dong_quixote
2015
This is the Pale Fire of video games
I beat this game, got 100% of the collectables and cleared every stage (including the final-final test) the first week it came out and I'm STILL playing it. What the fuck.
2016
Rez is one of the only games that one can truly say was made ahead of it's time, and that's mainly due to the fact that every new piece of technology the game is ported to makes it that much better. Seriously, having played the game back on the PS2 playing this with a VR headset is a genuine transcendental experience. It's like how this game was always designed to be played.
The thing is, it WASN'T designed to be played that way though. Tetsuya "The Miz" Mizuguchi, as cool as he is, probably didn't see the rise of consumer grade headsets decades after his game released, and if he did base his design on somehow knowing that he would've been insane (that would be like packaging a vibrator with your game...). It DOES however speak to the absolute Rock Solid strength of his unified design ethos here. Taking Synesthesia as the main point of where every design choice flows from, you can see this in every aspect of how the games plays. You flow through the levels, vibing to the pulsing electronic music as you hover your cursor effortlessly over enemies that you dispatch with equal ease as you release a button. The visuals and music throb and pound and almost ache with every action you take or don't take, because it's actually like jazz you see, only if a supercomputer tripping on LSD was the rest of the ensemble and it was still perfectly comping your solo.
The stages are great enough but the boss battles are the highlights of the show and easily showcase every design decision at their best, with Stage 4's being the best of the bunch. Rock Is Sponge blasting, the drums absolutely hammering as you fly down a twisting hallway while that shifting mass of cubes flies, and then runs, past you is unforgettable. Area 5 as a whole, also, deserves special mention for it's pitch perfect ending to the game, which somehow latches on basically the entire plot and some theming to the game and wraps it up in some absolutely incredible music and visuals that makes it all work. If you actually play that level perfectly and are in The Zone and you do not come out Transformed (or at least somewhat emotionally effected), I don't know what to say to you.
The simple fact that Area X exists proves how forward thinking the design of Rez initially was all those years ago. Here's a completely new level made just for Infinite, that took everything "The Miz" and his friends learned in the interim time and it absolutely shows. Perfectly tuned for VR but still incredible without it, Area X is a minor miracle with lush visuals and music that is in every way an evolution of Rez. Rez on it's own was good enough, but the addition of Area X in Infinite simply solidifies this as one of the best video games of all time (in my humble opinion, of course).
The thing is, it WASN'T designed to be played that way though. Tetsuya "The Miz" Mizuguchi, as cool as he is, probably didn't see the rise of consumer grade headsets decades after his game released, and if he did base his design on somehow knowing that he would've been insane (that would be like packaging a vibrator with your game...). It DOES however speak to the absolute Rock Solid strength of his unified design ethos here. Taking Synesthesia as the main point of where every design choice flows from, you can see this in every aspect of how the games plays. You flow through the levels, vibing to the pulsing electronic music as you hover your cursor effortlessly over enemies that you dispatch with equal ease as you release a button. The visuals and music throb and pound and almost ache with every action you take or don't take, because it's actually like jazz you see, only if a supercomputer tripping on LSD was the rest of the ensemble and it was still perfectly comping your solo.
The stages are great enough but the boss battles are the highlights of the show and easily showcase every design decision at their best, with Stage 4's being the best of the bunch. Rock Is Sponge blasting, the drums absolutely hammering as you fly down a twisting hallway while that shifting mass of cubes flies, and then runs, past you is unforgettable. Area 5 as a whole, also, deserves special mention for it's pitch perfect ending to the game, which somehow latches on basically the entire plot and some theming to the game and wraps it up in some absolutely incredible music and visuals that makes it all work. If you actually play that level perfectly and are in The Zone and you do not come out Transformed (or at least somewhat emotionally effected), I don't know what to say to you.
The simple fact that Area X exists proves how forward thinking the design of Rez initially was all those years ago. Here's a completely new level made just for Infinite, that took everything "The Miz" and his friends learned in the interim time and it absolutely shows. Perfectly tuned for VR but still incredible without it, Area X is a minor miracle with lush visuals and music that is in every way an evolution of Rez. Rez on it's own was good enough, but the addition of Area X in Infinite simply solidifies this as one of the best video games of all time (in my humble opinion, of course).
2022
A surprisingly great way to experience one of the best games ever made. A lot of work was done to update this in some small, smart ways while also keeping the core experience intact for those who'd prefer an unchanged experience. Me however? Bring on the exp and gil sliders lmao
2023
There's a good reason most character-action games end after ~10-12 hours. Also, their combat systems are usually WAY deeper than this. Not gonna get into story details because of spoilers but I found that underwhelming for a variety of reasons too. The game does do the big spectacle fights well enough to still be worthwhile, which says a lot.
This review contains spoilers
Zelda games are, at their core, about saving the world while also meeting a bunch of Weird Guys.
Link's Awakening, paradoxically, has one of the highest Weird Guys Per Minute ratios in the series (AND some of the weirdest at that), but completing it's quest means ENDING their world. This^, in my view, makes the it one of the most interesting and best games in the series.
^That, along with Rock Solid dungeons, a great final boss, neat minigames, the trading sequence, and the platforming sections. The remake is great too, since I'm posting this on it's page, I even didn't end up hating the Dampe chamber dungeon shit
Link's Awakening, paradoxically, has one of the highest Weird Guys Per Minute ratios in the series (AND some of the weirdest at that), but completing it's quest means ENDING their world. This^, in my view, makes the it one of the most interesting and best games in the series.
^That, along with Rock Solid dungeons, a great final boss, neat minigames, the trading sequence, and the platforming sections. The remake is great too, since I'm posting this on it's page, I even didn't end up hating the Dampe chamber dungeon shit
This game is a Miracle
Was this game flawed? Absolutely! The environments are pretty generic looking and the visuals can be kinda muddy at times. The story, while actually very good for a Pokémon game, still leaves a bit to be desired as far as complexity goes. The endgame is very grindy, which sucks as some of the best content is locked behind that grind.
Still, even with all that in my mind, and knowing that there are probably more issues I could list, this game went too hard in actually making good on the idea of Pokémon that I just have to overlook them. As someone who has played this series for practically my whole life, being actually able to go out in the virtual wilderness and track down Pokemon that are actually roaming around just felt like the realization of what the initial games were going for. The fact that this actually shakes up the gameplay of the series itself (which was getting a bit too stale, hate to admit) is the cherry on top. And it's actually legitimately challenging at points too!
When I think about all that (and the shiny Togekiss, Lucario, and Hisuian Typhlosion I caught in this game lmao), it's hard for me not to give this 5 stars. I see why it isn't on that level for everyone, but for me, it totally is, and I only stopped playing this because I basically ran out of things to do in it.
Still, even with all that in my mind, and knowing that there are probably more issues I could list, this game went too hard in actually making good on the idea of Pokémon that I just have to overlook them. As someone who has played this series for practically my whole life, being actually able to go out in the virtual wilderness and track down Pokemon that are actually roaming around just felt like the realization of what the initial games were going for. The fact that this actually shakes up the gameplay of the series itself (which was getting a bit too stale, hate to admit) is the cherry on top. And it's actually legitimately challenging at points too!
When I think about all that (and the shiny Togekiss, Lucario, and Hisuian Typhlosion I caught in this game lmao), it's hard for me not to give this 5 stars. I see why it isn't on that level for everyone, but for me, it totally is, and I only stopped playing this because I basically ran out of things to do in it.
2020
Happy for all of y'all who love this, as it clearly is well made, but I couldn't stand playing this lol. And I fucking loved DOOM 2016! Even got the platinum trophy for that. But this? I finished a few levels and walked away.
I think the main cause off that was they tacked on too much to the gameplay loop. 2016 threw plenty of enemies at you and periodically introduced new threats and tools to take them on, but largely let you use those tools however you wanted to take on the situations they built for you. In Eternal, enemies have very specific weaknesses that you very specifically HAVE to hit with a specific gun (or even a specific alt fire of a gun...) to kill them. To me, that runs completely counterintuitive to the speed of the combat in these games, which Eternal maybe even increases from 2016? Felt that way to me, could be wrong there though.
The way they handled the story here too just shows a complete lack of awareness of what worked in 2016. I obviously can't speak for the whole thing in Eternal since I didn't finish it, but the simple way it's presented is the complete opposite of how the story in 2016 was handled (which was a major part of what made it enjoyable imo). Compare Doomguy smashing an exposition giving monitor in that game to him standing around and listening to lore dumps in this game and you'll see what I mean. I don't give a fuck about the lore in DOOM, and anyone who does is an absolute lunatic. The fact that the devs all assumed we did makes them even bigger lunatics.
I think the main cause off that was they tacked on too much to the gameplay loop. 2016 threw plenty of enemies at you and periodically introduced new threats and tools to take them on, but largely let you use those tools however you wanted to take on the situations they built for you. In Eternal, enemies have very specific weaknesses that you very specifically HAVE to hit with a specific gun (or even a specific alt fire of a gun...) to kill them. To me, that runs completely counterintuitive to the speed of the combat in these games, which Eternal maybe even increases from 2016? Felt that way to me, could be wrong there though.
The way they handled the story here too just shows a complete lack of awareness of what worked in 2016. I obviously can't speak for the whole thing in Eternal since I didn't finish it, but the simple way it's presented is the complete opposite of how the story in 2016 was handled (which was a major part of what made it enjoyable imo). Compare Doomguy smashing an exposition giving monitor in that game to him standing around and listening to lore dumps in this game and you'll see what I mean. I don't give a fuck about the lore in DOOM, and anyone who does is an absolute lunatic. The fact that the devs all assumed we did makes them even bigger lunatics.