DourCricket
This review contains spoilers
I was going to give this one a 4 due to the emotional gutpunch I almost received for not using either nuke... but then the game just subverted it almost immediately by having ED-E survive!
Heading into the Big MT - a world of mad science and even madder science...
The Good
-Characters are obviously the star of the show. A genocidal toaster, clean freak sink, the 5 (6 really) main scientists... exceptional, punchy writing.
-OWB is the DLC that ties all the others together most strongly. It sets up the other 3 very well and I got a chuckle every time Elijah is mentioned (have fun in that vault buddy)
-Stronggg foreshadowing of Ulysses. Wanted to hear a bit more though about what he was up to
-New guns are cool... for Energy weapons users!!! Not so much for me
The Bad
-The typical fallout issue of a lot of quests being too thinly-veiled fetch quests
-Roboscorpions are verrrry tanky for gun builds. The other enemies have a good lethality to them but also aren't too hard to kill. The scorpions had me running as often as fighting, just to save on bullets..
-The Scientist brains are great, absolutely hilarious, but a bit underutilized. Or more, are too packed in? You can do like 90% of their content in your first conversation with them. The intro with them needs to be shorter, then spread out a bit more over the DLC. Even if its just one more meeting with them for extra exposition before the finale.
The Meh
-The world map has some cool bits to it but ultimately is ruined buildings on more ruined buildings. The interior maps are pretty samey too.
The Hmmm
-Why do you have to destroy Moebius at the end? Did I miss a dialogue or sidequest somehow?
A hilarious and fun romp through the mad science that has always been in the background of Fallout but never quite front and center - plus its usual splash of genuine horror at just how fucked up everything is in this wasteland. A good story (with an interesting 'twist' ending) with great characters and some worthwhile sidequests.
The Good
-Characters are obviously the star of the show. A genocidal toaster, clean freak sink, the 5 (6 really) main scientists... exceptional, punchy writing.
-OWB is the DLC that ties all the others together most strongly. It sets up the other 3 very well and I got a chuckle every time Elijah is mentioned (have fun in that vault buddy)
-Stronggg foreshadowing of Ulysses. Wanted to hear a bit more though about what he was up to
-New guns are cool... for Energy weapons users!!! Not so much for me
The Bad
-The typical fallout issue of a lot of quests being too thinly-veiled fetch quests
-Roboscorpions are verrrry tanky for gun builds. The other enemies have a good lethality to them but also aren't too hard to kill. The scorpions had me running as often as fighting, just to save on bullets..
-The Scientist brains are great, absolutely hilarious, but a bit underutilized. Or more, are too packed in? You can do like 90% of their content in your first conversation with them. The intro with them needs to be shorter, then spread out a bit more over the DLC. Even if its just one more meeting with them for extra exposition before the finale.
The Meh
-The world map has some cool bits to it but ultimately is ruined buildings on more ruined buildings. The interior maps are pretty samey too.
The Hmmm
-Why do you have to destroy Moebius at the end? Did I miss a dialogue or sidequest somehow?
A hilarious and fun romp through the mad science that has always been in the background of Fallout but never quite front and center - plus its usual splash of genuine horror at just how fucked up everything is in this wasteland. A good story (with an interesting 'twist' ending) with great characters and some worthwhile sidequests.
"Can you think of a miracle more amazing than that? I mean, cure blindness, sure. Or part the seas, all right. But a second chance? That’s the real miracle."
If only Father Hill was here to talk to these guys
Final Grade: A
If only Father Hill was here to talk to these guys
Final Grade: A
Honest Hearts is the second DLC for Fallout New Vegas but is often suggested as the first you should complete when replaying the game. It is more open-world than its predecessor Dead Money and also a much gentler difficulty curve. The stories for each DLC being ultimately non-linear up to Lonesome Road also lend well to this route. So shortly after arriving at New Vegas proper I decided to head to the start of this DLC as an in-game excuse to nab some caps before heading into Vegas to find that rat bastard who shot me. What I found was a mini-open world with plentiful resources and a few very intriguing characters - though I wish I had gotten a few more.
The Good
-Zion itself is beautiful, the art direction and music fit perfectly with the mood of a tucked away part of heaven, incredibly distinct from the Mojave.
-The main characters of Joshua Graham, Daniel and of course the posthumous "Father in the Caves" are enthralling. Legit choked up several times reading the survivalist's notes + Graham has some excellent lines.
-The POIs are mostly quite good. Old ranger stations, supply drops, soul-shatteringly sad schoolbus remains...
-More melee focused White Leg enemies are a good differentiator from typical raider or Legion bad guys in the Mojave. VATS is actually tough to use on them from point blank range.
The Bad
-The main middle quests of "helping" the Sorrows and Dead Horses are pretty thin excuses to just wander around. There's only one kinda interesting quest in the middle with the Fiery YaoGui. The rest are too straightforward.
-The "Happy Trails" group is a thin plot device to get you to the start of the DLC but then get a whole chunk of the ending slide? Who honestly cares
The Meh
-Sadly the graphics are showing their age here. The blockiness of a lot of the textures does not flow well between the rock, dirt and plant life. That's just the time the game was made + the Bethesda engine sadly.
-The ending two quests are halfway interesting but need a bit more meat on their bones. Either you have enough Speech to have a sorta-peaceable ending or you just kill everyone and deal with the fallout. The base NV has MANY ways around your problems besides a speech check or gun - sadly not the case here.
-Didn't really care for any of the new guns either.
The Hmmmm
-The Flee Zion ending seemed a bit underbaked compared to the White Legs assault
Honest Hearts doesn't present a huge shakeup to the New Vegas formula but a combination of a more verdant wilderness + some excellent characters and the somber tale of the Survivalist that you piece together really make an excellent DLC that is quite a bit more than the sum of its parts. Ultimately being forced to choose whether to flee from danger or to face it head on, but ultimately realizing that will fundamentally change you... feels very apropos for the series.
Final Grade: B+
The Good
-Zion itself is beautiful, the art direction and music fit perfectly with the mood of a tucked away part of heaven, incredibly distinct from the Mojave.
-The main characters of Joshua Graham, Daniel and of course the posthumous "Father in the Caves" are enthralling. Legit choked up several times reading the survivalist's notes + Graham has some excellent lines.
-The POIs are mostly quite good. Old ranger stations, supply drops, soul-shatteringly sad schoolbus remains...
-More melee focused White Leg enemies are a good differentiator from typical raider or Legion bad guys in the Mojave. VATS is actually tough to use on them from point blank range.
The Bad
-The main middle quests of "helping" the Sorrows and Dead Horses are pretty thin excuses to just wander around. There's only one kinda interesting quest in the middle with the Fiery YaoGui. The rest are too straightforward.
-The "Happy Trails" group is a thin plot device to get you to the start of the DLC but then get a whole chunk of the ending slide? Who honestly cares
The Meh
-Sadly the graphics are showing their age here. The blockiness of a lot of the textures does not flow well between the rock, dirt and plant life. That's just the time the game was made + the Bethesda engine sadly.
-The ending two quests are halfway interesting but need a bit more meat on their bones. Either you have enough Speech to have a sorta-peaceable ending or you just kill everyone and deal with the fallout. The base NV has MANY ways around your problems besides a speech check or gun - sadly not the case here.
-Didn't really care for any of the new guns either.
The Hmmmm
-The Flee Zion ending seemed a bit underbaked compared to the White Legs assault
Honest Hearts doesn't present a huge shakeup to the New Vegas formula but a combination of a more verdant wilderness + some excellent characters and the somber tale of the Survivalist that you piece together really make an excellent DLC that is quite a bit more than the sum of its parts. Ultimately being forced to choose whether to flee from danger or to face it head on, but ultimately realizing that will fundamentally change you... feels very apropos for the series.
Final Grade: B+
2014
A fantastic premise and art style support a toughs-as-nails grim trek through the Russian underground... It's Half-Life 2 but with more vodka (and actually good, hahayaburnt Half-Life)
There are some veryyyyy dodgy stealth sections and checkpoints however...
Final Grade: B+
There are some veryyyyy dodgy stealth sections and checkpoints however...
Final Grade: B+
2023
An entirely competent albeit obviously first-pass Souls like, Lies of P is Bloodborne made by amateurs - albeit ones with serious talent. They just need a bit more practice I think...
Longer review coming later
Final Grade: A-
Longer review coming later
Final Grade: A-
2012
Dishonored is a fantastic stealth-action game from 2012, a tale of revenge set in one of the most well realized cities and fictional settings in its generation if not all of gaming. While I've completed the game a couple times before this is my first replay in over a decade and frankly I'm torn - do I review the game for what it is now or by how it stands up today?
The Good:
-Art direction for the city/characters is fantastic. Steampunk in theme but very much with its own gritty twist. The city is crumbling and every person and object you come across (even the very nice places..) is showing this decay has spread
-Level design for each area you head to is distinct and good looking from a distance..
-The overarching story is quite good albeit simple and there are some twists that come from a mile away but it is made in such a competent way you won't really mind
-Worldbuilding in general is off the charts good - the City of Dunwall and its world are fascinating places and the many hints of how this world is NOT our world (the whales and magic esp) are as intriguing as they are unsettling
-Following off a previous point from "bad" about High/Low chaos, I do actually LIKE the two different endings and feel like they make sense. High chaos actually makes MORE sense really, as the one issue with Low is the Certain Twist Betrayal later makes a lot more sense with a bloodthirsty maniac Corvo vs. a Peace&Love Corvo in a Low Chaos ending.
Bad
-Lots of people cry about the "bad ending" being too punishing for people who want to use the powers and I think they're little babies who can't handle consequences for their actions BUT.. I think the straight dichotomy of High/Low and it just being based off of how many people you kill is definitely undercooked. More based on story, more based on civilians vs. guards, more based on what you talk with Emily etc
-This one is a bit mean but the fine details of each area is pretty barren. Desks and beds are empty cookie cutter models, houses are all pretty much the same minus a few exceptions. This is 100% due to the limitations of the 360/PS3 hardware and in Dishonored 2 the leap in this is enormous.
Meh
-The melee combat leaves quite a bit to be desired, but for a primarily stealth game I can see why they didn't put too much into it. It's pretty much just attack or block. Good and brutal animations though
-Powers are pretty imbalanced with focus on lethality vs. utility. There are some neat ones like possession and time stop can be used in fun ways but for a game that chastises wanton violence they sure love handing you the tools for it.
-Undercooked sidequests. There are a few of them but they're pretty limited w one exception (Granny!)
Hmm
-There are quite a few points in the game where the bad guys realllllly should've just shot Corvo in the head, cmon
Typically I never give out half stars in my reviews - they are for gutless cowards who can't make decisions and 5 Point scales are objectively the review system (5/5 Stars for 5 point scales I say) but a game of this age and style just honestly has two real reviews. For its time, it was an amazing move foward for the stealth genre with added layers of action and powers to create excellent immersive sim situations along with a beautifully portrayed decomposing Empire. Today, the details lack the honed edge it once held over a decade ago on release: the combat is a bit simple, the environments are underdeveloped and the special powers strongly promote a playstyle that only suits one half of the game's narrative and leaves the other out to dry. Now, there is still oodles of fun to be had even leaning into the leaner parts of this game but it does feel like a bit of that black magic has lessened.
Final Grade: A-
The Good:
-Art direction for the city/characters is fantastic. Steampunk in theme but very much with its own gritty twist. The city is crumbling and every person and object you come across (even the very nice places..) is showing this decay has spread
-Level design for each area you head to is distinct and good looking from a distance..
-The overarching story is quite good albeit simple and there are some twists that come from a mile away but it is made in such a competent way you won't really mind
-Worldbuilding in general is off the charts good - the City of Dunwall and its world are fascinating places and the many hints of how this world is NOT our world (the whales and magic esp) are as intriguing as they are unsettling
-Following off a previous point from "bad" about High/Low chaos, I do actually LIKE the two different endings and feel like they make sense. High chaos actually makes MORE sense really, as the one issue with Low is the Certain Twist Betrayal later makes a lot more sense with a bloodthirsty maniac Corvo vs. a Peace&Love Corvo in a Low Chaos ending.
Bad
-Lots of people cry about the "bad ending" being too punishing for people who want to use the powers and I think they're little babies who can't handle consequences for their actions BUT.. I think the straight dichotomy of High/Low and it just being based off of how many people you kill is definitely undercooked. More based on story, more based on civilians vs. guards, more based on what you talk with Emily etc
-This one is a bit mean but the fine details of each area is pretty barren. Desks and beds are empty cookie cutter models, houses are all pretty much the same minus a few exceptions. This is 100% due to the limitations of the 360/PS3 hardware and in Dishonored 2 the leap in this is enormous.
Meh
-The melee combat leaves quite a bit to be desired, but for a primarily stealth game I can see why they didn't put too much into it. It's pretty much just attack or block. Good and brutal animations though
-Powers are pretty imbalanced with focus on lethality vs. utility. There are some neat ones like possession and time stop can be used in fun ways but for a game that chastises wanton violence they sure love handing you the tools for it.
-Undercooked sidequests. There are a few of them but they're pretty limited w one exception (Granny!)
Hmm
-There are quite a few points in the game where the bad guys realllllly should've just shot Corvo in the head, cmon
Typically I never give out half stars in my reviews - they are for gutless cowards who can't make decisions and 5 Point scales are objectively the review system (5/5 Stars for 5 point scales I say) but a game of this age and style just honestly has two real reviews. For its time, it was an amazing move foward for the stealth genre with added layers of action and powers to create excellent immersive sim situations along with a beautifully portrayed decomposing Empire. Today, the details lack the honed edge it once held over a decade ago on release: the combat is a bit simple, the environments are underdeveloped and the special powers strongly promote a playstyle that only suits one half of the game's narrative and leaves the other out to dry. Now, there is still oodles of fun to be had even leaning into the leaner parts of this game but it does feel like a bit of that black magic has lessened.
Final Grade: A-
2023
A beautiful tale about slaying a princess and the many different expressions of love. I will update this with a full review shortly.
Final Grade: A+
Final Grade: A+
I wish I was good enough at puzzle games to properly appreciate how great this game is
Final Grade: A
Final Grade: A
A Warhammer 40k Boomer Shooter... why did it take us so long to make this???
There are some issues though - the enemy variety is eh, the level design has some high highs but low lows, and the guns take a while to feel varied but... you get to literally taunt the bad guys with the push of a button and stomp around with your stompy Space Marine boots turning heretics and demons into gibs of flesh I just can't not appreciate this
Final Grade: A-
There are some issues though - the enemy variety is eh, the level design has some high highs but low lows, and the guns take a while to feel varied but... you get to literally taunt the bad guys with the push of a button and stomp around with your stompy Space Marine boots turning heretics and demons into gibs of flesh I just can't not appreciate this
Final Grade: A-
A super short and weird tale of a wormcel living under a house. It's got some AI-generated art used for its proper purpose: being fuckin WEIRD and GROSS looking. Love it. Story is messed up but in a fun way and its pretty short with a couple different endings to go through. Not a bad use of your time for horror fans.
Final Grade: B
Final Grade: B
2022
An interesting reverse-bullet-hell (did we ever pick a name for this genre other than Vampire Survivors-likes?) with some neat guns and characters. Feels more "build" based than I think I like, it pretty clearly shoves you down one of like five available paths and then you can dabble in another one or two to round out a build. The weapons are neat and there's a good variety of them plus you actually USE them which gives it a more tense feeling and also plays it out strategically when things get hairy, rather than just focusing on dodging.
Despite that the palette feels very same-y between levels and the bosses are not much to write home about.
Final Grade: B-
Despite that the palette feels very same-y between levels and the bosses are not much to write home about.
Final Grade: B-
2023
This review contains spoilers
Alan Wake 2
#25
PC - Epic Game Store
Beaten Nov 18th, 2023
The decade+ follow up to the beautiful schlocky Alan Wake, we finally get to try and spring our favorite horror author from his prison and find out what the final line means! Well, that's a gag in the game - I thought "Its not a lake, its an ocean" made perfect metaphorical sense, the dark place was an enormous realm that was trapping them, not something small and manageable like a lake, however there are some fun meta gags at the expense of the first game. This time we have dual protagonists: FBI Agent Saga Anderson in the real world and Alan himself, still trapped in the Dark Place trying to bust out, and this duality carries over to a lot of the game and how its systems work. But yeah, Alan Wake 2, finally.. was it worth the wait? What all has changed? Yes and a lot is the answer!
The Good:
-Damn where to even start on this one??? Art style I guess! Yeah, this is absolutely stellar. Similar to Remedy's previous game Control, almost every frame of this game is a painting. I feel equal parts sympathy and envy at my future self who have to pick ten screenshots to show off from all the exceptional art here.
-Story has some very satisfying twists and turns, some of which are nicely telegraphed but plenty come out of left field. It's a satisfying continuation of both the Alan Wake game + Control as well. I was worried Saga wouldn't be as great as Alan but she very much holds her own, especially when she has Casey to bounce off of.
-The vastly improved gameplay from the first game is pretty much the RE2/3/4make style and it serves them well. Fights are tough, not a lot of enemies, weapons handle pretty tight, enemies take quite a few hits to go down. For Alan's sequence there's a nice twist with the shadow enemies - only some are actually aggressive, most are just there to spook you and taunt you and its very difficult to tell them apart until its almost too late... helps play very well into the paranoia of the dark place
-Returning to Bright Falls in 4k is beatiful
-The environs in general are great to move around in, so much creativity on display even in the real world. Coffee World, the trailer park, the basement of the Sheriff Station, out in the spooky woods... Obviously the Dark Place too (perpetual rainy New York city) is rad
-Semi retcon of Alan Wake 1/Control: Alan's writing DOESNT just rewrite and create reality to whatever he wants, it can only twist what is there to suit the purpose of the story. I was initially having a bit of a tough time caring about our characters/story because they were fake people (Saga Anderson? Alex Casey? Yeah, these are made up people) but with the explicit change they make to how his powers were described previously I started enjoying the narrative limitations.
-Speaking of semi retcons: Alan is kinda of a douchebag. Alice talks about their marital issues and reveals the Dark Presence chose Alan for more than just his writing: he's also got some darkness in him already.. just like all the other people the dark place infects
-Saga & Casey Coffee Sips 11/10
-SHOW ME THE CHAMPION OF LIGHT!
The Bad:
-The first boss fight is easily the hardest and honestly not super interesting from a gameplay standpoint? You basically just run away, shoot, run away. No real progression against him like an RE boss, not super interesting arena or mechanics, pretty meh
-Lack of bosses in general. They're all in the dark place and there aren't that many of them.
-The mind place specific puzzles - some parts of the game require you to work through the mind place to get the door/item which was already obvious and feels like a waste of time. These need to be tossed out sorry
The Meh:
-The ending, from a gameplay perspective. You reawaken in the Dark Place as Saga and... walk around for like 15 minutes? There are a couple fights but they're against normal shadow enemies and very easy to just waltz right past. Why even bother with these if you're not going to do them right? It's not bad (the ending with her there looks awesome and offers some more leads on Sheriff Breaker and Door, the obvious sequel bait)
-Pacing - this one is on the cusp of bad honestly, but my chosen path between Alan and Saga's storylines (Alan pretty much all the way through after playing Saga to a good stopping point) I think helped it. Randomly bopping back and forth I think would feel odd
-The Mind Place in general is a neat idea, having to manually place things is kinda annoying. I'd do everything non-main-plot automatically pinned to save time.
-Encounter design/ enemies still need a level up or two. There needs to be "licker" type enemies to steal from RE2 some more: enemies where you have to interact with them in a very different way from the vanilla enemies that are dangerous AF. I also can't really remember any particular rooms/encounters other than a few ending bits as opposed to RE2/3/4 where I can think of several.
-Book Casey chime ins get long in the tooth BUT have an exceptional payoff at the end so I'll give it a pass
The Hmmmmmm:
-There's quite a few things here that are just obviously setting up for an inevitable sequel/spin off at some point that are left dangling here. A lot of it happens in the Dark Place so things being weird makes some sense but still feels a bit hmmmmmm
-Alan's story sequence is pretty hard to follow HOWEVER that does make sense given the nature of the dark place. When were the books written? Who actually wrote them? Did Scratch actually fuck with him/Alice or was it all Wake himself? Did he involve Saga intentionally and her family? The map keeps changing a little bit and its a bit hard to follow where to go... again, this could all be intentional but its definitely notable
A tour-de-force in video game art as Remedy keeps swinging for the fences and a step forward in the survival horror genre (what, these things can have interesting and layered stories now??), Alan Wake 2 follows up on its cliffhanger predecessor with a hell of a bang. Oh, and another cliffhanger lol
Final Grade: A
#25
PC - Epic Game Store
Beaten Nov 18th, 2023
The decade+ follow up to the beautiful schlocky Alan Wake, we finally get to try and spring our favorite horror author from his prison and find out what the final line means! Well, that's a gag in the game - I thought "Its not a lake, its an ocean" made perfect metaphorical sense, the dark place was an enormous realm that was trapping them, not something small and manageable like a lake, however there are some fun meta gags at the expense of the first game. This time we have dual protagonists: FBI Agent Saga Anderson in the real world and Alan himself, still trapped in the Dark Place trying to bust out, and this duality carries over to a lot of the game and how its systems work. But yeah, Alan Wake 2, finally.. was it worth the wait? What all has changed? Yes and a lot is the answer!
The Good:
-Damn where to even start on this one??? Art style I guess! Yeah, this is absolutely stellar. Similar to Remedy's previous game Control, almost every frame of this game is a painting. I feel equal parts sympathy and envy at my future self who have to pick ten screenshots to show off from all the exceptional art here.
-Story has some very satisfying twists and turns, some of which are nicely telegraphed but plenty come out of left field. It's a satisfying continuation of both the Alan Wake game + Control as well. I was worried Saga wouldn't be as great as Alan but she very much holds her own, especially when she has Casey to bounce off of.
-The vastly improved gameplay from the first game is pretty much the RE2/3/4make style and it serves them well. Fights are tough, not a lot of enemies, weapons handle pretty tight, enemies take quite a few hits to go down. For Alan's sequence there's a nice twist with the shadow enemies - only some are actually aggressive, most are just there to spook you and taunt you and its very difficult to tell them apart until its almost too late... helps play very well into the paranoia of the dark place
-Returning to Bright Falls in 4k is beatiful
-The environs in general are great to move around in, so much creativity on display even in the real world. Coffee World, the trailer park, the basement of the Sheriff Station, out in the spooky woods... Obviously the Dark Place too (perpetual rainy New York city) is rad
-Semi retcon of Alan Wake 1/Control: Alan's writing DOESNT just rewrite and create reality to whatever he wants, it can only twist what is there to suit the purpose of the story. I was initially having a bit of a tough time caring about our characters/story because they were fake people (Saga Anderson? Alex Casey? Yeah, these are made up people) but with the explicit change they make to how his powers were described previously I started enjoying the narrative limitations.
-Speaking of semi retcons: Alan is kinda of a douchebag. Alice talks about their marital issues and reveals the Dark Presence chose Alan for more than just his writing: he's also got some darkness in him already.. just like all the other people the dark place infects
-Saga & Casey Coffee Sips 11/10
-SHOW ME THE CHAMPION OF LIGHT!
The Bad:
-The first boss fight is easily the hardest and honestly not super interesting from a gameplay standpoint? You basically just run away, shoot, run away. No real progression against him like an RE boss, not super interesting arena or mechanics, pretty meh
-Lack of bosses in general. They're all in the dark place and there aren't that many of them.
-The mind place specific puzzles - some parts of the game require you to work through the mind place to get the door/item which was already obvious and feels like a waste of time. These need to be tossed out sorry
The Meh:
-The ending, from a gameplay perspective. You reawaken in the Dark Place as Saga and... walk around for like 15 minutes? There are a couple fights but they're against normal shadow enemies and very easy to just waltz right past. Why even bother with these if you're not going to do them right? It's not bad (the ending with her there looks awesome and offers some more leads on Sheriff Breaker and Door, the obvious sequel bait)
-Pacing - this one is on the cusp of bad honestly, but my chosen path between Alan and Saga's storylines (Alan pretty much all the way through after playing Saga to a good stopping point) I think helped it. Randomly bopping back and forth I think would feel odd
-The Mind Place in general is a neat idea, having to manually place things is kinda annoying. I'd do everything non-main-plot automatically pinned to save time.
-Encounter design/ enemies still need a level up or two. There needs to be "licker" type enemies to steal from RE2 some more: enemies where you have to interact with them in a very different way from the vanilla enemies that are dangerous AF. I also can't really remember any particular rooms/encounters other than a few ending bits as opposed to RE2/3/4 where I can think of several.
-Book Casey chime ins get long in the tooth BUT have an exceptional payoff at the end so I'll give it a pass
The Hmmmmmm:
-There's quite a few things here that are just obviously setting up for an inevitable sequel/spin off at some point that are left dangling here. A lot of it happens in the Dark Place so things being weird makes some sense but still feels a bit hmmmmmm
-Alan's story sequence is pretty hard to follow HOWEVER that does make sense given the nature of the dark place. When were the books written? Who actually wrote them? Did Scratch actually fuck with him/Alice or was it all Wake himself? Did he involve Saga intentionally and her family? The map keeps changing a little bit and its a bit hard to follow where to go... again, this could all be intentional but its definitely notable
A tour-de-force in video game art as Remedy keeps swinging for the fences and a step forward in the survival horror genre (what, these things can have interesting and layered stories now??), Alan Wake 2 follows up on its cliffhanger predecessor with a hell of a bang. Oh, and another cliffhanger lol
Final Grade: A
2020
Cyberpunk 2077
#17
A not-great RPG makes a pretty great experience! Now that it's 2.0 at least...
The Good:
-The shootin! I used shotguns most of the game and oooo they feel good. Also quickhacks are a fun 'magic' that I wish there was a bit more of!
-Cast of characters are all good-to-great. Johnny, Takemura, River, Judy, Panam... even when they're annoying or assholes they're FUN assholes '
-Phantom Liberty is DOPE but that gets its own review
Side quests are shockingly good. Silverhand narrating a noir novel? Heck yeah.
-Art style is off the damn charts, graphical presentation too.
-When the writing hits hard, it HITS. Calling Jackie's phone after he passes, talking with Johnny at the oil field, laying down with the BD hooker to get an outrageously good soul vomit...
The Bad
-As is usual with CDPR - the roleplaying is just... lacking. Good gameplay variety but with such good writing I expect the character RP to be much much better. Fixed somewhat in Phantom Liberty but that doesn't affect the base game. Normally in CDPR games this goes in the 'meh' column because in that we're playing a well-established character: Geralt. There's not a ton of wiggle room there with who he is. But V can be anyone, quit trying to make me one specific lady
-The open world mechanics are ehhhh. Driving is whatever, there's very little open level design... Just ugh
The Meh:
-As mentioned, the driving. You have to do a lot of it and it is rarely enjoyable but on a motorcycle it aint too bad
The Hmmm
-Why can't I use slomo aaaaand use quickhack powers????
A solid step-down from CDPR's previous Witcher games, a great RPG is ultimately held back by both the studios lack of skill in making a proper ROLE PLAYING game + a near-useless open world that hinders the level design of even the good parts of the game. Strong performances from the cast, excellent side missions and satisfying gunplay + leveling make it a fine experience overall.
Final Grade: B+
#17
A not-great RPG makes a pretty great experience! Now that it's 2.0 at least...
The Good:
-The shootin! I used shotguns most of the game and oooo they feel good. Also quickhacks are a fun 'magic' that I wish there was a bit more of!
-Cast of characters are all good-to-great. Johnny, Takemura, River, Judy, Panam... even when they're annoying or assholes they're FUN assholes '
-Phantom Liberty is DOPE but that gets its own review
Side quests are shockingly good. Silverhand narrating a noir novel? Heck yeah.
-Art style is off the damn charts, graphical presentation too.
-When the writing hits hard, it HITS. Calling Jackie's phone after he passes, talking with Johnny at the oil field, laying down with the BD hooker to get an outrageously good soul vomit...
The Bad
-As is usual with CDPR - the roleplaying is just... lacking. Good gameplay variety but with such good writing I expect the character RP to be much much better. Fixed somewhat in Phantom Liberty but that doesn't affect the base game. Normally in CDPR games this goes in the 'meh' column because in that we're playing a well-established character: Geralt. There's not a ton of wiggle room there with who he is. But V can be anyone, quit trying to make me one specific lady
-The open world mechanics are ehhhh. Driving is whatever, there's very little open level design... Just ugh
The Meh:
-As mentioned, the driving. You have to do a lot of it and it is rarely enjoyable but on a motorcycle it aint too bad
The Hmmm
-Why can't I use slomo aaaaand use quickhack powers????
A solid step-down from CDPR's previous Witcher games, a great RPG is ultimately held back by both the studios lack of skill in making a proper ROLE PLAYING game + a near-useless open world that hinders the level design of even the good parts of the game. Strong performances from the cast, excellent side missions and satisfying gunplay + leveling make it a fine experience overall.
Final Grade: B+
The Coffin of Andy and Leyley
#16
Time for some cleanup! A light adventure/VN game about a crapsack brother and sister in an arguably more crapsack world
The Good:
-Engaging characters, primarily our main two who are two different kinds of fucked up. The minor characters and how they interact with our leads all plays into the core tension with the two.
-The crapsack world: debatable whether our protagonists are reliable narrators, but everything in the world is a fucked up capitalist nihilistic hellscape. Our two leads start the game locked up in their apartments yet we quickly learn the lockdown is almost entirely bullshit (probably..?) and as we learn more and more about this place it just gets more interesting (and sad)
-Art style is solid - got an RPG maker feel for the overworld but everything is distinct and drab
-Good enough 'puzzles', they're just enough to make you think about what to do but very rarely annoying
The Bad:
-Choices and consequence are so far seemingly pretty minor? However the game isn't finished yet (Early access! UGHHH) so not 100% fair to say how much that'll change
-Some of the writing is pretty blah. Overall quite good but there's a few scenes that are ehh
The Meh:
-Could be a bit longer? Episode 1 felt very short which works great as a prologue but if the last chapter is only as long as 2 the game is only like 4 hours then?
-Definitely needs some more 'bespoke' animated scenes, maybe at the end of the episodes??
The Hmm
-The incest is laid on reeeeeeal thick, it's defended as "an option" but it seems very clear that's the way the author intends the story to go.
A strangely riveting tale of two people who are terrible for each other but ultimately in such a terrible place they've been put that you end up kinda rooting for them anyway? Obv the dev is going for extra pizzazz points by making the relationship incestuous if the player chooses but Layley has a legit point: it's hardly the most fucked up thing they've done or had happen to them! Genuinely engaging and fun
Final Grade: A-
#16
Time for some cleanup! A light adventure/VN game about a crapsack brother and sister in an arguably more crapsack world
The Good:
-Engaging characters, primarily our main two who are two different kinds of fucked up. The minor characters and how they interact with our leads all plays into the core tension with the two.
-The crapsack world: debatable whether our protagonists are reliable narrators, but everything in the world is a fucked up capitalist nihilistic hellscape. Our two leads start the game locked up in their apartments yet we quickly learn the lockdown is almost entirely bullshit (probably..?) and as we learn more and more about this place it just gets more interesting (and sad)
-Art style is solid - got an RPG maker feel for the overworld but everything is distinct and drab
-Good enough 'puzzles', they're just enough to make you think about what to do but very rarely annoying
The Bad:
-Choices and consequence are so far seemingly pretty minor? However the game isn't finished yet (Early access! UGHHH) so not 100% fair to say how much that'll change
-Some of the writing is pretty blah. Overall quite good but there's a few scenes that are ehh
The Meh:
-Could be a bit longer? Episode 1 felt very short which works great as a prologue but if the last chapter is only as long as 2 the game is only like 4 hours then?
-Definitely needs some more 'bespoke' animated scenes, maybe at the end of the episodes??
The Hmm
-The incest is laid on reeeeeeal thick, it's defended as "an option" but it seems very clear that's the way the author intends the story to go.
A strangely riveting tale of two people who are terrible for each other but ultimately in such a terrible place they've been put that you end up kinda rooting for them anyway? Obv the dev is going for extra pizzazz points by making the relationship incestuous if the player chooses but Layley has a legit point: it's hardly the most fucked up thing they've done or had happen to them! Genuinely engaging and fun
Final Grade: A-