TheMirzai
Goes from the sublime to the downright infuriating clearly a lot of attention went into this because it has a level of detail that is downright crazy at times.
Then it decides to fall on it's ass with the introduction of a ham-fisted story point, some cringe-worthy dialogue, or having a battle system that collapses in on itself all too regularly.
The story begins and seems to forgot 90% of what happened in the first game - it throws away a great foundation to just have a clean slate? Plot points (remember Barret dying and coming back to life? This game doesn't!) and relationships just reset for game purposes. Once things get going it starts to pick up verrrrrry slowly, then the final two chapters just rush in, make very little sense, and the game just sort of ends. I understand with open world games that this cadence is unavoidable, but there's so many hanging threads it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. What was this journey even for? Why was Zack even there? Who really cares about a multiverse?
The battle system from Remake has been tweaked, but there's updated systems and reworks that remove a lot of the fun. For starters, blocking/parrying is now integral to battling (especially on Hard), but the movement system can't handle it. Blocks do not interrupt, which means you have to slow down the battle pace to a crawl, and then decipher what the enemy is going to do. At times this is fine, but in the spectacle fights where all sorts of crap is flying around the screen (and the camera starts going nuts) this is nigh on impossible. Gilgamesh is a great fight and lots of fun, but I'll be damned if I could see what the hell was going on half the time. It needs to be much more snappy to be satisfying.
There's a lot of great stuff here, though - exploration is wonderful, voice acting is (for the most part) fantastic, there's an abundance of side quests and extra things to do. Every mini game is deep and has it's own ecosystem that you're constantly tripping over new and different things to do.
It's a very satisfying game, but some small decisions have a big impact on the end feeling. I came away confused and disappointed, which is odd considering how much fun I had playing this. But the story ending and the endgame tasks just don't work for me.
Then it decides to fall on it's ass with the introduction of a ham-fisted story point, some cringe-worthy dialogue, or having a battle system that collapses in on itself all too regularly.
The story begins and seems to forgot 90% of what happened in the first game - it throws away a great foundation to just have a clean slate? Plot points (remember Barret dying and coming back to life? This game doesn't!) and relationships just reset for game purposes. Once things get going it starts to pick up verrrrrry slowly, then the final two chapters just rush in, make very little sense, and the game just sort of ends. I understand with open world games that this cadence is unavoidable, but there's so many hanging threads it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. What was this journey even for? Why was Zack even there? Who really cares about a multiverse?
The battle system from Remake has been tweaked, but there's updated systems and reworks that remove a lot of the fun. For starters, blocking/parrying is now integral to battling (especially on Hard), but the movement system can't handle it. Blocks do not interrupt, which means you have to slow down the battle pace to a crawl, and then decipher what the enemy is going to do. At times this is fine, but in the spectacle fights where all sorts of crap is flying around the screen (and the camera starts going nuts) this is nigh on impossible. Gilgamesh is a great fight and lots of fun, but I'll be damned if I could see what the hell was going on half the time. It needs to be much more snappy to be satisfying.
There's a lot of great stuff here, though - exploration is wonderful, voice acting is (for the most part) fantastic, there's an abundance of side quests and extra things to do. Every mini game is deep and has it's own ecosystem that you're constantly tripping over new and different things to do.
It's a very satisfying game, but some small decisions have a big impact on the end feeling. I came away confused and disappointed, which is odd considering how much fun I had playing this. But the story ending and the endgame tasks just don't work for me.
2005
When it comes to great video game ideas, Double Fine are absolutely one of the best. Their catalogue of games have some incredibly unique premises which are unlike anything else, even to this day. Psychonauts is the absolute pinnacle of these - there's such a wellspring of inventiveness in this game that you can't help but be swept up in it. And because of this it's easy to forgive some of the problems you come across because you want to see what awaits in the next world.
For a game overflowing with ideas and humour, at it's base it's a platformer. And for a platformer to get platforming so badly wrong is frustrating, as the biggest flaw is that is it's controls are pants. You never feel safe jumping or moving because the depth perception is so difficult to track - in a 3D space it's so hard to work out where you are because of this; you need tight controls and an easy way to perceive where you are. The wonky camera adds to this issue, and makes the last two levels (Asylum and Meat Circus) exercises in tedium. They're not badly designed levels, but their focus on platforming in tight spaces with little room for error highlights the worst parts about this game and leaves a bad taste as an ending. The earlier levels paper over these cracks as the focus of a level is mostly in other areas.
It's everything else where this game excels - the levels themselves are so different from each other that each one could be expanded and spun off into it's own game. Whether it's a Catan game vs Napoleon or being Godzilla to a city of lungfish, every single world has a very unique essence. I'm a sucker for a good hub world, and the camp itself is a great example of one - it's bursting with secrets and hidden dialogue from characters, and all of this is elevated by a wonderful script and stellar voice acting throughout. This world feels very alive for such an odd premise and it manages to sweep aside a lot of problems from the mechanics side of things.
I never had the chance to play this back in 2005, and it's only relatively recently (with the sequel being released) where people have revisited this and come to appreciate just how good and inventive this is. Because even now, 15 years later, it still has elements I haven't seen in any subsequent games. It's just such a shame that the fundamentals drag down everything else here, and it's something I hope the sequel has fixed.
For a game overflowing with ideas and humour, at it's base it's a platformer. And for a platformer to get platforming so badly wrong is frustrating, as the biggest flaw is that is it's controls are pants. You never feel safe jumping or moving because the depth perception is so difficult to track - in a 3D space it's so hard to work out where you are because of this; you need tight controls and an easy way to perceive where you are. The wonky camera adds to this issue, and makes the last two levels (Asylum and Meat Circus) exercises in tedium. They're not badly designed levels, but their focus on platforming in tight spaces with little room for error highlights the worst parts about this game and leaves a bad taste as an ending. The earlier levels paper over these cracks as the focus of a level is mostly in other areas.
It's everything else where this game excels - the levels themselves are so different from each other that each one could be expanded and spun off into it's own game. Whether it's a Catan game vs Napoleon or being Godzilla to a city of lungfish, every single world has a very unique essence. I'm a sucker for a good hub world, and the camp itself is a great example of one - it's bursting with secrets and hidden dialogue from characters, and all of this is elevated by a wonderful script and stellar voice acting throughout. This world feels very alive for such an odd premise and it manages to sweep aside a lot of problems from the mechanics side of things.
I never had the chance to play this back in 2005, and it's only relatively recently (with the sequel being released) where people have revisited this and come to appreciate just how good and inventive this is. Because even now, 15 years later, it still has elements I haven't seen in any subsequent games. It's just such a shame that the fundamentals drag down everything else here, and it's something I hope the sequel has fixed.
2017
Can't add anything more to the incredible amount of positivity this game already has - it's a nigh-on perfect game and easily the best Mario game out there. It reaches levels of inventiveness that are almost absurd, whilst still being an absolute joy to control and play. And it never feels stretched out - you can finish this in 5 hours or go all the way for 30 hours or more. A wonderful wonderful game that has not aged a drop in the last 5 years. A true GOAT.
2021
Within about 5 minutes of controlling Samus you can tell this is going to be a great game, and a worthy addition to the Metroid franchise - the new movement additions feel fresh whilst also being familiar, the level design is (mostly) wonderful, and running at 60fps it just feels really good.
This is probably the most I've died playing a Metroid game - the bosses in this can be brutal at times until you learn their movesets. The E.M.M.I machines - goddamn, countless deaths to them from being greedy or just trying to whiz past, it's fun to actually require stealth in a Metroid game. I don't dare to think how bad Dread mode is.
There's some issues with the aforementioned level design - it feels like exploring the wider ZDR planet is pointless until you get the last couple of powerups, as there's needless blockades which can only be circumvented by these which halt a lot of exploration. This is also related to the other issue, which is the hand-holding - it feels far too aggressive at times. I like that I never got lost (and the Aeon moves help alleviate this), but it always seemed to be guiding me too much? It's a strange complaint but in these sort of games I want to get lost and stumble on things. The soundtrack is also non-existent outside of a couple of remixed tracks - not sure what happened here as Prime/Fusion had fantastic OSTs.
All in all, a fantastic return to form and a good alternative to the (imo superior) Prime series.
This is probably the most I've died playing a Metroid game - the bosses in this can be brutal at times until you learn their movesets. The E.M.M.I machines - goddamn, countless deaths to them from being greedy or just trying to whiz past, it's fun to actually require stealth in a Metroid game. I don't dare to think how bad Dread mode is.
There's some issues with the aforementioned level design - it feels like exploring the wider ZDR planet is pointless until you get the last couple of powerups, as there's needless blockades which can only be circumvented by these which halt a lot of exploration. This is also related to the other issue, which is the hand-holding - it feels far too aggressive at times. I like that I never got lost (and the Aeon moves help alleviate this), but it always seemed to be guiding me too much? It's a strange complaint but in these sort of games I want to get lost and stumble on things. The soundtrack is also non-existent outside of a couple of remixed tracks - not sure what happened here as Prime/Fusion had fantastic OSTs.
All in all, a fantastic return to form and a good alternative to the (imo superior) Prime series.
2020
A fun little novelty which has no right being as much fun as it was - it's a great intro to the DualSense and absolutely packed full of easter eggs (which really help carry you through some of the tedium).
The vehicle sections are horrible and definitely outstay their welcome, though - I get it's a tech demo, but just running around as Astrobot was more than enough for me. If they did a full game of this I'd be more than up for it, though.
The vehicle sections are horrible and definitely outstay their welcome, though - I get it's a tech demo, but just running around as Astrobot was more than enough for me. If they did a full game of this I'd be more than up for it, though.
2021
Mind twistingly good and a step above the original in every single way. Takes a much deeper and darker storyline and just infuses it with such good and varied gameplay and art - you can tell the background artists on this game had an amazing time. The worlds are varied both in style and playability, with a fantastic script stringing each one along - by the end it all connects back to the original for such a tight set of games I'd be almost disappointed if they made a Psychonauts 3.
With such a deep storyline, the whole experience took around 25 hours but drew to a wonderful conclusion without dragging at all. Psychonauts 2 is an absolutely fantastic experience, that has brought the collect-a-thon platformer back to the forefront - this is a must play for anyone who enjoys games.
With such a deep storyline, the whole experience took around 25 hours but drew to a wonderful conclusion without dragging at all. Psychonauts 2 is an absolutely fantastic experience, that has brought the collect-a-thon platformer back to the forefront - this is a must play for anyone who enjoys games.
This review contains spoilers
I remember buying the original Xenoblade for £7 at a Gamestation - there were so many copies, they just wanted rid. I bought it on a whim and six months later they were selling on ebay for £100+. It was insane how much buzz this game got. Ever since then I've been on the Xenoblade train.
This isn't so much a review as just...talking about the game? They're one and the same, but based on the previous paragraph it didn't matter what the game was really like - it was getting 5 stars. Having said that, I feel this is the weakest Xenoblade.
The story and world are good - just good, mind you. From the first reveal of the Mechonis Sword & Uraya titan, this game wants you to know the world is a merger of Xenoblade 1 & 2. Well tbh, outside of these two the amount of callbacks or even hints is scant. I was expecting to be able to recognise landmarks and melodies. This isn't any of that - Aionios is very much it's own thing, but from seeming to pluck at the nostalgia strings with the main menu imagery, it does bugger all with it afterwards. The story kept me interested and there was some very good twists and moments of suspense - then the ending happened and despite knowing the lore and background of everything, so much was lost on me. Things were just assumed you'd know. Agnus and Keves were from two different worlds? Did they ever say that? Everything just felt a little flat. Compared to the ending of 2 which was a great culmination of a fantastic story, it was a let down.
The script is typical Xenoblade (so bad accents and weeb shit everywhere) - there's even your stereotypical hot spring scene! I can't say I enjoyed a lot of the script that much, though the main six characters (particularly Eunie & Lanz) were all well characterized, though a lot were bound by the stock personality they were given. Voice acting....eeehhhh, it's a step up from 1 & 2 but coming from FFVIIR (or even FFXV) to this is just...yeeesh.
The music was a big disappointment to me - the OST for Xenoblade 2 was fantastic (as was Xenoblade X tbh) and I expected much of the same, with hopefully some remixed tracks from the first two games. Yeah, there's not much memorable here, or even nostalgic. There's a lot of soft melodies that vanish from thought the moment they stop playing.
So, on to the battle system, which I'm fairly sure is the main reason most people play these games. Is it good? Yes. Very good. Is it better than 1 or 2? Errrr...
For me, the battle system in 2 was perfection - it was overly complicated to start with, but once you understood and found your feet you were pulling off ridiculous things. In this, once you've realised the Break->Topple->Launch->Smash wheel is absolutely broken, battles become trivial. I ended up beating the last superboss on my first try with middling equipment and gems - the real time system with AoEs works really nicely but it's completely broken in some areas. When you've got 20+ classes to balance, it's easy to make this mistake. Then they said you can have 7 CHARACTERS IN YOUR PARTY WHY DID THEY ALLOW THIS - the screen quickly becomes a mess of people and noises and particles and half the time you don't know who is where or what they're doing. Pair this with character switching people so annoying to do you might as well not bother, and you start getting through the battles as quickly as possible (hence, breaking it with Break -> Smash early on). Hell, even the Ouroboros system is broken once you work out how to hit Interlink Level 3 consistently.
There's so much more I want to say about this game but I'd run out of room even here. I loved it, I really did (140 hours of playtime proves it) - a lot of the above is critique but there's so much here to love. I just think the scope of what they did was so small compared to what was available and that they played it very safe with everything. I can't wait to see what the DLC will be, and I'll be there day one. But I come out from all this feeling deflated rather than satisfied.
This isn't so much a review as just...talking about the game? They're one and the same, but based on the previous paragraph it didn't matter what the game was really like - it was getting 5 stars. Having said that, I feel this is the weakest Xenoblade.
The story and world are good - just good, mind you. From the first reveal of the Mechonis Sword & Uraya titan, this game wants you to know the world is a merger of Xenoblade 1 & 2. Well tbh, outside of these two the amount of callbacks or even hints is scant. I was expecting to be able to recognise landmarks and melodies. This isn't any of that - Aionios is very much it's own thing, but from seeming to pluck at the nostalgia strings with the main menu imagery, it does bugger all with it afterwards. The story kept me interested and there was some very good twists and moments of suspense - then the ending happened and despite knowing the lore and background of everything, so much was lost on me. Things were just assumed you'd know. Agnus and Keves were from two different worlds? Did they ever say that? Everything just felt a little flat. Compared to the ending of 2 which was a great culmination of a fantastic story, it was a let down.
The script is typical Xenoblade (so bad accents and weeb shit everywhere) - there's even your stereotypical hot spring scene! I can't say I enjoyed a lot of the script that much, though the main six characters (particularly Eunie & Lanz) were all well characterized, though a lot were bound by the stock personality they were given. Voice acting....eeehhhh, it's a step up from 1 & 2 but coming from FFVIIR (or even FFXV) to this is just...yeeesh.
The music was a big disappointment to me - the OST for Xenoblade 2 was fantastic (as was Xenoblade X tbh) and I expected much of the same, with hopefully some remixed tracks from the first two games. Yeah, there's not much memorable here, or even nostalgic. There's a lot of soft melodies that vanish from thought the moment they stop playing.
So, on to the battle system, which I'm fairly sure is the main reason most people play these games. Is it good? Yes. Very good. Is it better than 1 or 2? Errrr...
For me, the battle system in 2 was perfection - it was overly complicated to start with, but once you understood and found your feet you were pulling off ridiculous things. In this, once you've realised the Break->Topple->Launch->Smash wheel is absolutely broken, battles become trivial. I ended up beating the last superboss on my first try with middling equipment and gems - the real time system with AoEs works really nicely but it's completely broken in some areas. When you've got 20+ classes to balance, it's easy to make this mistake. Then they said you can have 7 CHARACTERS IN YOUR PARTY WHY DID THEY ALLOW THIS - the screen quickly becomes a mess of people and noises and particles and half the time you don't know who is where or what they're doing. Pair this with character switching people so annoying to do you might as well not bother, and you start getting through the battles as quickly as possible (hence, breaking it with Break -> Smash early on). Hell, even the Ouroboros system is broken once you work out how to hit Interlink Level 3 consistently.
There's so much more I want to say about this game but I'd run out of room even here. I loved it, I really did (140 hours of playtime proves it) - a lot of the above is critique but there's so much here to love. I just think the scope of what they did was so small compared to what was available and that they played it very safe with everything. I can't wait to see what the DLC will be, and I'll be there day one. But I come out from all this feeling deflated rather than satisfied.
You're either doing one of two things - mashing R3 looking for what to climb or interact with next, or taking part in a strangely designed battle system.
The environments are so dense and beautifully rendered that working out what you can interact with or even what you should do is difficult to work out - there were many times I would walk around, unable to see anything, and then just wait for Aloy to highlight what I should be doing next. It's not very intuitive because everything is so busy. And even then, the act of moving is painful - no game has made climbing fun in this way. You rapidly tap X to move across yellow handholds and completely switch off, or press L3 and run through arena after arena.
Which brings me to fighting - for a game which seems to mostly revolve around battling at a distance, every enemy wants to get in your face. So you have to use a mediocre melee attack to fight, or continuously roll away to put space between you and the enemy. Later upgrades make this easier, but the whole loop makes no sense. Enemies are so fast that you are running and taking pot shots, or going full Dark Souls and rolling in place, waiting for attack animations to end before melee-ing.
Yes, it looks beautiful and the new enemies are well designed. But it's classic all filler no killer - the base gameplay just wasn't fun for me and led me to quickly abandon this. It's an incredibly bland game in the end - everything it does has been done much better in other games.
The environments are so dense and beautifully rendered that working out what you can interact with or even what you should do is difficult to work out - there were many times I would walk around, unable to see anything, and then just wait for Aloy to highlight what I should be doing next. It's not very intuitive because everything is so busy. And even then, the act of moving is painful - no game has made climbing fun in this way. You rapidly tap X to move across yellow handholds and completely switch off, or press L3 and run through arena after arena.
Which brings me to fighting - for a game which seems to mostly revolve around battling at a distance, every enemy wants to get in your face. So you have to use a mediocre melee attack to fight, or continuously roll away to put space between you and the enemy. Later upgrades make this easier, but the whole loop makes no sense. Enemies are so fast that you are running and taking pot shots, or going full Dark Souls and rolling in place, waiting for attack animations to end before melee-ing.
Yes, it looks beautiful and the new enemies are well designed. But it's classic all filler no killer - the base gameplay just wasn't fun for me and led me to quickly abandon this. It's an incredibly bland game in the end - everything it does has been done much better in other games.
2021
A genuinely novel game, where it shifts genres so fast you're bound to love at least some of it. The story is...somewhat interesting and the levels themselves are great, but it's the minute-to-minute gameplay where this shines; some of the puzzles they come up with are fantastic.
I felt it dragged on a bit too long in some areas (the Cuckoo Clock especially), but if you're able to grab someone and play Local Co-op then it's an absolute must-play.
I felt it dragged on a bit too long in some areas (the Cuckoo Clock especially), but if you're able to grab someone and play Local Co-op then it's an absolute must-play.
Aside from some bosses on hard mode being an absolute slog, this game has held up over the last 20 years. Yes it doesn't have fast travel, there's lots of backtracking, and the Chozo Ghost fights are annoying. But it looks gorgeous, the gameplay is slick, the bosses are ace, and the menu music is still the greatest menu music of all time. What a start to Retro's incredible list of games.
2019
To be honest this didn't grab me right away, but after the first few songs and I got to grips with the extremely floaty controls, it clicked. It's visually stunning (though can be way too busy at times) and the soundtrack doesn't have many duds. I don't think there's any middle ground here - you either love it or hate it.
2017
Don't think I can say anything that hasn't already been said - the art and soundtrack are sublime, controls are perfection, gameplay is superb. I spent about 15 hours on this, 5 of which were on the bullshit dragon boss, and I had a fantastic time.
There's elements of luck in that spawns can be unfair in places, or you can can get good/bad patterns, but it doesn't drag down the experience. Absolute must buy.
There's elements of luck in that spawns can be unfair in places, or you can can get good/bad patterns, but it doesn't drag down the experience. Absolute must buy.
2016
Having not played the original and seen it on multiple "best game since 2000" lists, I'm surprised how well it holds up. Gameplay is solid and visceral, plasmids are fun to use - but as you get further in, you start to vastly outpace the game in terms of what you can do. Even on Survivor, the last two levels I was danger-free whilst running and gunning thanks to the amount of money and ammo they throw at you.
The story has the whole "what a tweest" thing in the middle which everyone knows at this point, and outside of that it's pretty flat and just sort of there. It doesn't outstay it's welcome too long, but I was pretty much done with it at the end. I imagine 15 years ago this must have been a mind blowing experience as it came out the same time as * checks notes * Carnival Games for the Wii.
The story has the whole "what a tweest" thing in the middle which everyone knows at this point, and outside of that it's pretty flat and just sort of there. It doesn't outstay it's welcome too long, but I was pretty much done with it at the end. I imagine 15 years ago this must have been a mind blowing experience as it came out the same time as * checks notes * Carnival Games for the Wii.
Whilst Bioshock was a nice tight package of a game, this is a bit bloated in places and has plenty of issues. Firstly, that story - yeeeesh, does it just go on and on. The last couple of levels I found myself rushing through to finish it off, with recordings playing I wasn't even registering and enemies just ignoring me. Speaking off the last levels, the environments in those and several other levels were very samey - not nearly as much variety as the original, and even the supposed colourfest of Dionysus Park was drowning in greys and browns.
Gameplay wise it hasn't done too much from the first - seemed to be a lot more shooting gallery segments than the first where enemies just appear out of thin air. Despite playing as big Daddy the guns and Plasmids are mostly the same as the first, though even the new weapons I found myself ignoring.
I can see why this is seen as the black sheep, because it really doesn't stack up well despite the number of studios working on it - every element of it was just underwhelming compared to the first Bioshock.
Gameplay wise it hasn't done too much from the first - seemed to be a lot more shooting gallery segments than the first where enemies just appear out of thin air. Despite playing as big Daddy the guns and Plasmids are mostly the same as the first, though even the new weapons I found myself ignoring.
I can see why this is seen as the black sheep, because it really doesn't stack up well despite the number of studios working on it - every element of it was just underwhelming compared to the first Bioshock.
2011
There's a selection of good things here, stranger, though the game hasn't aged as well as I'd hoped - in particular the movement options compared to recent RE titles - but back in 2004 this was absolutely groundbreaking and I spent countless weeks churning out playthroughs. Yeah the story is paper-thin and Ashley is a one note damsel-in-distress, and the dialogue in terrible (though this does loop right around into comedy gold at points) - but goddamn the bread and butter gameplay of this game is just superb.
It starts to drag in the last chapter, but the Village & Castle sections are fantastic with great encounters and plenty of variety in enemies and setups. There's less scares than you'd expect from an RE title, but it really followed the direction of RE3 so can't put too much criticism here. This is a stone cold classic and an almost required play for anyone interested in the more modern TPS genre.
It starts to drag in the last chapter, but the Village & Castle sections are fantastic with great encounters and plenty of variety in enemies and setups. There's less scares than you'd expect from an RE title, but it really followed the direction of RE3 so can't put too much criticism here. This is a stone cold classic and an almost required play for anyone interested in the more modern TPS genre.