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The Last of Us
2013
The story often outdoes fairly repetetive gameplay in this one. After a very emotional opening in which you just have to move from A to B before cutscenes, the games mixes a handful of shootouts with predominantly stealth segments and is tiresome here and there. It does get better the further in you get when you meet other characters with their own struggles and narrative arcs and the environments become more readily available to explore for goods.
Although it'd be quite easy to dismiss TLOU as a joyless Uncharted game, it has a much more commendable degree of narrative ambition as a work of interactive fiction.
Although it'd be quite easy to dismiss TLOU as a joyless Uncharted game, it has a much more commendable degree of narrative ambition as a work of interactive fiction.
The Last of Us
2013
A true masterpiece, one of the best PS3 games - even if it's not very original.
Story and Characters
-The story of Hollow Knight is a difficult one to discuss because it is very much put on the backburner for most of the game. There is a story and the game is full of lore, but it can definitely be hard to follow what is going on unless you look up certain things outside of the game. While I do wish that a bit more of the story would have been more obvious, I also did like some of the mystery that the game creates where you are really discovering this new land filled with all of these interesting inhabitants. So having the story be less important than the gameplay did not bother me as much here as it perhaps would in another game because this is a Metroidvania and the gameplay will always be what is most important.
-Similarly, the characters are given very minimal characterization as the character you play as never speaks and most of the side characters are not given much to do other than tell you a few lines of dialogue.
Gameplay
-The gameplay is the main strength of the game as there is a big emphasis on platforming and combat, with both of them being rather challenging at certain times. The gameplay is very simple at first with a very basic jump and attack, but as you keep playing, you unlock new abilities and tools to help you on your quest through Hollownest. The gaining of abilities over time keeps the gameplay constantly engaging as you are then able to go back and explore areas that you couldn’t access before or gain the skills needed to beat a boss that was previously too difficult.
-There are a ton of different enemy types in every region that you go to which is great because it keeps the game constantly challenging and keeps the player from ever getting too comfortable. Some of the enemies can be quite difficult at first, but as you play more you realize how to beat them more easily. This makes every enemy and boss almost like a puzzle in their own way as finding the weaknesses of the enemies is like solving that puzzle.
-The game is very challenging and certain bosses will kill you a lot. The challenge could be frustrating but it was also satisfying to finally defeat an enemy that you had been struggling with. There were some of the bosses that I found particularly frustrating because the save point where you would respawn was far away from the boss. This meant you had to travel a ways to get back to where you died which was sometimes annoying when you were dying over and over again.
Side Content
-The game has a decent amount of side content although sometimes it can be hard to tell what is optional and what you need to do to progress the story. The side content usually consists of getting additional money from hidden areas or unlocking new spells or charms that will allow you to change the way you play the game. It was very fun to discover new areas and new helpful items as the exploration in the game is very good and the side content helped you get more powerful.
-You also have the option to replay many of the boss fights or different variants of the boss fights that are even more difficult. There is an arena which is another place where you can test your skills through waves of different enemies and that is also very challenging. I am glad they have so much optional content and tough bosses for people who want to fight them, but I am also glad that much of it is not required if the player does not want to.
World/Level Design
-The world of Hollow Knight is gorgeous and I was very impressed how every section of the map was unique and detailed. Even though the game is a 2D style Metroidvania, they managed to make a really cool world that was very fun to discover. Every region was unique and the level design allowed for all sorts of hidden pathways and shortcuts you could find.
Graphics, Music and Glitches
-The graphics are obviously very stylized and hard to compare to a traditional AAA game, but everything in the game looks great and holds up very well.
-The music in the game is fantastic and every region has its own themes that play while you are exploring them. The music really adds to the atmosphere and elevates the game.
-I did not encounter any glitches while I played the game.
Main Positives of the Game
-Addictive gameplay and level design made me want to keep playing and wanting to discover all the secrets that the game offered. The game really has a skill curve that keeps you wanting to play because you want to get better and you do improve as you play. Bosses that were hard at first can be easily beaten as you become far better at the game.
-The large number of enemy types kept the game feeling fresh and the combat was very fun, despite the fact it can also be very difficult.
-The map and the world in Hollow Knight are gorgeous and every part of the map was unique and amplified by the music. The levels were all designed very well and made traversal constantly fun and interesting.
-The game manages to stay consistently good and never has what feels like a weak moment. I played for over 30 hours and still had a lot more stuff I could do which is a long time for a game like this.
Main Negatives of the Game
-The story is not bad, but it is hard to follow at times and while I like the mystery of discovering what is going on in Hallow Nest, I also wish a bit more of the story would have been focused on.
-There were some annoying bench placement areas where you had to travel for a while to get back to a tough boss and that got frustrating after dying many times.
-This is a minor thing, but the game gives you a lot of charms as you play that give you abilities to help you in the game, but you only have very limited charm slots. This forces you to choose from your collection what you want to use which makes sense, but I wish you had more charm slots as I really only was able to use two or three at a time for most of my play through. When you have roughly 40 charms to pick from, I wish we could use a bit more at one time.
Overall Score: 8.5/10
-The story of Hollow Knight is a difficult one to discuss because it is very much put on the backburner for most of the game. There is a story and the game is full of lore, but it can definitely be hard to follow what is going on unless you look up certain things outside of the game. While I do wish that a bit more of the story would have been more obvious, I also did like some of the mystery that the game creates where you are really discovering this new land filled with all of these interesting inhabitants. So having the story be less important than the gameplay did not bother me as much here as it perhaps would in another game because this is a Metroidvania and the gameplay will always be what is most important.
-Similarly, the characters are given very minimal characterization as the character you play as never speaks and most of the side characters are not given much to do other than tell you a few lines of dialogue.
Gameplay
-The gameplay is the main strength of the game as there is a big emphasis on platforming and combat, with both of them being rather challenging at certain times. The gameplay is very simple at first with a very basic jump and attack, but as you keep playing, you unlock new abilities and tools to help you on your quest through Hollownest. The gaining of abilities over time keeps the gameplay constantly engaging as you are then able to go back and explore areas that you couldn’t access before or gain the skills needed to beat a boss that was previously too difficult.
-There are a ton of different enemy types in every region that you go to which is great because it keeps the game constantly challenging and keeps the player from ever getting too comfortable. Some of the enemies can be quite difficult at first, but as you play more you realize how to beat them more easily. This makes every enemy and boss almost like a puzzle in their own way as finding the weaknesses of the enemies is like solving that puzzle.
-The game is very challenging and certain bosses will kill you a lot. The challenge could be frustrating but it was also satisfying to finally defeat an enemy that you had been struggling with. There were some of the bosses that I found particularly frustrating because the save point where you would respawn was far away from the boss. This meant you had to travel a ways to get back to where you died which was sometimes annoying when you were dying over and over again.
Side Content
-The game has a decent amount of side content although sometimes it can be hard to tell what is optional and what you need to do to progress the story. The side content usually consists of getting additional money from hidden areas or unlocking new spells or charms that will allow you to change the way you play the game. It was very fun to discover new areas and new helpful items as the exploration in the game is very good and the side content helped you get more powerful.
-You also have the option to replay many of the boss fights or different variants of the boss fights that are even more difficult. There is an arena which is another place where you can test your skills through waves of different enemies and that is also very challenging. I am glad they have so much optional content and tough bosses for people who want to fight them, but I am also glad that much of it is not required if the player does not want to.
World/Level Design
-The world of Hollow Knight is gorgeous and I was very impressed how every section of the map was unique and detailed. Even though the game is a 2D style Metroidvania, they managed to make a really cool world that was very fun to discover. Every region was unique and the level design allowed for all sorts of hidden pathways and shortcuts you could find.
Graphics, Music and Glitches
-The graphics are obviously very stylized and hard to compare to a traditional AAA game, but everything in the game looks great and holds up very well.
-The music in the game is fantastic and every region has its own themes that play while you are exploring them. The music really adds to the atmosphere and elevates the game.
-I did not encounter any glitches while I played the game.
Main Positives of the Game
-Addictive gameplay and level design made me want to keep playing and wanting to discover all the secrets that the game offered. The game really has a skill curve that keeps you wanting to play because you want to get better and you do improve as you play. Bosses that were hard at first can be easily beaten as you become far better at the game.
-The large number of enemy types kept the game feeling fresh and the combat was very fun, despite the fact it can also be very difficult.
-The map and the world in Hollow Knight are gorgeous and every part of the map was unique and amplified by the music. The levels were all designed very well and made traversal constantly fun and interesting.
-The game manages to stay consistently good and never has what feels like a weak moment. I played for over 30 hours and still had a lot more stuff I could do which is a long time for a game like this.
Main Negatives of the Game
-The story is not bad, but it is hard to follow at times and while I like the mystery of discovering what is going on in Hallow Nest, I also wish a bit more of the story would have been focused on.
-There were some annoying bench placement areas where you had to travel for a while to get back to a tough boss and that got frustrating after dying many times.
-This is a minor thing, but the game gives you a lot of charms as you play that give you abilities to help you in the game, but you only have very limited charm slots. This forces you to choose from your collection what you want to use which makes sense, but I wish you had more charm slots as I really only was able to use two or three at a time for most of my play through. When you have roughly 40 charms to pick from, I wish we could use a bit more at one time.
Overall Score: 8.5/10
This is exactly how you do a Remake!
You keep everything that made the original good and you modernise it in such a way that you don't ruin the atmosphere and general feeling of the first.
I'm glad they did this remake because i never finished the original from 2002.
Given the advancements in gaming technology and storytelling, this remake was certainly overdue and is a welcome return to a story that captivates with its historical context.
As for the gameplay, it maintains its classic narrative, which is as compelling now as it was in the original. The driving mechanics stand out as an interesting feature; they certainly add a unique flavor to the game, although im not sure how great it actually is. It might be because i played on Classic difficulty.
The shooting mechanics didn’t impress me as much, feeling somewhat mediocre. Again, this might be heavily influenced by the Classic difficulty setting, which is intended to provide a more difficult experience.
One of the most impressive achievements of this remake is how it recaptures the ambiance of the 1930s. The setting, the music, the costumes, and the dialogues all combine to create a rich environment that transports players back in time.
Overall, this remake is a prime example of how to rejuvenate a beloved classic without compromising its core elements and it also stands as a testament to how classic games should be revitalized, by making them accessible and enjoyable for a new generation of gamers.
You keep everything that made the original good and you modernise it in such a way that you don't ruin the atmosphere and general feeling of the first.
I'm glad they did this remake because i never finished the original from 2002.
Given the advancements in gaming technology and storytelling, this remake was certainly overdue and is a welcome return to a story that captivates with its historical context.
As for the gameplay, it maintains its classic narrative, which is as compelling now as it was in the original. The driving mechanics stand out as an interesting feature; they certainly add a unique flavor to the game, although im not sure how great it actually is. It might be because i played on Classic difficulty.
The shooting mechanics didn’t impress me as much, feeling somewhat mediocre. Again, this might be heavily influenced by the Classic difficulty setting, which is intended to provide a more difficult experience.
One of the most impressive achievements of this remake is how it recaptures the ambiance of the 1930s. The setting, the music, the costumes, and the dialogues all combine to create a rich environment that transports players back in time.
Overall, this remake is a prime example of how to rejuvenate a beloved classic without compromising its core elements and it also stands as a testament to how classic games should be revitalized, by making them accessible and enjoyable for a new generation of gamers.
F.E.A.R.
2005
I've heard someone describe this game as "if Matrix and John Woo films had a baby with The Ring and Ju-on". I personally would describe this as supernatural Die Hard on crack, and I cannot stress enough how true these statements are. This is the most badass action movie made videogame ever, in the best way possible. But I won’t lie, this game isn’t scary. It sometimes feels like a cheap TV movie from the late 90s. The scares (if you can even call them that) are so constant and repetitious that it never scared me, in fact, I missed some of them because I sometimes moved past scripts I didn’t even noticed, so if you’re looking for something scary, there’s nothing to be scared of here, just a few unexpected moments but nothing more. The contrast in lightning is extremely exaggerated to create a more creepy atmosphere but fails due to it being an action game first, a horror game later. And the flashlight doesn’t help either, since it loses power with time (lasting between 10 and 20 seconds) and it needs to be deactivated for it to recharge. Something similar to Half-Life 2 but more annoying, since this game is full of shadows and dark places, you can’t see nothing without the flashlight. Which, may I add, obliterates the spectacle of dynamic lights and cool effects. I would look past this if it was somehow scary, but as I already said, it isn’t.
BUT, in exchange you get one of the most refined action spectacles possible. Every gunfight is spectacular in its own way. The sandbox the combat offers, while not the most profound and elaborate one, has enough stuff to keep the combat engaging: grenades, mines, shotguns, laser weapons, explosive barrels, karate kicks, bullet time, you name it. Even the enemy soldiers apply actual combat tactics and strategize to kill the player, taking covers, flanking the player, suppressive fire and throwing grenades while you're on cover among other tricks, and their radio chatter is the cherry on top to make them feel threatening. Every single element comes together in consonance to turn, what would be a boring shootout in any other game, into a unique moment. The level design adds a lot too. Full of nooks and crannies for the player to navigate, flank the enemies and approach the situation in different ways. BUT the game throws a stupid amount of enemies at you, sometimes you can’t predict the encounters and cross a door to find three or so soldiers behind a cover that spot you on the moment, sometimes you’ll cross a hallway with the flashlight on and the enemies will go “I see a flashlight!” without being able to predict this. some other times the game will put you in very clear combat arenas where the fight cannot be approached from any angle. And the use of the bullet time mode that emphasizes direct action make the enemies less of a threat in the end and more like an obstacle to get through. What I’m getting to is: this game births and dies in its combat system, which is sustained only by its spectacle and player expression. This game is one of those who put player agency over scripts that take the control from the player and cutscenes (which are a just a handful), which is something that unfortunately has been showing up and improved upon less and less in shoothers since then, advocating for a more movie-like approach (you know, mash X to do this, press Y to do that, hold the walking button while a glorified cutscene plays out). It might sound stupid, but I don’t see many shooters released after F.E.A.R. with stuff like meleeing wood planks or running away from an incoming vehicle that aren't scripts with little to no room for the player to fail. But unfortunately, these details don’t save the game and it sadly peaks in the Armacham offices and it’s downhill from there onwards, concluding with a really lame last third. And even if the story was somewhat interesting or anything, but no, it’s a mixture of horror and action movies clichés, with a plot twist at the end (I think it was a plot twist?) so uninspired and unnecessary it could have been cut off the game and it wouldn’t have made much difference. Ending off with a cliffhanger to continue the meh story in the sequels. Maybe I'm being too negative, but I like it a lot when it works, which isn't most of the time.
BUT, in exchange you get one of the most refined action spectacles possible. Every gunfight is spectacular in its own way. The sandbox the combat offers, while not the most profound and elaborate one, has enough stuff to keep the combat engaging: grenades, mines, shotguns, laser weapons, explosive barrels, karate kicks, bullet time, you name it. Even the enemy soldiers apply actual combat tactics and strategize to kill the player, taking covers, flanking the player, suppressive fire and throwing grenades while you're on cover among other tricks, and their radio chatter is the cherry on top to make them feel threatening. Every single element comes together in consonance to turn, what would be a boring shootout in any other game, into a unique moment. The level design adds a lot too. Full of nooks and crannies for the player to navigate, flank the enemies and approach the situation in different ways. BUT the game throws a stupid amount of enemies at you, sometimes you can’t predict the encounters and cross a door to find three or so soldiers behind a cover that spot you on the moment, sometimes you’ll cross a hallway with the flashlight on and the enemies will go “I see a flashlight!” without being able to predict this. some other times the game will put you in very clear combat arenas where the fight cannot be approached from any angle. And the use of the bullet time mode that emphasizes direct action make the enemies less of a threat in the end and more like an obstacle to get through. What I’m getting to is: this game births and dies in its combat system, which is sustained only by its spectacle and player expression. This game is one of those who put player agency over scripts that take the control from the player and cutscenes (which are a just a handful), which is something that unfortunately has been showing up and improved upon less and less in shoothers since then, advocating for a more movie-like approach (you know, mash X to do this, press Y to do that, hold the walking button while a glorified cutscene plays out). It might sound stupid, but I don’t see many shooters released after F.E.A.R. with stuff like meleeing wood planks or running away from an incoming vehicle that aren't scripts with little to no room for the player to fail. But unfortunately, these details don’t save the game and it sadly peaks in the Armacham offices and it’s downhill from there onwards, concluding with a really lame last third. And even if the story was somewhat interesting or anything, but no, it’s a mixture of horror and action movies clichés, with a plot twist at the end (I think it was a plot twist?) so uninspired and unnecessary it could have been cut off the game and it wouldn’t have made much difference. Ending off with a cliffhanger to continue the meh story in the sequels. Maybe I'm being too negative, but I like it a lot when it works, which isn't most of the time.
Ben 10: Alien Force
2008
Lançado a apenas 1 ano depois de "Protector of Earth", este jogo intitulado com o mesmo nome da série animada, visa se interlaçar como um episódio de "Força Alienígena".
A estória se sustenta com DNAliens tramando planos para resfriar o planeta Terra, Soberano batendo no Ben, Kevin fazendo piadas que envolvam seu carro, Gwen só marcando presença e um personagem encanador Tretamando (raça do Quatro-Braços) que pede ajuda para impedir os DNAliens, porém o desenrolar desta trama acaba ficando cada vez mais suspeita ao ponto do jogo simplesmente não esconder mais de que tal personagem está tramando algo maligno.
Os gráficos do jogo até que são bonitos, com cada uma das fases sendo bem distintas. As texturas e distribuições de cores são agradáveis aos olhos, eles souberam equilibrar bem tal parte.
O único empecilho presente no jogo em gráficos é que seu visual não é característico igual ao seu sucessor, fazendo o cair em uma classificação de "jogo genérico". Contudo, isto não quer dizer que eles tentaram seguir para uma estética mais "realista", ele continua um pouco voltado ao "Cartoon", mas é como se ele tivesse parado na corda-bamba.
Ah sim, já ia me esquecendo, tem ainda os efeitos de combate que são feios que dói. São tão... secos e sem alma que dão a sensação de que você não está dando dano algum ou sentindo uma evolução na jornada.
As músicas... bem, o que dizer?
Assim, elas existem e são marcantes, o problema é que muitas (se não todas) são recicladas da série animada, não consigo encontrar uma única desculpa para isso.
A gameplay, ou seja, o ponto em que um jogo no estilo "Beat'Em Up" deve brilhar... né? Ao menos era isso o que eu pensava.
Eu já vou logo comentando, desde a época em que eu jogava quando era menor, nunca gostei da gameplay desse título. Sempre considerei muito estranha, e eu volto a repetir isto anos depois.
Aqui nós controlamos o Ben, Fogo-Fátuo, Friagem, Macaco-Aranha, Arraia a Jato e Enormossauro... sim, de novo apenas 5 aliens.
Vamos lá, a gameplay com cada um dos aliens não é nem um pouco convidativa ou interessante, ou seja, parece que eles não são úteis no decorrer da campanha. Diferente de seu antecessor, o Protector, lá nós constantemente usamos os 5 aliens de todas as maneiras possíveis, mas aqui no Alien Force isso não acontece. Não sei ao certo, mas eles (aliens) dão a sensação de que estão muito jogados no título.
A mobilidade destes 5 aliens para os outros são até que "parecidas", mas a complexidade e aproveitamento de suas características nem de longe se comparam.
Mas calma, não jogamos apenas com o Ben. Sim, Jogamos também com o... Kevin e a Gwen.
Eu bem que poderia ficar mais animado com isso se eu não tivesse testemunhado que as fases que envolvem os personagens se resumem a puzzles. "Mas nossa, isso não é tão ruim, você está sendo chato".
Tudo bem, tudo bem, mas como você se sentiria ao saber que tal personagem é capaz de muito mais, porém uma adaptação limita o potencial dele(a)? E aí?
Kevin é um "Osmosiano", ou seja, a raça dele pode absorver qualquer tipo de material ou energia... quero dizer, isso antes de um retcon absurdo na série animada, mas essa parte é muito nerdola.
Sendo assim você pensaria que nas fases que usamos o Kevin podemos absorver qualquer material que estiver no cenário, correto?... Errado. Ficamos limitados a objetos flutuantes onde precisamos absorvê-los para realizarmos atks especiais, porém mesmo com três variações destes objetos eles não mudam em nada no combate, apenas em sua utilidade para servir como condutor.
Agora a Gwen. Assim, ela é um caso complicado, pois ela é fiel a obra original e os devs não quiseram ir muito além disso, mas pelo fato de eles não terem ido além do que a personagem é estruturada, a Gwen só acaba sendo a Gwen.
Apesar de termos mais dois personagens, fora os aliens, o tempo e experiência com eles não acaba sendo marcante positivamente, acaba se tornando um pensamento de: "Chega, eu não aguento mais. Troca pro Ben, é o mais aceitável".
Temos alguns colecionáveis pelas fases neste jogo também, e eles se resumem a aumentar HP e aumentar energia do relógio. Nada a acrescentar.
E o multiplayer que não se destoa do jogo anterior.
Vamos entrar agora no tópico de bugs. Sim, esta categoria que sempre acaba sendo 50/50 em qualquer jogo.
Como eu citei bem brevemente o jogo contém um multiplayer, porém aqui ele consegue ser mais bugado do que qualquer outra coisa, principalmente quando se trata de sua câmera.
Personagens travam no cenário sem motivo aparente ao ponto de deslizarem, travam na colisão com outro player, não morrem onde claramente poderiam morrer para voltar ao último checkpoint, checkpoints que só te levam para a morte infinitamente obrigando você a ter que reiniciar toda a fase (isso se você estiver no singleplayer). Enfim, é um aspecto de projeto inacabado tão jogado em nossas faces que fica difícil de acreditar.
Em resumo, decaiu bastante a experiência como um todo.
As fases... são legais. Sim, elas são positivas, isto é, tirando a última, pois aquilo é um pesadelo.
As sessões de combate nas fases foram reduzidas, duração delas foram aumentadas, diversidades foram reduzidas e foram adicionados mais puzzles, tendo até mesmo níveis embaixo da água com o Arraia a Jato.
Diferente de "Protector of Earth", as fases de sua sequência não enjoam, elas sempre estão em constante mudança de dinâmica apesar de terem sido reduzidas, apesar de ser bem contraditório dado ao fato de eu ter reclamado de boa parte do jogo até agora.
Os bosses são LIXOS RADIOATIVOS!
Nenhum deles é memorável ao ponto de eu querer ficar animado para enfrentá-lo novamente.
Eles não possuem QTE, nenhum puzzle que ajude a termos vantagem de HP e nós apenas apertamos o botão de atk sem parar.
Só para ressaltar, apenas a última boss battle que consegue ser diferente no quesito "o player precisa fazer isso aqui antes", mas o boss não tem barra de HP e quando completamos o requerimento da fase ela simplesmente termina.
Para a conclusão eu só queria finalizar com "poderia ter sido MUITO melhor".
As fases são lindas, o level design é incrível e... os elogios acabaram.
Os bosses são inimigos com mais HP, a estória é um roteiro de um episódio de Força Alienígena, as músicas só existem, a gameplay não funciona em pelo menos 50% do tempo, a cada respawn é um novo bug contabilizado e a câmera é um pião.
Este jogo é MEDÍOCRE.
Apesar de ele ter seus pontinhos positivos, eles são soterrados pelos seus inúmeros problemas e não, não recomendaria para alguém, nem mesmo para o(a) fã mais tryhard de Ben 10.
A estória se sustenta com DNAliens tramando planos para resfriar o planeta Terra, Soberano batendo no Ben, Kevin fazendo piadas que envolvam seu carro, Gwen só marcando presença e um personagem encanador Tretamando (raça do Quatro-Braços) que pede ajuda para impedir os DNAliens, porém o desenrolar desta trama acaba ficando cada vez mais suspeita ao ponto do jogo simplesmente não esconder mais de que tal personagem está tramando algo maligno.
Os gráficos do jogo até que são bonitos, com cada uma das fases sendo bem distintas. As texturas e distribuições de cores são agradáveis aos olhos, eles souberam equilibrar bem tal parte.
O único empecilho presente no jogo em gráficos é que seu visual não é característico igual ao seu sucessor, fazendo o cair em uma classificação de "jogo genérico". Contudo, isto não quer dizer que eles tentaram seguir para uma estética mais "realista", ele continua um pouco voltado ao "Cartoon", mas é como se ele tivesse parado na corda-bamba.
Ah sim, já ia me esquecendo, tem ainda os efeitos de combate que são feios que dói. São tão... secos e sem alma que dão a sensação de que você não está dando dano algum ou sentindo uma evolução na jornada.
As músicas... bem, o que dizer?
Assim, elas existem e são marcantes, o problema é que muitas (se não todas) são recicladas da série animada, não consigo encontrar uma única desculpa para isso.
A gameplay, ou seja, o ponto em que um jogo no estilo "Beat'Em Up" deve brilhar... né? Ao menos era isso o que eu pensava.
Eu já vou logo comentando, desde a época em que eu jogava quando era menor, nunca gostei da gameplay desse título. Sempre considerei muito estranha, e eu volto a repetir isto anos depois.
Aqui nós controlamos o Ben, Fogo-Fátuo, Friagem, Macaco-Aranha, Arraia a Jato e Enormossauro... sim, de novo apenas 5 aliens.
Vamos lá, a gameplay com cada um dos aliens não é nem um pouco convidativa ou interessante, ou seja, parece que eles não são úteis no decorrer da campanha. Diferente de seu antecessor, o Protector, lá nós constantemente usamos os 5 aliens de todas as maneiras possíveis, mas aqui no Alien Force isso não acontece. Não sei ao certo, mas eles (aliens) dão a sensação de que estão muito jogados no título.
A mobilidade destes 5 aliens para os outros são até que "parecidas", mas a complexidade e aproveitamento de suas características nem de longe se comparam.
Mas calma, não jogamos apenas com o Ben. Sim, Jogamos também com o... Kevin e a Gwen.
Eu bem que poderia ficar mais animado com isso se eu não tivesse testemunhado que as fases que envolvem os personagens se resumem a puzzles. "Mas nossa, isso não é tão ruim, você está sendo chato".
Tudo bem, tudo bem, mas como você se sentiria ao saber que tal personagem é capaz de muito mais, porém uma adaptação limita o potencial dele(a)? E aí?
Kevin é um "Osmosiano", ou seja, a raça dele pode absorver qualquer tipo de material ou energia... quero dizer, isso antes de um retcon absurdo na série animada, mas essa parte é muito nerdola.
Sendo assim você pensaria que nas fases que usamos o Kevin podemos absorver qualquer material que estiver no cenário, correto?... Errado. Ficamos limitados a objetos flutuantes onde precisamos absorvê-los para realizarmos atks especiais, porém mesmo com três variações destes objetos eles não mudam em nada no combate, apenas em sua utilidade para servir como condutor.
Agora a Gwen. Assim, ela é um caso complicado, pois ela é fiel a obra original e os devs não quiseram ir muito além disso, mas pelo fato de eles não terem ido além do que a personagem é estruturada, a Gwen só acaba sendo a Gwen.
Apesar de termos mais dois personagens, fora os aliens, o tempo e experiência com eles não acaba sendo marcante positivamente, acaba se tornando um pensamento de: "Chega, eu não aguento mais. Troca pro Ben, é o mais aceitável".
Temos alguns colecionáveis pelas fases neste jogo também, e eles se resumem a aumentar HP e aumentar energia do relógio. Nada a acrescentar.
E o multiplayer que não se destoa do jogo anterior.
Vamos entrar agora no tópico de bugs. Sim, esta categoria que sempre acaba sendo 50/50 em qualquer jogo.
Como eu citei bem brevemente o jogo contém um multiplayer, porém aqui ele consegue ser mais bugado do que qualquer outra coisa, principalmente quando se trata de sua câmera.
Personagens travam no cenário sem motivo aparente ao ponto de deslizarem, travam na colisão com outro player, não morrem onde claramente poderiam morrer para voltar ao último checkpoint, checkpoints que só te levam para a morte infinitamente obrigando você a ter que reiniciar toda a fase (isso se você estiver no singleplayer). Enfim, é um aspecto de projeto inacabado tão jogado em nossas faces que fica difícil de acreditar.
Em resumo, decaiu bastante a experiência como um todo.
As fases... são legais. Sim, elas são positivas, isto é, tirando a última, pois aquilo é um pesadelo.
As sessões de combate nas fases foram reduzidas, duração delas foram aumentadas, diversidades foram reduzidas e foram adicionados mais puzzles, tendo até mesmo níveis embaixo da água com o Arraia a Jato.
Diferente de "Protector of Earth", as fases de sua sequência não enjoam, elas sempre estão em constante mudança de dinâmica apesar de terem sido reduzidas, apesar de ser bem contraditório dado ao fato de eu ter reclamado de boa parte do jogo até agora.
Os bosses são LIXOS RADIOATIVOS!
Nenhum deles é memorável ao ponto de eu querer ficar animado para enfrentá-lo novamente.
Eles não possuem QTE, nenhum puzzle que ajude a termos vantagem de HP e nós apenas apertamos o botão de atk sem parar.
Só para ressaltar, apenas a última boss battle que consegue ser diferente no quesito "o player precisa fazer isso aqui antes", mas o boss não tem barra de HP e quando completamos o requerimento da fase ela simplesmente termina.
Para a conclusão eu só queria finalizar com "poderia ter sido MUITO melhor".
As fases são lindas, o level design é incrível e... os elogios acabaram.
Os bosses são inimigos com mais HP, a estória é um roteiro de um episódio de Força Alienígena, as músicas só existem, a gameplay não funciona em pelo menos 50% do tempo, a cada respawn é um novo bug contabilizado e a câmera é um pião.
Este jogo é MEDÍOCRE.
Apesar de ele ter seus pontinhos positivos, eles são soterrados pelos seus inúmeros problemas e não, não recomendaria para alguém, nem mesmo para o(a) fã mais tryhard de Ben 10.
This game is good as hell when you don't got a bitch in your ear telling you it's bad. Bro you blow up the White House! Like this shit is cool as hell!
Yeah the PS3 port is pretty bad, but...so was everything released on PS3 in 2008. So what the game is short, there wasn't really much more needed to be told story wise. It is a weird gateway between the more deliberate cover based first-person shooters with iron sights that we would get post-modern warfare and the classic Medal of Honor style of gameplay.
I just can't get over how cool this game is and how well it executes on its premise. One of the best openings to a game I've played since Prey 2006. It sucks you right into the war and gets you ready to kill Nazis and save New York. I didn't really find it all that difficult, as you can run and gun your way through the entire game. Especially with the Human shield mechanic, its almost like a first person Dead to Rights...minus the dog and the slow mo.
Yeah the PS3 port is pretty bad, but...so was everything released on PS3 in 2008. So what the game is short, there wasn't really much more needed to be told story wise. It is a weird gateway between the more deliberate cover based first-person shooters with iron sights that we would get post-modern warfare and the classic Medal of Honor style of gameplay.
I just can't get over how cool this game is and how well it executes on its premise. One of the best openings to a game I've played since Prey 2006. It sucks you right into the war and gets you ready to kill Nazis and save New York. I didn't really find it all that difficult, as you can run and gun your way through the entire game. Especially with the Human shield mechanic, its almost like a first person Dead to Rights...minus the dog and the slow mo.
Dark Cloud
2000
A charming and unexpected dungeon crawler. There's a flow state you enter by the third town where you spend your time diving into the dungeon slowing accruing power and town pieces and coming back to the town building. It's ahead of its time for a PS2 launch title.
It's a very punishing game if you do not prepare yourself accordingly. Dark Cloud rewards you for experimentation and diversifying your power between your party members. Though there's a spike in difficulty towards the later half, making grinding annoying to do, I enjoyed my play through enough.
It's a very punishing game if you do not prepare yourself accordingly. Dark Cloud rewards you for experimentation and diversifying your power between your party members. Though there's a spike in difficulty towards the later half, making grinding annoying to do, I enjoyed my play through enough.
Dyo
2018
The first few levels of this game are truly great. The split-screen mechanic is elaborated on very well. That being said, some of the mechanics, that get introduced in the latter part of the game might seem interesting at first but heavily lack in execution. Another strange part of this game is that the puzzles, while interesting to solve at first, devolve into trial and error type problems later, especially in the part, that changes the sizes of the characters, where some solutions to problems seem more like abusing weaknesses of the platforming system than actual problem-solving.
I also had the joy of playing this game with a second person. I've heard people say, that the single-player mode can get tedious at times.
I also had the joy of playing this game with a second person. I've heard people say, that the single-player mode can get tedious at times.
Animal Well
2024
I like going in to games blind these days. It really does make them better experiences. This game was getting a lot of attention and I love Metroidvania's so I knew I had to check it out. After about 3 hours, I decided to put it down for good.
It's just puzzles. Puzzles are my least favourite type of game mechanic. They're the weakest part of every game they're in, and this game is almost nothing but them. I can be totally cool with them if they're well-paced in a game about other things, but that's not the case here unfortunately.
Don't get me wrong, I actually loved the way they implemented some of the items here and were going for a "just figure out how this works, we're not telling you" attitude. Love it.
I also love the theme of it being about animals.
I love the way it looks and sounds.
I kind of liked the sense of exploration, but at the same time it felt WAY too easy to get lost. That's no fun.
The absolute biggest red flag for me, which I realized quickly is...
no combat. Can't do it. If this game had a fun way of either fighting the animals or protecting them from other creatures, I'd probably have stuck with it til the end. Especially because of how inventive the tools you're given are! They're really cool, and could have doubled as fantastic weapons!
I know this is totally a 'me' thing and it's not going to matter to a lot of people, clearly, based on the other reviews. But I'm just pointing out my honest experience with it.
It's incredible that this is made by one person, and I'll probably still end up recommending it to people with an asterisk pointing out that there's no fighting, or real way to test your skills. It's all reliant on problem solving - which I'm sure is totally fine for many.
For me, after a few hours, the flow of this game was as follows:
1. Find something weird
2. Puzzle time.
3. Test some things to figure out how to do it
4. Get it right immediately because it's intuitive (happened often) OR fail to understand and just leave - it's important to note here that because this game is so obtuse it's hard to determine when you CAN do something but just don't understand and when you CAN'T because you don't have the right tool. That's a major issue for me. It's too vague. I like vague, but this is too vague.
5. Wander around some more, see something cool, but then realize you don't know where you are. The map barely helps with this.
6. Puzzle time.
7. Stumble upon a new item
8. Puzzle time.
9. Try to figure out how to get back to that one spot that may have required this item. This could take 1 minute, could take 20.
10. This one's important - potentially redo a puzzle (especially if you happen to die) because for some reason, certain switches reset and others don't.
11. Repeat
Again, the platforming is great. Comparable to other great Metroidvania's. It's just poorly paced because the reward for clearing a puzzle is having another one right afterwards. Let me breathe!
If this game was identical, but had Guacamelee or Hollow Knight combat, it would probably be incredible. I know that probably sounds stupid, but I really do feel like it needs it.
Anyways, I'm glad most of you are enjoying it. It's certainly an incredible accomplishment for one person. I wish I could enjoy it more!
It's just puzzles. Puzzles are my least favourite type of game mechanic. They're the weakest part of every game they're in, and this game is almost nothing but them. I can be totally cool with them if they're well-paced in a game about other things, but that's not the case here unfortunately.
Don't get me wrong, I actually loved the way they implemented some of the items here and were going for a "just figure out how this works, we're not telling you" attitude. Love it.
I also love the theme of it being about animals.
I love the way it looks and sounds.
I kind of liked the sense of exploration, but at the same time it felt WAY too easy to get lost. That's no fun.
The absolute biggest red flag for me, which I realized quickly is...
no combat. Can't do it. If this game had a fun way of either fighting the animals or protecting them from other creatures, I'd probably have stuck with it til the end. Especially because of how inventive the tools you're given are! They're really cool, and could have doubled as fantastic weapons!
I know this is totally a 'me' thing and it's not going to matter to a lot of people, clearly, based on the other reviews. But I'm just pointing out my honest experience with it.
It's incredible that this is made by one person, and I'll probably still end up recommending it to people with an asterisk pointing out that there's no fighting, or real way to test your skills. It's all reliant on problem solving - which I'm sure is totally fine for many.
For me, after a few hours, the flow of this game was as follows:
1. Find something weird
2. Puzzle time.
3. Test some things to figure out how to do it
4. Get it right immediately because it's intuitive (happened often) OR fail to understand and just leave - it's important to note here that because this game is so obtuse it's hard to determine when you CAN do something but just don't understand and when you CAN'T because you don't have the right tool. That's a major issue for me. It's too vague. I like vague, but this is too vague.
5. Wander around some more, see something cool, but then realize you don't know where you are. The map barely helps with this.
6. Puzzle time.
7. Stumble upon a new item
8. Puzzle time.
9. Try to figure out how to get back to that one spot that may have required this item. This could take 1 minute, could take 20.
10. This one's important - potentially redo a puzzle (especially if you happen to die) because for some reason, certain switches reset and others don't.
11. Repeat
Again, the platforming is great. Comparable to other great Metroidvania's. It's just poorly paced because the reward for clearing a puzzle is having another one right afterwards. Let me breathe!
If this game was identical, but had Guacamelee or Hollow Knight combat, it would probably be incredible. I know that probably sounds stupid, but I really do feel like it needs it.
Anyways, I'm glad most of you are enjoying it. It's certainly an incredible accomplishment for one person. I wish I could enjoy it more!
The Binding of Isaac
2011
The original Binding Of Isaac is still pretty good, especially considering it was one of the first of its respective genre!
This is actually my first time playing the flash Isaac, though I have played Rebirth (which is obv better lmao) and one thing I have to say is that I do NOT remember Rebirth being this hard. Even when I get a great set-up, I end up dying really quickly in the later levels. The game just doesn't feel all that fair, but if i'm being honest, most rogue-likes aren't fair.
One thing I do prefer over Rebirth is the art style. I love the SMB esque style, but sadly, the remake decided to go the pixel-art approach. It still looks excellent, but fucking hell man pixel-art in indie games is so overused. It makes it much less distinct, but maybe that's a hot-take idk
If you have £4, I would recommend giving this a try, even if you have Rebirth or Repentance or whatever. Just don't expect to beat it without hours of practice and luck.
This is actually my first time playing the flash Isaac, though I have played Rebirth (which is obv better lmao) and one thing I have to say is that I do NOT remember Rebirth being this hard. Even when I get a great set-up, I end up dying really quickly in the later levels. The game just doesn't feel all that fair, but if i'm being honest, most rogue-likes aren't fair.
One thing I do prefer over Rebirth is the art style. I love the SMB esque style, but sadly, the remake decided to go the pixel-art approach. It still looks excellent, but fucking hell man pixel-art in indie games is so overused. It makes it much less distinct, but maybe that's a hot-take idk
If you have £4, I would recommend giving this a try, even if you have Rebirth or Repentance or whatever. Just don't expect to beat it without hours of practice and luck.
Probably my last Atelier replay for a bit, but I really enjoyed it! I am putting it at half a star higher than a few years ago.
This game is a pleasure to play, and is in my opinion, an improvement on Sophie. As the Atelier series’ first open-world game, they really nailed some things here. The world is fun to explore, the characters are charming, crafting is well thought out, and the enemies are enough to be somewhat challenging, but not ridiculously overpowered. I am not a completionist, but I am only two trophies away from platinum and I have 95% of the in-game database.
The flaws…for one, I wish there was more of an overarching narrative with more conflict and some higher stakes. Here, you have many slice of life type stories, which are fun, cute, and provide some nice world-building after Sophie, but I wanted more. While I prefer this game to Sophie, I will admit Sophie did better in this regard.
There are a few little things about the open-world that don’t work as well. A couple of glitches here and there, repeated conversations as you travel, and in my opinion, it takes much too long to get a fast travel option. In addition, there is a quest line/boss that is too hidden away for how much lore it provides. I know it is relevant in the sequel as well, so I don’t know why it is difficult to access…
Finally, this can be an extremely misleading Atelier game for newcomers. It leaves the impression that the pre-exam portion of the game is most of the game, when it is indeed the opposite. I have seen many posts with people asking what they are supposed to do after, or if after the exam is just an “epilogue.” Gust could have really touted that this is where the adventure actually begins.
Overall, solid experience that I put 120 hours into, and am still not completely finished with. The good outweighs the bad, but I won’t give it 5 stars since I mainly give that score to my really special games. Highly recommended after playing Sophie though!
This game is a pleasure to play, and is in my opinion, an improvement on Sophie. As the Atelier series’ first open-world game, they really nailed some things here. The world is fun to explore, the characters are charming, crafting is well thought out, and the enemies are enough to be somewhat challenging, but not ridiculously overpowered. I am not a completionist, but I am only two trophies away from platinum and I have 95% of the in-game database.
The flaws…for one, I wish there was more of an overarching narrative with more conflict and some higher stakes. Here, you have many slice of life type stories, which are fun, cute, and provide some nice world-building after Sophie, but I wanted more. While I prefer this game to Sophie, I will admit Sophie did better in this regard.
There are a few little things about the open-world that don’t work as well. A couple of glitches here and there, repeated conversations as you travel, and in my opinion, it takes much too long to get a fast travel option. In addition, there is a quest line/boss that is too hidden away for how much lore it provides. I know it is relevant in the sequel as well, so I don’t know why it is difficult to access…
Finally, this can be an extremely misleading Atelier game for newcomers. It leaves the impression that the pre-exam portion of the game is most of the game, when it is indeed the opposite. I have seen many posts with people asking what they are supposed to do after, or if after the exam is just an “epilogue.” Gust could have really touted that this is where the adventure actually begins.
Overall, solid experience that I put 120 hours into, and am still not completely finished with. The good outweighs the bad, but I won’t give it 5 stars since I mainly give that score to my really special games. Highly recommended after playing Sophie though!
As of now, I have only finished this with the normal and good endings. Going for the other three/all achievements, but I thought I would begin writing my thoughts down.
This game became very fun after awhile! Lydie and Suelle are excellent, fun, charming characters, and I enjoyed the new additions to the series, as well as the returning faces. The events nicely closed out the original mysterious trilogy.
However, it took a long road to get there! For the first six of twelve chapters (about 30 hr in game), I was very bored with the game’s formulaic gameplay, with it being so formulaic that each chapter was structured the same, and the story was predictable. It wasn’t until they broke away from the formula a bit/there was more to do, that I enjoyed it.
This alchemy system is probably my favorite Atelier one so far, and the combat is very fun in the late game, especially for bosses. However, in the early game, regular mobs take way too long, due to both sides not doing much damage. There are some weaker story elements like most Atelier games, but I still overall enjoyed it.
In my opinion, the gameplay pales in comparison to Firis, but is better than Sophie. I’d rank this story highest, and Firis’ as lowest though.
Only 4 stars due to the slow first half…it was going to be 3 before the game picked up. Could have been a 4.5-5 star game if the beginning was given more love! Recommended, but have some patience for it to get better!
Note: 13 trophies to plat. Will play casually until then.
Edit: 9 to plat. Got true ending, so shelving for now.
Edit: downgraded to 3.5 stars. The road to the money ending, as well as platinum are extremely tedious.
This game became very fun after awhile! Lydie and Suelle are excellent, fun, charming characters, and I enjoyed the new additions to the series, as well as the returning faces. The events nicely closed out the original mysterious trilogy.
However, it took a long road to get there! For the first six of twelve chapters (about 30 hr in game), I was very bored with the game’s formulaic gameplay, with it being so formulaic that each chapter was structured the same, and the story was predictable. It wasn’t until they broke away from the formula a bit/there was more to do, that I enjoyed it.
This alchemy system is probably my favorite Atelier one so far, and the combat is very fun in the late game, especially for bosses. However, in the early game, regular mobs take way too long, due to both sides not doing much damage. There are some weaker story elements like most Atelier games, but I still overall enjoyed it.
In my opinion, the gameplay pales in comparison to Firis, but is better than Sophie. I’d rank this story highest, and Firis’ as lowest though.
Only 4 stars due to the slow first half…it was going to be 3 before the game picked up. Could have been a 4.5-5 star game if the beginning was given more love! Recommended, but have some patience for it to get better!
Note: 13 trophies to plat. Will play casually until then.
Edit: 9 to plat. Got true ending, so shelving for now.
Edit: downgraded to 3.5 stars. The road to the money ending, as well as platinum are extremely tedious.
Crow Country
2024
(Edit for the Hard Mode Update at the bottom of the review)
When it comes to Survival Horror, we seem to be in another golden age right now. The Puppet Combo games, Signalis and Alisa are only a couple of the popular titles to come out of the indie space in the last few years. All of them already highly regarded and entirly unique in their own right. And now 2024 has seemingly given us a fresh classic to add to that list with SFB Games newly released title Crow Country.
Crow Country puts you in the shoes of Mara Forest: sassy teenager and special agent on her way to the abandoned Crow Country amusement park. Upon arriving at the park, it quickly becomes apparent that this isn't exactly the safest place to be, as it tends to be the case in any horror story. Of course Mara still presses on in order to find the park's missing owner, the mysterious Edward Crow, while uncovering its dark backstory. If you played more than one horror game, then this setup will sound very familiar to you, in particular if you played Silent Hill 3. At the very least the setting and the attitude of its protagonist seem more than a little inspired by Heather and her horror trip on the PS2. It's good then that Crow Country isnt just a flat copy but manages to easily carve out its own identity. Survival Horror has always had a silly side to it, with its weird puzzles, contrived story lines and absurd unlockable items. In particular, Crow Country's spiritual big brother Silent Hill is famous for its cheeky secrets upon completing a first play through. There is still an unnerving atmosphere to the environments and you'll meet all kinds of sketchy characters, but the overall ton is closer to parody than anything. It really feels like a fun treasure hunt through a haunted theme park for about 80% of the game while the rest of its serious twists and revelations are reserved for the end. It all workes quite nicely in my opinion and I quickly learned to love Mara along the rest of the cast. Those who have played the game would probably now mention how predictable its main plot twist is, but I didn't mind it. The game itself seems to treat it more like a throw away gag anyway, making it fairly obvious from the very beginning. There is of course a whole other, better twist to the story, for those who are curious enough to piece together the clues. Thats all im going to say on that, without spoiling anything.
Speaking of curiousity, I think what got most people so curious about Crow Country is its look. Me included when I first played the demo during a Steam Next Fest. The style mixes the color choices of a Silent Hill, with the general chibi charm that made the original Final Fantasy 7 so memorable. What was used back on the PS1 out of necessity because developers still had to figure out hardware limitations, is used here as a stylistic choice. All the characters have this blocky look to them, clearly showing the connecting points between their limbs and coming off relativly simple in design. It not only works great as a charming throwback to PS1 era graphics but is also used to make each character distinct and recognisable. In a line-up of silhouettes, you would instantly be able to tell everyone apart based on poses and distinctive features. Enemies follow a similar design philosophies by being these very distinct but grotesque blobs and shambling, bloody corpses. They look like someone or something turned a human inside out. Its great. The environments are equally impressive, not lacking in detail at all compared to traditionally pre-rendered backgrounds. It doesn't matter if you're standing at the looming gate of the amusement parks entrance or try to get through a spooky hedge maze, there isn't a miss here. And the coolest part is the ability to fully spin the camera around, at almost all times during the game. You can always peer at the game at wich ever angle you prefer and everything looks like a diorama, a cute little playset of sorts. That is something I havent seen in any game before and im in love with it. And the ability to spin the camera around isn't just used as a gimmick either, it's cleverly given a gameplay purpose aswell.
When it comes to the gameplay, Crow Country is as traditional as a survival horror game can get, albeit with a heavy emphasis on puzzles. That is where the majority of the focus lies and where the ability to spin the camera is often used to suss out clues and secrets. To be perfectly clear: This game won't assault you with mind-bending brain teasers. Rather, SFB Games have made the very wise decision of handing out clever puzzles, that may have you stumped for a few minutes but never interrupt the flow of gameplay in the long run. Something a lot of puzzles focused games do wrong in my opinion, where you end up frustrated and just want to get the puzzles over with so you can move on to the next part. There is always have an easily understandable hook to it, never does it withold vital information, and you will always get a satisfying reward at the end. Its only one part of an effort to make Crow Country a very accessible game to everyone.
On the topic of accessibility: I have seen some people bemoan the lack of difficulty and the argument that this makes it a lesser game somehow, but I don't see the problem in making a genre accessible to new comers. Not when everything else is so rock solid. This is, in the best possible way, babies first survival horror game. The bones of combat and decision-making are still here, but without the looming threat of getting soft locked or getting stuck on bullshit puzzles. There is a limited hint system that will more or less guide you if you're stuck on the critical path, you can optionally turn on an extra life system, so you don't have to go back to your last save upon death. There is even an exploration mode if you don't care for combat.
Was it way too easy for someone who has played so many survival horror games ? Yeah, sure it was very easy, and ultimately it did hamper my enjoyment a tiny bit, which sparked a debate with myself as to what my final rating should even be. Do I take points away from Crow Country because of the lack of difficulty or not. In the end, I came to the conclusion that you can't always throw people into the deep end when it comes to new genres. There is a place for entry level survival horror, and I'm happy to welcome every new fan who might get into the genre through games like this. Besides, the developers have already posted a roadmap with various fixes and an additional hard mode. Once that comes out, ill update my review and bump up the rating, probably. Anyway, go play Crow Country, it's a cool little game about spooky crows.
(Hard Mode Update: So SFB actually managed to drop the new update pretty shortly after release, and I'm happy to say that this adds just about everything I wanted to see. After initially dismissing the hard mode as a bit of a nothingburger update, this luckily bumps the difficulty up to a significant degree. About halfway through the game, I found myself in the big old Survival Horror ammo shuffle. No trash can diving and vending machine kicking for you anymore young lady. Resources are now actually limited and enemies are way more aggressive. Having played through the game twice already, I had new moments of surprise where I had to stop and assess my current situation. I found myself considering the clever use of traps much more, and removing the ability to run whenever you're close to death adds a lot of tension to exploration. The game frequently threw me for a loop as I had to pay much closer attention to enemie placement and traps when doing trips back and forth across the map. Knowing where some of the secrets were hidden became a big advantage. When enemies are so much faster than before, every extra magnum bullet and weapon upgrade does seem like a godsend. If I had to nitpick one tiny thing, it's the fact that I would have liked to have seen more survival staples added, like limited saves and item boxes. It's not a huge dealbreaker and the rating system has been changed to punish frequent saves, but as it stands now the game doesn't really suffer from their absence. Together with the new unlockable item for beating Hard Mode, which can now be enabled in the main menu once you unlocked it (Thank you, why the fuck wasn't that there from the beginning ?), I now consider Crow Country the full survival horror package. Now, both perfect for horror game newcomers and veterans alike. Definitely one of the best games I played in 2024 so far, and one I'm will be happy to return to in the near future. Score gets bumped up of course, good job SFB games. More developers should listen to feedback from fans like this).
When it comes to Survival Horror, we seem to be in another golden age right now. The Puppet Combo games, Signalis and Alisa are only a couple of the popular titles to come out of the indie space in the last few years. All of them already highly regarded and entirly unique in their own right. And now 2024 has seemingly given us a fresh classic to add to that list with SFB Games newly released title Crow Country.
Crow Country puts you in the shoes of Mara Forest: sassy teenager and special agent on her way to the abandoned Crow Country amusement park. Upon arriving at the park, it quickly becomes apparent that this isn't exactly the safest place to be, as it tends to be the case in any horror story. Of course Mara still presses on in order to find the park's missing owner, the mysterious Edward Crow, while uncovering its dark backstory. If you played more than one horror game, then this setup will sound very familiar to you, in particular if you played Silent Hill 3. At the very least the setting and the attitude of its protagonist seem more than a little inspired by Heather and her horror trip on the PS2. It's good then that Crow Country isnt just a flat copy but manages to easily carve out its own identity. Survival Horror has always had a silly side to it, with its weird puzzles, contrived story lines and absurd unlockable items. In particular, Crow Country's spiritual big brother Silent Hill is famous for its cheeky secrets upon completing a first play through. There is still an unnerving atmosphere to the environments and you'll meet all kinds of sketchy characters, but the overall ton is closer to parody than anything. It really feels like a fun treasure hunt through a haunted theme park for about 80% of the game while the rest of its serious twists and revelations are reserved for the end. It all workes quite nicely in my opinion and I quickly learned to love Mara along the rest of the cast. Those who have played the game would probably now mention how predictable its main plot twist is, but I didn't mind it. The game itself seems to treat it more like a throw away gag anyway, making it fairly obvious from the very beginning. There is of course a whole other, better twist to the story, for those who are curious enough to piece together the clues. Thats all im going to say on that, without spoiling anything.
Speaking of curiousity, I think what got most people so curious about Crow Country is its look. Me included when I first played the demo during a Steam Next Fest. The style mixes the color choices of a Silent Hill, with the general chibi charm that made the original Final Fantasy 7 so memorable. What was used back on the PS1 out of necessity because developers still had to figure out hardware limitations, is used here as a stylistic choice. All the characters have this blocky look to them, clearly showing the connecting points between their limbs and coming off relativly simple in design. It not only works great as a charming throwback to PS1 era graphics but is also used to make each character distinct and recognisable. In a line-up of silhouettes, you would instantly be able to tell everyone apart based on poses and distinctive features. Enemies follow a similar design philosophies by being these very distinct but grotesque blobs and shambling, bloody corpses. They look like someone or something turned a human inside out. Its great. The environments are equally impressive, not lacking in detail at all compared to traditionally pre-rendered backgrounds. It doesn't matter if you're standing at the looming gate of the amusement parks entrance or try to get through a spooky hedge maze, there isn't a miss here. And the coolest part is the ability to fully spin the camera around, at almost all times during the game. You can always peer at the game at wich ever angle you prefer and everything looks like a diorama, a cute little playset of sorts. That is something I havent seen in any game before and im in love with it. And the ability to spin the camera around isn't just used as a gimmick either, it's cleverly given a gameplay purpose aswell.
When it comes to the gameplay, Crow Country is as traditional as a survival horror game can get, albeit with a heavy emphasis on puzzles. That is where the majority of the focus lies and where the ability to spin the camera is often used to suss out clues and secrets. To be perfectly clear: This game won't assault you with mind-bending brain teasers. Rather, SFB Games have made the very wise decision of handing out clever puzzles, that may have you stumped for a few minutes but never interrupt the flow of gameplay in the long run. Something a lot of puzzles focused games do wrong in my opinion, where you end up frustrated and just want to get the puzzles over with so you can move on to the next part. There is always have an easily understandable hook to it, never does it withold vital information, and you will always get a satisfying reward at the end. Its only one part of an effort to make Crow Country a very accessible game to everyone.
On the topic of accessibility: I have seen some people bemoan the lack of difficulty and the argument that this makes it a lesser game somehow, but I don't see the problem in making a genre accessible to new comers. Not when everything else is so rock solid. This is, in the best possible way, babies first survival horror game. The bones of combat and decision-making are still here, but without the looming threat of getting soft locked or getting stuck on bullshit puzzles. There is a limited hint system that will more or less guide you if you're stuck on the critical path, you can optionally turn on an extra life system, so you don't have to go back to your last save upon death. There is even an exploration mode if you don't care for combat.
Was it way too easy for someone who has played so many survival horror games ? Yeah, sure it was very easy, and ultimately it did hamper my enjoyment a tiny bit, which sparked a debate with myself as to what my final rating should even be. Do I take points away from Crow Country because of the lack of difficulty or not. In the end, I came to the conclusion that you can't always throw people into the deep end when it comes to new genres. There is a place for entry level survival horror, and I'm happy to welcome every new fan who might get into the genre through games like this. Besides, the developers have already posted a roadmap with various fixes and an additional hard mode. Once that comes out, ill update my review and bump up the rating, probably. Anyway, go play Crow Country, it's a cool little game about spooky crows.
(Hard Mode Update: So SFB actually managed to drop the new update pretty shortly after release, and I'm happy to say that this adds just about everything I wanted to see. After initially dismissing the hard mode as a bit of a nothingburger update, this luckily bumps the difficulty up to a significant degree. About halfway through the game, I found myself in the big old Survival Horror ammo shuffle. No trash can diving and vending machine kicking for you anymore young lady. Resources are now actually limited and enemies are way more aggressive. Having played through the game twice already, I had new moments of surprise where I had to stop and assess my current situation. I found myself considering the clever use of traps much more, and removing the ability to run whenever you're close to death adds a lot of tension to exploration. The game frequently threw me for a loop as I had to pay much closer attention to enemie placement and traps when doing trips back and forth across the map. Knowing where some of the secrets were hidden became a big advantage. When enemies are so much faster than before, every extra magnum bullet and weapon upgrade does seem like a godsend. If I had to nitpick one tiny thing, it's the fact that I would have liked to have seen more survival staples added, like limited saves and item boxes. It's not a huge dealbreaker and the rating system has been changed to punish frequent saves, but as it stands now the game doesn't really suffer from their absence. Together with the new unlockable item for beating Hard Mode, which can now be enabled in the main menu once you unlocked it (Thank you, why the fuck wasn't that there from the beginning ?), I now consider Crow Country the full survival horror package. Now, both perfect for horror game newcomers and veterans alike. Definitely one of the best games I played in 2024 so far, and one I'm will be happy to return to in the near future. Score gets bumped up of course, good job SFB games. More developers should listen to feedback from fans like this).
Chained Echoes
2022
This review contains spoilers
Sights & Sounds
- What if you took a high fantasy story, added mecha, and then covered the whole thing in Stardew Valley's visual style? You'd get something that looks a bit like Chained Echoes. That isn't really a criticism; I love the way SV looks, and I'm sure the artistic similarities are coincidental anyway. Still, it looks like you could lift Glenn or Lenne's character portrait right from this game and make them a romanceable partner in SV. Beyond the portrait similarities, I found the environments, foliage, and buildings shared some visual likenesses as well
- With that in mind, Chained Echoes is an incredible-looking title that will be sure to please pixel art lovers. There's a lot of careful attention to detail in the towns, forests, deserts, and other biomes you traverse. The enemy sprites (especially unique encounters and bosses) are excellently crafted as well
- I can't get enough of this game's soundtrack. I keep opening up a tab and playing through it on YouTube. Stepping out into Rohlan Fields for the first time and being greeted by that area's theme really sets a great auditory tone for the game. After reaching Farnsport, the first major city, you're welcomed by yet another absolute banger. There's even fun goofy songs like the Goblin Village theme that pull away from the pretty and invigorating soundscape to inject a little humor. This soundtrack stands up there with Chrono Trigger, Suikoden II, and Star Ocean: The Second Story as some of my favorite RPG music ever
- All told, Chained Echoes is an audiovisual smorgasbord that's a 50+ hour delight for the eyes and ears
Story & Vibes
- As with many RPGs with a runtime longer than two days, the narrative is a sweeping epic composed of a few major story arcs, which are in turn comprised of smaller objectives and storylines. To avoid spoilers, I won't reveal many of the major plot points, but I'll describe the setup and themes
- Chained Echoes takes its sweet time setting up the plot and introducing the major characters. In the first act, you'll actually start off switching between the game's 4 (or 6, depending on how you'd personally categorize Kylian and Robb) major characters. First is Glenn, a red-haired mercenary and ace "sky armor" (mecha) pilot who is accompanied by his friend and co-mercenary, Kylian. Next up are Lenne, Princess of Taryn, and her friend Robb, an annoying little shit possessing a bow and arrow but no redeeming qualities, who have left their royal home to gain a better understanding of how the populace lives. Then there's Victor, an "Aar" who looks like a normal human, but has a lifespan running into the hundreds of years. He's a famous playwright who's well respected throughout the world and one of the last students of the ancient magical college at Nhysa. Finally, there's Sienna, a badass, katana-wielding cat burglar with a sour attitude and mysterious past. Eventually, their paths converge while seeking a common goal, kicking off the game's main action at the end of the first act
- Beyond the setup, the crux of Chained Echoes' story lies in the Grand Grimoire, an unbelievably devastating weapon imbued with the power of the gods that can wipe out an entire city in the blink of an eye. Generals, kings, and even gods vie over it to end the land's century long war, and it's up to Glenn and company to seize it and ensure that it doesn't fall into any nefarious hands
- Thematically, Chained Echoes falls into the category of high fantasy owing to all the swords and magic, but the existence of electricity and mecha imbue some additional sci-fi elements. The seeming contradiction in technological advancement is well-explained by the story, fortunately. In addition to the fantasy politics, religion also plays heavily into game's themes, with the church--effectively a multiarmed corporation behind many of the world's events--playing a major role in the plot
- As you may expect in a story that centers around war as a major theme, Chained Echoes is chock-full of political intrigue. Expect to see a lot of scheming, dramatic irony, and plot twists as a result
- In terms of content, Chained Echoes does not shy away from heavy subject matter. Robb, Glenn, and Ba'Thraz all have depressing backstories (Robb still isn't justified in his shittiness), and Kylian's is especially dark (consider this a content warning)
- With such a sweeping story, it's kinda hard to pin down a single vibe. There's a lot of sadness, heaps of action, and even a steady drip of situational humor to add a little levity. Something for everyone. I also applaud the story for not feeling the need to shoehorn a major romantic arc into the game; in fact, they actively avoid doing so when the story very easily could have headed in that direction
Playability & Replayability
- If you've touched a JRPG in the past 30 years, you should be pretty familiar with what's going on in Chained Echoes. Superficially, the turn-based battles and presence of avoidable enemies on the map reminded me of Chrono Trigger. However, the battle system (or, rather, systems) is notably different.
- Most of the time, you'll be fighting on foot with an active party of 4 with an additional 4 party members in reserve. These reserve characters can be switched in, penalty free, to take the "starters" place in the fight. Character switching is especially important as it helps lower your "Overdrive Meter". This meter features a sweet spot in which you'll take less damage and deal more, so you'll want to ensure you choose attacks and switch characters wisely to keep it within that range
- Later in the game, you'll gain access to Sky Armors, which change a few things about combat. In addition to the overdrive meter, Sky Armors have another mechanic dealing with which "gear" it's in. Taking actions in different gears will have differing effects on the overdrive meter, so you'll have to contend with that constraint in addition to the enemies
- Rather than unlocking new skills and abilities as you level up in normal RPGs, the vast majority of the combat skills you learn are available to you at the beginning. Collecting a Grimoire Shard (found on the map, rewarded after major boss fights, or gained by completing chains on your reward board) allows every one of your characters to unlock a new skill. These may be active abilities, stat boosts, or passive benefits
- In terms of combat difficulty, Chained Echoes is tough, but fair on the normal difficulty setting. If you find yourself struggling at any point, it's worth leveling up your skills, improving your weapons, and reconsidering your party composition in order to come out on top. In order to complete the game on normal difficulty, I had to do a lot of exploration and just a touch of grinding to make to through the game's final boss. I really liked how the game rewards exploration; if you want to succeed, try seeing more of what the game has to offer
- Will I wind up replaying this one? I don't know, replaying a 60-hour RPG is a tall order. I'm more likely to just give it a revisit when I've got a craving for the game to try a little postgame content and maybe pick up a few more achievements
Overall Impressions & Performance
- After playing Star Ocean: The Second Story R last year, my taste for RPGs has returned. It's wonderful to see high-quality indie RPGs like this achieve some critical success. It's by no means a perfect game, but the excellent presentation and clever narrative stand up there (but just a touch below) some of my favorites from the so-called "golden age" of JRPGs. It feels familiar but new at the same time, satisfying the requirements that make the genre appealing and marrying them to some interesting new ideas and mechanics. This is clearly a dev--a 1-person endeavor, I should add--who understands "what works"™ and how to introduce novel concepts in the spaces where they remove some old tropes
- There's not much I didn't like about the game. My biggest criticisms would probably center around the plodding pace of the story and battles. The narrative isn't just a slow-burn. I had to blow on it a couple of times to ensure the embers hadn't gone cold. There are unfortunately more than a few story beats that feel unnecessary or unimportant. And although combat is strategic and interesting to plan out, this can lead to some protracted fights even against normal enemies. If the pacing were just a bit snappier, this game would be right on tempo
- I played this on the Steam Deck, which is just about as good as a platform as I can imagine for enjoying a turn-based pixel art RPG. It ran perfectly without crashes or bugs
Final Verdict
9/10. If the art alone didn't compel you to add this title to your cart, rest assured that the gameplay and story (while a bit slow), should. Beating the game and every side story (but not 100%ing it) took 60 hours, so that $25USD asking price is more than fair for the amount and quality of content I experienced
- What if you took a high fantasy story, added mecha, and then covered the whole thing in Stardew Valley's visual style? You'd get something that looks a bit like Chained Echoes. That isn't really a criticism; I love the way SV looks, and I'm sure the artistic similarities are coincidental anyway. Still, it looks like you could lift Glenn or Lenne's character portrait right from this game and make them a romanceable partner in SV. Beyond the portrait similarities, I found the environments, foliage, and buildings shared some visual likenesses as well
- With that in mind, Chained Echoes is an incredible-looking title that will be sure to please pixel art lovers. There's a lot of careful attention to detail in the towns, forests, deserts, and other biomes you traverse. The enemy sprites (especially unique encounters and bosses) are excellently crafted as well
- I can't get enough of this game's soundtrack. I keep opening up a tab and playing through it on YouTube. Stepping out into Rohlan Fields for the first time and being greeted by that area's theme really sets a great auditory tone for the game. After reaching Farnsport, the first major city, you're welcomed by yet another absolute banger. There's even fun goofy songs like the Goblin Village theme that pull away from the pretty and invigorating soundscape to inject a little humor. This soundtrack stands up there with Chrono Trigger, Suikoden II, and Star Ocean: The Second Story as some of my favorite RPG music ever
- All told, Chained Echoes is an audiovisual smorgasbord that's a 50+ hour delight for the eyes and ears
Story & Vibes
- As with many RPGs with a runtime longer than two days, the narrative is a sweeping epic composed of a few major story arcs, which are in turn comprised of smaller objectives and storylines. To avoid spoilers, I won't reveal many of the major plot points, but I'll describe the setup and themes
- Chained Echoes takes its sweet time setting up the plot and introducing the major characters. In the first act, you'll actually start off switching between the game's 4 (or 6, depending on how you'd personally categorize Kylian and Robb) major characters. First is Glenn, a red-haired mercenary and ace "sky armor" (mecha) pilot who is accompanied by his friend and co-mercenary, Kylian. Next up are Lenne, Princess of Taryn, and her friend Robb, an annoying little shit possessing a bow and arrow but no redeeming qualities, who have left their royal home to gain a better understanding of how the populace lives. Then there's Victor, an "Aar" who looks like a normal human, but has a lifespan running into the hundreds of years. He's a famous playwright who's well respected throughout the world and one of the last students of the ancient magical college at Nhysa. Finally, there's Sienna, a badass, katana-wielding cat burglar with a sour attitude and mysterious past. Eventually, their paths converge while seeking a common goal, kicking off the game's main action at the end of the first act
- Beyond the setup, the crux of Chained Echoes' story lies in the Grand Grimoire, an unbelievably devastating weapon imbued with the power of the gods that can wipe out an entire city in the blink of an eye. Generals, kings, and even gods vie over it to end the land's century long war, and it's up to Glenn and company to seize it and ensure that it doesn't fall into any nefarious hands
- Thematically, Chained Echoes falls into the category of high fantasy owing to all the swords and magic, but the existence of electricity and mecha imbue some additional sci-fi elements. The seeming contradiction in technological advancement is well-explained by the story, fortunately. In addition to the fantasy politics, religion also plays heavily into game's themes, with the church--effectively a multiarmed corporation behind many of the world's events--playing a major role in the plot
- As you may expect in a story that centers around war as a major theme, Chained Echoes is chock-full of political intrigue. Expect to see a lot of scheming, dramatic irony, and plot twists as a result
- In terms of content, Chained Echoes does not shy away from heavy subject matter. Robb, Glenn, and Ba'Thraz all have depressing backstories (Robb still isn't justified in his shittiness), and Kylian's is especially dark (consider this a content warning)
- With such a sweeping story, it's kinda hard to pin down a single vibe. There's a lot of sadness, heaps of action, and even a steady drip of situational humor to add a little levity. Something for everyone. I also applaud the story for not feeling the need to shoehorn a major romantic arc into the game; in fact, they actively avoid doing so when the story very easily could have headed in that direction
Playability & Replayability
- If you've touched a JRPG in the past 30 years, you should be pretty familiar with what's going on in Chained Echoes. Superficially, the turn-based battles and presence of avoidable enemies on the map reminded me of Chrono Trigger. However, the battle system (or, rather, systems) is notably different.
- Most of the time, you'll be fighting on foot with an active party of 4 with an additional 4 party members in reserve. These reserve characters can be switched in, penalty free, to take the "starters" place in the fight. Character switching is especially important as it helps lower your "Overdrive Meter". This meter features a sweet spot in which you'll take less damage and deal more, so you'll want to ensure you choose attacks and switch characters wisely to keep it within that range
- Later in the game, you'll gain access to Sky Armors, which change a few things about combat. In addition to the overdrive meter, Sky Armors have another mechanic dealing with which "gear" it's in. Taking actions in different gears will have differing effects on the overdrive meter, so you'll have to contend with that constraint in addition to the enemies
- Rather than unlocking new skills and abilities as you level up in normal RPGs, the vast majority of the combat skills you learn are available to you at the beginning. Collecting a Grimoire Shard (found on the map, rewarded after major boss fights, or gained by completing chains on your reward board) allows every one of your characters to unlock a new skill. These may be active abilities, stat boosts, or passive benefits
- In terms of combat difficulty, Chained Echoes is tough, but fair on the normal difficulty setting. If you find yourself struggling at any point, it's worth leveling up your skills, improving your weapons, and reconsidering your party composition in order to come out on top. In order to complete the game on normal difficulty, I had to do a lot of exploration and just a touch of grinding to make to through the game's final boss. I really liked how the game rewards exploration; if you want to succeed, try seeing more of what the game has to offer
- Will I wind up replaying this one? I don't know, replaying a 60-hour RPG is a tall order. I'm more likely to just give it a revisit when I've got a craving for the game to try a little postgame content and maybe pick up a few more achievements
Overall Impressions & Performance
- After playing Star Ocean: The Second Story R last year, my taste for RPGs has returned. It's wonderful to see high-quality indie RPGs like this achieve some critical success. It's by no means a perfect game, but the excellent presentation and clever narrative stand up there (but just a touch below) some of my favorites from the so-called "golden age" of JRPGs. It feels familiar but new at the same time, satisfying the requirements that make the genre appealing and marrying them to some interesting new ideas and mechanics. This is clearly a dev--a 1-person endeavor, I should add--who understands "what works"™ and how to introduce novel concepts in the spaces where they remove some old tropes
- There's not much I didn't like about the game. My biggest criticisms would probably center around the plodding pace of the story and battles. The narrative isn't just a slow-burn. I had to blow on it a couple of times to ensure the embers hadn't gone cold. There are unfortunately more than a few story beats that feel unnecessary or unimportant. And although combat is strategic and interesting to plan out, this can lead to some protracted fights even against normal enemies. If the pacing were just a bit snappier, this game would be right on tempo
- I played this on the Steam Deck, which is just about as good as a platform as I can imagine for enjoying a turn-based pixel art RPG. It ran perfectly without crashes or bugs
Final Verdict
9/10. If the art alone didn't compel you to add this title to your cart, rest assured that the gameplay and story (while a bit slow), should. Beating the game and every side story (but not 100%ing it) took 60 hours, so that $25USD asking price is more than fair for the amount and quality of content I experienced