Reviews

This was actually my first exposure to the Assassins Creed.

And I can tell you even though many others felt this game should have been an expansion rather than a whole game, I can tell you that it does not matter, and I will fight tooth and nail anyone who says the story execution or game play was bad.

Ezio's character. His charm, his smack talk immediately drew me into the game.

The amazing Roma Atmosphere and architecture was so breathtaking when i climbed my very first viewpoint sync that I cannot help but be a little biased in my review.

I became crazy repairing the architecture around the entire map, it made me set aside hours dedicated to just stealing money from the local populace and guards so that I could rebuild the city for them, It had an amazing Robin Hood feel.

As for the technical.

The free run/climbing mechanic which is now a staple may have put others who played previous games off, but for me it was such a novelty I immediately fell in love with everything this game had to offer.

The story was satisfyingly well executed, Though abruptly starting a continued story line from ACBrotherhood was a bit jarring for me personally when the climax rolled around, but never the less made me more than interested to know what the Lore was behind The Apple, Ezio/Desomnd, Templar's/Assassin's, it was vey compellingly written.

Conclusion - It was one of the most pleasant and enjoyable game experiences of my lifetime.

Recommendation from me.

There is something to a game when a gamer typically not into the game's genre; i.e FPS, finishes the game is two to three sittings.

This is the FPS game for people like me typically not into FPS games.

From the opening of the game when Doom guy Smashes the com link before cocking his gun and entering the environment of mars till the end, was non stop fun for me.

Typically I do not really like shooters and prefer games like Devil May Cry or soul series where the combat is more calculated.

But doom truly outshines it's restrictions of being a game for the original fans of just constant shooting with it's Glory Killing Finishers, and that was a serious hook for my enjoyment.

Story wise It is not really deep, but it does well setting up a fresh start after all this time.

Highly recommended for people who just wanna get into the game from the off set as it is one of the games that u just log in hit continue and you are into the action, designed for fun.

That being said Exploration is encouraged which is a positive in my book as well as challenging enough combat from normal to higher difficulties which is key since all you are doing is firing a gun and Oh Moving... keep Moving... It is your best Strategy.

Devil May Cry Continues...

This sentiment makes me giddy with joy as a gamer.

Setting aside the character design aesthetics of DMC:Dmc it was a competent game, but one that lacked heart and soul of everything that made DMC series into what it was.

With this entry all is forgiven and forgotten as this is An Absolute Blast to play and even more since it reminds me of the finger hurting combo/switching techniques required to get the Smoking Sexy Style that gave DMC 3 it's legendary status.

Special shout out to Nico for feeling right at home in the crazy world of DMC hotties.

I had a full on joyous experience playing through all the protagonist added with nostalgic feelings from DMC 1, DMC 3&4.

Even though the story is not as deep, but it has never been a focal point in any from this series. The game play is near flawless and the weapon switching and style switching mechanics were fun once you crossed the minor learning curve.

Each of the three protagonists have a unique play style of their own which served to keep it fresh and challenging to achieve the SSS ratings.

Minor gripes of course exist.

Would have liked Dante to be more playable and would have also enjoyed if Vergil Returning was not the whole and sole reason for this game to exist.

But I am happy none the less since future games in the series have potential for much more varied story lines.

Also would have loved for Trish and Lady to have a more significant role, but this can be rectified in a sequel as well.

If u ever loved Dante's Cocky one liners or fell in love with Dante rocking out with Nevan in DMC 3 or wanted to slap Nero so he could be more cooler like his Dad in DMC 4; You will love the experience this game provides you and if you are fan of the Series I can bet this will bring back all the good feels.

If you are not it is also a good place as a starting point to get a feel of what this series is like. 'Capcom Keep em Comin !!!'

LOL What happened here...

This should have been a swan song wish fulfillment for the fans. Is this the equivalent of a anime cash grab akin to a crap movie license game?

To be truthful I did not even finish the game since about 3 to 4 hours into the game the flashy and cool fight animations started to get really grinding.

I do not know if this was because I am not really into fighting games in general, for example MK or the injustice franchise is a few that I have never played since just arcade type fighting does not do it for me.

This is mainly why I was a lot more disappointed since I expected much more beginning from the free form 3D movement I saw in the trailers up to a good story with all of our favorite anime and manga heroes.

But OMFG was this a shoddy failure of an attempt.

The story if there is any seemed dull, since I did not finish the game.

As around about hour 2 into the game all the dialogue was jarringly just on screen text even though I could clearly see the characters lip movement.

I lost all interest in the game as soon as Light Yagami showed, up to my delight with a proper sound plus dialogue cut-scene, only for Ryuuk to have the same lazy on screen text dialogue.

I just could not take anymore and I uninstalled the game right there and returned it.

I was tied into the game for a couple of hours enjoying the average fight mechanics and a little above average Ability animations but gamers like me need a better story and a gamer+fan of anime sure as hell need a lot more than that.

I don't think it should be that hard to come up with an original story made from pieces of all the anime, for all these characters to interact with each other.

All we need is a flimsy attempt at a reason to fight our favorite heroes, even that much was too much to ask apparently.

Conclusion - Wait for a Deeep Deep as sale or something if you absolutely need to try it or maybe if we hopefully get a sequel or another attempt.

As soon as I finished this game I could not wait to shout it's praises from the high heavens.

At the time that RE2 Renake released I was itching for an experience similar to what RE 2 provided me and then some.

First things first 'Claire FTW...' I feel I enjoyed Claire's second run play through a bit more than Leon's, but I am certain it was because of the grenade launcher as Claire felt like an absolute bad ass, rightly so being the sister of Chris.

Kinda makes sense.

This game did for me in regards to Claire what RE 4 did in regards to Leon. I.e; made me love Claire and recognize her as a strong character.

This is not saying Leon's Campaign was any less of a positive experience in itself, since I did not know what to expect around the next turn during the entirety of my first run, I had knots in my stomach.

Really really fun knots.

Capcom was in a bit of a slump but seem to be making a much needed comeback starting with the release of this game a few years ago.

Please Give me more of THIS Capcom....

Experiences like the one RE 2 Remake provides is one of the reasons I fell in Love with Gaming.

It feels legendary.

Though one small gripe I have is both Leon and Claire's Play through is, it is more of their own thing rather than two sides of the same coin.

I would have loved to see both the First and Second Run intertwine more, with our protagonists to meet/run into each other than cut-scenes and a proper parallel story line.

The interconnecting stories and how it affected the world was the only thing I actually liked from RE 6 and it should have been carried over here.

But as I said it is a minor nitpick in the face of the absolute gorgeous visuals, competent story line and downright amazing game play I have experienced.

Conclusion - An absolute Gem of a beloved classic.

I know I am a really late voice to this game, but i want to be a voice nonetheless.

I am very surprised at the high score for this game because the game experience for me was absolutely bogged.

NOW you might think the buggy, glitchy nonsense through the game is primarily lowering my score, but that is not so, neither is the stoic and borderline monotonous voice performance from Connor aka (Ratonhnhaké:ton).

The half assed story and well as the campaign progression is my major problem with this game.

Starting off with a decently interesting Haytham, we literally come to a glacial crawl from the second memory upto the sixth after which we are given proper open world control with full weapon options.

After 4 DRAGGING/wasted memory sequences; instead of using these sequences to develop more interesting plots, the aforementioned drag combines with an abrupt rush for Connor's Campaign to climax precisely just when the story gets interesting.

The only positive is the fantastic ship combat which was such a blast with every new ship mission, it would have been much more interesting to have a good part of the main campaign revolve around more significant naval missions rather than the extensive side mission treatment that it was given.

There were many positives, not that the game was completely trash, but sadly coupled with a weak story execution, countless annoying bugs and glitches, an understandably stoic, stern, yet sadly one note Connor drop the score significantly for me.

Conclusion - Looking forward to Black Flag play-through since I really enjoyed the naval combat.

TL;DR - Sebastian is a compelling character and his motivations are understandable.

Even though the game-play is uneven at times the excellence in Art design and above average game mechanics keep it from being a failure.

Just think playing Liam Neeson from 'Taken' through a horrifying and haunting world with a sprinkle of Inception thrown in, It's a pretty good combination.

The Good - Art Direction. This was hands down the best aspect of the game.

The enemy design, character design, environment, boss design, weapon design; you name it was all high praiseworthy.

Though the graphics were not exceptional, but it was competent enough to support the excellent Art Design.

Sebastian had some interesting shoes to fill, initially he seemed pretty one note; I honestly lost count of how many times he said 'What the Hell'.

But as the game went on we see the cracks in his psyche brought about by his life, his failures and his fears; loved the few instances we spend in Beacon since I did not play the original game.

Which brings me to my next point, the story was well paced with it's flow; even though I did not play the first game I got a pretty good grip on where Sebastian was coming from and got into his motivations comfortably.

Personally I felt the horror elements were a little stronger than the action-shooter elements in the over all story, which was a good thing.

The game-play a little uneven at times makes up for it's flaws by allowing a very fluid combination of stealth and shooter, added with a good amount of weapon choices kept my play-through engaging.

Voice acting was competent and well done for the most part, sometimes too good as the in game characters models were not as expressive and the dialogue was not the best either.

Collectibles were fun and worth the time fleshing story and giving usable rewards for exploring.

The Bad - As i said I found some of the game play a bit uneven, melee combat being the primary loser.

It was mostly non-existent and downright a little naff at times with the Axe the only melee worthy weapon but downside being a one hit break.

At least one melee weapon should have replaced the 'Survival Knife' aka Kitchen Knife since it was mostly useless in head to head combat and was just a stealth thing.

Aiming was a little off at times as well especially with the crossbow as some of bolts were less misses and more just phasing through the sides, sometimes when enemies were running up close the aiming would come at a detriment of FOV almost giving a sniper feel and obscuring environment.

The Bosses were also a bit dull save for the final boss and Wallace, but T. Wallace only for me since I did not play the first game; but I assume would have felt like a cop-out/boss rehash for gamers who played the first game.

Even though the final boss mechanics were decently varied I wish Myra would have got some more proper character development, maybe actual interactions with her inside STEM and gradually seeing her deteriorate into 'The Overprotective Mother'.

Myra's sacrifice though heartbreaking for Sebastian was a little overplayed for me since I did not really interact with her as Sebastian outside very small cut-scenes.

Same could be said for 'The Administrator' and the whole concept of all minds connected to STEM which seems a little stupid for an all powerful organization to be doing, just seemed all too convenient to allow for the 'Happy Ending'.

Even with my issues I am hard pressed to say this is a bad game as I usually rush through the main story of TPS games in general save for the ones I am really enjoying, TEW 2 was one of those.

I spent roughly 20 odd hours going through every nook and cranny of the Levels finding collectibles, ammo pouches and slides.

Conclusion - Would love a sequel since the concept of STEM is pretty vast and being clearly influenced by Inception which is one of my favorite movies, but maybe this time around let Sebastian's Book remain closed and maybe we start a new story with a new protagonist since I'd really hate for Castellanos to be forced into STEM again.

TL;DR - A true Darksiders game in soul and this is coming from someone who has never played a Diablo game in his life, my skepticism to play this style of game was put to rest within the first few hours.

If you are a fan of the DS series this game will not disappoint for your first hands on with Strife as a character.

War being playable and the kinship between the horsemen as well as Co Op makes this a must buy for all Darksiders fans Platforming and Area traversal had some major issues when I played the game and the load of bugs made this a frustrating play-through, but by now this shlould have been fixed.

A little context to my thoughts.

Been an absolute fan of this franchise since I played the first game over a decade ago.

DS2 followed along and even though it had a slight changes from the War's version Death's character as well as the game on a whole was an excellent experience.

DS3 manages to be a formidable game though not as finessed as the last two considering the massive shift in it's developers roots, yet this still managed to feel like it belonged in this universe and Fury as a character grew over me through the game.

The Good - Now to the main Dish

Darksiders Genesis with it's departure from the Third Person/Over the Shoulder to a Top down Dungeon Crawler. DS Genesis manages to retain it's essence for the DS universe and provides us with a great experience and a layover heading to the eventual climax of this saga going on for over a decade and a half now.

The story though not overly affecting the overall plot we have been following since War's Crater Landing, even so manages to be an excellent hack and slash/dungeon crawler experience raised above it's mediocre game design due to War and Strife's characters and the kinship between them.

Strife as a playable character was the highlight of the game for me since I am not really a 'Diablo' person and was really skeptical going into this game, but the soul of DS hack and slash is well and alive with amazing combat mechanics and excellent character handling.

The BAD - That of course exists in all forms of media was a particular let down.

Even if I were to take into calculation that this is a combat focused game and not a platforming focused game, still the area traversal and platforming was one of the worst aspects of this game.

Some of the traversal puzzles were so very frustrating not because they were hard but because of the weird camera angles and various bugs related to glitching which would usually end with me having to take a break and or restart the game for it to function right.

Multiple times the game would lock up my character barring me from preforming any actions other than a single jump and moving around.

Hopefully these problems are now fixed.

Conclusion - There is a lot of good here as the combat is very satisfying giving you the vicarious feeling of being in control of one of the all powerful Horsemen !!

TL;DR - Will the game companies ever get the news that we do not like micro transac/loot boxes in our full priced games???

Even though they have been removed now at the time i played this game, It still is a horribly imbalanced mess with a few good things going for it.

The Good - Nemesis System - One of the best Game mechanics to come out of the gaming industry. Decent Combat Mechanics - Talions Skill tree makes for a fluid play style. Some Canon Bending story - a positive for me since I am a Tolkien Noob.

Look and Feel - The world is Breath taking though often same feeling at times, nevertheless easy to get **** into the story.

The Bad - Oh My... here we Go

The Camera - Often had an Unresponsive camera during battle and traversing which respectively makes getting stuck in the world and off screen attacks very prominent, the camera would routinely not respond to my input of a camera pan.

The Pit Fights - OMG this is the biggest offender in my opinion as all of the ferocity that you face while fighting the Enemy seem to disappear in the pit, they just poke, prod and make noises at each other compared to the fights you have with the captains.

This along with a stupidly imbalanced RNG that can have your dominated characters die to low level scrubs, this is just a stupid waste of time especially since you will spend a lot of time in the pit fights.

The Controls - It feels like the controls are fighting back at you almost all the time, Talion will often face and attack, move or preform an action in the direction opposite to where you are facing.

The highly slick Arkham series of Combat scheme that made us love the first Shadow of Mordor is downright unfinished and unpolished here.

Excessively Grindy - This game really gave me my money's worth with side-quest busy work... But most of it is meaningless busy work since the EXP for the main missions and kills seems severely throttled as u cross level 25.

No doubt designed to force players to buy the nasty loot boxes and exp boosts.. which got even worse once the said loot boxes were removed since the grind was already inbuilt into the game.

Act 4 GrindWall - Of course. But since Enough has been said about I am not gonna elaborate.

It just feels like a giant disappointment to not finish the game considering all the noted cons you have to deal with just for the True ending.

Just Youtube the final ending.

Conclusion - All in all Sadly this highly anticipated game turned out to be very underwhelming for me since Shadow of Mordor was a refreshing firestorm and scratched the itch of more Batman Arkham feels.

TL;DR - A refreshing game in a while considering I'm not really someone who enjoys playing Open World Heavy RPG games.

The Witcher 3 was the last RPG game I completed and even though the writing and mission flow never really reached that level of depth; there are some really good beats sprinkled throughout. Strong start, a meandering mid and a slight let down for an ending

The Outer Worlds manages to be a competent game that is a good experience but would be an excellent one if you can get it during a sale. The endless replay-ablility of the game including all the difficulty levels and multiple ways to go about the missions almost makes it worth full price.

The Good - Art Style was really interesting, beautiful sky-boxes littered through out do a good job making you feel you are in the far flung parts of the Universe.

My favorite part of the game's writing was the Companion Story Lines, I finished the game with just 4 Companions but every story-line succeeded in making me feel for them as a part of my crew.

Gun-play/Mechanics was decently varied with light RPG elements, this kept me going through with relative ease and enjoyment at Normal difficulty with only a few deaths in early stages and one or two near the end; altogether a very breezy and fun play-through.

One of the least-glitchy games I have played in a while and I really appreciated it, aside from a few small ones the game was smooth. Mission Flow could have used a little more attention and polish but still do a good job of interlinking the Main Plot with smaller side jobs effectively negating that feeling of stopping the flow of the story to do a side mission.

The Bad - Sadly a lot of small things here and there start building up, the perk system, two limit companion on missions, the weird skill point system managing to be confusing as well as overly simple at the same time, enemy variety, melee game mechanics; all these things and then some could have used quite a bit of polish and finesse .

Even though the Main Story line on paper seems like you are changing the fate of your Star System playing through does not really feel like it, it lacks a sense of enormity and weight of your gameplay decisions.

A meandering middle section of the story where the pacing seems to slow down but then all of a sudden you realize that you are actually near the end.

The final few missions were a little bit of a let down.

I was so sure that there was some major twist coming in the story since the story really stays a little bland and simple throughout, this could also be because of The Witcher 3 and the intricacies and excellence of the Story/Mission flow has probably ruined other games for me.

Conclusion - A good competent game nonetheless despite all of it's middle of the road choices.

TL;DR - A fun and unique experience story wise, people familiar with the SCP Foundation will enjoy this a bit more than the rest.

A good part of the combat mechanics are innovative and well executed, but it lacks a little polish and optimization in the same department.

Main Questline goes for about 14 or 15 hours give or take your difficulty level, is a good experience at full price an even better one if you purchase this on any kind of sale.

Hopefully Remedy will take in all the feedback and make a much more Optimized and Balanced experience in the Sure to Be Sequel to CONTROL.

The Good - Jesse grew on me through out the game.

Being privy to her thoughts really endeared me to her and although it is not a new aspect from a character development perspective it is well executed and works to the game's overall experience.

The weirdness of the story really vibes in tandem with her character and the backstory given to Jesse.

Campaign Length is just right since it is pretty much a one track story and does not over stay its welcome with padding and or artificial stretching.

Combat mechanics were really fun Launch and Levitate are the primary ones you will use the most and everything about it from the animation to the utility of it is very satisfying.

The guns though not the most versatile helps fill the gap of the ability cool-downs and add a little variety throughout the game.

The Ability Tree and Mod Systems also help give you an extra edge during combat, not a whole lot in the case of the Ability Tree but the Mod Systems really enhance the experience.

The Bad - A lot of optimization and finesse in the game mechanics was needed to make this game reach the Legendary status it really deserves.

The Ability Tree for starters needed a good bit of tweaking since other than Launch and Shield ability almost everything else is near pointless; Life Bar, Ability Bar, Melee Combat is barely effective even after maximizing and Modding them.

Couple this with unbalanced and jarring difficulty spikes the game will really drive you on edge, add in a little bit of imbalanced save points to the mix and this game's novelty and refreshing nature drains itself out of you real quick at times.

Even the Mod Systems seems so restricted in comparison to all the Mods you receive during you playthrough for both your guns and abilities.

At least 4 or 5 slots each would really do wonders to the experience especially for your Abilities since the guns are rendered ineffective in lot of firefights once you pass the 3 to 4 hour mark.

You have to really learn quick that Launch ability is your Primary Weapon over the actual Primary/Secondary Weapons that you equip, I spent an ungodly amount of time on the Salvador fight since by that time I had not yet figured out that the game wants you to use Launch more than your guns and not the other way around.

Conclusion - All in all even with it's faults the game is greater than the sum of it's parts and the experience on a whole is quite satisfying. But the game really borders on making it near impossible to overlook all of it's flaws.

And hopefully Remedy will take in all the feedback and make a much more Optimized and Balanced experience in the Sure to Be Sequel to CONTROL.

TL;DR - A lot has been said about this game so I am not gonna bother with the details.

After the credits rolled I felt like I was looking at a Magnificent and Beautiful picture puzzle but the pieces of the puzzle were all in the wrong order.

On Numerous occasions I could see what True Beauty the picture puzzle holds but the pieces are all haphazardly just mashed together that this Possibly Masterpiece of a Picture which would probably reach into your soul and leave a mark never manages to do so.

This is a clear example of why Pacing and Editing plays such an important role in media which is something widely understood with Movies and TV shows and in games as well for that matter but pacing and editing was thrown away for a self indulgent pat on the back.

This is probably the worst paced game I have every played along with being one of the worst Editing in Story and Screenplay I have experienced.

The most heartbreaking aspect is everything was there for another Soulful Experience; all the effort, all the passion, all the good story that the whole of Naughty Dog worked so hard on but Story Execution is in the worst possible order that it really damages the overall experience.

This game is an imperfect gem in the rough that would have been a beautiful Jewel in Naughty Dog's amazing legacy but sadly the decision and cost of being shocking and subversive never allows it to reach the level of adoration it deserves.

TL;DR - Was not a fan of rogue likes for a while now, never tried dead cells which is probably the most famous of them all. But got hooked on Darkest Dungeon recently and I started to see the fun,

Hades then comes along with a game that feels like it was built for me; Greek Myth that has been my jam since '05' with God of War from PS2 - check, fast pace smooth combat - check, tongue and cheek dialogue writing - check and I can keep going on.

If it is not blatantly clear already Hades is an amazing experience provided you have the patience for uber grindy games in general.

The Good - Wow so much good here.

From art style to sound effects, visual effects to weapon arsenal, dialogue delivery and the God's personalities, there is just so much passion, love and fun poured into this game that it is almost unbelievable.

I could probably go on for paragraphs stating every little detail that is polished and tight knitted with other mechanics bonded with amazing art style amalgamated with fluid play style.

So just to keep this short every aspect of this game is made with care and finesse almost coming off as a AAA title for a rogue-like experience. If you are a fan of the genre must play, must buy, must support devs.

The Bad - None whatsoever for me personally.

Though for a newcomer it may be a little daunting to try and get into the grind and the failure loop, but then this is a comment on the genre itself as roguelikes are notoriously hard by design. Hades is quite a combination of Game Mechanics and Greek Lore, extremely satisfying for the lore-lover and the Gamer in me.

Conclusion - This is a work of Excellence.

TL;DR - Keeping in mind the low production budget of Chimera Squad, at the time I purchased it at 9.99 this title is an adequate experience albeit with a few Majorly confusing design choices.

Whenever you purchase this, if it is not at a Deeeeep Discount and if you have never played XCOM in your life it's best to skip Chimera Squad and buy the XCOM and XCOM 2 games along with the DLC for both of them which are better first experiences of far more intense, engaging and rewarding game-play than Chimera Squad ever manages to be.

The Good - Breach mode was an interesting and fun addition to the new XCOM style of play since 2012; breaching charges, scanners, cease fire options were all fun tactics that remained fresh till the end.

My initial reaction to not being able to create my own characters were quickly offset with the characters given for the campaign, there was one of every type which formed a well rounded team for the encounters with additional training options unlocking or upgrading skills.

Aliens and Humans co-operating is an amazing sci-fi concept brought to the game successfully keeping the overall feel of the setting the game is based in fun bordering on cringe but not crossing the line.

Unique weapons were a good addition to offset the traditional and annoyingly fun XCOM RNG shot percentages.

The Bad - Many decisions regarding the game mechanics were baffling and downright hurts the experience of Chimera Squad.

Game balance, mostly useless supply shop, fixed number of agent slots from start to finish, small repetitive maps, directional overwatch, change from team turn based to player turn based and a few more.

These small things start building up fast considering the short length of the game and by the end they start making the game tedious without that traditional lurking fear of what is around the next corner that the XCOM games successfully incite.

The experience of the encounters vary wildly from the two extremes of stupidly easy ending within 5 - 8 min or stupidly easy but against an annoying number of enemies that you start getting bored of staying in the same room for 15 min, excluding the gate-keeper fight that literally drove me up the wall in fear, excitement and XCOM RNG rage/fun.

Strangely another important aspect of Movement was not focused on in this Spinoff since I spent more than 95% of my mission in the same spot after the breach till the end of the encounter in the said room, enemy numbers and small maps kept me from wanting to move around to escape from or get to better vantage points.

The player turn based over the team turn based also really takes out a big chunk of the experience of XCOM since fun little tactics like setting up a kill box, overwatch wipes, chasing a hidden enemy, searching the map for that last a-hole skittering around in the shadows all integral and addictive parts of the missions.

Overall like I said at a deeeeeep bargain price it is an alright experience for a Spin-off and gave a little scratch to my XCOM itch but it was unsatisfying and probably makes me crave for the whole experience even more so equivalent of being blue balled after a really good but slightly underwhelming tease.

Conclusion - XCOM 3 needs to get here soon.

TL;DR - S02 was an improvement from Season 01, undoubtedly better and intertwined social issues with the genre storytelling.

A lot more stories compared to S01 were interesting, eerie, or downright disturbing.

Somehow this still does not make me want more, I will not be watching S03 as my interest has died out, I dont thik this is a good response for a TV show especially one as iconic as The Twilight Zone.

The Good - All of the stories were better executed this time around in S02. Social messaging was better intertwined in the genre of sci-fi, horror, or fantasy in a way that keeps the message afloat without tanking the genre storytelling.

Meet in the middle, Downtime, The Who of You, Ovation, Among the Untrodden, A human face were all standouts from the season really creeping you out or disturbing you in the right ways.

As with season 1 all the actors every single cast member really gives it their all, I am a big fan of Firefly, and seeing Morena in Downtime playing something different from the action/adventure was great. Jurnee Smolett from Ovation, Jenna Elfman and Christopher from A Human face, Jimmi Simpson and Topher Grace from Meet in the Middle and Try Try respectively are all standouts from the season also being part of the best episodes from the season.

The Bad - I can't really put my finger on it and say this is particularly the issue here.

But something is definitely causing an impedance to this show really reaching the level it can, it is not a single thing but probably a combination of stuff.

One of the main issues is that every episode is just too long for the content hence every episode feels stretched and repetitive.

I noticed this in A human face, this is an episode I liked; I noticed that the actors kept repeating the same matter again and again amongst themselves, rather than focusing with the outerwordly issue they are entangled with.

This really made me see that all these episodes meander around a bit to much and maybe cutting 10 to 15 minutes from every episode will really help the flow.

Currently, the way the show has been edited the length of the episode really gets to you even in the stories that you are enjoying. Maybe the 30 minutes of the original series is too short for nowadays, 40 to 45-minute episodes are good enough and I wonder if season 03 maybe decided to keep the episodes shorter and provide a tighter experience.

Final Words - S02 was a much better experience compared to Season 01, but the episode length is just one aspect of the problem.

If they decide to shorten the episodes it will retroactively mean they have to write a tighter better script per episode and maybe help focus the stories a little more.

Sadly after this, I don't really have any expectations or feel like watching Season 03 and I would not be surprised or sad to know that the show ended at S03.

Although if we are getting another season I do not know if I would want to watch it.

TL;DR - The only reason I started watching this show was because I heard that S03 was going to be dealing with Eldridcth Terrors and Old Gods, I watched Seasons 1 and 2 just so I could get to my fix for Lovecraftian Lore.

If you have completed the show you definitely know why my score is so low. If you haven't well lets just say on a score of 1 to 10 keep your lovecraftian lore expectations at 1 or 2.

Regardless, of the whole old gods deal this is probably the most boring season from all three seasons sadly following the same downgrade in writing quality as Stranger Things, albeit at a much more rapid rate.

Season 1 was surprising to me as it flowed well.

Even though some of the story beats were on the lines of tried and trusted common supernatural storylines; it was nevertheless well executed and competently acted by the whole cast.

Season two fell steep with the forced in your face, hammering on the head gender politics but the flow of the story was brisk and as before executed well enough that all the gender/politics/gender-politics plot elements did not hinder the overall experience.

Season three however was really badly written, clearly rushed and slapped together on a crunch. I cant understand, if the writers felt they were short on time why did they not completely eliminate the old gods story line or at least reduce it akin to the brief and short witch hunters plotline in S02.

It feels so bloated and unnecessary as there are many leftover elements from S02 that were expanded on which would have sufficed and worked well with more attention to it.

The competition for the crown, Lucifer/Nick's storyline, trying to regain lost powers was all the season should have focused on and used as Primary Story; this was all interesting stuff that should have been fleshed out more.

The pagans and the old gods should have been just a mini story beat to set up a glorious fully focused S04 on Eldritch and Lovecraftian Lore.

Somehow they managed to put so much into this season yet made the pacing feel like molasses by focusing on too much and nothing at all simultaneously.

This was a really badly written season even though they pulled all the political agendas to a minimum it still feels far inferior than S02.

TL;DR - Went into the series completely blind to fact or fiction or even what part of the disaster this story will be dealing with.

I had convinced myself that this was probably a court drama through which we would connect to the inciting incident, I was not prepared for the sheer terrifying ordeal I experienced in regards to the actual incident and it's effect on the human experience.

The Good - The reality of the horror, the human suffering, sheer human will of everyone involved while dealing with the Chernobyl disaster would have no doubt been an experience neither I nor the show could ever fathom.

But the miniseries manages to capture a deeply affecting mental and physical facsimile of the human experience through all the above mentioned faucets.

This show will definitely leave it's mark on your psyche just trying to grasp the mentality of everyone involved as Chernobyl manages to give us a harrowingly good recreation of the whole ordeal, beginning from a minute to minute then hour to hour then week to week and so on.

The changing viewpoints through various individuals magnifies the extent of this incident in the right ways making it feel very real and not gratuitous.

Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgård were the characters we spent the most time with but I have to mention that every character no matter how small turns in their 'A' game giving the factual part of this disaster a true human experience.

The editing and cinematography of the series is also commendable making all the horror and suffering realistic over something gratuitous or exploitative.

Music and Sound design were excellent partners to the whole semi-fictitious story telling nature.

The Bad - Several write ups that I went through constantly stated that the writing for the show was not entirely accurate.

A lot of real facts related to the secrets, the blame game and the statecraft seems to have a universal voice of smudged and fudged for either propaganda reasons or cinematic liberty.

The main concern is whether this skewering of facts will paint an inaccurate picture and incite fear mongering to which I say that anyone taking the writing and dialogue as 100% accurate is probably an idiot who does not need something like a TV show to send them into a fit.

It should be understood and thereby taken as a matter-of-fact that probably 50-75% of the reality of the show would have been a re-creation and is not a second to second and shot by shot retelling of the whole truth, it is impossible to be accurate to the atom in realistic events like this. Chernobyl is a scientifically accurate yet semi-fictitious re-telling of the whole incident and its names sake.

Conclusion - Yet with the knowledge that everything I watch is not an accurate depiction it does not take away from the excellent harrowing, terrifying and triumphant experience the show provides.

There are a lot of shows that delve into the concept of 'Everything is not Black or White there are shades of Grey as well', but from the lot there are a few that really take the concept of this duality and lay it out in a way that closely mires the human experience.

Mr. Robot through out it's 4 seasons handles it's concepts and themes beautifully by pairing it with Stellar performances, thoughtful story writing, well written/relatable characters and borderline flawless execution on all technical aspects from cinematography to sound design and everything in between.

In short if you really felt that storytelling in the likes of Dexter, Dark or Fight Club speaks to you do yourself a favor and watch this masterpiece.

Going any deeper into specifics of the show will undoubtedly fuzz up the experience you will have watching and connecting with the show and it's characters. It is very likely a much better experience going in blind like me.

An absolute loss of good, deep and complex writing came with the death of this show.

And though this was a wholly character driven show I can't say I Do not understand why the low ratings killed the show.

The characters serious approach with their portrayals of their persona and relatively grounded tone of the show is probably was probably what turned off the casual sci-fi $hit exploding in space with massive VFX loving popcorn munchers.

On the other side and the reason this show gained it's cult status was because we needed to see the underlying deconstruction of the smart ass ship captain and crew which was the key focus.

Even though Cpt. Malcom Reynolds always acted like he could do no wrong and sometimes even pissed us fans off with his on screen actions, he would always redeem himself though sheer grit, well written story and excellent Screenplay execution.

Joss Whedon is not a god, trust me I know this but I cannot deny he is a damn good writer and I thank the fanbase for the Serenity Movie existing to allow us fans some closure for the Universe.

It is difficult to see the show return considering the gap and I think it is good since we have Firefly and Serenity for endless watches and Good Feels.

One of the Best animations only second to TAS, story wise. Character wise, execution wise, lore wise, casting wise.

I have nothing but high praise for carrying on the darker tones of Batman into a future concept that seemed well lived in.

Terry though was not my most favorite portrayal of Batman what with The Original one being there right by his side the whole time, I would be lying if I said Terry as a character did not grow to be a capable one.

The show end felt a little bit unsatisfying considering the series did not really get a proper finale, the available seasons are endlessly re watchable.

Please leave this gem alone Hollywood unless you have people who truly want to recreate this for the complex yet satisfying narrative it grew to be.

I will accept Michael Keaton in the place of Bruce as a good start if Hollywood does intend to make this into Live Action movie, although i will be hard pressed to put my finger on any current directors who can truly give this the love, care and attention it deserves.

Maybe Tom Ford or Denis Villeneuve.

Just 10 episodes and I already want more....

I am wayyy late to the Castle party and I cannot believe how I missed this show when it was originally being aired.... The mysteries are not suuuper deep as I would like them to be, but the execution of the screenplay is done well enough to overlook it.

The fact that this show has ended slightly dampens my excitement to watch the rest of the seasons...

But Castle's character is just too suave and bordering on a sexual harassment complaint raunchy for me to not watch the Show to its eventual climax in Season 8.

Special mention to Stana Katic for playing the role of a hard ass cop and yet oozing sexuality on screen, enough to make me wonder why I have not really seen her in prominent Movie roles, it's a real loss.

Either ways the chemistry of the team is palpable and enjoyable and Kudos to all involved.

For the celebration of the fact that Season 15 was completed and is the end , I feel obligated as a part of the Supernatural fanbase to give my views of this amazing and imaginatively satisfying Lore based series that was still going strong even getting me through COVID.

Still getting to know the characters in the first season I implore anyone who is yet too see this show to give your time and watch the first season and enjoy some of the best written versions of popular myths nd lores we have all heard and loved, coupled with some believable Brotherly dynamics I have seen portrayed on screen.

From wendigos to demons to werewolves to vampires the Winchesters tackle every lore I have come across and some wholly original writing has made this show one of the best sci-fi/horror series in the last decade and a half.

I am glad this celebrated show is a part of my life and just like the on screen and off screen characters being a part of it's up's and downs.

This was an amazing piece of entertainment that everyone who was part of it for 15 seasons worked their asses off to keep going From the bottom of my heart Thank you Guys !!!

This is only my second Fukunaga Watch after IT, and I think it was well written.

Sadly I see Maniac being cast aside by mass watchers because of emphasis on tightly written dialogue over a visual or trip like mental spectacle, which is also the reaosn I have never heard a lot of people talk about this show.

I personally loved the somberness of the show.

Special shout out to Sally Field, who still has some excellent acting chops all these years after my favorite performance of her in Mrs. Doubtfire.

Although I do not think this story is actually open to another season and I believe Maniac should end here; our lead characters played by Jonah Hill and Emma Stone who deliver excellent performances made me want to watch them together as different characters somewhere else due to good chemistry.

The supporting roles were cast admirably and felt perfect for their characters, though I wish we could have had Rome Kanada for few more episode, Kanada's performance was very impactful and aptly translated into one of the key plotlines for the story progression.

Some very poignant and deep conversations take place on screen and that was what kept me going through after episode 2 which was IMHO the slowest considering one character development in EP1.

The concept for the show is personally the most intriguing, the elements surrounding the concept; flow organically into flawless execution, although maybe some plot tie ups could be reinforced with some additional attention in story-writing.

The climax is satisfying but felt like it was written for a mass appeal rather than a conclusion of two mentally unstable characters.

Quite a few of my negatives could very well be chalked up to nit picks since the the important technical aspects hold the show together successfully.

Beautiful cinematography, some excellent editing, interesting color schemes and emphasis on strong dialogue are all components of the show that excel beyond the generic and make this a must watch at least once.

Hopefully Maniac does not get a Season 2 or remade or redone or any of that as I believe our story has ended and it is difficult to see the same characters go through another similar experience without getting boring and repetitive.

TL;DR - Delving too deep into any plot points would either confuse or spoil so I am going to do neither.

But I implore any cerebral sci fi lover to watch the series at least once if you have not because of how good the storytelling is.

It is downright confusing, slow burning and tricky for the most part but is transformed into an amazing piece of story telling through excellent character writing, perfect casting and believable performances.

There is never a time when a character decision or character action would be doubted or confusing to you no matter how negative or positive.

All of which add up to a thoroughly satisfying and complete watch.

It is surprising how this was touted as another 'Stranger Things' type show when it first released, yet 3 seasons later in comparison to 'ST/S03' Dark delivers so much more along with being a completed story instead of dragging on until the story and characters go into trash territory.

SEASON 1 - This show has great writing considering quite a lot of the plot points in the first season depends on your own understanding of how things are happening and what your understanding is about human psychology which I absolutely love.

Almost every episode I watched held my interest considering I never watched and or heard about the creepypasta tht it is based on, and maybe because of my ignorance of the subject matter it was based on I never could tell where the story was heading and I kept enjoying myself not knowing.

Even at the end of the season, which was not the most brilliant of climaxes, but suitable in its own narrative, quite a lot of the 'but why or but how' questions were left up to your interpretation.

The acting was excellent all around, and especially the children felt like real kids I know, who are bratty, whiny, noisy and or cry very fast.

I loved the story from the angle of a therapist cus his meek and almost calmly thought out way in interacting with all the weird on goings in the season was quite refreshing.

MY Only regret is I was kinda putting off watching this show until NOW, thinking that it was just another 'kids going missing under un-natural on-goings' ordeal, and I had just only finished 'Dark' which is another well written show.

SEASON 2 - Season Two was another success in the shows run.

No End House was sufficiently off track weird, as well as emotionally heart wrenching enough for you to feel the confusion in our characters.

Excellent acting, very believable flow of the human elements in the season. There were times where I felt tht the episode was dragging a bit, but it is just a minor annoyance.

The Good far exceeds any issues I may have had with this season. Absolutely love the twisted undertones tht this show has made a staple now considering the creepy vibes are still strong from season 1, although I still think pacing wise the first season is far superior.

The editing and cinematography are just as consistent and I love season 2 keeps the Not every ending is either happy or sad, everything is balanced and when the conclusion comes around its involves a happy/sad combo which is a very refreshing feeling.

This is due to some good strong writing.

SEASON 3 - Butchers Block unsettled me to my core numerous times, in a good way that is.

Several times through the season I felt my stomach turning with horror and fear.

Rutger Hauer can still be unspeakably chilling just as well as he can play your kind old grandpa hiding a very horrific secret.

I do not think I will ever be able to look at a nice piece of stake without remembering this season.

Although I do think if they intend to leave certain plot points open at the end the writers should may be think about not having them at all considering the closing five seconds of the finale, it would make for a tighter watch.

I also love that I knew nothing about these seasons going in, so when Replicant gone nuts Roy Batty (aka Rutger Hauer) showed up in tht hat, I almost did not recognize him.

All said and done my complaints with this season again are very minor, may be they could do without certain plot points, even so the good far outweighs the bad for me.

Loving these bitter-sweet season finales tht are intact since the first season and I am glad that is still a key focus.

I felt the editing stronger in this season over all, acting was excellent all around.

The sound definitely helped in making my stomach turn throughout, I would definitely suggest a good sound system while watching all the seasons since I feel a lot of the excellent sound work may get lost thereby losing a lot of the atmosphere.

I am still a bit sad that the show is not rating a bit higher in the scale. IMHO, But I am confident in my belief of this show hitting a cult status many years after it finishes airing considering the core subject matter chosen every season.

Definitely catch season 3 as well.

A recommendation from me, although I would add that keeping expectations for the show to be just like any of the conventional shows out there might let you down.

Best to let the story unfold with an open mind rather than try and analyze which show is just like this, or which show is better than this. Just enjoy the strong writing and let your Imagination FLY !!

SEASON 4 - The weakest season yet for me, at least IMHO. I did enjoy the concept overall, since I kept seeing a lot of missed opportunities.

Seasons 1 to 3 held my interest for far stronger reasons as compared to S04.

The newly weds their past secrets and a few other plot points this time around had me spacing out cus it felt a bit to melodramatic rather than a dreadful horror vibe.

One of the main reveals in the season could probably be seen from a mile away, although I admit that 'I did not see it coming'; but when it happened it felt as though I should have expected it.

There were a couple of twists in this season where after it happened it felt a bit cliched and that was a bit of a let down since they have been able to write much better and tighter scripts.

Even so, the acting was top notch, editing and sound track was executed efficiently although a couple of song choices seems a bit misplaced, pacing was never an issue since it was always a slow burn, yet this time around I felt it dragged in a few places.

But my biggest disappointment this season was they did not keep a Bitter-Sweet climax like the rest of the seasons, it was a much happier ending as compared to its preceding seasons and I hope this is not just to appeal to the broader masses.

Still I think the writers can bounce back stronger for the next season and I will be eagerly waiting for it.

Catch this season if only just for continuity sake, on the flip side skipping this season will not be a huge loss and the fact that I feel this way about it is a tad bit Disappointing !!