ThumbsMckenzie
BACKER
2023
The game is fine but definitely has some issues. Combat is bad, the camera not great, tricks are fairly basic, and stages are very hit or miss. Despite that, the game is fairly out there and ambitious for being a heavily Jet Set Radio homage.
The game also crashed at least 5-6 times in my playthrough. This did cause me to have to replay the final boss, which features the worst combo of controls/camera in the game. This game certainly won't be for everyone but if you've got some nostalgia for the Jet Set series, this does a decent job of recreating that, warts and all.
The game also crashed at least 5-6 times in my playthrough. This did cause me to have to replay the final boss, which features the worst combo of controls/camera in the game. This game certainly won't be for everyone but if you've got some nostalgia for the Jet Set series, this does a decent job of recreating that, warts and all.
2023
I really dig the style of this game and the music is pretty damn good, the rest is abysmal.
The game mixes wrestling and all the tropes that come with that, with a turn based RPG. All cities are dedicated to various classic wrestlers and themed around this. All attacks are based around this as well. Stylistically, it all works really well.
Then you play it, and it stops working well.
The gameplay itself is boring and maddening. Especially given the game length (my playthrough was a little over 40 hours while skipping a lot of side quests). The various special attacks/tag team/triple team moves almost all feature QTE. Most of the time, your special attacks are the quickest way to get through these fights, so you'll be doing QTE pretty much every attack for 40+ hours.
The game features a ton of playable characters but the core mechanics will not change a whole lot.
You can move around the various stages and avoid some battles (the enemies you have to fight will be seen on screen at all times) luckily, but not everything can be avoided. Plus, you do have to be leveling up to get through the game.
Throughout the stages, you'll come across items that can damage you. Oftentimes these will dish out a ton of damage. The hit detection is bad too, so there were times I never really felt like I had hit something, only to get hit with a big spike to my health. To make matters worse, you don't really get a lot of time where you're invulnerable after taking environmental damage, so one fluky hit from a spike sticking out or a fireball can turn into multiple hits or death.
The game lets you save whenever you're not in a battle but there were a few time where I'd lose progress because I forgot to save after something and then get killed by environmental damage.
The game attempts to break up the monotony by adding racing levels or various other types of gameplay. None of these were enjoyable. The car levels in particular were frustrating because of the hit detection and invulnerability period issues this game has. These areas would often feature car damage meters where, if the meter hits zero, game over.
The game has a healthy amount of characters that, because of the story, you'll be constantly swapping between. It gets to be a little too much near the middle part of this game, where it felt at times where I'd have one conversation with something or exit one area with a group, only to immediately swap over to a different group of characters to play as.
The biggest annoyance though with this is, because of the swapping and the fact that damage taken carries over, and that all these groups have separate money/inventory/equipment, it gets to be a pain remembering to heal, stock up on supplies and new gear, and all that with groups you are constantly ping ponging around. The game also sometimes auto fills spots in your party when you obtain characters but then sometimes it doesn't. So sometimes I was walking around with two party members with one just in reserve because the game just didn't feel like adding them to my party.
I could keep nitpicking this game to death but I just can't keep going. This game could've been something really neat and fun. Instead, it's just a major disappointment.
The game mixes wrestling and all the tropes that come with that, with a turn based RPG. All cities are dedicated to various classic wrestlers and themed around this. All attacks are based around this as well. Stylistically, it all works really well.
Then you play it, and it stops working well.
The gameplay itself is boring and maddening. Especially given the game length (my playthrough was a little over 40 hours while skipping a lot of side quests). The various special attacks/tag team/triple team moves almost all feature QTE. Most of the time, your special attacks are the quickest way to get through these fights, so you'll be doing QTE pretty much every attack for 40+ hours.
The game features a ton of playable characters but the core mechanics will not change a whole lot.
You can move around the various stages and avoid some battles (the enemies you have to fight will be seen on screen at all times) luckily, but not everything can be avoided. Plus, you do have to be leveling up to get through the game.
Throughout the stages, you'll come across items that can damage you. Oftentimes these will dish out a ton of damage. The hit detection is bad too, so there were times I never really felt like I had hit something, only to get hit with a big spike to my health. To make matters worse, you don't really get a lot of time where you're invulnerable after taking environmental damage, so one fluky hit from a spike sticking out or a fireball can turn into multiple hits or death.
The game lets you save whenever you're not in a battle but there were a few time where I'd lose progress because I forgot to save after something and then get killed by environmental damage.
The game attempts to break up the monotony by adding racing levels or various other types of gameplay. None of these were enjoyable. The car levels in particular were frustrating because of the hit detection and invulnerability period issues this game has. These areas would often feature car damage meters where, if the meter hits zero, game over.
The game has a healthy amount of characters that, because of the story, you'll be constantly swapping between. It gets to be a little too much near the middle part of this game, where it felt at times where I'd have one conversation with something or exit one area with a group, only to immediately swap over to a different group of characters to play as.
The biggest annoyance though with this is, because of the swapping and the fact that damage taken carries over, and that all these groups have separate money/inventory/equipment, it gets to be a pain remembering to heal, stock up on supplies and new gear, and all that with groups you are constantly ping ponging around. The game also sometimes auto fills spots in your party when you obtain characters but then sometimes it doesn't. So sometimes I was walking around with two party members with one just in reserve because the game just didn't feel like adding them to my party.
I could keep nitpicking this game to death but I just can't keep going. This game could've been something really neat and fun. Instead, it's just a major disappointment.
2024
Papers, Please meets.....Monkey Island? Lil' Guardsman is a super charming, well written game. It's got some flaws with the gameplay loop that drag it down a bit, but overall, this game is able to get passed those issues without problem.
Some of the decisions you have to make feel incredibly arbitrary. Mixed with the grading system the game features, it can be a lil' head scratching with some of the decisions it wants you to make in order to get a perfect grading.
Luckily the game features a pretty forgiving rewind system so you can replay some of these areas without having to do a full playthrough.
It's relatively short for a single playthrough so the flaws and nitpicks are all manageable. Those things aside, Lil' Guardsman is well worth your time if you're looking for something with a ton of offbeat personality and charm.
Some of the decisions you have to make feel incredibly arbitrary. Mixed with the grading system the game features, it can be a lil' head scratching with some of the decisions it wants you to make in order to get a perfect grading.
Luckily the game features a pretty forgiving rewind system so you can replay some of these areas without having to do a full playthrough.
It's relatively short for a single playthrough so the flaws and nitpicks are all manageable. Those things aside, Lil' Guardsman is well worth your time if you're looking for something with a ton of offbeat personality and charm.
The game has massive flaws, some pretty big bugs, even to this day, but Mafia II's last set piece and story ending do some heavy lifting at the finish line to make it a pretty enjoyable experience despite those flaws.
The camera is wonky at times, every vehicle feels bad to drive, the AI can be unpredictable, including the cars on the road, which can be frustrating at times. A lot of this though is just an age thing though, so some of these frustrations are a bit forgivable for me.
A lot of it is big dumb empty calories of gangster cliches and action-movie-levels of gameplay depth. But if you like those types of games and want one that's got a better than average story, Mafia II is an easy recommend.
The camera is wonky at times, every vehicle feels bad to drive, the AI can be unpredictable, including the cars on the road, which can be frustrating at times. A lot of this though is just an age thing though, so some of these frustrations are a bit forgivable for me.
A lot of it is big dumb empty calories of gangster cliches and action-movie-levels of gameplay depth. But if you like those types of games and want one that's got a better than average story, Mafia II is an easy recommend.
2023
It's not that bad? It's certainly okay at best, but there's a lot of interesting things attempted in Forspoken. It's gorgeous to look at, the world and character designs are neat on top of that. These mechanics and story just don't fully hit the mark, so even though there are flashes of fun movement or interesting battles, the flaws and short comings seep through more often than not.