PixlBit

Jeez, MAME would add just another obstacle in my path. I used to have a folder fool of the best shmups. Only got around to playing a couple of them.

I don't really set out to watch other people play for entertainment, except for the guy who I follow on Twitch who is a Resident Evil master. I play all those games anyway, so watching them is more nostalgia/remeberance than anything.

But mostly it comes from looking up information or previewing the content of games.  The reading takes up more time than the watching though. Somethign about reading text on the internet is time consuming. This is why I still buy books. I want to learn 3D modeling, but I'm dreading it because I'm having trouble finding up to date books on the subject, and really don't want to watch tutorials/read screen text.

Plus I'm still getting used to the idea of From Software games being considered AAA. Demon's Souls is what we would have called AA a couple of gens ago. And Dark Souls 1 and 2 didn't have much higher production values. I guess BB is AAA by most people, but I still don't see it that way. I'll wait for the final release (to see how the graphics really look) and budget information to come to a conclusion on that.

Actually, let me pull back on that a bit. The Souls games do show more of that personal vision and unique touch than 98% of AAA game that aren't MGS. I would include Suda 51, but the point is the above combined with a level of mechanical sophistication and expertise, which his games don't have

Yeah, it might be a nice little hack and slash, but won't have the emergent play possibilities, mechanical sophistication, and irreverant attention to detail and personality that is the MGS trademark. That's what I mean when I say Kojima is an auteur - no one else in AAA makes games as idiosyncratic  It's just another level of thought, like comparing Orson Welles or Stanley Kubrick to the guy who directed that movie that was pretty good but has no personal vision and you don't even know his name.

Metroid - The first, hardest and most non-linear of the bunch; after you get a few key items, you can handle the bosses in whatever order you want.  This was Nintendo's "hardcore" game on the NES.

Metroid 2 - Hampered by the limitations of its platform. Doesn't do anything as well as the game that came before or next.

Super Metroid - The 2D Metroid formula reaching its zenith, and a high water mark in 2D game design. Boasts the biggest, most labyrinthine map yet, which wouldn't be equalled until Metroid Prime: Echoes. The greatest amount of secret passages and hidden rooms in the entire series. Music that evokes Jerry Goldsmith's work in Alien, creating perhaps the darkest ambience in the series and excelling the previous games in mood and atmosphere.  Still the prototypical Metroid game after all these years.

Metroid: Fusion - Perhaps the most polished of the 2D games, yet the least ambitious level design.

Metroid Prime - A successful conversion to 3D, the best console game of its generation imo. Level design is more labyrinthine and holds more secrets than Fusion, but doesn't go as far as Super.  Also, due to the power-up selection and limitations of 3D perspective, you never acquire the acrobatic agility of the 2D games. Music is excellent on its own, but has some techno-like/dance-like tracks that are quite an odd match.  Inspired visuals, great pacing, totally immersive.

Metroid: Zero Mission - Sacrifices the degree of non-linearity and difficulty of the original Metroid for a tigher, more polished take.  Good for beginners as it serves as a 2D middle ground between the poles of Metroid 1-3 and the more streamlined Fusion.

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - So much is great about this entry, and in some ways superior to the first Metroid Prime. More challenging, more alien, better looking, possibly the most massive environment in the entire series. But I think the dark world would have worked better as a self contained world branch than it does as a mirror world. There is some tedium involved with finding the entryways scattered throughout the planet, and health draing aspect annoys rather than provide a satisfying challenge to overcome.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Another series bowing to the AAA industry cult of "streamlining." Not a bad game, but another irritating reminder of the continuing decline of 3D level design. Predictably, reviewers, averse to figuring things out, praised the game for its simplification and lack of "frustration."  Still, one of the better games on the Wii.

Metroid: Other M - A Metroid game made by people who don't understand Metroid or its brand of storytelling.

There is no genre I won't play, time and money allowing. I haven't played a racing or sports game in years because time and money has not allowed me a chance to do so while tackling all the other games I mess with.

The best thing I can say about these games is that they are extremely polished. But other than that, I'd rather play Vanquish or Dead Space for combat and Tomb Raider Anniversary or Sands of Time for traversal/platforming.  Uncharted 2 had a couple moments that stood out, but they came too late in the game to redeem the whole thing. The tank boss really worked for me and was the high point of the game. And those native mutant dudes or whatever they were brought much needed enemy variety to the table. I think if the weapons felt more meaty, I would have enjoyed just blasting fools on a visceral level and not been bothered by the overall lack of danger I felt.  I think I died once the entire game.  Not what I want out of an action game.

Jak 2 turned me off. Dreary game, and open world needs to stay out of my platformers.  I like them brisk and forward moving, fuck having to travel to objectives.

Ratchet and Clank won the Sony platformer war, imo. 

The Nintendo story is the worst. It's sad to seem them go this route. Molyneux is a known bullshitter, and I knew The Order was going to be vapid on first sight. I didn't see anything that was interesting from an action game perspective, and the setting is just more fantasy gobbledygook. Vanquish was short but it was pure, fast gameplay that kept you on your toes. 

On the other hand, the games media has fawned over equally shallow, cinematic rubbish before (and people keep buying it, which is why we keep getting it), so I think they are being disingenuous.