589 reviews liked by MoodyBlues


Pony Island trotted so Inscryption could gallop.

With how much time I spent reading Fata Morgana, it can be tricky to talk about it without bias.
But to say generally it was an enjoyable experience, along the way FM pulls multiple tricks from its sleeve but they were on point for the most part.

Some chapters do stall for a while and those usually have a more expository tone than others, but it starts strong and bookends well if I may say.
The music was superb, and I'll definitely cherish this score for quite a while.

Parkour in video games will never not be incredibly fun.

It's disappointing that only the Uncharted and Tomb Raider reboot series offer such a rich blend of action-adventure and platforming elements, as they are such a joy to play. As a kid, I loved jumping straight into a game and being greeted with immediate, thrilling gameplay—no bloated opening cutscenes or overlong tutorials. While I do enjoy cinematic games that tend to prioritize graphics more than anything else, it's also nice just to dive into the spectacle of pure gameplay. The Uncharted series nails this with its exciting parkour mechanics that keep you constantly hooked on the screen.

I'm so happy they took everything from Uncharted 2, one of the best in the series, and enhanced it in every conceivable way, delivering yet another action-packed, over-the-top experience. The visuals and environments are stunning, and you can truly feel the passion Naughty Dog poured into this game.

While the story and characters in Uncharted 4 are phenomenal, the combat falls a little bit short. The gunplay never felt better, and it's fun to shoot enemies, but at certain points, it started to feel more like a chore rather than something I was actively excited about, mainly because it became a bit too repetitive. Luckily, the platforming and traversal make up the vast majority of the game.

At its core, Uncharted 4 offers a perfect conclusion to the Nathan Drake adventures, delivering entertaining gameplay that is truly the spectacle of the game and proves that cinematic games can be more than just good graphics. This nearly 10-year-old AAA game is more enjoyable than many cinematic €70-80 games that forget to prioritize fun nowadays.

So no shade to The Last of Us, but I hope Naughty Dog's next game—hopefully not another remaster or remake—will actually have fun gameplay again.

Hades

2018

Hades felt different from what I came to expect when booting it up. The world is beautifully drawn, the story premise is cool, and the gameplay loop hold up better than expected. That explains how I've put decent time into post-endgame runs more than I honestly expected.

Being a Supergiant title, I expected good writing even if it isn't the focus. Can't say that I'm disappointed at all. Taking from Greek mythology gives them lots of ideas and inspirations, yet they made something great out of it. Each character is distinct, whether it's their writing or voice performances, can't say there's a boring person in the roster. Cohesive ludo-narrative overall even after the credits roll.
It takes its sweet time to develop, with some too long downtime but it gels well and ends on a good note.

Gameplay is quick and simple but the variety of builds and modifiers really extends the mileage of fun. I didn't care for min maxing but rarely did I feel that I end up with a bad build. It works even better on a pickup-and-play approach but that doesn't mean it doesn't stand out as a good game.

glad to have finally played this classic, even if it didn't live up to all the hype. the story is cool, the exploration is whatever. my fav part is the combat, bosses especially. very challenging but rewarding. it's cool to experience this now considering how influential it was, but not really something i love a ton.

This shit is so good. I love it when Ryukishi talks to me about fascism in modern Japan for 8 hours. I cried.

thanks for making my head exploid from rage. First game much better because at least you have a chance.

a game of patience. You hold block the entire match and then throw out a kick when you see that glimering opportunity...except when the enemy decides it can see the future and dodge all your attacks frame perfect. except when the enemy decides to do extra moves that didn't happen the past 10 continues, or when the enemy decides to grab you, and my favorite is when the enemy starts to see what is working for you so they never let you have those opportunities again. Lee you are my greatest enemy and i hate you >:(

First the Golem, now the Totem...

DLC finished, and it's excellent.
More adventures were expected, and they've come, that's it, in the form of a not-too-serious side quest, with a pretty simple lore, which in my vision is just an excuse for the additional gameplay, but it works. The fact that this is free is even better.
Everything is here, the great mechanics introduced in the main game, the humor, the graphics, the music (the guy did It again man, Beach and Totem Boss OST are FIRE), and the difficulty, which is a bit more increased here, and I found it very nice, since the main game had low to medium difficulty overall.

You can see they had fun with this one, trying new things everytime, bringing dynamism to the gameplay since the beginning with the Squid stage and boss, to the end, with a freaking Punch-Out-styled final boss, that was unexpected! (and well made)

In the middle of it, you have the Totem Boss which I really liked, besides seeing some people having trouble with it, it was fine for me, defeating him on the second attempt, that was a great battle, far different from the usual, which works very well with the DLC theme and has a FIRE background music (or should I say STORM?).

And there is also the run against your evil self Dark Messenger, a fast-paced platforming race right before the final battle. That was another great and personal experience, because something funny happened: I started winning every room, then I started to lose one by one in sequence, getting tied with the opponent, and then winning the match point by SECONDS of difference, truly a CINEMA moment. ( I even registered the moment with a print screen)

Thanks Sabotage Studios, your efforts were worth it, what a great piece of art.

You know, Garten of Banban is basically the western equivalent to Yakuza when you think about it. You spend a lot of the game in buildings, you get attacked in the buildings. A new one comes out whenever you turn your back these days. Majima is there.