JudgeDredd35
2016
Playtime: 15 Hours
Score: 7/10
A fun little farming game! So recently me and my best friend did Steam Family share with our two accounts so we could bum off of each other's games. While he goes to my library to play Maneater and Cyberpunk 2077, I was like give me that Slime Rancher baby lol But I have been wanting to play this game for a while so it was a nice opportunity to play it.
I'm not a huge fan of farming games but this one caught my attention with its unique mechanics and first person view. It very much has that cozy, relaxing feel that farming games often have and aside from micromanaging your ranch, it's not a very challenging game. You collect slimes and bring them back to your ranch to gather materials from them. You have to put them into corrals, feed them specific types of food and make sure they don't escape. At first it can be a little overwhelming since the game doesn't have a main story to guide you through really and you're kind of just left to figure things out on your own, though the game does have an encyclopedia that gives you information about the different slimes as well the structures and gadgets you can build.
Exploration is another cool aspect as you get a jetpack that lets you get to higher places and you need to find keys in order to access other regions of the planet you're on. It's fun and I liked the artstyle. There is combat but it's very basic and enemies do very little damage to you so it's easy to defeat them or just outright avoid them.
Only thing that disappointed me was the story or lack thereof. There is a story that you learn through reading emails from other characters in the game or finding old messages left to you by the previous ranch owner. It's fine for what it is, but I kind of got bored at the 15 hour mark as farming and building games aren't really my thing like I said and without a structured story campaign to get me through it, it got tedious towards the end. But it's still a unique and fun game to play for a few hours.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 7/10
A fun little farming game! So recently me and my best friend did Steam Family share with our two accounts so we could bum off of each other's games. While he goes to my library to play Maneater and Cyberpunk 2077, I was like give me that Slime Rancher baby lol But I have been wanting to play this game for a while so it was a nice opportunity to play it.
I'm not a huge fan of farming games but this one caught my attention with its unique mechanics and first person view. It very much has that cozy, relaxing feel that farming games often have and aside from micromanaging your ranch, it's not a very challenging game. You collect slimes and bring them back to your ranch to gather materials from them. You have to put them into corrals, feed them specific types of food and make sure they don't escape. At first it can be a little overwhelming since the game doesn't have a main story to guide you through really and you're kind of just left to figure things out on your own, though the game does have an encyclopedia that gives you information about the different slimes as well the structures and gadgets you can build.
Exploration is another cool aspect as you get a jetpack that lets you get to higher places and you need to find keys in order to access other regions of the planet you're on. It's fun and I liked the artstyle. There is combat but it's very basic and enemies do very little damage to you so it's easy to defeat them or just outright avoid them.
Only thing that disappointed me was the story or lack thereof. There is a story that you learn through reading emails from other characters in the game or finding old messages left to you by the previous ranch owner. It's fine for what it is, but I kind of got bored at the 15 hour mark as farming and building games aren't really my thing like I said and without a structured story campaign to get me through it, it got tedious towards the end. But it's still a unique and fun game to play for a few hours.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Tried this for an hour but it was not for me. The stupid defuse bomb mission has you searching for mines with a metal detector while hordes of enemies attack you. Not fun. And the gunplay just felt really clunky to me.
2011
Playtime:10 Hours
Score: 7/10
A decent follow up to the first game or the remake in my case. So I just finished playing the Dead Space Remake earlier this month and I wanted the fun to continue so I decided to replay this game as the last time I played it was over a decade ago, so a replay was in order. So what did I think?
Gameplay wise, this game really excels as many of the improvements they added in the remake of the first game came from this one, so the transition between the two games for me was pretty seamless on that front. You have all the classic weapons from the first game as well as some new ones like the spear gun, seeker rifle and detonator launcher. These were fun to use but I mostly stuck to the classic weapons. I came to the conclusion the other day that Dead Space hands down as the best combat of any survival horror game series, even more than Resident Evil! The amount of options you have from weapons to stasis to kinesis makes for a great combat sandbox to mess around with! While other games will make you feel weak and helpless, Dead Space empowers you and makes you feel confident that you can take on a horde of Necromorphs and boy will the game throw them at you.
The level design was a little disappointing though as it's very linear even when compared to the original first game. While I haven’t played the Callisto Protocol, I did see how people complained about the amount of vents you have to crawl through. Welp, it all started here as you will be crawling through a lot of vents, even with a similar looking animation to the former game. I don’t mind it as much as this game was made in the early 2010s, compared to Callisto, but it still feels very tedious. There's one puzzle room in particular even where you have to crawl through so many vents to get around that I just question why? If the doors were just open you could cut that puzzle time down in half lol
They introduce a couple of new enemy types such as the babies and kid necromorphs which can be annoying as well as the enemies that spit at you which makes your movement slower. Hate those guys! While these enemies can be scary at first, the horror does lose its luster after a while. The beginning areas were creepy indeed with one moment that shook me purely from the sound design. When I was walking through the hotel section, down the corridors, I heard the sound of a baby crying in one of the rooms that I couldn’t get into. It just freaked me out as I wondered if it was a necromorph baby or a normal baby and if so, where are the parents and is there anything inside the room with them? Beyond that though there wasn’t much scares to be had in this game other than some really nasty gore.
The final two chapters were awful though as you're just running away from a regenerator necromorph, as well as an army of others trying to stop you. I hated that section as a kid and I hated it now. The final boss was also disappointing from both a gameplay perspective and a narrative one. About the only challenge in it is not getting touched by the boss as they can one hit kill you, and avoiding the minions.
As for the story, it was very disappointing for me personally. I like Isaac and the one new character named Ellie, but beyond that I just found the other characters to be very annoying and forgettable.The bad guy was just the usual wannabe cult leader, and the dead girlfriend story I felt concluded great in the first game, but it felt really dragged out here. And there's just been so many horror games that have used the dead girlfriend/wife trope including the original Dead Space and that did it better. After a while I just stopped caring and I just wanted to finish the game.
Overall, it's an alright sequel. I remember loving this game as a kid and while it holds up from a gameplay perspective, it doesn’t in most other areas for me personally. Still glad I replayed it though.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 7/10
A decent follow up to the first game or the remake in my case. So I just finished playing the Dead Space Remake earlier this month and I wanted the fun to continue so I decided to replay this game as the last time I played it was over a decade ago, so a replay was in order. So what did I think?
Gameplay wise, this game really excels as many of the improvements they added in the remake of the first game came from this one, so the transition between the two games for me was pretty seamless on that front. You have all the classic weapons from the first game as well as some new ones like the spear gun, seeker rifle and detonator launcher. These were fun to use but I mostly stuck to the classic weapons. I came to the conclusion the other day that Dead Space hands down as the best combat of any survival horror game series, even more than Resident Evil! The amount of options you have from weapons to stasis to kinesis makes for a great combat sandbox to mess around with! While other games will make you feel weak and helpless, Dead Space empowers you and makes you feel confident that you can take on a horde of Necromorphs and boy will the game throw them at you.
The level design was a little disappointing though as it's very linear even when compared to the original first game. While I haven’t played the Callisto Protocol, I did see how people complained about the amount of vents you have to crawl through. Welp, it all started here as you will be crawling through a lot of vents, even with a similar looking animation to the former game. I don’t mind it as much as this game was made in the early 2010s, compared to Callisto, but it still feels very tedious. There's one puzzle room in particular even where you have to crawl through so many vents to get around that I just question why? If the doors were just open you could cut that puzzle time down in half lol
They introduce a couple of new enemy types such as the babies and kid necromorphs which can be annoying as well as the enemies that spit at you which makes your movement slower. Hate those guys! While these enemies can be scary at first, the horror does lose its luster after a while. The beginning areas were creepy indeed with one moment that shook me purely from the sound design. When I was walking through the hotel section, down the corridors, I heard the sound of a baby crying in one of the rooms that I couldn’t get into. It just freaked me out as I wondered if it was a necromorph baby or a normal baby and if so, where are the parents and is there anything inside the room with them? Beyond that though there wasn’t much scares to be had in this game other than some really nasty gore.
The final two chapters were awful though as you're just running away from a regenerator necromorph, as well as an army of others trying to stop you. I hated that section as a kid and I hated it now. The final boss was also disappointing from both a gameplay perspective and a narrative one. About the only challenge in it is not getting touched by the boss as they can one hit kill you, and avoiding the minions.
As for the story, it was very disappointing for me personally. I like Isaac and the one new character named Ellie, but beyond that I just found the other characters to be very annoying and forgettable.The bad guy was just the usual wannabe cult leader, and the dead girlfriend story I felt concluded great in the first game, but it felt really dragged out here. And there's just been so many horror games that have used the dead girlfriend/wife trope including the original Dead Space and that did it better. After a while I just stopped caring and I just wanted to finish the game.
Overall, it's an alright sequel. I remember loving this game as a kid and while it holds up from a gameplay perspective, it doesn’t in most other areas for me personally. Still glad I replayed it though.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
2020
Playtime: 6 Hours
Score: 4/10
The scariest part about this game is how mediocre it is. So this was the last of the RE Engine, Resident Evil games for me to play as I have wanted to play it for a while, but was never going to buy it with how short it is and the fact that they cut out so much content from the original. The game got added to game pass this month which is how I played it. So what did I think of it?
As you can probably tell from the score and my first written line, I didn't enjoy this at all. I put off playing this game for so long, even playing the RE4 Remake before playing this because it just seemed like a glorified DLC or stand alone expansion being sold to us at full price which just put me off from playing it, and I was right! Now to clarify, I never personally played the original game but I did watch my parents play it as a kid and and while I don't remember much of it, I do remember Nemesis and how he was just this unstoppable force of nature, with his iconic "STARSSSSSSSSSS" line. I don't need to have played the original to tell you how much they botched this remake.
Graphically and gameplay wise, this looks and plays almost exactly like RE2 remake pretty much to a fault. The original game from what I have researched was designed to be a spin off from the original RE2 and they did that again here, even down to you revisiting some of the same locations from the RE2 remake. It makes sense from a story perspective as much of this game takes place before RE2, but from a level design perspective it's really damn lazy because they don’t do anything to change up the location to make exploring it feel new really.
Gameplay wise, it's basically RE2's combat but with a dodge button and some more punchy weapons like an assault rifle. It plays fine for the most part but it just feels like this remake is borrowing too much from the other, better game. The combat has much more of an action focus and it's fine at doing that, but I feel like they needed to do more to make it feel good to play. RE2's combat was slower and more methodical because it was a more classic survival horror game, and not really meant for an action orientated title. If you think of something like the OG RE4 or Dead Space 2, those games do a good job of being action oriented and making the player feel powerful. Here it just feels clunky as all hell for that style of game. The enemy types are also just very limited (and recycled from RE2R) with their only being basic zombies, gammas, hunters and then Nemesis. Action games need more enemies than this. It just felt like I was going through the motions and focusing on taking out enemies quickly rather than using the full combat kit.
The horror is basically non-existent with what little there is with Nemesis, but he lost his luster pretty much almost immediately. You know what would have been scary? If Nemesis was an actual stalker enemy and not limited to just scripted events. Even going outside of the Resident Evil franchise, when I played a game like Alien Isolation, the tension that I felt whenever the xenomorph was nearby as I hid in lockers or under tables was iconic. That would have been great here since Nemesis is such an iconic horror game villain, but here he’s just an annoying monster who just never dies and keeps coming back constantly.
The story was okay but I honestly stopped caring after a while. Jill Valentine is a cool and iconic video game protag, but the characters around her are just bland in this game and the story is just the usual Resident Evil story, without any real surprises or tension filled moments. I know the series often has cheesy, B-movie plots for their games, but here it just felt like the boring kind and not the it’s so bad, it's good kind.
This is just the type of game that makes me cynical about the AAA game landscape, until I play a good one or a creative, passion project indie game that makes me feel better. RE3R is just a huge disappointment.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
RE Engine Resident Evil Games Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/re-engine-resident-evil-games-ranked/
Score: 4/10
The scariest part about this game is how mediocre it is. So this was the last of the RE Engine, Resident Evil games for me to play as I have wanted to play it for a while, but was never going to buy it with how short it is and the fact that they cut out so much content from the original. The game got added to game pass this month which is how I played it. So what did I think of it?
As you can probably tell from the score and my first written line, I didn't enjoy this at all. I put off playing this game for so long, even playing the RE4 Remake before playing this because it just seemed like a glorified DLC or stand alone expansion being sold to us at full price which just put me off from playing it, and I was right! Now to clarify, I never personally played the original game but I did watch my parents play it as a kid and and while I don't remember much of it, I do remember Nemesis and how he was just this unstoppable force of nature, with his iconic "STARSSSSSSSSSS" line. I don't need to have played the original to tell you how much they botched this remake.
Graphically and gameplay wise, this looks and plays almost exactly like RE2 remake pretty much to a fault. The original game from what I have researched was designed to be a spin off from the original RE2 and they did that again here, even down to you revisiting some of the same locations from the RE2 remake. It makes sense from a story perspective as much of this game takes place before RE2, but from a level design perspective it's really damn lazy because they don’t do anything to change up the location to make exploring it feel new really.
Gameplay wise, it's basically RE2's combat but with a dodge button and some more punchy weapons like an assault rifle. It plays fine for the most part but it just feels like this remake is borrowing too much from the other, better game. The combat has much more of an action focus and it's fine at doing that, but I feel like they needed to do more to make it feel good to play. RE2's combat was slower and more methodical because it was a more classic survival horror game, and not really meant for an action orientated title. If you think of something like the OG RE4 or Dead Space 2, those games do a good job of being action oriented and making the player feel powerful. Here it just feels clunky as all hell for that style of game. The enemy types are also just very limited (and recycled from RE2R) with their only being basic zombies, gammas, hunters and then Nemesis. Action games need more enemies than this. It just felt like I was going through the motions and focusing on taking out enemies quickly rather than using the full combat kit.
The horror is basically non-existent with what little there is with Nemesis, but he lost his luster pretty much almost immediately. You know what would have been scary? If Nemesis was an actual stalker enemy and not limited to just scripted events. Even going outside of the Resident Evil franchise, when I played a game like Alien Isolation, the tension that I felt whenever the xenomorph was nearby as I hid in lockers or under tables was iconic. That would have been great here since Nemesis is such an iconic horror game villain, but here he’s just an annoying monster who just never dies and keeps coming back constantly.
The story was okay but I honestly stopped caring after a while. Jill Valentine is a cool and iconic video game protag, but the characters around her are just bland in this game and the story is just the usual Resident Evil story, without any real surprises or tension filled moments. I know the series often has cheesy, B-movie plots for their games, but here it just felt like the boring kind and not the it’s so bad, it's good kind.
This is just the type of game that makes me cynical about the AAA game landscape, until I play a good one or a creative, passion project indie game that makes me feel better. RE3R is just a huge disappointment.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
RE Engine Resident Evil Games Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/re-engine-resident-evil-games-ranked/
2024
So this is a bit of a weird one. I was playing this game through game pass, but recently the Xbox launcher on my PC, stopped working, so now whenever I tried to launch it, it just doesn't load. I am still trying to fix it, but that brings us to this game. Shortly after this incident happened, I started playing Cyberpunk 2077 and it really highlighted to me the differences between JRPGs and Western RPGS and why I tend to gravitate towards the latter. To be honest, I haven't missed playing this game, and if my issue doesn't get resolved or the game leaves game pass tomorrow, I won't miss it really. Usually when I abandon a game I like to just write a small impressions paragraph (not a review) about why I stopped playing the game, but this one might be a little longer so strap in!
So to start off, this was my first time playing a Persona game. I have always wanted to play them but their hella expensive on Steam since Sega knows people love these games, and they want to hit your wallet accordingly. After doing tons of research, Persona 3's story seemed like the one that interested me the most to start on, with its themes of life and death and how the characters use their evokers to summon their Persona's. And ya its a pretty interesting story after the 20 or so hours I played but the pacing is a bit too slow for me. But we'll get to that.
Firstly the combat is pretty fun, as you summon Persona's to help you in battle. The combat is very much about revealing enemies weakenesses and trying to exploit that so you can do an all out attack. I enjoyed fusing some of the Persona's to make more powerful ones. And the battle music is just awesome, as when it hits the lyrics just as you do an all out attack, the combination of music and flawless animations make it a sight to behold. However, it did start to get tedious for me, as I have just never liked traditional turn base combat as much. It would be great if it was a 20-30 hour RPG, but this game is 50-60 hours minimum, so I don't know if I would have gotten tired of it if I had kept playing. I also don't like the cap you have on how many Persona's you can carry. Sometimes when you have the option to get a new Persona from battle, if you select it and your Persona cap is full, you have to sacrifice one of your current Persona's for it. Why I can't just put this Persona in like a storage is beyond me, and if you get into this menu like I described, there is no backing out of it, meaning you HAVE to now sacrifice one of your Persona which is just so frustrating.
The dungeons are also pretty terrible as the original Tartarus was pretty infamous from what I have heard. They have added some nice QOL features to make the dungeon crawl easier, but it doesn't stop the level design from being absolutely boring and tedious. Its all randomly generated, but you will be seeing the same looking layouts, over and over again. I guess I'm more used to dungoeons that offer envoirmental storytelling, alternate routes and stuff to find off the beaten path. Back to Persona 3, you climb the floors of Tartarus until you hit a road block, which basically forces you to go back to the real world and engage with the social link gameplay.
Social links are the bread and butter of this series and I was excited to dive into it. You quickly get into a routine of going to school, spending time with someone before spending your evening: studying, working a part time job or going to Tartarus. This was nice at first but it can get a bit much if you've hit that road block I mentioned earlier in Tartarus and are now stuck doing Social Link stuff until the calendar finally lands on a day where the story can actually progress. I found it odd too that your social links are mostly with NPCs in the gameworld rather then your actual party members. You can start social links with them, but only WAY later when your stats are basically maxed out. They do introduce hang outs a bit later, where you can spend time with a party member cooking or reading a book. These are nice additions, but its not the true social link stuff obviously. And the social links that I got to experience, were okay, some better then others but some of them just felt like a waste of time. Like the one kid in your class who just wants to bang his teacher, or the other on the track team who's sick and shouldn't be doing track, but forces himself too. These would be nice, but you often get these stories in such short, bite size pieces that if feels like nothing is progressing and your not really doing anything other then just giving them advice. Also, the game advertises that the social links are fully voiced but that is kind of not true. Most of the time, they will be voiced, but there are plenty of times where you hang out with an social link and their will be no VA, meaning you have to read text. It doesn't bother me too much, but still wanted to mention it if your expecting a fully voiced experience.
You can pick dialogue options, which is something I love in RPG's but its pretty basic here. Basically either be a nice guy, a jerk or pick an option that the NPC just doesn't agree with. There's a right option to all of these to get them to like you which I felt was a little bit limiting, but many RPGs I play, cough Bethesda cough have the same thing. For me, I tend to like choice and consequence in RPGs and having morally grey choices that have more nuance to them, but thats not really here from what I played.
The story is also pretty interesting and I do really like the party members you interact with, as they have great VA, I just wish I could social link with them a lot earlier in the game. My main issue with the story, is that its just poorly paced. Like your start with your first two party members and your just dungeon crawling and social linking for a while until only later does the plot start actually progressing. Its one of those stories where I want to learn more, but again, if don't get to play this game again, I won't be crying over it. And I am definitely NOT buying this game as knowing Atlus, they will rerelease the game a year or two from now, with new expansion content that you can ONLY get buying that addition and essentially double dipping. I find that to be an outdated and anti-consumer practice that I fell for once with Diablo 3 on console but never again. So who knows, maybe I will return to this game one day, but right now I have other games that are interesting me more. Like I said, this is not a review since I didn't beat the game, its more just an impressions/reason why I am shelving it for now.
So to start off, this was my first time playing a Persona game. I have always wanted to play them but their hella expensive on Steam since Sega knows people love these games, and they want to hit your wallet accordingly. After doing tons of research, Persona 3's story seemed like the one that interested me the most to start on, with its themes of life and death and how the characters use their evokers to summon their Persona's. And ya its a pretty interesting story after the 20 or so hours I played but the pacing is a bit too slow for me. But we'll get to that.
Firstly the combat is pretty fun, as you summon Persona's to help you in battle. The combat is very much about revealing enemies weakenesses and trying to exploit that so you can do an all out attack. I enjoyed fusing some of the Persona's to make more powerful ones. And the battle music is just awesome, as when it hits the lyrics just as you do an all out attack, the combination of music and flawless animations make it a sight to behold. However, it did start to get tedious for me, as I have just never liked traditional turn base combat as much. It would be great if it was a 20-30 hour RPG, but this game is 50-60 hours minimum, so I don't know if I would have gotten tired of it if I had kept playing. I also don't like the cap you have on how many Persona's you can carry. Sometimes when you have the option to get a new Persona from battle, if you select it and your Persona cap is full, you have to sacrifice one of your current Persona's for it. Why I can't just put this Persona in like a storage is beyond me, and if you get into this menu like I described, there is no backing out of it, meaning you HAVE to now sacrifice one of your Persona which is just so frustrating.
The dungeons are also pretty terrible as the original Tartarus was pretty infamous from what I have heard. They have added some nice QOL features to make the dungeon crawl easier, but it doesn't stop the level design from being absolutely boring and tedious. Its all randomly generated, but you will be seeing the same looking layouts, over and over again. I guess I'm more used to dungoeons that offer envoirmental storytelling, alternate routes and stuff to find off the beaten path. Back to Persona 3, you climb the floors of Tartarus until you hit a road block, which basically forces you to go back to the real world and engage with the social link gameplay.
Social links are the bread and butter of this series and I was excited to dive into it. You quickly get into a routine of going to school, spending time with someone before spending your evening: studying, working a part time job or going to Tartarus. This was nice at first but it can get a bit much if you've hit that road block I mentioned earlier in Tartarus and are now stuck doing Social Link stuff until the calendar finally lands on a day where the story can actually progress. I found it odd too that your social links are mostly with NPCs in the gameworld rather then your actual party members. You can start social links with them, but only WAY later when your stats are basically maxed out. They do introduce hang outs a bit later, where you can spend time with a party member cooking or reading a book. These are nice additions, but its not the true social link stuff obviously. And the social links that I got to experience, were okay, some better then others but some of them just felt like a waste of time. Like the one kid in your class who just wants to bang his teacher, or the other on the track team who's sick and shouldn't be doing track, but forces himself too. These would be nice, but you often get these stories in such short, bite size pieces that if feels like nothing is progressing and your not really doing anything other then just giving them advice. Also, the game advertises that the social links are fully voiced but that is kind of not true. Most of the time, they will be voiced, but there are plenty of times where you hang out with an social link and their will be no VA, meaning you have to read text. It doesn't bother me too much, but still wanted to mention it if your expecting a fully voiced experience.
You can pick dialogue options, which is something I love in RPG's but its pretty basic here. Basically either be a nice guy, a jerk or pick an option that the NPC just doesn't agree with. There's a right option to all of these to get them to like you which I felt was a little bit limiting, but many RPGs I play, cough Bethesda cough have the same thing. For me, I tend to like choice and consequence in RPGs and having morally grey choices that have more nuance to them, but thats not really here from what I played.
The story is also pretty interesting and I do really like the party members you interact with, as they have great VA, I just wish I could social link with them a lot earlier in the game. My main issue with the story, is that its just poorly paced. Like your start with your first two party members and your just dungeon crawling and social linking for a while until only later does the plot start actually progressing. Its one of those stories where I want to learn more, but again, if don't get to play this game again, I won't be crying over it. And I am definitely NOT buying this game as knowing Atlus, they will rerelease the game a year or two from now, with new expansion content that you can ONLY get buying that addition and essentially double dipping. I find that to be an outdated and anti-consumer practice that I fell for once with Diablo 3 on console but never again. So who knows, maybe I will return to this game one day, but right now I have other games that are interesting me more. Like I said, this is not a review since I didn't beat the game, its more just an impressions/reason why I am shelving it for now.
2019
Could not get into this one sadly. I never played the original game, but this remaster is great from Nightdive, as it does a great job bringing the game to modern systems. The sprite work of the enemies is fantastic and I love the unique weapon line up and art style. Playing it though didn't feel that good and you die so easily in this game. The first episode is just a massive turn off as you barely have any ammo and enemies hit like a freight train. Unforunately its just not for me, but if your a fan of the original, then this remaster will give you everything you could ask for!
2023
Playtime: 19 Hours
Score: 9/10
Dead Space reimagined for a new era! So back in the day, I was a HUGE Dead Space fan! The first blu-ray movie I ever bought was an animated prequel film, called Dead Space Downfall, as I just loved the sci fi horror setting, unique weapon arsenal and terrifying creatures. That said, I never actually beat the first game as I always got stuck on the ADS cannon section and could never get past it as a kid. I did play the heck out of Dead Space 2 though, which I do plan on revisiting after having finished this. So what did I think of it?
This remake does a fantastic job of recreating the Ishimura with modern graphics. Many rooms or areas look almost exactly the same as the original with some expansions here and there. The ship is also now 100% interconnected like any classic survival horror game which is awesome. You can now travel back to older areas to open up lock doors or do the very few side missions the game has. These locked rooms are now handled through a security clearance system as opposed to you having to sacrifice an upgrade node to open them, which I definitely appreciate. Getting the last master lock level was a pain but it was worth it in the end.
Most importantly though, is the game's atmosphere is retained as you constantly feel on edge when exploring the Ishimura. Creatures will now randomly attack you from anywhere, and there are very few places that are actually safe. This did get a little annoying when I was trying to use the item shop or upgrade my weapons, as the game world still goes on in the background and there are a few times where I got attacked and had to slowly back out to defend myself. But overall, I loved exploring this derelict spaceship though the backtracking did get tedious, mainly in trying to remember how to get back to older rooms as each main area, as multiple levels.
The sound design is also fantastic with the music being very eerie and tension filling. There are times where you're exploring a room and rather than throwing enemies at you, you will just hear distant voices and screams, to make it sound like someone else is being brutally murdered, but you never see what happens to them. Also Isaac's iconic yells and grunts when he stomps on enemie corpses is still awesome to hear and such a unique feature that not many other horror games have done. It's all great stuff.
The necromorphs themselves are terrifying and gross looking, with some designs taking elements from the Alien or The Thing films. The gore is amazing as you blast them with your high powered weapons, severing their limbs or blasting off what little skin they had left, making you see nothing but their flesh and bone. Its nightmare fuel for sure, and I just love that they went that far!
The upgrade system is also vastly improved. In the original there would be these blank slots that you spend a node in order to get to the next upgrade. Here, every slot offers some kind of upgrade to your weapons or suit, which just made it all the more satisfying. You now find weapon upgrade parts and have to take them to an upgrade bench to expand the amount the skill trees of your weapons, even giving you some special upgrades here and there. You now pick up all the weapons through story progression except for the line gun that is locked behind one of the security clearance doors. Oddly though when you pick up a gun for the first time, and you see Isaac physically holding the weapon, it does not automatically equip, rather you have to manually equip it from your inventory. That was kind of annoying, especially in the beginning when I had free weapon slots open for it.
The story as well is fantastic and is very true to the original. I know I said I never finished the first game, but I ended up watching lets plays instead and it's cool to see the differences between the two versions. Characters like Daniels and Hammond still serve the same roles in the story but their personalities have been changed to be more realistic. In the original they were almost always screaming at each other, which made you feel like the awkward middle man, in order to give off an oppressive feeling and like you couldn’t trust anyone. Here in the remake, they are a lot more collaborative towards each other and Isaac, which at first I didn’t like, but I grew to appreciate it more as time went on. It makes sense that they would work together to get off this alien infested ship and not yell at each other constantly, over petty differences. Isaac is voiced this time around by the actor who voiced him in the sequels, and I liked this addition. While I do like silent protagonists in RPGs, it makes more sense for the main character to be voiced in a horror game, with everything going on around them. I thought it added a lot to the story and made Isaac more sympathetic and cool.
Overall, I got to say this remake was amazing and I’m glad I got to play it! It made me remember why I loved this series so much growing up as a kid and I hope we get remakes of the second and third games in the future!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 9/10
Dead Space reimagined for a new era! So back in the day, I was a HUGE Dead Space fan! The first blu-ray movie I ever bought was an animated prequel film, called Dead Space Downfall, as I just loved the sci fi horror setting, unique weapon arsenal and terrifying creatures. That said, I never actually beat the first game as I always got stuck on the ADS cannon section and could never get past it as a kid. I did play the heck out of Dead Space 2 though, which I do plan on revisiting after having finished this. So what did I think of it?
This remake does a fantastic job of recreating the Ishimura with modern graphics. Many rooms or areas look almost exactly the same as the original with some expansions here and there. The ship is also now 100% interconnected like any classic survival horror game which is awesome. You can now travel back to older areas to open up lock doors or do the very few side missions the game has. These locked rooms are now handled through a security clearance system as opposed to you having to sacrifice an upgrade node to open them, which I definitely appreciate. Getting the last master lock level was a pain but it was worth it in the end.
Most importantly though, is the game's atmosphere is retained as you constantly feel on edge when exploring the Ishimura. Creatures will now randomly attack you from anywhere, and there are very few places that are actually safe. This did get a little annoying when I was trying to use the item shop or upgrade my weapons, as the game world still goes on in the background and there are a few times where I got attacked and had to slowly back out to defend myself. But overall, I loved exploring this derelict spaceship though the backtracking did get tedious, mainly in trying to remember how to get back to older rooms as each main area, as multiple levels.
The sound design is also fantastic with the music being very eerie and tension filling. There are times where you're exploring a room and rather than throwing enemies at you, you will just hear distant voices and screams, to make it sound like someone else is being brutally murdered, but you never see what happens to them. Also Isaac's iconic yells and grunts when he stomps on enemie corpses is still awesome to hear and such a unique feature that not many other horror games have done. It's all great stuff.
The necromorphs themselves are terrifying and gross looking, with some designs taking elements from the Alien or The Thing films. The gore is amazing as you blast them with your high powered weapons, severing their limbs or blasting off what little skin they had left, making you see nothing but their flesh and bone. Its nightmare fuel for sure, and I just love that they went that far!
The upgrade system is also vastly improved. In the original there would be these blank slots that you spend a node in order to get to the next upgrade. Here, every slot offers some kind of upgrade to your weapons or suit, which just made it all the more satisfying. You now find weapon upgrade parts and have to take them to an upgrade bench to expand the amount the skill trees of your weapons, even giving you some special upgrades here and there. You now pick up all the weapons through story progression except for the line gun that is locked behind one of the security clearance doors. Oddly though when you pick up a gun for the first time, and you see Isaac physically holding the weapon, it does not automatically equip, rather you have to manually equip it from your inventory. That was kind of annoying, especially in the beginning when I had free weapon slots open for it.
The story as well is fantastic and is very true to the original. I know I said I never finished the first game, but I ended up watching lets plays instead and it's cool to see the differences between the two versions. Characters like Daniels and Hammond still serve the same roles in the story but their personalities have been changed to be more realistic. In the original they were almost always screaming at each other, which made you feel like the awkward middle man, in order to give off an oppressive feeling and like you couldn’t trust anyone. Here in the remake, they are a lot more collaborative towards each other and Isaac, which at first I didn’t like, but I grew to appreciate it more as time went on. It makes sense that they would work together to get off this alien infested ship and not yell at each other constantly, over petty differences. Isaac is voiced this time around by the actor who voiced him in the sequels, and I liked this addition. While I do like silent protagonists in RPGs, it makes more sense for the main character to be voiced in a horror game, with everything going on around them. I thought it added a lot to the story and made Isaac more sympathetic and cool.
Overall, I got to say this remake was amazing and I’m glad I got to play it! It made me remember why I loved this series so much growing up as a kid and I hope we get remakes of the second and third games in the future!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
2023
Playtime: 8 Hours
Score: 8/10
A perfect little game for me to play just before Persona 3 Reload comes out! I had heard this game was a sleeper hit and after playing it, I can see why. But what is this game about?
It combines so many genres into one compact little game. Its part story driven game, part cooking sim, part skateboarding game and part JRPG. You think some of those wouldn't go together, but it suprisingly worked very well! I loved every aspect of this game except for the skateboard sections which were not for me really, but hey its there for anyone who grew up playing Tony Hawk or Skate! I was more interested in the story and RPG mechanics personally, which are pretty sound.
The game starts you with three attributes, with one main one based on a questionaire you do at the beginning. As you level up you can put points into them and they also increase as you pick dialogue options in conversations. You also have the basic stats that go up the more you use them like attack and defense. I thought these were some decent RPG mechanics overall and I liked engaging with them.
The combat is very much like Persona where you have to target enemies weaknesses by taunting them like making them angry as an example, and then using abillties that target that weakness type for maximum damage. Also as you defeat the exes, you can do side missions for them afterwards and unlock them as summons in battle which I thought was cool. I also liked how you couldn't use certain summons in certain fights based on that exes story ties to the enemy you were fighting. Just small attention to detail that I liked.
The story was easily the best part though! What I like is that they don't present Jala as some kind of Mary Sue with no flaws, as they make it clear to you from the beginning that she has made a lot of mistakes in the past, and your choices will effect her path to redemption. I thought all of the dialogue was great and its all voiced which was surprise for a smaller game like this, but very appreciated as it makes the game easier to get invested in. The characters are all just teeming with great energy and it was blast to interact with all of them. They also do a great job of repersenting gay characters which is always nice to see in a video game in my book! The ending I also thought was very good and fitting for everything that the story was building up to.
The only part of the story I found a little disappointing was the side plot involving the towns teenagers being groomed by a cult leader. The game builds it up like your going to take this guy down, and I always love me some cult take downs in video games, but the ending to it was VERY anti-climatic. I don't know if this was based on choices I made in dialogue that lead to the ending I got, or if there even is another ending get. I couldn't really check as of the writing of this review, I couldn't find any real guides or walkthroughs to check if I did something wrong. They do bring it up again at the end of the game, so I don't know if thats sequel bait or something. I will be disappionted if it is, not that I wouldn't want another game from this team, but that I would have to play a second game to get a proper resolution.
Overall though, this a solid little indie RPG and I can recommend it to anyone who likes RPGs, story driven games or skateboarding as thats a whole aspect to this game I didn't really touch much of.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 8/10
A perfect little game for me to play just before Persona 3 Reload comes out! I had heard this game was a sleeper hit and after playing it, I can see why. But what is this game about?
It combines so many genres into one compact little game. Its part story driven game, part cooking sim, part skateboarding game and part JRPG. You think some of those wouldn't go together, but it suprisingly worked very well! I loved every aspect of this game except for the skateboard sections which were not for me really, but hey its there for anyone who grew up playing Tony Hawk or Skate! I was more interested in the story and RPG mechanics personally, which are pretty sound.
The game starts you with three attributes, with one main one based on a questionaire you do at the beginning. As you level up you can put points into them and they also increase as you pick dialogue options in conversations. You also have the basic stats that go up the more you use them like attack and defense. I thought these were some decent RPG mechanics overall and I liked engaging with them.
The combat is very much like Persona where you have to target enemies weaknesses by taunting them like making them angry as an example, and then using abillties that target that weakness type for maximum damage. Also as you defeat the exes, you can do side missions for them afterwards and unlock them as summons in battle which I thought was cool. I also liked how you couldn't use certain summons in certain fights based on that exes story ties to the enemy you were fighting. Just small attention to detail that I liked.
The story was easily the best part though! What I like is that they don't present Jala as some kind of Mary Sue with no flaws, as they make it clear to you from the beginning that she has made a lot of mistakes in the past, and your choices will effect her path to redemption. I thought all of the dialogue was great and its all voiced which was surprise for a smaller game like this, but very appreciated as it makes the game easier to get invested in. The characters are all just teeming with great energy and it was blast to interact with all of them. They also do a great job of repersenting gay characters which is always nice to see in a video game in my book! The ending I also thought was very good and fitting for everything that the story was building up to.
The only part of the story I found a little disappointing was the side plot involving the towns teenagers being groomed by a cult leader. The game builds it up like your going to take this guy down, and I always love me some cult take downs in video games, but the ending to it was VERY anti-climatic. I don't know if this was based on choices I made in dialogue that lead to the ending I got, or if there even is another ending get. I couldn't really check as of the writing of this review, I couldn't find any real guides or walkthroughs to check if I did something wrong. They do bring it up again at the end of the game, so I don't know if thats sequel bait or something. I will be disappionted if it is, not that I wouldn't want another game from this team, but that I would have to play a second game to get a proper resolution.
Overall though, this a solid little indie RPG and I can recommend it to anyone who likes RPGs, story driven games or skateboarding as thats a whole aspect to this game I didn't really touch much of.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
2022
I learned I'm just not built for rollerskating in games! I thought I would like this one with its cool setting and artstyle, but its just not for me. Booting the game up you have to accept 3 pages of terms of service, which is an instant turn off, and the gameplay just felt clunky to me. I just never felt like I could get a good bit of monetum going and the ramps don't send you up in the air long enough to do any tricks. Also you have to do tricks to get back ammo and thats just not my style. By no means do I think this is a bad game, its just not for me.
2002
Playtime: 12 Hours
Score: 9/10
One of the fondest memories of my childhood was waking up on my 6th birthday and opening up a present from my parents to reveal this game! While many will say Mario or Sonic was their platforming game of their childhood, this was mine!
This game was truly ahead of its time with its tongue and cheek story, filled with social commentary about consumerism and unchecked captialism. Obviously this all flew over my head as a 6 year old but I have to come to appreciate the humor more as an adult. Its rare for games these days to have commentary like this and this game does it flawlessly without seeming like it has an agenda. The story of Ratchet being a self centered mechanic with a heart of gold underneath is timeless as Clank teaches him how to be a hero. These two may be an iconic bromance duo in the sequel games, but in this one they fight and butt heads a lot and its beautiful to see their friendship blossom by the end.
The music is another flawless aspect of this game. While many will reference game series like Elder Scrolls and Persona for their fantastic music, which they rightfully should, the R&C games composed by David Beauregard, should be part of the conversation and is a masterclass in funky music. The techo inspired OST is so catchy and makes the levels such a blast to explore. Kerwan is always my favorite but there are so many great tracks that accompany the fantastic atmosphere!
The platforming mechanics, while clunky in comparison to the later games, are still solid in design as you use Clank to help you glide across ledges and traverse dangerous enviorments. Also the weapons are very cool as they have this rough, bolted together feel, but are still super fun to use which the series would only get better at as time went on.
My only complaint in going back and playing this is the really unforgiving checkpoint system. When you die, your sent so far back and it can get frustrating at times. This became a big issue on the final boss fight with Drek, which I got pretty angry with, but otherwise its a great first entry in this long running series!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 9/10
One of the fondest memories of my childhood was waking up on my 6th birthday and opening up a present from my parents to reveal this game! While many will say Mario or Sonic was their platforming game of their childhood, this was mine!
This game was truly ahead of its time with its tongue and cheek story, filled with social commentary about consumerism and unchecked captialism. Obviously this all flew over my head as a 6 year old but I have to come to appreciate the humor more as an adult. Its rare for games these days to have commentary like this and this game does it flawlessly without seeming like it has an agenda. The story of Ratchet being a self centered mechanic with a heart of gold underneath is timeless as Clank teaches him how to be a hero. These two may be an iconic bromance duo in the sequel games, but in this one they fight and butt heads a lot and its beautiful to see their friendship blossom by the end.
The music is another flawless aspect of this game. While many will reference game series like Elder Scrolls and Persona for their fantastic music, which they rightfully should, the R&C games composed by David Beauregard, should be part of the conversation and is a masterclass in funky music. The techo inspired OST is so catchy and makes the levels such a blast to explore. Kerwan is always my favorite but there are so many great tracks that accompany the fantastic atmosphere!
The platforming mechanics, while clunky in comparison to the later games, are still solid in design as you use Clank to help you glide across ledges and traverse dangerous enviorments. Also the weapons are very cool as they have this rough, bolted together feel, but are still super fun to use which the series would only get better at as time went on.
My only complaint in going back and playing this is the really unforgiving checkpoint system. When you die, your sent so far back and it can get frustrating at times. This became a big issue on the final boss fight with Drek, which I got pretty angry with, but otherwise its a great first entry in this long running series!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Playtime: 20 Hours
Score: 9/10
An excellent superhero game with great writing and characters! When they first announced the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, I like many others was like "Who?". Then the movies came out, and I absolutely love the trilogy by James Gunn and this game captures much of that. Obviously this came just after Avengers which Square Enix completely screwed up (I myself couldn't get passed the first hour of it), and it hurt this games momentum that I feel like it deserved. But what's this game all about?
The main reason to play this game really is its story and characters. While this game is NOT set in the MCU, they took the personalties of the characters from the films and told their own unique story with it! There is ALOT of dialogue in this game as the team is constantly bantering with each other while you play through the levels. While some will find this annoying, it didn't bother me since the dialogue is so well written and voice acted, and they so such a good job capturing the characters personalities. It did get a little annoying during combat mainly because I was trying to focus on shooting and they tend to just repeat the same lines over and over, but outside of combat, they always had something new to say to each other which I appreciated. You can also make choices during conversations which I thought was a nice touch and they will even give you notifications about how characters feel about your decisions like in a TellTale game. While I didn't mind these prompts in conversations, they do have QTEs in cutscenes which I definitely do mind. I thought we were past this in the games industry, as they don't require skill and are just there to make sure your paying attention. And if you fail these, you often have to rewatch the whole cutscene again until the prompt shows up for you to retry it which is very annoying.
Lastly the ending I thought was pretty good but they do drag it out a bit too much. Like you have: a credit scene; then surprise, another chapter; then credits; then another dialogue scene where you have to make choices; then credits; then end slides and then a book retelling of the games events. Like Eidos, I loved your game but you need to learn when its time to end!
Next up we have the combat which can feel clunky in the beginning but as you unlock more abilities it does get a lot better. Obviously some players will feel cheated that they can't play as the different guardians but I found the combat loop got better once I got the hang of it. Your meant to pretty much hang back and shoot as Starlord and command the Guardians to come in with their abillities. It can also be a little stragetic once you know the role each of them serves. Gamora and Drax are great damage dealers, where as Rocket and Groot are good for AOE abilities, such as Groot holding enemies down and Rocket using his grenades for group kills. The enemies can be bullet spongy, but towards the end it became less of an issue once I got fully into the games combat synenergy.
My one big issue though is the level design. Visually the levels look amazing and I love the artstyle they went with. But mechanically the levels are very linear and basically just one long corridor. There are side paths you can take, but these just lead to dead ends with collectables, and they don't offer any alternate routes through a level. I talked about this in my review of Control, but in that I talked about Arkanes level design (pre-Deathloop and Redfall) and how they were really good at making even the most linear levels feel fun to explore as there was always a side path to take or different ways to approach a mission. I get that this is more of an action adventure game, but even games in that genre like God Of War 2018, offered a little bit more freedom in the levels or those more open levels where you could explore at your lesiure. Here its a much more strict pathway where you will be walking through gaps in walls or sliding down slipperly slopes. The kind of thing thats very abundant in the newer Tomb Raider games, which Eidos obviously helped work on.
Lastly there are skins in the game that you can find hidden throughout the levels and not in some money grabbing cash shop, which lets take a moment to praise that! I also thought it was cool that you can get the costumes from the first movie for each of the guardians which is pretty much what I wore throughout my playthrouh. The other skins didn't look that appealing to me and aside from a couple of others, I would never play with any of them on.
Overall though, this is a great superhero game with its engaging story that I will say is on the level with the Batman Arkham trilogy in terms of the quality of writing and characters. I don't know if we will ever get a sequel but I really hope we do as I would love to play that!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 9/10
An excellent superhero game with great writing and characters! When they first announced the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, I like many others was like "Who?". Then the movies came out, and I absolutely love the trilogy by James Gunn and this game captures much of that. Obviously this came just after Avengers which Square Enix completely screwed up (I myself couldn't get passed the first hour of it), and it hurt this games momentum that I feel like it deserved. But what's this game all about?
The main reason to play this game really is its story and characters. While this game is NOT set in the MCU, they took the personalties of the characters from the films and told their own unique story with it! There is ALOT of dialogue in this game as the team is constantly bantering with each other while you play through the levels. While some will find this annoying, it didn't bother me since the dialogue is so well written and voice acted, and they so such a good job capturing the characters personalities. It did get a little annoying during combat mainly because I was trying to focus on shooting and they tend to just repeat the same lines over and over, but outside of combat, they always had something new to say to each other which I appreciated. You can also make choices during conversations which I thought was a nice touch and they will even give you notifications about how characters feel about your decisions like in a TellTale game. While I didn't mind these prompts in conversations, they do have QTEs in cutscenes which I definitely do mind. I thought we were past this in the games industry, as they don't require skill and are just there to make sure your paying attention. And if you fail these, you often have to rewatch the whole cutscene again until the prompt shows up for you to retry it which is very annoying.
Lastly the ending I thought was pretty good but they do drag it out a bit too much. Like you have: a credit scene; then surprise, another chapter; then credits; then another dialogue scene where you have to make choices; then credits; then end slides and then a book retelling of the games events. Like Eidos, I loved your game but you need to learn when its time to end!
Next up we have the combat which can feel clunky in the beginning but as you unlock more abilities it does get a lot better. Obviously some players will feel cheated that they can't play as the different guardians but I found the combat loop got better once I got the hang of it. Your meant to pretty much hang back and shoot as Starlord and command the Guardians to come in with their abillities. It can also be a little stragetic once you know the role each of them serves. Gamora and Drax are great damage dealers, where as Rocket and Groot are good for AOE abilities, such as Groot holding enemies down and Rocket using his grenades for group kills. The enemies can be bullet spongy, but towards the end it became less of an issue once I got fully into the games combat synenergy.
My one big issue though is the level design. Visually the levels look amazing and I love the artstyle they went with. But mechanically the levels are very linear and basically just one long corridor. There are side paths you can take, but these just lead to dead ends with collectables, and they don't offer any alternate routes through a level. I talked about this in my review of Control, but in that I talked about Arkanes level design (pre-Deathloop and Redfall) and how they were really good at making even the most linear levels feel fun to explore as there was always a side path to take or different ways to approach a mission. I get that this is more of an action adventure game, but even games in that genre like God Of War 2018, offered a little bit more freedom in the levels or those more open levels where you could explore at your lesiure. Here its a much more strict pathway where you will be walking through gaps in walls or sliding down slipperly slopes. The kind of thing thats very abundant in the newer Tomb Raider games, which Eidos obviously helped work on.
Lastly there are skins in the game that you can find hidden throughout the levels and not in some money grabbing cash shop, which lets take a moment to praise that! I also thought it was cool that you can get the costumes from the first movie for each of the guardians which is pretty much what I wore throughout my playthrouh. The other skins didn't look that appealing to me and aside from a couple of others, I would never play with any of them on.
Overall though, this is a great superhero game with its engaging story that I will say is on the level with the Batman Arkham trilogy in terms of the quality of writing and characters. I don't know if we will ever get a sequel but I really hope we do as I would love to play that!
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
2018
Playtime: 4 Hours
Score: 7/10
An okay expansion to Aragami. Played through this in co-op with a friend and it was pretty fun. The levels are beautifully designed with the games incredible art style and colours. There are a lot more enemies in the levels with some sniper towers having up to 3 archers, which definitely forced me to get creative, especially when my friend was killed and I had to carry us to the next checkpoint without dying!
There is one new ability called Twin Shadow which I never really got the hang of, however they did update the kunai blade to have an explosive charge, so after you throw one to take out an enemy, it plants a bomb so that when other enemies get close you can set off an explosion, which is great for group kills! I just love that someone on the dev team was like "kunai blades are cool but what if they could explode?!".
Lastly is the story which acts as a prequel to the base game. It was okay overall but I found it to be a little anti-climatic towards the end, and its definitely not mandatory to play. They did add diary entries in the levels that you can pick up and read to expand the story which I did appreciate.
Overall, an okay expansion, not a must play really but if you get it alongside the base game it will provide some decent fun!
All DLCs I have played and reviewed ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-dlcs-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 7/10
An okay expansion to Aragami. Played through this in co-op with a friend and it was pretty fun. The levels are beautifully designed with the games incredible art style and colours. There are a lot more enemies in the levels with some sniper towers having up to 3 archers, which definitely forced me to get creative, especially when my friend was killed and I had to carry us to the next checkpoint without dying!
There is one new ability called Twin Shadow which I never really got the hang of, however they did update the kunai blade to have an explosive charge, so after you throw one to take out an enemy, it plants a bomb so that when other enemies get close you can set off an explosion, which is great for group kills! I just love that someone on the dev team was like "kunai blades are cool but what if they could explode?!".
Lastly is the story which acts as a prequel to the base game. It was okay overall but I found it to be a little anti-climatic towards the end, and its definitely not mandatory to play. They did add diary entries in the levels that you can pick up and read to expand the story which I did appreciate.
Overall, an okay expansion, not a must play really but if you get it alongside the base game it will provide some decent fun!
All DLCs I have played and reviewed ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-dlcs-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Playtime: 10 Hours
Score: 9/10
An excellent expansion and easily one of Bethesda's best DLCs! I love Oblivion as its easily one of my favorite games of all time but I have less memories of this expansion. I remembered fighting the Gatekeeper at the beginning but not much after that, so a replay was in order!
The one thing I loved most was just how visually diverse the Shivering Isles are to Cyrodill with its more otherworldly look. It reminded me of Morrowind in that aspect. I also love how the island is split up into Mania and Dementia, with them meeting in the city of New Sheoth, with it being split into two districts. I remember visiting the Dementia side first and seeing how dark, twisted and Tim Burton-esk everything looked, but when I went over to the Mania side, everything was bright and colorful. Overall, S tier art design!
The enemies can be a little annoying in this expansion, especially if you decide to enter Dementia first which is what I did. Some enemies like the Grumites will always have poison tipped weapons, so whenever you face one they will hit you and drain things like your magicka and damage your attributes which was so annoying. I played through the base game as a two handed warrior but in this DLC I had to switch to sword and shield for better blocking and use tons of poison resistance. Other annoying things like the stagger mechanic still exists which just are so annoying to deal with in combat, especially when fighting multiple enemies who just keep constantly staggering you. Also there are priest enemies that turn invisible which is always fun to!
Story wise, I thought this was better then the main story from the base game with an almost Alice in Wonderland vibe. I loved helping Sheogorath and then becoming the Dutchess of Dementia as I played which was really cool.
All that said, this is a pretty good expansion I'd say despite the annoying elements. Definitely worth a playthrough!
All DLCs I have played and reviewed ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-dlcs-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 9/10
An excellent expansion and easily one of Bethesda's best DLCs! I love Oblivion as its easily one of my favorite games of all time but I have less memories of this expansion. I remembered fighting the Gatekeeper at the beginning but not much after that, so a replay was in order!
The one thing I loved most was just how visually diverse the Shivering Isles are to Cyrodill with its more otherworldly look. It reminded me of Morrowind in that aspect. I also love how the island is split up into Mania and Dementia, with them meeting in the city of New Sheoth, with it being split into two districts. I remember visiting the Dementia side first and seeing how dark, twisted and Tim Burton-esk everything looked, but when I went over to the Mania side, everything was bright and colorful. Overall, S tier art design!
The enemies can be a little annoying in this expansion, especially if you decide to enter Dementia first which is what I did. Some enemies like the Grumites will always have poison tipped weapons, so whenever you face one they will hit you and drain things like your magicka and damage your attributes which was so annoying. I played through the base game as a two handed warrior but in this DLC I had to switch to sword and shield for better blocking and use tons of poison resistance. Other annoying things like the stagger mechanic still exists which just are so annoying to deal with in combat, especially when fighting multiple enemies who just keep constantly staggering you. Also there are priest enemies that turn invisible which is always fun to!
Story wise, I thought this was better then the main story from the base game with an almost Alice in Wonderland vibe. I loved helping Sheogorath and then becoming the Dutchess of Dementia as I played which was really cool.
All that said, this is a pretty good expansion I'd say despite the annoying elements. Definitely worth a playthrough!
All DLCs I have played and reviewed ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-dlcs-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Playtime: 100+ Hours
Score: 10/10
Easily one of my favourite games of all time! This was my first ever RPG as a teen as I remember my friends bringing this game to school to show it off. With the leaks about an Oblivion Remake/Remaster plus the Skyblivion mod coming out, I thought it would be a great time to review the original game! Many of Oblivion's aspects can be viewed as outdated to its dungeon design, potato looking character models and its levelling system. Do I care? Not really no. Oblivion is honestly magic and there's no game that has made me want it to explore its world more then this one! But I will dive into these aspects and critique them.
Firstly we have the dungeon design that felt interesting to revisit after Starfield pretty much copy and pasted all of its dungeons imo. This was back when Bethesda was still really small and they only had one developer to make all of the dungeons. Exploring them, I could definitely feel the repetitive nature but again it felt more varied then a certain other game I have already mentioned. That said, the dungeons are definitely one of the weaker aspects. The world exploration is fantastic though as the draw distances look beautiful despite the texture pop in. When you first step out of the dungeon and see the small dock along with the Ayelid ruins in the background. That will always be iconic to me! One quest that also relates to that is "The Collector" quest-line which sees you diving into the ruins to find statues for a rich benefactor. I honestly thought that was great and it gives you a reason to dive into them so you can get rich quick!
The levelling system is another thing to critique as it can be broken at times in how you build you're character. I also go for skills like Athletics, no matter what kind of character I'm making since its easy to level up since all you have to do is run around which you will be doing a lot of. Enemies also level with you which can be annoying, when you see a bandit in full ebony armour attack you on the road for 100 gold. That man should be retired at this point! If they do remake oblivion and not just remaster it, like the leak suggests, I feel like this is an aspect they will have to fix!
The music is absolutely amazing and its something I listen to almost every day since it always makes me feel relaxed and calm. The battle music can get a little repetitive, especially when you sink as many hours as I have into this game. The sound design overall is decent but you can definitely see the small team size and not big budget like they would have now. The voice acting also is great, even if they have a small cast voicing all of the NPCs. Me and my sister would always laugh when we would speak to a beggar as they asked us for a coin with an old, tired voice. But then when you asked them rumors their voice would suddenly change and be normal lol
That's a good segue into the dialogue system, which Bethesda took inspiration from for Starfield. It has the infamous zoom into an NPC while the world in the background freezes as you talk to them. I have never really minded that style of interaction and in many ways I prefer that to the more dynamic interaction of Skyrim and Fallout 4, mainly in that you don't get attacked or interrupted mid conversation like the after mentioned games do. The persuasion mechanic would be laughed at today as you basically just recycle a bunch of options like compliment, intimidate etc until the the relationship meter with that NPC is as full as it can get. Me, I have a lot of nostalgia for this mechanic as it again always seemed funny to me how the NPCs reacted to whatever I said to them. In any other game, I would hate this but in Oblivion, I am blissfully happy with it!
Second to last, I wanted to talk about gameplay. The combat is very much just as bad as Skyrim was as Bethesda has just never been good with FPS melee combat. I don't mind it again, but replaying this game made me see how its very bland in how you basically block and then swing to hit, rinse and repeat. I also hate how some enemies can just keep swinging at you even though your hitting them, like theirs no stagger or visual feedback from your hits. This is especially bad in the goblins and also some of the enemies from the Shivering Isles expansion which I will rant about, when I review that. Its also just annoying because you have a stamina bar that runs out, but the enemies just seem to have unlimited stamina. The spells are a cool addition though and I love the enchantments that you can put on your weapons in this game. I just wish their was a way to enchant weapons other then doing the Oblivion gates which get repetitive very quickly. If I were to give a pass on the dungeon design, I will not on the Oblivion Gates, as they are always just confusing to explore and feel very thrown together last minute.
Lastly, the story. The main story is decent in its execution as I like the tale of the Blades trying to protect the emperor against a cult that worship the daedra. It is however still the most forgettable part and it is epic to hear the voices of both Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean as the Emperor and prince respectively. Where the writing does shine though, is in the faction and side quests that are really well done in this game. It definitely made the tedium of dealing with all of the previously mentioned mechanics much more durable. I feel like developers have just put less effort these days into side quests in games and replaying this made me see how much they can add to an open world game. The Fighters Guild and Dark Brotherhood will always be my favourites!
Overall, this review may have read as very jumbled but its just because its hard for me to express how much I love this game! It introduced me to the RPG genre, and it always provided an amazing level of escapism, whenever things IRL became hard for me. I owe a lot to Oblivion and I will happily replay this and any remake, mod or remaster that we get in the future!
All Games I've Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
My GOTY for Every Year I have been alive - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/my-favorite-games-for-every-year-i-have-been-alive/
Bethesda Game Studios Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/bethesda-game-studios-ranked/
Score: 10/10
Easily one of my favourite games of all time! This was my first ever RPG as a teen as I remember my friends bringing this game to school to show it off. With the leaks about an Oblivion Remake/Remaster plus the Skyblivion mod coming out, I thought it would be a great time to review the original game! Many of Oblivion's aspects can be viewed as outdated to its dungeon design, potato looking character models and its levelling system. Do I care? Not really no. Oblivion is honestly magic and there's no game that has made me want it to explore its world more then this one! But I will dive into these aspects and critique them.
Firstly we have the dungeon design that felt interesting to revisit after Starfield pretty much copy and pasted all of its dungeons imo. This was back when Bethesda was still really small and they only had one developer to make all of the dungeons. Exploring them, I could definitely feel the repetitive nature but again it felt more varied then a certain other game I have already mentioned. That said, the dungeons are definitely one of the weaker aspects. The world exploration is fantastic though as the draw distances look beautiful despite the texture pop in. When you first step out of the dungeon and see the small dock along with the Ayelid ruins in the background. That will always be iconic to me! One quest that also relates to that is "The Collector" quest-line which sees you diving into the ruins to find statues for a rich benefactor. I honestly thought that was great and it gives you a reason to dive into them so you can get rich quick!
The levelling system is another thing to critique as it can be broken at times in how you build you're character. I also go for skills like Athletics, no matter what kind of character I'm making since its easy to level up since all you have to do is run around which you will be doing a lot of. Enemies also level with you which can be annoying, when you see a bandit in full ebony armour attack you on the road for 100 gold. That man should be retired at this point! If they do remake oblivion and not just remaster it, like the leak suggests, I feel like this is an aspect they will have to fix!
The music is absolutely amazing and its something I listen to almost every day since it always makes me feel relaxed and calm. The battle music can get a little repetitive, especially when you sink as many hours as I have into this game. The sound design overall is decent but you can definitely see the small team size and not big budget like they would have now. The voice acting also is great, even if they have a small cast voicing all of the NPCs. Me and my sister would always laugh when we would speak to a beggar as they asked us for a coin with an old, tired voice. But then when you asked them rumors their voice would suddenly change and be normal lol
That's a good segue into the dialogue system, which Bethesda took inspiration from for Starfield. It has the infamous zoom into an NPC while the world in the background freezes as you talk to them. I have never really minded that style of interaction and in many ways I prefer that to the more dynamic interaction of Skyrim and Fallout 4, mainly in that you don't get attacked or interrupted mid conversation like the after mentioned games do. The persuasion mechanic would be laughed at today as you basically just recycle a bunch of options like compliment, intimidate etc until the the relationship meter with that NPC is as full as it can get. Me, I have a lot of nostalgia for this mechanic as it again always seemed funny to me how the NPCs reacted to whatever I said to them. In any other game, I would hate this but in Oblivion, I am blissfully happy with it!
Second to last, I wanted to talk about gameplay. The combat is very much just as bad as Skyrim was as Bethesda has just never been good with FPS melee combat. I don't mind it again, but replaying this game made me see how its very bland in how you basically block and then swing to hit, rinse and repeat. I also hate how some enemies can just keep swinging at you even though your hitting them, like theirs no stagger or visual feedback from your hits. This is especially bad in the goblins and also some of the enemies from the Shivering Isles expansion which I will rant about, when I review that. Its also just annoying because you have a stamina bar that runs out, but the enemies just seem to have unlimited stamina. The spells are a cool addition though and I love the enchantments that you can put on your weapons in this game. I just wish their was a way to enchant weapons other then doing the Oblivion gates which get repetitive very quickly. If I were to give a pass on the dungeon design, I will not on the Oblivion Gates, as they are always just confusing to explore and feel very thrown together last minute.
Lastly, the story. The main story is decent in its execution as I like the tale of the Blades trying to protect the emperor against a cult that worship the daedra. It is however still the most forgettable part and it is epic to hear the voices of both Patrick Stewart and Sean Bean as the Emperor and prince respectively. Where the writing does shine though, is in the faction and side quests that are really well done in this game. It definitely made the tedium of dealing with all of the previously mentioned mechanics much more durable. I feel like developers have just put less effort these days into side quests in games and replaying this made me see how much they can add to an open world game. The Fighters Guild and Dark Brotherhood will always be my favourites!
Overall, this review may have read as very jumbled but its just because its hard for me to express how much I love this game! It introduced me to the RPG genre, and it always provided an amazing level of escapism, whenever things IRL became hard for me. I owe a lot to Oblivion and I will happily replay this and any remake, mod or remaster that we get in the future!
All Games I've Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
My GOTY for Every Year I have been alive - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/my-favorite-games-for-every-year-i-have-been-alive/
Bethesda Game Studios Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/bethesda-game-studios-ranked/
2023
An okay roguelite, twin stick shooter but there just isn't much systems here to keep me invested. The best thing this game has going for it is 1, its fast leveling system as your almost constantly leveling up and unlocking new abillities, perks and status effects for your weapons. The second is that the game went free to play on Steam, so you can add it to your library and try it out with no asking price.
Some of things that kept me from continuing to play was its bland visual design. The poster looks really cool and makes me think of films like Alien, but the graphics are pretty simplistic as well as its level design. You just feel like your moving around a large dark room with nothing interesting to see. I do like the flashlight in the game as you can, at any time, switch between a circle of light to see whats around you or a single vision cone that shines further out but narrows what you can see. Its a cool element that adds to the horror and tension, but it just kind of evaporates when all your fighting are giant insects. The game can also be very grindy when it comes to unlocking weapons as you start with a pistol and have to grind 50,000 credits for each new weapon unlock which just feels way too long and tedious to grind. And at the end of the day, the gameplay loop just boils down to a horde mode which I have just never found that fun to play. It is free though, so its always worth trying if your curious about it.
Some of things that kept me from continuing to play was its bland visual design. The poster looks really cool and makes me think of films like Alien, but the graphics are pretty simplistic as well as its level design. You just feel like your moving around a large dark room with nothing interesting to see. I do like the flashlight in the game as you can, at any time, switch between a circle of light to see whats around you or a single vision cone that shines further out but narrows what you can see. Its a cool element that adds to the horror and tension, but it just kind of evaporates when all your fighting are giant insects. The game can also be very grindy when it comes to unlocking weapons as you start with a pistol and have to grind 50,000 credits for each new weapon unlock which just feels way too long and tedious to grind. And at the end of the day, the gameplay loop just boils down to a horde mode which I have just never found that fun to play. It is free though, so its always worth trying if your curious about it.