Game #110: Forza Horizon 4: Fortune Island

After being addicted to Forza Horizon 4, I started playing its first DLC and I can say I'm really satisfied with this. Fortune Island is for heaven to drift and race offroad. It just lacks memorable locations.

7/10

I love ‘bad’ media. I love watching crappy movies, playing janky games, and embarrassing YouTube videos. I think there’s a bunch of people out there who feel the same way, I mean… my reviews usually get a few likes. Got me!

Usually when people say they love ‘bad’ media, the media tends to live in the popular ‘so bad it’s good’ realm, and by that I mean ‘so bad it’s funny and entertaining to experience’ not ‘so bad it’s aspirational’. I think art is subjective, and there’s an experiential aspect as well as those theoretical and critical, which all get thrown into the big soup of my reviews, star ratings, and opinions. My perception of a game’s quality and entertainment value both go into my star ratings and reviews.

This is probably why I don’t have a rating scale in my bio, because I figure you know what 1-5 rating scale is AND you can read. I don’t always write succinctly, but I’d hope that people don’t read my reviews, look at the star rating, and go “I wonder what he meant by that.”

So let’s get this out of the way: this game sucks. I actually had a great time playing it in the early hours (hence the non half-star), laughing at the performance issues, convoluted story, and bafflingly bland game design. It wore off. This game truly becomes a massive slog during Silver’s campaign, and the overall repetition of content makes the playthrough pretty arduous.

But! And I think this is important if you want a peek into my sick and twisted Shadow-esque world- I do not regret playing this. I have rarely regretted spending time with a bad piece of media. Experiencing any art, no matter how boring, bland, and mediocre that may be, is not something I see as a default negative. On a low level it serves as a way to appreciate the things I love by contrast, but it’s also an education, another thing to store in my mind, another thing to know. I’m not without some discretion, as I try to actively pick things I think will give me something to take away, but I’ve got a bit of a masochistic streak which has inadvertently led me to a greater appreciation of all art and of life in general.

So my big takeaways from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) are that A. I stand by my reviews of the Sonic Adventure games, and B. This is even worse than I remember it being. I’ve always had a weird soft spot for Sonic 06, and I still have one, it’s just smaller now.

Everything to do with Silver is terrible. The reliance on physics objects in his moveset, the story, and even the boss fights against him are low-points for the game and the franchise. It has nothing I want from a Sonic game, and here’s I guess another thing (a point C if you’re somehow following this) I got out of Sonic the Hedgehog: I mostly just want to play as Sonic or a Sonic-like character in these games. I’m okay with the occasional gimmick to spice things up, like cars or planes, but I want to move fast and I want to zip around collecting rings or spinning into enemies.

Sonic: what I want, still not that great though because this is the game it’s in.
Shadow: like Sonic but with a twist, refreshing to do as the final campaign.
Knuckles/Rouge: harmless but trivial.
Blaze: like Sonic/Shadow but slightly worse.
Tails: Not all that fun, but flying can be novel for a second.
Amy: sucks but the section is mercifully short
Omega: Almost forgot about it, needed a UI element for locking-on
Silver: Tedium incarnate. Borders on being torturous.

Also this review is getting long in the tooth, but I have to mention Soleanna as it’s one of the emptiest and worst hub areas ever (I love hub areas so hey, this having a hub at all is a little bit of a positive), but it’s ALSO even worse when you’re playing as Silver. Soleanna is huge and he’s slow. It doesn’t even have a Chao garden! The nerve.

A human woman kisses Sonic in one of the game’s final fantasy cutscenes and it’s a highlight for sure. Worth playing just for that. Wait, I could’ve just watched a let’s play or rewatched the cutscenes online? You’re telling me this now? Just kidding I was always going to replay this.

Silver Lining ties up all the loose ends of the Spider-Man DLC Saga in a nice way. Silver Sable and the story surrounding her was good. There is also at least one new interesting side activity. But main missions continue to not be very well and the overall story is weak because of Hammerhead's emptiness as a villain.

The Full Review(No Spoilers for THIS DLC, Spoilers for Main Game and Previous DLC's):

Unlikely Friendships
The end is here. Marvel's Spider-Man releases it's final DLC Silver Lining and this chapter of Insomniac's history closes. And, this DLC is just okay. It's a little bit better than Turf Wars but nowhere close to the main game or The Heist.

The story here begins with Silver Sable coming back to get her weapons and equipment. She is furious and wants to punish Hammerhead. Her road crosses with Spider-Man and they start a friendship, maybe temporary.

The Heist was Black Cat's story, Turf Wars was Yuri Watanabe's story and Silver Lining is definitely Silver Sable's story. Her scenes with Spider-Man are great. And their relationship develops in a nice way. Voice actress Nichole Elise does a great job too.

However, exactly like Turf Wars, this DLC has a villain problem. Hammerhead returns as the big bad here but he has even less screen time in this story. He is a very empty villain and definitely dragged down both this and the previous DLC.

There are some other characters as well that I don't want to talk about. I just want to say that don't worry, this final DLC ties up ALL the loose ends. And it does a great job at that.

Main missions of this DLC are similar to Turf Wars. There are some cool missions and moments here and there but most of them are not very good. Side missions however, there is one interesting thing there.

First up, we have more crimes and more Screwball Missions. As well as 3 new outposts that are fun. I say this because Turf Wars' outposts were too difficult and not very fun in my opinion. This DLC's outposts are much better.

The interesting side activity here are Crime Scenes. These are very similar to The Heist's "Stolen Art Pieces". Each Crime Scene will give you a voice recording. There are 9 of them in total and each unlocks a piece of the puzzle.

Stolen Art Pieces went to a very interesting place with telling us more about Felicia's dad, the original Black Cat. Crime Scenes are even more connected to the main story and definitely sets up a future villain. I don't want to spoil but the only thing I can say is that you should do these. Definitely, definitely do them. Even if you don't do any other side activities, do the Crime Scene collectibles.

Silver Lining ties up all the loose ends of the Spider-Man DLC Saga in a nice way. Silver Sable and the story surrounding her was good. There is also at least one new interesting side activity. But main missions continue to not be very well and the overall story is weak because of Hammerhead's emptiness as a villain.

Going into Silent Hill 3, I had no idea what to expect. There’s a divisive (if you can even call “it’s really good, just not as good as the first 2” divisive) reputation surrounding this game that had me very intrigued when booting it up for the first time. Putting the TL;DR at the start: it was an incredible experience. I recommend anyone interested in playing it to play the first 2 before it, but other than that, let me share my thoughts.

Let me get the obvious out of the way: this game looks phenomenal. It's nothing short of wizardry how much the team improved the lighting, hair effects, facial animations, and textures in only 2 years. But something I appreciate even more is that the rusty and depraved atmosphere from the nightmare sections in Silent Hill 1 and 2 not only return; they return with a vengeance. Unlike its predecessors, the nightmare sections feel unpredictable and horrifying. The hallways are bathed in blood and filth with mutilated corpses in caged boxes hanging from the ceiling. Later in the game, rooms (and your flesh) will be consumed with squirmy tentacles of black ooze. Some hallways are a high contrast orange that make you think your eyes are bleeding. Random yelps of pain will sound off right as you exit a room, accented by shuffling feet and beastly groans in the hallway outside.

When you find the source of the groaning, you'll discover that the atmosphere is thanks in large part to the skin-crawlingly disturbing enemies. The PSX limited Silent Hill 1 from going too crazy with the models and Silent Hill 2 kept itself limited in scope on purpose, but Silent Hill 3 takes the training weights off and cooks up some truly awful looking bastards to chase you around. 10 foot tall flesh pillars who come in packs. Living piles of bloated, dead flesh. Disfigured humans who crawl on the floor, gnawing at your feet. And if it wasn't bad enough, the typical dog enemies aren't just dogs anymore, their heads are split right down the middle: exposed brains and all.

It wouldn't be so bad if you were playing as Harry or James. But you're playing as Heather. While Harry has the luxury of killing dogs in 2 handgun shots and a kick, Heather has to take a whopping 6 handgun shots for the same kill (and it's a miracle if you can land them all before they turn her leg into a chew toy). She also isn't granted the power of invisible walls: it's very possible to fall off any unguarded ledge if you don't react to her stumble. The game does a good job mitigating her fragility with lots of health packs, weapons, and even a bulletproof vest. But it just doesn’t outweigh the forces you’re up against. When all of these ingredients are mixed together (unsettling enemies, terrifying level design, and a frail teenage girl to protect you from it all) only one word describes the experience: intense.

In its intensity, it's Silent Hill 3 that brings to light a frustrating aspect of the series, and that is backtracking. Going back and forth fetching items and reading memos to solve puzzles is one of my favorite aspects in the series! But due to the more intense nature of SH3's atmosphere, you dread having to backtrack anymore than you have to. James wandering around the apartment building or Harry wandering around Midwich Elementary never felt especially stressful, as the environments were very slow paced and you had ample defense against anything thrown at you. But playing as Heather feels like you're getting kicked in the balls constantly. Room after room is filled to the brim with the fastest and most dangerous enemies the series has seen yet, so just running the risk of having to go all the way back through an area brings a mental anguish I haven't yet felt playing Silent Hill. This might be the game's biggest strength to some, but I'm admittedly a huge pussy, so this was torture for me.

You might get the vibe that I hate Heather after saying all this. After all, I keep talking about her like she can’t do anything. But don't get it twisted. Heather keeps it fucking real and is, by far, the most entertaining protagonist in the original trilogy. All of her dialogue, spoken or otherwise, is brimming with personality and teenage angst. While Harry and James never had much to say when looking at an object, Heather gives well written commentary on pretty much everything you choose to look at. Her voice and motion capture actress Heather Morris gives a fantastic performance as well, ranging from tongue-in-cheek comments, to heartbreaking scenes of utter defeat, to indescribable rage and frustration. Never have I seen a Silent Hill hero so fed up with this shit and it's extremely relatable because I'm also fed up with this shit! Claudia is pissing me the fuck off! Let's get her ass together, Heather.

This is as good a time as ever to touch on the game’s relation to Silent Hill 1. It’s by all means a direct sequel to what happened in the first game and I think it does a wonderful job continuing that narrative. While I prefer Silent Hill as an anthology series tied together by the titular town, they pulled off a continuation surprisingly well. Ambiguity isn’t as important for Harry as it is for James, so hearing more of what happened to him post god-slaying made me smile. It also elaborates on Claudia and whatever the hell is going on with the cult she’s a part of without spoiling the “less is more” storytelling that SH1 was going for. All in all, it’s everything I can want out of the direction they chose.

This review is admittedly coming from a Silent Hill newbie. I decided to play Silent Hill 2 for the first time just a few weeks ago. So while I’m still falling in love, take a lot of these opinions with a grain of salt. Otherwise, I adore pretty much everything about my experience with SH3. Was it difficult and stressful? Definitely. But will I be thinking about it for years after this review? Even more definitely.

Dobra giera, postanowiłam zagrać po Outlascie, bo podobno korzenie innych horrorków.
Aczkolwiek jak dla mnie za dużo puzzli, za mało pogoni/jumpscare'ow.
Trochę irytowała mnie ilość pokoi w których nic nam nie grozi, są tylko do poprzestawiania dźwigni czy coś.
Poza tym dobrze mi się grało, plot był ciekawy, fajny lektor do listów.
Kilka razy się wzdrygnęłam, raz poważniej przestraszyłam co jest samo w sobie zabawną sytuacją, kiedy chowałam się w szafie a mobek zgliczował się i przeszedł przez drzwi lol

Dodatek króciutki ale fajnie przedstawiony, tylko też - puzzle i bardzo mało chowania się/ucieczek
Może taka gierka a ja po prostu spodziewałam się czegoś intensywniejszego po outlascie

Ale polecam guys, nie będziecie się nudzić.

Sekiro

Oh boy... od czego by tu zacząć
Może zacznijmy od tego, że souls-like genre nigdy nie było mi jakoś bliskie a jedyna gierka jaką całkowicie ograłam, która w jakimkolwiek stopniu mogłaby być pod souls-like'a podciągnięta był Code Vein i gdzieś 3/4 Nioha.
Niemniej jednak Sekiro od początku daty premiery siedziało mi w głowie, oglądałam streamy, filmiki z yt i mega podziwiałam jak efektownie wygląda combat. Sprawiało to wrażenie ( i nadal tak uważam) jakiejś tanecznej choreografii. Ale czas mijał, mi się trochę o grze zdążyło zapomnieć, ale i w między czasie nastąpiła aktualizacja mojego sprzętu na taki, które takie sekiro by już pociągnął bez palenia się co 10 minut i dźwiękami naśladowania mikrofali. Więc scrolując sobie gierki z ostatniej sporej steamowej wyprzedaży nawinął mi się ten tytuł pod myszkę i stwierdziłam, że to chyba ten czas.

Oh the things this game makes me feel... zaczynając naprawdę nie wiedziałam, czy poradzę sobie z jakimkolwiek minibossem, co dopiero zwykłym bossem, parowanie było stresujące, Mikiri kontra to już w ogóle nie wspomnę, chyba Hirata Estate było miejscem, gdzie musiałam się tego nauczyć w końcu. Był tam taki miniboss z włócznią przy którym naprawdę długo siedziałam, ale koniec końców nauczył mnie tej kontry, a ja czułam się jakbym mogła teraz rozpierniczyć każdego następnego przeciwnika.
Oczywiście tak nie było bo dalej natrafiałam na coraz to inne mechaniki i stresujące sytuacje, ale tą małą anegdotką chciałabym powiedzieć, że każdy krok w przód, każdy następny pokonany przeciwnik ogromnie cieszy i napawa dumą i dla mnie ten przypływ adrenaliny podczas grania w gre był czymś totalnie nowym.

Ale wracając wciągnęłam się niemiłosiernie, chyba przez tydzień mój dzień wyglądał następująco- praca (14-22) - sekiro (22-7) - spanie (7-13)
Od razu mówię też, że ja takim umiejętnym graczem to nie jestem, bossy zajmowały mi dobre 5-6 godzin a ostatnie dwa (Demon of Hatred i Sword Saint Isshin) po 3 dni bo musiałam brać przerwy na odnowienie sanity xD). Mimo to when it clicks, it just clicks i czułam że faktycznie tańczę sobie z bossem dokładnie tak, jak kiedyś widziałam to na filmikach. Cudowne uczucie. Jak walczyłam z Isshinem to postanowiłam że sobie to nagram. Oglądając potem powtórkę byłam tak dumna i myślałam ,,damn what a badass i am" ...

Na chwilę obecną jestem po pierwszym playthrough i zamierzam zacząć kolejny bo brakuje mi jeszcze walki z naszym dziaddy Sową w Hirata Estate i walki z Emmą i Isshinem przy Shura zakończeniu.

Wiem że nie jest to taka zwykła recenzja gdzie wymieniam wady i zalety, ale to dlatego, że Sekiro jest moją ulubioną grą, nie istnieją dla mnie tutaj wady a w ocenie dałabym 11/10 would play forever wiec byłoby dosyć krótko. Mianowicie dlatego chciałam się dodatkowo podzielić moim personalnym doświadczeniem.

Jeśli ktoś nadal to czyta i zastanawia się nad kupnem- nie zastanawiaj się i bierz w ciemno
Jeśli uważasz że jesteś niedoświadczony i niegotowy na ten typ gry- tak samo, bierz w ciemno xD
Gra wszystkiego cie nauczy i pozwoli doświadczyć czegoś naprawdę wspaniałego, co będziesz wspominał latami