chrizzly
Honestly, banger. An upgrade on the first game in absolutely every way. The gameplay is fantastic, combat is diverse and there's so many different ways to tackle it. I settled on a combination of abilities but I think a completely different play-style would've been 100% viable. An incredible upgrade on the first game where the combat was one of my biggest gripes. The platforming was also fantastic, it felt precise, and consistently evolving with new abilities. Finally the story, goodness, it had no right to be as gut wrenching as it did. Full of emotional moments and triumph, it really did set a new bar for me for metroidvania storytelling. Fantastic game, highly recommend.
2012
I really don't think much can be said about Max Payne 3. Like, you jump around and shoot guns in slow motion. You learn how to do this within the first 30mins of the game, and that's it. No further mechanics. No further development. Just jumping, slow motion, and bang bang. It's completely fine and yeah it's enjoyable and satisfying to play but incredibly shallow overall. Story was fine, pretty generic but the voice performance of Max Payne was a highlight. It's cool, nothing special.
An intriguing one as this is a game I dropped almost a year ago but came back to and would say enjoyed. I feel like the gripes I had when I first played still partially exist; the combat might as well not exist, spamming one button to make some projectiles fly around is boring and not engaging at all and some of the platforming sections bordered on infuriating with the fact you needed to one-shot complete them. But overall I still enjoyed this one, I didn't really engage with the Metroidvania elements too much as I didn't find myself wanting to go back and find secrets but the narrative kept me hooked in and at times even tugged at the heart strings a little, and the game is obviously stunning to look at.
2023
As someone who doesn't typically click with puzzle games (see Cocoon) Chants of Sennaar really gripped me the entire way. Figuring out what words meant through context clues alone, making up sentences with glyphs I didn't know was very satisfying and made me feel smart, and the drive of the game being essentially the thirst for knowledge was really unique. The narrative wasn't exactly mind blowing but it engaged me enough that I found myself pushing through to the conclusion and completing as much of the game as possible (22/25 achievements). Highly recommend this one.
2024
Good game! The constant drive (hehe) to make my car better definitely pushed me through this one. Funnily it took me right to the end of the game to finally upgrade my engine and realise how handicapped I had been for the 19 hours prior. But still I loved the journey of every trip, coming back and adding a new gadget or piece of bodywork to my car which eventually made it into an acceptable vehicle. I will say it definitely felt like it dragged towards the end, the gameplay loop of going on longer and longer routes was getting tiresome and I felt myself just speeding through later routes to get to the objective but overall still a very fun game that I recommend.
2019
I am truly perplexed. Everything I have ever read about this game is that it is the peak of the genre, one of the best combat systems to experience in a game and truly a benchmark. And yet, it bored me, the combat didn't excite me and the story was a bit nonsensical. I don't want to trash DMC 5, I am probably hurt by entering the franchise on its 5th entry and I haven't engaged in many games of this type. But for me, this was not the experience I expected and it never truly gripped me over 10 hours.
2022
Just felt like a poor mans God of War really. Shallower combat that felt clunky at times. Visually impressive and the vistas you could see were stunning at times. Hated how your 'companions' would randomly teleport ahead of you which made absolutely 0 sense since you just killed 20 enemies to get to that spot. Also on PS5 the cutscenes and lip sync were atrocious.
2013
Not sure what needs to be said about this one, a cool concept and clearly there is a lot of endings you can get. I was satisfied with just one play-through as honestly the gameplay would probably get monotonous post 5 hours. Clean sharp experience that I had a good time with.
2019
Well hot damn. This one took me completely by surprise, gameplay wise there was enough here to push me through, with precision needed at all times. It was immensely satisfying to reach that flow state and complete a level perfectly, flawlessly working through all the enemies. What really shocked me was the narrative, in these indie titles the narrative most of the time plays second fiddle and sometimes is essentially non-existent. Here it was the driving force, pushing me forward constantly. I needed to know what was going to happen, I needed to figure out the mystery and why my character was doing what they were. Also the soundtrack BANGED.
Excellent, bite sized game that I completed in two sittings, definitely recommend (that ending was bs though)
Excellent, bite sized game that I completed in two sittings, definitely recommend (that ending was bs though)
2020
This review contains spoilers
Quite saddened by this one. The early game of Spiritfarer is solid, the resource gathering makes sense and your initial companions on your journey are all likeable and filled with personality. But the more I progressed, the more frustrating it became. Starting first with the resource management, the core mechanic of the game. It baffles me that after the first 20hrs there is still no way to automate resource creation. There is a kitchen, crusher, foundry, sawmill, loom, smithy, all the farming ones and that is just what I have unlocked and yet absolutely none of them have the ability to automate. That means that in the later parts of the game, when I need to craft higher level materials through various processes to complete quests, I need to manually go to multiple buildings and go through the same annoying mini games to make them. It is baffling in the long term that even through upgrades, there is no automation of resource creation.
Now for the characters. The initial bunch of spirits are all great, but I'd say from Astrid onwards I did not find a single one of them likeable and a few bordered on annoying. This might just be personal taste, but to have Giovanni, a cheater and by all accounts kinda shitty dude, get a full emotional send off while Atul, one of the longest serving passengers on board and a truly joyful person, just disappear overnight, is infuriating.
If you're one for lots of resource management and don't mind the need to constantly create new materials, you may enjoy this more than me. But at a certain point, I just couldn't push any further, especially when I didn't care for any of the spirits on the boat.
Now for the characters. The initial bunch of spirits are all great, but I'd say from Astrid onwards I did not find a single one of them likeable and a few bordered on annoying. This might just be personal taste, but to have Giovanni, a cheater and by all accounts kinda shitty dude, get a full emotional send off while Atul, one of the longest serving passengers on board and a truly joyful person, just disappear overnight, is infuriating.
If you're one for lots of resource management and don't mind the need to constantly create new materials, you may enjoy this more than me. But at a certain point, I just couldn't push any further, especially when I didn't care for any of the spirits on the boat.
2023
Not really sure where to start with this one. I think I can say that I appreciate it but at the same time I wouldn't say I liked it. Clearly a very well made game, the ability to shift through worlds at will was really cool and I did like how it was incorporated into puzzles. But it never really gripped me. At times after beating one puzzle, getting immediately thrown into the next just tired me out. If you like puzzle games, you'll like this and the puzzles are certainly intuitive, but I just got bored in the end and finished this simply to say I did so.
This review contains spoilers
Cool cool cool. Anything that gets me some fancy new GOW lore, inject that into my veins. GOWs gameplay is still incredibly solid and addiciting and for someone who loves roguelikes, could hold their interest for a long time. But I was just here for that juicy juicy lore and boy did they give it to us. Christopher Judge honestly, take a bow. Put more heart and soul into this short free DLC than some voice actors do their careers, honestly he carried HARD. Seeing old Kratos was so cool as well, great shock. Same with the Helios reveal and fighting Tyr was definitely not what I was expecting. Good little bite of story with some fun addicting gameplay to give us some new stuff to hold us for the next 5 years until the next installment, and set the stage for where Kratos will be.
2023
Just a blindingly infuriating game. Feel like there was so much wasted potential here buried under horrible pacing, some of the worst side quests I've experienced in a AAA game and combat system that once you get past the flashy colours, is extremely hollow. The story is what pushed me through and the high points are incredible, filled with amazing spectacle I haven't experienced in a game before. But those high points make the middling and low parts of the game even more frustrating. When I finished my playthrough, all that I could reflect on was that this was a super yacht that is riddled with holes, progressively sinking the longer it went.
2016
former top 10 roadhog on ps4 in season 2 in the oceania region by the way
2021
i've played 112 hours and still can't successfully get through the S's on silverstone