Basically just the first DLC again, but with new characters.
It's got some new collectibles/activities like poster burning, which is a pretty neat one because it means you specifically need fire weapons. Having to get particular weapons to complete something isn't something DR really does often.
It's short, and unbalanced for a maxed out level, which would also make all the new activities pointless.
It's fine for what it is.
It's got some new collectibles/activities like poster burning, which is a pretty neat one because it means you specifically need fire weapons. Having to get particular weapons to complete something isn't something DR really does often.
It's short, and unbalanced for a maxed out level, which would also make all the new activities pointless.
It's fine for what it is.
When I started this DLC all the progress I made in the main game just vanished. It reset EVERYTHING. I'm not going to factor that into my rating or review since it's not really the DLC's fault specifically (it could have happened if I started any DLC I guess, so rating this one lower for it wouldn't make sense). I'm not going to let it affect my rating of the main game either since I played through all of that without issue.
But what I do want it to bring to light how stupid the entire idea of using your main game level is. Most players, me included, would be level 50 after finishing the story. This DLC adds new ways to gain EXP. See the problem? In some ways it even made it a little better to be reset because Dead Rising 3 is so focused on gaining PP that I could still feel that progress, while I would have just blown through this 1-2 hour story if I had all my max stuff. Still, I kinda wish I didn't lose fucking EVERYTHING, including all my blue prints, it made this a bigger pain in the ass than it would have been since it seems made for level 30 or so players.
What I think would have been far better would be to start the character off at level 30 - which makes sense since it's a new person and not just Nick again. That way it balances the game around its own level, while also allowing for progress while doing the new activities. And if they didn't want to make brand new attribute skills they could even auto-spec the level 30 worth of points in a way that makes sense for the character - in this case it'd be gun skills.
Anywho the new collectables are pretty cool. You have to find your lost soldiers dog tags, and they put a nice twist on the safe zones where you have to be the one to infect them rather than make them safe. Better implementation to the characters story than just random Frank statues everywhere.
There's a few new weapons, mostly guns, but it's fairly unnoticeable. Even the new combo weapon is just kinda fine I guess. The new vehicle is nice though.
It's still Dead Rising 3 fun (plus there's no timer now if that's a benefit to you), but the super short story, the lack of psychopath bosses, and the non-curated level balance doesn't make it all that fleshed out. The concept of playing a character who you fought as a boss as Nick is neat though.
But what I do want it to bring to light how stupid the entire idea of using your main game level is. Most players, me included, would be level 50 after finishing the story. This DLC adds new ways to gain EXP. See the problem? In some ways it even made it a little better to be reset because Dead Rising 3 is so focused on gaining PP that I could still feel that progress, while I would have just blown through this 1-2 hour story if I had all my max stuff. Still, I kinda wish I didn't lose fucking EVERYTHING, including all my blue prints, it made this a bigger pain in the ass than it would have been since it seems made for level 30 or so players.
What I think would have been far better would be to start the character off at level 30 - which makes sense since it's a new person and not just Nick again. That way it balances the game around its own level, while also allowing for progress while doing the new activities. And if they didn't want to make brand new attribute skills they could even auto-spec the level 30 worth of points in a way that makes sense for the character - in this case it'd be gun skills.
Anywho the new collectables are pretty cool. You have to find your lost soldiers dog tags, and they put a nice twist on the safe zones where you have to be the one to infect them rather than make them safe. Better implementation to the characters story than just random Frank statues everywhere.
There's a few new weapons, mostly guns, but it's fairly unnoticeable. Even the new combo weapon is just kinda fine I guess. The new vehicle is nice though.
It's still Dead Rising 3 fun (plus there's no timer now if that's a benefit to you), but the super short story, the lack of psychopath bosses, and the non-curated level balance doesn't make it all that fleshed out. The concept of playing a character who you fought as a boss as Nick is neat though.
2013
This review contains spoilers
I remember when this came out and everyone hated it. It wasn't until Dead Rising 4 came out that opinion seemed to shift to "it's okay". Personally I loved it. It's still pure zombie killing mayhem, now with much bigger swarms and way more weapons.
The game seems way more balanced around combo weapons now, rather than in 2 where a few combo weapons basically just broke the game. The funny thing is though, early on you'll be relying far less on them than you were in the early game of DR2 thanks to some changes. Most notably is the fact that you NEED blue prints to make combo weapons now, rather than before where blue prints just allowed you to gain more pp. And with the removal of maintenance rooms you no longer have easy to find and memorize spots to create your favourite weapons. The items needed for the blue print are always scattered around it, but unless you remember the location of each blue print, you're not gonna be able to easily grab that weapon every time you run past. But as the game goes on it gets easier and easier to create combo weapons due to having more blue prints, and being able to spend attribute points in order to create weapons out of any generic material in a certain category (although super combos can't be created like this).
Speaking of which, attribute points that allow you to customise your playstyle are a nice improvement over random stat boosts every level up of old.
Some things remain the same great DR as always, such as memorable psychopath boss fights.
The story is the same dumb stuff Dead Rising is known for, just this time with a more boring main character. But I gotta admit there were 2 twists near the end that directly tied into past games that genuinely surprised me and I loved it.
The way they do the story is kind of different. It's no longer based on a time schedule. Instead story missions are basically always available, and you just get to choose when to activate it. I'm kind of mixed on this. On one hand it's nice to have the option to go at whatever pace you want and never be waiting around to continue the story, but on the other hand the old system made it so easy to know exactly how much time you had to do the side missions and goof off. While this game gives more than enough time to do all the side missions, the lack of knowledge of how much time you truly need to do all the story means everytime you want to goof off there's this fear that you might be wasting too much time.
It also shares the flaw of the older game where after you hit the max level cap getting pp is pointless, but now it's even more obvious due to the fact this game was MADE for pp farming, which feels great before you hit the cap, but afterwards 90% of the stuff you can do no longer serves a purpose.
Technically this is untrue since you need more attribute points to max everything than you'll have at level 50, but I was able to do it once I reached the hypothetical level 55 or so, so it's hardly a big improvement. In fact in past games I wouldn't even hit the level cap in one playthrough, but here it was very easy.
Other issues I had were the way too close camera that can't be changed, especially bad when paired with the not quite perfectly fluid movement, and the survivor system. I don't mind the removal of escorting every survivor everywhere, and I think they generally did ok with making the side missions fun, but I'm talking about the survivors who you can get to join you and "help" you. Remember how useful survivors were while following you in old games? Yeah that was the point because you were supposed to be protecting them, but this game decides to have them be just as ineffective but now you can have them follow you to...help you? I pretty much just ignored the whole thing. I guess they might be useful distractions in boss fights, but not only are they easy enough without them, it was hardly worth finding a safe house every time you were about to go to a boss fight just for some weak meat fodder.
Basically I think this game focuses less on the survival aspect and more on giving the player a power trip and using a multitude of ways to mow down hordes of zombies. They do put some limitations in place that stop it feeling TOO easy, like you may be able to grab any weapon you've already found/made in a safe house locker, but there's a limit to how many items you can get from a locker at once, and the limit is much lower the stronger the weapons you want.
Of course I played standard mode, nightmare mode is supposed to be a more traditional Dead Rising experience, so maybe with that all fans can be catered to.
The game seems way more balanced around combo weapons now, rather than in 2 where a few combo weapons basically just broke the game. The funny thing is though, early on you'll be relying far less on them than you were in the early game of DR2 thanks to some changes. Most notably is the fact that you NEED blue prints to make combo weapons now, rather than before where blue prints just allowed you to gain more pp. And with the removal of maintenance rooms you no longer have easy to find and memorize spots to create your favourite weapons. The items needed for the blue print are always scattered around it, but unless you remember the location of each blue print, you're not gonna be able to easily grab that weapon every time you run past. But as the game goes on it gets easier and easier to create combo weapons due to having more blue prints, and being able to spend attribute points in order to create weapons out of any generic material in a certain category (although super combos can't be created like this).
Speaking of which, attribute points that allow you to customise your playstyle are a nice improvement over random stat boosts every level up of old.
Some things remain the same great DR as always, such as memorable psychopath boss fights.
The story is the same dumb stuff Dead Rising is known for, just this time with a more boring main character. But I gotta admit there were 2 twists near the end that directly tied into past games that genuinely surprised me and I loved it.
The way they do the story is kind of different. It's no longer based on a time schedule. Instead story missions are basically always available, and you just get to choose when to activate it. I'm kind of mixed on this. On one hand it's nice to have the option to go at whatever pace you want and never be waiting around to continue the story, but on the other hand the old system made it so easy to know exactly how much time you had to do the side missions and goof off. While this game gives more than enough time to do all the side missions, the lack of knowledge of how much time you truly need to do all the story means everytime you want to goof off there's this fear that you might be wasting too much time.
It also shares the flaw of the older game where after you hit the max level cap getting pp is pointless, but now it's even more obvious due to the fact this game was MADE for pp farming, which feels great before you hit the cap, but afterwards 90% of the stuff you can do no longer serves a purpose.
Technically this is untrue since you need more attribute points to max everything than you'll have at level 50, but I was able to do it once I reached the hypothetical level 55 or so, so it's hardly a big improvement. In fact in past games I wouldn't even hit the level cap in one playthrough, but here it was very easy.
Other issues I had were the way too close camera that can't be changed, especially bad when paired with the not quite perfectly fluid movement, and the survivor system. I don't mind the removal of escorting every survivor everywhere, and I think they generally did ok with making the side missions fun, but I'm talking about the survivors who you can get to join you and "help" you. Remember how useful survivors were while following you in old games? Yeah that was the point because you were supposed to be protecting them, but this game decides to have them be just as ineffective but now you can have them follow you to...help you? I pretty much just ignored the whole thing. I guess they might be useful distractions in boss fights, but not only are they easy enough without them, it was hardly worth finding a safe house every time you were about to go to a boss fight just for some weak meat fodder.
Basically I think this game focuses less on the survival aspect and more on giving the player a power trip and using a multitude of ways to mow down hordes of zombies. They do put some limitations in place that stop it feeling TOO easy, like you may be able to grab any weapon you've already found/made in a safe house locker, but there's a limit to how many items you can get from a locker at once, and the limit is much lower the stronger the weapons you want.
Of course I played standard mode, nightmare mode is supposed to be a more traditional Dead Rising experience, so maybe with that all fans can be catered to.
This review contains spoilers
Everyone is calling this a breath of fresh air for Pokémon, which is true, but it's a shallow breath that can't even help the game get to its own finish line before it's exhausted itself of everything there is to do.
I'll start by talking about what I like though. There's a fantastic flow when in the field of this game. You can be throwing a Pokémon at a wild mon while throwing another of your mons at some resources and it's all so quick and fun. Plus getting a back strike on a wild mon feels so satisfying.
The game does a great job at matching locations in the game to where they are in the modern Sinnoh map, as well as putting in some bonus details, like showing how the Spear Pillar got destroyed.
Ride Pokémon somewhat make a return from Sun and Moon, unlocking a new one after each area, so you can explore more and more of the terrain. It is fun to go back to old areas with the ability to cross rivers or climb up mountains. There's a few niggles I have with the system though, like for some reason you can ONLY throw Pokéballs on Basculegion, so if you're riding Wyrdeer you have to keep getting off every time you want to catch something or gather material. It's a small thing since getting on and off is as fast as a literal button press, but it's still pretty immersion breaking.
The game did what is basically expected of most modern mainline games (except you, BDSP) of adding new forms and evos of old mons. Some are a miss, but there's a lot of ones I love, like an actual evolution of Ursaring. Not even a regional Ursaring, just a regular old evolution. I hope at least that stays in future games.
There's a whole bunch of sidequests here. While most of the quests are nothing too special, and most of the rewards you get from them are just general items you can farm, one thing I loved was how beating a quest keeps updating the town. If you do a quest involving giving someone a Pokémon, you'll see them around with that Pokémon from now on. It gives a sense of progression to the world and really makes you feel like you're helping out. Some of them are also pretty fun story-wise. I particularly liked the one where I had to find a guys Spheal that had rolled down a hill, and at the very end of the quest it rolls down again. So yeah, quests are a little repetitive in terms of being fetch quests or just "show me this mon", but they have some fun elements around the storytelling of the quests.
The battle system is something I'm very mixed on. It's completely different from the other games in many ways. The first is the obvious agile and strong style moves, which funnily I found were the least impactful addition. Like I never seemed to get extra moves from agile style unless I was so high above the enemy I'd be guaranteed a one shot anyway. On the other hand I'd ALWAYS lose a turn from strong style, which was never worth the 10-20 extra base power unless I knew it would kill.
Stat buffs have also been changed. Anything that raises offense or defence raises both now, meaning calm mind and bulk up are the literal same move, rather than being tailored for special or physical. From what I can tell each buff can only be applied once too, so no more stacking 6 buffs - and they also run out after a few turns.
Some status effects like sleep and freeze have been changed.
The entire damage formula seems to have changed this time, I don't know exactly what it is, but things seem to hit harder, regardless of level. It's not unusual to be able to one shot something with a type advantage when you're 10 levels lower.
Another thing is the fact that turn order isn't reset when a new mon is sent out. If the opponent has had their turn and killed your mon, it will be your turn next no matter what (unless they used agile style or something). It's very strange and ultimately makes trainer battles even easier than they've EVER been because it's just a roundabout of you sent out a mon to hit their mon, they sent out a new mon to kill yours with a SE move, then you get a free chance to kill theirs etc. And that's only if they can even kill you since it's so easy to over level in this game. The only challenging fight in the entire game is a post-game one and only because it's essentially an 6v8, so those free turns your opponent gets can really turn the battle in their favour.
Alpha Pokémon seem terrifying at first, but with all the battle changes above, they're really not scary at all. Sure they'll one shot the first mon you bring out, but since you're guaranteed some turns anyway you can easily take them down with some super effective moves. This is a stark contrast to past games which would have a level 40 sweeping your entire level 20 team by out speeding it every turn.
All these battle changes, along with stuff like the removal of abilities, items and a huge list of moves, generally make the game very unga bunga and just hitting each other hard. It's fast paced but zero depth, which I guess was the point to match the pace of catching mons.
It's fine for this game, but I really really hope they don't keep this system in future games.
And that's not even all the changes in battles - that's basically just the actual mechanic ones. For example you can now walk around in battles and freely control the camera. This is...basically pointless because you can't DO anything while controlling your character except flee the battle (which can be done anyway - plus that reminds me, fleeing is a guaranteed escape now so you'll NEVER have to worry about whiting out as you can just run on your last mon). You can't even get hurt from enemy attacks despite them clearly hitting you. It'd have been so much cooler if you had to manually move out of the way of the fighting Pokémon attacks to avoid your trainer blacking out, or be able to position yourself behind a wild mon to get a back strike in battle.
This would at best just make the feature fun and immersive but pointless, but in fact it hurts the animations a lot. Pokémon has never been known to have good animations in the first place, but some of the stronger moves, and especially signature moves made good use of a forced camera to make them little cutscenes. Now everything has to be shown in real time making all the moves animations feel very lacklustre. Basically everything now is on the level of generic moves from other games like rollout, razor leaf, water gun etc, even if it's the god damn God of Pokémon's special move, Judgement. I understand that it's faster, but I think there's room for both. Like having the fixed camera angles for important battles to make them feel more grand.
I really enjoyed the system of having a movepool you can constantly switch between on the fly. The games have basically got to this point anyway with the room reminder being free, but it's nice to not have to travel to do it. Although getting new moves is a lot easier now, just having a guy in the hub town that will teach your mons anything on his list for a small fee, and less rewarding than exploring and finding TMs to strengthen your team. Kind of ironic really that this game boasts exploration as far more of a selling point but generally had less rewards FOR exploring.
There are some things I think are just straight up bad. The most obvious is the graphics. EVERYONE has talked about it so I won't go into too much detail, but it's beyond just bad, it's straight up ugly as shit and has some really weird things (like white pixels around your character in caves).
The locations all feel very barren of anything interesting. They're almost all just some theme with the same hills, mountains and rocks everywhere. The only one I found to be a slight exception was the coastlands, which had a few differing points of interest, like a beach, a haunted shipwreck, a wide open sea, a volcano, and a memorial for the old noble Pokémon on top of a cliff. Pretty much every other area is just boring to explore and you'll probably never care to realise where you even are on the map unless it's something like a rare Pokémon spawn. I did also think this area had the best story for its noble battle.
Speaking of noble Pokémon, they do something very unique with their battles. In the sense that they're not Pokémon battles. Huge missed opportunity there to have real boss battles in Pokémon akin to the totem mons. Instead you get a lame bag throwing minigame where everything you've trained doesn't matter because you'll have the same "move set" and same health for every one of these encounters.
They could even use alpha Pokémon more sparingly to be boss battles instead, but nah they're just plastered around the world, with a dozen guaranteed spawns, so you can easily get a team 30 levels ahead of the current area.
Catching Pokémon, while fun at first, does become quite an old and boring process long before the end of the game. And by the time you get razz berries and ultra balls you can basically easily catch anything, including alpha Pokémon, in a single throw. It doesn't help that the game tries to get you to do this up to 25 times per Pokémon to 100% the dex. This is far from a requirement, but research tasks in general just seem way too bloated and clearly exist to try to force extended play time. Not to mention that unless you beeline for the story (which the game doesn't necessarily encourage by giving you a huge checklist of shit to do with every new thing you find and catch), you're going to very overlevelled way too fast. Not that it really matters when the game gives you so few opportunities to use the Pokémon you train in an actual battle.
Between a very worn out catching system, and a battle system, which you rarely even get to use, but that exists to get you through it as fast as possible with sheer unga bunga, I really hope this ISN'T the direction the games go in in the future without a huge overhaul. It's kind of fun at first, but by the end the whole process becomes so monotonous and you realise how simplified it is that it can't carry itself with such little content. Keeping the general idea here and the catching system, but bringing back the old battle system and making trainer fights more prominent would definitely help.
I'll start by talking about what I like though. There's a fantastic flow when in the field of this game. You can be throwing a Pokémon at a wild mon while throwing another of your mons at some resources and it's all so quick and fun. Plus getting a back strike on a wild mon feels so satisfying.
The game does a great job at matching locations in the game to where they are in the modern Sinnoh map, as well as putting in some bonus details, like showing how the Spear Pillar got destroyed.
Ride Pokémon somewhat make a return from Sun and Moon, unlocking a new one after each area, so you can explore more and more of the terrain. It is fun to go back to old areas with the ability to cross rivers or climb up mountains. There's a few niggles I have with the system though, like for some reason you can ONLY throw Pokéballs on Basculegion, so if you're riding Wyrdeer you have to keep getting off every time you want to catch something or gather material. It's a small thing since getting on and off is as fast as a literal button press, but it's still pretty immersion breaking.
The game did what is basically expected of most modern mainline games (except you, BDSP) of adding new forms and evos of old mons. Some are a miss, but there's a lot of ones I love, like an actual evolution of Ursaring. Not even a regional Ursaring, just a regular old evolution. I hope at least that stays in future games.
There's a whole bunch of sidequests here. While most of the quests are nothing too special, and most of the rewards you get from them are just general items you can farm, one thing I loved was how beating a quest keeps updating the town. If you do a quest involving giving someone a Pokémon, you'll see them around with that Pokémon from now on. It gives a sense of progression to the world and really makes you feel like you're helping out. Some of them are also pretty fun story-wise. I particularly liked the one where I had to find a guys Spheal that had rolled down a hill, and at the very end of the quest it rolls down again. So yeah, quests are a little repetitive in terms of being fetch quests or just "show me this mon", but they have some fun elements around the storytelling of the quests.
The battle system is something I'm very mixed on. It's completely different from the other games in many ways. The first is the obvious agile and strong style moves, which funnily I found were the least impactful addition. Like I never seemed to get extra moves from agile style unless I was so high above the enemy I'd be guaranteed a one shot anyway. On the other hand I'd ALWAYS lose a turn from strong style, which was never worth the 10-20 extra base power unless I knew it would kill.
Stat buffs have also been changed. Anything that raises offense or defence raises both now, meaning calm mind and bulk up are the literal same move, rather than being tailored for special or physical. From what I can tell each buff can only be applied once too, so no more stacking 6 buffs - and they also run out after a few turns.
Some status effects like sleep and freeze have been changed.
The entire damage formula seems to have changed this time, I don't know exactly what it is, but things seem to hit harder, regardless of level. It's not unusual to be able to one shot something with a type advantage when you're 10 levels lower.
Another thing is the fact that turn order isn't reset when a new mon is sent out. If the opponent has had their turn and killed your mon, it will be your turn next no matter what (unless they used agile style or something). It's very strange and ultimately makes trainer battles even easier than they've EVER been because it's just a roundabout of you sent out a mon to hit their mon, they sent out a new mon to kill yours with a SE move, then you get a free chance to kill theirs etc. And that's only if they can even kill you since it's so easy to over level in this game. The only challenging fight in the entire game is a post-game one and only because it's essentially an 6v8, so those free turns your opponent gets can really turn the battle in their favour.
Alpha Pokémon seem terrifying at first, but with all the battle changes above, they're really not scary at all. Sure they'll one shot the first mon you bring out, but since you're guaranteed some turns anyway you can easily take them down with some super effective moves. This is a stark contrast to past games which would have a level 40 sweeping your entire level 20 team by out speeding it every turn.
All these battle changes, along with stuff like the removal of abilities, items and a huge list of moves, generally make the game very unga bunga and just hitting each other hard. It's fast paced but zero depth, which I guess was the point to match the pace of catching mons.
It's fine for this game, but I really really hope they don't keep this system in future games.
And that's not even all the changes in battles - that's basically just the actual mechanic ones. For example you can now walk around in battles and freely control the camera. This is...basically pointless because you can't DO anything while controlling your character except flee the battle (which can be done anyway - plus that reminds me, fleeing is a guaranteed escape now so you'll NEVER have to worry about whiting out as you can just run on your last mon). You can't even get hurt from enemy attacks despite them clearly hitting you. It'd have been so much cooler if you had to manually move out of the way of the fighting Pokémon attacks to avoid your trainer blacking out, or be able to position yourself behind a wild mon to get a back strike in battle.
This would at best just make the feature fun and immersive but pointless, but in fact it hurts the animations a lot. Pokémon has never been known to have good animations in the first place, but some of the stronger moves, and especially signature moves made good use of a forced camera to make them little cutscenes. Now everything has to be shown in real time making all the moves animations feel very lacklustre. Basically everything now is on the level of generic moves from other games like rollout, razor leaf, water gun etc, even if it's the god damn God of Pokémon's special move, Judgement. I understand that it's faster, but I think there's room for both. Like having the fixed camera angles for important battles to make them feel more grand.
I really enjoyed the system of having a movepool you can constantly switch between on the fly. The games have basically got to this point anyway with the room reminder being free, but it's nice to not have to travel to do it. Although getting new moves is a lot easier now, just having a guy in the hub town that will teach your mons anything on his list for a small fee, and less rewarding than exploring and finding TMs to strengthen your team. Kind of ironic really that this game boasts exploration as far more of a selling point but generally had less rewards FOR exploring.
There are some things I think are just straight up bad. The most obvious is the graphics. EVERYONE has talked about it so I won't go into too much detail, but it's beyond just bad, it's straight up ugly as shit and has some really weird things (like white pixels around your character in caves).
The locations all feel very barren of anything interesting. They're almost all just some theme with the same hills, mountains and rocks everywhere. The only one I found to be a slight exception was the coastlands, which had a few differing points of interest, like a beach, a haunted shipwreck, a wide open sea, a volcano, and a memorial for the old noble Pokémon on top of a cliff. Pretty much every other area is just boring to explore and you'll probably never care to realise where you even are on the map unless it's something like a rare Pokémon spawn. I did also think this area had the best story for its noble battle.
Speaking of noble Pokémon, they do something very unique with their battles. In the sense that they're not Pokémon battles. Huge missed opportunity there to have real boss battles in Pokémon akin to the totem mons. Instead you get a lame bag throwing minigame where everything you've trained doesn't matter because you'll have the same "move set" and same health for every one of these encounters.
They could even use alpha Pokémon more sparingly to be boss battles instead, but nah they're just plastered around the world, with a dozen guaranteed spawns, so you can easily get a team 30 levels ahead of the current area.
Catching Pokémon, while fun at first, does become quite an old and boring process long before the end of the game. And by the time you get razz berries and ultra balls you can basically easily catch anything, including alpha Pokémon, in a single throw. It doesn't help that the game tries to get you to do this up to 25 times per Pokémon to 100% the dex. This is far from a requirement, but research tasks in general just seem way too bloated and clearly exist to try to force extended play time. Not to mention that unless you beeline for the story (which the game doesn't necessarily encourage by giving you a huge checklist of shit to do with every new thing you find and catch), you're going to very overlevelled way too fast. Not that it really matters when the game gives you so few opportunities to use the Pokémon you train in an actual battle.
Between a very worn out catching system, and a battle system, which you rarely even get to use, but that exists to get you through it as fast as possible with sheer unga bunga, I really hope this ISN'T the direction the games go in in the future without a huge overhaul. It's kind of fun at first, but by the end the whole process becomes so monotonous and you realise how simplified it is that it can't carry itself with such little content. Keeping the general idea here and the catching system, but bringing back the old battle system and making trainer fights more prominent would definitely help.
The main game felt like it took most inspiration from Sunshine, this one feels like an Odyssey world.
The world idea is pretty neat, and I like the whole thing of giant cats pulling trains. But I wish they did more to make each area of the station feel distinct. Red, Green, Yellow, all the areas feel the same.
Stickers were kinda fun, but I don't play around with photo modes in games so it was pretty lost on me. Same with party mode, which I guess doesn't work as well now that the game isn't as active.
Overall the main world introduced is longer than Seal the Deal, but because that brought about Death Wish mode, this one feels pretty light in comparison.
The world idea is pretty neat, and I like the whole thing of giant cats pulling trains. But I wish they did more to make each area of the station feel distinct. Red, Green, Yellow, all the areas feel the same.
Stickers were kinda fun, but I don't play around with photo modes in games so it was pretty lost on me. Same with party mode, which I guess doesn't work as well now that the game isn't as active.
Overall the main world introduced is longer than Seal the Deal, but because that brought about Death Wish mode, this one feels pretty light in comparison.
I hate modern Yu-Gi-Oh
Some points for having what seems to be a generous f2p system, and a lot of customisation unlocks. But Yu-Gi-Oh as a card game in 2022 is just such an unbearable shit show.
Edit: I'm back on this because I hate myself
Edit again: Nm still garbage
Some points for having what seems to be a generous f2p system, and a lot of customisation unlocks. But Yu-Gi-Oh as a card game in 2022 is just such an unbearable shit show.
Edit: I'm back on this because I hate myself
Edit again: Nm still garbage
I love the new stage. A giant cruise ship with a bunch of areas connected in multiple ways. It's perfect for exploration. But that's basically ALL it's for, since all 3 of the new missions are basically variants of the same formula. First it's just a regular scavenger hunt, then it's a timed delivery mission, and then another scavenger hunt, but now the boat is capsized (which tbh is a REALLY cool idea, albeit one that comes with some camera problems). There isn't even any new bosses, or hats, y'know the thing the game is named after, to play with. The time rifts are decent challenges.
So the new stage is fun and has as much charm as any other world (I love the seals), it's just kinda short and lacks diversity in the missions.
As for the "deal" part of this, it's perfect for people craving a true challenge and completionists. For me it was something that I knew I wasn't gonna 100%, so I didn't feel like there was any benefit in doing many at all, y'know? I like the idea, and admittedly I had some fun with the few I tried, just not for me.
So the new stage is fun and has as much charm as any other world (I love the seals), it's just kinda short and lacks diversity in the missions.
As for the "deal" part of this, it's perfect for people craving a true challenge and completionists. For me it was something that I knew I wasn't gonna 100%, so I didn't feel like there was any benefit in doing many at all, y'know? I like the idea, and admittedly I had some fun with the few I tried, just not for me.
It's okay, but the location is very boring for a Dead Rising game, although it does do what it can to make it worth playing after DR2, like new combo weapons. It has some story stuff that maybe goes somewhere in the future, maybe not - I haven't played the sequels yet. Assuming it does carry on, then this was a pretty necessary epilogue to DR2.
The way survivors are implemented is kinda interesting. There's no notifications anymore, instead you just kinda gotta stumble in to them. And you don't have to lead them back either, it's just a case of finding them and "saving" them. Though some of them do still have requests. Not sure if this is really better or worse. The game definitely gives you plenty of time between cases to find them, but that time can also feel surprisingly long if you're only in this to quickly experience the story. After all, there's only so many ways you can entertain yourself killing zombies in such a limited environment when you've had much more options in the main game.
It's a fun enough, short ride. Nothing special. The gun enemies do suck some fun out of it though.
The way survivors are implemented is kinda interesting. There's no notifications anymore, instead you just kinda gotta stumble in to them. And you don't have to lead them back either, it's just a case of finding them and "saving" them. Though some of them do still have requests. Not sure if this is really better or worse. The game definitely gives you plenty of time between cases to find them, but that time can also feel surprisingly long if you're only in this to quickly experience the story. After all, there's only so many ways you can entertain yourself killing zombies in such a limited environment when you've had much more options in the main game.
It's a fun enough, short ride. Nothing special. The gun enemies do suck some fun out of it though.
2017
This review contains spoilers
3D collectathon platformers are one of my favourite genres, and A Hat in Time is a really fun one. It definitely goes for quality over quantity, as there's only 4 worlds, but each of them tries something different instead of generic grass/ice/fire/sand world. Well, kinda. The last and 5th "world" for the last boss is just a Bowser's Castle rip off, even the soundtrack sounds like it came from Bowser's own OST.
But each world also benefits from the amount of life thrown into them. Between their own colourful citizens, to how missions play out (e.g in one world you're working for 2 different movie directors, and in another you're filling contracts for a Satan expy in order to get your soul back). These worlds aren't just an excuse to do the same things in a new coat of paint, each one really felt like it had its own identity.
And while there's only 1/3rd of the collectable mcguffins compared to Mario's adventures, they don't put in a ton of filler ones like collect 100 coins on every star, or collect 300 blue coins, or fight the same boss again but harder this time. Each mission is its own little adventure.
Movement is also really fun. Nothing super innovative, but it controls well and is a joy to leap around. The only thing I ever had a problem with here was the leaping homing attack. It felt very unresponsive at times.
The badges and hats were a little underutilised. Only a couple of badges ever got used, and only one or two hats felt like they actually played into the platforming, as opposed to just being an excuse to lock things behind a progress wall (such as all the ice hat squares). Obviously I'm talking about the rift hat, which in the late game makes up about 80% of the platforming challenges. The time stop hat is used maybe twice for actual mandatory challenges as opposed to just using it for the sake of an easier challenge. Weirdly the potion/brew hat, despite being one of the first you unlock, I don't think was used at all for actual mandatory progress until one part of the last world, other than that it seemed to exist just to get some extra orbs and maybe a secret or two.
But it's a charming, cute game and definitely feels like it was made by people who know and love the genre.
But each world also benefits from the amount of life thrown into them. Between their own colourful citizens, to how missions play out (e.g in one world you're working for 2 different movie directors, and in another you're filling contracts for a Satan expy in order to get your soul back). These worlds aren't just an excuse to do the same things in a new coat of paint, each one really felt like it had its own identity.
And while there's only 1/3rd of the collectable mcguffins compared to Mario's adventures, they don't put in a ton of filler ones like collect 100 coins on every star, or collect 300 blue coins, or fight the same boss again but harder this time. Each mission is its own little adventure.
Movement is also really fun. Nothing super innovative, but it controls well and is a joy to leap around. The only thing I ever had a problem with here was the leaping homing attack. It felt very unresponsive at times.
The badges and hats were a little underutilised. Only a couple of badges ever got used, and only one or two hats felt like they actually played into the platforming, as opposed to just being an excuse to lock things behind a progress wall (such as all the ice hat squares). Obviously I'm talking about the rift hat, which in the late game makes up about 80% of the platforming challenges. The time stop hat is used maybe twice for actual mandatory challenges as opposed to just using it for the sake of an easier challenge. Weirdly the potion/brew hat, despite being one of the first you unlock, I don't think was used at all for actual mandatory progress until one part of the last world, other than that it seemed to exist just to get some extra orbs and maybe a secret or two.
But it's a charming, cute game and definitely feels like it was made by people who know and love the genre.
Dead Rising 2: Yellow Version
2021
One day 'Penis' will be the answer and I will get a 1/6 so I can set the game to mastered
Everyone's already talked about how this is a demo/prologue hybrid. It does pretty well for being "just" that though. The location is unique to at least the first 2 games (haven't played 3 or 4 yet), taking place in a small town rather than a mall of any kind. It's pretty cool, and it has some locations not seen in the main game, like a bowling alley.
I like the aspect of having to find the bike parts without waypoints. It really just throws you into the map and says "explore". It still gives you some survivors to find, and a psychopath to defeat. It even does the money system a little better than the main game, since this one has it be a requirement for one of the bike parts, and you can even buy hints if you're struggling.
It's a perfect little standalone story that got you hyped for Dead Rising 2, and even now it's worth a playthrough just to play a location not found anywhere else in the series. Unfortunately it never released outside Xbox with the other Dead Rising ports.
I like the aspect of having to find the bike parts without waypoints. It really just throws you into the map and says "explore". It still gives you some survivors to find, and a psychopath to defeat. It even does the money system a little better than the main game, since this one has it be a requirement for one of the bike parts, and you can even buy hints if you're struggling.
It's a perfect little standalone story that got you hyped for Dead Rising 2, and even now it's worth a playthrough just to play a location not found anywhere else in the series. Unfortunately it never released outside Xbox with the other Dead Rising ports.
2010
Improves on the original is almost every way. Though the original did have an atmosphere that just seems unmatched, but it could be my nostalgia due to the early 360 days.
The survivor Ai has improved tenfold. I managed to drag all of them everywhere without any problems, never losing them miles away, never having them cower in a crowd of zombies. They're so much better. Arguably TOO good to the point you don't need to really "escort" them, but generally it's infinitely preferable to the braindead ones in the original.
There's also a ton of QoL stuff like an indicator that says whether a survivor is close enough to move to the next area before you go through a door, a way to skip text so you're not standing around waiting for lines after lines of survivor dialogue before they join you, no need to answer radio calls, can move while aiming etc.
Combo weapons are fun, albeit pretty unbalanced. Especially since every maintenance room straight up gives you some items to make a combo weapon at one. The scavenger aspect plays far less in this game, unless of course you just choose to play like that.
The area is a lot bigger, but it does take a lot of cues from DR1. Many areas feel like copies of that game, including the unfinished South Plaza. Most of the new locations are just very identical-feeling casinos.
Psychopaths also feel like they're taking a lot of inspiration from the original game, but there is a lot more experimentation with them now, including the famous tiger boss (which you can even tame). Survivors also have more variety to them, like some which make use of the new money mechanic, some that help you gain zombrex (another new mechanic), and some that will even play poker with you.
There's just so much more to do in general, like you can bring gifts to your daughter in the safe room for some extra PP.
To me this just took a great game formula that was the originals, but removed so many of the heavy flaws while expanding the positives. One of my favourite games.
As an aside, I got quite a few crashes on the PS4 version, which sucks. Not a fault with the game itself, but still.
The survivor Ai has improved tenfold. I managed to drag all of them everywhere without any problems, never losing them miles away, never having them cower in a crowd of zombies. They're so much better. Arguably TOO good to the point you don't need to really "escort" them, but generally it's infinitely preferable to the braindead ones in the original.
There's also a ton of QoL stuff like an indicator that says whether a survivor is close enough to move to the next area before you go through a door, a way to skip text so you're not standing around waiting for lines after lines of survivor dialogue before they join you, no need to answer radio calls, can move while aiming etc.
Combo weapons are fun, albeit pretty unbalanced. Especially since every maintenance room straight up gives you some items to make a combo weapon at one. The scavenger aspect plays far less in this game, unless of course you just choose to play like that.
The area is a lot bigger, but it does take a lot of cues from DR1. Many areas feel like copies of that game, including the unfinished South Plaza. Most of the new locations are just very identical-feeling casinos.
Psychopaths also feel like they're taking a lot of inspiration from the original game, but there is a lot more experimentation with them now, including the famous tiger boss (which you can even tame). Survivors also have more variety to them, like some which make use of the new money mechanic, some that help you gain zombrex (another new mechanic), and some that will even play poker with you.
There's just so much more to do in general, like you can bring gifts to your daughter in the safe room for some extra PP.
To me this just took a great game formula that was the originals, but removed so many of the heavy flaws while expanding the positives. One of my favourite games.
As an aside, I got quite a few crashes on the PS4 version, which sucks. Not a fault with the game itself, but still.
2011
This is basically everything I wanted after completing Portal 2.
A lot more clever puzzles with new mechanics were a pretty safe bet, but this game goes much harder on the story and cinematic set pieces. Introducing a new character was also a great way for GLaDOS to be able to bounce some quips off someone, since the protagonist once again remains silent. In fact the dialogue in general in this one is fantastic.
It's honestly a fairly flawless game, the only reason I'm not rating it a 10 is because I rate on a personal level, and the gameplay of puzzle after puzzle leaves me pretty drained a lot of the time, rather than feeling rewarded.
A lot more clever puzzles with new mechanics were a pretty safe bet, but this game goes much harder on the story and cinematic set pieces. Introducing a new character was also a great way for GLaDOS to be able to bounce some quips off someone, since the protagonist once again remains silent. In fact the dialogue in general in this one is fantastic.
It's honestly a fairly flawless game, the only reason I'm not rating it a 10 is because I rate on a personal level, and the gameplay of puzzle after puzzle leaves me pretty drained a lot of the time, rather than feeling rewarded.
2020
I actually like the idea of a gacha song system, it let's you find new songs and get excited about unlocking your favourites. And the gameplay is simple enough for a phone game, but surprisingly difficult. There's a few little problems I have, like the note hit counter goes "great" "perfect" and "perfect+" instead of the more logical good > great > perfect. And since perfect and perfect+ are the same colour, it's super hard to tell which one you can't take your eyes away from the notes to check.
The problem with this is that it's basically EVERYTHING wrong with free phone games. Full of ads, exclusive paid content, pointless wait times for things like opening rewards etc.
The problem with this is that it's basically EVERYTHING wrong with free phone games. Full of ads, exclusive paid content, pointless wait times for things like opening rewards etc.