Shu_Watch
Story so bad it made me come back to backloggd after months to write a review. They should have kept Paul Dini as a writer. Story section is full of spoilers
Story
This story has 2 modes, boring shit or illogical nonsense. Jason was kept in an abandoned wing of Arkham, the same island Batman knows well enough to have a secret Batcave in? The island he constantly visits and keeps track of? Somehow no guards were ever sent in to check on an abandoned area of an infamous building? When Batman received the video of Jason's "death", he never came to Arkham to retrieve the body? Jason had multiple chances to kill Batman in the game and conveniently flubbed every single one? Jason was barely mentioned before this game and the story wants to act like its not obvious who the Arkham Knight is even though you get a bunch of flashbacks that Batman wasn't even around to see because now Joker blood can transfer memories, physical properties as well as his personality?
Whoever wrote this game forgot that the reason his blood was dangerous in the last game was because it had TITAN, a dangerous chemical in it and that the cure for it had the Fountain of Youth(Lazarus Pit) in it. Even if his blood could pass on his personality and appearance, you'd think the Lazarus elements in the cure would negate that for Batman.
Scarecrow needs ACE Chemicals to produce his large batch of fear toxin (the only big chemical plant in Gotham and Batman somehow didn't immediately guess) only seizing the Cloudburst later on as a back up plan, even though he could have seized it while Batman was investigating ACE and immediately use it. The fear toxin also doesn't make Batman experience mind bending hallucinations anymore, it just makes the Joker appear in his head (except when Babs dies he can now hallucinate again). The final scene where Scarecrow unmasks Batman is so dogshit its insane, Scarecrow straps a beltless Batman to a gurney and drags him to Robin and Jim. Batman and Robin, the dynamic duo can't escape from this? Batman has so much high tech in his gauntlets (that he was allowed to keep) but nothing to escape containment? Robin can't escape from basic ass rope? Even with his hands tied Robin should own Scarecrow's ass, in this exact scene after Bruce is unmasked Jim knocks out Scarecrow with one left hook. Even if they had more secure containment, Bruce could have just asked Nightwing to follow him and break him out.
Bruce only loses here and gets his identity revealed because the devs were done with Batman. The lives of all his allies are in constant danger now because of their association with Batman and we get some stupid vague ending about Bruce blowing up but but but he's still Batman and he uses fear toxin now (every single criminal is going to figure out this new shtick in 5 weeks).
This game treats every member of the Bat family like shit. Barbara is there to get fridged halfway through (jk she didn't actually die), Tim is there to be useless and date Barbara for some reason (they don't speak to each other even once and this relationship is used for cheap drama), Dick is there to look cool and also not do anything important and Jason is there for shitty retcons that make previous games worse.
Gameplay
Combat is tight as hell and enemy encounters are kinda puzzles to deconstruct with gadget use. Origins gets criticized for not having any new gadgets but there isn't much new here either afaik, the voice synthesizer is new but you can only use it in certain locations so that's not really a selling point. Stealth is really op now cause of Fear Takedowns though but gadget+stealth is still so fun and satisfying. Batmobile....
Music
Nothing memorable besides like a cover of the Arkham City theme and the track Predator which is pretty good
Conclusion
Only gave this shit 2 stars cause the combat and stealth are really fun, glad I got this game for free from Epic Games and I'm very glad I didn't have to pay for all the suit dlc and story dlc and yadda yadda yadda. Also I had to look up the ending cause for some reason after the final Scarecrow encounter the game told me I was 13/14 done with Most Wanted missions and I had to finish the final one to see the ending, that final one being Riddler. Nuh uh
Story
This story has 2 modes, boring shit or illogical nonsense. Jason was kept in an abandoned wing of Arkham, the same island Batman knows well enough to have a secret Batcave in? The island he constantly visits and keeps track of? Somehow no guards were ever sent in to check on an abandoned area of an infamous building? When Batman received the video of Jason's "death", he never came to Arkham to retrieve the body? Jason had multiple chances to kill Batman in the game and conveniently flubbed every single one? Jason was barely mentioned before this game and the story wants to act like its not obvious who the Arkham Knight is even though you get a bunch of flashbacks that Batman wasn't even around to see because now Joker blood can transfer memories, physical properties as well as his personality?
Whoever wrote this game forgot that the reason his blood was dangerous in the last game was because it had TITAN, a dangerous chemical in it and that the cure for it had the Fountain of Youth(Lazarus Pit) in it. Even if his blood could pass on his personality and appearance, you'd think the Lazarus elements in the cure would negate that for Batman.
Scarecrow needs ACE Chemicals to produce his large batch of fear toxin (the only big chemical plant in Gotham and Batman somehow didn't immediately guess) only seizing the Cloudburst later on as a back up plan, even though he could have seized it while Batman was investigating ACE and immediately use it. The fear toxin also doesn't make Batman experience mind bending hallucinations anymore, it just makes the Joker appear in his head (except when Babs dies he can now hallucinate again). The final scene where Scarecrow unmasks Batman is so dogshit its insane, Scarecrow straps a beltless Batman to a gurney and drags him to Robin and Jim. Batman and Robin, the dynamic duo can't escape from this? Batman has so much high tech in his gauntlets (that he was allowed to keep) but nothing to escape containment? Robin can't escape from basic ass rope? Even with his hands tied Robin should own Scarecrow's ass, in this exact scene after Bruce is unmasked Jim knocks out Scarecrow with one left hook. Even if they had more secure containment, Bruce could have just asked Nightwing to follow him and break him out.
Bruce only loses here and gets his identity revealed because the devs were done with Batman. The lives of all his allies are in constant danger now because of their association with Batman and we get some stupid vague ending about Bruce blowing up but but but he's still Batman and he uses fear toxin now (every single criminal is going to figure out this new shtick in 5 weeks).
This game treats every member of the Bat family like shit. Barbara is there to get fridged halfway through (jk she didn't actually die), Tim is there to be useless and date Barbara for some reason (they don't speak to each other even once and this relationship is used for cheap drama), Dick is there to look cool and also not do anything important and Jason is there for shitty retcons that make previous games worse.
Gameplay
Combat is tight as hell and enemy encounters are kinda puzzles to deconstruct with gadget use. Origins gets criticized for not having any new gadgets but there isn't much new here either afaik, the voice synthesizer is new but you can only use it in certain locations so that's not really a selling point. Stealth is really op now cause of Fear Takedowns though but gadget+stealth is still so fun and satisfying. Batmobile....
Music
Nothing memorable besides like a cover of the Arkham City theme and the track Predator which is pretty good
Conclusion
Only gave this shit 2 stars cause the combat and stealth are really fun, glad I got this game for free from Epic Games and I'm very glad I didn't have to pay for all the suit dlc and story dlc and yadda yadda yadda. Also I had to look up the ending cause for some reason after the final Scarecrow encounter the game told me I was 13/14 done with Most Wanted missions and I had to finish the final one to see the ending, that final one being Riddler. Nuh uh
not done yet but holy mother of god this is the most boring story rgg has ever told. I don't like Yakuza 5 or 6 much but at least their stories had their good points, this is just Worst Detective Alive Simulator 2014
los graphicos que buenos
QUE BUENOS
Game took me 2 hours 30 minutes to beat on Proud and that was with me doing some side objectives for the wardrobe which is about the same time it took me to complete the prologue of 2
Story is short and neat but its status as a short romp between games means that it can't really do much storywise.
Gameplay is really fun though, you can move while casting magic and block in the air now which is so cool. Its nice of the game to give you endgame magic and stats to see what KH3 combat could be like. There are only 2 bosses in the game and they're pretty good at punishing players for mashing X but besides that they're not terribly hard. Didn't die once in this game :)
The biggest highlight for me though is the exploration which has some actual depth to it now with hidden things in the environment and reasons to come back and explore more which is a good indicator for the series going forward. God knows I did not enjoy the level design of KH2 or BBS at all
Music exists
Conclusion
Fun little game to play while KH3 is installing on your system of choice
QUE BUENOS
Game took me 2 hours 30 minutes to beat on Proud and that was with me doing some side objectives for the wardrobe which is about the same time it took me to complete the prologue of 2
Story is short and neat but its status as a short romp between games means that it can't really do much storywise.
Gameplay is really fun though, you can move while casting magic and block in the air now which is so cool. Its nice of the game to give you endgame magic and stats to see what KH3 combat could be like. There are only 2 bosses in the game and they're pretty good at punishing players for mashing X but besides that they're not terribly hard. Didn't die once in this game :)
The biggest highlight for me though is the exploration which has some actual depth to it now with hidden things in the environment and reasons to come back and explore more which is a good indicator for the series going forward. God knows I did not enjoy the level design of KH2 or BBS at all
Music exists
Conclusion
Fun little game to play while KH3 is installing on your system of choice
picked rod twice, played on critical.
Story
Visually the opening of this game is so good though I think I like Simple and Clean more than Sanctuary musically. Love the Disney selection in this game but the lack of an evil Disney team means that most of the worlds here have little relevance to the overall plot and by the end of the game you’re left wondering what was the point of everything Pete and Maleficent did when their goals lead to nothing. That said, the Disney worlds are still pretty fun and are adapted well, some even having original plots. Timeless River, Space Paranoids, Port Royal and 100 Acre Wood are the highlights for me. The actual plot with Sora and the Organization is pretty cool but I wish we got more time spent on Roxas and the Nobodies in the plot. The plight of the Nobodies is a fascinating idea to me but I feel that they don’t utilise the emotional aspect of their existence enough. I love that Kairi is taking the initiative in this game to do things though, surely she will be like this for the rest of the series :clueless:. I will say that ending was really god tier
Gameplay
The melee combat is pretty good and the new aerial abilities, finishers and Limits you have with party members just destroy everything, even on Critical which is the hardest difficulty supposedly. I had a way better experience with Critical on this game than I did with Proud on KH1, in this game when I died it usually felt understandable and could be something I can learn from. That said most boss fights and fights in general can devolve to just mashing X and Triangle to get to your finishers and Limits. The only fights I felt that really pushed you to use the combat well were the ones with the Organization. The Disney bosses had some cool set pieces though to make up for that. The whole game has some awesome set pieces with the use of the reaction command with bosses and even normal enemies like the Samurai nobody. The final boss might have the best set pieces in the whole game but unfortunately as a boss fight itself it was underwhelming besides the first and last phase but even then, with the power of limit I-Frames and finishers I got through it on only one try.
Gummi Ship sections are actually fun now??? The locations you fly in are really cool visually and they even have set pieces for it now. I think the idea of losing medal levels with one hit is punishing but besides that its pretty fun and the music is great too.
I loved magic in the first game so you can imagine my surprise when I picked rod twice in this game only to find out they got rid of Aero, Stop and Gravity. Aero and Gravity are replaced by Reflect and Magnet which accomplish similar things but Stop is gone forever I guess. I like the idea of magic combos but I didn't really use magic outside of Wisdom and Master Form besides Cure which I only used if I ran out of potions.
Speaking of Drive Forms, they are a great but pretty flawed addition to the game. Each form has its own combat style and movement ability like glide or high jump from KH1 but to get those abilities you need to level up your forms and each form levels up in its own way, meaning the average player will not have all the movement abilities in a normal playthrough. Instead of accepting this and making levels with depth that can be revisited for more exploration once you get more movement, Square Enix decided to make basic linear levels. I really loved the platforming, interactivity, and hidden secrets of the worlds in KH1 but in this game that kind of design only kinda exists with the first area, Twilight Town and the Final Mix exclusive Cave of Remembrance. Final Mix also added some collectables in the worlds to encourage the use of movement abilities but did nothing to ease the grind required to get them. You are separated from your party members fairly often in this game, meaning you can’t even use Drive Forms when you may need them. Final Mix addresses this by adding Limit Form which can be used with no party members but this deemphasizes the other forms because a player never knows when they’re going to be separated from their party meaning they’ll come to rely primarily on Limit to save the day. The game discourages overuse of Drive Forms too by having a glass cannon form be forced on you if you transform too much which is a real pain in the ass when trying to grind the other forms. Valor and Wisdom Form have no purpose once you get Master and Final. To sum it up, you have these amazing form changes with unique combat and traversal abilities but there’s no point in using the enhanced movement and it feels like the game is taking nearly every step to discourage using Drive Forms.
Music
Banger music, cummer music even. Sinister Sundown, Tension Rising, Vim and Vigor, Cloudchasers, The Underworld, Cavern of Remembrance, Sinister Shadows, The Other Promise, etc. So many god like tracks, a definite step up from the first game which also had really good music.
Conclusion
I bitched a lot about the gameplay but I did really enjoy it in the end and I am definitely replaying this game in the future after I do the data bosses.
Story
Visually the opening of this game is so good though I think I like Simple and Clean more than Sanctuary musically. Love the Disney selection in this game but the lack of an evil Disney team means that most of the worlds here have little relevance to the overall plot and by the end of the game you’re left wondering what was the point of everything Pete and Maleficent did when their goals lead to nothing. That said, the Disney worlds are still pretty fun and are adapted well, some even having original plots. Timeless River, Space Paranoids, Port Royal and 100 Acre Wood are the highlights for me. The actual plot with Sora and the Organization is pretty cool but I wish we got more time spent on Roxas and the Nobodies in the plot. The plight of the Nobodies is a fascinating idea to me but I feel that they don’t utilise the emotional aspect of their existence enough. I love that Kairi is taking the initiative in this game to do things though, surely she will be like this for the rest of the series :clueless:. I will say that ending was really god tier
Gameplay
The melee combat is pretty good and the new aerial abilities, finishers and Limits you have with party members just destroy everything, even on Critical which is the hardest difficulty supposedly. I had a way better experience with Critical on this game than I did with Proud on KH1, in this game when I died it usually felt understandable and could be something I can learn from. That said most boss fights and fights in general can devolve to just mashing X and Triangle to get to your finishers and Limits. The only fights I felt that really pushed you to use the combat well were the ones with the Organization. The Disney bosses had some cool set pieces though to make up for that. The whole game has some awesome set pieces with the use of the reaction command with bosses and even normal enemies like the Samurai nobody. The final boss might have the best set pieces in the whole game but unfortunately as a boss fight itself it was underwhelming besides the first and last phase but even then, with the power of limit I-Frames and finishers I got through it on only one try.
Gummi Ship sections are actually fun now??? The locations you fly in are really cool visually and they even have set pieces for it now. I think the idea of losing medal levels with one hit is punishing but besides that its pretty fun and the music is great too.
I loved magic in the first game so you can imagine my surprise when I picked rod twice in this game only to find out they got rid of Aero, Stop and Gravity. Aero and Gravity are replaced by Reflect and Magnet which accomplish similar things but Stop is gone forever I guess. I like the idea of magic combos but I didn't really use magic outside of Wisdom and Master Form besides Cure which I only used if I ran out of potions.
Speaking of Drive Forms, they are a great but pretty flawed addition to the game. Each form has its own combat style and movement ability like glide or high jump from KH1 but to get those abilities you need to level up your forms and each form levels up in its own way, meaning the average player will not have all the movement abilities in a normal playthrough. Instead of accepting this and making levels with depth that can be revisited for more exploration once you get more movement, Square Enix decided to make basic linear levels. I really loved the platforming, interactivity, and hidden secrets of the worlds in KH1 but in this game that kind of design only kinda exists with the first area, Twilight Town and the Final Mix exclusive Cave of Remembrance. Final Mix also added some collectables in the worlds to encourage the use of movement abilities but did nothing to ease the grind required to get them. You are separated from your party members fairly often in this game, meaning you can’t even use Drive Forms when you may need them. Final Mix addresses this by adding Limit Form which can be used with no party members but this deemphasizes the other forms because a player never knows when they’re going to be separated from their party meaning they’ll come to rely primarily on Limit to save the day. The game discourages overuse of Drive Forms too by having a glass cannon form be forced on you if you transform too much which is a real pain in the ass when trying to grind the other forms. Valor and Wisdom Form have no purpose once you get Master and Final. To sum it up, you have these amazing form changes with unique combat and traversal abilities but there’s no point in using the enhanced movement and it feels like the game is taking nearly every step to discourage using Drive Forms.
Music
Banger music, cummer music even. Sinister Sundown, Tension Rising, Vim and Vigor, Cloudchasers, The Underworld, Cavern of Remembrance, Sinister Shadows, The Other Promise, etc. So many god like tracks, a definite step up from the first game which also had really good music.
Conclusion
I bitched a lot about the gameplay but I did really enjoy it in the end and I am definitely replaying this game in the future after I do the data bosses.
picked rod and dropped sword. played on proud mode
Really like the magic system and the combat in this one but a lot of bosses don't feel balanced for proud mode and when I did finally beat those specific bosses it didn't feel like beating a good challenge it just made me in sigh in relief because it was over
I liked the platforming present in most of the levels and I liked how the game rewarded you for interacting with the world with your magic like freezing bubbles to jump to certain areas, using gravity magic to pull down chests and freezing candles to unlock treasure
Music is pretty good, Night of Fate rocks
Sora and the gang are cool and their time on Disney Worlds is used pretty well. I don't like how Square tried to be accurate to the movies with the Disney charactera but for the Final Fantasy characters they said fuck it they all come from the same world that was destroyed 9 years ago but somehow they all act like their original selves from the game.
Really like the magic system and the combat in this one but a lot of bosses don't feel balanced for proud mode and when I did finally beat those specific bosses it didn't feel like beating a good challenge it just made me in sigh in relief because it was over
I liked the platforming present in most of the levels and I liked how the game rewarded you for interacting with the world with your magic like freezing bubbles to jump to certain areas, using gravity magic to pull down chests and freezing candles to unlock treasure
Music is pretty good, Night of Fate rocks
Sora and the gang are cool and their time on Disney Worlds is used pretty well. I don't like how Square tried to be accurate to the movies with the Disney charactera but for the Final Fantasy characters they said fuck it they all come from the same world that was destroyed 9 years ago but somehow they all act like their original selves from the game.
played on hard
Gameplay is really fun and a big step up from the first. Venom powers are so good and though they feel op at first, when they start introducing new enemies you definitely need venom attacks to keep up. I really like how venom works in web swinging too. In the previous game while swinging you could press square and move the joystick to perform tricks in the air to get a bit of xp and look cool but they were pretty limited in terms of animation. In this one there are a ton of tricks and doing them fills up your venom bars too which can then be used to either leap forward or jump high while swinging. Its a very fun gameplay loop and combined with Miles' unique swinging animations which are a lot more fluid its just really cool
Story is good but it definitely needed to be longer because certain things with the villain and Miles' relationship aren't as good as they could be
Music has more variety than the first game and is generally better, its not purely epic orchestral music whic is nice. Won't Give Up is a highlight
The Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man app has a lot of nice side quests featuring Miles getting to know people around the area he's just moved into but I don't really like how it makes it seem like Miles is the only Spider-Man looking out for the little guy.
Conclusion, pretty good game. If you haven't played this or the previous game and own a PS5 the deluxe edition of this game is a great bargain especially when on sale because it comes with this and Spider-Man remastered with all its dlc(not that they're good lol)
Gameplay is really fun and a big step up from the first. Venom powers are so good and though they feel op at first, when they start introducing new enemies you definitely need venom attacks to keep up. I really like how venom works in web swinging too. In the previous game while swinging you could press square and move the joystick to perform tricks in the air to get a bit of xp and look cool but they were pretty limited in terms of animation. In this one there are a ton of tricks and doing them fills up your venom bars too which can then be used to either leap forward or jump high while swinging. Its a very fun gameplay loop and combined with Miles' unique swinging animations which are a lot more fluid its just really cool
Story is good but it definitely needed to be longer because certain things with the villain and Miles' relationship aren't as good as they could be
Music has more variety than the first game and is generally better, its not purely epic orchestral music whic is nice. Won't Give Up is a highlight
The Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man app has a lot of nice side quests featuring Miles getting to know people around the area he's just moved into but I don't really like how it makes it seem like Miles is the only Spider-Man looking out for the little guy.
Conclusion, pretty good game. If you haven't played this or the previous game and own a PS5 the deluxe edition of this game is a great bargain especially when on sale because it comes with this and Spider-Man remastered with all its dlc(not that they're good lol)
Since the mafia plot(the interesting stuff) ended in the last dlc this one focuses on the big bad Hammerhead except he's very one note and boring. They also bring back Silver Sable who is cool except they make her redo her mini arc from the base game for some reason. Remember the set up and motivations Yuri got in the last dlc? Insomniac doesn't, all her content is relegated to side content and while I do think as side content its done decently it ends up just being sequel bait which makes you wonder what was the point of setting up her rivalry with Hammerhead if she doesn't even get to interact with him in this DLC or help take him down. Not a very good end to what could have been a good dlc saga
Felt shorter than the first dlc, the beginning is bombastic and cool but it loses steam after that and the final boss is not good. The main purpose of the story here is to set up Yuri and Hammerhead's rivalry, surely they will do something cool with it in the next DLC :clueless:
Forgot to mention this in the previous dlc review but Screwball really isn't as annoying as people online make her out to be. Almost like they hate to see a girlboss winning
Forgot to mention this in the previous dlc review but Screwball really isn't as annoying as people online make her out to be. Almost like they hate to see a girlboss winning
Not gonna write a long ass review because I played this one over a long period of time but damn this was a great game. The combat is really fun and the music is really good. The plot does a lot of cool things with FF1's story and I'm glad I played that game before this. PC port is ass though like goddamn every other soul burst slowed the game down. Get this only on console or a strong PC. Its a shame what memers have done to this game's reputation but if you like action games or action rpgs at all you NEED to play this
Played on the Remastered Edition
Story has a decent plot hook and sets up the main plot for the rest of the DLCs well enough and is good on its own. Black Cat has a cool theme and she's also thick as fuck which I'm adding a star for.
Gameplay is fun as always but they make you play as MJ once sadly. It lasts for like 5 minutes though so I'm not sure why its even in the game. The collectibles in this one tie into a little plot that's pretty neat
The 3 suits you get with this DLC are Resilient, Scarlet Spider II and Spider-UK and they look pretty good
Story has a decent plot hook and sets up the main plot for the rest of the DLCs well enough and is good on its own. Black Cat has a cool theme and she's also thick as fuck which I'm adding a star for.
Gameplay is fun as always but they make you play as MJ once sadly. It lasts for like 5 minutes though so I'm not sure why its even in the game. The collectibles in this one tie into a little plot that's pretty neat
The 3 suits you get with this DLC are Resilient, Scarlet Spider II and Spider-UK and they look pretty good
2018
RRRAHHH I LOVE SPECTACLE FIGHTERS
Very impressed at how an indie developer like Wazen nailed the spectacle fighter genre on their first try with this game. Its very low budget but also a lot of fun. Story and characters are light hearted and while it does fall on its face a bit near the end overall its a lot of fun.
Asaru's and to a lesser extent Amelia's movesets are pretty DMC inspired with many similar moves but enough to distinguish themselves as unique. I do prefer to play as Asaru cause personally Amelia's gameplay loop of charge bar and release feels very unga bunga to me while Asaru seems to have a lot more depth. Dodging can feel slippery and unresponsive at times but this is rare. Once you beat the game you get to swap between both characters on the fly which is really cool.
Instead of having a health system, you can only take five hits before you die. For normal mobs its manageable and health drops can be found frequently but with bosses it can be pretty punishing until you get to a point where you can just own bosses. You can get health drops in boss fights by breaking their shield so I guess its fine.
Conclusion
If you're craving something new from the spectacle fighter genre while waiting for DMC 6 or the next time Platinum decides to make a good game, this is an absolute must have
Very impressed at how an indie developer like Wazen nailed the spectacle fighter genre on their first try with this game. Its very low budget but also a lot of fun. Story and characters are light hearted and while it does fall on its face a bit near the end overall its a lot of fun.
Asaru's and to a lesser extent Amelia's movesets are pretty DMC inspired with many similar moves but enough to distinguish themselves as unique. I do prefer to play as Asaru cause personally Amelia's gameplay loop of charge bar and release feels very unga bunga to me while Asaru seems to have a lot more depth. Dodging can feel slippery and unresponsive at times but this is rare. Once you beat the game you get to swap between both characters on the fly which is really cool.
Instead of having a health system, you can only take five hits before you die. For normal mobs its manageable and health drops can be found frequently but with bosses it can be pretty punishing until you get to a point where you can just own bosses. You can get health drops in boss fights by breaking their shield so I guess its fine.
Conclusion
If you're craving something new from the spectacle fighter genre while waiting for DMC 6 or the next time Platinum decides to make a good game, this is an absolute must have
Spidey fans been thirsting for a good story for a decade and 2018 hits us with this game and Into The Spider-Verse. When this game released it was very refreshing to long time fans to see that some people out there still understood how to write Spider-Man after the comics tragedy known as Dan Slott as well as mediocre adaptations like MCU Spidey.
Story
Most Spider-Man games focus on Spidey and rarely have any focus on Peter. This is because its more appealing for game devs to focus on the larger than life superheroics of Spider-Man than it is to deal with his personal issues I guess. While that focus has led to many good games in the past, it hasnt led to many good stories. This is what Insomniac understands about the character, to write a good Spider-Man story you need to focus on the man under the mask as much as the mask itself.
Rambling aside, Peter's personal issues drive the plot fully, from things like getting evicted because time spent as Spidey cant be spent at a part time job, to breaking up with his girlfriend because they cant see eye to eye on the superheroics to worse things. If Peter wasn't always late to the lab, if he had been more attentive of his boss' situation, if he wasn't always so busy as Spider-Man many of the events in the story could have been prevented. But if he didn't go out to stop villains, the city would be in as bad if not worse a state. The dilemma of being Spider-Man is captured very well here because as much as slinging around town can be a blessing, its also a curse on Peter.
Also I loved how the crime rates in town increased according to how serious the situation was in the story.
Gameplay
Ground combat is often compared to the Arkham games which is fair but I think the extra focus on gadgets and air combat is enough to distinguish it and I had a lot more fun with this combat system because of it. Gadgets do really trivialize the game depending on the enemy faction you're fighting though(anyone but Sable forces) and while the suit abilities are cool, Web Blossom just demolishes everything.
I thought the circuit and chemical puzzles were neat but they definitely could have used a bit more difficulty considering the game lets you skip them in the Options menu. Decent change of pace.
Something I really like about the crafting here is how it encourages players to interact with every aspect of its world. Oh you need 2 research tokens to make your next suit? Go do a research station or do some puzzles at the lab. You don't have to reload a save or swing mindlessly around the map to look for a specific resource to spawn. Just go do a side activity and boom. You never need a million tokens to craft stuff either, its always 2-4 which is neat.
Really don't like the forced stealth sections, Brian Intihar said on a Spoilercast video that those parts were added because playing as Spidey is like being at 10 all the time and they didnt want players being overwhelmed??? At least they're easy and end pretty fast.
Bosses unfortunately are pretty easy and while there are some interesting matchups, all the bosses are just part of a set piece, some of which are cool and some of which are meh. Combat is at its peak when you're fighting large groups of enemies.
Web swinging is really fun and probably the best its ever been right under Spider-Man 2 and maybe Web of Shadows but wall crawling is pretty bad. Its slow, you can get stuck on stuff fairly often and it generally feels like devs assumed no one would ever wall crawl.
The open world looks nice and besides having a lot of references to other Marvel characters, there are loads of good side activities ranging from full side quests with their own chains to combat, stealth, swinging challenges and the really unique ones like the research stations. The only issue I have with the open world is the viewpoints copy pasted from Assassin's Creed. This is 2018 brah you tellin me Spidey can't be bothered to pull out Google Maps?
Music
Pretty good but the official album is lacking some tracks for some reason and many tracks feel like remixes of the same song. Also the start menu song(Web Launch) is on the DLC ost album instead of the main one for some reason.
Some highlights are Web Launch, Eight Years in the Making, Webbed from the Shadows, The Final Lesson and No Other Choice(again in the DLC album for some reason) which is very good in the scene it plays in.
Remastered
I have no clue why they changed Peter's face bruh. He's supposed to be 23 here not 15. New face looks the same age as Miles. The official reason is that "the studio needed somebody else to do facial capture that better matched the performance of the voice actor." This would be believable if the facial expressions of the new guy were good but they're not. In my opinion its almost a clear downgrade whenever Peter is unmasked and emoting. I've heard that the facial animations of the old face actor were used for the new one and that he actually looks good in Miles Morales but idk about that one yet.
Conclusion
Really good game, really good story. Forget making you feel like Spider-Man. This game makes you feel like Peter Parker, the good parts and the bad. Don't like the new face but Peter is in the suit most of the game so its fine I guess(not really)
Story
Most Spider-Man games focus on Spidey and rarely have any focus on Peter. This is because its more appealing for game devs to focus on the larger than life superheroics of Spider-Man than it is to deal with his personal issues I guess. While that focus has led to many good games in the past, it hasnt led to many good stories. This is what Insomniac understands about the character, to write a good Spider-Man story you need to focus on the man under the mask as much as the mask itself.
Rambling aside, Peter's personal issues drive the plot fully, from things like getting evicted because time spent as Spidey cant be spent at a part time job, to breaking up with his girlfriend because they cant see eye to eye on the superheroics to worse things. If Peter wasn't always late to the lab, if he had been more attentive of his boss' situation, if he wasn't always so busy as Spider-Man many of the events in the story could have been prevented. But if he didn't go out to stop villains, the city would be in as bad if not worse a state. The dilemma of being Spider-Man is captured very well here because as much as slinging around town can be a blessing, its also a curse on Peter.
Also I loved how the crime rates in town increased according to how serious the situation was in the story.
Gameplay
Ground combat is often compared to the Arkham games which is fair but I think the extra focus on gadgets and air combat is enough to distinguish it and I had a lot more fun with this combat system because of it. Gadgets do really trivialize the game depending on the enemy faction you're fighting though(anyone but Sable forces) and while the suit abilities are cool, Web Blossom just demolishes everything.
I thought the circuit and chemical puzzles were neat but they definitely could have used a bit more difficulty considering the game lets you skip them in the Options menu. Decent change of pace.
Something I really like about the crafting here is how it encourages players to interact with every aspect of its world. Oh you need 2 research tokens to make your next suit? Go do a research station or do some puzzles at the lab. You don't have to reload a save or swing mindlessly around the map to look for a specific resource to spawn. Just go do a side activity and boom. You never need a million tokens to craft stuff either, its always 2-4 which is neat.
Really don't like the forced stealth sections, Brian Intihar said on a Spoilercast video that those parts were added because playing as Spidey is like being at 10 all the time and they didnt want players being overwhelmed??? At least they're easy and end pretty fast.
Bosses unfortunately are pretty easy and while there are some interesting matchups, all the bosses are just part of a set piece, some of which are cool and some of which are meh. Combat is at its peak when you're fighting large groups of enemies.
Web swinging is really fun and probably the best its ever been right under Spider-Man 2 and maybe Web of Shadows but wall crawling is pretty bad. Its slow, you can get stuck on stuff fairly often and it generally feels like devs assumed no one would ever wall crawl.
The open world looks nice and besides having a lot of references to other Marvel characters, there are loads of good side activities ranging from full side quests with their own chains to combat, stealth, swinging challenges and the really unique ones like the research stations. The only issue I have with the open world is the viewpoints copy pasted from Assassin's Creed. This is 2018 brah you tellin me Spidey can't be bothered to pull out Google Maps?
Music
Pretty good but the official album is lacking some tracks for some reason and many tracks feel like remixes of the same song. Also the start menu song(Web Launch) is on the DLC ost album instead of the main one for some reason.
Some highlights are Web Launch, Eight Years in the Making, Webbed from the Shadows, The Final Lesson and No Other Choice(again in the DLC album for some reason) which is very good in the scene it plays in.
Remastered
I have no clue why they changed Peter's face bruh. He's supposed to be 23 here not 15. New face looks the same age as Miles. The official reason is that "the studio needed somebody else to do facial capture that better matched the performance of the voice actor." This would be believable if the facial expressions of the new guy were good but they're not. In my opinion its almost a clear downgrade whenever Peter is unmasked and emoting. I've heard that the facial animations of the old face actor were used for the new one and that he actually looks good in Miles Morales but idk about that one yet.
Conclusion
Really good game, really good story. Forget making you feel like Spider-Man. This game makes you feel like Peter Parker, the good parts and the bad. Don't like the new face but Peter is in the suit most of the game so its fine I guess(not really)
2014
looks neat but the gameplay is kinda boring
Grigon Entertainment peaked with this ngl
GOTY tbh. Beat Raymond's route in about 34 hours first, will do Laeticia's later on.
Story
I really like the premise of this game's story, its a lot of fun. Space FedEx deliveryman Raymond's ship is attacked and he crash lands on a fantasy themed underdeveloped planet named Aster IV where he gets involved in a war between nations. There is a law in universe that prevents people from interacting with underdeveloped planets so that the evolution of their society isn't influenced by anyone but Raymond doesn't give a fuck, its very entertaining to see Sci Fi and Fantasy mix together in his interactions with the residents of Aster IV as they react to the increasing presence of advanced technology on their journey. I don't get the complaints some have about the game suddenly ending, but I do wish we got a bit more at the end with Aster IV, though that may be because I am attached to this cast.
Characters
The characters the draw of the game for me. The party in this game is pretty varied and they're mostly good. Midas in particular is a joy to watch because of how little patience he has with the royalty of the planet and also due to how his inventor side reacts to Sci-Fi stuff. He's also buff as fuck for a mage. Private Actions are a mechanic where the MC gets to converse with party members mostly one on one during their downtime in cities and its put to great use here, loads of funny and interesting conversations with great characterization.
Gameplay
The combat although easy is a lot of fun and personally, buffing up, blindsiding an enemy and then hitting them with your strongest chain combo/Vatting attack never got old. They also somehow made it fun to play as the healer and it felt pretty natural to swap to Nina to build up AP and then swap to Elena/Marielle to own enemies. Figuring out the best chain combos for the party is neat but I will say, I never bothered figuring out what was best for the mages(I'm lazy).
One of the key features of a Star Ocean game is its unique Item Creation mechanic. Unfortunately for me, this is my first Star Ocean game so I did not interact with it much beyond doing the side quests for Welch to unlock them and making stronger revive items with it. I have seen online that its very useful for making great items and equipment though. I'll definitely be using it more in post game.
Exploration is pretty good with a fair amount of visual variety as well as vertical emphasis due to the ability to launch yourself into the air and glide although sadly the vertical aspects of the area design peak towards the beginning of the game. Most of the exploration is done in open fields that are visually great but sadly empty beyond some chests and gems for upgrades. Towards the end of the game the areas get replaced with dungeons and they are actually decently designed. There's even a teleport dungeon, hats off to Tri-Ace honestly for implementing one in their game even if it is a simple one.
Music
Motoi Sakuraba killed it on the music. I haven't played the other games he's composed for besides half of Valkyrie Elysium, I can hear the similarities and I gotta say I much prefer his work here over Elysium. Some of my favorites are "Special Delivery, Coming In Hot!", "Dance of The White Blade", "Bravery Flows Where Flesh Meets Steel", "Blaze Your Own Path: The Aldous" and "Paladurnia". I actually have a lot more but I don't want to list like 70% of the OST.
Conclusion
The Divine Force is a very fun time with great characters, combat and music. A must have honestly but I think the weaker story may affect some people's enjoyment of the game. Its hooked me on the series and I will be playing the rest of them
Story
I really like the premise of this game's story, its a lot of fun. Space FedEx deliveryman Raymond's ship is attacked and he crash lands on a fantasy themed underdeveloped planet named Aster IV where he gets involved in a war between nations. There is a law in universe that prevents people from interacting with underdeveloped planets so that the evolution of their society isn't influenced by anyone but Raymond doesn't give a fuck, its very entertaining to see Sci Fi and Fantasy mix together in his interactions with the residents of Aster IV as they react to the increasing presence of advanced technology on their journey. I don't get the complaints some have about the game suddenly ending, but I do wish we got a bit more at the end with Aster IV, though that may be because I am attached to this cast.
Characters
The characters the draw of the game for me. The party in this game is pretty varied and they're mostly good. Midas in particular is a joy to watch because of how little patience he has with the royalty of the planet and also due to how his inventor side reacts to Sci-Fi stuff. He's also buff as fuck for a mage. Private Actions are a mechanic where the MC gets to converse with party members mostly one on one during their downtime in cities and its put to great use here, loads of funny and interesting conversations with great characterization.
Gameplay
The combat although easy is a lot of fun and personally, buffing up, blindsiding an enemy and then hitting them with your strongest chain combo/Vatting attack never got old. They also somehow made it fun to play as the healer and it felt pretty natural to swap to Nina to build up AP and then swap to Elena/Marielle to own enemies. Figuring out the best chain combos for the party is neat but I will say, I never bothered figuring out what was best for the mages(I'm lazy).
One of the key features of a Star Ocean game is its unique Item Creation mechanic. Unfortunately for me, this is my first Star Ocean game so I did not interact with it much beyond doing the side quests for Welch to unlock them and making stronger revive items with it. I have seen online that its very useful for making great items and equipment though. I'll definitely be using it more in post game.
Exploration is pretty good with a fair amount of visual variety as well as vertical emphasis due to the ability to launch yourself into the air and glide although sadly the vertical aspects of the area design peak towards the beginning of the game. Most of the exploration is done in open fields that are visually great but sadly empty beyond some chests and gems for upgrades. Towards the end of the game the areas get replaced with dungeons and they are actually decently designed. There's even a teleport dungeon, hats off to Tri-Ace honestly for implementing one in their game even if it is a simple one.
Music
Motoi Sakuraba killed it on the music. I haven't played the other games he's composed for besides half of Valkyrie Elysium, I can hear the similarities and I gotta say I much prefer his work here over Elysium. Some of my favorites are "Special Delivery, Coming In Hot!", "Dance of The White Blade", "Bravery Flows Where Flesh Meets Steel", "Blaze Your Own Path: The Aldous" and "Paladurnia". I actually have a lot more but I don't want to list like 70% of the OST.
Conclusion
The Divine Force is a very fun time with great characters, combat and music. A must have honestly but I think the weaker story may affect some people's enjoyment of the game. Its hooked me on the series and I will be playing the rest of them