13 reviews liked by Oliver


Jedi: Survivor carries over all of the strengths and weaknesses from the first game: the fantastic characters and memorable moments but also the messy combat that is still just as janky, unbalanced and buggy.

That's not to say that Survivor doesn't bring anything new to the table, it definitely does. There are more stances, more abilities, more customization options (thank god) and generally just more things to discover. The movement, while also still quite janky at its core, feels much more diverse and open thanks to some cool new moves and gadgets - don't go thinking the level design lets you experiment though, it still doesn't.
There are better animations in general but especially in combat they always seem to bug out unless you're extremely careful. For a game that tries so hard to be cinematic, that's a big problem.

Now what I actually want to talk about are the story, pacing and setpieces. The game starts out really strong in this regard but up until the last few hours the story doesn't seem very coherent - the middle of it definitely drags a bit.
But everything I've heard about the finale of Jedi: Survivor was true: this is not just perfect Star Wars, it's simply perfect, period.
Everything finally clicked, and I wish the game had felt as tight in its direction and structure before that. The twists, the boss fights, the setpieces....your honor, they cooked!

I think overall this game's finale outmatches even Fallen Order's but overall because of the unpolished gameplay and pacing issues, I like it about the same. Can't wait for the conclusion to this trilogy.

I've been studying Japanese for the last few years, and sitting down to play this game being able to understand about 80% of what was being said in Japanese was such a rewarding experience. This is very nostalgic return to one of my favorite childhood games. When I first played this back in 2012 I barely knew English and learned lots of vocabulary like "mayor" or "town hall" through it. Now I get to do the same with Japanese, already having learned "ぴったり", "役場" and "村長". I will definitely play this regularly for a while to immerse myself in the language!

If I had a solid squad of 4 people to play this with regularly, I would. Unfortunately, I do not.

Playing it alone or even with one other person is okay but with 3-4 people it really shines. So hilarious, tense and just straight up fun.

The premise of a Doom-inspired shooter centered around rhythm and curated Metal songs is so cool and when I played the demo some years back, I was very much into it, even as someone who cannot get used to growling in Metal songs.

Unfortunately, even at a lean playtime of 3 hours, this became quite repetitive: there is hardly any signficant variety in enemies, levels or especially bosses. This a one-trick pony and the game doesn't mix things up - not even experimenting with any different time signatures like Metal is known for. Nothing except some different weapons, and they are just okay.

Stygia is where this game peaked for me, when the gameplay loop still feels fresh and exciting and where the music is, in my super biased opinion, by far the best. The song "This Devastation" from a later level is also good though.

This game really is amazing and a new favorite of mine! I was worried that the anime style was going to get in the way of the writing, but thankfully that was not the case. It definitely suffers from anime tropes, but it rarely gets in the way when the game decides to get serious. In its strongest moments the story doesn't pull its punches, exploring its themes in ways that really impacted me.

The characters in this game are so loveable, I ended up getting really attached to them over the 125 hours it took to beat it. From the moment I first met Ryuji I knew I was going to love him, and while some of the main cast took a bit longer for me to like, by the end every single one of the Phantom Thieves were near and dear to me. Even the side characters were really likeable, the ones I thought I was going to hate redeeming themselves when I finished their confidant. I felt like tearing up having to say goodbye to them at the end of the game, and when the credits rolled and With the Stars and Us playing I couldn't stop myself.

Persona 5 really has everything. It oozes style with its jazzy music and red color themed visuals, the turn based combat system is the most fun I've had in a jrpg ever with setting up all out attacks by exploiting weaknesses, and it had a really impactful and enjoyable main narrative that actually made me want to get up and get out there. It is really long, but I think it deserves its length. Really recommend it!

The addition of a No-Build mode has made this game really accessible and fun for casual players like me. The same can be said about filling the lobby with bots, although this has mixed results. On one hand it is satisfying to be able to get some free kills without any effort, but I do wish they put up some challenge. They are barely able to hit you at all even if you stand still, making it uninteresting to face up against them after a few matches. That being said the core gameplay is really fun, and the way it reinvents itself every season means I never really get bored of checking it out every now and then.

"Kara Hassan, Match Victory."

A very fun little indie game with tight movement, strong shooting mechanics and a perfect cellshaded artstyle. The blend of a trick-based skating game with a frenetic shooter is ingenious, honestly.

I was absolutely terrible at this game but I had a great time with it.
Thus, I highly recommend it, basically to anyone who likes fast-paced arena shooters.

To be honest I didn't enjoy the first case in this game much because of some leaps in logic that I didn't agree with at all. It was the first time in The Great Ace Attorney where I felt completely lost on what to do, having to look up a guide. But then the rest of the cases came, and I loved them! This game has you unearthing a really big conspiracy, and seeing the pieces fit together is as satisfying as this series gets. The finale was a bit too reliant on a deus ex machina for me to rate it any higher, but this is a very good game and my new favorite in the series.

This review contains spoilers

What an impressive debut game!

There's nothing extraordinary or super innovative about it, most of its structures and mechanics are quite familiar - but it doesn't really matter when it's just so well made and fun to play.

I played on a higher difficulty and found the game to be quite tense and actually quite hard at points - even if the last section of the game is a jarring difficulty spike. Some of the boss fights offer a surprising amount of spectacle for what it is ultimately a game by a fairly small studio.

Clearly these devs knew what they were doing and just delivered a cute and engaging experience in Kena: Bridge of Spirits that doesn't feel 100% realized (story and character-performance-wise) but one that has a strong sense of style and offers some straightforward action-adventure fun.

Whenever I pull this pack up it is always just for Quiplash as every group I have played with gets tired of the other games after a couple times. That being said, Quiplash is so much fun that I'm often asked to bring it with me for group activities.