LesPaulLord
BACKER
2022
Recursive Ruin is one of the worst examples of mind-bending video game puzzelery I've played.
Granted, it's one of the smaller projects as well. I hoped it would be in the vein of something like Manifold Garden given its presentation. That wasn't one of my favorite games, but the puzzles were at least fun enough, and the whole Escherian premise tackled fairly well.
Recursive Ruin instead proposes puzzles that are always solved in the same boring way. There's just two main mechanics, and they don't gel in any meaningful way with the trippy world. I was already burnt out on them at level 2.
Maybe the most disposable thing of all is the story elements. They're littered throughout and take a lot of space for something that's eminently cliché and forgettable.
It feels like a game that was made with some heart put into it, but it falls flat on its face at every turn. A harsh disappointment.
Granted, it's one of the smaller projects as well. I hoped it would be in the vein of something like Manifold Garden given its presentation. That wasn't one of my favorite games, but the puzzles were at least fun enough, and the whole Escherian premise tackled fairly well.
Recursive Ruin instead proposes puzzles that are always solved in the same boring way. There's just two main mechanics, and they don't gel in any meaningful way with the trippy world. I was already burnt out on them at level 2.
Maybe the most disposable thing of all is the story elements. They're littered throughout and take a lot of space for something that's eminently cliché and forgettable.
It feels like a game that was made with some heart put into it, but it falls flat on its face at every turn. A harsh disappointment.
2019
Well... Kind of disappointing.
It's not a bad game by any means. The animation and character work is very pretty. The music is charming and frankly, I really enjoyed the locale. The huge hotel with all its disjointed floors of various themes really helps to keep things fresh as the game progresses.
The problem really is with the gameplay. The controls and mechanics are fine, but they get stale as the game hits the mid-point. Nothing is added after the first 3 to 4 hours, except for some one off tidbits of gameplay that never really shake things up meaningfully. For a game with such a huge variety of locations, it's surprising that it doesn't follow suite at all game design-wise.
One of the most frustrating examples is the money system. One of the most fun things in the whole game is sucking up money hidden everywhere. This serves no purpose until the shop is revealed to the player a bit later. And to my utter disapointment, all the shop affords is 1ups, and maps that give the locations of secrets... Which are just collectibles for the sake of collecting them.
In the end, Luigi's Mansion 3 is a cute game, and a fun time which loses it's steam way too fast for its ambitious runtime. It sadly ends up feeling quite shallow as a result.
It's not a bad game by any means. The animation and character work is very pretty. The music is charming and frankly, I really enjoyed the locale. The huge hotel with all its disjointed floors of various themes really helps to keep things fresh as the game progresses.
The problem really is with the gameplay. The controls and mechanics are fine, but they get stale as the game hits the mid-point. Nothing is added after the first 3 to 4 hours, except for some one off tidbits of gameplay that never really shake things up meaningfully. For a game with such a huge variety of locations, it's surprising that it doesn't follow suite at all game design-wise.
One of the most frustrating examples is the money system. One of the most fun things in the whole game is sucking up money hidden everywhere. This serves no purpose until the shop is revealed to the player a bit later. And to my utter disapointment, all the shop affords is 1ups, and maps that give the locations of secrets... Which are just collectibles for the sake of collecting them.
In the end, Luigi's Mansion 3 is a cute game, and a fun time which loses it's steam way too fast for its ambitious runtime. It sadly ends up feeling quite shallow as a result.
2022
Sonic Frontiers was a lot more fun than I expected.
I'd heard about the mesh pop-ins and the jankiness but honestly, it really wasn't that big of a deal.
It's a very fast and acrobatic game that asks you to zoom around rails and dash pads as fast hedgehogely possible. All of this is great fun and where the game's controls and level design shine.
The problem is when the open world tropes start to kick in. All the boring and superfluous cutscenes with Sonic's friends. All the side content which really isn't all interesting in the slightest (I'm looking at you time trials). These bog down the experience quite a bit and totally kill the fun as keep popping up again and again.
All in all, this ends up being a very decent game. It's fun at times when you can enjoy running around so fast your TV might break. It's really tedious when burned out tropes are there too often to pad the game.
If only they'd have pushed the acrobatic mechanics to their limit to make a game all about movement and completing challenges... Oh well. Decent fun all the same.
I'd heard about the mesh pop-ins and the jankiness but honestly, it really wasn't that big of a deal.
It's a very fast and acrobatic game that asks you to zoom around rails and dash pads as fast hedgehogely possible. All of this is great fun and where the game's controls and level design shine.
The problem is when the open world tropes start to kick in. All the boring and superfluous cutscenes with Sonic's friends. All the side content which really isn't all interesting in the slightest (I'm looking at you time trials). These bog down the experience quite a bit and totally kill the fun as keep popping up again and again.
All in all, this ends up being a very decent game. It's fun at times when you can enjoy running around so fast your TV might break. It's really tedious when burned out tropes are there too often to pad the game.
If only they'd have pushed the acrobatic mechanics to their limit to make a game all about movement and completing challenges... Oh well. Decent fun all the same.
Very original survival horror which aged surprising well. It's still amazing how fresh it feels with its odd gameplay elements and chilling atmosphere.
And having all those characters and time periods in the same tight 10-hour package ? Amazing.
And having all those characters and time periods in the same tight 10-hour package ? Amazing.
2002
While the art and music are completely bonkers and absolutely to die for, the gameplay is so opaque it hurts.
I played this after Moon, which already had some completely preposterous stuff in terms of figuring out what to do, but it was tolerable. In this case, it involves a loooot of waiting around and guess work, which is why I'm giving it up. Keep in mind, I played this while spamming save states and it was still hard.
So yeah... I loved it at the start, but it sadly becomes very much of a drag after a couple of hours. I'd like to keep going to discover all this weirdo world has to offer, but I don't think I have the patience...
I'm off to go see the ending on Youtube.
I played this after Moon, which already had some completely preposterous stuff in terms of figuring out what to do, but it was tolerable. In this case, it involves a loooot of waiting around and guess work, which is why I'm giving it up. Keep in mind, I played this while spamming save states and it was still hard.
So yeah... I loved it at the start, but it sadly becomes very much of a drag after a couple of hours. I'd like to keep going to discover all this weirdo world has to offer, but I don't think I have the patience...
I'm off to go see the ending on Youtube.
It's kind of funny. It's kind of flat. And there's so much weird and long backtracking early on to pad out the game... I think it might be enjoyed a lot more by people who gel with this kind of humor.
I lost interest really fast.
I lost interest really fast.
2022
This game has a very unique presentation which I instantly fell in love with.
The problem is how fast the gameplay becomes unsurprising and repetitive. Furthermore, the narrative isn't all that gripping.
In short, the flat gameplay can't save the shallow narrative, and vice versa.
Would love to see a second try at a Kurosawa-style short game with much deeper combat though !
The problem is how fast the gameplay becomes unsurprising and repetitive. Furthermore, the narrative isn't all that gripping.
In short, the flat gameplay can't save the shallow narrative, and vice versa.
Would love to see a second try at a Kurosawa-style short game with much deeper combat though !
2023
This game was an exercise in disappointment.
None of the trailers made me want to play it. Then the reviews came and it seemed like a great time. Now I'm about 20 hours in and I can't go on.
This has got to be one of the most puzzling experiences I've had playing a video game.
It starts out really strong and spectacular. The one thing the game has going for it is the quality of the action sequences and the jaw-dropping scale of them all. The story seems decent enough, and there's no anime grunts ?? What could go wrong ?
After about 15 hours of play, everything comes to an absolute flatline. The gameplay is insanely repetitive and simple. I Iove linear games, but this requires so little brain power that it's almost insulting to the player.
There also SO MANY CUTSCENES. This cuts especially deep since I love Metal Gear Solid ! I can get the argument for games to be cutscene heavy, but here it's more akin to Kingdom Hearts. They are utterly boring, slow, mostly devoid of any narrative substance and they happen every two steps you take. And then, to pace this out, you get the braindead gameplay.
I cannot believe the reviews this is getting. It's one of the most hollow experiences I have had with a game and, apart from the art, the music, and the (sometimes) simple fun of mashing the square button to beat down beasts, this is a complete failure.
None of the trailers made me want to play it. Then the reviews came and it seemed like a great time. Now I'm about 20 hours in and I can't go on.
This has got to be one of the most puzzling experiences I've had playing a video game.
It starts out really strong and spectacular. The one thing the game has going for it is the quality of the action sequences and the jaw-dropping scale of them all. The story seems decent enough, and there's no anime grunts ?? What could go wrong ?
After about 15 hours of play, everything comes to an absolute flatline. The gameplay is insanely repetitive and simple. I Iove linear games, but this requires so little brain power that it's almost insulting to the player.
There also SO MANY CUTSCENES. This cuts especially deep since I love Metal Gear Solid ! I can get the argument for games to be cutscene heavy, but here it's more akin to Kingdom Hearts. They are utterly boring, slow, mostly devoid of any narrative substance and they happen every two steps you take. And then, to pace this out, you get the braindead gameplay.
I cannot believe the reviews this is getting. It's one of the most hollow experiences I have had with a game and, apart from the art, the music, and the (sometimes) simple fun of mashing the square button to beat down beasts, this is a complete failure.