shoryukencallme
2023
I am not so hungry for Bloodborne 2 that I’m willing to keep playing this.
2023
The story and atmosphere is really cool. The combat hasn't been my favorite, but that's been true of all the modern Remedy games.
I'm a little surprised at how highly regarded this game is. It's fun, but it would never make a personal top list with gameplay this stiff. I guess flavor goes a long way.
Unrelated to my score: I started the game on PC, but the performance was really poor despite my PC meeting or beating all the recommended system requirements. I swapped to playing on Xbox where it looks better and runs smoother. A frustrating situation.
I'm a little surprised at how highly regarded this game is. It's fun, but it would never make a personal top list with gameplay this stiff. I guess flavor goes a long way.
Unrelated to my score: I started the game on PC, but the performance was really poor despite my PC meeting or beating all the recommended system requirements. I swapped to playing on Xbox where it looks better and runs smoother. A frustrating situation.
2020
Good story, great systems. I was constantly surprised that the devs had thought about different solutions to problems and worked them into the game. Also nice that every animal has voiced dialogue if you cast Speak with Animals. There were a few janky and buggy moments, but overall my favorite game this year.
2023
I thought maybe the flavor would get me through the puzzles, but it didn't.
2023
I played through a good chunk of the early game. While the gameplay itself is really fun, I could not hang with the writing. I'm no grammar master certainly, but I do feel like an editor would have helped. Or better yet, a team of writers that could have smoothed out some of the rougher lines or plot points. Overall, it was too much for me to overcome. Great battle system though.
2023
It's a big, clunky, Bethesda sandbox. Some people will love this game forever, but it's not really for me.
2023
There's some stuff that I like here, but overall I would describe this game as my least favorite of the three Jet Set Radio games, granted that this is a spiritual successor. I think part of the issue is that it's a little too faithful to the original parts and not faithful enough in others.
The movement felt very true to the originals, but we're 20 years in the future now and I want rails that suck me to them and boosts that go the directions I am expecting. Wall rides are are even more limited than the originals. And overall, there's a clunkiness to the boosts that resulted in all of my deaths in the game. The "dream" maps are my own personal nightmare.
The cops are still very annoying. That's true to the original, I suppose, but there could have been some evolution here to make that more interesting or fun. The turrets are the worst, the bosses are mediocre. Other than their involvement in the story, I don't really see the need for a game with cops. Manifest the graffiti utopia you want.
I also really disliked the gang trick battles. In general I thought the trick system was too under baked and sparse to be a core pillar of the game play. Thematically it was a weird fit too. Why are a bunch of graffiti writers settling the scores with trick combos? There are other kinds of graffiti based competition the gangs could be participating in, as the original games showed.
Maybe I just let the hype over a spiritual successor to one of my favorite series get the better of me? The flavor is overall is good and the story is about on par with the other games (the cut scenes can be skipped if you're not into that). I think the new graffiti writing is great and I wish graffiti had remained the core mechanic rather than the low-rent Tony Hawk stuff. I also wish they'd included some kind of graffiti creator system like the other JSR games had.
Overall the game feels like fan maps for the original games with a trick system bolted on. I think that idea appeals to a lot of people, but personally I'd rather play the two Sega games.
Unrelated to my score, this game had my weirdest video game crash I'd ever experienced. Logged me out of my Windows user account and bugged out my display. Had to hard power down the computer before I could get back in.
The movement felt very true to the originals, but we're 20 years in the future now and I want rails that suck me to them and boosts that go the directions I am expecting. Wall rides are are even more limited than the originals. And overall, there's a clunkiness to the boosts that resulted in all of my deaths in the game. The "dream" maps are my own personal nightmare.
The cops are still very annoying. That's true to the original, I suppose, but there could have been some evolution here to make that more interesting or fun. The turrets are the worst, the bosses are mediocre. Other than their involvement in the story, I don't really see the need for a game with cops. Manifest the graffiti utopia you want.
I also really disliked the gang trick battles. In general I thought the trick system was too under baked and sparse to be a core pillar of the game play. Thematically it was a weird fit too. Why are a bunch of graffiti writers settling the scores with trick combos? There are other kinds of graffiti based competition the gangs could be participating in, as the original games showed.
Maybe I just let the hype over a spiritual successor to one of my favorite series get the better of me? The flavor is overall is good and the story is about on par with the other games (the cut scenes can be skipped if you're not into that). I think the new graffiti writing is great and I wish graffiti had remained the core mechanic rather than the low-rent Tony Hawk stuff. I also wish they'd included some kind of graffiti creator system like the other JSR games had.
Overall the game feels like fan maps for the original games with a trick system bolted on. I think that idea appeals to a lot of people, but personally I'd rather play the two Sega games.
Unrelated to my score, this game had my weirdest video game crash I'd ever experienced. Logged me out of my Windows user account and bugged out my display. Had to hard power down the computer before I could get back in.
2023
The storytelling is a bit uneven throughout, but up until the final chapter I was convinced this game was going to be a game of the year contender for me. However, the last chapter is a serious dip in gameplay and it actively sucks the fun out. I know there's an implication with Souls inspired games that you must get good to progress, but the final chapter throws out all that you've mastered. Instead it's just abrasive and unrewarding, both literally and in the narrative payoff sense.
2022
What a disappointment. Everything about this game is a downgrade from Bayonetta 2. The kaiju fights are a massive slog. With the open world camera, the tiny minor enemies are more dangerous than any boss. Worst of all Bayonetta’s kit feels more useless and less fun. We didn’t need an open world Bayonetta! I’m putting this on shelf and I’ll just watch the rest of the story on YouTube. Glad I bought it on sale.
2020
Solid remake. Still the weaker of the three PSX Resident Evils, but the remake improvements make it more enjoyable.
The ranked RP changes really suck the fun out. Being forced to grind Bronze for hours isn't fun.
2022
This game makes a strong first impression, but the gameplay quickly plateaus and then you're left with great music over a pretty boring rhythm game. The level design is very bad and you'll often lose combos just trying to find some guy with a shield who is hiding in a corner.
Whose idea was it to make the music quieter when you're in danger? Imagine if that's how playing in a band actually worked. You mess up a few notes so your drummer stops playing and just stares at you hoping you get on rhythm some how.
Genuinely surprised this got as much award recognition as it did. It's just fine.
Whose idea was it to make the music quieter when you're in danger? Imagine if that's how playing in a band actually worked. You mess up a few notes so your drummer stops playing and just stares at you hoping you get on rhythm some how.
Genuinely surprised this got as much award recognition as it did. It's just fine.
The shell of a good experience is visible through the constant crashes.
2022
Solid Smash alternative, but the character IPs suck.
2022
The improvements to the controls are great. The addition of the narrative was a minor annoyance, but thankfully skippable. Maybe would have been less annoying with shorter load times (I played on Switch). I really disliked the later levels of the game. And the way the camera zoomed in and out made it easy to lose where my skater was in the new 3D visuals. Makes it a weird combination of the most accessible OlliOlli game yet, while also having the most friction points.