CaptainBojangles
BACKER
2020
I didn't finish Demon's Souls when I played it on PS3, but I liked it a lot here despite the game's shortcomings. Wasn't a huge fan of a lot of the bosses being so gimmicky compared to the rest of the series, but there is a ton of creativity there, especially for the first entry of a series like this.
Of course, this game is also (apparently) an affront to god for a ton of fans of the game. From what I've seen, a lot of the enemy designs are fairly drastically re-designed here, and I can't really say a lot of them are improvements, notably the officials look more generic and lost a lot of their original flair from what I've seen. The OST is also something many have pointed out as being worse, but I'm not all too familiar with the original. I will say that the soundtrack here stuck out as being less notable than just about any entry in the series besides Dark Souls II. How much of that comes down to these re-orchestrations vs. The composition itself, I don't know.
Still, as a first-timer, I think it is kind of ridiculous to day that this game has no atmosphere, especially without, you know, actually playing the video game. The enemy encounters have basically went unchanged AFAIK, so the game still keeps the tension up in each encounter. What also stood out in this remake was the environmental design. Each archstone is still visually distinct and the lighting engine absolutely works to elicit fear in its darkest segments, while still allowing for moments of beauty.
I get that when a company is remaking one of your favorite games, you're bound to be more critical, but some of the hyperbole and nonsense I've heard people talk about this game without even giving Bluepoint a chance is incredibly disappointing. Even barring the influence from the original game, technically this is one of the most impressive games I have ever played, and it's remarkable that the game loads so quickly and maintains a steady 60 FPS regardless of what is on-screen. I'll probably end up playing through the original in the next few months to see all the changes, but I think what's hear is at the very least great for newcomers and a remarkabke technical achievement.
Of course, this game is also (apparently) an affront to god for a ton of fans of the game. From what I've seen, a lot of the enemy designs are fairly drastically re-designed here, and I can't really say a lot of them are improvements, notably the officials look more generic and lost a lot of their original flair from what I've seen. The OST is also something many have pointed out as being worse, but I'm not all too familiar with the original. I will say that the soundtrack here stuck out as being less notable than just about any entry in the series besides Dark Souls II. How much of that comes down to these re-orchestrations vs. The composition itself, I don't know.
Still, as a first-timer, I think it is kind of ridiculous to day that this game has no atmosphere, especially without, you know, actually playing the video game. The enemy encounters have basically went unchanged AFAIK, so the game still keeps the tension up in each encounter. What also stood out in this remake was the environmental design. Each archstone is still visually distinct and the lighting engine absolutely works to elicit fear in its darkest segments, while still allowing for moments of beauty.
I get that when a company is remaking one of your favorite games, you're bound to be more critical, but some of the hyperbole and nonsense I've heard people talk about this game without even giving Bluepoint a chance is incredibly disappointing. Even barring the influence from the original game, technically this is one of the most impressive games I have ever played, and it's remarkable that the game loads so quickly and maintains a steady 60 FPS regardless of what is on-screen. I'll probably end up playing through the original in the next few months to see all the changes, but I think what's hear is at the very least great for newcomers and a remarkabke technical achievement.
2018
I really like Tetris. I think the Game Boy version is probably my favorite that I have played, and it's definitely the best version that I've played, but I have enjoyed some bad Tetris games in the past. For example, I spent more time than I probably should have with Tetris Ultimate on PS4. By all accounts, that is a bad version of Tetris, but the core modern Tetris gameplay is still there even if the presentation is unbelievably sterile. So, when you put what is by all accounts a better version of Tetris at me, I should really, really enjoy it, but it just doesn't really connect with me in the way that it seems to have for others.
I should preface that I have not played this game in VR, which, by all accounts, seems to be the superior way to experience this game. I think a lot of the visual gimmicks are really neat in the main campaign mode, but a lot of the levels go by so quickly that they don't really have a lot of impact for me. The soundtrack is something of this game that had been hyped up constantly before I played this game, and I was thoroughly underwhelmed by it in game. It should be noted that the game does some really cool things with its soundtrack as it connects to the actual gameplay, but a lot of the songs I did not enjoy at all, including the game's opening song, which just did not work for me at all.
It's difficult because what is here is very cool and I respect it a lot, and it's clearly a solid game, but I don't know how I ended up feeling underwhelmed by a Tetris game. Perhaps this was not helped by seeing multiple tweets prior to playing the game about how people were brought to tears by the experience. I don't mean to diminish the experience of those people because I 100% believe that the game had that sort of impact on them, but it just left me feeling like I didn't "get" Tetris Effect.
I should preface that I have not played this game in VR, which, by all accounts, seems to be the superior way to experience this game. I think a lot of the visual gimmicks are really neat in the main campaign mode, but a lot of the levels go by so quickly that they don't really have a lot of impact for me. The soundtrack is something of this game that had been hyped up constantly before I played this game, and I was thoroughly underwhelmed by it in game. It should be noted that the game does some really cool things with its soundtrack as it connects to the actual gameplay, but a lot of the songs I did not enjoy at all, including the game's opening song, which just did not work for me at all.
It's difficult because what is here is very cool and I respect it a lot, and it's clearly a solid game, but I don't know how I ended up feeling underwhelmed by a Tetris game. Perhaps this was not helped by seeing multiple tweets prior to playing the game about how people were brought to tears by the experience. I don't mean to diminish the experience of those people because I 100% believe that the game had that sort of impact on them, but it just left me feeling like I didn't "get" Tetris Effect.
2020
This review contains spoilers
What an absolute delight. I have not played Astro Bot Rescue Mission prior to writing this review, so this is my first experience with a game by ASOBI Team and I was thoroughly impressed.
While short, Astro's Playroom packs in so much love and nostalgia. It's rare that I think a game genuinely deserves to be called "A celebration of ____", but this game is absolutely just that. Seeing that museum come together as you find collectables is incredible. The fact that Sony was willing to let ASOBI show off the Eyetoy or the PSP Go was really cool, and it felt like a genuine effort was made to really show off all that PlayStation has come to represent over these past few decades.
But above all that, Astro's Playroom is just a great platformer. The controls are silky smooth, the enemy design is unique and charming, and the controller gimmicks are very well-integrated and above all just fun to play.
I would have spent money on this, which is perhaps the best compliment you can give a pack-in title like this.
While short, Astro's Playroom packs in so much love and nostalgia. It's rare that I think a game genuinely deserves to be called "A celebration of ____", but this game is absolutely just that. Seeing that museum come together as you find collectables is incredible. The fact that Sony was willing to let ASOBI show off the Eyetoy or the PSP Go was really cool, and it felt like a genuine effort was made to really show off all that PlayStation has come to represent over these past few decades.
But above all that, Astro's Playroom is just a great platformer. The controls are silky smooth, the enemy design is unique and charming, and the controller gimmicks are very well-integrated and above all just fun to play.
I would have spent money on this, which is perhaps the best compliment you can give a pack-in title like this.
It should be said that if you are going to a Call of Duty game seeking an intriguing or nuanced political discussion, you should probably see a physician, but it's still disappointing to see how this game fails to really admonish the United States of any real consequence in its story despite their clear misdoings. What is also disappointing is how rushed this campaign feels. Characters feel added just for the sake of being a reference to another game, some missions feel like afterthoughts, not really connecting with the bulk of the plot, and this campaign is pretty buggy. The campaign has its action-packed moments that are fun, as you would expect from a COD game, but it doesn't really do anything to take a big step forward. At its worst, this campaign is portraying Ronald Reagan as not a piece of shit, and at best, it's basically a game you've already played.
As for the multiplayer, it's fine. The maps are better than Modern Warfare's, but the gunplay is worse. If you like COD, you'll like this. If you don't, you won't.
As for the multiplayer, it's fine. The maps are better than Modern Warfare's, but the gunplay is worse. If you like COD, you'll like this. If you don't, you won't.
2020
This review contains spoilers
You essentially have to force-feed a vegan with a parasitic monster while he sleep walks to get the platinum trophy. Kinda fucked up
2000
The GBC version of this game doesn't exist on this site, but that version is a cool stealth game that is worth playing through
I'm happy that I played this game and was able to not miss out on this one before its servers went down. That being said, this is a tremendously irritating and archaic game by modern standards. Playing this without a guide must be a nightmare because there are moments where it is difficult to play WITH a guide. I only played through the main story and I thought it was just alright. Obviously in 2020 the game is pretty significantly different, so it's hard to really evaluate it as a product of its time, but I can't say I was really blown away.
I appreciated how large the zones were and how diverse they could be, as well as some cool moments like the airship, but at the end of the day the moment-to-moment gameplay in XI is just not my favorite by any means, particularly the combat stuck out as pretty damn bland, which made the hours of grinding that the game requires incredibly monotonous. I don't want to be too mean to an 18 year-old MMO, but I just don't think this holds up very well, though I will admit that I didn't really touch a lot of the expansions that people praise, so maybe those get significantly better (It is hard to justify playing through these when just getting through the main story takes about 72 hours)
I appreciated how large the zones were and how diverse they could be, as well as some cool moments like the airship, but at the end of the day the moment-to-moment gameplay in XI is just not my favorite by any means, particularly the combat stuck out as pretty damn bland, which made the hours of grinding that the game requires incredibly monotonous. I don't want to be too mean to an 18 year-old MMO, but I just don't think this holds up very well, though I will admit that I didn't really touch a lot of the expansions that people praise, so maybe those get significantly better (It is hard to justify playing through these when just getting through the main story takes about 72 hours)
There's nothing more that can really be said about how excellent this game's narrative is and how much it respects and incorporates so many sci-fi tropes to make something wholly unique.
What I do want to say is that there is something weirdly fun about dropping the frame rate to basically zero on the PS4 in the later combat sections. They're by no means difficult, which just makes them basically particle effect simulators. I like that, but I can see why many wouldn't.
What I do want to say is that there is something weirdly fun about dropping the frame rate to basically zero on the PS4 in the later combat sections. They're by no means difficult, which just makes them basically particle effect simulators. I like that, but I can see why many wouldn't.
2007
This game's by no means amazing, but I really appreciate the fact that there's a JRPG about Frederic Chopin for some reason.
Surprising amount of playable characters, decent combat, and a pretty solid soundtrack. Definitely stands out in a pretty weak JRPG console gen.
Surprising amount of playable characters, decent combat, and a pretty solid soundtrack. Definitely stands out in a pretty weak JRPG console gen.
2013
This might be the worst high-budget video game script I've seen. Characters have horrendous mood swings and the game's setting changes constantly. The game is essentially a series of poorly-written vignettes meant to tackle big themes without having the subtlety or frankly the writing/directing talent to make it come together without coming across as blatantly fishing for comparisons to much greater films.
2020
I don't even like regular Worms, so imagine my delight
2017
"We have NBA Jam at home"
The narrative, while ambitious, absolutely has moments where the game's pacing suffers or plot points don't feel fully thought out. However, the core narrative is, at the very worst engaging and controversial, with its best moments exhibiting some of the best cutscene direction and character moments in any game over the past few years. I don't think anyone is really going to be convinced to change their mind over the narrative given how polarizing it is by design, but I ended up really liking what they were going for.
Beyond all of this however, The Last of Us Part II is great as a video game. The level design is superb. SO many combat encounters feel distinct from one another because of how well-placed enemies are, as well as how fun the environments can be to loot and explore. We can sit here and argue over narrative hot takes all day long (Which I personally think is probably a good thing considering the narrative that they try and tell with this one), but none of that can take a way from how impressive the actual gameplay is.
Beyond all of this however, The Last of Us Part II is great as a video game. The level design is superb. SO many combat encounters feel distinct from one another because of how well-placed enemies are, as well as how fun the environments can be to loot and explore. We can sit here and argue over narrative hot takes all day long (Which I personally think is probably a good thing considering the narrative that they try and tell with this one), but none of that can take a way from how impressive the actual gameplay is.
2004
One of the most unique and boldly weird games I've played. The music is fun and catchy, which I think really adds to the jolly, but intensely chaotic nature of the game. The cutscenes are truly bizarre, but none of it is unapproachable. I truly think it's a game that almost anyone could sit down and smile playing.
The amount of freedom you have in customizing your units in this game is pretty astonishing. Combine that with the great gameplay and map design, and this would already be an amazing game. But instead, they decided to add on an incredibly well-written narrative, one that might be my favorite of any Final Fantasy game. I personally think this game still looks great in 2020 with the only thing really aging it being the actual maps, which to me have a really unique almost model-esque look. It can put up a challenge, but it is absolutely worth playing this game.