dvader654
2019
How did this game go unnoticed, I am in shock that this isn’t one of the indie darlings of last year as it’s maybe a top 5 puzzle game of all time. Imagine a puzzle game that has the spirit of metroid and the ingenuity of portal. It’s a first person game with an interconnected world that you explore by gaining new abilities to solve more puzzles that let you access more areas. There is a sword and later there is then a gun which is there for combat that isn’t great; it’s mostly there just to put some obstacles in your path. You play a tiny red toy in a crazy toy world created by a kid in his backyard, this is your game world that comes to life with good Unreal engine graphics with nice popping colors.
It begins with a wooden sword and upgrades for double and triple jumping. Doing portal like puzzles where you hit switches that can launch you and so on. Then the upgrades start to come at an incredible pace and these aren’t just simple additions, there are game altering mechanics that each could be used as the inspiration for one game. But you get a bunch of these items in one game and every single one has multiple uses. I have often talked about the multi tier puzzle, the best puzzles have at least two parts to them. Zelda for instance recently before BOTW was doing a lot of one tier puzzles, do X to solve X, it’s almost a glorified key. Supraland is almost ALL multi tier puzzles, every area has multiple puzzles that make you think carefully about every object in the area and every tool you have.
If you know me you know I love secrets in my game, well a huge chunk of this game is all about secrets. Hidden crevices, optional puzzles and more litter the world each rewarding with a small upgrade to your guns, powers and health. Some upgrades are great like the ones that increase your rate of fire and one that actually lets you access new areas. But for the most part these upgrades tie into the worst part of the game which is the combat. There are about 7 enemy times, all very simple enemies that basically charge at you or shoot at you from a distance. They come out of spawn points that eventually much much later in the game you can destroy, but till then they serve as busy work. In a game where exploration is key getting to an area with the same enemies populating it again and again is annoying especially when combat is basically just you shooting wilding as you strafe around. There are two boss battles but they know that puzzles are the star so they are really puzzle focused rather than combat focused. With a lot of work this aspect could make this game feel almost like a metroid prime but till then it’s just annoying busy work.
Don’t let that stop you from trying this get of a game out. The puzzles truly are genius, giving that great feeling of satisfaction when you solve it. I was in constant awe of all these new mechanics that kept arriving every two hours or so. Just when I thought there is no way they could add more to these puzzles then you get some ball teleporting thing which opens all sorts of new possibilities. That’s when I started to realize EVERYTHING in this world as a purpose. The placement of all objects deliberate, if it looks like it has no use it will later on, it’s brilliantly designed.
I can’t help but feel like if this game was made by Valve or Nintendo it would get GOTY level attention but it seemed to get overlooked sadly. Perhaps this game is asking too much of the player, it is a step up to most puzzles in Zelda or Portal. Clearly it’s rough around the edges with combat but again done by a small team so this is expected. A sequel and DLC is already in the works and I will be very excited to try it out as you all should too. If you love puzzle games, if you like exploration and gaining abilities metroid style than this is for you.
It begins with a wooden sword and upgrades for double and triple jumping. Doing portal like puzzles where you hit switches that can launch you and so on. Then the upgrades start to come at an incredible pace and these aren’t just simple additions, there are game altering mechanics that each could be used as the inspiration for one game. But you get a bunch of these items in one game and every single one has multiple uses. I have often talked about the multi tier puzzle, the best puzzles have at least two parts to them. Zelda for instance recently before BOTW was doing a lot of one tier puzzles, do X to solve X, it’s almost a glorified key. Supraland is almost ALL multi tier puzzles, every area has multiple puzzles that make you think carefully about every object in the area and every tool you have.
If you know me you know I love secrets in my game, well a huge chunk of this game is all about secrets. Hidden crevices, optional puzzles and more litter the world each rewarding with a small upgrade to your guns, powers and health. Some upgrades are great like the ones that increase your rate of fire and one that actually lets you access new areas. But for the most part these upgrades tie into the worst part of the game which is the combat. There are about 7 enemy times, all very simple enemies that basically charge at you or shoot at you from a distance. They come out of spawn points that eventually much much later in the game you can destroy, but till then they serve as busy work. In a game where exploration is key getting to an area with the same enemies populating it again and again is annoying especially when combat is basically just you shooting wilding as you strafe around. There are two boss battles but they know that puzzles are the star so they are really puzzle focused rather than combat focused. With a lot of work this aspect could make this game feel almost like a metroid prime but till then it’s just annoying busy work.
Don’t let that stop you from trying this get of a game out. The puzzles truly are genius, giving that great feeling of satisfaction when you solve it. I was in constant awe of all these new mechanics that kept arriving every two hours or so. Just when I thought there is no way they could add more to these puzzles then you get some ball teleporting thing which opens all sorts of new possibilities. That’s when I started to realize EVERYTHING in this world as a purpose. The placement of all objects deliberate, if it looks like it has no use it will later on, it’s brilliantly designed.
I can’t help but feel like if this game was made by Valve or Nintendo it would get GOTY level attention but it seemed to get overlooked sadly. Perhaps this game is asking too much of the player, it is a step up to most puzzles in Zelda or Portal. Clearly it’s rough around the edges with combat but again done by a small team so this is expected. A sequel and DLC is already in the works and I will be very excited to try it out as you all should too. If you love puzzle games, if you like exploration and gaining abilities metroid style than this is for you.
Remedy games have always had tight gunplay with some unique ideas but always faltered when it came to the level design. Games like Max Payne featured way too much repetition, mobs of enemies indiscriminately shoved into basic rooms for the length of a game. I figured Control would end up in the same situation but Remedy finally decided to focus on level design, forgoing their usual linear game design for a more Metroid like world that is filled with surprises.
The concept of Control is genius; it takes a genre I was not too familiar with, SCP fiction where a fake government agency deals with paranormal entities, and builds this detailed rich mythology that I feel could be a television show. You play as Jesse, a woman who was once the subject of an AWE, altered world event. For some unknown reason she is drawn to The Oldest House, a building in NYC that hides in plain sight and serves as the base of operation for the Federal Bureau of Control. She is a fish out of water and so is the player, the first hours will be confusing as hell as you are thrust right into this new world with no explanations. Personally I felt they could have done a better job with easing the player into the mythology, I was mostly confused and a little disinterested at first. Hours in it becomes clear and very compelling through some of the best world building I’ve seen in a game this gen. The story of the Federal Bureau of Control and their subjects gave me huge X-Files vibes with great characters and in a genius move a way to tie up all Remedy’s storylines into one shared universe.
Fast fluid combat is a staple of Remedy games ; they usually include a certain hook unique to each game, Control’s hook is telekinetic powers. Jesse is able to launch objects Jedi Knight style at enemies. With the flick of a button large objects can be hurdled at a target and later on multiple targets. This costs some energy that needs a few seconds to refill, during which you can use your specialized gun which morphs into different forms the usual pistol, shotgun, mini gun, sniper. These weapons use special ammo which also recharges after some time, combat becomes a balance between using powers and ammo, allowing one to recharge as you unload with the other. Only two weapon types can be switched on the fly which is rather limiting. You can still pause the game and switch the two presets in the menu but in the middle of a fight that’s not something most players will want to do.
On top of telekinesis Jesse can also conjure shields out of objects, can convert injured enemies into an ally, and at the mid game point get the biggest game altering skill, levitation. Once you can fly the games combat and exploration really takes off, no longer are you bound to hiding behind pillars for cover, just take flight, dodge in air, rain down debris on enemies from above. Enemies will be flying around as well creating these great ballets of distraction as office desks are being flung all over the room, energy beams are flashing, explosions all over, combat can be an absolute rush. All these skills and weapons can be upgraded as you explore and gain skill points to spend as you see fit. There are mod attachments for the weapons and Jesse that alter her offensive and defensive stats, its not as deep as an RPG but it does feel like Jesse is progressing and getting more powerful the more you look for hidden chests or complete side quests.
Control truly has something special with the combat mechanics but the encounter design is lacking which holds it back from really entering the pantheon of the greatest third person shooters. Most enemy encounters are actually randomly generated; because this is a metroid style game with lots of back and forth through a world enemies will randomly invade rooms to give the player something to do. This tells me one thing, the environments are not custom made for specific battles. Most rooms are essentially battle arenas with some verticality to create spaces where fun battles can happen but never reaches the highs of a game where the environment is tailor made for a specific combat situation. This leads to the feeling of repetition as the rooms begin to blend to together. The mix of enemies has no rhyme or reason, one time you will get some big brutes, other times annoying flying enemies, it’s all the same. Tactics don’t have to be altered, mostly fly around and launch objects while taking strategic shots to whittle down the enemy count. I found the combat to be engaging enough where I wasn’t ever bored but the game could have used more scripted action sequences and better enemy variety.
Forgoing the linear structure of most their games, Control takes on a more Metroid like design in a building with multiple floors and areas that slowly open as the game goes on. For the first six hours or so the game mostly pushes you to specific areas, with little else to do except the core missions. That changes as side quests and new challenges open up just at the right moment; this is where the game sunk its teeth in me. I like surprises, there is nothing more boring than a game where you know that no matter where you search you are simply going to find more of the same, it kills the drive for exploration. The moment a game throws a curveball at you that feeling changes, now I want to search every inch, do every side quest because I don’t know what to expect; that’s where Control excels, it has some devilishly clever side quests that gave me the surprises I desired. There are hidden puzzles and more importantly wild optional boss battles that can be completely missed. Once I got the first taste of how creative Control could be I made sure to do every quest and while they aren’t all winners the storylines tied to them all add to the already fantastic mythology and made the pursuit of them worth it. On top of well hidden secrets there are combat challenges to overcome and I love me a good challenge. Control crossed off all the ingredients needed to be a great action adventure game. When I wanted to jump back into the main quest it was easy to move right to where I wanted to be and continue. Whenever I had that itch to do my own thing there was usually a new side quest or challenge waiting for me.
I purposefully waited for the PS5 version because I knew this was a very demanding high end game. The graphics are stunning and include some of the best environmental destruction effects I have ever seen. Every thing reacts, shoot a desk and it splinters down into smaller and smaller pieces. Throw a desk in a room and watch papers and debris fill the room in spectacular fashion. I played the game mostly with ray tracing on, the lighting and reflections were some of the best I’ve seen, the lighting in particular used effectively as a gameplay mechanic as well. On underpowered consoles this game chugs but on the PS5 it was a smooth, extremely polished experience. The voice acting is mostly going for that x-files vibe of serious but not too serious, hell the best parts are when it sinks all in on the weird. There is a great performance by I believe the actor who played Alan Wake, who in this game does live action videos of a scientist you never meet in the game but the videos tell such a great story that he feels like one of the main stars. I loved everything about this story and the performances within.
Control is Remedy’s best game and it’s by a considerable amount. They have always been inventive with the combat and subject matter but never pulled it together with the level design until now. This is a big action game with over twenty hours of quality content, side stories and secrets galore. Some more care needs to be put into the combat scenarios as to not be as repetitive, that’s all that’s holding back Control from the elite in the genre. I believe Remedy has something special here with this concept, there is no reason this could not expand into movies or a tv show. Whatever the future plans are I want more of the adventures of Jesse and the FBC.
Overall Score: 8.9
The concept of Control is genius; it takes a genre I was not too familiar with, SCP fiction where a fake government agency deals with paranormal entities, and builds this detailed rich mythology that I feel could be a television show. You play as Jesse, a woman who was once the subject of an AWE, altered world event. For some unknown reason she is drawn to The Oldest House, a building in NYC that hides in plain sight and serves as the base of operation for the Federal Bureau of Control. She is a fish out of water and so is the player, the first hours will be confusing as hell as you are thrust right into this new world with no explanations. Personally I felt they could have done a better job with easing the player into the mythology, I was mostly confused and a little disinterested at first. Hours in it becomes clear and very compelling through some of the best world building I’ve seen in a game this gen. The story of the Federal Bureau of Control and their subjects gave me huge X-Files vibes with great characters and in a genius move a way to tie up all Remedy’s storylines into one shared universe.
Fast fluid combat is a staple of Remedy games ; they usually include a certain hook unique to each game, Control’s hook is telekinetic powers. Jesse is able to launch objects Jedi Knight style at enemies. With the flick of a button large objects can be hurdled at a target and later on multiple targets. This costs some energy that needs a few seconds to refill, during which you can use your specialized gun which morphs into different forms the usual pistol, shotgun, mini gun, sniper. These weapons use special ammo which also recharges after some time, combat becomes a balance between using powers and ammo, allowing one to recharge as you unload with the other. Only two weapon types can be switched on the fly which is rather limiting. You can still pause the game and switch the two presets in the menu but in the middle of a fight that’s not something most players will want to do.
On top of telekinesis Jesse can also conjure shields out of objects, can convert injured enemies into an ally, and at the mid game point get the biggest game altering skill, levitation. Once you can fly the games combat and exploration really takes off, no longer are you bound to hiding behind pillars for cover, just take flight, dodge in air, rain down debris on enemies from above. Enemies will be flying around as well creating these great ballets of distraction as office desks are being flung all over the room, energy beams are flashing, explosions all over, combat can be an absolute rush. All these skills and weapons can be upgraded as you explore and gain skill points to spend as you see fit. There are mod attachments for the weapons and Jesse that alter her offensive and defensive stats, its not as deep as an RPG but it does feel like Jesse is progressing and getting more powerful the more you look for hidden chests or complete side quests.
Control truly has something special with the combat mechanics but the encounter design is lacking which holds it back from really entering the pantheon of the greatest third person shooters. Most enemy encounters are actually randomly generated; because this is a metroid style game with lots of back and forth through a world enemies will randomly invade rooms to give the player something to do. This tells me one thing, the environments are not custom made for specific battles. Most rooms are essentially battle arenas with some verticality to create spaces where fun battles can happen but never reaches the highs of a game where the environment is tailor made for a specific combat situation. This leads to the feeling of repetition as the rooms begin to blend to together. The mix of enemies has no rhyme or reason, one time you will get some big brutes, other times annoying flying enemies, it’s all the same. Tactics don’t have to be altered, mostly fly around and launch objects while taking strategic shots to whittle down the enemy count. I found the combat to be engaging enough where I wasn’t ever bored but the game could have used more scripted action sequences and better enemy variety.
Forgoing the linear structure of most their games, Control takes on a more Metroid like design in a building with multiple floors and areas that slowly open as the game goes on. For the first six hours or so the game mostly pushes you to specific areas, with little else to do except the core missions. That changes as side quests and new challenges open up just at the right moment; this is where the game sunk its teeth in me. I like surprises, there is nothing more boring than a game where you know that no matter where you search you are simply going to find more of the same, it kills the drive for exploration. The moment a game throws a curveball at you that feeling changes, now I want to search every inch, do every side quest because I don’t know what to expect; that’s where Control excels, it has some devilishly clever side quests that gave me the surprises I desired. There are hidden puzzles and more importantly wild optional boss battles that can be completely missed. Once I got the first taste of how creative Control could be I made sure to do every quest and while they aren’t all winners the storylines tied to them all add to the already fantastic mythology and made the pursuit of them worth it. On top of well hidden secrets there are combat challenges to overcome and I love me a good challenge. Control crossed off all the ingredients needed to be a great action adventure game. When I wanted to jump back into the main quest it was easy to move right to where I wanted to be and continue. Whenever I had that itch to do my own thing there was usually a new side quest or challenge waiting for me.
I purposefully waited for the PS5 version because I knew this was a very demanding high end game. The graphics are stunning and include some of the best environmental destruction effects I have ever seen. Every thing reacts, shoot a desk and it splinters down into smaller and smaller pieces. Throw a desk in a room and watch papers and debris fill the room in spectacular fashion. I played the game mostly with ray tracing on, the lighting and reflections were some of the best I’ve seen, the lighting in particular used effectively as a gameplay mechanic as well. On underpowered consoles this game chugs but on the PS5 it was a smooth, extremely polished experience. The voice acting is mostly going for that x-files vibe of serious but not too serious, hell the best parts are when it sinks all in on the weird. There is a great performance by I believe the actor who played Alan Wake, who in this game does live action videos of a scientist you never meet in the game but the videos tell such a great story that he feels like one of the main stars. I loved everything about this story and the performances within.
Control is Remedy’s best game and it’s by a considerable amount. They have always been inventive with the combat and subject matter but never pulled it together with the level design until now. This is a big action game with over twenty hours of quality content, side stories and secrets galore. Some more care needs to be put into the combat scenarios as to not be as repetitive, that’s all that’s holding back Control from the elite in the genre. I believe Remedy has something special here with this concept, there is no reason this could not expand into movies or a tv show. Whatever the future plans are I want more of the adventures of Jesse and the FBC.
Overall Score: 8.9
2016
Cool stylish VR puzzle game where you are seated and have to interact with objects around you to survive evil villain plots. It takes from the absurdity of James Bond with evil traps, elaborate contraptions of death and classic spy tropes. There are eight levels, each can take 20-30 minutes to figure out, basically it comes down to performing certain actions in order. You will be mixing chemicals to create acid to dissolve chains that lets you access the core of the enemy bomb for example. The scenarios get pretty creative but after you figure it out there is nothing more to it. Overall the game will last like 2-3 hours and that’s it, I wish it was meatier and maybe had hard mode level or something to flesh it out. Cool VR concept but needs more.
Overall score: 5.0
Overall score: 5.0
2019
Essentially a high budget licensed guided experience based on Westworld. It’s an original story starring a host Katie who is stuck in a horror movie plot with a killer hunting her down. I enjoyed the story, you explore the Delos labs during season 2 after the hosts have taken over. The entire game is just using a data pad on objects and pulling switches. There is almost nothing for the player to think about, everything is spelled out. The only part that requires some game skill is hiding from the murderer which is as basic as it comes. It’s mostly just a walking sim where enjoyment will come from how much you enjoy the show. It lasts like 2 and a half hours so it can be played almost like an interactive movie, surprisingly it has good production values. I wouldn’t pay to play this, I played on viveport service, so if you have that and like westworld give it a shot.
Overall score: 4.0
Overall score: 4.0
2020
This is a really cool concept that can only be done in VR. Now this is a sequel to a game that mimicked the NES days, in this game you move to the 16-bit era. You are a video game character that needs to use a kid in the real world to save the game world. You then control this kid in a classic 90s house, you have a SNES, you pick up a controller in VR and play fake 16-bit games on a TV. While you play your mom or neighbor will start to mess with you, the mom will want you to stop playing so much so you must distract her with a nerf gun while you play. Other levels happen at night where you need to drop the controller and pick up a tv remote to mute it if you made a loud noise in the game before your mom hears it.
The 16-bit made up games are pretty cool, they are levels in different classic games like Zelda, Sonic, Castlevania, alien, streets of rage; they are unique, keep you on your toes and some have genius mechanics. My favorite was a level in a game store where you have two game displays, a fake sonic and a fake alien game and you need to switch between the two and use items from one game to glitch and break the other one, such a cool interesting mechanic. At the end of each level is a boss fight that breaks through the TV and into the kids world, it’s so cool to see a 16-bit boss fight in full 3D while you have to not just control the heroine character but use your nerf gun to fight the boss at the same time, again stuff only VR can do.
It’s a bit short at like 4 hours so it left me wanting more. A few levels go on a little too long and none of them are classic levels, it’s pretty basic. It’s the ideas of mixing with the boys world where it shines. Try this if you have VR and love gaming in the 90s.
Overall Score: 6.7
The 16-bit made up games are pretty cool, they are levels in different classic games like Zelda, Sonic, Castlevania, alien, streets of rage; they are unique, keep you on your toes and some have genius mechanics. My favorite was a level in a game store where you have two game displays, a fake sonic and a fake alien game and you need to switch between the two and use items from one game to glitch and break the other one, such a cool interesting mechanic. At the end of each level is a boss fight that breaks through the TV and into the kids world, it’s so cool to see a 16-bit boss fight in full 3D while you have to not just control the heroine character but use your nerf gun to fight the boss at the same time, again stuff only VR can do.
It’s a bit short at like 4 hours so it left me wanting more. A few levels go on a little too long and none of them are classic levels, it’s pretty basic. It’s the ideas of mixing with the boys world where it shines. Try this if you have VR and love gaming in the 90s.
Overall Score: 6.7
A classic escape room game that started on cell phones and works great in VR as it’s all about manipulating objects. The game is pretty meaty at 5 hours or so with some good puzzles. There isn’t much too it outside realizing what goes where and how pulling the right doohickey at the right way but VR makes it a little more exciting.
Overall Score: 5
Overall Score: 5
2021
I randomly tried this VR platformer and it’s rough. It does the whole Astro not luckys take thing of navigating the world around your head but many times it makes you look way too far down or puts obstacles in the way where you can’t see the character. The platforming is basic but solid, the best platformers though add unique elements as you play and this game has very few new ideas after the core mechanics.
The few things it does differently are random moments where you have to use the motion control to interact. One of these is throwing orbs at objects to protect Ven but the accuracy is awful. There is a totally random beat saver like mini game that halts the game entirely, imagine in the middle of mario a guitar hero mini game comes up and you need to complete a 5 minute song on hard mode with zero practice, it’s insane. And if you can’t complete it you are stuck.
This is clearly a very low budget game and it mostly works, it’s not horrible just some ideas backfired and it’s very bland.
Overall Score: 3.8
The few things it does differently are random moments where you have to use the motion control to interact. One of these is throwing orbs at objects to protect Ven but the accuracy is awful. There is a totally random beat saver like mini game that halts the game entirely, imagine in the middle of mario a guitar hero mini game comes up and you need to complete a 5 minute song on hard mode with zero practice, it’s insane. And if you can’t complete it you are stuck.
This is clearly a very low budget game and it mostly works, it’s not horrible just some ideas backfired and it’s very bland.
Overall Score: 3.8
2019
A cool incentive VR puzzle game that is sadly way too short. I loved the idea of manipulating a model within a model and messing with the sizes of different object, shrinking and making them grow. There was much more they could have done with it but at like an hour long it just felt like a test.
Overall Score: 4.5
Overall Score: 4.5
2021
The Medium tried to sell itself on its hook of being able to control two characters at the same time in two different environments. This gameplay mechanic could have been used to make some devilish puzzles and quality gameplay moments but sadly the medium falls short. What we get is a walking simulator with some basic puzzles and interactions just so they can say there is a game somewhere in there.
Being a Resident Evil fan it was nice to see preset camera angles return, the entire game is presented like an old school adventure focused survival horror game. You will walk around creepy environments looking for anything that can be interacted with, lucky a cursor always appears to let you know where they are. A lot of times items are just simple keys, find object, use it on barrier, move on. That’s the biggest issue with this game, there is almost never any thinking needed. You run around an area, find the only things you can interact with and use them in the only thing that takes them.
I can count on one hand how many times there was an actual two step process of maybe having to use gasp two objects in a certain sequence that required some minimal brain power to solve. These moments usually used the split screen mechanic having the player in the real world and spirit, silent hill like, world. Some areas are blocked off in one world requiring you to untether and explore as the spirit player who has a few extra powers. These manifests as a shield that can block killer moths, which are basically barriers as they just sit in a spot and you need to find energy to use the shield to pass them. So some items are in the spirit world and you then pass it to the real world and that lets you progress. None of this is all that compelling and it’s basically what the entire game is, outside of the maw which serves as the only enemy.
The maw is some pan’s labyrinth looking creature that stalks the played in a few areas. This results in the most basic of stealth sections, you know the ones, the enemy has about three preset paths and you wait for it to turn and move to the next conveniently placed waist high wall. There are a few scripted chases where you just run for a while down winding hallways. That’s basically all there is to the game.
Most of the game is just walking and taking in the story which is the only saving grace, well that and the occasional interesting environments. The Medium as you can probably guess is about a Medium who can access a spirit world and talk to the dead, she has a recurring dream of a girl being killed and doesn’t know much of her past. She gets a mysterious call to go to an abandoned hotel where a massacre occurred and from there she starts to uncover a mystery that involves her past. I enjoyed the twists and turns in the story and even though some of it can be deduced it still has a compelling narrative with a powerful ending.
If you are a fan of old school adventure games that have no challenge this will be right up your alley. It’s creepy, has a very good story and it’s basically stress free; clocking in at about 7 hours it’s a mostly painless experience. But I like games with compelling gameplay and there is little of that to be had here.
Score: 4.5
Being a Resident Evil fan it was nice to see preset camera angles return, the entire game is presented like an old school adventure focused survival horror game. You will walk around creepy environments looking for anything that can be interacted with, lucky a cursor always appears to let you know where they are. A lot of times items are just simple keys, find object, use it on barrier, move on. That’s the biggest issue with this game, there is almost never any thinking needed. You run around an area, find the only things you can interact with and use them in the only thing that takes them.
I can count on one hand how many times there was an actual two step process of maybe having to use gasp two objects in a certain sequence that required some minimal brain power to solve. These moments usually used the split screen mechanic having the player in the real world and spirit, silent hill like, world. Some areas are blocked off in one world requiring you to untether and explore as the spirit player who has a few extra powers. These manifests as a shield that can block killer moths, which are basically barriers as they just sit in a spot and you need to find energy to use the shield to pass them. So some items are in the spirit world and you then pass it to the real world and that lets you progress. None of this is all that compelling and it’s basically what the entire game is, outside of the maw which serves as the only enemy.
The maw is some pan’s labyrinth looking creature that stalks the played in a few areas. This results in the most basic of stealth sections, you know the ones, the enemy has about three preset paths and you wait for it to turn and move to the next conveniently placed waist high wall. There are a few scripted chases where you just run for a while down winding hallways. That’s basically all there is to the game.
Most of the game is just walking and taking in the story which is the only saving grace, well that and the occasional interesting environments. The Medium as you can probably guess is about a Medium who can access a spirit world and talk to the dead, she has a recurring dream of a girl being killed and doesn’t know much of her past. She gets a mysterious call to go to an abandoned hotel where a massacre occurred and from there she starts to uncover a mystery that involves her past. I enjoyed the twists and turns in the story and even though some of it can be deduced it still has a compelling narrative with a powerful ending.
If you are a fan of old school adventure games that have no challenge this will be right up your alley. It’s creepy, has a very good story and it’s basically stress free; clocking in at about 7 hours it’s a mostly painless experience. But I like games with compelling gameplay and there is little of that to be had here.
Score: 4.5
2020
One of the most hyped games turned into one of the most controversial in gaming history this year when Cyberpunk 2077 launched in a terrible state. We had near broken versions released for consoles and even if it ran decently it was very buggy on PC. The fires of the angry internet mob rose so high there was an unprecedented removal of the game from the PS store and the ability to request refunds after the game was played. The shitstorm is warranted but also clouds any discussion about this game. There were many positive reviews at launch, leading many to question the integrity of media reviews as that’s the accusation most people love to jump to, everyone loves a good conspiracy theory, “they were paid off!” The truth though is that many just got the best version available and were not given the more broken console versions, extremely shady and CD is paying for that in potential lawsuits. So when some reviews actually enjoyed the PC version I believe them because I enjoyed that same version on my own medium settings PC. Yes the game is buggy, yes a ton of features that were promised are not in the game, yes there are tons of problems; and still it’s very enjoyable with fantastic world building and storytelling.
This review will be a Dvader special where I will get accused of sounding very negative but give it a high score. So I will clarify this again, my score is my enjoyment level of the game, I played for nearly 100 hours and was thoroughly entertained, I think this game is GREAT! I think this game is better than Witcher 3. But my review isn’t just about me, I will describe everything I feel you guys should know about the game and there are a ton of negatives that don’t bother me as much as it may bother you. I have played horrible versions of games I adore, like Fallout New Vegas on PS4 which was practically broken, didn’t bother me. So what might be an intolerable issue for you is a minor speed bump for me.
What I don’t know is where do I start, the bad or the good... let’s do bad and get it out of the way. Let’s get the common complaints out of the way, there are plenty of YouTube videos of hilarious bugs and rants detailing bugs which you may view at any time. Yes this game is buggy even after patches and even on the PC version. I have seen characters get stuck in walls, I have seen AI driven cars crash into barriers, HUD elements randomly get stuck on the screen, and the worst of it quest lines getting stuck where a restart is the only way to continue. These issues seemed to get worse the longer I played, I did have to restart the game a good 20 times because of game stopping bugs, luckily the game auto saves constantly so it’s rare I lost lots of progress though it’s still very inconvenient. If bugs like these bother you stay away for the time being.
A larger concern is this facade of an open world GTA style game they created to house the core gameplay and story of Cyberpunk. All of the game’s media would immediately make the viewer think it looks like a futuristic GTA, you can rob cars, there is a wanted meter and so on. Well that is all BROKEN GARBAGE. The wanted meter results in police being spawned out of thin air all around you immediately firing from all sides. Attempt to barricade in a nearby store, doesn’t matter they will just spawn behind you. To escape the wanted meter you would think there would be an epic chase to escape police cars and helicopters... nope, the AI CANNOT CHASE YOU. There are no non scripted car chases in this game. All you need to do is hop in a car and drive three blocks, yes three simple blocks and the entire police force will forget you ever existed even though you might have murdered multiple officers. None of the games missions ever use the wanted meter or the open world as a mechanic because it’s there to look like it functions when it does not.
Now the worst of the major offenses in Cyberpunk is how the stats and difficulty are kind of broken. Here I was playing a good 40 hours and it felt like my character was properly growing, areas of the map remained dangerous to explore as there were much higher leveled enemies. Areas that were previously perilous became accessible as I was clearly making progress in leveling up. Loot falls like candy during every battle, the constant game of keeping your character maxed out can be time consuming but it’s a key element for any RPG. Then at some point about 50 hours in I started to notice everyone was nearly one shotting me, at first I figured I was in a tough area but it was always the same amount of damage no matter what weapon or enemy I was battling. This went on for hours, I could not ignore it any longer something was wrong. So I began to experiment, I ran into a battle naked, dick swinging in the wind, nothing changed. My armor stat was broken, not only that, every enemy was basically stuck at the same difficulty level. I did some research online and discovered many with the same issues and concluded that many of the game’s armor mods and upgrades are bugged essentially breaking the stat system. I was able to throw away any clothes I had with those mods and sort of got back to a game where the armor stat made somewhat of a difference at least.
After that realization I questioned everything, are the other stats working? NOPE. Critical hits, damage stats and more were doing nothing, just fake numbers that maybe worked at some point but ceased to for some unknown reason. Once again the source of the glitch seemed to be glitched weapon mods and even core character upgrades which involve critical % that don’t stack with the weapon mod. instead of just canceling out the the second stacked mod it breaks the entire stat system. So to summarize, Cyberpunk 2077 is an RPG where the stats don’t work. At this point I don’t blame any of you for thinking I can’t play this broken mess of a game, any one of these major issues I addressed maybe a cardinal sin for you and that’s understandable. For me I just took it in stride and powered along.
So why did I enjoy Cyberpunk, well for one it has all the same great writing, characters, and world building that made Witcher 3 so popular. Night City is teaming with interesting storylines and memorable characters. I was in awe of the level of detail in different areas of the city, from seedy bars to lively clubs, rich high rises or dirty drug filled apartment buildings, Night city is extremely impressive. I was taken out of the illusion because the NPCs are not really living a fake life, you will see them repeat lines and actions as if they are animatronics at Disney World. The game that was promised supposedly was supposed to have characters with day night cycles or even ones that react realistically to things you do, another failed promise. Night City is like a movie studio city which only looks good on the outside for the cameras but is hollow on the inside. I felt Witcher 3 was exactly the same way and yet everyone thought that game was perfect. why? Because the NPCs that were a part of the story all had memorable quests and Cyberpunk is just as good in that department.
CDPR are so great at making every quest not just an engaging story but using various methods of storytelling to flesh out the world around the player. Stuck on an elevator, well there is a tv playing the news where they maybe talking about the big mayoral elections about to take place and how heated the attacks by each candidate is getting. That may seem like background noise but later on in the game if you choose to do so there is a side quest where you are swept up in an engrossing almost spy thriller involving one of the candidates and their family. This isn’t some one off quests it’s a multi quest storyline that spans hours and introduces even more characters that have their own quest lines and stories.
Quests are everywhere scattered all around the map noted with an icon or at times an NPC will call you directly. This is one area I miss from Witcher 3, the world exploration naturally lead the player to discover a quest; here there is rarely an actual discovery, almost everything is pre marked on the map and with fast travel or vehicles to get around it doesn’t feel like you are on a quest of discovery but just doing errands in a city, which to be fair you are. Still the excitement of never knowing what crazy adventure you will go on next makes exploring the side quests the best part of the game.
I loved the variety in storylines that I would come upon. From an AI that runs a taxi cab service to a former murderer that wants to televise his crucifixion, or a vending machine that becomes sentient, there was always something interesting happening. It’s hard not to love the core companion characters which can become love interests, Judy, Panam and River who all have massive multi quest storylines with choices that can change not only your relationship with them but their relationship with others. These choices lead to a new potential ending. It’s CDPR at their best really delving deep into these three diverse characters with rich backstories and compelling conundrums where the choices aren’t morally clear and can drastically change V’s relationship with each. Also you may get to blow shit up in a tank with them, so that’s fun too. I don’t want to spoil any specific moments but all three had moments where I would get gut punched emotionally at the storyline they were involved in. Panam ended up as my woman but I would still kill for Judy and River is my bro for life. None of these are the main missions, I haven’t even mentioned the star of the show, Keanu Reeves.
The main story revolves around V who is basically a douchebag with good heart (well if you choose) and begins the game with a choice of one of three origin stories (doesn’t really matter) and ends up with a one of a kind chip in his brain that contains the AI construct of a long dead rock singing superstar turned corporate terrorist, Johnny Silverhand. Keanu’s Silverhand takes a while to get used to, at first I thought holy shit Keanu is just phoning this in. He uses some weird kind of Nic Cage tone, it doesn’t seem sincere but as the game goes on and you really get to know this character and I understood what he was going for. I loved Keanu’s performance by the end, one of many great performance scattered throughout the game. The back and forth between V and Johnny is often times funny and surprisingly becomes emotional, well as emotional as a hitman and a cocky as shit dead singer can be.
While I think the side quests do have the best plot lines, the main quest in Cyberpunk has some really great moments. Clocking in around 18 hours its short for an open world title but that allows the story to be much tighter than say Witcher 3. Choices are always a big part of CDPR games and you have some to make throughout but by the end every player reaches a final moment where there are up to three distinct final missions. Depending on your actions throughout the game you may have less missions to pick or they can include different characters but it always ends with the choice. I played all three endings and I was surprised to see how different the final mission can play out. It always leads to the same final boss (which was so easy it was basically broken for me) but then you get a totally different epilogue, it’s worth checking out all three.
Most of night city is populated with bounties and a few side activities to do. Sadly there are basically no mini games, no fun diversions like how GTA has a ton of things to do, you would think the future could have allowed for a plethora of unique fun ideas but like most of the game outside the core quests it’s shallow or broken. One quest line is the classic racing circuit, I give it props for incorporating another good side story into the standard race to win side quest but the actual racing is straight booty as clearly the AI is not designed for racing. There is a street fighting quest line that completely glitched on me which made every fight impossible. The meat and potatoes of the game world are the fixer mini quests which serve as one off jobs for a quick buck. Each city area is run by a different fixer and they each have a ton of jobs to complete, almost all involve “go there and kill this person” or “go there steal this”. Now these don’t really need to have any story to go with them but while it’s not a true side quest they do usually have in game files or environmental clues that shed light on a situation that leads to V needing to be called to kill someone. These missions also serve as an excuse to explore many different locations around the city, doesn’t matter if it’s used in a major main quest or a small job the detail in Night City astounds me.
This is probably the longest I’ve gone in any review before actually getting into the core gameplay mechanics, which for me I greatly enjoyed. Cyberpunk is basically an open world Deus Ex style game where quests almost always lead to some base or location with a bunch of enemies and some cameras/turrets laid out in different ways allowing you to tackle the small base any way you want.
Here is where Cyberpunk shines (and also breaks after some time), leveling up can lead to unique specific builds that play rather differently. The skill tree is pretty massive, there is no way to be the god of all things, you can’t max out every perk. So I decided to focus on mind hacking and melee so that I can be a a head exploding super ninja. I started off with basic skills like making enemies hear something to distract them, or giving a guy a small shock. By the end of the game I was a dark Phoenix level mind fucker, I could stroll into a room and have 3 guys heads explode, cause half the enemies to turn on each other, and infect everyone else with a poison that slowly kills them all without raising a gun. The problem as with nearly every RPG the difficulty breaks as who the hell is going to stop me. There are net runner enemies that have mind hacks of their own but this sort of hacking duel only takes place a few times and is only a threat in the middle of the game when you are still building your character, by the end nothing was a threat to me.
That end though came after over 80 hours of playtime and in those 80 hours I loved building my character up. The mind hacking could get too easy so I would purposefully mix up my combat strategies. Cyberpunk has solid gunplay, it’s not great but works as intended and some of the futuristic guns have cool perks that make the fights unique. One augmentation V can make is to use smart weapons, these are auto lock on weapons. Simply aim in the general direction of enemies and watch those bullets travel up and around cover right into their heads. Cool thing is enemies can have those weapons too, nothing makes you run around more than realizing bullets are going around the cover you are behind. Some augments allow you to slow down time, my favorite let’s you double jump which when combined with increased speed and a katana sword turns me into a head chopping Mario. Some guns let you power them up and shoot through any wall. Enemies will react accordingly, limbs will fly off, weapons will be dropped, and heads will explode in a fountain of blood. Battles can be a beautiful chaotic rush, or you can be methodical and careful, the choice is yours.
Yes the encounters can get repetitive, there are just so many variations in level layouts and enemy placements that can be designed for play over 100 hours. Even with that sense of familiarity I still I had fun doing every mission. Some missions require stealth and no kills, a problem for my V as I basically never touched the stealth skill tree. Instead I used my mind hacking to blind enemies, hack into cameras and plan my route through the level quietly. This game will not win any awards for AI, all to often the guard that is in your path just so happens to always turn around conveniently to give you a window to stealth kill, but hey it’s still damn satisfying to get through a max security night club undetected and assassinate the owner in his sky box and leave with no one noticing. Early on a mission as what I just described would take patience and smart play, but by the end of the game I could stand at the center of the club, look up and see the owner through a wall and blow his head off with my mind, walking away while never bothering to infiltrate. That’s the beauty of the power scaling, it matters and feels like it’s not just a stat increase but actual skills that make you a better conductor of the action. Also remember the stats are basically broken so thank god a lot of these skills are fun to mess around with.
I love games with combat freedom; you give me a wide range of toys , a group of guards and a nice level to mess around in and generally I can make my own fun for many hours on end. This is no MGSV, I don’t even think it’s in the same class as the new Deus Ex either but it sure as hell better than the repetitive combat of Witcher 3, which allowed almost no player freedom. I think for purists that go the crafting route and love to min/max stats this game will be a letdown (again stats are broken!). Players like me that just want a collection of deadly varied tools and skills to kill people will find plenty of fun to be had. Combine that with some of the best writing and storylines in gaming and you have the main reason why despite the mountains of problems Cyberpunk has it’s still a great impressive game.
This review will be a Dvader special where I will get accused of sounding very negative but give it a high score. So I will clarify this again, my score is my enjoyment level of the game, I played for nearly 100 hours and was thoroughly entertained, I think this game is GREAT! I think this game is better than Witcher 3. But my review isn’t just about me, I will describe everything I feel you guys should know about the game and there are a ton of negatives that don’t bother me as much as it may bother you. I have played horrible versions of games I adore, like Fallout New Vegas on PS4 which was practically broken, didn’t bother me. So what might be an intolerable issue for you is a minor speed bump for me.
What I don’t know is where do I start, the bad or the good... let’s do bad and get it out of the way. Let’s get the common complaints out of the way, there are plenty of YouTube videos of hilarious bugs and rants detailing bugs which you may view at any time. Yes this game is buggy even after patches and even on the PC version. I have seen characters get stuck in walls, I have seen AI driven cars crash into barriers, HUD elements randomly get stuck on the screen, and the worst of it quest lines getting stuck where a restart is the only way to continue. These issues seemed to get worse the longer I played, I did have to restart the game a good 20 times because of game stopping bugs, luckily the game auto saves constantly so it’s rare I lost lots of progress though it’s still very inconvenient. If bugs like these bother you stay away for the time being.
A larger concern is this facade of an open world GTA style game they created to house the core gameplay and story of Cyberpunk. All of the game’s media would immediately make the viewer think it looks like a futuristic GTA, you can rob cars, there is a wanted meter and so on. Well that is all BROKEN GARBAGE. The wanted meter results in police being spawned out of thin air all around you immediately firing from all sides. Attempt to barricade in a nearby store, doesn’t matter they will just spawn behind you. To escape the wanted meter you would think there would be an epic chase to escape police cars and helicopters... nope, the AI CANNOT CHASE YOU. There are no non scripted car chases in this game. All you need to do is hop in a car and drive three blocks, yes three simple blocks and the entire police force will forget you ever existed even though you might have murdered multiple officers. None of the games missions ever use the wanted meter or the open world as a mechanic because it’s there to look like it functions when it does not.
Now the worst of the major offenses in Cyberpunk is how the stats and difficulty are kind of broken. Here I was playing a good 40 hours and it felt like my character was properly growing, areas of the map remained dangerous to explore as there were much higher leveled enemies. Areas that were previously perilous became accessible as I was clearly making progress in leveling up. Loot falls like candy during every battle, the constant game of keeping your character maxed out can be time consuming but it’s a key element for any RPG. Then at some point about 50 hours in I started to notice everyone was nearly one shotting me, at first I figured I was in a tough area but it was always the same amount of damage no matter what weapon or enemy I was battling. This went on for hours, I could not ignore it any longer something was wrong. So I began to experiment, I ran into a battle naked, dick swinging in the wind, nothing changed. My armor stat was broken, not only that, every enemy was basically stuck at the same difficulty level. I did some research online and discovered many with the same issues and concluded that many of the game’s armor mods and upgrades are bugged essentially breaking the stat system. I was able to throw away any clothes I had with those mods and sort of got back to a game where the armor stat made somewhat of a difference at least.
After that realization I questioned everything, are the other stats working? NOPE. Critical hits, damage stats and more were doing nothing, just fake numbers that maybe worked at some point but ceased to for some unknown reason. Once again the source of the glitch seemed to be glitched weapon mods and even core character upgrades which involve critical % that don’t stack with the weapon mod. instead of just canceling out the the second stacked mod it breaks the entire stat system. So to summarize, Cyberpunk 2077 is an RPG where the stats don’t work. At this point I don’t blame any of you for thinking I can’t play this broken mess of a game, any one of these major issues I addressed maybe a cardinal sin for you and that’s understandable. For me I just took it in stride and powered along.
So why did I enjoy Cyberpunk, well for one it has all the same great writing, characters, and world building that made Witcher 3 so popular. Night City is teaming with interesting storylines and memorable characters. I was in awe of the level of detail in different areas of the city, from seedy bars to lively clubs, rich high rises or dirty drug filled apartment buildings, Night city is extremely impressive. I was taken out of the illusion because the NPCs are not really living a fake life, you will see them repeat lines and actions as if they are animatronics at Disney World. The game that was promised supposedly was supposed to have characters with day night cycles or even ones that react realistically to things you do, another failed promise. Night City is like a movie studio city which only looks good on the outside for the cameras but is hollow on the inside. I felt Witcher 3 was exactly the same way and yet everyone thought that game was perfect. why? Because the NPCs that were a part of the story all had memorable quests and Cyberpunk is just as good in that department.
CDPR are so great at making every quest not just an engaging story but using various methods of storytelling to flesh out the world around the player. Stuck on an elevator, well there is a tv playing the news where they maybe talking about the big mayoral elections about to take place and how heated the attacks by each candidate is getting. That may seem like background noise but later on in the game if you choose to do so there is a side quest where you are swept up in an engrossing almost spy thriller involving one of the candidates and their family. This isn’t some one off quests it’s a multi quest storyline that spans hours and introduces even more characters that have their own quest lines and stories.
Quests are everywhere scattered all around the map noted with an icon or at times an NPC will call you directly. This is one area I miss from Witcher 3, the world exploration naturally lead the player to discover a quest; here there is rarely an actual discovery, almost everything is pre marked on the map and with fast travel or vehicles to get around it doesn’t feel like you are on a quest of discovery but just doing errands in a city, which to be fair you are. Still the excitement of never knowing what crazy adventure you will go on next makes exploring the side quests the best part of the game.
I loved the variety in storylines that I would come upon. From an AI that runs a taxi cab service to a former murderer that wants to televise his crucifixion, or a vending machine that becomes sentient, there was always something interesting happening. It’s hard not to love the core companion characters which can become love interests, Judy, Panam and River who all have massive multi quest storylines with choices that can change not only your relationship with them but their relationship with others. These choices lead to a new potential ending. It’s CDPR at their best really delving deep into these three diverse characters with rich backstories and compelling conundrums where the choices aren’t morally clear and can drastically change V’s relationship with each. Also you may get to blow shit up in a tank with them, so that’s fun too. I don’t want to spoil any specific moments but all three had moments where I would get gut punched emotionally at the storyline they were involved in. Panam ended up as my woman but I would still kill for Judy and River is my bro for life. None of these are the main missions, I haven’t even mentioned the star of the show, Keanu Reeves.
The main story revolves around V who is basically a douchebag with good heart (well if you choose) and begins the game with a choice of one of three origin stories (doesn’t really matter) and ends up with a one of a kind chip in his brain that contains the AI construct of a long dead rock singing superstar turned corporate terrorist, Johnny Silverhand. Keanu’s Silverhand takes a while to get used to, at first I thought holy shit Keanu is just phoning this in. He uses some weird kind of Nic Cage tone, it doesn’t seem sincere but as the game goes on and you really get to know this character and I understood what he was going for. I loved Keanu’s performance by the end, one of many great performance scattered throughout the game. The back and forth between V and Johnny is often times funny and surprisingly becomes emotional, well as emotional as a hitman and a cocky as shit dead singer can be.
While I think the side quests do have the best plot lines, the main quest in Cyberpunk has some really great moments. Clocking in around 18 hours its short for an open world title but that allows the story to be much tighter than say Witcher 3. Choices are always a big part of CDPR games and you have some to make throughout but by the end every player reaches a final moment where there are up to three distinct final missions. Depending on your actions throughout the game you may have less missions to pick or they can include different characters but it always ends with the choice. I played all three endings and I was surprised to see how different the final mission can play out. It always leads to the same final boss (which was so easy it was basically broken for me) but then you get a totally different epilogue, it’s worth checking out all three.
Most of night city is populated with bounties and a few side activities to do. Sadly there are basically no mini games, no fun diversions like how GTA has a ton of things to do, you would think the future could have allowed for a plethora of unique fun ideas but like most of the game outside the core quests it’s shallow or broken. One quest line is the classic racing circuit, I give it props for incorporating another good side story into the standard race to win side quest but the actual racing is straight booty as clearly the AI is not designed for racing. There is a street fighting quest line that completely glitched on me which made every fight impossible. The meat and potatoes of the game world are the fixer mini quests which serve as one off jobs for a quick buck. Each city area is run by a different fixer and they each have a ton of jobs to complete, almost all involve “go there and kill this person” or “go there steal this”. Now these don’t really need to have any story to go with them but while it’s not a true side quest they do usually have in game files or environmental clues that shed light on a situation that leads to V needing to be called to kill someone. These missions also serve as an excuse to explore many different locations around the city, doesn’t matter if it’s used in a major main quest or a small job the detail in Night City astounds me.
This is probably the longest I’ve gone in any review before actually getting into the core gameplay mechanics, which for me I greatly enjoyed. Cyberpunk is basically an open world Deus Ex style game where quests almost always lead to some base or location with a bunch of enemies and some cameras/turrets laid out in different ways allowing you to tackle the small base any way you want.
Here is where Cyberpunk shines (and also breaks after some time), leveling up can lead to unique specific builds that play rather differently. The skill tree is pretty massive, there is no way to be the god of all things, you can’t max out every perk. So I decided to focus on mind hacking and melee so that I can be a a head exploding super ninja. I started off with basic skills like making enemies hear something to distract them, or giving a guy a small shock. By the end of the game I was a dark Phoenix level mind fucker, I could stroll into a room and have 3 guys heads explode, cause half the enemies to turn on each other, and infect everyone else with a poison that slowly kills them all without raising a gun. The problem as with nearly every RPG the difficulty breaks as who the hell is going to stop me. There are net runner enemies that have mind hacks of their own but this sort of hacking duel only takes place a few times and is only a threat in the middle of the game when you are still building your character, by the end nothing was a threat to me.
That end though came after over 80 hours of playtime and in those 80 hours I loved building my character up. The mind hacking could get too easy so I would purposefully mix up my combat strategies. Cyberpunk has solid gunplay, it’s not great but works as intended and some of the futuristic guns have cool perks that make the fights unique. One augmentation V can make is to use smart weapons, these are auto lock on weapons. Simply aim in the general direction of enemies and watch those bullets travel up and around cover right into their heads. Cool thing is enemies can have those weapons too, nothing makes you run around more than realizing bullets are going around the cover you are behind. Some augments allow you to slow down time, my favorite let’s you double jump which when combined with increased speed and a katana sword turns me into a head chopping Mario. Some guns let you power them up and shoot through any wall. Enemies will react accordingly, limbs will fly off, weapons will be dropped, and heads will explode in a fountain of blood. Battles can be a beautiful chaotic rush, or you can be methodical and careful, the choice is yours.
Yes the encounters can get repetitive, there are just so many variations in level layouts and enemy placements that can be designed for play over 100 hours. Even with that sense of familiarity I still I had fun doing every mission. Some missions require stealth and no kills, a problem for my V as I basically never touched the stealth skill tree. Instead I used my mind hacking to blind enemies, hack into cameras and plan my route through the level quietly. This game will not win any awards for AI, all to often the guard that is in your path just so happens to always turn around conveniently to give you a window to stealth kill, but hey it’s still damn satisfying to get through a max security night club undetected and assassinate the owner in his sky box and leave with no one noticing. Early on a mission as what I just described would take patience and smart play, but by the end of the game I could stand at the center of the club, look up and see the owner through a wall and blow his head off with my mind, walking away while never bothering to infiltrate. That’s the beauty of the power scaling, it matters and feels like it’s not just a stat increase but actual skills that make you a better conductor of the action. Also remember the stats are basically broken so thank god a lot of these skills are fun to mess around with.
I love games with combat freedom; you give me a wide range of toys , a group of guards and a nice level to mess around in and generally I can make my own fun for many hours on end. This is no MGSV, I don’t even think it’s in the same class as the new Deus Ex either but it sure as hell better than the repetitive combat of Witcher 3, which allowed almost no player freedom. I think for purists that go the crafting route and love to min/max stats this game will be a letdown (again stats are broken!). Players like me that just want a collection of deadly varied tools and skills to kill people will find plenty of fun to be had. Combine that with some of the best writing and storylines in gaming and you have the main reason why despite the mountains of problems Cyberpunk has it’s still a great impressive game.
First impressions of Saints and Sinners are great, they nailed the feeling of being in the Walking Dead show. Being able to grab zombies with one hand and needing to shove hard with a knife to pierce the skull is so satisfying, and perfectly recreates how Rick and company take down walkers with ease. The knife then gets stuck in the skull until you yank it out, the little things like that make you feel in the world. As more weapons become available there will be no need for hard skull breaking attacks as there will be long blades that can severe heads with ease, Michone style. Everything involving the zombies works great, I especially like that as the game progressive zombies come with armor and helmets altering how you approach killing them.
The other enemies are of course humans and this is where S and S falls into the VR jank category. Guns work and feel good its the hit reaction and how basic human AI is. Gun battles feel terrible, they tend to slightly move side to side and wait for you to shoot them. Your character can take a crazy amount of gun damage so cover isn't really needed. Clearly most of the work went into the feel of melee with the zombies.
What is this game, it's mostly a survival game with a story. There is a hub area where you can craft weapons and supplies and unlock many new schematics to create better weapons, what you need are many resources which you gather by exploring New Orleans and gathering junk and loot. You leave the hub and choose one of about 8 areas to visit, all about the same size, small areas each with 2-3 buildings to explore. You have a timer which lasts a good 20 minutes before zombies will totally overrun the area, so you explore, find junk, maybe complete a mission and try to survive. Get back to base, scrap the junk, make new gear and repeat. Each run is one day, each day the dead get more numerous and items get depleted. As days go on small random events play out in the different areas like a gun cache could be found or one of the human factions sent a death squad. I generally liked the progression of the game, the crafting tables give you plenty of goals to work toward and there are hidden schematics to find in the different areas, small riddles being your only clues.
The main story involves you helping a man trapped in the "reservoir" a bunker that houses tons of supplies which are being looked for by the two human factions that are in war with each other. You complete missions for this character and another woman to progress the story, which is basic walking dead stuff.
Here is where the game really falters, they sell it as a game where your story choices matter, like the telltale game. Early on there is a moment with a side quest where you can rescue a man captured by the rival faction, you go there to negotiate his release and come to find he followed orders that resulted in a small girl being murdered. Do you let the captures kill him, do you kill his captures (who was the brother) and free him. I thought the game would be filled with tense situations like this and the choices would matter NOPE. That and one other moment are the only real moments during the game where you have any choice and it changes almost nothing. Not until the last mission do you really have to make some life and death choices with the main story characters and all you get is about 3 lines of different dialog, no actual endings. Once you finish the post game is one week later is a test to see how long you can survive, you would think this is a perfect opportunity to see how your choices impacted the world, NOPE, nothing changes. Honestly I thought this would be one of my favorite VR games but promise of what could have been was far more interesting than what was given.
Graphically its simple cell shaded graphics, like the tell tale game. It's a VR game that runs well, that is what really matters. There is a cool bonus mode that's a score based wave survival mission that really fun.
Walking Dead Saints and Sinners nails the feel of fighting zombies better than any VR game I have played. For that alone its worth playing. It could have been something more special if the story aspect was fully developed. That said VR is desperate for great full game experiences, this one is worth trying.
Overall Score 7.7
The other enemies are of course humans and this is where S and S falls into the VR jank category. Guns work and feel good its the hit reaction and how basic human AI is. Gun battles feel terrible, they tend to slightly move side to side and wait for you to shoot them. Your character can take a crazy amount of gun damage so cover isn't really needed. Clearly most of the work went into the feel of melee with the zombies.
What is this game, it's mostly a survival game with a story. There is a hub area where you can craft weapons and supplies and unlock many new schematics to create better weapons, what you need are many resources which you gather by exploring New Orleans and gathering junk and loot. You leave the hub and choose one of about 8 areas to visit, all about the same size, small areas each with 2-3 buildings to explore. You have a timer which lasts a good 20 minutes before zombies will totally overrun the area, so you explore, find junk, maybe complete a mission and try to survive. Get back to base, scrap the junk, make new gear and repeat. Each run is one day, each day the dead get more numerous and items get depleted. As days go on small random events play out in the different areas like a gun cache could be found or one of the human factions sent a death squad. I generally liked the progression of the game, the crafting tables give you plenty of goals to work toward and there are hidden schematics to find in the different areas, small riddles being your only clues.
The main story involves you helping a man trapped in the "reservoir" a bunker that houses tons of supplies which are being looked for by the two human factions that are in war with each other. You complete missions for this character and another woman to progress the story, which is basic walking dead stuff.
Here is where the game really falters, they sell it as a game where your story choices matter, like the telltale game. Early on there is a moment with a side quest where you can rescue a man captured by the rival faction, you go there to negotiate his release and come to find he followed orders that resulted in a small girl being murdered. Do you let the captures kill him, do you kill his captures (who was the brother) and free him. I thought the game would be filled with tense situations like this and the choices would matter NOPE. That and one other moment are the only real moments during the game where you have any choice and it changes almost nothing. Not until the last mission do you really have to make some life and death choices with the main story characters and all you get is about 3 lines of different dialog, no actual endings. Once you finish the post game is one week later is a test to see how long you can survive, you would think this is a perfect opportunity to see how your choices impacted the world, NOPE, nothing changes. Honestly I thought this would be one of my favorite VR games but promise of what could have been was far more interesting than what was given.
Graphically its simple cell shaded graphics, like the tell tale game. It's a VR game that runs well, that is what really matters. There is a cool bonus mode that's a score based wave survival mission that really fun.
Walking Dead Saints and Sinners nails the feel of fighting zombies better than any VR game I have played. For that alone its worth playing. It could have been something more special if the story aspect was fully developed. That said VR is desperate for great full game experiences, this one is worth trying.
Overall Score 7.7
2020
I grew up a huge fan of the X-Wing games back in the day, the level of depth of those games were incredible. Every ship system you can think of at your command using every key on a keyboard and the flight stick. Long epic games that last many many hours with loads of missions. Squadrons doesn’t quite match that level of depth or scale but it’s the first time in decades that we have a Star Wars flight combat game that had more depth than an arcade shooter. While a bit more simplified, Squadrons is a flight sim giving you much control over the ships systems and targeting that makes shooting not the only skill. You will shift power between systems, manage shields and engines, target individual ship systems and coordinate with your squad. It’s as close to the old games as we are going to get and they nailed it.
Flying is a joy, each ship feels drastically different from one another as they should. I love the perfect balance of the x-wing and usually have the same reaction Poe had in TFA when he first flew a TIE, wow this thing can move! Combat is intense but the AI falls into some annoying patterns that are distinctly robotic. It still works as a single player game but clearly this is meant for multiplayer.
The main story is like 8 hours long which is actually far more than expected. Fully voiced, well written story with great new characters and surprises. It’s a story told between two points of view, I don’t think the main character of each side really stands out, you mostly play a mute character so I wish that could have been fleshed out more but your squad mates stories more than make up for it. The missions are varied and totally call back the more interesting missions of the old classic games. I just wish there were more of them.
I played in VR with a flight stick and holy shit it’s a dream come true. Being inside the cockpit and being able to follow an enemy ship with your head as it zips around your ship is unlike anything you can do in a normal game. There is a level or precision that can’t be matched when in VR. I wish the same could be said about the flight stick, the game launched with a terrible dead zone that ruined most stick play, it’s since been corrected but I feel it’s still off, I don’t get the precise controls as I do in a regular pad.
The core of the game is the multiplayer and here is where it actually fails for me, it’s just two simple modes and the progression system is kind of trash. On PC matches are hard to come by leading to long waits for a match to start then a bunch of people quoting so the ranked match ends up not counting meaning you don’t progress, repeat. There just isn’t enough content here to justify spending countless hours on it. Yeah the thrill of online space combat is great but like any online game I get frustrated or bored quick.
Squadrons could have been a stellar deep single player combat sim but it focused more on a multiplayer mode that does not seem to have the community support to be a long lasting game. It’s a damn shame because the gameplay and the VR mode is top notch. The game was $40 at launch and now can be found for $20, at that price any Star Wars fan should be looking to buy, I need people to play with.
Score: 8.4
Flying is a joy, each ship feels drastically different from one another as they should. I love the perfect balance of the x-wing and usually have the same reaction Poe had in TFA when he first flew a TIE, wow this thing can move! Combat is intense but the AI falls into some annoying patterns that are distinctly robotic. It still works as a single player game but clearly this is meant for multiplayer.
The main story is like 8 hours long which is actually far more than expected. Fully voiced, well written story with great new characters and surprises. It’s a story told between two points of view, I don’t think the main character of each side really stands out, you mostly play a mute character so I wish that could have been fleshed out more but your squad mates stories more than make up for it. The missions are varied and totally call back the more interesting missions of the old classic games. I just wish there were more of them.
I played in VR with a flight stick and holy shit it’s a dream come true. Being inside the cockpit and being able to follow an enemy ship with your head as it zips around your ship is unlike anything you can do in a normal game. There is a level or precision that can’t be matched when in VR. I wish the same could be said about the flight stick, the game launched with a terrible dead zone that ruined most stick play, it’s since been corrected but I feel it’s still off, I don’t get the precise controls as I do in a regular pad.
The core of the game is the multiplayer and here is where it actually fails for me, it’s just two simple modes and the progression system is kind of trash. On PC matches are hard to come by leading to long waits for a match to start then a bunch of people quoting so the ranked match ends up not counting meaning you don’t progress, repeat. There just isn’t enough content here to justify spending countless hours on it. Yeah the thrill of online space combat is great but like any online game I get frustrated or bored quick.
Squadrons could have been a stellar deep single player combat sim but it focused more on a multiplayer mode that does not seem to have the community support to be a long lasting game. It’s a damn shame because the gameplay and the VR mode is top notch. The game was $40 at launch and now can be found for $20, at that price any Star Wars fan should be looking to buy, I need people to play with.
Score: 8.4
2020
Ghost of Tsushima is an epic game in size, in story, in scope which brings some great combat to a traditional open world. What will stand out the most is the sheer beauty of the island of Tsushima which brings ancient Japan to life in stunning fashion. The love Sucker Punch has gif samurai films bleeds in every aspect of this game right down to the black and white filter that lets you play the game as the movies of old. But please don’t do that! The colors of the flowers must be seen to be believed, I was in awe constantly at the vistas presented in this incredible open world.
The gameplay is mostly split between stealth and sword play; you may build your character to cater to one or the other but by the end you should be a master of all styles. Stealth feels just like Assassin’s Creed almost to a fault, all the same tactics used in those games can be used here. The AI isn’t great but it’s not brain dead, expect to use arrows and darts that can knock out enemies easily.
Stealth is fine but the game really shines when entering sword combat. There are four stances that can be switched on the fly which help against different enemy types, loads of different moves to learn and a special bar that will unleash some instant kill attacks. Combat flows like a modified version of the Arkham games focusing more on methodical blocking and a striking rather than constant attack. Most enemies serve as simple fodder to kill quickly but in larger groups the combat starts to shine. Also during the games staged one on one duels the game feels almost like sekiro light. The combat is not as deep as the best in the genre but it feels very authentic to the source material. As with most open world games difficulty balance and leveling up is a problem so by the 30 hour mark I felt over powered and that thrill of battle was replaced with repetitiveness.
I was enthralled by most of the story, it tells a great tale of a samurai with an identity crisis that goes against his own blood to save his country. It feels like a super hero origin story complete with tragic moments of growth, powerful stuff. The main quest holds all the best action sequences, some are big battles that really got my heart pumping, almost wish it was more of a linear game. There are about 7 major side quests that have multiple missions telling the stories of your main companions. I find this to be an excellent way to tell side stories as these stories were very intriguing and perfect for character building.
Outside of those missions though the game world of GoT is mostly the usual Ubisoft style icon fest where you just hit points of your map to get a small upgrade or dumb time wasting activity. This stuff is everywhere, it distracts from the main game by the end. At first it’s always exciting to explore and feel like you are discovering new gameplay opportunities but after seeing the same activities countless times it gets boring.
Ghost of Tsushima works as an excellent love letter to samurai movies and stories and presents one of the best recreations of feudal Japan ever seen. The large storylines all work great but the game is held back with generic open world activities and gameplay that doesn’t rise that much higher than its peers but is still pretty great.
The gameplay is mostly split between stealth and sword play; you may build your character to cater to one or the other but by the end you should be a master of all styles. Stealth feels just like Assassin’s Creed almost to a fault, all the same tactics used in those games can be used here. The AI isn’t great but it’s not brain dead, expect to use arrows and darts that can knock out enemies easily.
Stealth is fine but the game really shines when entering sword combat. There are four stances that can be switched on the fly which help against different enemy types, loads of different moves to learn and a special bar that will unleash some instant kill attacks. Combat flows like a modified version of the Arkham games focusing more on methodical blocking and a striking rather than constant attack. Most enemies serve as simple fodder to kill quickly but in larger groups the combat starts to shine. Also during the games staged one on one duels the game feels almost like sekiro light. The combat is not as deep as the best in the genre but it feels very authentic to the source material. As with most open world games difficulty balance and leveling up is a problem so by the 30 hour mark I felt over powered and that thrill of battle was replaced with repetitiveness.
I was enthralled by most of the story, it tells a great tale of a samurai with an identity crisis that goes against his own blood to save his country. It feels like a super hero origin story complete with tragic moments of growth, powerful stuff. The main quest holds all the best action sequences, some are big battles that really got my heart pumping, almost wish it was more of a linear game. There are about 7 major side quests that have multiple missions telling the stories of your main companions. I find this to be an excellent way to tell side stories as these stories were very intriguing and perfect for character building.
Outside of those missions though the game world of GoT is mostly the usual Ubisoft style icon fest where you just hit points of your map to get a small upgrade or dumb time wasting activity. This stuff is everywhere, it distracts from the main game by the end. At first it’s always exciting to explore and feel like you are discovering new gameplay opportunities but after seeing the same activities countless times it gets boring.
Ghost of Tsushima works as an excellent love letter to samurai movies and stories and presents one of the best recreations of feudal Japan ever seen. The large storylines all work great but the game is held back with generic open world activities and gameplay that doesn’t rise that much higher than its peers but is still pretty great.
2017
An amazing achievement, capture the essence of the original Genesis sonic games perfectly and combines the best of all to make what is the best collection of sonic levels. Loaded with so much love for the series, it’s the ultimate sonic game.
2005
The greatest action game ever made. 13 hours of non stop variety, perfect pacing, never repeats a scenario. A masterclass in game design.