Moister
2023
If it ain't broke, improve on it
Dead Space, the 2008 classic horror third person shooter set in space. Brought back to life after 10 years, when we thought EA had essencially killed it with Dead Space 3. The team at EA Motive did an incredible job at remaking this title. Everything is preserved in a modern take that feels faithful to the original, while expanding on areas that in the original fell flat or weren't really developed.
In my eyes, this is the definitive edition of Dead Space, even old nostalgic me can agree with that. Though, I can point out some changes that I felt the original did better but that all comes to tastes and that's the version I grew up so I'm pretty much biased here. For example, some Necromorphs animations in the original felt a bit more natural and creepier somehow or that dialogue was kept short thanks to Issac being basically mute the entire time. I don't think giving Issac a voice was a bad decision, but too much chit-chat was tiring between sections that lasted longer than in the original and in general killed the mystery mood all around but I can also attribuite that to the original release.
My biggest question is: "Was this really necessary?" For a statistics standpoint it absolutely makes sense to revive the franchise from it's dormant state while not risking too much. A new numbered title would have been a strange decison after 10 years of inactivity. The best choice was to remake the title graphically and fix some of it's weak points and that's perfect. But I wanted more of it, beyond what this remake did.
I've already completed the original game a dozen of times during my life and I know it like the palm of my hand, hell I know the USG Ishimura better than my own house. And that is why I wanted more of it. That doesn't mean it makes this remake less, far from it. The changes made in this remake made me appreciate it even more, but I can't but think they could've gone crazier with it. Add a new boss, new zones or something, just don't stop fixing the original weak points and well, to add something on their own. And I know they added some minigames, expanded on a few zones and lots more. Just wanted to see something new from the team, some new fresh ideas while again, keeping itself true to the original.
It might be just a me thing though. And I think if the original 2008 title released in this and age, the changes made in this remake could've perfectly applied through some free updates.
Dead Space, the 2008 classic horror third person shooter set in space. Brought back to life after 10 years, when we thought EA had essencially killed it with Dead Space 3. The team at EA Motive did an incredible job at remaking this title. Everything is preserved in a modern take that feels faithful to the original, while expanding on areas that in the original fell flat or weren't really developed.
In my eyes, this is the definitive edition of Dead Space, even old nostalgic me can agree with that. Though, I can point out some changes that I felt the original did better but that all comes to tastes and that's the version I grew up so I'm pretty much biased here. For example, some Necromorphs animations in the original felt a bit more natural and creepier somehow or that dialogue was kept short thanks to Issac being basically mute the entire time. I don't think giving Issac a voice was a bad decision, but too much chit-chat was tiring between sections that lasted longer than in the original and in general killed the mystery mood all around but I can also attribuite that to the original release.
My biggest question is: "Was this really necessary?" For a statistics standpoint it absolutely makes sense to revive the franchise from it's dormant state while not risking too much. A new numbered title would have been a strange decison after 10 years of inactivity. The best choice was to remake the title graphically and fix some of it's weak points and that's perfect. But I wanted more of it, beyond what this remake did.
I've already completed the original game a dozen of times during my life and I know it like the palm of my hand, hell I know the USG Ishimura better than my own house. And that is why I wanted more of it. That doesn't mean it makes this remake less, far from it. The changes made in this remake made me appreciate it even more, but I can't but think they could've gone crazier with it. Add a new boss, new zones or something, just don't stop fixing the original weak points and well, to add something on their own. And I know they added some minigames, expanded on a few zones and lots more. Just wanted to see something new from the team, some new fresh ideas while again, keeping itself true to the original.
It might be just a me thing though. And I think if the original 2008 title released in this and age, the changes made in this remake could've perfectly applied through some free updates.
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.
KILL THE LIFE... SAVE THE LIFE... KILL THE PAST... BELIEVE THE NET
Trying to understand this game, is a big messy puzzle inside a bigger puzzle. Not just because the themes it tackles or something more superficial. It's everything undernearth that makes it a really special for me. Kill The Past, and don't let it's darkness to swallow you. Save The Life from the ones that threats it or Believe in the Net and take a glimpse into the future.
If you ever played The Silver Case, the prequel to this game you won't feel that sense of familiarity here since most of the cast is new outside probably Tokio Morisihima from the Placebo chapter. While The Silver Case signature visual style still intact, everything else is brand new. What I'm getting at is you don't need to play The Silver Case to enjoy this game, BUT, it's highly recommended to do so. Some scenes make nods to more than anything, concepts and characters that aren't totally explained throughout the main plot from the main three stories this game presents.
We have three stories with three different protagonists; Correctness, Match Maker and Placebo. Like The Silver Case these three stories are indirectly connected with one another and give form to this big messy puzzle. While Correctness is the surface of the story you'd have to walk blindly if you just have not read both Match Maker and Placebo stories, Placebo mostly. While Match Maker tries to focus it's story in the main characters of that set story, rather than a specific portion of the 25th Ward. Placebo we take control of Tokio Morisihima of the past game. Here is where all the secrets are delivered, while it starts slow and it's somewhat boring in general, it really pays off big on the final bits. You can say Placebo answers most of the questions you'll probably have in Correctness.
The plot is convoluted on purpose, let the game outsmart and surprise you, it's part of the experience. The gameplay believe it or not is more tedius than in The Silver Case, instead of instantly choosing where we want to go, like in Killer7 we're stopped for a few seconds, to then regain control of out actions and then choose where we want to go instead of being a contextual action under the assumption you have a controller. It could work better for a touch screen. Probably because this is a 2005 mobile only game and Suda wanted to be as faithful as possible or as they say in the game "It's part of the job". I'll go with the latter. So investigating isn't really that fun, good thing is those bits aren't as frequent as the game got us to believe from the beginning.
The presentation in this game really is simple, but effective in every way possible. From the angles the characters are drawn, the grey color palette itself making a slight assumption it was inspired by the "Parade" chapter from The Silver Case and giving this game themes it goes perfectly with it. And the music, the songs are as stylish as this game is and set the mood perfectly for each scene. Whenever is intense action, investigating, exploring, or even just for goofs the music will always be on spot. On cases it's not, it feels eerie but still on point weirdly enough. As different persons write the different scenarios of each story, every artist had their own vision on how it's meant to look. Correctness with it's grey color pallete is my personal favorite. It uses a lot of techniques regarding to the angle view where it's meant to be looked at. Even referencing some movies. Tokio Morishima and Placebo uses a specific color to represent a character. Since Tokio's Placebo isn't focused on the city, or specific cases, it's focused on him and the angles where the images are drawn reflect that. Match Maker goes for a more comic-like artstyle, giving the action shots a lot of movement and life others chapters simply don't have. All of them lovely crafted and makes each act feel unique and stand out on it's own.
The 25th Ward: The Silver Case is bigger and has a more ambitious scope than The Silver Case was at the time. Expanding on the themes of Kill the Past and giving new perspectives on all of the presented stories. Personally, I went on a big catharsis after finishing it. "What just happenned?" were thoughts that I couldn't get out of my mind right after finishing Correctness and the credits rolled, so I started going deep in this rabbit hole of a story. And when a story does that, it's a good game in my eyes.
Trying to understand this game, is a big messy puzzle inside a bigger puzzle. Not just because the themes it tackles or something more superficial. It's everything undernearth that makes it a really special for me. Kill The Past, and don't let it's darkness to swallow you. Save The Life from the ones that threats it or Believe in the Net and take a glimpse into the future.
If you ever played The Silver Case, the prequel to this game you won't feel that sense of familiarity here since most of the cast is new outside probably Tokio Morisihima from the Placebo chapter. While The Silver Case signature visual style still intact, everything else is brand new. What I'm getting at is you don't need to play The Silver Case to enjoy this game, BUT, it's highly recommended to do so. Some scenes make nods to more than anything, concepts and characters that aren't totally explained throughout the main plot from the main three stories this game presents.
We have three stories with three different protagonists; Correctness, Match Maker and Placebo. Like The Silver Case these three stories are indirectly connected with one another and give form to this big messy puzzle. While Correctness is the surface of the story you'd have to walk blindly if you just have not read both Match Maker and Placebo stories, Placebo mostly. While Match Maker tries to focus it's story in the main characters of that set story, rather than a specific portion of the 25th Ward. Placebo we take control of Tokio Morisihima of the past game. Here is where all the secrets are delivered, while it starts slow and it's somewhat boring in general, it really pays off big on the final bits. You can say Placebo answers most of the questions you'll probably have in Correctness.
The plot is convoluted on purpose, let the game outsmart and surprise you, it's part of the experience. The gameplay believe it or not is more tedius than in The Silver Case, instead of instantly choosing where we want to go, like in Killer7 we're stopped for a few seconds, to then regain control of out actions and then choose where we want to go instead of being a contextual action under the assumption you have a controller. It could work better for a touch screen. Probably because this is a 2005 mobile only game and Suda wanted to be as faithful as possible or as they say in the game "It's part of the job". I'll go with the latter. So investigating isn't really that fun, good thing is those bits aren't as frequent as the game got us to believe from the beginning.
The presentation in this game really is simple, but effective in every way possible. From the angles the characters are drawn, the grey color palette itself making a slight assumption it was inspired by the "Parade" chapter from The Silver Case and giving this game themes it goes perfectly with it. And the music, the songs are as stylish as this game is and set the mood perfectly for each scene. Whenever is intense action, investigating, exploring, or even just for goofs the music will always be on spot. On cases it's not, it feels eerie but still on point weirdly enough. As different persons write the different scenarios of each story, every artist had their own vision on how it's meant to look. Correctness with it's grey color pallete is my personal favorite. It uses a lot of techniques regarding to the angle view where it's meant to be looked at. Even referencing some movies. Tokio Morishima and Placebo uses a specific color to represent a character. Since Tokio's Placebo isn't focused on the city, or specific cases, it's focused on him and the angles where the images are drawn reflect that. Match Maker goes for a more comic-like artstyle, giving the action shots a lot of movement and life others chapters simply don't have. All of them lovely crafted and makes each act feel unique and stand out on it's own.
The 25th Ward: The Silver Case is bigger and has a more ambitious scope than The Silver Case was at the time. Expanding on the themes of Kill the Past and giving new perspectives on all of the presented stories. Personally, I went on a big catharsis after finishing it. "What just happenned?" were thoughts that I couldn't get out of my mind right after finishing Correctness and the credits rolled, so I started going deep in this rabbit hole of a story. And when a story does that, it's a good game in my eyes.
2018
It's more classic Mega Man alright, but with a twist. The Double Gear System; Speed and Power. Both are really nice additions to the series but I'd say the level design tends to use them as much as possible. Speed is most effective for levels and platforming and Power for bosses to deal more damage per second. Don't try to force your way to the end without this Gear System, it can range from being the easiest Mega Man ever to the hardest one, if you don't use it.
Boss Weapons are really useful tools not just to hit bosses weaknesses but throghout the levels. The enemies are mostly in spots that are hard to reach with the normal buster. Being able to instantly change weapons with a button is also great, that feature is carried from Mega Man 9 and 10 so playing with Boss Weapons on levels is as fun as it should've been on the NES titles.
It's a decent game overall. I also do like the amount of effort that went into the presentation in this one, looks really good. But ultimately I didn't feel anything by the end, specially knowing Capcom hasn't released anything Classic Mega Man related since this game hit the shelves in 2018. I could consider it a wasted effort on Capcom's part for not following the momentum Mega Man 11 gathered for the classic fans like myself, perphaps. It came and went like the wind.
I believe the classic formula hasn't evolved since the NES era, for the bad. It doesn't hit that charm past games had even with a modern coat of paint unless you truly want to be a tribute for the classic like Inti Creates did for Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10. But it's just that, a throwback to simpler times.
Mega Man needs to evolve, in general. And have a modern standard beyond what the classics offered.
Boss Weapons are really useful tools not just to hit bosses weaknesses but throghout the levels. The enemies are mostly in spots that are hard to reach with the normal buster. Being able to instantly change weapons with a button is also great, that feature is carried from Mega Man 9 and 10 so playing with Boss Weapons on levels is as fun as it should've been on the NES titles.
It's a decent game overall. I also do like the amount of effort that went into the presentation in this one, looks really good. But ultimately I didn't feel anything by the end, specially knowing Capcom hasn't released anything Classic Mega Man related since this game hit the shelves in 2018. I could consider it a wasted effort on Capcom's part for not following the momentum Mega Man 11 gathered for the classic fans like myself, perphaps. It came and went like the wind.
I believe the classic formula hasn't evolved since the NES era, for the bad. It doesn't hit that charm past games had even with a modern coat of paint unless you truly want to be a tribute for the classic like Inti Creates did for Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10. But it's just that, a throwback to simpler times.
Mega Man needs to evolve, in general. And have a modern standard beyond what the classics offered.
Old Gold
First, Ishin (Known in Japan as Ishin Kiwami) is a remake of an exclusive game to Japan released at the end of the PS3 life cycle and the start of the PS4. It's still a PS3 game in it's DNA nonetheless. This new release aimed both to be released in the west and gave the original a new coat of paint, while still retaining the everything from the original game and adding some extra content.
Personally, I only played little of the original game since it's in Japanese. Tried to find a guide that translated the text to english like I did in Kenzan. No luck, only the cutscenes were translated. A year after, a sort of remake was announced in a State of Play presentation. I was really happy that day.
Having said this let's start with Ishin itself. The first thing it struck to me were the return of familiar faces, literally. The original Ishin for PS3 as far as I know used a mix of new face models for the occasion and fairly old model from past games, specially Yakuza 5. The decision to face swap the character was odd, but a welcome one and most of the characters that were changed do fit the personality of the original, but unlike the Yakuza 0 cast they don't shine as bright. It is more remarkable knowing in the original those characters didn't flesh out much of them to begin with, only serving for the one purpose they were given. This feeling made me expect something way more of them, but it didn't deliver at their full potential. It's like trying to fit something, but it doesn't because it's too big.
The story itself is interesting, while not being something wildly different from past games. In fact, the main premise of changing our identity to hide our past and search for an impostor of ours is directly taken from Kenzan. It has major pacing problems towards the end making it oddly enough longer that it has any rights to be. For example, the town were Ishin takes place gets burned to ashes just to be rebuilded in a couple of days. It was cool for a setpiece, but it didn't had any major consequences whatsoever. Liked the decision of Okita (Majima) as an ally rather than a rival and some of the characters of the shinsengumi, either allies or foes. If you ever played a Yakuza game, either Y1 or Y7 you'll now how things will roll throughout the story. While playing I was trying to spot a differences in some characters to see how they differ from their original counterparts. Kiryu now kills people for example, so they are not totally the same characters as before and that was refreshing to see.
I didn't like much of what of the gameplay offered me. We have 4 styles to play: Swordman, Gunman, Wild Dancer and Brawler. In a sword battle you won't be throwing hands like crazy making Brawler pretty useless because of it's minimun range capabilities. Wild Dancer and Swordplay were the most useful ones to level up and combat. The light RPG system is what ruined the combat for me, is the difference that makes this game easier or harder outside of the difficulty you selected in the menu screen. It trades the mostly skill based combat of past games with something much more approcheable. While there is still skill necessary to tackle the bosses in this game, normal battles against a group of enemies are either more harder than it needs to be or easier thanks to the Wild Dancer. Mainly because the enemies don't lost their stability as often as past games and are prone to make those combats much more of a headache that has any rights to be. Wild Dancer Style is perfect for this since it's fast, covers a lot of space and while it doesn't do much damage is perfect for crowd control. Braindead easy, or overly hard. Boss battles are great in my opinion while using the Swordman style, it is the optimal way to beat them. They are a good fun challenge to tackle.
The Trooper Cards is an addition that I didn't mind throughout the game. It was simply there and forced more than anything. It could've served to alliviate the pain that is getting through the dungeons and meaningless task, but they are present in the main adventure. Wish they weren't or at least be optional, they take a decent portion of the screen and do very little to shake up the gameplay itself.
Alongside the RPG elements there is crafting. Never really used it outside upgrading some of my equipment since crafting weapons is expensive and you're required to have really specific materials, found mostly in dungeons. Bosses in this game throw some weapons; from sword to guns that are really powerful and do an exaggerated amount of damage, for free. I'd say crafting more than anything, is optional content.
Side content, as any RGG game is prevelant and very extensive. The Substories, a farming-type minigame, dungeons to gather material, the trooper card system and lots of extra content to be completed. It's been a tradition at this point so I'm not totally crazy about it and is something that rather than be surprised it's there, is something that I was expecting. The Dungeons are really big, well dungeons that help gathering materials for the blacksmith to create better equipment. But as I said, it would be hard to convince someone to do these dungeons if the rewards ain't that big for the time wasted on them. They are really long, or at least the one I tried. If crafting isn't so effective then why would you do the dungeons at the end of the day. Something like an arena full of enemies and a boss at the end would have worked way better to level up the character. Lastly we have "Another Life" with Haruka. This time she isn't a major character that directly affects the story unlike past games or Kenzan and is only relegated here. There are a couple of exclusive minigames in her house like cooking and farming. Decent time killers.
Exploration is big and inmerssive in this game. Like Kenzan you can go on narrow paths with very close camera angles that are nothing but nature, it's refreshing to escape from the big crowded Kyoto once in a while. Kyoto itself is really big and a bit hard to navigate. At first I didn't knew where Haruka's home on the map was since you can only go on boat and I totally forgot that, oops.
As for my experience, I did play this game on Hard since in my personal opinion Yakuza games are fairly easy as long as you have medicines equiped. But I found this game to be fairly challenging and the difficulty curve was well adjusted. From Chapter 10 to the final chapter there is a big spike in difficulty, some long battles felt like I was running towards the end of the game by how spectacular and difficult they were, the very last stage felt underwhealming because of it.
Technically speaking the game looks great overall and everything runs at stable 60fps but the cutscenes. Going from a 60fps gameplay to the CGI cutscenes running at 30fps was jarring but once I got use to it I didn't really mind the change. As much as it looks good it uses Unreal Engine 4, and the textures takes sometime to load. It's most notable on cutscenes and close-ups. The menu has really slow animations, in fact the sound that is used while pressing a button is faster than the transition itself. Selct Inventory > Exit the Inventory Screen, pressed B a total of 4 times and the menu was still loading, you can test it yourself. It might had to do with animations more than anything, the old games had faster and snappy ones.
It is a fun time at the end of the day like any Yakuza game. I'd recommend this game to the fans of the series either are sick of Kamurocho or want can't wait for Kenzan to be localized.
First, Ishin (Known in Japan as Ishin Kiwami) is a remake of an exclusive game to Japan released at the end of the PS3 life cycle and the start of the PS4. It's still a PS3 game in it's DNA nonetheless. This new release aimed both to be released in the west and gave the original a new coat of paint, while still retaining the everything from the original game and adding some extra content.
Personally, I only played little of the original game since it's in Japanese. Tried to find a guide that translated the text to english like I did in Kenzan. No luck, only the cutscenes were translated. A year after, a sort of remake was announced in a State of Play presentation. I was really happy that day.
Having said this let's start with Ishin itself. The first thing it struck to me were the return of familiar faces, literally. The original Ishin for PS3 as far as I know used a mix of new face models for the occasion and fairly old model from past games, specially Yakuza 5. The decision to face swap the character was odd, but a welcome one and most of the characters that were changed do fit the personality of the original, but unlike the Yakuza 0 cast they don't shine as bright. It is more remarkable knowing in the original those characters didn't flesh out much of them to begin with, only serving for the one purpose they were given. This feeling made me expect something way more of them, but it didn't deliver at their full potential. It's like trying to fit something, but it doesn't because it's too big.
The story itself is interesting, while not being something wildly different from past games. In fact, the main premise of changing our identity to hide our past and search for an impostor of ours is directly taken from Kenzan. It has major pacing problems towards the end making it oddly enough longer that it has any rights to be. For example, the town were Ishin takes place gets burned to ashes just to be rebuilded in a couple of days. It was cool for a setpiece, but it didn't had any major consequences whatsoever. Liked the decision of Okita (Majima) as an ally rather than a rival and some of the characters of the shinsengumi, either allies or foes. If you ever played a Yakuza game, either Y1 or Y7 you'll now how things will roll throughout the story. While playing I was trying to spot a differences in some characters to see how they differ from their original counterparts. Kiryu now kills people for example, so they are not totally the same characters as before and that was refreshing to see.
I didn't like much of what of the gameplay offered me. We have 4 styles to play: Swordman, Gunman, Wild Dancer and Brawler. In a sword battle you won't be throwing hands like crazy making Brawler pretty useless because of it's minimun range capabilities. Wild Dancer and Swordplay were the most useful ones to level up and combat. The light RPG system is what ruined the combat for me, is the difference that makes this game easier or harder outside of the difficulty you selected in the menu screen. It trades the mostly skill based combat of past games with something much more approcheable. While there is still skill necessary to tackle the bosses in this game, normal battles against a group of enemies are either more harder than it needs to be or easier thanks to the Wild Dancer. Mainly because the enemies don't lost their stability as often as past games and are prone to make those combats much more of a headache that has any rights to be. Wild Dancer Style is perfect for this since it's fast, covers a lot of space and while it doesn't do much damage is perfect for crowd control. Braindead easy, or overly hard. Boss battles are great in my opinion while using the Swordman style, it is the optimal way to beat them. They are a good fun challenge to tackle.
The Trooper Cards is an addition that I didn't mind throughout the game. It was simply there and forced more than anything. It could've served to alliviate the pain that is getting through the dungeons and meaningless task, but they are present in the main adventure. Wish they weren't or at least be optional, they take a decent portion of the screen and do very little to shake up the gameplay itself.
Alongside the RPG elements there is crafting. Never really used it outside upgrading some of my equipment since crafting weapons is expensive and you're required to have really specific materials, found mostly in dungeons. Bosses in this game throw some weapons; from sword to guns that are really powerful and do an exaggerated amount of damage, for free. I'd say crafting more than anything, is optional content.
Side content, as any RGG game is prevelant and very extensive. The Substories, a farming-type minigame, dungeons to gather material, the trooper card system and lots of extra content to be completed. It's been a tradition at this point so I'm not totally crazy about it and is something that rather than be surprised it's there, is something that I was expecting. The Dungeons are really big, well dungeons that help gathering materials for the blacksmith to create better equipment. But as I said, it would be hard to convince someone to do these dungeons if the rewards ain't that big for the time wasted on them. They are really long, or at least the one I tried. If crafting isn't so effective then why would you do the dungeons at the end of the day. Something like an arena full of enemies and a boss at the end would have worked way better to level up the character. Lastly we have "Another Life" with Haruka. This time she isn't a major character that directly affects the story unlike past games or Kenzan and is only relegated here. There are a couple of exclusive minigames in her house like cooking and farming. Decent time killers.
Exploration is big and inmerssive in this game. Like Kenzan you can go on narrow paths with very close camera angles that are nothing but nature, it's refreshing to escape from the big crowded Kyoto once in a while. Kyoto itself is really big and a bit hard to navigate. At first I didn't knew where Haruka's home on the map was since you can only go on boat and I totally forgot that, oops.
As for my experience, I did play this game on Hard since in my personal opinion Yakuza games are fairly easy as long as you have medicines equiped. But I found this game to be fairly challenging and the difficulty curve was well adjusted. From Chapter 10 to the final chapter there is a big spike in difficulty, some long battles felt like I was running towards the end of the game by how spectacular and difficult they were, the very last stage felt underwhealming because of it.
Technically speaking the game looks great overall and everything runs at stable 60fps but the cutscenes. Going from a 60fps gameplay to the CGI cutscenes running at 30fps was jarring but once I got use to it I didn't really mind the change. As much as it looks good it uses Unreal Engine 4, and the textures takes sometime to load. It's most notable on cutscenes and close-ups. The menu has really slow animations, in fact the sound that is used while pressing a button is faster than the transition itself. Selct Inventory > Exit the Inventory Screen, pressed B a total of 4 times and the menu was still loading, you can test it yourself. It might had to do with animations more than anything, the old games had faster and snappy ones.
It is a fun time at the end of the day like any Yakuza game. I'd recommend this game to the fans of the series either are sick of Kamurocho or want can't wait for Kenzan to be localized.
No Rest for the Living
2007. What a prolific year for the FPS scene. We got Halo 3, The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Bioshock among other gems left in the 7th generation of consoles. One of those titles that released was Clive Barker's Jericho in collaboration with the Spanish game studio: MercurySteam.
Jericho could've been something great if a little more polish went into it. It's essentially a corridor shooter with possession-like elements, that's one of the main premises of the gameplay.
Sounds interesting in paper, in practice it is as well. You're Ross, the commander that died in this very operation at the beginning of the game. Among the team we have other 6 members to control with our powers, which have their own abilities to contribute both the gameplay and the story itself. It might sound odd, but for the modern age it can be the equivalent to a hero shooter. At least to me.
It is a total game changer once you get use to it, since every member has a different method of dealing with enemies and each members is indirectly effective to a certain type than others, in all comes for a very cohesive game mechanic that I haven't seen in any other shooter as of now.
What drags this games down is for the most part what and where you fight. The levels are not bad, just basic and if it wasn't for the achieved hellish atmosphere I would've dropped this game. It isn't objectively long, but it felt it was more than really needed. Enemies are often very aggressive, since they were made to resist all your teammates bullets, but they wouldn't survive long enough for that very same reason so the developer approach to difficulty was to make them bullet sponges. Not to mention they come in hordes, huge never ending hordes, so be prepared to sink some minutes in the same section.
Unironically the parts I liked the most were when we had fewer members in the team for me to control. Or even better, the parts were I just controlled one member in a asolated area, apart for the squad. The shooting chaos was much more manageable even if the game got harder by being handicapped only with one individual. One thing I forgot to mention is that if one of the members dies, you'll have to revive them. And the IA that controls set members isn't particullary smart so they die rather quickly and by the end it just becomes a daunting task.
This game also suffers from the 7th gen starting lineup game jank visually speaking. Everything looks wet, glossy and shinny in the depths of hell with brown and reds alike being shown most of the time with little to no variation. Though I can say the hellish landscapes were a joy to look at, and the monsters were as part creepy, unpleseant as creative and well achieved for this particular game.
All and All I think it was entertaining weirdly enough as a movie of the style would be. It does not particularly stand out in the gameplay department, it walks in that thin line between being a boring mindless shooting gallery and a compelling horror game with ghost mechanics. But the great atmosphere, deep interesting lore and the fun possesion mechanics makes up for a enjoyable game, but a just very rough one.
2007. What a prolific year for the FPS scene. We got Halo 3, The Orange Box, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Bioshock among other gems left in the 7th generation of consoles. One of those titles that released was Clive Barker's Jericho in collaboration with the Spanish game studio: MercurySteam.
Jericho could've been something great if a little more polish went into it. It's essentially a corridor shooter with possession-like elements, that's one of the main premises of the gameplay.
Sounds interesting in paper, in practice it is as well. You're Ross, the commander that died in this very operation at the beginning of the game. Among the team we have other 6 members to control with our powers, which have their own abilities to contribute both the gameplay and the story itself. It might sound odd, but for the modern age it can be the equivalent to a hero shooter. At least to me.
It is a total game changer once you get use to it, since every member has a different method of dealing with enemies and each members is indirectly effective to a certain type than others, in all comes for a very cohesive game mechanic that I haven't seen in any other shooter as of now.
What drags this games down is for the most part what and where you fight. The levels are not bad, just basic and if it wasn't for the achieved hellish atmosphere I would've dropped this game. It isn't objectively long, but it felt it was more than really needed. Enemies are often very aggressive, since they were made to resist all your teammates bullets, but they wouldn't survive long enough for that very same reason so the developer approach to difficulty was to make them bullet sponges. Not to mention they come in hordes, huge never ending hordes, so be prepared to sink some minutes in the same section.
Unironically the parts I liked the most were when we had fewer members in the team for me to control. Or even better, the parts were I just controlled one member in a asolated area, apart for the squad. The shooting chaos was much more manageable even if the game got harder by being handicapped only with one individual. One thing I forgot to mention is that if one of the members dies, you'll have to revive them. And the IA that controls set members isn't particullary smart so they die rather quickly and by the end it just becomes a daunting task.
This game also suffers from the 7th gen starting lineup game jank visually speaking. Everything looks wet, glossy and shinny in the depths of hell with brown and reds alike being shown most of the time with little to no variation. Though I can say the hellish landscapes were a joy to look at, and the monsters were as part creepy, unpleseant as creative and well achieved for this particular game.
All and All I think it was entertaining weirdly enough as a movie of the style would be. It does not particularly stand out in the gameplay department, it walks in that thin line between being a boring mindless shooting gallery and a compelling horror game with ghost mechanics. But the great atmosphere, deep interesting lore and the fun possesion mechanics makes up for a enjoyable game, but a just very rough one.
Back to the roots
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard comes to revitalize the Resident Evil series that was already going on a unstoppable downfall in reputation and sales after the mess that was Resident Evil 6.
This games steps up for big changes and changes tradition for the third time in it's runtime. First Person, curious choice of location, not having superheroes as controllable to run of the mil citizens. These changes shake up the usual formula we've been having for such a long time it's just refreshing to see. Personally after making a sort of marathon of the most important Resident Evil titles, having something new is always appreciated.
Now, Resident Evil 7 gets quite inspired by western horror tropes and movie genres. Don't look further than it's star location: Lousiana. From Slasher Movies to Jigsaw-like puzzles we get all sorts of the horror genres tropes mixed into one game. Is it scary though? It might depend of where you look at it, personally it was entertaining rather than scary to me. It's a subjective feeling after all but it's an enjoyable time and I'm not going to deny is the most horror like feeling I've had with this franchise along side Resident Evil 2 Remake.
Sure it had moments were tension was high, but nothing that had me uncomfortable all the way through.
But what makes Resident Evil so engaging? For me it's the item managing system, fitting for a survival horror game after all. It is here in all it's glory. Though I felt the game was really easy on Normal difficulty and I felt managing my inventory was more bussy work than anything after some time.
Then there is the gameplay itself, it's good enough. As I stated again you will be playing as fairly normal people, don't expect to suplex any monsters around. You'll be relying on your weapons and a self-defense hand block to recieve less damage from the enemies. Talking about enemies, zombies aren't a thing now instead we have black faceless human blobs, with some variations in between including the classic big monsters as bosses.
Probably the worst part of this game, right here which is the enemy variety. They blend into the dark enviroment at times, aren't really scary, and the first person camera makes them harder to spot due to the limited field of view.
The tone of this game is the very effective but safe campy horror we've have getting used to in the series. It's entertaing, doesn't make sense at times and it has it's own rules to follow. That goes for the story as well, which isn't this game strong side. Most characters were forgettable except for the Baker Family, we control Ethan but we get attached mostly not for what he is, instead for what happens to him. Points for the villains, they were the fun side of this game.
So in short. It's Resident Evil and is back to the roots and what made the series special, in a much different setting and a much smaller story in scale.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard comes to revitalize the Resident Evil series that was already going on a unstoppable downfall in reputation and sales after the mess that was Resident Evil 6.
This games steps up for big changes and changes tradition for the third time in it's runtime. First Person, curious choice of location, not having superheroes as controllable to run of the mil citizens. These changes shake up the usual formula we've been having for such a long time it's just refreshing to see. Personally after making a sort of marathon of the most important Resident Evil titles, having something new is always appreciated.
Now, Resident Evil 7 gets quite inspired by western horror tropes and movie genres. Don't look further than it's star location: Lousiana. From Slasher Movies to Jigsaw-like puzzles we get all sorts of the horror genres tropes mixed into one game. Is it scary though? It might depend of where you look at it, personally it was entertaining rather than scary to me. It's a subjective feeling after all but it's an enjoyable time and I'm not going to deny is the most horror like feeling I've had with this franchise along side Resident Evil 2 Remake.
Sure it had moments were tension was high, but nothing that had me uncomfortable all the way through.
But what makes Resident Evil so engaging? For me it's the item managing system, fitting for a survival horror game after all. It is here in all it's glory. Though I felt the game was really easy on Normal difficulty and I felt managing my inventory was more bussy work than anything after some time.
Then there is the gameplay itself, it's good enough. As I stated again you will be playing as fairly normal people, don't expect to suplex any monsters around. You'll be relying on your weapons and a self-defense hand block to recieve less damage from the enemies. Talking about enemies, zombies aren't a thing now instead we have black faceless human blobs, with some variations in between including the classic big monsters as bosses.
Probably the worst part of this game, right here which is the enemy variety. They blend into the dark enviroment at times, aren't really scary, and the first person camera makes them harder to spot due to the limited field of view.
The tone of this game is the very effective but safe campy horror we've have getting used to in the series. It's entertaing, doesn't make sense at times and it has it's own rules to follow. That goes for the story as well, which isn't this game strong side. Most characters were forgettable except for the Baker Family, we control Ethan but we get attached mostly not for what he is, instead for what happens to him. Points for the villains, they were the fun side of this game.
So in short. It's Resident Evil and is back to the roots and what made the series special, in a much different setting and a much smaller story in scale.
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.
2001
Psychological Storytelling Masterpiece
I believe this is one of the most influential games for the horror games genre ever created. The ability to make the adventure very unsettling and mysterious all the way through and at the same time keeping me hooked is just an awesome experience I believe everyone should try at some point in our lives.
Though, I feel the gameplay did aged a ton outside of puzzle solving. While the scenarios, ambience and Silent Hill itself is nothing short but inmersive I can't but think this isn't that much of a "Survival Horror" game since the survival element isn't that really that present.
Personally never felt like I was really in danger in this game, bullets and medic kits were abundant throughout the town. And the monsters themselves were somewhat basic and unthreating outside Pyramid Head.
Those were the only low points in the game. But I did love everything else. Specially how it tackles it's themes, there isn't a clear answer by the end and that makes all the more intriguing. Did James made the right decision?
Completed this game right after Silent Hill 3 and I quickly noticed the differences in their approach to horror. While Silent Hill 3 tried to be more visually scary, Silent Hill 2 tries to make you uncomfortable and confused all the way through and, at the same time being a more personal heartfel story.
The story of Heather since we probably know as much as her at the start before her memories start to crawl back and it can be understandable as the game progresses, while James itself remains a mystery until the hotel way later into the game.
I believe this is one of the most influential games for the horror games genre ever created. The ability to make the adventure very unsettling and mysterious all the way through and at the same time keeping me hooked is just an awesome experience I believe everyone should try at some point in our lives.
Though, I feel the gameplay did aged a ton outside of puzzle solving. While the scenarios, ambience and Silent Hill itself is nothing short but inmersive I can't but think this isn't that much of a "Survival Horror" game since the survival element isn't that really that present.
Personally never felt like I was really in danger in this game, bullets and medic kits were abundant throughout the town. And the monsters themselves were somewhat basic and unthreating outside Pyramid Head.
Those were the only low points in the game. But I did love everything else. Specially how it tackles it's themes, there isn't a clear answer by the end and that makes all the more intriguing. Did James made the right decision?
Completed this game right after Silent Hill 3 and I quickly noticed the differences in their approach to horror. While Silent Hill 3 tried to be more visually scary, Silent Hill 2 tries to make you uncomfortable and confused all the way through and, at the same time being a more personal heartfel story.
The story of Heather since we probably know as much as her at the start before her memories start to crawl back and it can be understandable as the game progresses, while James itself remains a mystery until the hotel way later into the game.
A slow burn Spiral into Madness
If Hotline Miami was the time everyone had simple fun, without much care in the world. Hotline Miami 2 is the horrible hangover and the direct response at what happened after and before the first game.
You take the role of multiple protagonist, way more than in the first game. Each with little gameplay quirks while not being totally different from one another. Each one having to deal with their very own problems throughout the game, all tied with the events of the first game.
The story is fractured in little fragments so you'll have to piece together those events if you really want to experience something that makes more or less sense. The gameplay is exactly the same as the first, take down every enemy on the floor and keep moving until everyone is dead. It really isn't that complicated for a game loop. It can be enjoyed while being a bit hard at times if you are not patient enough and just threat it like the first game. Be careful approaching this game.
If you want my quick opinion of it I think it's a great sequel to an already great game, everything is aplified, expanded and enhanced on some of the areas the original that lacked polish. Though, it won't be as simple as the first as I said before and this game wants you to get invested in what it offers.
So far what I said it's the general description of the game. What people could expect jumping from the first or game or like me and started with this one in particular. But it goes a lot, more deeper than that. I took notes with what this game tried to do, so if you want to keep reading it's going to get a lot dense from here on out.
Hotline Miami 2 are the rammifications of the first game, in general. Critics, fans, new players, and even the reception of people not affilated with games at all. Hotline Miami was both acclaimed critically and by fans, or those who eventually turned into one with this game. But Hotline Miami 2 changed some of the fundamentals or the core pillars of why people liked the first game, a big tone shift. You know, the neon lights replaced with a somewhat less picturesque color palette. The fun psychedelic party-like songs replaced with melancholic or overly agressive tunes and so on.
The characters went into a big shift as well. Instead of 2, we get a total of 12. Some get more screentime than others and affect the story in a greater or lessen extent than others but everyone all contribute to the story, the symbolisms and the general message this game tries to convey by the end.
Every character for better or for worse replicates what Jacket and Biker, the protagonist of the first game did back in 1989. Take for example Martin Brown, the Pig. He's star actor of a slasher movie. The events that inspired the movie are loosely based on the story of Jacket and the Russian Mafia. As the movie goes on, his reality starts to break and take the role more seriously than needed perphaps, he starts acting like The Pig outside of the movie studio. What is real and what is not starts to be a challenge for him, this is a constant for some Hollywood actors already and their personality changes overtime because of it. What was supossed a movie to make a quick buck on the events of Jacket, turned his main actor into a maniac. That very same movie wasn't even the correct interpretation of Jacket's story, instead they portray him as a lunatic murder with an animal mask that kidnapped girls because he wanted to. This perspective can be shared for the people that saw the original Hotline Miami and didn't really understood the action of Jacket and decided to spread only superficial information and didn't want to go deeper than it, what can be visually shocking. I can personally attribute this either bad journalism, or even the press those who didn't got the message and still decided to speak their mind about it. What I just explained is presented in a matter of two levels.
On the other hand we have Evan Wright, the Writter. He's in charge of investigating the events of the first game. As he goes along his journey he will try to interview people that may or have not been involved with the Russian Mafia incident back in 1989. His main gameplay gimmick is that he doesn't "hurt" people in the way we really know. Yeah, he doesn't kill at first glance he just knocks them off and leaves them unconscious. A man who go obsessed with the case, so much so he was consantly risking his life for so little information the goons and the mafia were able to provide to him. He never had to be involved, unlike Biker but he wanted to. This character mirrors the people that wanted to really make sense of the events of Hotline Miami, the first one. The friendly and non violent actions of Evan can be reflected through the people that made theories about the first game and got obsessed by it. Both of them turn crazy at the end of their story arcs. Evan with his book that never got finished and Martin when his reality shifted at the "Final Cut" of the movie. And this are just 2 of 12 examples, 2 that I thought were the most important and that can easily relect what I meant.
There are countless examples out of the 12 characters, reflecting the reception of the first game, and Dennaton just made a story out of it. The story is full of symbolisms and hidden meanings that can't be noticed in the first playthough. If it never made sense to you, try to interpret what this characters meant. Even while playing you'd feel the characters personality while killing their enemies, though it may comes just as incosistency in design at first glance.
Let's moves to something more easy to digest. The levels themselves, aren't they any good? Yes, and no. The levels are bigger than the first game and are more spacious as well. My personal advice is to threat this game with patience, even I after 500 hours can't complete some levels without dying on Hard Difficulty. There aren't many scripted sections in this game outside of gameplay, is all mostly straightforward to the end and if possible a cutscenes that puts the level you played in context. This is the reason I lowered half a star, people can get to annoyed the first time around and feel it isn't their fault and I think they are right, it can get very overwhealming to some.
Believe or not the technical state of Hotline Miami 2 is miles ahead Hotline Miami. When it comes to enemy hit detection is much more accurate, and the AI while not perfect it's in a much better state and prepared for combat, makes so much sense after you get use to it. I won't even talk about the music, you know it's good.
Those were the main factors that made fall in love with this game. It's subersive while at the same time being more Hotline Miami with a twist so it isn't what you expect but at the same time you are familiar with it. Everything a sequel should strive for.
If Hotline Miami was the time everyone had simple fun, without much care in the world. Hotline Miami 2 is the horrible hangover and the direct response at what happened after and before the first game.
You take the role of multiple protagonist, way more than in the first game. Each with little gameplay quirks while not being totally different from one another. Each one having to deal with their very own problems throughout the game, all tied with the events of the first game.
The story is fractured in little fragments so you'll have to piece together those events if you really want to experience something that makes more or less sense. The gameplay is exactly the same as the first, take down every enemy on the floor and keep moving until everyone is dead. It really isn't that complicated for a game loop. It can be enjoyed while being a bit hard at times if you are not patient enough and just threat it like the first game. Be careful approaching this game.
If you want my quick opinion of it I think it's a great sequel to an already great game, everything is aplified, expanded and enhanced on some of the areas the original that lacked polish. Though, it won't be as simple as the first as I said before and this game wants you to get invested in what it offers.
So far what I said it's the general description of the game. What people could expect jumping from the first or game or like me and started with this one in particular. But it goes a lot, more deeper than that. I took notes with what this game tried to do, so if you want to keep reading it's going to get a lot dense from here on out.
Hotline Miami 2 are the rammifications of the first game, in general. Critics, fans, new players, and even the reception of people not affilated with games at all. Hotline Miami was both acclaimed critically and by fans, or those who eventually turned into one with this game. But Hotline Miami 2 changed some of the fundamentals or the core pillars of why people liked the first game, a big tone shift. You know, the neon lights replaced with a somewhat less picturesque color palette. The fun psychedelic party-like songs replaced with melancholic or overly agressive tunes and so on.
The characters went into a big shift as well. Instead of 2, we get a total of 12. Some get more screentime than others and affect the story in a greater or lessen extent than others but everyone all contribute to the story, the symbolisms and the general message this game tries to convey by the end.
Every character for better or for worse replicates what Jacket and Biker, the protagonist of the first game did back in 1989. Take for example Martin Brown, the Pig. He's star actor of a slasher movie. The events that inspired the movie are loosely based on the story of Jacket and the Russian Mafia. As the movie goes on, his reality starts to break and take the role more seriously than needed perphaps, he starts acting like The Pig outside of the movie studio. What is real and what is not starts to be a challenge for him, this is a constant for some Hollywood actors already and their personality changes overtime because of it. What was supossed a movie to make a quick buck on the events of Jacket, turned his main actor into a maniac. That very same movie wasn't even the correct interpretation of Jacket's story, instead they portray him as a lunatic murder with an animal mask that kidnapped girls because he wanted to. This perspective can be shared for the people that saw the original Hotline Miami and didn't really understood the action of Jacket and decided to spread only superficial information and didn't want to go deeper than it, what can be visually shocking. I can personally attribute this either bad journalism, or even the press those who didn't got the message and still decided to speak their mind about it. What I just explained is presented in a matter of two levels.
On the other hand we have Evan Wright, the Writter. He's in charge of investigating the events of the first game. As he goes along his journey he will try to interview people that may or have not been involved with the Russian Mafia incident back in 1989. His main gameplay gimmick is that he doesn't "hurt" people in the way we really know. Yeah, he doesn't kill at first glance he just knocks them off and leaves them unconscious. A man who go obsessed with the case, so much so he was consantly risking his life for so little information the goons and the mafia were able to provide to him. He never had to be involved, unlike Biker but he wanted to. This character mirrors the people that wanted to really make sense of the events of Hotline Miami, the first one. The friendly and non violent actions of Evan can be reflected through the people that made theories about the first game and got obsessed by it. Both of them turn crazy at the end of their story arcs. Evan with his book that never got finished and Martin when his reality shifted at the "Final Cut" of the movie. And this are just 2 of 12 examples, 2 that I thought were the most important and that can easily relect what I meant.
There are countless examples out of the 12 characters, reflecting the reception of the first game, and Dennaton just made a story out of it. The story is full of symbolisms and hidden meanings that can't be noticed in the first playthough. If it never made sense to you, try to interpret what this characters meant. Even while playing you'd feel the characters personality while killing their enemies, though it may comes just as incosistency in design at first glance.
Let's moves to something more easy to digest. The levels themselves, aren't they any good? Yes, and no. The levels are bigger than the first game and are more spacious as well. My personal advice is to threat this game with patience, even I after 500 hours can't complete some levels without dying on Hard Difficulty. There aren't many scripted sections in this game outside of gameplay, is all mostly straightforward to the end and if possible a cutscenes that puts the level you played in context. This is the reason I lowered half a star, people can get to annoyed the first time around and feel it isn't their fault and I think they are right, it can get very overwhealming to some.
Believe or not the technical state of Hotline Miami 2 is miles ahead Hotline Miami. When it comes to enemy hit detection is much more accurate, and the AI while not perfect it's in a much better state and prepared for combat, makes so much sense after you get use to it. I won't even talk about the music, you know it's good.
Those were the main factors that made fall in love with this game. It's subersive while at the same time being more Hotline Miami with a twist so it isn't what you expect but at the same time you are familiar with it. Everything a sequel should strive for.
2003
A subtle, but a striking psychological horror adventure
My first complete approach to the Silent Hill series.
Silent Hill 3 for me wasn't totally a "fun" ride. But it was one that I enjoyed and kept me really surprised the more I got into it.
Where the game I think it excels the most is the eviroment as a whole. Team Silent really did something that made me uncomfortable all the way through but also appreciate the scenery for how beautifully crafted it is. And this is not including the impecable sound design and direction.
The presentation in Silent Hill 3 is just impecable and I can't stress that enough for a 2003 title. Every moment felt like I was decending to some type of hell after playing halfway through it, after reaching Silent Hill to be specific.
There were sections that I thought were a bit filler in between the story and didn't add to the overall game outside being extra bussy work to do. Don't get me wrong, the story has it's moments from time to time but can be held back by the travel itself.
Most of the time I was confused of how did I end up in some sections since this game is really linear. But that doesn't mean I enjoyed most of the levels and the puzzles.
What hurts this game the most is the combat. It's outdated, old and clunky. You can just pass by the monsters as long as they don't get directly in your way. No more than a little annoyance than something that you should be really scared off. I think this game didn't needed combat at all and just stick what the team does best, it feels like an afterthought on most occations.
The story is also solid and tackles some themes that by 2003 could've been very controversial to some people. I liked Heather as a protagonist, she's just fun to watch and interact with the others. The VA and the writting team did a great job portraying a teenager in a stressing situation, just scared of the world around her full of lunatics. Though it seems the main characters were the ones that had the most work put into Voice Acting while the secondary cast like Vincent or Douglas underdelivered a little.
So in short. Absolute must for horror fans with the only downside being it's combat.
My first complete approach to the Silent Hill series.
Silent Hill 3 for me wasn't totally a "fun" ride. But it was one that I enjoyed and kept me really surprised the more I got into it.
Where the game I think it excels the most is the eviroment as a whole. Team Silent really did something that made me uncomfortable all the way through but also appreciate the scenery for how beautifully crafted it is. And this is not including the impecable sound design and direction.
The presentation in Silent Hill 3 is just impecable and I can't stress that enough for a 2003 title. Every moment felt like I was decending to some type of hell after playing halfway through it, after reaching Silent Hill to be specific.
There were sections that I thought were a bit filler in between the story and didn't add to the overall game outside being extra bussy work to do. Don't get me wrong, the story has it's moments from time to time but can be held back by the travel itself.
Most of the time I was confused of how did I end up in some sections since this game is really linear. But that doesn't mean I enjoyed most of the levels and the puzzles.
What hurts this game the most is the combat. It's outdated, old and clunky. You can just pass by the monsters as long as they don't get directly in your way. No more than a little annoyance than something that you should be really scared off. I think this game didn't needed combat at all and just stick what the team does best, it feels like an afterthought on most occations.
The story is also solid and tackles some themes that by 2003 could've been very controversial to some people. I liked Heather as a protagonist, she's just fun to watch and interact with the others. The VA and the writting team did a great job portraying a teenager in a stressing situation, just scared of the world around her full of lunatics. Though it seems the main characters were the ones that had the most work put into Voice Acting while the secondary cast like Vincent or Douglas underdelivered a little.
So in short. Absolute must for horror fans with the only downside being it's combat.
2022
Little ambition, in a sea of good ideas
Soul Hackers 2 is not the direct sequel to the original game: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, it is it's own thing entirely. While tackling some of core themes like literally "Soul Hacking" people. If you ever played a mainline SMT or two you will also notice both games won't have much in common with each other in terms of story or characters or even the setting. What I'm getting at is that you don't really have to play the first game to enjoy this one.
SMT is known for thoughtful, simple to tackle and hard to master combat. Is it any good here? It's really simplified, compared to what the games have been building up to.
After hitting an enemy weakness, you'll activate what is called Sabbath. Sabbath attacks stack ups the demons you have in your team once you hit an enemy weakness one by one to deal extra damage at the end of your party's turn. It's a good twist on the already proven to be great Press Turn System from mainline games.
Thing is, Sabbath is not much more complex that you may think. The extra spicy detail is that a demon can perform an extra action while on Sabbath if it learns a specific attack. Say, it can deal already extra damage to the Sabbath attack, steal an item from the enemy, recover energy to the party and so on. It's tied to one demon's ability and honestly that limits a lot what you can do with this system. Every demon should've had an extra effect by default or to be customizable through the game in a Sabbath attack. And this game loves customization, we'll get in depth into that soon.
The story in this game is serviceable, save the world from destruction type of deal. You are Ringo, a emissary from Aion, a super intelligent being and you will be also accompanied by Figue, a friend of sorts. Both have the mission to search for an entity known as Iron Mask and just stop him. Along the way, in one of the first hours you'll meet two individuals: Arrow and Milady, both killed in action. Ringo decides the best course of action will be to "Soul Hack" these two individuals and bring them to life again and help her searching for Iron Mask, which wants to destroy the world. Both Arrow and Milady belong to different factions that have different views on the world and are currently on war, there's is Yatagarasu and the Phantom Society. After meeting them you'll encounter a third member, Saizo a freelancer demon summoner which got involved into this faction war. After reuniting with all the members the main story starts to unfold. It's a cool setup, everyone is tied with Iron Mask directly or indirectly so the story doesn't have to constantly remind us who is this guy exacly, it remains a mystery. These three individual will make up your party, alongside your demons of course. Everyone in your group had an afflicted past, problems and answers that never were resolve before dying, you can go in depth with those stories in what are called "Soul Matrix" a dungeon set in the soul of one of your parterns. Talking about dungeons.
We hit a low in this one. The dungeons in Soul Hackers 2 are simple and not interesting to explore. I would be lying if I said I enjoyed the little variation of dungeons in this title, I didn't. It loves to waste your time with long hallways that can or not lead to nothing, dead ends basically with a very basic linear structure and very little to explore in general. To top of that you'll have a navigator called Mimi, a little bird creature that is suppossed to help with enemy detection on dungeons. But it doesn't, in this game there are not random encounters and enemies can spawn in front of you and you'll have plenty of time to react and either escape or slash them since they are really slow. And exploration is even easier thanks to that, you can just slash enemies outside combat and never had to fight one. But keep in mind you'll still need to level up so there is no real sense of danger in this game when it comes to exploration. Mimi, the bird creature will never shut up and you'll be constantly hearing it when approaching an enemy or even when not. It just makes the exploration aspect absolutely more miserable than it already is. Soul Matrix as I previously mention is a dungeon inside one of your mates soul. This lets you equip them with better unique skills or upgrades, may be passive upgrades or active skills. This is where customization comes into play. One of the better aspects in this game is the customization, to your party to be exact. Upgrades can be found in a shop or in the Soul Matrix though it doesn't apply to Ringo.
The shop will sell you the upgrades as long as you have the materials to produce it. These materials can be found throughout the dungeons thanks to your demons. Forgot to mention, after selecting a dungeon to explore Ringo will automatically sent demons to explore the area for you for materials and such. This is what's known as "Demon Scout", this also where Demon Negotiation comes into play, and weirdly enough it's outside of combat.
Back to the upgrades. You can build a character basically the way you want with this system with elemental perks. Want Ringo to go for a Elelctric build? Sure. Saizo force? Yeah. Make everyone master fire attacks? Of course. Though the strategy always remains in being as diverse as possible. Instant kill attacks are not present in this game, so if you ever planned to make a quick kill build to farm for exp. I'm sorry to dissapoint you. This, mixed with Demon Fusion creates a great sense of freedom.
The presentation in this game is good. Nothing outstanding or horrendous. Though you can feel the team didn't had the budget or probably time to polish most of the aspects of presentation. Janky animation, weird or bland textures and unstable performance. Some zones are way more detailed than other, this created a huge unbalance visually speaking. The dungeons themselves, the worst aspect of the game are dull looking at while the main two cities in this game shine with details. Music is quiet while on dungeons, almost unnoticeable but the combat music ain't bad at all.
So in conclusion. Is it worth your time? No, I don't think it is. Even if you are a massive MegaTen preacher. Mainly because you already have RPGs from Atlus that made some aspects miles better than this game. Want a character story driven game? Play Persona. Want to focus on gameplay alone with an ambiguous story? Play Shin Megami Tensei. Want the classic dungeon feeling? Just play the original Soul Hackers. No wonder this game flopped, it tries to be everything while not wanting to be ambitious and tie everything in a way that feels cohesive. It doesn't have a clear identity.
Soul Hackers 2 is not the direct sequel to the original game: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, it is it's own thing entirely. While tackling some of core themes like literally "Soul Hacking" people. If you ever played a mainline SMT or two you will also notice both games won't have much in common with each other in terms of story or characters or even the setting. What I'm getting at is that you don't really have to play the first game to enjoy this one.
SMT is known for thoughtful, simple to tackle and hard to master combat. Is it any good here? It's really simplified, compared to what the games have been building up to.
After hitting an enemy weakness, you'll activate what is called Sabbath. Sabbath attacks stack ups the demons you have in your team once you hit an enemy weakness one by one to deal extra damage at the end of your party's turn. It's a good twist on the already proven to be great Press Turn System from mainline games.
Thing is, Sabbath is not much more complex that you may think. The extra spicy detail is that a demon can perform an extra action while on Sabbath if it learns a specific attack. Say, it can deal already extra damage to the Sabbath attack, steal an item from the enemy, recover energy to the party and so on. It's tied to one demon's ability and honestly that limits a lot what you can do with this system. Every demon should've had an extra effect by default or to be customizable through the game in a Sabbath attack. And this game loves customization, we'll get in depth into that soon.
The story in this game is serviceable, save the world from destruction type of deal. You are Ringo, a emissary from Aion, a super intelligent being and you will be also accompanied by Figue, a friend of sorts. Both have the mission to search for an entity known as Iron Mask and just stop him. Along the way, in one of the first hours you'll meet two individuals: Arrow and Milady, both killed in action. Ringo decides the best course of action will be to "Soul Hack" these two individuals and bring them to life again and help her searching for Iron Mask, which wants to destroy the world. Both Arrow and Milady belong to different factions that have different views on the world and are currently on war, there's is Yatagarasu and the Phantom Society. After meeting them you'll encounter a third member, Saizo a freelancer demon summoner which got involved into this faction war. After reuniting with all the members the main story starts to unfold. It's a cool setup, everyone is tied with Iron Mask directly or indirectly so the story doesn't have to constantly remind us who is this guy exacly, it remains a mystery. These three individual will make up your party, alongside your demons of course. Everyone in your group had an afflicted past, problems and answers that never were resolve before dying, you can go in depth with those stories in what are called "Soul Matrix" a dungeon set in the soul of one of your parterns. Talking about dungeons.
We hit a low in this one. The dungeons in Soul Hackers 2 are simple and not interesting to explore. I would be lying if I said I enjoyed the little variation of dungeons in this title, I didn't. It loves to waste your time with long hallways that can or not lead to nothing, dead ends basically with a very basic linear structure and very little to explore in general. To top of that you'll have a navigator called Mimi, a little bird creature that is suppossed to help with enemy detection on dungeons. But it doesn't, in this game there are not random encounters and enemies can spawn in front of you and you'll have plenty of time to react and either escape or slash them since they are really slow. And exploration is even easier thanks to that, you can just slash enemies outside combat and never had to fight one. But keep in mind you'll still need to level up so there is no real sense of danger in this game when it comes to exploration. Mimi, the bird creature will never shut up and you'll be constantly hearing it when approaching an enemy or even when not. It just makes the exploration aspect absolutely more miserable than it already is. Soul Matrix as I previously mention is a dungeon inside one of your mates soul. This lets you equip them with better unique skills or upgrades, may be passive upgrades or active skills. This is where customization comes into play. One of the better aspects in this game is the customization, to your party to be exact. Upgrades can be found in a shop or in the Soul Matrix though it doesn't apply to Ringo.
The shop will sell you the upgrades as long as you have the materials to produce it. These materials can be found throughout the dungeons thanks to your demons. Forgot to mention, after selecting a dungeon to explore Ringo will automatically sent demons to explore the area for you for materials and such. This is what's known as "Demon Scout", this also where Demon Negotiation comes into play, and weirdly enough it's outside of combat.
Back to the upgrades. You can build a character basically the way you want with this system with elemental perks. Want Ringo to go for a Elelctric build? Sure. Saizo force? Yeah. Make everyone master fire attacks? Of course. Though the strategy always remains in being as diverse as possible. Instant kill attacks are not present in this game, so if you ever planned to make a quick kill build to farm for exp. I'm sorry to dissapoint you. This, mixed with Demon Fusion creates a great sense of freedom.
The presentation in this game is good. Nothing outstanding or horrendous. Though you can feel the team didn't had the budget or probably time to polish most of the aspects of presentation. Janky animation, weird or bland textures and unstable performance. Some zones are way more detailed than other, this created a huge unbalance visually speaking. The dungeons themselves, the worst aspect of the game are dull looking at while the main two cities in this game shine with details. Music is quiet while on dungeons, almost unnoticeable but the combat music ain't bad at all.
So in conclusion. Is it worth your time? No, I don't think it is. Even if you are a massive MegaTen preacher. Mainly because you already have RPGs from Atlus that made some aspects miles better than this game. Want a character story driven game? Play Persona. Want to focus on gameplay alone with an ambiguous story? Play Shin Megami Tensei. Want the classic dungeon feeling? Just play the original Soul Hackers. No wonder this game flopped, it tries to be everything while not wanting to be ambitious and tie everything in a way that feels cohesive. It doesn't have a clear identity.
Horror Cyberpunk Walking Simulator
Observer is for the most part a boring game to play, but not to experience. Highlights of this game come from the impecable visuals and art direction alone and those scary moments that happen that don't really have to do much with the gameplay itself.
If you are a coward, like me don't worry. This game is as scary as a Silent Hill game can be, mostly psychological horror is present and I counted like 2 or so jumpscares throughout my 7 hour playthrough.
There is a detective mode of sorts that is supossed to be the main mechanic of the game, but is at basic as it gets. Scan a clue, and see what can you do with the information it provides. You won't be using this much, outside of specific occations. But if you liked the detective aspect of this game or want more of this world, there are a lot of side cases to solve.
The story is short, and I feel it's a safe bet for the Cyberpunk genre. But it was sweet.
In reality I'd say it's a walking simulator with a few things added on top. It is what the game want you to focus on, those visual striking moments.
Observer is for the most part a boring game to play, but not to experience. Highlights of this game come from the impecable visuals and art direction alone and those scary moments that happen that don't really have to do much with the gameplay itself.
If you are a coward, like me don't worry. This game is as scary as a Silent Hill game can be, mostly psychological horror is present and I counted like 2 or so jumpscares throughout my 7 hour playthrough.
There is a detective mode of sorts that is supossed to be the main mechanic of the game, but is at basic as it gets. Scan a clue, and see what can you do with the information it provides. You won't be using this much, outside of specific occations. But if you liked the detective aspect of this game or want more of this world, there are a lot of side cases to solve.
The story is short, and I feel it's a safe bet for the Cyberpunk genre. But it was sweet.
In reality I'd say it's a walking simulator with a few things added on top. It is what the game want you to focus on, those visual striking moments.
2023
An incredible souls-like experience
There is no doubt Lies of P is inspired by FromSoftware's work. At a first glance it does look like "Bloodborne at home" as much people tend to call this game. But is it though? No, not by a mile.
Let's start with the obvious. Most of the gameplay mechanics found in this game are directly (or tweaked to an extent) by FromSoftware's games. Sekiro's Parry system works exactly like you expect it to and Bloodborne fast dodge and healing system, one that favours being agressive. But both Sekiro and Bloodborne play differently. Sekiro focus it's combat on parries, hit the block button at the right time to destabilize the enemy while Bloodborne goes for a more agressive approach towards combat focus it's strategy on dodging the enemies attacks. Lies of P somehow makes these mechanics work together wonerfully.
On my experience I can say the parry window is really low, so you have to anticipate for every attack they throw at you or dodge if you feel the attack isn't worth a parry. Yes, it's risk-reward at it's finest. If you feel confident enough, parry the enemy to make them stagger as fast as possible or if you are not, dodge the attacks and learn the pattern.
Sekiro already had this system in mind, though the main strategy was to read the enemy and block at the perfect time to parry them. Dodge was present but it wasn't as optimal as parry the attacks since invisibility frames while dodging were low.
What about the bosses then? Does the combat system and bosses come together harnomincally? Yes it is. Their animations are really well done, almost FromSoftware level. And their attack pattern can be deducted just from the design and animations of set boss. Though, they are not perfect.
Attack patterns can be easy read, but in practice some bosses lack the ability to telegraph their attacks well since most of them are really not that different from each other. And it gets harder knowing the rythm of the combat is Bloodborne-like, which is pretty fast. Some bosses can abuse the "Second-phase" mechanic as well, and the first phase will feel nothing but an annoyance since they are really easy and the real meal is after it. The camera can also take a role on making things harder for you. Giant bosses specially are prone to attack you out of sight, so be careful with that.
Outside of those nitpicks, I'd say the bosses in this game were entertaing, well done and gave the familiar FromSoftware feeling of perfecting them after a few tries since they are not unfair. So as always, memorization is key.
But this ain't a Boss Rush game, let's talk about the levels or areas. The areas in this game, are linear. Should that be consider as something bad? No, of course not. The way of progressing through the levels is obvious with little paths to deviate here and there, mostly for special objects. But you it will be hard for you to get lost in an area. Though, it's simplicity can get so far compared to FromSoftware titles, even Dark Souls 3.
No secret paths or no extra areas to explore, or anything like that. But as I said, it's not necessarily something bad since I would be comparing it to something that it doesn't try to be. Simple and straight to the point with some secret objects in between. Some parts of the layout of the are clearly inspired by Dark Souls, so if you're as much as a freak as me you might catch the subtle references. Though it walks in that thin line between inspiration and plain copy.
The areas themselves are great, and have a lot of variety. All being cohesive with the world Lies of P tries to inmerse you. Can be a factory, a victorian-esque street, a train station, a castle or a abandoned village. It all blends pefectly with the game aesthetic, and themes.
The story and the way the it's told is easy to diggest. Though it's not as deep or thought provoking as Fromsoftware titles, it's a good enough excuse for us to kill some big monsters and learn about the city of Krat along our way. Can be some notes, objects, or even side missions you can get into to learn more about the characters around the different areas.
It even goes further. You can directly take role in the story beyond being a puppet slayer. This is were the "Lie or Truth" as I like to call it mechanic comes. Be truthful or lie when someone asks you a question, they have some consequences in the story and the characters you can encounter. Personally decided to lie since I didn't trust anyone at the start of the game but as I progress I started to tell the hard truth, even if it wasn't the most suitable option. This opens up for some nice replayability value too.
So in short. Lies of P even if it doesn't add much to the table when it comes to originality, It blends those ingredients provided by Fromsoftware in a dish that is familiar, but with a unique aroma and flavour.
There is no doubt Lies of P is inspired by FromSoftware's work. At a first glance it does look like "Bloodborne at home" as much people tend to call this game. But is it though? No, not by a mile.
Let's start with the obvious. Most of the gameplay mechanics found in this game are directly (or tweaked to an extent) by FromSoftware's games. Sekiro's Parry system works exactly like you expect it to and Bloodborne fast dodge and healing system, one that favours being agressive. But both Sekiro and Bloodborne play differently. Sekiro focus it's combat on parries, hit the block button at the right time to destabilize the enemy while Bloodborne goes for a more agressive approach towards combat focus it's strategy on dodging the enemies attacks. Lies of P somehow makes these mechanics work together wonerfully.
On my experience I can say the parry window is really low, so you have to anticipate for every attack they throw at you or dodge if you feel the attack isn't worth a parry. Yes, it's risk-reward at it's finest. If you feel confident enough, parry the enemy to make them stagger as fast as possible or if you are not, dodge the attacks and learn the pattern.
Sekiro already had this system in mind, though the main strategy was to read the enemy and block at the perfect time to parry them. Dodge was present but it wasn't as optimal as parry the attacks since invisibility frames while dodging were low.
What about the bosses then? Does the combat system and bosses come together harnomincally? Yes it is. Their animations are really well done, almost FromSoftware level. And their attack pattern can be deducted just from the design and animations of set boss. Though, they are not perfect.
Attack patterns can be easy read, but in practice some bosses lack the ability to telegraph their attacks well since most of them are really not that different from each other. And it gets harder knowing the rythm of the combat is Bloodborne-like, which is pretty fast. Some bosses can abuse the "Second-phase" mechanic as well, and the first phase will feel nothing but an annoyance since they are really easy and the real meal is after it. The camera can also take a role on making things harder for you. Giant bosses specially are prone to attack you out of sight, so be careful with that.
Outside of those nitpicks, I'd say the bosses in this game were entertaing, well done and gave the familiar FromSoftware feeling of perfecting them after a few tries since they are not unfair. So as always, memorization is key.
But this ain't a Boss Rush game, let's talk about the levels or areas. The areas in this game, are linear. Should that be consider as something bad? No, of course not. The way of progressing through the levels is obvious with little paths to deviate here and there, mostly for special objects. But you it will be hard for you to get lost in an area. Though, it's simplicity can get so far compared to FromSoftware titles, even Dark Souls 3.
No secret paths or no extra areas to explore, or anything like that. But as I said, it's not necessarily something bad since I would be comparing it to something that it doesn't try to be. Simple and straight to the point with some secret objects in between. Some parts of the layout of the are clearly inspired by Dark Souls, so if you're as much as a freak as me you might catch the subtle references. Though it walks in that thin line between inspiration and plain copy.
The areas themselves are great, and have a lot of variety. All being cohesive with the world Lies of P tries to inmerse you. Can be a factory, a victorian-esque street, a train station, a castle or a abandoned village. It all blends pefectly with the game aesthetic, and themes.
The story and the way the it's told is easy to diggest. Though it's not as deep or thought provoking as Fromsoftware titles, it's a good enough excuse for us to kill some big monsters and learn about the city of Krat along our way. Can be some notes, objects, or even side missions you can get into to learn more about the characters around the different areas.
It even goes further. You can directly take role in the story beyond being a puppet slayer. This is were the "Lie or Truth" as I like to call it mechanic comes. Be truthful or lie when someone asks you a question, they have some consequences in the story and the characters you can encounter. Personally decided to lie since I didn't trust anyone at the start of the game but as I progress I started to tell the hard truth, even if it wasn't the most suitable option. This opens up for some nice replayability value too.
So in short. Lies of P even if it doesn't add much to the table when it comes to originality, It blends those ingredients provided by Fromsoftware in a dish that is familiar, but with a unique aroma and flavour.
2016
Crime in the new millenium
My very first look into Suda51's works.
What a ride. More than a game I'd say it's an experience even if the term is a bit overdone by now. Even if I'm not that big into VNs, this game made fan of the genre and Suda51's work in general.
It's the style, the writting and some of the characters that kept me playing from start to end. Even if the game starts slow in the first three chapters, it quickly picks up the pace by the third and by the fourth is just pure insanity after another.
Not to mention is not only text based with some images and that's it, game often changes how it tells the story. Can be through animated videos or real life videos, or even CGI. Text boxes and images are deformed depending on the situation and it works incredibly well, making scenes dynamic. Though, you'll have to use your imagination to fill blank space more often that not since while you are playing, no one will be actually presented on screen. On the 3D sections I mean.
The story was really convoluted and only starts to making some sense by the end. Strangely enough it has some similarities with Metal Gear Solid 2 main storyline, regarding the flow of information, the internet and how it can shape the society. Even if it doesn't go very deep with those themes, I think it was a worth first attempt by the writting and scenario team, specially knowing this game was made before the new millenium.
Gameplay wise is, there. Can be somewhat tedious to control and hard to grasp as first, hell it was for me since I was playing on keyboard. It really feels like a old game, where actions are totally separated from context. An unecessary extra step or two is for the most part always requiered to get where you want to go. For the most part you'll following orders or a set path and exploration is kept at a minimal.
I don't know. But I do really like this game overall. Can´t state enough but the writting feels so natural, specially the relationship between Sumio and Tetsu and how Sumio changes overtime while Tetsu tries it's best to keep him on track. Good stuff.
So in short. A remaster of a 1999 game, localized to english in the best way possible. Great characters, great writting, comfy music and a good sense of style. I'm definitely going to check Suda51's other works, in the future.
My very first look into Suda51's works.
What a ride. More than a game I'd say it's an experience even if the term is a bit overdone by now. Even if I'm not that big into VNs, this game made fan of the genre and Suda51's work in general.
It's the style, the writting and some of the characters that kept me playing from start to end. Even if the game starts slow in the first three chapters, it quickly picks up the pace by the third and by the fourth is just pure insanity after another.
Not to mention is not only text based with some images and that's it, game often changes how it tells the story. Can be through animated videos or real life videos, or even CGI. Text boxes and images are deformed depending on the situation and it works incredibly well, making scenes dynamic. Though, you'll have to use your imagination to fill blank space more often that not since while you are playing, no one will be actually presented on screen. On the 3D sections I mean.
The story was really convoluted and only starts to making some sense by the end. Strangely enough it has some similarities with Metal Gear Solid 2 main storyline, regarding the flow of information, the internet and how it can shape the society. Even if it doesn't go very deep with those themes, I think it was a worth first attempt by the writting and scenario team, specially knowing this game was made before the new millenium.
Gameplay wise is, there. Can be somewhat tedious to control and hard to grasp as first, hell it was for me since I was playing on keyboard. It really feels like a old game, where actions are totally separated from context. An unecessary extra step or two is for the most part always requiered to get where you want to go. For the most part you'll following orders or a set path and exploration is kept at a minimal.
I don't know. But I do really like this game overall. Can´t state enough but the writting feels so natural, specially the relationship between Sumio and Tetsu and how Sumio changes overtime while Tetsu tries it's best to keep him on track. Good stuff.
So in short. A remaster of a 1999 game, localized to english in the best way possible. Great characters, great writting, comfy music and a good sense of style. I'm definitely going to check Suda51's other works, in the future.