AyoNW
2013
This review contains spoilers
This game is fun! Sometimes. Not very often but it is fun. There are so many strong ideas here. Remixing and stealing people's memories. Parkouring around Neo Paris. Creating custom combos with new properties and uses. I personally think they should have picked two to flesh out, because as a whole this does not work.
If I were redesigning this game? I'd have gone for full on parkour (with really fluid, satisfying movement) and memory shenanigans. The absolute best moments in this game are the remix segments, they felt inventive and clever. They could have gone even further with those too. The movement isn't great but it's perfectly functional. I just wish the game was bold enough to not default to melee combat. Even though the combo system is really neat, the actual combat gets fucking mind numbingly boring. Plus dealing with crowds is awful because your combo resets if you even look in the wrong direction. If there wasn't combat I'm certain this would have been a significantly stronger and more focused game. Believing that Nilin was taking down these absolute tanks of enemies in power suits with her bare hands became less and less believable as time went on.
That being said, the presentation was A1. Looks great for an Xbox 360 title, music was phenomenal, UI and the 2D floating elements around were great too. I really really wish a concept this cool, with artistic execution so perfectly accomplished, hasn't been wasted on annoying platforming, simple puzzles and shit combat. The story was perfectly fine, with a really dumb twist at the end that didn't make much sense to me. Interesting that you can see the throughline from this to Life is Strange from Dontnod, those sequences where you see memories flying around before remixing them? Looks just like the LiS time travel bits. To me.
If I were redesigning this game? I'd have gone for full on parkour (with really fluid, satisfying movement) and memory shenanigans. The absolute best moments in this game are the remix segments, they felt inventive and clever. They could have gone even further with those too. The movement isn't great but it's perfectly functional. I just wish the game was bold enough to not default to melee combat. Even though the combo system is really neat, the actual combat gets fucking mind numbingly boring. Plus dealing with crowds is awful because your combo resets if you even look in the wrong direction. If there wasn't combat I'm certain this would have been a significantly stronger and more focused game. Believing that Nilin was taking down these absolute tanks of enemies in power suits with her bare hands became less and less believable as time went on.
That being said, the presentation was A1. Looks great for an Xbox 360 title, music was phenomenal, UI and the 2D floating elements around were great too. I really really wish a concept this cool, with artistic execution so perfectly accomplished, hasn't been wasted on annoying platforming, simple puzzles and shit combat. The story was perfectly fine, with a really dumb twist at the end that didn't make much sense to me. Interesting that you can see the throughline from this to Life is Strange from Dontnod, those sequences where you see memories flying around before remixing them? Looks just like the LiS time travel bits. To me.
Poor from Nintendo. Mario Tennis gameplay is fun but they seem to have forgotten to add in the rest of the game. Plus the shitty 2006 Mario renders and cold, devoid of personality presentation really make this feel icky. Emblematic of being a Wii U owner in 2015.
Saying all of this though - it would bang in multiplayer with the right friends.
Saying all of this though - it would bang in multiplayer with the right friends.
2013
I wanted to like this so badly. I wanted to call it a fun game so badly. But fun games don't make me feel the way this game made me feel.
It fails on a fundamental level to understand what (I feel) makes Sonic work. Momentum, speed, dexterity and reflexes, cinematic moments. None of these work here. Often the levels felt like they didn't want me to even go fast. So much precision platforming, so many dead ends and enemies that force you to stand still, so many scripted moments that last way too long, fucking WISPS. The fact that the Wisps are in this game is proof that the designers misunderstood what they should have been making. They make no narrative or gameplay sense to bring back. They stop the flow of the gameplay dead in its tracks to make you use shitty touch controls for a few seconds. I hate that they're here. I hate it.
The level design is genuinely a travesty. On a visual level, the genesis era dick riding has GOT to stop. Like why are we still doing checkered floors and green grass please? Beyond that, the levels don't make sense. It's the lost hex, why are there so few hexagons in the levels? Why is the theming so inconsistent and messy? Why have you landed on Super Mario Galaxy's spheres and tubes? It just doesn't make sense to me. Nowhere in the game did I feel like, for more than a few seconds, the level design was working to empower the player and showcase Sonic's moveset. It actually felt like the levels were working against that goal. Also why the hell do they keep doing shitty 2D sections? I think more of the game was 2D than 3D. They somehow feel even slower than the 3D sections and they're mostly a bore. The physics in them is inconsistent too, like why can I run up some walls but not others?
Speaking of the parkour, they should have gone a lot farther with it imo. Vaulting, somersaults, rolling to conserve momentum, tricks, timing based inputs, grinds, wall clings and kicks, swinging from things. So much could have been done to really make Sonic feel fluid in his interactions with the world. As it stands, I found myself wrestling with the controls to get through the world. Stupid things like not grabbing ledges, not being able to adjust my height as I wallran. Hated it. The precision platforming, blatant Super Mario ripoff gameplay they went for does not mesh with the parkour abilities they've given Sonic, in the slightest. A Sonic like this needs wide open areas to speed through, sections to homing attack and bounce through, dense sections with elements to swing from and spin through.
I will say the spindash, especially on walls, and the multi homing attack are great though. Should have been expanded on but they're great.
I loved the 3DS version when I played it years back, and thought the Wii U version could only improve on it. But I was wrong :/
It fails on a fundamental level to understand what (I feel) makes Sonic work. Momentum, speed, dexterity and reflexes, cinematic moments. None of these work here. Often the levels felt like they didn't want me to even go fast. So much precision platforming, so many dead ends and enemies that force you to stand still, so many scripted moments that last way too long, fucking WISPS. The fact that the Wisps are in this game is proof that the designers misunderstood what they should have been making. They make no narrative or gameplay sense to bring back. They stop the flow of the gameplay dead in its tracks to make you use shitty touch controls for a few seconds. I hate that they're here. I hate it.
The level design is genuinely a travesty. On a visual level, the genesis era dick riding has GOT to stop. Like why are we still doing checkered floors and green grass please? Beyond that, the levels don't make sense. It's the lost hex, why are there so few hexagons in the levels? Why is the theming so inconsistent and messy? Why have you landed on Super Mario Galaxy's spheres and tubes? It just doesn't make sense to me. Nowhere in the game did I feel like, for more than a few seconds, the level design was working to empower the player and showcase Sonic's moveset. It actually felt like the levels were working against that goal. Also why the hell do they keep doing shitty 2D sections? I think more of the game was 2D than 3D. They somehow feel even slower than the 3D sections and they're mostly a bore. The physics in them is inconsistent too, like why can I run up some walls but not others?
Speaking of the parkour, they should have gone a lot farther with it imo. Vaulting, somersaults, rolling to conserve momentum, tricks, timing based inputs, grinds, wall clings and kicks, swinging from things. So much could have been done to really make Sonic feel fluid in his interactions with the world. As it stands, I found myself wrestling with the controls to get through the world. Stupid things like not grabbing ledges, not being able to adjust my height as I wallran. Hated it. The precision platforming, blatant Super Mario ripoff gameplay they went for does not mesh with the parkour abilities they've given Sonic, in the slightest. A Sonic like this needs wide open areas to speed through, sections to homing attack and bounce through, dense sections with elements to swing from and spin through.
I will say the spindash, especially on walls, and the multi homing attack are great though. Should have been expanded on but they're great.
I loved the 3DS version when I played it years back, and thought the Wii U version could only improve on it. But I was wrong :/
Despite everything this game is fun!
Immortals borrows heavily from Breath of the Wild, obviously, and sort of loses every direct comparison with how that game made me feel. Where Zelda's world felt lived in and real, much of this world felt artifical. Where Zelda encouraged quiet, thoughtful exploration, this game has you stand around and point out every secret or collectible. Plus the map, my goodness. It's horrible. I reached a point where I had to filter out every non-quest icon because there were so fucking many cluttering the map.
Combat is pretty fun but mind numbing, puzzles were mildly challenging (some were harder or more finicky) but repetitive, physics puzzles were jarring and frustrating. With the puzzle design I got the sense that whoever designed them thought they were being much more clever than they were. It does work really well in moments, but those moments get bogged down when the same mechanic is stretched totally thin and reused everywhere, but worse. Idk. The writing was similar, way way too snarky for its own good. I appreciated when the characters slowed down and were sincere rather than trying to be funny and witty. Typhon's VA was sick.
What else... I'm tired of these types of open worlds. This could have BANGED as a linear 3D platform I can't lie. It wasn't enhanced by being in a massive open world, honestly I'd say the open world leads to its biggest issues. Horrible map and icon overload. Puzzles being reused and reused in the overworld. Meaningless, boring combat encounters. That's just me tho.
I mainlined this game in about 30 hours and won't be going back for the DLC. Oh, music and graphics were excellent too. No structure idk, those are my thoughts.
Immortals borrows heavily from Breath of the Wild, obviously, and sort of loses every direct comparison with how that game made me feel. Where Zelda's world felt lived in and real, much of this world felt artifical. Where Zelda encouraged quiet, thoughtful exploration, this game has you stand around and point out every secret or collectible. Plus the map, my goodness. It's horrible. I reached a point where I had to filter out every non-quest icon because there were so fucking many cluttering the map.
Combat is pretty fun but mind numbing, puzzles were mildly challenging (some were harder or more finicky) but repetitive, physics puzzles were jarring and frustrating. With the puzzle design I got the sense that whoever designed them thought they were being much more clever than they were. It does work really well in moments, but those moments get bogged down when the same mechanic is stretched totally thin and reused everywhere, but worse. Idk. The writing was similar, way way too snarky for its own good. I appreciated when the characters slowed down and were sincere rather than trying to be funny and witty. Typhon's VA was sick.
What else... I'm tired of these types of open worlds. This could have BANGED as a linear 3D platform I can't lie. It wasn't enhanced by being in a massive open world, honestly I'd say the open world leads to its biggest issues. Horrible map and icon overload. Puzzles being reused and reused in the overworld. Meaningless, boring combat encounters. That's just me tho.
I mainlined this game in about 30 hours and won't be going back for the DLC. Oh, music and graphics were excellent too. No structure idk, those are my thoughts.
2008
This game is sick. Striking visual presentation, excellent music, such clever level design and controls. I love that it's more a puzzle game than a pure platformer: you're thrown into a 3D space and given a goal to reach, now you have to figure out what string of moves you can put together to get there. I thought going in that it would be mechanically difficult but the controls simplify the complexity away. The length too, omg. I miss having full game stories that feel complete over 6-7 hours. This was about 5 days of playing an hour or two at a time, so sustainable. The game isn't perfect. Guns do not have any place in a game like this and it honestly dilutes everything: mechanics, aesthetics, story. A runner whose entire MO is to slip in and out of places and evade enemies shouldn't be picking up guns to engage directly. Aesthetically it makes the beautiful visuals feel a lot more like any other AAA game from 08 with some bulky, ugly gun in your hand (which isn't even stylised and cool like everything else). And mechanically? The guns mostly feel like shit. Shooting mostly feels like shit. You slow down to a halt and can't parkour with a gun in hand, you can't ADS, they don't sound great, enemies are weird bullet sponges with wonky hit boxes, sniping is awful - they shouldn't be in here! It feels like an attempt to appeal to gamer sensibilities and it takes away from the game. Ideally, I think focusing on disarming and maybe adding some deeper stealth mechanics would have helped out (but maybe that's my recent Metal Gear binge speaking). But anyway, 10/10 parkour, amazing level design (when it's not stopping you dead in your tracks for a shitty shooting gallery), very good game.
This review contains spoilers
This is an odd one. Second in my playthrough of every Metal Gear game, it's a marked improvement on Metal Gear 1 in almost every way. The graphics, locations, ability to crawl, the story and characters, the fact that they actually somewhat improved the stupid ID card system... But idk I had way less fun with this than the first game. I sort of feel like it was a lot more obtuse in ways that made me reliant on a walkthrough rather than feeling clever. Maybe that's me having modern gamer brain. But something like having an accessible map with markers or location names would have made things so much more bearable. Idk idk, the game is still very clever in small ways that I could appreciate, but those moments are few and far between. I think the storytelling really outshines the gameplay here, which is weird to say but I think it's true. My thoughts aren't overly coherent on this one but I'm just thankful it's over with, this game took me weeks to finally push through because I was having so little fun suffering through near identical rooms and BACKTRACKING ACROSS THE ENTIRE GAME MULTIPLE TIMES.
1987
This review contains spoilers
After procuring a PS3, the first thing I decided I wanted to do was become a Metal Gear fan, properly. I played through most of Peace Walker on PSP years ago with no context, so I got the Legacy Collection and I'm working my way through it in release order. So I started here, at Metal Gear.
The game is fun. For being the first in the series, and the first real stealth game, it's actually fun. Sneaking through a room, freezing behind cover and silently punching out a guard actually feels great. As does clocking the puzzles in rooms full of traps and tricks. The story was fun enough but I really loved the codec calls as a means of delivering both exposition and gameplay hints.
Having said all of that, some of these puzzles are so damn obscure that I had to rely on a walkthrough. I'm sure I could have punched every wall in a massive room to see which was hollow and needed to be blown up, but uhhhhh I value my time enough to not do that shit. I needed the walkthrough and I needed to cheese it multiple times. I realised that if you died enough times, you'd get fully refilled on ammo and rations. Early on I was annoyed that the game pitied me, by the end I was intentionally stepping onto electrified floors to summon my care package. Having said all of this though, the obscurity of these puzzles actually makes them feel really unique and clever when they come together. The parachute thing off the roof? That gives you a little cut scene of Snake floating down, after you've navigated the wobbly bridge and blown up a helicopter? Cinematic shit fr.
This game clearly lays the groundwork as best as it could, and it seems to be feeling out what stealth games can even be. A lot of the time it's seriously unfun, and it hasn't aged incredibly, but it's always engaging.
The game is fun. For being the first in the series, and the first real stealth game, it's actually fun. Sneaking through a room, freezing behind cover and silently punching out a guard actually feels great. As does clocking the puzzles in rooms full of traps and tricks. The story was fun enough but I really loved the codec calls as a means of delivering both exposition and gameplay hints.
Having said all of that, some of these puzzles are so damn obscure that I had to rely on a walkthrough. I'm sure I could have punched every wall in a massive room to see which was hollow and needed to be blown up, but uhhhhh I value my time enough to not do that shit. I needed the walkthrough and I needed to cheese it multiple times. I realised that if you died enough times, you'd get fully refilled on ammo and rations. Early on I was annoyed that the game pitied me, by the end I was intentionally stepping onto electrified floors to summon my care package. Having said all of this though, the obscurity of these puzzles actually makes them feel really unique and clever when they come together. The parachute thing off the roof? That gives you a little cut scene of Snake floating down, after you've navigated the wobbly bridge and blown up a helicopter? Cinematic shit fr.
This game clearly lays the groundwork as best as it could, and it seems to be feeling out what stealth games can even be. A lot of the time it's seriously unfun, and it hasn't aged incredibly, but it's always engaging.
This review contains spoilers
I am not a Zelda man.
My history with the series is as follows: when Four Swords Adventure was free on the eShop for Zelda's 25th Anniversary in 2011, I played through that as my first Zelda, and liked it well enough.
In 2014, when I got Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, Nintendo was giving out bonus additional games. I chose Wind Waker HD, and played that almost to completion (gave up at the Triforce hunt).
In 2017, I got Breath of the Wild for Wii U (because what else was there for Wii U owners at that point?) and adored it. Spent 120+ hours on it and it's part of the reason why I bombed my year 12 exams that year lol.
So yeah, I liked Zelda well enough? Didn't have too much experience with it, didn't love what I played of the classic 3D formula (WW) but loved the one that isn't like any of the others (BotW).
When Skyward Sword HD was announced, something came over me and I preordered it, then didn't touch it for 6 months. That was the preamble, now onto my thoughts.
I loved this game. It is far from perfect. The linearity was annoying at times, the padding was annoying at times. Things like flying became tedious. But this game felt like a real adventure. The story, the music, the characters, the locations, the items, everything came together to properly feel like a Ghibli movie.
The dungeons were absolutely excellent. And there were so many more of them than I expected. Cleverly, trickily designed, filled with interesting puzzles and wringing every use case out of the fantastic set of items in the game.
I loved the combat too. I'm an absolute sucker for motion controls and this had them in spades. Swinging the sword around never got old for me, even in the final fight.
The music. Wallay buff.
I do have criticisms. At a few points late in the game it felt like the game was inventing reasons for me to not be able to get to the end and instead traverse the same 3 locations a third time (but in their defence, each location changed meaningfully and added new areas). I also didn't care for the side quests (but that's probably just a me thing, not a side quest guy, especially when I'm trying to make my way through a backlog). And I didn't meaningfully engage with the potions system until literally right before the final fight. Never infused a potion once until then. And the graphics, whilst 60fps, are muddy and Wii-like - going further with the painterly aesthetic on an HD console would have been so so good.
But none of that actually matters. I finished the game about 15 minutes ago and I feel like I ate a really filling, delicious meal. The designer in me was tickled by the dungeons, items and environmental puzzles throughout, all so well done.
Funny thing is, with this game as context, every decision made in (and every criticism of) Breath of the Wild makes perfect sense now. This game was too linear and handholdy, that game is pure exploration with little guidance. This game stops and starts with cutscenes, that game has them all purely optional. But then, this game has an incredible variety of dungeons, that game has identical feeling shrines. This game has all sorts of items and gadgets, that game has breakable weapons (and the Slate to be fair).
Idk. To sum it up, with Breath of the Wild as my reference point, Skyward Sword HD is everything I didn't know I wanted out of a Zelda game.
My history with the series is as follows: when Four Swords Adventure was free on the eShop for Zelda's 25th Anniversary in 2011, I played through that as my first Zelda, and liked it well enough.
In 2014, when I got Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, Nintendo was giving out bonus additional games. I chose Wind Waker HD, and played that almost to completion (gave up at the Triforce hunt).
In 2017, I got Breath of the Wild for Wii U (because what else was there for Wii U owners at that point?) and adored it. Spent 120+ hours on it and it's part of the reason why I bombed my year 12 exams that year lol.
So yeah, I liked Zelda well enough? Didn't have too much experience with it, didn't love what I played of the classic 3D formula (WW) but loved the one that isn't like any of the others (BotW).
When Skyward Sword HD was announced, something came over me and I preordered it, then didn't touch it for 6 months. That was the preamble, now onto my thoughts.
I loved this game. It is far from perfect. The linearity was annoying at times, the padding was annoying at times. Things like flying became tedious. But this game felt like a real adventure. The story, the music, the characters, the locations, the items, everything came together to properly feel like a Ghibli movie.
The dungeons were absolutely excellent. And there were so many more of them than I expected. Cleverly, trickily designed, filled with interesting puzzles and wringing every use case out of the fantastic set of items in the game.
I loved the combat too. I'm an absolute sucker for motion controls and this had them in spades. Swinging the sword around never got old for me, even in the final fight.
The music. Wallay buff.
I do have criticisms. At a few points late in the game it felt like the game was inventing reasons for me to not be able to get to the end and instead traverse the same 3 locations a third time (but in their defence, each location changed meaningfully and added new areas). I also didn't care for the side quests (but that's probably just a me thing, not a side quest guy, especially when I'm trying to make my way through a backlog). And I didn't meaningfully engage with the potions system until literally right before the final fight. Never infused a potion once until then. And the graphics, whilst 60fps, are muddy and Wii-like - going further with the painterly aesthetic on an HD console would have been so so good.
But none of that actually matters. I finished the game about 15 minutes ago and I feel like I ate a really filling, delicious meal. The designer in me was tickled by the dungeons, items and environmental puzzles throughout, all so well done.
Funny thing is, with this game as context, every decision made in (and every criticism of) Breath of the Wild makes perfect sense now. This game was too linear and handholdy, that game is pure exploration with little guidance. This game stops and starts with cutscenes, that game has them all purely optional. But then, this game has an incredible variety of dungeons, that game has identical feeling shrines. This game has all sorts of items and gadgets, that game has breakable weapons (and the Slate to be fair).
Idk. To sum it up, with Breath of the Wild as my reference point, Skyward Sword HD is everything I didn't know I wanted out of a Zelda game.
2020
This review contains spoilers
Foregone is mid and that's okay.
I bought it on a whim during a Black Friday sale, and played the entire thing on mute whilst I binge watched the Spider-Man films before No Way Home. Ideal way to play, honestly.
What I liked: The graphics were amazing. It looked like 3D animation that was somehow rotoscoped with pixel art. Felt like a real labour of love, particularly with the character animations. The combat was actually quite fun too, especially when I found some weapon combinations that worked for me. The level design was passable but enjoyable to traverse, particularly when new abilities unlocked with time.
What I didn't like: The story and setting was so fucking boring bro. Like I felt like I missed nothing by totally zoning out from any story content whatsoever. I couldn't tell you anything about the main character, she was such a void of personality, only there to make perfectly functional quips. Environmental storytelling and secret notes to fill out the lore is fucking boring when there's no engaging plot. Plus the vaguely fantasy/steampunk? No fuckin clue what the setting was, was boring as heck. Can't even comment on the music because I played the whole thing on mute. The visuals, whilst technically really impressive, were impossible to read. Some challenges relied on you killing a certain number of enemies in a harsh time limit, but when there are 10 enemies in the same spot, and they're all doing elaborate death animations that don't immediately signal that they're dead, it's so difficult to read what's even happening. Pair that with a million particles on screen, the massive slowdown when lots is happening, and the busy backgrounds, and it's just soup. Chunky soup. The UI is also awful because why the heck is all the text so damn tiny? I played the whole thing in handheld mode and I had to squint to even see things. The loot was shit because why would I care about the differences between a purple gun and a gold one? Beyond the damage numbers I didn't give a shit. Every weapon, armour, etc had so many damn buffs and effects like "extra 4% chance to stun" like what the fuck why would I EVER care enough to upgrade that stat. A number that tiny makes me feel absolutely nothing. Every weapon felt the same and I totally disregarded those buffs and effects. I wish it was simplified and obfuscated a bit so I could focus more on "what type of weapon build do I want?" rather than "what numbers am i meant to be optimising?". Similarly, the skill trees and upgrade paths were overly granular and specific - I stuck to my preferred abilities and kept it moving tbh. And the boss battles were dead. It just became "hit enough times, roll away" - no interesting mechanics or anything either. Boring. ALSO the structure was sort of strange? Like it wanted to be a Metroidvania but it just ended up being totally linear along the main path, alongside a series of side missions which were actually quite challenging. It was just a bit oddly communicated to me, I initially didn't know what the missions were meant to be in relation to the "open world".
Foregone was mindless and a fun distraction whilst I had a film on in the background, and that's about all it was to me. It really needed an entirely different approach to its story and characters, and much more interesting setting, to stand out. It also needed a complete overhaul of its loot system (or for it to be scrapped entirely in favour of traditional unlocks) - I wasted so much time deleting grey weapons from my inventory just to hoard more gold ones I wasn't using. MID. But fun mid.
I bought it on a whim during a Black Friday sale, and played the entire thing on mute whilst I binge watched the Spider-Man films before No Way Home. Ideal way to play, honestly.
What I liked: The graphics were amazing. It looked like 3D animation that was somehow rotoscoped with pixel art. Felt like a real labour of love, particularly with the character animations. The combat was actually quite fun too, especially when I found some weapon combinations that worked for me. The level design was passable but enjoyable to traverse, particularly when new abilities unlocked with time.
What I didn't like: The story and setting was so fucking boring bro. Like I felt like I missed nothing by totally zoning out from any story content whatsoever. I couldn't tell you anything about the main character, she was such a void of personality, only there to make perfectly functional quips. Environmental storytelling and secret notes to fill out the lore is fucking boring when there's no engaging plot. Plus the vaguely fantasy/steampunk? No fuckin clue what the setting was, was boring as heck. Can't even comment on the music because I played the whole thing on mute. The visuals, whilst technically really impressive, were impossible to read. Some challenges relied on you killing a certain number of enemies in a harsh time limit, but when there are 10 enemies in the same spot, and they're all doing elaborate death animations that don't immediately signal that they're dead, it's so difficult to read what's even happening. Pair that with a million particles on screen, the massive slowdown when lots is happening, and the busy backgrounds, and it's just soup. Chunky soup. The UI is also awful because why the heck is all the text so damn tiny? I played the whole thing in handheld mode and I had to squint to even see things. The loot was shit because why would I care about the differences between a purple gun and a gold one? Beyond the damage numbers I didn't give a shit. Every weapon, armour, etc had so many damn buffs and effects like "extra 4% chance to stun" like what the fuck why would I EVER care enough to upgrade that stat. A number that tiny makes me feel absolutely nothing. Every weapon felt the same and I totally disregarded those buffs and effects. I wish it was simplified and obfuscated a bit so I could focus more on "what type of weapon build do I want?" rather than "what numbers am i meant to be optimising?". Similarly, the skill trees and upgrade paths were overly granular and specific - I stuck to my preferred abilities and kept it moving tbh. And the boss battles were dead. It just became "hit enough times, roll away" - no interesting mechanics or anything either. Boring. ALSO the structure was sort of strange? Like it wanted to be a Metroidvania but it just ended up being totally linear along the main path, alongside a series of side missions which were actually quite challenging. It was just a bit oddly communicated to me, I initially didn't know what the missions were meant to be in relation to the "open world".
Foregone was mindless and a fun distraction whilst I had a film on in the background, and that's about all it was to me. It really needed an entirely different approach to its story and characters, and much more interesting setting, to stand out. It also needed a complete overhaul of its loot system (or for it to be scrapped entirely in favour of traditional unlocks) - I wasted so much time deleting grey weapons from my inventory just to hoard more gold ones I wasn't using. MID. But fun mid.
This review contains spoilers
I don't fuck with the MCU Guardians films. I think GotG 1 is okay, and 2 is pretty dead. But this is the good stuff.
I played Avengers, completed the story and actually enjoyed what I played - I ignored all of the grind, all of the live service stuff, all of the multiplayer, and treated it like a single player superhero game. It kiiiiiiiiinda scratched that itch, but not quite.
Guardians scratched that itch. It felt like a much older game in the best way possible - single player only, no online, no live service, it was beautiful. I play the game and I can either replay the chapters, start the game again or NOTHING. It feels like old times, when games had endings. It also only took me about 17 hours which was blessed.
What I liked: The characters and story. It's the big positive point and for good reason, the performances and writing are so, so good. It made me care about the Guardians where 2 whole MCU films failed. I saw some people talking about how they laughed out loud or cried or whatever, and I didn't feel all of that, but it was funny and engaging consistently. The choices in the story were great too because they actually made material changes - I chose to sell Groot (after initially choosing Rocket but going back on that), and I realised later on that going with Rocket would have been a massive change. The combat was a lot of fun too. I was initially worried about the idea of only controlling Star Lord but I loved how they used that to emphasise that you're the leader of this team. You command the others to attack, you make the choices for them in the story, you call up huddles to inspire them and start playing 80s music over combat, it's sick. It's limited initially but unlocking all of the moves for all of the characters makes you feel really powerful when you start outputting a lot of damage.
What I didn't like: ...I don't know lol. I think sometimes the level design was a bit simple? Like outside of the combat sections, the levels were mostly very simple corridors and puzzle rooms with light platforming. It does the thing where your character is on the left side of the screen and I feel like that doesn't work for platforming, you know? I wish it had been bolder with their platforming sections, but I understand that it was just a vehicle for pretty environments and character conversations. The puzzle difficulty was honestly LEGO game levels too, but all good. Super fun game.
I played Avengers, completed the story and actually enjoyed what I played - I ignored all of the grind, all of the live service stuff, all of the multiplayer, and treated it like a single player superhero game. It kiiiiiiiiinda scratched that itch, but not quite.
Guardians scratched that itch. It felt like a much older game in the best way possible - single player only, no online, no live service, it was beautiful. I play the game and I can either replay the chapters, start the game again or NOTHING. It feels like old times, when games had endings. It also only took me about 17 hours which was blessed.
What I liked: The characters and story. It's the big positive point and for good reason, the performances and writing are so, so good. It made me care about the Guardians where 2 whole MCU films failed. I saw some people talking about how they laughed out loud or cried or whatever, and I didn't feel all of that, but it was funny and engaging consistently. The choices in the story were great too because they actually made material changes - I chose to sell Groot (after initially choosing Rocket but going back on that), and I realised later on that going with Rocket would have been a massive change. The combat was a lot of fun too. I was initially worried about the idea of only controlling Star Lord but I loved how they used that to emphasise that you're the leader of this team. You command the others to attack, you make the choices for them in the story, you call up huddles to inspire them and start playing 80s music over combat, it's sick. It's limited initially but unlocking all of the moves for all of the characters makes you feel really powerful when you start outputting a lot of damage.
What I didn't like: ...I don't know lol. I think sometimes the level design was a bit simple? Like outside of the combat sections, the levels were mostly very simple corridors and puzzle rooms with light platforming. It does the thing where your character is on the left side of the screen and I feel like that doesn't work for platforming, you know? I wish it had been bolder with their platforming sections, but I understand that it was just a vehicle for pretty environments and character conversations. The puzzle difficulty was honestly LEGO game levels too, but all good. Super fun game.
2008
I have a long history with Kung Fu Panda. I was about 7 when the film came out, became obsessed with it, and badly wanted the video game. I didn't have a console but really REALLY wanted the HD version. I managed to get the DS version and played that one obsessively.
It's a fun 2.5D platformer, entirely touch controlled but it feels quite good. The story is set after the movie and involves you saving the Furious Five, then fighting Tai Lung again. Good shit. I played it to 97% completion (cannot find the final couple of souls for the life of me) and moved on with my life.
...Until I got an Xbox 360 earlier this year. Finally I realised I had the opportunity to play the big boy console version I was so desperate to try. And play it I did. It was OK.
What I liked: The animations during combat were really quite good. They had a nice sense of weight to them and helped the attacks feel satisfying when using them. The levels were relatively varied and actually very faithful recreations of areas from the movie (particularly the Jade Palace - I rewatched the film after completing the game and had flashbacks to the Tai Lung boss fight when I saw the Jade Palace in the film). Po's voice actor was also very good at pretending to be Jack Black. The other VAs were not good matches for the celebrity actors (shout out to the Ian McShane and Jackie Chan impersonators for being especially awful) but I genuinely thought they splashed out for Jack Black before seeing that it was an impersonator. Overall what I really liked (and why I even played it) was that it was a mindless 3D platformer and it's exactly what I wanted at that moment.
What I didn't like: Some of the level design was WACK, power scaling is nonexistent so when you upgrade your moves, you just one-shot every enemy. Also the narrative was fucked. Instead of doing an original story after the movie like the DS version, they decided to retell the movie? But with different events? And for some reason Po knows perfect Kung Fu before he ever starts training? Makes no sense. Undermines the story. Makes every setpiece feel like a cheaper version of the movie. 0/10.
It's a fun 2.5D platformer, entirely touch controlled but it feels quite good. The story is set after the movie and involves you saving the Furious Five, then fighting Tai Lung again. Good shit. I played it to 97% completion (cannot find the final couple of souls for the life of me) and moved on with my life.
...Until I got an Xbox 360 earlier this year. Finally I realised I had the opportunity to play the big boy console version I was so desperate to try. And play it I did. It was OK.
What I liked: The animations during combat were really quite good. They had a nice sense of weight to them and helped the attacks feel satisfying when using them. The levels were relatively varied and actually very faithful recreations of areas from the movie (particularly the Jade Palace - I rewatched the film after completing the game and had flashbacks to the Tai Lung boss fight when I saw the Jade Palace in the film). Po's voice actor was also very good at pretending to be Jack Black. The other VAs were not good matches for the celebrity actors (shout out to the Ian McShane and Jackie Chan impersonators for being especially awful) but I genuinely thought they splashed out for Jack Black before seeing that it was an impersonator. Overall what I really liked (and why I even played it) was that it was a mindless 3D platformer and it's exactly what I wanted at that moment.
What I didn't like: Some of the level design was WACK, power scaling is nonexistent so when you upgrade your moves, you just one-shot every enemy. Also the narrative was fucked. Instead of doing an original story after the movie like the DS version, they decided to retell the movie? But with different events? And for some reason Po knows perfect Kung Fu before he ever starts training? Makes no sense. Undermines the story. Makes every setpiece feel like a cheaper version of the movie. 0/10.
This review contains spoilers
I just finished the PC version of Web of Shadows - I wanted to buy the Xbox 360 version but physical copies of that are going for over £100, so, uh... I acquired it via other means for PC. That did mean I could play it in 4K though, so that was fun.
What I liked: The combat was great - really fluid and loose in the way that older games tended to be. It's less focused on being cinematic and looking good, and more focused on making you feel powerful. I also really liked the SFX during battle like the swipes on the punches. It also extended to midair combat (which has you suspended in air for aaaaaages, really fun) and on-walls combat (which is great sometimes but other times the camera bugs out and it becomes a massive headache). Being able to switch between the two suits, and by extension, two movesets, was great too. Switching between them mid-combo became really fun towards the end. I also loved the traversal. I was iffy on it first, but over time I picked up on how to do certain things like wall run, swing on poles, web zip vertically, etc. It's very twitchy and light compared to other Spider-Man games, but it felt great with some time. The animations were excellent and really added to the feeling of fluidity (shoutout to the horizontal web zip animation, it ends in a pose I've never seen before or since but it's so sick, and so Spider-Man). I also really respect what they were going for with the story - the morality system actually made some impactful changes to the story, and more importantly, to the way I approached moment-to-moment gameplay. I decided to go against my instincts and choose chaos with the Black Suit, and embracing the villainous side was a lot of fun. There was a moment towards the end (where you decide whether to destroy the anti-symbiote detonator or not) where, with my alignment completely dark, I was expecting a choice. I was ready to go for the heroic choice but the game actually locked me into the evil choice, then stopped allowing me to change suits. It was a really clever subversion that made me feel like my choices actually had an impact on things.
What I disliked: The mission design in this game is awful. Truly. The entire thing is set in the outdoor environment of NYC, unlike EVERY other Spider-Man game - those all have indoor environments too. It's a good thing sometimes, because it means that the entire time you play, you're getting to know the city, and the way it changes with the narrative becomes more satisfying. But on the other hand, it means that every. Single. Mission. Is some variation on "kill X amount of enemies" or "go to point Y and kill more enemies". It's so fucking boring. There are two other environments, Rikers (surely it's the Raft?) and a Shield Helicarrier at the very end. Neither of these are indoors. Idk. Every mission felt identical, with some boring talking head sections between them. I don't know if it was a creative choice, or a time restriction, but it makes the game DRAG. Spider-Man needs indoor environments. As a character, Spider-Man is so versatile because he works very differently indoors vs outdoors. Outdoors, he's fast, speeding through the air, running on walls, covering ground, moving up skyscrapers. The focus is swinging and movement. But all the best Spider-Man games break that up with indoor Spider-Man - combat, stealth, wall crawling, verticality indoors, fitting into tight spaces. It's a whole different set of verbs. I think The Amazing Spider-Man does a sick job of indoor Spider-Man, the combat is fantastic and the stealth??? OMG. Web Rush works so well as a stealth/traversal tool - but that's off topic. Web of Shadows is all outdoor verbs and it gets TIRED. I just wanted to do something different, in a visually different environment. Anyway, that drags the game down to a 3.5 for me, it's a big complaint. Fun game though.
OH and the DS version - fantastic Metroidvania, some beautiful animation, great combat and level design, super fun swinging, full voice acting. That game is a solid 4.5, genuinely the superior version. Spider-Man has phenomenal handheld games.
What I liked: The combat was great - really fluid and loose in the way that older games tended to be. It's less focused on being cinematic and looking good, and more focused on making you feel powerful. I also really liked the SFX during battle like the swipes on the punches. It also extended to midair combat (which has you suspended in air for aaaaaages, really fun) and on-walls combat (which is great sometimes but other times the camera bugs out and it becomes a massive headache). Being able to switch between the two suits, and by extension, two movesets, was great too. Switching between them mid-combo became really fun towards the end. I also loved the traversal. I was iffy on it first, but over time I picked up on how to do certain things like wall run, swing on poles, web zip vertically, etc. It's very twitchy and light compared to other Spider-Man games, but it felt great with some time. The animations were excellent and really added to the feeling of fluidity (shoutout to the horizontal web zip animation, it ends in a pose I've never seen before or since but it's so sick, and so Spider-Man). I also really respect what they were going for with the story - the morality system actually made some impactful changes to the story, and more importantly, to the way I approached moment-to-moment gameplay. I decided to go against my instincts and choose chaos with the Black Suit, and embracing the villainous side was a lot of fun. There was a moment towards the end (where you decide whether to destroy the anti-symbiote detonator or not) where, with my alignment completely dark, I was expecting a choice. I was ready to go for the heroic choice but the game actually locked me into the evil choice, then stopped allowing me to change suits. It was a really clever subversion that made me feel like my choices actually had an impact on things.
What I disliked: The mission design in this game is awful. Truly. The entire thing is set in the outdoor environment of NYC, unlike EVERY other Spider-Man game - those all have indoor environments too. It's a good thing sometimes, because it means that the entire time you play, you're getting to know the city, and the way it changes with the narrative becomes more satisfying. But on the other hand, it means that every. Single. Mission. Is some variation on "kill X amount of enemies" or "go to point Y and kill more enemies". It's so fucking boring. There are two other environments, Rikers (surely it's the Raft?) and a Shield Helicarrier at the very end. Neither of these are indoors. Idk. Every mission felt identical, with some boring talking head sections between them. I don't know if it was a creative choice, or a time restriction, but it makes the game DRAG. Spider-Man needs indoor environments. As a character, Spider-Man is so versatile because he works very differently indoors vs outdoors. Outdoors, he's fast, speeding through the air, running on walls, covering ground, moving up skyscrapers. The focus is swinging and movement. But all the best Spider-Man games break that up with indoor Spider-Man - combat, stealth, wall crawling, verticality indoors, fitting into tight spaces. It's a whole different set of verbs. I think The Amazing Spider-Man does a sick job of indoor Spider-Man, the combat is fantastic and the stealth??? OMG. Web Rush works so well as a stealth/traversal tool - but that's off topic. Web of Shadows is all outdoor verbs and it gets TIRED. I just wanted to do something different, in a visually different environment. Anyway, that drags the game down to a 3.5 for me, it's a big complaint. Fun game though.
OH and the DS version - fantastic Metroidvania, some beautiful animation, great combat and level design, super fun swinging, full voice acting. That game is a solid 4.5, genuinely the superior version. Spider-Man has phenomenal handheld games.