More of a mechs powered by “red-blooded passion” guy, but this is good too.

For anyone getting into this after the recent announcement of VI, it’s worth mentioning that Hard mode adds in a bunch of gameplay and story elements that are missing on your initial playthrough- had a terrible first impression after playing, most missions passing by in what felt seconds, incomplete thoughts that only rarely capitalized on the promise of high-speed mech battles. But go into Hard mode and suddenly the game comes alive; those missions that seemed so effortless on the first go around sees the standard enemies kitted out with deadlier gear, and more importantly, the game becomes a lot more aggressive with the amount of rival NEXTs you end up fighting.

It represents a tremendous uptick in quality, fights that really demand that you know the environment and the strengths of your own mech, but it’s maybe the most aggressively that a first playthrough has felt like a tutorial- like it really is just a chance to learn the buttons and get enough currency to buy whatever parts you need when you start getting bodied by the actually interesting scenarios on the next go-around. At my most cynical, it comes across as a way of getting more value out of the content on offer (sort feels like starting with inverted castle in SOTN).

Miyazaki has discussed the gulf in resources between Rubicon’s development and the AC’s of the past, and this is one aspect where those limitations are made the most apparent- otherwise the game is really good at masking its budget, even when it re-uses many of the same levels throughout its campaign. In a war “without ideology or reason,” it makes an absurd sort of sense to liquidate the same facility you were just defending a few missions ago, or to recapture the same city, again and again and again, the nature of an all-consuming corporate war, the reasons for these conflicts never really in question.

I do think it loses some of its bite as a depiction of the corporate apocalypse though- the player flush with so much capital that you don’t feel the boot heel of your overlords so much. I’ve only played a few hours of the older AC titles, but I totally get why there would be a schism between the generations for longtime fans- something that really stuck out to me with the older games was the way that they acknowledged the logistical reality of operating one of these mechs, with cumbersome controls and so many expenses at the end of a mission that it was hard just to break even. AC4 goes more for a straightforward power fantasy; I never found myself selling parts or reloading out of fear that I’d cobbled together some junker out of what remained of my earnings.

It’s not a huge problem, and despite my issues with the game, finally getting into some of the tougher Hard mode missions causes most of those other problems to fall by the wayside, each enemy NEXT adding a huge amount of drama and challenge to proceedings. That part where you horribly murder a bunch of people “purge” a GA facility is elevated massively thanks to a NEXT ambushing you right at the end, re-contextualizing a pretty boring objective into something really engaging, getting you to conserve enough health and ammo to have a decent chance at winning the fight- and serving as final twist of the knife when you realize who hired them to kill you.

Cool game, and it’s made me a lot more curious about what shape ACVI is going to take.

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Stray thoughts:

- It’s probably because the Ace Combat games are so fresh on my mind, but I think the game would’ve really benefited from the perspective of an ordinary person in this world- especially during Emil’s monologues between chapters, a few stills of charting the changing nature of life in Anatolia could've really helped cast a shadow over the rest of the action.

- It would have been a complete luxury, but I also would have loved to have seen some kind of replay feature charting your NEXT’s progression over the course of the game; the chance to see my “teleports behind u” starter mutate into a graceless weapons platform, Ship-of-Theseus style, would’ve been killer.

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References:

https://www.ign.com/articles/armored-core-6-interview:
Hidetaka Miyazaki: Actually, I was the director on Armored Core 4 and For Answer. And of course in those days, the level of resources and the cost and the time that we could dedicate to game development was just a completely different ballpark. So I'm extremely jealous of the team today who gets to make this new Armored Core. I wish we had that sort of leverage back in the day.

Lying in the corners of the dimly lit Garage, the discarded, the unwanted, and the waste wait quietly blanketed in dust underneath workmen’s tools hanging in the darkness, shining like stars. This place of refuse, of oil stains and grime and filth is the sanctuary and prison for all things that shuffle and crawl in the night - rodents, insects, parasites and worse. Yan awakes in his own Garage, being saved from drowning in sewage, yet set on a mystery to answer two questions: who am I, and who have I been?

The crusted and horrific world of Garage exists on the foundation of this ontological collapse, and it strives to strip its inhabitants of any humanity or other sense of being that may exist within. Grotesque biomechanical bodies shuffle along tracks surrounded by a sea of literal sewage and filth from which they find their food as well as currency for Fuel, one of the key components to survival in Garage. While sewage and mutated creatures may prompt disgust in the real world, the game makes them essential, and though Yan’s primary goal is to discover his identity, he will have to spend much time upgrading himself and playing a fishing mini-game in order to stay alive. This can be a little frustrating, as it does inhibit the exploration of this surreal world and is not particularly fun. The gameplay itself can be slightly monotonous at times, and extends the runtime a little longer than perhaps necessary. However, after a while things do become second nature and fishing becomes an almost soothing experience while in Garage.

The hideous nature of the world and characters follow this pattern as well. The first few hours will most likely be spent in awe and morbid curiosity of the scenery, however this sensation fades as the layout of the town becomes more natural and understood, and what was once a nightmare becomes somewhat cozy and relaxing. This mirrors the themes of abuse and violence woven throughout the game - something once horrific and traumatizing becomes natural and just a part of life after continued exposure. Numbness overcomes shock, and survival instincts overcome pain. Many moments throughout the game break through this fog due to their shocking and disturbing nature, however, to remind Yan of the truly grotesque nature of Garage.

While Fuel biologically energizes Yan, its counterpart, Ego, is also a necessary commodity for staying alive in the game, which is interesting considering Ego exists as part of a person’s identity, while Yan has no identity outside of the player controlling him. Ego restricts impulse - the same impulses that lead to igniting and fanning the flames of anger, abuse, and control - and replaces it with rationality. This seems to run contrary to the almost animalistic nature of Garage, but it keeps Yan sane enough to continue his journey, and separates him from the rest of Garage’s inhabitants. Ego, rationality, and understanding unlock the door to identity and release from Garage, yet it is impossible to achieve this rationality without first being a part of Garage. Focusing on the horrific environment of sewage, trash, and discarded inhabitants, it is easy to forget that the primary focus of a Garage is for repair. Although the trash and filth do crowd the dark confines of the Garage, tools do still shine in the darkness, and what is a mind but a biological machine? It will be alright. Please, trust Garage. You are certain to find whatever it is you desire.

Way more than just a pikmin-like

Command your little army, expand your little kingdom, levy your little taxes. At first glance this game seems pretty small and kiddy but it goes deep and has something like 20-30 hours of content. The premise of this game is that you start ruling a dinky little kingdom and by the end you will build up a massive empire and it delivers on this concept fully.

This game is packed tight with bosses, city building, side quests, a seamless interconnected world, polygamy, secret wizards, and more. To top it all off it has some really genuine charm and humour, it reeks of Love-de-Lic, to put it mildly.

It's by no means a perfect game, the controls are imprecise and the systems are often cryptic, and some of the in game hints even give terrible advice. Even so, nothing could stop me from getting sucked into this little world, and it would not let me go until I had completely conquered it.

After seeing the reviews for Pentiment, I grew more and more curious. After seeing that this was a new RPG, point-and-click from Obsidian, as well as seeing the phenomenal art style, I knew I had to give this game a shot; especially after seeing in on Gamepass. My curiosity was warranted, as Pentiment is one of my favorite games to have come out in 2022.

Pentiment is alllllll about the story and writing. Think of this game as a less-RPG heavy Disco Elysium-esc experience, where your choices in dialogue, as well as your background and strengths, play a role in how your character interacts with those around them, as well as how they solve the mysteries at hand. Being a murder mystery game, you'll spend most of your time talking to people and digging up clues as to who could've done it. Its extremely entertaining, as the writing is some of the best that I've ever seen in games. The writing is also held up by the stellar art style and presentation. Characters write in different scripts depending on their occupation, education level, and/or their personality. It is such a small thing, but helps build characters' personalities in such a cool, subtle way.

I don't want to give away ANYTHING about the story, as I believe it works the best when you go in completely blind. But just know that this game does feature heavy Christiaan themes, as it explore Catholicism and its hold on communities in the 1500s. Which I found extremely interesting. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it worked extremely well for me.

Now if you're the type of gamer that doesn't care much about writing or storytelling and just wanna get down and dirty with some gameplay, don't bother playing Pentiment. The game is all walking, talking, investigating, and choosing. There are some "puzzles" here and there, but they are really simple and not in the least challenging. You're really playing Pentiment for the story and characters, which Obsidian knocked out of the park.

More special mention needs to go to the art style. Its fashioned like the artwork you'd see in a book that was written in the 1500s. Everything follows this style, and it looks stunning. Such a simple style, but it oozes with creativity with every landscape you see in this title.

There's not really a lot to say about Pentiment without spoiling it, which again, I refuse to do. But know that if you love story-focused games with great writing and characters, you'll love Pentiment. It feels like such a passion project, and Obsidian knocked it out of the park.

This is just so slickly presented, so focused and perfectly lean. The handling is like coasting through a dream, every drift and turn feeling like you're entering a zen state when you perfect a track and hit those perfect slides. The music, the endless summertime vibes this hits on oh so wonderfully. That opening FMV that had me spellbound within its vibes.

Each track with the perfect kind of coastal dreamlike hypnotic sense of wonder, each car feeling distinct to drive and fun to master. The type of game that you throw on when all you wanna do is fuckin vibe and lose yourself in pure 1999 circuit racing bliss.

The stories while light keep your attention through each GP and provide a nice bit of sentimentality between each race. Everything about this game appeals to me in such a hyper specific way. None of the other Ridge Racer games that I've tried or played have hit for me quite like this game does. It hits everything it does in a way that no other arcade racer ever has. I realize now that I've been looking for this game my entire life and I'm so happy that I've finally played it. Namco really couldn't lose in the 90's. Making 2 of my favorite games ever (Ace Combat 3 Electrosphere my beloved....) absolute fuckin peak.

This is Wet meets Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and it delivers on the premise. It is intense. It throws so much at me while I have to dodge, shoot, and do tricks to beat the level. It can get borderline frustrating in moments where I dodge one thing only to fly right into another thing or dodge right off a cliff. Also, the final boss fight has an attack that could lead to me flying up in the air off a quarter pipe and looking down as the boss is targeting a bomb right where I'm about to land with no way to avoid it. I could mostly handle what was being thrown at me though. I was impressed by how much I was pulling off under such intense pressure. It was an exciting idea, and the game delivers on it.

The mechanics are fucking stellar but my god does the game constantly want to stop you with some of the most obnoxious and annoying mission structure and design within any of these games.

The cameos/a good chunk of the guest characters are obnoxious and alllllll control so poorly. Swear to god it feels like they're all just slipping and sliding around on their guest vehicles in ways that just suck ass to play with limited move sets that have nothing to do with skateboarding. The constant "find the thing" missions are just so tedious and repeated ad nauseum in ways that just suck. Feels like this game wants to stop you in your tracks as much as possible with missions like "FIND THE GRAFITTI TAGS" and "CLIMB TO THE BILLBOARD TO TAG IT". It's wild as hell.

As for the story, listen I dig Jackass, I dig the cast of Jackass (for the most part) and I can get into a fun dumb goofy skate story like in American Wasteland or Underground. The problem here is just that it's lamely executed. Jackass without real actual people being affected just don't hit the same and all you're left with is boredom and empty crass that doesn't hit.

If the gameplay wasn't so good and the maps weren't mostly so quality I'd probably think this was one of the worst in the series. Feels like it just lives to waste parts of your time in between some challenges and ideas that do seriously shine. Thank god classic mode is there to get around a lot of it but this is such a disappointing way to follow up Underground.

the simultaneous success of dmc1 and failure of dmc2 put a variety of studios in an interesting position of "who could develop the next essential character action title," and team ninja really capitalized on the opportunity to try to take the crown. this became apparent to me during the game's beefy runtime considering just how different it is than today's CAGs in terms of structure and focus. in many ways ninja gaiden '04 (and by extension black) is a bold attempt at the 3D action-adventure game that sits as a bit of an evolutionary dead-end as CAGs have become increasingly combat-focused.

much of this can be seen in parallels between ninja gaiden and devil may cry 3, which released just a year after the former. dmc3 still retains some of the resident evil-derived exploration and interconnected world of its predecessors, but really pushes towards a focus on flashy and dynamic combat at every turn. ninja gaiden instead truly leaned into the scenario design that dmc1 played around with. instead of focusing on a single castle awkwardly chopped up into different missions, ninja gaiden generally focuses each chapter on a completely different area of the map, serving as mini-dungeons with their own puzzles, unique hazards, enemy types. as the game comes to a close these areas become more and more entwined, but the level segmentation is tremendously well-planned, and it clears up much ambiguity over what key items work where and how to progress the story. thanks to helpful notes from ayane, objectives are explained to the player, and if you pay any attention to the various locks around the game world it's easy to keep track of where to go. this kind of simple exploration really does wonders to vary the pace and avoid the trap of "I just did combat arenas for an hour straight and it's all memory-sludge in my head."

on the contrary, each scenario sticks out so precisely in my head that it's a wonder they came up with so many excellent ideas. taking down the airship by destroying the main generators and slaughtering a cyborg on the roof while flying through a storm, descending into the crypt and rising back up to place the chalice at the altar only to fight a giant skeleton monster and watch it crash to the bottom, where the floor has collapsed into a egyptian-tinged den of traps, the half-ice half-magma section where you switch between sides in order to eventually relight a furnace; hell, they nailed a 40-minute underwater section that serves as a great breather between non-stop action otherwise. unlike devil may cry, ninja gaiden manages to entirely switch its mood and playstyle on a dime when it wants to and surprise the player with some new idea at every turn. the variety kept me going "one more save point" over and over again where most CAGs generally lose me at 60/90 minute sessions, which is a credit to how itagaki and the team understood how to perfectly scale the intensity of an adventure over a 16 hour runtime.

of course, with so many great ideas thrown into the mix, there's bound to be some bad ones, and unfortunately there are some major clunkers to be found here. the entire military base raid for one is suffocating both in how the enemy forces exclusively use firearms which stagger the battle pacing and how there are not one but three different vehicular bosses in this section, all of which necessitate use of the clunky OOT-style first-person bow aiming controls. another particular sore point for me near the end of the game was the dreadful phantom pirahna labyrinth, where the game explicitly tells you to spam your flail light attack to avoid needing to mash out of their bite grab that bleeds your health as more and more leech onto you. the fact that these fish will blip into existence as others die really ratchets up the frustration during these sections, which frankly I died to the most during the last two chapters of the game (and ghost doku lmao). smaller puzzles and platforming sections will likely jolt you as the game wears on much as they did me, and it occasionally requires taking a break and coming back to it another time when the brutality of failure in one of these less-than-fair sections becomes too heavy.

thankfully overall I found the rest of the game surprisingly fair. given that ryu's powerful ultimate technique attack harnesses "essence" drops from enemies (colored orb drops shamelessly cribbed from dmc), currency and health drops are exceedingly frequent, and you will have an abundance of currency and health at any point in the game so long as you balance your UT usage. health consumables are also in fair supply, and the smaller variety are rather cheap at the in-game store; I virtually always bought a full set without significantly denting my essence reserves. save points are smartly placed in high foot-traffic locations and replaying sections will rarely take more than a few minutes as long as you diligently save. this latter point is frequently harped upon as a major problem with the game, and I have to assume people bothered by it are simply not used to having to replay sections of games at all; the devs thankfully didn't force us to restart the mission entirely as in dmc1 or pre-SE dmc3, and the backtracking necessary in most levels makes frequently passing by save points common. on that note: I never found the lack of lock-on frustrating given that ryu's soft lock-on is intelligent and don't really see a need for it in a game without firearms anyway. rarely did I whiff without it being completely my fault, and if you're blocking and countering frequently you should already be lined up with your foe.

I've neglected to discuss the combat given that I wanted to highlight less-discussed elements of the game, but yes, the combat is phenomenal. another aspect of this game's odd branch off of dmc1 is its more traditional and less combo-focused combat that instead favors rapid decision-making and opponent reads. it's not surprising to me that this was developed by a fighting game studio, because the combat first-and-foremost reminded me of something like tekken. in those games I am frequently weaving around opponents, waiting for openings, and then seizing on split-second encounters to score a juicy launcher and deal the bulk of my damage. here it's the same, removed from the one-to-one paradigm to instead wider groups of enemies all vying to attack you at once. izuna drop was my bread-and-butter and securing that light attack (or simply whiffing and catching them with the launcher) was my prize. much like a fighting game enemies will punish you for repetition of simple maneuvers or grab you out of a block frequently, and thus staying instinctual and reactive during combat is a must. it's free-flowing and easy to come up with new links or surprise enders given ryu's strong moveset and stable of weaponry, and while I primarily stuck to dragon sword during my playthrough, I still felt like I was discovering new things and improving the more I played.

a few minor quibbles about the combat (mainly controls) that I would like to bring up however: for one, the density of different button combinations and the amount of contextual ones meant that it occasionally felt like a crapshoot on what would actually come out at any given time. flying swallow was a particularly noticeable one for me, as I didn't really nail down its use until I started incorporating the homing jump into my play, and even afterwards it was a bit dodgy even when I was clearly pointing towards an opponent. incorporating the platforming moves in also never came naturally to me, especially since ryu's wall-run can be spotty on whether it will go vertical or horizontal, and the battle camera further aggravates that. in general I would say ryu's platforming is a little slippery: for 2004/5 it's excellent and an improvement on dmc1's stiff movement and a contemporary like sands of time's rigid traversal system, but it definitely shows its age and results in some unneeded frustration.

bosses are also mostly good, but not particularly ambitious in terms of movesets of fight setup. larger bosses mostly boil down to typical [look to the windup -> dodge the move -> spam an attack for a bit] flowcharts that leave a bit to be desired, especially for bosses like the dragon where I felt like I was mainly just chipping away with the windmill shuriken. humanoid bosses tend to suffer from ryu being too fast and dynamic and the boss needing to stay somewhat calm in order to be fair and predictable, and thus to balance it away from ryu's favor there's a lot of indeterminate blocking that I found annoying and perplexing. using two flying swallows back to back with one clinking off and one hitting makes little sense, and it ruins some of the immersion of trying to figure out the fight when it feels like random chance and not taking advantage of openings. none of them are particularly bad though (except the tanks/copters), and all of them are absolutely manageable or even a little easier than you would expect given the notorious difficulty of the game. the endgame fight where you float on a chunk of rock was also way better than the space harrier section of dmc1, so major props to team ninja there.

there's so much to discuss with this game, and I'm not sure I can even accurately give an opinion given that I've only done a normal playthrough and will likely not go for a hard run anytime in the near future (that's just not how I play games unfortunately). there's so much more content waiting for me when I get back, and hopefully I will given how much this game has imprinted on my brain. equally invigorating, anxiety-inducing, thrilling, and frustrating in all the best of ways.

Video game equivalent of stepping outside the bar and getting jumped by four guys all kicking you at the same time while you're down (this is a good thing).

It's stunning how much depth NGB's high enemy aggression adds to the combat, even simple mob encounters are intense because it's all about managing their numbers, distancing yourself or closing in, deciding who to attack... Ryu's arsenal has a lot of simple moves and combos (usually just alternating weak and strong attacks) that are not often suited to crowd control, but rather to deal high damage against one enemy. Longer, more flashy combos would not fare as well since you'd be getting interrupted a lot. Instead, the approach is to find gaps, kill fast and get out.

Action is fast, and some opponents are just as agile as Ryu, but may outnumber you. Yet you can also dispatch enemies fairly quickly: chains often kill on their last hit (which generally do the most damage in a combo), especially fast foes which usually aren't tanky.

It demands your attention to everyone onscreen (and offscreen!) rather than have enemies that you're not fighting wait on you. Focusing just on who you're attacking means death. It also requires you learn their patterns, since it's essential to know which attacks are better to dodge, roll or counter; in order to find openings between the onslaught. Spamming block just means they'll grab you, and attacking mindlessly has them dodge.

That is not to say you're forced to play defensively, quite the opposite. There's plenty of moves and strategies for each situation, allowing you to guide the flow of the battle; and in general it's just as necessary to damage, stun or kill enemies in order to deal with numbers as it is dodging and blocking. So long as you know which attacks are suited best for the situation and react fast to enemies you can do almost everything.

There's also some weapons that are a bit better for crowd control, like the Lunar. Or heavy hitting ones like the Dabilahro. They're situational, may be faster but weaker, very good against a certain enemy, require a different type of playing... but the variety is good enough even though half of them are reskins.

The enemies though, fiends as a whole are a bit underwhelming. By the end I was a bit tired of the pink fiends, and non-humanoid fiends didn't really seem like a good fit: no room for aerial combos and usually best to stomp them with a heavy weapon, while I much prefer the fast paced exchanges with humanoid enemies such as ninjas. And bossfights are even more of a mixed bag; the most unremarkable ones are also the ones you fight the most. And in general, giant bosses do not flow well with the combat either. Worms, hydracubus, tanks, bone dragon, emperor... even if they're not hard it's like a chore. But the game does have some good challenges. I enjoyed fighting Alma and Doku, but they feel more like exceptions than anything.

There's other shortcomings for me. Water segments are boring and underwater controls very limiting. While platforming isn't the best it does feel good, especially wall running in combat or going around fast with your moveset. Yet there's not much fun to be found in water. In general level design is not too much of a pain but I don't particularly enjoy picking up every last secret in the game or missing out on an item or upgrade because I found only 49 out of 50. Not many 'puzzles' or exploring around or rather, it's simple enough, which I think is for the best. Just enough to break up combat segments while not trying to be another type of game.

Fiend challenges are ok, especially early on, facing the same enemy really helps you to know them, but then a bit boring when you see the best tactic is just to constantly use orbs and UT to kill every wave. And later on you're doing challenges against the same enemy in a different room.

There's some seemingly 'cheaper' tactics like izuna drop, charged UT, wind slash or wall attacks; but they still have you vulnerable at times, and they're less cheesy the more you advance in the game or in difficulty and meet new foes with tactics against it. Besides, it's just more fun to engage enemies than to constantly run up the fucking wall, if you want to not have fun go ahead.

And I must emphasize how much these faults are far outweighed by its strong points. Combat here is the focus and it does it extremely well. In addition to that, higher difficulties add a lot by really switching it up and if that's not enough there's also mission mode with a lot of content and challenges as well.

"Think of your many years of procrastination, and how you've always been granted more and more time of which you never took advantage.

It's time to realize the nature of the world to which you belong - to understand that you have a time limit and it's running out.

So use it to advance your enlightenment or it will be gone forever!"

-clump of grass