DourCricket
2018
Marvel's Spider-Man
#1
Beaten January 3rd 2019
This game was quite something. I knew that I would like it, as I had seen Eli and Ibn play some of this game and I knew I would enjoy it but playing it really just sets this game apart. It is just such a joy to swing around the city as Spider-Man. It is so fascinating to see the people beneath you and react to you like "Spider-Man it's so great to see you" or "oh you're dick" and listen to the radio of Jay Jonah Jameson go crazy is almost always funny and just the changes that the city goes through throughout the story are amazing. Obviously the game owes a great deal to the Arkham series and I'm not sure it's just a straight-up Improvement but so much of it is above what those games accomplished that I just can't help but be genuinely impressed. Although I have to say that the stealth in the Arkham series is much more enjoyable but otherwise Spider-Man pretty much kicked its ass.
The game had a many and great emotional moments: the death of several main characters the quote-unquote fall of other characters, the nods towards what future villains and characters would be were set up very very well and I appreciate all of them. I thought Otto was a great final villain and the conflict between him and Peter was laid out very very well and obviously the ending with the disease hit all the emotional marks and I was very moved.
While the traversal in the game is probably the best in any video game I've ever played unfortunately the rest of the game suffers due to the fact that because the traversal is so good everything else must look not quite as good in comparison. The combat while engaging is simply not up to that level but it is still more than passable. I'm strongly tempted to do a new game plus mode just to give myself an excuse to 100% clear the game even though I definitely don't have time to do that I should be playing new games but I really just want to go back and keep playing this just excellent excellent game.
Final Grade: A
#1
Beaten January 3rd 2019
This game was quite something. I knew that I would like it, as I had seen Eli and Ibn play some of this game and I knew I would enjoy it but playing it really just sets this game apart. It is just such a joy to swing around the city as Spider-Man. It is so fascinating to see the people beneath you and react to you like "Spider-Man it's so great to see you" or "oh you're dick" and listen to the radio of Jay Jonah Jameson go crazy is almost always funny and just the changes that the city goes through throughout the story are amazing. Obviously the game owes a great deal to the Arkham series and I'm not sure it's just a straight-up Improvement but so much of it is above what those games accomplished that I just can't help but be genuinely impressed. Although I have to say that the stealth in the Arkham series is much more enjoyable but otherwise Spider-Man pretty much kicked its ass.
The game had a many and great emotional moments: the death of several main characters the quote-unquote fall of other characters, the nods towards what future villains and characters would be were set up very very well and I appreciate all of them. I thought Otto was a great final villain and the conflict between him and Peter was laid out very very well and obviously the ending with the disease hit all the emotional marks and I was very moved.
While the traversal in the game is probably the best in any video game I've ever played unfortunately the rest of the game suffers due to the fact that because the traversal is so good everything else must look not quite as good in comparison. The combat while engaging is simply not up to that level but it is still more than passable. I'm strongly tempted to do a new game plus mode just to give myself an excuse to 100% clear the game even though I definitely don't have time to do that I should be playing new games but I really just want to go back and keep playing this just excellent excellent game.
Final Grade: A
Gears Of War: Ultimate Edition
#2
Beaten January 4th. It was a pleasant experience mostly going back through the first Gears game. I definitely remember now having played at least the first Act or two at some point, but I don't believe I ever finished it. Getting an X1 for Black Friday is feeling more like a good investment. The game shows its age in a lot of ways, a frustrating checkpoint system made me redo several sections hoping that the enemies would be dumb next time so I wouldn't have to do the sequence again. The big boss fights at the end with the Brumak and General took many tries, as did the Fenix manor battle. I wussed out and set the the sequel to casual.
Despite my difficulties though I still quite enjoyed the experience. The Story was well told I tried many new strategies I liked the level layouts they were very well laid out with several routes and opportunities for flanking. The art design was excellent I liked the visual design for the levels and the enemies. I felt the enemies were a little too Bullet spongee which was annoying but they had a certain gravitas to them that I learned to fear and I liked that. The corpser boss fight however was just terrible they really hyped up how scary this creature was going to be and then it just turned into like a little crab that hid in his shell and like trying to poke at you and then wanted to do you to do something stupid to kill it and I was really disappointed by that. All in all a good game that I appreciated the chance to playthrough and I look forward to finishing the trilogy and may be looking forward to the 4th game?
Final Grade: B
#2
Beaten January 4th. It was a pleasant experience mostly going back through the first Gears game. I definitely remember now having played at least the first Act or two at some point, but I don't believe I ever finished it. Getting an X1 for Black Friday is feeling more like a good investment. The game shows its age in a lot of ways, a frustrating checkpoint system made me redo several sections hoping that the enemies would be dumb next time so I wouldn't have to do the sequence again. The big boss fights at the end with the Brumak and General took many tries, as did the Fenix manor battle. I wussed out and set the the sequel to casual.
Despite my difficulties though I still quite enjoyed the experience. The Story was well told I tried many new strategies I liked the level layouts they were very well laid out with several routes and opportunities for flanking. The art design was excellent I liked the visual design for the levels and the enemies. I felt the enemies were a little too Bullet spongee which was annoying but they had a certain gravitas to them that I learned to fear and I liked that. The corpser boss fight however was just terrible they really hyped up how scary this creature was going to be and then it just turned into like a little crab that hid in his shell and like trying to poke at you and then wanted to do you to do something stupid to kill it and I was really disappointed by that. All in all a good game that I appreciated the chance to playthrough and I look forward to finishing the trilogy and may be looking forward to the 4th game?
Final Grade: B
2008
Gears of War 2
#3
Xbox One
Beaten January 19th 2019
A very interesting improvement on the first game. The combat feels a bit better, but the level design really kicks it up a notch. There's a lot of varied things to hide behind, half the time they snap in and out, or use some mechanism to go up and down that can be used by you or the enemy. No real weird boss fights since they kind of sucked in the first game anyway.
The story definitely aims more for mystery and emotion but to mixed results. Doms search for his wife is well done, but Marcus remains capable of only anger and it is difficult to empathize with him. Even Tai's suicide comes a bit too early and Marcus doesn't mention it much past its occurrence. The main plot hints at even more mystery with the Fenix family and their connection to the Locus - plus a new threat of infection drives them to madness. Why is the queen basically human??
The game also drops a number of horror elements from the first game to aim more at action. Less dark parts, no berserkers, no weird bats... But I miss those crazy things. They were a great enemy. It also feels even more focused for co-op than the previous one, which obviously reminds me of my first playthrough a decade or so ago with Ibn. I've included a screenshot of the infamous scene with the giant worm, hahaha.
Onto the third game!
Final Grade - B+
#3
Xbox One
Beaten January 19th 2019
A very interesting improvement on the first game. The combat feels a bit better, but the level design really kicks it up a notch. There's a lot of varied things to hide behind, half the time they snap in and out, or use some mechanism to go up and down that can be used by you or the enemy. No real weird boss fights since they kind of sucked in the first game anyway.
The story definitely aims more for mystery and emotion but to mixed results. Doms search for his wife is well done, but Marcus remains capable of only anger and it is difficult to empathize with him. Even Tai's suicide comes a bit too early and Marcus doesn't mention it much past its occurrence. The main plot hints at even more mystery with the Fenix family and their connection to the Locus - plus a new threat of infection drives them to madness. Why is the queen basically human??
The game also drops a number of horror elements from the first game to aim more at action. Less dark parts, no berserkers, no weird bats... But I miss those crazy things. They were a great enemy. It also feels even more focused for co-op than the previous one, which obviously reminds me of my first playthrough a decade or so ago with Ibn. I've included a screenshot of the infamous scene with the giant worm, hahaha.
Onto the third game!
Final Grade - B+
2018
Hitman 2
PC
#4
Beaten January 23rd 2019
The wondrous new game in the Hitman series, and I still really love it. It is essentially just a rebranded Season 2 to 2016's Hitman which I also loved, but similarly to Baldur's Gate they used the excuse of a similar engine to just improve everything. The level design is excellent, the amount and variety in challenges is superb, the macabre sense of humor is omnipresent.
Hitman 2 emphasizes creativity and freedom for how you approach each level and I'm glad I turn off all hints the first time through to try and figure out in my own way how to accomplish the kills. The options however are appreciated afterwards showing all the different options is just stellar. The sheer number of times you can kill folks with a fish is astounding.
As a stealth game I usually appreciate my Ghost runs but the game is great at getting you to feel more adaptable and clever than something like Dishonored.
One of the strongest ways to praise the game I can think of is to say I wish I hadn't wanted to do this 52 game challenge if only so I could keep replaying it.
Final Score: A
PC
#4
Beaten January 23rd 2019
The wondrous new game in the Hitman series, and I still really love it. It is essentially just a rebranded Season 2 to 2016's Hitman which I also loved, but similarly to Baldur's Gate they used the excuse of a similar engine to just improve everything. The level design is excellent, the amount and variety in challenges is superb, the macabre sense of humor is omnipresent.
Hitman 2 emphasizes creativity and freedom for how you approach each level and I'm glad I turn off all hints the first time through to try and figure out in my own way how to accomplish the kills. The options however are appreciated afterwards showing all the different options is just stellar. The sheer number of times you can kill folks with a fish is astounding.
As a stealth game I usually appreciate my Ghost runs but the game is great at getting you to feel more adaptable and clever than something like Dishonored.
One of the strongest ways to praise the game I can think of is to say I wish I hadn't wanted to do this 52 game challenge if only so I could keep replaying it.
Final Score: A
2019
Holy hell what a game. My experience with Resident Evil is fairly limited, mainly to watching my childhood friend Shawn beat Code Veronica for me and a few incomplete Lets Plays, but this re imagining of the series was something that just looked great to me, so I decided I'd buy Ibn's extra copy off of him and try to make my way through it. I'm also an enormous coward with scary games so frankly I did not think I'd make it to the end BUT I DID IT. On the easiest difficulty. BUT I DID IT.
The visuals are just stunning in the game and pretty horrifying. There's a real focus on DARKNESS and I'm so glad I had an HDR screen to play it on because it was creepy as hell. The puzzles were a bit much in some places but I was able to get through them all without too much of an issue. You get a very good feel for all of the areas in the game as you have to spend juuuust the right amount of time backtracking and working your way around enemies to get to where you need to be.
The story is told well enough, it definitely has some odd bits of the old RE 'camp' to it but it felt overall pretty solid. Characters don't do anything too crazy and everyone seems properly motivated. There's some good stuff with the Sherry/Claire/Annette relationship and Ada/Leon as well. Kind of sad to see her drop off a bridge (How did she survive?!).
Fantastic visuals, amazing atmosphere, entertaining gameplay and story.
Final Grade: A+
The visuals are just stunning in the game and pretty horrifying. There's a real focus on DARKNESS and I'm so glad I had an HDR screen to play it on because it was creepy as hell. The puzzles were a bit much in some places but I was able to get through them all without too much of an issue. You get a very good feel for all of the areas in the game as you have to spend juuuust the right amount of time backtracking and working your way around enemies to get to where you need to be.
The story is told well enough, it definitely has some odd bits of the old RE 'camp' to it but it felt overall pretty solid. Characters don't do anything too crazy and everyone seems properly motivated. There's some good stuff with the Sherry/Claire/Annette relationship and Ada/Leon as well. Kind of sad to see her drop off a bridge (How did she survive?!).
Fantastic visuals, amazing atmosphere, entertaining gameplay and story.
Final Grade: A+
2013
Ninjas fight free! Except all the money I spent on it... You're a robot/mech suit/android/who knows who fights aliens in the Solar system after some unspecified apocalypse. Your enemies might be what is left of humanity.. but I really don't know! The game puts a lot of roadblocks in the way to get you to grind and honestly I spent too much time leveling my weapons and such to get a good distance into the story.
You can customize your 'frame' (your class basically) and weapons, and I had a great time swapping between the characters you play and weapons but I also spent a nice chunk of change on the game because damn the starters are boring... I played this game a decent amount on PC already, but having an on-the-go option seemed like a no-brainer for me. Unfortunately I just sort of lost interest in running the missions over and over again to keep it going towards the end. They're all essentially variations on "Drop into map, kill stuff or go to x spot, then run to exit", and while the gunplay/powers are cool most of the time, they're just not strong enough to keep it feeling good. Destiny this is not. It has an excellent art style and certainly looks distinctive, but outside that and the quite frequent content updates, I'm just not looking for a grinding game like this for now. Maybe I'll come back to it again one day.
Mag/Ember/Nova are my girls <3
Final Grade - B
You can customize your 'frame' (your class basically) and weapons, and I had a great time swapping between the characters you play and weapons but I also spent a nice chunk of change on the game because damn the starters are boring... I played this game a decent amount on PC already, but having an on-the-go option seemed like a no-brainer for me. Unfortunately I just sort of lost interest in running the missions over and over again to keep it going towards the end. They're all essentially variations on "Drop into map, kill stuff or go to x spot, then run to exit", and while the gunplay/powers are cool most of the time, they're just not strong enough to keep it feeling good. Destiny this is not. It has an excellent art style and certainly looks distinctive, but outside that and the quite frequent content updates, I'm just not looking for a grinding game like this for now. Maybe I'll come back to it again one day.
Mag/Ember/Nova are my girls <3
Final Grade - B
2017
Great! Liked it more than the first.. Which I played a good few hours of on the 3DS. That game was a more straight-forward, proof of concept for this game: How to dig up dirt and the occasional gem in 2D and make it interesting. Where the first game was very simple, this adds a whole layer of "metroidvania" skills and tools to help mix up exploration and gameplay that I quite enjoyed. It is very soothing to just head down into the mines, hack through a bunch of dirt and stone blocks to fill up your pack, sell it for loot, grab an upgrade you want, then head back down for more.
There a few "dungeons" of sorts that also help break this up that are more standard Metroidvania puzzles and exploration. Nothing too exceptional in terms of gameplay but the art direction is crazy good. Where the world initially looks like a desert wasteland, you quickly find old ruins, acid swamps, and technological nightmares not too far down in the deeps...
There's an attempt at a story and characters, and while nothing is grand they are certainly functional. The robot townsfolk are cute with their beeps and boops, there are some surprise human characters later on that hint at a dystopian backstory and Dot's (the MC) search for her uncle (the character from the first game!) is interesting at least. She makes friends with a floating light who likes to be a jackass and blow things up, but he and Dot become friends and that leads to a touching 'end' between the two that sets up a third game.
A giant leap over its predecessor and a simple but fulfilling game loop plus a dash of great art... make this a worthwhile purchase.
Final Grade: A-
There a few "dungeons" of sorts that also help break this up that are more standard Metroidvania puzzles and exploration. Nothing too exceptional in terms of gameplay but the art direction is crazy good. Where the world initially looks like a desert wasteland, you quickly find old ruins, acid swamps, and technological nightmares not too far down in the deeps...
There's an attempt at a story and characters, and while nothing is grand they are certainly functional. The robot townsfolk are cute with their beeps and boops, there are some surprise human characters later on that hint at a dystopian backstory and Dot's (the MC) search for her uncle (the character from the first game!) is interesting at least. She makes friends with a floating light who likes to be a jackass and blow things up, but he and Dot become friends and that leads to a touching 'end' between the two that sets up a third game.
A giant leap over its predecessor and a simple but fulfilling game loop plus a dash of great art... make this a worthwhile purchase.
Final Grade: A-
2019
Very clever puzzle game. Only a few pictures because I didn't actually finish it.. I love the logical puzzles in this game, moving out "Baba" to "Rock" and see yourself turn into a rock never gets old. Sadly I just don't care that much to keep playing it as puzzles are not my forte. It was fun while it lasted and I'll definitely keep it in mind as a cool novelty to show off some time in the future. Maybe I'll go back to it one day?
Final Grade: B
Final Grade: B
2019
One of the first mobile games I have put more than a half hour into, AFK arena drew me in with its great art style and promise of progress even when not playing. It lets you build a team that essentially just auto-attack sans a super move, which I suppose is enough for a game that is for general audiences. Wouldn't want to put things like choice or strategy into a game now would we hahaha.. Each level of progress showers you with various coins, xp and gems and for the first several days my progress was steady and interesting. I was getting new characters, unlocking new features, upping my squad... But eventually I realized it was all pretty much the same shit over and over, and realized I didn't even WANT any of the new guys I unlocked.
There are many systems and modes working together to get you to keep playing, and while I did spend 5 bucks I do wish there was an option to just pay 60 and get the whole thing. Obviously mobile games just don't work like that, but I saw no reason to read over or get invested in the story/character parts (and there definitely was some of that and it was interesting what I saw) when I knew I'd have to spend actual months or actual hundreds of dollars to hope to see a conclusion of sorts.
Fun for what it was I suppose? Plus some dope art.
Final Score - C
There are many systems and modes working together to get you to keep playing, and while I did spend 5 bucks I do wish there was an option to just pay 60 and get the whole thing. Obviously mobile games just don't work like that, but I saw no reason to read over or get invested in the story/character parts (and there definitely was some of that and it was interesting what I saw) when I knew I'd have to spend actual months or actual hundreds of dollars to hope to see a conclusion of sorts.
Fun for what it was I suppose? Plus some dope art.
Final Score - C
Can a superb visual style carry a game? Yes, yes it can! Moody and atmospheric, this feels like a game designers graduation project and showing off a keen visual style. It's free also on Steam so actually this may very well be correct haha..
It starts off with an odd narration from the designer (or a character named after them) implying that we are in his thoughts, and at first I was rolling my eyes at a Stanley Parable~esque ripoff but eventually we got to the good stuff. A lot of genuinely creepy imagery ensued as you walk through some environments and try to get to the end. Interesting gameplay? Maybe not but it was quite the haunted house. There's some interesting messaging in the game about finding your own meaning to life and facing fears of rejection buuuuut it was mostly just window-dressing for an excuse to keep going through the scary scenes. A pretty cool experience for what it was.
Final Score: B+
It starts off with an odd narration from the designer (or a character named after them) implying that we are in his thoughts, and at first I was rolling my eyes at a Stanley Parable~esque ripoff but eventually we got to the good stuff. A lot of genuinely creepy imagery ensued as you walk through some environments and try to get to the end. Interesting gameplay? Maybe not but it was quite the haunted house. There's some interesting messaging in the game about finding your own meaning to life and facing fears of rejection buuuuut it was mostly just window-dressing for an excuse to keep going through the scary scenes. A pretty cool experience for what it was.
Final Score: B+
2019
A side-scrolling slasher/puzzle game by the guys who made Hotline Miami. The gameplay itself is good enough I suppose, it has levels broken down into "screens" where you have to work your way through, cutting up bad guys. Like Hotline, you and your enemies are 1HKO's which adds to tension, but with any button press it will "rewind" you back to the beginning to try again. This is cool because it fits thematically with the game (we'll get to that) and lets you jump back in after you fail. It becomes NOT cool when you are trying a level for the 20th time and just have to repeat the same motions again and again trying to get things juuuuuust right. Especially the last couple of levels, this was getting a bit out of control for me. Overall it was enjoyable enough to play, but the real meat is in the story.
The main character is often teased as "a guy in a bathrobe", which is a funny way to describe a samurai in a cyberpunk~esque future, but we get to see him work through some psychological issues that show he was a real (maybe?) soldier in the not-too-distant past. Each level has a section with the main character attend a session with a 'therapist' who gives him a medicine that makes the screen and music go wonky. It quickly becomes clear that this Doctor is manipulating you and may or may not be the primary antagonist? You also form a friendship with an adorable neighbor girl (who may or may not be real?). You regularly meet others who share your abilities which is neat, but ultimately just means you can only kill them when the plot says you can. It sets up a very interesting tale but leaves MANY questions open and I think needs a full sequel or two to finish completely and ultimately is a bit unsatisfactory I think in terms of telling a whole story, this is obviously just a part 1 of X.
The main character is often teased as "a guy in a bathrobe", which is a funny way to describe a samurai in a cyberpunk~esque future, but we get to see him work through some psychological issues that show he was a real (maybe?) soldier in the not-too-distant past. Each level has a section with the main character attend a session with a 'therapist' who gives him a medicine that makes the screen and music go wonky. It quickly becomes clear that this Doctor is manipulating you and may or may not be the primary antagonist? You also form a friendship with an adorable neighbor girl (who may or may not be real?). You regularly meet others who share your abilities which is neat, but ultimately just means you can only kill them when the plot says you can. It sets up a very interesting tale but leaves MANY questions open and I think needs a full sequel or two to finish completely and ultimately is a bit unsatisfactory I think in terms of telling a whole story, this is obviously just a part 1 of X.
Another cute Paramedium game. I actually paid for this one so I'll be honest I expected a bit more meat to it buuuuuuut nah not really? There's a couple extra 'gameplay' segments which are cool but nothing too substantial. I'd liken it to a DnD adventure: show up to find a problem, bit of a twist, action beat or two then resolve it. Honestly might steal this plot for a DnD sidequest now that I think about it...
The art is just great and I like the two main characters. They've got a lot of witty banter between them and chemistry. The "bad guy" and young girl character are spooky & sympathetic simultaneously which is what you really want from ghosts I suppose. The voice acting is decent enough and I'm more tempted now to get their follow up work, Faulty Apprentice. It's also been a hot minute since I played a visual novel for real.
Pretty decent!
Final Grade: B-
The art is just great and I like the two main characters. They've got a lot of witty banter between them and chemistry. The "bad guy" and young girl character are spooky & sympathetic simultaneously which is what you really want from ghosts I suppose. The voice acting is decent enough and I'm more tempted now to get their follow up work, Faulty Apprentice. It's also been a hot minute since I played a visual novel for real.
Pretty decent!
Final Grade: B-
1998
Resident Evil 2, vanilla! But not vanilla since this is the dreamcast version + a special AI upres mod that looks genuinely great. It also got me to install Playnite, a program that lets me merge all of my launcher games into one very nice looking layout and I can launch emulated games straight through it! Take that, steam..
Anyway, onto the game itself. I do wish I had written this a bit earlier, so I remembered things a bit more crisply but I just loved how invested I got into the game. I don't often go back to the PS1~ era or before of gaming, but after an initial pause after starting, I basically completed all of Claire A in two big chunks and I had an excellent time. The camera angles are very strange but SOMETIMES used to great effect with the monsters, and there's a lot of tension knowing there's a monster SOMEWHERE around but the F*%#ING camera won't let you see it.. I played on the Easy setting so I was never really threatened too terribly but frankly it was stressful enough.
To compare it straight to the Remake, it is definitely less scary and more goofy. The voice acting is bleh, the story beats and characters get significantly less, you barely know the side characters past Sherry/Leon (we'll get to Ada later) but I still liked it. There's more enemy types and locations but it is very similar. Also those missing enemy types are basically just evil animals (spiders/bats) and weird naked zombies... Would've been interesting to see their inclusion in RE2Re but it is okay.
But the music/sound effects are just the bomb.
~~~~
RE2! The original, Leon B. I did ClaireA/LeonB again because I've just always heard that they fit best with the story going forward. Perhaps I should've done the opposite here but overall I liked it more than the Leon B in RE2Remake. I can definitely see why old fans were a bit disappointed in the A/B in the remake because quite a bit is different in this B version, you basically spend the 2nd half of each game in completely different places. It was very cool to see the story beats from A actually play out in B (I can't get through this area because as Claire I needed the detonator... I'll keep an eye out for the detonator... oh wait Claire just radioed and said she blew up the wall so I can go through. Of course!! That's me in the previous run!).
Ada got done DIRTY in this game. A lady in a dress who is a crack shot who is just looking for her boyfriend... genuinely stupid cover story. Way better in Remake. Also their 'romance' is pretty forced and the voice acting is atrocious. Still fun though! Silly True End is still Silly.
Anyway, onto the game itself. I do wish I had written this a bit earlier, so I remembered things a bit more crisply but I just loved how invested I got into the game. I don't often go back to the PS1~ era or before of gaming, but after an initial pause after starting, I basically completed all of Claire A in two big chunks and I had an excellent time. The camera angles are very strange but SOMETIMES used to great effect with the monsters, and there's a lot of tension knowing there's a monster SOMEWHERE around but the F*%#ING camera won't let you see it.. I played on the Easy setting so I was never really threatened too terribly but frankly it was stressful enough.
To compare it straight to the Remake, it is definitely less scary and more goofy. The voice acting is bleh, the story beats and characters get significantly less, you barely know the side characters past Sherry/Leon (we'll get to Ada later) but I still liked it. There's more enemy types and locations but it is very similar. Also those missing enemy types are basically just evil animals (spiders/bats) and weird naked zombies... Would've been interesting to see their inclusion in RE2Re but it is okay.
But the music/sound effects are just the bomb.
RE2! The original, Leon B. I did ClaireA/LeonB again because I've just always heard that they fit best with the story going forward. Perhaps I should've done the opposite here but overall I liked it more than the Leon B in RE2Remake. I can definitely see why old fans were a bit disappointed in the A/B in the remake because quite a bit is different in this B version, you basically spend the 2nd half of each game in completely different places. It was very cool to see the story beats from A actually play out in B (I can't get through this area because as Claire I needed the detonator... I'll keep an eye out for the detonator... oh wait Claire just radioed and said she blew up the wall so I can go through. Of course!! That's me in the previous run!).
Ada got done DIRTY in this game. A lady in a dress who is a crack shot who is just looking for her boyfriend... genuinely stupid cover story. Way better in Remake. Also their 'romance' is pretty forced and the voice acting is atrocious. Still fun though! Silly True End is still Silly.
Shovel Knight - Spectre of Torment is the first shovel knight dlc I managed to beat despite having bought the damn collection 3 times.. It does the usual "go to various themed levels and beat up awesome bosses to get a damn solid plot" thing to a T. The titular Spectre is a man whose past we see in glimpses (with great images of him brooding off a castle), playable and otherwise. It also sets up the world as we see it in Shovel Knight - how the Order of No Quarter is formed, the enchantress and why Black Knight is how he is, that one weird adventurer kid.. All great stuff.
The gameplay is very good but the magic powers are a bit too lopsided, the healing power is so strong it never felt right to use magic for anything else. Also there's a suit that stops spikes / pits from being OHKO which saved me from going crazy. Spectre himself has a neat "diagonal slash" to all his moves that gives you a cool sense of mobility but ultimately it still feels a bit too clunky like Shovel Knight - its NES roots are just a bit too old for me. Hollow Knight remains on his throne!
Final Grade: B+
The gameplay is very good but the magic powers are a bit too lopsided, the healing power is so strong it never felt right to use magic for anything else. Also there's a suit that stops spikes / pits from being OHKO which saved me from going crazy. Spectre himself has a neat "diagonal slash" to all his moves that gives you a cool sense of mobility but ultimately it still feels a bit too clunky like Shovel Knight - its NES roots are just a bit too old for me. Hollow Knight remains on his throne!
Final Grade: B+
2002
Resident Evil Remake... I've got a bit of history with this series, and this game. I tried to play probably twenty years ago at Jeff's place when he was in college. Got eaten by the first zombie MULTIPLE times and just said fuck it and went back to MGS. Here I am on the Resident Evil train however, and now I have to say how I feel about this one.
First things first - I'm pretty sure I enjoyed RE2 more. I was certainly more compelled by it? The mansion is a pretty cool environment but it also had lots of little annoying bits to it as well - namely the doors on the map not being labeled and at least two sections where you just have to straight up backtrack and not in a cool way (namely the serum section) which is pretty annoying. I also played the Switch version meaning the load times were noticeable, but not terrible.
The game looks and sounds excellent, and the enemies were MOSTLY pretty great. I'm not sure I "get" what Hunters are or what their point is, Crimson Heads were already great additions to the game and the Hunters only show up like 3 times? Anyway the enemy design was great.
The story is pretty barebones and honestly terrible what there is of it. It starts off interesting enough but basically every major plot point following it is told via document and, barring the Barry 'twist', is essentially never ever brought up in a cutscene. Like, I knew Wesker was a bad guy 2 hours before the end, why didn't Jill react that way to him? She saw the pictures of the Umbrella team too! The increased focus on puzzles compared to 2 was sometimes neat but almost always more of a drag. Find X item and put it in Y slot. It felt more organic in 2 and there were maaaany times when I got to a puzzle, did half of it then realized the thing I found 3 hours previously, that I put in a box because obviously I did, was what I needed to finish the puzzle. And did they do something interesting with this fact, like ambush me along the way or putting a story beat knowing I'd have to head back? Of course not don't be silly.
First things first - I'm pretty sure I enjoyed RE2 more. I was certainly more compelled by it? The mansion is a pretty cool environment but it also had lots of little annoying bits to it as well - namely the doors on the map not being labeled and at least two sections where you just have to straight up backtrack and not in a cool way (namely the serum section) which is pretty annoying. I also played the Switch version meaning the load times were noticeable, but not terrible.
The game looks and sounds excellent, and the enemies were MOSTLY pretty great. I'm not sure I "get" what Hunters are or what their point is, Crimson Heads were already great additions to the game and the Hunters only show up like 3 times? Anyway the enemy design was great.
The story is pretty barebones and honestly terrible what there is of it. It starts off interesting enough but basically every major plot point following it is told via document and, barring the Barry 'twist', is essentially never ever brought up in a cutscene. Like, I knew Wesker was a bad guy 2 hours before the end, why didn't Jill react that way to him? She saw the pictures of the Umbrella team too! The increased focus on puzzles compared to 2 was sometimes neat but almost always more of a drag. Find X item and put it in Y slot. It felt more organic in 2 and there were maaaany times when I got to a puzzle, did half of it then realized the thing I found 3 hours previously, that I put in a box because obviously I did, was what I needed to finish the puzzle. And did they do something interesting with this fact, like ambush me along the way or putting a story beat knowing I'd have to head back? Of course not don't be silly.