Acquiescence
2016
Just a complete and utter mess of a game. It's damn near miraculous that this even came out in a playable state. It does have its charms and there's a nice camaraderie between the main cast, but man... I completed it and I still never really felt like I understood how the combat was supposed to function. Felt like I was pressing random buttons the whole time.
2006
After the massive winning streak of VII, VIII, IX and X, this was an absolute crushing disappointment. An unfinished story, bland environments, paper-thin characterisation, and a shift to a more MMO-style combat system that let's just say I didn't exactly appreciate.
2009
Not as bad as a lot of people make out, but not great either. The combat actually becomes quite engaging, but you have to put a lot of hours into the game to get there. Otherwise, blah blah blah, you've heard it all before - ultra-linearity, woeful writing, a deeply unlikely cast of characters (sans Sazh, who deserved a better game), so on and so forth.
2019
As naff as the day it was shown. The very definition of the word 'generic'.
I didn't gel with PSVR when I had it, but I suffered through the nausea and hot flushes to play this experiment in joy and creativity. Sony should fund more games like this and less like Days Gone/GoTsu/Death Stranding.
2018
It's amazing how much a game can coast by on its traversal alone if said traversal is liberating and exhilarating to control and never grows old. Spider-Man suffers from some landfill open-world design, with plenty of bog-standard, repetitive objectives to tick off a list, not to mention some truly abominable stealth segments that accompany the main campaign, but so much of it can be forgiven because you really do feel like the world's most popular superhero while playing it. Everything about this game feels so right when you're swinging from one waypoint to the next that you can't help but question why it has a full-fledged fast travel system in place and Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn't. Extra points for the top-tier production values.
2020
An absolutely sterling remake that improves on the original in every way. This is why Bluepoint is the best in the biz.
2014
An unequivocal casualty of not being developed by MediaMolecule. This was a game not only lacking in the oddball charm that MM's entries had in spades, but was clearly rushed for release. I remember encountering bugs, the most egregious example being one that kept preventing me from advancing in the story every time I beat a boss. Also, the netcode was so shambolic that I was never able to enter a party and play co-op. A total disappointment.
2011
A familiar sequel that doesn't stun with innovation like the first game did, but on the other hand did everything better. I still debate today whether I like 2 more than 1 or not. Either way, it's a wholesome and whimsical delight that I put many a joyful hour into. Good days.
I was an uber fan of Broken Sword by the end of the PS1 gen, so BR3 probably marks the most excited I've ever been for a video game release.
Though hardly in the same league as the first two games, I can forgive Broken Sword 3 for many of its gaming sins because, when it comes down to it, it managed to capture the vibe and spirit of the first two games despite playing and looking completely different. It made me laugh and it made me feel like I was on a grand adventure. Couldn't really ask for more than that. I'll endure any number of monotonous block puzzles in order to get them choice George Stobbart quips.
Though hardly in the same league as the first two games, I can forgive Broken Sword 3 for many of its gaming sins because, when it comes down to it, it managed to capture the vibe and spirit of the first two games despite playing and looking completely different. It made me laugh and it made me feel like I was on a grand adventure. Couldn't really ask for more than that. I'll endure any number of monotonous block puzzles in order to get them choice George Stobbart quips.
The fuck is this title? I had to go to the Wikipedia page of the game to see what Broken Sword: The Angel of Death was called in 'Murica just so I could find this page.
Game's a minor disaster and a major disappointment. An empty shell compared to previous installments and so lacking in anything resembling joy or a spark of imagination. Everything feels like it's running on autopilot, from the story to the dialogue to the design of the environments. What a shame.
Game's a minor disaster and a major disappointment. An empty shell compared to previous installments and so lacking in anything resembling joy or a spark of imagination. Everything feels like it's running on autopilot, from the story to the dialogue to the design of the environments. What a shame.
1996
This game, in its time, was revolutionary to me. I had never experienced anything like it. I didn't know that this was what video games could be. It was like an interactive Saturday morning cartoon, but a really weird one, packed with absurdist humour that had me laughing out loud on a consistent basis. All the songs were total earworms that had me singing the lyrics on the way to school. The metric used for whether you were doing well or not seemed wildly unfair and downright random, but I didn't care. Failing and replaying a 'level' again meant that I got to replay a level again.
Thanks for the memories Parappa.
Thanks for the memories Parappa.
2015
Definitely not as good as the original oddly enough. What felt organic and effortless on the Vita feels a bit forced and misplaced on the PS4. A lot of the new content added just felt like bloat and caused pacing issues with the campaign as a whole. Not the ideal way to play Tearaway in my opinion.
2022
It's more of a 8.75 than a 9, but y'know.
2000
In my own humble opinion, the king of futuristic racers. The sense of speed was incredible for its time, the difficulty more balanced than the PS1 WipEout games (where I always ran into a brick wall eventually), and though the graphics may be considered primitive now, they still do an admirable job of portraying an atmospheric dystopic playground for the player to create some carnage in.
Rollcage Stage 2 took the first game and improved on it in every way apart from the soundtrack.
Rollcage Stage 2 took the first game and improved on it in every way apart from the soundtrack.