doomercore
90 Reviews liked by doomercore
XDefiant
2024
What possesses developers that they make all these bizarrely toothless PVP 3D shooter games- movement speed is tuned to be middling, Time To Kill is tuned to be middling, weapon handling mechanics are tuned to be middling, all of the fundamental verbs of these games seem deliberately designed to be roughly average, it makes no fucking sense, who wants to play a game like that.
Call of Duty may not be amazing but it has movement and weapon mechanics that can induce ADHD in a fully grown adult with no prior symptoms, Counter-Strike has those wild ass recoil systems and grenade trajectories, Halo was deliberately made to be absurdly sluggish- Tribes absurdly fast, Gears of War had cover platforming, Quake- Bunnyhopping, etc, etc. These games, whether trying to cater to a mass audience or freaks all had real tangible decision making in the move-shoot-kill fundamentals that set them all apart from each other and it feels like every PVP shooter I try now deliberately avoids any kind of distinction in core mechanics, preferring them to be roughly universal and relying on the various hero gimmicks or structural gimmicks layered on top to distinguish themselves. It's no way to make a fun shooter for any kind of audience.
Call of Duty may not be amazing but it has movement and weapon mechanics that can induce ADHD in a fully grown adult with no prior symptoms, Counter-Strike has those wild ass recoil systems and grenade trajectories, Halo was deliberately made to be absurdly sluggish- Tribes absurdly fast, Gears of War had cover platforming, Quake- Bunnyhopping, etc, etc. These games, whether trying to cater to a mass audience or freaks all had real tangible decision making in the move-shoot-kill fundamentals that set them all apart from each other and it feels like every PVP shooter I try now deliberately avoids any kind of distinction in core mechanics, preferring them to be roughly universal and relying on the various hero gimmicks or structural gimmicks layered on top to distinguish themselves. It's no way to make a fun shooter for any kind of audience.
Ghost of Tsushima
2020
Main problems of this game are side questes and it's unused potential in boss fights. Combat system is so good only to recycle bosses and give them 2 moves...
Although the setting, atmoshphere and the flow of gameplay along with clearing the map is really immersive and so fun to do.
Story and charaters are okay, definitely could have been better but it's interesting.
Although the setting, atmoshphere and the flow of gameplay along with clearing the map is really immersive and so fun to do.
Story and charaters are okay, definitely could have been better but it's interesting.
The best of the franchise easily. It doesn't have a bad case, the investigation segments, while still long, didn't feel as painful as the first game. Case three is the funniest case I've ever played in an Ace Attorney game (both games had my favourite pieces of evidence to be entered into court in the third trial). The final case didn't reach the heights of hype that the first games final case did, but did have the advantage of being less bloated and being consistently good from start to finish. This duology has my favourite cast with the highlight being Herlock Sholmes who frequently made me laugh. Music is phenomenal this time around as well with the new prosecutors theme going EXTREMELY hard.
My only real complaints are pacing issues which is a complaint I have with most visual novel type games. I feel if every case was an hour or more shorter (mainly in investigation segments) I'd have finished this game faster then the 2 months it took me (breaks between chapters). Highly recommend.
My only real complaints are pacing issues which is a complaint I have with most visual novel type games. I feel if every case was an hour or more shorter (mainly in investigation segments) I'd have finished this game faster then the 2 months it took me (breaks between chapters). Highly recommend.
Ghost of Tsushima
2020
Very good art style with breathtaking graphics and very satisfying combat system, but.. that's about all the qualities this game has. It really suffers from a very poor open world and painfully bad game and level design. Also anything that involves storytelling is bad. Story is bad, characters are bad, writing is bad, side quests are bad, you get the idea. These flaws overshadow its few strengths, making it a quite disappointing experience.
Where it Shines:
Hand Drawn??! - 10/10
Music & Sound Design - 9/10
Tough but Fair - 9/10
The Good:
This is one of those rare times a game truly lives up to it's hype. I'm not much for tough as nails games, but Cuphead walks a very nice line between difficult and doable. There are even simple versions of the bosses if you are struggling.
The gameplay is fun, fast, frantic, but without leaning too hard on the bullet hell aspect of things.
But I would be remiss if I didn't say that where this game truly shines is it's aesthetic.
Cuphead is HAND DRAWN. Read that again.
HAND. FREAKING. DRAWN.
It nails the old classic cartoon aesthetic, from the art style, to the music, to the story telling, to the charm and character of it's world and inhabitants.
It's truly a nearly flawless game.
The Bad:
I did say nearly flawless, but not flawless.
There are two main areas where I have to dock it a couple of points.
First, the airplane pilot levels. Those can just honestly piss right off. The whole game you get upgrades and different weapons and can really customize your loadout to suit the boss, but with these levels, you are just stuck with this shit plane and it's basic bitch abilities. I did not enjoy these sections at all and they were a real low point in the game for me. They may have been more tolerable if you could change your loadout like the rest of the game.
Second, the second to last boss is a boss gauntlet, where if you die, you start AT THE VERY BEGINNING. I felt the entire game was tough, but fair, up until that point. The game is a tight 10 hours to beat, but I swear to god I spent 1.5 - 2 hours just on that section alone, and it was not enjoyable.
Summary:
Despite the above flaws I mentioned, Cuphead is an incredible game, worthy of all it's praise. It's a painstakingly developed game with meticulous attention to detail and fantastic art, music, and game direction. Even if you suck at games like this, I recommend playing because it was such a delight to experience. I doubt I'll ever play anything like it ever again, until they release Cuphead 2 that is.
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
Hand Drawn??! - 10/10
Music & Sound Design - 9/10
Tough but Fair - 9/10
The Good:
This is one of those rare times a game truly lives up to it's hype. I'm not much for tough as nails games, but Cuphead walks a very nice line between difficult and doable. There are even simple versions of the bosses if you are struggling.
The gameplay is fun, fast, frantic, but without leaning too hard on the bullet hell aspect of things.
But I would be remiss if I didn't say that where this game truly shines is it's aesthetic.
Cuphead is HAND DRAWN. Read that again.
HAND. FREAKING. DRAWN.
It nails the old classic cartoon aesthetic, from the art style, to the music, to the story telling, to the charm and character of it's world and inhabitants.
It's truly a nearly flawless game.
The Bad:
I did say nearly flawless, but not flawless.
There are two main areas where I have to dock it a couple of points.
First, the airplane pilot levels. Those can just honestly piss right off. The whole game you get upgrades and different weapons and can really customize your loadout to suit the boss, but with these levels, you are just stuck with this shit plane and it's basic bitch abilities. I did not enjoy these sections at all and they were a real low point in the game for me. They may have been more tolerable if you could change your loadout like the rest of the game.
Second, the second to last boss is a boss gauntlet, where if you die, you start AT THE VERY BEGINNING. I felt the entire game was tough, but fair, up until that point. The game is a tight 10 hours to beat, but I swear to god I spent 1.5 - 2 hours just on that section alone, and it was not enjoyable.
Summary:
Despite the above flaws I mentioned, Cuphead is an incredible game, worthy of all it's praise. It's a painstakingly developed game with meticulous attention to detail and fantastic art, music, and game direction. Even if you suck at games like this, I recommend playing because it was such a delight to experience. I doubt I'll ever play anything like it ever again, until they release Cuphead 2 that is.
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
I hate to give this one a mixed review because I love the setting and many aspects of it are truly impressive. However, the open world design ultimately overshadows its positive features.
Despite attempts to mask its core Ubisoft open-world formula, with the environment guiding you to points of interest, it quickly devolves into the usual routine of repetitive tasks. It becomes monotonous very fast, and exploring the same Inari shrine ten times within a few hours just isn't enjoyable. It also features the typical "liberate this camp" activity, which I find tiresome. There are no surprises, and everything feels predictable after about five hours.The random encounter rate is too high, with only about three variations. Sometimes, these encounters are so close together that I rarely enjoyed exploring. Despite the beautifully to look at open world, you're constantly interrupted by tedious events every five minutes or so, leaving no room for relaxation or immersion.
The art design, however, is stunning. The vibrant color palette combined with a romanticized depiction of Japanese nature is pure eye candy. It's mesmerizing to watch the wind sweep through fields of flowers or see sunlight and moonlight filter through dense forests or when wisps of mists hoover over wide grass fields. There is also a lot of variety, from golden woods and open fields to quaint fishing villages.
The combat is the ultimate samurai power fantasy. There's a cool feature where enemies drop their weapons and flee when you execute certain mythic moves or land perfect parries. The chiburi blood shake after a victorious battle, with three different animations, looks incredibly badass and satisfying. While the overall flow and responsiveness don't quite reach the heights of Sekiro, it does come close in some aspects.
The story and some of its characters are another major letdown. They lack depth and constantly dump lore on you, with a predictable plot leading to formulaic missions. Having watched "Shogun" just days before, the difference in writing quality is especially noticeable. It does have one or two standout character moments, such as the quest chain involving Jin's family housemaid, or when jin abandons his code of honour for the first time. Ultimately though it never goes beyond the themes introduced in the first two hours.
Despite attempts to mask its core Ubisoft open-world formula, with the environment guiding you to points of interest, it quickly devolves into the usual routine of repetitive tasks. It becomes monotonous very fast, and exploring the same Inari shrine ten times within a few hours just isn't enjoyable. It also features the typical "liberate this camp" activity, which I find tiresome. There are no surprises, and everything feels predictable after about five hours.The random encounter rate is too high, with only about three variations. Sometimes, these encounters are so close together that I rarely enjoyed exploring. Despite the beautifully to look at open world, you're constantly interrupted by tedious events every five minutes or so, leaving no room for relaxation or immersion.
The art design, however, is stunning. The vibrant color palette combined with a romanticized depiction of Japanese nature is pure eye candy. It's mesmerizing to watch the wind sweep through fields of flowers or see sunlight and moonlight filter through dense forests or when wisps of mists hoover over wide grass fields. There is also a lot of variety, from golden woods and open fields to quaint fishing villages.
The combat is the ultimate samurai power fantasy. There's a cool feature where enemies drop their weapons and flee when you execute certain mythic moves or land perfect parries. The chiburi blood shake after a victorious battle, with three different animations, looks incredibly badass and satisfying. While the overall flow and responsiveness don't quite reach the heights of Sekiro, it does come close in some aspects.
The story and some of its characters are another major letdown. They lack depth and constantly dump lore on you, with a predictable plot leading to formulaic missions. Having watched "Shogun" just days before, the difference in writing quality is especially noticeable. It does have one or two standout character moments, such as the quest chain involving Jin's family housemaid, or when jin abandons his code of honour for the first time. Ultimately though it never goes beyond the themes introduced in the first two hours.
this game is so perfect, even on a third replay! i had so much fun in Tsushima again and truly think Sucker Punch is one of the best devs to have ever done it. also, as I recently built a PC, this game was a great benchmark to see where it caps and it is amazing holding high fps on custom high to ultra high settings (forget the shadows lool). the game even ran amazingly when i modded it for 2x speed (i deserve it). a must play - please get it if you are on the fence!
best call of duty campaign ever
Half-Life
1998
The onely game that can think of rivaling halo in my opinion.
Felvidek
2024
A really good game that could have been a really great game. Nailed the aesthetics, tone and soundtrack. The music in particular really stood out to me and was a real highlight of the game. A few tracks such as the one that plays in the main castle made me stand still and just listen for a bit. This wasn't a one off encounter, but constantly throughout the game I just had to pause and think to myself, "nice". Really great stuff.
Where the game fell flat for me is in plot progression and characters. I think what was most frustrating to me was clearly he was able to write some fun dialogue and banter, as the two leads were enjoyable to read and watch interact. The rest of the cast just didn't work for me due to lack of proper development. It felt like a waste of what could have potentially been one of the best games I played this year. I say all this but I did give this game an 8/10. This game was a joy to play and I easily recommend it. Its cheap, its short, its a novel gaming experience. Go play it.
Where the game fell flat for me is in plot progression and characters. I think what was most frustrating to me was clearly he was able to write some fun dialogue and banter, as the two leads were enjoyable to read and watch interact. The rest of the cast just didn't work for me due to lack of proper development. It felt like a waste of what could have potentially been one of the best games I played this year. I say all this but I did give this game an 8/10. This game was a joy to play and I easily recommend it. Its cheap, its short, its a novel gaming experience. Go play it.
Escape from Tarkov
2017
Bunch of incompetent scum ruining what little potential their game had, trying to nickle and dime their long-time supporters, going back on every single promise they made, just lying through their teeth. This game deserves nothing but death, and no, I am not just some kid crying because "waa game difficult." It's not even a difficult game if you were to remove all the cheaters from it, and I've been here even before the Alpha times, so stfu.
Fallout
1997
They don't make RPGs like these no more
Undertale
2015
This review contains spoilers
Where it Shines:
Music - 8/10
Quirkyness - 7/10
Humour - 7/10
The Good:
So Undertale is definitely an achievement for such as mall team. The throwback to weird SNES era JRPGs like Earthbound is apparent, as well as all the references to other things.
The humour, world, and music are probably what the game does best. It also has a very interesting cast of characters, though some can get pretty annoying pretty quickly.
The Bad:
Hoo boy. Where to start. I wanted to like this more than I did. But this game is a little too "look at me I'm an indie game" if you catch my drift.
What starts as a deliberate, well paced adventure, quickly becomes a slog in the last couple of hours. Obtuse puzzles, annoying bosses, and a story almost entirely exposition dumped onto you like you're some kind of exposition flushing toilet.
I went pacifist route, and I think that's part of the issue. The pacifist route has become so proliferous in this game that even going in to this knowing almost nothing, I knew I was supposed to do that route to get the good ending. But the weird ass flower battle at the end is such a fucking insane choice, it looks like garbage and plays like garbage.
So then I realized oh, you're supposed to befriend some characters, and I missed Undyne because you'd have to go back and talk to her if you want to befriend her; it's not linear.
This game wants you to play it multiple times. I have no desire to play it multiple times. I don't think the story, the endings, or the gameplay are good enough for that.
It also tried to break the fourth wall a bunch but it's really obvious and not very well integrated into the story. The game really feels like it's 3edgy5me and uses literal rage faces and memes. I don't think that makes it subversive or meta, it just makes it obnoxious, which explains it's fanbase.
This game is overrated as heck.
Summary:
I don't regret playing it, but I would not go out of my way to recommend it to anyone. It has a lot of good things going for it, and I can see some people loving it (clearly many do), but this game is just not as good as people make it out to be. I think something like One Shot does a much better job of being evocative and quirky.
TL;DR - As Peter Griffin would say "It insists upon itself".
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
Music - 8/10
Quirkyness - 7/10
Humour - 7/10
The Good:
So Undertale is definitely an achievement for such as mall team. The throwback to weird SNES era JRPGs like Earthbound is apparent, as well as all the references to other things.
The humour, world, and music are probably what the game does best. It also has a very interesting cast of characters, though some can get pretty annoying pretty quickly.
The Bad:
Hoo boy. Where to start. I wanted to like this more than I did. But this game is a little too "look at me I'm an indie game" if you catch my drift.
What starts as a deliberate, well paced adventure, quickly becomes a slog in the last couple of hours. Obtuse puzzles, annoying bosses, and a story almost entirely exposition dumped onto you like you're some kind of exposition flushing toilet.
I went pacifist route, and I think that's part of the issue. The pacifist route has become so proliferous in this game that even going in to this knowing almost nothing, I knew I was supposed to do that route to get the good ending. But the weird ass flower battle at the end is such a fucking insane choice, it looks like garbage and plays like garbage.
So then I realized oh, you're supposed to befriend some characters, and I missed Undyne because you'd have to go back and talk to her if you want to befriend her; it's not linear.
This game wants you to play it multiple times. I have no desire to play it multiple times. I don't think the story, the endings, or the gameplay are good enough for that.
It also tried to break the fourth wall a bunch but it's really obvious and not very well integrated into the story. The game really feels like it's 3edgy5me and uses literal rage faces and memes. I don't think that makes it subversive or meta, it just makes it obnoxious, which explains it's fanbase.
This game is overrated as heck.
Summary:
I don't regret playing it, but I would not go out of my way to recommend it to anyone. It has a lot of good things going for it, and I can see some people loving it (clearly many do), but this game is just not as good as people make it out to be. I think something like One Shot does a much better job of being evocative and quirky.
TL;DR - As Peter Griffin would say "It insists upon itself".
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
I feel like I played this game at an incredibly fortunate time in my life. Struggling to commit to any game for more than a few hours I was burned out on most modern game genres such as shooters, platformers and RPGs. When I first saw this recommended to me on steam during a sale I was intrigued by the art-style and main gameplay mechanic. I didn't have particularly high hopes I just knew it was highly rated and had a unique aesthetic. If you had told me I was going to play through the game in one long 8 hour session whilst losing track of the time I'd have been shocked. This game is good. REALLY good.
Mechanically the game is fairly simple. You walk up to a corpse, use your stopwatch on it and you get several pieces of information. It starts with fully voiced dialogue of the moments leading up to the death. Then once that finishes you get the big picture, the actual moment of death in frozen tableau. One of the most impressive things about this game for me is the way it sets your expectations for what the game will throw at you and then continually makes you re-assess what in the actual fuck is happening.
Once having viewed the scene you are asked to fill in notebook and describe who died and what killed them, and later what happened to the passengers who went missing off screen. Did they die? Did they escape? You don't have the answer spelled out for you and have to make a lot of educated inferences to finish the game. While some games are easy and use puzzles to make you "feel" smart, this game feels both challenging and rewarding. I never got stuck and had to use a guide. Meticulous checking off of names and revisiting scenes with newfound context is the name of the game here. Really great stuff.
This game and Outer Wilds are two games that completely changed how I viewed what games could be. I can easily say I have never played anything quite like it. A must play.
Mechanically the game is fairly simple. You walk up to a corpse, use your stopwatch on it and you get several pieces of information. It starts with fully voiced dialogue of the moments leading up to the death. Then once that finishes you get the big picture, the actual moment of death in frozen tableau. One of the most impressive things about this game for me is the way it sets your expectations for what the game will throw at you and then continually makes you re-assess what in the actual fuck is happening.
Once having viewed the scene you are asked to fill in notebook and describe who died and what killed them, and later what happened to the passengers who went missing off screen. Did they die? Did they escape? You don't have the answer spelled out for you and have to make a lot of educated inferences to finish the game. While some games are easy and use puzzles to make you "feel" smart, this game feels both challenging and rewarding. I never got stuck and had to use a guide. Meticulous checking off of names and revisiting scenes with newfound context is the name of the game here. Really great stuff.
This game and Outer Wilds are two games that completely changed how I viewed what games could be. I can easily say I have never played anything quite like it. A must play.
Lost Ark
2018
Where it Shines:
Overpowered Combat - 7/10
Fun Spells - 7/10
Character Creator - 6/10
The Good:
Lost Ark surprised me. The combat from the get go, rather than gatekeeping you behind a few spells, just loads you to the tits with tons of fun abilities. Every spell is overpowered to the point of being ridiculous, and you consistently will one hit kill enemies and even bosses early one. I put in about 20~ hours so I didn't get into late game where it no doubt gets grindy, but those hours I put in where fun for the most part.
The Bad:
I mean, it's F2P hell. Tons of stupid events and gacha garbage and overpriced cosmetics and other nonsense constantly cluttering up the UI and your experience.
And as much as I just praised the combat, it's way, way, WAY too easy. I kept waiting for it to get a little more interesting, but it was just a one hit KO fest the entire 20 hours, which is a shame, because it is fun to use the abilities, but if it's too easy it becomes sort of pointless as you feel like you're just playing with cheats on.
There's also way too much dialogue. Every fucking character and their uncle has some story to tell you that goes on for several minutes that after a while you just start spamming skip because the story is basic and uninteresting anyway, and the NPC quests are even more so. Typical "Oh no I lost someone/something in this area, go get it for me" repeated ad infinitum.
Summary:
What I played of it was fun, but I think the most unfortunate part about this game is that it could have been a really, really cool experience if not dragged down by it's overly easy difficulty, verbose quests, and gacha garbage. If this was a proper diablo competitor and was around $30 without all the other crap dragging it down, it may have been a balanced and fun experience, and one of my top games of the year. But as it stands, I can't really recommend it over literally anything else in the genre.
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite
Overpowered Combat - 7/10
Fun Spells - 7/10
Character Creator - 6/10
The Good:
Lost Ark surprised me. The combat from the get go, rather than gatekeeping you behind a few spells, just loads you to the tits with tons of fun abilities. Every spell is overpowered to the point of being ridiculous, and you consistently will one hit kill enemies and even bosses early one. I put in about 20~ hours so I didn't get into late game where it no doubt gets grindy, but those hours I put in where fun for the most part.
The Bad:
I mean, it's F2P hell. Tons of stupid events and gacha garbage and overpriced cosmetics and other nonsense constantly cluttering up the UI and your experience.
And as much as I just praised the combat, it's way, way, WAY too easy. I kept waiting for it to get a little more interesting, but it was just a one hit KO fest the entire 20 hours, which is a shame, because it is fun to use the abilities, but if it's too easy it becomes sort of pointless as you feel like you're just playing with cheats on.
There's also way too much dialogue. Every fucking character and their uncle has some story to tell you that goes on for several minutes that after a while you just start spamming skip because the story is basic and uninteresting anyway, and the NPC quests are even more so. Typical "Oh no I lost someone/something in this area, go get it for me" repeated ad infinitum.
Summary:
What I played of it was fun, but I think the most unfortunate part about this game is that it could have been a really, really cool experience if not dragged down by it's overly easy difficulty, verbose quests, and gacha garbage. If this was a proper diablo competitor and was around $30 without all the other crap dragging it down, it may have been a balanced and fun experience, and one of my top games of the year. But as it stands, I can't really recommend it over literally anything else in the genre.
Note on my ratings:
Treat my stars like Michelin Stars - just having one means the game is worth playing in some way.
1/2 ⭐: hot trash garbage, since you can't do zero stars here
⭐: below average, needs work
⭐⭐: average
⭐⭐⭐: pretty good
⭐⭐⭐⭐: excellent
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: all time favourite