Agno
BACKER
A perfect game. I wish I was playing it right now.
2023
I should start by saying I have never played Quake II before and have no ties to that original release, so unfortunately much of the improvements or lack thereof are likely lost on me with this shiny new remaster from Nightdive.
I played and adored the remaster of Quake in 2021. A distinctly 90s package that managed to feel refreshing over 20 years later, offering an approach long abandoned by first person shooters. Now, 2 years later, Nightdive releases their overhaul of Quake II and it is magnificent. A more fast-paced, objective based run-and-gun that feels less scaffolded off it's predecessor and more like a new vision of Quake.
Gone are the dull-grey castle structures, knights in armor, Shamblers, and dark ambient tracks of NIN. There are minor 3D cutscenes and a narrative through-line as you blast your way across Strogg territory. It is up to you and you alone to strike at the heart of the alien enemy. The levels are more varied and larger, going between maps often to complete objectives. The levels transition between interiors and exteriors, always elegant and logical. I especially enjoyed the many skyboxes of the exterior environments. You will meet the sorry souls captured by the Strogg, watch them be decompressed or liquified by their machines. They cry with madness and pain until you either run past them or put them out of their misery. The narrative is simple and doesn't get in the way, but it makes you feel like you're fighting for something and that you've accomplished an important misson when reaching the finale.
The combat itself isn't all that different from Quake. You are given 8 different weapons ranging from your projectile-based pistol, to the BFG, and of course the super shotgun. The enemies are deadly, you can't stop moving or you're done for. I used the super shotty most of the time naturally, turning much of the enemies into bloody gibs every 1 to 3 shots. Some of the bigger bads can take up to 8 missiles. You'll do a lot of enemy managing, taking out the smaller targets first. Occasionally the enemies will friendly fire and they will turn on each other, giving you a temporary ally or distraction.
A fantastic game that looks incredible and has punchy, quick combat. The enemy designs are varied and nasty. All of the Strogg look like they need to be put in the dirt, miserable messes of flesh and steel. The Flyers in particular are an insane design. I can't wait to play all the other campaigns included, especially MachineGames inclusion CALL OF THE MACHINE. I loved their inclusion on the Quake remaster. They really push the engine into new and interesting territories, often appearing much more impressive than anything in the base game.
I played and adored the remaster of Quake in 2021. A distinctly 90s package that managed to feel refreshing over 20 years later, offering an approach long abandoned by first person shooters. Now, 2 years later, Nightdive releases their overhaul of Quake II and it is magnificent. A more fast-paced, objective based run-and-gun that feels less scaffolded off it's predecessor and more like a new vision of Quake.
Gone are the dull-grey castle structures, knights in armor, Shamblers, and dark ambient tracks of NIN. There are minor 3D cutscenes and a narrative through-line as you blast your way across Strogg territory. It is up to you and you alone to strike at the heart of the alien enemy. The levels are more varied and larger, going between maps often to complete objectives. The levels transition between interiors and exteriors, always elegant and logical. I especially enjoyed the many skyboxes of the exterior environments. You will meet the sorry souls captured by the Strogg, watch them be decompressed or liquified by their machines. They cry with madness and pain until you either run past them or put them out of their misery. The narrative is simple and doesn't get in the way, but it makes you feel like you're fighting for something and that you've accomplished an important misson when reaching the finale.
The combat itself isn't all that different from Quake. You are given 8 different weapons ranging from your projectile-based pistol, to the BFG, and of course the super shotgun. The enemies are deadly, you can't stop moving or you're done for. I used the super shotty most of the time naturally, turning much of the enemies into bloody gibs every 1 to 3 shots. Some of the bigger bads can take up to 8 missiles. You'll do a lot of enemy managing, taking out the smaller targets first. Occasionally the enemies will friendly fire and they will turn on each other, giving you a temporary ally or distraction.
A fantastic game that looks incredible and has punchy, quick combat. The enemy designs are varied and nasty. All of the Strogg look like they need to be put in the dirt, miserable messes of flesh and steel. The Flyers in particular are an insane design. I can't wait to play all the other campaigns included, especially MachineGames inclusion CALL OF THE MACHINE. I loved their inclusion on the Quake remaster. They really push the engine into new and interesting territories, often appearing much more impressive than anything in the base game.
2021
I can't say I went into this expecting much, but I was frequently impressed, constantly challenged, and fully in love with its hands off approach. It's somewhat like a first person Link to the Past. Simple, often frustrating combat likely due to its simplicity. I really enjoyed happening upon a new weapon or piece of armor, because each one feels game-changing as each one allows you to reasonably fight a different enemy type. I won't spoil but this also has a great surprise in the end-game. Just a lovely and quick game, I highly recommend it for people who want a 5-6 hour adventure that's challenging while also offering a lot of rewarding exploration.
A strong start for Arkane, you can see all the things to come from their philosophies on game design and focus on player freedom. I played this numerous times back on Xbox 360, it was the first time I played a game that really felt like it was letting me make my own fun. I played through as a sorcerer, as a stealth archer, a knight, etc. Every configuration you could think of and I had so much fun.
Revisiting it now it does feel somewhat like a relic. The combat isn't very engaging and there's a lot of jank that feels almost endearing. It does seem like a prime candidate for the remaster/remake treatment. Even better it would be cool if Arkane revisited this world and made a sequel building off of the mechanics. They really improved on the formula with Dishonored and Prey, and I think it would be neat to revisit a fantasy setting again with what they've learned in the nearly 2 decades since.
Revisiting it now it does feel somewhat like a relic. The combat isn't very engaging and there's a lot of jank that feels almost endearing. It does seem like a prime candidate for the remaster/remake treatment. Even better it would be cool if Arkane revisited this world and made a sequel building off of the mechanics. They really improved on the formula with Dishonored and Prey, and I think it would be neat to revisit a fantasy setting again with what they've learned in the nearly 2 decades since.
2023
Short and sweet. Takes a lot of inspiration from games like Quake, Turok, and even a little bit of Serious Sam, but manages to turn it into something that's its own. I really enjoyed the look and art direction, and the enemies all look cool and unique. There's something about the skyboxes that make me feel nostalgic.
2023
Hacker. Pawn. God. Insect.
The defining immersive sim re-tooled, rebuilt, revitalized, and streamlined. I should preface with the fact that I have not played the original game, nor have I played Night Dive's previous remastered enhanced edition of it, and thus went into this remake with only the knowledge of System Shock's prolific influence, I have played plenty of games it influenced. Night Dive's remake is the best looking, sounding, and feeling game I have played this year.
The game opens with a simple but effective drone shot through an unnamed cyberpunk city in the year 2072 that immediately steeps you in the game's atmosphere. It is a game about atmosphere more than anything. You play as an unnamed hacker hired by Edward Diego of the TriOptimum Corporation after you're caught stealing files on the corp's Citadel Station, specifically a military grade implant. In return for your services removing the onboard A.I.'s ethical restraints all charges will be dropped and you'll receive the fancy implant you discovered. You hack into SHODAN, removing her ethical restraints as per Diego's request and you're knocked out. The fancy implant is installed and you go into a deep coma to heal up. You awaken 6 months later and the station has gone to total hell under SHODAN. Here the game really begins and you've got all the handholding you'll receive for the rest of the game.
Moment to moment gameplay is like being a rat in a maze, which you'll later find was one of many experiments TriOptimum conducted on its unknowing employees, a series of hostile hallways that constantly keeps them, and now you, on their toes. You won't receive a map showing a whole level's structure, instead creating the map as you explore. The game hands you nothing. Finding a weapon isn't an event, if you missed one earlier there's sure to be another one ahead, but you could possibly miss every iteration of a weapon. Enemies don't drop them, only broken ones you can shove into a recycler to make some coin from. If you're like me you'll end up filling your relatively small gridded inventory with all manner of trash just so you can haul it to the recycler. You'll only receive two minor upgrades to your inventory, so you'll have to pick and choose what you carry. There's a small stash box, but it can fit two weapons maximum and there are about 8 different weapons on Citadel Station.
Aside from exploration, the two other sections of gameplay are combat and puzzles. Combat is tense, with quick battles either defining you the victor or finding yourself being rebuilt by one of the station's cyborg units. If you haven't found a cyborg unit then you're greeted with a harrowing game over screen where your barely breathing body is picked up by one of SHODAN's Cortex Reavers and your body is repurposed for her army. These encounters always have you thinking on your feet and while mostly serviceable as far as combat goes is still satisfying, the sound design doing wonders. All the weapons have tangible feedback and splitting a cyborg in two with a well-aimed, high powered sparqbeam shot never gets old. You have an energy meter that is constantly pulled between use on your shields, energy weapons, or speed boots. You are constantly managing this system, but luckily each level has at least one electrical pylon to fully restore your power. Using weapons such as the laser rapier or the early game sparqbeam, with 3 power settings, drains power. There are also portable batteries you can use to replenish this. Other weapons are kinetic. Magnum, assault rifle, or even a railgun. These help balance the energy system so that you're never left without weapons to fight with. If you'd like you can keep the opening game pipe and never worry about management at all, although I'd recommend at least finding the hidden wrench.
To fully navigate each level you'll find yourself at terminals that open up doors or force fields throughout the game. These are small logic puzzles that are a lot of fun and never get old. You'll also likely find a few logic probes that can bypass them entirely if you don't want to engage with them. The two main puzzles are an energy bar where you have to set the right paths of power to a precise energy read. Honestly, I was really bad at this one and started logic probing them in the back half. They're interesting and get you thinking, but it was too easy to bypass after the last enemy I killed dropped a probe. The second and one I did every time is an end to end connection where you have a grid of turnable pipes that you'd line up to connect two points. Its incredibly gratifying to see that light travel from point to point and get hit with the green light and closure of the terminal. Lastly is the revamped cyberspace sequences. Not a lot to write about here, but it's a notable upgrade and also visually dazzling. These sections are short and it's just neat to give you some visualization of a digital space within a digital space.
System Shock has my favorite kind of video game narrative which is when it stays out of your way unless you seek it. It mostly circumvents the musings on A.I. and poses SHODAN just as a straight up all-powerful cyber entity fueled solely by human hubris. It is an artistic embellishment of the lengths corporations will go for profit, proving that the issues we face today are the same ones faced upon the original game's release in 1994. Its story is mostly told through its environment and the many audio logs and data sticks. These two items are actually vital to progression. The game does not tell you where to go or what to do, you must seek out your own path given context clues. Someone in an audio log will mention a sector or a room where you can find an item, some give parts of codes, and some more importantly detail the process for preventing annihilation. You will find yourself with a pen and paper at least once during your play, which I think is beautiful. You always have a clear understanding of progression, a literal map of levels as you ascend to each one, but the game expects you to check on your own progression.
Night Dive's System Shock remake is more than a stunning coat of paint on a classic. It's main focus is not to create an entirely different game based on a possibly poorly aged one, but to bring 1990's game design to the present which I can see as a point of contention, but it's something that started as endearment and became profound joy in my time with the game. I feel often that contemporary video games are so afraid the player will become confused for even a moment that they'll practically play themselves. System Shock is a completely hands-off experience that respects player intelligence. As I was minutes from reaching the Bridge and final showdown, I found myself wishing this game would never end. It's my favorite new game I've played in years, and is one I will be playing many times over. Looking forward to Night Dive's remaster of System Shock 2.
The defining immersive sim re-tooled, rebuilt, revitalized, and streamlined. I should preface with the fact that I have not played the original game, nor have I played Night Dive's previous remastered enhanced edition of it, and thus went into this remake with only the knowledge of System Shock's prolific influence, I have played plenty of games it influenced. Night Dive's remake is the best looking, sounding, and feeling game I have played this year.
The game opens with a simple but effective drone shot through an unnamed cyberpunk city in the year 2072 that immediately steeps you in the game's atmosphere. It is a game about atmosphere more than anything. You play as an unnamed hacker hired by Edward Diego of the TriOptimum Corporation after you're caught stealing files on the corp's Citadel Station, specifically a military grade implant. In return for your services removing the onboard A.I.'s ethical restraints all charges will be dropped and you'll receive the fancy implant you discovered. You hack into SHODAN, removing her ethical restraints as per Diego's request and you're knocked out. The fancy implant is installed and you go into a deep coma to heal up. You awaken 6 months later and the station has gone to total hell under SHODAN. Here the game really begins and you've got all the handholding you'll receive for the rest of the game.
Moment to moment gameplay is like being a rat in a maze, which you'll later find was one of many experiments TriOptimum conducted on its unknowing employees, a series of hostile hallways that constantly keeps them, and now you, on their toes. You won't receive a map showing a whole level's structure, instead creating the map as you explore. The game hands you nothing. Finding a weapon isn't an event, if you missed one earlier there's sure to be another one ahead, but you could possibly miss every iteration of a weapon. Enemies don't drop them, only broken ones you can shove into a recycler to make some coin from. If you're like me you'll end up filling your relatively small gridded inventory with all manner of trash just so you can haul it to the recycler. You'll only receive two minor upgrades to your inventory, so you'll have to pick and choose what you carry. There's a small stash box, but it can fit two weapons maximum and there are about 8 different weapons on Citadel Station.
Aside from exploration, the two other sections of gameplay are combat and puzzles. Combat is tense, with quick battles either defining you the victor or finding yourself being rebuilt by one of the station's cyborg units. If you haven't found a cyborg unit then you're greeted with a harrowing game over screen where your barely breathing body is picked up by one of SHODAN's Cortex Reavers and your body is repurposed for her army. These encounters always have you thinking on your feet and while mostly serviceable as far as combat goes is still satisfying, the sound design doing wonders. All the weapons have tangible feedback and splitting a cyborg in two with a well-aimed, high powered sparqbeam shot never gets old. You have an energy meter that is constantly pulled between use on your shields, energy weapons, or speed boots. You are constantly managing this system, but luckily each level has at least one electrical pylon to fully restore your power. Using weapons such as the laser rapier or the early game sparqbeam, with 3 power settings, drains power. There are also portable batteries you can use to replenish this. Other weapons are kinetic. Magnum, assault rifle, or even a railgun. These help balance the energy system so that you're never left without weapons to fight with. If you'd like you can keep the opening game pipe and never worry about management at all, although I'd recommend at least finding the hidden wrench.
To fully navigate each level you'll find yourself at terminals that open up doors or force fields throughout the game. These are small logic puzzles that are a lot of fun and never get old. You'll also likely find a few logic probes that can bypass them entirely if you don't want to engage with them. The two main puzzles are an energy bar where you have to set the right paths of power to a precise energy read. Honestly, I was really bad at this one and started logic probing them in the back half. They're interesting and get you thinking, but it was too easy to bypass after the last enemy I killed dropped a probe. The second and one I did every time is an end to end connection where you have a grid of turnable pipes that you'd line up to connect two points. Its incredibly gratifying to see that light travel from point to point and get hit with the green light and closure of the terminal. Lastly is the revamped cyberspace sequences. Not a lot to write about here, but it's a notable upgrade and also visually dazzling. These sections are short and it's just neat to give you some visualization of a digital space within a digital space.
System Shock has my favorite kind of video game narrative which is when it stays out of your way unless you seek it. It mostly circumvents the musings on A.I. and poses SHODAN just as a straight up all-powerful cyber entity fueled solely by human hubris. It is an artistic embellishment of the lengths corporations will go for profit, proving that the issues we face today are the same ones faced upon the original game's release in 1994. Its story is mostly told through its environment and the many audio logs and data sticks. These two items are actually vital to progression. The game does not tell you where to go or what to do, you must seek out your own path given context clues. Someone in an audio log will mention a sector or a room where you can find an item, some give parts of codes, and some more importantly detail the process for preventing annihilation. You will find yourself with a pen and paper at least once during your play, which I think is beautiful. You always have a clear understanding of progression, a literal map of levels as you ascend to each one, but the game expects you to check on your own progression.
Night Dive's System Shock remake is more than a stunning coat of paint on a classic. It's main focus is not to create an entirely different game based on a possibly poorly aged one, but to bring 1990's game design to the present which I can see as a point of contention, but it's something that started as endearment and became profound joy in my time with the game. I feel often that contemporary video games are so afraid the player will become confused for even a moment that they'll practically play themselves. System Shock is a completely hands-off experience that respects player intelligence. As I was minutes from reaching the Bridge and final showdown, I found myself wishing this game would never end. It's my favorite new game I've played in years, and is one I will be playing many times over. Looking forward to Night Dive's remaster of System Shock 2.
Builds on it's predecessor in interesting ways, stacking the world into 3 zones that all have their own unique feel and methods of navigation. The combat and weapon systems are the same, but bolstered by the fuse system that adds a new layer of improvisation. If it's not broken, don't fix it. The sandbox style of play is the real winner in Tears of the Kingdom and while most of the time I think the game gives you the exact tools for the job, the game is totally open to you playing how you want to and building what you have in mind. The sky is the limit.
As far as issues, it's really all the same things I have issues with in most open-world games: a massive world with a set of collectibles you need to get in order to improve your character, side quests that don't feel that meaningful which is certainly not always the case, and a world so massive that it really doesn't fully use the ability to create vehicles when the glider is the best mode of transportation.
Narratively this is a more satisfying game, especially in it's climax that is as thrilling as any I've seen in a game of this scope. I think Nintendo has this aspect down pat where their games always build to something truly spectacular. It's an especially awesome finale. I'm not really here for the narrative but it does the job, sometimes excelling, and rarely gets in the way.
Overall I really enjoyed my time with Tears of the Kingdom. It doesn't feel as refreshing to the medium as Breath of the Wild did, but it is a better game on every level. I think something like Elden Ring is now more my speed, where the exploration is its own reward and a more robust combat system keeps me engaged consistently. I'm glad there are still open-world games like this that can keep my interest, ones that are attempting to build on the genre in ways that compliment video games as a medium. I'm excited to see where The Legend of Zelda goes from here, and how Tears of the Kingdom's sandbox style is emulated just as Breath of the Wild made waves.
As far as issues, it's really all the same things I have issues with in most open-world games: a massive world with a set of collectibles you need to get in order to improve your character, side quests that don't feel that meaningful which is certainly not always the case, and a world so massive that it really doesn't fully use the ability to create vehicles when the glider is the best mode of transportation.
Narratively this is a more satisfying game, especially in it's climax that is as thrilling as any I've seen in a game of this scope. I think Nintendo has this aspect down pat where their games always build to something truly spectacular. It's an especially awesome finale. I'm not really here for the narrative but it does the job, sometimes excelling, and rarely gets in the way.
Overall I really enjoyed my time with Tears of the Kingdom. It doesn't feel as refreshing to the medium as Breath of the Wild did, but it is a better game on every level. I think something like Elden Ring is now more my speed, where the exploration is its own reward and a more robust combat system keeps me engaged consistently. I'm glad there are still open-world games like this that can keep my interest, ones that are attempting to build on the genre in ways that compliment video games as a medium. I'm excited to see where The Legend of Zelda goes from here, and how Tears of the Kingdom's sandbox style is emulated just as Breath of the Wild made waves.
2019
It's hard to rate a fighting game without delving into the online a decent amount, but I finished the story so that's what I'm rating here.
The combat is as tight and punchy as ever, it might even be slightly slower and more methodical but honestly it's been years since I played X or MK9 so this might have gone unchanged. Looks great, story was fun, definitely going to jump into multiplayer more and get myself prepared for MK1 which looks fantastic.
The combat is as tight and punchy as ever, it might even be slightly slower and more methodical but honestly it's been years since I played X or MK9 so this might have gone unchanged. Looks great, story was fun, definitely going to jump into multiplayer more and get myself prepared for MK1 which looks fantastic.
I only have a couple complaints for what is otherwise, in my mind, a perfect game. It has me aching for more like it, games where I really get to play a detective. I think the magic pocket watch is such a brilliant idea, allowing you to witness the moment of someone's death, because otherwise a game like this can't exist. It's always giving you just enough to keep your mind running. Total cohesion of narrative and gameplay. The way this thing unfolds is just brilliant, filling in the gaps with your imagination while the game consistently destroys your expectations.
My minor complaints are that I think you should be able to access someone's moment of death from the book. It gets a little tedious having to remember where someone's body is so you can re-live that death again to catch another clue. The other is that some of the fates are straight up a guessing game, but I think that's kind of realistic. There are few of these so you don't have to do much guessing. I just wanted to be able to know exactly what happened to someone if I could help it.
Don't want to give anything away, this was just an absolute treat. I loved every second of it and hope I get to have another experience like it again.
My minor complaints are that I think you should be able to access someone's moment of death from the book. It gets a little tedious having to remember where someone's body is so you can re-live that death again to catch another clue. The other is that some of the fates are straight up a guessing game, but I think that's kind of realistic. There are few of these so you don't have to do much guessing. I just wanted to be able to know exactly what happened to someone if I could help it.
Don't want to give anything away, this was just an absolute treat. I loved every second of it and hope I get to have another experience like it again.
Received this for free with my AMD 7900X.
Not much to say. Complete ass on PC for the most part. The times it ran well were nice, but the game itself can be such a slog. Half-assed platforming sections constantly with a poorly balanced difficulty slider. There's a reason the games this apes don't have one. There's no point in talking the narrative. It's the thing for the SW/Marvel bunch to pretend is groundbreaking or remotely interesting. Boring!
Did not enjoy the first game much, which I played on Jedi Master difficulty and that's the difficulty I chose for this. It's not challenging as much as it's annoying. The combat still isn't responsive enough, feels too floaty and weightless. It's a game that constantly pulls punches and rarely ever feels satisfying.
Graphically this felt like a step up, but I was playing this on PC this time whereas I played the first on PS5 where it's such an ugly, muddy experience. Unfortunately here, again and obviously, Respawn released a shitty product on PC. The game looks like shit unless you have FSR on, even playing at native 4K with settings at Epic. The opening on Coruscant tricked me into thinking this was a visual delight until I got to the barren and frankly ugly Koboh. Some of the tighter corridors look fantastic though! The inside of the Mantis looks stellar, as well as the inside of the cantina on Koboh. Lots of intricate detail. The environments are totally boring though.
All in all, I'm not sure what I expected after playing the first game. I just can't care for these half-baked adventure/soulslike games. None of them reach the heights of what they take inspiration from. This is another "baby's first From" experience with a Star Wars coat on, but you also have to do mindless platforming between any remotely interesting combat experience. I'm sick of it! This isn't even a terrible game, it's just a totally forgettable one. I got just over halfway or so before giving up. Can't waste any more time.
Not much to say. Complete ass on PC for the most part. The times it ran well were nice, but the game itself can be such a slog. Half-assed platforming sections constantly with a poorly balanced difficulty slider. There's a reason the games this apes don't have one. There's no point in talking the narrative. It's the thing for the SW/Marvel bunch to pretend is groundbreaking or remotely interesting. Boring!
Did not enjoy the first game much, which I played on Jedi Master difficulty and that's the difficulty I chose for this. It's not challenging as much as it's annoying. The combat still isn't responsive enough, feels too floaty and weightless. It's a game that constantly pulls punches and rarely ever feels satisfying.
Graphically this felt like a step up, but I was playing this on PC this time whereas I played the first on PS5 where it's such an ugly, muddy experience. Unfortunately here, again and obviously, Respawn released a shitty product on PC. The game looks like shit unless you have FSR on, even playing at native 4K with settings at Epic. The opening on Coruscant tricked me into thinking this was a visual delight until I got to the barren and frankly ugly Koboh. Some of the tighter corridors look fantastic though! The inside of the Mantis looks stellar, as well as the inside of the cantina on Koboh. Lots of intricate detail. The environments are totally boring though.
All in all, I'm not sure what I expected after playing the first game. I just can't care for these half-baked adventure/soulslike games. None of them reach the heights of what they take inspiration from. This is another "baby's first From" experience with a Star Wars coat on, but you also have to do mindless platforming between any remotely interesting combat experience. I'm sick of it! This isn't even a terrible game, it's just a totally forgettable one. I got just over halfway or so before giving up. Can't waste any more time.
2011
Cooped through the original trilogy with a friend who'd never played them. This one was kind of special because I had never played it myself. I don't think I hold it in as high regard as many, but I think that just comes with having played the formula more or less through the preceding two in such quick succession. Narratively this is about on par with the others, with a couple higher points. Mechanically this is likely the best, although I don't think it separates itself much from 2 which I believe to be the high point of the series.
This has a ton of satisfying weaponry. Some classics returning such as the Lancer and the Torque Bow, but also some new and engaging weapons like the Retro Lancer and Digger Launcher. All the splatter and gibs you could hope for.
Really was hoping this would reckon with its Starship Troopers inspiration in an interesting way, but it kind of just takes the dumber way out which is fine by me. Pretty fantastic trilogy, unmatched to this day in what it offers.
This has a ton of satisfying weaponry. Some classics returning such as the Lancer and the Torque Bow, but also some new and engaging weapons like the Retro Lancer and Digger Launcher. All the splatter and gibs you could hope for.
Really was hoping this would reckon with its Starship Troopers inspiration in an interesting way, but it kind of just takes the dumber way out which is fine by me. Pretty fantastic trilogy, unmatched to this day in what it offers.
Well, I beat Turok 2...again. This recent playthrough sort of stripped a bit of the nostalgic veneer from what I've always considered one of my favorite games. Playing this immediately after Turok: Dinosaur Hunter revealed more flaws than I'd remember, but I will say I still think this is a fantastic game.
Now, I finally decided to replay these to get all the achievements. Doing so in the first game was breezy and pleasant, but it was far from that for Turok 2 which requires a completion on "Hardcore Mode." What I will say about this mode is I simply don't recommend it. It turns this game into a serious slowburn. Where before I'd sprint through corridors with the trusty and beautiful double barrel, blasting dinozoid limbs off care-free, I now had to be extra cautious. One minor step around the wrong corner could mean nearly instant death. Enemy fire locked on, some even hitscan and unavoidable, would pelt me from across the map. Each round doing upwards of a quarter of my health or more. It just wasn't fun and boss fights became incredibly tedious. Then there's the way you have to backtrack if you miss even one objective. It can become maddening when you can't find that last little thing to carry on, going through the entire level 3 times before finding it. It's not great, and is often straight up unfair.
What I love so much about Turok 2 is it's atmosphere. Each level with it's own theme, dour midi chords carrying you through. Really impeccable sound design here. Each enemy with it's own death throes and warning roars. The way the mantid soldiers screech as when a leg is blown off or the gurgling of a raptoid whose chest was just blown off. You really feel in it. This is all further elevated by the dreamlike level design. You'll be in places that were perhaps inhabited, but you wonder how anyone could traverse the impossible architecture. Of course the levels were simply created for Joshua Fireseed to run-and-gun through, but their impossibility gives a unique vibe.
In the end, Turok 2 is inextricable from my years with it and how it formed my tastes. I can look on it more critically now than ever, especially after my slightly enjoyable Hardcore run which succeeded in showing me every flaw the game has. It's far from perfect and in some cases is a complete mess, but I love every minute I exist in it.
Now, I finally decided to replay these to get all the achievements. Doing so in the first game was breezy and pleasant, but it was far from that for Turok 2 which requires a completion on "Hardcore Mode." What I will say about this mode is I simply don't recommend it. It turns this game into a serious slowburn. Where before I'd sprint through corridors with the trusty and beautiful double barrel, blasting dinozoid limbs off care-free, I now had to be extra cautious. One minor step around the wrong corner could mean nearly instant death. Enemy fire locked on, some even hitscan and unavoidable, would pelt me from across the map. Each round doing upwards of a quarter of my health or more. It just wasn't fun and boss fights became incredibly tedious. Then there's the way you have to backtrack if you miss even one objective. It can become maddening when you can't find that last little thing to carry on, going through the entire level 3 times before finding it. It's not great, and is often straight up unfair.
What I love so much about Turok 2 is it's atmosphere. Each level with it's own theme, dour midi chords carrying you through. Really impeccable sound design here. Each enemy with it's own death throes and warning roars. The way the mantid soldiers screech as when a leg is blown off or the gurgling of a raptoid whose chest was just blown off. You really feel in it. This is all further elevated by the dreamlike level design. You'll be in places that were perhaps inhabited, but you wonder how anyone could traverse the impossible architecture. Of course the levels were simply created for Joshua Fireseed to run-and-gun through, but their impossibility gives a unique vibe.
In the end, Turok 2 is inextricable from my years with it and how it formed my tastes. I can look on it more critically now than ever, especially after my slightly enjoyable Hardcore run which succeeded in showing me every flaw the game has. It's far from perfect and in some cases is a complete mess, but I love every minute I exist in it.
2015
A childhood classic, revamped and replayed. Revisiting this over 20 years after I first played it was just so pleasant. It's the rare game that stands up to the awe, grit, and challenge I remember. The controls feel better than ever on modern hardware, no longer having to fidget with the N64 controller. Honestly it's a miracle I could figure it out at such a young age. I'm not sure if I ever actually finished it then, the first few levels are so familiar and burned in my mind, but not so much the last half.
It's a singular esoteric experience, just inhabiting it feels dreamlike. The score bumps as you traverse impossible landscapes and architecture as soldiers, dinosaurs, and robots (sometimes combined) rush you from all directions. All of this with an array of satisfying and creative weaponry from your trusty bow all the way to the legendary Chronocepter of which you find a single piece of in each level that is combined just before the end.
All of this to say Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is a pure gem, no ugly blemishes or fluff. Nothing on its mind but collecting keys and killing dinos, and I think that's fucking beautiful.
It's a singular esoteric experience, just inhabiting it feels dreamlike. The score bumps as you traverse impossible landscapes and architecture as soldiers, dinosaurs, and robots (sometimes combined) rush you from all directions. All of this with an array of satisfying and creative weaponry from your trusty bow all the way to the legendary Chronocepter of which you find a single piece of in each level that is combined just before the end.
All of this to say Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is a pure gem, no ugly blemishes or fluff. Nothing on its mind but collecting keys and killing dinos, and I think that's fucking beautiful.
2023
A fine-tuned remix of a classic masterpiece. It's sharp, quick, and pulpy as we've come to expect of this new era of Resident Evil. I'm a big fan of how they've upped the viscera; blood gushes and limbs fly.
I'm not sure if it's because I'm so unused to shooters with a controller, but I found this to be a much more difficult experience than the original. Maybe I'm just getting worse at games. Either way, I was on the edge of a knife constantly. Running out of ammo and health, mad-dashing to find any peace within some of the arenas for just a second.
There are pieces of this that surpass the original. It ups the intensity of almost every encounter, makes Ashley and Luis much better characters, has an obvious fidelity upgrade, and adds some much welcomed movement improvements. Not to mention hotkeyed weapons. I loved this and I'll be playing it at least a couple times more, no doubt. Overall I prefer the original game. It's one I couldn't shake and while this is not a necessary remake, it's an extremely pleasant and sturdy one.
I'm not sure if it's because I'm so unused to shooters with a controller, but I found this to be a much more difficult experience than the original. Maybe I'm just getting worse at games. Either way, I was on the edge of a knife constantly. Running out of ammo and health, mad-dashing to find any peace within some of the arenas for just a second.
There are pieces of this that surpass the original. It ups the intensity of almost every encounter, makes Ashley and Luis much better characters, has an obvious fidelity upgrade, and adds some much welcomed movement improvements. Not to mention hotkeyed weapons. I loved this and I'll be playing it at least a couple times more, no doubt. Overall I prefer the original game. It's one I couldn't shake and while this is not a necessary remake, it's an extremely pleasant and sturdy one.
Finally getting to play this classic thanks to the Switch remaster. This is one of my favorite looking games on the console with the texture overhauls. I wasn't sure what to expect when it starts aboard the pirate ship, but I was hooked as soon as Samus emerged from her ship on Tallon IV. Incredible atmosphere and music. The best parts of this game are exploring it and living in it, and unfortunately the worst parts are how often you have to retread it and how lackluster the combat can be. Still, the puzzles are fun and the vibes are phenomenal. I can see why it's so beloved.