Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (Playstation 2, 2004 / Playstation 5, 2025)

 

Here we are, Metal Gear Solid 3, the best game in the series. Going to do the usual MGS-series thing here and give it a fairly light rundown while trying not to go too overboard with spoilers - though I'll talk about the interesting elements of the story regardless.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (Playstation 2, 2001)

 

With an MGS3 remake coming up and me having done posts for MGS1/4/5 in the past, it seemed like an appopriate time to fill in the other missing one. This game was pretty divisive in its day, but it holds a lot of nostalgia for folks who grew up with it. I always liked this one, and thought it was WAY ahead of its time.

As for why it was divisive... having Raiden take over as the main character was a terrible idea, like selling drugs in the hood without the CIA's permission.

Ranking the Post-Millennium RPGs I Finished

 

This seemed like a good way to wrap up this month of lists. Listlemania, if you will. It's the sequel to my ranking of pre-millennium RPGs, which is like a whole different world (mostly the 2D world versus the 3D world, mostly). We're picking up with 2001 onward here. If you missed the first list, it's HERE. Same general format, except it'll be over 23 and a half years instead of the 15ish that the first one covered. I don't want to take too much away from the 1000 List, which is still in-progress, so I'm not going to go too deep on most of these or include any fun stuff like "Toughest Part". We'll get some music interludes, though, when the aural pleasure of a game is just too good.

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (Playstation 2, 2005)

 

The third and last side-game in the series focusing on specific characters. This one actually gets it right, unlike the Sub-Zero and Jax games, by simply being a great game. Retelling the MK2 story that already worked instead of making up something new was a brilliant touch and made the game instantly compelling.

I may have missed a whole bunch of the main series back in the day, but I did return for this game. It was the only MK that I played in-era after MK3 and before MK9. Yep, just ignored the rest, but they did such a good job with this game that I couldn't miss it.

We get two MCs for this game, Liu Kang and Kung Lao. IIRC, on the original drawing board Raiden was supposed to be the MC. In the final product he's sort of the third hero, but he isn't playable normally. I TELL YOU ONE AND ONE MAKES THREE-HEEE!

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (Playstation 2, 2006)

 

This is the end of the PS2 trilogy and also the end of the original series. The next game is a what-if and the one after that reboots the continuity. That's right, this is the culmination of the original MK story and it's for all the marbles.

Not to be confused with that MK Annihilation movie, but I could see people mixing them up. In short: This game is good, that movie is a turd.

Mortal Kombat: Deception (Playstation 2, 2004)

This game has a cool logo. A good sign! This is one that I really didn't pay any attention to when I was younger. I may not have played MK4 and Deadly Alliance but at least I was aware of them and what they were about. For all I knew this one was some kind of spinoff. Well, nope, this is technically "MK6" by another name and it advances the PS2 trilogy. It's also a substantial improvement over the previous game (and MK7 would improve even further).

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (Playstation 2, 2002)

It's day 3 of the Twelve Days of Halloween and it's time for more Kombat.

This one dropped five years after MK4. Which means that while took them a few years to count to 4, it took them even longer to count to 5. And make no mistake, this is "MK5" in everything but name. Notice how the background of the title is a somewhat camoflaged "V" symbol.

I probably would have paid a lot more attention to it in 2002 if it had been called that, but as it is, this is my first time playing it. This was the first MK to go straight to consoles instead of having an arcade version first, likely because arcades unfortunately declined in popularity after the 90's ended.

This one is the first to go full 3D, and begins a trilogy of sorts on the PS2 gen. This culminates with MK Armageddon (AKA MK7) which is basically the end of the series as we know it. But not to worry, it gets rebooted (...twice) after that.

In any case, this one has Shang Tsung and Quan-Chi teaming up to form the DEADLY ALLIANCE. Only question is, which one's the bitch and which one's the butch which one gets to be the final boss?

Mega Man X7 Playthrough

 

Time for a video playthrough of what I consider to be the worst game in the Mega Man series. I've done video playthroughs of almost this entire series now. Only thing left after this is Mega Man X8. Who is that in the background of this title screen, anyway? Looks like a robed figure. Dr. Wily? Nah, it's probably just Axl.

Rez (Playstation 2, 2001)

Rez is an amazing and little-known PS2 game. It's the predecessor to Child of Eden on the PS3/360. Unfortunately, the series ends there, though it did get a PS4 remaster later on. This is a very unique music-based psychedelic shooter, for lack of a better term. It doesn't really seem to fit into any established genres.

Unfortunately, it's also fairly impossible to play in the original PS2 form. It's somewhat rare as is, and even if you buy a copy, it's one of those purple-disc PS2 games that barely runs right on any of the systems. That was a really common thing in 2001, unfortunately.... but I wonder what RPG Maker 2's excuse was in 2004.

In any case, emulation of this game is surprisingly easy for a PS2 game, barely an inconvenience. This is likely because it came early in the life of the system and isn't graphically advanced as a result. Enough of this extended intro, onward with the game!

Wild Arms 3 (Playstation 2, 2002)

Back in 1999/2000, I was really into the original Wild Arms. It was one of what seemed like a hundred rad RPGs that we got during the golden age of the late 90's PlayStation. It took me months to finish the game, and the release week for Wild Arms 2 happened to be right after I did. Completely coincidental, as I didn't even know a sequel was in development. That was pretty awesome, one of my many good gaming memories from the era. A couple rentals later and I finished Wild Arms 2, which I thought was even better than the original.

For some reason I never checked out further games in the series, but Wild Arms 3 was always on my radar. Lately I've been wanting to play an early-00's era RPG that I've never played before, and this one made the most sense. It now has a PlayStation 4 re-release with trophies and improved resolution that one can get for about the price of the original PS2 version, so it's a better time than ever to check out Wild Arms 3. I started playing this a couple years ago and it's time to finally play the rest.

Mega Man X8 (Playstation 2, 2004)

 

This is it, the culmination of the X series. Isn't 8 a weird number to end on?

Mega Man X7 (Playstation 2, 2003)

This is debatably the worst game in the X series. I think Mega Man X6 is more of a chore to play, but it's close. My question is...who is that weird robed hologram in the background of the title screen? It doesn't resemble any of the characters in the game.

TNA Impact (Playstation 2, 2008)

Today I'm going to take a look at Impact Wrestling's one console game. It really surprises me that this game hasn't gotten any kind of follow-up in the six years since. The sales weren't terrible and while it got bad reviews, that has never stopped game companies from releasing follow-ups before. Besides, they could make more of these on the cheap by just copying and pasting all of the assets like game engine and crowd graphics and so forth. In any case, I don't know what to expect from this game, so let's jump in. NOTE: Now with video footage added in.

Terminator: Dawn of Fate (Playstation 2 and XBox, 2002)

 This is on the shortlist for BEST Terminator game of all time. Which is a lot like being Toughest Male Model, but just roll with it. This game really is outstanding if you're a fan of the Cameron-directed parts of the franchise. It shows us more of the Future War (2029 version) than most other games, and it's obvious that the designers really cared about what they were doing. It's full of attention to detail; right off the bat it makes use of BGM from the war scenes in the first movie for the title screen and menu themes. Let's have a closer look.

The Final Fantasy Series Retrospective

Today we're going to be taking a look at the Final Fantasy series in retrospective form. What are our memories of the series? Which chapters stand the test of time? Read on to find out.

Suikoden vs. The World

The Suikoden series is one of my favorite RPG series out there, when it comes down to it.  Because Suikoden has so many characters (108 per game), there's bound to be some name overlap between the cast of the series and the rest of the media that exists in the world. Today I find out who would win in battles to the death between the Suikoden cast and their namesakes elsewhere.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Playstation 2, 2004)

With GTA5 hot off the presses, I figured this would be a good time to finally get around to San Andreas. This is the next game in the venerable series for me, as I played GTA3 and Vice City previously. San Andreas has a whirlwind of hype surrounding it, and I'm not sure if it can measure up.

Come on in. Punch and pie.

Suikoden IV (Playstation 2, 2005)

I've gone on record that I'm a big fan of the Suikoden series. The first three games in the series are good to great (though 3 is a step down from the others). I've never played the fourth... until now. This is because it sucks.

50 Cent Bulletproof (Playstation 2, 2005)

Since I'd like to play at least some of a 50 Cent game, and want to be able to take screenshots, I decided to try emulating the PS2 50 game. Follow me as I test this ominous 5 GB file out. This is 50. G-G-G-G-U-NIT!

Warriors Orochi (Playstation 2, 2007)

Finding a good game to play for 2007 was tough. Really tough. My first thought was Bioshock, which I've already played, 100%'d, and don't really have any reason to play again. Once I decided to go for something else, I looked to Super Paper Mario... but it isn't great and I have no real desire to play through all of it. Aside from that, I discovered that my choices were nearly nonexistent when it comes to good games, as 2007's short-enough-to-play games ranged from Petz Catz to Petz Babyz. Why do all of these titles end with a z? Just when I was about to give in and fire up Teletubbiez Extreme, I noticed a game at the end of the release list for the year that piqued my interest. This is Warriors Orochi, which combines Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors in a Marvel Team-Up for the ages. Yeah it makes no sense, but they do blend well and it's way cooler than Alien Vs Predator. Void where prohibited.