TheMine
90 Reviews liked by TheMine
Elden Ring
2022
I applaud FromSoft for trying something kind of different when it comes to their reiterative games but I don't think an open world design -or maybe just the huge scale of it- is the best fit for these types of games, it's very detrimental to a lot of aspects but especially: level design, difficulty, uniqueness and atmosphere.
With that being said, my review is mostly going to focus on the negative things I have to said about the game as there are plenty of positive reviews for it. It took me 102 hours to finish it (blind playthrough of every boss and exploring everything) and I was level 166 by the time I reached the ending.
As mentioned before, the level design suffers a big hit: while some of the legacy dungeons, isolated areas and castles you can find in the world of Elden Ring are well-designed exploring the open-world can be very exhausting and boring at times.
You will find the open-world to be generously populated with things to do -most of them being recycled which can happen a lot in open-world games- but it feels like a far cry from the sense of magic that games such as Demon's Souls brought to the table which hit you with unique enemies, level layouts and atmosphere very often.
This is especially bad when it comes to secondary bosses, you will eventually get bored of fighting these as you will fight them in many different forms: as a single boss, as recurrent normal enemies, in another boss fight but with a little more armor, in another boss fight but this time they are two instead of one -even going up to three-.
Speaking of recycled content going from area to area, while some of the legacy dungeons are nicely designed and some are memorable, they are vastly undermined by the repetitiveness of their enemy design and atmosphere; I honestly think Legacy Dungeons especially would have greatly benefitted from a unique set of assets (atmosphere and enemies) as they can get very repetitive even if this meant there were less of them and the World was smaller.
The Souls franchise has never been the video game franchise with the tightest combat around -this can be seen since as early as in Demon's Souls with how overpowered magic builds are or something such as Dark Souls 2's rapier which make the combat redundant- but in those games it's more of you going out of your way to make the combat redundant or just being lucky/unlucky -depending on how you see it- with the build you choose.
I'm not sure if I got 'unlucky' with my build in Elden Ring -something I consider rather unlikely with how many options there are-, I just went for two dual colossal swords because I think they are cool and went with a focus on jumping attacks because some of the items/medallions I had plus the fact that you can break posture easier while jumping and found the combat to be way too easy for more than half of the game or 50+ hours; I never really went out of my way to break the game or make the combat redundant.
While I don't mind easy games, this made a big impact on how much I enjoyed the game since some boss fights that seemed kind of cool ended comically fast and I could not even enjoy their soundtrack or even see the full extent of the enemy move set. This might also be a by-product of Elden Ring being an open-world game in which difficulty can greatly vary depending on the order you stumble upon things or decide to do them, especially in the early-mid game.
Most of the boss fights are the least memorable out of every Souls game when considering how long this game is, if only rushing through the story it might be okay but I have never been that type of person. There are some interesting boss fights in it -about 10 in total maybe if I’m being generous-, I just don't think they are enough for how long this game is.
On another note, this game while it has its own identity feels that it references a lot of the other souls games maybe a bit too much for things such as enemy design, some of the most glaring examples are: hoplites from Demon's Souls and basilisks from Dark Souls. It sometimes goes out of its way to just reference enemy appearances such as the beast patients found in Old Yharnam (Bloodborne). This is not necessarily a bad thing but it’s something I'm not very fond of personally.
One aspect I think they nailed is the horse combat: it maintains the simple controls of being on-foot so it feels like a natural extension of the rest of the gameplay and it's fairly punishing if you get knocked out of your horse. The only problem is it makes some boss fights a little bit too easy but nothing too serious, other than that I think it was well-implemented.
Other positive point -or negative depending on how you see it- is how addictive this game is, this might be accentuated by me and all my friends playing this at the same time and discussing about the game but I have to mention it.
I have other minor nitpicks with Elden Ring such as armor being largely irrelevant but I think I have ranted for long enough.
Most of my problems with the game would have been solved by downsizing the huge scale of the world/map in benefit of more unique situation/events/dungeons/bosses/enemies in the different areas it has and maybe having a look at the combat balance.
Seeing how many people love Elden Ring, it might be more of a situation of the game just not being for me rather than it being a bad game I guess.
With that being said, my review is mostly going to focus on the negative things I have to said about the game as there are plenty of positive reviews for it. It took me 102 hours to finish it (blind playthrough of every boss and exploring everything) and I was level 166 by the time I reached the ending.
As mentioned before, the level design suffers a big hit: while some of the legacy dungeons, isolated areas and castles you can find in the world of Elden Ring are well-designed exploring the open-world can be very exhausting and boring at times.
You will find the open-world to be generously populated with things to do -most of them being recycled which can happen a lot in open-world games- but it feels like a far cry from the sense of magic that games such as Demon's Souls brought to the table which hit you with unique enemies, level layouts and atmosphere very often.
This is especially bad when it comes to secondary bosses, you will eventually get bored of fighting these as you will fight them in many different forms: as a single boss, as recurrent normal enemies, in another boss fight but with a little more armor, in another boss fight but this time they are two instead of one -even going up to three-.
Speaking of recycled content going from area to area, while some of the legacy dungeons are nicely designed and some are memorable, they are vastly undermined by the repetitiveness of their enemy design and atmosphere; I honestly think Legacy Dungeons especially would have greatly benefitted from a unique set of assets (atmosphere and enemies) as they can get very repetitive even if this meant there were less of them and the World was smaller.
The Souls franchise has never been the video game franchise with the tightest combat around -this can be seen since as early as in Demon's Souls with how overpowered magic builds are or something such as Dark Souls 2's rapier which make the combat redundant- but in those games it's more of you going out of your way to make the combat redundant or just being lucky/unlucky -depending on how you see it- with the build you choose.
I'm not sure if I got 'unlucky' with my build in Elden Ring -something I consider rather unlikely with how many options there are-, I just went for two dual colossal swords because I think they are cool and went with a focus on jumping attacks because some of the items/medallions I had plus the fact that you can break posture easier while jumping and found the combat to be way too easy for more than half of the game or 50+ hours; I never really went out of my way to break the game or make the combat redundant.
While I don't mind easy games, this made a big impact on how much I enjoyed the game since some boss fights that seemed kind of cool ended comically fast and I could not even enjoy their soundtrack or even see the full extent of the enemy move set. This might also be a by-product of Elden Ring being an open-world game in which difficulty can greatly vary depending on the order you stumble upon things or decide to do them, especially in the early-mid game.
Most of the boss fights are the least memorable out of every Souls game when considering how long this game is, if only rushing through the story it might be okay but I have never been that type of person. There are some interesting boss fights in it -about 10 in total maybe if I’m being generous-, I just don't think they are enough for how long this game is.
On another note, this game while it has its own identity feels that it references a lot of the other souls games maybe a bit too much for things such as enemy design, some of the most glaring examples are: hoplites from Demon's Souls and basilisks from Dark Souls. It sometimes goes out of its way to just reference enemy appearances such as the beast patients found in Old Yharnam (Bloodborne). This is not necessarily a bad thing but it’s something I'm not very fond of personally.
One aspect I think they nailed is the horse combat: it maintains the simple controls of being on-foot so it feels like a natural extension of the rest of the gameplay and it's fairly punishing if you get knocked out of your horse. The only problem is it makes some boss fights a little bit too easy but nothing too serious, other than that I think it was well-implemented.
Other positive point -or negative depending on how you see it- is how addictive this game is, this might be accentuated by me and all my friends playing this at the same time and discussing about the game but I have to mention it.
I have other minor nitpicks with Elden Ring such as armor being largely irrelevant but I think I have ranted for long enough.
Most of my problems with the game would have been solved by downsizing the huge scale of the world/map in benefit of more unique situation/events/dungeons/bosses/enemies in the different areas it has and maybe having a look at the combat balance.
Seeing how many people love Elden Ring, it might be more of a situation of the game just not being for me rather than it being a bad game I guess.
Before Your Eyes
2021
Before Your Eyes is a reminder of what games are capable of where films and music are not. I loved its original concept, interactive nature and the fact it made me cry like a little girl.
It was a trip that took me back to my childhood - made me think about many moments in my life, lifestyle decisions and relationships which very few games have ever managed to do.
My only problem with it is that the blinking mechanic which is core to the experience misfunctioned many times despite constantly recalibrating the webcam that I have -which is a pretty good webcam- so my blinks were detected many times where I did not blink such as me smiling or just adjusting my headphones.
It was a trip that took me back to my childhood - made me think about many moments in my life, lifestyle decisions and relationships which very few games have ever managed to do.
My only problem with it is that the blinking mechanic which is core to the experience misfunctioned many times despite constantly recalibrating the webcam that I have -which is a pretty good webcam- so my blinks were detected many times where I did not blink such as me smiling or just adjusting my headphones.
Doom
1993
Knee-Deep in the Dead > Inferno > The Shores of Hell
The Ultimate Doom
1995
E4M2 is what separates men from boys
King of Kings and Rightful King 😤😤🤴
How do you deal with the loss of someone you love? Majora's Mask perfectly conveys to the player the fact that we are not alone in our mourning and that better times will come.
It blends narrative and game design masterfully to showcase what relationships mean and how we cope with grief.
It blends narrative and game design masterfully to showcase what relationships mean and how we cope with grief.
Drakengard
2003
This review contains spoilers
A beautiful work on the potential of children - two kids raised by the same mother: one with love and the other with hatred.
Seere ended up emulating the hero he admired from the fairy tales of his mother -the 'little hero'- and played an irreplaceable part in the saving of the World.
Manah was abused and did the only thing that was taught to her: to destroy - this led to the collapse of everything as it was known.
Arioch sacrificed the possibility of having children by making a pact with two elemental spirits. With her child gone to the war and an impossibility to create any more life within her she goes mad and becomes a child-eater - probably due to jealousy "my child was taken away from me and I cannot have any more, therefore it's not fair for any other person to have the privilege of their children living".
Some interesting symbolism I found about these two spirits is that they resemble the ovaries of a woman which play an important part in the making of a human being.
It was very subtly told overtime but Leonard was a pedophile (from what I have read this was more explicit in the Japanese version) but it was made more obvious with the cutscene for ending E where Seere hugs him and his reaction is surprisingly descriptive - it seems as if he wants to give in to his urges but ends up resisting; probably due to the memories of his little brothers which he regrets.
These last two might be bit of a stretch but here's my interpretation of it:
Furiae was in love with his brother Caim, as we know incest can lead to genetic disorders in children - the World itself is not fair but on top of that genetic disorders bring a lot of complications on children to live a normal life and adapt to society.
Caim has bloodlust and no compassion for human lives - it's a war so there will be bloodshed but he actively enjoys it disregarding the children he is leaving fatherless and the human on the other side of the War. Something that Angelus and other characters constantly ask of him agaisnt the enemies is for mercy.
There's so much symbolism but I was comfortable with some of my interpretations of it after seeing how the Watchers resemble giant babies. There's also a surprising amount of depth to the characters and different endings.
The soundtrack is beautiful: the abrupt repetition of samples alludes to the repetition of slaughter in the field - this is especially felt while playing with Caim on the ground.
Onto the gameplay: I'm not a fan of musou games but I grew to like the ground combat because of the experimentation of different weapons and I think it was brilliant from a ludo-narrative stand-point to get to know Caim. (even if I think this term is silly and I don't really take it into account when gauging my enjoyment of a game)
I straight up loved the combat with Angelus, so much so that Panzer Dragoon has increased some priority spots in my to-play list.
As if this wasn't obvious with some elements you can find in Drakengard this was named Project Dragonsphere due to drawing heavy inspiration from Ace Combat 3, I was surprised to see so many things that reminded me of it: the canyon which is kind of a small labyrinth as it was in AC3, the city in its demise is also reminiscent to how the city looked in some of the endings (or all of them? I cannot recall) of AC3, the extra expedition where you can fight against fighter jets, the gameplay of Angelus itself, the sometimes atmospheric and electronic soundtrack, etc.
There are so many things I probably missed about Drakengard but that's also the beauty of it, I was really surprised with how much I loved the story and that I ended up enjoying the gameplay. Now I'm shilling this game to my friends.
On another note - sometimes it might be worth asking yourself: can this work as effectively as it is if it was a film or a work in another medium? In the case of Drakengard, I don't think so.
Some personal notes:
This was my previous review for Drakengard but I have been re-playing some games I used to dismiss (e.g. ICO) because of my lack of patience with positive results; it feels like growing as a person.
With how much I loved Drakengard, I will play the rest of the series (including Nier) and eventually re-play Nier Automata (I did not enjoy this last one as much but I want to revisit it)
I also had some things to say about how Caim doesn't care about the unethical behavior of the people helping him to achieve his goals but because of being so focused on saving Furiae he disregards this. This eventually comes back to bite him in the tail...
Seere ended up emulating the hero he admired from the fairy tales of his mother -the 'little hero'- and played an irreplaceable part in the saving of the World.
Manah was abused and did the only thing that was taught to her: to destroy - this led to the collapse of everything as it was known.
Arioch sacrificed the possibility of having children by making a pact with two elemental spirits. With her child gone to the war and an impossibility to create any more life within her she goes mad and becomes a child-eater - probably due to jealousy "my child was taken away from me and I cannot have any more, therefore it's not fair for any other person to have the privilege of their children living".
Some interesting symbolism I found about these two spirits is that they resemble the ovaries of a woman which play an important part in the making of a human being.
It was very subtly told overtime but Leonard was a pedophile (from what I have read this was more explicit in the Japanese version) but it was made more obvious with the cutscene for ending E where Seere hugs him and his reaction is surprisingly descriptive - it seems as if he wants to give in to his urges but ends up resisting; probably due to the memories of his little brothers which he regrets.
These last two might be bit of a stretch but here's my interpretation of it:
Furiae was in love with his brother Caim, as we know incest can lead to genetic disorders in children - the World itself is not fair but on top of that genetic disorders bring a lot of complications on children to live a normal life and adapt to society.
Caim has bloodlust and no compassion for human lives - it's a war so there will be bloodshed but he actively enjoys it disregarding the children he is leaving fatherless and the human on the other side of the War. Something that Angelus and other characters constantly ask of him agaisnt the enemies is for mercy.
There's so much symbolism but I was comfortable with some of my interpretations of it after seeing how the Watchers resemble giant babies. There's also a surprising amount of depth to the characters and different endings.
The soundtrack is beautiful: the abrupt repetition of samples alludes to the repetition of slaughter in the field - this is especially felt while playing with Caim on the ground.
Onto the gameplay: I'm not a fan of musou games but I grew to like the ground combat because of the experimentation of different weapons and I think it was brilliant from a ludo-narrative stand-point to get to know Caim. (even if I think this term is silly and I don't really take it into account when gauging my enjoyment of a game)
I straight up loved the combat with Angelus, so much so that Panzer Dragoon has increased some priority spots in my to-play list.
As if this wasn't obvious with some elements you can find in Drakengard this was named Project Dragonsphere due to drawing heavy inspiration from Ace Combat 3, I was surprised to see so many things that reminded me of it: the canyon which is kind of a small labyrinth as it was in AC3, the city in its demise is also reminiscent to how the city looked in some of the endings (or all of them? I cannot recall) of AC3, the extra expedition where you can fight against fighter jets, the gameplay of Angelus itself, the sometimes atmospheric and electronic soundtrack, etc.
There are so many things I probably missed about Drakengard but that's also the beauty of it, I was really surprised with how much I loved the story and that I ended up enjoying the gameplay. Now I'm shilling this game to my friends.
On another note - sometimes it might be worth asking yourself: can this work as effectively as it is if it was a film or a work in another medium? In the case of Drakengard, I don't think so.
Some personal notes:
This was my previous review for Drakengard but I have been re-playing some games I used to dismiss (e.g. ICO) because of my lack of patience with positive results; it feels like growing as a person.
With how much I loved Drakengard, I will play the rest of the series (including Nier) and eventually re-play Nier Automata (I did not enjoy this last one as much but I want to revisit it)
I also had some things to say about how Caim doesn't care about the unethical behavior of the people helping him to achieve his goals but because of being so focused on saving Furiae he disregards this. This eventually comes back to bite him in the tail...
Digital photography capturing the heavy caliber plowing through the neon-infested air of Shanghai; fuck your eardrums and motion sickness.
Dead Men was clearly inspired by Mann's Heat in some set pieces: the bank heist, the nightclub - which was my favorite part of that game by far - and the shooting in the streets of Tokyo. It had some redeeming qualities but other than feeling like a homage to Mann it didn't get many things right - the dialogue comes to mind.
Dog Days while still being heavily inspired by Mann's cinematography - the use of digital photography in films such as Collateral or Miami Vice - feels like its own thing where everything fell right into place.
The emulation of digital photography is very beautiful and creative - the depth of field, the bokeh, grain (actually noise!), the use of overexposure and a really smart choice of color grading are implented masterfully but Kane and Lynch 2 goes beyond this to present us with very distinct visuals and a nauseating mood: the invisible cameraman struggling to document all of this. To add to this, the camera glitching when you get shot, the hitmarkers getting displayed on the bodies you shoot instead of on your invisible crosshair, the display of water droplets and blood splattered to the lenses were a nice artistic choice as well.
Ironically, this beautifully-crafted digital camera presents us with very ugly things - two psychopaths, sweat shops, corruption, poverty, mutilated persons, innocent people dying and dead naked women in the middle of busy streets. In all of this uglyness, there is some regard for human decency and some elements are masked by pixel censoring: namely these naked women and when you deface the face (sorry) of someone with a shotgun.
It all feels like a long hallway through the deepest place of hell - the nauseauting feeling of a camera struggling to capture this, the worst of human uglyness, the linearity of the levels and the thunderous sound of bullets coming from everywhere - it almost makes you want to vomit.
There's no pretensions about morality in Dog Days as opposed to some dialogues from the first entry - both protagonists just accept what is happening and just push-on as they follow the "the end justifies the means" ethos but for purely selfish gains. There are many moments where this can be seen but one of the best is when they find some hostages in the back of a shop, one of them acknowledges their existence but the other screams something along the lines of "it's not my problem!" which perfectly fits their characters.
Another thing I thought was cool was the fact that most "cinematic moments" happen through gameplay mechanics and with what you are presented from the beginning rather than a cutscene which feels very honest.
It all feels like a collage of violence since you usually don't see what happens behind Kane and Lynch going from one place to the next, you are just placed there to shoot people and get to the end of this nightmare.
On the sound design, it follows the sound signature of Mann's deafening bullets but at the same time it does its own thing by allowing the environments to play the rest of the soundtrack - I simply love it. All of the vocal tracks being in Chinese only enhance the soundtrack if anything.
As for the gameplay, it refined the movement and shooting of its predecessor - a pretty standard third person shooter but I enjoy those so nothing to complain about.
There is nothing else like this in existence and it's still surprising that Square Enix gave all this creative freedom to IO Interactive.
Dead Men was clearly inspired by Mann's Heat in some set pieces: the bank heist, the nightclub - which was my favorite part of that game by far - and the shooting in the streets of Tokyo. It had some redeeming qualities but other than feeling like a homage to Mann it didn't get many things right - the dialogue comes to mind.
Dog Days while still being heavily inspired by Mann's cinematography - the use of digital photography in films such as Collateral or Miami Vice - feels like its own thing where everything fell right into place.
The emulation of digital photography is very beautiful and creative - the depth of field, the bokeh, grain (actually noise!), the use of overexposure and a really smart choice of color grading are implented masterfully but Kane and Lynch 2 goes beyond this to present us with very distinct visuals and a nauseating mood: the invisible cameraman struggling to document all of this. To add to this, the camera glitching when you get shot, the hitmarkers getting displayed on the bodies you shoot instead of on your invisible crosshair, the display of water droplets and blood splattered to the lenses were a nice artistic choice as well.
Ironically, this beautifully-crafted digital camera presents us with very ugly things - two psychopaths, sweat shops, corruption, poverty, mutilated persons, innocent people dying and dead naked women in the middle of busy streets. In all of this uglyness, there is some regard for human decency and some elements are masked by pixel censoring: namely these naked women and when you deface the face (sorry) of someone with a shotgun.
It all feels like a long hallway through the deepest place of hell - the nauseauting feeling of a camera struggling to capture this, the worst of human uglyness, the linearity of the levels and the thunderous sound of bullets coming from everywhere - it almost makes you want to vomit.
There's no pretensions about morality in Dog Days as opposed to some dialogues from the first entry - both protagonists just accept what is happening and just push-on as they follow the "the end justifies the means" ethos but for purely selfish gains. There are many moments where this can be seen but one of the best is when they find some hostages in the back of a shop, one of them acknowledges their existence but the other screams something along the lines of "it's not my problem!" which perfectly fits their characters.
Another thing I thought was cool was the fact that most "cinematic moments" happen through gameplay mechanics and with what you are presented from the beginning rather than a cutscene which feels very honest.
It all feels like a collage of violence since you usually don't see what happens behind Kane and Lynch going from one place to the next, you are just placed there to shoot people and get to the end of this nightmare.
On the sound design, it follows the sound signature of Mann's deafening bullets but at the same time it does its own thing by allowing the environments to play the rest of the soundtrack - I simply love it. All of the vocal tracks being in Chinese only enhance the soundtrack if anything.
As for the gameplay, it refined the movement and shooting of its predecessor - a pretty standard third person shooter but I enjoy those so nothing to complain about.
There is nothing else like this in existence and it's still surprising that Square Enix gave all this creative freedom to IO Interactive.
Demon's Souls
2009
Playing through all of Demon's Souls again after Nioh made me realize how special this game is.
I remember thinking to myself that just 5 hours in this game had more enemy and level variety than Nioh in my 20 hours of playtime; this is especially true when it comes to enemy design.
Against bosses I love how you need to actually stop for a moment, analyze the situation and think of what you should do next instead of it just being a dodge -> roll behind boss -> attack -not that I don't like that but it can get boring after a while-.
The sound design and visuals come together for an unmatched atmospehere, all the different worlds are memorable -my favorites being Shrine of Storms and Tower of Latria-.
It's kind of amazing that the first game that basically created a genre managed to get everything right from the beginning; a masterpiece.
I remember thinking to myself that just 5 hours in this game had more enemy and level variety than Nioh in my 20 hours of playtime; this is especially true when it comes to enemy design.
Against bosses I love how you need to actually stop for a moment, analyze the situation and think of what you should do next instead of it just being a dodge -> roll behind boss -> attack -not that I don't like that but it can get boring after a while-.
The sound design and visuals come together for an unmatched atmospehere, all the different worlds are memorable -my favorites being Shrine of Storms and Tower of Latria-.
It's kind of amazing that the first game that basically created a genre managed to get everything right from the beginning; a masterpiece.
Donkey Kong
1994
Donkey Kong is the perfect example of the developers understanding the Hardware limitations, the user's behavior when playing with handheld consoles and at the same time looking forward and not being afraid of bringing innovation to the table.
This game introduced movement that is still used in the most recent Mario games and has proven to be a success: the Backflip.
It also introduced a primitive version of the Triple Jump called the Handstand Jump, the former eventually becoming a series staple as well as the backflip.
The developers were not afraid to experiment with the already established arcade Donkey Kong formula, they focused on making puzzles the challenge and making players think out of the box rather than focusing on platforming as the primary difficulty; at least this is true for the first half of the game.
The first half of the game is a masterpiece, the game doesn't stop introducing new mechanics and well-thought gimmicks to make the puzzles more challenging while having ingenious tutorials in the form of short cutscenes every 4 stages or so showing the player the new mechanic or gimmick.
Even though this is a game made for a handheld console -in the mid 90s-, the developers focused on innovating rather than taking something that was already available on home consoles and watering it down à la Donkey Kong Land. The gimmicks and Mario's movement options introduced in this game were very clever and I take off my hat to the people behind Donkey Kong for that.
Levels are relatively short and you can save whenever you want which goes to show the understanding on the behavior of people when playing on handheld consoles thus making it convenient to play in short bursts.
The soundtrack has some impressive tracks such as Scaling The Tower and the Final Boss theme which I was surprised the Game Boy can handle.
With that being said, my major problem with Donkey Kong is the second half, the game shifts focus from being a puzzle platformer to more of a generic platformer, you no longer need to think out of the box for some levels, just need to be mechanically on point to clear them -usually being able to brute force weak puzzles- which is a shame since they had the puzzles nailed down in the first half.
I wouldn't have much of a problem with this if it went on for just 1 or 2 stages but it's basically like this for half the stages except for the last stage -in which all the levels are basically you vs DK as opposed to every 4 levels- and I can excuse it of not being puzzle-focused as those levels were rather good and a good change to not make the game monotonous.
Needless to say but this game overstays its welcome, the developers got way too ambitious and wanted to make Donkey Kong really long and they did, I wish they stopped at 5 stages instead since the game would have been already plenty long for a handheld platformer. (still longer than other games such as Super Mario Land)
Donkey Kong should be more popular considering how influential it is to the Mario games.
This game introduced movement that is still used in the most recent Mario games and has proven to be a success: the Backflip.
It also introduced a primitive version of the Triple Jump called the Handstand Jump, the former eventually becoming a series staple as well as the backflip.
The developers were not afraid to experiment with the already established arcade Donkey Kong formula, they focused on making puzzles the challenge and making players think out of the box rather than focusing on platforming as the primary difficulty; at least this is true for the first half of the game.
The first half of the game is a masterpiece, the game doesn't stop introducing new mechanics and well-thought gimmicks to make the puzzles more challenging while having ingenious tutorials in the form of short cutscenes every 4 stages or so showing the player the new mechanic or gimmick.
Even though this is a game made for a handheld console -in the mid 90s-, the developers focused on innovating rather than taking something that was already available on home consoles and watering it down à la Donkey Kong Land. The gimmicks and Mario's movement options introduced in this game were very clever and I take off my hat to the people behind Donkey Kong for that.
Levels are relatively short and you can save whenever you want which goes to show the understanding on the behavior of people when playing on handheld consoles thus making it convenient to play in short bursts.
The soundtrack has some impressive tracks such as Scaling The Tower and the Final Boss theme which I was surprised the Game Boy can handle.
With that being said, my major problem with Donkey Kong is the second half, the game shifts focus from being a puzzle platformer to more of a generic platformer, you no longer need to think out of the box for some levels, just need to be mechanically on point to clear them -usually being able to brute force weak puzzles- which is a shame since they had the puzzles nailed down in the first half.
I wouldn't have much of a problem with this if it went on for just 1 or 2 stages but it's basically like this for half the stages except for the last stage -in which all the levels are basically you vs DK as opposed to every 4 levels- and I can excuse it of not being puzzle-focused as those levels were rather good and a good change to not make the game monotonous.
Needless to say but this game overstays its welcome, the developers got way too ambitious and wanted to make Donkey Kong really long and they did, I wish they stopped at 5 stages instead since the game would have been already plenty long for a handheld platformer. (still longer than other games such as Super Mario Land)
Donkey Kong should be more popular considering how influential it is to the Mario games.
Ridge Racer Type 4
1998
Gameplay loop is very fun and there's no rubberbanding AI that I could notice which is always a good thing.
It also has easily the best soundtrack of any racing game I have ever played and just one of the best soundtracks I have had the pleasure to listen to. Graphics are great as well for the time.
I guess my only gripe with it is that it's a little short on content but I have yet to play more arcade racers from this era to compare.
It also has easily the best soundtrack of any racing game I have ever played and just one of the best soundtracks I have had the pleasure to listen to. Graphics are great as well for the time.
I guess my only gripe with it is that it's a little short on content but I have yet to play more arcade racers from this era to compare.
Metroid Dread
2021
I went into this title with low expectations, mainly due to having already played Samus Returns for the 3DS (developed by the same folks at Mercury Steam) which was okay but not as good as the other mainline titles or as AM2R -the fan remake of the same game- and the fact that no official 2D Metroids have ever come close to being as good as Super Metroid 27 years later and I have come to terms with this.
Having finished my first playthrough, I can say this game blew away my expectations.
The best way I can describe Metroid Dread in a short paragraph is it being a cross between Fusion and Super with improved movement and controls.
The controls have been fine-tuned very nicely, they feel precise and responsive. Controlling Samus to do the actions you want is seamless but make no mistake, this is probably the hardest Metroid game out there along with Fusion but it manages to accomplish this for the right reasons.
The new combat options Samus has in her arsenal are very fun and are implemented very well, out of all of them my favorite has to be the 'Flash Shift' which is basically a dash à la Doom Eternal but you can do multiple in a row; you will need to take advantage of this movement option for some boss fights and puzzles. This ability and some other are balanced by the Aeion bar (brought back from Samus Returns but implemented way better here), the bar auto-recharges over the span of 2 seconds or so which don't deter you from using them but it's just enough for you not to spam them in boss battles (which will get you killed anyway).
Speaking of boss fights, that's the main thing along with E.M.M.I. -which I will go into later- that makes this game more challenging than the other titles in the franchise. The boss fights all feel fair and are the best out of any Metroid game out there by far, I found some of them very creative and they demand the use of your powers and new movement options, I also liked the fact that you usually have multiple options to defeat a boss while keeping the high difficulty which is not an easy thing to accomplish.
My only complaint with the bosses is how you fight some of them multiple times (I'm talking 4 or 5) but at least they are fun, well-designed boss fights.
E.M.M.I. is what SA-X wanted to be but at the end failed to, my problems with SA-X stem from the fact that it was way too easy to escape from it and all the encounters felt very scripted in nature (because they were) so you didn’t feel any fear at all. Here on the other hand, encounters with E.M.M.I. make you genuinely fear for your life and there are many moments in which you will manage to barely escape from them which feels very good given the non-scripted nature of these encounters.
Added to your arsenal is the 'Phantom Cloak' which lets you turn invisible for a limited amount of time at the cost of limiting your movement and Aeion (or energy after Aeion runs out), this comes handy in E.M.M.I. encounters. All of these things make for the E.M.M.I. encounters to be a very welcomed addition while not hindering exploration as they are limited to E.M.M.I. zones.
The only bad thing about the E.M.M.I. being limited to these zones is that you kind of know when to expect them and as such they are not very scary outside of these zones; that is to say, you won't have the feeling of dread in the back of your mind while exploring the other parts of the map. This is a good compromise to make exploration fun if you ask me, it strikes a good balance between a survival horror and a metroidvania.
Now that I have talked about the best this game has to offer, I will go for the things that while good I thought could be improved.
The map design in this game is superb for the most part. Most areas are interconnected which is something I like but something I don't like so much is the way these are interconnected -by elevators, teleport stations and shuttles- which I know is very much a Metroid thing but I wish there was an exception or two -like the magic feeling of going from Brinstar to Maridia in Super for example-, other than that I feel the map design was mostly good but for some exceptions.
Those exceptions are 'closed doors' and 'thermal doors'. The 'closed doors' should have been called 'walls' because there's no way to go through them unless you progress in the game, this would be fine if they required an upgrade or something but just shutting them down feels like a cheap way of accomplishing things.
I'm also not very keen on the thermal doors spread throughout the beginning of the game -where you are forced to redirect thermal energy in order to open them- but at least they are only overused in the beginning of the game, probably to make the game more accessible and direct new players in the correct direction. This is pretty much the only hand-holding this game has and it’s done in a tasteful way instead of an AI pointing to the exact location you need to go; it’s only for the beginning so it’s not too bad.
The soundtrack is very ambient and sets the mood very nicely for the inhospitable World of ZDR but it also feels kinda underwhelming at times, not bad by any means but I cannot think of many tracks that stick out after beating the game other than 'meeting with Quiet Robe'.
I feel the atmosphere was just right, the film grain in the E.M.M.I. zones was done masterfully and the backgrounds were a big step up from Samus Returns, not nearly as much seems copy-pasted. I also really like how some areas have very muted colors, they really transmit the feeling of Samus not belonging there perfectly.
Because this is a Switch game I feel the need to mention this as well: the framerate; an important aspect of the game considering its difficulty and fast-paced nature. The framerate aims for 60FPS and it almost always delivers it, it only drops at times but it doesn't hinder the experience in any critical way because the drops are not massive; it’s not NGII on the 360 is what I’m trying to say.
On another note, I don't really get all the complaints about this game being linear, just barely a week has passed since the game's release and many sequence breaks -some seem intended, some others unintended- have been discovered (you can even skip the Drogyga boss fight lmao).
This is my 2nd favorite 2D Metroid after Super and has become one of my favorite games, I will see if that opinion changes on subsequent playthroughs but I doubt so.
Now onto Hard 100%! :)
Having finished my first playthrough, I can say this game blew away my expectations.
The best way I can describe Metroid Dread in a short paragraph is it being a cross between Fusion and Super with improved movement and controls.
The controls have been fine-tuned very nicely, they feel precise and responsive. Controlling Samus to do the actions you want is seamless but make no mistake, this is probably the hardest Metroid game out there along with Fusion but it manages to accomplish this for the right reasons.
The new combat options Samus has in her arsenal are very fun and are implemented very well, out of all of them my favorite has to be the 'Flash Shift' which is basically a dash à la Doom Eternal but you can do multiple in a row; you will need to take advantage of this movement option for some boss fights and puzzles. This ability and some other are balanced by the Aeion bar (brought back from Samus Returns but implemented way better here), the bar auto-recharges over the span of 2 seconds or so which don't deter you from using them but it's just enough for you not to spam them in boss battles (which will get you killed anyway).
Speaking of boss fights, that's the main thing along with E.M.M.I. -which I will go into later- that makes this game more challenging than the other titles in the franchise. The boss fights all feel fair and are the best out of any Metroid game out there by far, I found some of them very creative and they demand the use of your powers and new movement options, I also liked the fact that you usually have multiple options to defeat a boss while keeping the high difficulty which is not an easy thing to accomplish.
My only complaint with the bosses is how you fight some of them multiple times (I'm talking 4 or 5) but at least they are fun, well-designed boss fights.
E.M.M.I. is what SA-X wanted to be but at the end failed to, my problems with SA-X stem from the fact that it was way too easy to escape from it and all the encounters felt very scripted in nature (because they were) so you didn’t feel any fear at all. Here on the other hand, encounters with E.M.M.I. make you genuinely fear for your life and there are many moments in which you will manage to barely escape from them which feels very good given the non-scripted nature of these encounters.
Added to your arsenal is the 'Phantom Cloak' which lets you turn invisible for a limited amount of time at the cost of limiting your movement and Aeion (or energy after Aeion runs out), this comes handy in E.M.M.I. encounters. All of these things make for the E.M.M.I. encounters to be a very welcomed addition while not hindering exploration as they are limited to E.M.M.I. zones.
The only bad thing about the E.M.M.I. being limited to these zones is that you kind of know when to expect them and as such they are not very scary outside of these zones; that is to say, you won't have the feeling of dread in the back of your mind while exploring the other parts of the map. This is a good compromise to make exploration fun if you ask me, it strikes a good balance between a survival horror and a metroidvania.
Now that I have talked about the best this game has to offer, I will go for the things that while good I thought could be improved.
The map design in this game is superb for the most part. Most areas are interconnected which is something I like but something I don't like so much is the way these are interconnected -by elevators, teleport stations and shuttles- which I know is very much a Metroid thing but I wish there was an exception or two -like the magic feeling of going from Brinstar to Maridia in Super for example-, other than that I feel the map design was mostly good but for some exceptions.
Those exceptions are 'closed doors' and 'thermal doors'. The 'closed doors' should have been called 'walls' because there's no way to go through them unless you progress in the game, this would be fine if they required an upgrade or something but just shutting them down feels like a cheap way of accomplishing things.
I'm also not very keen on the thermal doors spread throughout the beginning of the game -where you are forced to redirect thermal energy in order to open them- but at least they are only overused in the beginning of the game, probably to make the game more accessible and direct new players in the correct direction. This is pretty much the only hand-holding this game has and it’s done in a tasteful way instead of an AI pointing to the exact location you need to go; it’s only for the beginning so it’s not too bad.
The soundtrack is very ambient and sets the mood very nicely for the inhospitable World of ZDR but it also feels kinda underwhelming at times, not bad by any means but I cannot think of many tracks that stick out after beating the game other than 'meeting with Quiet Robe'.
I feel the atmosphere was just right, the film grain in the E.M.M.I. zones was done masterfully and the backgrounds were a big step up from Samus Returns, not nearly as much seems copy-pasted. I also really like how some areas have very muted colors, they really transmit the feeling of Samus not belonging there perfectly.
Because this is a Switch game I feel the need to mention this as well: the framerate; an important aspect of the game considering its difficulty and fast-paced nature. The framerate aims for 60FPS and it almost always delivers it, it only drops at times but it doesn't hinder the experience in any critical way because the drops are not massive; it’s not NGII on the 360 is what I’m trying to say.
On another note, I don't really get all the complaints about this game being linear, just barely a week has passed since the game's release and many sequence breaks -some seem intended, some others unintended- have been discovered (you can even skip the Drogyga boss fight lmao).
This is my 2nd favorite 2D Metroid after Super and has become one of my favorite games, I will see if that opinion changes on subsequent playthroughs but I doubt so.
Now onto Hard 100%! :)
Yakuza 2
2006
My favorite thing in Yakuza 2 -besides the story- is its cutscene direction/cinematography which is in a class of its own, at times I truly felt like I was watching a Takeshi Kitano movie due to the perfect choice of dialogue, camera angles, atmosphere, music and voice acting. This was already good in Yakuza 1 but here it's just on another level.
They managed to get rid of all the problems I had with the previous entry: the combat, the long load times and exploring Kamurocho (and Sotenbori in this entry) doesn't suck this time.
The story was a massive improvement as well -not that Y1's story was bad- but this one retains its over-the-top nature which is signature of the series while developing characters better and just presenting a more intriguing story. If you are just like me and love the 10 stupid plot twists present in each Yakuza game you will feel right at home.
The soundtrack is simply a banger, it works in perfect tandem with the cutscenes and the game's atmosphere to make it feel special.
The only bad things I could think of are the strict QTE timings -which gets annoying in boss battles- (at least they are always the same buttons) and how easy it is to miss side missions (I felt 0 did this way better).
All in all, my favorite Yakuza game to date along with Zero. (still need to play 4-7)
They managed to get rid of all the problems I had with the previous entry: the combat, the long load times and exploring Kamurocho (and Sotenbori in this entry) doesn't suck this time.
The story was a massive improvement as well -not that Y1's story was bad- but this one retains its over-the-top nature which is signature of the series while developing characters better and just presenting a more intriguing story. If you are just like me and love the 10 stupid plot twists present in each Yakuza game you will feel right at home.
The soundtrack is simply a banger, it works in perfect tandem with the cutscenes and the game's atmosphere to make it feel special.
The only bad things I could think of are the strict QTE timings -which gets annoying in boss battles- (at least they are always the same buttons) and how easy it is to miss side missions (I felt 0 did this way better).
All in all, my favorite Yakuza game to date along with Zero. (still need to play 4-7)
Yakuza
2005
After completing this it surprises me how the other Yakuza games I have played (0 and 3) are very derivative from this one so that's something worth respecting, it did so many things right from the beginning.
I know Yakuza 3 was the one to introduce karaoke (one of my favorite things in the series having spent countless hours playing karaoke) and perhaps the first one to give us a look into the more-relatable side of Kiryu but I have yet to play 2 to say if my latter statement will hold true.
My only criticisms are that the combat sucks, exploring Kamurocho is frustrating due to how easy is for enemies to approach you and the long load times but it also was the first title in the series so I won't get too focused on these issues.
As long as you don't take the story too seriously -which you shouldn't if you are a fan of Yakuza movies- you will have a great time due to its characters and ridiculous amount of twists.
Something worth mentioning is the neo-noir atmosphere was very comfy -especially when it was raining or snowing- and that I had a good laugh with the dub and listening to Kiryu throw swear words left and right, not that the voice acting is bad but the script itself made a lot of these moments sound very funny.
I also feel the need to mention I stuck to the PS2 version instead of Kiwami because I wanted to see how everything truly started; I would've thought a lot of things I saw in this game were implemented from Yakuza 0 so I'm glad I went to the original PS2 release.
Now onto Yakuza 2!
I know Yakuza 3 was the one to introduce karaoke (one of my favorite things in the series having spent countless hours playing karaoke) and perhaps the first one to give us a look into the more-relatable side of Kiryu but I have yet to play 2 to say if my latter statement will hold true.
My only criticisms are that the combat sucks, exploring Kamurocho is frustrating due to how easy is for enemies to approach you and the long load times but it also was the first title in the series so I won't get too focused on these issues.
As long as you don't take the story too seriously -which you shouldn't if you are a fan of Yakuza movies- you will have a great time due to its characters and ridiculous amount of twists.
Something worth mentioning is the neo-noir atmosphere was very comfy -especially when it was raining or snowing- and that I had a good laugh with the dub and listening to Kiryu throw swear words left and right, not that the voice acting is bad but the script itself made a lot of these moments sound very funny.
I also feel the need to mention I stuck to the PS2 version instead of Kiwami because I wanted to see how everything truly started; I would've thought a lot of things I saw in this game were implemented from Yakuza 0 so I'm glad I went to the original PS2 release.
Now onto Yakuza 2!