MisterProject
Guess where my profile picture comes from? Yep, it's from this game. That's how much I love it.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is a gorgeous, inventive, engaging and incredibly well-written puzzle game from the mind of Shu Takumi, the creator of Ace Attorney. This game has received basically zero marketing and is CRIMINALLY underrated. The plot is full of twists and turns that all pay off and make sense in retrospect, while its characters all make the player invested in its story due to their effortlessly charming personalities.
I can't stress enough how much this game is a banger. I just wish more people knew about it.
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is a gorgeous, inventive, engaging and incredibly well-written puzzle game from the mind of Shu Takumi, the creator of Ace Attorney. This game has received basically zero marketing and is CRIMINALLY underrated. The plot is full of twists and turns that all pay off and make sense in retrospect, while its characters all make the player invested in its story due to their effortlessly charming personalities.
I can't stress enough how much this game is a banger. I just wish more people knew about it.
2020
It achieves exactly what it sets out to do - provide a chill, laidback experience with empathetic characters and a relaxing vibe. For this type of game, it needed to nail the writing, the atmosphere and the aesthetics - fortunately, I'm happy to report that all three meet their goals.
Yeah, it's not a grand story, and it's not a deep narrative - but it's heart-warming and charming, like the digital equivalent of a friend's hug after a rough week. With everything that's happening in the world right now, I think all of us would benefit from having that sometimes, and Coffee Talk delivers it perfectly.
Yeah, it's not a grand story, and it's not a deep narrative - but it's heart-warming and charming, like the digital equivalent of a friend's hug after a rough week. With everything that's happening in the world right now, I think all of us would benefit from having that sometimes, and Coffee Talk delivers it perfectly.
1998
"What makes a good game?"
This is the question that crawls in my mind when I sit to review this game. Should one take its historic context? Its lineage, its influence? Or should one just take its state as-is and review it like any other game of the present era?
Here's what I think: if you have any interest in the history of first-person-shooters, this game is a MUST. Its influence is one of the most reverberating of its time and its shadow looms over many classics of today, such as Counter-Strike, TF2 and Borderlands. Not only that, but for its era, it had a lot of impressive features such as dynamic storytelling and robust enemy AI.
On the other hand... well, look, it's not a bad game, not even by modern standards. Its pacing works well, its enemy roster is creative enough and the gunplay feels pretty good. But other than that, when played today, Half-Life is not that good. I mean, it's good, but it's not unmissable.
Due to the amount of influence it has, if you have played any modern shooter campaign, you kind of already played Half-Life in a way. Not only that, but its story, while somewhat mysterious and arguably intriguing, is still way too basic and non-specific to genuinely wow anyone. It has some great setpieces, and it also has some pretty boring sections. It's, you know, a normal game.
So... yeah, I do feel it gets a bit overrated at times, but not in the sense that it "was never that great to begin with", just that it has... aged. It was great, and now, well... it's just good.
This is the question that crawls in my mind when I sit to review this game. Should one take its historic context? Its lineage, its influence? Or should one just take its state as-is and review it like any other game of the present era?
Here's what I think: if you have any interest in the history of first-person-shooters, this game is a MUST. Its influence is one of the most reverberating of its time and its shadow looms over many classics of today, such as Counter-Strike, TF2 and Borderlands. Not only that, but for its era, it had a lot of impressive features such as dynamic storytelling and robust enemy AI.
On the other hand... well, look, it's not a bad game, not even by modern standards. Its pacing works well, its enemy roster is creative enough and the gunplay feels pretty good. But other than that, when played today, Half-Life is not that good. I mean, it's good, but it's not unmissable.
Due to the amount of influence it has, if you have played any modern shooter campaign, you kind of already played Half-Life in a way. Not only that, but its story, while somewhat mysterious and arguably intriguing, is still way too basic and non-specific to genuinely wow anyone. It has some great setpieces, and it also has some pretty boring sections. It's, you know, a normal game.
So... yeah, I do feel it gets a bit overrated at times, but not in the sense that it "was never that great to begin with", just that it has... aged. It was great, and now, well... it's just good.
2007
This review contains spoilers
"Are you a man, or a slave?"
Andrew Ryan's monologue still rings out to me as one of the best pieces of writing in videogames I've ever seen. Bioshock's gameplay, though somewhat unsatisfying at times, is a great example of immersive sim design and enabling of player creativity.
And yet... while both story and gameplay stand well on their own... I still feel like they trip on themselves when brought together. Having Fontaine as a generic last boss felt underwhelming, and don't get me started on the whole ludonarrative dissonance debacle with the little sisters. With all that said, though, I still both enjoyed and look back fondly to my time playing it, and so, I do recommend it.
Andrew Ryan's monologue still rings out to me as one of the best pieces of writing in videogames I've ever seen. Bioshock's gameplay, though somewhat unsatisfying at times, is a great example of immersive sim design and enabling of player creativity.
And yet... while both story and gameplay stand well on their own... I still feel like they trip on themselves when brought together. Having Fontaine as a generic last boss felt underwhelming, and don't get me started on the whole ludonarrative dissonance debacle with the little sisters. With all that said, though, I still both enjoyed and look back fondly to my time playing it, and so, I do recommend it.
2016
I know people say it was ruined, it became boring, etc, etc. Yeah, I partially agree - some of the design decisions over its history were questionable. But honestly? I still love this game, even if I don't play it as much anymore. I've also heard some of the new experimental patches have some more creativity behind them (what with Lucio being able to deal massive damage by stomping players when dropping the beat), so that's fun.
It's a varied, polished and bright multiplayer shooter, and although I do prefer TF2 when it comes to killing... Overwatch kind of ruined Medic for me - their healers are just 10 times more fun (go Lucio!)
It's a varied, polished and bright multiplayer shooter, and although I do prefer TF2 when it comes to killing... Overwatch kind of ruined Medic for me - their healers are just 10 times more fun (go Lucio!)
It's difficult for me to rate this. I've spent countless, countless hours on this game over multiple playthroughs and many character builds. And yet... I resent this game, and I somewhat regret playing it for so much time. Its interactions are shallow, its exploration is dull, the game does not support roleplaying well and its combat is not very fun. I want to say, "just skip this one", but at the same time... argh, I don't know. There are better games. Way better games. But this one... well, I'd lie if I said it isn't gripping.
2013
A powerful and effective story supported by gritty and tense gameplay. The interactions between Joel and Ellie are still some of the best writing and voice acting work I've seen, and even now I still remember most of its story beats. It's rare that I like (or even play) a triple-A game, but this is one of them.
2009
Probably my second best experience with co-op games (after Minecraft). Its simple but effective design works great to encourage cooperation and bickering between players, with mechanics such as special zombies with attacks that stun players (forcing others to save them), being able to heal and help downed players, and "alarm" hazards such as cars or witches, which may be triggered by a careless player and screw over the whole team, causing banter and drama among it. It's great.
2011
One of the closest games to perfection, I find. Almost everything about Portal 2 is, in my view, either flawless - art direction, sound design, community features - or damn incredible - gameplay mechanics, level design, pacing, dialogs, voice acting.
Not only is its campaign one of the best I've ever played, but its co-op mode is also immensely fun and prone to hilarious moments.
Unskippable, in my opinion. One of the few games I recommend to pretty much anyone interested in videogames.
Not only is its campaign one of the best I've ever played, but its co-op mode is also immensely fun and prone to hilarious moments.
Unskippable, in my opinion. One of the few games I recommend to pretty much anyone interested in videogames.
I would say I found this game to be an average experience, but an average experience wouldn't make me regret playing through it entirely. I honestly do not know how I even managed to do that - the art direction is somewhat uninspiring, the platforming is sluggish and unsatisfying, and I cannot for the life of me remember any details of the plot. So yeah, I'd rather have skipped this one.
2018
It's a charming, beautiful, challenging and well-paced platformer. I look back fondly to my time playing it, though I must admit that once I was done with it, I didn't really get any urge to play its additional content. It was a one and done kind of experience, which still doesn't prevent it from being a good one.
2013
I will just come out and say it - I probably suck a lot in this game. It's fun at the beginning, as I upgrade my upgrade trees and persist venturing into the castle - but I always get stuck at the second boss, and not in a fun, "only if I try one more time!" sort of way.
So yeah, I've shelved this game. I'm not sure if it's me, I'm not sure if it's them - but either way, I left it with a sour taste.
So yeah, I've shelved this game. I'm not sure if it's me, I'm not sure if it's them - but either way, I left it with a sour taste.
2016
TBS 2 greatly improves on everything TBS 1 laid the ground of, be it gameplay, be it story. Both enemy and class increase immensely in variety, and the story beats the game goes through become even more epic and tense.
Unfortunately, all the other problems from TBS 1 persist - the combat does get sluggish at times, and the lack of an attack range previewer continues to frustrate me to no end. The ending of the game, by the way, was one of the most gimmicky, badly designed and terrible experiences I've had with a game in a while. So yeah, a lot of good and bad stuff in this.
Unfortunately, all the other problems from TBS 1 persist - the combat does get sluggish at times, and the lack of an attack range previewer continues to frustrate me to no end. The ending of the game, by the way, was one of the most gimmicky, badly designed and terrible experiences I've had with a game in a while. So yeah, a lot of good and bad stuff in this.
2014
It's a beautiful and flawed mess. I honestly love the way this game presents its choices with a more pragmatic tone, something I feel is sorely lacking in videogames mostly plagued by idealism. Still, its gameplay loop is rather tedious at times (mostly due to its sluggish combat system and lack of variety in the design of both its classes and enemies) and the lack of QoL features such as an attack range previewer make it a very frustrating game to play.
2013
I got hooked for a short while, but its grindy nature eventually made me quit. I don't see anything remarkable in its gameplay loop, and its mission design is honestly too repetitive for me to care. I once played it as a background task as I listened to podcasts, but now other games fill that niche better.