Moister
2006
Manly tears were shed.
What a great game. I'm just in love with it. This is a biased review.
Just play it.
What a great game. I'm just in love with it. This is a biased review.
Just play it.
2019
After playing so much movement focus shooters, and some really long RPGs this feels like a breath of fresh air to me.
It wants you to take your time with it. 30 minutes, an hour, two, it's up to you. It's genuely sweet, cozy and as the name says: short.
It wants you to take your time with it. 30 minutes, an hour, two, it's up to you. It's genuely sweet, cozy and as the name says: short.
Introspective Memorial
For the past months, starting with The Silver Case I've been analyzing Suda51's work on detail to see where the fuzz is with him and his works in particular. A clear obsession over someone's work? Everyone has their favorites; Franchises, names, characters, writters, composers, designers, companies all in the name of familiarity under the sense of comfort. No one can deny that Suda51 has made a name for himself in the industry, starting off working with several other companies before creating "Grasshopper Manufacture" his very own company. Their motto is "Video Game Band, Punk is Not Dead" which to a lesser extent refers to the act of rebellion and to standout for themselves in a little confined group of people with a clear identity, tastes and ideas. It is easy to assume that is just clever wording for "it's not for everyone". You might be right, GHM games set themselves to built a loyal fanbase with their products. They do a great job at keeping consistency, different genres or not their DNA is still prevalent.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is to a lesser extent a celebration of Grasshopper Manufacture and a introspective for Suda51 as a creator. It is a very personal title, a love letter to the indie scene and a message to the game industry I'd say. The game industry now can't sustain by itself, at least without making it obvious with predatory practices that directly affects the customer for the worst. Like Ouroboros, the game industry is eating itself up and is not growing as much as the people with money expect to. If anything, the indie scene has been growing and growing this last decade and that isn't a surprise knowing how most big productions turn out to be these days. There is a big sense of distrust amongst consumers, and everyday it seems to be getting worse. Grasshopper itself suffered through this during the best part of the 2010's, their "Dark Age" as I like to call it. Your EAs, Kadokawas, and some more that never got along well with the studio. After all that, Grasshopper shrinked to an indie sized studio and went up to create this game.
Travis Strikes Back is one of those titles that you would find in the Xbox Live Arcade or PSN Store for 20$, it kind of shows. But don't let that fool you, the Grasshopper DNA as I said before is pretty much present here and it is better than ever. Multiplayer hack and slash by day, visual novel by night. But again, underneath all of that is that powerful and personal message of unfullfiled dreams and successes that would end up carrying this company legacy. This is Travis's introspective as an assasin, climbing up the ranks to the top and enjoying what life has to offer after a hard day at work. You are already on the top, what's there to do now? How do you continue your legacy? Keep doing the same? Imrprove? Or start over? When you are lost, looking at your failures, achievements and getting to know yourself better to see what makes you, well, you is the best way to know where to head next. Travis's story hit a climax in No More Heroes 1, which asked that very same question. In Travis Strikes Back he looks back at fallen heroes, old men have already nothing to lose but their lives and this is where Travis's phillosophy shines through his speech. Not necessarily looking down on his enemies but giving his perspective on life and putting your work on the line. This is not the Travis we got to known in the first game, he has grown now, to be a wiser man. A perfect reflection to life experiences, Suda51 itself went hell and back to be where he's now and the same goes for Travis Touchdown. Aside from the main hack and slash game, we get a VN styled adventure which gives us further context of the story. Basically Travis in each scenario is searching for the "Death Balls" around the globe. As a celebration title, this game includes a lot of character from other GHM games such as Dan from Killer7, Sundance from F.S.R, Shirobayu from 25th Ward alongside others. More than anything they're cameos that don't impact much in the overall story and personally I see this just as a funny little gag.
It is as impactful as knowing you best friend deepest secret, explained by himself. All the frustrations, fears and getting to talk about what it is into on detail. What it believes, what wants to achieve, and mainly: personal goals for the future. It is not laid out to be a comprehensive documentary of the company or Suda51 itself, it is first and foremost a No More Heroes game. Though, it is without it's negatives mainly comming from the gameplay that can get old quickly. This isn't necessarily a problem since the game often goes back and forward with new gimmicks that break the main formula every now and then. Though I'd say I did felt this complain was completely valid on the last level.
All and all it is a solid action title, and a happy commemoration of Grasshopper Manufacture history. A happy reminder that even through they might have changed once or twice over the years, they still carry the soul of Punk.
For the past months, starting with The Silver Case I've been analyzing Suda51's work on detail to see where the fuzz is with him and his works in particular. A clear obsession over someone's work? Everyone has their favorites; Franchises, names, characters, writters, composers, designers, companies all in the name of familiarity under the sense of comfort. No one can deny that Suda51 has made a name for himself in the industry, starting off working with several other companies before creating "Grasshopper Manufacture" his very own company. Their motto is "Video Game Band, Punk is Not Dead" which to a lesser extent refers to the act of rebellion and to standout for themselves in a little confined group of people with a clear identity, tastes and ideas. It is easy to assume that is just clever wording for "it's not for everyone". You might be right, GHM games set themselves to built a loyal fanbase with their products. They do a great job at keeping consistency, different genres or not their DNA is still prevalent.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is to a lesser extent a celebration of Grasshopper Manufacture and a introspective for Suda51 as a creator. It is a very personal title, a love letter to the indie scene and a message to the game industry I'd say. The game industry now can't sustain by itself, at least without making it obvious with predatory practices that directly affects the customer for the worst. Like Ouroboros, the game industry is eating itself up and is not growing as much as the people with money expect to. If anything, the indie scene has been growing and growing this last decade and that isn't a surprise knowing how most big productions turn out to be these days. There is a big sense of distrust amongst consumers, and everyday it seems to be getting worse. Grasshopper itself suffered through this during the best part of the 2010's, their "Dark Age" as I like to call it. Your EAs, Kadokawas, and some more that never got along well with the studio. After all that, Grasshopper shrinked to an indie sized studio and went up to create this game.
Travis Strikes Back is one of those titles that you would find in the Xbox Live Arcade or PSN Store for 20$, it kind of shows. But don't let that fool you, the Grasshopper DNA as I said before is pretty much present here and it is better than ever. Multiplayer hack and slash by day, visual novel by night. But again, underneath all of that is that powerful and personal message of unfullfiled dreams and successes that would end up carrying this company legacy. This is Travis's introspective as an assasin, climbing up the ranks to the top and enjoying what life has to offer after a hard day at work. You are already on the top, what's there to do now? How do you continue your legacy? Keep doing the same? Imrprove? Or start over? When you are lost, looking at your failures, achievements and getting to know yourself better to see what makes you, well, you is the best way to know where to head next. Travis's story hit a climax in No More Heroes 1, which asked that very same question. In Travis Strikes Back he looks back at fallen heroes, old men have already nothing to lose but their lives and this is where Travis's phillosophy shines through his speech. Not necessarily looking down on his enemies but giving his perspective on life and putting your work on the line. This is not the Travis we got to known in the first game, he has grown now, to be a wiser man. A perfect reflection to life experiences, Suda51 itself went hell and back to be where he's now and the same goes for Travis Touchdown. Aside from the main hack and slash game, we get a VN styled adventure which gives us further context of the story. Basically Travis in each scenario is searching for the "Death Balls" around the globe. As a celebration title, this game includes a lot of character from other GHM games such as Dan from Killer7, Sundance from F.S.R, Shirobayu from 25th Ward alongside others. More than anything they're cameos that don't impact much in the overall story and personally I see this just as a funny little gag.
It is as impactful as knowing you best friend deepest secret, explained by himself. All the frustrations, fears and getting to talk about what it is into on detail. What it believes, what wants to achieve, and mainly: personal goals for the future. It is not laid out to be a comprehensive documentary of the company or Suda51 itself, it is first and foremost a No More Heroes game. Though, it is without it's negatives mainly comming from the gameplay that can get old quickly. This isn't necessarily a problem since the game often goes back and forward with new gimmicks that break the main formula every now and then. Though I'd say I did felt this complain was completely valid on the last level.
All and all it is a solid action title, and a happy commemoration of Grasshopper Manufacture history. A happy reminder that even through they might have changed once or twice over the years, they still carry the soul of Punk.
2023
Basically Super Mario 64, with the ability to correct your jumps midair and plenty of way to skip a star requirement. And a shotgun, obviously.
Simple in concept, great in execution. You can shoot basically anything that you would think it would get destroyed. See a wall that is bothering you? Shoot it! Don't want to grab Bowser by the tail and break the lifespan of your analogue stick? Shoot him. Baby Penguin being too loud? Don't try it. But you can commit first degree murder to the mother, if you feel like it. A lot of details went into the interaction both with characters and the objects themselves. Not to mention a couple of QOL improvements that makes this ROM hack a really enjoyable experience.
Camera is a bit iffy and often goes behind walls and such. I don't know if this hapenned because I killed Lakitu while he was giving me advice on how to control the camera at the beginning or is it really intentional. Probably my only nitpick.
Getting the 120 stars was a breeze, not even counting up to 3 hours.
Simple in concept, great in execution. You can shoot basically anything that you would think it would get destroyed. See a wall that is bothering you? Shoot it! Don't want to grab Bowser by the tail and break the lifespan of your analogue stick? Shoot him. Baby Penguin being too loud? Don't try it. But you can commit first degree murder to the mother, if you feel like it. A lot of details went into the interaction both with characters and the objects themselves. Not to mention a couple of QOL improvements that makes this ROM hack a really enjoyable experience.
Camera is a bit iffy and often goes behind walls and such. I don't know if this hapenned because I killed Lakitu while he was giving me advice on how to control the camera at the beginning or is it really intentional. Probably my only nitpick.
Getting the 120 stars was a breeze, not even counting up to 3 hours.
1995
Touhou without the cringe
2019
25th Ward little story expansion, won't take you more than 15 minutes to read if you are decent at reading. This is just a fangame recreation of the manga, which is also translated by fans.
I'd rather recommend you reading the manga first since it has more illustrations and is more visually appealing overall. Text is considerably slower than either 25th or TSC too.
It's a nice fan tribute to the games themselves, artstyle and uniqueness but again just read the manga. There is a character that will end up appearing in No More Heroes 3, which is part of the greenout chapter and this is her first appearance with a little origin story. It reminded me a little of 25th Placebo very last chapter, just way shorter.
Only recommended in case...you want to hear the music while reading? Filling the gaps will be way harder without the illustrations. If you are curious, give it a try.
I'd rather recommend you reading the manga first since it has more illustrations and is more visually appealing overall. Text is considerably slower than either 25th or TSC too.
It's a nice fan tribute to the games themselves, artstyle and uniqueness but again just read the manga. There is a character that will end up appearing in No More Heroes 3, which is part of the greenout chapter and this is her first appearance with a little origin story. It reminded me a little of 25th Placebo very last chapter, just way shorter.
Only recommended in case...you want to hear the music while reading? Filling the gaps will be way harder without the illustrations. If you are curious, give it a try.
My favorite Metal Gear Solid game. And it doesn't even start Solid Snake. You play as Raiden a very female looking man. He's the one carrying the mission to investigate Big Shell which is full of terrorist and has the president of the U.S as a hostage.
Wish I could talk about it more. But this is a Spoiler-Free review.
Hear me out, the twists in this game are insane. You'll feel like a fool by the end.
I'll just say: "Illusions might be more real than you think".
Wish I could talk about it more. But this is a Spoiler-Free review.
Hear me out, the twists in this game are insane. You'll feel like a fool by the end.
I'll just say: "Illusions might be more real than you think".
2015
Exisitenial Fear, to the Great Deep Unknown
Soma can escencially be one great horror title. One that isn't actively trying to scare you off all the time. While it has the core elements that encapsulates a horror title that could scare anyone easily, it doesn't really try to. Instead, what we get is a tale of desesperation and hope.
In what this game excells is the story and atmosphere. The story was thought provoking and soul crushing once you realise how everyone operates in this underwater hell. Mind and Body ain't the same in this universe, the mind is modular and replaceable and the game plays with that idea very often. And the atmosphere is wonderfully detailed, big and makes you feel isolated in the vast deep sea.
While the elements I just described elevate the game to be one unique experience, the gameplay can be a heavy burden to carry. I played it on Normal Mode so I can't really speak from my experience in Safe Mode. I could say the problem doesn't come much in the "Hide and Seek" mechanics, is that they are not properly explained throughout the game. Some monsters have different methods of chasing you, but this doesn't give any clear indications of how. The other problem is that there isn't much room to "Hide", and the monsters themselves don't leave too much room to play with a strategy, just run and pray it doesn't get you. And if you get caught, it isn't that much of a punishment.
Another aspect that bugged me is that filler can ruin exploration in this game. One room may be empty or with a bit of objects for you to interact with. This could help immersion, but in practice it ruins exploration and you can get easily lost in a facility that is already hard to memorize without a map to guide you. While they are not huge in itself, it would have been nice to have a portable map to make exploration easier.
Outside of that, the game takes it times when needed and let's you explore open ended areas after moving up from one zone to another. It does fall under a routine where you end up in a area, complete it and move to the next one though every station has it's purposes to the story while giving a sense of relief after a rough follow of events. Arriving to a new area were one of my favorite bits of this game.
I can classify Soma as a horror walking simulator, mixed with some light puzzle elements and "Hide and Seek" mechanics, only when monsters appear. Immersion with it's incredible oppressive underwater atmosphere and great storytelling being the forté of this title.
Soma can escencially be one great horror title. One that isn't actively trying to scare you off all the time. While it has the core elements that encapsulates a horror title that could scare anyone easily, it doesn't really try to. Instead, what we get is a tale of desesperation and hope.
In what this game excells is the story and atmosphere. The story was thought provoking and soul crushing once you realise how everyone operates in this underwater hell. Mind and Body ain't the same in this universe, the mind is modular and replaceable and the game plays with that idea very often. And the atmosphere is wonderfully detailed, big and makes you feel isolated in the vast deep sea.
While the elements I just described elevate the game to be one unique experience, the gameplay can be a heavy burden to carry. I played it on Normal Mode so I can't really speak from my experience in Safe Mode. I could say the problem doesn't come much in the "Hide and Seek" mechanics, is that they are not properly explained throughout the game. Some monsters have different methods of chasing you, but this doesn't give any clear indications of how. The other problem is that there isn't much room to "Hide", and the monsters themselves don't leave too much room to play with a strategy, just run and pray it doesn't get you. And if you get caught, it isn't that much of a punishment.
Another aspect that bugged me is that filler can ruin exploration in this game. One room may be empty or with a bit of objects for you to interact with. This could help immersion, but in practice it ruins exploration and you can get easily lost in a facility that is already hard to memorize without a map to guide you. While they are not huge in itself, it would have been nice to have a portable map to make exploration easier.
Outside of that, the game takes it times when needed and let's you explore open ended areas after moving up from one zone to another. It does fall under a routine where you end up in a area, complete it and move to the next one though every station has it's purposes to the story while giving a sense of relief after a rough follow of events. Arriving to a new area were one of my favorite bits of this game.
I can classify Soma as a horror walking simulator, mixed with some light puzzle elements and "Hide and Seek" mechanics, only when monsters appear. Immersion with it's incredible oppressive underwater atmosphere and great storytelling being the forté of this title.
2012
"The First" as in the first that triggered the whole Lisa series as we know it now.
Definitely a tricky title to talk about and I can't really blame on the developer since it was probably one of his first serious works. The message and the intention is the definitely there, and would ultimately carry a great importance to understand the story as a whole.
It tackles the subject of abuse from the perspective of a little girl called Lisa. It's all presented in an abstract, yet perfectly readable manner. In this kind of stories being subtle is key, as in not treating the players like people that can't understand an indirect approach to story-telling without going to the lengths of being cryptic. Or even worse, not being pretentious is important too. The First walks a thin line between being subtle and blunt, but ultimately all put together with a nice balance between the two striking, a clear contrast between what Lisa wanted to really do in dreams and her constant nightmare.
On the game-y side of things, it doesn't hold as good as The Painful or The Joyful. It's an old RPG Maker 2003 game, they were really popular during Yume Nikki's craze, and games that came soon after as a effective resource to tell stories for amateur game developers, mostly based on their artstic deeds rather than the ones that come from pure raw mechanical ingenuity. The First ain't much different as it just walking and avoiding obstacles on your way to the end, collecting different objects that will unlock new paths to follow. If you're thinking it's just Yume Nikki in disguise, it is inspired by the latter. Some sections, specifically with the Marty spiders are specially evil as it is the only part were it will put your skills to the absolute limits. A huge unnecessary difficulty spike from a gameplay and enjoyment standpoint, that might or not tell us more about Lisa's story in hindsight. Why spiders in particular? They can act fast, are lethal once they put one of their big creepy legs on you leading to a potential poison and leaving a big scar that won't dissapear in a short period of time. And is even worse knowing the spiders have the signature image of Marty's face. In The Painful, we can also envounter this very enemy scattered around in various parts of Olathe but we can be fight him as Brad directly, that very minor detail can give us a small glimpse of what was the overall relationship in the Armstrong family and why Brad isn't here.
Only recommended in case you want to get into the Lisa series and not much as a title of it's own. In The Painful, as soon as we boot it we can see Lisa's outcome out of this neverending nightmare. Watch it on Youtube if the spiders bother you too much, could've rated 1/2 stars higher without them.
Definitely a tricky title to talk about and I can't really blame on the developer since it was probably one of his first serious works. The message and the intention is the definitely there, and would ultimately carry a great importance to understand the story as a whole.
It tackles the subject of abuse from the perspective of a little girl called Lisa. It's all presented in an abstract, yet perfectly readable manner. In this kind of stories being subtle is key, as in not treating the players like people that can't understand an indirect approach to story-telling without going to the lengths of being cryptic. Or even worse, not being pretentious is important too. The First walks a thin line between being subtle and blunt, but ultimately all put together with a nice balance between the two striking, a clear contrast between what Lisa wanted to really do in dreams and her constant nightmare.
On the game-y side of things, it doesn't hold as good as The Painful or The Joyful. It's an old RPG Maker 2003 game, they were really popular during Yume Nikki's craze, and games that came soon after as a effective resource to tell stories for amateur game developers, mostly based on their artstic deeds rather than the ones that come from pure raw mechanical ingenuity. The First ain't much different as it just walking and avoiding obstacles on your way to the end, collecting different objects that will unlock new paths to follow. If you're thinking it's just Yume Nikki in disguise, it is inspired by the latter. Some sections, specifically with the Marty spiders are specially evil as it is the only part were it will put your skills to the absolute limits. A huge unnecessary difficulty spike from a gameplay and enjoyment standpoint, that might or not tell us more about Lisa's story in hindsight. Why spiders in particular? They can act fast, are lethal once they put one of their big creepy legs on you leading to a potential poison and leaving a big scar that won't dissapear in a short period of time. And is even worse knowing the spiders have the signature image of Marty's face. In The Painful, we can also envounter this very enemy scattered around in various parts of Olathe but we can be fight him as Brad directly, that very minor detail can give us a small glimpse of what was the overall relationship in the Armstrong family and why Brad isn't here.
Only recommended in case you want to get into the Lisa series and not much as a title of it's own. In The Painful, as soon as we boot it we can see Lisa's outcome out of this neverending nightmare. Watch it on Youtube if the spiders bother you too much, could've rated 1/2 stars higher without them.
Defend your Title
Ashura-Hen is the direct sequel to Kurohyou which I also made a review, you can find it here. I'll cover only some key aspects this game has a sequel. So to avoid any future redundancies, check out my review on Kurohyou.
Ukyo Tatsuya, now as a changed man after the events of the first game ends up fighting his way into the scene and make a name for himself leaving the illegal underground colliseum known as Dragon Heat behind. Now under the control of his agency; it's just a matter of time Tatsuya finally start to find peace and comfort in a little gym located in Kamurocho. But something is missing, who was he fighting for now? This is where Tatsuya finds out Dragon Heat was in deep trouble, the place that made him change, grow and evolve. Ashura-Hen as a sequel could've gone a lot of places narratively speaking. This time, unlike just looking for the next big thing it clings itself to the idea of protecting what made himself change. Same case with Kazuma Kiryu rejecting being the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan. To put it simple, Haruka is what Dragon Heat is to Tatsuya; his reason to keep living.
It follows more or less the same gameplay structure as it's prequel. This time the map is not only limited to the same old Kamurocho but Sotenbori makes a return after being absent since it's debut in Yakuza 2, back in 2006. You won't find many surprises, as the cities are nothing but 2D background to save on processing power of the already aged PSP. So, walking around the cities is still a drag and can get boring fast. On the other hand the actual combat saw some changes and now is more centered around co-op fights rather than tackle it alone at least during street fights. Enemies wll come in hordes and they make most Yakuza thugs pale in comparasion. They're tough nuts to crack, specially on Hard Mode and the best strategy down the line is to call whoever you had recruited before. So partnerts are no longer tied to story events and that's a plus, but the game is made with that very system in mind. It counteracts a problem, giving you a little more leverage than normal, make sure to come prepared before each fight. Lowering the difficulty would be a good idea in case street fight get the best of you, don't be ashamed to lower it to Easy.
What really does sell this game isn't the story of Dragon Heat or Tatsuya itself. But it is the main villain that is well on pair with the likes of Yakuza 3 and even Lost Judgment. Is a tale as old as time; a story of revenge with a common enemy, approached differently between both the hero and the villain. The rest of the story up to that point doesn't feel that important oddly enough, but the fights on Millenium Tower always deliver no matter the game we're in.
The story might be one of the weakest aspects of this game. It plays safe as it's not as involved as the first one. Goes all over the place with moments you won't care about much for at times, as they don't add anything substantial to the main plot. Even side character stories get in the way mid-adventure, can you believe that? It doesn't feel natural. The main plot surrounding the Ashura is fine, but the overall pace gets dragged by side-character arc nonsense.
Recommended for any hardcore Yakuza fan looking for something familiar, with a refreshing intense combat. If you liked the first, there is no reason to not play this one.
Ashura-Hen is the direct sequel to Kurohyou which I also made a review, you can find it here. I'll cover only some key aspects this game has a sequel. So to avoid any future redundancies, check out my review on Kurohyou.
Ukyo Tatsuya, now as a changed man after the events of the first game ends up fighting his way into the scene and make a name for himself leaving the illegal underground colliseum known as Dragon Heat behind. Now under the control of his agency; it's just a matter of time Tatsuya finally start to find peace and comfort in a little gym located in Kamurocho. But something is missing, who was he fighting for now? This is where Tatsuya finds out Dragon Heat was in deep trouble, the place that made him change, grow and evolve. Ashura-Hen as a sequel could've gone a lot of places narratively speaking. This time, unlike just looking for the next big thing it clings itself to the idea of protecting what made himself change. Same case with Kazuma Kiryu rejecting being the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan. To put it simple, Haruka is what Dragon Heat is to Tatsuya; his reason to keep living.
It follows more or less the same gameplay structure as it's prequel. This time the map is not only limited to the same old Kamurocho but Sotenbori makes a return after being absent since it's debut in Yakuza 2, back in 2006. You won't find many surprises, as the cities are nothing but 2D background to save on processing power of the already aged PSP. So, walking around the cities is still a drag and can get boring fast. On the other hand the actual combat saw some changes and now is more centered around co-op fights rather than tackle it alone at least during street fights. Enemies wll come in hordes and they make most Yakuza thugs pale in comparasion. They're tough nuts to crack, specially on Hard Mode and the best strategy down the line is to call whoever you had recruited before. So partnerts are no longer tied to story events and that's a plus, but the game is made with that very system in mind. It counteracts a problem, giving you a little more leverage than normal, make sure to come prepared before each fight. Lowering the difficulty would be a good idea in case street fight get the best of you, don't be ashamed to lower it to Easy.
What really does sell this game isn't the story of Dragon Heat or Tatsuya itself. But it is the main villain that is well on pair with the likes of Yakuza 3 and even Lost Judgment. Is a tale as old as time; a story of revenge with a common enemy, approached differently between both the hero and the villain. The rest of the story up to that point doesn't feel that important oddly enough, but the fights on Millenium Tower always deliver no matter the game we're in.
The story might be one of the weakest aspects of this game. It plays safe as it's not as involved as the first one. Goes all over the place with moments you won't care about much for at times, as they don't add anything substantial to the main plot. Even side character stories get in the way mid-adventure, can you believe that? It doesn't feel natural. The main plot surrounding the Ashura is fine, but the overall pace gets dragged by side-character arc nonsense.
Recommended for any hardcore Yakuza fan looking for something familiar, with a refreshing intense combat. If you liked the first, there is no reason to not play this one.
2002
Sunshine is certainly a strange game to talk about. It has a lot of poisitives aspects that neither Super Mario 64 nor it's sequel Super Mario Galaxy has but also many negatives that drags the game to the bottom of the list when it comes to 3D Mario games for me. The black sheep, the odd one, the weird kid in class you name it.
Mario and, his friends? Travel to Isle Delfino, for a sweet-sweet vacation. Arriving at the airport, a mysterious slime-like substace blocks the way and who else but Mario needs to clear this mess literally speaking with F.L.U.D.D which is sort of an AI-water pump machine, it basically just shoots water and speaks. This is used to defeat the creature that spawned out of that gloop, a Piranha Plant covered in gloop. After defeating it, we're directly sent to jail by the Isle Delfino police force. Why? A criminal, shockling similar to Mario was causing havoc on the island. With everything to lose on our end, they throw us out to court to prove our innocence minutes after arriving to the island. We can't defend nor escape from Isle Delfino corrupt legal system, with proof as revealing as a drawing of the "criminal". It's not all that bad, instead of serving jail we're forced to clean this whole mess up and caught the criminal in the process. Notice how Bowser was never mentioned at the start? Not even the evil laugh of his like in Super Mario 64. That was really refreshing to see for once, even though I knew he would appear soon enough anyways.
As a sort of sequel to Super Mario 64 it follows more or less the same principles as you may expect. General movement in Sunshine eliminated the kind of cool but at the end of the day useless movements that you could do with mario in 64, only having the essentials to work with now. Probably to give more space to F.L.U.D.D. So, it is no possible to crouch anymore alongside other useful moves that were outright removed. "Humping the Floor" or dive which performed by repeatedly pressing "B" while running will be one of the most advanced techniques in mario's arsenal without F.U.D.D to gain speed while on the floor, and on air if you need a little push. Basic jumps that don't require the use of the crouch button from Super Mario 64/Super Mario Galaxy such as the "Side Summersault" are present, with an all-new adition: "The Spin Jump", one of my favorite moves in the 3D Mario games, is performed by spinning the analog stick in circles and letting mario jump with "A", this will result in him spinning midair covering a lot more vertcal space than the side summerault jump would. Useful at times were the side summersault jump isn't enough to reach a certain platform and the space itself is tight enough to not reach a third jump. It's simple, but wonderfully complex.
But, mario needs to land somewhere and the world needs to respond to his actions. This is where Sunshine starts to crumble, just a little bit. First, mario has a blazing fast acceleration and very little traction on ground which allows reaching top speed almost immediately. This is actually bad in practice if we're talking about a platformer. Just imagine being on the ledge of a platform, but as you are preparing to jump you suddenly slip off the edge it sort of feels like that. Mario reacts to the floor as he was made out of butter, mario can slip on some occations outside the one I already mentioned and more often that not gain super speed out of nowhere during a dive or you accidentaly do a side summersault jump, instead of a simple jump just trying to quickly turn around mario, thus leaving to you covering a lot of vertical space but not much horizontal space and most likely miss what was basically just a regular jump to another platform.
On the other hand, we have the levels themselves. This is when Sunshine show it's real ugly face. Let's get out the positives first, as it has a big one. The levels vary depending on which start you choose, meaning every start is an "Episode" of sorts or a new take on the already stablished level so every "Shine" is it's own story and adventure. It is the difference between a mission, and a objective basically. The more starts we end up getting on a level, the more it will open up for us meaning there are not only new Shines to but more coins to collect. Every level is, as you may imagine is summer themed. It explores every inch of the island, such as ports, villages, parks, etc. Love me a good summer centric game. Sadly I played this on winter while it was raining outside, yikes. It is commited to one thing and one thing only which is this vacation-summer feeling. Alright, down to the negatives. Missions or "Episodes" are plain unbalanced. Some Shines will require much more effort to get than others. No shit captain obvious, I'm mainly refering to Shines within the level itself, each one can radically fluctuate the difficulty depending on which episode you are. Episode 1 can be an easy short introduction to a level, on Episode 2 it can be a cryptic nightmare but by Episode 7 is a matter of sprying Shadow Mario until he stops moving lasting only a matter of seconds. See where I am getting at? It is not consistent at all, it can lead to some surprises but that's it you never know what to expect next which can also be a positive to some. For me it was exciting and terrifying the same, what kind of bullshit will they throw now? Look at the Sirena Beach Episode 3, tell me I'm not the only crazy one here. The chuckster shine can leave a mark, almost broke my cheap chinese gamecube controller with that one. The level designers were in a really bad mood that day.
This was only covering the main stages needed to progress on the story. You'll need to clear 7 Shines out of the 7 main levels there are in total. Levels taking place in Delfino Plaza are not necessary, though if you are going for the 100% it is required to complete every single on of them including the blue coins which I briefly mention earlier. These optional levels are without a doubt one of the hardest I've ever played in a 3D mario game. Yes, they are short, but can be lethal on long sessions. Not exactly hard because they impose a fair challenge, but because they barely work. Namely, and the most outspoken example: The Pachinko. You have to try it for yourself. The rest are merely forgettable. Every level has a determinated amount of blue coins that can be exchange on Delfino Plaza, each 10 blue coins is a star. But this is not important at the end of the day, as I just said it's just optional content.
Didn't quite like Sunshine overall. Solid start off, but then it started to dwindle and throw whatever bullshit was at their hand without much rhyme or reason as it goes on. I did had fun on moments, when the difficulty wasn't brutally punishing or moments were I did felt there was a fair challenge but nevertheless those moments were far and between from all the frustrating designed elements Sunshine deliberately chose to put above everything else which is quite sad. Playing this an adult made me easlly spot most of it's problems my younger self couldn't.
Mario and, his friends? Travel to Isle Delfino, for a sweet-sweet vacation. Arriving at the airport, a mysterious slime-like substace blocks the way and who else but Mario needs to clear this mess literally speaking with F.L.U.D.D which is sort of an AI-water pump machine, it basically just shoots water and speaks. This is used to defeat the creature that spawned out of that gloop, a Piranha Plant covered in gloop. After defeating it, we're directly sent to jail by the Isle Delfino police force. Why? A criminal, shockling similar to Mario was causing havoc on the island. With everything to lose on our end, they throw us out to court to prove our innocence minutes after arriving to the island. We can't defend nor escape from Isle Delfino corrupt legal system, with proof as revealing as a drawing of the "criminal". It's not all that bad, instead of serving jail we're forced to clean this whole mess up and caught the criminal in the process. Notice how Bowser was never mentioned at the start? Not even the evil laugh of his like in Super Mario 64. That was really refreshing to see for once, even though I knew he would appear soon enough anyways.
As a sort of sequel to Super Mario 64 it follows more or less the same principles as you may expect. General movement in Sunshine eliminated the kind of cool but at the end of the day useless movements that you could do with mario in 64, only having the essentials to work with now. Probably to give more space to F.L.U.D.D. So, it is no possible to crouch anymore alongside other useful moves that were outright removed. "Humping the Floor" or dive which performed by repeatedly pressing "B" while running will be one of the most advanced techniques in mario's arsenal without F.U.D.D to gain speed while on the floor, and on air if you need a little push. Basic jumps that don't require the use of the crouch button from Super Mario 64/Super Mario Galaxy such as the "Side Summersault" are present, with an all-new adition: "The Spin Jump", one of my favorite moves in the 3D Mario games, is performed by spinning the analog stick in circles and letting mario jump with "A", this will result in him spinning midair covering a lot more vertcal space than the side summerault jump would. Useful at times were the side summersault jump isn't enough to reach a certain platform and the space itself is tight enough to not reach a third jump. It's simple, but wonderfully complex.
But, mario needs to land somewhere and the world needs to respond to his actions. This is where Sunshine starts to crumble, just a little bit. First, mario has a blazing fast acceleration and very little traction on ground which allows reaching top speed almost immediately. This is actually bad in practice if we're talking about a platformer. Just imagine being on the ledge of a platform, but as you are preparing to jump you suddenly slip off the edge it sort of feels like that. Mario reacts to the floor as he was made out of butter, mario can slip on some occations outside the one I already mentioned and more often that not gain super speed out of nowhere during a dive or you accidentaly do a side summersault jump, instead of a simple jump just trying to quickly turn around mario, thus leaving to you covering a lot of vertical space but not much horizontal space and most likely miss what was basically just a regular jump to another platform.
On the other hand, we have the levels themselves. This is when Sunshine show it's real ugly face. Let's get out the positives first, as it has a big one. The levels vary depending on which start you choose, meaning every start is an "Episode" of sorts or a new take on the already stablished level so every "Shine" is it's own story and adventure. It is the difference between a mission, and a objective basically. The more starts we end up getting on a level, the more it will open up for us meaning there are not only new Shines to but more coins to collect. Every level is, as you may imagine is summer themed. It explores every inch of the island, such as ports, villages, parks, etc. Love me a good summer centric game. Sadly I played this on winter while it was raining outside, yikes. It is commited to one thing and one thing only which is this vacation-summer feeling. Alright, down to the negatives. Missions or "Episodes" are plain unbalanced. Some Shines will require much more effort to get than others. No shit captain obvious, I'm mainly refering to Shines within the level itself, each one can radically fluctuate the difficulty depending on which episode you are. Episode 1 can be an easy short introduction to a level, on Episode 2 it can be a cryptic nightmare but by Episode 7 is a matter of sprying Shadow Mario until he stops moving lasting only a matter of seconds. See where I am getting at? It is not consistent at all, it can lead to some surprises but that's it you never know what to expect next which can also be a positive to some. For me it was exciting and terrifying the same, what kind of bullshit will they throw now? Look at the Sirena Beach Episode 3, tell me I'm not the only crazy one here. The chuckster shine can leave a mark, almost broke my cheap chinese gamecube controller with that one. The level designers were in a really bad mood that day.
This was only covering the main stages needed to progress on the story. You'll need to clear 7 Shines out of the 7 main levels there are in total. Levels taking place in Delfino Plaza are not necessary, though if you are going for the 100% it is required to complete every single on of them including the blue coins which I briefly mention earlier. These optional levels are without a doubt one of the hardest I've ever played in a 3D mario game. Yes, they are short, but can be lethal on long sessions. Not exactly hard because they impose a fair challenge, but because they barely work. Namely, and the most outspoken example: The Pachinko. You have to try it for yourself. The rest are merely forgettable. Every level has a determinated amount of blue coins that can be exchange on Delfino Plaza, each 10 blue coins is a star. But this is not important at the end of the day, as I just said it's just optional content.
Didn't quite like Sunshine overall. Solid start off, but then it started to dwindle and throw whatever bullshit was at their hand without much rhyme or reason as it goes on. I did had fun on moments, when the difficulty wasn't brutally punishing or moments were I did felt there was a fair challenge but nevertheless those moments were far and between from all the frustrating designed elements Sunshine deliberately chose to put above everything else which is quite sad. Playing this an adult made me easlly spot most of it's problems my younger self couldn't.
Castlevania Rejuvenated
The Metroidvania genre was something that it didn't conviced me at first. Had played some games that end up leaving a bad taste in my mouth, had to drop them after a few hours since I thought they weren't really worth my time. This game though? Made me change my perspective on the genre for the better.
SOTN was made to rejuvunate the Castlevania series after a long period of stagnation during the 16-bit era of consoles. Not to discredit those games, but even the public eye was starting to get sick of them. The idea of navigating an interconnected world wasn't new, not even for the series: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest somewhat had this realisation at hand 10 years before this game even existed. You can say anything about Simon's Quest but it dare to try something different for a sequel even if didn't really worked that well. Akumojou Dracula on the MSX, an indirect port of sorts of the first Castlevania game exclusively for japan and the MSX line of computers also had it's focus on exploration rather than linear action. So the idea of traveling into a huge world for you to explore was there almost since the beginning.
It's basically a Castlevania game with RPG elements with exploration in mind. It changed so much from the old titles you can't even compare them. While still retaining key elements such as a secondary weapon, characters and location, outside of it, it's totally different. For instance, this time we don't take the role of a member of the Belmont lineage, let alone a vampire hunter. Instead we get Alucard, the son of Dracula. Though this isn't his real first appereance, he shows as Trevor's companion in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. But here, he's fully fledge out to be it's own character.
What sets it appart is exploration, and it totally nails it. As I said before, I've had my share of problems with the "Metroidvania" genre in the past. It's not that I despise or hate it by any means but the idea of exploring itself felt tiring to me. Why? Movement, if movement doesn't feel right in one of these games it totally ruins it to me. Luckly SOTN doesn't have that problem, both the RPG elements in conjuction with exploration and a very smooth movement makes it very fun to travel around Dracula's Castle.
I'm actually quite impressed the amount of content this game has. Enemy variety never fell repetitive, the map is huge and detailed, not to mention the other half of it it's totally hidden unless we complete certain requirements. Plus the addition of RPG elements such as weapon types, elemental damage, armor and so much more. It is a really complete package in all regards in terms of content and this is the one made me fall in love with the genre seeing how much it can offer.
But it's not perfect. One of the weaker aspects of it in my opinion it's the story. Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to play Castlevania games for their story but what is presented here feels sort of hollow? Little happens while traviling Dracula's Castle and only we get a proper explanation of what is going on at the very end of the first half of the game. You do get bits of the story shared around rooms were a girl Maria tell us to find his brother and an encounter with him a some point but honestly it doesn't add much of what we already know from the start. The other aspect I want to talk about is the second half of it, while I liked the concept I can't but say it's really unbalanced and a huge spike in difficulty. Can't really talk about much about since it's an important moment in the game, and I don't want to ruin you the surprise in case you haven't played it yet. I'll only say it gets difficult, so be prepared.
It's still worth playing after all these years? Yes, absolutely. I've never been so adicted to one game in a single day. Lasting about 10 hours it never felt boring, you always felt that you were getting better either by getting better equipment or leveling up and planning your own strategies for combat. As any Metroidvania is, the better you know the map, the better objects you find, the better and faster you get at it. There's a lot of replay value here and that is always appreciated. But I do think a fair share of aspects could've been improved or expanded upon what we already have here.
The Metroidvania genre was something that it didn't conviced me at first. Had played some games that end up leaving a bad taste in my mouth, had to drop them after a few hours since I thought they weren't really worth my time. This game though? Made me change my perspective on the genre for the better.
SOTN was made to rejuvunate the Castlevania series after a long period of stagnation during the 16-bit era of consoles. Not to discredit those games, but even the public eye was starting to get sick of them. The idea of navigating an interconnected world wasn't new, not even for the series: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest somewhat had this realisation at hand 10 years before this game even existed. You can say anything about Simon's Quest but it dare to try something different for a sequel even if didn't really worked that well. Akumojou Dracula on the MSX, an indirect port of sorts of the first Castlevania game exclusively for japan and the MSX line of computers also had it's focus on exploration rather than linear action. So the idea of traveling into a huge world for you to explore was there almost since the beginning.
It's basically a Castlevania game with RPG elements with exploration in mind. It changed so much from the old titles you can't even compare them. While still retaining key elements such as a secondary weapon, characters and location, outside of it, it's totally different. For instance, this time we don't take the role of a member of the Belmont lineage, let alone a vampire hunter. Instead we get Alucard, the son of Dracula. Though this isn't his real first appereance, he shows as Trevor's companion in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. But here, he's fully fledge out to be it's own character.
What sets it appart is exploration, and it totally nails it. As I said before, I've had my share of problems with the "Metroidvania" genre in the past. It's not that I despise or hate it by any means but the idea of exploring itself felt tiring to me. Why? Movement, if movement doesn't feel right in one of these games it totally ruins it to me. Luckly SOTN doesn't have that problem, both the RPG elements in conjuction with exploration and a very smooth movement makes it very fun to travel around Dracula's Castle.
I'm actually quite impressed the amount of content this game has. Enemy variety never fell repetitive, the map is huge and detailed, not to mention the other half of it it's totally hidden unless we complete certain requirements. Plus the addition of RPG elements such as weapon types, elemental damage, armor and so much more. It is a really complete package in all regards in terms of content and this is the one made me fall in love with the genre seeing how much it can offer.
But it's not perfect. One of the weaker aspects of it in my opinion it's the story. Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to play Castlevania games for their story but what is presented here feels sort of hollow? Little happens while traviling Dracula's Castle and only we get a proper explanation of what is going on at the very end of the first half of the game. You do get bits of the story shared around rooms were a girl Maria tell us to find his brother and an encounter with him a some point but honestly it doesn't add much of what we already know from the start. The other aspect I want to talk about is the second half of it, while I liked the concept I can't but say it's really unbalanced and a huge spike in difficulty. Can't really talk about much about since it's an important moment in the game, and I don't want to ruin you the surprise in case you haven't played it yet. I'll only say it gets difficult, so be prepared.
It's still worth playing after all these years? Yes, absolutely. I've never been so adicted to one game in a single day. Lasting about 10 hours it never felt boring, you always felt that you were getting better either by getting better equipment or leveling up and planning your own strategies for combat. As any Metroidvania is, the better you know the map, the better objects you find, the better and faster you get at it. There's a lot of replay value here and that is always appreciated. But I do think a fair share of aspects could've been improved or expanded upon what we already have here.
2007
Weird that I've been owning this game for so many years yet, never really wanting to play it.
Decided to give it a shot one day and boom, it totally clicked with me once I got used to the mechanic and the puzzles.
Simple to learn but hard to master game. The writting is timeless, it hasn't aged a bit. My only critique is that is quite short and the end leaves you with questions unanswered. But it very may be the best tech demo ever.
Timeless masterpiece.
Decided to give it a shot one day and boom, it totally clicked with me once I got used to the mechanic and the puzzles.
Simple to learn but hard to master game. The writting is timeless, it hasn't aged a bit. My only critique is that is quite short and the end leaves you with questions unanswered. But it very may be the best tech demo ever.
Timeless masterpiece.
D4: "Season 1" is just a really enjoyable experience all around. Sadly, as the name suggest only the Season 1 is avaible which includes two episodes + a prologue episode as well. Very short, but a good time nonetheless. It's a weird feeling to know this little gem was one of the first Xbox One games. SWERY, the director of this game made it clear they wanted to make a Kinect focus game, how exactly? This was the result after Microsoft set funding in his team.
This game does an extensive use of the Kinect sensor, it was made for it. Sadly I do not own one personally, and neither want to. Remember how the Kinect was sold to us like a revolution for motion sensoring games? Is not that it wasn't, the idea on paper was solid but on practice it was a technical mess. This is where D4 comes to play, nothing but your arms, hands and good reflex is all you needed to enjoy it. It was easy to pick, and worked around the Kinect technical limitations to bring us something rather unique; a point and click game.
The characters altrough very steriotypically written, were fun to see on screen. Fun, you know, plain quirky japanese fun. It has some serious moments here and there, but they are short lived for the most part (probably reserved for later seasons). Outside of it, there is always that time to rest and relax before things start to get out of hands. On David's house you're able to pick and interact with plenty of objects and I actually liked this part of the game, it reward you for exploring and interacting with set objects and everything has their own animation and gesture you need to do to interact with it.
D4 launched at the time Xbox One was starting to show bad numbers for Microsoft. They might have funded the game, but they didn't want anything to do with it. Sales were poor and it didn't help that Xbox as a brand was being rightfully trashed for their awful corporate decisions. It was the wrong place, at the wrong time. After that, they didn't wanted to continue with the project and just cancelled it outright.
...But can we change the past? We probably can't but money speak louder than words. SWERY probably doesn't want anything to do with D4 at this point, it's been almost 10 years already. Just as David Young time and time again goes back to his house after continuously searching for the truth, we hold the dream that this game gets a Season 2, one that we might just never get.
This game does an extensive use of the Kinect sensor, it was made for it. Sadly I do not own one personally, and neither want to. Remember how the Kinect was sold to us like a revolution for motion sensoring games? Is not that it wasn't, the idea on paper was solid but on practice it was a technical mess. This is where D4 comes to play, nothing but your arms, hands and good reflex is all you needed to enjoy it. It was easy to pick, and worked around the Kinect technical limitations to bring us something rather unique; a point and click game.
The characters altrough very steriotypically written, were fun to see on screen. Fun, you know, plain quirky japanese fun. It has some serious moments here and there, but they are short lived for the most part (probably reserved for later seasons). Outside of it, there is always that time to rest and relax before things start to get out of hands. On David's house you're able to pick and interact with plenty of objects and I actually liked this part of the game, it reward you for exploring and interacting with set objects and everything has their own animation and gesture you need to do to interact with it.
D4 launched at the time Xbox One was starting to show bad numbers for Microsoft. They might have funded the game, but they didn't want anything to do with it. Sales were poor and it didn't help that Xbox as a brand was being rightfully trashed for their awful corporate decisions. It was the wrong place, at the wrong time. After that, they didn't wanted to continue with the project and just cancelled it outright.
...But can we change the past? We probably can't but money speak louder than words. SWERY probably doesn't want anything to do with D4 at this point, it's been almost 10 years already. Just as David Young time and time again goes back to his house after continuously searching for the truth, we hold the dream that this game gets a Season 2, one that we might just never get.
Left to Rot
Team Silent's last effort went into this experimental and odd entry in the Silent Hill franchise. It is not as well remembered as the trilogy itself, at least for what I could read on the internet and asking people online. It is quite sad, but I can totally understand why after finishing it and is not everyone would enjoy, initially. Specially comming from prior entries which follow a set structure regardless of how wildly they might differ thematically. The Room is different.
We awake in an unknown apartment complex, inside what must be our room: 302. After taking a look at the main entrance to the room, we find out the door is completely shut. Someone took a huge amount effort and emphasis on not wanting us to leave the room whatsoever.
"Don't Go Out!!"
-Walter
Peeking into the door's peephole reveals that we are at least not alone, a lone woman wonders outside our door. She can't hear us and our only way to interact with "the outside world" is through pen and paper; notes. After exploring most of what the room has to offer up to that point, we end up staring at a large hole in the bathroom wall. In classic Silent Hill fashion, our protagonist ventures straight into the darkness to another entirely different location where the adventure starts.
The Room as I said before drifts away from the conventional spirit of the series. For instance, it is not even located in Silent Hill to begin with but a town nearby called South Ashfield. The town is full to the brim with people just living an everyday life, that is quite a contrast to the other three games. It makes emphasis in the room itself, not just as a place but as an enigmatic living entity that lives on it's own throughout several small changes we'll be seeing while we progress in the adventure. It feels like being inside of a creature that doesn't exist or rather, we can't comprehend.
But where does the "bad reception" comes from exactly? Tough one. The very nature of this game being an experiment of sorts for Team Silent delivers a layer of complexity above prior titles when it comes to storytelling and structure. It's story is secretly sparse and told in the aforementioned notes, that can be found through the apartment and the worlds themselves as we explore. How the game structures the map is simpler than prior entries, since it's divided into little worlds entirely different from one another. Think of it just as a level or zone. The absense of challenging puzzles (aside from the water prison world puzzle) might have been one of the factors too since they were not challenging at all. It is fractured into little pieces and the room serves as the central hub to take a break from time to time, read through the notes and piece the story together in something that can make sense in your head.
But, I believe there is something definitely lacking in The Room: Emotion. It is known that Silent Hill as a town can manifest people worst thoughts and transform them into reality. What does that have to do with Silent Hill exactly? This isn't about the protagonist we control, Henry. But rather it's the story of Walter Sullivan; an individual with more close ties to the town of Silent Hill, an it's religious cult. The distant nature of Henry is quite peculiar as it is non-intrusive and let's the story flow naturally while exploring a world that is not his with more ease. But it lacks that strange yet beliveable human connection characters previous titles had up to that point. This is were The Room fails to make an impact on me.
The Room is unusual, unsettling and quite interesting knowing this is Team Silent last game. Definitely feels like a side-project, while Silent Hill 3 was recieveng all the manpower and money possible to develop; Silent Hill 4 was a strange experiment that they turned into a full game. For me, it's the scariest Silent Hill game by a long shot. Don't believe me? See the intro for yourself.
Team Silent's last effort went into this experimental and odd entry in the Silent Hill franchise. It is not as well remembered as the trilogy itself, at least for what I could read on the internet and asking people online. It is quite sad, but I can totally understand why after finishing it and is not everyone would enjoy, initially. Specially comming from prior entries which follow a set structure regardless of how wildly they might differ thematically. The Room is different.
We awake in an unknown apartment complex, inside what must be our room: 302. After taking a look at the main entrance to the room, we find out the door is completely shut. Someone took a huge amount effort and emphasis on not wanting us to leave the room whatsoever.
"Don't Go Out!!"
-Walter
Peeking into the door's peephole reveals that we are at least not alone, a lone woman wonders outside our door. She can't hear us and our only way to interact with "the outside world" is through pen and paper; notes. After exploring most of what the room has to offer up to that point, we end up staring at a large hole in the bathroom wall. In classic Silent Hill fashion, our protagonist ventures straight into the darkness to another entirely different location where the adventure starts.
The Room as I said before drifts away from the conventional spirit of the series. For instance, it is not even located in Silent Hill to begin with but a town nearby called South Ashfield. The town is full to the brim with people just living an everyday life, that is quite a contrast to the other three games. It makes emphasis in the room itself, not just as a place but as an enigmatic living entity that lives on it's own throughout several small changes we'll be seeing while we progress in the adventure. It feels like being inside of a creature that doesn't exist or rather, we can't comprehend.
But where does the "bad reception" comes from exactly? Tough one. The very nature of this game being an experiment of sorts for Team Silent delivers a layer of complexity above prior titles when it comes to storytelling and structure. It's story is secretly sparse and told in the aforementioned notes, that can be found through the apartment and the worlds themselves as we explore. How the game structures the map is simpler than prior entries, since it's divided into little worlds entirely different from one another. Think of it just as a level or zone. The absense of challenging puzzles (aside from the water prison world puzzle) might have been one of the factors too since they were not challenging at all. It is fractured into little pieces and the room serves as the central hub to take a break from time to time, read through the notes and piece the story together in something that can make sense in your head.
But, I believe there is something definitely lacking in The Room: Emotion. It is known that Silent Hill as a town can manifest people worst thoughts and transform them into reality. What does that have to do with Silent Hill exactly? This isn't about the protagonist we control, Henry. But rather it's the story of Walter Sullivan; an individual with more close ties to the town of Silent Hill, an it's religious cult. The distant nature of Henry is quite peculiar as it is non-intrusive and let's the story flow naturally while exploring a world that is not his with more ease. But it lacks that strange yet beliveable human connection characters previous titles had up to that point. This is were The Room fails to make an impact on me.
The Room is unusual, unsettling and quite interesting knowing this is Team Silent last game. Definitely feels like a side-project, while Silent Hill 3 was recieveng all the manpower and money possible to develop; Silent Hill 4 was a strange experiment that they turned into a full game. For me, it's the scariest Silent Hill game by a long shot. Don't believe me? See the intro for yourself.