LesPaulLord
BACKER
2023
First half hour didn't convince me at all. Oopsie.
I stopped at the last mission simply out of spite.
Look, I played almost 25 hours of this, it had fun parts. Mostly, after the tedious first few hours, and before the mid point where stuff gets painfully repetitive (yes it's got that Ubi magic in there), there were some fantastic moments to be had.
The first encounter with the wilderness of Pandora is totally jaw-dropping. It is the best part of this game.
Simply put it's a game that spreads itself wayyy too thin, but has some fantastic visuals and exploration moments. But it's all over shadowed by the other lack luster elements and poor pacing.
Oh man I didn't write about the characters and narrative, huh ? IT'S BAD.
Look, I played almost 25 hours of this, it had fun parts. Mostly, after the tedious first few hours, and before the mid point where stuff gets painfully repetitive (yes it's got that Ubi magic in there), there were some fantastic moments to be had.
The first encounter with the wilderness of Pandora is totally jaw-dropping. It is the best part of this game.
Simply put it's a game that spreads itself wayyy too thin, but has some fantastic visuals and exploration moments. But it's all over shadowed by the other lack luster elements and poor pacing.
Oh man I didn't write about the characters and narrative, huh ? IT'S BAD.
This is a big disappointment.
I really tried to get through it but couldn't endure it any more.
Penny's Big Breakaway has some fun ideas, but is mostly a tedious, repetitive and quite cheap-looking and feeling platformer.
Going off the back of something as stellar as Sonic Mania, I really expected at least an interesting game from this team's next effort. But this got mindless and boring way too fast... It asks you to go reallt fast to keep up a combo, but also to slow down and find secrets at the same time. The cutscenes and bosses have a really B-tier feel to them that I really didn't expect.
Anyways, you can still see a uniqueness in the ideas presented and the Dreamcast-era visual style. They just really need to focus the work on making a better designed game next time around. I just hope this game's shortcomings will serve as stepping stones for that.
I really tried to get through it but couldn't endure it any more.
Penny's Big Breakaway has some fun ideas, but is mostly a tedious, repetitive and quite cheap-looking and feeling platformer.
Going off the back of something as stellar as Sonic Mania, I really expected at least an interesting game from this team's next effort. But this got mindless and boring way too fast... It asks you to go reallt fast to keep up a combo, but also to slow down and find secrets at the same time. The cutscenes and bosses have a really B-tier feel to them that I really didn't expect.
Anyways, you can still see a uniqueness in the ideas presented and the Dreamcast-era visual style. They just really need to focus the work on making a better designed game next time around. I just hope this game's shortcomings will serve as stepping stones for that.
Hands down one of my favorite games ever now that I've finished it.
I've never experienced a game that delved so deep, thoughtfully and intelligently in politics, addiction, the police, self-loathing, pain and a million other tangential topics.
It is erudite in its writing, and brilliant in its ludo-narrative consonance from the first sentence to the last. Most video games wish they had one character as compelling as anyone in Disco Elysium. And the game is packed full of standouts.
Truly a masterful piece of art made to be slowly savored and dissected to one's content.
LONG LIVE DISCO BABY !!
I've never experienced a game that delved so deep, thoughtfully and intelligently in politics, addiction, the police, self-loathing, pain and a million other tangential topics.
It is erudite in its writing, and brilliant in its ludo-narrative consonance from the first sentence to the last. Most video games wish they had one character as compelling as anyone in Disco Elysium. And the game is packed full of standouts.
Truly a masterful piece of art made to be slowly savored and dissected to one's content.
LONG LIVE DISCO BABY !!
As another user said, great game to play with friends on Discord to laugh our asses off.
There's some truly horrendous writing and game design in here (making you do the same level of a mini-game 15 TIMES???), but I had a good laugh !
There's some truly horrendous writing and game design in here (making you do the same level of a mini-game 15 TIMES???), but I had a good laugh !
2018
Although I can recognize the very tight game design, this felt too board-game/mobile-gamey for me to really get hooked on. It lacked some kind of presentation polish or narrative carrot to keep me wanting to play. I can see why people fall in love with Into the Breach though !
2017
This review contains spoilers
Once again, I tried going through NieR: Automata, and stopped during the second playthrough.
I did my reading though and checked what all the fuss was about pertaining to the ending and am ready to say it : this game is dumb as hell.
Granted that ending twist is pretty neat, but the way the flow of the game goes, how mindless the combat is, how grating all the running around and fetch-questing is... It's such a snobbish waste of time ! It feels like the game is saying something deep and meaningful when it's really not. It just steals a bunch of well know philosophical tropes, quotes them and expects you to be mind-blown.
It has a couple of redeeming qualities. I like the visual style and the music (probably the best thing here). But the core gameplay and narrative design had me boiling with impatience.
Playing through your whole flat-ass game THREE TIMES ??? No thanks.
I did my reading though and checked what all the fuss was about pertaining to the ending and am ready to say it : this game is dumb as hell.
Granted that ending twist is pretty neat, but the way the flow of the game goes, how mindless the combat is, how grating all the running around and fetch-questing is... It's such a snobbish waste of time ! It feels like the game is saying something deep and meaningful when it's really not. It just steals a bunch of well know philosophical tropes, quotes them and expects you to be mind-blown.
It has a couple of redeeming qualities. I like the visual style and the music (probably the best thing here). But the core gameplay and narrative design had me boiling with impatience.
Playing through your whole flat-ass game THREE TIMES ??? No thanks.
2018
What a fun time the Messenger was.
Apart from a couple of painful backtracking sections, this was wall to wall gaming bliss. It's got a no fluff mentality where everything is simple, to the game's benefit. You chop monsters, run and grapple hook to stuff, and bop out to the amazing soundtrack. The writing is also surprisingly clever and got a good couple of laughs out of me.
Oh and, Quebec represent, of course.
Apart from a couple of painful backtracking sections, this was wall to wall gaming bliss. It's got a no fluff mentality where everything is simple, to the game's benefit. You chop monsters, run and grapple hook to stuff, and bop out to the amazing soundtrack. The writing is also surprisingly clever and got a good couple of laughs out of me.
Oh and, Quebec represent, of course.
As with a lot of older and obscure titles, you get some truly original ideas, and a total lack of quality of life.
This game has an awesome premise of watching people live their lives hour by hour, and trying to capture photos of hidden aliens in their apartments. Being an alien yourself in the game, my struggling to understand the weird japanese used throughout kind of elevated the experience. It made everything feel a bit mysterious and out of reach of my earthling brain.
That said, I got stuck for an hour trying to take the picture of one alien, and I couldn't get it right because I was always a pixel off.
Love-de-Lic is endlessly interesting to me, and their game ideas are so rich and worth experiencing. But this game just had too many hurdles for me to keep playing. I'll go watch some YouTube videos of it instead !
This game has an awesome premise of watching people live their lives hour by hour, and trying to capture photos of hidden aliens in their apartments. Being an alien yourself in the game, my struggling to understand the weird japanese used throughout kind of elevated the experience. It made everything feel a bit mysterious and out of reach of my earthling brain.
That said, I got stuck for an hour trying to take the picture of one alien, and I couldn't get it right because I was always a pixel off.
Love-de-Lic is endlessly interesting to me, and their game ideas are so rich and worth experiencing. But this game just had too many hurdles for me to keep playing. I'll go watch some YouTube videos of it instead !
This was a great game marred by a lot of presentation issues.
The game feel and level design was so, so good ! Finally a win for Ubisoft.
A lot of visual things kind of annoyed me though. The animation is very appealing most of the time, but then completely lacking in even basic lip syncing. A lot of visual glitches pop up in spots as well. I also felt the character designs left a lot to be desired at times.
The music was just flat out bad, or felt entirely missing most of the time. The last boss fight is almost done in complete silence which is so awkward and jarring.
Finally, the story did nothing for me. There's a reason why Metroid chooses super simple premises and focuses almost exclusively on gameplay.
A very fun surprise from Ubisoft in the end, and a good way to revitalize the Prince of Persia franchise. It just lacked a polish I hope a future title will bring !
The game feel and level design was so, so good ! Finally a win for Ubisoft.
A lot of visual things kind of annoyed me though. The animation is very appealing most of the time, but then completely lacking in even basic lip syncing. A lot of visual glitches pop up in spots as well. I also felt the character designs left a lot to be desired at times.
The music was just flat out bad, or felt entirely missing most of the time. The last boss fight is almost done in complete silence which is so awkward and jarring.
Finally, the story did nothing for me. There's a reason why Metroid chooses super simple premises and focuses almost exclusively on gameplay.
A very fun surprise from Ubisoft in the end, and a good way to revitalize the Prince of Persia franchise. It just lacked a polish I hope a future title will bring !
Armored Core VI really grew on me through the course of its runtime.
I wasn't sold at first on the short missions, repetitive destruction of simple enemies and cold atmosphere. But then, by some sleight of hand magic trick, I starting understanding the controls more. I started figuring out the customization. I got that all situations can be tackled in an almost limitless number of ways, that it's like jazz improv to adapt to each moment in a flash. I understood that you can sell back parts for the same price you bought them, thus encouraging experimentation. I found that replaying older missions can net you extra money and parts if you're ever stuck, or want to test out a build.
And so, everything clicked and I became totally obsessed. Add to that a fun story about corporate greed and dehumanizing hyper-technology, and you've got a tight package of mecha-sci-fi, ultra-polished bombastic goodness.
I'm officially a fan of Armored Core now, and can't wait to see what comes next after this !
I wasn't sold at first on the short missions, repetitive destruction of simple enemies and cold atmosphere. But then, by some sleight of hand magic trick, I starting understanding the controls more. I started figuring out the customization. I got that all situations can be tackled in an almost limitless number of ways, that it's like jazz improv to adapt to each moment in a flash. I understood that you can sell back parts for the same price you bought them, thus encouraging experimentation. I found that replaying older missions can net you extra money and parts if you're ever stuck, or want to test out a build.
And so, everything clicked and I became totally obsessed. Add to that a fun story about corporate greed and dehumanizing hyper-technology, and you've got a tight package of mecha-sci-fi, ultra-polished bombastic goodness.
I'm officially a fan of Armored Core now, and can't wait to see what comes next after this !
2001
I really admire this game for taking such wild swings and doing something wholly unique, but it's marred by so much painful and cumbersome game design/game feel, I can't keep persevering. I just restarted the same segment like 10 times, and I can't get through it.
I love it for what it tries to be, but hate it in its moment to moment gameplay.
I love it for what it tries to be, but hate it in its moment to moment gameplay.
2022
It was fine, but it didn't have nearly enough thought put into its design to rival DOOM. It does carve out its own space, but when it feels so close to another franchise, you can't cut a lot of what made the inspiration work and have everything soar.
The problems with dodging and general gunplay really revealed themselves whilst fighting the copy paste bosses at the end of each stage. I just couldn't organically dodge most attacks and it completely broke the fun for me.
The fact that the game always locks you in tight arenas with a lot of enemy waves and forgoes any platforming didn't help the flow of the game either. The repetitiveness set in much too quickly.
All in all, the musical concept works well enough, but I didn't feel Metal : Hellsinger was built on a strong enough gameplay foundation to leave much of an impression, or keep me hooked until the end.
The problems with dodging and general gunplay really revealed themselves whilst fighting the copy paste bosses at the end of each stage. I just couldn't organically dodge most attacks and it completely broke the fun for me.
The fact that the game always locks you in tight arenas with a lot of enemy waves and forgoes any platforming didn't help the flow of the game either. The repetitiveness set in much too quickly.
All in all, the musical concept works well enough, but I didn't feel Metal : Hellsinger was built on a strong enough gameplay foundation to leave much of an impression, or keep me hooked until the end.
2022
Rollerdrome is hard as nails at first. The difficulty curve isn't that well doled out, but when you get the hang of it and the flow comes on, the whole experience really shines.
It adopts the kind of Doom game design rule of forcing you to do tricks in order to get ammo which is a great way to get the player moving.
Otherwise it has a decent little back-story, music and a distinctive visual style. It's not the most riverting experience I've had, but damn if that gameplay didn't hit a spot when all the stars were aligned.
It adopts the kind of Doom game design rule of forcing you to do tricks in order to get ammo which is a great way to get the player moving.
Otherwise it has a decent little back-story, music and a distinctive visual style. It's not the most riverting experience I've had, but damn if that gameplay didn't hit a spot when all the stars were aligned.
2020
This was a nothing game.
All that was unique about the original RE3 is lost in translation here for a super short an linear romp in Raccoon City. Nemesis was done dirty beyond comprehension (hold the left stick forward to flee!).
I can salute the Art Direction's effort to try to get a more colorful look of the city and the gameplay which is competent, but it's such a braindead adventure. You go on the straight line, and in 3 hours it's done.
Glad a friend lent this to me !
All that was unique about the original RE3 is lost in translation here for a super short an linear romp in Raccoon City. Nemesis was done dirty beyond comprehension (hold the left stick forward to flee!).
I can salute the Art Direction's effort to try to get a more colorful look of the city and the gameplay which is competent, but it's such a braindead adventure. You go on the straight line, and in 3 hours it's done.
Glad a friend lent this to me !