StonkoRocko
501 Reviews liked by StonkoRocko
Cuphead
2017
The Last of Us
2013
Inside
2016
Limbo
2010
The Last of Us
2013
Gameplay is fine, the "puzzles" are repetitive and boring. It's a video game that thinks it's too good to be a video game and that's it's biggest problem because the writing isn't' THAT GOOD.
It also is responsible for my least favorite trend in video game history which is "hold up on the analog stick for ten minutes after 10 minutes of gameplay while these characters talk" instead of you know, directing an actual cut scene and using visual storytelling aside from "see the bright green nature juxtaposes the gritty violence WOW" it's laughably juvenile.
It also is responsible for my least favorite trend in video game history which is "hold up on the analog stick for ten minutes after 10 minutes of gameplay while these characters talk" instead of you know, directing an actual cut scene and using visual storytelling aside from "see the bright green nature juxtaposes the gritty violence WOW" it's laughably juvenile.
The Last of Us
2013
A game permeated with shame: not just through the course of the story, which is fine, but in its very design: there is a disgraceful amount of self-hatred in modern videogame storytelling, as if they would much rather be movies or television shows, but organization gatekeeping forces them to an interactive medium. The Last of Us is a game designed in a manner not dissimilar to the worst of early 2010s prestige TV (think, like, Low Winter Sun) but with lazy video game time-filler like "collect 40 dog tags."
If you like zombie stories, it's a good zombie story. But if you like good video game stories, it is very much not one, and the praise for its narrative is antithetical to the development of gaming as its own medium capable of rich, emotionally fulfilling tales.
If you like zombie stories, it's a good zombie story. But if you like good video game stories, it is very much not one, and the praise for its narrative is antithetical to the development of gaming as its own medium capable of rich, emotionally fulfilling tales.
The Last of Us
2013
The Last of Us
2013
Joel and Elly are excellently realized characters. Aside from that and how stunning the graphics are, there isn't a ton in The Last of Us to write home about. Gameplay is fine, but nothing remarkable and the puzzles start to just come across as silly. Telltale's Walking Dead has a stronger zombie apocalypse story.
Stray
2022
The Last of Us
2013
Pretty generic zombie story (characters most travel from one side of the country to the other to make a cure, finding other survivors who help or fight them along the way) but the characters are pretty well written. Gameplay is a blend of decent third person shooting, bad stealth and bad puzzles but overall its passable.
Stray
2022
Lures you in with the entertaining promise of letting you do funny cat things, which it does deliver on for about half an hour, but then throws you into a bland melancholic cyberpunk adventure where the fact that you're a feline critter is basically irrelevant save for brief cutesy button prompts. Sorry what I meant to say was You Can Meow And Pet The Heckin Kitterino 11/10
Stray
2022
Cute lil game I guess. Kinda plays itself with how the "platforming" is just point and press a button with infinite error margin plus the puzzles and chase sequences being so funneled and lenient you couldve made them cutscenes and not lose much player agency.
Art direction and ost are top tier though, and interacting with the npcs brings a lot of charm to the world. I just wish there was more actual game "meat" to it.
The game has pretty severe issues with its frame time stability considering how short it is, but I assume itll get fixed in a later patch as is increasingly more common nowadays with new releases on pc unfortunately.
Its fine.
Art direction and ost are top tier though, and interacting with the npcs brings a lot of charm to the world. I just wish there was more actual game "meat" to it.
The game has pretty severe issues with its frame time stability considering how short it is, but I assume itll get fixed in a later patch as is increasingly more common nowadays with new releases on pc unfortunately.
Its fine.
Banjo-Kazooie
1998
Halo 3: ODST
2009
The atmosphere of the late night rookie levels is fantastic, but finding beacons in the dark isn't exactly gripping gameplay.
The concept behind ODST (playing Halo from the POV of Marines) is cool! But in execution this is just Halo 3, but with less-interesting levels and an escort mission for a finale.
The concept behind ODST (playing Halo from the POV of Marines) is cool! But in execution this is just Halo 3, but with less-interesting levels and an escort mission for a finale.