JosephS
2022
Revisiting my thoughts on Norco after the recent announcement and demo release of the developer’s next game.
There’s a lot about Norco I don’t quite like — I think the fighting mechanic is silly and out of place, some of the writing is gorgeous but some is awkward and atonal, I bounce back and forth on whether or not I hate the art (with the exception of the aerial and establishing shots, which are stunning throughout,) but this game has Got It. Probably the only videogame I’d call “Humid.” Slam dunk ending. Ostentatious and cool twists. Stuck with me for a long time. Has the feeling of a lesser work of a truly great author, a vibe that is almost unrecognizable in videogames.
There’s a lot about Norco I don’t quite like — I think the fighting mechanic is silly and out of place, some of the writing is gorgeous but some is awkward and atonal, I bounce back and forth on whether or not I hate the art (with the exception of the aerial and establishing shots, which are stunning throughout,) but this game has Got It. Probably the only videogame I’d call “Humid.” Slam dunk ending. Ostentatious and cool twists. Stuck with me for a long time. Has the feeling of a lesser work of a truly great author, a vibe that is almost unrecognizable in videogames.
The best indie game I've played in the last couple of years -- great brain teaser puzzles focused around a really narrow set of answers/clues, integrated in a (lightly) myst-esque way into the setting, reasonably well paced, some clever stuff. The text throughout the game is competently written, but the Plot (and to a lesser extent setting) is exceptionally hokey.
2024
Ok minimalist indie roguelike. Very effective art (held up by a courageous "bright colors on black" color palette and a scanline effect), feels OK, kinda rolled off of my brain, not unpleasant. ~spooky~ setting, snore.
My gut says this is 2.5 stars but I'm gonna give it another half because it grabbed me enough to play through in one sitting.
"Completed" = saw credits, lit all of the candles (looked the last one one up after credits), got half the eggs.
My gut says this is 2.5 stars but I'm gonna give it another half because it grabbed me enough to play through in one sitting.
"Completed" = saw credits, lit all of the candles (looked the last one one up after credits), got half the eggs.
2020
Trundling. I think the driving itself could be more interesting, but choosing lines and interacting with the world is neat. I'm really starved for "open world" games where the terrain itself is compelling and this nails that feeling.
Played through this over the last couple of days while home sick from work. This might be the fever talking but Sniper (ghost warrior) contracts 2 is... pretty good?
This is a mostly functional farcry-esque stealth shooter with a very short runtime (maybe 6 hours, plus a couple of dlc missions) and not a lot of fluff. The core sniping mechanics are nice enough (with some useful assists for gauging wind and range even on the hardest difficulty), the AI is pretty bad but works OK as shooting gallery targets, and the level design is kinda interesting. Levels come in two forms -- "classic contracts" are kinda sniper elite-esque. A series of arenas (villages, compounds, etc) connected by linear paths, set up so you can do each objective in any order. Contrary to sniper elite, each arena is entirely self contained -- enemies don't follow you outside of them, alarms don't spread across the map, etc. This works pretty well for the casual popcorn vibe. The other map type, "long range contracts" are tiny maps with only a few enemies on them, which have one or more overlooks to distant (1000m+) compounds with special objectives.
The game has some pretty dire polish problems -- physics bugs, enemies getting stuck, barely functional climbing (to the point where you can easily get stuck for a while when swimming, bobbing up and down on the surface to try and trigger the "climb out" prompt) but I had a good time.
Are there other good AA fps games with Shovelware Vibes I've been overlooking?
This is a mostly functional farcry-esque stealth shooter with a very short runtime (maybe 6 hours, plus a couple of dlc missions) and not a lot of fluff. The core sniping mechanics are nice enough (with some useful assists for gauging wind and range even on the hardest difficulty), the AI is pretty bad but works OK as shooting gallery targets, and the level design is kinda interesting. Levels come in two forms -- "classic contracts" are kinda sniper elite-esque. A series of arenas (villages, compounds, etc) connected by linear paths, set up so you can do each objective in any order. Contrary to sniper elite, each arena is entirely self contained -- enemies don't follow you outside of them, alarms don't spread across the map, etc. This works pretty well for the casual popcorn vibe. The other map type, "long range contracts" are tiny maps with only a few enemies on them, which have one or more overlooks to distant (1000m+) compounds with special objectives.
The game has some pretty dire polish problems -- physics bugs, enemies getting stuck, barely functional climbing (to the point where you can easily get stuck for a while when swimming, bobbing up and down on the surface to try and trigger the "climb out" prompt) but I had a good time.
Are there other good AA fps games with Shovelware Vibes I've been overlooking?
the greatest to ever do it
1993
This is one of those “how good could a Capcom game about this be?” games. Typically, “Very!”
2020
Shelved in act 3 after the level cap
2012
Interesting but bad game. Has a kind of a hidden gem quality. Very impressive tech and art. Cuts out most of the unique stuff in its predecessor, but replaces it with other totally unique stuff. I found it captivating but never really liked it.
2009
Fascinating game. I intend to revisit and write a full review after I replay the Hulk game which preceded it (and initiated most of the basic mechanics)
2012
I want to write a longer review for this someday — for now:
Along with the cool powers and beautiful art direction, this game is noteworthy for a reason I think is often overlooked. It carefully inherits a superficially frustrating but in practice magical choice from Thief (1&2): make an immersive sim almost solely focused on Combat, and encourage the player to never fight. The entire game lives in negative space (often literally, as a player takes a fight and then reloads their save or checkpoint to undo it.)
Along with the cool powers and beautiful art direction, this game is noteworthy for a reason I think is often overlooked. It carefully inherits a superficially frustrating but in practice magical choice from Thief (1&2): make an immersive sim almost solely focused on Combat, and encourage the player to never fight. The entire game lives in negative space (often literally, as a player takes a fight and then reloads their save or checkpoint to undo it.)
One of my bigger disappointments of the last several years. After the departure of the longtime studio head (along with, very notably, the longtime franchise producer) there was a big opportunity to reinvent the franchise, and re-casting things as a jrpg is a charming new direction. Along with a great, well performed new protagonist this game on paper should be very good. And the rpg content is serviceable, the mid-point of the plot has some cutscenes that roughly fit in among the series highs, and the shuffling corpses of some series favorite minigames are here again, like in every yakuza since 0.
Unfortunately, everything around the seams of this game fucking sucks. Along with judgment 2, there’s a palpable air of “budget game” choices — a dramatic cutback on polish, much more padding, simpler minigames (although the new quiz game is a charming standout), color by numbers bosses without any of the bespoke qte and mid fight cutscenes yakuza previously used to drive characterization, plus look, kiryus back for some reason, and he’s still the players best friend (ok, that might actually be in-character.)
The biggest disappointment is this games treatment of the classic yakuza “ludonarrative dissonance is good and funny” approach — not satisfied with throwing hundreds of goons out of windows and then laboring over kiryus refusal to kill a story character, this game has replaced it with… wacky mental illness? Our protagonist hallucinates regular people as goofy jrpg enemies, both in and out of the actual narrative? Deeply embarrassing.
Along with the big cutback on one off cutscenes and animations, the basic combat system manages to feel recycled and cookie cutter in a way prior games always avoided (despite similar amounts of actual re-use.) for the first time since some of the ps3 era spinoffs this feels visibly like a budget game. This likely has to due with the newer lead Producer rather than an actual budget cut. If anything, with all of the localized VO, this game is probably higher budget than 5 or 0?
The acting and UI design are high points. Objectively I think this game sits somewhere in the 2.5-3.5 range but I gotta follow my heart. One star.
Unfortunately, everything around the seams of this game fucking sucks. Along with judgment 2, there’s a palpable air of “budget game” choices — a dramatic cutback on polish, much more padding, simpler minigames (although the new quiz game is a charming standout), color by numbers bosses without any of the bespoke qte and mid fight cutscenes yakuza previously used to drive characterization, plus look, kiryus back for some reason, and he’s still the players best friend (ok, that might actually be in-character.)
The biggest disappointment is this games treatment of the classic yakuza “ludonarrative dissonance is good and funny” approach — not satisfied with throwing hundreds of goons out of windows and then laboring over kiryus refusal to kill a story character, this game has replaced it with… wacky mental illness? Our protagonist hallucinates regular people as goofy jrpg enemies, both in and out of the actual narrative? Deeply embarrassing.
Along with the big cutback on one off cutscenes and animations, the basic combat system manages to feel recycled and cookie cutter in a way prior games always avoided (despite similar amounts of actual re-use.) for the first time since some of the ps3 era spinoffs this feels visibly like a budget game. This likely has to due with the newer lead Producer rather than an actual budget cut. If anything, with all of the localized VO, this game is probably higher budget than 5 or 0?
The acting and UI design are high points. Objectively I think this game sits somewhere in the 2.5-3.5 range but I gotta follow my heart. One star.
There's some opportunity for a critical re-appraisal of Mercenaries 2: World In Flames. Revisiting it after all of this time, it's still really clear that this game absolutely sucks, but it's fascinating. A broken playground of free-form mission design. One of the most interesting wrecks of the 360/ps3 generation.
2017
Some of the people I respect most think this game is amazing but I've never really been able to enjoy it. Have picked up and shelved several times. Phenomenal art and sound design.
2016
I played this on japanese release in a language I couldn't read, it felt magical. Overall a pretty good game that i think is unfairly judged againsts its better siblings. The fact that like 85% of chests are mimics never stops being really funny throughout the game.