Dyna
2022
A game that manages to be quite fun to play most of the time despite being absolutely filled to the brim with baffling game design choices.
I've never really cared for Sonic games - 3D or 2D - but I found this to be a surprisingly compelling experience, so much so that I even got the platinum trophy for it. Maybe because they actually tried something new here? I thought the tacked on more traditional 3D Sonic levels (the Cyber Space stages) were a bummer and really unnecessary. At least they usually had fun music in them. Speaking of the music, I think the soundtrack is the highlight of the game for me. The tracks vary from chuckleworthy yet sincere (nu) metal battle themes to short and sweet house tunes to Breath of the Wild-esque ambience - I really, really liked it.
I don't have the energy or the will to go over every little thing that made me go "what? why?" while playing the game but rest assured that list was not short. I can't say I really paid much attention to the story but it felt like the characters' dialogue was written in a deliberately fanservice-y manner with various name-drops and references to previous games' events(?). If you're a hardcore Sonic fan (like most Sonic fans seem to be to be fair) you might appreciate it, I thought it was annoying.
I think Sonic the game character suits an open world game really well: it's fun to traverse environments at breakneck speeds and hop around amusement park like devices in the air! Sonic the game series, however, has a lot of structural things that need to either be heavily revamped or let go entirely in order for this type of free roam action-adventure game to properly work IMO. I'm not sure SEGA or Sonic Team are up to the task though but time will tell, I'm not not looking forward to seeing what a potential Sonic Frontiers 2 will be like I suppose? Yeah, that's about the highest praise and/or level of intrigue I'll allow myself to give for 3D Sonic.
I've never really cared for Sonic games - 3D or 2D - but I found this to be a surprisingly compelling experience, so much so that I even got the platinum trophy for it. Maybe because they actually tried something new here? I thought the tacked on more traditional 3D Sonic levels (the Cyber Space stages) were a bummer and really unnecessary. At least they usually had fun music in them. Speaking of the music, I think the soundtrack is the highlight of the game for me. The tracks vary from chuckleworthy yet sincere (nu) metal battle themes to short and sweet house tunes to Breath of the Wild-esque ambience - I really, really liked it.
I don't have the energy or the will to go over every little thing that made me go "what? why?" while playing the game but rest assured that list was not short. I can't say I really paid much attention to the story but it felt like the characters' dialogue was written in a deliberately fanservice-y manner with various name-drops and references to previous games' events(?). If you're a hardcore Sonic fan (like most Sonic fans seem to be to be fair) you might appreciate it, I thought it was annoying.
I think Sonic the game character suits an open world game really well: it's fun to traverse environments at breakneck speeds and hop around amusement park like devices in the air! Sonic the game series, however, has a lot of structural things that need to either be heavily revamped or let go entirely in order for this type of free roam action-adventure game to properly work IMO. I'm not sure SEGA or Sonic Team are up to the task though but time will tell, I'm not not looking forward to seeing what a potential Sonic Frontiers 2 will be like I suppose? Yeah, that's about the highest praise and/or level of intrigue I'll allow myself to give for 3D Sonic.
The Callisto Protocol is a visually impressive but ultimately hollow survival horror action game and a disappointment on more than one level.
Firstly this is simply not the game most people, myself included, were expecting it to be. Besides the apparent similarities in the setting and visual design, The Callisto Protocol is not the spiritual successor to Dead Space. It is not a systems-driven physics playground full of space terrors to stomp but rather Glen Schofield's take on The Last of Us Part II in the most generic "AAA game from the Xbox 360 era" sense imaginable. The game is very linear and way more focused on wowing the player with noninteractive cinematic setpieces rather than through the gameplay itself; you won't find any interesting game scenarios resulting in emergent narrative in Callisto. That's the initial letdown with the game in a nutshell but its core faults still lie elsewhere.
The second layer of disappointment stems from what Callisto is rather than what it isn't. The sci-fi horror adventure that Callisto promises to the player is completely clichéd, unoriginal and outright bad. The high production values and the script filled with (attempts at) bombastic story beats are all for nothing when the plot is so unbelievably trite. From their paper-thin backstories to their B action movie dialogue the characters are also about as generic as they come - wasting Sam Witwer on that Batman: Arkham Asylum thug looking dumbass is some bullshit. The original Dead Space was no clever head-scratcher either but the slow revelation of what had occurred aboard USG Ishimura was infinitely more interesting than Josh Duhamel's journey through narrow passages on Jupiter. If you've seen a bad sci-fi film circa 2000 you've experienced The Callisto Protocol - this is way more Ghosts of Mars than Alien.
The third and final (major) disappointment for me was the uninspired game design mixed with the general lack of polish around its mechanics. We're still talking about a video game here so even if the story didn't land I could easily look past that if the actual game part felt fun and engaging. Unfortunately this isn't really the case with Callisto.
It's clear that the game was rushed out hot from the oven to beat EA Motive's Dead Space remake to the punch, but this also lead to a lot of technical hiccups and less time to fine-tune the game mechanics. With that being said, I doubt that the experience would've been much better had the game been released, say, a year from now if e.g. the basis for the combat system remained largely the same - most of it just isn't that great to begin with. That's not to say that the gameplay is all bad however, I had my fair share of fun beating mutants to a pulp or using the GRP Device, this game's equivalent to telekinesis, to fling them into spiky walls but the mechanics in place feel either strangely disjointed from each other or too janky to actually feel satisfying. Some of these shortcomings may have been fixable with further development but things like extremely static environments and objects, the complete lack of exploration or puzzles and the scripted nature of many enemy encounters are seemingly parts of the intended experience. Whether that's due to a lack of vision on Schofield's part or budget constraints, in any case, it's still a bummer.
Don't be completely discouraged by my rant though, The Callisto Protocol is not entirely void of fun - it's just quite a big letdown for me personally. I'll end this wall of text on a slightly more positive note with a list of pros: both the player and enemy deaths are very gruesome, the melee feels nicely weighty most of the time and for once the DualSense's haptic feedback is actually utilized well on the PS5. And just to reiterate: the graphics are genuinely great - the game looks like a proper next-gen title. Better luck next time, Glen! I think I'll stick with Dead Space for now.
Firstly this is simply not the game most people, myself included, were expecting it to be. Besides the apparent similarities in the setting and visual design, The Callisto Protocol is not the spiritual successor to Dead Space. It is not a systems-driven physics playground full of space terrors to stomp but rather Glen Schofield's take on The Last of Us Part II in the most generic "AAA game from the Xbox 360 era" sense imaginable. The game is very linear and way more focused on wowing the player with noninteractive cinematic setpieces rather than through the gameplay itself; you won't find any interesting game scenarios resulting in emergent narrative in Callisto. That's the initial letdown with the game in a nutshell but its core faults still lie elsewhere.
The second layer of disappointment stems from what Callisto is rather than what it isn't. The sci-fi horror adventure that Callisto promises to the player is completely clichéd, unoriginal and outright bad. The high production values and the script filled with (attempts at) bombastic story beats are all for nothing when the plot is so unbelievably trite. From their paper-thin backstories to their B action movie dialogue the characters are also about as generic as they come - wasting Sam Witwer on that Batman: Arkham Asylum thug looking dumbass is some bullshit. The original Dead Space was no clever head-scratcher either but the slow revelation of what had occurred aboard USG Ishimura was infinitely more interesting than Josh Duhamel's journey through narrow passages on Jupiter. If you've seen a bad sci-fi film circa 2000 you've experienced The Callisto Protocol - this is way more Ghosts of Mars than Alien.
The third and final (major) disappointment for me was the uninspired game design mixed with the general lack of polish around its mechanics. We're still talking about a video game here so even if the story didn't land I could easily look past that if the actual game part felt fun and engaging. Unfortunately this isn't really the case with Callisto.
It's clear that the game was rushed out hot from the oven to beat EA Motive's Dead Space remake to the punch, but this also lead to a lot of technical hiccups and less time to fine-tune the game mechanics. With that being said, I doubt that the experience would've been much better had the game been released, say, a year from now if e.g. the basis for the combat system remained largely the same - most of it just isn't that great to begin with. That's not to say that the gameplay is all bad however, I had my fair share of fun beating mutants to a pulp or using the GRP Device, this game's equivalent to telekinesis, to fling them into spiky walls but the mechanics in place feel either strangely disjointed from each other or too janky to actually feel satisfying. Some of these shortcomings may have been fixable with further development but things like extremely static environments and objects, the complete lack of exploration or puzzles and the scripted nature of many enemy encounters are seemingly parts of the intended experience. Whether that's due to a lack of vision on Schofield's part or budget constraints, in any case, it's still a bummer.
Don't be completely discouraged by my rant though, The Callisto Protocol is not entirely void of fun - it's just quite a big letdown for me personally. I'll end this wall of text on a slightly more positive note with a list of pros: both the player and enemy deaths are very gruesome, the melee feels nicely weighty most of the time and for once the DualSense's haptic feedback is actually utilized well on the PS5. And just to reiterate: the graphics are genuinely great - the game looks like a proper next-gen title. Better luck next time, Glen! I think I'll stick with Dead Space for now.
2022
An unbelievably abysmal shooter riddled with some of the worst game design known to man. I'm genuinely baffled that something like this was released in the year 2022. Gungrave G.O.R.E promises the player a stylish character action spectacle filled with bullets and anime but that's all mostly a facade. Instead, what you get is an unreasonably long, soulless husk of a third-person shooter designed to give the player carpal tunnel syndrome and a migraine. See, rather than allowing the player to hold the right trigger to shoot, the game forces you to manually tap it for no less than the whole duration of the game. ...and somehow that's still among the least of G.O.R.E's issues which should let you know just how rotten this game is. At some point I realized I was actually compelled to finish this trainwreck: I was fuelled by sheer morbid curiosity to see just how bad a video game can be. I wish I hadn't.
Gungrave G.O.R.E has a scoring system like any other action game. The game wants you to keep up a combo by constantly shooting at something, whether it's enemies or breakable objects, and earning "beats" but not only is the time window between hits needlessly strict, worse yet, the system is incredibly inconsistent. The same objects that are destructible in another level are simply a static part of the environment in another. That or they are misplaced way off the intended route resulting in abrupt stops to your combos. The enemies though? Don't worry, the enemies will come after you. Wave after wave, knockback attack after another, with no cooldowns on their rocket launchers. I was in constant disbelief at the absurdity of the combat encounters and it kept getting worse stage after stage. While Gungrave G.O.R.E is not janky in the technical sense it is an absolute mess in terms of design. The enemies' AI has not been balanced at all and the nonstop attacks leave the player little to no room for error in most situations, especially in the latter half of the game. And no, not in a difficult but rewarding way but an "a hundred Silver Knight Archers locked on to you" way.
One of the game's worst offenses is teasing multiple playable characters throughout the story (and apparently way before the game's release as well) just to let you play as the two other characters for only three stages out of the thirty-one total. Embarrassing. The rest of the game is all Grave which might've not been such a bummer if Grave wasn't so sluggish to control. You can upgrade Grave's stats between levels - which is to say that you can make the experience of playing this trash fire a tiny bit less miserable - but make no mistake, even with fully upgraded health, shields and damage you will still falter from a couple of rockets while the enemies are merely tickled by your bullets. All of this on the intended (?) normal difficulty. The enemies are not only incredibly overpowered but their spawn placements have to be the worst I have ever seen in a video game. It must have been the developers' intention to irritate the player as much as humanly possible, I simply do not see any other reason for them. A special shoutout to the platforming sections as well, I think I popped a blood vessel or two during one of those.
The list of pros I begrudgingly gathered for Gungrave G.O.R.E is not too extensive as you may have guessed but it is not void either. A couple of the music tracks were fun (despite bad sound mixing), there is some variety to the boss fights in the game and the few CG cutscenes (four to be exact) there are are actually cool. Everything else in this is varying degrees of dogshit. Gungrave G.O.R.E wishes it was a C-grade PlatinumGames release. Go watch the anime based on the original game rather than enduring through this. Or play Shadows of the Damned or some other bullshit action-shooter instead. Just don't play Gungrave G.O.R.E, please. For your own sake. Should've stayed in the grave, Gungrave.
Gungrave G.O.R.E has a scoring system like any other action game. The game wants you to keep up a combo by constantly shooting at something, whether it's enemies or breakable objects, and earning "beats" but not only is the time window between hits needlessly strict, worse yet, the system is incredibly inconsistent. The same objects that are destructible in another level are simply a static part of the environment in another. That or they are misplaced way off the intended route resulting in abrupt stops to your combos. The enemies though? Don't worry, the enemies will come after you. Wave after wave, knockback attack after another, with no cooldowns on their rocket launchers. I was in constant disbelief at the absurdity of the combat encounters and it kept getting worse stage after stage. While Gungrave G.O.R.E is not janky in the technical sense it is an absolute mess in terms of design. The enemies' AI has not been balanced at all and the nonstop attacks leave the player little to no room for error in most situations, especially in the latter half of the game. And no, not in a difficult but rewarding way but an "a hundred Silver Knight Archers locked on to you" way.
One of the game's worst offenses is teasing multiple playable characters throughout the story (and apparently way before the game's release as well) just to let you play as the two other characters for only three stages out of the thirty-one total. Embarrassing. The rest of the game is all Grave which might've not been such a bummer if Grave wasn't so sluggish to control. You can upgrade Grave's stats between levels - which is to say that you can make the experience of playing this trash fire a tiny bit less miserable - but make no mistake, even with fully upgraded health, shields and damage you will still falter from a couple of rockets while the enemies are merely tickled by your bullets. All of this on the intended (?) normal difficulty. The enemies are not only incredibly overpowered but their spawn placements have to be the worst I have ever seen in a video game. It must have been the developers' intention to irritate the player as much as humanly possible, I simply do not see any other reason for them. A special shoutout to the platforming sections as well, I think I popped a blood vessel or two during one of those.
The list of pros I begrudgingly gathered for Gungrave G.O.R.E is not too extensive as you may have guessed but it is not void either. A couple of the music tracks were fun (despite bad sound mixing), there is some variety to the boss fights in the game and the few CG cutscenes (four to be exact) there are are actually cool. Everything else in this is varying degrees of dogshit. Gungrave G.O.R.E wishes it was a C-grade PlatinumGames release. Go watch the anime based on the original game rather than enduring through this. Or play Shadows of the Damned or some other bullshit action-shooter instead. Just don't play Gungrave G.O.R.E, please. For your own sake. Should've stayed in the grave, Gungrave.
2022
A Kickstarter blast from the past. This is a metroidvania game that was initially estimated to ship way back in 2014. A solid nine years after the game was funded, Ghost Song has finally seen the light of day on all platforms. There have been a lot of competent entries into the genre during Ghost Song's development - as well as a new mainline Metroid game funnily enough - so how well does it fare against the Oris and the Hollow Knights then? Not that well unfortunately.
Ghost Song starts off promising enough, hopping around foggy areas and caverns clearly inspired by Super Metroid, but the initial intrigue to explore (that I at least tend to have in these types of games) starts to steadily wane after the first hour or so. The combat is mediocre and I never reached a point where it felt satisfying. Weapons overheat way too easily and even by the end of the game some basic enemies still took seconds(!) to kill. There are various ways to upgrade the player character: you can level up, find modules/weapons to equip and unlock new abilities as you progress in the game (duh). Despite all of this you'll never feel like Samus, zipping and dashing from one place to another, nor will you have interesting module combinations to play around with like in Hollow Knight. The movement feels absurdly slow and limited which is a major knock against the game.
A well-designed map is absolutely key in a metroidvania. If the layout of the areas is bad why would I care to explore it? Now I'm not saying Ghost Song's level design is terrible but once you add up the sluggish traversal, the fast travel points' placements (and scarcity as well) and the illogical in-game map it sure starts feeling like it is. Not showing a completion percentage can be a creative choice, I get that, but when you have a map that is hard to parse in general and barely lets you zoom in on it it's not exactly inviting players to fully explore every nook and cranny.
The narrative did nothing for me. Wrecked ship, who/what am I, something something purpose... An anemic and subdued protagonist isn't exactly a new concept but neither is it an easy task to make one engaging and in this case they really weren't. It doesn't help that the dialogue with other characters keeps flipping between automatically played voiced lines and generic text boxes. Voice acting was alright with the exception of some of the boss fights.
I'm not sure how I feel about the art style. The progress is undeniable and I don't want to belittle the efforts that went into it but... it might just not be my cup of tea. Going back and looking at the pre-alpha version of the game (when it was essentially a Super Metroid homage) I was honestly a bit more impressed by those visuals. Your mileage may vary of course. I didn't want to be so down on this game but the more I played of it the less I enjoyed it. Still a totally serviceable metroidvania if you're a fan of the genre but don't go in expecting a new classic. Good on the dev(s) for actually sticking to the project for all this time though, respect.
Ghost Song starts off promising enough, hopping around foggy areas and caverns clearly inspired by Super Metroid, but the initial intrigue to explore (that I at least tend to have in these types of games) starts to steadily wane after the first hour or so. The combat is mediocre and I never reached a point where it felt satisfying. Weapons overheat way too easily and even by the end of the game some basic enemies still took seconds(!) to kill. There are various ways to upgrade the player character: you can level up, find modules/weapons to equip and unlock new abilities as you progress in the game (duh). Despite all of this you'll never feel like Samus, zipping and dashing from one place to another, nor will you have interesting module combinations to play around with like in Hollow Knight. The movement feels absurdly slow and limited which is a major knock against the game.
A well-designed map is absolutely key in a metroidvania. If the layout of the areas is bad why would I care to explore it? Now I'm not saying Ghost Song's level design is terrible but once you add up the sluggish traversal, the fast travel points' placements (and scarcity as well) and the illogical in-game map it sure starts feeling like it is. Not showing a completion percentage can be a creative choice, I get that, but when you have a map that is hard to parse in general and barely lets you zoom in on it it's not exactly inviting players to fully explore every nook and cranny.
The narrative did nothing for me. Wrecked ship, who/what am I, something something purpose... An anemic and subdued protagonist isn't exactly a new concept but neither is it an easy task to make one engaging and in this case they really weren't. It doesn't help that the dialogue with other characters keeps flipping between automatically played voiced lines and generic text boxes. Voice acting was alright with the exception of some of the boss fights.
I'm not sure how I feel about the art style. The progress is undeniable and I don't want to belittle the efforts that went into it but... it might just not be my cup of tea. Going back and looking at the pre-alpha version of the game (when it was essentially a Super Metroid homage) I was honestly a bit more impressed by those visuals. Your mileage may vary of course. I didn't want to be so down on this game but the more I played of it the less I enjoyed it. Still a totally serviceable metroidvania if you're a fan of the genre but don't go in expecting a new classic. Good on the dev(s) for actually sticking to the project for all this time though, respect.
2022
Wow, this was absolutely worth the wait. Signalis is very much Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Signalis is also Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell, Neon Genesis Evangelion and a whole lot of other things. Most importantly, however, Signalis is also Signalis: an eerie dystopian mind-bender with an extremely strong aesthetic. When there are so many sources of inspiration in play I'd imagine it's real easy to lose track of what it is you're trying to convey while making that love letter to PS1 survival horror and your favorite animes but I thought rose-engine definitely succeeded in bringing their own vision to the mix. The art direction is superb and cohesive, the gameplay is totally RE and I loved the (Japanese-)German flair in everything.
I don't want to go into the the narrative with this one, partly because I'm still trying to piece it together myself but also because that's exactly what it is about: a fascinating mystery to try and unravel for yourself. You play as an 'LSTR' unit technician Replika and you're on a mission to find someone in a remote work facility, that's the premise. I really enjoyed the level design, lots of satisfying shortcuts to unlock and steely high-tech spaces to explore. RE2 vibes down to a tee.
I played the game with the tank controls on - as any self-respecting old-school survival horror fan would - and though there was some stickiness when moving near objects or walls I felt like it was the right move. The strafing felt unnecessary to me though, I would have preferred more precise control over the aiming instead. Combat in general was quite competent, the shooting felt good and I liked the self-defense mechanics. The big negative I've seen mentioned a lot has to do with the limited inventory space and I get it. I anticipated a lot of backtracking and item management so I wasn't annoyed by it but it would have been nice to have a separate slot for the current equipment and/or module, I'm sure that would alleviate the problem for most players.
The highlight of the game for me were the audiovisuals, I was in constant awe entering from one area to another, but a close second has to be the puzzles. They are a nice mix of both RE and SH and I had more than one aha moment during my playthrough which is always a good thing. The gripes I have with the game are more to do with a slight lack of polish (e.g. entering a door can be awkward) rather than the content itself. I guess some key visuals could have been a tad more original and certain editing choices felt less meaningful than others but I didn't really mind personally, I was fully tapped in and into it all.
I could go on and on about Signalis but I'll wrap it up here. This is a game I respect immensely more than anything. I feel like it is a (sadly) rare case where the developers actually understand what people loved about the old games their indie title is striving for. And thank god this wasn't a fucking bite-sized three-hours-at-most nu-horror game but an actual, hefty game with a proper structure. They understood and they delivered. Brilliant work, rose-engine! You kept your promise.
I don't want to go into the the narrative with this one, partly because I'm still trying to piece it together myself but also because that's exactly what it is about: a fascinating mystery to try and unravel for yourself. You play as an 'LSTR' unit technician Replika and you're on a mission to find someone in a remote work facility, that's the premise. I really enjoyed the level design, lots of satisfying shortcuts to unlock and steely high-tech spaces to explore. RE2 vibes down to a tee.
I played the game with the tank controls on - as any self-respecting old-school survival horror fan would - and though there was some stickiness when moving near objects or walls I felt like it was the right move. The strafing felt unnecessary to me though, I would have preferred more precise control over the aiming instead. Combat in general was quite competent, the shooting felt good and I liked the self-defense mechanics. The big negative I've seen mentioned a lot has to do with the limited inventory space and I get it. I anticipated a lot of backtracking and item management so I wasn't annoyed by it but it would have been nice to have a separate slot for the current equipment and/or module, I'm sure that would alleviate the problem for most players.
The highlight of the game for me were the audiovisuals, I was in constant awe entering from one area to another, but a close second has to be the puzzles. They are a nice mix of both RE and SH and I had more than one aha moment during my playthrough which is always a good thing. The gripes I have with the game are more to do with a slight lack of polish (e.g. entering a door can be awkward) rather than the content itself. I guess some key visuals could have been a tad more original and certain editing choices felt less meaningful than others but I didn't really mind personally, I was fully tapped in and into it all.
I could go on and on about Signalis but I'll wrap it up here. This is a game I respect immensely more than anything. I feel like it is a (sadly) rare case where the developers actually understand what people loved about the old games their indie title is striving for. And thank god this wasn't a fucking bite-sized three-hours-at-most nu-horror game but an actual, hefty game with a proper structure. They understood and they delivered. Brilliant work, rose-engine! You kept your promise.
2005
A really solid arcade racer made up of fast cars, curved tracks and banging tunes. It felt really refreshing to boot this up for the first time ever in 2022, the game has a very distinct "Xbox 360" feel from the menus' clean green and white color palette to the World Xplorer map filled with little nodes for all of the races - it's like it has "new console generation" written all over it!
I really loved routing out the World Xplorer map and unlocking new cars, there's a good constant sense of progression throughout RR6. Controls feel good, the driving is fun and for a game released in 2005 the graphics are surprisingly sharp and shiny. I'm mostly very positive on Ridge Racer 6 in general but I do think it is ultimately too scarce on content to justify the 230+ race events. You'll be blasting through the same bunch of maps again and again with just ever-increasing difficulty and the occasional special opponent as the sole modifiers. Not only does it get incredibly hard, worse yet, it just becomes quite dull after some time.
A good racing game all in all. Doesn't quite touch R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 but when you're going 300 mph, flying through that one jump in Rave City Riverfront and Highway Fusion hits just right... yeah, it's pretty alright. Fun game from Namco.
I really loved routing out the World Xplorer map and unlocking new cars, there's a good constant sense of progression throughout RR6. Controls feel good, the driving is fun and for a game released in 2005 the graphics are surprisingly sharp and shiny. I'm mostly very positive on Ridge Racer 6 in general but I do think it is ultimately too scarce on content to justify the 230+ race events. You'll be blasting through the same bunch of maps again and again with just ever-increasing difficulty and the occasional special opponent as the sole modifiers. Not only does it get incredibly hard, worse yet, it just becomes quite dull after some time.
A good racing game all in all. Doesn't quite touch R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 but when you're going 300 mph, flying through that one jump in Rave City Riverfront and Highway Fusion hits just right... yeah, it's pretty alright. Fun game from Namco.
2022
What a delightful little 3D puzzle-platformer! Evidently very Pikmin-esque in design - with strong hints of Psychonauts, Toy Story 2 and Supraland to boot - Tinykin aims for a more lenient collectathon vibe and really nails it as well. The puzzles are hardly complex and the game is completely combat-free, but hopping around the levels and gathering the game's titular creatures, the Tinykin, is just so much fun in its own right that the lack of challenge never bothered me.
The story follows Milodane, a little dude from the future, who crash-lands into a human household inhabited by cartoonish bug factions and he has to re-build his little spaceship. The plot isn't anything special but the bugs' miniscule towns and the levels' themes being based on different rooms of a house make for a really fun setting for a 3D platformer. The overall presentation is quite superb as well from the funky soundtrack to the creative environments, really charming stuff.
This game is just a good time all-around; a very polished and comfy experience. The Tinykin could have been utilized in more innovative ways and revisiting levels should have been easier but besides that I had no major gripes with this one. Wholeheartedly recommended!
The story follows Milodane, a little dude from the future, who crash-lands into a human household inhabited by cartoonish bug factions and he has to re-build his little spaceship. The plot isn't anything special but the bugs' miniscule towns and the levels' themes being based on different rooms of a house make for a really fun setting for a 3D platformer. The overall presentation is quite superb as well from the funky soundtrack to the creative environments, really charming stuff.
This game is just a good time all-around; a very polished and comfy experience. The Tinykin could have been utilized in more innovative ways and revisiting levels should have been easier but besides that I had no major gripes with this one. Wholeheartedly recommended!
Unironically a totally fine 3D action-adventure collectathon. Simple but fun platforming mixed with a surprisingly compelling "purifying" mechanic and the occasional clumsy combat encounter. This felt more engaging to me than last year's The Gunk which had very similar game design and mechanics, maybe due to the more vibrant color palette. The narrative is whatever, I enabled the French voices so that the smurfs' chatter wouldn't be so annoying. But more likely than not, most people aren't playing this for a gripping story but rather the throwback 3D-platformer gameplay it offers.
The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf - which I kept reading as "Vile-as-fuck" in my head - really is a solid, smaller budget title that wears its influences quite proudly on its sleeve. If you've already depleted the limited supply of major modern 3D action-adventure platformers and you've been mildly intrigued by this one just do as I did and give it a chance, it's a fun enough one of those. It's nice to see that these more recent licensed games aimed at younger audiences aren't all complete duds. The Marsupilami platformer from the same publisher is also worth checking out, here's my review on it.
The Smurfs: Mission Vileaf - which I kept reading as "Vile-as-fuck" in my head - really is a solid, smaller budget title that wears its influences quite proudly on its sleeve. If you've already depleted the limited supply of major modern 3D action-adventure platformers and you've been mildly intrigued by this one just do as I did and give it a chance, it's a fun enough one of those. It's nice to see that these more recent licensed games aimed at younger audiences aren't all complete duds. The Marsupilami platformer from the same publisher is also worth checking out, here's my review on it.
2016
A flawed but engrossing reimagining of the 1989 2D action-adventure game. Interesting mix of old-school score-focused combat and more modern cinematic platformer gameplay. Prince of Persia's DNA is definitely present here - both the original's and the 2008 reboot's as a matter of fact - along with others, like Oddworld and even Panzer Dragoon to some extent. The fighting system is very streamlined and fast, most enemies die from a single hit. The game encourages swift button presses to keep up the gory combo attacks during enemy encounters. When you get into the flow of the combat it feels really seamless and fun but if you mess up even once the whole fight usually comes to a halt and that can feel really clunky at times. Fortunately you get to buff up the protagonist, Aarbron, through combat upgrades and talismans found throughout the game which makes the occasional difficulty spikes a bit easier to handle.
The story was surprisingly captivating because of its mysterious nature, it is sort of drip-fed to the player throughout the game. There are traditional cutscenes, yes, but to get the full picture (and the proper ending) you have to find the hidden collectibles in the levels that give more context to the beast's journey. Even though I wasn't familiar with the original games I thought it was cool reading up on the different species' descriptions and going through the plot timeline.
Graphically the game is sadly not as striking as its concept art, the lighting is also very uneven in a couple of levels. Some assets look quite rough for a PS4 title but I do like the arcadey UI and most of the character animations are really smooth. The original game's soundtrack is very unique and catchy and I was pleasantly surprised with the new versions of those tracks, they succeed in recapturing that similar sound - and it's nice that you can unlock the classic tunes in-game as well!
I've got to say, I didn't think I would be this into the game but, lo and behold, I ended up actually getting my first ever platinum trophy since I wanted to keep replaying the levels! The developers made a solid effort to bring back this early era Psygnosis IP with some fresh ideas of their own and I think that is really commendable. Shadow of the Beast is not without its issues and, sure, it could have done with a bit more refinement but it is a really cool game with a lot of heart and soul poured into making it. Hopefully there are others like me out there who'll end up checking it out now that it's a part of the new PlayStation Plus Extra game selection. Recommended!
The story was surprisingly captivating because of its mysterious nature, it is sort of drip-fed to the player throughout the game. There are traditional cutscenes, yes, but to get the full picture (and the proper ending) you have to find the hidden collectibles in the levels that give more context to the beast's journey. Even though I wasn't familiar with the original games I thought it was cool reading up on the different species' descriptions and going through the plot timeline.
Graphically the game is sadly not as striking as its concept art, the lighting is also very uneven in a couple of levels. Some assets look quite rough for a PS4 title but I do like the arcadey UI and most of the character animations are really smooth. The original game's soundtrack is very unique and catchy and I was pleasantly surprised with the new versions of those tracks, they succeed in recapturing that similar sound - and it's nice that you can unlock the classic tunes in-game as well!
I've got to say, I didn't think I would be this into the game but, lo and behold, I ended up actually getting my first ever platinum trophy since I wanted to keep replaying the levels! The developers made a solid effort to bring back this early era Psygnosis IP with some fresh ideas of their own and I think that is really commendable. Shadow of the Beast is not without its issues and, sure, it could have done with a bit more refinement but it is a really cool game with a lot of heart and soul poured into making it. Hopefully there are others like me out there who'll end up checking it out now that it's a part of the new PlayStation Plus Extra game selection. Recommended!
2022
An okay shooter with colorful maps and quirky enemies, heavily mimics the new DOOM games but doesn't quite reach the same heights. Most of the levels followed the same formula of bouncing back and forth between small platforming sections and enemy arenas rather than letting you explore more open areas. The constant mayhem in the arena gunfights was fun at first but goddamn did they get tedious after a while. There was quite a bit of emphasis on environmental hazards and "Chi-Blast" powers but that stuff rarely came in to play with the core combat loop which was odd to say the least. The gameplay just kind of felt slightly off during the fights which is a pretty big detriment to a fast-paced game like this. Weapon arsenal was not the greatest either save for the katana (which should have been utilized more in general).
I hadn't played the previous Shadow Warrior titles so neither the story nor the supporting characters really interested me. I was fairly lukewarm on Lo Wang as the protagonist. I expected a bit more "Duke Nukem meets Big Trouble in Little China" out of the narrative - and there definitely was some of that in this - but the game stepped a little too far into the Borderlands and Guardians of the Galaxy territory for my taste. Overall not bad though, unlike many others I was perfectly fine with the game's shorter length and it was a decent enough FPS experience despite my gripes with it.
I hadn't played the previous Shadow Warrior titles so neither the story nor the supporting characters really interested me. I was fairly lukewarm on Lo Wang as the protagonist. I expected a bit more "Duke Nukem meets Big Trouble in Little China" out of the narrative - and there definitely was some of that in this - but the game stepped a little too far into the Borderlands and Guardians of the Galaxy territory for my taste. Overall not bad though, unlike many others I was perfectly fine with the game's shorter length and it was a decent enough FPS experience despite my gripes with it.
2007
A peculiar roguelike game about a young boy sent out to purify a crazed god in a distorted, post-apocalyptic world. This is a remake of a Japanese Sega Saturn title of the same name released in 1998 ...and that's probably explanation enough for the odd nature of the game.
It's interesting visiting a late 2000's roguelike after playing more recent, critically acclaimed takes on the genre like Hades and Slay the Spire. Baroque leans more into the harsh roots of the genre with its core structure but story progression and some item-related features fortunately do carry over between runs. There's also a huge database that tracks every enemy you encounter, item that you log etc. that can be useful.
Baroque's gameplay mostly consists of exploring randomly generated floors, sluggishly swinging your sword and picking up strange items that may explode once used. There's a fun aura of mystery and sense of discovery to the first half-dozen runs or so but sadly the archaic game mechanics and bafflingly repetitive first floors start to test any sane player's patience after a while. There are clear game logic rules set in place for sure but a lot of times you'll feel cheated by those very rules when later enemies are e.g. considerably faster than you or are able to do continuous, paralyzing attacks.
The plot of Baroque is quite unique and somber and the religious themes do actually serve a purpose beyond aesthetics which is nice. The story can be very obscure, however, and that's why every mid-run cutscene, unique NPC encounter or the tiniest bit of plot exposition feels like a small victory every time. It's a shame that the game eventually starts to feel like a chore to play instead of mixing things up to maintain a healthy sense of intrigue towards the overaching narrative mystery. Quite a bit of the story stuff, as well as the character design, felt very FromSoftware-esque, a lot of strange troubled people and eerie creatures to be found throughout the floors.
Not entirely sure what to make of this game... my thoughts on it are just as clouded as its plot. It is undeniably a fascinating game with an identity of its own which is more than you can say for a lot of other games but there's an abundance of frustrating flaws as well. If you're looking for a weird RPG-adjacent title on the PS2/Wii then check this out I guess, just be aware of those aforementioned caveats. Let's at least end the review on a positive note: the music is dope and the intro video is sublime.
It's interesting visiting a late 2000's roguelike after playing more recent, critically acclaimed takes on the genre like Hades and Slay the Spire. Baroque leans more into the harsh roots of the genre with its core structure but story progression and some item-related features fortunately do carry over between runs. There's also a huge database that tracks every enemy you encounter, item that you log etc. that can be useful.
Baroque's gameplay mostly consists of exploring randomly generated floors, sluggishly swinging your sword and picking up strange items that may explode once used. There's a fun aura of mystery and sense of discovery to the first half-dozen runs or so but sadly the archaic game mechanics and bafflingly repetitive first floors start to test any sane player's patience after a while. There are clear game logic rules set in place for sure but a lot of times you'll feel cheated by those very rules when later enemies are e.g. considerably faster than you or are able to do continuous, paralyzing attacks.
The plot of Baroque is quite unique and somber and the religious themes do actually serve a purpose beyond aesthetics which is nice. The story can be very obscure, however, and that's why every mid-run cutscene, unique NPC encounter or the tiniest bit of plot exposition feels like a small victory every time. It's a shame that the game eventually starts to feel like a chore to play instead of mixing things up to maintain a healthy sense of intrigue towards the overaching narrative mystery. Quite a bit of the story stuff, as well as the character design, felt very FromSoftware-esque, a lot of strange troubled people and eerie creatures to be found throughout the floors.
Not entirely sure what to make of this game... my thoughts on it are just as clouded as its plot. It is undeniably a fascinating game with an identity of its own which is more than you can say for a lot of other games but there's an abundance of frustrating flaws as well. If you're looking for a weird RPG-adjacent title on the PS2/Wii then check this out I guess, just be aware of those aforementioned caveats. Let's at least end the review on a positive note: the music is dope and the intro video is sublime.
2019
An unwanted sequel to an already mediocre shooter, one of the more baffling AAA releases of recent years. The original Rage was as bland in its gameplay as its desert brown color palette but at least it was somewhat focused and fairly inoffensive compared to this. Rage 2 seemed like such a desperate concept since the initial reveal, from the "how do you do, fellow kids" level Twitter antics to the Andrew W.K. promo at E3 I just kept rolling my eyes at it all. That same lame, in-your-face attitude comes through in the game's writing as well - it's like a rotten mix of Borderlands and Mad Max. Pretty asinine stuff.
So, the narrative blows and the tone is off but surely the gameplay is where Rage 2 shines then? Well, yes and no. The gunplay can feel really good if everything goes just right in an explosive shootout but more often than not you'll just end up bumbling around, waiting for your ability cooldowns to recharge while an armored enemy in front of you refuses to die from the third shotgun blast. There's a bizarre feel of half-baked design lingering around a lot of the game, not so much just a lack of polish in one department. The open world does not add much, if you've played a Far Cry game after 2012, or Avalanche's bona fide Mad Max game... Mad Max, you've seen what Rage 2 has to offer as well. At least there's some variety in the different regions of the wasteland. Driving feels solid but it's not much more than a means to get from point A to point B. Vehicular combat on the other hand feels really cumbersome and it sucks that you can't repair most of the vehicles on the road.
This is at its best a serviceable podcast game, I couldn't even entertain the thought of actually paying attention to the plot or worse yet: reading the data pads. Imagine reading the data pads in Rage 2. Now that's insane!! Will never ever return to this one, thank you Xbox Game Pass.
So, the narrative blows and the tone is off but surely the gameplay is where Rage 2 shines then? Well, yes and no. The gunplay can feel really good if everything goes just right in an explosive shootout but more often than not you'll just end up bumbling around, waiting for your ability cooldowns to recharge while an armored enemy in front of you refuses to die from the third shotgun blast. There's a bizarre feel of half-baked design lingering around a lot of the game, not so much just a lack of polish in one department. The open world does not add much, if you've played a Far Cry game after 2012, or Avalanche's bona fide Mad Max game... Mad Max, you've seen what Rage 2 has to offer as well. At least there's some variety in the different regions of the wasteland. Driving feels solid but it's not much more than a means to get from point A to point B. Vehicular combat on the other hand feels really cumbersome and it sucks that you can't repair most of the vehicles on the road.
This is at its best a serviceable podcast game, I couldn't even entertain the thought of actually paying attention to the plot or worse yet: reading the data pads. Imagine reading the data pads in Rage 2. Now that's insane!! Will never ever return to this one, thank you Xbox Game Pass.
1999
Super charming PS1 oddity with an insanely energetic and fun original soundtrack, the whole thing plays out like a cacophony of pure joy and sunshine - it's wonderful! Vibri is also one of the cutest video game characters ever, such a lovely little vector rabbit. The game is very short but that's where your own CD collection comes into play, just pop an album in and try to hop, skip and jump through your favorite tracks in the game. Not as easy as you might think! It's nice that it's still possible to play custom CD tracks on the PS3 with this PS1 Classics release.
I wish there were more quirky little titles like this one on the PlayStation - or on any platform for that matter - these days. I could honestly see a new Vib-Ribbon with a "Tetris Effect treatment" and Spotify support working very well. You listening, Sony?! Two thumbs up for Vib-Ribbon.
I wish there were more quirky little titles like this one on the PlayStation - or on any platform for that matter - these days. I could honestly see a new Vib-Ribbon with a "Tetris Effect treatment" and Spotify support working very well. You listening, Sony?! Two thumbs up for Vib-Ribbon.
A banal 2.5D action-RPG with a heavy "disappointing Kickstarter game circa 2014" aura to it which isn't even that far from the truth considering its origins. Tries to evoke some Muramasa: The Demon Blade (and Suikoden, I'd imagine) vibes but feels way more like something akin to Indivisible which is most definitely not a compliment. Tiresome fetch quests and backtracking galore, the game opens up at such a glacial pace that even if you were into the throwback style and narrative you'd still be mashing through most of the pop-ups to get to the "good stuff." I did catch a glimmer of nostalgic charm in the characters' dialogue at first, sure, but like everything else in the game it wore out its welcome sooner than later and there's way too much of it. So much so that two-thirds of the way through I just started skipping every bit of text on-screen.
The visuals aren't as repugnant as Square Enix's HD-2D output but the art style still looks quite cheap and inconsistent. Combat is okay and there is some depth and variety to it in the form of character-specific attacks, linked combos and elemental damage but the enemies are such dull sponges that your battle tactics barely come into play. The moment you do get hit, however, the combat instantly feels off and floaty; it's like they forgot to implement a short period of invulnerability - or lessen the knockback - for the characters. The primary protagonist's movement controls felt decent, couldn't say the same for the other two.
Overall just an unfocused mess designwise, the game really can't decide whether it wants to be a colorful take on an Igavania or a nostalgia bait RPG with town-building elements tacked on. The light, fun premise tricked me into playing this and by the time I realized I'd been duped I just put on some podcast (no, no noteworthy music either in the game) and powered through. Very lackluster but not truly terrible. I wouldn't recommend this even though it's on Game Pass but I don't know, your mileage may vary.
The visuals aren't as repugnant as Square Enix's HD-2D output but the art style still looks quite cheap and inconsistent. Combat is okay and there is some depth and variety to it in the form of character-specific attacks, linked combos and elemental damage but the enemies are such dull sponges that your battle tactics barely come into play. The moment you do get hit, however, the combat instantly feels off and floaty; it's like they forgot to implement a short period of invulnerability - or lessen the knockback - for the characters. The primary protagonist's movement controls felt decent, couldn't say the same for the other two.
Overall just an unfocused mess designwise, the game really can't decide whether it wants to be a colorful take on an Igavania or a nostalgia bait RPG with town-building elements tacked on. The light, fun premise tricked me into playing this and by the time I realized I'd been duped I just put on some podcast (no, no noteworthy music either in the game) and powered through. Very lackluster but not truly terrible. I wouldn't recommend this even though it's on Game Pass but I don't know, your mileage may vary.
2022
A really fun and soulful take on an old-school survival horror game. Essentially a Resident Evil fangame but one where the developer clearly understands how everything should work and feel. Solid gameplay, good visuals, a couple of fun scares and overall a great time. Could have done without the Banjo-Kazooie voices and some of the gags but you're not playing this for a compelling story, Nightmare of Decay is all about the gameplay. Two thumbs up, every horror game enthusiast should check it out - especially since it costs less than a pint (and there's post-game content too).