SlashWarrior87
2023
Street Fighter 6 is a triumph in fighting games that I believe sets a new standard for 2D fighters by making it more accessible to players through its comprehensive settings. Capcom did a much better job with the launch of Street Fighter 6 compared to its lacking in substance predecessor Street Fighter 5 by adding World Tour which is a campaign that is like Yakuza in the sense that it does not take itself seriously, an open online battle hub, and the fighting grounds! It's the most amount of content a Street Fighter game has launched with.
World Tour: Like I stated, it's an open world Yakuza like campaign where you travel across the world. Now I make the comparison to Yakuza because it can get pretty wild like that game. You will be fighting refrigerators, cyber robots and many more crazy enemies. World Tour is basically a huge tutorial because it teaches you what Street Fighter is about and how to play the game. The main areas you will mainly be in are Metro City and Old Nyshall. While the art direction is really good its graphical fidelity is a bit dated. It may feel like it's a little too easy at the beginning but it picks up in difficulty and you will have to sharpen your skills. World Tour is what I started with in Street Fighter 6 because I thought it was a good way to help me learn the controls and about its diverse array of characters. However my one major flaw of this mode was I felt that the progression of levelling up your character was pretty fast at first and then it got slow. This ended up feeling like a Ubisoft game where I was just grinding continuously to get more strength by fighting other people on the streets. This is because I was not powerful enough to do the missions easily. I believe a little bit of grinding is okay but it got a bit much by the end of the game. It's also a very repetitive game so I wished there was more mission variety present. This made the length of the game longer then I believe it should have been. My next flaw is minor but I think that there should have been a level recommendation present here for the missions because I went into some of these missions thinking I was powerful enough and then it turns out I was not. For example in Chapter 13 when I went into the The Suval'hal Martial Arts Tournament thinking I was levelled up enough and turns out I was not. This mistake would not have been made if they had a level recommendation for each of the missions like Ubisoft does with Assassin's Creed. While not a big issue it would have been appreciated for me at the very least so then I know when I should initiate into a mission or tournament. The amount of depth the World Tour mode has is impressive and it took me 18 hours to beat the main story. There is a lot of replayability in World Tour because you can not only play around with the different styles from the masters, which I will go more in depth later there are also a lot of side missions even though these missions are very short they can be fun. I tried a few side missions and they were decent, like for example one of them you had to fight Retsu multiple times which was really short but was fun. The base game I already felt was good and these side missions aren’t substantial by any means but I was not expecting them in here so they are a welcome addition. Now the story of the World Tour mode is nothing special but it was engaging enough for me to be curious about the answer to what is strength? It starts off with you going to a master named Luke where you go to his basic training course on how to fight. I liked the concept of Luke being a mentor for you and role playing as a student of one’s training course. What I did like was the rivalry dynamic of your created avatar and Bosch where they are both students for the same master. I found myself engaged in meeting all the masters for them to end up being my mentors that guide me to finding the answer to strength. World Tour is a great addition to Street Fighter because fighting games tend to not have a lot of single player content but this mode added a lot to the single player experience since it took me 18 hours to finish it! That is pretty substantial.
Battle Hub: This is a traversable online battle hub where you take your created character from World Tour and you can either fight with your avatar, fight others online using the standard Street Fighter characters or you can even play classic Capcom games at arcade machines within this open hub which is really cool! For the most part the connection in matches is very good because they use Rollback netcode. It also has cross play as well so you can invite your buddy to a fight regardless of what platform they are on! Within the hub there are also cool callbacks to other Capcom franchises like cut outs of 8 bit Megaman and as well as some of the Street Fighter characters. Doing a Battle Hub in a fighting game is something I have not seen before and Capcom really have done a great job with making sure it's condensed but packed with things to do. They also made it have personality to not make it generic or dull looking but instead pleasing to the eye. Overall, Battle Hub is an excellent addition to Street Fighter because you can battle with your friends or other people with your custom avatar, play a rotating selection of classic Capcom games at arcade machines, and best of all make fun memories.
Gameplay: Now onto the gameplay which impressed me the most with Street Fighter 6 because of how accessible Capcom has managed to make it. Usually fighting games aren’t my thing because of how inaccessible or the amount of button combinations you need to remember in order to pull off really cool combos. Due to how accessible the game is I feel like for the first time in a long time I actually have a decent chance of winning against people and actually have fun! Street Fighter 6 has really raised the bar in accessibility for fighting games because they decided to make a modern control button scheme where instead of each button being assigned to a left punch or a right punch to make things more complicated they simplified it to make it easier for casuals to learn the controls. You can also map the buttons to your liking which adds to how accessible Capcom has made this Street Fighter entry! The classic controls are still there though for the people who prefer that control scheme. I’ve been mainly using Luke because he is on the cover of the box so I felt like maining him! The gameplay in Street Fighter 6 feels amazing because of how good it feels in my hand to play. Two new mechanics were added to Street Fighter 6 which are Drive Impacts and Drive Parries. To start, Drive impacts are hard hitting attacks that your opponent has to hit you multiple times in order for them to stop it from being executed. When your opponent is successful at breaking your drive impact you will get stunned and big damage can be taken so I would suggest pulling a drive impact when they would least expect it! Now onto Drive Parries which are special blocks where you can block your opponents attacks so you do not take significant damage when someone throws a punch or kick at you. When I was pulling off these drive impacts I felt like a badass doing them because of the animation that would happen when I pulled it off. However you do need to use these mechanics wisely because it relies on a meter so you cannot spam it. When your meter runs out you will have to wait for your bar to regenerate in order to use a drive impact or drive parry again. I like how the mechanics rely on a meter because then it cannot be abused by players and it will have to be used strategically. If there was one flaw I had to point out with the gameplay it would be how I feel that the grabs are a bit too overpowered and take too much of your health when they are pulled off. All in all, Street Fighter 6 has the best and most accessible gameplay I have seen in a fighting game because of how accessible it is and how it feels in my hand.
Fighting Grounds: The fighting grounds is the standard fighting mode where you will find all the modes like arcade, training, extreme battles and much more. Furthermore, another way Capcom raised the bar in making Street Fighter 6 accessible is the fighting grounds because it contains a training mode where you can train with any character against AI. It has a bunch of settings like for the parameters, simple training settings where it contains combo practice, anti-air practice and much more! It also has settings in the training mode for the environment, for the dummy AI, recording the practice dummy actions. You are able to save your training settings as well. There are tutorials in case someone does not know how to play the game or wants to learn a control scheme. These tutorials are meant to teach you all the mechanics and the stuff you need to know to be good at Street Fighter 6. The great thing about the tutorials is that they indicate if its difficulty is beginner, intermediate or advanced. It is truly one of the most comprehensive and in-depth training modes I’ve ever seen in a fighting game. Then there are character guides which show you how to do a character’s specific moves and combos. Each character has their own combo trial where you can practise their combos. Combo trials can be helpful for people that want to learn how to pull off those cool and stylish moves! If you don’t wanna go to the battle hub to start a match you can just matchmake from the fighting grounds menu which is nice for convenience. What is new to the Street Fighter series is that there are extreme battles. These have specific rule sets and winning conditions such as reaching a target score of 30 000 points before your opponent does by doing powerful attacks and completing optional challenges during the fight. Gimmicks are present in these fights as well where it can make the battle exciting! For example you can have a bull charging at random times during the fight so when he comes you have to make sure to jump in order to avoid getting run over. Adding dumb things like this makes the offline and online experience of these fighting games fun and enjoyable.
Conclusion: Most of the time fighting games do not tend to win me over but Street Fighter 6 absolutely ended up winning me over! With an incredible level of accessibility that helps new players like myself get into the series, A good world tour mode that taught me what Street Fighter is about, and with a solid amount of content at release this is arguably one of the best fighting game packages I have ever played. It is also the first time in many years that a fighting game has given me this much enjoyment since Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale. Those two are absolute classics! Street Fighter 6 feels like Capcom took all that they learned from the failed launch of Street Fighter 5 and made a statement that this series is here to give Tekken 8 and Mortal Kombat 1 a run for its money. I give Street Fighter 6 a kickass 9/10. I absolutely recommend this game if you were wanting to get into this series but felt intimidated by how hard fighting games can be to learn or are a veteran of the series there is something for you here! Street Fighter 6 is One of my favourite game releases of 2023 so far.
World Tour: Like I stated, it's an open world Yakuza like campaign where you travel across the world. Now I make the comparison to Yakuza because it can get pretty wild like that game. You will be fighting refrigerators, cyber robots and many more crazy enemies. World Tour is basically a huge tutorial because it teaches you what Street Fighter is about and how to play the game. The main areas you will mainly be in are Metro City and Old Nyshall. While the art direction is really good its graphical fidelity is a bit dated. It may feel like it's a little too easy at the beginning but it picks up in difficulty and you will have to sharpen your skills. World Tour is what I started with in Street Fighter 6 because I thought it was a good way to help me learn the controls and about its diverse array of characters. However my one major flaw of this mode was I felt that the progression of levelling up your character was pretty fast at first and then it got slow. This ended up feeling like a Ubisoft game where I was just grinding continuously to get more strength by fighting other people on the streets. This is because I was not powerful enough to do the missions easily. I believe a little bit of grinding is okay but it got a bit much by the end of the game. It's also a very repetitive game so I wished there was more mission variety present. This made the length of the game longer then I believe it should have been. My next flaw is minor but I think that there should have been a level recommendation present here for the missions because I went into some of these missions thinking I was powerful enough and then it turns out I was not. For example in Chapter 13 when I went into the The Suval'hal Martial Arts Tournament thinking I was levelled up enough and turns out I was not. This mistake would not have been made if they had a level recommendation for each of the missions like Ubisoft does with Assassin's Creed. While not a big issue it would have been appreciated for me at the very least so then I know when I should initiate into a mission or tournament. The amount of depth the World Tour mode has is impressive and it took me 18 hours to beat the main story. There is a lot of replayability in World Tour because you can not only play around with the different styles from the masters, which I will go more in depth later there are also a lot of side missions even though these missions are very short they can be fun. I tried a few side missions and they were decent, like for example one of them you had to fight Retsu multiple times which was really short but was fun. The base game I already felt was good and these side missions aren’t substantial by any means but I was not expecting them in here so they are a welcome addition. Now the story of the World Tour mode is nothing special but it was engaging enough for me to be curious about the answer to what is strength? It starts off with you going to a master named Luke where you go to his basic training course on how to fight. I liked the concept of Luke being a mentor for you and role playing as a student of one’s training course. What I did like was the rivalry dynamic of your created avatar and Bosch where they are both students for the same master. I found myself engaged in meeting all the masters for them to end up being my mentors that guide me to finding the answer to strength. World Tour is a great addition to Street Fighter because fighting games tend to not have a lot of single player content but this mode added a lot to the single player experience since it took me 18 hours to finish it! That is pretty substantial.
Battle Hub: This is a traversable online battle hub where you take your created character from World Tour and you can either fight with your avatar, fight others online using the standard Street Fighter characters or you can even play classic Capcom games at arcade machines within this open hub which is really cool! For the most part the connection in matches is very good because they use Rollback netcode. It also has cross play as well so you can invite your buddy to a fight regardless of what platform they are on! Within the hub there are also cool callbacks to other Capcom franchises like cut outs of 8 bit Megaman and as well as some of the Street Fighter characters. Doing a Battle Hub in a fighting game is something I have not seen before and Capcom really have done a great job with making sure it's condensed but packed with things to do. They also made it have personality to not make it generic or dull looking but instead pleasing to the eye. Overall, Battle Hub is an excellent addition to Street Fighter because you can battle with your friends or other people with your custom avatar, play a rotating selection of classic Capcom games at arcade machines, and best of all make fun memories.
Gameplay: Now onto the gameplay which impressed me the most with Street Fighter 6 because of how accessible Capcom has managed to make it. Usually fighting games aren’t my thing because of how inaccessible or the amount of button combinations you need to remember in order to pull off really cool combos. Due to how accessible the game is I feel like for the first time in a long time I actually have a decent chance of winning against people and actually have fun! Street Fighter 6 has really raised the bar in accessibility for fighting games because they decided to make a modern control button scheme where instead of each button being assigned to a left punch or a right punch to make things more complicated they simplified it to make it easier for casuals to learn the controls. You can also map the buttons to your liking which adds to how accessible Capcom has made this Street Fighter entry! The classic controls are still there though for the people who prefer that control scheme. I’ve been mainly using Luke because he is on the cover of the box so I felt like maining him! The gameplay in Street Fighter 6 feels amazing because of how good it feels in my hand to play. Two new mechanics were added to Street Fighter 6 which are Drive Impacts and Drive Parries. To start, Drive impacts are hard hitting attacks that your opponent has to hit you multiple times in order for them to stop it from being executed. When your opponent is successful at breaking your drive impact you will get stunned and big damage can be taken so I would suggest pulling a drive impact when they would least expect it! Now onto Drive Parries which are special blocks where you can block your opponents attacks so you do not take significant damage when someone throws a punch or kick at you. When I was pulling off these drive impacts I felt like a badass doing them because of the animation that would happen when I pulled it off. However you do need to use these mechanics wisely because it relies on a meter so you cannot spam it. When your meter runs out you will have to wait for your bar to regenerate in order to use a drive impact or drive parry again. I like how the mechanics rely on a meter because then it cannot be abused by players and it will have to be used strategically. If there was one flaw I had to point out with the gameplay it would be how I feel that the grabs are a bit too overpowered and take too much of your health when they are pulled off. All in all, Street Fighter 6 has the best and most accessible gameplay I have seen in a fighting game because of how accessible it is and how it feels in my hand.
Fighting Grounds: The fighting grounds is the standard fighting mode where you will find all the modes like arcade, training, extreme battles and much more. Furthermore, another way Capcom raised the bar in making Street Fighter 6 accessible is the fighting grounds because it contains a training mode where you can train with any character against AI. It has a bunch of settings like for the parameters, simple training settings where it contains combo practice, anti-air practice and much more! It also has settings in the training mode for the environment, for the dummy AI, recording the practice dummy actions. You are able to save your training settings as well. There are tutorials in case someone does not know how to play the game or wants to learn a control scheme. These tutorials are meant to teach you all the mechanics and the stuff you need to know to be good at Street Fighter 6. The great thing about the tutorials is that they indicate if its difficulty is beginner, intermediate or advanced. It is truly one of the most comprehensive and in-depth training modes I’ve ever seen in a fighting game. Then there are character guides which show you how to do a character’s specific moves and combos. Each character has their own combo trial where you can practise their combos. Combo trials can be helpful for people that want to learn how to pull off those cool and stylish moves! If you don’t wanna go to the battle hub to start a match you can just matchmake from the fighting grounds menu which is nice for convenience. What is new to the Street Fighter series is that there are extreme battles. These have specific rule sets and winning conditions such as reaching a target score of 30 000 points before your opponent does by doing powerful attacks and completing optional challenges during the fight. Gimmicks are present in these fights as well where it can make the battle exciting! For example you can have a bull charging at random times during the fight so when he comes you have to make sure to jump in order to avoid getting run over. Adding dumb things like this makes the offline and online experience of these fighting games fun and enjoyable.
Conclusion: Most of the time fighting games do not tend to win me over but Street Fighter 6 absolutely ended up winning me over! With an incredible level of accessibility that helps new players like myself get into the series, A good world tour mode that taught me what Street Fighter is about, and with a solid amount of content at release this is arguably one of the best fighting game packages I have ever played. It is also the first time in many years that a fighting game has given me this much enjoyment since Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale. Those two are absolute classics! Street Fighter 6 feels like Capcom took all that they learned from the failed launch of Street Fighter 5 and made a statement that this series is here to give Tekken 8 and Mortal Kombat 1 a run for its money. I give Street Fighter 6 a kickass 9/10. I absolutely recommend this game if you were wanting to get into this series but felt intimidated by how hard fighting games can be to learn or are a veteran of the series there is something for you here! Street Fighter 6 is One of my favourite game releases of 2023 so far.
Tetris Effect Connected is the most definitive version of Tetris that has something for everyone. It is such an impressive package that expands the Tetris formula in new ways and has so much replayability. If you are a fan of offline content, multiplayer or want an intense challenge it has all that in one package! While it may not be a masterpiece that is revolutionary it nails the ART and everything else so well. This game just feels like meditation when I am playing it since the art is so beautifully well done! Side note: I will not be covering multiplayer in this review!
Journey Mode: This is a single player mode for Tetris Effect Connected that has 27 stages to play from with an Beginner, Normal and Expert difficulty. The difference between these difficulties is that you’ll have to get more lines. Beginner is 30, Normal is 36 and Expert is 48 lines. I had so much fun with this mode because each level provided different art and music to vibe to! It just got me in zen mode. It took me about 10 hours to beat Journey mode, which is not a bad length even though I died a LOT! My favorite level has got to be Metamorphosis which is the final level you encounter. It was such a great level that you can tell they went all out because you have to get 90 lines and the music and art were on another level but all the levels were so good! There is also a theatre mode as well if you just want to look at the art for a level and listen to the music without playing. It is a nice addition if you just want to sit back and relax. The credits in this game were so exceptionally well done as well! I can tell they put lots of effort into that! Overall Journey mode was a blast to play with set pieces and music that will keep you relaxed and engaged!
Gameplay: The gameplay in Tetris Effect feels better then any Tetris game has ever felt! You have a new Zone ability where when you fill it up by completing lines you can make the blocks not move and can take your time. The completed lines will disappear after the zone ability is used which allows you to clear more than 4 lines at once in a Tetris game and get an Ultimatris. An Ultimatris is 20 or more lines cleared so if you get this then you are considered the best of the best! The highest I got was an Octotris which is 8 lines cleared. Zone is such a great addition to Tetris since it spices up the gameplay and allows for spectacular plays! Enhance games have then made it more accessible by showing what your next 4 blocks will be instead of 1 but this can be fine tuned to your liking. Then you can hold a Tetrimino to use for later if you do not get a block you like you can replace it with the one you are holding! There are many more accessibility features to allow people to thrive in Tetris Effect Connected! The gameplay has never felt better before and it is astounding how good it feels with the effects going nuts when you get a completed line. They can bother my eyes and be distracting though. The effects do make when you get a completed line so much more satisfying.
Effect modes: The effect modes are extra game modes in Tetris Effect Connected to add replayability. For example there is a marathon mode where you need to get the best score within a 150-line limit! Then there is Mystery where you try to survive as many random effects where some could be good and some bad! There are more of them than just the ones I mentioned! These effect modes add greatly to the replayability of the game because they are fun and can leave you with a challenge! I like that Enhance tried to give replayabillity to this iteration of Tetris by doing fun and gimmicky modes.
Conclusion: Overall Tetris Effect Connected is Tetris at its very best. Ever since Tetris was on the NES in 1989 it's been an icon in gaming! Enhance did such a great job with nearly everything in this game despite that the effects can be distracting and hurt my eyes! This is the best iteration of Tetris that has ever been made! Enhance did an amazing job with this game and it surprised me since I didn’t think it would be as good as it was! There is no doubt that any Tetris player will be able to find something here that they like! I give Tetris Effect Connected a 10/10! Tetris has been on a roll for me lately because I loved the movie now with Effect Connected being so awesome! The industry needs more calming and relaxing games like this and Enhance games knocked it out of the park! Cannot wait to see their future endeavours.
Journey Mode: This is a single player mode for Tetris Effect Connected that has 27 stages to play from with an Beginner, Normal and Expert difficulty. The difference between these difficulties is that you’ll have to get more lines. Beginner is 30, Normal is 36 and Expert is 48 lines. I had so much fun with this mode because each level provided different art and music to vibe to! It just got me in zen mode. It took me about 10 hours to beat Journey mode, which is not a bad length even though I died a LOT! My favorite level has got to be Metamorphosis which is the final level you encounter. It was such a great level that you can tell they went all out because you have to get 90 lines and the music and art were on another level but all the levels were so good! There is also a theatre mode as well if you just want to look at the art for a level and listen to the music without playing. It is a nice addition if you just want to sit back and relax. The credits in this game were so exceptionally well done as well! I can tell they put lots of effort into that! Overall Journey mode was a blast to play with set pieces and music that will keep you relaxed and engaged!
Gameplay: The gameplay in Tetris Effect feels better then any Tetris game has ever felt! You have a new Zone ability where when you fill it up by completing lines you can make the blocks not move and can take your time. The completed lines will disappear after the zone ability is used which allows you to clear more than 4 lines at once in a Tetris game and get an Ultimatris. An Ultimatris is 20 or more lines cleared so if you get this then you are considered the best of the best! The highest I got was an Octotris which is 8 lines cleared. Zone is such a great addition to Tetris since it spices up the gameplay and allows for spectacular plays! Enhance games have then made it more accessible by showing what your next 4 blocks will be instead of 1 but this can be fine tuned to your liking. Then you can hold a Tetrimino to use for later if you do not get a block you like you can replace it with the one you are holding! There are many more accessibility features to allow people to thrive in Tetris Effect Connected! The gameplay has never felt better before and it is astounding how good it feels with the effects going nuts when you get a completed line. They can bother my eyes and be distracting though. The effects do make when you get a completed line so much more satisfying.
Effect modes: The effect modes are extra game modes in Tetris Effect Connected to add replayability. For example there is a marathon mode where you need to get the best score within a 150-line limit! Then there is Mystery where you try to survive as many random effects where some could be good and some bad! There are more of them than just the ones I mentioned! These effect modes add greatly to the replayability of the game because they are fun and can leave you with a challenge! I like that Enhance tried to give replayabillity to this iteration of Tetris by doing fun and gimmicky modes.
Conclusion: Overall Tetris Effect Connected is Tetris at its very best. Ever since Tetris was on the NES in 1989 it's been an icon in gaming! Enhance did such a great job with nearly everything in this game despite that the effects can be distracting and hurt my eyes! This is the best iteration of Tetris that has ever been made! Enhance did an amazing job with this game and it surprised me since I didn’t think it would be as good as it was! There is no doubt that any Tetris player will be able to find something here that they like! I give Tetris Effect Connected a 10/10! Tetris has been on a roll for me lately because I loved the movie now with Effect Connected being so awesome! The industry needs more calming and relaxing games like this and Enhance games knocked it out of the park! Cannot wait to see their future endeavours.
2023
This review contains spoilers
Atomic Heart is one of the most messed up games I have ever played! It is a game that I really wanted to love but could not due to the problems I had. It is a ride through start to finish. I didn’t hate what it had to offer and it was an interesting game. It took me 12 hours to finish Atomic Heart just to inform how long you could be spending with it. Depending on what you do you could be spending more or less hours.
Gameplay: The gameplay is the typical FPS gameplay you see in most games with melee weapons like axes. It has 7 different skill trees with it consisting of SHOK, Character, Frostbite, Mass Telekinesis, Polymeric Jet, Polymeric Shield, and Energy Management. I personally liked all the different skill trees because it adds an incentive to explore to find neuropolymer to upgrade your abilities. The game doesn’t give you very many bullets but instead mostly having to craft them except at odd times when you explore, it gives you a limited amount. I feel like the game should have given you more bullets for killing enemies or given more bullets. I felt like a lot of the time I was using my bullets then when I ran out which was often I had to use my axe to kill the enemies or wait for energy to regenerate. It would cost me dying a lot of the time due to the game not giving enough bullets. I also did not like that bullets take up a slot in your inventory so you have to remove something when it is full just to put bullets in. Overall the gameplay isn’t special but does the job and adds fun elements to it to make it enjoyable. It was brought down by issues but it did the job. You do have a decent variety of weapons and tools at your disposal.
Puzzles: I felt like the puzzles appeared a little too often and sometimes felt tedious like having to pick a lock for opening most doors which felt repetitive after so many times. Another puzzle I didn’t like was the Ballerina one which felt annoying because it didn’t really say what to do but it was different. Atomic Heart does have some clever ones like the City Maze Puzzle which I had fun with and the Boiler Room one since they were quick and straightforward; those are the types of puzzles I like. I am open to ones that make you think and are creative. The puzzles I felt like added to the gameplay and interrupted it at the same time.
Enemies/Bosses: The enemies in Atomic Heart consisted of robots, mutants which were well designed and unique looking. I felt like it had enough enemy types throughout the game. The bosses however like Plyusch were not fun to fight because they would use up all of my resources then all I would be doing is running with a chicken with its head cut off, shocking, and meleeing it until it died. All the bosses just consisted of shooting them which I felt they needed more variety in, like throwing in some quick time events or something to make them feel more distinct. The designs of the bosses were unique and well done. These bosses were really solid in their set pieces but thought it lacked variety and felt repetitive. The bosses were fine but nothing special. The Twins at the end though was a really good fight with good set pieces!
Checkpoint System: This felt inconsistent because after I was finished with killing enemies once I died then it would send me back to redo a part I finished even though I believe it should have been saved at the part I finished. It is annoying to sometimes have to stop and save the game because it wouldn’t autosave at the part I finished. It feels like a checkpoint system from the old days of gaming where it is unable to save at a part you finished.
World: The world of Atomic Heart was actually really interesting with its Soviet Union setting. I felt incentived to explore the world to see what it had to offer. It was fun exploring the world to see the architecture. It felt like a lot of work was put into the world. The world gave me Bioshock vibes and when it was going down in an elevator that you can see a sea world of bluewater it reminded me of the Rapture in Bioshock. Sometimes you will have to walk for a while which I personally dislike because I just want to get back into the action and not walk for 5 minutes straight.
Story: The story in Atomic Heart was really good for me. It was so messed up that I was intrigued to continue to see what messed up things happen next. Characters turn on you, falling elevators, hallucinations. It was a messed up story and ride but it was what kept me going! It was an interesting story for me personally! I really like crazy stories and this was one of the craziest ones I’ve played. It isn’t a masterpiece in storytelling but it was one for me to remember. I really like that there are multiple endings to Atomic Heart which adds replay value. I also like that it gives you a choice at the end of what you wanna do. The ending sure was messed up! The dialogue felt cringe inducing and the robotic voices eventually got annoying. Also the glove never shuts up!
Music: The OST in Atomic Heart is a heart pumping one! I really enjoyed the OST of Atomic Heart and kept me through playing it. It is a soundtrack that got my adrenaline going and kept me focused on the gameplay!
Technical State: Atomic Heart crashed on me 4 times and I had to load a previous save just for it to stop crashing but the first time I loaded a previous save it crashed when I died! It had a lot of framerate dips in elevators, it froze once in an area with a lot of enemies but unfroze, cutscenes had a lot of framerate dips which was breaking my immersion into them. It is a technically flawed state while not outright unplayable can be annoying.
Conclusion: Atomic Heart is a game I really wanted to love but could not because of how many problems I had with it. I didn’t hate it though. Despite that I would be curious about a sequel that refines the issues and continues the story. I really was looking forward to this one too so it sucks that it didn’t fully stick the landing for me! I give Atomic Heart a 6/10. If you disagree that is okay since everyone will have a different opinion on it! It is such a mixed game that some people will like what it has to offer and some won’t. It is one of those games that is good to have on gamepass for people to try out. I would recommend giving it a shot if you are a gamepass subscriber but would not recommend buying it.
Gameplay: The gameplay is the typical FPS gameplay you see in most games with melee weapons like axes. It has 7 different skill trees with it consisting of SHOK, Character, Frostbite, Mass Telekinesis, Polymeric Jet, Polymeric Shield, and Energy Management. I personally liked all the different skill trees because it adds an incentive to explore to find neuropolymer to upgrade your abilities. The game doesn’t give you very many bullets but instead mostly having to craft them except at odd times when you explore, it gives you a limited amount. I feel like the game should have given you more bullets for killing enemies or given more bullets. I felt like a lot of the time I was using my bullets then when I ran out which was often I had to use my axe to kill the enemies or wait for energy to regenerate. It would cost me dying a lot of the time due to the game not giving enough bullets. I also did not like that bullets take up a slot in your inventory so you have to remove something when it is full just to put bullets in. Overall the gameplay isn’t special but does the job and adds fun elements to it to make it enjoyable. It was brought down by issues but it did the job. You do have a decent variety of weapons and tools at your disposal.
Puzzles: I felt like the puzzles appeared a little too often and sometimes felt tedious like having to pick a lock for opening most doors which felt repetitive after so many times. Another puzzle I didn’t like was the Ballerina one which felt annoying because it didn’t really say what to do but it was different. Atomic Heart does have some clever ones like the City Maze Puzzle which I had fun with and the Boiler Room one since they were quick and straightforward; those are the types of puzzles I like. I am open to ones that make you think and are creative. The puzzles I felt like added to the gameplay and interrupted it at the same time.
Enemies/Bosses: The enemies in Atomic Heart consisted of robots, mutants which were well designed and unique looking. I felt like it had enough enemy types throughout the game. The bosses however like Plyusch were not fun to fight because they would use up all of my resources then all I would be doing is running with a chicken with its head cut off, shocking, and meleeing it until it died. All the bosses just consisted of shooting them which I felt they needed more variety in, like throwing in some quick time events or something to make them feel more distinct. The designs of the bosses were unique and well done. These bosses were really solid in their set pieces but thought it lacked variety and felt repetitive. The bosses were fine but nothing special. The Twins at the end though was a really good fight with good set pieces!
Checkpoint System: This felt inconsistent because after I was finished with killing enemies once I died then it would send me back to redo a part I finished even though I believe it should have been saved at the part I finished. It is annoying to sometimes have to stop and save the game because it wouldn’t autosave at the part I finished. It feels like a checkpoint system from the old days of gaming where it is unable to save at a part you finished.
World: The world of Atomic Heart was actually really interesting with its Soviet Union setting. I felt incentived to explore the world to see what it had to offer. It was fun exploring the world to see the architecture. It felt like a lot of work was put into the world. The world gave me Bioshock vibes and when it was going down in an elevator that you can see a sea world of bluewater it reminded me of the Rapture in Bioshock. Sometimes you will have to walk for a while which I personally dislike because I just want to get back into the action and not walk for 5 minutes straight.
Story: The story in Atomic Heart was really good for me. It was so messed up that I was intrigued to continue to see what messed up things happen next. Characters turn on you, falling elevators, hallucinations. It was a messed up story and ride but it was what kept me going! It was an interesting story for me personally! I really like crazy stories and this was one of the craziest ones I’ve played. It isn’t a masterpiece in storytelling but it was one for me to remember. I really like that there are multiple endings to Atomic Heart which adds replay value. I also like that it gives you a choice at the end of what you wanna do. The ending sure was messed up! The dialogue felt cringe inducing and the robotic voices eventually got annoying. Also the glove never shuts up!
Music: The OST in Atomic Heart is a heart pumping one! I really enjoyed the OST of Atomic Heart and kept me through playing it. It is a soundtrack that got my adrenaline going and kept me focused on the gameplay!
Technical State: Atomic Heart crashed on me 4 times and I had to load a previous save just for it to stop crashing but the first time I loaded a previous save it crashed when I died! It had a lot of framerate dips in elevators, it froze once in an area with a lot of enemies but unfroze, cutscenes had a lot of framerate dips which was breaking my immersion into them. It is a technically flawed state while not outright unplayable can be annoying.
Conclusion: Atomic Heart is a game I really wanted to love but could not because of how many problems I had with it. I didn’t hate it though. Despite that I would be curious about a sequel that refines the issues and continues the story. I really was looking forward to this one too so it sucks that it didn’t fully stick the landing for me! I give Atomic Heart a 6/10. If you disagree that is okay since everyone will have a different opinion on it! It is such a mixed game that some people will like what it has to offer and some won’t. It is one of those games that is good to have on gamepass for people to try out. I would recommend giving it a shot if you are a gamepass subscriber but would not recommend buying it.
2022
Sonic Origins is a collection of games that I felt like was lackluster as a veteran of the series. It is a respectable collection that you will have a good time with. I played most of the content offered. It isn’t a bad collection by any means but there were many issues I personally had. Also no physical edition made me furious! I did not experience any bugs or crashes for Sonic Origins!
Presentation: The presentation of Sonic Origins is awesome! Having islands represent each game was a brilliant touch. I like that you can view the islands but wish there was customization to make them more stylized to you. The UI is also very intuitive and easy to navigate. I also like that you can change the music in the menu to your tastes that they have within the collection! You can even change the music to games outside the collection. It’s limited but really good to see. The presentation was knocked out of the park!
Game modes/Gameplay: I like that they added the separate option to do boss rush for each game and have blue spheres for Sonic 3 and K. On a side note you can finally retry the special stages with coins which is good because I don't always get it done on the first try. The classic mode could have been better by adding a rewind option and more classic features to make it feel classic. Also having drop dash in the classic mode doesn't feel right since that wasn't in the classics. For the anniversary mode I wish you could have limited lives instead of unlimited lives. What I think they should have done is just give you a bunch of settings to tailor to your experience instead of having two different modes. In Sonic 1, 2 the drop dash feels stiff. You have to commit to one direction!
Animations: The animations by Tyson Hesse are fabulous and really enjoyable to watch. All the games each have animations and that is awesome! These were really enjoyable to watch as a Sonic Fan and added to my experience. It may not have added to the story but that did not matter to me.
Mission Mode: This is an awesome addition to Sonic Origins! All 4 games have different missions and the sheer variety of those are amazing. My favorite was Sonic 2 where they allowed you to play as Super Sonic that was cool! Some are breezy while some can take a bit to figure out which I like. My only problem is that SEGA locked the harder missions behind the deluxe edition. It is a welcome addition to these 30 year old games!
Museum: As a Sonic fan this was fascinating! Seeing concept art of different sonic games is a dream for someone like myself. I am always curious about what goes behind the development of games. I also really like that you had to unlock these by coins. It made you explore the levels or do the missions which I like so it makes it feel earned! Gives me vibes of the Sonic Mega Collection with this kind of stuff!
Sonic 3 and K music: They butchered the music to this! I know they couldn’t get the Michael Jackson music but come on! They ruined Carnival night zone’s vibe by making the music sound flat and not sounding like you're in a carnival. Ice Age zone was also ruined by this as well. This kills the vibe of some of these great stages. If you like the new versions that’s fine but I personally do not.
Playable Characters: The fact that they did not add Amy or Metal Sonic as playable characters is baffling! These two would have been welcome additions and made the collection more worth it. I liked that you are able to play as the standard 3 characters except knuckles for CD of course.
Conclusion: Sonic Origins is going to be a great time for newcomers of the series but as a veteran it just missed the mark. I had a fun time replaying these classics with never playing 3 and K previously! The new additions made my experience of the classics better but they could have done more to justify its price point and it's value as a veteran. I give Sonic Origins a 6/10! It was clearly well thought out with some of it's additions! I would recommend this for newcomers but not for the veterans of the series. A good way for newcomers for sure but It wasn't for me, doesn't mean it is a bad collection by any means.
Presentation: The presentation of Sonic Origins is awesome! Having islands represent each game was a brilliant touch. I like that you can view the islands but wish there was customization to make them more stylized to you. The UI is also very intuitive and easy to navigate. I also like that you can change the music in the menu to your tastes that they have within the collection! You can even change the music to games outside the collection. It’s limited but really good to see. The presentation was knocked out of the park!
Game modes/Gameplay: I like that they added the separate option to do boss rush for each game and have blue spheres for Sonic 3 and K. On a side note you can finally retry the special stages with coins which is good because I don't always get it done on the first try. The classic mode could have been better by adding a rewind option and more classic features to make it feel classic. Also having drop dash in the classic mode doesn't feel right since that wasn't in the classics. For the anniversary mode I wish you could have limited lives instead of unlimited lives. What I think they should have done is just give you a bunch of settings to tailor to your experience instead of having two different modes. In Sonic 1, 2 the drop dash feels stiff. You have to commit to one direction!
Animations: The animations by Tyson Hesse are fabulous and really enjoyable to watch. All the games each have animations and that is awesome! These were really enjoyable to watch as a Sonic Fan and added to my experience. It may not have added to the story but that did not matter to me.
Mission Mode: This is an awesome addition to Sonic Origins! All 4 games have different missions and the sheer variety of those are amazing. My favorite was Sonic 2 where they allowed you to play as Super Sonic that was cool! Some are breezy while some can take a bit to figure out which I like. My only problem is that SEGA locked the harder missions behind the deluxe edition. It is a welcome addition to these 30 year old games!
Museum: As a Sonic fan this was fascinating! Seeing concept art of different sonic games is a dream for someone like myself. I am always curious about what goes behind the development of games. I also really like that you had to unlock these by coins. It made you explore the levels or do the missions which I like so it makes it feel earned! Gives me vibes of the Sonic Mega Collection with this kind of stuff!
Sonic 3 and K music: They butchered the music to this! I know they couldn’t get the Michael Jackson music but come on! They ruined Carnival night zone’s vibe by making the music sound flat and not sounding like you're in a carnival. Ice Age zone was also ruined by this as well. This kills the vibe of some of these great stages. If you like the new versions that’s fine but I personally do not.
Playable Characters: The fact that they did not add Amy or Metal Sonic as playable characters is baffling! These two would have been welcome additions and made the collection more worth it. I liked that you are able to play as the standard 3 characters except knuckles for CD of course.
Conclusion: Sonic Origins is going to be a great time for newcomers of the series but as a veteran it just missed the mark. I had a fun time replaying these classics with never playing 3 and K previously! The new additions made my experience of the classics better but they could have done more to justify its price point and it's value as a veteran. I give Sonic Origins a 6/10! It was clearly well thought out with some of it's additions! I would recommend this for newcomers but not for the veterans of the series. A good way for newcomers for sure but It wasn't for me, doesn't mean it is a bad collection by any means.
2023
HI-FI Rush surprised me in the best way possible! It is a GOTY contender for me already! This is a must play for everyone that owns a series X/S or PC! It is the most refreshing game I’ve played in a long time! A game with tons of style and personality! A rocking time! I have not done the side missions but I have completed the main game which took me 9 hours! So for completeness it’ll probably take you in the 10 hour range!
Gameplay: The gameplay is a blast with guitar music playing which this game has an amazing OST! Hi-FI rush is like if Devil May Cry and Metal Hellsinger had a baby! You attack with a guitar and you are graded based on time, beat timing, and score. I love this system because it will push the player to replay these levels to get the best grade possible. You have heavy attacks and light attacks with being able to dodge, and parry. There are new moves that you can unlock by getting currency found in the levels. You can unlock new chips, and combos! I like this because it adds an incentive to explore how there is also an incentive to explore the world is that you can have collectibles that increase your health or a graffiti for your personal hideout! You are not required to stay on beat which I love because it makes it more accessible and helps me because I suck at staying on beat! You can also make the beat show at the bottom of the screen to help with your timing again with making it accessible! Then you will need to use buddies like Peppermint, Maceron and Korisca for different things. Peppermint you use for shooting shields, Maceron you use for smashing shields and breaking doors, Korsica for powering down generators and putting out fires. Macaron you need to time the punch and Korisca you need to press the button when the pointer is in the green area or else you’ll need to redo the minigame. I like this because it adds to the gameplay rather than just fighting bad guys. Enemies will require you to use those characters for breaking shields, smashing enemy barriers and putting out fire. This again adds to the gameplay which I like but can feel a bit button mashy incase if people do not like button mashy games. This game does have a lot of platforming which I like because it adds variety to the gameplay and is welcome! HI-FI rush also has grappling hook sections which these are a blast! The bosses in HI-FI rush are a spectacle with each one being different in style. I won’t spoil these because you should get to experience them! The last boss has incredible music and is just gorgeous! Overall the gameplay is gold for me with different types of enemies and always new things being unlocked to change up the gameplay! Just gets tedious sometimes with the minigames if you mess them up but on easier difficulties this isn’t much of a problem!
Story: The story is about Chai, a boy who wants to become a future rockstar but ends up being a defect and has to defeat all the villains in order to not be controlled by PROJECT spectra, a technology that controls minds. When you defeat the villains you get their passkey, You need all the villains passkeys to stop PROJECT spectra! I really like this premise with technology involved since I’m a tech guy so It made it relatable! You have buddies like 808 which is a cute robotic cat! Peppermint who is skeptical about you at first but ends up trusting you, Macaron is a big guy that didn’t want to fight but had to! And Korsica which you had to end up fighting but is on your side. You also have a robot. All the characters I like but CHAI I ended up liking so much due to his I get it done my way personality! The cast has many very solid choices like Roger Craig Smith being the main villain Kale Vandelay! The story has its moments and is really good for this type of game. It isn’t a masterpiece but that’s not what I expect out of a rhythm game! The story does its job very well and is good for what it is and the tone it is trying to achieve which isn’t serious!
Hideout: This is a cool feature where you have a little hub. You can do stuff like pet the cat, talk to your crew, decorate it with graffiti that you find. Once you beat the game you unlock side missions about SPECTRA possibly coming back. This is a really smart feature and is very welcome! The side missions I have not played yet but probably are worth a check out! You can also do rhythm tower!
Conclusion: Tango Gameworks took a risk with this and they NAILED it! This is an amazing start to 2023! We don't usually see many games in January! One of the most refreshing games I have played in a while and is a GOTY contender for me already and wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up in my top 5 games for 2023! It might even be my GOTY! This is a strong recommendation for anyone who loves rhythm games! Kudos to the team for making an amazing title! I don’t have many flaws for this at all! I give HI-FI rush a 10/10! Incredible job Tango! Keep on taking bold risks like this and keep innovating! A MUST PLAY!
Gameplay: The gameplay is a blast with guitar music playing which this game has an amazing OST! Hi-FI rush is like if Devil May Cry and Metal Hellsinger had a baby! You attack with a guitar and you are graded based on time, beat timing, and score. I love this system because it will push the player to replay these levels to get the best grade possible. You have heavy attacks and light attacks with being able to dodge, and parry. There are new moves that you can unlock by getting currency found in the levels. You can unlock new chips, and combos! I like this because it adds an incentive to explore how there is also an incentive to explore the world is that you can have collectibles that increase your health or a graffiti for your personal hideout! You are not required to stay on beat which I love because it makes it more accessible and helps me because I suck at staying on beat! You can also make the beat show at the bottom of the screen to help with your timing again with making it accessible! Then you will need to use buddies like Peppermint, Maceron and Korisca for different things. Peppermint you use for shooting shields, Maceron you use for smashing shields and breaking doors, Korsica for powering down generators and putting out fires. Macaron you need to time the punch and Korisca you need to press the button when the pointer is in the green area or else you’ll need to redo the minigame. I like this because it adds to the gameplay rather than just fighting bad guys. Enemies will require you to use those characters for breaking shields, smashing enemy barriers and putting out fire. This again adds to the gameplay which I like but can feel a bit button mashy incase if people do not like button mashy games. This game does have a lot of platforming which I like because it adds variety to the gameplay and is welcome! HI-FI rush also has grappling hook sections which these are a blast! The bosses in HI-FI rush are a spectacle with each one being different in style. I won’t spoil these because you should get to experience them! The last boss has incredible music and is just gorgeous! Overall the gameplay is gold for me with different types of enemies and always new things being unlocked to change up the gameplay! Just gets tedious sometimes with the minigames if you mess them up but on easier difficulties this isn’t much of a problem!
Story: The story is about Chai, a boy who wants to become a future rockstar but ends up being a defect and has to defeat all the villains in order to not be controlled by PROJECT spectra, a technology that controls minds. When you defeat the villains you get their passkey, You need all the villains passkeys to stop PROJECT spectra! I really like this premise with technology involved since I’m a tech guy so It made it relatable! You have buddies like 808 which is a cute robotic cat! Peppermint who is skeptical about you at first but ends up trusting you, Macaron is a big guy that didn’t want to fight but had to! And Korsica which you had to end up fighting but is on your side. You also have a robot. All the characters I like but CHAI I ended up liking so much due to his I get it done my way personality! The cast has many very solid choices like Roger Craig Smith being the main villain Kale Vandelay! The story has its moments and is really good for this type of game. It isn’t a masterpiece but that’s not what I expect out of a rhythm game! The story does its job very well and is good for what it is and the tone it is trying to achieve which isn’t serious!
Hideout: This is a cool feature where you have a little hub. You can do stuff like pet the cat, talk to your crew, decorate it with graffiti that you find. Once you beat the game you unlock side missions about SPECTRA possibly coming back. This is a really smart feature and is very welcome! The side missions I have not played yet but probably are worth a check out! You can also do rhythm tower!
Conclusion: Tango Gameworks took a risk with this and they NAILED it! This is an amazing start to 2023! We don't usually see many games in January! One of the most refreshing games I have played in a while and is a GOTY contender for me already and wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up in my top 5 games for 2023! It might even be my GOTY! This is a strong recommendation for anyone who loves rhythm games! Kudos to the team for making an amazing title! I don’t have many flaws for this at all! I give HI-FI rush a 10/10! Incredible job Tango! Keep on taking bold risks like this and keep innovating! A MUST PLAY!
2022
This review contains spoilers
High On Life is a game made by the mastermind Justin Rolland! He created Rick and Morty! Now onto the review.
Introduction:
High On Life to me was fascinating and one of 2022's biggest surprises! This game's first ten minutes were so memorable! It makes you play a retro shooter which was really cool. Then you see your planet gets invaded by aliens! This sets the tone preparing you that this will be a weird and wild adventure with tons of laughter on the way!
Gameplay: The gameplay in this game involves a knife and 5 guns that talk. My favourite weapon was Knifey because of his badass personality with the obsession of him wanting to decapitate the G3's bodies! Kenny is a pistol that has a glob shot that you use to get you across certain areas. Knifey can come useful in grappling bees. Makes it feel like you are Spiderman sometimes! You will need to do some platforming with it! Gus is a shotgun that can fire a disc! Sweezy is a semi-automatic pistol that can fire a time bubble where it slows down enemies or fans. The Creature is unique because he fires babies. He helps with getting you through the electrical boxes. The final one is Lizduit. This gun you use in the last mission to kill Garmantuous! He fires an overpowered plasma canon but can also fire an arc. You will use most of the game's mechanics throughout the game making these guns all useful. You get a jetpack which is really cool! You also will get a dash to dodge enemies! I just wish there was more to the gameplay. It is serviceable though.
Story/Dialogue: The story is about you bounty-hunting the G3 cartel leaders. You hunt 7 of these! You have Gatilians which are the talking weapons! Yes, they talk and it's hilarious You have Gene which was a former bounty hunter but was homeless. So the protagonist invited him to a house and he just sits down and watches movies most of the time! You have Lizzie which is your protagonist's sister! She makes fun of you throughout the game but later on, she treats you better. The dialogue in this game for me is a joy to hear! At the end of the game, they point out their bad level design and tell "IGN, Kotaku and those game reviewing sites to dock the score by a couple of points" This made me burst into laughter! The dialogue was a blast to hear! I just wished they would not make fun of thier own game as much as they did for incomplete stuff. It feels like on purpose to justify. I will not spoil more jokes because I want you to experience them for yourself! You will have a blast if you are a fan of Justin Rolland's humour!
I wish there was side quests or other things to do when you complete the base game but just a minor complaint!
Verdict: High on Life was an amazing game that was fun throughout to the end! This was one of my biggest surprises of the year! I was engaged with the game to the very end! I will be giving this game a 9/10. Just wanted more from the gameplay and fewer jokes making fun of thier own game! High credit belongs to Squanch games and Justin Rolland for setting a high bar for these types of games! More games like this and less of the BS from some of the AAA devs these days!
Introduction:
High On Life to me was fascinating and one of 2022's biggest surprises! This game's first ten minutes were so memorable! It makes you play a retro shooter which was really cool. Then you see your planet gets invaded by aliens! This sets the tone preparing you that this will be a weird and wild adventure with tons of laughter on the way!
Gameplay: The gameplay in this game involves a knife and 5 guns that talk. My favourite weapon was Knifey because of his badass personality with the obsession of him wanting to decapitate the G3's bodies! Kenny is a pistol that has a glob shot that you use to get you across certain areas. Knifey can come useful in grappling bees. Makes it feel like you are Spiderman sometimes! You will need to do some platforming with it! Gus is a shotgun that can fire a disc! Sweezy is a semi-automatic pistol that can fire a time bubble where it slows down enemies or fans. The Creature is unique because he fires babies. He helps with getting you through the electrical boxes. The final one is Lizduit. This gun you use in the last mission to kill Garmantuous! He fires an overpowered plasma canon but can also fire an arc. You will use most of the game's mechanics throughout the game making these guns all useful. You get a jetpack which is really cool! You also will get a dash to dodge enemies! I just wish there was more to the gameplay. It is serviceable though.
Story/Dialogue: The story is about you bounty-hunting the G3 cartel leaders. You hunt 7 of these! You have Gatilians which are the talking weapons! Yes, they talk and it's hilarious You have Gene which was a former bounty hunter but was homeless. So the protagonist invited him to a house and he just sits down and watches movies most of the time! You have Lizzie which is your protagonist's sister! She makes fun of you throughout the game but later on, she treats you better. The dialogue in this game for me is a joy to hear! At the end of the game, they point out their bad level design and tell "IGN, Kotaku and those game reviewing sites to dock the score by a couple of points" This made me burst into laughter! The dialogue was a blast to hear! I just wished they would not make fun of thier own game as much as they did for incomplete stuff. It feels like on purpose to justify. I will not spoil more jokes because I want you to experience them for yourself! You will have a blast if you are a fan of Justin Rolland's humour!
I wish there was side quests or other things to do when you complete the base game but just a minor complaint!
Verdict: High on Life was an amazing game that was fun throughout to the end! This was one of my biggest surprises of the year! I was engaged with the game to the very end! I will be giving this game a 9/10. Just wanted more from the gameplay and fewer jokes making fun of thier own game! High credit belongs to Squanch games and Justin Rolland for setting a high bar for these types of games! More games like this and less of the BS from some of the AAA devs these days!
2022
The best mainline Sonic game since Generations! Frontiers mostly succeeds at switching up the formula but fell flat in quite a few areas. I enjoyed Frontiers but I also have a lot of problems or nitpicks with the game personally. I am reviewing this on an Xbox Series X console if you are wondering.
Open Zones: The first two islands (Kronos and Ares) were excellent! They had good platforming, and puzzles and were fun islands! The third island (chaos) was where I felt like the quality dipped. It relied heavily on 2D which I'm not against 2D but I felt like there was too much of it on this island. I felt like the map was too split up in Chaos island as well. It had clever puzzles and stuff but was worse than the first two in quality. The guardian's mini-bosses were fun to fight! The 4th island (Rhea) was a weird one because you had to climb towers and that was it. No cyberspace and it reused a lot of assets from Kronos. This was not a bad island per se though. It was fun to climb up the towers. The 5th island (Ouranos) should not have been in the game I felt like. This island felt like the game was padding itself out just for runtime. I believe it should have been the 4th island with the towers but take the cyberspace levels from the 5th island and put that into the 4th. Or make the 5th island not feel like padding.
I give the Open Zones an 8/10
Cyberspace: This I am mixed on because playing old sonic levels were fun to do! The physics/controls felt stiff and they were not good! I don't like it when they reuse green hill, chemical plant, and Sky Sanctuary for the 59th time already! That new city aesthetic was really cool and that is what I wanted to see more of! This was one of the weaker spots of the game yet enjoyable! I give cyberspace a 7/10. It was enjoyable yet flawed.
Story: The story is about freeing your friends which are Amy, Tails and Knuckles. They fell through a wormhole and you have to save them! This I believe is a great premise for a sonic game. You see a villain called SAGE and she puts on a show! Not going to spoil it. The cutscenes reference things from the sonic franchise like Dark Gaia and many other things I do not want to spoil! This feels like a reward for sticking with the franchise. The dialogue was not cringe-inducing like Forces this time around and they are not afraid to make the cutscenes last a while if needed. The new voice direction for Sonic was great to see! The story was great! I give the story an 8.5/10 nothing masterpiece worthy but it was great! Just needed more visually appealing scenes!
OST: The soundtrack for this game BOPS hard and is one of the best video game soundtracks I've ever heard! The music has a ton of variety and I absolutely love it. This might be one of my favourite sonic soundtracks! I believe the soundtrack is a 10/10 for me!
Combat: This was a really good combat system. The skill tree I really liked it because when you get new skills they feel like an actual upgrade not like a Ubisoft game where it's 5% more damage. These feel like upgrades and I like that! The enemies were fun to fight and cool to try new combos on them to see what is the best way to take them out. The Titans were a blast to fight despite feeling button mashy which for me isn't a problem but might be for someone else. This comes from someone that likes beat-em-ups. This is an awesome combat system so I give it a 9/10 because in case someone doesn't like button mashy combat
The difficulty was a good balance as well. I really like that they had difficulty options.
Technical issues: The technical issues in this game are not game-breaking like Cyberpunk by any means some are annoying like the freaking pop-in that happens every time I walk to an object. I have never seen pop in this bad in a video game before! The other technical issues are physic issues with sonic like getting caught on objects. I did not experience a lot of them nor were they game-breaking but the pop-in was annoying and brought down the experience a bit for me. This game felt like it could have used another delay.
Puzzles: The puzzles were fun. Some felt too easy like the combat ones where you had to deal a certain amount of damage or the hamstring one! Some did take some thought tho like the walking on tiles or the Tetris ones. Those took me some thought and actually made me think. These puzzles were fun and mostly added positively to the experience. I just wish some were better. The fact you have to wait till nighttime to do some of the puzzles is a nitpick but not the biggest issue. I give the puzzles a 8/10
Other cool things I wanna mention: The big fishing mini-game was actually really fun to play and felt rewarding enough. The Starfall mini-game that happens every few nights is cool as well. Nothing groundbreaking but something that adds to the experience. I like that in the settings you can adjust sonic's speed and stuff for the open zone. Just wish they had something like that for cyberspace. 60 FPS :)!
Nitpicks: Some of these are the fact when you go to upgrade your speed or your ring capacity it is very slow to do that process, The game defaults itself to 4K/30fps instead of 60fps. I have a 1080p tv so this I felt like was stupid. The fact there are puzzles you do only at night is one of them and the final one is that the rain in-game is a little too white. So some nitpicking but not a lot here.
Concluding thoughts: Sonic Frontiers is a great step in the right direction that I felt needed more time! Pokemon Legends Arceus I believe is a great comparison here. Both took their games in new directions and mostly succeeds at changing the formula! I really enjoyed Frontiers but felt like it needed more time to polish out the bugs, make the islands better quality and make the Cyberspace better by making original levels, and good physics. This game to me is an 8/10! It could have been a 7 for me though. Is it a masterpiece or perfect? no, but it is a really solid foundation that can be built upon for a sequel! If they make a sequel it could be one of the best sonic games ever! Please keep this formula Sega and Sonic Team. But hats off to Sonic Team for making a fun and enjoyable Sonic game for the first time in a long time! You've finally done it and please be proud of yourselves!
Would I recommend Frontiers: If you are a Sonic Fan then yes I would! Even if you are not a Sonic fan but are a fan of more open-environment games or platformers I would at the very least check out the game.
Open Zones: The first two islands (Kronos and Ares) were excellent! They had good platforming, and puzzles and were fun islands! The third island (chaos) was where I felt like the quality dipped. It relied heavily on 2D which I'm not against 2D but I felt like there was too much of it on this island. I felt like the map was too split up in Chaos island as well. It had clever puzzles and stuff but was worse than the first two in quality. The guardian's mini-bosses were fun to fight! The 4th island (Rhea) was a weird one because you had to climb towers and that was it. No cyberspace and it reused a lot of assets from Kronos. This was not a bad island per se though. It was fun to climb up the towers. The 5th island (Ouranos) should not have been in the game I felt like. This island felt like the game was padding itself out just for runtime. I believe it should have been the 4th island with the towers but take the cyberspace levels from the 5th island and put that into the 4th. Or make the 5th island not feel like padding.
I give the Open Zones an 8/10
Cyberspace: This I am mixed on because playing old sonic levels were fun to do! The physics/controls felt stiff and they were not good! I don't like it when they reuse green hill, chemical plant, and Sky Sanctuary for the 59th time already! That new city aesthetic was really cool and that is what I wanted to see more of! This was one of the weaker spots of the game yet enjoyable! I give cyberspace a 7/10. It was enjoyable yet flawed.
Story: The story is about freeing your friends which are Amy, Tails and Knuckles. They fell through a wormhole and you have to save them! This I believe is a great premise for a sonic game. You see a villain called SAGE and she puts on a show! Not going to spoil it. The cutscenes reference things from the sonic franchise like Dark Gaia and many other things I do not want to spoil! This feels like a reward for sticking with the franchise. The dialogue was not cringe-inducing like Forces this time around and they are not afraid to make the cutscenes last a while if needed. The new voice direction for Sonic was great to see! The story was great! I give the story an 8.5/10 nothing masterpiece worthy but it was great! Just needed more visually appealing scenes!
OST: The soundtrack for this game BOPS hard and is one of the best video game soundtracks I've ever heard! The music has a ton of variety and I absolutely love it. This might be one of my favourite sonic soundtracks! I believe the soundtrack is a 10/10 for me!
Combat: This was a really good combat system. The skill tree I really liked it because when you get new skills they feel like an actual upgrade not like a Ubisoft game where it's 5% more damage. These feel like upgrades and I like that! The enemies were fun to fight and cool to try new combos on them to see what is the best way to take them out. The Titans were a blast to fight despite feeling button mashy which for me isn't a problem but might be for someone else. This comes from someone that likes beat-em-ups. This is an awesome combat system so I give it a 9/10 because in case someone doesn't like button mashy combat
The difficulty was a good balance as well. I really like that they had difficulty options.
Technical issues: The technical issues in this game are not game-breaking like Cyberpunk by any means some are annoying like the freaking pop-in that happens every time I walk to an object. I have never seen pop in this bad in a video game before! The other technical issues are physic issues with sonic like getting caught on objects. I did not experience a lot of them nor were they game-breaking but the pop-in was annoying and brought down the experience a bit for me. This game felt like it could have used another delay.
Puzzles: The puzzles were fun. Some felt too easy like the combat ones where you had to deal a certain amount of damage or the hamstring one! Some did take some thought tho like the walking on tiles or the Tetris ones. Those took me some thought and actually made me think. These puzzles were fun and mostly added positively to the experience. I just wish some were better. The fact you have to wait till nighttime to do some of the puzzles is a nitpick but not the biggest issue. I give the puzzles a 8/10
Other cool things I wanna mention: The big fishing mini-game was actually really fun to play and felt rewarding enough. The Starfall mini-game that happens every few nights is cool as well. Nothing groundbreaking but something that adds to the experience. I like that in the settings you can adjust sonic's speed and stuff for the open zone. Just wish they had something like that for cyberspace. 60 FPS :)!
Nitpicks: Some of these are the fact when you go to upgrade your speed or your ring capacity it is very slow to do that process, The game defaults itself to 4K/30fps instead of 60fps. I have a 1080p tv so this I felt like was stupid. The fact there are puzzles you do only at night is one of them and the final one is that the rain in-game is a little too white. So some nitpicking but not a lot here.
Concluding thoughts: Sonic Frontiers is a great step in the right direction that I felt needed more time! Pokemon Legends Arceus I believe is a great comparison here. Both took their games in new directions and mostly succeeds at changing the formula! I really enjoyed Frontiers but felt like it needed more time to polish out the bugs, make the islands better quality and make the Cyberspace better by making original levels, and good physics. This game to me is an 8/10! It could have been a 7 for me though. Is it a masterpiece or perfect? no, but it is a really solid foundation that can be built upon for a sequel! If they make a sequel it could be one of the best sonic games ever! Please keep this formula Sega and Sonic Team. But hats off to Sonic Team for making a fun and enjoyable Sonic game for the first time in a long time! You've finally done it and please be proud of yourselves!
Would I recommend Frontiers: If you are a Sonic Fan then yes I would! Even if you are not a Sonic fan but are a fan of more open-environment games or platformers I would at the very least check out the game.