Moister
2006
Imagine an arcade game...got it? Now imagine a 3D arcade game...getting closer. This time imagine a 3D arcade brawler focused on combos and player expression. Ths is God Hand, pure unfiltered 3D arcade-ish action-packed fun from an era that has left us not so long ago: the 2000's, the mid 2000's to be exact. Yeah, the era were killer7 and Resident Evil 4 were also published by none other than Capcom.
God Hand is focused on one thing and one thing only: Fun. Pure, raw fun without limits. The game's lack of proper introduction makes it's message clear: "Go figure it out yourself, you can do it". At first you'll think something is missing but no, they let you run in the wild the moment you start playing. No tutorials, no training room just straight into action. This is one of God Hand's many unique traits, it talks to you face to face, knows why you are here and wastes no time in anything less but getting to the good parts in an instant.
You can't talk about God Hand without mentioning how awesome, yet simple and intuitive is the combat system. Everything is customizable from the get-go, all in the name of the player's choice. From example, you can go for an only-combo oriented build which could decimate an enemy in a matter of seconds or specialize your tecniques on crowd control when you need to, combine both! There are no "combos" that requires precise inputs to pull off, instead every attack has it's purpose: either breaking guard, juggle or launch your enemy. It's stupid simple and I don't know why no one has ever think of it before, The juice is in context, like solving an everyday problem: "What would be best for this situation?", "What would happen if I combine this, and this...?" Note that is one way to play it. The main gameplay loop is to experiment with every combination, being able to craft your own set of combos and strategies to kick ass. Or perfect what you already have.
The mid 2000's was an era of change. Just imagine, the HD consoles were the new hot thing and everyone was starting to move away from the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube generation. There was a sort of uncertainty for the new age because you know, change can be scary and this new generation promised a lot. Why I am suddenly talking about all this in a God Hand review exactly? I feel the mid 2000's was an unique era of comfort way after the Y2K scandal in the new millenium, at least on the video game space. God Hand took birth in that time, in a time while the PS2 was still selling like pancakes, but still everyone knew what was ahead. HD games were yet to completely took and the 6h gen was still giving some fight with unique titles, maybe not as groundbreaking as the beginning of the generation but they were one thing: "Unique". Outlandish, without necessarily having a grandious scope. They were weird experiments that weren't afraid to have the weirdest of ideas. Basically God Hand is overall very unique and there is nothing like it, or at least that I know. The era it was made took a huge role on green-lighting projects like these that nowdays only indies and AA productions. killer7 was released a year prior God Hand just to give a quick example. Want more proof? Look at the description of the game.
God Hand is a difficult game. No, is challenging but also very difficult. As I said before, it gives you all the tools to take out the enemies in with customizable combos. It doesn't suggarcoat your experience unless you want to. In Resident Evil 4 there was a system working underneath at all that change the behiavor of the enemies dynamically to give further challenge to the player. This was done depending of how good you were at it. Same principles apply to God Hand, as long as you don't get hit too many times a bar at the bottom left will indicate whenever you level up or not. I'm going to be honest, at first I thought this "Level Up" bar indicated actually leveling up, attacks get stronger, you get faster, etc. Cave Story uses a similar system were if you get hit you start to lose power, thus making the weapons much less effective. I was so lost in that system that I even did some bosses on "Die", which is the final level of perfection were enemies smack half of your lifebar with a single slap. Don't be afraid to die if you need to and lower that bar. Take my word; this game is not hard once it clicks but is very challenging and demands a lot out of you. That is half of God Hand magic, it is very easy to get into but hard to master.
But I won't say is absolutely perfect, as it has some problems. I already listed one of them which is that it never proprerly explains what does that bar bellow serves for exactly. God Hand doesn't demand perfection, not at all. It demands control. Sometimes the camera acts wonky when there are more than 2 enemies on screen at the same time close to each other, however this doesn't happen too frequently. In larger levels such as the desert enemies can gank up on you attacking from all directions, specially enemies with swords. Tank controls for me are a deal breaker when fighting a large groups of enemies, again. However, 1v1 fights are perfect with tank controls. These were growing pains that I learned to accustomed as the game went on, but on certain occations when mixed all together they were just annoying in a otherwise sound experience.
God Hand feels like a game that could only be made in that era of comfort. You know, living in the moment. Like, you can spank women, send them flying or even gorilla suplex an actual gorilla with a lucha libre custome in the middle of a demonic castle. Reeks ridiculness of the highest quality, the tone is always humorous, whacky and chaotic. Making a sequel will probably be against for what this game was made for; living in the moment perfectly sealed in a safe bubble.
God Hand is focused on one thing and one thing only: Fun. Pure, raw fun without limits. The game's lack of proper introduction makes it's message clear: "Go figure it out yourself, you can do it". At first you'll think something is missing but no, they let you run in the wild the moment you start playing. No tutorials, no training room just straight into action. This is one of God Hand's many unique traits, it talks to you face to face, knows why you are here and wastes no time in anything less but getting to the good parts in an instant.
You can't talk about God Hand without mentioning how awesome, yet simple and intuitive is the combat system. Everything is customizable from the get-go, all in the name of the player's choice. From example, you can go for an only-combo oriented build which could decimate an enemy in a matter of seconds or specialize your tecniques on crowd control when you need to, combine both! There are no "combos" that requires precise inputs to pull off, instead every attack has it's purpose: either breaking guard, juggle or launch your enemy. It's stupid simple and I don't know why no one has ever think of it before, The juice is in context, like solving an everyday problem: "What would be best for this situation?", "What would happen if I combine this, and this...?" Note that is one way to play it. The main gameplay loop is to experiment with every combination, being able to craft your own set of combos and strategies to kick ass. Or perfect what you already have.
The mid 2000's was an era of change. Just imagine, the HD consoles were the new hot thing and everyone was starting to move away from the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube generation. There was a sort of uncertainty for the new age because you know, change can be scary and this new generation promised a lot. Why I am suddenly talking about all this in a God Hand review exactly? I feel the mid 2000's was an unique era of comfort way after the Y2K scandal in the new millenium, at least on the video game space. God Hand took birth in that time, in a time while the PS2 was still selling like pancakes, but still everyone knew what was ahead. HD games were yet to completely took and the 6h gen was still giving some fight with unique titles, maybe not as groundbreaking as the beginning of the generation but they were one thing: "Unique". Outlandish, without necessarily having a grandious scope. They were weird experiments that weren't afraid to have the weirdest of ideas. Basically God Hand is overall very unique and there is nothing like it, or at least that I know. The era it was made took a huge role on green-lighting projects like these that nowdays only indies and AA productions. killer7 was released a year prior God Hand just to give a quick example. Want more proof? Look at the description of the game.
God Hand is a difficult game. No, is challenging but also very difficult. As I said before, it gives you all the tools to take out the enemies in with customizable combos. It doesn't suggarcoat your experience unless you want to. In Resident Evil 4 there was a system working underneath at all that change the behiavor of the enemies dynamically to give further challenge to the player. This was done depending of how good you were at it. Same principles apply to God Hand, as long as you don't get hit too many times a bar at the bottom left will indicate whenever you level up or not. I'm going to be honest, at first I thought this "Level Up" bar indicated actually leveling up, attacks get stronger, you get faster, etc. Cave Story uses a similar system were if you get hit you start to lose power, thus making the weapons much less effective. I was so lost in that system that I even did some bosses on "Die", which is the final level of perfection were enemies smack half of your lifebar with a single slap. Don't be afraid to die if you need to and lower that bar. Take my word; this game is not hard once it clicks but is very challenging and demands a lot out of you. That is half of God Hand magic, it is very easy to get into but hard to master.
But I won't say is absolutely perfect, as it has some problems. I already listed one of them which is that it never proprerly explains what does that bar bellow serves for exactly. God Hand doesn't demand perfection, not at all. It demands control. Sometimes the camera acts wonky when there are more than 2 enemies on screen at the same time close to each other, however this doesn't happen too frequently. In larger levels such as the desert enemies can gank up on you attacking from all directions, specially enemies with swords. Tank controls for me are a deal breaker when fighting a large groups of enemies, again. However, 1v1 fights are perfect with tank controls. These were growing pains that I learned to accustomed as the game went on, but on certain occations when mixed all together they were just annoying in a otherwise sound experience.
God Hand feels like a game that could only be made in that era of comfort. You know, living in the moment. Like, you can spank women, send them flying or even gorilla suplex an actual gorilla with a lucha libre custome in the middle of a demonic castle. Reeks ridiculness of the highest quality, the tone is always humorous, whacky and chaotic. Making a sequel will probably be against for what this game was made for; living in the moment perfectly sealed in a safe bubble.
2024
Death with Legacy
Persona 3 Reload, as you may quite expect is a remake of Persona 3. Atlus hasnΒ΄t been particulary good with remaster or remakes, most of the time dressing them under re-releases with added content in top that can either add or take back part of the original experience. This was pretty common back then as they needed to have an excuse for you to buy that set game again, on a new console or the same with more content as sort of a "Revision". Persona 3 Reload is already the 4th official re-release of Persona 3 in general not counting mangas or the anime just the games themselves. Reload had a task of making itself stand out of the likes of Portable and FES re-releases, specially Portable which released last year with a lukewarm reception.
Reload instead of changing what made the original made special, it fixes key areas that made Persona 3 quite a chore to play in consequential playthroughs. Reload gives Persona 3 even more purpose to everything that the original stands for, while making it more enjoyable at a long run. It doesn't change any principals or adds a convincing new untold chapter or character, it is Persona 3 all over again but vastly improved. And believe it or not, Reload made me appreciate Persona 3 even more than I did originally. If anything I'd say Reload is a testament of how well Persona 3 story's aged throughout the years. It's one of those timeless stories that tackle a subject as human as it is natural and inevitable: Death.
Persona 3 was a game that I personally never connected with, over the years I had just bad experiences with everything Persona 3 related. I'd even say I never quite liked Persona as much other people do. It felt like old-fashioned, anitquated any synonyms you want to give it and for me at least wasn't up to what I expected from a modern JRPG and yes, I'm talking about Tartarus. It was the only reason that kept me from playing the original Persona 3 FES for so long. I did complete Portable last year when it came out. Now that I think about it, Persona 3 was the reason why I joined this page in the first place, check out my first review game is right there. I didn't connected with Portable either as it just was a slim-down version of the original Persona 3 that didn't quite live up to what a full console release could've been. This is what I been looking up for so long.
Everything here is new and lovely reworked. It takes inspiration from concepts that were present in Persona 5 to make this easier for newer audiences and refreshing for people that already experienced Persona 3 such as myself. One detail that made love Reload was the extra interactions or events that you can have with some of your teammates. They're not Social Links as it is not part of the same system, it is rather something extra but they quite work the same way. This opens up the possibility of having personal conversations with Junpei or Akihiko, even Shinji and Ken. I'd love to see that system implemented in future releases.
The original Persona 3 still has it's place on being the first game in a trilogy that sparked the popularity of Persona here in the west, and for being the game that modernize the series and gave it the distinctive charm that sets it apart from other SMT games. Reload will never replace Persona 3 at all, but it will stand tall alongside it's older brother as a celebration and the ultimate embodiment of the original release.
Persona 3 Reload, as you may quite expect is a remake of Persona 3. Atlus hasnΒ΄t been particulary good with remaster or remakes, most of the time dressing them under re-releases with added content in top that can either add or take back part of the original experience. This was pretty common back then as they needed to have an excuse for you to buy that set game again, on a new console or the same with more content as sort of a "Revision". Persona 3 Reload is already the 4th official re-release of Persona 3 in general not counting mangas or the anime just the games themselves. Reload had a task of making itself stand out of the likes of Portable and FES re-releases, specially Portable which released last year with a lukewarm reception.
Reload instead of changing what made the original made special, it fixes key areas that made Persona 3 quite a chore to play in consequential playthroughs. Reload gives Persona 3 even more purpose to everything that the original stands for, while making it more enjoyable at a long run. It doesn't change any principals or adds a convincing new untold chapter or character, it is Persona 3 all over again but vastly improved. And believe it or not, Reload made me appreciate Persona 3 even more than I did originally. If anything I'd say Reload is a testament of how well Persona 3 story's aged throughout the years. It's one of those timeless stories that tackle a subject as human as it is natural and inevitable: Death.
Persona 3 was a game that I personally never connected with, over the years I had just bad experiences with everything Persona 3 related. I'd even say I never quite liked Persona as much other people do. It felt like old-fashioned, anitquated any synonyms you want to give it and for me at least wasn't up to what I expected from a modern JRPG and yes, I'm talking about Tartarus. It was the only reason that kept me from playing the original Persona 3 FES for so long. I did complete Portable last year when it came out. Now that I think about it, Persona 3 was the reason why I joined this page in the first place, check out my first review game is right there. I didn't connected with Portable either as it just was a slim-down version of the original Persona 3 that didn't quite live up to what a full console release could've been. This is what I been looking up for so long.
Everything here is new and lovely reworked. It takes inspiration from concepts that were present in Persona 5 to make this easier for newer audiences and refreshing for people that already experienced Persona 3 such as myself. One detail that made love Reload was the extra interactions or events that you can have with some of your teammates. They're not Social Links as it is not part of the same system, it is rather something extra but they quite work the same way. This opens up the possibility of having personal conversations with Junpei or Akihiko, even Shinji and Ken. I'd love to see that system implemented in future releases.
The original Persona 3 still has it's place on being the first game in a trilogy that sparked the popularity of Persona here in the west, and for being the game that modernize the series and gave it the distinctive charm that sets it apart from other SMT games. Reload will never replace Persona 3 at all, but it will stand tall alongside it's older brother as a celebration and the ultimate embodiment of the original release.
2010
Short but pleseant and fun experience. In this game the main gimmick is gravity, go up, go down it's the same.
It's almost like a puzzle game. The whole level design is around this mechanic, and it exploits it wonderfully. Again, it doesn't take more than 2 buttons (the directionals and the map) to enjoy this game so it's easy to pick up but hard to master.
This game was made by only one dude: Terry Cavanagh, same dude that made Super Hexagon; a very similar looking game. So you could say it's the most indie game ever, released in 2010 no less.
It's almost like a puzzle game. The whole level design is around this mechanic, and it exploits it wonderfully. Again, it doesn't take more than 2 buttons (the directionals and the map) to enjoy this game so it's easy to pick up but hard to master.
This game was made by only one dude: Terry Cavanagh, same dude that made Super Hexagon; a very similar looking game. So you could say it's the most indie game ever, released in 2010 no less.
2005
Whenever people bring Killer7 to the conversation, the ambiguous story and political themes will be always on the table. The way it's presented will be confusing if you don't pay attention or, piece the puzzle that is the narrative in your head. It demands the time to be known, but it gives you little glimpses of what it is or what wants to tell. It's not incoherent nonsense spitted by the writter himself Suda51 to make you feel smarter once you understand it, it's about context and knowing what do with the tools and information you currently have. That in itself is hard, the game will be full of contradictions albeit on purpose and things that will get you the wrong idea, either your mission is to interpret those contradictions or outright not use them to form your narrative on the story. Not many people seem to have a clear idea of what it is, or what objectively wants to tell. Honestly? Me neither, it is surrealism after all and a work of art that can be interpreted in various ways.
It's the battle between west and east for world dominance, good and evil, old and new, the battle between the tiger and the dragon, Dracula vs the Belmont family? Probably, it's a cycle. "The World doesn't change, all it does it turns". It's the cycle that keeps on going, this can be seen in the "Lion" chapter where it recreates the last bit of the "Angel" chapter. 100 Years, on different places the world spins around. It doesn't matter the place but what happens in it. It's all the same, the conflict keeps on going. What matters are the actors and the people who perpetrate those actions. Than itself can be a contradiction on my end. But we can change the narrative for you liking. America can take the evil role, while Japan takes the good sided role. But it's not that easy either. Law and Chaos. It's about individualism and collectivism. Maybe all that I just said can be wrong, or truth but this is just my personal interpretations sort of throwing concept at a wall to see if it sticks or that can land in a agreement with someone else.
Compared to any rail shooter, Killer7 wants to take your time to stop and think whenever you hear a maniacal laugh or the simple puzzles that require more than anything simple memorization. Shooting, and puzzles this is the premise for gameplay. Most mechanics believe it or not are part of the story itself. Having 7 type of borderline personalities will give you the advantage to use them at will. These are the Smith Syndicate, comprised by believe it or not 7 members including it's vessel Harman Smith. While all this might seem like I'm spitting nonsense it start to once you start playing. So if this is a rail shooter, shouldn't be any space for puzzle? You got it all wrong. This is 2000's Capcom, this is Mikami's Capcom era which means there are puzzles, and by that definition multiple paths to take. Puzzles can range from fairly obvious to very tricky but nothing that could leave you hanging for a long time. It really is just a Resident Evil game, that it might be why people consider it a "Horror Survival" game. It has the bases for a horror survival game without the survival aspect of it, has horror elements sure but not enough to specifically fall into the genre.
While this game might seem like a chaotic mess for the ones that look from outside. It's actually structured like a proper era video game. Not that I thought less of it, but seeing how outageous differently visually is from anything I've seen and for the looks from the trailers themselves I swear I was expecting something much more wild. In fact, the very same structure of level selection can be streched to as far back as Mega Man boss selection. 7 people, killer7, right? That streching things too far, but my point is don't be scared about it's structure. It start to get very comfortable once you get the loop, once you know what to do, once the puzzle start to feel but mere obstacles in your way. Art-sy game tend to break the mold as far as they can, but this wasn't the era nor the time to do it. Though it will play with your expectations more often than not so expect to see weird stuff regardless.
It's the style, which helps having a great sense of substance. As much as SUDA51 loves to put his art over really...anything? It stands up for something incredibly unique and obtuse first time playing it. Can't really say I've experience something like these before, outside some arcades I usually stopped by after school as a kid. None other game that I personally know has been inspired by killer7 specifically (outside of Killer is Dead but I'm yet to play that one). What other game at the time had the balls to not put real texutures into already basic geometry? These are flat colors, makes characters and objects pop-up much more while keeping the visuals simple and not obstruct with any post-processing effect like particles or not. Only gave that came up in my mind while I'm writting this is MadWorld from Platinum Games on the Wii.
What is killer7 then? I took the ideas that stood up the most to me. I can say that this is a rail shooting game with horor elements but that is keeping it short. It's an action game with deep political themes but that is selling it short. You start to get the idea, different people have different interpretations. It's the same as in this page there, is not a real truth and we can only but interpret what a work and it's purpose to the exist it. Specially as something as surreal and unique as killer7. Whenever I tried to write something about this game I always think I'm selling it short or I'm not doing enough justice. It's complicated, but fascinating to talk about.
It's the battle between west and east for world dominance, good and evil, old and new, the battle between the tiger and the dragon, Dracula vs the Belmont family? Probably, it's a cycle. "The World doesn't change, all it does it turns". It's the cycle that keeps on going, this can be seen in the "Lion" chapter where it recreates the last bit of the "Angel" chapter. 100 Years, on different places the world spins around. It doesn't matter the place but what happens in it. It's all the same, the conflict keeps on going. What matters are the actors and the people who perpetrate those actions. Than itself can be a contradiction on my end. But we can change the narrative for you liking. America can take the evil role, while Japan takes the good sided role. But it's not that easy either. Law and Chaos. It's about individualism and collectivism. Maybe all that I just said can be wrong, or truth but this is just my personal interpretations sort of throwing concept at a wall to see if it sticks or that can land in a agreement with someone else.
Compared to any rail shooter, Killer7 wants to take your time to stop and think whenever you hear a maniacal laugh or the simple puzzles that require more than anything simple memorization. Shooting, and puzzles this is the premise for gameplay. Most mechanics believe it or not are part of the story itself. Having 7 type of borderline personalities will give you the advantage to use them at will. These are the Smith Syndicate, comprised by believe it or not 7 members including it's vessel Harman Smith. While all this might seem like I'm spitting nonsense it start to once you start playing. So if this is a rail shooter, shouldn't be any space for puzzle? You got it all wrong. This is 2000's Capcom, this is Mikami's Capcom era which means there are puzzles, and by that definition multiple paths to take. Puzzles can range from fairly obvious to very tricky but nothing that could leave you hanging for a long time. It really is just a Resident Evil game, that it might be why people consider it a "Horror Survival" game. It has the bases for a horror survival game without the survival aspect of it, has horror elements sure but not enough to specifically fall into the genre.
While this game might seem like a chaotic mess for the ones that look from outside. It's actually structured like a proper era video game. Not that I thought less of it, but seeing how outageous differently visually is from anything I've seen and for the looks from the trailers themselves I swear I was expecting something much more wild. In fact, the very same structure of level selection can be streched to as far back as Mega Man boss selection. 7 people, killer7, right? That streching things too far, but my point is don't be scared about it's structure. It start to get very comfortable once you get the loop, once you know what to do, once the puzzle start to feel but mere obstacles in your way. Art-sy game tend to break the mold as far as they can, but this wasn't the era nor the time to do it. Though it will play with your expectations more often than not so expect to see weird stuff regardless.
It's the style, which helps having a great sense of substance. As much as SUDA51 loves to put his art over really...anything? It stands up for something incredibly unique and obtuse first time playing it. Can't really say I've experience something like these before, outside some arcades I usually stopped by after school as a kid. None other game that I personally know has been inspired by killer7 specifically (outside of Killer is Dead but I'm yet to play that one). What other game at the time had the balls to not put real texutures into already basic geometry? These are flat colors, makes characters and objects pop-up much more while keeping the visuals simple and not obstruct with any post-processing effect like particles or not. Only gave that came up in my mind while I'm writting this is MadWorld from Platinum Games on the Wii.
What is killer7 then? I took the ideas that stood up the most to me. I can say that this is a rail shooting game with horor elements but that is keeping it short. It's an action game with deep political themes but that is selling it short. You start to get the idea, different people have different interpretations. It's the same as in this page there, is not a real truth and we can only but interpret what a work and it's purpose to the exist it. Specially as something as surreal and unique as killer7. Whenever I tried to write something about this game I always think I'm selling it short or I'm not doing enough justice. It's complicated, but fascinating to talk about.
2003
Losing your mind, at the end of the world
Just getting started into this Nier/Drakengard universe left me with it's first game: Drakengard. It was hard to summarize and organize my thoughts on it once reaching ending D without looking insane and just spitting words out of my mind, just because. Well, I'd say Drakengard made me feel like that few hours after finishing it; insane.
What is Drakengard exactly? Take the best aspects of a "Warriors" game and take half of the fun of it. "Warriors" as in Dynasty Warriors, or musou as the genre is called. So the basic premise for grounded combat is to decimate the targets present at the battlefield within a large and endless hordes of enemies that will stand in your way. But unlike most musou games, as I said before it strips away the sense of power and control in the middle of chaos giving us a combat system that shits the bed as soon as we want to take it seriously; because it doesn't want to. Between engage with the combat system or to exploit what little advantages you have against the enemies is much prefered to do the latter as there isn't any incentive to play fair. And that's all you'll be getting out of it, at least when it comes to grounded combat. Just kill whoever is in your path to victory and continue to the next level, sort of like an arcade game. It blends both action and RPG elements as expected from an Square Enix game, the more you kill the more experience you have. And the word "kill" isn't used lightly in this game, I'll go deeply into it later.
Though the title is called Drakengard, or "Drag-On Dragoon" in japan which means we'll be able to ride a dragon and...basically do the same thing as we did on ground but taking action to the skies. Overall, it feels nice travelling with Angelus, which is the dragon's name from basic movement to dodge any sort of projectiles. This is were my praises for it end, as attacking is misserable; trying to land a hit on a target is a test of patience which I lost several times. On some levels both dragoon and grounded combat are combined as one, taking the best and the worse of both worlds. Caim's is slow but less prone to be attacked and Angelus has a fragile nature, but it's much more capable at taking a big amount of enemies with her breath of fire. Though, it's not as deep as it sounds since there are two valid strategies to follow: A. Waste a big amount of time at foot, not using the dragon at any time. B. Carefully managing space with Angelus this makes you travel faster but again she's more prone to be damaged and so does you. C. Kill the archers with Caim and then hop on Angelus to clean the rest of the area including the targets. So that wraps up the basics of combat in Drakengard, but you'll have to experience as words can't describe with ease how jank and badly designed it gets. Not only that, it will try to break you with an over-reliance on doing the same task of killing enemies over and over again so much so I started to become numb to everything combat-related and just go with it. Just as Caim.
Caim story starts right after being fatally wounded in battle, close to dying. But he doesn't give up, he sees a dragon nearby in similar conditions as him and negotiates a pact in order of both of them to live. The dragon refuses the offer multiple times, but Caim manages to convince her. A pact is formed at the cost of Caim's voice, his mark is located exactly in his tongue. Caim sheer power of will didn't let him die, even making a pact with a dragon; creatures that he despises with all his heart. Thus Caim tale of revenge and decay starts. It's a nice, more calm beginning to what will ultimately be a downward spiral into madness. It sets the tone, wildly different from more Square-Enix RPGs, present the characters and their motivations; specially when it comes to Caim.
The story itself feels like a deconstruction on most JRPGs stories, or rather a darker and less care-free version of them. It can also be applied to the classic tale of the hero. It asks the question: How much are you willing to sacrifice in order to fullfil your goals? Caim is the perfect protagonist, at least for this kind of twisted story: Shoot, ask questions later. In this story Angelus takes the role of being our companion, alongside a psychopath she's our voice of reason up to chapter 8. Caim is not the hero, nor is the villain as while his reason to go against the empire can be seen as noble; a feature present on most hero stories, his endless bloodlust for revenge which is what drives him forward can also be seen as feature of a villain. But on Drakengard there is no moral ground, everyone is either sick in the head or can get easily warped into different characters altogether in a matter of seconds; just as Inuart, Seere or Leonard can. Every non-playable stories are fragmented through different endings, having five in total.
If anything Drakengard made the narrative most of it's personality, carried with the most shitty gameplay imaginable. I appreciate everything Drakengard set to do back in 2003, shit's crazy, bold, confident while a bit stupid and isn't afraid to throw ideas to the mix. The gameplay indirectly made me numb to the act of "killing" itself, in which Angelus and the priest often remark that Caim might be taking things way too far. The act of killing takes the backseat most of the time, having no consequences on the story whatsoever until it happens to you, or well, Caim. Specially on Ending B.
Give it a try if curious. Words alone can't describe this game, it speaks for itself.
Just getting started into this Nier/Drakengard universe left me with it's first game: Drakengard. It was hard to summarize and organize my thoughts on it once reaching ending D without looking insane and just spitting words out of my mind, just because. Well, I'd say Drakengard made me feel like that few hours after finishing it; insane.
What is Drakengard exactly? Take the best aspects of a "Warriors" game and take half of the fun of it. "Warriors" as in Dynasty Warriors, or musou as the genre is called. So the basic premise for grounded combat is to decimate the targets present at the battlefield within a large and endless hordes of enemies that will stand in your way. But unlike most musou games, as I said before it strips away the sense of power and control in the middle of chaos giving us a combat system that shits the bed as soon as we want to take it seriously; because it doesn't want to. Between engage with the combat system or to exploit what little advantages you have against the enemies is much prefered to do the latter as there isn't any incentive to play fair. And that's all you'll be getting out of it, at least when it comes to grounded combat. Just kill whoever is in your path to victory and continue to the next level, sort of like an arcade game. It blends both action and RPG elements as expected from an Square Enix game, the more you kill the more experience you have. And the word "kill" isn't used lightly in this game, I'll go deeply into it later.
Though the title is called Drakengard, or "Drag-On Dragoon" in japan which means we'll be able to ride a dragon and...basically do the same thing as we did on ground but taking action to the skies. Overall, it feels nice travelling with Angelus, which is the dragon's name from basic movement to dodge any sort of projectiles. This is were my praises for it end, as attacking is misserable; trying to land a hit on a target is a test of patience which I lost several times. On some levels both dragoon and grounded combat are combined as one, taking the best and the worse of both worlds. Caim's is slow but less prone to be attacked and Angelus has a fragile nature, but it's much more capable at taking a big amount of enemies with her breath of fire. Though, it's not as deep as it sounds since there are two valid strategies to follow: A. Waste a big amount of time at foot, not using the dragon at any time. B. Carefully managing space with Angelus this makes you travel faster but again she's more prone to be damaged and so does you. C. Kill the archers with Caim and then hop on Angelus to clean the rest of the area including the targets. So that wraps up the basics of combat in Drakengard, but you'll have to experience as words can't describe with ease how jank and badly designed it gets. Not only that, it will try to break you with an over-reliance on doing the same task of killing enemies over and over again so much so I started to become numb to everything combat-related and just go with it. Just as Caim.
Caim story starts right after being fatally wounded in battle, close to dying. But he doesn't give up, he sees a dragon nearby in similar conditions as him and negotiates a pact in order of both of them to live. The dragon refuses the offer multiple times, but Caim manages to convince her. A pact is formed at the cost of Caim's voice, his mark is located exactly in his tongue. Caim sheer power of will didn't let him die, even making a pact with a dragon; creatures that he despises with all his heart. Thus Caim tale of revenge and decay starts. It's a nice, more calm beginning to what will ultimately be a downward spiral into madness. It sets the tone, wildly different from more Square-Enix RPGs, present the characters and their motivations; specially when it comes to Caim.
The story itself feels like a deconstruction on most JRPGs stories, or rather a darker and less care-free version of them. It can also be applied to the classic tale of the hero. It asks the question: How much are you willing to sacrifice in order to fullfil your goals? Caim is the perfect protagonist, at least for this kind of twisted story: Shoot, ask questions later. In this story Angelus takes the role of being our companion, alongside a psychopath she's our voice of reason up to chapter 8. Caim is not the hero, nor is the villain as while his reason to go against the empire can be seen as noble; a feature present on most hero stories, his endless bloodlust for revenge which is what drives him forward can also be seen as feature of a villain. But on Drakengard there is no moral ground, everyone is either sick in the head or can get easily warped into different characters altogether in a matter of seconds; just as Inuart, Seere or Leonard can. Every non-playable stories are fragmented through different endings, having five in total.
If anything Drakengard made the narrative most of it's personality, carried with the most shitty gameplay imaginable. I appreciate everything Drakengard set to do back in 2003, shit's crazy, bold, confident while a bit stupid and isn't afraid to throw ideas to the mix. The gameplay indirectly made me numb to the act of "killing" itself, in which Angelus and the priest often remark that Caim might be taking things way too far. The act of killing takes the backseat most of the time, having no consequences on the story whatsoever until it happens to you, or well, Caim. Specially on Ending B.
Give it a try if curious. Words alone can't describe this game, it speaks for itself.
2021
Love Will Tear Us Apart, again
No More Heroes III is a very strange game. It's more No More Heroes people long yearned and waited for. What? Was it 11 years since No More Heroes 2? Do not try to look it that way, rather it was just 3 years after Travis Strikes Back in case you are really into Grasshopper and Suda51. This is not an easy game to talk about, at least for me as I have very conflicting feelings towards it.
It takes the best aspects of No More Heroes, with the overall improvements found in No More Heroes 2 combat and the Death Glove's abilities added from Travis Strikes Back. So, this is for me the most fun combat No More Heroes ever had and probably one of the core aspects the team at Grasshopper focused on during it's development. It is really fun on a fundamental level, never gets old on sequential playthroughs or any combat sequence that is. But this is just the combat, aspects such as the open world and the mini-game do not hold much of the importance as they once had in the first game. It is sparse, messy, unorganized but the open world is somehow still beautiful underneath it's ugly appereance. As while it doesn't convey exactly what it wants to communicate, it's clumsiness and overall silly, empty yet full of personallity appereance makes it seem like an honest to heart attempt at making an open world. Ambition when the budget is not high, in a console that isn't particulary made to handle a load this heavy. A recipe for disaster that to some extent was fixed in the prior home-console release.
As a tradition in Grasshopper titles, the presentation is as distinctive as it is very in line with Grasshopper. It is bold, rash but most importantly confident of itself and knows were to go regardless what throws at you. It is not afraid to surprise you, nor afraid to show it's true intentions. There is passion plastered all around it. To me, this is a direct contrast to Grasshopper's "Dark Age" as while their signature style was still there, it was afraid to be seen, didn't hold enough meaning or was totally turned down in favor of cohesion with the base game visuals. No More Heroes III embraces it's wacky but endearing presentation with open arms and runs with it, as far as possible without looking back.
As far as the story goes, it's a direct contrast to Travis Strikes Back seemingly confined but personal adventure. This time is an over the top alien invasion over not just Santa Destroy but the world itself. Sets the tone perfectly, and doesn't get much deeper than that. As usual in Grasshoppers work, there are undertones that don't get explored directly but are hidden and left for interpretation. And this is exactly why I love talking about Grasshopper titles so much. It is not without it's flaws though, or rather bits that seem unfinished or aren't fleshed out for the most part. Things that flat out doesn't get explained and appear out of thin air, expecting you to care or have previous knowledge of it. Midori, Kamui, Blackhole, Bishop's brother know Travis, but he doesn't know any of them. So it comes out a bit akward, extending some of that fanservice Travis Strikes Back lefts us. It's like being in a party up late at night, most people left but you are left with a couple of strangers and old friends to share drinks with. What is important is the narrative that unfolds all the way to the end, and there is a lot to unpack there just as No More Heroes did back then. In No More Heroes the rank, and the assasins were and work around Travis arrival. It was the sign of his future, or what he could be in that world of assasins but in No More Heroes III everything works for FU, as everything centers around him. See the contrast? FU is number one on his very own rank on a contest he suddenly came up with while invading earth. FU is Travis if he never had fight to make it to the top, because he was aready up there from the beginning. The assasins bend their knee to FU for different reasons that get explored as the story goes on. In fact, Travis goes for FU not only becuase he's annoying but as an act of revenge. It is close enough of what No More Heroes 2 did back in the day. Simple, but it works at the end of the day. Travis Strikes Back already stablished "most" of the principals that would mold No More Heroes III story, go play it if you haven't.
Suda51 and the No More Heroes series go a long way, and the games made him more known here in the west. It was this sucess that leaded into giving this franchise a try once again with No More Heroes 2, and serve his reflection in Travis Strikes Back. No More Heroes is Suda51's son or the embodiment of everything he likes mashed into one product. This is the end of the series, one that was never meant to be more than a one-off job but ultimately grow bigger as we know now. And it is strange because every single game from this franchise feels different from each other with something that makes them unique and standout from each other and don't pile up as "This, but better" as most franchise tend to do. III's wacky ending doesn't tell me that this is specifically the end, but the start of something different. A new era of sorts. It's like sending your kid to college on another city far off were you live from, making sure as a father that everything would be ok before his eventual departure. Over the top, as high as it can be to make sure all of what the team wanted is fullfiled as ridiculous as it might sound.
Go out with a bang!
No More Heroes III is a very strange game. It's more No More Heroes people long yearned and waited for. What? Was it 11 years since No More Heroes 2? Do not try to look it that way, rather it was just 3 years after Travis Strikes Back in case you are really into Grasshopper and Suda51. This is not an easy game to talk about, at least for me as I have very conflicting feelings towards it.
It takes the best aspects of No More Heroes, with the overall improvements found in No More Heroes 2 combat and the Death Glove's abilities added from Travis Strikes Back. So, this is for me the most fun combat No More Heroes ever had and probably one of the core aspects the team at Grasshopper focused on during it's development. It is really fun on a fundamental level, never gets old on sequential playthroughs or any combat sequence that is. But this is just the combat, aspects such as the open world and the mini-game do not hold much of the importance as they once had in the first game. It is sparse, messy, unorganized but the open world is somehow still beautiful underneath it's ugly appereance. As while it doesn't convey exactly what it wants to communicate, it's clumsiness and overall silly, empty yet full of personallity appereance makes it seem like an honest to heart attempt at making an open world. Ambition when the budget is not high, in a console that isn't particulary made to handle a load this heavy. A recipe for disaster that to some extent was fixed in the prior home-console release.
As a tradition in Grasshopper titles, the presentation is as distinctive as it is very in line with Grasshopper. It is bold, rash but most importantly confident of itself and knows were to go regardless what throws at you. It is not afraid to surprise you, nor afraid to show it's true intentions. There is passion plastered all around it. To me, this is a direct contrast to Grasshopper's "Dark Age" as while their signature style was still there, it was afraid to be seen, didn't hold enough meaning or was totally turned down in favor of cohesion with the base game visuals. No More Heroes III embraces it's wacky but endearing presentation with open arms and runs with it, as far as possible without looking back.
As far as the story goes, it's a direct contrast to Travis Strikes Back seemingly confined but personal adventure. This time is an over the top alien invasion over not just Santa Destroy but the world itself. Sets the tone perfectly, and doesn't get much deeper than that. As usual in Grasshoppers work, there are undertones that don't get explored directly but are hidden and left for interpretation. And this is exactly why I love talking about Grasshopper titles so much. It is not without it's flaws though, or rather bits that seem unfinished or aren't fleshed out for the most part. Things that flat out doesn't get explained and appear out of thin air, expecting you to care or have previous knowledge of it. Midori, Kamui, Blackhole, Bishop's brother know Travis, but he doesn't know any of them. So it comes out a bit akward, extending some of that fanservice Travis Strikes Back lefts us. It's like being in a party up late at night, most people left but you are left with a couple of strangers and old friends to share drinks with. What is important is the narrative that unfolds all the way to the end, and there is a lot to unpack there just as No More Heroes did back then. In No More Heroes the rank, and the assasins were and work around Travis arrival. It was the sign of his future, or what he could be in that world of assasins but in No More Heroes III everything works for FU, as everything centers around him. See the contrast? FU is number one on his very own rank on a contest he suddenly came up with while invading earth. FU is Travis if he never had fight to make it to the top, because he was aready up there from the beginning. The assasins bend their knee to FU for different reasons that get explored as the story goes on. In fact, Travis goes for FU not only becuase he's annoying but as an act of revenge. It is close enough of what No More Heroes 2 did back in the day. Simple, but it works at the end of the day. Travis Strikes Back already stablished "most" of the principals that would mold No More Heroes III story, go play it if you haven't.
Suda51 and the No More Heroes series go a long way, and the games made him more known here in the west. It was this sucess that leaded into giving this franchise a try once again with No More Heroes 2, and serve his reflection in Travis Strikes Back. No More Heroes is Suda51's son or the embodiment of everything he likes mashed into one product. This is the end of the series, one that was never meant to be more than a one-off job but ultimately grow bigger as we know now. And it is strange because every single game from this franchise feels different from each other with something that makes them unique and standout from each other and don't pile up as "This, but better" as most franchise tend to do. III's wacky ending doesn't tell me that this is specifically the end, but the start of something different. A new era of sorts. It's like sending your kid to college on another city far off were you live from, making sure as a father that everything would be ok before his eventual departure. Over the top, as high as it can be to make sure all of what the team wanted is fullfiled as ridiculous as it might sound.
Go out with a bang!
2019
Ever wanted to relive the old Newgrounds era of bizarre videos and surreal humour? Air Marty is a WarioWare inspired game mixed with Lisa's humour and the homemade yet somewhat charming artstyle of old Newgrounds.
That is basically it. Main focus is getting to know all the endings which are a lot. While short, it has a lot to offer when it comes different artstyle/humour and the bizarre situations Marty gets in. And it's no surprise the humour and even some characters desings get inspired by Lisa, it was developed by Myles Jorgensen; and helped by no less than his brother which is the one that gave birth to Lisa The Painful in the first place: Austin Jorgensen. Funny coincidence.
Humour is a hit or miss most of the time, at least for me. Some jokes landed, some fall flat. But if random wacky humour is your thing, give it a try. For 1$ or 2$ is a good time waster.
That is basically it. Main focus is getting to know all the endings which are a lot. While short, it has a lot to offer when it comes different artstyle/humour and the bizarre situations Marty gets in. And it's no surprise the humour and even some characters desings get inspired by Lisa, it was developed by Myles Jorgensen; and helped by no less than his brother which is the one that gave birth to Lisa The Painful in the first place: Austin Jorgensen. Funny coincidence.
Humour is a hit or miss most of the time, at least for me. Some jokes landed, some fall flat. But if random wacky humour is your thing, give it a try. For 1$ or 2$ is a good time waster.
2017
Goofy little fun 3D platformer! The ones you barely see nowdays, and it's really good.
It takes the best aspects of certain games that have been established in the genre for a long while by now. Super Mario Galaxy hub area, Sunshine level selection and the special slide movement, Banjo Kazooie progression system and some collectathon elements scattered around some levels just to give some examples.
Felt a little too short, or maybe it because I was having such a really good time with it! Levels were varied and really fun to complete and don't take your controller for any sort of weird special gimmick just to add forced variety into a level, you know. You're in control all the time which is a relief.
If I had to critique something it might be that the hats didn't add much to the gameplay itself outside of the one that let's you run and ride a scooter. Were situational and pretty much useless outside it's main function. That's pretty much it.
Aims just to be a happy jolly good 3D platformer, it's a fun time. Wishing for sequel, there is serious untapped potential here.
It takes the best aspects of certain games that have been established in the genre for a long while by now. Super Mario Galaxy hub area, Sunshine level selection and the special slide movement, Banjo Kazooie progression system and some collectathon elements scattered around some levels just to give some examples.
Felt a little too short, or maybe it because I was having such a really good time with it! Levels were varied and really fun to complete and don't take your controller for any sort of weird special gimmick just to add forced variety into a level, you know. You're in control all the time which is a relief.
If I had to critique something it might be that the hats didn't add much to the gameplay itself outside of the one that let's you run and ride a scooter. Were situational and pretty much useless outside it's main function. That's pretty much it.
Aims just to be a happy jolly good 3D platformer, it's a fun time. Wishing for sequel, there is serious untapped potential here.
Trim it down, to the best parts
Gaiden is essentially what they advertised, a small Kiryu...I mean Joryu adventure after the events of Yakuza 6 and during Yakuza: Like a Dragon story.
The story in this bite-sized adventure can very much rival mainline entries if you ask me. I'd recommend you to play Yakuza 6 to really understand what is going and why Kiryu ended up making deals to dissapear from his past life since it's pretty much a continuation of the latter. Unlike previous games it's not that convoluted and is pretty straightforward, it knows it's scope and plays with it nicely. At least, do it for the ending. Hits so much harder once you know who are those kids.
Don't think this game will have a lot of content on it's shoulders, in fact only the basics remain while some of the rest gets ditched or removed. And that's perfectly fine, this means this game has it's focus on the story first, content second. And while there is side-content to be enjoyed it's as basic as it gets. An excuse to level up, basically. During the story we'll meet this red haired chick "Akame" that gives us some missions to complete, this is how Gaiden handles substories and it mixes it with a completion tab. After completing a mission, we'll be gifted with both points and cash. To unlock new abilities you'll need both of them; Cash and Points. As I said before, it mixes both the completion tab and substories under one simple label "The Akame Network".
In case you have played The Kaito Files, the Lost Judgment story expansion you'll get a very similar feeling regarding it's scope, which differs from the main game. While in Gaiden we don't have clearly a game to be based on unlike The Kaito Files and Lost Judgment, it mannages to stand on it's own, even with a Frankestein-like structure. Technically speaking, Gaiden uses the latest rendition of the Dragon Engine which has seen several improvement over the years since it's debut with Yakuza 6. It takes elements from a lot of RGG games, like a ton and they're not afraid to say it so. Most of these assets went up being used in "The Castle", which if you have played previous Yakuza games you may recognize it as "The Colliseum".
"The Castle" is a free-for-all battle showdown where you can recruit fighter that can help you to overcome challenges. Familiar faces avaible as troops are definitely present in this mode. It's as complete as any Yakuza side-mode is and I wish they could expand more on this concept. Basically Mugen in a Yakuza game. It's the definitive timesink of this title and arguably the most fun I had with this game.
Combat takes huge inspiration from a lot of past Yakuza games, and it doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. Even some Judgment and Lost Judgment mechanics makes it's first appereance on a mainline title. "Yakuza Style" is the signature style Kiryu has been using since the series began. Heavy charges, strong punches. It's somewhat close to Kiwami 2 combat system. And then we have "Agent Style", think of "Crane Style" from the Judgment games but with a few extra "Gadgets" added on top. The Gadgets are the key in this fighting style and it makes fighting hordes of enemies much easier to manage, while on bosses is ineffective at best, useless at worst. I'll be honest, the combat is not as good as Lost Judgment even if it releasesed two years after it. It's not as polish as you may expect and there is a lot of bullshit moments to occur, specially on boss fights. That's why I say "The Castle" is great, it doesn't requiere precision in the amount of chaos that is hapenning there and combat generally favours going against hordes of enemies rather than a simple oponent.
Gaiden feels like the series "Greatest Hits" album, carefully selecting the elements that makes this series unique. It does come at the cost of not feeling fully-fletched and having a unique "something" that makes each title special, but for a small sized adventure is a perfectly serviceable title to have while waiting for Infinite Wealth.
Gaiden is essentially what they advertised, a small Kiryu...I mean Joryu adventure after the events of Yakuza 6 and during Yakuza: Like a Dragon story.
The story in this bite-sized adventure can very much rival mainline entries if you ask me. I'd recommend you to play Yakuza 6 to really understand what is going and why Kiryu ended up making deals to dissapear from his past life since it's pretty much a continuation of the latter. Unlike previous games it's not that convoluted and is pretty straightforward, it knows it's scope and plays with it nicely. At least, do it for the ending. Hits so much harder once you know who are those kids.
Don't think this game will have a lot of content on it's shoulders, in fact only the basics remain while some of the rest gets ditched or removed. And that's perfectly fine, this means this game has it's focus on the story first, content second. And while there is side-content to be enjoyed it's as basic as it gets. An excuse to level up, basically. During the story we'll meet this red haired chick "Akame" that gives us some missions to complete, this is how Gaiden handles substories and it mixes it with a completion tab. After completing a mission, we'll be gifted with both points and cash. To unlock new abilities you'll need both of them; Cash and Points. As I said before, it mixes both the completion tab and substories under one simple label "The Akame Network".
In case you have played The Kaito Files, the Lost Judgment story expansion you'll get a very similar feeling regarding it's scope, which differs from the main game. While in Gaiden we don't have clearly a game to be based on unlike The Kaito Files and Lost Judgment, it mannages to stand on it's own, even with a Frankestein-like structure. Technically speaking, Gaiden uses the latest rendition of the Dragon Engine which has seen several improvement over the years since it's debut with Yakuza 6. It takes elements from a lot of RGG games, like a ton and they're not afraid to say it so. Most of these assets went up being used in "The Castle", which if you have played previous Yakuza games you may recognize it as "The Colliseum".
"The Castle" is a free-for-all battle showdown where you can recruit fighter that can help you to overcome challenges. Familiar faces avaible as troops are definitely present in this mode. It's as complete as any Yakuza side-mode is and I wish they could expand more on this concept. Basically Mugen in a Yakuza game. It's the definitive timesink of this title and arguably the most fun I had with this game.
Combat takes huge inspiration from a lot of past Yakuza games, and it doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. Even some Judgment and Lost Judgment mechanics makes it's first appereance on a mainline title. "Yakuza Style" is the signature style Kiryu has been using since the series began. Heavy charges, strong punches. It's somewhat close to Kiwami 2 combat system. And then we have "Agent Style", think of "Crane Style" from the Judgment games but with a few extra "Gadgets" added on top. The Gadgets are the key in this fighting style and it makes fighting hordes of enemies much easier to manage, while on bosses is ineffective at best, useless at worst. I'll be honest, the combat is not as good as Lost Judgment even if it releasesed two years after it. It's not as polish as you may expect and there is a lot of bullshit moments to occur, specially on boss fights. That's why I say "The Castle" is great, it doesn't requiere precision in the amount of chaos that is hapenning there and combat generally favours going against hordes of enemies rather than a simple oponent.
Gaiden feels like the series "Greatest Hits" album, carefully selecting the elements that makes this series unique. It does come at the cost of not feeling fully-fletched and having a unique "something" that makes each title special, but for a small sized adventure is a perfectly serviceable title to have while waiting for Infinite Wealth.
2019
"Don't doubt. Don't be afraid. And know.
Knowledge will save all".
Gnosia presents us with a very interesting premise. Social-Deduction RPG which is basically what it meants, deduce who is the enemy or lie your way to victory. Main objective is to eliminate all threats upon our way to victory, we can either play as the "Threat" (Gnosia, Bug, AC Follower) or "Human" (Crew, Doctor, Guardian Angel, Engineer, Guard Duty). Each class has their own tutorial while going progressing through the game and each is explained in detail. I won't go much in detail for the mechanics here, they are explained very well in the game.
You take the role of an unknown crewmate in the ship. Again, your main objective is to survive discussions in the ship, alongside the Gnosia threat, depending the class you choose to take part in. As an RPG, you'll start as a pretty tame individual, my recommendation for first time players is to not take much part in disscourses and limit yourself only to vote what people think is the real enemy. As you progress more, you'll level up and learn more abilities to add to the set discussion making surviving much more easier, even being to 180Β° most situation.
You can say there is a story here, but is underneath layers and layers of "special events" throughout the game. These events let you progress through the story and slowly start to piece all together. Yeah, which means there is no linear story here. I was in a loss at first, events kept occurring seemingly in no particular order, and that's a given. You won't experience the same events in the same order as myself, it's RNG most of the time.
It's really lighthearted in tone, and I'm use to visual novels to go absolutely hogwild at some point, but this isn't much the case. It feels very honest about what it wants to tell. And I'm very thankful for it since, in my opinion this game doesn't need to go that far and touches most topics again, in a very innocent way with it's characters. Talking about characters, they're really charming. Everyone is different from one another, not just in aspect but in personality and this is reflected in all sort of places; during disccusions, during events and even their stats. Everyone has their own stats, some are better than others at disscusions and some have abilites others simply don't. Though, I wanted to know more about the them. This is strictly tied to events as I said before and every characters has more than 4 events to explore from 14 characters in total, not including the main character which we know close to nothing about.
The presentation in this game is wonderful and full of life. If I'd had to give it a name it would be something like: "Alien, but welcoming" and that's knowing you're in a ship with a bunch of alien and humans. Muisc is like goofy-esque silly drama most of the time and calm and weirdly sentimental when it needs to, that I thought suits this game very well alongside the visuals. Every character is separated by a color palette wich makes each one standout more from the rest and is easier to recognize everyone as soon as you see their portrait on screen. I don't personally have a favourite but if I have to choose, I'll go with Shigemichi. He's a pretty funny fella.
My favorite moment of this game when I decided to trust a certain crew member while Gnosia just to cover mysef of any suspicion since she was against me and picking on me constantly on discussions. The idea was to make her support me on the debates trusting each other on the act. An event triggered after finishing that day, then she asked me if I was lying this whole time to again, cover myself as Gnosia. Said yes, but she didn't mind as a Human and even knowing I was Gnosia she decided to support me on those debates just because I was honest with her. It was honestly surprising. Then "Aster" starts playing in the background, one of the very few vocal songs in the game only reserved for moments as special as this one.
After Loop 30 or so you're free to do whatever you want. I'm a bit sad to say this is where this game starts to get worse. Before each gane a menu is presented, you're able to choose everything; from the amount of people that are in the ship and gnosia quantity and the class you want to take part in. You main objective now is to search for these events to advance through the story. Some are really difficult to trigger and activate and some require very specific instances to then activate.
Personally I probably would never have found some if it wasn't for a quick internet search and I'm quite sad for it because I loved this game before it forced me to stay as away as possible for it. And it gets worse, I started to not care about the characters and only focus myself on getting these events activated. Remember the RPG aspects? You'll start to level up like crazy after each loop and become untouchable for the most part by level 100. Days and days, searching for these events to trigger. Some didn't, some randomly appear and some luckly were triggered as well. And I hate to say this, but you better off watching the ending(s) on Youtube.
Wish this game gets a sequel soon, with a new row set of characters because I feel there is a lot of potential wasted here. Mainly to fix how you progress through the story. I'm quite sad seeing how things turned up for Gnosia because I really liked it at first but then my love for it started to go downhill as loops went on and on, until the very end. If these things gets fix in the future, I'm sure this game will recieve more international praise and not be just relegated to be only known by some people. I'm sure of it.
Knowledge will save all".
Gnosia presents us with a very interesting premise. Social-Deduction RPG which is basically what it meants, deduce who is the enemy or lie your way to victory. Main objective is to eliminate all threats upon our way to victory, we can either play as the "Threat" (Gnosia, Bug, AC Follower) or "Human" (Crew, Doctor, Guardian Angel, Engineer, Guard Duty). Each class has their own tutorial while going progressing through the game and each is explained in detail. I won't go much in detail for the mechanics here, they are explained very well in the game.
You take the role of an unknown crewmate in the ship. Again, your main objective is to survive discussions in the ship, alongside the Gnosia threat, depending the class you choose to take part in. As an RPG, you'll start as a pretty tame individual, my recommendation for first time players is to not take much part in disscourses and limit yourself only to vote what people think is the real enemy. As you progress more, you'll level up and learn more abilities to add to the set discussion making surviving much more easier, even being to 180Β° most situation.
You can say there is a story here, but is underneath layers and layers of "special events" throughout the game. These events let you progress through the story and slowly start to piece all together. Yeah, which means there is no linear story here. I was in a loss at first, events kept occurring seemingly in no particular order, and that's a given. You won't experience the same events in the same order as myself, it's RNG most of the time.
It's really lighthearted in tone, and I'm use to visual novels to go absolutely hogwild at some point, but this isn't much the case. It feels very honest about what it wants to tell. And I'm very thankful for it since, in my opinion this game doesn't need to go that far and touches most topics again, in a very innocent way with it's characters. Talking about characters, they're really charming. Everyone is different from one another, not just in aspect but in personality and this is reflected in all sort of places; during disccusions, during events and even their stats. Everyone has their own stats, some are better than others at disscusions and some have abilites others simply don't. Though, I wanted to know more about the them. This is strictly tied to events as I said before and every characters has more than 4 events to explore from 14 characters in total, not including the main character which we know close to nothing about.
The presentation in this game is wonderful and full of life. If I'd had to give it a name it would be something like: "Alien, but welcoming" and that's knowing you're in a ship with a bunch of alien and humans. Muisc is like goofy-esque silly drama most of the time and calm and weirdly sentimental when it needs to, that I thought suits this game very well alongside the visuals. Every character is separated by a color palette wich makes each one standout more from the rest and is easier to recognize everyone as soon as you see their portrait on screen. I don't personally have a favourite but if I have to choose, I'll go with Shigemichi. He's a pretty funny fella.
My favorite moment of this game when I decided to trust a certain crew member while Gnosia just to cover mysef of any suspicion since she was against me and picking on me constantly on discussions. The idea was to make her support me on the debates trusting each other on the act. An event triggered after finishing that day, then she asked me if I was lying this whole time to again, cover myself as Gnosia. Said yes, but she didn't mind as a Human and even knowing I was Gnosia she decided to support me on those debates just because I was honest with her. It was honestly surprising. Then "Aster" starts playing in the background, one of the very few vocal songs in the game only reserved for moments as special as this one.
After Loop 30 or so you're free to do whatever you want. I'm a bit sad to say this is where this game starts to get worse. Before each gane a menu is presented, you're able to choose everything; from the amount of people that are in the ship and gnosia quantity and the class you want to take part in. You main objective now is to search for these events to advance through the story. Some are really difficult to trigger and activate and some require very specific instances to then activate.
Personally I probably would never have found some if it wasn't for a quick internet search and I'm quite sad for it because I loved this game before it forced me to stay as away as possible for it. And it gets worse, I started to not care about the characters and only focus myself on getting these events activated. Remember the RPG aspects? You'll start to level up like crazy after each loop and become untouchable for the most part by level 100. Days and days, searching for these events to trigger. Some didn't, some randomly appear and some luckly were triggered as well. And I hate to say this, but you better off watching the ending(s) on Youtube.
Wish this game gets a sequel soon, with a new row set of characters because I feel there is a lot of potential wasted here. Mainly to fix how you progress through the story. I'm quite sad seeing how things turned up for Gnosia because I really liked it at first but then my love for it started to go downhill as loops went on and on, until the very end. If these things gets fix in the future, I'm sure this game will recieve more international praise and not be just relegated to be only known by some people. I'm sure of it.
2007
No More Expectations
Alright, third game I've played from the twisted mind of Suda51. You know, I'm starting to know why people are obsessed over him and his games. It's just "him", he's like Kojima's younger and unhinged brother (in a good way though). Just replace cinema references with geek culture references and there you have the big Suda51 energy, at least in No More Heroes. I couldn't really start this review without talking about it's mastermind, it's plastered everywhere and the "Punk" energy of professionally not giving much of a fuck and surpass any realistic expectations are without a doubt present in this game. Very authentic, to say the least.
No More Heroes is in it's very soul a hack and slash game. We take the control of an "Otaku", which is the term equivalent to nerd in Japan. Travis Touchdown is our protagonist, and our mission is to scale up in the rankings. The Assasins Association is our ticket to get to the top of the world of killers. But what does Travis search for really? What is our objective? Money, fame ...women? All of them? Won't answer that, it's a secret. But what do you really expect at the end, something deep? Or plain stupid fun? Both? You can interpret this game layers and layers of complexity the way you see fit.
There are two types of gameplay. The main one, which is the action focused hack and slash formula and the other one, taking a secondary role in the grand scheme of things is the open world in the same vein of any GTA game. The open world is needed to earn money to enter the next big fight and scale the aforementioned ranking. We get money by making odd jobs through the city of Santa Destroy (yeah, that's the city's name and is specially weird knowing I'm playing this game in particular after christmas). Law mowing, collect coconuts, scorpions among others activities. Alongside it there are plenty of shops to spend our money in, mostly in things that will help us on battles. These part-time jobs are in fact minigames in disguise that made an extensive use of the Wiimote, but as you may know I played this on PC and the novelty wears off a little. Fun Fact: The PC port was so lazily done Switch prompts can still be seen. A tutorial screen that is meant to teach how to play a minigame, has still a joy-con graphic attached to it. And you can't play this game with a keyboard either, which sucks.
In a way, No More Heroes makes me appreciate it's structure around what can you expect climbing up the ladders to the top. It's a constant reminder of your position or how close you're to the objective itself. I started to feel fatigue by the 7th boss or so, it gets repetitive doing the same odd jobs and earning money to then kill the next ranked assasin. Won't lie it was compelling at first, but it's really just superficail level stuff at the end of the day. Serves as a good rest after every bossfight, which can be lengthy and quite intense.
Combat is simple and mashy, but visually stimulating. There are no combo mechanics of any kind and the it's easily exploitable depending how much you love pressing buttons. Enemies explode in red, they bleed like their life depends on it while screaming like damn Looney Tunes characters. It's raw fun, totally in your face and is not afraid to show it's true colors. But as much as something raw is natural, nature doesn't forgive and is selective. What do I mean with this? If you can't swallow the jank that plagues this game's combat, you'll ended up like me hating some aspects of it.
What else is aunthentic? Travis Touchdown, main character. He's a loser, it's cool on it's own way and it is not afraid to show it. He knows is the protagonist of the story, and wants to give a good show to it's consumers. Has most of the attributes that defines a main character in an action game, it is a really good damn protagonist. Characters in general have no shame of being themselves in this game, they can be the most outrageous and wacky people alive as professional assasins and follows Suda51's tradition of making characters that are considered misfits by society shine the best they can, in a sadly short runtime before they get eliminated. The Bosses are very charming.
Just don't take it seriously, or you will lose. I'm not joking, No More Heroes is like going to the bathroom and take it all out. Won't be pretty, but it's authentic and natural at the of the day. I really didn't vibe with how it aimless it was, between being self-aware parodies of the media, or a wanting to tell an story in itself. Sometimes it even breaks most of those rules stablished before in seemingly "important" moments, just for comedic effects and laughs. Look, I don't know if the bitter one here or not but it didn't do much for me honestly it all felt pointless by the end. Was that really the meaning of it? You either love it, don't understand it or hate it. Thing is, I love shit like this. Dumb ass games that don't take themselves seriously are up my alley, as long as they've a good balance of course.
Love for what it stands for: "Punk". Don't play by the rules and do whatever you want. Even though I don't think Suda51 objectively makes "good" games that really appeal to the largest demographic group (doesn't need to either), I do feel he pour his heart out on each of his projects and wants to set a precedent on the industry as a whole. I just don't think is a good game in a otherwise very stylized and unique adventure. Or probably didn't fell into as much as the rest did.
Alright, third game I've played from the twisted mind of Suda51. You know, I'm starting to know why people are obsessed over him and his games. It's just "him", he's like Kojima's younger and unhinged brother (in a good way though). Just replace cinema references with geek culture references and there you have the big Suda51 energy, at least in No More Heroes. I couldn't really start this review without talking about it's mastermind, it's plastered everywhere and the "Punk" energy of professionally not giving much of a fuck and surpass any realistic expectations are without a doubt present in this game. Very authentic, to say the least.
No More Heroes is in it's very soul a hack and slash game. We take the control of an "Otaku", which is the term equivalent to nerd in Japan. Travis Touchdown is our protagonist, and our mission is to scale up in the rankings. The Assasins Association is our ticket to get to the top of the world of killers. But what does Travis search for really? What is our objective? Money, fame ...women? All of them? Won't answer that, it's a secret. But what do you really expect at the end, something deep? Or plain stupid fun? Both? You can interpret this game layers and layers of complexity the way you see fit.
There are two types of gameplay. The main one, which is the action focused hack and slash formula and the other one, taking a secondary role in the grand scheme of things is the open world in the same vein of any GTA game. The open world is needed to earn money to enter the next big fight and scale the aforementioned ranking. We get money by making odd jobs through the city of Santa Destroy (yeah, that's the city's name and is specially weird knowing I'm playing this game in particular after christmas). Law mowing, collect coconuts, scorpions among others activities. Alongside it there are plenty of shops to spend our money in, mostly in things that will help us on battles. These part-time jobs are in fact minigames in disguise that made an extensive use of the Wiimote, but as you may know I played this on PC and the novelty wears off a little. Fun Fact: The PC port was so lazily done Switch prompts can still be seen. A tutorial screen that is meant to teach how to play a minigame, has still a joy-con graphic attached to it. And you can't play this game with a keyboard either, which sucks.
In a way, No More Heroes makes me appreciate it's structure around what can you expect climbing up the ladders to the top. It's a constant reminder of your position or how close you're to the objective itself. I started to feel fatigue by the 7th boss or so, it gets repetitive doing the same odd jobs and earning money to then kill the next ranked assasin. Won't lie it was compelling at first, but it's really just superficail level stuff at the end of the day. Serves as a good rest after every bossfight, which can be lengthy and quite intense.
Combat is simple and mashy, but visually stimulating. There are no combo mechanics of any kind and the it's easily exploitable depending how much you love pressing buttons. Enemies explode in red, they bleed like their life depends on it while screaming like damn Looney Tunes characters. It's raw fun, totally in your face and is not afraid to show it's true colors. But as much as something raw is natural, nature doesn't forgive and is selective. What do I mean with this? If you can't swallow the jank that plagues this game's combat, you'll ended up like me hating some aspects of it.
What else is aunthentic? Travis Touchdown, main character. He's a loser, it's cool on it's own way and it is not afraid to show it. He knows is the protagonist of the story, and wants to give a good show to it's consumers. Has most of the attributes that defines a main character in an action game, it is a really good damn protagonist. Characters in general have no shame of being themselves in this game, they can be the most outrageous and wacky people alive as professional assasins and follows Suda51's tradition of making characters that are considered misfits by society shine the best they can, in a sadly short runtime before they get eliminated. The Bosses are very charming.
Just don't take it seriously, or you will lose. I'm not joking, No More Heroes is like going to the bathroom and take it all out. Won't be pretty, but it's authentic and natural at the of the day. I really didn't vibe with how it aimless it was, between being self-aware parodies of the media, or a wanting to tell an story in itself. Sometimes it even breaks most of those rules stablished before in seemingly "important" moments, just for comedic effects and laughs. Look, I don't know if the bitter one here or not but it didn't do much for me honestly it all felt pointless by the end. Was that really the meaning of it? You either love it, don't understand it or hate it. Thing is, I love shit like this. Dumb ass games that don't take themselves seriously are up my alley, as long as they've a good balance of course.
Love for what it stands for: "Punk". Don't play by the rules and do whatever you want. Even though I don't think Suda51 objectively makes "good" games that really appeal to the largest demographic group (doesn't need to either), I do feel he pour his heart out on each of his projects and wants to set a precedent on the industry as a whole. I just don't think is a good game in a otherwise very stylized and unique adventure. Or probably didn't fell into as much as the rest did.
2006
Manly tears were shed.
What a great game. I'm just in love with it. This is a biased review.
Just play it.
What a great game. I'm just in love with it. This is a biased review.
Just play it.
Man, or Animal
Not much people have heard of this game, like in general. Which is not surpring by any means since it got stuck in Japan. Which is a shame since I found to be one of the most round origin stories in the Like a Dragon series. This is a spin-off totally unrelated to Kiryu.
Ukyo Tatsuya is our protagonist, a kid that lives with his philosphy of lone survival with his group of friends, that for the looks of it can barely stand him as it is. Nothing but violence comes and goes out from him, like an enraged animal. After one of his many violent incidents, he comes across of one of his worse. One that will change his life forever. Slowly he starts to change as a person, see the world from different perspectives which are represented by the people he ends up fighting. The more he experience a challenge, the more he gets better at fighting and learns some valuable life leassons. By the end he's another version of himself, his own evolution.
Combat is wildly different from the classic Yakuza games. Whereas Yakuza in essence was a 3D beat 'em up, Kurohyou shifts to a more classic fighting game style of combat. In fact, the Def Jam series are the bones of Kurohyou and the Yakuza mix in was the meat. Kurohyou also differs in how to approach to enemies, since is really focused on making 1v1 battles the best they can be while in Yakuza it focus it's gameplay on battling as many enemies as possible. There is no real HUD while fighting, not at all. All you get are indications of your current health and stanima state, most of which are indicated through Tatsuya himself; if he gets tired his attacks and running animations will be slower, if he gets injured a different idle animation will play, etc. Head, Chest, Legs and Arms take a big role in combat as well. Tatsuya and the enemies themselves are prone to get injured in one of these areas in combat, for better or for worse it gives the battles more complexity.
This, to my knowledge works with various other systems in conjuction. For example, in case you keep blocking heavy attacks your arms will start to debilitate overtime in the fight and deal less damage or if you keep getting hit in the head Tatsuya will be dizzy for a couple of seconds and take more damage to the head. It's a simple system that either the enemies or yourself can exploit to your advantage, specially on bossfights which they really love using certain moves that can attack either part of the body to KO you in a matter of seconds. Fighting Styles are important, more than in any RGG previously made. You got plenty to choose, up to 20 to unlock throughout the game. Yeah, 20 in total. Ever played any Yakuza game and give some attention of how the enemies move? From Street Brawler to Ancient Martial Arts, it's all here from you to choose and work out. My personal favorites styles were the ones used kicks as it's main source of damage such as Muay Thai. Though, most of these styles are hidden on substories and such. Ended up unlocking 16 of the 20 that are in total.
Once again we hit the old but known streets of Kamurocho. Presentation takes a bit of a hit compared to what people were use to with Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 4 for obvious technical reasons. So the team opted to use the classic static camera angles, separated in screens from the PS2 Yakuza games. It doesn't feel bad honestly, but some specific camera angles may be confusing to navigate specially if you're running from someone. Substories, Minigames, Shops, you name it everything we've used to in the RGG titles is here, to some extent and with some obvious limitations due to hardware restrains. Talking about hardware limitations, the cutscenes are not in real time anymore. But they're better if they had to implement in that way honestly. The closest resembleance we have in the very same console can be found in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which uses the exact same method of providing cutscenes. Awesome artstyle, great voice acting it has everything.
What did surprise me were the ideas it bought to the table, some that later games will use and evolve. For example this is the first time we can see Trail missions incorporated in a RGG game. While a very primitive integration, still some of the ideas will end up being refined in Judgment and Lost Judgment. Yakuza 0 story also seem to took some notes to make Kiryu's portion of the story.
It still has some flaws here and there. For example, the combat can be easily exploited with some specific tricks. It's hard to not get into combat with randoms in the street, or get caught by the police. Substories aren't as develop as the console titles and so much more. Nonetheless, it's a solid entry in the Like a Dragon series. It's focus on the story, the intense combat and Tatsuya character development makes definitely worth a playthrough. Just loved to see the evolution of Tatsuya, his philosophy went on changing over time, all the time until he found his own. Started as a ruthless kid to become a strong man, while not throwing his possitives traits of the past away.
Almost forgot. Props to the English Translation team TeamK4L for making this game english version possible. Not so long ago, in August 2023 they released the 1.2 Patch which is a big overhaul of what was 1.0 in the past. Seriously, it's a big accomplishment that I believe RGG fans shouldn't miss out. Both for the team efforts and the game itself which is great.
Not much people have heard of this game, like in general. Which is not surpring by any means since it got stuck in Japan. Which is a shame since I found to be one of the most round origin stories in the Like a Dragon series. This is a spin-off totally unrelated to Kiryu.
Ukyo Tatsuya is our protagonist, a kid that lives with his philosphy of lone survival with his group of friends, that for the looks of it can barely stand him as it is. Nothing but violence comes and goes out from him, like an enraged animal. After one of his many violent incidents, he comes across of one of his worse. One that will change his life forever. Slowly he starts to change as a person, see the world from different perspectives which are represented by the people he ends up fighting. The more he experience a challenge, the more he gets better at fighting and learns some valuable life leassons. By the end he's another version of himself, his own evolution.
Combat is wildly different from the classic Yakuza games. Whereas Yakuza in essence was a 3D beat 'em up, Kurohyou shifts to a more classic fighting game style of combat. In fact, the Def Jam series are the bones of Kurohyou and the Yakuza mix in was the meat. Kurohyou also differs in how to approach to enemies, since is really focused on making 1v1 battles the best they can be while in Yakuza it focus it's gameplay on battling as many enemies as possible. There is no real HUD while fighting, not at all. All you get are indications of your current health and stanima state, most of which are indicated through Tatsuya himself; if he gets tired his attacks and running animations will be slower, if he gets injured a different idle animation will play, etc. Head, Chest, Legs and Arms take a big role in combat as well. Tatsuya and the enemies themselves are prone to get injured in one of these areas in combat, for better or for worse it gives the battles more complexity.
This, to my knowledge works with various other systems in conjuction. For example, in case you keep blocking heavy attacks your arms will start to debilitate overtime in the fight and deal less damage or if you keep getting hit in the head Tatsuya will be dizzy for a couple of seconds and take more damage to the head. It's a simple system that either the enemies or yourself can exploit to your advantage, specially on bossfights which they really love using certain moves that can attack either part of the body to KO you in a matter of seconds. Fighting Styles are important, more than in any RGG previously made. You got plenty to choose, up to 20 to unlock throughout the game. Yeah, 20 in total. Ever played any Yakuza game and give some attention of how the enemies move? From Street Brawler to Ancient Martial Arts, it's all here from you to choose and work out. My personal favorites styles were the ones used kicks as it's main source of damage such as Muay Thai. Though, most of these styles are hidden on substories and such. Ended up unlocking 16 of the 20 that are in total.
Once again we hit the old but known streets of Kamurocho. Presentation takes a bit of a hit compared to what people were use to with Yakuza 3 and Yakuza 4 for obvious technical reasons. So the team opted to use the classic static camera angles, separated in screens from the PS2 Yakuza games. It doesn't feel bad honestly, but some specific camera angles may be confusing to navigate specially if you're running from someone. Substories, Minigames, Shops, you name it everything we've used to in the RGG titles is here, to some extent and with some obvious limitations due to hardware restrains. Talking about hardware limitations, the cutscenes are not in real time anymore. But they're better if they had to implement in that way honestly. The closest resembleance we have in the very same console can be found in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which uses the exact same method of providing cutscenes. Awesome artstyle, great voice acting it has everything.
What did surprise me were the ideas it bought to the table, some that later games will use and evolve. For example this is the first time we can see Trail missions incorporated in a RGG game. While a very primitive integration, still some of the ideas will end up being refined in Judgment and Lost Judgment. Yakuza 0 story also seem to took some notes to make Kiryu's portion of the story.
It still has some flaws here and there. For example, the combat can be easily exploited with some specific tricks. It's hard to not get into combat with randoms in the street, or get caught by the police. Substories aren't as develop as the console titles and so much more. Nonetheless, it's a solid entry in the Like a Dragon series. It's focus on the story, the intense combat and Tatsuya character development makes definitely worth a playthrough. Just loved to see the evolution of Tatsuya, his philosophy went on changing over time, all the time until he found his own. Started as a ruthless kid to become a strong man, while not throwing his possitives traits of the past away.
Almost forgot. Props to the English Translation team TeamK4L for making this game english version possible. Not so long ago, in August 2023 they released the 1.2 Patch which is a big overhaul of what was 1.0 in the past. Seriously, it's a big accomplishment that I believe RGG fans shouldn't miss out. Both for the team efforts and the game itself which is great.
Killer on Debt
Suda51's Killer is Dead was one of the many titles produced during the "Dark Era" of Grasshopper Manufactured as a developer since they're not publishers themselves. The 7th gen on consoles and the craze of action games, no matter the type was an age to learn the in and outs of the market. Say; your Bayonnetas, Devil May Cries, your Metal Gear Revengeances and even No More Heroes, something more close to home. Each one adding their own flair and substance beyond just connecting combos; the story, characters, dialogue, style, music and the overall presentation helps a lot of these titles stand on their own in top of being Hack and Slash games.
What doesn't suit me much with Killer is Dead is the overall package itself. The consistency in a game is key, maintaining a structure that can last is hard. Specially when we're talking about videogames. Killer is Dead greatest sin is that it can't mantain it at all, and when it does is you start to notice that something is missing. This leads me to believe that: Development time was tight and not enough, it was too ambitious and due to a lack of funding a lot of stuff had to be cut or simple inexperience led to a subpart product.
Takes some light inspiration from No More Heroes combat, combined with a simple yet fun upgrade system and killer7 signature cell-shading style and even the word "killer" slapped on the title. The combat is really fun albeit braindead easy and can get really repetitive on longer sections that require you to fight endless hordes of faceless enemies. It emphazises a "counter and strike" playstyle towards the normal enemies and being agressive towards some bosses; either dodge or parry their attacks to squeeze more juice out of the combat. When it comes to style, Killer is Dead is one hell of a looker, we don't see many games if any with the style that originated in killer7 emphasizing the crude and raw colors over the scenery, specially the blacks disguised as overly thick shadows. Killer is Dead has some of that, but it failed to secure a peaceful cohesion with all of the visual flare it has to offer. It is very close but they might have gone overboard with the motion blur and glow in general? While killer7 remained mostly calm and gave you enough time to analyze the scenery in your head without any intrusive post-processing effect while on gameplay. It is distracting in Killer is Dead if we compare it directly to killer7, it unecessarily stains an already clean image and thus ruining some of the merit it might had towards the future at least for me.
This time we the take control of "Mondo Zappa" and no it's not Sumio Mondo's lost cousin or anything just because they share that word. "Mondo" means "World" in Italian and my guess is because both characters travel around the world very often due to their jobs. Zappa works under an agency sustained by taxes, which means they work for the goverment and their main goal is to execute whoever the client at hand is asking. Each chapter is treated as missions or levels which can be selected on a world map alongside sitting with some side-content in top of it alΓ‘ No More Heroes 2. "Giggolo" as they're called are basically side-missions were we need...to enchant women with gifts? The whole ordeal is unnecessary, used as an excuse to give us new gadgets to make combat/exploration easier. It might be one of the many corporate meddling decisions that Grasshopper wered force to include because it really feels out of place and not something even a teenager would like. Lame.
Back to the story itself. It is known by most people that Suda51 makes games for a specific type of audience, they're not for everybody and that is perfectly okay. The weird and outlandish style can both attract and discourage people to try these games. Most Suda51's work tend to be chaotic on the surface, but subtle on the inside; Killer is Dead is vague and tries to tell it's whole narrative in that style. You see, killer7 worked because it has a fundation to stand on and the details of the story while vague were presented correctly as it had a lot to tell and was complex even for it's time. Killer is Dead narrative is quite simple but burried under layers and layers of vague dialogue and shiny visuals that end up confusing more than answering the questions themselves. That is why Killer is Dead fails for the most part and it is why I feel indifferent towards it.
Killer is Dead is worse that the sum of it's part. On one side it is a good and stylish action game, on the other side the music and the story are quite underwhealing and doesn't do much to shine on it's own so I barely had any reason to go forward outside just wanting to finish it. Play it if you're in the mood but don't feel forced to do so, it's 2$ on most Steam.
Suda51's Killer is Dead was one of the many titles produced during the "Dark Era" of Grasshopper Manufactured as a developer since they're not publishers themselves. The 7th gen on consoles and the craze of action games, no matter the type was an age to learn the in and outs of the market. Say; your Bayonnetas, Devil May Cries, your Metal Gear Revengeances and even No More Heroes, something more close to home. Each one adding their own flair and substance beyond just connecting combos; the story, characters, dialogue, style, music and the overall presentation helps a lot of these titles stand on their own in top of being Hack and Slash games.
What doesn't suit me much with Killer is Dead is the overall package itself. The consistency in a game is key, maintaining a structure that can last is hard. Specially when we're talking about videogames. Killer is Dead greatest sin is that it can't mantain it at all, and when it does is you start to notice that something is missing. This leads me to believe that: Development time was tight and not enough, it was too ambitious and due to a lack of funding a lot of stuff had to be cut or simple inexperience led to a subpart product.
Takes some light inspiration from No More Heroes combat, combined with a simple yet fun upgrade system and killer7 signature cell-shading style and even the word "killer" slapped on the title. The combat is really fun albeit braindead easy and can get really repetitive on longer sections that require you to fight endless hordes of faceless enemies. It emphazises a "counter and strike" playstyle towards the normal enemies and being agressive towards some bosses; either dodge or parry their attacks to squeeze more juice out of the combat. When it comes to style, Killer is Dead is one hell of a looker, we don't see many games if any with the style that originated in killer7 emphasizing the crude and raw colors over the scenery, specially the blacks disguised as overly thick shadows. Killer is Dead has some of that, but it failed to secure a peaceful cohesion with all of the visual flare it has to offer. It is very close but they might have gone overboard with the motion blur and glow in general? While killer7 remained mostly calm and gave you enough time to analyze the scenery in your head without any intrusive post-processing effect while on gameplay. It is distracting in Killer is Dead if we compare it directly to killer7, it unecessarily stains an already clean image and thus ruining some of the merit it might had towards the future at least for me.
This time we the take control of "Mondo Zappa" and no it's not Sumio Mondo's lost cousin or anything just because they share that word. "Mondo" means "World" in Italian and my guess is because both characters travel around the world very often due to their jobs. Zappa works under an agency sustained by taxes, which means they work for the goverment and their main goal is to execute whoever the client at hand is asking. Each chapter is treated as missions or levels which can be selected on a world map alongside sitting with some side-content in top of it alΓ‘ No More Heroes 2. "Giggolo" as they're called are basically side-missions were we need...to enchant women with gifts? The whole ordeal is unnecessary, used as an excuse to give us new gadgets to make combat/exploration easier. It might be one of the many corporate meddling decisions that Grasshopper wered force to include because it really feels out of place and not something even a teenager would like. Lame.
Back to the story itself. It is known by most people that Suda51 makes games for a specific type of audience, they're not for everybody and that is perfectly okay. The weird and outlandish style can both attract and discourage people to try these games. Most Suda51's work tend to be chaotic on the surface, but subtle on the inside; Killer is Dead is vague and tries to tell it's whole narrative in that style. You see, killer7 worked because it has a fundation to stand on and the details of the story while vague were presented correctly as it had a lot to tell and was complex even for it's time. Killer is Dead narrative is quite simple but burried under layers and layers of vague dialogue and shiny visuals that end up confusing more than answering the questions themselves. That is why Killer is Dead fails for the most part and it is why I feel indifferent towards it.
Killer is Dead is worse that the sum of it's part. On one side it is a good and stylish action game, on the other side the music and the story are quite underwhealing and doesn't do much to shine on it's own so I barely had any reason to go forward outside just wanting to finish it. Play it if you're in the mood but don't feel forced to do so, it's 2$ on most Steam.
The Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions
π "The many miles we walked, the many things we learned" π
May possible be one of the biggest and longest open world games I've ever played. Almost 90h worth of mainline content and I can't imagine how much there's left for me when it comes to side content, let alone achievements. It was, for the lack of a better word: "A wild ride" to behold. It's in a whole another league compared to what we currently have in the industry and probably hasn't won't be replicated ever again. Was the sacrifice worth? Yes, to some extent.
Let's start this reading with a simple question...what is Realism? Cambridge Dictionary says: "A way of thinking and acting based on facts and what is possible, rather than on hopes for things that are unlikely to happen". Dictionary.com says: "The tendency to view or represent things as they really are". Why did I bring that up? You see, Red Dead Redemption 2 is full to the brim with details in every department it can cover or be developed on, is it really though? No, of course not is not perfectly "Realistic" but, it's realistic in a way a videogame can be, just before it starts to be annoying. Same goes for the word "Immersion", stranded in a world were you can feel it really exist, and you're part of it. "Realism" and "Immersion" are two sides of the same coin, while not exaclty meaning the same, they are rules that a certain work uses to make a peaceful cohesion in a fictional world. Realism can help a world feel more immersive since it's using real world rules, something that I think everyone knows by now. Immersion can work on it's own and does not need realism to make a world feel "real".
π "..The building of a shrine. Only just to burn" π
Why is Fallout New Vegas as a game more immersive than Red Dead Redemption 2? It's all about being consistent. Fallout's World doesn't aim to be "Realistic" it aims to be immersive, while Red Dead Redemption 2 tries to be both, and sort of fails in both categories. This was just a realisation I had after skinning so much animals in the wild, some had stupidly long animations that I felt were just made for comedic purposes and some didn't even had any animations to begin with. Why just don't go all the way in? Game just shitted the pants in front of me after flexing for so long I could skin an animal in with some very gruesome long animations. It was one of the most shocking aspects of Red Dead Redemption 2 to me, it could've been a perfect game in my eyes if it really want to go all in with it's mechanics. It's inconsistent, for the most part and this isn't immersive nor realistic, it's frustrating. And I can't get over the fact Rockstar did that to themselves, meaning it was intentional. As a game it is still bounded by Rockstar's philosphy.
π "Shine light into darkness" π
Let's just get the possitives out of the way first because this game has a lot of it. First off the story is all around great and enjoyable, really long too probably lasting as much as 90h. Arthur Morgan is a great character, everything you want in a cowboy. But most of all, he's human with all it's flaws and strenghts that comes with it, further elevated by Dutch's actions during the game. It's like you're playing as some sort of innofensive gang of villains all the way through the game surviving the rampant change of times in the middle of nowhere. It's a compelling tale from start to end, even if it drags for way more than needed. I've heard once "Time affects the way you feel towards someone or something" and I think it applies perfectly to this game.
It's not just Arthur, the whole gang adds something of value to the group of outlaws, again with it's flaws and strenghts and no one is absolutely in top of another, except for Dutch. The most important characters in the game are the ones that end going through the biggest changes, or in the words of Arthur: "Just reveal who they really are". The writting takes a huge leap in quality compared to Rockstar's past works as well, I can admire that any day of the week. I think the title of this review encapsulates the story very well too, the wrong sacrifice for a greater good or something like that. The soundtrack, which surprisngly most of it it's original as much as the first game is impecable and captures the feeling and themes of "Desolation", the very last breath of the wild west with Arthur and "Union", the new born man finally living in society with John. I love it.
As the title of this review says "Good Intentions". Most of the negatives I just remarked, are positive for others that aren't me or some of you that didn't like this game personally. It's a sacrifice towards accesibility. I still remember reading a news article saying something like "70yo grandpa has played Red Dead Redemption 2 campaing over 20 times" or so it said. That made me smile a bit, knowing that there are people out there that are willing to play games but can't sink time in something so demanding and hostile towards them. And I'm glad this type of game exist for the right people that love it. But, Why just don't go all the way in? Rockstar is a master of their craft, but can't seem to understand their formula, desing isn't flawless in this day and age. What may have been acceptable in GTA III, in 2001 isn't much in Red Dead Redemption 2, 17 years down the road. It's a philosophy, a way of living such as Dutch said. Even if isn't perfect and they have to stand for it.
π "That's the way it is" π
Even if the story is great and pretty much perfect, it's sadly encapsulated, sealed in a perfectly safe bubble, a world apart from the open world. They're two separated entities working under the same roof. There's story missions Arthur Morgan which tells Dutch that killing people is a big no-no, and there is open world Arthur Morgan which internally disagrees and has commited mass genocide in Rhodes and Valentine in broad daylight, the open world does not mean much to the story and the story does not mean much to the open world itself, aside from some specific occations but they don't work together at all. This has been an issue with Rockstar in general. Specially in something, just to give you an example GTA IV. But in this game is much more aggravating knowing there are more decisions to be made, it either rewards or punishes for your behiavor, since you have more options to interact with the enviroment at your dissposal. You choose the way you want to be in the, that very system is reduced to a serviceable Honor System. The Honor only affects the open world slice of this title and affects the story in very minor key details which are some specific cutscenes towards the end of the game, before the epilogue to be exact.
And they created this fictional world that is so huge, detailed and...well...full of scripted events. It's the same plague that rottens the main campaing. Once you've seen everything that there is too it, it means there is nothing beyond it. It's scripted you can't change what's there...in a video game...a medium known for it's interactivity. A world to me doesn't just end in looking pretty, full of activities to waste your time on and scripted events. It needs to be alive. Sorry to bring up Fallout New Vegas again, but the Mojave as ugly as it can be I personally feel more connected to it because it let's me do whatever I want and I'm not limited beyond the game already tells me. And sure, you can say in Fallout New Vegas the game is "scripted" but it opens the possibility to change the world around your decisions, not just you having a bounty on your head or not, so it limits itself to a binary system without any gray zones in between.
There is too much passion, blood and tears put into this game. Down to every minuscule detail, it's honestly excessive because this isn't a "Cowboy Simulator", it comes from Rockstar; the same company that coded Grand Theft Auto V's driving. Then what? It's Red Dead Redemption just GTA's boring brother? Is GTA going to fill that rampage arcady fun of many people? Is it RDR going to be even more immersive in the next entry? Too many questions when it comes to identity, GTA V and RDR 2 are the total opossite in the same vein GTA IV and Red Dead Revolver are. Talking about excessive, Rockstar Games were caught making crounch on their developers while making Red Dead Redemption 2. The horse ball conversation is more than known by the public by now, but it's the perfect example of making pointless details that might have put just for fun at the detriment of some employees. Just imagine someone consantly supervising the work of the horse testicles shrinking by cold temperatures and all the variables that comes with them, and you're the one in charge. It honestly doesn't sound that fun. A leadership like this? Starts to sound Dutch, ambition knows no bounds for the greater good of everyone but your people.
Honestly, this game is good. But it's severly flawed. If it wasn't for the impecable story and writting probably I would've not continued playing it. Not even the survival elements can make it for a decent replay, since for the most part everything is automated and slow because "Realism". It's frustrating to know so much effort went in a game that is loved by millions but it's a clear example that more doesn't always mean better It's a game thar is less that the sum of it's parts, which means if we evaluate each component individually we'll get very high ups and very low downs.
But thanks Arthur, for trying.
π "The many miles we walked, the many things we learned" π
May possible be one of the biggest and longest open world games I've ever played. Almost 90h worth of mainline content and I can't imagine how much there's left for me when it comes to side content, let alone achievements. It was, for the lack of a better word: "A wild ride" to behold. It's in a whole another league compared to what we currently have in the industry and probably hasn't won't be replicated ever again. Was the sacrifice worth? Yes, to some extent.
Let's start this reading with a simple question...what is Realism? Cambridge Dictionary says: "A way of thinking and acting based on facts and what is possible, rather than on hopes for things that are unlikely to happen". Dictionary.com says: "The tendency to view or represent things as they really are". Why did I bring that up? You see, Red Dead Redemption 2 is full to the brim with details in every department it can cover or be developed on, is it really though? No, of course not is not perfectly "Realistic" but, it's realistic in a way a videogame can be, just before it starts to be annoying. Same goes for the word "Immersion", stranded in a world were you can feel it really exist, and you're part of it. "Realism" and "Immersion" are two sides of the same coin, while not exaclty meaning the same, they are rules that a certain work uses to make a peaceful cohesion in a fictional world. Realism can help a world feel more immersive since it's using real world rules, something that I think everyone knows by now. Immersion can work on it's own and does not need realism to make a world feel "real".
π "..The building of a shrine. Only just to burn" π
Why is Fallout New Vegas as a game more immersive than Red Dead Redemption 2? It's all about being consistent. Fallout's World doesn't aim to be "Realistic" it aims to be immersive, while Red Dead Redemption 2 tries to be both, and sort of fails in both categories. This was just a realisation I had after skinning so much animals in the wild, some had stupidly long animations that I felt were just made for comedic purposes and some didn't even had any animations to begin with. Why just don't go all the way in? Game just shitted the pants in front of me after flexing for so long I could skin an animal in with some very gruesome long animations. It was one of the most shocking aspects of Red Dead Redemption 2 to me, it could've been a perfect game in my eyes if it really want to go all in with it's mechanics. It's inconsistent, for the most part and this isn't immersive nor realistic, it's frustrating. And I can't get over the fact Rockstar did that to themselves, meaning it was intentional. As a game it is still bounded by Rockstar's philosphy.
π "Shine light into darkness" π
Let's just get the possitives out of the way first because this game has a lot of it. First off the story is all around great and enjoyable, really long too probably lasting as much as 90h. Arthur Morgan is a great character, everything you want in a cowboy. But most of all, he's human with all it's flaws and strenghts that comes with it, further elevated by Dutch's actions during the game. It's like you're playing as some sort of innofensive gang of villains all the way through the game surviving the rampant change of times in the middle of nowhere. It's a compelling tale from start to end, even if it drags for way more than needed. I've heard once "Time affects the way you feel towards someone or something" and I think it applies perfectly to this game.
It's not just Arthur, the whole gang adds something of value to the group of outlaws, again with it's flaws and strenghts and no one is absolutely in top of another, except for Dutch. The most important characters in the game are the ones that end going through the biggest changes, or in the words of Arthur: "Just reveal who they really are". The writting takes a huge leap in quality compared to Rockstar's past works as well, I can admire that any day of the week. I think the title of this review encapsulates the story very well too, the wrong sacrifice for a greater good or something like that. The soundtrack, which surprisngly most of it it's original as much as the first game is impecable and captures the feeling and themes of "Desolation", the very last breath of the wild west with Arthur and "Union", the new born man finally living in society with John. I love it.
As the title of this review says "Good Intentions". Most of the negatives I just remarked, are positive for others that aren't me or some of you that didn't like this game personally. It's a sacrifice towards accesibility. I still remember reading a news article saying something like "70yo grandpa has played Red Dead Redemption 2 campaing over 20 times" or so it said. That made me smile a bit, knowing that there are people out there that are willing to play games but can't sink time in something so demanding and hostile towards them. And I'm glad this type of game exist for the right people that love it. But, Why just don't go all the way in? Rockstar is a master of their craft, but can't seem to understand their formula, desing isn't flawless in this day and age. What may have been acceptable in GTA III, in 2001 isn't much in Red Dead Redemption 2, 17 years down the road. It's a philosophy, a way of living such as Dutch said. Even if isn't perfect and they have to stand for it.
π "That's the way it is" π
Even if the story is great and pretty much perfect, it's sadly encapsulated, sealed in a perfectly safe bubble, a world apart from the open world. They're two separated entities working under the same roof. There's story missions Arthur Morgan which tells Dutch that killing people is a big no-no, and there is open world Arthur Morgan which internally disagrees and has commited mass genocide in Rhodes and Valentine in broad daylight, the open world does not mean much to the story and the story does not mean much to the open world itself, aside from some specific occations but they don't work together at all. This has been an issue with Rockstar in general. Specially in something, just to give you an example GTA IV. But in this game is much more aggravating knowing there are more decisions to be made, it either rewards or punishes for your behiavor, since you have more options to interact with the enviroment at your dissposal. You choose the way you want to be in the, that very system is reduced to a serviceable Honor System. The Honor only affects the open world slice of this title and affects the story in very minor key details which are some specific cutscenes towards the end of the game, before the epilogue to be exact.
And they created this fictional world that is so huge, detailed and...well...full of scripted events. It's the same plague that rottens the main campaing. Once you've seen everything that there is too it, it means there is nothing beyond it. It's scripted you can't change what's there...in a video game...a medium known for it's interactivity. A world to me doesn't just end in looking pretty, full of activities to waste your time on and scripted events. It needs to be alive. Sorry to bring up Fallout New Vegas again, but the Mojave as ugly as it can be I personally feel more connected to it because it let's me do whatever I want and I'm not limited beyond the game already tells me. And sure, you can say in Fallout New Vegas the game is "scripted" but it opens the possibility to change the world around your decisions, not just you having a bounty on your head or not, so it limits itself to a binary system without any gray zones in between.
There is too much passion, blood and tears put into this game. Down to every minuscule detail, it's honestly excessive because this isn't a "Cowboy Simulator", it comes from Rockstar; the same company that coded Grand Theft Auto V's driving. Then what? It's Red Dead Redemption just GTA's boring brother? Is GTA going to fill that rampage arcady fun of many people? Is it RDR going to be even more immersive in the next entry? Too many questions when it comes to identity, GTA V and RDR 2 are the total opossite in the same vein GTA IV and Red Dead Revolver are. Talking about excessive, Rockstar Games were caught making crounch on their developers while making Red Dead Redemption 2. The horse ball conversation is more than known by the public by now, but it's the perfect example of making pointless details that might have put just for fun at the detriment of some employees. Just imagine someone consantly supervising the work of the horse testicles shrinking by cold temperatures and all the variables that comes with them, and you're the one in charge. It honestly doesn't sound that fun. A leadership like this? Starts to sound Dutch, ambition knows no bounds for the greater good of everyone but your people.
Honestly, this game is good. But it's severly flawed. If it wasn't for the impecable story and writting probably I would've not continued playing it. Not even the survival elements can make it for a decent replay, since for the most part everything is automated and slow because "Realism". It's frustrating to know so much effort went in a game that is loved by millions but it's a clear example that more doesn't always mean better It's a game thar is less that the sum of it's parts, which means if we evaluate each component individually we'll get very high ups and very low downs.
But thanks Arthur, for trying.