McBuscus69
2017
I've been trying to finish this game for years, but I keep hitting roadblocks with the bosses. Actual skill issue, but I will probably never finish this one.
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
Did not enjoy my - admittedly brief - time with this. I can see what the gimmick is, but I didn't enjoy actually playing it, especially when you die in literally one hit and checkpoints are at the beginning of every combat encounter, no matter how long that encounter/section is. Probably would be easier with a mouse and keyboard, but I'm a controller man, even when I play PC games.
2022
An expanded version of the first game - longer, with more intricate puzzles, but the same general gameplay gimmick. Overall, not a bad game by any means, but it definitely did not fulfill me in any way, much like it's predecessor.
Such an improvement on the first Xenoverse. The fighting system is surprisingly deep and enjoyable throughout, with a wide range of abilities for every kind of build. The story is pretty standard but also enjoyable and very nostalgic, especially for someone like me who hasn't engaged with this universe since Tenkaichi 3 and the GT series.
The only downside of the game is the absolute fucking insanity of side content. I didn't even finish all of the Parallel Quests (of which there are over 100), grinding for wishes, Expert Missions, tons of online content and more. It's actually kinda exhausting how much there is to do, and if you wanted to, you could spend hundreds of hours with this game. I'm satisfied with what I saw and did - which is only about 50% of the total completion rate. The difficulty curve for endgame content is absolutely brutal, so I didn't touch too much of that stuff.
The only downside of the game is the absolute fucking insanity of side content. I didn't even finish all of the Parallel Quests (of which there are over 100), grinding for wishes, Expert Missions, tons of online content and more. It's actually kinda exhausting how much there is to do, and if you wanted to, you could spend hundreds of hours with this game. I'm satisfied with what I saw and did - which is only about 50% of the total completion rate. The difficulty curve for endgame content is absolutely brutal, so I didn't touch too much of that stuff.
2020
(Played on PS4. It exists on that system as well.)
Anyway, a pretty standard little jaunt. The puzzles are intuitive and make sense, but there is a lot of tedious backtracking through the levels. The story is alright, but didn't emotionally land for me, especially because the little brother character is super annoying.
It's fun enough for what it is, though.
Anyway, a pretty standard little jaunt. The puzzles are intuitive and make sense, but there is a lot of tedious backtracking through the levels. The story is alright, but didn't emotionally land for me, especially because the little brother character is super annoying.
It's fun enough for what it is, though.
I'm honestly not the biggest fan of visual novels, but this one has one of the strongest stories I've ever seen. It's a nice mix of sci-fi tropes, interesting and unique characters who all have their own perspectives and objectives, and enough twists to keep you interested at every turn. It was a blast to play through the story and piece together the plot as you learn little tidbits of information from each character's storyline. Vanillaware's signature art style and adorable character animation are a joy to watch as well, they just do not miss ever.
The only real downside of the game is the combat sections which were serviceable at best, but get pretty bland and repetitive after a while. Overall though, had a ton of fun with this game.
The only real downside of the game is the combat sections which were serviceable at best, but get pretty bland and repetitive after a while. Overall though, had a ton of fun with this game.
2023
Fun enough Vampire Survivor-like. The aesthetics and presentation are on point, especially the music and the desktop interface, but the main gameplay loop isn't as satisfying or rewarding as Vampire Survivor was.
A downgrade of the first game in many ways. The story isn't as fun, the bosses aren't as memorable, and the overworld minimap is lacklustre. There's one chain of side missions called "Revenge Missions", which amount to nothing much. There's literally no point in grinding out the minigames for cash as there's nothing much to buy.
The bosses are so much worse than the first game, with literally only 2 of them that I would call "cool" off the top of my head.
The bosses are so much worse than the first game, with literally only 2 of them that I would call "cool" off the top of my head.
Good presentation and the actual deck-building combat aspect is fun, but the runs are just way too fucking long. Rogue-lites are designed to be addictive and push the idea of "one more run" due to their design, but this game goes against that completely. Kudos for trying something new, I suppose, but it is just exhausting to actually play.
Just got a PS5 and you know this had to be the game I finished it on it first. Now, while I did enjoy the game, I do think it's worse than the 2018 entry (which I consider my GOTY from that year).
I still don't like the redesigns of Pete and MJ, especially Peter because his face is no longer as emotive and natural-looking as it was. It's just a terrible redesign all around and completely unnecessary.
I also think the first half of the game is very weak story-wise. Kraven is not set up as well as Martin Li and even the Sinister 6 were in the first game, and the fact that he kills a few of the old baddies off-screen just feels flat-out wrong. His motivations are so flimsy and trite compared to the villains we fought in the first game and Miles Morales that he just feels hollow and unsympathetic. They should have honestly taken him out of the story sooner.
Once the actual plot of the game does get rolling, it is great though, and the back half is full of emotional moments and excellent set pieces and voice acting, but I cannot overlook the beginning half just feeling lacklustre.
Also, the writing for the Spidey quips is not up to par at all. I genuinely chuckled many times and had an absolute blast playing Peter and Miles in the previous entries of the franchise, and hearing them wisecrack was one of the highlights of that. This time around, a lot of the humour feels forced and the quips annoying instead of endearing. Maybe that's just me, but it really didn't feel as good.
Combat-wise and traversal-wise, though, the game is still a joy to play through. I love the smoothness of the combat, the variety of tools you have at your disposal at all times, and, of course, swinging around New York will never not be one of the most fun gaming experiences ever.
Overall, I had a good time with the game, but the beginning was very shaky for me and I didn't have the confidence that they could bring it back up to the level of the first game. If they hadn't fumbled the ball with the setup, I think this easily could've been another GOTY for me, but as it stands, it will settle into just a great game instead.
I still don't like the redesigns of Pete and MJ, especially Peter because his face is no longer as emotive and natural-looking as it was. It's just a terrible redesign all around and completely unnecessary.
I also think the first half of the game is very weak story-wise. Kraven is not set up as well as Martin Li and even the Sinister 6 were in the first game, and the fact that he kills a few of the old baddies off-screen just feels flat-out wrong. His motivations are so flimsy and trite compared to the villains we fought in the first game and Miles Morales that he just feels hollow and unsympathetic. They should have honestly taken him out of the story sooner.
Once the actual plot of the game does get rolling, it is great though, and the back half is full of emotional moments and excellent set pieces and voice acting, but I cannot overlook the beginning half just feeling lacklustre.
Also, the writing for the Spidey quips is not up to par at all. I genuinely chuckled many times and had an absolute blast playing Peter and Miles in the previous entries of the franchise, and hearing them wisecrack was one of the highlights of that. This time around, a lot of the humour feels forced and the quips annoying instead of endearing. Maybe that's just me, but it really didn't feel as good.
Combat-wise and traversal-wise, though, the game is still a joy to play through. I love the smoothness of the combat, the variety of tools you have at your disposal at all times, and, of course, swinging around New York will never not be one of the most fun gaming experiences ever.
Overall, I had a good time with the game, but the beginning was very shaky for me and I didn't have the confidence that they could bring it back up to the level of the first game. If they hadn't fumbled the ball with the setup, I think this easily could've been another GOTY for me, but as it stands, it will settle into just a great game instead.
Giving this a 3 for all of the times the game made me get 3 of an item/kill 3 enemies in order to progress the story.
Actually had a lot more fun with this game than I was expecting to.
For one, it looks absolutely gorgeous, and it uses the familiar Ubisoft gameplay hook of throwing you into a big city with a bunch of icons to collect - which my ADHD/Gaming OCD brain eats up. I played the whole game solo and completed most of the content. The only thing left to do would be to replay missions and run around the Dark Zone to get better gear, but I don't see the purpose of doing that at all as I've completed the game's storyline.
The game is not perfect by any means though. It does suffer from bullet-sponge boss design and repetition, especially in mission variety, but I actually never really had too much of an issue with anything. I had zero expectations of what this game even was to be honest. I thought it was just a multiplayer shooter for the longest time, but a buddy told me it had a story mode I could solo. That was literally the only reason I tried it out. I hadn't even seen what the gameplay looked like before trying it! It was kinda fun to just turn off my brain, throw on podcasts and just run around the post-apocalyptic New York City. Sure, there are quality-of-life improvements that could have been made such as vehicle navigation, or the ability to spawn outside safehouses if you get murked randomly, but overall I had a good time with this experience.
For one, it looks absolutely gorgeous, and it uses the familiar Ubisoft gameplay hook of throwing you into a big city with a bunch of icons to collect - which my ADHD/Gaming OCD brain eats up. I played the whole game solo and completed most of the content. The only thing left to do would be to replay missions and run around the Dark Zone to get better gear, but I don't see the purpose of doing that at all as I've completed the game's storyline.
The game is not perfect by any means though. It does suffer from bullet-sponge boss design and repetition, especially in mission variety, but I actually never really had too much of an issue with anything. I had zero expectations of what this game even was to be honest. I thought it was just a multiplayer shooter for the longest time, but a buddy told me it had a story mode I could solo. That was literally the only reason I tried it out. I hadn't even seen what the gameplay looked like before trying it! It was kinda fun to just turn off my brain, throw on podcasts and just run around the post-apocalyptic New York City. Sure, there are quality-of-life improvements that could have been made such as vehicle navigation, or the ability to spawn outside safehouses if you get murked randomly, but overall I had a good time with this experience.
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.
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.