Wisbrydex
2017
Gamers familiar with Arcane Studios formula will feel right at home playing prey. The play-your-way mechanics, skill based upgrades, weapon wheel, and overall aesthetic design that made the Dishonored series so great makes a nearly perfect transition to Prey, minus the implementation of a crafting system. I personally enjoy when developers add a crafting element into their games, however Arcane has not done a good job of balancing the crafting mechanics with the rest of the gameplay. The issue is that crafting is too critical to gameplay while being very unrewarding. It forces the player to spend too much time worrying about the minuscule amount of crafting materials found in the world just for the option to craft the small amount of supplies actually created by the crafting process. I understand that the developers were forcing players to manage their supplies, however this forces players into a fairly specific method of tacking objectives and enemies in a game that touts a play-your-way style of gameplay. Yes, the game can be tackled in a stealth-centric style while using the minimal amount of resources, however early in the game this is nearly impossible and it disregards players who do not prefer a head on style of gameplay over stealth. Arcane could rectify this by making crafting materials more abundant, especially for materials dropped by defeated enemies. This way players who prefer stealth can still make their way through the game using little resourcing a minimal crafting, while giving more combat focused players the chance to play the game the way they wish.
Outside of this, Prey is nearly flawless. Gameplay is fun and engaging, enemies are difficult but not too difficult, the story is good, and the environment is gorgeous. Prey also does a very good job of making the game as non-linear as possible. The main story certainly has a liner plot, however players can chose when they wish to tackle main objectives and are more or less free to roam the game world as they please assuming those areas are unlocked.
Brilliant atmosphere and immersion that rewards exploration.
Prey’s gameplay borrows heavily from other first person action/adventure games such as Bioshock, Dishonored, and Deus Ex, with its focus falling heavily on the adventure side rather than the action. This is lucky really, as the action in Prey is often lacking, and is definitely not one of the game’s stronger points. Its adventure side though, really shines.
Prey is divisive. Its numerous flaws, difficulty, pacing and odd design choices will render it unplayable for some. However, others, who love this kind of game and are able to look pass these flaws will absolutely adore it.
Outside of this, Prey is nearly flawless. Gameplay is fun and engaging, enemies are difficult but not too difficult, the story is good, and the environment is gorgeous. Prey also does a very good job of making the game as non-linear as possible. The main story certainly has a liner plot, however players can chose when they wish to tackle main objectives and are more or less free to roam the game world as they please assuming those areas are unlocked.
Brilliant atmosphere and immersion that rewards exploration.
Prey’s gameplay borrows heavily from other first person action/adventure games such as Bioshock, Dishonored, and Deus Ex, with its focus falling heavily on the adventure side rather than the action. This is lucky really, as the action in Prey is often lacking, and is definitely not one of the game’s stronger points. Its adventure side though, really shines.
Prey is divisive. Its numerous flaws, difficulty, pacing and odd design choices will render it unplayable for some. However, others, who love this kind of game and are able to look pass these flaws will absolutely adore it.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is a masterpiece. It shows strength in all areas of gaming, graphics and uniqueness included. I've lost count of how many times I've beaten it. Every time I play it, I discover something new about the game play or story. It is one of those games that you can never really get tired of.
The game is close to achieving perfection with amazing graphics, terrific game play, awesome boss battles and compelling storyline with some of the fantastic cut scenes that surpass the ridiculously insane level of Rambo films and others like it. It is impossible to be moved by the ending, but this game did for me. The epic scope of the game is a clear case that sometimes playing a video game is better than going to the movies at a certain time period when there are too few good movies to see. Metal Gear Solid 3 is an incredible achievement in video gaming from the standpoint of my experience playing the game from beginning to end.
The storyline has its fair share of twists and interesting side-plots, making the game more fun to play. The way the codec system is done makes for a lot of potential suspense, and the developers didn't fail to take advantage of this. The only shaky part of the storyline is the dialogue, which usually fits, but the emotion put out by the voice actors isn't always... correct. That leads me to my next subject.
The music in the game is very well done. Though it's not the stuff you'd listen to on a long car trip (or maybe you would, who knows), it is very fitting of the situation. Like the graphic attention-to-detail, it really serves to help you feel like you are in the jungle fighting/sneaking past enemies. The ambient sounds also serve the same purpose, when you aren't getting chased by enemies the music is usually either really dim or not there, leaving only the many sounds of the jungle, and many sounds there are. Birds chirping, frogs croaking, grass rustling as hissing snakes slither through the underbrush, all of these sounds are present in Snake Eater.
Though MGS3 is really meant to be a game that excels in the area of storyline, much action is present. Boss fights are where most of it happens, but if you are frustrated about having to sneak everywhere, and you wanna go Vice City/San Andreas on someones ass, all you have to do is whip out your handy-dandy... sorry, not notebook, but AK-47. Feel free to waste away your enemies while the realistic movement of the gun and flashy effects of explosions and gunshots give you some real eye-candy. Though the game is meant to be mostly about sneaking, with some forced action involved, you can go crazy with your guns if you feel like it, and many times it is just as effective, even if it does get you a little more chewed up than sneaking does.
Hideo Kojima never ceases to amaze me, besides the fact that Snake (A.K.A Big Boss) looks amazingly like Kurt Russell from "Escape From New York" in this game, the characters look and feel more realistic than anything ever attempted with video games. Since video games where invented they have been shrugged off by the other media's as inferior and childish, I have a feeling that that time is quickly coming to an end.
The game is close to achieving perfection with amazing graphics, terrific game play, awesome boss battles and compelling storyline with some of the fantastic cut scenes that surpass the ridiculously insane level of Rambo films and others like it. It is impossible to be moved by the ending, but this game did for me. The epic scope of the game is a clear case that sometimes playing a video game is better than going to the movies at a certain time period when there are too few good movies to see. Metal Gear Solid 3 is an incredible achievement in video gaming from the standpoint of my experience playing the game from beginning to end.
The storyline has its fair share of twists and interesting side-plots, making the game more fun to play. The way the codec system is done makes for a lot of potential suspense, and the developers didn't fail to take advantage of this. The only shaky part of the storyline is the dialogue, which usually fits, but the emotion put out by the voice actors isn't always... correct. That leads me to my next subject.
The music in the game is very well done. Though it's not the stuff you'd listen to on a long car trip (or maybe you would, who knows), it is very fitting of the situation. Like the graphic attention-to-detail, it really serves to help you feel like you are in the jungle fighting/sneaking past enemies. The ambient sounds also serve the same purpose, when you aren't getting chased by enemies the music is usually either really dim or not there, leaving only the many sounds of the jungle, and many sounds there are. Birds chirping, frogs croaking, grass rustling as hissing snakes slither through the underbrush, all of these sounds are present in Snake Eater.
Though MGS3 is really meant to be a game that excels in the area of storyline, much action is present. Boss fights are where most of it happens, but if you are frustrated about having to sneak everywhere, and you wanna go Vice City/San Andreas on someones ass, all you have to do is whip out your handy-dandy... sorry, not notebook, but AK-47. Feel free to waste away your enemies while the realistic movement of the gun and flashy effects of explosions and gunshots give you some real eye-candy. Though the game is meant to be mostly about sneaking, with some forced action involved, you can go crazy with your guns if you feel like it, and many times it is just as effective, even if it does get you a little more chewed up than sneaking does.
Hideo Kojima never ceases to amaze me, besides the fact that Snake (A.K.A Big Boss) looks amazingly like Kurt Russell from "Escape From New York" in this game, the characters look and feel more realistic than anything ever attempted with video games. Since video games where invented they have been shrugged off by the other media's as inferior and childish, I have a feeling that that time is quickly coming to an end.
2015
To begin, I mostly stumbled across Bloodborne because of its high rating and under that premise assumed that it has to be somewhat decent, which it is. On the whole though, it didn't strike me as spectacular as some people made it out to be for reasons I shall explain below.
The game handles woefully poorly, with often unresponsive controls particularly if you need to use a potion to heal yourself. It feels sluggish to play, which in a game that requires you to have fast reflexes just doesn't work well at all. This could be exacerbated by the awful framerate, which often can dip below the game's 30fps cap. 60fps would have been a much better framerate to aim for.
Bloodborne removes all magic/miracles and replaces them with hunter tools. These uninspired tools are completely useless. Instead of a mana bar or a usage amount, Bloodborne's hunter tools utilize your quicksilver (QS) bullet stock . The problem is, you also use your QS bullets to parry enemies. So you are faced with the choice of using either a completely weak and utterly useless tool, or use your bullets for parrying... I'll use them for parrying.
Instead of having dozens of weapons to choose from, From Software decided to go with a more stream-lined approach and decided to include 15 "trick" weapons. These trick weapons are pretty much just 2 weapon categories from the Souls series made into one weapon. For example, Bloodborne features the Hunter's Axe which is just a 1-hand axe and when transformed, is essentially a great axe (It's pretty overpowered). Some trick weapons don't even feature a transformation like the Tonitrus and the Chikage, they feature a buff making them nothing more than a mace and a katana (respectively) from Demon's Souls/Dark Souls. These weapons can be modified with blood gems which are dropped by enemies or found in chalice dungeons (more on that later). The effects of these gems vary from adding fire damage to your weapon, adding poison damage, increasing physical damage, etc. At the end of the day you'll end up using whichever gem you have in your inventory is the best, making this game mechanic essentially useless.
Chalice Dungeons are randomized dungeons that supposedly offer replayability... I found them to be a complete drag (Not to mention the framerate is consistently lower in chalice dungeons than it is during the course of the main game). You will receive a chalice from defeating a main game boss which you can then place on an altar in the hub world (Hunter's Dream). Your first set of chalice dungeons will not be procedurally generated, you can only access those through the use of what is called a root chalice. The dungeons will vary with different handicaps and difficulties, but ultimately they all look the same and play the same. I slogged my way through them to earn the platinum trophy.
Bloodborne's boss design is atrocious. The majority of the bosses are giants that have sweeping attacks, and there is 2 optional bosses that are nearly identical, on top of that adding the awful camera.
Writing, its the same type of story telling like other from software games - there is an absolute lack of it, its minimal lore, lack of interesting characters and development, NPCs are as shallow as they were in Dark Souls 2, they literally have no stories at all.
Such an overrated game, Bloodborne was a huge disappointment.
The game handles woefully poorly, with often unresponsive controls particularly if you need to use a potion to heal yourself. It feels sluggish to play, which in a game that requires you to have fast reflexes just doesn't work well at all. This could be exacerbated by the awful framerate, which often can dip below the game's 30fps cap. 60fps would have been a much better framerate to aim for.
Bloodborne removes all magic/miracles and replaces them with hunter tools. These uninspired tools are completely useless. Instead of a mana bar or a usage amount, Bloodborne's hunter tools utilize your quicksilver (QS) bullet stock . The problem is, you also use your QS bullets to parry enemies. So you are faced with the choice of using either a completely weak and utterly useless tool, or use your bullets for parrying... I'll use them for parrying.
Instead of having dozens of weapons to choose from, From Software decided to go with a more stream-lined approach and decided to include 15 "trick" weapons. These trick weapons are pretty much just 2 weapon categories from the Souls series made into one weapon. For example, Bloodborne features the Hunter's Axe which is just a 1-hand axe and when transformed, is essentially a great axe (It's pretty overpowered). Some trick weapons don't even feature a transformation like the Tonitrus and the Chikage, they feature a buff making them nothing more than a mace and a katana (respectively) from Demon's Souls/Dark Souls. These weapons can be modified with blood gems which are dropped by enemies or found in chalice dungeons (more on that later). The effects of these gems vary from adding fire damage to your weapon, adding poison damage, increasing physical damage, etc. At the end of the day you'll end up using whichever gem you have in your inventory is the best, making this game mechanic essentially useless.
Chalice Dungeons are randomized dungeons that supposedly offer replayability... I found them to be a complete drag (Not to mention the framerate is consistently lower in chalice dungeons than it is during the course of the main game). You will receive a chalice from defeating a main game boss which you can then place on an altar in the hub world (Hunter's Dream). Your first set of chalice dungeons will not be procedurally generated, you can only access those through the use of what is called a root chalice. The dungeons will vary with different handicaps and difficulties, but ultimately they all look the same and play the same. I slogged my way through them to earn the platinum trophy.
Bloodborne's boss design is atrocious. The majority of the bosses are giants that have sweeping attacks, and there is 2 optional bosses that are nearly identical, on top of that adding the awful camera.
Writing, its the same type of story telling like other from software games - there is an absolute lack of it, its minimal lore, lack of interesting characters and development, NPCs are as shallow as they were in Dark Souls 2, they literally have no stories at all.
Such an overrated game, Bloodborne was a huge disappointment.