MoeGreenSpecial
This review contains spoilers
This was absolutely phenomenal - it hit everything for me from story to gameplay.
I really enjoyed the way that it focused on the widespread fallout of Joel's choice at the end of the first game - it would have been easy to either go very micro scale and show the fallout on Joel and Ellie specifically, or to go broad and show the worldwide effects of the lack of vaccine. Instead, focusing on several smaller, personal, stories about the results of this decision making really hammered home the ripple effects.
Gameplay wise, it's very similar to the other Naughty Dog games I've played - and in particular it does a great job of enabling very satisfying stealth gameplay without being overly punishing if you break stealth and need to fight head on / get back into hiding.
Naughty Dog level design remains incredible, their use of collectibles to build side stories is a highlight, and the way that all the spaces feel like you would expect for a ruined city is stellar.
Story wise, this was somehow bleaker than the first one. Perhaps it's because I didn't already know the ending going in (whereas I did know what was going to happen in the first before playing it), but this hit a bit harder than that. I very much appreciated the switch from Ellie's perspective (where we really are rooting for her as the part of the team of perspective characters for 1.5 games) to the hard cut over to Abby's story. That magic here is in not only making you understand her perspective, but also to empathize with her by the time she is finished in Seattle. This puts into a cold light exactly how Ellie's revenge drive is ruining her, in a way that was an undercurrent in the first part but is really the main thrust of the final bit of the story.
I do see complaints where people are upset at having to play out decisions that they don't agree with - about how you have to go on a revenge tour with Ellie instead of staying on the farm, etc. But I think that misses the point of this game. It's not an RPG post-apocalyptic simulator. It's a narrative game where you are participating in the story. The fact that you disagree with the decisions being made yet have to watch them play out anyway is part of what makes it hit so hard IMO. You know that this is not the right path, yet you are forced to watch characters you've spent significant time with go down it and suffer the consequences as a result.
It felt absolutely awful both times you are forced to play Abby and Ellie's confrontations, which I think highlights what a great job Naughty Dog did in developing the Abby character in this game - it would be easy to be very easy to have the players be full Team Ellie and the fact that I was in no way in that bucket by the end speaks to the way story was told here.
I really enjoyed the way that it focused on the widespread fallout of Joel's choice at the end of the first game - it would have been easy to either go very micro scale and show the fallout on Joel and Ellie specifically, or to go broad and show the worldwide effects of the lack of vaccine. Instead, focusing on several smaller, personal, stories about the results of this decision making really hammered home the ripple effects.
Gameplay wise, it's very similar to the other Naughty Dog games I've played - and in particular it does a great job of enabling very satisfying stealth gameplay without being overly punishing if you break stealth and need to fight head on / get back into hiding.
Naughty Dog level design remains incredible, their use of collectibles to build side stories is a highlight, and the way that all the spaces feel like you would expect for a ruined city is stellar.
Story wise, this was somehow bleaker than the first one. Perhaps it's because I didn't already know the ending going in (whereas I did know what was going to happen in the first before playing it), but this hit a bit harder than that. I very much appreciated the switch from Ellie's perspective (where we really are rooting for her as the part of the team of perspective characters for 1.5 games) to the hard cut over to Abby's story. That magic here is in not only making you understand her perspective, but also to empathize with her by the time she is finished in Seattle. This puts into a cold light exactly how Ellie's revenge drive is ruining her, in a way that was an undercurrent in the first part but is really the main thrust of the final bit of the story.
I do see complaints where people are upset at having to play out decisions that they don't agree with - about how you have to go on a revenge tour with Ellie instead of staying on the farm, etc. But I think that misses the point of this game. It's not an RPG post-apocalyptic simulator. It's a narrative game where you are participating in the story. The fact that you disagree with the decisions being made yet have to watch them play out anyway is part of what makes it hit so hard IMO. You know that this is not the right path, yet you are forced to watch characters you've spent significant time with go down it and suffer the consequences as a result.
It felt absolutely awful both times you are forced to play Abby and Ellie's confrontations, which I think highlights what a great job Naughty Dog did in developing the Abby character in this game - it would be easy to be very easy to have the players be full Team Ellie and the fact that I was in no way in that bucket by the end speaks to the way story was told here.
2023
The visuals and music are top notch - but the gameplay is a bit shallow. Thankfully the game itself is fairly short, and the various different environments were interesting enough to carry through.
This game is really the complete package for me. It's got compelling story and characters, engaging gameplay, and beautiful graphics. It does all of that without falling into some of the traps that other games do in these areas.
The story is told in a variety of ways. There are of course cut scenes, and those are all handled very well - and never get too long to make you feel more like you're watching the TV show than playing the game. A ton of the story also comes from the optional conversations with characters and the various artifacts you find. Whole substories, for instance the one that plays out in the sewers section of the suburbs, are told entirely through the environment and these artifacts. This made me quite happy that Naughty Dog included the ability to see which chapters of the game had missed artifacts in them after finishing so that I could jump back and go get them.
The gameplay was very good - it is a bit reliant on stealth, but I always found it satisfying to find a way to sneak up on enemies and take them out silently. This stealth focus also means that combat encounters tend to be a bit more puzzle focused -- each enemy is strong, and while you can typically handle one or two of them in direct combat, when there are more than that you need to use your head to figure out the best strategy. The enemies being relatively strong meant that the combat encounters didn't rely on overpowering you with huge numbers of enemies, which further allows puzzling out solutions to the encounters rather than just treating the game like a third person shooter.
The technical aspects, especially the graphics, were very good as well.
My main two complaints about the game are:
the last combat encounter in the Left Behind DLC felt significantly more difficult than any other encounter in the game (perhaps because it involves a much larger number of enemies and with fewer tools at your disposal).
when mopping up collectables after finishing, the game effectively starts a new save at whatever section you are jumping into to get the collectibles from. This, in turn, locks you out of all future chapters until you reload the completed save game. I suppose you could solve this by mopping up collectibles in reverse order, from late game back to early, but it felt odd to not be able to choose any chapter I wanted once I had finished the game and started doing this mop up.
Those are two very minor quibbles though. I had never played this until I watched the HBO show, and I am very happy I did. Even knowing the plot beats (and the game and show are very close to each other there), this was compelling and fun throughout. I just need to decide now if I jump straight away into Part II or if I wait for the second season of the show first.
The story is told in a variety of ways. There are of course cut scenes, and those are all handled very well - and never get too long to make you feel more like you're watching the TV show than playing the game. A ton of the story also comes from the optional conversations with characters and the various artifacts you find. Whole substories, for instance the one that plays out in the sewers section of the suburbs, are told entirely through the environment and these artifacts. This made me quite happy that Naughty Dog included the ability to see which chapters of the game had missed artifacts in them after finishing so that I could jump back and go get them.
The gameplay was very good - it is a bit reliant on stealth, but I always found it satisfying to find a way to sneak up on enemies and take them out silently. This stealth focus also means that combat encounters tend to be a bit more puzzle focused -- each enemy is strong, and while you can typically handle one or two of them in direct combat, when there are more than that you need to use your head to figure out the best strategy. The enemies being relatively strong meant that the combat encounters didn't rely on overpowering you with huge numbers of enemies, which further allows puzzling out solutions to the encounters rather than just treating the game like a third person shooter.
The technical aspects, especially the graphics, were very good as well.
My main two complaints about the game are:
the last combat encounter in the Left Behind DLC felt significantly more difficult than any other encounter in the game (perhaps because it involves a much larger number of enemies and with fewer tools at your disposal).
when mopping up collectables after finishing, the game effectively starts a new save at whatever section you are jumping into to get the collectibles from. This, in turn, locks you out of all future chapters until you reload the completed save game. I suppose you could solve this by mopping up collectibles in reverse order, from late game back to early, but it felt odd to not be able to choose any chapter I wanted once I had finished the game and started doing this mop up.
Those are two very minor quibbles though. I had never played this until I watched the HBO show, and I am very happy I did. Even knowing the plot beats (and the game and show are very close to each other there), this was compelling and fun throughout. I just need to decide now if I jump straight away into Part II or if I wait for the second season of the show first.
2013
An open world take on the Lego game formula, which it seems to be doing competently. It's not really for me though - I could see how it would be fun for younger players though.
More of the same, and that's OK by me. This map, and especially the weapons here, are IMO more fun than the ones from Moonspell.
This is very much a Yakuza game, so it's baseline is "good". All that you would expect - serious main story, goofy side stories, mahjong, is here.
It definitely shows that this is a remake of an older PS3 era game - it's a bit clunkier than you would expect from a more modern game (lots of loading when going into buildings just as one example). I was also not in love with the gun combat styles (either the straight out gun one or the Wild Dancer one), but Brawler and especially Swordsman were good fun.
I found the plot a bit hard to follow, but that's also because I am used to these characters from other games, and I didn't do a great job of associating familiar faces with new names.
Overall, a solid game, just not one of my favorites in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series.
It definitely shows that this is a remake of an older PS3 era game - it's a bit clunkier than you would expect from a more modern game (lots of loading when going into buildings just as one example). I was also not in love with the gun combat styles (either the straight out gun one or the Wild Dancer one), but Brawler and especially Swordsman were good fun.
I found the plot a bit hard to follow, but that's also because I am used to these characters from other games, and I didn't do a great job of associating familiar faces with new names.
Overall, a solid game, just not one of my favorites in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series.
Lost Legacy was a lot more of the same, and since Uncharted 4 was fun I've got no problem with that. The plot was neither here nor there for me, but some of that may have been just from not playing the previous games and not really knowing who Nadine and Chloe are.
I had heard this was "open world Uncharted", but that's overstating it since it's really only Chapter 4 that is somewhat open.
The train sequence in Chapter 9 was a standout, a good change of pace from the rest of the game and a lot of fun as well.
I had heard this was "open world Uncharted", but that's overstating it since it's really only Chapter 4 that is somewhat open.
The train sequence in Chapter 9 was a standout, a good change of pace from the rest of the game and a lot of fun as well.
The core gameplay of this game is so strong that I'm giving it 5 stars, even though there are obvious areas for improvement. Going into this, I had heard that the card combat was solid, but that 2/3 of the game was Persona style conversations with your teammates. Superficially, that's true. However, the loop of:
1. Mornings: prep for the upcoming battle - gather new cards, strengthen existing cards, train with one of your teammates.
2. Combat: turn based, deck-building, sublime.
3. Evenings: activities that strengthen the team to help you level up for the next day.
Really worked well for me. To the point where more than once I decided to play "just one more day" even though the time on the clock told me I would regret that decision in the morning.
Sure, the graphics aren't great, there were quite a few bugs (including one that made the Clean Sweep task impossible to finish), some of the DLC achievements won't unlock, the actual Abby grounds tasks felt underdeveloped, the fact that the missions level with you neutered that feeling of progression, there's a lot to improve. But that core gameplay was so fun, that it really overcame the parts that were lacking for me.
Normally I would say that this means it sets up really well for a sequel where the team at Firaxis could expand upon what they did well here and improve on the areas that need help. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that this game did very well so my hopes for that are muted.
There seemed to be a lot of praise for Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope while this one got burried. For my money, Sparks of Hope was fine but wore out its welcome, while Midnight Suns kept growing stronger as it went on.
1. Mornings: prep for the upcoming battle - gather new cards, strengthen existing cards, train with one of your teammates.
2. Combat: turn based, deck-building, sublime.
3. Evenings: activities that strengthen the team to help you level up for the next day.
Really worked well for me. To the point where more than once I decided to play "just one more day" even though the time on the clock told me I would regret that decision in the morning.
Sure, the graphics aren't great, there were quite a few bugs (including one that made the Clean Sweep task impossible to finish), some of the DLC achievements won't unlock, the actual Abby grounds tasks felt underdeveloped, the fact that the missions level with you neutered that feeling of progression, there's a lot to improve. But that core gameplay was so fun, that it really overcame the parts that were lacking for me.
Normally I would say that this means it sets up really well for a sequel where the team at Firaxis could expand upon what they did well here and improve on the areas that need help. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that this game did very well so my hopes for that are muted.
There seemed to be a lot of praise for Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope while this one got burried. For my money, Sparks of Hope was fine but wore out its welcome, while Midnight Suns kept growing stronger as it went on.
This log covers only Uncharted 4, not the Lost Legacy.
Overall this was a fun game, with a good mix of puzzle solving and combat. The combat itself was also a great mix of stealth and out and out action.
The story was campy fun, which fit the tone well. This was my first Uncharted game, and clearly I am missing a bunch of the back story on the relationships between many of the characters, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment.
Graphically, this game looked quite good - although it was clearly pushing my Steam Deck to the limit.
I appreciate the approach the game takes to hints - only offering you the option to get a hint after you've been working on a puzzle for a few minutes. It's a strong contrast to God of War offering hints far too quickly. I also appreciated how when the game wants to offer a hint it doesn't just give it to you - instead it gives you a prompt that allows you to choose if you want the hint or not.
Combat did get a bit difficult at times, that's the main thing keeping me back from the full five stars. (Also the trophies are a bit obtuse to get in this one).
Overall this was a fun game, with a good mix of puzzle solving and combat. The combat itself was also a great mix of stealth and out and out action.
The story was campy fun, which fit the tone well. This was my first Uncharted game, and clearly I am missing a bunch of the back story on the relationships between many of the characters, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment.
Graphically, this game looked quite good - although it was clearly pushing my Steam Deck to the limit.
I appreciate the approach the game takes to hints - only offering you the option to get a hint after you've been working on a puzzle for a few minutes. It's a strong contrast to God of War offering hints far too quickly. I also appreciated how when the game wants to offer a hint it doesn't just give it to you - instead it gives you a prompt that allows you to choose if you want the hint or not.
Combat did get a bit difficult at times, that's the main thing keeping me back from the full five stars. (Also the trophies are a bit obtuse to get in this one).
2020
It's a decent tech demo for the PS5 controller. Motion controls aren't my favorite, but outside of that it was a fun-enough bite sized experience.
2022
This was generally fine - the core gunplay didn't feel great, but by the time many of the mobility options were unlocked it got more fun. The game seemed somewhat buggy to me, but I could see how this would form the basis for a more solid sequel. As it was, it wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either.
Very similar to West of Loathing, with the same good writing and style of gameplay. The combat didn't feel great - most of the interesting things to do were on the first turn, and by the end of the game many encounters just were played out the same way over and over. I also felt that the over-abundance of equipment made it tricky to figure out the best equipment for any one time. One final issue was that the game dragged out in the end for me, there were a few places where the RNG caused some items I needed to advance to not spawn for a long time.
It feels like if the game was a bit tighter and shorter that it would have been better. The writing is fun - and that's the primary reason to play this one.
It feels like if the game was a bit tighter and shorter that it would have been better. The writing is fun - and that's the primary reason to play this one.
This game was very fun - it's my second in the Ratchet & Clank series, and it maintained the same fun game mechanics as I experienced in the first one I played. Good weapon variety, good incentives to try different weapons, fun platforming, and great overall feel.
Rivet was fun to play as well, although she did feel very much the same as clank.
Overall a very fun experience.
Rivet was fun to play as well, although she did feel very much the same as clank.
Overall a very fun experience.
A more difficult map and set of characters than the base game. Notably the new map feels much more like a traditional video game map, with different areas having different enemies and biomes to explore. It was fun to have new unlocks to go after and interesting new abilities to unlock. Fundamentally it's more of the same from the base game, but that's not a bad thing at all.
A good looking, fun, distillation of the original Spider-Man game. I appreciated how this game was more focused than the original, with less filler content (no more doing 5 crimes in each neighborhood for instance). The combat takes a bit to get used to, but it is fun. My style was to play more stealthy, slowly taking the enemies out, although the trophy design on this one is clearly aimed at players who are doing more direct combat.
The game is gorgeous, and the Manhattan map as fun to move around as the last one (although with the curious omission of the Chrystler building).
The game is gorgeous, and the Manhattan map as fun to move around as the last one (although with the curious omission of the Chrystler building).