Given what we know about Telltale games now, I was a little apprehensive about trying this game. While I still don't think this is as good as the reviews suggest, the game is 100% worth experiencing.

The story has excellent pacing. It knows when to pull back from the action and let you chill out and interact with your crew. The characters are well written. Each of them have their own way of expressing things, including the children who are portrayed in a smart and realistic manner. Character deaths have an emotional punch that lots of stories fail to induce and the ending is absolutely gut-wrenching. All of this is fused together with a minimal soundtrack which effortlessly fits the outright depressing tone of the game.

Do I think the mechanics add to the experience? NO. Do I think I would have enjoyed this story more if it was an animated series instead? Absolutely. Dying and retrying a couple of quick time events doesn't do anything more than bog down the pacing. The game keeps insisting that your choices matter over and over again to the point of annoyance but the choices that the game gives you are very surface-level and add nothing more than some changed dialogue. You help characters and support them for an entire episode but they refuse to help you in a life threatening situation because you had a small argument with them. Character models in the background hilariously stare into the void during intense situations. All of these issues make me wish this was a TV show instead.

The platforms and hazards in your typical Mario level don't have a reason for existence in the context of the level. They are just obstacles for the player to overcome. There's no explanation for them, they are just there.

Every single platform in Tropical Freeze tells you a story. Take the 5th island for example, Juicy Jungle. The main boss of this island loves popsicles. So all the levels in this island, serve as an intermediary stage in the creation of these popsicles. In stage 1, the platforms are cutting boards for fruits. In stage 3, the platforms are the sliced fruits themselves that act as trampolines. In level 5, the processed fruits have been frozen into delicious icy treats so now you get to jump on them as they slowly slide down from your weight.

The level of artistry at work here is astonishing. The enemies react as you fall off to your death and cheer when their boss damages you. The environments themselves tell little stories if you pay attention. You could just park yourself at a spot and watch the background for a good while and not get bored.

The game is punishingly difficult. The first 3 islands are not that bad but the last 3 will make Dark Souls look like Yoshi's crappy world. The final boss made me rage like a baby for 40 minutes straight. The game kicked my ass over and over again and it teetered at the edge of being bullshit but the tight controls and amazing level design pulled me back in every single time.

I had extremely high hopes for this game, given it's insane praise but I'm a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, DOS2 is a highly polished crpg but the story and the quests just aren't that interesting to me. The environments are beautifully crafted and the combat is really fun but Idk if I could put up with it for another 60 hours or so and that brings me to it's length. This is a loooong ass game, so the narrative isn't enthralling enough for me to put any more time into this. I don't play a lot of crpgs so maybe that's my main problem but whatever it may be I've given up on the game for now. Maybe I'll pick it back up in the future.

This game is underrated. I'm not talking about it in terms of it's reception. It's sitting at 96% positive on steam with over 125k reviews so it's done quite well in that regard. Instead I'm focusing on videogame discussion because tomb raider is never brought up in any conversation involving best games or favorite games of the decade. After playing it, I can understand why but it's a shame because the potential and spark I see in this game makes me wish it took that slightly different direction that I wanted it to go in.

Tomb raider (2013) came out during the height of the Uncharted series. The third game had released a couple of years prior and thus Crystal Dynamics was quick to try and fill that void by coming up with their own rendition, through a series reboot of a forgotten franchise. While they did end up making a great game, I wonder how this trilogy would be talked about now, if it's primary inspiration came from Metal Gear Solid 3, instead of Uncharted.

Gameplay:

Tomb Raider borrows almost everything from Naughty Dog's magnum opus and props it into the newly revamped, gritty world of Lara Croft's misadventures. Cover shooting, shitty climbing minigames, cinematic action cutscenes, etc. all show up here. I like the way Lara controls in this game. I love the way the physics of her jump works as well as how good it feels to shoot the bow, especially on a controller. There are 4 main weapons in the game, 2 of which I feel are redundant. The pistol becomes useless once you get the rifle, and the shotgun isn't even the best option at close range but I can't gush enough about the bow. It is completely overpowered but sooo satisfying to use. I wish the weapons had more utility and unique interactions though. For example, it would be cool to use the rope bow to pull enemies towards you.

There is stealth in the game but it doesn't work after you kill your first enemy. Once you get that first kill, every enemy in that level is alerted to your presence. There are also light survival elements but none of them are too in-depth. You collect scrap from boxes and chests which you can use to upgrade your weapons. You loot ammo from dead bodies and ammo caches but I never felt the need to scramble for bullets because I never ran out. Overall, I think this game needs more variety. I felt bored after an hour of play session every time. It could've desperately used a survival system akin to MGS3. Imagine crawling through the dirt and muck of this hostile environment, trying to hunt for food, avoid disease and predators. I believe if the developers put more thought into the mechanics of survival and stealth instead of following the footsteps of Uncharted, this could've been a truly special game.

Narrative and Visuals:

The story is nothing to write home about but it does it's job. It portrays Lara's journey from being just an archaeologist to becoming a badass and it does it well. It doesn't do a great job of building up other characters or the comically evil antagonists for that matter, but not every story needs to be profound or have n-dimensional characters, it just needs to be entertaining and this game delivers.

The entire game is dripping with a depressing atmosphere. The blood and the gore are used to a great effect here. The castles are massive and foreboding, the enemy camps look like they've been put together using scraps, the caves are claustrophobic and truly pitch black. You can sometimes almost smell the rotting corpses that Lara has to wade through. It's actually too disgusting at times. A lot of the enemy designs are generic but it gets wild towards the end. The death animations for Lara are brutal but you become numb to them after dying to the same quick time event for the 1000th time.


In summary, Tomb Raider (2013) is Uncharted for sadomasochists.

3.5/5

Although 3D world is a great game on it's own I was never that fond of it. I prefer the open design of games like odyssey and sunshine. Even so, I liked Galaxy 1&2 because of their inventive level design which 3D world failed to replicate.

Bowser's fury ditches the linear levels of 3D world to create an experimental template for what I believe could be the next big Mario game. The levels are now scattered across an open world in a bunch of islands each of which contain a bunch of shines to collect. The shines this time are actually meaningful to collect and it never feels like you're rewarded a shine for free.

The main theme and gimmick of Bowser's fury is the gigabell which super charges Mario to become cat godzilla. This is pretty fun even though the gameplay isn't any different from regular Mario. It offers cool setpiece moments which eventually culminate into an awesome ending.

The open world is simple yet really effective. At first, there's only one island open for exploration. After you collect a minimum amount of shines, you have a fight with bowser in giga form which opens up the next island. You can move forward and collect shines in the next island or go back and collect ones you've missed. There's one caveat however, you can't collect all the shines in an island at once. You have to switch to a different island and come back to collect other ones. I don't dislike this decision as it forces the player to move around and truly explore the space. Bowser wakes up from time to time. This adds an extra challenge because of falling lava, additional platforms and a super laser which you have to avoid by taking cover.

The only thing I dislike are the shines that are hidden inside the fury blocks which break only when bowser does his laser blast attack. This makes these shines really tedious to collect as you have to wait for bowser to wake up which could take a fairly long time.

Bowser's fury is a banger from start to finish. It's a fairly short game which you can complete in about 4 hours and I urge you to give it a shot.

Mediocre open world with copy-paste design. The world is desolate which fits the mad max universe but it feels empty in a way that is unsatisfying in an open world setting. The combat is pretty much the same as the Arkham games. You just press buttons mindlessly and you win.

The driving feels nice. The artstyle and graphics are amazing. The sandstorms in this game have some of the most realistic looking and terrifying weather effects I've seen in a videogame. This has potential with it's atmosphere but everything in the game is tedious and annoying. I would not recommend this unless you're looking for a dozen hours of uninspired open world design.

Dark souls 3 feels really safe compared to the experimental demons souls, ds1/2 and the hyper focused Sekiro. It calls back to Dark souls 1 for a lot of it's themes and stories. It may feel like a cheap cop out to a lot of people but I don't think it is.

The world of Dark souls 3 is crumbling to dust. There's a sense of loneliness throughout the game even more so than the previous titles. You trudge through to the end, defeating broken giants, deteriorating wyverns and knights who are desperately holding on to their past; only to find that it's all pointless. The world of dark souls can't go on any further. You try to relight the first flame again but it produces nothing but fickle embers. The universe is collapsing in on itself bringing up memories of the distant past. The final boss is an amalgamation of every hero before you. The final area is a contorting mess of every kingdom that ever existed. The universe of dark souls is thinking of ending things.

The true ending of dark souls is at the end of the ringed city DLC. You can finally see the true nature of the world. It's covered entirely in ash and the only being alive is a deranged old man at the end of time. The end of this universe gives birth to a new one, crafted using the very soul that started the series. The story of Dark Souls 3 is underrated by fans because it harkens back to the start of the series. Contrary to that, I think it's a brilliant way of saying goodbye.

I do have my issues with the game that prevent it from becoming a true masterpiece. The game is way too linear. I enjoy the level design in areas like the grand archives and lothric castle but areas like the farron swamp and anor londo leave a bad taste in my mouth. Although DS3 doesn't reach the heights of the first game, It is still one of the best games of the past decade.