Nexus6
Bio
Nothing here!
Badges
Well Written
Gained 10+ likes on a single review
2 Years of Service
Being part of the Backloggd community for 2 years
Liked
Gained 10+ total review likes
Gamer
Played 250+ games
N00b
Played 100+ games
Favorite Games
336
Total Games Played
000
Played in 2024
000
Games Backloggd
Recently Reviewed See More
This review contains spoilers
Stray's setup is beautifully minimal and lets you simply enjoy napping and wandering around with your cat crew (family? friends?). Even though where you can jump is scripted, it's still really fun to wander around and see the remains of the world. Then, of course you fall and become separated from your crew, and the game really has an opportunity to get great.
Unfortunately, I think with the addition of the robots (which in turn adds the story of the humans), you get very far away from a game that could have been a Milo and Otis style lost-and-found story, with no dialogue, text, or really any story at all needed. The world would have told it's own story, and it's obvious from the opening that they can get you to care about the cats without them doing quests for robots abandoned by humans.
The fact that the game never gets you back to your crew even after all the detours is borderline criminal. I thought for SURE I would find them at the end. That was the saddest part of the game.
I won't say I didn't have fun, but the promise outweighs the delivered product. In some other universe there is a Team Ico version of this game that is incredible.
Unfortunately, I think with the addition of the robots (which in turn adds the story of the humans), you get very far away from a game that could have been a Milo and Otis style lost-and-found story, with no dialogue, text, or really any story at all needed. The world would have told it's own story, and it's obvious from the opening that they can get you to care about the cats without them doing quests for robots abandoned by humans.
The fact that the game never gets you back to your crew even after all the detours is borderline criminal. I thought for SURE I would find them at the end. That was the saddest part of the game.
I won't say I didn't have fun, but the promise outweighs the delivered product. In some other universe there is a Team Ico version of this game that is incredible.
I remember having fun with Rush 2's regular tracks, but it was the stunt map that really made this game something special. Looking like a dev-test level that was just left in as a 'why not', the stunt map is a huge grey box with lots of different shaped (and colored) ramps. There is no special mode to this map, you just drive around and do whatever stunts you want, and it was everything I could have ever wanted as a 14-year-old.
At that age (and to a somewhat lesser extent, today), I had an intense urge to do nothing but watch things go off jumps and see how they land, and Rush 2 gave me that a la carte and with no fuss.
At that age (and to a somewhat lesser extent, today), I had an intense urge to do nothing but watch things go off jumps and see how they land, and Rush 2 gave me that a la carte and with no fuss.
To me, it's the matte backgrounds that are the key element to the Final Fantasy games (and other PS1 RPGs) of this era, and FF7 made the most of them. Whether it's following the trail of blood in the top-down Shinra ascent, or marching down the occupied streets of Junon in dutch angle with fascist iconography hanging from the buildings, FF7 gets so much storytelling mileage from FRAMING.
I dream of a day when mainstream RPGs realize that camera angles and bespoke environments make for a really fun way to play out a story (not to mention explore!), but until then we'll have to make do with running behind our main character and seeing the same (very) high-res assets over and over.
In short, I think this game broke the gaming industry into a new era not because it had a great story or characters (though it does also have those things!), and not because of it's bombastic CGI cutscenes (though those were cool at the time!) but because it felt like it was the end of GRAPHICS and the beginning of ART in terms of the visual presentation, because you were literally running through paintings!
Without the rest of the game being as strong as it is, it wouldn't have mattered, but the complete package here was truly knockout on release. This game is one of the few that made me think differently about games after playing it.
Sephiroth being the best villain in the series doesn't hurt either!
I dream of a day when mainstream RPGs realize that camera angles and bespoke environments make for a really fun way to play out a story (not to mention explore!), but until then we'll have to make do with running behind our main character and seeing the same (very) high-res assets over and over.
In short, I think this game broke the gaming industry into a new era not because it had a great story or characters (though it does also have those things!), and not because of it's bombastic CGI cutscenes (though those were cool at the time!) but because it felt like it was the end of GRAPHICS and the beginning of ART in terms of the visual presentation, because you were literally running through paintings!
Without the rest of the game being as strong as it is, it wouldn't have mattered, but the complete package here was truly knockout on release. This game is one of the few that made me think differently about games after playing it.
Sephiroth being the best villain in the series doesn't hurt either!