Edmond
8 reviews liked by Edmond
Admittedly I played this game because I knew it had some Alan Wake stuff, didn't go in with such high expectations. I came out now with this game reaching in my top 3 favorite games of all time.
One of my big praises for this game is the incredible and distinct art direction that this game, which is even shown through the game's cover art. I haven't seen a lot of triple A western games that have such vibrant and amazing art direction as much as Control's. Even on lower settings I was able to really take in the game's atmosphere with the eerie and dreamy environments that the game presents. Using a familiar setting like a 21st century office and being able to create such imaginative environments that really push graphical quality that I expect from the next generation of games. One of the best segments that I've experienced in any video game utilizes this direction beautifully while being accompanied by an awesome song. I can't praise the art direction of this game enough.
The third person shooter gameplay is a big standout to me and a big reason why I absolutely loved playing this game. It's pretty simple in what it offers, but how the game executes it with its enemies and difficulty makes it such an addicting loop. The ammo being now attached to the meter makes combat feel extremely fast with a very good flow to it, not having to worry about running out of ammo like every other game that uses a gun. I mainly used the shotgun like variant of my gun, but there's a lot of other options for other playstyles like sniping or having your own explosives. Psychokinesis also allows fun ways to fight enemies while you're waiting for your ammo meter to raise back up, which doesn't take too long anyways. There's just a lot of ways to express yourself with what your given without the game feeling dull in the combat department. The other abilities that the game gives you like the levitate and dash just add on to the wide amount of expression that the player has access too, as well as having fun platforming that I wasn't expecting to see in this game.
The game's writing was something that I had to warm up to. The main story is nothing to special really. It feels more like a prologue and establishment of the main setting, as well as just setting things up for a sequel with a much more rich story. Although the game's establishment and world building is where this game truly shines. Throughout the game you acquire many reports, videos, and recordings that give a lot of insight and information about the FBC which the game takes place in. By the end of the game, I was just so engrossed with the world that the game presented because of how detailed and concise the world building is for this game. It's so good that while doing the AWE expansion I literally went "Yeah, the events of Alan Wake 1 was definitely an Altered World Event." Remedy continues their streak on how incredible they are at implementing the collectibles in their games for really good world building.
All in all, I legitimately love this game to bits and it makes me so excited for what Remedy has next in store in the future. Alan Wake 1 was definitely a fun time, Quantum Break was a neat experiment, but Control was easily the game that really made me hooked into whatever Remedy does next. I can't recommend this game enough, it's a 10/10 in my eyes.
One of my big praises for this game is the incredible and distinct art direction that this game, which is even shown through the game's cover art. I haven't seen a lot of triple A western games that have such vibrant and amazing art direction as much as Control's. Even on lower settings I was able to really take in the game's atmosphere with the eerie and dreamy environments that the game presents. Using a familiar setting like a 21st century office and being able to create such imaginative environments that really push graphical quality that I expect from the next generation of games. One of the best segments that I've experienced in any video game utilizes this direction beautifully while being accompanied by an awesome song. I can't praise the art direction of this game enough.
The third person shooter gameplay is a big standout to me and a big reason why I absolutely loved playing this game. It's pretty simple in what it offers, but how the game executes it with its enemies and difficulty makes it such an addicting loop. The ammo being now attached to the meter makes combat feel extremely fast with a very good flow to it, not having to worry about running out of ammo like every other game that uses a gun. I mainly used the shotgun like variant of my gun, but there's a lot of other options for other playstyles like sniping or having your own explosives. Psychokinesis also allows fun ways to fight enemies while you're waiting for your ammo meter to raise back up, which doesn't take too long anyways. There's just a lot of ways to express yourself with what your given without the game feeling dull in the combat department. The other abilities that the game gives you like the levitate and dash just add on to the wide amount of expression that the player has access too, as well as having fun platforming that I wasn't expecting to see in this game.
The game's writing was something that I had to warm up to. The main story is nothing to special really. It feels more like a prologue and establishment of the main setting, as well as just setting things up for a sequel with a much more rich story. Although the game's establishment and world building is where this game truly shines. Throughout the game you acquire many reports, videos, and recordings that give a lot of insight and information about the FBC which the game takes place in. By the end of the game, I was just so engrossed with the world that the game presented because of how detailed and concise the world building is for this game. It's so good that while doing the AWE expansion I literally went "Yeah, the events of Alan Wake 1 was definitely an Altered World Event." Remedy continues their streak on how incredible they are at implementing the collectibles in their games for really good world building.
All in all, I legitimately love this game to bits and it makes me so excited for what Remedy has next in store in the future. Alan Wake 1 was definitely a fun time, Quantum Break was a neat experiment, but Control was easily the game that really made me hooked into whatever Remedy does next. I can't recommend this game enough, it's a 10/10 in my eyes.
Armored Core
1997
Pretty fun mecha game, cool as hell to be able to make your own pilotable machine of death and fight others. Hoping they lay off on the platforming sections for the sequels though, those were more then tedious.
Armored Core
1997
At what point does a human dissolve into becoming just a mere resource? In the world of Armored Core, humans essentially have become nothing but a resource to the rich and powerful. The average human has been knocked down on the social standing as the capitalist fiends behind the scenes begin prioritizing robots and cybernetics. Armored Core is a game about humanity being replaced and how just a few powerful people can cause the demise of billions.
It's no surprise that Armored Core is a mecha game, compared to most other popular mecha series, Armored Core seems to take advantage of its genre more than any other mecha series. Gone are named characters of most series, as in the world of Armored Core, they have become completely irrelevant. Most structures have to accommodate the size of the armored core units, which creates this barren and dystopian atmosphere. The lack of music during levels creates more of a focus on the mechs themselves since most of the noises you'll be hearing come from combat. It creates a contrast between what you hear in battle, vs the groovy music heard in the menus.
When outside of battles, the player will have to pay close attention to their stats. Creating a mech in Armored Core is one of the biggest selling points with plenty of options making it seem like the combinations are endless. The game provides the player with stats that are essentially designed to overwhelm and complicate the player playing further into the idea that the human is insignificant. Having to deal with conflicting stats such as whether having a heavy part is worth it, and having to consider the cost of ammo for a specific weapon. However, considering this is From Softwares first dip into the mecha genre, it's not perfect. There seems to be a large array of items that just don't seem necessary. While the game seems to encourage having a custom and unique mech, it almost seems like by the halfway point of the game, I had myself a perfect mech that nobody would possibly be able to match. While there were some things that I could imagine changing, the only thing that cemented the idea that I did in fact have a perfect mech, was when I went online and saw most people were using an almost identical build to me. Mech building in Armored Core certainly isn't bad, but there is plenty of room for improvement.
One of the most obnoxious complaints I see about Armored Core is people complaining about the controls which has always baffled me because I always considered AC to have one of the greatest control schemes ever put in a game. The game will always make sure to remind you that you are controlling a mech and that the mech is more important than the human inside. You will feel the weight, and you will make every slight movement count. The actual controls themselves feel complicated similar to what is being felt inside the mech. No mech real mech would give the pilot a controller with two analog sticks and easy to learn controls. Armored Core doesn't care about the pilot. If the pilot dies, they will be replaced, meanwhile, if an AC Unit gets destroyed, It's gonna cost a lot.
Armored Core truly is a capitalist nightmare. A story about a few guys who got so rich that they feel like they're at the top of the world, and even then the ending cutscenes for each corporation show how their lack of respect for the human race caused them to get betrayed by the same robots they valued over humans. When technology goes too far, who will be there to stop it? When humans become irrelevant, we will become the machine and the machine will power over humanity until it is met with the next largest obstacle. Capitalism and greed creates an existential nightmare and will fuel the demise of humanity.
Side note: fuck the platforming segment in the final level.
It's no surprise that Armored Core is a mecha game, compared to most other popular mecha series, Armored Core seems to take advantage of its genre more than any other mecha series. Gone are named characters of most series, as in the world of Armored Core, they have become completely irrelevant. Most structures have to accommodate the size of the armored core units, which creates this barren and dystopian atmosphere. The lack of music during levels creates more of a focus on the mechs themselves since most of the noises you'll be hearing come from combat. It creates a contrast between what you hear in battle, vs the groovy music heard in the menus.
When outside of battles, the player will have to pay close attention to their stats. Creating a mech in Armored Core is one of the biggest selling points with plenty of options making it seem like the combinations are endless. The game provides the player with stats that are essentially designed to overwhelm and complicate the player playing further into the idea that the human is insignificant. Having to deal with conflicting stats such as whether having a heavy part is worth it, and having to consider the cost of ammo for a specific weapon. However, considering this is From Softwares first dip into the mecha genre, it's not perfect. There seems to be a large array of items that just don't seem necessary. While the game seems to encourage having a custom and unique mech, it almost seems like by the halfway point of the game, I had myself a perfect mech that nobody would possibly be able to match. While there were some things that I could imagine changing, the only thing that cemented the idea that I did in fact have a perfect mech, was when I went online and saw most people were using an almost identical build to me. Mech building in Armored Core certainly isn't bad, but there is plenty of room for improvement.
One of the most obnoxious complaints I see about Armored Core is people complaining about the controls which has always baffled me because I always considered AC to have one of the greatest control schemes ever put in a game. The game will always make sure to remind you that you are controlling a mech and that the mech is more important than the human inside. You will feel the weight, and you will make every slight movement count. The actual controls themselves feel complicated similar to what is being felt inside the mech. No mech real mech would give the pilot a controller with two analog sticks and easy to learn controls. Armored Core doesn't care about the pilot. If the pilot dies, they will be replaced, meanwhile, if an AC Unit gets destroyed, It's gonna cost a lot.
Armored Core truly is a capitalist nightmare. A story about a few guys who got so rich that they feel like they're at the top of the world, and even then the ending cutscenes for each corporation show how their lack of respect for the human race caused them to get betrayed by the same robots they valued over humans. When technology goes too far, who will be there to stop it? When humans become irrelevant, we will become the machine and the machine will power over humanity until it is met with the next largest obstacle. Capitalism and greed creates an existential nightmare and will fuel the demise of humanity.
Side note: fuck the platforming segment in the final level.
Max Payne 3
2012
Хорошая игра. Когда дают поиграть.
Главная проблема Max Payne 3 в том, что это кинцо: огромная кат-сцена, где иногда отдают управление игроку, чтобы он мог поиграть. Я не преувеличиваю: бывает, что дают пройти два коридора и опять врубают фильм. Визуальный стиль фильма, кстати, целиком заимствован у картины «Man on Fire». Все эти засветы изображения, искажения цветов и дрожания дополнены разделением экрана на панели, как в комиксах. Да, просто потому что так было в оригинале.
Игрока очень стараются убедить, что это именно продолжение. И относятся к серии с уважением. Вот только всё это имитация, хоть и не самая плохая.
Никакого «я обрёл покой» не случилось. Мы встречаем Макса бухающим в Сан-Паулу, где старый знакомый Рауль Пасос пристроил его телохранителям к семье местных богачей Бранко. Я согласен, что сделать Макса старым толстым алкоголиком — неплохая идея. По крайней мере, это логично. После всего пережитого. Но вот сама история...
Начинается всё с похищения Фабианы Бранко, а заканчивается, спустя пару флешбеков в заснеженный Нью-Джерси, кучу трупов и повороты сюжета вроде «Пасос не учился с Максом в академии!» — заговором продажных копов, торговлей органами и взорванным самолётом. Только вот в таком пересказе это звучит интереснее, чем есть в игре.
Печаль в том, что сценарист здесь Сэм Хаузер — ведущий автор сценариев ГТА. И всё проблемы сценариев из ГТА он принёс и сюда. История перегружена ненужными и неинтересными персонажами, страдает от роялей в кустах, а все персонажи чересчур многословны. Особенно Макс. Он комментирует всё и вся, к месту и нет. Он даже болеутоляющие не может взять без комментария! А все дурацкие поступки Макса объясняются его алкоголизмом.
Зато всё, что касается стрельбы, сделано замечательно. В общем-то, в геймплее почти ничего не изменилось. Основной упор сделали на физику тел и псевдореализм. Макс может носить с собой только два одноручных оружия и одно двуручное. Причем он не убирает их в карманы, а носит в руках, зажимает подмышкой, когда жрёт обезболивающие и прочее. В игре совершенно охуительное количество качественных анимаций. За их счёт Макс и ощущается как старый алкаш. Поэтому перестрелка тут выглядит примерно так: Макс вылетает из-за угла, ударяется о стену, падает, залезает в укрытие и осторожно раздает хедшоты. И укрытия тут в тему, потому что враги меткие и их научили заходить с флангов. Даже на среднем уровне сложности примерно с середины становится сложно. А в последних двух главах игра тебя буквально ебёт.
Всё-таки это не «Max Payne», а качественная имитация. Сама идея кинематографичного шутера тут исполнена в другом стиле. Если в первой части при прохождении вспоминались боевики Джона Ву, то теперь — сборная из боевиков нулевых с более тактичными перестрелками и отчаянно рефлексирующими героями. Но всё же стрелять здесь очень приятно, а сценарий лучше, чем во второй части.
P. S. Игру портят две технические особенности, за которые снижать оценку нельзя, но и молчать невозможно. Первая: после каждой заставки Макса отдают под управление игрока исключительно с одноручным оружием, чаще всего пистолетом. Это ужасно неудобно. Вторая: заставки плавно и бесшовно переходят в геймплей, а загрузка уровня происходит во время заставки. Поэтому играть в аркадном режим — пиздец уныло.
Главная проблема Max Payne 3 в том, что это кинцо: огромная кат-сцена, где иногда отдают управление игроку, чтобы он мог поиграть. Я не преувеличиваю: бывает, что дают пройти два коридора и опять врубают фильм. Визуальный стиль фильма, кстати, целиком заимствован у картины «Man on Fire». Все эти засветы изображения, искажения цветов и дрожания дополнены разделением экрана на панели, как в комиксах. Да, просто потому что так было в оригинале.
Игрока очень стараются убедить, что это именно продолжение. И относятся к серии с уважением. Вот только всё это имитация, хоть и не самая плохая.
Никакого «я обрёл покой» не случилось. Мы встречаем Макса бухающим в Сан-Паулу, где старый знакомый Рауль Пасос пристроил его телохранителям к семье местных богачей Бранко. Я согласен, что сделать Макса старым толстым алкоголиком — неплохая идея. По крайней мере, это логично. После всего пережитого. Но вот сама история...
Начинается всё с похищения Фабианы Бранко, а заканчивается, спустя пару флешбеков в заснеженный Нью-Джерси, кучу трупов и повороты сюжета вроде «Пасос не учился с Максом в академии!» — заговором продажных копов, торговлей органами и взорванным самолётом. Только вот в таком пересказе это звучит интереснее, чем есть в игре.
Печаль в том, что сценарист здесь Сэм Хаузер — ведущий автор сценариев ГТА. И всё проблемы сценариев из ГТА он принёс и сюда. История перегружена ненужными и неинтересными персонажами, страдает от роялей в кустах, а все персонажи чересчур многословны. Особенно Макс. Он комментирует всё и вся, к месту и нет. Он даже болеутоляющие не может взять без комментария! А все дурацкие поступки Макса объясняются его алкоголизмом.
Зато всё, что касается стрельбы, сделано замечательно. В общем-то, в геймплее почти ничего не изменилось. Основной упор сделали на физику тел и псевдореализм. Макс может носить с собой только два одноручных оружия и одно двуручное. Причем он не убирает их в карманы, а носит в руках, зажимает подмышкой, когда жрёт обезболивающие и прочее. В игре совершенно охуительное количество качественных анимаций. За их счёт Макс и ощущается как старый алкаш. Поэтому перестрелка тут выглядит примерно так: Макс вылетает из-за угла, ударяется о стену, падает, залезает в укрытие и осторожно раздает хедшоты. И укрытия тут в тему, потому что враги меткие и их научили заходить с флангов. Даже на среднем уровне сложности примерно с середины становится сложно. А в последних двух главах игра тебя буквально ебёт.
Всё-таки это не «Max Payne», а качественная имитация. Сама идея кинематографичного шутера тут исполнена в другом стиле. Если в первой части при прохождении вспоминались боевики Джона Ву, то теперь — сборная из боевиков нулевых с более тактичными перестрелками и отчаянно рефлексирующими героями. Но всё же стрелять здесь очень приятно, а сценарий лучше, чем во второй части.
P. S. Игру портят две технические особенности, за которые снижать оценку нельзя, но и молчать невозможно. Первая: после каждой заставки Макса отдают под управление игрока исключительно с одноручным оружием, чаще всего пистолетом. Это ужасно неудобно. Вторая: заставки плавно и бесшовно переходят в геймплей, а загрузка уровня происходит во время заставки. Поэтому играть в аркадном режим — пиздец уныло.
Seeing my Nopon squad keep getting bigger is the best dopamine rush
10/10 because its more melia (7/10 removing the melia bias)
so 6 years later, we finally see a sequel to gunvolt 2:
finally gunvolt himself sees the spotlight again (or not), because he's actually a secondary playable character to the main character this time, kirin.
so is gunvolt 3 a proper follow up to 2?
..not really. every plot point from 2 is seemingly dropped from thin air in this game, only to be replaced with a relatively nonsensical plot where sumeragi is suddenly being sympathized with; despite being shown to be a force of relative evil in the past games, xiao and nori are nowhere to be seen, copen is only mentioned in one singular line and quinn is just gone (Lol). so, is there any postitives to this plot? the cast and support team are fun this time around, this game goes for a relatively lighthearted tone compared to 1 or 2 so the cast get to bant alot more and it is quite fun, kirin especially is a really fun character. but honestly, plot really was never that important in gunvolt, so let's get down to the gameplay:
let's start with the newbie, kirin. kirin is a melee sword-wielding character, she is a good mix between zero and gv's gameplay, where she tags like gunvolt and closes the distance so she can inflict melee damage like zero. now, this isn't the first time gunvolt has dealt with melee weapons, this game released 6 months after the first melee character in gunvolt, ix2 copen. so how does kirin fare compared to ix2 copen? well, she's like MILES better. while ix2 copen felt like trying to attach a melee element to a character that was clearly not designed around it. kirin feels like a great balance between trying to do sword-wielding platforming and doing something new with it, while this is only my first playthrough of many, i cannot wait to experiment in more detail with kirin as a whole as she is extremely fun.
but she's.. only one of two playable characters
so how about gunvolt himself?
ow. gunvolt is rough in this game. due to being made an op super-crutch for players, you can't really appreciate the additions to his kit that they made because he tears anything and everything apart on the screen in seconds, it's just
kind of sad that they made a pretty fun gameplay loop like this into something mindless
i'm not even going to bring up the gacha system because it's stupid and doesn't deserve my time
overall? i'm conflicted on this game, for every step it makes forward for the series, it feels like it takes 7 steps back
also the ending is really bad and unearned
tl;dr
7.5/10
update (12/16/22)
all of the updates for this game came out and umm yup!!! this was gunvolt 3 alright yep yup gunvolt 3
finally gunvolt himself sees the spotlight again (or not), because he's actually a secondary playable character to the main character this time, kirin.
so is gunvolt 3 a proper follow up to 2?
..not really. every plot point from 2 is seemingly dropped from thin air in this game, only to be replaced with a relatively nonsensical plot where sumeragi is suddenly being sympathized with; despite being shown to be a force of relative evil in the past games, xiao and nori are nowhere to be seen, copen is only mentioned in one singular line and quinn is just gone (Lol). so, is there any postitives to this plot? the cast and support team are fun this time around, this game goes for a relatively lighthearted tone compared to 1 or 2 so the cast get to bant alot more and it is quite fun, kirin especially is a really fun character. but honestly, plot really was never that important in gunvolt, so let's get down to the gameplay:
let's start with the newbie, kirin. kirin is a melee sword-wielding character, she is a good mix between zero and gv's gameplay, where she tags like gunvolt and closes the distance so she can inflict melee damage like zero. now, this isn't the first time gunvolt has dealt with melee weapons, this game released 6 months after the first melee character in gunvolt, ix2 copen. so how does kirin fare compared to ix2 copen? well, she's like MILES better. while ix2 copen felt like trying to attach a melee element to a character that was clearly not designed around it. kirin feels like a great balance between trying to do sword-wielding platforming and doing something new with it, while this is only my first playthrough of many, i cannot wait to experiment in more detail with kirin as a whole as she is extremely fun.
but she's.. only one of two playable characters
so how about gunvolt himself?
ow. gunvolt is rough in this game. due to being made an op super-crutch for players, you can't really appreciate the additions to his kit that they made because he tears anything and everything apart on the screen in seconds, it's just
kind of sad that they made a pretty fun gameplay loop like this into something mindless
i'm not even going to bring up the gacha system because it's stupid and doesn't deserve my time
overall? i'm conflicted on this game, for every step it makes forward for the series, it feels like it takes 7 steps back
also the ending is really bad and unearned
tl;dr
7.5/10
update (12/16/22)
all of the updates for this game came out and umm yup!!! this was gunvolt 3 alright yep yup gunvolt 3
If Copen doesn't somehow get more racist then this is the worst Gunvolt game.
Edit: Have not played it yet but bro not even in the game what da fuck
Edit: Have not played it yet but bro not even in the game what da fuck