SunnyFranklin
2022
The gym tests involving finding Sunfloras and rolling an olive made me feel like I was playing a Vtech game.
The fact people still rate this game highly is just sad. Like Act Man said: don't defend this game, you deserve better.
The fact people still rate this game highly is just sad. Like Act Man said: don't defend this game, you deserve better.
This review contains spoilers
(This'll be mostly my thoughts on the campaign as I did not experience the multiplayer despite the praise I've heard)
Big step up from the previous game in my opinion. Story was improved on scale and intruige; featuring more memorable moments and missions.
The villain(s) are more memorable due to being introduced as a threat earlier via No Russian. Speaking of, said controversial mission is controversial for a reason but it's shock factor done right in my opinion. It's the catalyst for the entire conflict instead of achieving nothing, and it set's in motion Shepherd's upcoming betrayal and Makarov as a force to be reckoned with.
On the topic of Shepard, he's easily my favourite Call of Duty character alongside Reznov. He removes the whole black and white scenario I felt the first game had (America vs Russia) to make the conflict more interesting. His dialogue, motivations, links to the nuke scene from the first game, it all comes together to make a really well fleshed out character. Furthermore, I like how Makarov is used as a red herring which makes his eventual betrayal all the more unexpected (if you did this blind like I didn't).
I did wish Ghost and Soap had more fleshed out moments as Price seems to be the only character on the "good" side that holds my interest. Both the formers are cool dudes but more to them would have made it better.
Lowering the difficulty from hardened to regular was a good decision after playing hardened on the last game. It still felt like a fresh challenge without getting showered with grenades. It shows that I'm not good enough at FPS to do higher difficultly.
The gameplay does suffer from a lot of over the top action (dramatic boat chases, buildings collapsing, etc) which is one thing COD 4: Modern Warfare has over this campaign. I don't mind it in Black Ops 1 and 2 because it's meant to be more fictionalised on top of being spaced out better. However the missions were still fun to complete in addition to the story holding my interest so I'll give it a pass. Here's to hoping Modern Warfare 3 makes me regret bashing this specific aspect.
Big step up from the previous game in my opinion. Story was improved on scale and intruige; featuring more memorable moments and missions.
The villain(s) are more memorable due to being introduced as a threat earlier via No Russian. Speaking of, said controversial mission is controversial for a reason but it's shock factor done right in my opinion. It's the catalyst for the entire conflict instead of achieving nothing, and it set's in motion Shepherd's upcoming betrayal and Makarov as a force to be reckoned with.
On the topic of Shepard, he's easily my favourite Call of Duty character alongside Reznov. He removes the whole black and white scenario I felt the first game had (America vs Russia) to make the conflict more interesting. His dialogue, motivations, links to the nuke scene from the first game, it all comes together to make a really well fleshed out character. Furthermore, I like how Makarov is used as a red herring which makes his eventual betrayal all the more unexpected (if you did this blind like I didn't).
I did wish Ghost and Soap had more fleshed out moments as Price seems to be the only character on the "good" side that holds my interest. Both the formers are cool dudes but more to them would have made it better.
Lowering the difficulty from hardened to regular was a good decision after playing hardened on the last game. It still felt like a fresh challenge without getting showered with grenades. It shows that I'm not good enough at FPS to do higher difficultly.
The gameplay does suffer from a lot of over the top action (dramatic boat chases, buildings collapsing, etc) which is one thing COD 4: Modern Warfare has over this campaign. I don't mind it in Black Ops 1 and 2 because it's meant to be more fictionalised on top of being spaced out better. However the missions were still fun to complete in addition to the story holding my interest so I'll give it a pass. Here's to hoping Modern Warfare 3 makes me regret bashing this specific aspect.
The villain in this is basically Homelander from The Boys except remove everything that makes Homelander great.
This is the New Super Mario Bros game that made me realise how similar the other games were getting. It wasn't until U when I realised that I ultimately don't give a single shit about this series at all.
Even if I don't care about the series, I still like how they were at least unique in some aspects but this game is legit the same as the original except with more gold coins.
Even if I don't care about the series, I still like how they were at least unique in some aspects but this game is legit the same as the original except with more gold coins.
(Review originally posted on Google Reviews. I'm insane ik)
You will see many people give this game 5 stars and justify it by saying "The game play isn't THAT bad!", "It expands on the universe!" or "The main character's duo is interesting!"
In response to this, I say they are rather insane or just a Danganronpa fan (not that there is much difference). To say that this game is 5 stars based on no elaboration is ridiculous. This game is in my top 5 worst of all time and is what made me think Kodaka is a terrible writer.
Graphics: The execution style cut scenes (like a boss' defeat) are pretty as always and the anime style cut scenes are aight, the CG models though are tolerable at best.
Gameplay: While I can see someone sort of having fun with it, I found the game play of shooting very clunky. The variety in enemies and ammunition types is great but you'll be only using two of them (Break and Burn) since they're the only good ones. Combine that with lackluster level design then you're going to be bored throughout. I guess it was fun ripping people to shreds as genocide jack but at that point, why not just make that the entire game play if I am having the most fun with that? On their own, the puzzles are fine but I found the game's pacing very inconsistent when one moment I am shooting through a bland level then the other I am doing a Zero Escape like puzzle. The only puzzles I liked were the ones where you had to utilise different ammunition types.
Music: It's fine. Nothing really stands out as much as the other games though.
Story: The story is what makes this game go from 3 stars to 1 star...
- The dialogue is atrocious as Toko, the horrible representation of DID, will say some random unfunny joke out of nowhere one time and Komaru, the fan service tool, will always preach about how she is a normal girl. Their development is fine I guess but I can't immerse myself in their relationship when everything else about the story is legit trash.
- There is a character who basically confesses/implies he is into little girls and the main characters don't say anything.
- The villains are trash. "Adult did bad thing to me so I hate all adults!" is such a lame motivation. Not to mention this game has some of the worst representation for child abuse I have ever seen in a media, not to mention this game basically sexualises the equivalent to a child. They are all annoying and not interesting at all, except besides the blue haired one I guess.
- Scenes just there for cringe fan service and nothing else (chapter 3 cough cough).
- When I found that the kids were the bad guys, I was so hype to see what Kurokuma's role would be. Would he be an interesting antihero/secondary antagonist? Nah, he's just a lame comedic side role.
- The plot twist at the end is literal garbage, (spoiler warning even tho I still don't recommend this game) Kurokuma and Shirokuma turned out to be more Junko AI's who manipulated both the adults and the kids.
- My main problem with this game's story is how it's ridiculous yet how it wants me to take it seriously. Danganronpa's story is ridiculous already and it would work better if it embraced it's ridiculousness and comedy but the later entries in the series want me to take this ludicrous premise seriously. This is like asking me to take the Bee Movie seriously.
You will see many people give this game 5 stars and justify it by saying "The game play isn't THAT bad!", "It expands on the universe!" or "The main character's duo is interesting!"
In response to this, I say they are rather insane or just a Danganronpa fan (not that there is much difference). To say that this game is 5 stars based on no elaboration is ridiculous. This game is in my top 5 worst of all time and is what made me think Kodaka is a terrible writer.
Graphics: The execution style cut scenes (like a boss' defeat) are pretty as always and the anime style cut scenes are aight, the CG models though are tolerable at best.
Gameplay: While I can see someone sort of having fun with it, I found the game play of shooting very clunky. The variety in enemies and ammunition types is great but you'll be only using two of them (Break and Burn) since they're the only good ones. Combine that with lackluster level design then you're going to be bored throughout. I guess it was fun ripping people to shreds as genocide jack but at that point, why not just make that the entire game play if I am having the most fun with that? On their own, the puzzles are fine but I found the game's pacing very inconsistent when one moment I am shooting through a bland level then the other I am doing a Zero Escape like puzzle. The only puzzles I liked were the ones where you had to utilise different ammunition types.
Music: It's fine. Nothing really stands out as much as the other games though.
Story: The story is what makes this game go from 3 stars to 1 star...
- The dialogue is atrocious as Toko, the horrible representation of DID, will say some random unfunny joke out of nowhere one time and Komaru, the fan service tool, will always preach about how she is a normal girl. Their development is fine I guess but I can't immerse myself in their relationship when everything else about the story is legit trash.
- There is a character who basically confesses/implies he is into little girls and the main characters don't say anything.
- The villains are trash. "Adult did bad thing to me so I hate all adults!" is such a lame motivation. Not to mention this game has some of the worst representation for child abuse I have ever seen in a media, not to mention this game basically sexualises the equivalent to a child. They are all annoying and not interesting at all, except besides the blue haired one I guess.
- Scenes just there for cringe fan service and nothing else (chapter 3 cough cough).
- When I found that the kids were the bad guys, I was so hype to see what Kurokuma's role would be. Would he be an interesting antihero/secondary antagonist? Nah, he's just a lame comedic side role.
- The plot twist at the end is literal garbage, (spoiler warning even tho I still don't recommend this game) Kurokuma and Shirokuma turned out to be more Junko AI's who manipulated both the adults and the kids.
- My main problem with this game's story is how it's ridiculous yet how it wants me to take it seriously. Danganronpa's story is ridiculous already and it would work better if it embraced it's ridiculousness and comedy but the later entries in the series want me to take this ludicrous premise seriously. This is like asking me to take the Bee Movie seriously.
It's kinda fun at first and satisfying if you pull off the right strategy but this game also legit relies on luck, and even if you beat the bs wave they throw at you the game just straight up admits "NOPE! We don't want you winning!!!"
Why is there so much trash in the arcade these days? What happened to just putting in a coin then having some quick fun for a short time?
Why is there so much trash in the arcade these days? What happened to just putting in a coin then having some quick fun for a short time?
(I speak for the Arcade version of this as that is where a majority of my time has been spent, the other two games will be reviewed at some point separately)
This is a prime example of what a rail shooter should be:
- Fast action whilst not being unfair. I will admit sometimes it attempts to catch you off guard but in comparison to rail shooter games nowadays, it's nothing.
- Enemies keep on coming instead of making you wait ten years like Time Crisis 5 does. TC5 also had a problem with too many cutscenes making the games pacing really weird but that's not the case here.
- A fully interactive environment. Since this game uses a fully automatic machine gun, you really feel like you are causing major destruction because almost everything in the surrounding area can be damaged/destroyed.
- Differing sections where you use a different weapon (E.g. Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher) to spice up the gameplay but not too gimmicky to the point where it's obnoxious.
- Not amazing but decent writing. Dialogue repeats sometimes which is annoying ("GOOD WORK ALPHA 1!!! YOU'RE LIKE A MACHINE ALPHA 2!!!!") but the characters are distinct and likable to enough keep you engaged. Time Crisis, and many other rail shooters as a matter of fact, aren't needed in the story department. All I am saying here is that the writing isn't cringe like Time Crisis 5.
- Oh yeah and the soundtrack SLAPS.
This is a prime example of what a rail shooter should be:
- Fast action whilst not being unfair. I will admit sometimes it attempts to catch you off guard but in comparison to rail shooter games nowadays, it's nothing.
- Enemies keep on coming instead of making you wait ten years like Time Crisis 5 does. TC5 also had a problem with too many cutscenes making the games pacing really weird but that's not the case here.
- A fully interactive environment. Since this game uses a fully automatic machine gun, you really feel like you are causing major destruction because almost everything in the surrounding area can be damaged/destroyed.
- Differing sections where you use a different weapon (E.g. Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher) to spice up the gameplay but not too gimmicky to the point where it's obnoxious.
- Not amazing but decent writing. Dialogue repeats sometimes which is annoying ("GOOD WORK ALPHA 1!!! YOU'RE LIKE A MACHINE ALPHA 2!!!!") but the characters are distinct and likable to enough keep you engaged. Time Crisis, and many other rail shooters as a matter of fact, aren't needed in the story department. All I am saying here is that the writing isn't cringe like Time Crisis 5.
- Oh yeah and the soundtrack SLAPS.
2001
Outside of clunky controls, an atrocious final boss and the boos which are tedious to suck up, this has an nice atmosphere that the other two installments don't really have.
I'd love to see Luigi's Mansion 4 take on a darker approach like this game does where the rooms are actually dark, while keeping the gameplay improvements the third game made.
I'd love to see Luigi's Mansion 4 take on a darker approach like this game does where the rooms are actually dark, while keeping the gameplay improvements the third game made.
An Angry Birds Star Wars game sounds like a pathetic cash grab but this one isn't that bad in all honesty.
Apart from a few infuriating levels, this is basically what you'd expect if an Angry Birds Star Wars adaption was actually decent.
Apart from a few infuriating levels, this is basically what you'd expect if an Angry Birds Star Wars adaption was actually decent.
2012
The best Angry Birds game by a landslide, no other game comes close in my opinion.
I mean yeah they could have done something more interesting with Bomb, Terrence and the Blues instead of just keeping their same abilities considering how Chuck got some cool upgrades but the new gravity planet style more than makes up for it. The new icy bird is pretty poggers too.
The music in this one unironically slaps too? And the updates had actually effort put into them? I swear they didn't have to go so hard with the Mirror Worlds update to produce so many new levels but they did anyway. I could tell a lot of passion went into this despite it being a fucking Angry Birds game.
The bosses in this one are really fun to the point where I retry the levels a couple of times to see if I can beat them in different ways.
If you can pick this game up despite it being not available anymore then I'd fully recommend it.
I mean yeah they could have done something more interesting with Bomb, Terrence and the Blues instead of just keeping their same abilities considering how Chuck got some cool upgrades but the new gravity planet style more than makes up for it. The new icy bird is pretty poggers too.
The music in this one unironically slaps too? And the updates had actually effort put into them? I swear they didn't have to go so hard with the Mirror Worlds update to produce so many new levels but they did anyway. I could tell a lot of passion went into this despite it being a fucking Angry Birds game.
The bosses in this one are really fun to the point where I retry the levels a couple of times to see if I can beat them in different ways.
If you can pick this game up despite it being not available anymore then I'd fully recommend it.
Started off really amazing until they got really lazy with further updates. They tried to sum up Revenge of the Sith in TWENTY LEVELS!!!
1996
Sonic Blast me to the moon and never come back.
Campaign:
Although I think some of the dialogue could have used some work, the craziness in action goes a bit too far - which tests my ability to suspend disbelief - and some sections in missions are atrocious, this might be one of the best campaigns in the series.
One of the best parts is how your choices actually affect what happens in the story, no bullshit regarding only one choice at the end. The characters from the first game like Hudson and Woods get fleshed out more. Finally, Raul Menendez is a ten times better villain than Dragovich for having a sympathetic motivation and clever plan. I would say more but don't take my word for it, play it yourself and find out.
Multiplayer:
One of the best in the series alone for it's customisation. Custom games feel at their peak here with there being so many options to tweak and modify including what enemy team have what classes, etc. However I cannot comment much more since it's been forever since I indulged in the multiplayer.
Zombies:
While Town is a great small sandbox to play in, Black Ops 2 Zombies is not worth it if you don't buy the DLC. Tranzit is an awfully designed map that didn't do it's concept justice. I feel like it could have been viable if they made a few small changes:
- Remove those fog gremlins or make them way less frequent. The dense dust fog and the zombie horde are punishment enough for not taking the bus.
- Make the lava pits and flaming zombies way less frequent. Too many times have I been unfairly caught out due to my screen going blurry, it's an uneeded inconvenience.
- Rework the Wonder Weapon so it can actually be usable.
- Allow for the bus to be called to your location (like a bus terminal) so you aren't stuck waiting at the same location for ages. The maps biggest flaw is how if the mystery box disappears or if you need to get another perk, you have to spend ages getting from one place to the other. And I've already established how annoyingly tedious running through the dust cloud is.
- Rework the electric boss. They aren't fun to fight and they are an additional annoyance on a map that's built around inconveniences.
- Make Pack-a-Punch much easier to get. The zombies get stronger every round so the fact that, unless you are really skilled, have to do this long winded method to assess Pack-a-Punch is mind boggling.
Although I think some of the dialogue could have used some work, the craziness in action goes a bit too far - which tests my ability to suspend disbelief - and some sections in missions are atrocious, this might be one of the best campaigns in the series.
One of the best parts is how your choices actually affect what happens in the story, no bullshit regarding only one choice at the end. The characters from the first game like Hudson and Woods get fleshed out more. Finally, Raul Menendez is a ten times better villain than Dragovich for having a sympathetic motivation and clever plan. I would say more but don't take my word for it, play it yourself and find out.
Multiplayer:
One of the best in the series alone for it's customisation. Custom games feel at their peak here with there being so many options to tweak and modify including what enemy team have what classes, etc. However I cannot comment much more since it's been forever since I indulged in the multiplayer.
Zombies:
While Town is a great small sandbox to play in, Black Ops 2 Zombies is not worth it if you don't buy the DLC. Tranzit is an awfully designed map that didn't do it's concept justice. I feel like it could have been viable if they made a few small changes:
- Remove those fog gremlins or make them way less frequent. The dense dust fog and the zombie horde are punishment enough for not taking the bus.
- Make the lava pits and flaming zombies way less frequent. Too many times have I been unfairly caught out due to my screen going blurry, it's an uneeded inconvenience.
- Rework the Wonder Weapon so it can actually be usable.
- Allow for the bus to be called to your location (like a bus terminal) so you aren't stuck waiting at the same location for ages. The maps biggest flaw is how if the mystery box disappears or if you need to get another perk, you have to spend ages getting from one place to the other. And I've already established how annoyingly tedious running through the dust cloud is.
- Rework the electric boss. They aren't fun to fight and they are an additional annoyance on a map that's built around inconveniences.
- Make Pack-a-Punch much easier to get. The zombies get stronger every round so the fact that, unless you are really skilled, have to do this long winded method to assess Pack-a-Punch is mind boggling.
This game is probably a lower score but I have so much nostalgia for it that I can't bring myself to give it a lower score.
I can't deny that beating up robots with a friend is still fun to this day; I can tell the people making this actually cared about it.
I can't deny that beating up robots with a friend is still fun to this day; I can tell the people making this actually cared about it.
The idea to put micro transactions in this already soulless toys to life game is a good way to get a 1 out of 10.