LunaEndlessWitch
2015
This is going to be a little bit of a cynical write-up. I did, admittedly, fall out of the appeal of Half-Life for a while, having used to be a big fan. Not fps as a whole though, I've played countless more and I'm also an avid fan of a lot of walking sims.
Why do I bring up walking sims? Because that's kind of what Black Mesa has made HL1 into for a solid 50% of the runtime. A super strong percentage of what you're doing in the game is navigating level geometry, looking at pretty screensavers, and sometimes music will kick in to give some real emotional weight to the scene, whether that be heartpumping or in awe.
The biggest issue is none of this is that engaging. There are visual delights for sure, but it wears off quickly. You will spend an enormous amount of time walking to hit a switch, or putting an object into an object, dealing with really boring easy encounters every 5-10 minutes along the way. There's not a lot of reason to be engaged, other than maybe nostalgic purposes. This particular problem applies to a little over half the levels, including Xen. I was actually super disappointed in how they made Xen and Interloper massively built around platforming that wasn't interesting and to bring this home, they tried to rip off HL2's dark gravity gun sequence with an infinite ammo Gluon Gun/Tau Cannon as you rise up the biggest encounter in Interloper.
It's just so unfortunate because within a few levels and very very select encounters in other levels there's actually really competent hard hitting design. The ones I'll name drop being Questionable Ethics, Surface Tension, Forget About Freeman, and then some select encounters in Lambda Core and Nihilanth. These encounters don't just throw super strong AI enemies and large amounts of them at once, but they also take place in arenas that effectively use spacing and your general speed (even though they removed bunnyhopping). They were parts I super enjoyed that I found real unfortunate that they decided to shift their focus off that for something that was, compared to others of its genre, very bland.
There is an almost good game under all this monotony and willingness to be a graphical powerhouse journey. Beneath this brandishing of Half-Life 1 as Half-Life 2 there are genuine improvements that could've made a far better fps that may have rivaled the greats. Like one of my favorite changes is they made the Vortigants dodge shots as well as your aim, or how the new modifications to Xen enemies work.
It just never reaches that. It seems content on resting on its laurels of looking beautiful but lacking depth. It's a mixed bag that tries to be a moniker of what people want Half-Life graphically updated to LOOK like, but not what Half Life actually PLAYS like. It almost cynically becomes nostalgic fulfillment, rather than a good fps or walk sim of its own.
That being said, I do still think that I may be a minority here. Maybe what I describe is exactly what you want out of Half-Life, and maybe you haven't played the original at all so you don't know what you're really missing. It does still have its good moments, so I can still somewhat recommend this game. But this isn't a good fps game, it's an alright underbaked immersive sim. (6.5/10)
Why do I bring up walking sims? Because that's kind of what Black Mesa has made HL1 into for a solid 50% of the runtime. A super strong percentage of what you're doing in the game is navigating level geometry, looking at pretty screensavers, and sometimes music will kick in to give some real emotional weight to the scene, whether that be heartpumping or in awe.
The biggest issue is none of this is that engaging. There are visual delights for sure, but it wears off quickly. You will spend an enormous amount of time walking to hit a switch, or putting an object into an object, dealing with really boring easy encounters every 5-10 minutes along the way. There's not a lot of reason to be engaged, other than maybe nostalgic purposes. This particular problem applies to a little over half the levels, including Xen. I was actually super disappointed in how they made Xen and Interloper massively built around platforming that wasn't interesting and to bring this home, they tried to rip off HL2's dark gravity gun sequence with an infinite ammo Gluon Gun/Tau Cannon as you rise up the biggest encounter in Interloper.
It's just so unfortunate because within a few levels and very very select encounters in other levels there's actually really competent hard hitting design. The ones I'll name drop being Questionable Ethics, Surface Tension, Forget About Freeman, and then some select encounters in Lambda Core and Nihilanth. These encounters don't just throw super strong AI enemies and large amounts of them at once, but they also take place in arenas that effectively use spacing and your general speed (even though they removed bunnyhopping). They were parts I super enjoyed that I found real unfortunate that they decided to shift their focus off that for something that was, compared to others of its genre, very bland.
There is an almost good game under all this monotony and willingness to be a graphical powerhouse journey. Beneath this brandishing of Half-Life 1 as Half-Life 2 there are genuine improvements that could've made a far better fps that may have rivaled the greats. Like one of my favorite changes is they made the Vortigants dodge shots as well as your aim, or how the new modifications to Xen enemies work.
It just never reaches that. It seems content on resting on its laurels of looking beautiful but lacking depth. It's a mixed bag that tries to be a moniker of what people want Half-Life graphically updated to LOOK like, but not what Half Life actually PLAYS like. It almost cynically becomes nostalgic fulfillment, rather than a good fps or walk sim of its own.
That being said, I do still think that I may be a minority here. Maybe what I describe is exactly what you want out of Half-Life, and maybe you haven't played the original at all so you don't know what you're really missing. It does still have its good moments, so I can still somewhat recommend this game. But this isn't a good fps game, it's an alright underbaked immersive sim. (6.5/10)
1993
Cute, charming little timesink. Just engaging enough to finish, decent enough comfort food to look upon somewhat well later. (5/10)
2019
Well this was a disappointment
I wasn't really expecting that much, I was drawn in by the stylish presentation in terms of the main menu and UI, and I like the concept of mech action fulfillment. I even felt like it had similar systems to EDF 4.1.
Boy could I not be more wrong, it's actually so mechanically dull and formulaic that every single mission actually became more irritating in how it drops the ball. It's kinesthetically bare, with actions that don't feel powerful to hit and enemy attacks that feel like chunks to your own tankish armor. The enemy design is so boring and easy to work with that it's almost devoid of any challenge. That extends to the boss design too, with some weak point areas that are a sleepfest to just exploit. Even the "dogfights", where I was hoping would at least be the most interesting part, turned out to be the least interesting. The AI for their combat is straight up trash, easy to take down, and I felt not a single bit of compelling fun with the encounters against them.
The story and characters are forgettable too, featuring stand-in one note trope personalities, and it's so overbearingly anime in all the worst ways that statement could imply. The narrative is poorly paced and not so interesting to behold, turning out to be as simple as it let on at the start.
I don't want to play any more of it, it's just boring. (4/10)
I wasn't really expecting that much, I was drawn in by the stylish presentation in terms of the main menu and UI, and I like the concept of mech action fulfillment. I even felt like it had similar systems to EDF 4.1.
Boy could I not be more wrong, it's actually so mechanically dull and formulaic that every single mission actually became more irritating in how it drops the ball. It's kinesthetically bare, with actions that don't feel powerful to hit and enemy attacks that feel like chunks to your own tankish armor. The enemy design is so boring and easy to work with that it's almost devoid of any challenge. That extends to the boss design too, with some weak point areas that are a sleepfest to just exploit. Even the "dogfights", where I was hoping would at least be the most interesting part, turned out to be the least interesting. The AI for their combat is straight up trash, easy to take down, and I felt not a single bit of compelling fun with the encounters against them.
The story and characters are forgettable too, featuring stand-in one note trope personalities, and it's so overbearingly anime in all the worst ways that statement could imply. The narrative is poorly paced and not so interesting to behold, turning out to be as simple as it let on at the start.
I don't want to play any more of it, it's just boring. (4/10)
The second game by Moon Studios manages to surpass everything done in the game prior. With continued effort and passion from all ranges of its crew, extending out to the designer of AM2R, to Gareth Coker's continued musical excellence, all the way to the head designers, Ori and the Will of the Wisps offers an amazing cohesive action platformer experience that to me, has no conceivable equal in the ways it excels.
The combat is practically DMC meets platforming, with similar gravity and a whole customizable moveset that extends and prioritizes air time, spacing, and bashing enemies to and fro. You're able to play both defensively and offensively at any moment, and all these options have their own costs and benefits. Each of the enemies are well done in terms of moveset and forcing you to be wary of their movements and danger zones. To extend this further, the combat also supplements the already amazing movement taken straight from Ori 1 (minus bash momentum no longer being conserved, which is really the only negative I have here). Using enemies to construct more air time gives you several ways to sequence break the game at any point. And finally, the bosses are spectacular, every single one having perfectly speedy ways to kill them and their movesets themselves being worthy challenges to master and fight around. Even if you're tired of those, the overworld has several combat trials for you to bash your head on, of which can be retried even after completion.
The level design itself is nothing short of exceptional, with challenges in spades and atmospheric delights at each doorstep. While I wish there was a more path of pain-esque area to fully utilize what you can do with moveset swaps, what's here is still excellent. The escape sequences are also way better now, with most of the trial/error bullshit taken out and keeping the grueling challenge and one-shot nature that is a perfect encapsulation of Ori's speed systems.
I can't talk about the levels of course without acknowledging how absolutely beautiful the art is, with each area having a wonderful color palette and distinct tone. The story and music is just as well supplemented , with what I believe to be Gareth Coker's best work as he makes exceptional emotional moments with Luma Pools and every escape sequence and boss battle. I was brought to tears more than once by just how well executed each moment was.
There are a few miscellaneous things to discuss, I really enjoy the "dungeons" of Ori 2 over the original, I like how upgrades and collectibles work with clear benefits to the latter and each upgrade being very distinct for the former. The Hollow Knight charms system is a worthy thing to grab to utilize here. Lastly, I want to cover my one and only issue, of which might date this review (since there's a patch forthcoming) but needs to be said. The performance bugs as well as optimization is almost awful. For a cohesive artistic experience like this, having sound buzzing if you're not running on a SSD and complete stuttering in a couple areas can really just break the whole thing at times. It's a tightrope you don't want to fall off of, so I hope the patch comes as soon as possible.
Either way, I can't wait to go back and 100% this game several times over, and start speedrunning this game to hell and back. I'm already practicing the boss times to fight as fast as possible. Despite the current issues, I'm giving this one of my best scores. (9.5/10)
The combat is practically DMC meets platforming, with similar gravity and a whole customizable moveset that extends and prioritizes air time, spacing, and bashing enemies to and fro. You're able to play both defensively and offensively at any moment, and all these options have their own costs and benefits. Each of the enemies are well done in terms of moveset and forcing you to be wary of their movements and danger zones. To extend this further, the combat also supplements the already amazing movement taken straight from Ori 1 (minus bash momentum no longer being conserved, which is really the only negative I have here). Using enemies to construct more air time gives you several ways to sequence break the game at any point. And finally, the bosses are spectacular, every single one having perfectly speedy ways to kill them and their movesets themselves being worthy challenges to master and fight around. Even if you're tired of those, the overworld has several combat trials for you to bash your head on, of which can be retried even after completion.
The level design itself is nothing short of exceptional, with challenges in spades and atmospheric delights at each doorstep. While I wish there was a more path of pain-esque area to fully utilize what you can do with moveset swaps, what's here is still excellent. The escape sequences are also way better now, with most of the trial/error bullshit taken out and keeping the grueling challenge and one-shot nature that is a perfect encapsulation of Ori's speed systems.
I can't talk about the levels of course without acknowledging how absolutely beautiful the art is, with each area having a wonderful color palette and distinct tone. The story and music is just as well supplemented , with what I believe to be Gareth Coker's best work as he makes exceptional emotional moments with Luma Pools and every escape sequence and boss battle. I was brought to tears more than once by just how well executed each moment was.
There are a few miscellaneous things to discuss, I really enjoy the "dungeons" of Ori 2 over the original, I like how upgrades and collectibles work with clear benefits to the latter and each upgrade being very distinct for the former. The Hollow Knight charms system is a worthy thing to grab to utilize here. Lastly, I want to cover my one and only issue, of which might date this review (since there's a patch forthcoming) but needs to be said. The performance bugs as well as optimization is almost awful. For a cohesive artistic experience like this, having sound buzzing if you're not running on a SSD and complete stuttering in a couple areas can really just break the whole thing at times. It's a tightrope you don't want to fall off of, so I hope the patch comes as soon as possible.
Either way, I can't wait to go back and 100% this game several times over, and start speedrunning this game to hell and back. I'm already practicing the boss times to fight as fast as possible. Despite the current issues, I'm giving this one of my best scores. (9.5/10)
1995
Squaresoft's passion project is as much a classic as it is a well designed jrpg, featuring just deep enough combat to be somewhat enjoyable, and a well written albeit simplistic story.
The aesthetics and soundscape are the real highlight, with an onslaught of wonderful locales and great tracks, ranging from the great intro to Corridors of Time. Areas have good background and sprite art to draw you in, and other than maybe a couple setpieces it never really gets old.
Combat is alright, better than most jrpgs but the depth ceiling is rather capped. You have to use attacks in ways that line up with where the enemy moves to, and there's some decent strategy around when to use tech points for tech attacks, but around 2/3 through the game that all falls apart. It ends up being replaced by triple techs and AoE magic (thanks Magus) that wipe the screen, and most enemies do not use weakness/resistance strategy well, so it ends up rather dull by the end.
The writing in contrast is rather well put together, with great cinematic story moments laid throughout. Even at the weaker points of Chrono Trigger's narrative did I find myself engaged, and each of the characters get some form of characterization of their own. It's not a particularly amazing story, in fact it's a rather simple time travel story, but it rounds out the cohesive experience Chrono Trigger has on offer. There are still times where the writing shines, but overall it's a thematically bare story that just generally entertains with its signature aesthetic.
While it's not what I'd call one of the best rpgs, Chrono Trigger is a delight to play and one I very well recommend.
The aesthetics and soundscape are the real highlight, with an onslaught of wonderful locales and great tracks, ranging from the great intro to Corridors of Time. Areas have good background and sprite art to draw you in, and other than maybe a couple setpieces it never really gets old.
Combat is alright, better than most jrpgs but the depth ceiling is rather capped. You have to use attacks in ways that line up with where the enemy moves to, and there's some decent strategy around when to use tech points for tech attacks, but around 2/3 through the game that all falls apart. It ends up being replaced by triple techs and AoE magic (thanks Magus) that wipe the screen, and most enemies do not use weakness/resistance strategy well, so it ends up rather dull by the end.
The writing in contrast is rather well put together, with great cinematic story moments laid throughout. Even at the weaker points of Chrono Trigger's narrative did I find myself engaged, and each of the characters get some form of characterization of their own. It's not a particularly amazing story, in fact it's a rather simple time travel story, but it rounds out the cohesive experience Chrono Trigger has on offer. There are still times where the writing shines, but overall it's a thematically bare story that just generally entertains with its signature aesthetic.
While it's not what I'd call one of the best rpgs, Chrono Trigger is a delight to play and one I very well recommend.
It's cute, that's for certain.
Idk, I enjoyed the fantasy isekai FF of A1's aesthetic more than this, and that's pretty all you have to back yourself on, when this game is so easy to beat. Tactics to win are several times easier than the average, with pretty much any slight knowledge of a character's mechanic you can exploit the game well. I'm not vibing with these enemy encounters either, they could be far more interesting if they just made them do double damage, and there's no difficulty select at start.
Even still, I think this is a really dumbed down tactical adventure. If you're really dying for more tactics combat this isn't a particularly bad experience but I'd suggest elsewhere. (5/10)
Idk, I enjoyed the fantasy isekai FF of A1's aesthetic more than this, and that's pretty all you have to back yourself on, when this game is so easy to beat. Tactics to win are several times easier than the average, with pretty much any slight knowledge of a character's mechanic you can exploit the game well. I'm not vibing with these enemy encounters either, they could be far more interesting if they just made them do double damage, and there's no difficulty select at start.
Even still, I think this is a really dumbed down tactical adventure. If you're really dying for more tactics combat this isn't a particularly bad experience but I'd suggest elsewhere. (5/10)
1990
As a direct sequel to Mega Man 2, MM3 is legitimately pretty good. They've managed to fine tune the boss design to a pretty great level, with difficult tactics required that expressively use your movement and slide dash. The level design is just as good as the previous, with very interesting locales that give you opportunity to use your other robot powers.
It still falls into a major polish trap with certain sections cutting the framerate so awfully that precision platforming is obnoxious unfortunately. Mods can fix this (and there indeed are ones out there) but overall it's still probably the least polished entry so far. The music is also a step down from the previous game, and the last sets of wily levels are very restrictive.
Overall, it's a good action platformer still worth playing. Definitely recommend, even if I prefer MM2 just a tad more.
It still falls into a major polish trap with certain sections cutting the framerate so awfully that precision platforming is obnoxious unfortunately. Mods can fix this (and there indeed are ones out there) but overall it's still probably the least polished entry so far. The music is also a step down from the previous game, and the last sets of wily levels are very restrictive.
Overall, it's a good action platformer still worth playing. Definitely recommend, even if I prefer MM2 just a tad more.
2018
I don't have a lot of faith in Santa Monica studios. I didn't enjoy the first two games of this series and I just barely trucked through God of War 3, but either by some act of the gods or just the most beautiful storm, God of War 4 managed to be a truly great experience. It manages to get so much cohesively right despite a multitude of rough edges and interior flaws.
The combat was the first thing that brought me in, using a genuinely competent system of kiting enemies and managing your position. You have a good berth of tools to use and all of them have specialized use, whether that be keeping space, juggling enemies, or managing hordes. Enemy encounters are generally well designed to boot, with many of them keeping you always moving and continuously judging opportunity costs to what you decide to do. Other than a couple stinkers, all the enemies have interesting movesets to manage. Cooldown abilities are done here well for probably the first time I've seen outside multiplayer games, in that they have a clear cost of use and don't just steamroll or fully limit your options. You also have weapon swapping and Atreus's bow shots to always keep your hands busy and use a genuine amount of depth.
The boss fights in tandem are hit or miss, with a couple genuinely good story bosses that actually use the system, a couple spectacle bosses that serve as a nice visual treat, and then a bunch of really boring annoying troll bosses reskinned with an elemental buff. That sounds more negative, but the game makes up for it with optional bosses known as Valkyries, which maximize to the fullest extent what the system of mechanics is capable of. Each valkyrie has a great moveset and offers a fantastic difficult challenge.
The rest of the gameplay unfortunately is much less than graceful. The puzzle rooms range from somewhat earned downtime to incredibly boring endeavors, and pretty much almost all of the side content other than the valkyries is a waste of time that perpetuates the singlehandedly weakest component of the whole game -- The Gear. In short, God of War did not need a gear system, or a stats system. It has no depth to it and only adds problems, especially when the difficulty is put up when level scaling is introduced, to make matters worse. It really should've stuck with story-progressed unlocks rather than this level bullshit, but apparently they needed something to stretch out that exploration aspect and this is what they decided on.
On the other hand, what ended up coming as a surprise to me a few hours in was the great story and characters on offer. The story in short is very simple, but what it offers is excellent characterization brimming with personality. The banter between Kratos and Atreus is well written as it is characterizing and pushing the relationship between them forward in a natural almost entirely organic way. There is a low point to this, in a single rushed instance where Atreus becomes a massive egomaniac in the span of a few minutes, but the purpose is there and it rights itself up to bring a fantastic ending at the end. Another character is brought in at the halfway point to make the worldbuilding and lore parts of the story more interesting, as well as make the banter more humorous.
It also needs to be said that the game is a visual and auditory treat, but I think that ends up being a massive understatement. There is, to my knowledge, no game in the triple A spectrum that has as good cinematography, visual design, and direction as God of War 4 does. It earns the one-shot gimmick that most mediums fail to do, as well as nail almost every setpiece. There are a few scenes in here that will stick with me for a while in a way Naughty Dog and Rockstar games fail to capture. Probably helps that the director of the game is a massive film nerd. The music is also solid and fitting for the game, although in contrast I probably won't be listening to it much from now on.
Overall, while it has a few shaky steps and some monikers of the triple A pitch the developers are limited by, God of War 4 is an excellent game that kept me engaged enough to finish as soon as I could. I honestly am just crossing my fingers that they don't fuck up the sequel. (8.5/10)
The combat was the first thing that brought me in, using a genuinely competent system of kiting enemies and managing your position. You have a good berth of tools to use and all of them have specialized use, whether that be keeping space, juggling enemies, or managing hordes. Enemy encounters are generally well designed to boot, with many of them keeping you always moving and continuously judging opportunity costs to what you decide to do. Other than a couple stinkers, all the enemies have interesting movesets to manage. Cooldown abilities are done here well for probably the first time I've seen outside multiplayer games, in that they have a clear cost of use and don't just steamroll or fully limit your options. You also have weapon swapping and Atreus's bow shots to always keep your hands busy and use a genuine amount of depth.
The boss fights in tandem are hit or miss, with a couple genuinely good story bosses that actually use the system, a couple spectacle bosses that serve as a nice visual treat, and then a bunch of really boring annoying troll bosses reskinned with an elemental buff. That sounds more negative, but the game makes up for it with optional bosses known as Valkyries, which maximize to the fullest extent what the system of mechanics is capable of. Each valkyrie has a great moveset and offers a fantastic difficult challenge.
The rest of the gameplay unfortunately is much less than graceful. The puzzle rooms range from somewhat earned downtime to incredibly boring endeavors, and pretty much almost all of the side content other than the valkyries is a waste of time that perpetuates the singlehandedly weakest component of the whole game -- The Gear. In short, God of War did not need a gear system, or a stats system. It has no depth to it and only adds problems, especially when the difficulty is put up when level scaling is introduced, to make matters worse. It really should've stuck with story-progressed unlocks rather than this level bullshit, but apparently they needed something to stretch out that exploration aspect and this is what they decided on.
On the other hand, what ended up coming as a surprise to me a few hours in was the great story and characters on offer. The story in short is very simple, but what it offers is excellent characterization brimming with personality. The banter between Kratos and Atreus is well written as it is characterizing and pushing the relationship between them forward in a natural almost entirely organic way. There is a low point to this, in a single rushed instance where Atreus becomes a massive egomaniac in the span of a few minutes, but the purpose is there and it rights itself up to bring a fantastic ending at the end. Another character is brought in at the halfway point to make the worldbuilding and lore parts of the story more interesting, as well as make the banter more humorous.
It also needs to be said that the game is a visual and auditory treat, but I think that ends up being a massive understatement. There is, to my knowledge, no game in the triple A spectrum that has as good cinematography, visual design, and direction as God of War 4 does. It earns the one-shot gimmick that most mediums fail to do, as well as nail almost every setpiece. There are a few scenes in here that will stick with me for a while in a way Naughty Dog and Rockstar games fail to capture. Probably helps that the director of the game is a massive film nerd. The music is also solid and fitting for the game, although in contrast I probably won't be listening to it much from now on.
Overall, while it has a few shaky steps and some monikers of the triple A pitch the developers are limited by, God of War 4 is an excellent game that kept me engaged enough to finish as soon as I could. I honestly am just crossing my fingers that they don't fuck up the sequel. (8.5/10)
2019
Developer with a decent grasp of unreal engine creates a hybrid of all of the joking game ideas he wants to do with a toybox aesthetic. Result: It's a soulless collectathon that has boring jokes just as much as it has outdated references.
There isn't much to talk about the specifics of the game, as a lot of it leads to very easy puzzle solutions that really shouldn't be compared to Portal like the game advertises itself as. You have some sequence breaking in terms of the openish world but a lot of decisions and upgrades are not interesting and just generally hit the bullet points of a first person platformer would consist of.
Everything is phoned in, whether that be the really skyrim-but-somehow-worse combat, the really really lacking soundscape (seriously nothing increases monotony than hearing a fat load of NOTHING as you're doing everything in this game), including the sequence of enemies and events. I was reminded in a respect to Snake Pass, in terms of unreal tech demo, but at the very least Snake Pass had a super interesting movement system you had to master. This however feels.... like nothing but an average timekiller. (5/10)
There isn't much to talk about the specifics of the game, as a lot of it leads to very easy puzzle solutions that really shouldn't be compared to Portal like the game advertises itself as. You have some sequence breaking in terms of the openish world but a lot of decisions and upgrades are not interesting and just generally hit the bullet points of a first person platformer would consist of.
Everything is phoned in, whether that be the really skyrim-but-somehow-worse combat, the really really lacking soundscape (seriously nothing increases monotony than hearing a fat load of NOTHING as you're doing everything in this game), including the sequence of enemies and events. I was reminded in a respect to Snake Pass, in terms of unreal tech demo, but at the very least Snake Pass had a super interesting movement system you had to master. This however feels.... like nothing but an average timekiller. (5/10)
Justice for All is one half a bad continuous slog, a quarter decent legitimately ok story writing, and a last quarter that's just entirely amazing. It's a mixed sequel to the first game to say the least, it keeps most of the charm of the first game although a considerably weaker soundtrack at the same time. It keeps up character writing and introduces a couple mainstay characters that are fine and then one really irritating and excruciatingly underwritten character that takes up way too much screentime.
The casewriting is pretty much the same, with two cases that are bad with trash characters and a complete waste of time both in a writing sense and a structural sense, but also contains easily the best case I've read so far from this series by a very very significant margin that not only characterizes the personalities of the people involved but also has such an excellent motive, logical reasoning for how the case happened, and fantastic thematic storytelling. Had it not been for the rest of the game, I honestly would have called AA2 really good. Unfortunately the poor sides of the game manage to be lower than the first game and it's hard to look at this game as a cohesive whole.
That being said, it did manage to keep my attention and interest a little bit more than the first game, and I think the highs equalize with the lows to where I can say AA2 is still alright and worth reading alongside the first, maybe even a pinch more. It's a sidestep forward instead of a genuinely competent sequel, but I had my fun where I could. (6.5/10)
The casewriting is pretty much the same, with two cases that are bad with trash characters and a complete waste of time both in a writing sense and a structural sense, but also contains easily the best case I've read so far from this series by a very very significant margin that not only characterizes the personalities of the people involved but also has such an excellent motive, logical reasoning for how the case happened, and fantastic thematic storytelling. Had it not been for the rest of the game, I honestly would have called AA2 really good. Unfortunately the poor sides of the game manage to be lower than the first game and it's hard to look at this game as a cohesive whole.
That being said, it did manage to keep my attention and interest a little bit more than the first game, and I think the highs equalize with the lows to where I can say AA2 is still alright and worth reading alongside the first, maybe even a pinch more. It's a sidestep forward instead of a genuinely competent sequel, but I had my fun where I could. (6.5/10)
2019
Absolutely beautiful.
Back to back bangers creating a cohesive aesthetic to chomp down on every minute, with heartpounding tracks to navigate ingame as well as listen to. It's a pleasant joyride that I enjoyed for the entire hour and a half-ish it lasted.
I'm going to be the jerk here and list a couple gripes, like how disorienting a couple of the tracks around The Hermit were and some things that just didn't seem reactable at first and required replays to get higher ranks on.
But overall, I think if you were interested in the trailer at all, if that music or the art spoke to you in any way you absolutely should give Sayonara Wild Hearts a try, so you as well can find some harmony of your own. (8/10)
Back to back bangers creating a cohesive aesthetic to chomp down on every minute, with heartpounding tracks to navigate ingame as well as listen to. It's a pleasant joyride that I enjoyed for the entire hour and a half-ish it lasted.
I'm going to be the jerk here and list a couple gripes, like how disorienting a couple of the tracks around The Hermit were and some things that just didn't seem reactable at first and required replays to get higher ranks on.
But overall, I think if you were interested in the trailer at all, if that music or the art spoke to you in any way you absolutely should give Sayonara Wild Hearts a try, so you as well can find some harmony of your own. (8/10)
2019
Romero knocked this one out of the park for the most part. This is probably the most interesting use of Doom 1 I've seen, with really well designed maps that have great use of encounter design, ammo conservation, and enemy prioritization. Love the use of slow walls to keep you within an encounter and deal with it especially, forcing you to employ the deeper mechanics of doom movement and strafing.
It's not exactly perfect, the Doom 1 enemy roster sets it back a little and there's a couple maps with some... questionable decisions on placement especially when it comes to lava-immune suits. But damn was it a great time, had just as much fun as I usually do with Doom 1 with it if not a little more so. Also the music owns. (8/10)
It's not exactly perfect, the Doom 1 enemy roster sets it back a little and there's a couple maps with some... questionable decisions on placement especially when it comes to lava-immune suits. But damn was it a great time, had just as much fun as I usually do with Doom 1 with it if not a little more so. Also the music owns. (8/10)
I really don't want to be too mean to this game.
To give the game the most credit firstly, the atmosphere is solid. Gorgeous aesthetic with really strong environment design, models, sfx, music, all really capture the Star Wars feel and the stormtrooper squad. At some points it's even badass with giving commands to your squad.
Unfortunately that appeal lasts a solid 30 minutes in my opinion before it just goes to really middling shootouts, boring corridors, and run-ins with several several spongey enemies. You strafe, shoot, revive someone if you need to, repeat ad nauseum. There's just too much combat to justify this shit, and it extends to 9 entire hours apparently.
Not my cup of tea, but who knows the aesthetic could sell someone on the entire thing but I reckon you need some high tolerance for it. It's ok for what it is, it's just average nothing more. (5/10)
To give the game the most credit firstly, the atmosphere is solid. Gorgeous aesthetic with really strong environment design, models, sfx, music, all really capture the Star Wars feel and the stormtrooper squad. At some points it's even badass with giving commands to your squad.
Unfortunately that appeal lasts a solid 30 minutes in my opinion before it just goes to really middling shootouts, boring corridors, and run-ins with several several spongey enemies. You strafe, shoot, revive someone if you need to, repeat ad nauseum. There's just too much combat to justify this shit, and it extends to 9 entire hours apparently.
Not my cup of tea, but who knows the aesthetic could sell someone on the entire thing but I reckon you need some high tolerance for it. It's ok for what it is, it's just average nothing more. (5/10)
(Note: Finished twice, once on Novice with 0 continues, another on Arcade with around 14 continues)
I'm not really that great at shmups but Crimzon Clover is a real delight to play. Ridiculously fast and intricate bullet patterns with an awesome encouraging score system. The strategy between breaking and doing just enough damage to cause the own enemy's break is a great ebb and flow that makes the dance between flurries of damage zones more interesting than just a general 2hou bullet hell. Going for optimal score just so you can give a safety net with a life or cruising between double breaks by perfect positioning and minute movement is a satisfying and excellent craze.
The boss battles are all interesting too, ranging from absolute damage areas, slowly weaving around the boss in a clockwork fashion, to entire bullet layers. The secret boss especially comes to mind at the absolute dance I tend to crave from these kinds of games, even countering some of your own strategies.
On top of the gameplay side, it also has a marvelous aesthetic with great art for the enemies, backgrounds, and effects like explosions. The music kicks ass as usual for this genre and it never lets up. In terms of visual clarity, bullets all have very distinct shapes for you to see, to a point where it's very hard to blame any of my deaths on that kind of issue.
It's not perfect for me unfortunately, Novice is so incredibly easy (I 1cc'd it on the FIRST TRY) and Arcade kicks my teeth in too much for me to be satisfied. It goes so hard into almost masocore territory with so many bullets on screen and intricate moving parts that my eyes and head started to hurt after a bit. Even though this isn't really the game for me I can still say it's one of the better shmups to pick up and try. If you're new to the genre there's no reason you can't get past Novice and if you're looking for something ballbusting you've of course got a lot here.
I'm not really that great at shmups but Crimzon Clover is a real delight to play. Ridiculously fast and intricate bullet patterns with an awesome encouraging score system. The strategy between breaking and doing just enough damage to cause the own enemy's break is a great ebb and flow that makes the dance between flurries of damage zones more interesting than just a general 2hou bullet hell. Going for optimal score just so you can give a safety net with a life or cruising between double breaks by perfect positioning and minute movement is a satisfying and excellent craze.
The boss battles are all interesting too, ranging from absolute damage areas, slowly weaving around the boss in a clockwork fashion, to entire bullet layers. The secret boss especially comes to mind at the absolute dance I tend to crave from these kinds of games, even countering some of your own strategies.
On top of the gameplay side, it also has a marvelous aesthetic with great art for the enemies, backgrounds, and effects like explosions. The music kicks ass as usual for this genre and it never lets up. In terms of visual clarity, bullets all have very distinct shapes for you to see, to a point where it's very hard to blame any of my deaths on that kind of issue.
It's not perfect for me unfortunately, Novice is so incredibly easy (I 1cc'd it on the FIRST TRY) and Arcade kicks my teeth in too much for me to be satisfied. It goes so hard into almost masocore territory with so many bullets on screen and intricate moving parts that my eyes and head started to hurt after a bit. Even though this isn't really the game for me I can still say it's one of the better shmups to pick up and try. If you're new to the genre there's no reason you can't get past Novice and if you're looking for something ballbusting you've of course got a lot here.
2019
There's been enough talk on this site praising Outer Wilds that I don't think I have much to add. I'm going to shill this vid to watch at least before I continue:
https://youtu.be/H-yTZFi-_eY
I think, in short, it's probably the most beautiful game I've had to experience as a cohesive whole. An archeological space exploration that brings introspective thought and self consideration of where we are in the scope of the universe, how we search for truth in the stars, and what we take away from the end of everything.
On top of that, it's built on a brilliant puzzle route structure, that ends up with a whole tree of different routes through the game dependent entirely on which planets you explore in what order, how and when you solve the riddles of the universe, and with the inclusion of sequence breaking and freedom of options. It's so tightly designed with scenarios that come organically like the first venture into Dark Bramble, or the first tornado sending you high in Giant's Deep that every replay I find myself seeing the whole series of planets as living worlds rather than just strict clockwork which is what it ultimately is.
It's all backed by an insanely good soundtrack, great visuals, and actually genuinely good writing. There's so many surprises in store that it's hard for me to go any further than this. I 100% completed it thrice over, and every single time was almost a dream. Please play Outer Wilds. (10/10)
https://youtu.be/H-yTZFi-_eY
I think, in short, it's probably the most beautiful game I've had to experience as a cohesive whole. An archeological space exploration that brings introspective thought and self consideration of where we are in the scope of the universe, how we search for truth in the stars, and what we take away from the end of everything.
On top of that, it's built on a brilliant puzzle route structure, that ends up with a whole tree of different routes through the game dependent entirely on which planets you explore in what order, how and when you solve the riddles of the universe, and with the inclusion of sequence breaking and freedom of options. It's so tightly designed with scenarios that come organically like the first venture into Dark Bramble, or the first tornado sending you high in Giant's Deep that every replay I find myself seeing the whole series of planets as living worlds rather than just strict clockwork which is what it ultimately is.
It's all backed by an insanely good soundtrack, great visuals, and actually genuinely good writing. There's so many surprises in store that it's hard for me to go any further than this. I 100% completed it thrice over, and every single time was almost a dream. Please play Outer Wilds. (10/10)