TricksterEth
Oh Crisis Core, how you ooze your time period throughout your entirety of your game. For better or for worse this game feels like a modern PSP game. Which can be both a blessing and a curse depending on how you look at it. While the combat is ok there’s not a lot of room for variation. Sure, you can use different materia for some different abilities, but considering how long it takes to upgrade materia it’s a lot more enticing to just find what you like and use it (along with whatever upgraded version you can get later on) throughout your play through. Most boss fights are pretty samey with little variation on how to approach. The DMV system is pretty neat albeit gimmicky. I think the biggest missed opportunity is not having the option for multiple loadouts while in combat to swap between. I know some people would probably find it would make the game too easy (which is a whole other conversation), but I think it would help spice up your encounters if you could swap between a mage style or an aggressive melee style. Grinding out missions is a pretty integral part of this game, and really dictates how easy or difficult it will be later on. A lot of the good materia along with just experience is locked behind the missions, so if you want to just play through the story it will be a real challenge. However, missions have a funny side effect where if you just hug the wall you can skip all of the extra encounters and just find chests/ fight the stage boss. Anyway, an above average game that really highlights who Zach is, but more importantly who Cloud is not.
This review contains spoilers
I popped this in immediately after playing Miles Morales, and maybe that’s why I found aspects of disappointing. No longer can you immediately tag enemies after doing an environment scan after you start your play through, but instead it’s an unlockable skill on a skill tree that functions worse than its prior iteration (the enemies don’t stay tagged in this game for whatever reason). Also, the map at the beginning into the mid game feels so lackluster since hardly anything shows up. I’m sure some people enjoy not having markers on the map itself, but I like having objectives to find instead of wondering aimlessly until I happen on a random event. Also, at times the story falls flat on what had an interesting prospect to me. Also, Kraven as a villain was so interesting, but feels squandered. The concept of this being a final hunt for him and the very real danger it puts superheroes and villians in feels real. It’s a real shame that he’s just used as an example of how strong Venom can be. On the mechanics side the game plays beautifully. With this in mind changing between Peter a d Miles really hilights how bland Peter’s kit feels at first. Obviously this changes once he acquires the symbiote suit, but until that point Peter feels very lackluster to play as. Credit where credit is due though, the finaly part where you play as MJ is pretty sick. It almost feels like a Resident Evil level. Is it a little out of place! Sure, but it’s real fun.
Overall Spiderman 2 is a solid game that takes a few steps back from previous iterations, and while it tries to do a little too much it’s still a fun ride
Overall Spiderman 2 is a solid game that takes a few steps back from previous iterations, and while it tries to do a little too much it’s still a fun ride
What a frustrating mess of a game. On the surface this appears to be a nice modern version of Ratchet and Clank, but I think underneath the veneer you’ll find a husk of what it used to be. These games used to have an edge to them that’s all but lost in the modern iterations as it feels like everything has been filtered through a Marvel Lens. The combat is fine, although it’s weird to me that Ratchet and River share the same inventory. I think it would have been more interesting if they had access to unique equipment. However, the real issue I had with this game is how bugged it seems to be. So many times I would jump against something and get stuck in a wall having to reload a safe, or even worse were the times I would just fall through the map. I did not have fun with this game, which is a real disappointment since I was looking forward to it
This game surprised me in many ways. It manages to take the mechanics of the original, spice them up a little, and really focus on making Mile feel unique while having enough overlap that it doesn’t feel too different. Some of the story beats are a bit of a miss for me, but the stealth combat is the best of any of the Spiderman games. And honestly, some people will say it’s too short but I think it’s perfectly fine being this way. It never feels bloated, or like there’s too much going on.