I generally do not play free-to-play games. I usually associate such games with scammy, exploitative micro-transaction economies. However, I do feel that one genre of video game that could actually be a very good candidate for a free-to-play model is sports games. Sports games have long been criticized as being "full price roster updates". This has become painfully more true as games have become bigger, more complicated, and more expensive to create. There just isn't enough development time in between annual release schedules to implement comprehensive updates to a sports game, and so they typically only receive minor, token changes, which often feel under-developed and poorly-tested and balanced.

In a free-to-play model, however, the developers aren't constrained to rush a "full new game" out every year, in time for the start of the new sport season. They can continue to update the same game, adding new features -- no matter how small or large -- on a much more liberal schedule.

More importantly, gamers aren't forced to buy a whole new game each and every year and reset all their progress. If I play a particular release of Madden for a few in-game seasons, building my team through the draft and developing my players, I eventually get to the point where it feels pointless to continue playing. The new Madden will release, and all my draft picks, player upgrades, and roster moves will be erased and replaced with whatever happened in the real NFL season. Even indie games that aren't tied to a real-life sports league (and its rosters), such as Axis Football, have this same problem. Every new year's game release requires restarting my franchise or dynasty from scratch, erasing dozens (or hundreds!) of hours of play and progress.

My rosters and progress won't get reset every year when a new game releases.

With a free-to-play model, there isn't going to be a "new game" every year, and supposedly, I will be able to continue playing the same dynasty or franchise for as long as I want, and still be able to receive any gameplay updates or new features that are released.

Honestly, I've been wishing that Madden would go to this sort of model for years now. Just have a single, live service football game that is funded by Ultimate Team and other in-app purchases. Maybe annual roster updates could be like a $10 DLC or something?

Dynasty season pass?

But this does beg the question: how will Maximum Football's publisher make money? The method of monetization was always a concern for Maximum Football's reboot. They wouldn't have the names and likenesses of real football players to slap onto digital trading cards for their version of an Ultimate Team. They could potentially get by with selling cosmetic-only items. But would there be enough of a market for such purchases? Maybe they would have to resort to micro-transactions that feel more like pay-to-win mechanics, such as paying for progression boosts for Dynasty players, or literally just buying recruiting prospects (think of the original launch of Middle-Earth: Shadow of War).

The good news is: there is no trace of any pay-to-win mechanics in Maximum Football's Dynasty Mode that I could find. The bad news is: Dynasty Mode is still monetized.

Even though Maximum Football does have its own equivalent of Ultimate Team, complete with in-app purchases for card packs and power ups, the Dynasty Mode is pay-walled by ... <sigh> ... a season pass.

If you want to play more than 1 or 2 seasons of Dynasty, you have to pay (or grind).

You can download Maximum Football for free. You can create and customize teams for free. You can play as many exhibition games as you want (using your created team(s)) for free. And you can start a Dynasty and play through a full year or 2 for free. But if you want to carry that Dynasty into a second season, well then you gotta pay. Additional seasons of Dynasty are locked behind a $20 season pass. Or you can use the 2 Dynasty Tickets that you start with to play 2 seasons, and then try to earn more Dynasty tickets from daily login rewards or from grinding other game modes.

New Dynasty tickets seem to be earned every 14 days that you log into the game. I guess if you're playing 1 Dynasty match per day, then the daily login rewards should be enough to keep your Dynasty going indefinitely.

The game says that the $20 Season Pass grants "unrestricted access" to Dynasty Mode. So I'm assuming (and hoping) that this means Maximum Games isn't going to charge us for a season pass every year if we want to keep playing Dynasty -- effectively turning Dynasty Mode into a subscription service. But I guess we won't find that out for sure until next year.

In fact, there's a season pass for the Franchise Mode too, even though the Franchise Mode isn't even actually in the game yet. The game is techncially in Early Access, so the idea of paying for content that isn't actually in the game yet is a little more forgivable than retail games that sell season passes for future DLC that doesn't exist yet. But still, I'm wary of any game that sells content that isn't actually in the game yet. If Maximum Football flops, and this Franchise Mode never actually releases, then that's $40 down the drain.

The PSVR 2 has had a tumultuous first year and half. With all the uncertainty regarding the hardware, and Sony's future support for it, I wanted to spend some time sharing my thoughts about the hardware and the games that I've played on it, because I've actually really liked the PSVR2, and I think it would be a shame (and a mistake) if Sony kills it prematurely.

I've been a late adopter of VR. I played a few VR games on a few different headsets at friends' houses over the years, but never really got into it. The games were fun to a degree, but they never wow-ed me to the point that I felt I needed to run home and order my own VR headset. They also usually made me nauseous within 20 or 30 minutes of play. It wasn't until playing Star Wars: Squadrons and Ace Combat 7 on a friend's PSVR that I finally actually wanted a VR headset, and the PSVR actually felt comfortable to wear.

But I had already played Star Wars: Squadrons and Ace Combat 7 on standard displays, as well as Resident Evil VII, so there weren't any PS4 VR games that I was really eager to play. Déraciné was really the only PSVR game that I wanted to play at that point. So I decided to wait until I could get a PS5 VR headset instead.

When I actually started playing PS5, I was really liking it. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that when all is said and done, the PS5 might end up being my second favorite console after the PS2. The novel haptic feedback and surprisingly accurate motion sensor functions have even rekindled a long-lost love of Gran Turismo (and racing games in general), and it just so happened that Gran Turismo 7 was supposed to get a really good (free) VR update for the PSVR 2! Since I had been enjoying the system, I was a lot more inclined to spend more money to get the most out of it. I got a nice tax refund in 2023, and put that money towards a PSVR 2 headset.

The PS5 was heavily marketed as being fully backwards-compatible with PS4 games, so I would surely be able to go back to the PS4's VR catalogue and play any of the games I had missed out on. Or so I thought...

I'm going to approach this review as a lifelong fan of Silent Hill 2, and as someone who is a purist and originalist. I'm assuming that those reading this review will be people who want to know how the remake holds up against the original, and I will assume that those people have already played the original. But if you haven't, or you don't want the remake to be spoiled, then consider yourself warned: this review will be very spoiler-heavy, and will become increasingly spoiler-y as it goes on! So be warned. If you sense that I'm starting to talk about something spoiler-y, then STOP READING!

I was a vocal critic of Bloober's ability to adequately adapt this game. I would have preferred to see a company like Frictional handle this (or Bluepoint, or The Chinese Room, or even FromSoft). I was especially critical of the trailer that showed the opening cutscene of the remake, which I thought had already spoiled the game.

In defense of myself, and everyone who was critical of the early trailers for this remake, Konami and Bloober did delay this game by a whole year, while Bloober apparently changed parts of the game based on feedback to those trailers. So it isn't necessarily the case that we were all wrong about Bloober and this remake, since our commentary and criticisms were apparently incorporated into the final release of the game. (Including tweaking the opening cutscene). In any case, Bloober did not completely fuck this up! This remake is competently put together, and is a fine game on its own right. It's also reasonably faithful to the original -- or at least, as reasonably faithful as I would expect for a modern remake.

Increased graphical fidelity allows more evidence of economic collapse and urban decay.

Unlike with other remakes or remasters (such as Dead Space or The Last of Us), Silent Hill 2 is old enough that it can benefit from an increase in graphical fidelity. One of my favorite changes in the new game is the increase in graffiti, litter, and other signs of urban decay. This gives the impression that Silent Hill is abandoned for perfectly normal [non-supernatural] economic reasons. Documents found within the game (some of which are even new in the remake), reinforce this. This is a small, tourist town that has a history of serial murders, mysterious deaths and disappearances, and weird occultism. That kind of stuff can really hurt the tourism trade, and send such a town spiraling into recession and abandonment.

I also really like some of the upgraded lighting and weather effects. The fog looks great, and there's even an intense wind storm that happens occasionally to try to pressure the player to find shelter in the next area that you're supposed to explore. This is the kind of stuff that I would put into a new Silent Hill game if I were in charge of designing a new game. I have some issues with Bloober's execution of this wind storm, but the idea is still good.

Bloober also makes good use of the Dual Sense controller. Radio sounds come from the controller's speaker. The lightbar along the touchpad changes color to serve as a health indicator. The impact of a melee strike can really be felt. And I even feel the gentle pitter patter of rain on the controller when exploring outside. I think there might also be directional rumbles to indicate when an enemy might be sneaking up on you from off-camera.

Technically speaking, the game looks great and mostly feels good to play. They do a mostly serviceable job, and I actually do like some of the new cutscenes, dialogue, and backstory that is presented. Visits to Rosewater Park and the Abstract Daddy boss fight stand out to me as highlights in this regard.

Bloober repeatedly toys with veteran players' expectations.

However, there are a number of fundamental design decisions that I strongly disagree with, as well as technical concessions which have dramatic effects on the atmosphere, tone, and lore of the game. Much of these weaknesses are things that critics (including myself) feared would be in the game.

The tighter camera angle removes the sense of detachment between the player and James, as well as the detachment from James and what is going on around him. Specifically, the camera (along with sound design) in the original game's forest hike into town elicited a paranoid feeling of being watched or stalked that instantly makes the player uncomfortable. That feeling is almost completely gone from the remake.

For the most part, Bloober's designs lack a lot of the subtlety and restraint of the original, and the increased focus on action and combat dissipates the atmosphere of dread that so thoroughly permeated the original. This could just be me being desensitized by over 20 years of playing and replaying the original Silent Hill 2, but I just didn't think Silent Hill 2 Remake was scary at all, and its harsher environmental design and more intense action meant I also didn't feel the sense of loneliness, isolation, or quiet, surreal introspection that the original did so well. This game is also full of bloat and excess, as if the developers were so excited that they were able to pull of several technical or mechanical feats, that they decided to copy-paste those mechanic everywhere! To the point that parts of this game start to get tedious. And that's basically been one of the core complaints with all of Bloober's games.

This game has a nasty case of "look what I can do!", and it drags out the game, and drags down the final product.

The ocean is a common setting for a lot of cosmic and Eldritch horror. Lovecraft himself set many of his stories in fishing villages or on boats or ships. There's no shortage of video games that feature Lovecraftian fishing villages, from Bloodborne to The Sinking City, but I'm not aware of too many video games that focus on the fishermen who go out into those Eldritch oceans to catch the abominable fish. Well, now we have such a game in Dredge!

Dredge was on my radar since its release. It was one of those games that I put on my wishlist, but often skipped over it. Eventually, it went on sale on the PSN, and I had some extra gift card balance in my account, so I finally snatched it up and played it on-and-off for a few weeks. Unfortunately, my experience with the game was less-than-ideal, but that was entirely my fault, and talk about why later in this review.

Survival horror on the open ocean

Much to my surprise, Dredge is not really overtly horrific, except for like one (or maybe 2) area(s) of the map, and also the final cutscene. Despite the Eldritch inspirations, Dredge can be a surprisingly chill and relaxing game for the vast majority of its play time. How dangerous or scary the game will be will largely depend on how you choose to play the game (and how closely you adhere to the main quest). If you're constantly going out at night into the middle of the ocean, far away from the safety of a harbor, and actively fishing with dangerous threats nearby, then yeah, it might get a little challenging and maybe even creepy. But if you play it safe whenever you can, navigating paths that keep you within a short sprint from a harbor, and frequently resting to restore your sanity, then the game is pretty easy.

Though, under normal circumstances, the game will occasionally force you to have to go out at night to catch nocturnal fish. But even then, careful planning can still allow the player to avoid most of the more dangerous hazards. The day-night cycle goes very fast, but the clock only runs when the boat is moving or the player is fishing. So you can sit and idle for as long as you wish in order to check your map or your quest log and plan out the day's activities. Safe harbors are usually placed within a day's journey from each other, so again, careful planning and deliberate play can be very effective at mitigating risk.

Light is necessary to avoid hazards, but can also attract other panic-inducing dangers.

Surprisingly, there are no survival elements. Heck, there's not even any crafting! You just invest research tokens into new equipment, and collect various materials to upgrade your boat, and then just buy the upgrades and equipment with the cash earned from selling fish. You don't have to buy provisions or cook the fish you catch in order to fill a hunger bar. There really isn't a sleep or stamina meter either. Nor do you have to buy things like fuel for your boat or batteries to keep the lights running. The only things for you to manage are inventory space on your boat and a simple sanity meter (which effectively operates as a proxy for a sleep meter). I'm personally torn on whether including a hunger meter would have hurt or improved the game.

We finally have another big-budget football game to compare Madden to! Yeah, sure, it's another EA Sports game, so it's not much of a contrast. We still haven't gotten a proper new game from 2k, so we still don't get to compare Madden against another studio's vision. In fact, the closest thing that we have to a direct competitor to Madden is probably still NFL Pro Era (which released its first sequel earlier this year, but I haven't played it due to on-going elbow pain). Pro Era is, however, a VR game, and more of a middle-budget "Double-A" game, and so it also is not directly comparable to Madden.

So how does Madden look when compared against the only other football game at its level? Well, not very good -- which shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody. I'm not exactly loving College Football 25. In fact, I've been a pretty outspoken critic of its since its release. I didn't have a honeymoon period with it the way that so many other reviewers and critics did, and I was noticing and reporting flaws and limitations from day 1. Unsurprisingly, my biggest complaints about both game are the things that they don't do, but which the other does.

There are multiple commentary teams.

To copy-paste, or not to copy-paste?

There are some features from College Football 25 that did find their way into Madden. Just like the college game, Madden now has multiple broadcast commentary teams. In fact, Madden got 50% more broadcast teams, as it has 3 different commentary teams, instead of CFB's 2. They are of mixed quality. Mike Tirico's line delivery might be the worst of the bunch, and it's often stilted and disjoint. Kate Scott, on the other hand brings a lot of energy -- maybe too much energy! She is a welcome change from the normally sterile and lifeless Madden commentary. Greg Olsen is probably the highlight of the bunch.

In real life, Brandon Gaudin and Charles Davis commonly calls day games on CBS (usually AFC matchups). Greg Olsen usually does day games on Fox (usually NFC matchups), while Brock Huard is an analyst for Fox. Mike Terico usually does Sunday Night football on NBC. Kate Scott is the regular announcer for the Philadelphia 76ers baseball team, and has called some preseason NFL games. Which of these teams calls any given game in Madden's Franchise Mode is completely random, and the user can't even choose which teams gives the commentary for any given Franchise game. It isn't based on the day of the week, or on the time of day, or on which teams are playing. If you want a specific team to only call Monday night games, for example, you would have to start the match, then quit and restart until you get the commentary team who you want.

Even if it is random, the extra variety is welcome.

The half-slides from College Football 25 have been imported into Madden.

Madden also ported over the revised slide protection mechanics that allow for a half-slide, which is a welcome addition to the game. But for some reason, they didn't port the overlay that shows which blocker is going to block which defender. So I can't be certain if the play is going to be blocked the way that I want it to be, or if flipping the play will improve the blocking, or if motioning a tight end or fullback to a different position might create a better matchup or leverage advantage.

Madden also imported the new kicking meter and Read Option controls that were introduced in CFB 25. I'm already familiar with both these concepts from CFB, so I'm not having nearly as much trouble adapting to them in Madden. Unlike CFB 25, Madden does have the option to revert the kicking meter back to the classic meter from previous Madden games. No such luck with the Read Option controls though.

I often do skill trainer drills when I boot up a new Madden game for the first time, just to see if any of the new mechanics have changed the way that the game feels, or if there are any new mechanics that need tutorializing. I was pleased to see that, unlike College Football 25, Madden still has a Skill Trainer, and it's still being updated with new drills and content. For example, I don't recall the "Pocket Pressence" drill in Skill Trainer mode in previous years.

The tutorial for the new kicking meter is just a single text overlay, and the rest of the tutorial is just flat-out wrong.

I was less pleased to see that the Skill Trainer is still poorly-maintained and half-assed. The new "revamped" passing mode is not tutorialized anywhere, nor is the new kickoff rules and mechanics. The "updated" tutorial for the new kicking meter is literally just an extra text overlay inserted before the text from previous years' field goal and punt tutorials. The field goal kicking tutorial still claims that the kick meter will show the full arc and landing spot of the ball, and that the trajectory will sway with the wind -- none of which is still true. There's also no explanation of how the accuracy meter works, or of the overcharge penalty. So once again, EA is showing little-to-no consideration for tutorializing its new mechanics.