McBuscus69
A surprisingly pretty fun little re-imagining/prequel to the O.G. Final Fantasy. The combat system is 100% the best part of the entire experience, with so many levels of customization made possible by a wide range of job classes, weapons and abilities. You can fine-tune so much of your experience that it's honestly a little overwhelming, but it's great fun to mess around with different builds and move-sets to find what works for you.
The game is very challenging, which is something you'll either love or hate. I personally put the difficulty down just to get through it a little easier because the one bad thing about the entire game is the story and characters. For the vast majority of the runtime, the characters are uninteresting and the story is boilerplate nonsense. It's only really the last handful of missions where the story becomes good and the characters start to shine through, and you get the whole picture of what the game was going for. It would have been much better if the story had been reworked a little bit more to make the overall experience more enjoyable because honestly, the combat solo carries until the very end of the game.
I also didn't complete the "Bahamut" trials or whatever, because I just have no interest in grinding for better equipment and replaying the entire game again. It already took me 30 hours to get through it once, so much like the endgame of Middle Earth: Shadows of War, I just left it.
Overall though, this was a good experience. It's not going to blow you away in any way, but it's a very solid action game akin to Nioh, and you get a nice payoff for seeing it through to the end if you're a fan of the Final Fantasy series. I honestly wouldn't mind a complete remake of FF I & II with this combat style, but just keeping to their original plot lines.
The game is very challenging, which is something you'll either love or hate. I personally put the difficulty down just to get through it a little easier because the one bad thing about the entire game is the story and characters. For the vast majority of the runtime, the characters are uninteresting and the story is boilerplate nonsense. It's only really the last handful of missions where the story becomes good and the characters start to shine through, and you get the whole picture of what the game was going for. It would have been much better if the story had been reworked a little bit more to make the overall experience more enjoyable because honestly, the combat solo carries until the very end of the game.
I also didn't complete the "Bahamut" trials or whatever, because I just have no interest in grinding for better equipment and replaying the entire game again. It already took me 30 hours to get through it once, so much like the endgame of Middle Earth: Shadows of War, I just left it.
Overall though, this was a good experience. It's not going to blow you away in any way, but it's a very solid action game akin to Nioh, and you get a nice payoff for seeing it through to the end if you're a fan of the Final Fantasy series. I honestly wouldn't mind a complete remake of FF I & II with this combat style, but just keeping to their original plot lines.
A fun mix of AC: Odyssey and Breath of the Wild.
I liked the more comedic storyline and dialogue, and the art style looks great. The open-world collect-a-thon aspect can be very tiring, but once you max out your stats and get your trophies, you can basically ignore what you no longer need to collect - which is what I did. The main meat of the gameplay is the exploration and puzzle-solving, as combat is trivial after a certain point, and I think the game definitely nails those aspects. There is only one area of the game that is super frustrating and that is the northern most landmass - King's Peak. It is just a super unfun bummer area after the cool locations we explore throughout the rest of the game.
Overall though, I had a good time with this game.
I liked the more comedic storyline and dialogue, and the art style looks great. The open-world collect-a-thon aspect can be very tiring, but once you max out your stats and get your trophies, you can basically ignore what you no longer need to collect - which is what I did. The main meat of the gameplay is the exploration and puzzle-solving, as combat is trivial after a certain point, and I think the game definitely nails those aspects. There is only one area of the game that is super frustrating and that is the northern most landmass - King's Peak. It is just a super unfun bummer area after the cool locations we explore throughout the rest of the game.
Overall though, I had a good time with this game.
Honestly pretty bad. I was expecting some Phoenix Wright type of stuff, but this just falls way flat in all the aspects that those games excel at, namely fun characters, good intrigue and compelling and engaging gameplay.
2023
I actually enjoyed this game way more than I thought I would. I'm not a Harry Potter fan in the slightest - I read the books when I was in school but never enjoyed the films. I only tried the game because my cousin and a few friends played through it and told me they enjoyed it, so I thought I would give it an honest shot and see how far I got with it.
Imagine my surprise then when I was utterly swept up in this game. It just ticked all the right boxes for me - a massive, gorgeous open world with tons of puzzles and exploration and side activities to get lost in (even if the grind to get all the activities and collectables is slightly monotonous).
The magic system is great in that it not only facilitates your combat prowess but also ties into solving puzzles in the world. The talents you acquire also augment your spells in actually meaningful ways and make them more useful. The only bad part of the combat itself is that it does get repetitive as you are doing the same basic thing for like 60 hours, and the gear system seems to have been just an afterthought, to be honest. Luckily you can just glamour whatever you're wearing so that you're always fashionable, and like halfway through the game I had some gold pieces that I just upgraded and never traded out because the increases on everything else were negligible.
The story is probably the weakest part of the whole experience. It's a little bit too cliched and has pacing issues as you have to wait for characters between every step of their questlines. I also wish there were more choices in what type of character you wanted to play morality-wise or more options that encapsulate what house you are in, but, all said, it is entertaining enough throughout to keep you going, and it does have some genuinely great moments and set pieces sprinkled throughout.
I enjoyed a lot of the side missions as well, as they fleshed out some of the supporting cast and the actual world that the game is set in. The best part of the Harry Potter books has always been the world itself, so it was fun to explore more of the lore and setting.
There is just so much here that kept me busy for absolute hours, from combing every inch of Hogwarts for collectables, to flying around the open world, to tinkering with my Room of Requirement to get it just right to suit my aesthetics, to breeding magical creatures and all the rest of it. It truly was a magical experience, and with a better, more impactful story, this easily could have been one of my favourite games from last year.
Imagine my surprise then when I was utterly swept up in this game. It just ticked all the right boxes for me - a massive, gorgeous open world with tons of puzzles and exploration and side activities to get lost in (even if the grind to get all the activities and collectables is slightly monotonous).
The magic system is great in that it not only facilitates your combat prowess but also ties into solving puzzles in the world. The talents you acquire also augment your spells in actually meaningful ways and make them more useful. The only bad part of the combat itself is that it does get repetitive as you are doing the same basic thing for like 60 hours, and the gear system seems to have been just an afterthought, to be honest. Luckily you can just glamour whatever you're wearing so that you're always fashionable, and like halfway through the game I had some gold pieces that I just upgraded and never traded out because the increases on everything else were negligible.
The story is probably the weakest part of the whole experience. It's a little bit too cliched and has pacing issues as you have to wait for characters between every step of their questlines. I also wish there were more choices in what type of character you wanted to play morality-wise or more options that encapsulate what house you are in, but, all said, it is entertaining enough throughout to keep you going, and it does have some genuinely great moments and set pieces sprinkled throughout.
I enjoyed a lot of the side missions as well, as they fleshed out some of the supporting cast and the actual world that the game is set in. The best part of the Harry Potter books has always been the world itself, so it was fun to explore more of the lore and setting.
There is just so much here that kept me busy for absolute hours, from combing every inch of Hogwarts for collectables, to flying around the open world, to tinkering with my Room of Requirement to get it just right to suit my aesthetics, to breeding magical creatures and all the rest of it. It truly was a magical experience, and with a better, more impactful story, this easily could have been one of my favourite games from last year.
2021
*Played via the Legendary Collection on PS4
Still the G.O.A.T in terms of the characters and interactions between your party members. I am knocking it down a point for the fact that despite the wonderfully told and written main story - including everything to do with your team and their loyalty missions, dialogue, etc. - the side content is actually really fucking boring. Scanning planets for resources sucks ass, the side missions themselves suck ass, and all of it feels very inconsequential and unnecessary.
I actually took a few months' break from the game during Act 2 of the story because I was just so bored with doing the side content. My gaming OCD would never allow me to shotgun main objectives without doing side missions first, however, so that soured my playthrough of the game for a little while until I had taken enough time to return to the game and complete it finally.
Still the G.O.A.T in terms of the characters and interactions between your party members. I am knocking it down a point for the fact that despite the wonderfully told and written main story - including everything to do with your team and their loyalty missions, dialogue, etc. - the side content is actually really fucking boring. Scanning planets for resources sucks ass, the side missions themselves suck ass, and all of it feels very inconsequential and unnecessary.
I actually took a few months' break from the game during Act 2 of the story because I was just so bored with doing the side content. My gaming OCD would never allow me to shotgun main objectives without doing side missions first, however, so that soured my playthrough of the game for a little while until I had taken enough time to return to the game and complete it finally.
2023
The original Resident Evil 4 is my favourite Resident Evil game, bar none. I have way too many fond memories of playing it with my friend non-stop on the PS2, and I must have finished the game myself like 6 times.
This remake is stunning in many ways, but it also feels very different from the original. A lot of what was in the original is present, and slightly remixed, such as iconic encounters, bosses and the map itself, and it was a joy to play through and see all the slight tweaks and improvements that were made. The gameplay overhaul is also amazing, and the game just feels great to play. Everything is responsive and smooth and handles well, and the addition of things such as the knife parry and removing Ashley's health bar make the game just overall enjoyable to actually play. The hands-on experience is unrivalled in terms of third-person shooter gameplay.
The caveat though, is that the game changes a lot of what makes the original fun. The more serious tone of the story and characters in this, for one. I miss the campiness of the original, especially Leon just being an absolute sass queen, with quips and one-liners for every conversation. There are also a lot of quality-of-life features that were introduced in the RE2 Remake that are noticeably absent from this game, such as the ability to unload unused guns to get the ammo back, or to store items other than guns and attachments. Like these features were already in the other Remakes, why leave them out of this one?
Overall, I did have a good time with this game, but I do feel the story suffers from trying to take itself too seriously. I would much rather have the campy tone and silliness of the early RE games than the deathly seriousness and angsty protagonist thing for this series. In terms of the Remake series, it's a solid entry - way better than 3 by miles, but lagging behind 2. Compared to the original, there is no comparison.
This remake is stunning in many ways, but it also feels very different from the original. A lot of what was in the original is present, and slightly remixed, such as iconic encounters, bosses and the map itself, and it was a joy to play through and see all the slight tweaks and improvements that were made. The gameplay overhaul is also amazing, and the game just feels great to play. Everything is responsive and smooth and handles well, and the addition of things such as the knife parry and removing Ashley's health bar make the game just overall enjoyable to actually play. The hands-on experience is unrivalled in terms of third-person shooter gameplay.
The caveat though, is that the game changes a lot of what makes the original fun. The more serious tone of the story and characters in this, for one. I miss the campiness of the original, especially Leon just being an absolute sass queen, with quips and one-liners for every conversation. There are also a lot of quality-of-life features that were introduced in the RE2 Remake that are noticeably absent from this game, such as the ability to unload unused guns to get the ammo back, or to store items other than guns and attachments. Like these features were already in the other Remakes, why leave them out of this one?
Overall, I did have a good time with this game, but I do feel the story suffers from trying to take itself too seriously. I would much rather have the campy tone and silliness of the early RE games than the deathly seriousness and angsty protagonist thing for this series. In terms of the Remake series, it's a solid entry - way better than 3 by miles, but lagging behind 2. Compared to the original, there is no comparison.
2021
Feels really nostalgic to be playing SWAT 4 in modern times, but also feels bad coz I forgot how fucking hard and unfair that game could be. This game holds no punches at all, from the content of the raids to the crushing defeat making one mistake can cause. It's fun, addictive, and unforgiving. I doubt I will ever finish this due to the difficulty, but there's definitely something special about playing as a SWAT commander that scratches some primal urge in the back of our heads.
2019
One of the most mid-games ever. I literally played it just to play it, and while I'm glad I went back to it to experience it, I did not really enjoy my time with it overall.
2023
Kinda boring, although the aesthetic is nice. Not much going on here, to be honest.
Probably the least emotionally impactful story out of the 3 Mafia games, but still a solid gangster game. It's not overly long, the shooting is good and the characters are fun. The only really negative thing I can say about it is that the driving mechanics are not great, with some of the cars handling like whales, and the gameplay does get repetitive in that GTA kinda way, but overall I had a good enough time with this one. I had never played the original before, but I'm glad I've finally gotten to experience the full Mafia trilogy.
2020
So this is objectively the weakest game in the trilogy.
The driving and combat are clunky and feel like a major step backwards, even when compared to the first game. Your gameplay and tools are limited by what NPC "operative" you are using at the time - although there are NO traffic hacks to stop pursuing police at all, which was one of the most fun hacks from the previous games. I can see what Ubi was trying to do with this decision, to try and force you to have some diversity in who you play with, but I honestly played two characters the entire game - a construction worker for world exploration and collecting, due to his access to a cargo drone, and the spy you get for taking over the first area of the game because he had a silenced pistol and a summonable car. Other than that, I voluntarily switched to the other operatives only when forced to complete one of the trophies.
The story is also majorly weak in this one. The villains had some potential, but are completely wasted and terrible, and the voice acting for any character you actually play as is the most atrocious garbage in the world. It really takes you out of the experience HARD. Like the decision to have NO character as a main character was a terrible idea, and I'm glad Ubi and this game got flack for that decision because it is so dumb.
The only really good thing about the game is that London is fun to explore honestly, but Ubi has never really had a problem making good open worlds to explore. It's what makes their games so addictive to me and why I keep coming back, even after mediocre experiences like this one, or AC Valhalla. Like I should be done with this company, but I know for a fact that I will be jumping into Mirage when that drops, or even if a new Watch Dogs pops up somewhere in the future. Fuck me, right?
The driving and combat are clunky and feel like a major step backwards, even when compared to the first game. Your gameplay and tools are limited by what NPC "operative" you are using at the time - although there are NO traffic hacks to stop pursuing police at all, which was one of the most fun hacks from the previous games. I can see what Ubi was trying to do with this decision, to try and force you to have some diversity in who you play with, but I honestly played two characters the entire game - a construction worker for world exploration and collecting, due to his access to a cargo drone, and the spy you get for taking over the first area of the game because he had a silenced pistol and a summonable car. Other than that, I voluntarily switched to the other operatives only when forced to complete one of the trophies.
The story is also majorly weak in this one. The villains had some potential, but are completely wasted and terrible, and the voice acting for any character you actually play as is the most atrocious garbage in the world. It really takes you out of the experience HARD. Like the decision to have NO character as a main character was a terrible idea, and I'm glad Ubi and this game got flack for that decision because it is so dumb.
The only really good thing about the game is that London is fun to explore honestly, but Ubi has never really had a problem making good open worlds to explore. It's what makes their games so addictive to me and why I keep coming back, even after mediocre experiences like this one, or AC Valhalla. Like I should be done with this company, but I know for a fact that I will be jumping into Mirage when that drops, or even if a new Watch Dogs pops up somewhere in the future. Fuck me, right?
2021
Nothing spectacular. It's ostensibly a "Journey"-like, but it lacks the same weight and poignance of that experience. Ultimately, you do basically the same thing through 10 areas, and there's nothing else really there.
2019
Short, sweet, beautiful. I love these unique little pallette-cleansing games between the bigger AAA blockbusters.
This is just Borderlands 2 again, and while I do really like Borderlands 2, I'm not down to play Borderlands 2 again.
2023
A pretty fun little experience. I am usually very bad at these types of games, but this one was a blast to play through and the platforming never reached a level that was just frustratingly difficult to complete. The story and characters are great and endearing and the ending was a nicely satisfying little cap-off to the whole adventure.