ksbrar
BACKER
2019
Tried it out via PS Plus, actually on PS5 given some of the talk about how well it runs. I played for about an hour or two, but just couldn't bring myself to keep going. The zombie genre as a concept for film/games was already done by 2019, even moreso by 2021. And while the writing quality was above Ride to Hell, the bar is fairly low for biker dramas, it seems like no one can write one without it being cringe or unbelievable. Gameplay just reminded me of Ubi-boredom, a giant open world with many unengaging details. I found the much touted enemy AI fine, a bit overrated for the pitch.
That being said, from what I could tell it's not a bad game at all, it's just mostly stale. If you're new to open world games, or never seen The Walking Dead (in either medium), or never played Dying Light or the like, then I'm sure that you would enjoy this game quite a bit. It contains a superset of the elements that made those projects so enticing in their time.
That being said, from what I could tell it's not a bad game at all, it's just mostly stale. If you're new to open world games, or never seen The Walking Dead (in either medium), or never played Dying Light or the like, then I'm sure that you would enjoy this game quite a bit. It contains a superset of the elements that made those projects so enticing in their time.
2010
Completed the first time some time in the summer of 2010. Played through again some time later, and quite a bit online.
Completed around January 2019.
Completed some time around July 2020.
I still stand in awe of the technical accomplishment that is The Last of Us Part II. In the twilight months of the PS4, Naughty Dog delivered a visual spectacle of immense polish and mechanical sophistication that far outpaces "next-gen" titles released 2 years later on hardware that's several times better. It's just jaw-dropping every time you boot up the game. This is the (zombie-) survivalist shooter; nothing else comes close - gameplay wise.
Story-wise? It is hard to criticize because Naughty Dog probably leads the industry in taking a competent story and rendering and pacing it cinematically, which has been all the craze in the latter years of Moore's Law affecting video games. I think consumers of video games are also easily fooled by this ploy, if we can call it that, because there is a latent desire for most consumers today looking to differentiate themselves or have their hobby morally approbated to claim that their new timesink is a higher art form - at least on par with the movie. To be fair, when you can deliver it as well as Naughty Dog (I mean, just pull up any one of the number of seamless switches between player-controlled gameplay and a action cutscene and tell me it isn't more visceral than 99% of action scenes filmed in AAA blockbusters), it does achieve that elusive haute-couture frisson.
But when you step back and think about the story presented to us in Part II, it is fairly childish. The character enters and exits are relatively lame and predictable, the extent to which the narrative beats you over the head with morality becomes so extreme as to become laughable, and the setup of some of the background elements frankly makes no sense in the context of a world that is only a generation or so into a "zombie" apocalypse. I don't know the whole backstory of Part II's development, but the broader point is that the first game felt like a sui generis vision of a Naughty Dog looking to deliver the definitive survivalist story, whereas this feels like a sequel anyone could have written. It's just too trite.
Again, who cares? Have Ellie hide in the tall grass, grasping a rifle trying to calm her chattering teeth while she hears echos of whispers of predators gathering the dark with disparate shards of their humanity ripped apart by the new world. It is so engrossing, I just didn't really care about the dumb plot arcs or themes.
I still stand in awe of the technical accomplishment that is The Last of Us Part II. In the twilight months of the PS4, Naughty Dog delivered a visual spectacle of immense polish and mechanical sophistication that far outpaces "next-gen" titles released 2 years later on hardware that's several times better. It's just jaw-dropping every time you boot up the game. This is the (zombie-) survivalist shooter; nothing else comes close - gameplay wise.
Story-wise? It is hard to criticize because Naughty Dog probably leads the industry in taking a competent story and rendering and pacing it cinematically, which has been all the craze in the latter years of Moore's Law affecting video games. I think consumers of video games are also easily fooled by this ploy, if we can call it that, because there is a latent desire for most consumers today looking to differentiate themselves or have their hobby morally approbated to claim that their new timesink is a higher art form - at least on par with the movie. To be fair, when you can deliver it as well as Naughty Dog (I mean, just pull up any one of the number of seamless switches between player-controlled gameplay and a action cutscene and tell me it isn't more visceral than 99% of action scenes filmed in AAA blockbusters), it does achieve that elusive haute-couture frisson.
But when you step back and think about the story presented to us in Part II, it is fairly childish. The character enters and exits are relatively lame and predictable, the extent to which the narrative beats you over the head with morality becomes so extreme as to become laughable, and the setup of some of the background elements frankly makes no sense in the context of a world that is only a generation or so into a "zombie" apocalypse. I don't know the whole backstory of Part II's development, but the broader point is that the first game felt like a sui generis vision of a Naughty Dog looking to deliver the definitive survivalist story, whereas this feels like a sequel anyone could have written. It's just too trite.
Again, who cares? Have Ellie hide in the tall grass, grasping a rifle trying to calm her chattering teeth while she hears echos of whispers of predators gathering the dark with disparate shards of their humanity ripped apart by the new world. It is so engrossing, I just didn't really care about the dumb plot arcs or themes.
Completed some time in mid 2019. The best game of the series, where many of the janky combat mechanics are finally (or at least close to) being fixed, the story choices and dialogue are polished, and CD Projekt Red delivers some of its best original writing. It's funny, I put this off for a long time because I knew I'd get pretty emotionally invested and obsessed after enjoying the first two immensely, and even with a 5 year gap it still hit hard.
Still have to go through the DLC.
Still have to go through the DLC.
I don't even remember how I discovered The Witcher. I may have seen an ad for The Witcher 2 (which was heavily advertised at the time) and decided to go back to play the first one. But it holds a special place in my heart out of the series. Everyone hates the combat, and it's true it's not particularly complex or polished but it is the only one out of the series to viscerally nail the speed and aggression that witchers would need to have to perform their duties. Lore and story wise, sorry but it's the best of the franchise as it is closest to the events of the books. And despite the limitations of the 2008-or-less dated engine, there is a wonderful breadth of a nation to explore,
I do think in some ways it is superior to the Wild Hunt. At the very least, it is a slick political thriller with more pressing in-universe consequences than its successor, which mostly leaves them as loose ends near the end.
2020
Completed a playthrough shortly after release. A buggy mess that was occasionally visually fun. William Gibson was mostly correct. Even at its height, it wasn't that interesting - and the best moments were when CD Projekt Red delivered its signature B-stories (e.g. the reunion concert). Crashed my PS5 a couple of times. Great soundtrack, as usual.
2017
Bought for Switch sometime in 2019. Was too busy at the time to play much.
2018
Mastered some time in late 2019, mastered again with each new DLC.
In many ways, a superior translation of a comic book superhero canon to a video game than Arkham City or Arkham Asylum (between which Rocksteady Studios carved out its own mini-timeline of events that is self-contained but at the same time significantly influenced the Batman comics yet to come; whereas Insomniac here has accomplished the reverse: taken every major Spider-Man arc and condensed it into a surprisingly cogent and evocative portrayal of everyone's favorite webhead that more or less hits every note in order. Yes, this game really does make you feel like Spider-Man...is a real person).
Holding it back from the full 5 stars because once you do master the combat, most of the encounters (bosses included) become dull to replay. It only happens after a long time, of course, but when devs like From Software exist the bar is that much higher.
Beautiful graphics, stunning rendering of NYC, captivating gameplay and, in particular, web-slinging.
In many ways, a superior translation of a comic book superhero canon to a video game than Arkham City or Arkham Asylum (between which Rocksteady Studios carved out its own mini-timeline of events that is self-contained but at the same time significantly influenced the Batman comics yet to come; whereas Insomniac here has accomplished the reverse: taken every major Spider-Man arc and condensed it into a surprisingly cogent and evocative portrayal of everyone's favorite webhead that more or less hits every note in order. Yes, this game really does make you feel like Spider-Man...is a real person).
Holding it back from the full 5 stars because once you do master the combat, most of the encounters (bosses included) become dull to replay. It only happens after a long time, of course, but when devs like From Software exist the bar is that much higher.
Beautiful graphics, stunning rendering of NYC, captivating gameplay and, in particular, web-slinging.
Bought in late 2020 because some of the trailers truly seemed interesting and to test out the PS5. But, the combat was just as milquetoast as ever (for AC), the story blander than ever, and truth be told I found the graphics a tad underwhelming though again the Ubisoft environment/graphics teams knocked it out of the park with the scenery and detail. I felt as though any palpable overall improvements were mostly due to lighting and faster compute. Signature Ubisoft jankiness was still there.
2018
Started playing after the NA Steam release. Already done (probably).
Distractingly beautiful, provocative female character designs. Korean MMOs IIRC seem to have a real knack for this, thinking back to Black Desert.
Distractingly beautiful, provocative female character designs. Korean MMOs IIRC seem to have a real knack for this, thinking back to Black Desert.
Lol I tried this out as part of the initial Stadia package. I came away impressed by Stadia's streaming performance and tech but underwhelmed by Odyssey. I watched a friend of mine master this game over some months, and I don't understand how he enjoyed that overplayed Ubisoft-ass-creed combat loop over and over again (the new weapons and takedowns barely change anything imo), but I did understand his fervor for the many pages and polygons of detail developed about ancient Near East. At least the Ubisoft graphics teams are delivering with each new AC release, but as a huge fan of the original trilogy they really need to shut it down And Ubisoft too. Ubisoft games all just fade together into the same corporate retreat banner fever dream.
2022
Still playing through it, and enjoying it immensely. The Enter the Dragon brawler many of you have been waiting for.
I notice a lot of complains about the difficulty, which is to be expected. But the death mechanic seems to be frustrating lots of reviewers (https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/slvk3q/sifu_review_thread/), which is a bit strange because they don't seem to take the same mindset around feeding and leveling they've supposedly developed in playing out their more favorable Soulsbourne reviews and apply it to the first areas of Sifu.
I notice a lot of complains about the difficulty, which is to be expected. But the death mechanic seems to be frustrating lots of reviewers (https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/slvk3q/sifu_review_thread/), which is a bit strange because they don't seem to take the same mindset around feeding and leveling they've supposedly developed in playing out their more favorable Soulsbourne reviews and apply it to the first areas of Sifu.
2013
Pretty much mastered.
In retrospect, the genius of The Wolf Among Us is the eccentric, deep source material of the Fables universe and the writers' wisdom in picking the right sliver of that canon to forge into a slick neo-noir thriller that works with the comic aesthete style of Telltale's trademark engine. Objectively, all Telltale games suffer from significant performance issues given the relatively low-spec graphics needs and the simplistic VN gameplay and the first season of their The Walking Dead is the better, original writing achievement. But given how it all comes together, The Wolf Among Us is my favorite of their catalog.
In retrospect, the genius of The Wolf Among Us is the eccentric, deep source material of the Fables universe and the writers' wisdom in picking the right sliver of that canon to forge into a slick neo-noir thriller that works with the comic aesthete style of Telltale's trademark engine. Objectively, all Telltale games suffer from significant performance issues given the relatively low-spec graphics needs and the simplistic VN gameplay and the first season of their The Walking Dead is the better, original writing achievement. But given how it all comes together, The Wolf Among Us is my favorite of their catalog.