AlasEarwax
Bio
Resist the urge to rate games 0.5 or 5 just because you don’t agree with the average. Hot takes suck. I’m trying to get better at abandoning games when I’m no longer having fun.
Resist the urge to rate games 0.5 or 5 just because you don’t agree with the average. Hot takes suck. I’m trying to get better at abandoning games when I’m no longer having fun.
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Hours played: 5
Gameplay: The camera movement was atrocious in Ape Escape. Blocks your view constantly and doesn't pivot quick enough. It made navigation difficult, especially on tight walkways. Falling off ledges was a common occurrence. The character movement is kinda slow. I enjoyed hunting down monkey initially. Exploration just wasn't that fun and getting knocked over constantly by enemies and apes became tedious and annoying. Having to switch which gadgets were active was also tedious. Too many instances where you only use them once in a level.
Music and visuals
The music was fine and not notably good or bad. Visually I enjoyed the saturated colors and streamlined world design. I think I big problem was that each area didn’t feel distinct enough and lacked character. This game could really use a remaster. I think if the visuals were improved with more particle effects, better textures, more detail in general, I would have enjoyed exploration more. There’s a fine line though because too much detail can become distracting and overwhelming.
The Minigames
I only played the skiing and boxing mini games. Both are unwieldy and irritating. They could be fun with a friend though.
I had to abandon this one because of the gameplay issues. Platforming movement is slow and doesn’t feel good, the gadgets are annoying to keep swapping in and out, the apes are irritating to capture, and the camera keeps getting in the way.
Gameplay: The camera movement was atrocious in Ape Escape. Blocks your view constantly and doesn't pivot quick enough. It made navigation difficult, especially on tight walkways. Falling off ledges was a common occurrence. The character movement is kinda slow. I enjoyed hunting down monkey initially. Exploration just wasn't that fun and getting knocked over constantly by enemies and apes became tedious and annoying. Having to switch which gadgets were active was also tedious. Too many instances where you only use them once in a level.
Music and visuals
The music was fine and not notably good or bad. Visually I enjoyed the saturated colors and streamlined world design. I think I big problem was that each area didn’t feel distinct enough and lacked character. This game could really use a remaster. I think if the visuals were improved with more particle effects, better textures, more detail in general, I would have enjoyed exploration more. There’s a fine line though because too much detail can become distracting and overwhelming.
The Minigames
I only played the skiing and boxing mini games. Both are unwieldy and irritating. They could be fun with a friend though.
I had to abandon this one because of the gameplay issues. Platforming movement is slow and doesn’t feel good, the gadgets are annoying to keep swapping in and out, the apes are irritating to capture, and the camera keeps getting in the way.
A simple but satisfying puzzle platformer with light combat sections. It starts slow but builds the difficulty of its platforming puzzles over time. I think they did a great job with keeping the gameplay novel and introducing new puzzle mechanics over time. I really enjoyed the one-off segments such a riding a mechanical monster, working together with a different beast to solve puzzles, the enemy rush combat sections, etc. You play as 3 different characters and a secret late game 4th one briefly. There's an extremely brief 5th character, that most people will play as.
There are some pretty challenging moments platforming-wise, especially these boss chase sections. Does get a little annoying with the sparse checkpoint system before these difficult moments. But not too troublesome for me.
Really wonderful and novel art style. Reminds me of The Longing and the Rusty Lake series. There are some especially breathtaking backgrounds with these dormant and hulking wooden guardians. I loved all the boss and enemy designs. Not many repeat enemies and I can’t remember any bosses being repeats. Most of the boss fights were enjoyable and challenging.
Took me nearly 5 hours to complete it. I wanted to get all the collectibles, which requires a little bit of sleuthing, but the majority are in plain sight. If you find all 5 you get the second ending, which is better than the basic ending. Both aren’t that satisfying unfortunately and feel rushed. I wish things weren’t left so vague.
I think in general the story was too vague. There’s this meta narrative about stories, narrators, and protagonists, and how these different elements function in their world. Especially if the protagonists develop self-will or the ramifications if the narrators go off script. That was fine but underdeveloped. Similarly the world was not fleshed out enough. I wish there was more development around The Smiling Islands, saviors, radiant herons, the surrounding environs, etc.
For some reason a lot of the lackeys of the main baddie are given names and then immediately killed. I thought they would be more important to the story, but they never were.
There was this one brief animated cutscene that was incredible! Happens near the halfway point and was a bit letdown that it was the only one in the game.
There are some pretty challenging moments platforming-wise, especially these boss chase sections. Does get a little annoying with the sparse checkpoint system before these difficult moments. But not too troublesome for me.
Really wonderful and novel art style. Reminds me of The Longing and the Rusty Lake series. There are some especially breathtaking backgrounds with these dormant and hulking wooden guardians. I loved all the boss and enemy designs. Not many repeat enemies and I can’t remember any bosses being repeats. Most of the boss fights were enjoyable and challenging.
Took me nearly 5 hours to complete it. I wanted to get all the collectibles, which requires a little bit of sleuthing, but the majority are in plain sight. If you find all 5 you get the second ending, which is better than the basic ending. Both aren’t that satisfying unfortunately and feel rushed. I wish things weren’t left so vague.
I think in general the story was too vague. There’s this meta narrative about stories, narrators, and protagonists, and how these different elements function in their world. Especially if the protagonists develop self-will or the ramifications if the narrators go off script. That was fine but underdeveloped. Similarly the world was not fleshed out enough. I wish there was more development around The Smiling Islands, saviors, radiant herons, the surrounding environs, etc.
For some reason a lot of the lackeys of the main baddie are given names and then immediately killed. I thought they would be more important to the story, but they never were.
There was this one brief animated cutscene that was incredible! Happens near the halfway point and was a bit letdown that it was the only one in the game.
This review contains spoilers
Man, I was really disappointed the credits weren't an interactive credits game like the Super Smash series is known for. It would have been so cool to actually control the pterodactyl and smash through all the different Guerrilla Games employees' names. Missed opportunity :(
I don't know why, but Ashley Burch really lays on the breathiness in her acting during the start of the game. It was excruciating to hear that constant sighing sound at the end of every word. It seems that she pulled back on the breathiness as the game's hours went past. I don't think I could have finished this game otherwise. The melodramatic acting was killing me.
Also, many of the side characters feel too squeaky clean. Everyone is jovial and cracking jokes. There’s no bite to most of the characters; most are paragons. The writing was just tame in general. Few moments that genuinely made me laugh. Couldn’t care less about most of the side quests either. That boils down to uninteresting characters, tedious and predictable gameplay (investigate, follow/climb, fight, resolve), the world's ending and I'm helping some random tribeswoman find her dementia-addled father.
I did like some of the side quest stories: Helping a young kid prove himself during a climb that was symbolic for his village, the hot air balloon flight with the tinkerer, helping Zo fix her village's tilling machines/deities that previously tended their crops, and helping Kotallo make a prosthetic arm. I did all 28 side quests and I literally can't remember most of them.
It feels like you’re watching a stage play, with everyone donning immaculate wardrobes, face paints, and accessories. That’s one of the big problems for me. It’s hard to immerse myself when it feels like the world’s biggest larp session, with all the trappings that come with it; stilted dialogue, okay writing, the lack of any sense of realism, etc. After any battle in the game, no one comes away with any scrapes or bruises, not a drop of blood in sight.
Paradoxically, the game features heavy violence at points. Regalla's massacre is a chief example. The Carja/Tenakth forces are equally maimed and murdered by Regalla, with guttural cries and splurts of blood. Kotallo's arm is chainsawed off for christ's sake! I went back and watched that cutscene and saw something shocking: Kotallo falls to the ground after being mutilated and his removed arm has already been nicely wrapped up haha. Similarly, Regalla is impaled by Kotallo if you choose to kill her. Not a drop of blood, then either.
The narrative shied away from confronting its weirder sci-fi elements. I liked the sci-fi story with Ted Faro being a giant tumorous blob, but the game shied away from showing you his disgusting appearance and quickly killed him off. I was hoping for a Resident Evil-esque boss fight or at least a conversation with Ted. They also shied away from explaining the new amalgamated consciousness of Far Zenith billionaires dubbed "Nemesis" that's coming to wipe out all life on Earth.
This game has the problem of male antagonists being pure evil, while the female antagonists, of which there are few, have complexity. They're misguided, being manipulated by a male, have good intentions, etc.
So the game starts incredibly slow and monotonous. It felt like a direct continuation of the first game in the worst way, in that it's exactly the same game. Unfortunately, it barely reinvents itself. The new elements are swimming (not that important besides missions), the grapple hook thing that makes platforming a little less tedious, the new flying mount that unfortunately unlocks very late game, side quests have dialogue choices that actually impact those stories, and side quests have subtle dialogue effects on the main story. The choice to select a new desert Tenakth leader was awesome!
The tallnecks had a lot more variety and puzzle-like gameplay to determine how to activate them. Also, the cauldrons have more variety and one in particular stood out; you find a dormant tallneck in there and ascend out of the cauldron atop the tallneck. Great moment!
The combat became stale quickly. The problem is that you have to fight many robots for different crafting materials. It felt a lot more grindy than Zero Dawn. Forbidden West forces you to keep crafting upgrades for your weapons and armor, otherwise you don't stand a chance. The map is also littered with innumerable enemy areas. You get knocked over constantly by enemies with attacks that affect a massive area as well. I have no clue how to dodge some of these attacks. Getting up after a hit takes forever. They also kill your mount quickly if you're spotted. It killed the combat for me, because I started running from each encounter. It was no longer fun. Eventually, I gave up and played the game on story difficulty.
The default setting for UI is distracting and takes up too much of the screen. Similarly, the animation to open chests, loot machines, bodies, and plants was tedious over many hours. Having to scan constantly for climbable surfaces and loot gets annoying quickly. I was going into the settings constantly to try to make the gameplay less tedious and distracting.
The climbing feels kinda loose and I miss jumps all the time when it looked like I should have reached it. Really frustrating. So many different weapon types, ammo, resources, etc. It’s extremely overwhelming. Most of it doesn’t even matter anyway. Platforming areas relied heavily on the pullcaster, using it pull open vents and pull down beams to jump to. It quickly became tedious.
The notes/datapoints you find are presented in such a boring way. They read like emails. It’s not like in The Last of Us where all the notes are physical unique objects, with actual handwriting.
I did like the world map. It has depth to it, so you can make out the changes in elevation and all the peaks and valleys. Flying the pterodactyl mount was awesome! It unlocked too late though to fully enjoy it. Beautiful game, but there is too much visual clutter. It's so detailed that it's overwhelming to navigate.
My favorite tracks
1. https://youtu.be/PyCWedrKiMU?si=fzKcm73JM0uZLee-
2. https://youtu.be/yKPPSBsNK4g?si=8jFavC80mJB7kEnZ
3. https://youtu.be/MSZOJFct28o?si=iwDEJmNA-6qFdLpq
I don't know why, but Ashley Burch really lays on the breathiness in her acting during the start of the game. It was excruciating to hear that constant sighing sound at the end of every word. It seems that she pulled back on the breathiness as the game's hours went past. I don't think I could have finished this game otherwise. The melodramatic acting was killing me.
Also, many of the side characters feel too squeaky clean. Everyone is jovial and cracking jokes. There’s no bite to most of the characters; most are paragons. The writing was just tame in general. Few moments that genuinely made me laugh. Couldn’t care less about most of the side quests either. That boils down to uninteresting characters, tedious and predictable gameplay (investigate, follow/climb, fight, resolve), the world's ending and I'm helping some random tribeswoman find her dementia-addled father.
I did like some of the side quest stories: Helping a young kid prove himself during a climb that was symbolic for his village, the hot air balloon flight with the tinkerer, helping Zo fix her village's tilling machines/deities that previously tended their crops, and helping Kotallo make a prosthetic arm. I did all 28 side quests and I literally can't remember most of them.
It feels like you’re watching a stage play, with everyone donning immaculate wardrobes, face paints, and accessories. That’s one of the big problems for me. It’s hard to immerse myself when it feels like the world’s biggest larp session, with all the trappings that come with it; stilted dialogue, okay writing, the lack of any sense of realism, etc. After any battle in the game, no one comes away with any scrapes or bruises, not a drop of blood in sight.
Paradoxically, the game features heavy violence at points. Regalla's massacre is a chief example. The Carja/Tenakth forces are equally maimed and murdered by Regalla, with guttural cries and splurts of blood. Kotallo's arm is chainsawed off for christ's sake! I went back and watched that cutscene and saw something shocking: Kotallo falls to the ground after being mutilated and his removed arm has already been nicely wrapped up haha. Similarly, Regalla is impaled by Kotallo if you choose to kill her. Not a drop of blood, then either.
The narrative shied away from confronting its weirder sci-fi elements. I liked the sci-fi story with Ted Faro being a giant tumorous blob, but the game shied away from showing you his disgusting appearance and quickly killed him off. I was hoping for a Resident Evil-esque boss fight or at least a conversation with Ted. They also shied away from explaining the new amalgamated consciousness of Far Zenith billionaires dubbed "Nemesis" that's coming to wipe out all life on Earth.
This game has the problem of male antagonists being pure evil, while the female antagonists, of which there are few, have complexity. They're misguided, being manipulated by a male, have good intentions, etc.
So the game starts incredibly slow and monotonous. It felt like a direct continuation of the first game in the worst way, in that it's exactly the same game. Unfortunately, it barely reinvents itself. The new elements are swimming (not that important besides missions), the grapple hook thing that makes platforming a little less tedious, the new flying mount that unfortunately unlocks very late game, side quests have dialogue choices that actually impact those stories, and side quests have subtle dialogue effects on the main story. The choice to select a new desert Tenakth leader was awesome!
The tallnecks had a lot more variety and puzzle-like gameplay to determine how to activate them. Also, the cauldrons have more variety and one in particular stood out; you find a dormant tallneck in there and ascend out of the cauldron atop the tallneck. Great moment!
The combat became stale quickly. The problem is that you have to fight many robots for different crafting materials. It felt a lot more grindy than Zero Dawn. Forbidden West forces you to keep crafting upgrades for your weapons and armor, otherwise you don't stand a chance. The map is also littered with innumerable enemy areas. You get knocked over constantly by enemies with attacks that affect a massive area as well. I have no clue how to dodge some of these attacks. Getting up after a hit takes forever. They also kill your mount quickly if you're spotted. It killed the combat for me, because I started running from each encounter. It was no longer fun. Eventually, I gave up and played the game on story difficulty.
The default setting for UI is distracting and takes up too much of the screen. Similarly, the animation to open chests, loot machines, bodies, and plants was tedious over many hours. Having to scan constantly for climbable surfaces and loot gets annoying quickly. I was going into the settings constantly to try to make the gameplay less tedious and distracting.
The climbing feels kinda loose and I miss jumps all the time when it looked like I should have reached it. Really frustrating. So many different weapon types, ammo, resources, etc. It’s extremely overwhelming. Most of it doesn’t even matter anyway. Platforming areas relied heavily on the pullcaster, using it pull open vents and pull down beams to jump to. It quickly became tedious.
The notes/datapoints you find are presented in such a boring way. They read like emails. It’s not like in The Last of Us where all the notes are physical unique objects, with actual handwriting.
I did like the world map. It has depth to it, so you can make out the changes in elevation and all the peaks and valleys. Flying the pterodactyl mount was awesome! It unlocked too late though to fully enjoy it. Beautiful game, but there is too much visual clutter. It's so detailed that it's overwhelming to navigate.
My favorite tracks
1. https://youtu.be/PyCWedrKiMU?si=fzKcm73JM0uZLee-
2. https://youtu.be/yKPPSBsNK4g?si=8jFavC80mJB7kEnZ
3. https://youtu.be/MSZOJFct28o?si=iwDEJmNA-6qFdLpq