+insanely fast-paced, violent combat with a distinct platinum refinement to it
+making parries the main defensive option gives the combat a particularly aggressive bent, while still avoiding completely being a hack and slash
+the blade mode ability plus being able to get a full heal off of any enemy by ripping their artificial heart fucking rules, feels so satisfying
+even though it's not a proper kojima game they do a solid job making it "feel" like kojima's writing and incorporating metal gear lore/design
+excellent boss fights for the majority of the game, and they're usually pretty forgiving with the health pickups as well making learning each bosses' patterns less frustrating
+I sort of like the stealth honestly, I wish the radius for taking down an enemy was a little wider given how touchy the controls are but otherwise it's nice to approach certain areas this way with little penalty if you fail
+other than normal goons being cannon fodder as one would expect, many of the enemies are legitimately dangerous and it keeps the combat fresh late into the game
+this is a very setpiece-heavy game and it reminds me quite a bit of similar games from the generation before, one of the last of its kind for sure
+60fps on ps3.... this is so huge. obviously it's not perfect by any means but playing a ps3 action game actually running at 60 fps most of the time was shocking to me
+I honestly enjoy the story; even though it's all over the place it's a lot of fun and relatively cogent (especially considering the game it's a sequel to). it doesn't have time to explore some of its themes deeply but it really does try, which is a very important aspect of an mgs game imo
+definitely a platinum thing but I appreciate how this game both has a solid combo system and also makes it very acceptable to mash buttons. usually you can't have both and it's nice to see this game make it work
+so many off-the-wall insane cutscenes and sequences, they really cranked it up to 11 in ridiculousness. mariachi raiden...
+the ninja run sections are cute, I much prefer those to the random QTEs in bayonetta lol

-the camera is absolutely absymal, shockingly bad considering platinum's other work. an over-the-shoulder perspective just doesn't work for these kind of games, obscuring much of the screen with raiden esp when he's moving towards the camera, and the camera otherwise is prone to jittering and jumping inconveniently
-the second half of the game seems rushed, with two boss repeats, a 15-minute long chapter where you run through a previous area backwards, and very little in the way of regular combat sequences with a lot of cutscenes instead. thankfully the file 6 boss is an excellent fight
-enemy variety could be a little better... not that big of a deal because the game isn't very long
-I know he's a fan favorite and I loooooved his cutscenes but the armstrong fight was exceedingly frustrating on hard. it feels too focused on running willy nilly around the arena dodging his AoE moves without rewarding parries like the other bosses do, and fighting the camera the whole time doesn't help. most of the damage is dealt in QTE sequences which is a bad look imo, whereas on hard he can easily take out 2/3 of a health bar at once, or even instant death if he gets a wall-bounce during the flame walls section, esp since I had no reserve nanopaste. I could go on and on, and admittedly the fight was cake once nanopaste started dropping part of the way through, but this was such a difficulty spike after the previous bosses taking no more than 2 tries apiece (other than sundowner), I probably spent upwards of 20 continues here
-tutorials are pretty shoddy, and it really could use a more thorough explanation of Offensive Defense's properties especially since it's virtually mandatory for the second-to-final boss
-I could do without so many analog stick rotation QTEs, I hate having to put my palm on the stick over and over again, especially against the fucking mantiff enemies

for the first half especially I adored this game, and even though the second half left a sour taste in my mouth I still feel like this is an essential modern action game to try whether you're a metal gear fan or not. having played both zone of the enders 2nd runner and no more heroes 2 in the last month I'm given flashbacks to both of them in a positive way, and it's made me want to get back into playing platinum's oeuvre, esp since designer takahisa taura's ideas here seem to have leaked into nier automata and astral chain in some ways. also without question a must-own for ps3 owners given its excellent performance and metal gear ties

MGR is pure fucking hype and passionate sex in heavens the first time you play through it, but it's not hard to notice minor and major problems with it on your subsequent runs: how weapons apart from the main sword are stupid and pointless, how the story actually pulls a lot of punches and can be pretty convoluted or rushed at times, and how some levels are underwhelming and dull. But the bosses and music stay brilliant even dozen fights later, and the sheer tightness of core mechanics is pretty much unparalleled

Firstly I want to say that ive seen a lot of reviews calling this a Zelda-like game. Its really not. Aside from a couple of context situations, most of this game is really more like a Diablo-dungeon crawler, albiet exchanging the neverending loot drop system for one where you mix and match abilities across various different in-game forms.

For the most part it works quite well, blasting through dungeons is mostly fun and the overall art and gameplay can get pretty addictive. The best parts of the game is when you can get really creative with the combinations and cause even the most unassuming of forms to turn into a whirlwind of destruction.

However good lord the game does like to get in the way of that through its unlock mechanics. In order to unlock more forms and level up forms (to gain more skills), you need to do various task lists for each form. These mostly boil down to beating enemies in particular fashion, using specific attacks or breaking enemy defences. This is all great in theory but in reality it just leads to grinding with select characters to get to where you really want.

Once you've really broken through that grind, there's a lot to love here but that grind is notable and it does force you to play characters/use abilities you may not like for good chunks of time. Its not something that ruins the game thanks to just how frantic and silly the game can be (and it can get very silly through its missions, oddball characters and weird mechanics) but it does stop the game from really being more than it could be.

Amo cuando un juego te incentiva a jugar de una manera óptima sin forzarlo, dejando espacio para la expresividad.
Battle Circuit tiene una anomalía en los beat em ups que es una tienda de habilidades entre stages y la manera de poder comprar en esta tienda es, pues, con monedas. La genialidad recae en cómo obtener estas monedas y este CHAD beat em up opta por recompensarte con una mayor cantidad de monedas cuando golpeas a los enemigos con habilidades que requieren comandos que combinan movimientos de palanca y el botón de ataque. Ejecutar dichas combinaciones es sencillo, lo interesante y jugoso es cuándo realizarlas, donde realizarlas y contra quién. Usar torpemente estas habilidades solo hará tu salud bajar porque OH BOY este juego te llena la pantalla de enemigos en apretadas y variadas situaciones-locaciones, además de ponerte en contiendas contra geniales y agresivos bosses que, aparte de ser unos malnacidos, están acompañados (cosa que me encanta porque le suma crowd control a los enfrentamientos).
Con ese sistema de recompensa tan PUTO BUENO (que ofrece más de lo que mencioné) estarás en cada enfrentamiento tomando decisiones interesantes y a veces arriesgadas, dándole más profundidad a un combate que ya de por si era bastante bueno.
El momento donde casi me pongo de rodillas ante el juego fue cuando me di cuenta que una habilidad a distancia bastante poderosa de Cyber Blue (único personaje con que he completado varios runs) no te recompensa con monedas, a su vez, el combo estándar (3 veces botón de ataque) solo te da una moneda al asestar el impacto final. El juego te está diciendo “prueba el resto de tu arsenal dude, dale, arriésgate y diviértete” and thats forking brilliant.
De momento solo he probado 3 personajes de 5 y estos me parecieron lo suficientemente diferente como para querer completar el juego con cada uno de ellos.
El TRUE FINAL BOSS me resulta algo odioso, MF se la pasa volando y bajarle la vida es tedioso. Lo chistoso es que el juego parece estar consciente de esto porque te da la opción de no enfrentarlo JAJA.

standalone expansions rarely make sense from a profit margin perspective - or so ive heard - but the chance to safely iterate on and tinker with systems nevertheless has strong allure for many a design team. and for my part, ive grown to appreciate what these AAA novellas can bring to the table, not only for their occasionally radical departures from convention but also because they recognize that most players will have completed the entry the expansion stems from, and therefore no longer have to spend as much time establishing stakes, outlining the pace in staccato rhythm, and overtutorializing players to their chagrin.

these three traits are endemic to naughty dog's seventh-gen-onwards gameography and each and every entry in their canon suffers immensely for it, while something as contained and compact as the lost legacy is able to flourish as the chaste tomb raider spinoff this franchise was always meant to be. in a fraction of the time a regular entry in this constipated series takes, you'll contend with more varied setpieces and encounter design, more experimentation (chiefly in the form of an open-district level, my vote for the most traditionally enjoyable segment in any of these titles), and more controlled direction than ever before. the narrative dimension here continues to err towards shallow but its simplicity is honestly complementary rather than transparently ingratiating. it's as close to a thrilling action romp as any uncharted game has ever been, and for its efforts in finally getting me to tolerate this series it's worthy of my respect.

and look, im not blind, one of the strongest contributors to my bias here is playing as arguably one of the most attractive ladies ever created for vidcon purposes instead of a character who constantly irritates me and whom i would purposefully pilot off cliffs into steep ravines. naughty dog should return to this level of Understanding i think.

Edge of Eternity is very much one of those games where the ambition clearly outstrips the budget and skills that the developers have. Its clearly a big ol JRPG love letter and its Xbox360-era style, its battle system and its entire lore-building is proof of that. It is a very likable game, dont get me wrong.

The problem is just its trying to do far too much on top of the basic JRPG mechanics which it should have focused on. Theres a crystal system thats supposed to help with customisation of skills and stats but its too underdeveloped and feels grindy. Theres a crafting mechanic but the core materials are just absolutely everywhere and the crafting benches are so few and far between that it becomes a chore to deal with.

Theres random puzzles littered around where you use the turn based mechanics to open/shut doors... But its all so slow and ploddy that it comes off as a waste of time. Theres a monster hunting mechanic but the quests here come off as either MMO style 'Kill 15 basics' or 'Kill random hard to find enemy and no we wont tell you where to look'. Its again, a chore.

This lack of detail unfortunately hits the main game too. The battle system is workable enough and has hits moments but theres too many moments where the game either plays dead and doesnt give any challenge, or moments where the game pulls the rug out from under you because you didnt quite have the right setup of crystals to give you good abilities.

The locations you'll run around are all massive, expansive and empty. Theres so much nothing that it feels like... again... a chore to run from place to place. Having barely any transport options and a lore-breaking teleport/save system doesnt help. Also while the story is... fine... having it mostly be fronted by the same two characters isnt helpful. You do eventually get more and when that happens, things feel more fun... but until then... its... guess what? A chore.

It all just leads to a game that has so many different things thrown at it but none of them are worked enough to the point where any feel fun to play and thats the biggest problem. If the game had focused on its core battle mechanics, on its locations and its characters, we'd have a much better game. Instead we have a game that wants to be too much all at once and therefore doesnt come close to accomplishing any of it.

Truly an interetsing game. I went ahead and got the full 1000G for this game so I did indeed 100% it and honestly while I feel like there is so much charm there with its characters and combat so much about the game felt lack luster.

The side quests are TERRIBLE literally every side quest in this game is a fetch quest and it does nothing to break that formula up and try new things NOPE it is a fetch quest for every single damn quest. For me this game shines in its combat , art and story. I love the graphic style of this game and feel it is brimming with love and I love that. The combat while not being the best thing ever is fun enough to keep you engaged to at least finish the main story. And the story is a nice and sweet little simple story with nice twist that did get me invested enough in the characters.

But still even with those positives it isn't enough for me to say go out and play it right this second and the core questing and combat can get VERY repetitive (mostly the questing ). But either way this game is on Xbox game pass so if you have game pass I would give it a go its worth at least a try!

Capcom Classics Collection Revisits #1

For my first random pull I got King of Dragons, which is a fantastic start for me because it was probably one of my favorites off the second collection. I dunno what would've happened if I had drawn Street Fighter 1 or Trojan first, probably bad vibes.

Either way, King of Dragons is a simplistic but pretty fun beat'em up with some cool spritework and boss fights. The hydra boss and Gildiss the final boss in particular are really fucking cool. Some really great music too, though hilariously one of the boss themes is like a six second loop which always got a laugh out of me when I listened to it in the sound test.

I think my main complaint is that the last stretch can get kinda tiring, but I guess that's arcade games for ya. It's also seriously cheap that one of the bosses (the wyvern rider) gets reused as a regular enemy as early as literally the next stage, like I know it's a common sight for beat'em ups, but they could've at least waited a stage or two first.

Refused to use the Elf like the true hardcore gamer that I am, real peeps use the Dwarf.

The Looker gives the player a unique experience, and answers an interesting question: what would it be like to play The Witness from the perspective of, say, Egoraptor?

I learned of this game (as many others have) from Dunkey's video. From what I saw in that video I assumed that this game came from a relatively incurious perspective on its source material, and while I don't think my first impression was entirely wrong I will admit that The Looker did win me over pretty quick. I had already seen the useless hint button gag. What I did not expect was to find a second useless hint button, rusted over, sitting in a garbage can, smoking and drinking, with a story to tell.

The moments in which this game is overtly making fun of The Witness are without a doubt its worst. From the second that you see the first puzzle the fact that the simple abstract symbols of The Witness have been replaced with familiar words seems to completely undermine any meaningful comparison with what the original game is actually doing. Frankly there were times that I thought the game was going to pull the rug out from under me and it didn't. I thought for sure as I was writing down the sequences of the book puzzle that at the end the solution would be a non-sequitur and the game would make fun of me for taking notes; it did not. The beeping puzzle is obviously making fun of the audio puzzles in the original but it's so much worse of a puzzle that the joke completely falls flat.

The best moments of the game are when it genuinely provides interesting mechanical explorations beyond what The Witness's self seriousness would have allowed. The cannon puzzle, the snake game, and the rail shooter game are truly interesting evolutions of elements of this game's inspiration, integrating the perspective shifts and maze-solving in ways that make The Witness only look more clever, if less complete.

And that's kind of the be-all and end-all, being derived so closely from The Witness, all of The Looker's best elements, even the ways in which it builds on that game, are so tied to it that any joke at the original game's expense holds little weight. In what seems to be an attempt to reveal the apparent vapidity of The Witness, The Looker only reaffirms that the original game was a worthwhile effort.

I love The Witness, I don't hate The Looker. It's humor is generally entertaining, if disappointing and predictable. I kind of wish that an actual score attack game similar to the rail shooter segment existed on its own.