MrSacamano
2016
pretty darn good. fun to play, looks good feels good. maybe not as good, or as polished, or as good looking as 4 or 5, but the bones are all here. Coming pretty fresh off a reprise with 4, some of the systems and progression here don't feel as smooth. also, skills and chains feel quite stingy compared to 4/5. you just can't really fault it for these things, or any other shortcomings or things it is "missing" compared to 4 & 5, tho. it built greatly on the foundation of Horizon 1 & 2, as Horizon 4 & 5 have also from this one. Australia is the star this time, and it is great fun to rip around the diverse locales. The opening sequence and the showcases are great as always. a fun and worthwhile experience all in all; shouldn't be missed if you like the horizon series and/or racing games. there isn't as much to do or as much variety as found in the sequels, so your mileage may vary. I got to a point where I'd opened each site and completed all the showcases (20ish hours), so not many unique things left to experience; a good point to shelve it. any further horizon fixes will likely be satiated through 5.
p.s. one annoying thing was the amount of traffic. seemed like there was loads more traffic, including drivatars, and it felt like borderline GTA traffic--programmed to get in your way. many times there would be large traffic buildups in front of speed traps. and at least one time, multiple drivatars piled up in front of a stunt jump just as I was driving up to it. the drivatars being ghosts/transparent in 4 & 5 was sorely missed.
p.s. one annoying thing was the amount of traffic. seemed like there was loads more traffic, including drivatars, and it felt like borderline GTA traffic--programmed to get in your way. many times there would be large traffic buildups in front of speed traps. and at least one time, multiple drivatars piled up in front of a stunt jump just as I was driving up to it. the drivatars being ghosts/transparent in 4 & 5 was sorely missed.
It is more Oblivion, and that's really all you need to know one way or the other
2023
This review contains spoilers
pretty fun game for the most part. struggled to enjoy through the first half and took a long break from it, but once I picked it up again, I enjoyed the second half of the game a lot more. Chai is a fine vessel, but its the sidekicks that are the stars. Peppermint, Korsica, Macaron, and CNMN are great and once they are all together, lots of fun is had. Peppermint and Korsica are totally hot, love them as a couple. 808 is adorable, and I was in awe when it did the Twin Peaks dance. plenty of other good references as well, most obviously of course is Vandelay.
Some pretty good boss fights: Korsica, Mimosa (LEFT SHARK), Roquefort are kind of the standouts, others are not so memorable or good.
a big problem I had with gameplay is that at points it just devolves into QTE: the game, especially when all the mini bosses are introduced into combat scenarios. other times when you're just trying to push buttons or something and you have to go through a QTE song and dance, its just a bit much. so while you don't have to be good at rhythm or on time throughout most of the game, eventually you have to figure it out or lower the difficulty, or you just won't be able to get past the avalanche of QTEs in the second part of the game.
The last level was a lot of fun, beginning with the awesome hero shot of the team walking through the fog, and carried along by all the friendship and the great song.
Some pretty good boss fights: Korsica, Mimosa (LEFT SHARK), Roquefort are kind of the standouts, others are not so memorable or good.
a big problem I had with gameplay is that at points it just devolves into QTE: the game, especially when all the mini bosses are introduced into combat scenarios. other times when you're just trying to push buttons or something and you have to go through a QTE song and dance, its just a bit much. so while you don't have to be good at rhythm or on time throughout most of the game, eventually you have to figure it out or lower the difficulty, or you just won't be able to get past the avalanche of QTEs in the second part of the game.
The last level was a lot of fun, beginning with the awesome hero shot of the team walking through the fog, and carried along by all the friendship and the great song.
Wanted to give Rogue another shot, as I only rushed through the story in the original version. I do remember why now. it is a very short story, and it is minuscule compared to the amount of side content in this game. it is not too bad of a story, really, and the ending is still cool/was half mind blowing having played Unity first.
the problem is this game just doesn't feel as fun to play, for some reason. you could make the case that the naval combat is better than in black flag but for some reason I just didn't want to do it. none of the side content feels good to play really. perhaps its just the sentiment that this would have made a great DLC if they had not bloated it with side content to make it a full game release. I think the parkour might be the worst in the series, as far as going where you want/should/expect to go. it almost feels as if they dumbed down the parkour to make the game "longer"-- which doesn't make any sense, but that's a thought I had while playing..
all that being said, halfway through the story and having done my usual AC quantity of side content by that point, I was thinking that I would just plow through the rest of the story and be done with it...but little did I know I would end up doing a lot of the side content..and not totally hating it.. part of it comes from the achievement hunter part of me (which I am trying to stamp out) and the other was just wanting to get the Morrigan upgraded, cause it looks fuckin awesome when its fully upgraded and with the templar sails.
Other positives:
- the treasure maps are more accurate than black flag; the coordinates take you directly to the dig site, not just the location on the map, where you then have to find the picture on the map. so that was nice.
- got some real good outfits, James Gunn being my favorite.
- James Cook and Hope favorite characters.
- Penguins.
And with that, the proverbial, dumb, self-imposed weight of my assassins creed backlog is off my proverbial shoulders. No longer will I look upon my backlog and see remnants of an assassins creed fire sale, full of games I’ve played before. No longer will I see an Assman creed game releasing and say no I cannot purchase you, for I still have assman creed games in my backlog. I have played all the assman creeds prior to Valhalla, and if they were released twice, I’ve played them twice (and how). But those days are over, all the old titles are now laid to rest. I now have only Valhalla and Mirage on the horizon. Though they may be fended off by my overall backlog, it will no longer be assman on assman crime.
the problem is this game just doesn't feel as fun to play, for some reason. you could make the case that the naval combat is better than in black flag but for some reason I just didn't want to do it. none of the side content feels good to play really. perhaps its just the sentiment that this would have made a great DLC if they had not bloated it with side content to make it a full game release. I think the parkour might be the worst in the series, as far as going where you want/should/expect to go. it almost feels as if they dumbed down the parkour to make the game "longer"-- which doesn't make any sense, but that's a thought I had while playing..
all that being said, halfway through the story and having done my usual AC quantity of side content by that point, I was thinking that I would just plow through the rest of the story and be done with it...but little did I know I would end up doing a lot of the side content..and not totally hating it.. part of it comes from the achievement hunter part of me (which I am trying to stamp out) and the other was just wanting to get the Morrigan upgraded, cause it looks fuckin awesome when its fully upgraded and with the templar sails.
Other positives:
- the treasure maps are more accurate than black flag; the coordinates take you directly to the dig site, not just the location on the map, where you then have to find the picture on the map. so that was nice.
- got some real good outfits, James Gunn being my favorite.
- James Cook and Hope favorite characters.
- Penguins.
And with that, the proverbial, dumb, self-imposed weight of my assassins creed backlog is off my proverbial shoulders. No longer will I look upon my backlog and see remnants of an assassins creed fire sale, full of games I’ve played before. No longer will I see an Assman creed game releasing and say no I cannot purchase you, for I still have assman creed games in my backlog. I have played all the assman creeds prior to Valhalla, and if they were released twice, I’ve played them twice (and how). But those days are over, all the old titles are now laid to rest. I now have only Valhalla and Mirage on the horizon. Though they may be fended off by my overall backlog, it will no longer be assman on assman crime.
terrible. played via the PS4 Mafia II: Definitive Edition. who the fuck is jimmy, what's the point of this? its just a bunch of little side missions that could have been in the base game--but glad they weren't, because they weren't fun to play and the base game did not need to be bogged down by this sort of content.
More bad not good DLC. Played via the PS4 Mafia II: DE. The first mission tricks you into thinking it will be kind of a real DLC but it’s just more of the same jimmys vendetta bullshit
wonderful game. my first experience with Vice City and I love it. the vibes are just immaculate. feels so much better than III. Ray Liotta leading the superb voice cast helps with that, but the soundtrack, the bright lights, the sun, the beach, the characters, the story. it all just fits together as a package much better than III did for me, which I played for the first time recently as well. And I actually wanted to do some of the side content as well, partly because I just wanted to hang out in Vice City and drive around--- but also because, unlike in GTA III, I didn't feel like the game was trying to fuck me over just for playing it. This is my favorite of the three from that era, by far.
2020
pretty good. nice to play a new, linear, non-bloated gears story. and I like the characters; Lahni, Hana, Keegan, Hoffman-- even Mac grew on my by the end. hadn't touched gears 5 since acquiring the series x-- pretty sharp.
This review contains spoilers
enjoyed a fair bit more than my original, non-FM outing on PSP, mostly due to playing it on not the PSP. Love the overarching story of Terra, Ventus, and Aqua and all the connections that are revealed to the rest of the games; some real crazy, near mind-blowing stuff at times. that being said, I do not enjoy the Disney worlds and they’re contained stories very much. The first three worlds may be the worst in the franchise as I can recollect (except for the abomination that is KH2 Atlantica). so re-doing them on the second and third characters is a slog; but things get a lot better and move along quicker once you get to Radiant Garden. overall I enjoy the overlapping story and the blanks getting filled in. The combat did grow on me again, and it is fun getting powerful commands and going nuts with a full deck, but I still prefer the simpler combat of KH1 and KH2. The secret episode is great, very cool to have a new piece I haven't experienced before, thanks to the final mix. so it is another step on the long replay journey building up to eventually finally playing KH3. only a KH: 3D replay stands in my way of new KH gaming.
Unlike 1 and 2, really have no desire to 100% this game (and not just because I fucked up real bad and saved over my terra file…[still was able to get the final and secret eps without having to replay tho]). Just seems like more of a chore even tho it probably actually isn’t. didn’t beat any secret bosses either; grinded to get the secret episode on standard, so was a much higher level and thought I’d give it a go, but vanitas remnant killed me in on hit so like yea no.
I believe I will still have to leave BBS in 4th place behind 1, 2, and 358/2 — https://www.backloggd.com/u/MrSacamano/list/kingdom-hearts-rankings/
Unlike 1 and 2, really have no desire to 100% this game (and not just because I fucked up real bad and saved over my terra file…[still was able to get the final and secret eps without having to replay tho]). Just seems like more of a chore even tho it probably actually isn’t. didn’t beat any secret bosses either; grinded to get the secret episode on standard, so was a much higher level and thought I’d give it a go, but vanitas remnant killed me in on hit so like yea no.
I believe I will still have to leave BBS in 4th place behind 1, 2, and 358/2 — https://www.backloggd.com/u/MrSacamano/list/kingdom-hearts-rankings/
5-star collection, no prob gg. provided me with my first experiences of the final mixes of KH1, KH2, and BBS; also the first time I actually beat RE:COM. all remastered in HD-- what more could a boy ask for? one thing actually: full 358/2 game would have been great, but that would have also probably come with Re:Coded full game-- and we wouldn't want that would we?
will likely return at some point in my life due to my love of the franchise and the completionist in me wanting to 100% and get all achievements, but for now this chapter of my long drawn out series replay and journey to finally playing KH3 is complete. onto 2.8 (soon).
stats:
June 1, 2021 - December 13, 2023
238h29m
160/197 achievements
3035/4000 gamerscore
will likely return at some point in my life due to my love of the franchise and the completionist in me wanting to 100% and get all achievements, but for now this chapter of my long drawn out series replay and journey to finally playing KH3 is complete. onto 2.8 (soon).
stats:
June 1, 2021 - December 13, 2023
238h29m
160/197 achievements
3035/4000 gamerscore
2015
its like that who would have thought meme but its me looking in the mirror after beating (and getting the platinum for) Bloodborne, my first FromSoft game. and I can still hardly believe I've actually done it. incredible game, and quite a journey-- one that started all the way back in January, but faltered at old yharnam due to frustration, confusion, and anxiety. but with a renewed vigor and an exceptional guide (FightinCowboy on youtube), I picked it backed up last week, and well, here we are. I think I get it now, these games. everything they've said, it is all true. I couldn't get enough, through all the struggles and triumphs-- I just wanted to play more Bloodborne. and so we must continue, as the good blood guides us to The Old Hunters DLC. Also feels like a gateway to the rest of the games-- Elden Ring isn't the only other one I want to play now. Demon's Souls and Dark Souls also have my attention.
by the blood, that final cutscene-- a perfect union of writing and voice/line delivery.
And that is Bloodborne fully sorted. Wonderful, terrifying, lovely, weirdass game.
And that is Bloodborne fully sorted. Wonderful, terrifying, lovely, weirdass game.
2017
anti-player
This review contains spoilers
while I appreciate it more now than when I played it on 3DS, it will remain second-to-last place in the series for me-- right above the undisputed basement dweller that is Re:Coded, of course. don't really like the dream eaters (for the love of Xion, please just give me Donald and Goofy), especially their tie to abilities and commands. also don't much care for flowmotion. and that's literally the two main facets of gameplay, so not enjoying them is going to make this game difficult to enjoy. took a bit of doing to get used to playing the way this game wants you to-- and you have to, cause playing it like 1 or 2 or even BBS is going to be a struggle. took about till the end of The Grid for things to click into place this time. and on that note, The Grid is awful and is one of the worst worlds in the series, if not the worst. just garbage. But I did find a good enough groove with the gameplay. And balloonra. I honestly don’t think I used balloon commands heavily or much at all when I played on 3DS and if that’s true I don’t know how I beat it, so maybe I did use balloon commands. Either way, I had fun wrecking everything with balloons in this game.
the story is confusing, but it is interesting and is the final-ish table setting for 3 and I don't dislike it. cool to have so much Riku time. and there are a lot of scenes I really like, even love. Sora shedding a tear at seeing Xion? yea that'll do it. every sighting of Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Roxas, Xion, et al. are wonderful. Lea is awesome. and Xigbar remains a great antagonist. and there is of course some real nice music, too. Feel like I’m talking myself into liking this more.
overall content to have re-experienced it, nice to get a refresher on the story. Like the story, the gameplay not so much.
and so my long drawn out series replay comes to an end. with 0.2 on the near horizon, I may finally actually finally play KH3 this year.
the story is confusing, but it is interesting and is the final-ish table setting for 3 and I don't dislike it. cool to have so much Riku time. and there are a lot of scenes I really like, even love. Sora shedding a tear at seeing Xion? yea that'll do it. every sighting of Terra, Aqua, Ventus, Roxas, Xion, et al. are wonderful. Lea is awesome. and Xigbar remains a great antagonist. and there is of course some real nice music, too. Feel like I’m talking myself into liking this more.
overall content to have re-experienced it, nice to get a refresher on the story. Like the story, the gameplay not so much.
and so my long drawn out series replay comes to an end. with 0.2 on the near horizon, I may finally actually finally play KH3 this year.
Aqua💙
Kingdom Hearts in unreal engine is beautiful. Feels awesome to play. The magic is incredible. Very wow indeed.
Short, sweet fragmentary passage, a beautiful little journey; loved it. 5 stars no prob gg is what I’m feeling at present. Might relax and take a step back from it later once the emotions have settled, but that was so cool, and the hype is, finally, now very real for KH3.
And..also…the very little flowmotion in this felt much, much better to me than in DDD. It is more deliberate here; I think that may be my issue with it in DDD— it’s too fast, says the olden timer.
Bonus nice feelings gained from this game: I switched the color theme on my Xbox to blue, so the achievement notifications were blue— a small, yet very satisfying little union with this beautiful game and with Aqua💙.
Kingdom Hearts in unreal engine is beautiful. Feels awesome to play. The magic is incredible. Very wow indeed.
Short, sweet fragmentary passage, a beautiful little journey; loved it. 5 stars no prob gg is what I’m feeling at present. Might relax and take a step back from it later once the emotions have settled, but that was so cool, and the hype is, finally, now very real for KH3.
And..also…the very little flowmotion in this felt much, much better to me than in DDD. It is more deliberate here; I think that may be my issue with it in DDD— it’s too fast, says the olden timer.
Bonus nice feelings gained from this game: I switched the color theme on my Xbox to blue, so the achievement notifications were blue— a small, yet very satisfying little union with this beautiful game and with Aqua💙.