Reviews of my videogame playthroughs.
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A phenomenon. There is not a single game that is: more famous, more influential, or more important to the development of the medium.
Like Super Mario Bros. above it, a game-changer for the entire industry.
Metroidvania would more justly be called “Metroid-like.” All such games are largely modeled after this seminal action-adventure game. Like it or not, this is a landmark title.
Hard to imagine FPS games, and even PC gaming in general, without Half-Life 2.
Super Mario Bros. 3 (SMAS Ver.)
I'll just quote a wise man who once said: "I don't see how it's possible for anyone to NOT like this game."
If Super Mario Bros. has my vote for the greatest game of all time, then OG re4 is my personal favorite.
Dominated the GOAT conversation for years and still quite memorable and one of the greatest games I've ever played.
The best SHMUP of its era, and one of the best of all-time.
I'm not the biggest fan of this game, but all told this is quite an impressive package and arguably the best RPG released on any console in the 1990s.
Treasure's masterpiece. Twenty-five epic boss fights, all in a row. I'd rank this game higher but it mostly went unnoticed in 1995.
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
If I get to have a second-favorite game, it's this compulsively replayable SRPG marathon.
Not the genre-defining classic that Super Metroid is, and unfortunately did not herald a new direction for the franchise (there was no new style of Metroid games after this, just more Prime games), but still really good.
There's the iconic soundtrack of course, but what I feel truly sets this game apart is its insatiable appetite for dramatic moments such as the Opera House and Floating Continent; its overwhelming artistic strength; and its ability to hold the player's interest with clever variations on the core RPG gameplay (such as Maria's memory test in the opera house). If you think there's a better Final Fantasy game than this one, cue Kefka's laugh.
Warp-speed on-rails shooter with big stages and bigger boss fights. Graphics thankfully much improved over the original.
I was really struck by its depressing vision of barren post-humanity Earth, smooth gameplay, and epic boss fights but its narrative took some truly bizarre turns, its world seemed rather empty (in an open-world RPG way, not in a dystopian future way), and the android love story at its core seemed rather pointless. As for the multiple endings, I would think playing this brutally hard game to completion 26 times is for maniacs only. All that said, this is quite a ride and if you haven't played it, you really should
Another entry that could probably go higher, but there's just not enough here. Even in remade form RE2 features (essentially) four variations on one brief single-player campaign. The game's graphics go a long way toward creating an incredibly immersive world, but its many cutscenes tend to highlight the subpar writing, which detracts from the atmosphere. The extra game modes feel repetitive and the many unlockables don't quite make up for the overall lack of content. Despite its flaws, the re2 remake packs quite a punch, and leverages its modest amount of content and greatly improved graphics to deliver an unforgettable survival-horror experience.
Hades' simple formula: start with a killer soundtrack and graphic-novel look, a trove of unlockables, and addictive hack-n-slash gameplay – you have a game that looks and sounds like one of the all-time greats. Add a controlled difficulty curve – meaning it actually becomes more fun to play as you continue to progress. When you combine the two, you have a game that is easy to pick up and impossible to put down. Civilization's old mantra – “Just one more turn!” – seems more apt for Hades.
In some ways a repeat of Ocarina of Time (which in turn borrowed a great deal from Link to the Past), but much leaner: they ditched the 3 kid dungeons, used the masks to liven up level/dungeon design, and let you fight the bosses as many times as you wanted. In addition to collectible masks, there were mini-games and side quests galore. The villain was finally someone other than Ganon, and also threatening enough for the viewer (player) to take seriously. Most of the core gameplay outside of the 3-day cycle remains intact. This is my personal favorite of the series and, not being a huge fan of Breath of the Wild, I tend to think of this as the last great Zelda game.
I read a meme that I thought was funny: “ONE DOES NOT merely LOAD CIV 6.” More like “one does not EVER load civ 6.” Horrendous load times, especially on the later tuns. Great game though.
Three words: Brace For Impact. (Or maybe – POWDERED TOAST MAN!?) If you plan on playing this one, buckle up: this is an adrenaline-soaked roller coaster ride with a crash landing.
Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Persona. At first glance, nothing more than anime tropes and RPG monotony: a decent video game. But beneath all of that, Persona 5 Royal is the very best kind of life sim; the world needs more games like this.
Granted I nearly got softlocked out of the first game, but even then I have absolutely no idea why everyone loves Bioshock, and hates this game. Bioshock 2 is much more immersive, dramatic, and streamlined than the first game. Vastly superior from a storytelling perspective, too – I was blown away by the ending.
This game is sluggish, controls poorly, and the puzzles are not intuitive, but of all 100+ games, this one has the most color and the most personality. On the gameplay side of things, I suspect some fine-tuning turns this into an all-time gem. Despite being rough around the edges, VJ's one-of-a-kind take on the genre makes it my favorite beat-em-up ever. Henshin-a-go-go, baby!
The story, characters, setting, and music are all top-notch; the job system allows for infinite customization; and bonus content in WotL is a huge plus. Unfortunately grinding for EXP and JP is still pure tedium.
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
This is a paper-thin action game. But... Beautiful Art. And... The soundtrack is superior to anything else I've ever heard in my 30+ years playing video games.
Muramasa: The Demon Blade
Despite the existence of a fan-made patch for this outdated and buggy piece of software, I didn't get around to replaying this game, but if it's half as good as I remember then it belongs on this list. On the surface, there's nothing this first-rate FPS is missing: realistic shooter at a time when everyone was trying (and failing) to make one; a great atmosphere featuring many tense, stealth-based missions; its in-game action considerably enhanced by Clancy's narrative and the outstanding soundtrack. And it even featured an online multiplayer mode. Unfortunately its popularity never really took off, and nowadays this game is almost completely forgotten.
For the record I think Mario Odyssey is a better video game, but this is the first great 3D platformer, and as a reminder of how difficult that can be to do well, witness Sonic the Hedgehog, who's been in one bad 3D game after another for 30+ years. I'd rank this higher but I'm just too damn burnt out on this thing.
With a simpler design than previous games, stacked enemy armies, and ruthless AI, this is a reminder of what the Fire Emblem series could have been. Unfortunately the FE series post-Thracia was a casualty of the fans' demand for easier games, leading to one standout title (yup, just Radiant Dawn) and a pile of crap.
This is certainly a very stylish game, and a critical and fan favorite, but maybe my expectations of this game were different than theirs. The online co-op is a terrific idea, but as far as the single-player experience goes, I was hoping to work my way through a huge network of mazes, but well into the game it was still two-bit puzzles. Which is my way of saying the concept is great but still needs work: randomly generated solutions add replayability, the game benefits from a proper tutorial, more intricate puzzles, a difficulty setting, etc.
Balatro sucks you in and hooks you with its trippy graphics, synthwave soundtrack, and its rule-defying, genre-bending take on poker. But I'm still not sold on the whole Rogue-like craze, and (unlike Hades, for example) this is an infinitely looping game that I don't feel is infinitely replayable. And I do see a shortage of content here and think the concept can, and should be fleshed out (like Portal 2 above it). And as much as I hate to say this, unfortunately this game reminds me just a little too much of one of the old hand-held poker games they used to make in the 90s.
All the lazy writing ruins the story's premise (summoner on a pilgrimage), but Square's ambitious fantasy setting really resonates and yields some memorable moments, not to mention some jaw-dropping eye candy. Also the best soundtrack since VI, and blitzball, one of gaming's best mini-games. HD remaster looks great and comes jam-packed with content. The only thing that's missing is a kill switch for the random encounters. PS – remember that part on the Thunder Plains where a guy runs up to Yuna, snaps her photo, then runs off without saying anything? Story of my life.
When Quake II was released, all the other video games blew themselves up.
I'm not totally sold on this game, but I can't rank it any lower: it was a huge step forward for the Final Fantasy series, and there's no Final Fantasy VI without this game.
This isn't just the best Sonic game, this was the game that finally gave Nintendo some competition, back in the days when it had a virtual monopoly. Mario rebounded to make an effortless transition into 3D, but for Sonic and his fans, it was mostly downhill after this.
This is the best kind of old-school video game tribute, and hits on pretty much everything: beautiful pixel art, strong narrative, well-developed fantasy aesthetic, demanding but rewarding platforming style of play, and epic boss fights. This is by far the best Super Metroid clone I've ever come across.
This visual novel is a spectacular, at times mind-bending trip through the lives of thirteen lost souls on their journey to the distant corners of the universe. And although I take issue with their continued aversion to adding substance to their titles, I can't rank this any lower: the atmosphere Vanillaware created here is too captivating, and the quality of the audiovisuals is too high off the charts. Combine the top-notch presentation with an engaging science-fiction narrative, and you've got exactly the kind of recipe that keeps a reader hooked from start to finish.
A new twist on the short, snappy action games of Tomb Raider I-VI. Guardian of Light is practically the definition of an overlooked, underrated game, and I'd really like to see more Tomb Raider games made in this style.
Lara Croft: Guardian of Light
Action-packed, brimming with creativity, and featuring the kind of killer boss fights that would become a hallmark of Treasure's later games like Alien Soldier and Sin & Punishment.
As soon as I got the taxi cab souvenir, I knew this was a winner. Seriously though, even though I didn't play very much of this game, if you're hijacking armored transports, choking out goons, and blowing up helicopters in the first 2 or 3 levels, it's a high-octane FPS.
An oft-forgotten cog in the CoD machine: I remember thinking at the time this was what the original Call of Duty should have been, and that there's no Call of Duty 2 without this game. The game itself holds up very well, only downside is that, being an expansion pack, it is rather short.
Call of Duty: United Offensive
It's a Mega Man RPG, so it's a good game to begin with. What makes it a REALLY good game is its innovative grid-based, card-deck battling system.
Pretty much all I play these days are Mario Party minigames, now that I'm done playing 'regular' video games. They're just that much fun.
Lush, lighthearted, old-school action RPG with a VERY famous soundtrack. Used to be the stuff Saturday afternoons were made of.
Metroidvania isn't my favorite genre but this game's art design was unusually strong, enough to convince me I really needed to see the rest of the game... until I got stuck on one of the boss fights. Don't let that stop you though: this is definitely a game you need to check out.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
Fans argue about these games endlessly because as fighting games they all play and handle a little differently, so for all the hours I sank into these games I can only call myself a 'casual' fan. My thoughts though: based purely on hours played, the first one is my favorite by a mile. However, though I do like the features that were added in the following games, what really clinches the conversation for me is that Ultimate throws in all of the stages and music from the first game, and has a ton of new features besides, easily making it (by my standard) the best game in the series.
Smash Bros... (Fill-in-the-Blank)
You can only expand a game so much while forcing your player to win on a single credit, and hacking-and-slashing your way to the mountaintop isn't fun forever. If I had an entire second route to play with I'd be experimenting with another game format (besides the one-life/one-path concept they're currently running) because by expanding the world without adding any new wrinkles, they've stretched their concept a little too thin.
Note that I don't actually think Hades II is better than this game, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt. Anyway: Choose from a half-dozen characters, all fun to use, test out their combos on over a dozen arcade-style stages from the TMNT universe. Hard to argue with all the people who say this is the best Turtles game.
A few reasons this game lost points, chief among them the game-breaking Fort Frolic bug, which was never patched. Also, I wasn't swept away by the narrative or the lore, and sincerely think the sequel is a more polished game, with a much stronger narrative and better eye candy. Another point of contention: I do think that the hacking puzzles in the first game were GREAT and should've been expanded, not nerfed as they were in Bioshock 2.
There was a little too much content in this game for me to really take it all in, and was a lot harder than I expected. But nonetheless a nice new formula for the Zelda games: the core hack-n-slash game was a lot of fun.
Best way I can sum this up is to quote a Nintendo Power review about the first Mario Galaxy game: “As great as Super Mario 64 was, Galaxy is better.” And IMO, Odyssey is better than either of the Galaxy games.
First, the good: instead of Chris or Leon, re0 is centered around a couple of obscure characters, but the cast isn't truly faceless (thanks mostly to Wesker's cameo). The HD remake is superb: the whole game is like eye candy, and the atmosphere (further enhanced by the outstanding soundtrack) is incredibly immersive. Also the game sticks to RE's original survival-horror formula, instead of the action-game trappings that plagued the games after re4. Unfortunately, while it feels, looks, and sounds like a classic, it plays like a clunky, frustrating game. This mostly stems from the outdated mechanics at work here...fixed camera angles, limited inventory slots, and its overwhelming emphasis on puzzle solving. Not to mention the partner AI is occasionally frustrating. Even though I consider this a big disappointment, the problems here are quite fixable, and the game's many good qualities bode well for a from-the-ground-up revamp.
Yeehaw, fire away! In Star Wars terms, this is like the seed that ultimately spawned Battlefront. Whenever I see a video of BF2 it always reminds me of my days playing RS.
I know this didn't even make the Top 50, but don't underestimate it. A much more polished game than SKBR, and a really good fighting game in general, with plenty of features, a huge roster of playable characters, piles of unlockable moves, and huge sandboxes to test them out in.
Senran Kagura Estival Versus
My favorite of the GG Aleste games released on the Aleste Collection. Wish they'd included Super Aleste (aka Space Megaforce) on there too.
Up next is this 4th gen Pokémon game, whose final boss is Cynthia, the most iconic League Champ in the Pokémon series. Besides her and the Elite Four, literally every enemy, rival battle, and gym leader is a puff pastry...but at least PBD didn't make the mistake of burying its Champ in a cave, like Emerald did.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond
This game has been remade a few times since its Japan-only debut on the Super Famicom. Usually it's hard to form an opinion about a game with only a few hours' playtime (but not always, see Crysis 2 above). So in all fairness, even though this remake appears to be high quality, I can't put it any higher than this, but I do wish I had more time to play it.
“Does art imitate life, or does life imitate art?” A free-to-play autobattler where the girls trick you into giving them your money (like, your real-world money) by taking their clothes off.
Monmusu Girls Autobattler
Another SK game I tried, this one based around an addictive pinball game rather than a monotonous fighting game. Comes with the usual amenities, such as the Shop and the Diorama feature, and of course the heaping helping of T&A.
Clock Tower is the original survival-horror classic. And on a list with more than its fair share of Resident Evil games, Clock Tower deserves its due.
One of my favorite games back in the day, but Sonic 2 was a lot better. If we're talking console wars, this was better than Super Mario World.
The premise: a dolphin searching for his pod. The setting: the world's open oceans. The atmosphere: a pleasant ambient soundtrack. Back in the day, when it looked super fun, but it would beat your ass instead...this is one of those games. I had to save-spam my way through the game, and once I got to the infamously hard Welcome to the Machine level, I died like 2 or 3 times in row because the game glitched out and Ecco randomly got stuck. And yeah I ranked this above Final Fantasy, so sue me.
Unforgiving, but still a classic. The upgraded graphics in the Pixel Remaster version breathe new life into this game, and you can even turn off random encounters, which cuts way down on completion time. Other than that, not much to say about this enormously influential title. The character names were all anagrams of my college friends' names.
Tetris in an “Internet Café” setting. Tetris is one of the greatest games ever made, but this isn't the best version of the game. If you're looking for newer Tetris games, you're better off playing Tetris Effect: Connected (better background & music themes) or Tetris Forever (more content).
Played this thing so much I broke my disc and had to install the no-CD mod. Played online (custom maps), public or private servers, with friends or solo, clan matches, tournaments. And no one cares but I did 'Clear Hard Mode' and get all the medals, back before achievements were a thing. For all the time I spent playing it, I'd love to rank this one a lot higher (really, I would), but it hasn't aged well.
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault
Among all the OG Mega Man games, I've always thought of this as the most overlooked. More than just a really good action-platformer, this is a trip back in time to the good old days when that new game you got didn't have dozens of endings or combat systems to decipher, had passwords instead of savestates, and the only 'achievement' was simply to beat the game.
If this game is ranked a little low for your tastes, keep in mind I played it a ton back in the day and always thought of this as an easier, watered-down version of Mario 3.
The moral of the story: Tragically, our four heroes all want something different. Cheap indie video game, or parable about humanity? The actual story: If your ending is bad, why does anyone want to play to reach it? Ranked it over Aokana Extra 2 because I had more fun reading it, despite playing for a fraction of the time.
Visual novel. Didn't quite see what all the hype was about, but I can't rank this any lower because Misaki.
I actually liked this game, an old-school JRPG with an unusual, rather ambitious Broadway-musical tone and fairy-tale setting. The characters were pretty likable, the villains provided suitable slapstick, the Disney castles were fairly grand, and overall the musical score did it justice. Unfortunately what held it back was the 'old-school RPG' part. The towns were pretty lively, but the world was vacant, the many dungeons were not a high point, and (of course) the random battles got old pretty quick. And the narrative was never very well developed. This to me is a really good idea held back by limitations of game design and the ultra-stale JRPG formula...I honestly wonder how this thing would fare if made into a play or a TV movie, instead of a video game.
Rhapsody II: Ballad of the Little Princess
I probably should've ranked this a lot higher, but it's just UNO. Three AI players, ready to play whenever you are. I was surprised by how much fun the video game version was.
I know the fans gobbled this one up, but it's got issues. As a side note, it's interesting to note how the series has mostly moved away from dungeon crawls and puzzle-solving, in favor of open-ended exploration. The world they created was pretty epic, with its own lore, as well an underworld and sky islands to go along with the usual fare. Visually it's quite impressive, and the expansive world certainly makes an impact, producing a great deal of eye candy. But in my view the emphasis on exploration has turned the Zelda series (hopefully for this game and BotW only) into a completely vacant, featureless open-world RPG, where the game simply sends you from one town to the next, and offers little in the way of meaningful quests, dungeons, or challenges. Combined with the fact that Zelda's world-building is stuck in the 90s (Gerudos & Ganon), and it's hard to see that the series has advanced all that far in the three decades since Ocarina's release. In sum: 95% running, 5% video game. Even the cutscenes were non-existent. Come on Nintendo: you can do better than this.
Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The black sheep of the Resident Evil series. My thoughts are about what you'd expect, I guess: being chased by Jason is only scary for so long, and feels like pure laziness from a design perspective. Even the “jump-scare” moments are asinine, like that part where you run away from a giant head. More a chore than a nightmare, even with the infinite launcher; re4 is still the only game in the series where using the infinites is actually fun. I can't even imagine wanting to unlock them the hard way. The launcher was worth the $5 I spent, but as for the main game, I'd really like to have my money back.
A Pokémon game that really deserves a 'Brilliant Diamond'-style remake. Much more challenging than Diamond, but lacks that game's Quality-of-Life improvements and unfortunately made the fatal mistake of swapping out its true Champ (a souped-up Stephen) with a weaker substitute.
This classic was always a favorite of mine. I actually think the remaster, called Arkanoid NEO, is superior to the original arcade game, though I do wonder if the concept itself is outdated (unlike Tetris, for example). I also don't see a ton of player interest in this product: the VS. mode, which lets you face off against CPU players, is fun for a while, but the online matches are basically dead.
Capcom's formula had started to wear thin by this point. Good thing is, if you liked the first game and wanted more, there's plenty so take your pick. I picked this one because I liked the soundtrack.
Mega Man Battle Network 4: Blue Moon
The princess finally gets to be the star of her own series; unfortunately for her this is basically Link's Awakening starring Zelda instead of Link. I can't tell if the echo mechanic sets the series back or ahead. Normally you would just use a key to open a door, for example, but Echoes wants you to conjure up a bed to jump over it. Also, it was pretty clear to me that the puzzles in this game could've been punishing if they wanted to make them that way.
A classic SHMUP, but like many of those from the era it is now quite dated.
The main board game is much fairer to all players than Mario Party, but the life of these kinds of party games lies in the variety. Unfortunately for fans of this game, Mario Party still has more of everything, including more and better minigames.
Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba: Sweep the Board
I played 3 of the SK games, the other two being the pinball game and the festival game. This is not a very good fighting game, and extremely monotonous. But... out of all 100+ games listed here, SKBR has one of the very best soundtracks.
Senran Kagura Burst ReNewal
After Muse Dash, I wanted to try out DJ Max, but my computer was too weak to play it, so I had to settle for this. Unfortunately this is a lifeless rhythm game, and the song packs are no longer updated, which means no more content. I quit this one out of pure boredom.
Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix+
This Game Boy game is a carbon copy of the SNES game. Personally I never understood all the hype for DKC2. Decent platformer like the first game but it never struck me as one of the greats.
Picross puzzles featuing virtual idol Hatsune Miku. Regular updates in the form of more puzzles (and maybe a few extra tracks) would make this into a better puzzle game.
Hatsune Miku: LogicPaintS
Mostly this just feels like a monotonous grind though wave after wave of bad guys, without a break or change of pace, so this game wasn't going anywhere near the top of the list. The real highlight is the outstanding soundtrack.
Cult classic indie game. Love the playlist feature for your favorite songs. Ultimately I didn't want to play for 30 in-game days (being a videogame bartender isn't that exciting), but I did enjoy it. A sequel to this game was rumored; my only suggestion is to give your players an option for a 7-day timeline.
Nothing but bad games past this point. This version of MM6 includes a 'boss rush' feature to test your skills, but aside from that it's the usual deal for a Mega game.
Loved this back in the day but age has caught up to it. It's too bad this series died, around the time of its release a game of this caliber would've been on par with the Fire Emblem series, which was then near its peak.
Not sure if this qualifies as an 'indie game' or not but despite its low ranking, it was always one of my favorites, with a great soundtrack to boot.
Once upon a time graced the cover of Nintendo Power, though my honest opinion is that this is basically the same game as Shining Force II, only not as good and released nearly ten years later.
Fire Emblem: Blazing Blade
A middling Mario 64 clone. Outside of the shiny paint job, this game really doesn't have anything going for it.
I always thought of this as a strong adventure game, but when I finally played it, I found it's much weaker.
A collection of short stories from the Crime Opera universe, mostly describing the ruin of a few of its characters, but also featuring interviews with the series creator and music composer. As a series primer, this is certainly intriguing, but I'm not sure whether I'll have the time to continue reading it. My initial impressions are that these stories need better source material.
Crime Opera: Caterpillar Candids
I've heard John Madden took a personal interest in his games, which was probably why any game with his name on the cover pretty much sold itself. I never played this that much, but it's basically my favorite sports game. I'd put this higher, but really sports games are the lowest rung on the video-game ladder (see below, FIFA 23).
The graphics, which were much talked about at the time, still look decent, but what really did this game in was the subpar platforming, and lazy level design (compare this game's inane underwater stages to something like Ecco to see what I mean). I never really felt that the sequel was that much better, and I about played its Game Boy port to death back in the day.
One thing the Genesis Collection didn't have, was a lot of SHMUPs, which is a shame because the Genesis was loaded with great shoot-em-ups. This did scratch my itch though, and I love the assorted cast of invertebrate heroes and bizarre sci-fi bosses.
Very much an old-school game. I think Limited Run added a save feature so you don't have to sit in front of TV for 4 hours straight with a walkthrough guide to finish it.
An average SRPG telling an engaging story.
Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth
An H-Game that's actually really good outside of the X-rated scenes.
Another H-Game, but before you can see the X-rated scenes you have to sweep the house and stuff
What could be better than a pair of porn games? Not Fire Emblem Engage. There's so many things wrong with this jumbled mess of a strategy game, I lost count. If you ever wanted to play a train wreck, this is your big chance.
The rest of the games are junk. For me this was a Muse Dash tie-in game. Kind of messed-up for a video game...but I did persist long enough to get a few of the endings. If that doesn't sound bad enough, then keep in mind that the game starts with a warning that it might turn your stomach inside-out.
Trying to turn Yuna into the star of a rock band and/or a Charlie's Angel is a different kind of cringeworthy than Needy Streamer, but this is still a game to avoid. I'm not sure why anyone thought this was a good idea but unfortunately it did happen. PS – I don't care that Yuna isn't actually a rock star in this game.
For an M-rated game this is really light in the T&A department.
A horror-themed visual novel, but too campy to be taken seriously.
There's nothing good about this game. I did you guys a favor by replacing the in-game music with my own playlist.
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (SNES)
Every time you turn around there's another shameless DLC money-grab.
A ho-hum sports game? Straight to the bottom of the pile with this one. Why, you ask? Sports games, due to licensing, have been terrible for years: a few studios have a deathgrip on the exclusive digital rights to the sports properties gamers want access to (such as NFL, MLB, or FIFA as in the case of this game). So these development studios can release shitty, unoptimized, buggy, never-updated-for-the-current-sports-year games and there's nothing players can do about it but line up and pay the fee every year. So as a rule sports games are junk because it's all about the license; note the textbook marketing buzzwords “dynamic”, “extreme” and especially the overuse of “explosive” that you'll often find applied to these things to hide the fact that they're selling you a bad video game. As for this particular sports game, it's about par for the course. FIFA 23 “does what it says on the tin,” like all other sports games.