Sly 3 was another fun sly game, but by far Sly 2 has to be my favorite. The game didn't really bring many improvements over the second game, but gathering a whole gang of thieves was a fun premise. The gang as always have a great dynamic and the new characters added some charm. The gameplay is more or less the same besides for new minigames/gameplay sections as other characters. The most disappointing thing about the game is the removal of the bottles that were hidden across the levels of Sly 1 and 2 as it made you want to explore all the places you visited in this game that isn't really important. The game was still a good game, despite feeling a bit short compared to the previous entries.

I knew going into this that this wouldn't be a pleasant experience based off of other reviews but I still went in open-minded having played it a full year after it's release. The bar was low man, but holy shit. What happened between House of Ashes and this?

Something about this entire premise just did not hit right with me. They already went with the whole "saw trap serial killer" concept with Until Dawn, but this one just full sent it to death, with no believable reasoning behind it. The backstory twist was predictable and completely undermines it's own villain, just turning him into a teleporting superhuman who shows up whenever it's convenient. The game suggests that he's in 3 or 4 locations at the same time while never hinting that there are some supernatural elements at play. It just made the whole 8 hour runtime feel weird and pointless.

This isn't helped by the pacing at all. The first half is outrageously boring, setting up some of the worst characters in the series who all seem to hate each other. The 2nd half is where all the "action" takes place, but it's more like scenes where character A or sometimes B run/hide from discount Mikie Myers interspersed with the most annoying investigation settings in the series. They introduced the most useless collectible ever in this game, on top of the usual lore clues sprinkled about. It basically gave them an excuse to go hog wild with these bland and almost pitch black empty spaces that just exist for you to fumble around in for 20 minutes trying to figure out where the game intends for you to go. If there was any tension at all that you achieved from running away from the killer, these walking around bits usually nuked that feeling every time they showed up. These are usually the worst parts of the other games but they've never been this annoying to deal with until now.

They implemented a new inventory item system where each character has their own light source and bonus "power" they can individually use, such as Charlie being able to open locked drawers. I'm open to this series trying new things, but this one was a bit of a flop. I kept forgetting that it was even a thing you could do because some characters just use their abilities much more often than others. I found myself locked in a room as Kate for 30 minutes because she's supposed to use this super cool investigative journalist trick with a pencil that the game gave no indication that she even fucking had in the first place. She used it literally once in that moment, and then never again, so what was the point?

Trying to dabble into this part without spoiling, but if the game wants me to utilize what we know about the character's and their individual personalities to our advantage, then they need to really consider writing better characters? This series isn't well known for having the most stellar casts and I'm usually able to swallow it fine, but this one in particular has some of the most one-note, insufferable barbarians at it's helm. You learn almost nothing about them and yet the Curator's smug ass treats you like a dickhead for not picking up on what you're supposed to do with the little information that's thrown at you. This, coupled up with the fact that the villain is basically Homelander, made the deaths and failures feel extremely cheap.

The optimization itself is also still pretty stinky a year after release. I almost refunded it because it was doing some weird audio de-syncing and displaying extreme desaturation that I never turned on. Opening the game itself was like opening malware; it just death gripped my whole system and refused to exit fullscreen mode no matter how hard I struggled to change it. Subtitles were written incorrectly and had words spelled wrong sometimes. The first fuse box mini-game had the wrong inputs listed. I thought for sure that the game was just broken, but it turned out that you're supposed to use your keyboard to do them even though the UI tells you to use the mouse. Just straight up forehead mechanics.

Please just be a fluke, Supermassive. I really like their games but they need to slow down the release times if they're gonna try to make longer, bigger games like this. Not every story they put out can be golden, but there's some formulas they refuse to change and it's starting to ruin the experiences. Each game has worse looking models with zero souls behind their eyes. I would love if the next one has a cast of characters who are actual friends that don't snipe each other with every line of dialogue, but it's set in space so who the fuck knows. They're probably miserable co-workers, again, who all have a previous past of dating each other, again. At least that one looks like it has a monster.

The game plays better and I hate it.

The dragoon plays better... which I hate because its a living thing and every single game with a living thing feels heavier
because well, they're alive, like in Panzer Dragoon.

The in-game cutscenes have more movement but are rough as hell, the simplicity of the original made them stand out a bit more.

You can say this game is "better" in some aspects, but does it make it a better product than Drakengard 1? nope

Nier Automata is a game I wanted to play for a while because of how big of a fan my boyfriend is and the game did not disappoint. Although I enjoyed the gameplay I wasn't the biggest fan of the bullet hell sections. And by far I had the most fun playing as 9S more. It was fun to see all the different perspectives it has to offer as the characters are interesting and compelling all with their own secret goals. The messages and stories the game tells are really devastating at times, which is why just running around listening to music after finishing quest was good breather. The biggest gripe I had with the game was the map ;v as it is difficult to navigate sometimes coupled with the fast travel that is locked to points making you need to open the map separately to check where you actually need to go. The game also offers and amazing soundtrack, memorable locations which made it pretty easy to travel around the map. The many twists and turns in the story really had me hooked and I finished all of the main endings. It really is a game that I would recommend that everyone tries at least once.

(7-year-old's review, typed by her dad)

[Dad: What score are you thinking]

[CatTheCutest: A five!]

[Dad: A five?? Are you sure?]

[CatTheCutest: Well, a four. A four-point-five!!]

Okay. So first up, you start off as Gollum, and if you look at him, he's kind of creepy and horrifying. Then you see some... beautiful image. But then Gollum shows up! GRRR! And also it's very dark, so it's kinda hard to find things, especially those VINES. It was just so dark. There was only like teensy bits of fire and that was your only light. And be careful, or else you'll accidentally fall off a cliff! Cuz I did.

i almost didn’t get this game due to all the controversy. but to be honest, the national dex cut and lackluster animations were not even really the problems i had with this game. let me start off with the positives.

the art style was very pretty in most locations, and the new pokémon designs were really fun. i can tell a lot of heart went into decorating the galar region. that being said, there were so many beautifully designed cities in galar, but filled with doors that led to nowhere. it definitely could’ve been more fleshed out. also, customization is always really fun! we got lots of new hairstyles, we could’ve had more skin tones and clothing options, but what are you going to do?

i loved the newly introduced idea of trainer cards as well— being able to not only make your own, but collect the cards of NPCs. next up, the gym challenge. this concept was awesome to me! i loved the idea of you having to be endorsed to do the gym challenge, and each one being at a huge stadium with a bunch of adoring fans cheering everyone on. the gym leader theme was one of the only memorable songs off the soundtrack, it was super engaging, especially when the leader is down to one pokémon and it changes, and the crowd sings along.

then, there’s the wild area. i think it was a bit overhyped, but at the same time it was for the most part interesting and fun. it’s not really required for you to go there, especially when you have most of the regions unlocked, so eh, but it’s good to have the option i guess. also fighting and defeating pokémon that are much stronger than you gives a lot of exp, so that’s a fun challenge.

i also REALLY liked most of the characters and character design this time around. i mean— 4 black characters?? one being the champion and another being our rival? that’s honestly awesome. i love how gamed real is letting more brown people into the pokémon universe. our main rival hop being the champion’s younger brother was a very inch resting dynamic. i heard bad things about him before i got the game, but honestly, he was sweet. maybe a bit much at times but not really. the whole inferiority complex thing going on had me intrigued. we also had two other rivals, marnie and bede. i would literally give bede my lung if he needed one. i really liked his character, but then again the rude jerk with a sad backstory is just my favorite trope like ever, idk why. too bad (spoiler alert) he disappears like halfway through the game, appearing again at the end.) this leads into my first complaint.

the story, or lack there of. i feel as if there really isn’t one. there’s no real villain team, and the “bad guy” isn’t really a villain at all. i’m not saying we need a giovanni every generation but the “plot” was lackluster to me. nothing really memorable, overall very boring. there were so many cool characters and character designs, who’s potential to be more fleshed out was wasted. a pokémon switch game can and SHOULD do way better. i’ve heard the post game story is more interesting and should’ve been the main story so... we’ll see about that. also most of the character development of other characters happens off screen. i.e., bede.

my next criticism, the soundtrack. the only noteworthy songs from the OST in my opinion are bede’s theme, marnie’s theme, the gym leader theme, and battle tower that toby fox composed. (which is in the post game and can ONLY be heard at the battle tower. also… dynamax is… a thing that exists. it’s lazy, boring, and predictable every gym battle. it doesn’t add anything to the “plot” even though i see how they were trying to connect the two. i just don’t care for the gimmick, i’m sorry. i also hate raid battles. they’re supposed to be fun, connecting with others online whether it be random or friends, but the online sucks, and the raid battles are tedious and annoying. and if you can’t find anyone to join you in them, (which, most times, you can’t) they give you braindead AI teammates who literally sabotage more than they do help. leon is lucky that his pokémon were so strong that i had to do a bunch of raid battles for exp candy, or i would’ve never even touched those things.

i think one of this game’s biggest crimes is the lack of voice acting. it’s extremely embarrassing, and at some points the silence was even jarring. this game would’ve had so much more charm if there had been voice acting. at least grunts or sounds for each character’s voice when dialogue comes up. but no, nothing but silence. and for a game with so many cutscenes? yikes. there’s even a silent concert at one point where i was quite literally cringing. missed opportunity. breath of the wild introduced voice acting for the first time in their switch game, pokémon should’ve done the same.

and finally my last criticism, the “high quality animations.” honestly, if all my other problems were addressed i could maybe overlook this, as it didn’t really bother me per se, i just found it unacceptable. considering the fact that Game Freak quite literally said they cut certain pokemon and focused less on other QOL aspects due to them focusing on these so called “high quality animations” that were used in the 3DS games. models popping in and out was very jarring and ruined the immersiveness. dragon quest xi looked SO much better graphically it’s actually ridiculous. AND had full voice acting. and with not even half the budget. seriously game freak, step your game up. you’ll never be a good modern day rpg if you keep doing the bare minimum like this, rehashing the same concepts with minor improvements.

overall? i give it a 7/10. i truly had a lot of fun playing it despite my criticisms, but it really could’ve and should’ve been a lot better.