KaneEddy7
2023
Final Fantasy 16, Review
Spoiler Free,
YOUTUBE REVIEW: https://youtu.be/sUwxZBuwM1w
One of my most anticipated games of last year wasn't as enjoyable as I wanted it to be but I still managed to have a good time with it overall.
Starting off, I am a fairly new fan of this series, I started by playing Final Fantasy 15 which I absolutely love and I finished Final Fantasy 7 Remake which I also really love. This as the new numbered entry in such a legendary series of games had me so excited for it and the trailers looked so epic with these giant eikons battling and the new medieval setting, it all showed such promise to be a real game of the year contender for 2023.
If you had of asked me about this game within the first 2-3 hours I would have said that this might be the best Final Fantasy game, the story, the characters and the combat were at an all time high. The dynamic between the brothers, Clive and Josh was full of this emotion and it definitely captured this epic scale. That is the best thing about this game the main story, the dynamic between Clive and Josh and the epic scale boss battles. They only get bigger and better as it progresses, and both the first and final acts of this game are brilliant.
I particularly enjoyed the finale of this game, it goes for this big swing like all Final Fantasy games do and I think it manages to work really well. The characters are all quite great and are dripping with potential due to some really emotional moments and brilliant voice work.
The combat itself, while a little bit too much on the basic side of things is still really satisfying for the most part with real grand special abilities that make you feel so powerful. There is plenty of variation to fit your play style and if you want to get real fancy with certain combinations this game has the fluidness in its combat system to do so.
Also as all Final Fantasy games are, this is technically stunning, it runs great on a PS5, especially if you are using the pulse headphones, it creates a really immersive experience. The Duelsense's haptic feedback is put to good use here and graphically this thing is phenomenal running at a very steady frame rate even when so much chaos is happening and it looks so beautiful, which is a credit to the games art direction and graphical innovations.
In terms of negatives this game has so many awful pacing issues which took me out of this game completely for a little while. The game hits a point where you get these side quests which are some of the most forced padding I have ever seen in a video game, they offer nothing until you reach the end of the game and just feel like a waste of time for the most part. Everything is half assed here from the performances all the way to the actual quest design which is so tedious and repetitive. The main story at times also wants to put a lot of these fetch quests in at times as well which can really hurt this experience.
I feel like at times Final Fantasy 16 does suffer from a little bit of an identity crisis at times where it wants to be this departure from what Final Fantasy used to be. This is a combat heavy game that has drawn comparisons to the Devil May Cry series, however the DMC series has games that are about 20 hours long max and Final Fantasy 16 still wants to have those JRPG elements which feel so forced and blow the runtime of this game up to around 50 hours which does make this overstay its welcome.
Overall, Final Fantasy 16 is a solid entry in the series, the best parts of this game match the best parts to any game in the series. Its full of emotion, heart and such an epic scale and rich lore that it makes it so disappointing that the RPG elements of this game just don't work at all and hinder the experience with the game. I still would recommend this one to you but you will need to be very patient with it at times.
Spoiler Free,
YOUTUBE REVIEW: https://youtu.be/sUwxZBuwM1w
One of my most anticipated games of last year wasn't as enjoyable as I wanted it to be but I still managed to have a good time with it overall.
Starting off, I am a fairly new fan of this series, I started by playing Final Fantasy 15 which I absolutely love and I finished Final Fantasy 7 Remake which I also really love. This as the new numbered entry in such a legendary series of games had me so excited for it and the trailers looked so epic with these giant eikons battling and the new medieval setting, it all showed such promise to be a real game of the year contender for 2023.
If you had of asked me about this game within the first 2-3 hours I would have said that this might be the best Final Fantasy game, the story, the characters and the combat were at an all time high. The dynamic between the brothers, Clive and Josh was full of this emotion and it definitely captured this epic scale. That is the best thing about this game the main story, the dynamic between Clive and Josh and the epic scale boss battles. They only get bigger and better as it progresses, and both the first and final acts of this game are brilliant.
I particularly enjoyed the finale of this game, it goes for this big swing like all Final Fantasy games do and I think it manages to work really well. The characters are all quite great and are dripping with potential due to some really emotional moments and brilliant voice work.
The combat itself, while a little bit too much on the basic side of things is still really satisfying for the most part with real grand special abilities that make you feel so powerful. There is plenty of variation to fit your play style and if you want to get real fancy with certain combinations this game has the fluidness in its combat system to do so.
Also as all Final Fantasy games are, this is technically stunning, it runs great on a PS5, especially if you are using the pulse headphones, it creates a really immersive experience. The Duelsense's haptic feedback is put to good use here and graphically this thing is phenomenal running at a very steady frame rate even when so much chaos is happening and it looks so beautiful, which is a credit to the games art direction and graphical innovations.
In terms of negatives this game has so many awful pacing issues which took me out of this game completely for a little while. The game hits a point where you get these side quests which are some of the most forced padding I have ever seen in a video game, they offer nothing until you reach the end of the game and just feel like a waste of time for the most part. Everything is half assed here from the performances all the way to the actual quest design which is so tedious and repetitive. The main story at times also wants to put a lot of these fetch quests in at times as well which can really hurt this experience.
I feel like at times Final Fantasy 16 does suffer from a little bit of an identity crisis at times where it wants to be this departure from what Final Fantasy used to be. This is a combat heavy game that has drawn comparisons to the Devil May Cry series, however the DMC series has games that are about 20 hours long max and Final Fantasy 16 still wants to have those JRPG elements which feel so forced and blow the runtime of this game up to around 50 hours which does make this overstay its welcome.
Overall, Final Fantasy 16 is a solid entry in the series, the best parts of this game match the best parts to any game in the series. Its full of emotion, heart and such an epic scale and rich lore that it makes it so disappointing that the RPG elements of this game just don't work at all and hinder the experience with the game. I still would recommend this one to you but you will need to be very patient with it at times.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake, Review
Spoiler Free,
This remake of the first game from Josef Fares was a massive disappointment especially compared to what he has directed previously.
I love couch co-op games, I can just play with my fiance and we have a blast playing these games together. Both A Way Out and It Takes Two are some of the best couch co-op games we have played so I was very eager to try out this remake made by the same people with couch co-op now added to this experience. I hate reviewing games without finishing them but I need to tell you that we could not do it. This game is incredibly boring with bland characters, extremely clunky controls as they haphazardly threw the couch co-op together for this remake. This was originally a single player game but I think even playing this alone with controls that might be better would still be so tedious. Also not having trophies for both players is an absolute crime.
The only positive that I can give this is the presentation is kind of nice. The opening cut scene provides some intrigue and graphically it's not bad.
Overall, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake might be a polished version of the original but the original just wasn't worth remaking because it is just so bad. I don't recommend this one at all, it's a waste of time and money.
Spoiler Free,
This remake of the first game from Josef Fares was a massive disappointment especially compared to what he has directed previously.
I love couch co-op games, I can just play with my fiance and we have a blast playing these games together. Both A Way Out and It Takes Two are some of the best couch co-op games we have played so I was very eager to try out this remake made by the same people with couch co-op now added to this experience. I hate reviewing games without finishing them but I need to tell you that we could not do it. This game is incredibly boring with bland characters, extremely clunky controls as they haphazardly threw the couch co-op together for this remake. This was originally a single player game but I think even playing this alone with controls that might be better would still be so tedious. Also not having trophies for both players is an absolute crime.
The only positive that I can give this is the presentation is kind of nice. The opening cut scene provides some intrigue and graphically it's not bad.
Overall, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake might be a polished version of the original but the original just wasn't worth remaking because it is just so bad. I don't recommend this one at all, it's a waste of time and money.
2024
TopSpin 2K25,
Review
I have dabbled in some of these Tennis games and I got weirdly excited that 2K who have done mostly a great job with the NBA franchise (except the micro transactions) take on Tennis.
As a gameplay experience I have mostly enjoyed my time with TopSpin 2K25, playing the game on the PS5 is very satisfying as it has a surprising amount of Duelsense support. Menus, sounds on the court and the action of hitting a ball can all come through the speaker on the controller which makes this pretty immersive. The amount of customisation options is solid enough and working my way through the career mode is a little too much on the simple side but it has been satisfying ranking my prodigy up to becoming the greatest Tennis player who ever lived. I also really like the diversity of venues, there are so many different stadiums and the different surfaces all feel varied enough to play on where you notice a difference.
However, I think while all this makes for a promising start I think TopSpin 2K25 could have done a lot more. There are barely any real players in this game which is pretty disappointing in career mode. I also think apart from career mode there is barely anything to do, there are just regular exhibition games which no one plays in single player, the online mode is quite basic and they have the training academy as one of the key features which I mean c'mon its a training mode. I also think some of the directional controls aren't fine tuned as well as they could be, I especially noticed this in the practice mode where you have to specifically aim your shots in certain places. You could land it perfectly and be aiming where you want and sometimes it still doesn't go that way making progression a bit of a chore. In the future I also want the Career mode to be a lot more ambitious than what we got because once you hit a certain point it gets really repetitive and boring which is something I never really found in NBA2K.
Overall, TopSpin 2K25 is an OK start for this potential yearly franchise but I think more needs to be done. At times I couldn't help but notice that this feels like an ambitious demo of a full game rather than a full game in of itself. This game is fun for about 8-10 hours of Tennis action but you will probably get burnt out afterwards.
Review
I have dabbled in some of these Tennis games and I got weirdly excited that 2K who have done mostly a great job with the NBA franchise (except the micro transactions) take on Tennis.
As a gameplay experience I have mostly enjoyed my time with TopSpin 2K25, playing the game on the PS5 is very satisfying as it has a surprising amount of Duelsense support. Menus, sounds on the court and the action of hitting a ball can all come through the speaker on the controller which makes this pretty immersive. The amount of customisation options is solid enough and working my way through the career mode is a little too much on the simple side but it has been satisfying ranking my prodigy up to becoming the greatest Tennis player who ever lived. I also really like the diversity of venues, there are so many different stadiums and the different surfaces all feel varied enough to play on where you notice a difference.
However, I think while all this makes for a promising start I think TopSpin 2K25 could have done a lot more. There are barely any real players in this game which is pretty disappointing in career mode. I also think apart from career mode there is barely anything to do, there are just regular exhibition games which no one plays in single player, the online mode is quite basic and they have the training academy as one of the key features which I mean c'mon its a training mode. I also think some of the directional controls aren't fine tuned as well as they could be, I especially noticed this in the practice mode where you have to specifically aim your shots in certain places. You could land it perfectly and be aiming where you want and sometimes it still doesn't go that way making progression a bit of a chore. In the future I also want the Career mode to be a lot more ambitious than what we got because once you hit a certain point it gets really repetitive and boring which is something I never really found in NBA2K.
Overall, TopSpin 2K25 is an OK start for this potential yearly franchise but I think more needs to be done. At times I couldn't help but notice that this feels like an ambitious demo of a full game rather than a full game in of itself. This game is fun for about 8-10 hours of Tennis action but you will probably get burnt out afterwards.
Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus, Review,
Spoiler Free,
As a huge fan of this series of games I was so excited to check this one out as I never got around to playing it when it first released.
I quite enjoyed Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus, getting the Platinum trophy was a blast. The gameplay as per usual for a Ratchet and Clank game is absolutely superb with creative weapons, a diversity of amazing worlds and is something that just feels right at home for me. This is a legendary series and the story takes an interesting turn which is deeper explored in Rift Apart. The implementation of the jet pack and jet boots are welcome additions and the new gadgets are really satisfying to use and tie into the platforming really nicely.
In terms of negatives, I think that the game is just far too short. It felt so disappointing to go to the fifth planet knowing that was it. The Clank sections in this are also awful, I finished the game 3 times and they never grew on me due to being frustrating, tedious and feels so lack of anything creative.
Overall, Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus is a great and worthwhile entry into the franchise. If you haven't checked this out yet I do think its worth your time and gives you so much context for Rift Apart.
Spoiler Free,
As a huge fan of this series of games I was so excited to check this one out as I never got around to playing it when it first released.
I quite enjoyed Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus, getting the Platinum trophy was a blast. The gameplay as per usual for a Ratchet and Clank game is absolutely superb with creative weapons, a diversity of amazing worlds and is something that just feels right at home for me. This is a legendary series and the story takes an interesting turn which is deeper explored in Rift Apart. The implementation of the jet pack and jet boots are welcome additions and the new gadgets are really satisfying to use and tie into the platforming really nicely.
In terms of negatives, I think that the game is just far too short. It felt so disappointing to go to the fifth planet knowing that was it. The Clank sections in this are also awful, I finished the game 3 times and they never grew on me due to being frustrating, tedious and feels so lack of anything creative.
Overall, Ratchet and Clank: Into the Nexus is a great and worthwhile entry into the franchise. If you haven't checked this out yet I do think its worth your time and gives you so much context for Rift Apart.
Assassin's Creed Mirage, Review,
Spoiler Free,
I was very skeptical about this one being any good but honestly a return to a smaller scale Assassin's Creed was a nice change of pace for me.
I haven't been this engaged in an AC game for a while because Valhalla almost killed it for me but Mirage, with its smaller open world and satisfying gameplay gave me the enjoyment I needed before the repetitive nature of all AC games burnt me out again. I think Basim as the protagonist is an interesting choice and gives further context for his actions in Valhalla and the world of Baghdad is just so fun to explore. Synchronizing viewpoints and stealth options that take me back to the Ezio trilogy and a focus on the Brotherhood once again just felt right and I wish Ubisoft continued to expand and be creative in this space rather than try to make an inferior massive RPG.
In terms of negatives, the platinum grind got a little tedious in the end due to the climbing becoming more annoying as the game progresses and the lack of variety in things to do really becomes noticeable. The combat is also really bad, its not supposed to be something to be relied on but it is just so janky and doesn't work at all. The story is quite forgettable for the most part and the majority of characters are pretty boring with lifeless voice acting.
Overall, Assassin's Creed Mirage is a really good entry in the franchise, its not the best AC game but I don't think it ever was trying to be and because of that it's just an enjoyable game that reminded me of when Assassin's Creed was just such a blast to play and not a tedious chore.
Spoiler Free,
I was very skeptical about this one being any good but honestly a return to a smaller scale Assassin's Creed was a nice change of pace for me.
I haven't been this engaged in an AC game for a while because Valhalla almost killed it for me but Mirage, with its smaller open world and satisfying gameplay gave me the enjoyment I needed before the repetitive nature of all AC games burnt me out again. I think Basim as the protagonist is an interesting choice and gives further context for his actions in Valhalla and the world of Baghdad is just so fun to explore. Synchronizing viewpoints and stealth options that take me back to the Ezio trilogy and a focus on the Brotherhood once again just felt right and I wish Ubisoft continued to expand and be creative in this space rather than try to make an inferior massive RPG.
In terms of negatives, the platinum grind got a little tedious in the end due to the climbing becoming more annoying as the game progresses and the lack of variety in things to do really becomes noticeable. The combat is also really bad, its not supposed to be something to be relied on but it is just so janky and doesn't work at all. The story is quite forgettable for the most part and the majority of characters are pretty boring with lifeless voice acting.
Overall, Assassin's Creed Mirage is a really good entry in the franchise, its not the best AC game but I don't think it ever was trying to be and because of that it's just an enjoyable game that reminded me of when Assassin's Creed was just such a blast to play and not a tedious chore.
2015
Fallout 4, Review,
Spoiler Free,
I finished the main story for this game many years ago now and have just recently picked it up again and I pretty much still feel the same way about this game that I did all those years ago.
Fallout 4 is another ambitious western RPG from Bethesda who have always done a great job of immersing me in their worlds. This is my only real experience with any game in this series and I think it is a really fun RPG. The world is interesting, I like pretty much all the characters and the main story while a little corny at times can be a great way of engaging you with the many different factions. My first playthrough I was with the Railroad which lead me to quite the satisfying ending and I am excited to try playing as the Brotherhood of Steel in this current playthrough.
I also think the upgrade system is very addictive with every decision feeling meaningful in some way and can help tailor your play style. I believe that this is the first Fallout game to add base building and while it is a little janky I have had a lot of fun finding materials to build out my settlement to represent some kind of Wasteland empire. That mechanic in of itself has enough hours to sustain a whole game.
In terms of negatives, I do think the Bethesda jank can be a little annoying here. I have had plenty of crashes and the fact that the expansions almost break the game is very frustrating. The fact that a lot of this is also focused on action game play and Bethesda didn't do a good job with combat at all is also annoying. This would be my least favourite combat in any Bethesda game because its so unsatisfying.
Overall, Fallout 4 is a pretty great game that I do recommend to you, the game definitely has its quirks but I think it comes out the other end as another quality release from Bethesda.
Spoiler Free,
I finished the main story for this game many years ago now and have just recently picked it up again and I pretty much still feel the same way about this game that I did all those years ago.
Fallout 4 is another ambitious western RPG from Bethesda who have always done a great job of immersing me in their worlds. This is my only real experience with any game in this series and I think it is a really fun RPG. The world is interesting, I like pretty much all the characters and the main story while a little corny at times can be a great way of engaging you with the many different factions. My first playthrough I was with the Railroad which lead me to quite the satisfying ending and I am excited to try playing as the Brotherhood of Steel in this current playthrough.
I also think the upgrade system is very addictive with every decision feeling meaningful in some way and can help tailor your play style. I believe that this is the first Fallout game to add base building and while it is a little janky I have had a lot of fun finding materials to build out my settlement to represent some kind of Wasteland empire. That mechanic in of itself has enough hours to sustain a whole game.
In terms of negatives, I do think the Bethesda jank can be a little annoying here. I have had plenty of crashes and the fact that the expansions almost break the game is very frustrating. The fact that a lot of this is also focused on action game play and Bethesda didn't do a good job with combat at all is also annoying. This would be my least favourite combat in any Bethesda game because its so unsatisfying.
Overall, Fallout 4 is a pretty great game that I do recommend to you, the game definitely has its quirks but I think it comes out the other end as another quality release from Bethesda.