Game_Liker
This game looks glorious. The Studio Ghibli style works so well here. The characters are charming and the story seemed like it would be decent. Luckily I picked this up on a deep sale though because the combat is so butt that I'm dropping this game. I generally dislike standard turn-based combat. I do love some games with turn-based combat systems, but I dislike the vast majority of them. I am glad they tried to mix it up here a bit, I just don't think it works at all. I found myself dreading every battle which doesn't bode well for a long JRPG.
Fortunately I got this as a free PS Plus game because this is utter trash. I cannot decide what the worst part of this game is: insanely stupid cutscenes and dialogue, terrible arcadey racing controls, or the constant inundation of microtransactions that tie car upgrades and customization with real money. Just an abysmal game.
2020
I don't like roguelikes, so when I say a roguelike is my game of the year so far you better believe it's damn good.
The problem I have with most roguelikes is that you generally start with all the tools you need to succeed; you just bang your head against the wall until you are experienced enough to use those tools to win. In Hades, each death moves the narrative forward and gives you an opportunity to not only grow more powerful but interact with the glorious, diverse cast of characters. The art style is unique and evocative. Rather than deliver a boring, whitewashed pantheon, each character in this game has a distinct and diverse style.
When you do start another run, the combat is tight and fluid and the sense of progression throughout a run is wonderful. There's an awesome sense of joy when you complete a run for the first time and that feeling doesn't fade with subsequent runs. Even if you do die, you know you're going to be making progress and the next run will be better.
I love everything about this game. Supergiant has made some awesome games in the past, especially Pyre, but this game is their best effort so far. I was initially skeptical purely due to the genre, but this is one of the best titles currently available on Switch and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
The problem I have with most roguelikes is that you generally start with all the tools you need to succeed; you just bang your head against the wall until you are experienced enough to use those tools to win. In Hades, each death moves the narrative forward and gives you an opportunity to not only grow more powerful but interact with the glorious, diverse cast of characters. The art style is unique and evocative. Rather than deliver a boring, whitewashed pantheon, each character in this game has a distinct and diverse style.
When you do start another run, the combat is tight and fluid and the sense of progression throughout a run is wonderful. There's an awesome sense of joy when you complete a run for the first time and that feeling doesn't fade with subsequent runs. Even if you do die, you know you're going to be making progress and the next run will be better.
I love everything about this game. Supergiant has made some awesome games in the past, especially Pyre, but this game is their best effort so far. I was initially skeptical purely due to the genre, but this is one of the best titles currently available on Switch and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
2020
This game is incredibly good at slowly feeding you dopamine and to be quite honest I enjoyed it more than Breath of the Wild, which it is blatantly ripping off. The combat isn’t that good or anything but hey, neither is BotW’s. It shouldn’t work; they throw so much RPG shit in here and an insane amount of different currencies and microtransactions. It seems like I’d hate it but it’s very addicting and the writing is surprisingly good. Unfortunately I have to abandon this before I start spending real money on it.
2020
This game is quite good but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as DOOM (2016). I found that game's combat perfect, and this one was a bit too complicated for my taste. There were just too many plates to keep spinning at once and if you forget one you probably die. It still feels great, I just don't enjoy it as much as I expected.
The other thing that kind of rubbed me the wrong way was the story. I think story is an underrated part of the incredible success of DOOM (2016). It was great at being super on-the-nose while also delivering small moments of characterization that tie it all together. An energy company mining hell itself for more resources? A nameless employee fighting back against literal demons and corporate greed? Amazing. This one doesn't have the same charm and the story feels more convoluted.
Still, this is a video game ass video game and it made me happy.
The other thing that kind of rubbed me the wrong way was the story. I think story is an underrated part of the incredible success of DOOM (2016). It was great at being super on-the-nose while also delivering small moments of characterization that tie it all together. An energy company mining hell itself for more resources? A nameless employee fighting back against literal demons and corporate greed? Amazing. This one doesn't have the same charm and the story feels more convoluted.
Still, this is a video game ass video game and it made me happy.
2019
I'm actually having a lot of fun with this game. I think it's quite solid and it reminds me a bit of the Mad Max game, which is fantastic. Unfortunately it seems like it'll be a solid 30ish hour game and I only have my PS Now trial for a week so I'm going to shelve it. Definitely would come back at some point though, especially if I keep PS Now.
2015
Once this game got going it was a fun horror B-movie with some of the best QTE implementation I've seen in a game. Unfortunately, this game is grueling before that. I swear I spent at least four hours awkwardly twitching back and forth from room to room as the camera shifted perspective, turning on lights and pretending like I don't know shit is about to go down. For some reason this game thinks it's the first game where choices affect outcomes so they really want you to play multiple playthroughs. I just can't do it again, purely because of the first half of the game.
2019
This game seemed cool but it was super buggy for me and I wasn't so hooked that I'd keep playing despite the bugs, so I'm gonna toss this one and move on.
2012
A decent, concise shooter with a fine narrative. Certainly a bit more of a thinker than your standard shooter but nothing groundbreaking. Get it? Violence is bad.
2012
I love survival horror Resident Evil but I also love big dumb action movie Resident Evil. Playing this in co-op is the most fun I've had with a game in a long time.
2007
NO MORE HEROES shouldn't work. The open world is way too barren. The side quests you need to do to get money are boring and break up the forward momentum. The characters are often cringeworthy and it feels like the writing was done by an edgy teenager. Somehow it all comes together into something coherent though. Way over-the-top but it fits Suda51's style and I think there's a reason this game is still talked about. I am glad it exists.
Miles Morales improves on the 2018 game in every way. It tightens up the open-world bloat and tells a more compelling and better paced story. I have always found Miles Morales to be a great character and focusing on him feels fresh. I love the winter setting as well. Just a phenomenal game overall - I sincerely hope this sets the standard for superhero games moving forward.
My biggest and only real complaint is that it shows a lot of deference to police, which feels extraordinarily tone deaf considering the cultural context this game was released in and, you know, the actual actions of the NYPD. It feels doubly weird when this game otherwise makes a lot of great decisions w/r/t diversity and representation. From the constant praise of Miles' heroic cop father to a mission where you literally use police facial recognition technology to identify and subdue criminals, it feels jarring and it's not something that would typically throw me off. The 2018 game was way, way worse about this in retrospect, but it feels egregious in this game because it's clear they put so much care into crafting a vibrant and diverse cast of characters. I think this is something the games community needs to take seriously moving forward if games are actually going to become more diverse in a meaningful way.
Copaganda aside, this is one of the most fun games I have played this year.
My biggest and only real complaint is that it shows a lot of deference to police, which feels extraordinarily tone deaf considering the cultural context this game was released in and, you know, the actual actions of the NYPD. It feels doubly weird when this game otherwise makes a lot of great decisions w/r/t diversity and representation. From the constant praise of Miles' heroic cop father to a mission where you literally use police facial recognition technology to identify and subdue criminals, it feels jarring and it's not something that would typically throw me off. The 2018 game was way, way worse about this in retrospect, but it feels egregious in this game because it's clear they put so much care into crafting a vibrant and diverse cast of characters. I think this is something the games community needs to take seriously moving forward if games are actually going to become more diverse in a meaningful way.
Copaganda aside, this is one of the most fun games I have played this year.
2020
I think this surpasses Dirt Rally 2.0 as my favorite rally racing game to date. There's no better feeling than putting together a fast, clean run once you get the hang of handling the cars. There could have been more courses and the career mode could have been more robust, but things are moving in the right direction. The jump in quality from WRC 8 to WRC 9 is stunning and I'm really looking forward to WRC 10 now.
The campaign was quite short but included some really interesting sections, especially the undercover KGB mission. It's mostly hoorah American imperialism but the little choices you make along the way, and the big one at the end, set this story above your run-of-the-mill COD campaigns. Zombies is fun. Multiplayer is mostly good but it's riddled with bugs and connection issues that they desperately need to iron out. Another year, another COD. But it's a good one.
It took a while before the story started to make any sense but once it came together it was one of the best sci-fi stories I have ever experienced in a game. The RTS gameplay did nothing for me and the story gameplay became a little tiresome as the game wore on, but the story is so good that I think it is best enjoyed as a visual novel of sorts, setting the RTS gameplay to casual to breeze through it. Fantastic narrative. Glad I gave this one a shot.