IriidaV
1993
NTSC U/C copy played on a PlayStation 2 Slim.
I can't compare the PlayStation port of Ridge Racer to its arcade original but as a standalone console game, I think it's fair to say it's a mixed bag at best.
On one hand you have a fairly solid, if very early, form of the drift racer that the series would go on to excel at. While you can get away with holding the accelerate button for the vast majority of each of the two variations of the one track, only occasionally will you have to tap the break button to initiate a wavy drift before it locks you back into a standard driving mode again. It takes a while to get used to and master that "snapping" motion it forces upon you but once you've gotten a handle on it the maneuver can be satisfying.
But really that's all there is to talk about - the cars have different handlings sure but nothing to write home about and the track"s" on display here arr literally just the same one with a slightly more challenging route unlocked for the higher speed racers.
The music's pretty decent, depending heavily on how you view early 90s electronica - some are fun like the classic "Ridge Racer" (here in its more primal form) and "Feeling Over", but then there's the nightmarish "Rotterdam Nation" which feels like you're descending into some hellish landscape.
There are some extras and unlockables you can find, namely the mirrored tracks by driving backwards at the start of each race, and the bonus cars that can be accessed by beating the arcade mini game that plays during the "Now Loading" screen, but they don't radically change the game in any meaningful way.
I'd heavily recommend tracking down a copy of Ridge Racer Type 4 with the Bonus Turbo Disc included as this contains a 60fps version of the game, if a much more stripped back one.
Overall Ridge Racer isn't bad - it's solid and serviceable and worth the 2-3 hours it takes to master it, but I certainly wouldn't have been happy paying the RRP for it.
I can't compare the PlayStation port of Ridge Racer to its arcade original but as a standalone console game, I think it's fair to say it's a mixed bag at best.
On one hand you have a fairly solid, if very early, form of the drift racer that the series would go on to excel at. While you can get away with holding the accelerate button for the vast majority of each of the two variations of the one track, only occasionally will you have to tap the break button to initiate a wavy drift before it locks you back into a standard driving mode again. It takes a while to get used to and master that "snapping" motion it forces upon you but once you've gotten a handle on it the maneuver can be satisfying.
But really that's all there is to talk about - the cars have different handlings sure but nothing to write home about and the track"s" on display here arr literally just the same one with a slightly more challenging route unlocked for the higher speed racers.
The music's pretty decent, depending heavily on how you view early 90s electronica - some are fun like the classic "Ridge Racer" (here in its more primal form) and "Feeling Over", but then there's the nightmarish "Rotterdam Nation" which feels like you're descending into some hellish landscape.
There are some extras and unlockables you can find, namely the mirrored tracks by driving backwards at the start of each race, and the bonus cars that can be accessed by beating the arcade mini game that plays during the "Now Loading" screen, but they don't radically change the game in any meaningful way.
I'd heavily recommend tracking down a copy of Ridge Racer Type 4 with the Bonus Turbo Disc included as this contains a 60fps version of the game, if a much more stripped back one.
Overall Ridge Racer isn't bad - it's solid and serviceable and worth the 2-3 hours it takes to master it, but I certainly wouldn't have been happy paying the RRP for it.
There's something slightly...off about this game that I was always unable to put my finger on. It expands on everything present on the first game, with added features of different times of day, more abilities, and being able to explore street-level areas. But as someone who played a lot of the original game and was well-versed with the limitations of it, I think it's these new features that gives me that weird feeling. It feels like a cracked-mirror version of the original and the stories of it being re-worked so close to release due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks further add to that uncanny feeling I have.
2021
EU copy played on a Xbox One X.
Psychonauts 2 is almost a perfect sequel to a much beloved cult-classic. It picks up both story and gameplay immediately from where its predecessor ended and greatly expands upon its lore and design.
The art direction still feels pitch-perfect in its execution, with the oddly-proportioned characters maintaining their charm even with the higher poly counts in their models, and the environments focused again on 1960s pop art and mod. Level design feels as zany as ever with a wealth of imaginative minds to explore while the soundtrack (composed by the returning Peter McConnell) ranges from eery oddness to psychedelic prog rock and beyond.
The story starts off strong and wobbles a bit towards the end, not quite fulfilling as great an emotional ending as I would have liked due to the earlier strong character work, but all in all it was a satisfying narrative.
Playing on an Xbox One X, the load times were frustrating at times (up to roughly 30 seconds on some instances) and there were a few gameplay stutters and animation problems, but I imagine those last two points can get ironed out in a future patch.
Psychonauts 2 is an easy recommend from me - it's fun and trippy gameplay is just as engrossing as the original and it's the perfect example of a AA game that offers enough to the player while not requiring the super high budgets to be worth its entry fee. I purchased it from the Xbox store but is also available on PSN and Steam as well as through Gamepass since Double Fine is now part of the Xbox Game Studios brand.
Psychonauts 2 is almost a perfect sequel to a much beloved cult-classic. It picks up both story and gameplay immediately from where its predecessor ended and greatly expands upon its lore and design.
The art direction still feels pitch-perfect in its execution, with the oddly-proportioned characters maintaining their charm even with the higher poly counts in their models, and the environments focused again on 1960s pop art and mod. Level design feels as zany as ever with a wealth of imaginative minds to explore while the soundtrack (composed by the returning Peter McConnell) ranges from eery oddness to psychedelic prog rock and beyond.
The story starts off strong and wobbles a bit towards the end, not quite fulfilling as great an emotional ending as I would have liked due to the earlier strong character work, but all in all it was a satisfying narrative.
Playing on an Xbox One X, the load times were frustrating at times (up to roughly 30 seconds on some instances) and there were a few gameplay stutters and animation problems, but I imagine those last two points can get ironed out in a future patch.
Psychonauts 2 is an easy recommend from me - it's fun and trippy gameplay is just as engrossing as the original and it's the perfect example of a AA game that offers enough to the player while not requiring the super high budgets to be worth its entry fee. I purchased it from the Xbox store but is also available on PSN and Steam as well as through Gamepass since Double Fine is now part of the Xbox Game Studios brand.
2006
It feels weird to say that one of the reasons the PSP was a must-buy system at the time because of a child-friendly puzzle-platformer but here we are. Saying it's "simplistic" is a disservice since the art style is incredibly pleasing to look at and the physics-based control scheme feels satisfying to utilise. Japan Studio was great at these small-scale titles and it's a shame they're no longer around in Sony's modern "PlayStation Studios" line up.
1986
EU Virtual Console release played on a Nintendo 3DS XL.
This is really not a fun game. The first few minutes are cool as you automatically go into the cave, get your sword and try exploring for a while, but you very quickly realise you have no clue as to what to actually do and the game provides no real help in that regard. The fact I had to follow a guide for the entirety of the game due to the obscure "hints" it threw at me was a tedious experience and did not endear me despite the good art and audio design. Maybe American kids back in the 80s had a better time with a manual that provided hints, but on its own this game just does not hold up.
Don't feel guilty about save scumming if you're not playing on original hardware.
This is really not a fun game. The first few minutes are cool as you automatically go into the cave, get your sword and try exploring for a while, but you very quickly realise you have no clue as to what to actually do and the game provides no real help in that regard. The fact I had to follow a guide for the entirety of the game due to the obscure "hints" it threw at me was a tedious experience and did not endear me despite the good art and audio design. Maybe American kids back in the 80s had a better time with a manual that provided hints, but on its own this game just does not hold up.
Don't feel guilty about save scumming if you're not playing on original hardware.
2007
EU copy played on a PlayStation 3 Super Slim.
Is this the kind of game people were complaining about a decade ago where they were super linear, 6 hours long and barely had side content? I cant say I didn't enjoy myself but there was too much reliance on the sixaxis feature and altering control schemes to be a solid effort. Felt like I was playing a rougher Hellblade the entire time but I guess wiping out armies by the hundreds in the endgame was kinda fun.
The villains were pretty enjoyable too - Andy Serkis was a joy to watch as the main bad guy and the others were so over the top it just made their scenes entertaining. Although it was a shame they didn't have a woman of Japanese descent play the main character but I guess standards were different back then for that sort of thing.
If you manage to find this for a couple bucks and have a few afternoons to spare it's alright time, just nothign groundbreaking by today's standards but it's at least fairly coherent and executes it's ideas.
Is this the kind of game people were complaining about a decade ago where they were super linear, 6 hours long and barely had side content? I cant say I didn't enjoy myself but there was too much reliance on the sixaxis feature and altering control schemes to be a solid effort. Felt like I was playing a rougher Hellblade the entire time but I guess wiping out armies by the hundreds in the endgame was kinda fun.
The villains were pretty enjoyable too - Andy Serkis was a joy to watch as the main bad guy and the others were so over the top it just made their scenes entertaining. Although it was a shame they didn't have a woman of Japanese descent play the main character but I guess standards were different back then for that sort of thing.
If you manage to find this for a couple bucks and have a few afternoons to spare it's alright time, just nothign groundbreaking by today's standards but it's at least fairly coherent and executes it's ideas.
2008
I never played the original Saints Row until years later, but in the wake of Grand Theft Auto IV leaning away from arcade-like gameplay and more towards realism, this was an absolute blast back in the day. The story itself is fairly engrossing but as always with open-world crime games, the main gameplay comes from the fun you and your friends have with the limitations of the design. With an absurd array of customisation and crazy secrets you can discover, Saints Row 2 was a must have in the early days of the Xbox 360's life cycle.
2019
UK copy played on a PlayStation Vita OLED model.
I hate games like this - passion projects that clearly have a lot of meaning to the developers and are a deeply personal bearing of their souls that are completely marred by a poor presentation.
Vasilis could have been a good game, not a great one mind you but that's more up for personal debate and dependant on where your tastes lie. It has a great and subtle art style and sound design, relayed to you in simplistic animations and eerie soundscapes. The narrative is very unclear at times - I followed everything up until the half way point and then I got quite confused trying to tell what was literal and what was symbolic - but it is interesting and does manage to be unique given the subject matter and setting.
The game design is where things start to fall apart however. On its own, a simple exploratory, task-driven adventure game set in an isolated environment should be a fairly simple thing to get right, but the slow walking speed, coupled with the lengthy load times between scenes and the constant stuttering when you're just walking ultimately served to distract and detract from the overall experience. It was quite frustrating at times, knowing a task that could easily have taken a minute to do was dragged out with multiple 10 second loading screens and being confused as to where you are because the in-game map simply isn't clear enough.
Maybe the PC and home console versions are better but playing this game on the Vita was a terrible experience and I think I've seen enough after playing to the end once.
I hate games like this - passion projects that clearly have a lot of meaning to the developers and are a deeply personal bearing of their souls that are completely marred by a poor presentation.
Vasilis could have been a good game, not a great one mind you but that's more up for personal debate and dependant on where your tastes lie. It has a great and subtle art style and sound design, relayed to you in simplistic animations and eerie soundscapes. The narrative is very unclear at times - I followed everything up until the half way point and then I got quite confused trying to tell what was literal and what was symbolic - but it is interesting and does manage to be unique given the subject matter and setting.
The game design is where things start to fall apart however. On its own, a simple exploratory, task-driven adventure game set in an isolated environment should be a fairly simple thing to get right, but the slow walking speed, coupled with the lengthy load times between scenes and the constant stuttering when you're just walking ultimately served to distract and detract from the overall experience. It was quite frustrating at times, knowing a task that could easily have taken a minute to do was dragged out with multiple 10 second loading screens and being confused as to where you are because the in-game map simply isn't clear enough.
Maybe the PC and home console versions are better but playing this game on the Vita was a terrible experience and I think I've seen enough after playing to the end once.
EU copy played on a PlayStation 3 Super Slim.
This is by far a more enjoyable experience than Assassin's Creed III but it only earns that respect through the lens and context of the base game. It's a lot shorter for example, without all the unnecessary bloat and filler, and thus has a much more streamlined narrative. This is essentially a What If...? tale (or Elseworlds if you're DC-inclined) that takes the initial backdrop of the early American Colonies that ACIII did and turns it on it's head, all while keeping within continuity somehow. But it still has a lot of the old frustrations whilst managing to add new ones.
The gameplay is fun if a little tiring at times. Connor (or Ratonhnhaké:ton as he goes by since the events are different) never leaves a notorious state with the guards, meaning they'll attack him within seconds of spotting him. This works out fine in the first episode which takes place in the Frontier, with big open spaces to avoid conflict but it becomes increasingly harder in the following episodes where conflict is completely unavoidable at times. This isn't helped by what seems to be a huge spike in the AI's difficulty, causing waves of guards to appear, loss of attention taking at least five times that required in the base game and attacks to not be telegraphed with the little red triangles, meaning the game won't let you counter and you get hit. The animations involved also seem to be quite buggy, resulting in a lot of executions or counter animatics unsyncing with the actors involved. It feels very sloppy overall and while the increase in difficulty seems fun at first, none of your weapons feel as though they have differing attack stats so it falls into standard ACIII patterns of block-attack or block-counter-attack.
This is where the gameplay has its biggest draw - the animal spirit powers. This feels very much like Ubisoft was testing the waters for a possible branch in the franchise with these abilities because not only are they well-designed, they're also really fun to use and change the way gameplay feels entirely to the point where I played through the entirety of the later episodes with purely the tomahawk and totem powers.
The story itself then is an entertaining twist on AC3 - the same things roughly happen but their reasoning and involved characters can differ wildly and through that perspective is what kept it so interesting to me. But the same issues with bland and forgettable characters still persist here, even if ones like Washington and Ratonhnhaké:ton's mother and friend do get more screen time and abit of added depth.
Honestly probably the best part of this DLC is the new music, which manages to be more memorable than the majority of music in the base game.
All in all, if you've already played ACIII then I recommend checking out this DLC - it almost feels like the superior version of the original game, and I'd be curious to see what the franchise would be like today if it went down this path instead. It freshens the characters, setting and gameplay up whilst keeping within a comfortable length too, but I'll be honest in saying I'm not sure what those who haven't played the original game itself would get out of this.
This is by far a more enjoyable experience than Assassin's Creed III but it only earns that respect through the lens and context of the base game. It's a lot shorter for example, without all the unnecessary bloat and filler, and thus has a much more streamlined narrative. This is essentially a What If...? tale (or Elseworlds if you're DC-inclined) that takes the initial backdrop of the early American Colonies that ACIII did and turns it on it's head, all while keeping within continuity somehow. But it still has a lot of the old frustrations whilst managing to add new ones.
The gameplay is fun if a little tiring at times. Connor (or Ratonhnhaké:ton as he goes by since the events are different) never leaves a notorious state with the guards, meaning they'll attack him within seconds of spotting him. This works out fine in the first episode which takes place in the Frontier, with big open spaces to avoid conflict but it becomes increasingly harder in the following episodes where conflict is completely unavoidable at times. This isn't helped by what seems to be a huge spike in the AI's difficulty, causing waves of guards to appear, loss of attention taking at least five times that required in the base game and attacks to not be telegraphed with the little red triangles, meaning the game won't let you counter and you get hit. The animations involved also seem to be quite buggy, resulting in a lot of executions or counter animatics unsyncing with the actors involved. It feels very sloppy overall and while the increase in difficulty seems fun at first, none of your weapons feel as though they have differing attack stats so it falls into standard ACIII patterns of block-attack or block-counter-attack.
This is where the gameplay has its biggest draw - the animal spirit powers. This feels very much like Ubisoft was testing the waters for a possible branch in the franchise with these abilities because not only are they well-designed, they're also really fun to use and change the way gameplay feels entirely to the point where I played through the entirety of the later episodes with purely the tomahawk and totem powers.
The story itself then is an entertaining twist on AC3 - the same things roughly happen but their reasoning and involved characters can differ wildly and through that perspective is what kept it so interesting to me. But the same issues with bland and forgettable characters still persist here, even if ones like Washington and Ratonhnhaké:ton's mother and friend do get more screen time and abit of added depth.
Honestly probably the best part of this DLC is the new music, which manages to be more memorable than the majority of music in the base game.
All in all, if you've already played ACIII then I recommend checking out this DLC - it almost feels like the superior version of the original game, and I'd be curious to see what the franchise would be like today if it went down this path instead. It freshens the characters, setting and gameplay up whilst keeping within a comfortable length too, but I'll be honest in saying I'm not sure what those who haven't played the original game itself would get out of this.
2011
PAL copy played on an Xbox One X.
Over ten years later and it's a shame that Generations remains to be the last consistently solid Sonic title - and even then it feels like a "just" at times. The main series of levels feel solidly designed and while the bonus missions feel like padding at the best of times, the game has an overall solid presentation with good art direction and song remixes.
My main complaints relay to the length - easily a 5-6 hour game if you're not going for a completionist route and the lack of a third, "Adventure"-era Sonic with the more exploratative level design feels like a missed opportunity. It also feels a bit rushed with a number of features feeling entirely underbaked such as the bonus anniversary features and the final boss being a bit of an anti-climax. Thankfully it doesn't reach the disappointing lows of the 15th anniversary celebration with '06 but with this being only 5 years and several games later it does feel like Sonic Team should have maybe been allowed more time.
This is overall a fun game and perhaps the truly last "great" Sonic title whilst being a decent summation of the franchise's then 20 year history, but it's not without its flaws and they feel more evident as time goes on.
Over ten years later and it's a shame that Generations remains to be the last consistently solid Sonic title - and even then it feels like a "just" at times. The main series of levels feel solidly designed and while the bonus missions feel like padding at the best of times, the game has an overall solid presentation with good art direction and song remixes.
My main complaints relay to the length - easily a 5-6 hour game if you're not going for a completionist route and the lack of a third, "Adventure"-era Sonic with the more exploratative level design feels like a missed opportunity. It also feels a bit rushed with a number of features feeling entirely underbaked such as the bonus anniversary features and the final boss being a bit of an anti-climax. Thankfully it doesn't reach the disappointing lows of the 15th anniversary celebration with '06 but with this being only 5 years and several games later it does feel like Sonic Team should have maybe been allowed more time.
This is overall a fun game and perhaps the truly last "great" Sonic title whilst being a decent summation of the franchise's then 20 year history, but it's not without its flaws and they feel more evident as time goes on.
2006
Now that we're well an truly through with the second reboot series of Tomb Raider, Legend is still a great game to go back to today. On the PlayStation 2 it provides a 480p, 60hz experience and a very modern control scheme that makes you wish to never return to the older games. The update in face model to better reflect the Angelina Jolie movies of the time is a little distracting, but thankfully it's not an exact 1:1 likeness.
The game is just a joy to play and the addition of the grapple make for a very satisfying experience.
The game is just a joy to play and the addition of the grapple make for a very satisfying experience.
Played via the itch.io release on a Lenovo Y50-70.
This review ultimately comes from someone who has only recently discovered Stranga's output within the last couple of months - their storytelling has been some of the most memorable to me in recent years (both across the AAA and indie spaces) and the art, sound and game design have always been compelling enough for me to want to play the next one I discover in their catalogue.
I genuinely believe Ashina: The Red Witch to be Stranga's finest output yet - all of their individual game design skills have been ratcheted up in this release, with fun catchy melodies and an art style that ranges from genuine eeriness to neon cityscapes and beyond. The scale of this game is much larger too, with multiple miniature "open-world" segments to explore a new environment and get to know the locals. There's not as many big "gotcha" moments with horror-fueled jumpscares and there's no risk of dying here either, which I do find to be a bit of a shame, but those seem to be sacrifices for the sake of a much tighter but also longer narrative than their previous works. This game is ultimately revealing backstories and filling in story gaps from Stranga's other games but nothing feels like obvious fan service moments or that it's being detrimental to the point of distraction.
It's not without it's technical issues - a couple of hitches in the gameplay for up to 10 seconds at a time left me to believe it had frozen a couple of times along with mild stuttering in certain levels and a few grammatical errors in the script prevent this from being a perfect release, but I can generally overlook these as minor inconveniences.
Ultimately, this has probably been my favourite game so far this year - it's a short one, roughly 3-4 hours depending on how good you are with puzzles and how much you want to revel in its atmosphere, but it's far from an empty or hollow experience, with memorable moments and a sharp script that endears you to it's characters.
This review ultimately comes from someone who has only recently discovered Stranga's output within the last couple of months - their storytelling has been some of the most memorable to me in recent years (both across the AAA and indie spaces) and the art, sound and game design have always been compelling enough for me to want to play the next one I discover in their catalogue.
I genuinely believe Ashina: The Red Witch to be Stranga's finest output yet - all of their individual game design skills have been ratcheted up in this release, with fun catchy melodies and an art style that ranges from genuine eeriness to neon cityscapes and beyond. The scale of this game is much larger too, with multiple miniature "open-world" segments to explore a new environment and get to know the locals. There's not as many big "gotcha" moments with horror-fueled jumpscares and there's no risk of dying here either, which I do find to be a bit of a shame, but those seem to be sacrifices for the sake of a much tighter but also longer narrative than their previous works. This game is ultimately revealing backstories and filling in story gaps from Stranga's other games but nothing feels like obvious fan service moments or that it's being detrimental to the point of distraction.
It's not without it's technical issues - a couple of hitches in the gameplay for up to 10 seconds at a time left me to believe it had frozen a couple of times along with mild stuttering in certain levels and a few grammatical errors in the script prevent this from being a perfect release, but I can generally overlook these as minor inconveniences.
Ultimately, this has probably been my favourite game so far this year - it's a short one, roughly 3-4 hours depending on how good you are with puzzles and how much you want to revel in its atmosphere, but it's far from an empty or hollow experience, with memorable moments and a sharp script that endears you to it's characters.
EU release played via Steam on a Lenovo Y50-70.
This isn't that bad of an FPS in all honesty - obviously if you've read any of the comics you're going to get a lot out of this and seeing an early 00s shooter set in this universe is a treat. You can tell the devs had a lot of fun and put great care and attention to the environments and writing. Gameplay itself can provide a decent challenge too and the level design is often a huge maze of corridors and open spaces to get lost in which was fairly satisfying. A couple of cheap bosses here and there that require some trial and error accompanies by a lot of game over screens but nothing that will take you too long. Even the voice acting is on point with its cheesy, over the top performances nailing the ridiculousness of the universe fairly well.
This isn't that bad of an FPS in all honesty - obviously if you've read any of the comics you're going to get a lot out of this and seeing an early 00s shooter set in this universe is a treat. You can tell the devs had a lot of fun and put great care and attention to the environments and writing. Gameplay itself can provide a decent challenge too and the level design is often a huge maze of corridors and open spaces to get lost in which was fairly satisfying. A couple of cheap bosses here and there that require some trial and error accompanies by a lot of game over screens but nothing that will take you too long. Even the voice acting is on point with its cheesy, over the top performances nailing the ridiculousness of the universe fairly well.