TheGamingN00b
BACKER
2015
SOMA tells an incredibly nuanced, gripping and intelligent science fiction story that stayed with me for a long time after I had finished the game. It is propably one of the great video game stories.
Its gameplay is servicable walking sim stuff, for the most part, until it wants to be a Horror game. Then it gets bad.
The Horror Elements are boring, underdeveloped and really don't mesh well with the rest of the experience.
The amazing story and the way interactivity plays into the experience of this story and lifts it up still make this game a masterpiece though. The story and the storytelling are just that good.
Def. play it if you're interested in SciFi at all.
Its gameplay is servicable walking sim stuff, for the most part, until it wants to be a Horror game. Then it gets bad.
The Horror Elements are boring, underdeveloped and really don't mesh well with the rest of the experience.
The amazing story and the way interactivity plays into the experience of this story and lifts it up still make this game a masterpiece though. The story and the storytelling are just that good.
Def. play it if you're interested in SciFi at all.
2010
Current Objective: Survive
Justin Ma once said in an interview: "We wanted to recreate the feeling of piloting the Enterprise or an equivalence of that".
And boy, did they ever succeed. This roguelike-spacesim transports the feeling of wonder that the old SciFi of yore made so special with ease and tells you a tale of a joyous adventure that is yours and yours alone every single time.
And every time you go through it, you get to experience deeply nuanced strategy spacesim combat.
The only thing the original game lacked was content.
And that's why the Advanced Edition is perfect.
Amazing.
And boy, did they ever succeed. This roguelike-spacesim transports the feeling of wonder that the old SciFi of yore made so special with ease and tells you a tale of a joyous adventure that is yours and yours alone every single time.
And every time you go through it, you get to experience deeply nuanced strategy spacesim combat.
The only thing the original game lacked was content.
And that's why the Advanced Edition is perfect.
Amazing.
2008
How the original Mega Man Games can have so many fans is one of the little things about humanity I find to be completely incomprehensible.
2009
There was a time when I felt the need to defend my love for this game...
But I guess I just stopped caring. Or got more confident. Or Both.
The setting is convoluted for sure and it took me some time and effort to figure it out (it's one of the very best things about the game to me now) and the story is stupid and the gameplay is simplistic AND the game is very linear; but this game is just so lovable to me and such great comfort food.
All the characters are near and dear to me (except Hope), Snow especially, who is one of my favorite video game characters.
Like I said, I really really learned to love the setting and the lore.
The actual story is bonkers, but I at least loved how it's been told to me.
Oh and there are no sequels. At all. None.
I could talk about this game some more for a long time to come, but instead, I will just say the following:
For whatever it's worth, for all its faults, Final Fantasy XIII will always have a very special place in my heart. As a game that has truly captured my imagination and let it flourish.
And it will stay that way.
And I am glad that it will.
Final Fantasy XIII earns a 9/10 from me.
P.S.: Almost forgot to mention the OST. I love it to death! It's sooooo gooood!
But I guess I just stopped caring. Or got more confident. Or Both.
The setting is convoluted for sure and it took me some time and effort to figure it out (it's one of the very best things about the game to me now) and the story is stupid and the gameplay is simplistic AND the game is very linear; but this game is just so lovable to me and such great comfort food.
All the characters are near and dear to me (except Hope), Snow especially, who is one of my favorite video game characters.
Like I said, I really really learned to love the setting and the lore.
The actual story is bonkers, but I at least loved how it's been told to me.
Oh and there are no sequels. At all. None.
I could talk about this game some more for a long time to come, but instead, I will just say the following:
For whatever it's worth, for all its faults, Final Fantasy XIII will always have a very special place in my heart. As a game that has truly captured my imagination and let it flourish.
And it will stay that way.
And I am glad that it will.
Final Fantasy XIII earns a 9/10 from me.
P.S.: Almost forgot to mention the OST. I love it to death! It's sooooo gooood!
2012
This is a game that has unfortunately been forgotten.
And that's a real shame, because it is a unique, imaginative and lovable parody of the classical fairytale and the traditional theatre aprroach to storytelling with a lot of engaging Suda51 madness. It even features a cliché theatre/fairytale narrator and an actual theatre stage with a curtain. And the enemies and the main character all look like they belong into a set in a childrens theatre. It's very memorable.
The game is too punishing and the gameplay needed more work, but overall this is a very charming indie package, that lovers of action platformers, especially weird and different action platformers, really shouldn't miss.
And that's a real shame, because it is a unique, imaginative and lovable parody of the classical fairytale and the traditional theatre aprroach to storytelling with a lot of engaging Suda51 madness. It even features a cliché theatre/fairytale narrator and an actual theatre stage with a curtain. And the enemies and the main character all look like they belong into a set in a childrens theatre. It's very memorable.
The game is too punishing and the gameplay needed more work, but overall this is a very charming indie package, that lovers of action platformers, especially weird and different action platformers, really shouldn't miss.
2010
This is a dumb knock-off of the first God of War in virtually every way.
Combat, visuals, main character, progession, pacing and large segments of the story and storytelling.
And it's a bad one.
Dante's Inferno falls flat on it's face every. single. time. it tries to flesh out it's own identity and fails spectacularily at even hinting what a monumental work of western literature Dante Alighieris Divine Comedy actually was.
That being said, this game isn't offensively bad or anything. It's just a worse version of the first God of War (which was not even a good game to begin with).
You can sit down and propably play this. It will propably be an underwhelming bore, but you're not going to hate yourself while doing it.
And at least this game tried something somewhere along the line and it just didn't work.
That's why it's not complete garbage.
But you do not need to play this. At all.
Usually people learn from these kinds of games...
shame that EA didn't learn.
Combat, visuals, main character, progession, pacing and large segments of the story and storytelling.
And it's a bad one.
Dante's Inferno falls flat on it's face every. single. time. it tries to flesh out it's own identity and fails spectacularily at even hinting what a monumental work of western literature Dante Alighieris Divine Comedy actually was.
That being said, this game isn't offensively bad or anything. It's just a worse version of the first God of War (which was not even a good game to begin with).
You can sit down and propably play this. It will propably be an underwhelming bore, but you're not going to hate yourself while doing it.
And at least this game tried something somewhere along the line and it just didn't work.
That's why it's not complete garbage.
But you do not need to play this. At all.
Usually people learn from these kinds of games...
shame that EA didn't learn.
2007
Lost Odyssey is without the shadow of a doubt an amazing, amazing game and one of the best RPGs and video games I have ever played.
Now this game does feel downright a little archaic from time to time in this day and age, with it's usage of Random Encounters and a plotstructure very reminicent of the earlier Final Fantasy Games (earlier as in 6-10), but honestly aside from being a little iffy about the random encounters in the very beginning, this didn't bother me. Not one fucking bit. None.
And that's mainly because of this games fantastic musical score, the awesome cast of very memorable characters and, most importantly, the incredibly tender writing that shines so brightly during every single carefully crafted scenario of this game.
That's what hit me right where I live.
And that is why, despite of Lost Odysseys old-fashioned design elements, this has switfly and surely become one of my favorite games ever and the experience I have had here will be in my head for a long time to come. ... possibly forever.
... a memory never fading... fitting for Lost Odyssey.
Now all I have to do is wait for the announcement of that sequel that'll surely come...
... gonna be any moment now...
Now this game does feel downright a little archaic from time to time in this day and age, with it's usage of Random Encounters and a plotstructure very reminicent of the earlier Final Fantasy Games (earlier as in 6-10), but honestly aside from being a little iffy about the random encounters in the very beginning, this didn't bother me. Not one fucking bit. None.
And that's mainly because of this games fantastic musical score, the awesome cast of very memorable characters and, most importantly, the incredibly tender writing that shines so brightly during every single carefully crafted scenario of this game.
That's what hit me right where I live.
And that is why, despite of Lost Odysseys old-fashioned design elements, this has switfly and surely become one of my favorite games ever and the experience I have had here will be in my head for a long time to come. ... possibly forever.
... a memory never fading... fitting for Lost Odyssey.
Now all I have to do is wait for the announcement of that sequel that'll surely come...
... gonna be any moment now...
This is robbery.
Yawn.
Unlike Until Dawn, which at least had a B-Movie Charm and, you know, an existent plot that actually goes somewhere, this is just an obnoxious piece of nothing (without any B-Movie Charm) with some of the least interesting scenarios I have seen in any game ever.
2020
Pain.
2005
The first F.E.A.R is an amazing First Person Shooter.
It is a masterclass in how to create believable A.I. in a shooting game and the developers of action games should always turn their heads to it for that alone.
And on top of that, this is the only game in the series that is an even remotely believable horror game. It starts out cheap, lazy and boring in the horror department, but it also gets better and better as the story goes on, until the last third, where it has some truly masterfully done scares that will delight you, or make you shit your pants... or both.
One of the better gaming experiences overall to come out in the last 20 Years, and it shouldn't be overlooked by any Shooter Fans, or Horror Fans, for that matter.
... shame that the sequels suck so much.
It is a masterclass in how to create believable A.I. in a shooting game and the developers of action games should always turn their heads to it for that alone.
And on top of that, this is the only game in the series that is an even remotely believable horror game. It starts out cheap, lazy and boring in the horror department, but it also gets better and better as the story goes on, until the last third, where it has some truly masterfully done scares that will delight you, or make you shit your pants... or both.
One of the better gaming experiences overall to come out in the last 20 Years, and it shouldn't be overlooked by any Shooter Fans, or Horror Fans, for that matter.
... shame that the sequels suck so much.
2001
[Abandoned with a 5 times asterisk]
Look. I get it.
The narrative of Silent Hill 2 is incredibly daring and dazzling and blends in seamlessly and sublimely with the Horror Elements of the game and the tragic and loathsome, yet sympathetic main character.
The Atmosphere of this game and the way it tells its story without words is truly enchanting.
... that being said, actually playing it makes me wanna pluck out my fingernails with a screwdriver one by one, dowse them in acid and eat them like cereal.
Look. I get it.
The narrative of Silent Hill 2 is incredibly daring and dazzling and blends in seamlessly and sublimely with the Horror Elements of the game and the tragic and loathsome, yet sympathetic main character.
The Atmosphere of this game and the way it tells its story without words is truly enchanting.
... that being said, actually playing it makes me wanna pluck out my fingernails with a screwdriver one by one, dowse them in acid and eat them like cereal.
Gone home is worthless.
It is one of the most uninvolving and uneventful walking sims ever and has next to nothing to offer but a somewhat dense atmosphere.
And even said atmosphere suffered because of the games age, since much of that atmosphere comes from the fact that the house the game takes place in was well designed for its time. It had a homey feel to it and felt crammed and cozy enough that one might think people could live there.
However this holds absolutely no candle against the more recent video game homes, seen for example in Uncharted 4.
And while the story, its premise and solution is unique, at least for video games, unique doesn't mean interesting and it certainly doesn't mean good.
Aaaaaand the resolution of the story has to be one of the most unsatisfying, throwaway, lazy and cheap resolutions to any story ever. Something that was surely done exclusively for the purpose of subverting expectations.
Please stay away from this pretentious hipster garbage.
It is one of the most uninvolving and uneventful walking sims ever and has next to nothing to offer but a somewhat dense atmosphere.
And even said atmosphere suffered because of the games age, since much of that atmosphere comes from the fact that the house the game takes place in was well designed for its time. It had a homey feel to it and felt crammed and cozy enough that one might think people could live there.
However this holds absolutely no candle against the more recent video game homes, seen for example in Uncharted 4.
And while the story, its premise and solution is unique, at least for video games, unique doesn't mean interesting and it certainly doesn't mean good.
Aaaaaand the resolution of the story has to be one of the most unsatisfying, throwaway, lazy and cheap resolutions to any story ever. Something that was surely done exclusively for the purpose of subverting expectations.
Please stay away from this pretentious hipster garbage.