Kanan
8 reviews liked by Kanan
This shit banged bro i love all the cool powerups and shit. Sweet ass game.
Its pretty fun, definitely a little too linear and easy but that's not a big issue. It's fun to one shot things and the designs are cool. Safari is kind of ass though and much like most of the Pokemon games a bit, I don't really feel the want or need to do post game content. Maybe I'll chip at it later, not sure. It's aight!
Quantum Break
2016
I'm a total sucker for time travel stories and this has a couple neat ideas and moments but the surrounding story and writing is mostly just ok.
The gameplay is in a similar boat, lots of interesting ideas but wrapped in a kind of mediocre package. The move to Uncharted-esque climbing and "puzzle solving" to fill time between battles feels like a swing and a miss and it feels like too much of the challenge comes from limited access to your power set, whether through the slow cooldown timers or more annoyingly enemies that can just negate them. There's also a big lack of polish to the technical side, the art direction and cutscenes can be very good looking yet at the same time massive bugs can crop up, like a weird stutter to the in-engine cutscenes or one trigger not activating forcing me to restart the chapter, and it's clearly the first game made on this engine with some very spotty reconstruction artifacts (even at the higher res on Series X) and screen space effects.
It's also all tied to a live action "show" played in between acts that has the vibe of a D-tier NBC drama. Bless Lance Reddick he is acting circles around Aidan Gillen's awful American accent here.
It's a massively important game in Remedy's history, laying the technical foundation for Control and Alan Wake 2, and overall worth playing as there is still fun and some great bits to be had here, but it's Remedy's weakest game by a large margin imo
The gameplay is in a similar boat, lots of interesting ideas but wrapped in a kind of mediocre package. The move to Uncharted-esque climbing and "puzzle solving" to fill time between battles feels like a swing and a miss and it feels like too much of the challenge comes from limited access to your power set, whether through the slow cooldown timers or more annoyingly enemies that can just negate them. There's also a big lack of polish to the technical side, the art direction and cutscenes can be very good looking yet at the same time massive bugs can crop up, like a weird stutter to the in-engine cutscenes or one trigger not activating forcing me to restart the chapter, and it's clearly the first game made on this engine with some very spotty reconstruction artifacts (even at the higher res on Series X) and screen space effects.
It's also all tied to a live action "show" played in between acts that has the vibe of a D-tier NBC drama. Bless Lance Reddick he is acting circles around Aidan Gillen's awful American accent here.
It's a massively important game in Remedy's history, laying the technical foundation for Control and Alan Wake 2, and overall worth playing as there is still fun and some great bits to be had here, but it's Remedy's weakest game by a large margin imo
man is this rough around the edges, it picks up a lot in the back half when you've managed to build units up to be decent but there's an overabundance of absolutely dogshit filler units and virtually every map being a Siege map gets really repetitive. I get why the hardcore ironman crowd might relish the challenge but that ain't me. The story isn't terribly interesting until right near the end either, but the true ending is pretty great even if the gaiden maps needed to get there can be fucking dreadful. Man is this game really fucking pretty tho the spritework and animation is top notch.
Yakuza 0
2015
This Game actually took it me like 4 years, because I was gifted it by someone who really wanted me to get into it and then I just proceeded to forget about it among a couple other reasons. So i restarted my save in Nov of 2023 and finally finished it, and man did I wish i complete this those 4 years ago. It's such an incredible game with a very well mixed balance of being both a RPG in its side content and a beautiful brawler in its combat. Definitely worth playing.
Words cannot emphasize how happy I am to see one of my all top favorite video games get a remake. I was fairly certain this game would never get a remake or remaster, and if it did, not as soon as it did!
Another Code is a must have for your Nintendo game library. Not just so a Cing title can get huge support to release more remasters/remakes from the now defunct developer Cing, but also because the story and art style of this game is absolutely wonderful. The near water paint aesthetic of the world combined with the modest 6th gen looking graphics reminds me of a simpler time; which is funny because the original game reminded me a lot of 5th gen graphics like the PS1 but smoother.
The story itself still has the same short but satisfactory pacing and original plot. No unnecessary modifications to the story which Im glad to see; also the game is treated to cinematic cutscenes that are voiced out and very well blocked out! I'd like to note that the voice actor for Ashley does an incredible job voicing her. You get the bits of angst and existentialism from a teenager from her voice acting. Im just really happy to see Ashley come to life as I think she's an excellent example of good writing for a teenage girl. Multifaceted and honest.
I will admit however, as with any remake, this game is not 1:1. As this is a remake of a DS game, some gameplay mechanics do not translate all that well to the switch, but the story and design is still genuine and authentic to the game. It's just disappointing how uninspired some of the puzzles are. The whole appeal of the original game was the intuitive and literal outside of the box thinking the game required out of the player, so to not see much of that with the switch was a bummer. Still though, I'll take a near perfect remake of a perfect video game than a perfect video game fading to obscurity.
I cannot thank Nintendo and Arc System Works for giving this title life again. Its truly a great privilege seeing some form of preservation made to an important game like Another Code.
Another Code is a must have for your Nintendo game library. Not just so a Cing title can get huge support to release more remasters/remakes from the now defunct developer Cing, but also because the story and art style of this game is absolutely wonderful. The near water paint aesthetic of the world combined with the modest 6th gen looking graphics reminds me of a simpler time; which is funny because the original game reminded me a lot of 5th gen graphics like the PS1 but smoother.
The story itself still has the same short but satisfactory pacing and original plot. No unnecessary modifications to the story which Im glad to see; also the game is treated to cinematic cutscenes that are voiced out and very well blocked out! I'd like to note that the voice actor for Ashley does an incredible job voicing her. You get the bits of angst and existentialism from a teenager from her voice acting. Im just really happy to see Ashley come to life as I think she's an excellent example of good writing for a teenage girl. Multifaceted and honest.
I will admit however, as with any remake, this game is not 1:1. As this is a remake of a DS game, some gameplay mechanics do not translate all that well to the switch, but the story and design is still genuine and authentic to the game. It's just disappointing how uninspired some of the puzzles are. The whole appeal of the original game was the intuitive and literal outside of the box thinking the game required out of the player, so to not see much of that with the switch was a bummer. Still though, I'll take a near perfect remake of a perfect video game than a perfect video game fading to obscurity.
I cannot thank Nintendo and Arc System Works for giving this title life again. Its truly a great privilege seeing some form of preservation made to an important game like Another Code.
Alan Wake
2010
One of the best games of all time dude
First, the gameplay. I cannot stress this enough: play on a controller and do NOT turn on direct aiming. The default looser camera controls are very carefully tuned to provide quick responsive turning while also being to carefully make small adjustments in aiming without having to hold down your flashlight and dynamically swapping between left and right over the shoulder views points depending on your movement and aiming - this feels amazing and results in incredibly cinematic feeling action. The direct aiming does away with that and is a flat 1:1 curve, meant more for a PC mouse. Whenever I see someone complaining about the game being jank they inevitably have the direct aiming turned on in their gameplay, just avoid it and learn to love not having your “crosshair” centered all the time.
The gameplay design is amazing - levels are linear and tightly paced, but offer ample rewards for going off the beaten path either in hidden ammo caches or manuscript pages that provide a bit more insight to the story. Every level introduces a new gameplay mechanic to play with, some staying on for the rest of the game like the flares and some being one and done like electric fences you can shotgun blast enemies into. You have a small but carefully considered arsenal built around having to weaken enemies with light before you can take them out. The flashlight and revolver combo is your main staple you'll almost always have access to - enemies always take a consistent amount of light damage and bullet damage regardless of where they get hit, so you'll do well to keep track of how many bullets you have loaded and how many hits you need. You get a handful of shotguns you'll sometimes have the option of choosing, the pump action is a direct upgrade on the normal shotgun and is the faster option but does a bit less damage while the hunting rifle does the more damage but is much slower. Your third gun slot is taken up by the flare gun, which is your strongest weapon by far but is low on ammo and can only fire one shot at a time so it's best used for crowds of enemies, especially those damn birds. Then you have the flares which have multiple uses: pop one when you're crowded to get enemies to back off, you can hold one to take the offensive back on an enemy, or drop one to create a temporary safe zone to catch a breath. Your last piece of arsenal are the flashbangs, which can wipe out weaker enemies and stun tougher ones but have a delay after throwing and are relatively scarce. Finally you have a dodge, there aren't any iframes attached to it but instead you need to dodge away from an attack in the right direction to trigger a little cinematic slow-mo you'll be briefly invincible during. Your gear is reset every chapter, sometimes midway through one and you'll always have enough to get you through encounters (at least on Normal PC/Hard Xbox 360, a Nightmare replay is imminent) so don't get precious about holding onto things, use em or lose em. This all adds up to an incredibly unique third person shooter, it isn't much of a survival horror but it does tap into a RE4-esque building of tension.
The story is the main draw of Alan Wake and man it's a doozy. Sam Lake and co have taken all the ideas they'd built on in the Max Payne games and gone a couple extra miles on them. It's metanarratives upon metanarratives upon metanarratives, all told compellingly through the eyes of our favorite washed up bestselling author. While I felt compelled to explain the gameplay in detail because I feel it's a bit misunderstood I don't want to spoil a thing about the story.
The game looks and sounds really good too. The character models are a bit iffy but the environments and lighting are to this day absolutely phenomenal. The original score is subtle and fits well while the licensed needle drops all land perfectly. And of course, Poets of the Fall debut their Remedy alter egos in The Old Gods of Asgard in one of the most memorable sections of the game.
Top 5 game honestly
First, the gameplay. I cannot stress this enough: play on a controller and do NOT turn on direct aiming. The default looser camera controls are very carefully tuned to provide quick responsive turning while also being to carefully make small adjustments in aiming without having to hold down your flashlight and dynamically swapping between left and right over the shoulder views points depending on your movement and aiming - this feels amazing and results in incredibly cinematic feeling action. The direct aiming does away with that and is a flat 1:1 curve, meant more for a PC mouse. Whenever I see someone complaining about the game being jank they inevitably have the direct aiming turned on in their gameplay, just avoid it and learn to love not having your “crosshair” centered all the time.
The gameplay design is amazing - levels are linear and tightly paced, but offer ample rewards for going off the beaten path either in hidden ammo caches or manuscript pages that provide a bit more insight to the story. Every level introduces a new gameplay mechanic to play with, some staying on for the rest of the game like the flares and some being one and done like electric fences you can shotgun blast enemies into. You have a small but carefully considered arsenal built around having to weaken enemies with light before you can take them out. The flashlight and revolver combo is your main staple you'll almost always have access to - enemies always take a consistent amount of light damage and bullet damage regardless of where they get hit, so you'll do well to keep track of how many bullets you have loaded and how many hits you need. You get a handful of shotguns you'll sometimes have the option of choosing, the pump action is a direct upgrade on the normal shotgun and is the faster option but does a bit less damage while the hunting rifle does the more damage but is much slower. Your third gun slot is taken up by the flare gun, which is your strongest weapon by far but is low on ammo and can only fire one shot at a time so it's best used for crowds of enemies, especially those damn birds. Then you have the flares which have multiple uses: pop one when you're crowded to get enemies to back off, you can hold one to take the offensive back on an enemy, or drop one to create a temporary safe zone to catch a breath. Your last piece of arsenal are the flashbangs, which can wipe out weaker enemies and stun tougher ones but have a delay after throwing and are relatively scarce. Finally you have a dodge, there aren't any iframes attached to it but instead you need to dodge away from an attack in the right direction to trigger a little cinematic slow-mo you'll be briefly invincible during. Your gear is reset every chapter, sometimes midway through one and you'll always have enough to get you through encounters (at least on Normal PC/Hard Xbox 360, a Nightmare replay is imminent) so don't get precious about holding onto things, use em or lose em. This all adds up to an incredibly unique third person shooter, it isn't much of a survival horror but it does tap into a RE4-esque building of tension.
The story is the main draw of Alan Wake and man it's a doozy. Sam Lake and co have taken all the ideas they'd built on in the Max Payne games and gone a couple extra miles on them. It's metanarratives upon metanarratives upon metanarratives, all told compellingly through the eyes of our favorite washed up bestselling author. While I felt compelled to explain the gameplay in detail because I feel it's a bit misunderstood I don't want to spoil a thing about the story.
The game looks and sounds really good too. The character models are a bit iffy but the environments and lighting are to this day absolutely phenomenal. The original score is subtle and fits well while the licensed needle drops all land perfectly. And of course, Poets of the Fall debut their Remedy alter egos in The Old Gods of Asgard in one of the most memorable sections of the game.
Top 5 game honestly
if Max Payne 1 is all about shoot dodging, the name of the game in Max Payne 2 is the regular bullet time. You're heavily incentivized to use it with the changes to how it works - it starts out barely slower, but the more kills you rack up in it the slower it gets and every kill refills the adrenaline meter a bit. Combined with the bullet time reload where you do a fast little spin instead of the full reload, running into room full of enemies with a sawed off shotgun and bullet time can keep you in bullet time for a long while and is tons of fun.
Admittedly, 2 just doesn't hit as fully as 1 does for me. It does the right things a sequel should do - the narrative has a tighter focus, the character likenesses have been recast with professional actors and pretty great model work for 2003, the gameplay and setpieces are more polished - but in that it lacks the unhinged diy energy and perfect simplicity that are big parts of why I love 1 and I'm a bit mixed on the bullet time changes. It is a great game regardless, but 1 will always be my preferred of the two to go back to.
Admittedly, 2 just doesn't hit as fully as 1 does for me. It does the right things a sequel should do - the narrative has a tighter focus, the character likenesses have been recast with professional actors and pretty great model work for 2003, the gameplay and setpieces are more polished - but in that it lacks the unhinged diy energy and perfect simplicity that are big parts of why I love 1 and I'm a bit mixed on the bullet time changes. It is a great game regardless, but 1 will always be my preferred of the two to go back to.