comes Superman. Crashing. Immediately vulnerable. Perfect.

The characters are really dynamic here. Gunn's strength with dialogue is on full display, especially with the lesser known people. Like it or not, this is the first impression many people will have of Guy Gardner (Fillion is perfect), Metamorpho (Barry alumni) and Mr. Terrific (aptly named).

What's refreshing here, after the previous DC movie offerings, is that the physically weaker characters all still have agency. Lois Lane is actually doing stuff here! Journalism has to prevail somewhere after all, if not the real world, well, then Metropolis will have to do.

This is the best Lex Luthor on film. A genuine threat who is as petty as he is intelligent, and he sure as hell knows it. Nicholas Hoult has no plans of stopping despite his last name.

Superman himself rarely feels overpowered here - usually a major flaw of his character for some. The Jesus/God parallels are thankfully dismissed, he's a deadly weapon turned into a complicated good boi by the best parents in America. Not to be outshone by the true good boi of course: a scene stealing CGI Krypto who doesn't need pesky discipline to save the day.

Unfortunately, I would say that the effects are a bit too glossy at times. The full body Superman renders are obviously fake half the time (another Raimi parallel spotted) and some of the digital areas took me out of it a fair bit.

The geopolitical conflict, when shown, was a bit cartoonish. At least on a surface level it's politically relevant, cementing this film as another product of the times, the modern mythology ever-evolving.

Plot details are perhaps a bit overexplained towards the end, time for unnecessary exposition could have been used for better things. The trust for audiences "getting it" is higher than usual but still not quite right yet. Let some details go. People can infer things; it enriches the film and prolongs shelf life when balanced right.

Still, this is a fantastic start for a universe that I'm now genuinely looking forward to. I don't know if I can handle another DC edgefest, but James seems to still have a few rounds in his Gunn.

I knew ever since I watched his Scooby-Doo films as a kid that the CGI dog technology was worth every penny. Finally, the payoff was worth waiting for. Superman soars.