Half Life made me disappointed in the evolution of its genre. The maturity of Half Life’s story might be what most games learned from, but the relentless variety should have been the real source of inspiration. Its science facility was such an elegant way to seamlessly join a diverse set of gameplay themes, since it contextualizes even the strangest combinations of environments smoothly. Industrial plants justify slow-paced exploration where the facility itself is your enemy, and they somehow blend into cramped offices which allow for tense atmosphere where aliens could be hiding around any corner, which then connect to wide-open zones used for fast-paced gun battling. These general categories will also get a unique twist in each iteration, creating even more variety in a system that was already keeping you on your toes. Even with so many different styles of play, the smart pacing between sections and the connectivity of the facility keeps the game feeling cohesive, and if I had absolutely no historical context, I would still be impressed enough to say it's one of the better shooter campaigns I’ve ever played. That is until the very end levels, at least. I won’t spoil exactly what happens if you’re one of the two people who don't know how the game ends, but suffice to say, they went overboard in creating something unique and ended up with a confusing mess. That's just one stain on an otherwise great experience though, so it’s the tiny parenthetical to avoid disappointment during an otherwise fantastic game.

What a huge waste of time. For the player. For the devs. For the artists who designed the assets that make the world feel alive and detailed. What was the point of any of it? Why did they do all of this work, just to make a pretty mediocre easy-mode adventure game? It's frustrating. Couldn't they have worked on a nice little short film instead? Compete with Pixar for once? There's a ton of high quality stuff here! Stray tells a nice story about a lost cat and its adventures in a robot world; you go off and do favors for people as you find your footing, gaining a robot companion named B-12 along the way. The whole time I played it I was annoyed that there was not a jump button.

The lost cat, having slipped away from its companions and down into a dank, mysterious, walled city, has the obvious goal of getting out, of going "Outside." See there's a group of robots in that city known as "The Outsiders," the cat allies with these Outsiders and works in concert with them to develop the technology to get Out. Along the way you learn a little bit about the world you've found yourself in. There are comical story beats where your cat-activity of scratching up the furniture uncovers a secret, that kind of thing. The cat, though a little uncanny (I played on PS4), is convincingly charming if you're a sucker for that kind of stuff. It'll curl up into a ball at some spots, especially one, and you can see they're trying to go for the internet cat love thing. And it's well done, they deserve it.

But so why a video game? You don't need this to be a video game to get all of that. There's some stuff I haven't mentioned--Zergs, a jail segment, some minor stealth elements--that benefit a bit from the videogame format. There's a tension you just can't get to from a movie. But everything else, the world navigation, the "platforming," it is so easy it may as well play itself. This game is functionally a walking simulator, except instead of walking as a person you walk as a cat. Now walking simulators are not bad in and of themselves, I like quite a few of them myself, but realizing you're playing one when you wanted a platformer is disappointing. And even moreso, realizing how much the game would rock as a platformer dissapoints even harder. A lot of the game's navigation is about jumping on stuff, but you can only jump on stuff once there's a button prompt. This creates a disconnect--in a traditional platformer you'll learn your jump range, how high you can go, movement tricks--in this one there's nothing to learn, just look at where the green circle appears.

Does that kind of strict control sound cat-like? What do you know about cats. What are the like, known, essential traits of cats. Cats are known as being fickle or stubborn, they don't often do what you'd like them to do. They're agile, and fast, though occasionally goofy. The internet thinks they're adorable and is obsessed with 'em. They're great subjects for platformers, although it hasn't been done as often as you'd think. Good platformers enable quick, agile movement, and cats are--to some degree--thought of as being quick and agile. Super Mario 3D World and Rain World are probably the biggest examples of cat-based video gaming, the latter featuring a "slugcat" with really tight platforming. Rain World really immerses you in the feeling of being a slugcat. The controls are tight and difficult, and you look dumb when you mess up. The world is mean and unfair, and you feel on a deep level where you are on the food chain. It's might not be fair to compare Rain World and Stray too closely, they're clearly going for different things.

But both games decided to make the focus of their game a cat. A slugcat, in one, sure, but the choice of subject is interesting here. There is a sharp difference in approach and intention. Rain World wanted to put you in the shoes of the slugcat, to set up through its mechanics a kind of grammar to navigate its world. It's a simulator, to some degree. Though, it's worth pointing out that Rain World can be prohibitively difficult, to its detriment, and that Stray kind of exists at the other end of a spectrum here; Stray can be annoyingly easy, to its detriment.

That is all to say that Stray is not a simulator. Stray tells you a story and puts you on an audiovisual adventure. It's gorgeous, and kind of fun, and even has a little gameplay here and there. But on a mechanical level its boring, and maybe even a little lazy sometimes. And it's dumb to focus a "talk to guy do favor for him" game on a cat. People will play this game because its a cat doing cat stuff, and shit brother that's why I played it too. But on the whole. Eh.

This is a game where you play as a cat and there are several couches but you can't destroy any of them. That alone should convince you this isn't all its cracked up to be but I'll go on.

First of all, I'm gonna get my big gripe out of the way and say this is way below expectations. Some people will say that a game shouldn't garner negativity in a review because the game wasn't what the player expected. I don't care. Years ago this game was shown as being an experience in which you explore a city as a cat. I was hype for that for so long to basically just get a shitty linear experience. Boo!

There's not really anything in this game that requires you to be a cat. That's pretty weak. You have a dedicated meow button and there are like "scratching posts" throughout the game but none of it feels intrinsic to the gameplay. It's dull.

Speaking of being a cat, cats are usually agile creatures. The way you move in this game is clunky at best though. The movement basically controls like the least polished Assassin's Creed game. I often found myself going in a direction I didn't want while climbing or unable to jump to a new ledge because I wasn't looking at it right. Frustrating to say the least. Also they make this game even LESS a game where you play as a cat by having you become friends with a flying robot drone who serves to do everything for you a cat can't do for the sake of convenience. The robot will shine a flashlight for you, open doors for you, and even teleport items to you. All things that would have been much more interesting if you had to just be a cat and deal. It's dumb. At least you have to knock things over to solve some "puzzles". That's cat as fuck.

Speaking of the robot drone though, this game has maybe the most predictable and by the numbers story ever? At least the most bland I've experienced in years. You're trying to escape a dystopia that has people trapped even though they made it themselves and you make friends who make drastic decisions for you because "there's no other way" or you're most important. Some tired shit and you can see it all coming miles away. It's also all presented in either a shit ton of cutscenes jammed down your throat or they slow your movement speed considerable and/or make you wait on slow NPCs to progress the story. Both are things I find MADDENING. I will say though that the one part of the lore that IS good is that the game is mostly populated by these robots who were companions to humans and have since developed consciousness and formed their own little society. It's a shame they have such a neat concept and do so little with it. Oh well.

Branching off that, the one real impressive thing is the art direction of the game. Each area is unique in its own splendor and all the designs from the cat to the robots and even the mutated threat, Zurks, have a distinct look that really makes Stray feel like it has its own world. Again its just a shame they did nothing with it. Bleh

So yeah. Game is disappointing at outwardly frustrating to say the least. I eventually got used to the jank movement controls and hate finished this game so I could have an authentic review. Like I said, at least the game is pretty. Also I got it "free" with Playstation Plus Premium. This game would have gotten a way harsher treatment if I actually bought it. Hell I wish I had bought it on Steam just to have the satisfaction of refunding it.

I could only really refer this to furries who don't like video games and even then I'd. be sad for them because there's nothing super cat like about being a cat in this. Sure you can navigate smaller spaces but so can fucking Keebler Elves. If you want a game where you have to make your way out of a bleak place while playing as an adorable creature while also have excellent gameplay and movement mechanics, play Rain World. It's five times the game this shit is for 60% of the price. Please just play that instead.

This game is not good and frankly it's not even a cat game. Yeah there's parts where you knock stuff over and a couple sequences of walking on keyboards, but the gameplay is largely comprised of obediently obeying NPCs, following them, fetching various objects and doing various tasks. I was looking forward to this game, thinking it would be at least filled with fun gimmicks, or a neat story. It doesn't deliver on anything. It's not even a fun cat simulator (barring the fact it's stylistically more doglike or human) because you can't even platform. The platforming is press A to jump, almost the exact same system as the original Final Fantasy VII. I honestly thought there would be a real platforming system and instead there is nothing.

I really can't stress this. This is a 'cat' game where you have an adventure game inventory and most of the playtime you'll get is doing fetch quests. Sequences where you run for your life? You'd imagine a dog, or something like it right? No, it's just Half Life headcrabs for some reason. You get a flashlight (?) to fight them... and these sequences are the worst. There are stealth sequences later, which are at least a cat thing and aren't too bad.

There are so many NPCs and not a single one is interesting. I actually perked up at the end with the more robotic NPCs, even for a brief moment, being far more endearing than the sheer blankness of the main ones. Extremely boring NPC in any video game, except it's a robot wearing a weird hat! That's all of them. And none of them have anything remotely interesting to say. You can generate more dialogue by showing items but the vast majority of the time I did this I got nothing unique, and if I did, it still wasn't interesting.

Which really hammers the main fault of this game: the sheer lack of thematic depth. It apes the movie Dark City on its sleeve, ok sure, but that movie had tons of detail and thematic depth. I don't even like that movie, but it was far better constructed of a story than this. This is so empty, so tropey, it pulls from such a bunch of common elements of mainstream games but has nothing to do with them. There's the Meat Infection (or whatever they call it) which areas become like meat like Doom Eternal, Dead Space, or any of the 50 space horror games coming out soon. There's a sequence with eyeballs everywhere, which probably wouldn't scare a 5 week old puppy because the eyeballs look like they're from the Legend of Zelda. The game is rich with detail but none of it coalesces into anything. There's not a coherent visual language. A game with lots of intimate settings, that you're constantly crawling around and looking at things intently, you'd think there'd be a lot of visual detail to notice and help communicate themes of the story right? No, not really. There's a big flat goose egg. The most you get is that every robot apparently decorates like a random millennial hipster.

What is the deal with humanity and robots? I dunno, the game doesn't really go into it. It's uh, about totalitarianism. Or uh covid? Or something? A basic 1984 thing? No, it really isn't any of those things particularly, it's just Dark City. Yeah, the underworld is like hell and the upper area is like heaven. I think about Nier Automata, with a similar story, while also being a real game, goes in depth with the subject of humanity. Humans take the place of gods, and both androids and robots take place as commentary for humanity. The longing for a higher power and a higher purpose is expressed continually. The androids represent a sort of navel gazing adolescence that cannot understand themselves. The robots represent the singlemindedness man can have, even if it's a very simple task or an ornate but hollow philosophy. What does this game say? Nothing.

Oh and there's a bunch of very screenwriter-y 'beats' where the developers think you might start losing interest so the cat gets hurt or the robot for like 5 seconds. Overall bad game.

Stray is a very respectable game. For a game who's credits arent rolling long enough to demand multiple credits songs and 3 point font, it is astounding in terms of visuals, technical design, and to an extent game direction. It achieves seemingly everything it goes for with only minor "objective" issues. You could have told me that this game was made by naughty dog as a little side project and i'd only need two drinks in me to believe you.

And it really is a very ND-style game, down to the straight up game flow. Linear platforming where you snap from location to location, chase sequences, extremely light puzzling, general level-to-level structure and the occasional quiet bit where you just get to explore a very small area - it's like Uncharted 4 but drake is small and there's no ludonarrative dissonance trophy. Even has the very naughty dog thing of having a conspicous landmark in the horizon you always work towards in the levels. I swear im not crazy, it's really noticeable when you catch onto it.

The problem with Stray is that, for my money, you don't feel like a cat. Which is a pretty big issue for a game where that's the hook. There's a few good gags, the animation passes muster for the most part, but the behaiour of the cat and in particular the interactions it has with others don't. You could practically replace the cat with a small dog, hell, it would probably make more sense for the things the characters demand and how they treat you.

My favourite moment in the game, is, when in what is ostensibly a tense, high-stakes situation where you're meant to solve a puzzle, the cat can simply lie down by a record player in a comfy alcove, as long as you and they want. It's lovely. And there's just not enough of it. The adventures of cats are crescendos to lives spent revelling in comfort and warmth - even in wild and big cats - and you can let me meow as much as you like but the pure action adventure betrays the nature of cats. I feel like small creature. I don't feel like cat.

On top of that the sci fi narrative is very bland. Fortunately the environments are excellent and carry the game pretty hard. Again, the naughty dog influence is well integrated, with fantastic subtle signposting of areas that feels naturalistic whilst ensuring you're never really lost.

Again, the game is very competent, and a frankly remarkable facsimile of games with hundreds of times the budget. It's well paced and i appreciate it's brevity, and i would be remiss not to touch on it's excellent soundtrack. And it's that extreme competence that makes it dissapointing for me that it doesnt actually get it's hook. And without it, it's ultimately forgettable, as good as it is.

Fetch quests and "press x to jump up here" BUT as a cat.

The fact that they didn't realize how much potential they had to tell a story completely without words is honestly baffling. The whole story with the robots felt like somebody didn't want to give up on an old idea so they mashed it together with somewhat interesting cat mechanics and then they structured the whole game around that instead of the cats. I really wouldn't be surprised if this were once two different student projects.

Can't be bothered to finish all the fetch quests in midtown while searching for the right windowsill to jump on. Imma have to drop this one. Thanks tho ps extra

you and i may well be aware of the absolute deluge of indie and double a backed video games that wear childhood nurtured inspiration on their sleeves, titles like a hat in time or here comes niko all too proud to let players know a timeline absent of the gamecube would just as well be one absent of either title. but little did i ever expect a small studio to find themselves filled with inspiration and passion stemming from the absolute most boring fucking trite of video games: those that play themselves. you surely know of those i refer to--the last of uses and the bow raiders and the arkhams and spidermans and ghosts of assassins dogs ages. games that exist as some sort of hollywood mimicry in which high production values are, lol, valued far above anything else, far above the relationship between players and gameplay. games that push, push, push the player forward down the water slide--or really, those dark rides you can watch a defunctland on featuring garfield, because either way, passengers sit tight, see the sights, and leave.

and a large problem with these games lies in their tunnels stretching far, far too long--its passengers lose the novelty of garfield, and most finish climaxing should they have brought a partner aboard far before the eventual light flickers in.

well, the novelty of stray's cat protagonist is one that lasts twenty minutes, a span of useless contextual button presses for reddit and twitter gifs, and this is followed by a further three hours of cinematic slop to slog through. and then the game still goes (for those who have never heard of the sunk cost theory and/or those who, holy fuck, somehow like this shit), and it goes and goes and goes: down linear hallways, up linear walls, along linear paths disguised as well as a blanket disguises the couch. it's a particularly frustrating feeling to emerge into stray's city and find yourself met with all sorts of balconies and vents and roofs and rubble and be able to climb absolutely none of it save the sole path its designers intend.

are linear games bad by design? no. half life 2 is lovely. half life 2 is also not a game made up of multitudes of contextual button presses and cutscenes strung together by cutscene gameplay strung together by more cutscenes. when a chopper chases dr. freeman, the player is threatened and has to haul fucking ass. when completely nonthreatening silverfish chase the stray, the player holds forward, holds their arbitrary run button, the threat of danger not even remotely present, until the next cutscene appears. of course, these moments are broken up by hub world dickery filled with toothless robots who offer no whimsy nor intriguing in their empty words, and the same can be said for your personality-less companion no doubt boardroom blasted to ensure no player would grow weary (or attached).

let's stop dancing around it: stray is an abysmal video game. stray is a complete failure of neutered, paw holding gameplay that is less interested in giving the player tools to navigate its world and more in making sure the wittle pwayer doesn't stway from the wittle path ): and on that note, i wonder to fucking god if its qa players actually enjoyed the experience. were they having fun? were they giving honest feedback? were they actually playing? if i were stuck with this shit, i know i'd be trying to stay off the controller and on my phone as much as possible.

it's rare for a game to truly feel like its designed to waste and absorb your time like a robotic parasite, but stray nails it, let me tell you.

anyway, the star is for the hints of creativity. the half star is for the surprisingly excellent soundtrack from the... guy who did cave story wii of all things. huh.

play this if you don't like video games.

GhostWire: Tokyo deceived me. While I was pretty on-and-off about following this game's very turbulent press cycle, I was still pretty interested to see a western game that goes into one of my favorite settings ever with such a heavy emphasis on Japanese mythology. The first chapter exemplified this, going through the hospital with really trippy and creepy visuals, and unique uses of the Dualsense's adaptive triggers. That one scene in the hospital with Hannya was amazing and completely hooked me. However, the moment I left the hospital in chapter 2... the reality of the game set in, and realizing what the game was doing turned all of my excitement into dread.

Once you peel off the mask of its aesthetics and its mythology influences, what you're left with is the most generic and formulaic open world experience possible. It becomes a mindless loop of running from waypoint to waypoint, only broken up by bad feeling UDG-ass combat and sidequests where the main appeal is "oh, it's a thing from mythology I recognize". And like most other open world games these days, it shoves in RPG mechanics that I think it would've been better off without. It's indistinguishable from its contemporaries outside of its setting.

Even then, GhostWire has the most bland experience of running around Tokyo that I've ever experienced. Due to its premise it inherently can't have the liveliness that makes me love the city in games like TWEWY or even P5, but it also doesn't do anything interesting with with going around an abandoned or wrecked Tokyo that the Shin Megami Tensei series excels at. It's perfectly content with turning one of the most fascinating places on the planet into a drab, repetitive slog to explore. It's such a shame, because its more mystical and trippy visuals are really strong throughout, but they fail to impress after they have the same tricks for the 50th time. I feel like it would've been much better if it took a more linear design approach over this. If I knew this would be how I felt about my first full game that released 2022, I'd've just kept waiting for Xenoblade 3 instead.

EDIT: It turns out it isn't actually a Western game. It was made by Tango, a Japanese company founded by Shinji Mikami, and just published by Bethesda. I was under the impression that it was an in-house Bethesda joint. My bad!

"it looks different" this, "my childhood" that; my brother in christ this shit runs like dogshit on both PC and Switch, constant suttering every second or two even on minimum settings at 720p. Fourty fucking dollars for this? And immediately greeted with a "please accept this EULA to allow us to actively enable telemetry and grab your IP etc." on boot. Distracting ass giant "SKIP SCENE" prompt on ALL cutscenes, locking the cute costumes to a giant DLC bundle that's another twenty fucking dollars. Nevermind the horrendous regional pricing. Fuck off.
EDIT: LOL the DLC doesn't even include files for you to play back locally i.e. MP3/FLAC or the "digital artbook", you can only view them in-game. They literally are selling the sound test menu you could unlock in og Klonoa. Holy fuck.

I'm usually firmly "eh whatever" on remakes changing visuals etc., and while I think this is serviceable in that regard, the ogs are just better in these departments. You may prefer the new look, I don't, but it also doesn't bother me that much.
EDIT: Nevermind Klonoa 2 looks like ass. Holy shit.

I also just want to add, please for the love of god play Klonoa PS1. It's an immensely special and important game to me and emulates perfectly or otherwise you can swaptrick it on PS1. Treat yourself to something good instead.

EDIT 2: Latest PCSX2 nightly appears to run Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil just about perfectly as well LMFAO fuck this remake duology. Ryzen 7 3700x peak at about 35-40% usage and GTX 1050 Ti peaks at 60-70% at 1080p, occasional slowdown at 1440p.