selbbirgmas
This game is kind of a mess, but a stylish one nonetheless. Also, lord forgive me for replaying these games out of order, and on an emulator no less, but the nostalgia was too strong.
From the moment you boot up the game, things really do feel like they've managed to outdo the mighty GH2 in terms of scale, especially going from the PS2 to the PS3, though I do remember every other version besides PS3 and 360 being severely downgraded in terms of visuals, but the core songlist and modes are complete.
Being the first game in the series developed by Neversoft, they did a shockingly good job considering their lack of experience with music games, this being their first non-Tony Hawk game since 2000 (pretending Gun doesn't exist). Their trademark humour and style carries over well even into a whole new genre, though the note charting definitely takes getting used to coming from the Harmonix games. Sometimes the charting leads to very fun songs, but a lot of the time it's charted so strangely that you can't help but wonder what they were thinking (see the bridge in "Before I Forget") and it can get old fast, especially if you aren't at a skill level where you can comfortably hit almost everything that comes at you. It's probably the game's biggest issue.
The song choices are very solid, and no doubt introduced many people, myself included, to many iconic songs. There's a LOT more songs that are cover versions as opposed to master recordings than I remember in this game, and their quality is mixed but I'd say they're better than the ones you'd find in GH1. The bonus songs are mostly European bands, including songs that aren't sung in English which are always nice to see, and songs that were from more independent labels at the time. The success of this game undoubtedly helped some of these artists blow up, most iconically Dragonforce.
I definitely also need to mention the game's few boss fights. They're very brief but are seriously cool additions to the game and are very memorable. In fact that pretty much applies to the whole career mode, it's not too long and the animated cutscenes between each set of songs are fantastic. That being said, the decision to lock a few of the game's most iconic songs, most criminally Matchbook Romance's "Monsters" (which plays very often throughout the menus to tease you), behind completion of the mostly identical co-op career mode (it does have some new animated cutscenes at least) is genuinely sinful. Use an unlock all songs cheat and don't look back.
The game looks pretty good, and I like how the camera sometimes cuts to the other band members whereas in previous games the camera was basically on your character 100% of the time. When it cuts to the singer, the lipsync is pretty spectacular and it's always nice to see, very rarely your character has lipsync as well for minor parts of the song and it's a really sweet touch. Also worth mentioning the new style of fretboard and overall UI looks great here. Sadly I think the characters you play as are a bit of a downgrade from the last game, and they really get dumbed down and exaggerated.
Overall, it's definitely worth playing but feels like a downgrade from previous games, as to be expected. I admire how it manages to still keep the overwhelming style of the previous games but in an all new way of doing so. Neversoft's tendency to chart very strangely thankfully gets toned down in future games (at least if i remember correctly), but the insane sales also falls off a cliff with it as the whole genre begins to collapse at the end of the decade.
From the moment you boot up the game, things really do feel like they've managed to outdo the mighty GH2 in terms of scale, especially going from the PS2 to the PS3, though I do remember every other version besides PS3 and 360 being severely downgraded in terms of visuals, but the core songlist and modes are complete.
Being the first game in the series developed by Neversoft, they did a shockingly good job considering their lack of experience with music games, this being their first non-Tony Hawk game since 2000 (pretending Gun doesn't exist). Their trademark humour and style carries over well even into a whole new genre, though the note charting definitely takes getting used to coming from the Harmonix games. Sometimes the charting leads to very fun songs, but a lot of the time it's charted so strangely that you can't help but wonder what they were thinking (see the bridge in "Before I Forget") and it can get old fast, especially if you aren't at a skill level where you can comfortably hit almost everything that comes at you. It's probably the game's biggest issue.
The song choices are very solid, and no doubt introduced many people, myself included, to many iconic songs. There's a LOT more songs that are cover versions as opposed to master recordings than I remember in this game, and their quality is mixed but I'd say they're better than the ones you'd find in GH1. The bonus songs are mostly European bands, including songs that aren't sung in English which are always nice to see, and songs that were from more independent labels at the time. The success of this game undoubtedly helped some of these artists blow up, most iconically Dragonforce.
I definitely also need to mention the game's few boss fights. They're very brief but are seriously cool additions to the game and are very memorable. In fact that pretty much applies to the whole career mode, it's not too long and the animated cutscenes between each set of songs are fantastic. That being said, the decision to lock a few of the game's most iconic songs, most criminally Matchbook Romance's "Monsters" (which plays very often throughout the menus to tease you), behind completion of the mostly identical co-op career mode (it does have some new animated cutscenes at least) is genuinely sinful. Use an unlock all songs cheat and don't look back.
The game looks pretty good, and I like how the camera sometimes cuts to the other band members whereas in previous games the camera was basically on your character 100% of the time. When it cuts to the singer, the lipsync is pretty spectacular and it's always nice to see, very rarely your character has lipsync as well for minor parts of the song and it's a really sweet touch. Also worth mentioning the new style of fretboard and overall UI looks great here. Sadly I think the characters you play as are a bit of a downgrade from the last game, and they really get dumbed down and exaggerated.
Overall, it's definitely worth playing but feels like a downgrade from previous games, as to be expected. I admire how it manages to still keep the overwhelming style of the previous games but in an all new way of doing so. Neversoft's tendency to chart very strangely thankfully gets toned down in future games (at least if i remember correctly), but the insane sales also falls off a cliff with it as the whole genre begins to collapse at the end of the decade.
This collection is great but the main attraction, Uncharted 4, is considerably disappointing to me.
I will start with the game's best aspect though, the presentation. I can't put it into words but the game is just gorgeous from start to finish, and runs excellently too. Character models also look incredible, especially in cutscenes and still hold up very well today, in fact it feels like this is as good as it gets for visuals sometimes, but obviously that's not true.
The story is kinda frustrating sadly. There are some things I like about it, such as the flashback chapters where you play as a younger Nathan, though they don't really feel necessary to the story. A lot of the game revolves around Sam, Nathan's brother, that just shows up out of nowhere for this game. He's okay, I guess? It leads to an interesting story but it just feels so ridiculous and stupid even for this franchise known for just being a playable ridiculous action movie.
While playing I also felt like characters weren't themselves, especially Nathan. I know he's meant to not be a particularly good person but at more than a few points he felt way out of line of who he was meant to be. This is redeemed a bit around the second half of the game when he has to spend a significant amount of time with just Elena, which was a highlight and felt kinda like a trip back to the very first game, for better or worse.
The villains are some of the better characters, but they really could have done with more screen time, though in the case of Nadine this is solved with The Lost Legacy, which I'll get to later.
I will say that the ending is kinda predictable but still sweet, it almost made the whole journey to get there worth it.
I have a lot to say about the gameplay but I'll start with the good. In the Uncharted games, you do a lot of climbing and puzzle solving, and thankfully here it's better than ever. For climbing it's usually very clear where you can and can't go, and the animations are super smooth and satisfying. Overall the amount of deaths tied to climbing related jank are at an all time low with this game, which is a godsend. Two new tools are added, the rope and the Piton, and these are not only fun to use but add some new variety to climbing and the rope can even lead to some very cool moments in combat. The other likeable part is the scripted action setpieces, they are fantastic and just as utterly insane as previous games and really are some of the best parts of the game.
Sadly the biggest problem I faced with the game is that the combat is just awful and not fun. The weapons you use are very forgettable and unsatisfying to fire, and most of them feel incredibly weak. That's one thing, but the main problem is that basically every weapon has a huge spread on it from the moment you fire the first shot. Even if you have your crosshair dead centre over an enemy's head, it's more than likely going to completely miss unless you're very close to them, which is a bad idea. Due to seemingly every weapon having this insane spread, it's honestly just as effective to just blind fire while in cover. I finished the game with an astonishing 37% shot accuracy because of this. Genuinely what were they thinking?
This wouldn't be so bad if your enemies also had stormtrooper aim but they don't, in fact they annihilate you very quickly and hit shots from miles away. They also throw grenades if you dare sit still for more than 5 seconds and once you reach the halfway point of the game it feels like every other enemy has body armour which can only really be dealt with up close, but if they're also up close to you then you're very likely screwed. To be fair to it, the game encourages you to use very crude stealth to take care of enemies but it feels honestly pointless as a lot of the environments in the game don't adequately allow for it and it just feels like pure luck whether or not you'll be able to take anyone out. And once again, if the enemy has body armour, it makes it nigh impossible to take care of them in stealth. Due to all of this nightmarish regression of combat, I genuinely struggled at some points playing on the Moderate difficulty, and I say this as someone who beat Uncharted 1 & 3 on Crushing, and Uncharted 2 on Hard. If you play this honestly go on Light or Explorer and don't look back.
Overall Uncharted 4, while visually stunning is just disappointing and a step back from the previous games which doesn't make sense.
Thankfully The Lost Legacy exists, and while it is short and the story is kinda forgettable, and obviously has the same combat problems as Uncharted 4, it honestly felt a little better than the main game, and I don't actually know why.
It could be the fact you play as Chloe instead of Nathan which feels very refreshing, or it could be the fact that the story features a lot less characters and therefore you get a chance to breathe as the story is on a smaller scale, even if the story isn't that great. You also spend pretty much the whole game with Nadine at your side, and I really appreciate her having more screen time.
It does sort of feel like the whole thing is just meant to be a nostalgia trip back to Uncharted 2, with Chloe being the focus of the story and one of the biggest setpieces of the game taking place on a train, but I can't necessarily fault it for that since 2 was an utterly fantastic game.
I don't think I can really say much about The Lost Legacy, it's just a short but slightly more enjoyable version of 4 albeit with a worse story, and it's addition definitely makes this collection far better.
Speaking of this collection, how is it? Very good, at least on PC. I'm not very familiar with the PS4 original so I'm not sure how much of the visuals are an improvement from 2016, but it looks fantastic here and scales well to a lower end device like the Steam Deck. Keyboard and mouse controls, while explicitly not recommended, feel completely fine after fine tuning the sensitivity. I didn't have any technical issues but I hear a lot of complaints about crashing so it might not be a great port for everyone. Though for PC specifically I have to say the audience for this port has to be quite small, as 4 really needs you to have played the previous games to really let the story have any impact, and the previous games were only ever on PS3 and 4. And if you had a PS4, you may as well have just played it all the way back in 2016.
Overall, good port but the game is just a step back in many regards which is a real shame. It looks real nice though, I'll give it that.
I will start with the game's best aspect though, the presentation. I can't put it into words but the game is just gorgeous from start to finish, and runs excellently too. Character models also look incredible, especially in cutscenes and still hold up very well today, in fact it feels like this is as good as it gets for visuals sometimes, but obviously that's not true.
The story is kinda frustrating sadly. There are some things I like about it, such as the flashback chapters where you play as a younger Nathan, though they don't really feel necessary to the story. A lot of the game revolves around Sam, Nathan's brother, that just shows up out of nowhere for this game. He's okay, I guess? It leads to an interesting story but it just feels so ridiculous and stupid even for this franchise known for just being a playable ridiculous action movie.
While playing I also felt like characters weren't themselves, especially Nathan. I know he's meant to not be a particularly good person but at more than a few points he felt way out of line of who he was meant to be. This is redeemed a bit around the second half of the game when he has to spend a significant amount of time with just Elena, which was a highlight and felt kinda like a trip back to the very first game, for better or worse.
The villains are some of the better characters, but they really could have done with more screen time, though in the case of Nadine this is solved with The Lost Legacy, which I'll get to later.
I will say that the ending is kinda predictable but still sweet, it almost made the whole journey to get there worth it.
I have a lot to say about the gameplay but I'll start with the good. In the Uncharted games, you do a lot of climbing and puzzle solving, and thankfully here it's better than ever. For climbing it's usually very clear where you can and can't go, and the animations are super smooth and satisfying. Overall the amount of deaths tied to climbing related jank are at an all time low with this game, which is a godsend. Two new tools are added, the rope and the Piton, and these are not only fun to use but add some new variety to climbing and the rope can even lead to some very cool moments in combat. The other likeable part is the scripted action setpieces, they are fantastic and just as utterly insane as previous games and really are some of the best parts of the game.
Sadly the biggest problem I faced with the game is that the combat is just awful and not fun. The weapons you use are very forgettable and unsatisfying to fire, and most of them feel incredibly weak. That's one thing, but the main problem is that basically every weapon has a huge spread on it from the moment you fire the first shot. Even if you have your crosshair dead centre over an enemy's head, it's more than likely going to completely miss unless you're very close to them, which is a bad idea. Due to seemingly every weapon having this insane spread, it's honestly just as effective to just blind fire while in cover. I finished the game with an astonishing 37% shot accuracy because of this. Genuinely what were they thinking?
This wouldn't be so bad if your enemies also had stormtrooper aim but they don't, in fact they annihilate you very quickly and hit shots from miles away. They also throw grenades if you dare sit still for more than 5 seconds and once you reach the halfway point of the game it feels like every other enemy has body armour which can only really be dealt with up close, but if they're also up close to you then you're very likely screwed. To be fair to it, the game encourages you to use very crude stealth to take care of enemies but it feels honestly pointless as a lot of the environments in the game don't adequately allow for it and it just feels like pure luck whether or not you'll be able to take anyone out. And once again, if the enemy has body armour, it makes it nigh impossible to take care of them in stealth. Due to all of this nightmarish regression of combat, I genuinely struggled at some points playing on the Moderate difficulty, and I say this as someone who beat Uncharted 1 & 3 on Crushing, and Uncharted 2 on Hard. If you play this honestly go on Light or Explorer and don't look back.
Overall Uncharted 4, while visually stunning is just disappointing and a step back from the previous games which doesn't make sense.
Thankfully The Lost Legacy exists, and while it is short and the story is kinda forgettable, and obviously has the same combat problems as Uncharted 4, it honestly felt a little better than the main game, and I don't actually know why.
It could be the fact you play as Chloe instead of Nathan which feels very refreshing, or it could be the fact that the story features a lot less characters and therefore you get a chance to breathe as the story is on a smaller scale, even if the story isn't that great. You also spend pretty much the whole game with Nadine at your side, and I really appreciate her having more screen time.
It does sort of feel like the whole thing is just meant to be a nostalgia trip back to Uncharted 2, with Chloe being the focus of the story and one of the biggest setpieces of the game taking place on a train, but I can't necessarily fault it for that since 2 was an utterly fantastic game.
I don't think I can really say much about The Lost Legacy, it's just a short but slightly more enjoyable version of 4 albeit with a worse story, and it's addition definitely makes this collection far better.
Speaking of this collection, how is it? Very good, at least on PC. I'm not very familiar with the PS4 original so I'm not sure how much of the visuals are an improvement from 2016, but it looks fantastic here and scales well to a lower end device like the Steam Deck. Keyboard and mouse controls, while explicitly not recommended, feel completely fine after fine tuning the sensitivity. I didn't have any technical issues but I hear a lot of complaints about crashing so it might not be a great port for everyone. Though for PC specifically I have to say the audience for this port has to be quite small, as 4 really needs you to have played the previous games to really let the story have any impact, and the previous games were only ever on PS3 and 4. And if you had a PS4, you may as well have just played it all the way back in 2016.
Overall, good port but the game is just a step back in many regards which is a real shame. It looks real nice though, I'll give it that.
2023
I was very impressed by how this game managed to capture the feeling of playing the original game pretty much spot on while having a different tone and making a lot of changes to the gameplay and story. It's a remake that seemingly does not set out to replace the original game but instead be another version of it, and a great one at that. Though to be completely transparent, I never finished the original game, but I did play it for at least like 4 hours, and I did like what I saw but never got around to picking it back up.
A lot of the frustrations found in the original game, like only being able to aim while stationary, and copious amounts of quicktime events, are gone and the frustrations that you will find will usually be the fault of the survival horror genre itself or your own mistakes. I wouldn't dare try and 100% complete this game, it would require an unbelievable amount of patience.
In terms of presentation, it's fantastic. There's little to say, really, as character models, lighting and atmosphere is just spot on, even for a way more action focused game. I vaguely remember some people online having discourse about all the yellow paint everywhere telling you about items and where to go and what to do, and this is completely fine. It is quite abundant, there really is an insane amount of yellow paint, but it doesn't take away from anything and as a player I would much rather have these environmental hints than missing a bunch of stuff or getting lost.
I was also pleasantly surprised at the game's difficulty, at least on Standard. I am notoriously bad at survival horror games and pushed myself to go on the normal difficulty this time instead of being a coward and going on Assisted. There were plenty of times I just very barely scraped by, but in an almost 15 hour long first playthrough I died less than 10 times, and the overall difficulty felt just right. I will say though that I do really miss the original game's hidden dynamic difficulty system, where missing shots and dying would quietly remove enemies or scale back their health and aggression. I'm pretty sure it's not here, and at best boxes will give you better items when you most desperately need it.
If I had to point out some annoyances, it'd be that knives are way too important to have, to a slightly frustrating degree. There's also a ton of easily missable stuff, and the usual survival horror annoyances of spending a considerable amount of time getting lost and backtracking. Also the merchant never shuts up when you're trying to think. That one's forgivable though, because his voice is really nice.
Overall, really good stuff! I really need to take a break from this genre though, it's stressful.
A lot of the frustrations found in the original game, like only being able to aim while stationary, and copious amounts of quicktime events, are gone and the frustrations that you will find will usually be the fault of the survival horror genre itself or your own mistakes. I wouldn't dare try and 100% complete this game, it would require an unbelievable amount of patience.
In terms of presentation, it's fantastic. There's little to say, really, as character models, lighting and atmosphere is just spot on, even for a way more action focused game. I vaguely remember some people online having discourse about all the yellow paint everywhere telling you about items and where to go and what to do, and this is completely fine. It is quite abundant, there really is an insane amount of yellow paint, but it doesn't take away from anything and as a player I would much rather have these environmental hints than missing a bunch of stuff or getting lost.
I was also pleasantly surprised at the game's difficulty, at least on Standard. I am notoriously bad at survival horror games and pushed myself to go on the normal difficulty this time instead of being a coward and going on Assisted. There were plenty of times I just very barely scraped by, but in an almost 15 hour long first playthrough I died less than 10 times, and the overall difficulty felt just right. I will say though that I do really miss the original game's hidden dynamic difficulty system, where missing shots and dying would quietly remove enemies or scale back their health and aggression. I'm pretty sure it's not here, and at best boxes will give you better items when you most desperately need it.
If I had to point out some annoyances, it'd be that knives are way too important to have, to a slightly frustrating degree. There's also a ton of easily missable stuff, and the usual survival horror annoyances of spending a considerable amount of time getting lost and backtracking. Also the merchant never shuts up when you're trying to think. That one's forgivable though, because his voice is really nice.
Overall, really good stuff! I really need to take a break from this genre though, it's stressful.
2005
Felt nostalgic and managed to just barely beat the game and all the bonus songs on Expert with a regular controller, and honestly with how quickly the series got very difficult it's so nice that I was able to do that with relative ease.
Weird flex aside, this game is overflowing with charm. Within just a few minutes of starting I had an uncontrollable grin on my face, in awe at how much Harmonix had gotten correct right from the start. The visuals are goofy, character movements and facial expressions are so exaggerated and the menu and UI designs just look so awesome.
The song selection is great if a bit forgettable at points, but this is easily looked past considering the budget and the fact that the vast majority of them are very fun to play. All the songs in the career are covers and it just adds to the charm of everything, I honestly think this game is more fond to look back on thanks to these covers and their quirks. The bonus songs also pleasantly surprised me, you're very unlikely to know any of the songs or their bands but after playing them I was very delighted by what I'd heard.
This game really was the stepping stone that led to Guitar Hero 2 which carries over the first game's charm and adds to it with a bigger, better soundtrack and a far more forgiving (but still fun!) engine, but that doesn't mean the first game should be overlooked. In fact, it's such a short and sweet delight that I'd say everyone needs to try this first game at some point in their life. Again, they really got so much correct in the first entry it's baffling.
Weird flex aside, this game is overflowing with charm. Within just a few minutes of starting I had an uncontrollable grin on my face, in awe at how much Harmonix had gotten correct right from the start. The visuals are goofy, character movements and facial expressions are so exaggerated and the menu and UI designs just look so awesome.
The song selection is great if a bit forgettable at points, but this is easily looked past considering the budget and the fact that the vast majority of them are very fun to play. All the songs in the career are covers and it just adds to the charm of everything, I honestly think this game is more fond to look back on thanks to these covers and their quirks. The bonus songs also pleasantly surprised me, you're very unlikely to know any of the songs or their bands but after playing them I was very delighted by what I'd heard.
This game really was the stepping stone that led to Guitar Hero 2 which carries over the first game's charm and adds to it with a bigger, better soundtrack and a far more forgiving (but still fun!) engine, but that doesn't mean the first game should be overlooked. In fact, it's such a short and sweet delight that I'd say everyone needs to try this first game at some point in their life. Again, they really got so much correct in the first entry it's baffling.
I still like this game a lot even if its just a worse reskinned Arkham City. Not a very original opinion, but the story is great and boss battles are very memorable. I also have a soft spot for Roger Craig Smith as Batman in this game, I can't describe why but I just love his voice here.
The game is far from perfect though, the open world is a downgrade from City and is really forgettable even if it's bigger, and oh god the bugs. Every time I replay this I am guaranteed to find at least 3-5 new bugs, it's really funny. In fact I've played this game on about 3 different unique PC setups and on each one I always got a bug in the opening part of the game where the boss you fight turns invisible, but then replaying again on the Steam Deck where it's marked as Unsupported, not only did that bug not occur for the first time I've ever seen, but in fact the whole game on there was the most stable and least buggy experience I've had. Truly baffling.
But yes, if you prepare to see bugs, it's more of the Arkham series and has a great story well worth experiencing. It really doesn't deserve to be cast aside just because it's made by different developers and has a wildly different cast. Just wish I could have experienced that multiplayer mode, it looked really fun...
The game is far from perfect though, the open world is a downgrade from City and is really forgettable even if it's bigger, and oh god the bugs. Every time I replay this I am guaranteed to find at least 3-5 new bugs, it's really funny. In fact I've played this game on about 3 different unique PC setups and on each one I always got a bug in the opening part of the game where the boss you fight turns invisible, but then replaying again on the Steam Deck where it's marked as Unsupported, not only did that bug not occur for the first time I've ever seen, but in fact the whole game on there was the most stable and least buggy experience I've had. Truly baffling.
But yes, if you prepare to see bugs, it's more of the Arkham series and has a great story well worth experiencing. It really doesn't deserve to be cast aside just because it's made by different developers and has a wildly different cast. Just wish I could have experienced that multiplayer mode, it looked really fun...
2023
I upgraded my PC just to play this game and from a technical standpoint this is easily the best looking game I've ever seen and made me say "wow" several times. The presentation is one thing, but thankfully it's more than just nice looking and is attached to a great game.
The gameplay is now a straight up survival horror game, with all the good and bad things that come along with it. It can feel incredibly tense just barely scraping through a fight, but it can be just as frustrating to die and lose 10-15 minutes of progress due to a stingy autosave and unevenly scattered manual save points. Thankfully, inventory management isn't a huge part of the game. Having 2 different playable characters is a great part of the game, but playing as Saga feels a lot better because you aren't as fragile and can have more weapons, to the point where playing as the title character feels a little disappointing.
However the gameplay is redeemed by the story. It's a complete mess, in a good way, but the key point is it has a lot of confidence and it goes places, it will take itself seriously a lot of the way through and other times seem like an extremely high budget shitpost. I can't really put it into words well, but it was very entertaining. Also need to point out the combination of live-action and normal rendered story moments and how seamless they are, I didn't really properly play Control and never knew anything about Quantum Break so I'm shocked at how well it's done here.
I also have to mention the horror aspect, it's done remarkably well. It has some cheap jumpscares but its just really tense throughout, especially when playing as Alan. It feels kind of cringe to say but I couldn't help but think of Silent Hill with the aspects of reality constantly changing, not being able to tell what's real and some shocking moments near the end. It's all the more impressive considering how quickly it'll shift between something scary and something more light-hearted and back again.
Overall it's an absolutely phenomenal game, particularly in terms of presentation and technology. Worth upgrading your PC over? Probably not, but you will definitely be impressed by what you see if you do.
The gameplay is now a straight up survival horror game, with all the good and bad things that come along with it. It can feel incredibly tense just barely scraping through a fight, but it can be just as frustrating to die and lose 10-15 minutes of progress due to a stingy autosave and unevenly scattered manual save points. Thankfully, inventory management isn't a huge part of the game. Having 2 different playable characters is a great part of the game, but playing as Saga feels a lot better because you aren't as fragile and can have more weapons, to the point where playing as the title character feels a little disappointing.
However the gameplay is redeemed by the story. It's a complete mess, in a good way, but the key point is it has a lot of confidence and it goes places, it will take itself seriously a lot of the way through and other times seem like an extremely high budget shitpost. I can't really put it into words well, but it was very entertaining. Also need to point out the combination of live-action and normal rendered story moments and how seamless they are, I didn't really properly play Control and never knew anything about Quantum Break so I'm shocked at how well it's done here.
I also have to mention the horror aspect, it's done remarkably well. It has some cheap jumpscares but its just really tense throughout, especially when playing as Alan. It feels kind of cringe to say but I couldn't help but think of Silent Hill with the aspects of reality constantly changing, not being able to tell what's real and some shocking moments near the end. It's all the more impressive considering how quickly it'll shift between something scary and something more light-hearted and back again.
Overall it's an absolutely phenomenal game, particularly in terms of presentation and technology. Worth upgrading your PC over? Probably not, but you will definitely be impressed by what you see if you do.
2019
I hate to be that guy but I really didn't find this game very fun at all.
However it must be said that the effort poured into this remake is astounding. It looks, sounds and probably plays the best it possibly could, but at its core this is a game that, in my very personal opinion, is confusing, a bit of a chore to play, and most importantly, feels outdated, which is a shame.
I think the biggest factor into why I dislike the gameplay is the constant time spent not making any progress. In most of the survival horror games I've played, you'll be exploring a pretty big area and will need to refer to a map frequently. This is also the case in RE2, but I found myself having to check the map far more than usual and to an outright annoying degree because some of the map layouts are so hard to follow and random paths will be blocked.
Another thing that stops progress being made is the critical lack of inventory space and constantly having to manage it. Inventory management is an annoying staple of survival horror games and I get it, it adds tension and forces you to make decisions for what to take with you. However in this game, it is by far the most irritating example I've ever come across. You just simply do not have enough space to be able to defend yourself adequately, be able to heal yourself and have enough leftover space to pick up any items you may come across, some needed to progress the story, and this is the case for at least the first half to two thirds the way through the game. I really don't know why they did this because I had nowhere near as many inventory space issues with RE7. Maybe they were trying to be more faithful to the original game or to RE1? I understand inventory management was likely a memorable part of those games, but memorable doesn't necessarily mean good. I also can't tell you the amount of times I've ran to a safe room to put stuff in the item box, leave, then have to run all the way back a minute later because a key item was unexpectedly needed or I found something I just didn't have the space for.
A controversial part of the game is sections where an invincible enemy named the Tyrant is hunting you down relentlessly, chasing you throughout the whole building and always listening for your location. This is a cool idea and quite unique, but if you don't know exactly what you're doing, God help you. If you're not sure what item you're meant to be getting or what room you're supposed to reach, trying to figure it out while barely being able to breathe is a uniquely frustrating experience. You can forget about trying to defend yourself against any zombies that are still roaming the police station halls or even just trying to get somewhere in a hurry, because he will be there very quickly if you make any noise. The most you can do to him is stun him for a few seconds. I again think back to RE7, where in the few sections where you were being hunted down by someone, you could put them down for good if you wanted to and had the resources, at least until you progressed the story. It was ill-advised because it was very doable to just simply avoid them, but having this choice was nice and having a similar choice here, at least on the easier difficulty levels would have made the game feel less frustrating.
One last note is that the game did start to pick up near the end, probably thanks to having a less maze-like environment to traverse through and being able to carry a decent amount of things, but by that point the game was very nearly over. In order to see the true ending, you need to play the game again as the character you didn't play as the first time around. I was up for this, as I anticipated the other route to be drastically different but aside from shuffled objectives and a different arsenal of weapons, it's basically playing the game again from scratch, you still have to spend a ludicrous amount of time in the police station, doing the same puzzles. I gave up about 90 minutes in because I really just wasn't having any fun doing the same thing again. I'm sure there are drastic differences later, but I just didn't have the strength.
I realise that this is very much my own opinion, and that's okay. If you enjoy the game, good on you, you're a stronger person than me, but this just didn't click with me and I don't see the appeal. It looks nice, though.
However it must be said that the effort poured into this remake is astounding. It looks, sounds and probably plays the best it possibly could, but at its core this is a game that, in my very personal opinion, is confusing, a bit of a chore to play, and most importantly, feels outdated, which is a shame.
I think the biggest factor into why I dislike the gameplay is the constant time spent not making any progress. In most of the survival horror games I've played, you'll be exploring a pretty big area and will need to refer to a map frequently. This is also the case in RE2, but I found myself having to check the map far more than usual and to an outright annoying degree because some of the map layouts are so hard to follow and random paths will be blocked.
Another thing that stops progress being made is the critical lack of inventory space and constantly having to manage it. Inventory management is an annoying staple of survival horror games and I get it, it adds tension and forces you to make decisions for what to take with you. However in this game, it is by far the most irritating example I've ever come across. You just simply do not have enough space to be able to defend yourself adequately, be able to heal yourself and have enough leftover space to pick up any items you may come across, some needed to progress the story, and this is the case for at least the first half to two thirds the way through the game. I really don't know why they did this because I had nowhere near as many inventory space issues with RE7. Maybe they were trying to be more faithful to the original game or to RE1? I understand inventory management was likely a memorable part of those games, but memorable doesn't necessarily mean good. I also can't tell you the amount of times I've ran to a safe room to put stuff in the item box, leave, then have to run all the way back a minute later because a key item was unexpectedly needed or I found something I just didn't have the space for.
A controversial part of the game is sections where an invincible enemy named the Tyrant is hunting you down relentlessly, chasing you throughout the whole building and always listening for your location. This is a cool idea and quite unique, but if you don't know exactly what you're doing, God help you. If you're not sure what item you're meant to be getting or what room you're supposed to reach, trying to figure it out while barely being able to breathe is a uniquely frustrating experience. You can forget about trying to defend yourself against any zombies that are still roaming the police station halls or even just trying to get somewhere in a hurry, because he will be there very quickly if you make any noise. The most you can do to him is stun him for a few seconds. I again think back to RE7, where in the few sections where you were being hunted down by someone, you could put them down for good if you wanted to and had the resources, at least until you progressed the story. It was ill-advised because it was very doable to just simply avoid them, but having this choice was nice and having a similar choice here, at least on the easier difficulty levels would have made the game feel less frustrating.
One last note is that the game did start to pick up near the end, probably thanks to having a less maze-like environment to traverse through and being able to carry a decent amount of things, but by that point the game was very nearly over. In order to see the true ending, you need to play the game again as the character you didn't play as the first time around. I was up for this, as I anticipated the other route to be drastically different but aside from shuffled objectives and a different arsenal of weapons, it's basically playing the game again from scratch, you still have to spend a ludicrous amount of time in the police station, doing the same puzzles. I gave up about 90 minutes in because I really just wasn't having any fun doing the same thing again. I'm sure there are drastic differences later, but I just didn't have the strength.
I realise that this is very much my own opinion, and that's okay. If you enjoy the game, good on you, you're a stronger person than me, but this just didn't click with me and I don't see the appeal. It looks nice, though.
2008
Every time I replay this game the pretty unreliable controls, kind of underwhelming story and pointless combat sticks out more and more like a sore thumb but I always end up overlooking it because the visual style, lighting and overall presentation still holds up unbelievably well, let alone just the general concept of the game was so refreshing for the time. All of this is the reason I still come back to it every once a year or so. It's so damn good, I think I've bought it like 3 times now?
2018
Short but sweet surreal exploration horror game. The environments are very good to explore through even if they don’t have much to actually do in them and there’s not really any puzzles to solve. The scares are very memorable and can be surprisingly effective. No real jumpscares too, thankfully.
Ironically, I wouldn't recommend this game collection for its games.
If you get this, it should either be because you have a connection to these consoles or you're just interested in the history aspect, in this case I'm the latter.
The collection is presented very well. The series of 5 timelines are a joy to go through, though to nitpick, the separation of systems means that it isn't one linear timeline, so for example one timeline may end in the mid 80's but the next will start back in the late '70s. I really enjoyed the amount of extra visual content such as advertisements and original artwork used for some games' front covers. The sheer volume of these is good evidence that a lot of love and effort was put into the collection.
The emulation is also fantastic, from the arcade games all the way up to the Jaguar with no notes, even on the Nintendo Switch. Digital Eclipse even went to the trouble of adding radial menus for some games that used the keypads found on the 5200 and Jaguar controllers. If I had to nitpick again, I wish you were shown what the controls were before starting each game, as they can vary wildly, especially for arcade games. Additionally, more than a single save slot for each game would've been nice.
The video documentaries are a mixed bag. At the start they do a fantastic job, talking to all the relevant people about the start of the company through the creation of the 2600 and are great viewing. However after the 2600, the amount of videos really starts to decline. Simply not enough time is spent talking about the Lynx and Jaguar especially, and this is also reflected in the choice and amount of games for these systems. It's also incredibly jarring to go from the last Jaguar games on the timeline almost straight to a seemingly completely irrelevant video interviewing the author of Ready Player One, for some reason?
Included alongside the original games is a small series of "Reimagined" games. These are what they say, new creations heavily inspired by existing games in the collection. These can range to just flat out remakes like the enhanced version of Yars' Revenge, to something pretty much brand new but inspired, like with the new version of Haunted House. These are a nice extra and are very well made but sadly none of these really held my interest.
As for the games, these are very much before my time and the amount of them that were genuinely fun to play is very few, but not zero. This is my personal opinion, and as mentioned if you have a personal connection with the 2600 and its first party stuff in particular you will probably enjoy the selection. Even so, the 2600 in particular has charm in its crude visuals and sound effects even if I didn't particularly enjoy any of its games. The selection is a bit mediocre (do we really need four versions of Missile Command?), there's some glaring omissions, such as any 2600 game made by Activision, but it's obvious as to why it isn't included and can be looked beyond. Activision are mentioned on the timeline too, so they did what they could.
Here are some games that I thought were genuinely quite fun even as a zoomer, or at least I thought were noteworthy, along with some reasons why:
Lunar Lander (Arcade, 1979) - Brutally difficult, but the objective is so simple that it becomes quite addicting. If I remember correctly, this was the first arcade game made by Atari to use vector graphics, and it works beautifully here, especially if the collection is played on an OLED screen.
Cloak & Dagger (Arcade, 1984) - Loosely based off a film of the same name that I haven't seen, this game really surprised me. The gameplay is a simple top-down shooter where you get to an exit, but the way it's presented is amazing. I absolutely adore the animations between levels and the idea of a huge bomb on each floor detonating if you take too long is a great gimmick. Plus giving basic hints between levels is a nice touch when many arcade games from this era could be very cruel.
Ninja Golf (7800, 1990) - A very simple golf game, but it switches to a beat 'em up when you have to run to where your ball lands. It sounds silly, and it very much is, but it's shockingly fun and I can't recommend it more.
Club Drive (Jaguar, 1994) - The visuals are impressive for the time, even if it's immediately outshined when you compare it to other systems that were around the corner. However, once you get past the questionable controls and car handling, the super relaxed presentation and focus away from racing others is a genuine breath of fresh air and it feels great. There isn't a whole lot of content but the variety of areas on offer is really sweet and the entire game just more than makes up for it in vibes.
Overall, the collection is incredibly well made but I'd say it's hard to recommend because to me personally there isn't a whole lot of games here that are worth playing for a decent amount of time and the documentary aspect is a bit mixed.
If you get this, it should either be because you have a connection to these consoles or you're just interested in the history aspect, in this case I'm the latter.
The collection is presented very well. The series of 5 timelines are a joy to go through, though to nitpick, the separation of systems means that it isn't one linear timeline, so for example one timeline may end in the mid 80's but the next will start back in the late '70s. I really enjoyed the amount of extra visual content such as advertisements and original artwork used for some games' front covers. The sheer volume of these is good evidence that a lot of love and effort was put into the collection.
The emulation is also fantastic, from the arcade games all the way up to the Jaguar with no notes, even on the Nintendo Switch. Digital Eclipse even went to the trouble of adding radial menus for some games that used the keypads found on the 5200 and Jaguar controllers. If I had to nitpick again, I wish you were shown what the controls were before starting each game, as they can vary wildly, especially for arcade games. Additionally, more than a single save slot for each game would've been nice.
The video documentaries are a mixed bag. At the start they do a fantastic job, talking to all the relevant people about the start of the company through the creation of the 2600 and are great viewing. However after the 2600, the amount of videos really starts to decline. Simply not enough time is spent talking about the Lynx and Jaguar especially, and this is also reflected in the choice and amount of games for these systems. It's also incredibly jarring to go from the last Jaguar games on the timeline almost straight to a seemingly completely irrelevant video interviewing the author of Ready Player One, for some reason?
Included alongside the original games is a small series of "Reimagined" games. These are what they say, new creations heavily inspired by existing games in the collection. These can range to just flat out remakes like the enhanced version of Yars' Revenge, to something pretty much brand new but inspired, like with the new version of Haunted House. These are a nice extra and are very well made but sadly none of these really held my interest.
As for the games, these are very much before my time and the amount of them that were genuinely fun to play is very few, but not zero. This is my personal opinion, and as mentioned if you have a personal connection with the 2600 and its first party stuff in particular you will probably enjoy the selection. Even so, the 2600 in particular has charm in its crude visuals and sound effects even if I didn't particularly enjoy any of its games. The selection is a bit mediocre (do we really need four versions of Missile Command?), there's some glaring omissions, such as any 2600 game made by Activision, but it's obvious as to why it isn't included and can be looked beyond. Activision are mentioned on the timeline too, so they did what they could.
Here are some games that I thought were genuinely quite fun even as a zoomer, or at least I thought were noteworthy, along with some reasons why:
Lunar Lander (Arcade, 1979) - Brutally difficult, but the objective is so simple that it becomes quite addicting. If I remember correctly, this was the first arcade game made by Atari to use vector graphics, and it works beautifully here, especially if the collection is played on an OLED screen.
Cloak & Dagger (Arcade, 1984) - Loosely based off a film of the same name that I haven't seen, this game really surprised me. The gameplay is a simple top-down shooter where you get to an exit, but the way it's presented is amazing. I absolutely adore the animations between levels and the idea of a huge bomb on each floor detonating if you take too long is a great gimmick. Plus giving basic hints between levels is a nice touch when many arcade games from this era could be very cruel.
Ninja Golf (7800, 1990) - A very simple golf game, but it switches to a beat 'em up when you have to run to where your ball lands. It sounds silly, and it very much is, but it's shockingly fun and I can't recommend it more.
Club Drive (Jaguar, 1994) - The visuals are impressive for the time, even if it's immediately outshined when you compare it to other systems that were around the corner. However, once you get past the questionable controls and car handling, the super relaxed presentation and focus away from racing others is a genuine breath of fresh air and it feels great. There isn't a whole lot of content but the variety of areas on offer is really sweet and the entire game just more than makes up for it in vibes.
Overall, the collection is incredibly well made but I'd say it's hard to recommend because to me personally there isn't a whole lot of games here that are worth playing for a decent amount of time and the documentary aspect is a bit mixed.
2010
This game had a hell of a lot more to it than I thought it would, and I really enjoyed it.
In terms of story, I found it painfully slow for roughly the first 2 hours or so, but after this it really starts picking up and it got me hooked for the rest of the game. In particular I noticed the cutscenes were super well made and they never felt unnecessary or annoying like in some games. Without spoiling it, I really loved the ending too, it surprised me when it happened but it really left an impression on me. Though as there's a sequel its impact is probably significantly dampened.
I thought the TV show presentation, with the whole "previously on Alan Wake" thing was weird but I appreciated the idea, and the points where an episode would end made complete sense and were helped by some excellent use of licensed music.
The visuals still hold up quite well, I'm not sure what the relatively recent remaster does to the game, but I'd almost say a remaster isn't needed. Textures and character models in particular look dated today, but the visual effects, lighting and general environments look genuinely fantastic for an Xbox 360 game, my descriptions could never do it justice.
Audio design is even better, the ambience as you traverse dark open areas subtly intensifying when enemies are going to show up soon, only to calm back down after you've dealt with them is remarkably smooth. Additionally, the combination of sounds from using your light, burning an enemy and then hitting them with a hail of bullets is unbelievably satisfying and masks the repetition very well.
The horror elements are very light, and that's okay. The atmosphere does most of the heavy lifting, and does it well, but I don't think you'll ever truly be scared. Except when they randomly interrupt the gameplay with a jumpscare cutscene. Very mean. This game would actually be a pretty good pick for someone who doesn't want to play a horror game but would like to try something a bit darker.
Continuing to discuss the aspects of this game in a strange order, the core gameplay is not only original but very fun. Sadly, it is the game's most noticeable weak point, but I'm not saying it's bad by any means. You really feel a lack of enemy variety for a lot of the game, there's only 4 real types but 3 of those 4 types look basically the same unless you get really up close. The difficulty is quite well balanced, but there was definitely some annoying spikes, but nothing rage inducing playing through on Normal. If I had to point out the game's biggest annoyance it would be the dodge/sprint button. You press the sprint button along with a direction, and if you time it right, you dodge the enemy's attack while the game slows down. It's very cool when it works, but it feels like a pure dice roll whether it will work or not, and more often than not, in a critical moment, it doesn't. This combined with the occasional difficulty spikes makes the Hard mode sound like a very bad time indeed.
In conclusion, it's well worth playing, but it's definitely not a game for everyone. I only hope I enjoy the sequel when I eventually get to it.
In terms of story, I found it painfully slow for roughly the first 2 hours or so, but after this it really starts picking up and it got me hooked for the rest of the game. In particular I noticed the cutscenes were super well made and they never felt unnecessary or annoying like in some games. Without spoiling it, I really loved the ending too, it surprised me when it happened but it really left an impression on me. Though as there's a sequel its impact is probably significantly dampened.
I thought the TV show presentation, with the whole "previously on Alan Wake" thing was weird but I appreciated the idea, and the points where an episode would end made complete sense and were helped by some excellent use of licensed music.
The visuals still hold up quite well, I'm not sure what the relatively recent remaster does to the game, but I'd almost say a remaster isn't needed. Textures and character models in particular look dated today, but the visual effects, lighting and general environments look genuinely fantastic for an Xbox 360 game, my descriptions could never do it justice.
Audio design is even better, the ambience as you traverse dark open areas subtly intensifying when enemies are going to show up soon, only to calm back down after you've dealt with them is remarkably smooth. Additionally, the combination of sounds from using your light, burning an enemy and then hitting them with a hail of bullets is unbelievably satisfying and masks the repetition very well.
The horror elements are very light, and that's okay. The atmosphere does most of the heavy lifting, and does it well, but I don't think you'll ever truly be scared. Except when they randomly interrupt the gameplay with a jumpscare cutscene. Very mean. This game would actually be a pretty good pick for someone who doesn't want to play a horror game but would like to try something a bit darker.
Continuing to discuss the aspects of this game in a strange order, the core gameplay is not only original but very fun. Sadly, it is the game's most noticeable weak point, but I'm not saying it's bad by any means. You really feel a lack of enemy variety for a lot of the game, there's only 4 real types but 3 of those 4 types look basically the same unless you get really up close. The difficulty is quite well balanced, but there was definitely some annoying spikes, but nothing rage inducing playing through on Normal. If I had to point out the game's biggest annoyance it would be the dodge/sprint button. You press the sprint button along with a direction, and if you time it right, you dodge the enemy's attack while the game slows down. It's very cool when it works, but it feels like a pure dice roll whether it will work or not, and more often than not, in a critical moment, it doesn't. This combined with the occasional difficulty spikes makes the Hard mode sound like a very bad time indeed.
In conclusion, it's well worth playing, but it's definitely not a game for everyone. I only hope I enjoy the sequel when I eventually get to it.
2021
It is genuinely very impressive how this game is not only original but consistently fun throughout its entire duration, all while being a fetish game.
Also, don't let anyone try and tell you otherwise, it's a fetish game through and through. You should feel a small sense of shame playing it, I certainly did.
There's not a whole lot to say really, I found it very fun all throughout, though if I had to point out the game's biggest annoyance, it would be that sitting down to get smaller can take a very long time, especially at the start of the game. Constantly having to go up and down all the time can be quite boring, though eventually you can get an upgrade that allows you to speed up this process by holding the magic button, once this is obtained the game feels far better to play.
Also, don't let anyone try and tell you otherwise, it's a fetish game through and through. You should feel a small sense of shame playing it, I certainly did.
There's not a whole lot to say really, I found it very fun all throughout, though if I had to point out the game's biggest annoyance, it would be that sitting down to get smaller can take a very long time, especially at the start of the game. Constantly having to go up and down all the time can be quite boring, though eventually you can get an upgrade that allows you to speed up this process by holding the magic button, once this is obtained the game feels far better to play.
2023
Very enjoyable little platformer with a good sense of humour and a very fun to control protagonist. Was admittedly shocked at how short the game was but for the asking price and the fact there is now mod support I don't really have any complaints.
Played this not knowing what to expect and was pleasantly blown away completely. The perfect definition of short but sweet, with a delightfully dark atmosphere on top.
2020
Enjoyable little experience. The visual style is appealing, the characters can be funny and the gameplay of finding tags is mostly fun. I can't believe this isn't available in Australia, the subject matter is very tame and not taken seriously.