1999
Parasite Eve 2 has all the ingredients I like in a game, but just like Waldorf Salad, somebody had to go and cover everything in mayonnaise and ruin it
I was surprised that I enjoyed the first entry as much as I did, so I was hoping that streak could continue with the sequel. There are plenty of features that I find impressive. PE2 has a very dynamic, cinematic feel to it that sets it apart as a PlayStation 1 game. Awesome FMV sequences, especially towards the end. I do like the variety of enemies, locales, and weapons and I found most of the characters likeable enough.
I hate that this feels like it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a full-on RPG or a survival horror game. I wish they had leaned all the way into one category or another, because all the blend does is hurt. I typically love fixed camera angles, inventory management, and ammo conservation, but the locations aren't static enough to justify such limited inventory space or non-linked item chests. You pick up WAY too many different kinds of ammo or one-time use items to make the shortage of space make sense. The boss fights and quantity of normal enemies are made much harder than they have to be by the camera perspective. And if they were going the other way, into survival horror, then it shouldn't be so easy to be stun-locked by bullet sponge enemies.
I had a reasonable amount of fun, but I do think my frustrations outweighed it. Between my disappointment to not have any side characters return from the first game, too much backtracking, and one constant irritant or another, I doubt I'll return.
I was surprised that I enjoyed the first entry as much as I did, so I was hoping that streak could continue with the sequel. There are plenty of features that I find impressive. PE2 has a very dynamic, cinematic feel to it that sets it apart as a PlayStation 1 game. Awesome FMV sequences, especially towards the end. I do like the variety of enemies, locales, and weapons and I found most of the characters likeable enough.
I hate that this feels like it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a full-on RPG or a survival horror game. I wish they had leaned all the way into one category or another, because all the blend does is hurt. I typically love fixed camera angles, inventory management, and ammo conservation, but the locations aren't static enough to justify such limited inventory space or non-linked item chests. You pick up WAY too many different kinds of ammo or one-time use items to make the shortage of space make sense. The boss fights and quantity of normal enemies are made much harder than they have to be by the camera perspective. And if they were going the other way, into survival horror, then it shouldn't be so easy to be stun-locked by bullet sponge enemies.
I had a reasonable amount of fun, but I do think my frustrations outweighed it. Between my disappointment to not have any side characters return from the first game, too much backtracking, and one constant irritant or another, I doubt I'll return.
The fact that a port, sequel, remaster, or remake does not exist is a terrible tragedy.
I love the narrative structure of the story. Centering around Alexandra Roivas in her grandfather's puzzle-filled, Metroidvania-style mansion, you gradually unlock new parts of the building and new chapters to play.
There's only 4-5 settings, but multiple revisits with different protagonists. They cleverly wrap around eachother throughout time, even encountering previous characters. The puzzle-solving works in tandem with your spellcraft a lot of the time, doubling up as tutorial. Discovering new spells is almost always useful and sequence-breaking to find more early is immensely satisfying.
Of course what everyone remembers is the sanity meter. It's such a brilliant idea that I wish had freer copyright limitations so I could see it implemented in new titles. The hallucinations, feints, and red herrings you and your hero encounter are always entertaining and baffling. My favorite is when a fly starts crawling across your HUD.
There are some shortcomings. The hacking combat and simplistic shooting wears a little thin. I also hate that they added a mechanic where your character runs out of breath after jogging for a while. The fatter characters run out nearly immediately and it really taxes the patience.
Fantastic voice-acting, sound design, and writing. It's not afraid to take bold twists and seep crawling, ancient, arcane fear into your psyche. It's not perfect, but I do love it.
I love the narrative structure of the story. Centering around Alexandra Roivas in her grandfather's puzzle-filled, Metroidvania-style mansion, you gradually unlock new parts of the building and new chapters to play.
There's only 4-5 settings, but multiple revisits with different protagonists. They cleverly wrap around eachother throughout time, even encountering previous characters. The puzzle-solving works in tandem with your spellcraft a lot of the time, doubling up as tutorial. Discovering new spells is almost always useful and sequence-breaking to find more early is immensely satisfying.
Of course what everyone remembers is the sanity meter. It's such a brilliant idea that I wish had freer copyright limitations so I could see it implemented in new titles. The hallucinations, feints, and red herrings you and your hero encounter are always entertaining and baffling. My favorite is when a fly starts crawling across your HUD.
There are some shortcomings. The hacking combat and simplistic shooting wears a little thin. I also hate that they added a mechanic where your character runs out of breath after jogging for a while. The fatter characters run out nearly immediately and it really taxes the patience.
Fantastic voice-acting, sound design, and writing. It's not afraid to take bold twists and seep crawling, ancient, arcane fear into your psyche. It's not perfect, but I do love it.
2021
This review contains spoilers
Replete with scenes of explicit violence and gore, Tormented Souls has enough harrowing horror and brain-busting puzzles to satisfy any survival-horror fan. With fantastic level design, a well-written story, and an overwhelming amount of love for its predecessors, Tormented Souls displays intelligence and competence in it's design.
It's far from perfect, though. I thought an old, gothic Hospital was a fantastic location for a survival-horror game (as proven by RE and Silent Hill). All of the backgrounds and scenery were spot-on and creeping around the dark, decaying halls was immersive and genuinely scary. Though I'd say the sublevels got a bit tiresome. Labyrinthian sewers and winding halls of pipes and concrete got confusing and disorienting. I'm sure it was meant to be somewhat, but it wasn't as fun or interesting.
Not a huge fan of the combat. For reference, it is very similar to what you would expect from late-90s/early-00's horror games. Auto-aim, shoot, and finish off with a melee weapon to conserve ammo. However, while it's contemporaries allow you the option of intelligent maneuvering to dodge enemies altogether, I soon discovered that applying the same tactics here were far more costly. Even the most basic of enemies are quick-steppers with wide hitboxes (and possess annoying projectiles with ridiculous range), but that wasn't the problem. The input delay and cooldown on all player commands takes SO long. You could plug an enemy with the nail gun a healthy three times and during the time it takes to strike with the melee weapon, end the animation, and begin again, the enemy has already gotten up and swiped you. There is some stun with each shot, but not so it really counts. You can't get a stunning head shot and then quickly dodge around the enemy to the next area. The enemy stun animation has finished before you even get the next shot off, so enemies are constantly gaining ground on you. Due to this, the wisest course of action was always to bite the bullet and put down an enemy whenever I came across them, which I found less thrilling than clever dodges. I just wish I had the option. Most annoying of all, on the rare occasions that you DO manage to get by an enemy, God forbid you have to go back in the room because they camp the doorways you just came through. And, once again, animation start-up is so slow that you are going to take a hit before you get your weapon up or you can utilize the backstep move.
The puzzles are frustrating mix of brilliance and completely obtuse, left-field bullshit. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I had to consult an online guide multiple times to figure out what the hell I was supposed to be doing. There were times I caved out of impatience when I should of persisted, but there were also occasions where I would have never have figured out what they wanted. This was due to some serious backtracking to barely-memorable areas or noticing subtle or esoteric details in the environment. Like walking around a table counter-clockwise multiple times with the lights off or examining an item closely for what felt like unnecessary and trivial modifications. One puzzle was straight up broken. You had to turn a safe lock clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, as always, right? But if you didn't have the cursor in the exact, right spot on the teeny edge of the button, it would go clockwise despite the icon changing to indicate the opposite. Very frustrating. I'd say this was about 30% of the puzzles, but I absolutely loved the rest. The developers really seem to trust in your intelligence and observation skills and there is very little handholding here. It made figuring out a tough one supremely satisfying.
I have to admit that I really enjoyed the story. I won't spoil anything, but they definitely utilized familiar dark-light world mechanics in a really smart way. I thought the "twist" of the story was really obvious in the first eight seconds of the game, but the devil is in the details. Sure, you might be able to see the ending coming, but the journey there is absolutely worth it. You won't fall in love with the characters, but you will experience satisfying plant-and-payoff and you are able to make decisions to affect the ending in a meaningful way.
All-in-all, Tormented Souls is a mostly-successful tribute to it's macabre progenitors. As a huge fan of the genre, I wasn't disappointed.
It's far from perfect, though. I thought an old, gothic Hospital was a fantastic location for a survival-horror game (as proven by RE and Silent Hill). All of the backgrounds and scenery were spot-on and creeping around the dark, decaying halls was immersive and genuinely scary. Though I'd say the sublevels got a bit tiresome. Labyrinthian sewers and winding halls of pipes and concrete got confusing and disorienting. I'm sure it was meant to be somewhat, but it wasn't as fun or interesting.
Not a huge fan of the combat. For reference, it is very similar to what you would expect from late-90s/early-00's horror games. Auto-aim, shoot, and finish off with a melee weapon to conserve ammo. However, while it's contemporaries allow you the option of intelligent maneuvering to dodge enemies altogether, I soon discovered that applying the same tactics here were far more costly. Even the most basic of enemies are quick-steppers with wide hitboxes (and possess annoying projectiles with ridiculous range), but that wasn't the problem. The input delay and cooldown on all player commands takes SO long. You could plug an enemy with the nail gun a healthy three times and during the time it takes to strike with the melee weapon, end the animation, and begin again, the enemy has already gotten up and swiped you. There is some stun with each shot, but not so it really counts. You can't get a stunning head shot and then quickly dodge around the enemy to the next area. The enemy stun animation has finished before you even get the next shot off, so enemies are constantly gaining ground on you. Due to this, the wisest course of action was always to bite the bullet and put down an enemy whenever I came across them, which I found less thrilling than clever dodges. I just wish I had the option. Most annoying of all, on the rare occasions that you DO manage to get by an enemy, God forbid you have to go back in the room because they camp the doorways you just came through. And, once again, animation start-up is so slow that you are going to take a hit before you get your weapon up or you can utilize the backstep move.
The puzzles are frustrating mix of brilliance and completely obtuse, left-field bullshit. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I had to consult an online guide multiple times to figure out what the hell I was supposed to be doing. There were times I caved out of impatience when I should of persisted, but there were also occasions where I would have never have figured out what they wanted. This was due to some serious backtracking to barely-memorable areas or noticing subtle or esoteric details in the environment. Like walking around a table counter-clockwise multiple times with the lights off or examining an item closely for what felt like unnecessary and trivial modifications. One puzzle was straight up broken. You had to turn a safe lock clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, as always, right? But if you didn't have the cursor in the exact, right spot on the teeny edge of the button, it would go clockwise despite the icon changing to indicate the opposite. Very frustrating. I'd say this was about 30% of the puzzles, but I absolutely loved the rest. The developers really seem to trust in your intelligence and observation skills and there is very little handholding here. It made figuring out a tough one supremely satisfying.
I have to admit that I really enjoyed the story. I won't spoil anything, but they definitely utilized familiar dark-light world mechanics in a really smart way. I thought the "twist" of the story was really obvious in the first eight seconds of the game, but the devil is in the details. Sure, you might be able to see the ending coming, but the journey there is absolutely worth it. You won't fall in love with the characters, but you will experience satisfying plant-and-payoff and you are able to make decisions to affect the ending in a meaningful way.
All-in-all, Tormented Souls is a mostly-successful tribute to it's macabre progenitors. As a huge fan of the genre, I wasn't disappointed.
2022
This review contains spoilers
When it comes to production value, I don't think many games can touch this. Between the high-caliber voice acting, animations, music, art design, and cinematography, there are few products in this medium that could even aspire to this level of accomplishment. However, I found God of War: Ragnarok's plot to be overly-long and the emotional content inconsistent. I got severely tired of the combat, the sidequests, the equipment upgrading, the puzzle-solving, and the exploration. So, I am left in a very weird place where I had an emotional connection that made me contemplate how I feel about others and myself, but I wasn't really having fun playing. By the end, I felt like I had participated in a high-tier Marvel movie. Moments of greatness, but a lot of bombastic action sequences, an annoying amount of immersion-breaking jokey-jokes, and an imbalance of emotional achievement and mediocrity.
As I said, few games are as gorgeous as this, visually or sonically. It's clear that a tremendous amount of effort went into the building of this world. Sound and set design are next level. However, I found exploring and traversing the areas cumbersome and tedious. Long, boring canoe rides, endless Uncharted-style climbing, and a post-game that I could not be bothered with are all aspects I can't ignore. The puzzle-solving was similar. I honestly hope I never fire another Runic Arrow as long as I live. Lining up those goofy orbs took forever and I hated it every single time.
Examining the themes of burgeoning adulthood and parenting said child, resolving your past and facing your future, grief, and forgiveness was a monumental task and I feel the writers were successful. Kratos' and Freya's reconciliation, the acceptance of Atreus as both his son and his own entity, Loki, and the death of familiar characters were all done with a sensible touch and didn't feel exploitative or manipulative. Nothing was bound up nicely with a bow and, as in real life, the characters carry the shards of their experiences with them and it continues to inform who they are after the story thread is complete. On the other hand, whenever there was a story that didn't involve Kratos or Atreus or Freya or Sindri, I could not care at all. It went from being touching and evocative to being fluff out of the MCU. There wasn't a single side character I found remotely interesting besides the ones I mentioned. Tyr, Ratatoskr, Freyr, Durlin, ALL of the Asgardians, and, God, I hated Angrboda's levels. They kept piling these characters on and expecting me to give a shit. Most of them are actively irritating and, in my eyes, do little to progress or improve the narrative. The absolute bloat and fatigue I felt by the end of this could have been mitigated by removing all of these characters. During the admittedly exciting and climactic Ragnarok, most of them arrive in some Avengers: Endgame-style rally and it hardly felt worth the amount of hours I plugged into their tiresome subplots.
Combat was impressively built, but I didn't enjoy the execution. There are plenty of ways to build Kratos to your liking, but I never found one that felt cohesive enough for me. I constantly felt frustrated with subpar perks on weapons and pommels and the damage I was doing. I felt like I took a lot of unfair hits and took unfair damage. I acknowledge this could be a skill issue, but I play a lot of Souls games and got 100% on the last God of War, so I'm not entirely comfortable taking ALL the blame here.
After completing the main story, I embarked on the arduous journey to platinum the game by cleaning up all the sidequests and pickups I neglected along the way. I realized fairly quickly I couldn't be bothered. Besides having to make long treks to barely-accessible areas, the dread I felt, and I had been dreading it the entire time, of having to chase around yet another stupid raven with the axe or fight some imbalanced Berserker boss put me off of finishing it fully. I just do not have the patience for it after the first one.
In summation, we have something here of structural integrity built by masterful architects, but the weight of it all collapsed sections that should have been culled.
As I said, few games are as gorgeous as this, visually or sonically. It's clear that a tremendous amount of effort went into the building of this world. Sound and set design are next level. However, I found exploring and traversing the areas cumbersome and tedious. Long, boring canoe rides, endless Uncharted-style climbing, and a post-game that I could not be bothered with are all aspects I can't ignore. The puzzle-solving was similar. I honestly hope I never fire another Runic Arrow as long as I live. Lining up those goofy orbs took forever and I hated it every single time.
Examining the themes of burgeoning adulthood and parenting said child, resolving your past and facing your future, grief, and forgiveness was a monumental task and I feel the writers were successful. Kratos' and Freya's reconciliation, the acceptance of Atreus as both his son and his own entity, Loki, and the death of familiar characters were all done with a sensible touch and didn't feel exploitative or manipulative. Nothing was bound up nicely with a bow and, as in real life, the characters carry the shards of their experiences with them and it continues to inform who they are after the story thread is complete. On the other hand, whenever there was a story that didn't involve Kratos or Atreus or Freya or Sindri, I could not care at all. It went from being touching and evocative to being fluff out of the MCU. There wasn't a single side character I found remotely interesting besides the ones I mentioned. Tyr, Ratatoskr, Freyr, Durlin, ALL of the Asgardians, and, God, I hated Angrboda's levels. They kept piling these characters on and expecting me to give a shit. Most of them are actively irritating and, in my eyes, do little to progress or improve the narrative. The absolute bloat and fatigue I felt by the end of this could have been mitigated by removing all of these characters. During the admittedly exciting and climactic Ragnarok, most of them arrive in some Avengers: Endgame-style rally and it hardly felt worth the amount of hours I plugged into their tiresome subplots.
Combat was impressively built, but I didn't enjoy the execution. There are plenty of ways to build Kratos to your liking, but I never found one that felt cohesive enough for me. I constantly felt frustrated with subpar perks on weapons and pommels and the damage I was doing. I felt like I took a lot of unfair hits and took unfair damage. I acknowledge this could be a skill issue, but I play a lot of Souls games and got 100% on the last God of War, so I'm not entirely comfortable taking ALL the blame here.
After completing the main story, I embarked on the arduous journey to platinum the game by cleaning up all the sidequests and pickups I neglected along the way. I realized fairly quickly I couldn't be bothered. Besides having to make long treks to barely-accessible areas, the dread I felt, and I had been dreading it the entire time, of having to chase around yet another stupid raven with the axe or fight some imbalanced Berserker boss put me off of finishing it fully. I just do not have the patience for it after the first one.
In summation, we have something here of structural integrity built by masterful architects, but the weight of it all collapsed sections that should have been culled.
This is not a great game, but it is a very funny game. The pre-menu cinematic is legendary. 'Who do You Voodoo, Bitch?' is a bop and it gets stuck in my head every time I play this. The character select has inexplicably-long, DICTATED character bios, so OF COURSE, I chose the one-hit wonder rapper whose mom was a crackhead in "N'awlins". Listening to him read all that had me howling. Throughout the game they really seemed to attempt some pathos in the writing, but it was just goofy. I'd receive a questline from an NPC like, "oh my god, I just watched my family get ripped apart, can you retrieve this highly sentimental item for me" and your character would voice a random affirmation like "COPACETIC". It robs the game of any attempts to move you, but it did make me laugh a lot.
The gameplay loop gets really old after three or four hours, but those first few are really fun and hilarious. All the weapons you find at the beginning are worthless and abundant, so I had a blast throwing them at every zombie I came across. Taking a boat oar and hurling it full-speed at a shambling corpse that would then either ragdoll or explode truly never got old to me. The melee combat is pretty good. It's definitely better than say, Skyrim, but gunplay is terrible. I'd say it somehow managed to be on par with Fallout 3. The only reason that's worth anything at all was because of VATS, but Dead Island has no such compensation. I can't speak for 2011 anymore, but for 2024, the quest variety is inexcusable. It's the worst of the worst. It's either a fetch quest, an escort mission, kill these monsters, or just run all over the map for one reason or another. They definitely went for quantity over quality and it's to the overall detriment of the experience.
The character models are hideous. The faces are hard to look at it and the way they move is something else. I kinda just stared in awe at the NPC I was following on every escort mission. Old man, young woman, tribal man or scientist, they all run hunched and waddling like they just shit themselves. Human emotions and animations are completely stiff and lifeless but, ironically, the undead are far more vibrant and expressive. Decent variety of them too and lots of skin variations on each. I appreciated it.
Some technical problems as well. Caught an Infected T-pose for a second, nbd, but there was a crash that corrupted some save data. The navigation could be spotty as hell and there was some enemy pop-in. A zombie would lunge at the bottom of a ladder and somehow grab me at the top of it.
There were a couple of minor things that annoyed the absolute shit out of me. For some reason, they'll give you cars or trucks to drive where 80% of the windshield is obscured by the sun visor. I wish I could post a picture, it's absolutely ludicrous. The weapon mods were exciting but, again, annoying. An early electric mod would constantly emit this monotone drone over the other effects and music and it made me wonder why they would do that. Why not just a quick crackling sound every once in a while? Why "bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"?
Dead Island is the definition of a "mid video game". The fact that the Definitive edition is still buggy and ugly should tell you something. That being said, you can find it fairly frequently on sale for like, $3. It's definitely worth that and I definitely had fun, I'm not gonna lie. I wish the platinum wasn't locked behind online multiplayer and the lack of couch co-op was a huge missed opportunity. I can easily picture my buddy and I doing some mindless shit like this for a while and beating eachother senseless with planks.
The gameplay loop gets really old after three or four hours, but those first few are really fun and hilarious. All the weapons you find at the beginning are worthless and abundant, so I had a blast throwing them at every zombie I came across. Taking a boat oar and hurling it full-speed at a shambling corpse that would then either ragdoll or explode truly never got old to me. The melee combat is pretty good. It's definitely better than say, Skyrim, but gunplay is terrible. I'd say it somehow managed to be on par with Fallout 3. The only reason that's worth anything at all was because of VATS, but Dead Island has no such compensation. I can't speak for 2011 anymore, but for 2024, the quest variety is inexcusable. It's the worst of the worst. It's either a fetch quest, an escort mission, kill these monsters, or just run all over the map for one reason or another. They definitely went for quantity over quality and it's to the overall detriment of the experience.
The character models are hideous. The faces are hard to look at it and the way they move is something else. I kinda just stared in awe at the NPC I was following on every escort mission. Old man, young woman, tribal man or scientist, they all run hunched and waddling like they just shit themselves. Human emotions and animations are completely stiff and lifeless but, ironically, the undead are far more vibrant and expressive. Decent variety of them too and lots of skin variations on each. I appreciated it.
Some technical problems as well. Caught an Infected T-pose for a second, nbd, but there was a crash that corrupted some save data. The navigation could be spotty as hell and there was some enemy pop-in. A zombie would lunge at the bottom of a ladder and somehow grab me at the top of it.
There were a couple of minor things that annoyed the absolute shit out of me. For some reason, they'll give you cars or trucks to drive where 80% of the windshield is obscured by the sun visor. I wish I could post a picture, it's absolutely ludicrous. The weapon mods were exciting but, again, annoying. An early electric mod would constantly emit this monotone drone over the other effects and music and it made me wonder why they would do that. Why not just a quick crackling sound every once in a while? Why "bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"?
Dead Island is the definition of a "mid video game". The fact that the Definitive edition is still buggy and ugly should tell you something. That being said, you can find it fairly frequently on sale for like, $3. It's definitely worth that and I definitely had fun, I'm not gonna lie. I wish the platinum wasn't locked behind online multiplayer and the lack of couch co-op was a huge missed opportunity. I can easily picture my buddy and I doing some mindless shit like this for a while and beating eachother senseless with planks.
2020
I only played through it once, and as much as it pains me to say, I think I'm pretty terrible at beat-'em-ups. I recognize a good one when I play it though and one brimming with fan service. I see that this is the same game we loved as kids, modernized and perfected. The graphics are gorgeous, the music pulse-pounding, and combos are satisfying. I can already tell that there is SO much to unlock, including the three OG SOR1 characters I got over the course of my one campaign. Best part of all, it has couch co-op, which is an inexplicable rarity nowadays. My star score doesn't reflect the quality of the game, just my personal level of enjoyment. It's just not my genre. If it's yours though, I'd be shocked if you were disappointed.
2002
Easily one of the best video games ever made. I can't play the Space Pirate station tutorial level, hear that opening Samus theme, watch her flip off the ship, and then fight my way to the Parasite Queen without being transported back to Christmas when I was 14.
It hasn't aged for me. It still feels as timeless as it ever did. I was listening to the soundtrack yesterday, after 22 years with it. The Title screen, Phendrana, Magmoor, all of it is sublime. Favorite OST ever, no contest.
I love the exploration. Each area is so distinct with it's own enemies and obstacles and scenery. Being behind that visor and watching it mist with humidity, reflect Samus' face back in moments of high-fire peril versus Chozo ghosts, the crack on the 'mission failed' screen, what is more immersive? Every wary turn down a new hallway almost always yields a worthwhile reward. I know a lot of people dislike the scanning, but I adore it. When I'm fastidiously taking in every detail of my surroundings, I'm in the skin of the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter. No matter how many times I've played through it, I never get tired of reading about the flora and fauna of Tallon IV.
Every upgrade is a significant gameplay and accessibility shift. Meaning there's always something new to explore, which means the excitement doesn't stop. New suits are always the most thrilling. I think the color palettes look brilliant here. New beams are fantastic too, considering that one is more effective in certain areas than perhaps the one you received it. The visors are a little "who cares", but they still are important to progression.
The boss fights are among the best under a Nintendo banner. I MUCH prefer these fights to any Zelda game. Flaaghra, Thardus, the phazon pirates, and the titular Metroid Prime are all very memorable. Some still terrify me to this day to see them barreling down at me.
The biggest complaint I hear about this game is the backtracking and the fetch quest. Neither of which bother me particularly. As I said, solving puzzles and acquiring upgrades remains fun and worthwhile to me. And, as soon as you've been through it enough, you can mitigate some of the backtracking AND the fetch quest by picking these items up as you move through the level. Some you HAVE to wait, but not all.
Overall, this is not a game I will ever get sick of. It is one of my Great Loves of this medium and the fact that a remastered version just released feels like a personal gift to me.
It hasn't aged for me. It still feels as timeless as it ever did. I was listening to the soundtrack yesterday, after 22 years with it. The Title screen, Phendrana, Magmoor, all of it is sublime. Favorite OST ever, no contest.
I love the exploration. Each area is so distinct with it's own enemies and obstacles and scenery. Being behind that visor and watching it mist with humidity, reflect Samus' face back in moments of high-fire peril versus Chozo ghosts, the crack on the 'mission failed' screen, what is more immersive? Every wary turn down a new hallway almost always yields a worthwhile reward. I know a lot of people dislike the scanning, but I adore it. When I'm fastidiously taking in every detail of my surroundings, I'm in the skin of the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter. No matter how many times I've played through it, I never get tired of reading about the flora and fauna of Tallon IV.
Every upgrade is a significant gameplay and accessibility shift. Meaning there's always something new to explore, which means the excitement doesn't stop. New suits are always the most thrilling. I think the color palettes look brilliant here. New beams are fantastic too, considering that one is more effective in certain areas than perhaps the one you received it. The visors are a little "who cares", but they still are important to progression.
The boss fights are among the best under a Nintendo banner. I MUCH prefer these fights to any Zelda game. Flaaghra, Thardus, the phazon pirates, and the titular Metroid Prime are all very memorable. Some still terrify me to this day to see them barreling down at me.
The biggest complaint I hear about this game is the backtracking and the fetch quest. Neither of which bother me particularly. As I said, solving puzzles and acquiring upgrades remains fun and worthwhile to me. And, as soon as you've been through it enough, you can mitigate some of the backtracking AND the fetch quest by picking these items up as you move through the level. Some you HAVE to wait, but not all.
Overall, this is not a game I will ever get sick of. It is one of my Great Loves of this medium and the fact that a remastered version just released feels like a personal gift to me.
2007
Brilliant. Especially to be the first of a new IP. Impeccable art direction and environmental storytelling. What locales are more memorable than the drowned hubris of Rapture?
As for single-player FPS combat, I can't think of many superior, except for something more modern like Doom Eternal. Great variety of weapons working in tandem with the excellent Plasmids.
Enemy design is terrifying. The splicers remind me of Reavers from Firefly. Tore themselves to pieces and scrounged what they could to do you next. Inhumane shrieking and banging, lamenting the lost humanity. The Big Daddies and the Little Sisters are a fantastic, dual risk/reward and morality system.
As for complaints, I think the sound design can be overwhelming and abrasive. It's easy for a recording pick-up to be completely washed out by the sound of droning alarms and screeching enemies.
If you've somehow fallen asleep under a rock and never managed to play this one, do yourself a favor before it ages out. I dont think it will any time soon, but you cant afford to miss it. Between the great writing, engaging gameplay, and marvelous setting, you'd have one of the best ever made at your fingertips.
As for single-player FPS combat, I can't think of many superior, except for something more modern like Doom Eternal. Great variety of weapons working in tandem with the excellent Plasmids.
Enemy design is terrifying. The splicers remind me of Reavers from Firefly. Tore themselves to pieces and scrounged what they could to do you next. Inhumane shrieking and banging, lamenting the lost humanity. The Big Daddies and the Little Sisters are a fantastic, dual risk/reward and morality system.
As for complaints, I think the sound design can be overwhelming and abrasive. It's easy for a recording pick-up to be completely washed out by the sound of droning alarms and screeching enemies.
If you've somehow fallen asleep under a rock and never managed to play this one, do yourself a favor before it ages out. I dont think it will any time soon, but you cant afford to miss it. Between the great writing, engaging gameplay, and marvelous setting, you'd have one of the best ever made at your fingertips.
2014
Installed and deleted twice. Absolutely hate it. Ludicrously dark despite making adjustments to my television. No gamma or brightness adjust in-game on the Switch. I really dont have anything nice to say here. I guess the game's atmosphere and setting could be kind of interesting except that I found everything cramped and unfun to actually play. Load screens take forever, the narration annoyed the hell out of me, the cacophony of voices from citizens of the Metro were aggravating. I would try to listen to something compelling and just hear "it's a bit too expensive" over and over and over. I didnt feel immersed in this world for a moment because I was never remotely comfortable enough to forget where I was.
If fumbling around in the goddamn dark and running over tripwires while NPCs tell you what to do while you dick around with the dumbass button layout while your character has boring hallucinations on a gas mask filter time limit sounds fun to you, then have at it. How anyone likes this is beyond me.
If fumbling around in the goddamn dark and running over tripwires while NPCs tell you what to do while you dick around with the dumbass button layout while your character has boring hallucinations on a gas mask filter time limit sounds fun to you, then have at it. How anyone likes this is beyond me.
I know Fable is infamous for Peter Molyneux's wildly ambitious, and ultimately insufficient, claims. But, as a teenager, Fable put me squarely into ancient Albion and let me become the Hero I imagined myself to be and I loved nearly all of it.
From training at the guild and feeling genuine affection for Whisper, Maze, and the Guildmaster, to receiving my first hero title,("Chicken Chaser, I believe?") I feel like I remember every second. It could also be the innumerable times that I've played through it. The voice acting is so memorable. Maybe even more so to me than Resident Evil 4. It's so infused with humor and charm of it's own unique design. It's an incredibly unique franchise in this regard.
Combat is a little clunky today, but I had so much fun mastering it as a teenager. I think in my last couple of runs, I understood the fighting mechanics, magic systems, and the combat multiplier so well, that I managed a no-hit run. Or what felt like it. I love the endless assignment options for spells SO much more than what they did with the sequels. You can piece together spells that naturally complement eachother and run ramshod over foes. On more evil runs, I had spells so thoroughly crafted that I could break a window in a town and massacre the whole place with defensive casting and not throw a single punch.
The clothing options, expressions, mini-games and bartering systems are all really fun to play around with too. You couldn't customize your face or body, but it didn't matter much when you could wear so many different types of armor and discover all the tattoos there were to find. I used to love to start a file, go into Bowerstone South and just play the Memory mini-game in the tavern for an hour or two and accumulate enough wealth to buy equipment way beyond my current level. Bringing books to the schoolhouse and getting a unique cutscene of your Hero and the teacher reading and interacting with kids was always hilarious. There were so many noteworthy side quests and I could even relegate all of this to the first town. Oakvale, Darkwood, Barrow Fields, Greatwood, Knothole Glade, Hook Coast. This is all from memory. It is so thoroughly entwined with what my idea of a great game is.
There are a few faults. As I said, age may have made it a little clunky and some of the babysitter quests are groanworthy. Taking the traders through Darkwood was always a slog. There was one hostage rescue mission with Bandits that was always janky and the Chapel of Skorm and Temple of Avo sidequests were impossible without a guide. The jail section is really terrible too. For some reason they did it again in Fable 2 and it may have even been worse. The base version ended without a post-game, but Lost Chapters was SUCH a welcome improvement. I played the remastered version for 360 and I was incredibly disappointed. I encountered lots of bugs, slowdowns, and freezes. Enough so that it eventually became unplayable for me. I couldnt get achievements to pop either. Really annoying.
There aren't many games that are this individualistic and charming at the same time. I for one can't wait for the next installment and I'm praying they can manage what Lionhead did back in the day.
From training at the guild and feeling genuine affection for Whisper, Maze, and the Guildmaster, to receiving my first hero title,("Chicken Chaser, I believe?") I feel like I remember every second. It could also be the innumerable times that I've played through it. The voice acting is so memorable. Maybe even more so to me than Resident Evil 4. It's so infused with humor and charm of it's own unique design. It's an incredibly unique franchise in this regard.
Combat is a little clunky today, but I had so much fun mastering it as a teenager. I think in my last couple of runs, I understood the fighting mechanics, magic systems, and the combat multiplier so well, that I managed a no-hit run. Or what felt like it. I love the endless assignment options for spells SO much more than what they did with the sequels. You can piece together spells that naturally complement eachother and run ramshod over foes. On more evil runs, I had spells so thoroughly crafted that I could break a window in a town and massacre the whole place with defensive casting and not throw a single punch.
The clothing options, expressions, mini-games and bartering systems are all really fun to play around with too. You couldn't customize your face or body, but it didn't matter much when you could wear so many different types of armor and discover all the tattoos there were to find. I used to love to start a file, go into Bowerstone South and just play the Memory mini-game in the tavern for an hour or two and accumulate enough wealth to buy equipment way beyond my current level. Bringing books to the schoolhouse and getting a unique cutscene of your Hero and the teacher reading and interacting with kids was always hilarious. There were so many noteworthy side quests and I could even relegate all of this to the first town. Oakvale, Darkwood, Barrow Fields, Greatwood, Knothole Glade, Hook Coast. This is all from memory. It is so thoroughly entwined with what my idea of a great game is.
There are a few faults. As I said, age may have made it a little clunky and some of the babysitter quests are groanworthy. Taking the traders through Darkwood was always a slog. There was one hostage rescue mission with Bandits that was always janky and the Chapel of Skorm and Temple of Avo sidequests were impossible without a guide. The jail section is really terrible too. For some reason they did it again in Fable 2 and it may have even been worse. The base version ended without a post-game, but Lost Chapters was SUCH a welcome improvement. I played the remastered version for 360 and I was incredibly disappointed. I encountered lots of bugs, slowdowns, and freezes. Enough so that it eventually became unplayable for me. I couldnt get achievements to pop either. Really annoying.
There aren't many games that are this individualistic and charming at the same time. I for one can't wait for the next installment and I'm praying they can manage what Lionhead did back in the day.
There's a lot about Arkham Asylum that's commendable. Being fifteen years old at this point, it all holds up for the most part. The visuals and atmosphere were thoughtfully crafted. Sure, facial animations are a little stiff, but that's to be expected. The art direction, however, is fantastic. The sense of being overwhelmed and confined in an old gothic nuthouse is palpable. Each area is distinct from another and has their own set of traversal puzzles. The music is great too! Dark and brooding; it complements the rest well.
I don't know a lot about Batman, having really only seen the Nolan movies. I can't say that I've read the comics or even watched The Animated Series when it was on. That being said, I recognize the commitment to the ardor of the fans when I see it. Bringing in Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, and Arleen Sorkin was a stroke of genius. Their vocal performances being the best in the game, obviously. Some of the background actors' dialogue came off a little poorly, but I also love that, so I am not complaining at all.
As for gameplay, it's a mixed bag for me. I thought the variety of gadgets and their implementation were balanced well and used consistently. I leaned on Detective mode pretty heavy because I hated to leave a room with a secret behind. The Riddler's challenges were a bit middling. I loved the ones pertinent to the lore of the series. A cryptic hint about a villain, followed by a scouring of the area for something apropos, and then unlocking a bio for an "obscure" character in Batman's history was a blast. I loved reading about Humpty Dumpty, Calendar Man, Firefly, The Ventriloquist. I found it fascinating learning about these figures that never got a silver screen treatment. Same thing with the patient interview reels. It all gave me a great feeling of immersion in the world to learn all the ins-and-outs of The Dark Knight's greatest foes. The rest of the Riddler's puzzles were pretty hit-or-miss. After those, it was just a random trophy placed slightly out of the way, aligning the crook and the dot of a question mark hidden in the environment, and batarang'ing clacking Joker teeth for the zillionth time. Yawn. If it wasn't for the plethora of unlockables you're gifted for trudging through this mundanity, it would hardly be worth it. Plenty of Challenge missions, trophies, and more to enjoy after the credits roll.
The combat got stale for me. I loved the wealth of different animations in his fighting styles though. Plenty of unique responses to countering enemies with punches, kicks, knives, bats, and guns. The combo meter and flow state of the fighting were very satisfying when it worked. More often than not, I would drop a combo despite being surrounded by enemies. I could just suck, but it really didn't feel like my fault and that got aggravating. Despite it being a more or less fun system, it feels lazy. Enemy variety is lacking. There are some introduced in the late-game, wandering lunatics and massive, carnivorous plant buds, but they're little more than a brief annoyance. The majority of the fights are all the Blackgate prisoners. There are a few different ones. Some have knives, others have batons, but 80% fight the exact same way and rather than spice up combat with more types of fighters, they'd rather overturn a bucket full of them in a small space and have you karate your way out of the hole. It was satisfying at first, but soon grew predictable. The Venom-injected prisoners were basically carbon copies of the Bane boss fight and thrown in the mix sporadically. You fight them multiple times, so there's little to be excited about. The other boss fights aren't much different. Nothing stood out as remotely memorable, or they were downright stupid. I HATED the Killer Croc "fight". Basically a slow slog through an ugly sewer for some macguffin or another where if you run or linger, Croc 1-hit KO's you and then taunts you on the Game Over screen. Despised that section. Scarecrow was pretty awesome...the first time. It reminded me of Eternal Darkness. Some fourth-wall breaking, phantasmagoric insanity tormenting the Caped Crusader fit the tone of the game wonderfully. Then they did it 3-4 more times. Really wore out it's welcome, by the end. It really went from "wtf is happening" to an eye-rolling rigmarole. And the final boss fight, as you may have read, was notably disappointing. Really terrible, actually. The final confrontation was built up from start-to-finish and it boiled down to a QTE sequence, basically. You fight faceless, generic prisoners more than you do Joker. You aren't even supposed to hit him until it's scripted to do so. Unbelievably lame.
Despite it's faults, I think there is still a fun experience to be had with Arkham Asylum. I can't think of another superhero game around this time that was even CLOSE to being this level of quality. Give it a shot once and I don't think you'll regret it. Especially if you're already a fan of the Bat.
I don't know a lot about Batman, having really only seen the Nolan movies. I can't say that I've read the comics or even watched The Animated Series when it was on. That being said, I recognize the commitment to the ardor of the fans when I see it. Bringing in Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, and Arleen Sorkin was a stroke of genius. Their vocal performances being the best in the game, obviously. Some of the background actors' dialogue came off a little poorly, but I also love that, so I am not complaining at all.
As for gameplay, it's a mixed bag for me. I thought the variety of gadgets and their implementation were balanced well and used consistently. I leaned on Detective mode pretty heavy because I hated to leave a room with a secret behind. The Riddler's challenges were a bit middling. I loved the ones pertinent to the lore of the series. A cryptic hint about a villain, followed by a scouring of the area for something apropos, and then unlocking a bio for an "obscure" character in Batman's history was a blast. I loved reading about Humpty Dumpty, Calendar Man, Firefly, The Ventriloquist. I found it fascinating learning about these figures that never got a silver screen treatment. Same thing with the patient interview reels. It all gave me a great feeling of immersion in the world to learn all the ins-and-outs of The Dark Knight's greatest foes. The rest of the Riddler's puzzles were pretty hit-or-miss. After those, it was just a random trophy placed slightly out of the way, aligning the crook and the dot of a question mark hidden in the environment, and batarang'ing clacking Joker teeth for the zillionth time. Yawn. If it wasn't for the plethora of unlockables you're gifted for trudging through this mundanity, it would hardly be worth it. Plenty of Challenge missions, trophies, and more to enjoy after the credits roll.
The combat got stale for me. I loved the wealth of different animations in his fighting styles though. Plenty of unique responses to countering enemies with punches, kicks, knives, bats, and guns. The combo meter and flow state of the fighting were very satisfying when it worked. More often than not, I would drop a combo despite being surrounded by enemies. I could just suck, but it really didn't feel like my fault and that got aggravating. Despite it being a more or less fun system, it feels lazy. Enemy variety is lacking. There are some introduced in the late-game, wandering lunatics and massive, carnivorous plant buds, but they're little more than a brief annoyance. The majority of the fights are all the Blackgate prisoners. There are a few different ones. Some have knives, others have batons, but 80% fight the exact same way and rather than spice up combat with more types of fighters, they'd rather overturn a bucket full of them in a small space and have you karate your way out of the hole. It was satisfying at first, but soon grew predictable. The Venom-injected prisoners were basically carbon copies of the Bane boss fight and thrown in the mix sporadically. You fight them multiple times, so there's little to be excited about. The other boss fights aren't much different. Nothing stood out as remotely memorable, or they were downright stupid. I HATED the Killer Croc "fight". Basically a slow slog through an ugly sewer for some macguffin or another where if you run or linger, Croc 1-hit KO's you and then taunts you on the Game Over screen. Despised that section. Scarecrow was pretty awesome...the first time. It reminded me of Eternal Darkness. Some fourth-wall breaking, phantasmagoric insanity tormenting the Caped Crusader fit the tone of the game wonderfully. Then they did it 3-4 more times. Really wore out it's welcome, by the end. It really went from "wtf is happening" to an eye-rolling rigmarole. And the final boss fight, as you may have read, was notably disappointing. Really terrible, actually. The final confrontation was built up from start-to-finish and it boiled down to a QTE sequence, basically. You fight faceless, generic prisoners more than you do Joker. You aren't even supposed to hit him until it's scripted to do so. Unbelievably lame.
Despite it's faults, I think there is still a fun experience to be had with Arkham Asylum. I can't think of another superhero game around this time that was even CLOSE to being this level of quality. Give it a shot once and I don't think you'll regret it. Especially if you're already a fan of the Bat.
There's a lot about Arkham Asylum that's commendable. Being fifteen years old at this point, it all holds up for the most part. The visuals and atmosphere were thoughtfully crafted. Sure, facial animations are a little stiff, but that's to be expected. The art direction, however, is fantastic. The sense of being overwhelmed and confined in an old gothic nuthouse is palpable. Each area is distinct from another and has their own set of traversal puzzles. The music is great too! Dark and brooding; it complements the rest well.
I don't know a lot about Batman, having really only seen the Nolan movies. I can't say that I've read the comics or even watched The Animated Series when it was on. That being said, I recognize the commitment to the ardor of the fans when I see it. Bringing in Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, and Arleen Sorkin was a stroke of genius. Their vocal performances being the best in the game, obviously. Some of the background actors' dialogue came off a little poorly, but I also love that, so I am not complaining at all.
As for gameplay, it's a mixed bag for me. I thought the variety of gadgets and their implementation were balanced well and used consistently. I leaned on Detective mode pretty heavy because I hated to leave a room with a secret behind. The Riddler's challenges were a bit middling. I loved the ones pertinent to the lore of the series. A cryptic hint about a villain, followed by a scouring of the area for something apropos, and then unlocking a bio for an "obscure" character in Batman's history was a blast. I loved reading about Humpty Dumpty, Calendar Man, Firefly, The Ventriloquist. I found it fascinating learning about these figures that never got a silver screen treatment. Same thing with the patient interview reels. It all gave me a great feeling of immersion in the world to learn all the ins-and-outs of The Dark Knight's greatest foes. The rest of the Riddler's puzzles were pretty hit-or-miss. After those, it was just a random trophy placed slightly out of the way, aligning the crook and the dot of a question mark hidden in the environment, and batarang'ing clacking Joker teeth for the zillionth time. Yawn. If it wasn't for the plethora of unlockables you're gifted for trudging through this mundanity, it would hardly be worth it. Plenty of Challenge missions, trophies, and more to enjoy after the credits roll.
The combat got pretty stale for me. I loved the wealth of different animations in his fighting styles though. Plenty of unique responses to countering enemies with punches, kicks, knives, bats, and guns. The combo meter and flow state of the fighting were very satisfying when it worked. More often than not, I would drop a combo despite being surrounded by enemies. I could just suck, but it really didn't feel like my fault and that got aggravating. Despite it being a more or less fun system, it feels lazy. Enemy variety is lacking. There are some introduced in the late-game, wandering lunatics and massive, carnivorous plant buds, but they're little more than a brief annoyance. The majority of the fights are all the Blackgate prisoners. There are a few different ones. Some have knives, others have batons, but 80% fight the exact same way and rather than spice up combat with more types of fighters, they'd rather overturn a bucket full of them in a small space and have you karate your way out of the hole. It was enjoyable at first, but soon grew predictable. The Venom-injected prisoners were basically carbon copies of the Bane boss fight and thrown in the mix sporadically. You fight them multiple times, so there's little to be excited about. The other boss fights aren't much different. Nothing stood out as remotely memorable, or they were downright stupid. I HATED the Killer Croc "fight". Basically a slow slog through an ugly sewer for some macguffin or another where if you run or linger, Croc 1-hit KO's you and then taunts you on the Game Over screen. Despised that section. Scarecrow was pretty awesome...the first time. It reminded me of Eternal Darkness. Some fourth-wall breaking, phantasmagoric insanity tormenting the Caped Crusader fit the tone of the game wonderfully. Then they did it 3-4 more times. Really wore out it's welcome, by the end. It really went from "wtf is happening" to an eye-rolling rigmarole. And the final boss fight, as you may have read, was notably disappointing. Really terrible, actually. The final confrontation was built up from start-to-finish and it boiled down to a QTE sequence, basically. You fight faceless, generic prisoners more than you do Joker. You aren't even supposed to hit him until it's scripted to do so. Unbelievably lame.
Despite it's faults, I think there is still a fun experience to be had with Arkham Asylum. I can't think of another superhero game around this time that was even CLOSE to being this level of quality. Give it a shot once and I don't think you'll regret it. Especially if you're already a fan of the Bat.
I don't know a lot about Batman, having really only seen the Nolan movies. I can't say that I've read the comics or even watched The Animated Series when it was on. That being said, I recognize the commitment to the ardor of the fans when I see it. Bringing in Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, and Arleen Sorkin was a stroke of genius. Their vocal performances being the best in the game, obviously. Some of the background actors' dialogue came off a little poorly, but I also love that, so I am not complaining at all.
As for gameplay, it's a mixed bag for me. I thought the variety of gadgets and their implementation were balanced well and used consistently. I leaned on Detective mode pretty heavy because I hated to leave a room with a secret behind. The Riddler's challenges were a bit middling. I loved the ones pertinent to the lore of the series. A cryptic hint about a villain, followed by a scouring of the area for something apropos, and then unlocking a bio for an "obscure" character in Batman's history was a blast. I loved reading about Humpty Dumpty, Calendar Man, Firefly, The Ventriloquist. I found it fascinating learning about these figures that never got a silver screen treatment. Same thing with the patient interview reels. It all gave me a great feeling of immersion in the world to learn all the ins-and-outs of The Dark Knight's greatest foes. The rest of the Riddler's puzzles were pretty hit-or-miss. After those, it was just a random trophy placed slightly out of the way, aligning the crook and the dot of a question mark hidden in the environment, and batarang'ing clacking Joker teeth for the zillionth time. Yawn. If it wasn't for the plethora of unlockables you're gifted for trudging through this mundanity, it would hardly be worth it. Plenty of Challenge missions, trophies, and more to enjoy after the credits roll.
The combat got pretty stale for me. I loved the wealth of different animations in his fighting styles though. Plenty of unique responses to countering enemies with punches, kicks, knives, bats, and guns. The combo meter and flow state of the fighting were very satisfying when it worked. More often than not, I would drop a combo despite being surrounded by enemies. I could just suck, but it really didn't feel like my fault and that got aggravating. Despite it being a more or less fun system, it feels lazy. Enemy variety is lacking. There are some introduced in the late-game, wandering lunatics and massive, carnivorous plant buds, but they're little more than a brief annoyance. The majority of the fights are all the Blackgate prisoners. There are a few different ones. Some have knives, others have batons, but 80% fight the exact same way and rather than spice up combat with more types of fighters, they'd rather overturn a bucket full of them in a small space and have you karate your way out of the hole. It was enjoyable at first, but soon grew predictable. The Venom-injected prisoners were basically carbon copies of the Bane boss fight and thrown in the mix sporadically. You fight them multiple times, so there's little to be excited about. The other boss fights aren't much different. Nothing stood out as remotely memorable, or they were downright stupid. I HATED the Killer Croc "fight". Basically a slow slog through an ugly sewer for some macguffin or another where if you run or linger, Croc 1-hit KO's you and then taunts you on the Game Over screen. Despised that section. Scarecrow was pretty awesome...the first time. It reminded me of Eternal Darkness. Some fourth-wall breaking, phantasmagoric insanity tormenting the Caped Crusader fit the tone of the game wonderfully. Then they did it 3-4 more times. Really wore out it's welcome, by the end. It really went from "wtf is happening" to an eye-rolling rigmarole. And the final boss fight, as you may have read, was notably disappointing. Really terrible, actually. The final confrontation was built up from start-to-finish and it boiled down to a QTE sequence, basically. You fight faceless, generic prisoners more than you do Joker. You aren't even supposed to hit him until it's scripted to do so. Unbelievably lame.
Despite it's faults, I think there is still a fun experience to be had with Arkham Asylum. I can't think of another superhero game around this time that was even CLOSE to being this level of quality. Give it a shot once and I don't think you'll regret it. Especially if you're already a fan of the Bat.
Veritable classic. You know this because you can still play it in 2024 and still find things to be impressed about. I seriously doubt that I'm about to write anything that nobody knows, but hell with it. Enemy design and variety, environments, muuuusic, the sprites, weapon options, armor options, the obtuse arcane, all of these things are peak video games. The voice acting is terrible, but God, that only makes it better. If you've never played this and have misgivings, set them aside. 2D doesn't age like 3D.
If I had to complain a little, I would agree with the general assessment that the Inverted Castle only served to pad the game out another few hours, but on the flip side, there are SO many new enemies that they added. SO many more boss fights. A real Misfits album worth of Universal Monsters to destroy, plus a few really good optional fights. See? Even my complaints turn into compliments. Some of the enemy placement is really stupid and frustrated me a lot. There. Also I wish bosses required a bit more strategy. Face-tanked most of 'em.
If there are any hardcore Castlevania fans reading this, please suggest the next one I should play! I had a harder time getting into the ones that came out before this and the 3D after. I know there are some good GBA ones, I just don't know what they are.
Also, does anyone else get the feeling that Fromsoft took HEAVY inspiration from this? There were so many areas comparable to the Moonlit Gardens, Catacombs, Lost Izalith, Undead Burg, etc. So many similar swords and enemies. There was an armored bull! It really felt like I was playing 2D progenitor Dark Souls.
If I had to complain a little, I would agree with the general assessment that the Inverted Castle only served to pad the game out another few hours, but on the flip side, there are SO many new enemies that they added. SO many more boss fights. A real Misfits album worth of Universal Monsters to destroy, plus a few really good optional fights. See? Even my complaints turn into compliments. Some of the enemy placement is really stupid and frustrated me a lot. There. Also I wish bosses required a bit more strategy. Face-tanked most of 'em.
If there are any hardcore Castlevania fans reading this, please suggest the next one I should play! I had a harder time getting into the ones that came out before this and the 3D after. I know there are some good GBA ones, I just don't know what they are.
Also, does anyone else get the feeling that Fromsoft took HEAVY inspiration from this? There were so many areas comparable to the Moonlit Gardens, Catacombs, Lost Izalith, Undead Burg, etc. So many similar swords and enemies. There was an armored bull! It really felt like I was playing 2D progenitor Dark Souls.
This review contains spoilers
I loved KOTOR 2 as a kid. I could never decide which I preferred between this and the original, but, as an adult, the answer is definitively: the original. I'm currently going through my collection to hit all these titles that I loved and haven't played in years. I'm really learning which games are timeless and which aren't. This ain't it.
I no longer own an original Xbox, so I figured the 360 would be the natural choice to play my original disc. I'm thinking that may have been a terrible mistake. I encountered countless and constant audio glitches. Loud, abrasive bits of sudden static on menu screens and music patching in and out or missing entirely. The frame rate was absolutely abysmal. If there were multiple enemies on screen, we're talking single-digit dips. If you happen to be holding the directional stick during one of these dips, the game sometimes caught up all at once and I found myself on the complete opposite end of the map from where I was. I also encountered one or two sudden freezes and had to restart. I don't remember -any- of this as a kid, so I'm fairly confident in blaming the 360. You may have a completely different experience on PC or Switch or something, but this was ugly.
I wish I could judge this game as its own entity, but unfortunately, sequels don't work that way. I hated the opening levels of this game. The Peragus Mining Facility is viciously boring, as well as Telos, the first main level outside of the tutorial. It made me yearn for the first level of the original game, Taris. A sprawling metropolis divided into three distinct areas because of class warfare. There were fun mini-games, plenty of interesting side quests and followers, and a rousing climax before you're set loose on the galaxy. Telos was bland to look at and bland to play. I thought it was interesting to revisit Dantooine and Korriban, even if there wasnt much going on. The final parts of those levels, preparing for a fight versus mercenaries and a confrontation of your past and values, are really the only bits worth remembering. I thought Nar Shadaa was a pain in the ass. Unnecessarily labyrinthian level-design and long back-and-forth treks for mundane quests. No thanks.
One of the main differences of The Sith Lords to the first game is the Influence system. And I -hated- it. To be truly effective, it seems completely contingent on when you acquire a follower and if they just so happen to be in your party at the right time, in the right place. When the time came to explore a planet of my choosing, I decided to go with the sequential order they were listed on the Star Map. Apparently, this is the least efficient way to make use of the game's systems. It took me to Korriban first, which nearly everyone agrees should be last and Nar Shadaa very late, which everyone agrees needs to be done as soon as possible. One of strongest aspects of this franchise is the characters and exploring their backstories through progression and conversation. In the original, you could get new exposition after leveling-up or completing a chapter of the story. It felt like a reward back then. I couldn't wait to get back on the Ebon Hawk and talk to every character to find out more. The Influence system robbed me of that. I never learned anything at all about Mira, having acquired her on Nar Shadaa late into the game and never encountering any opportunities of Influence on her character afterwards. It'd be one thing if each moment of moral choosing was programmed to affect EVERY character, but it isn't. You need a -certain- character at a -certain- moment and it prevented me from connecting with any of the characters on a deeper level. Except Kreia.
Kreia is the saving grace of this entire game. Her voice acting is fantastic and her arc is.....the only one I got to experience actually. (Aside from Visas, whose whole story and emotional climax they shoe-horned into the last few minutes before you confronted her master.) I loved how cryptic and knowledgeable Kreia was of The Force. Her insights into your character and the way she guides, nurtures, and manipulates you through the game should endear everyone to her. I found myself making decisions solely to please her. Her disdain for the stringent moral dichotomies of Force followers, Jedi and Sith, hearkened back to themes they explored with Jolee in the first game, but they felt so much more realized and important here.
Everyone really praises the story up and down, but I don't think I was as impressed as all that. I don't quite see what all the fuss is about. I really loved the fact that there is a narrative explanation for the fact that you get stronger by "killing hundreds of people" and that there is a reason why you influence your followers so fully. The "wound in the force" nature of your character and their abilities is very intriguing as well. To be disconnected after severe trauma, it sounds like sci-fi PTSD. Very powerful idea to explore. Ultimately, it fell a little flat for me. As you confront Darth Traya in the endgame, you learn that she hates that the Force can seemingly exert it's will on the lives of individuals and guide them where it so chooses. It's her desire to rid the Universe of it's influence so people can be free to live the lives they choose. I love that for a villain, but a little plant-and-payoff would've been nice. At no moment prior to this did I ever gather that Kreia HATED the Force. She always spoke of it in hushed, reverent tones and seemed eager to teach you as much about it as she could. Never a bit of dialogue like "distasteful as this is, it is quite useful". It kind of blindsided me. Ah well.
The titular Sith Lords were a bit of a mixed bag. Darth Traya being the best of them. Darth Nihilus seems like he was never fleshed-out more than being a general concept with a spooky mask. Just a less interesting, evil version of your own character in terms of his abilities. I liked Sion okay, I was reasonably pleased with the frequency he showed up and his character design. I liked his final fight as well, where if you could persuade him of certain notions through dialogue, you "eroded his will" to continue, affecting his stats. That was a cool idea.
I wish a lot of things about this game had been different. I wish Obsidian wasn't put under such crunch to get it done and had been able to refine and polish the script and gameplay to the sheen it deserved. I don't know if I'll play it again. Maybe. Definitely not on 360.
I no longer own an original Xbox, so I figured the 360 would be the natural choice to play my original disc. I'm thinking that may have been a terrible mistake. I encountered countless and constant audio glitches. Loud, abrasive bits of sudden static on menu screens and music patching in and out or missing entirely. The frame rate was absolutely abysmal. If there were multiple enemies on screen, we're talking single-digit dips. If you happen to be holding the directional stick during one of these dips, the game sometimes caught up all at once and I found myself on the complete opposite end of the map from where I was. I also encountered one or two sudden freezes and had to restart. I don't remember -any- of this as a kid, so I'm fairly confident in blaming the 360. You may have a completely different experience on PC or Switch or something, but this was ugly.
I wish I could judge this game as its own entity, but unfortunately, sequels don't work that way. I hated the opening levels of this game. The Peragus Mining Facility is viciously boring, as well as Telos, the first main level outside of the tutorial. It made me yearn for the first level of the original game, Taris. A sprawling metropolis divided into three distinct areas because of class warfare. There were fun mini-games, plenty of interesting side quests and followers, and a rousing climax before you're set loose on the galaxy. Telos was bland to look at and bland to play. I thought it was interesting to revisit Dantooine and Korriban, even if there wasnt much going on. The final parts of those levels, preparing for a fight versus mercenaries and a confrontation of your past and values, are really the only bits worth remembering. I thought Nar Shadaa was a pain in the ass. Unnecessarily labyrinthian level-design and long back-and-forth treks for mundane quests. No thanks.
One of the main differences of The Sith Lords to the first game is the Influence system. And I -hated- it. To be truly effective, it seems completely contingent on when you acquire a follower and if they just so happen to be in your party at the right time, in the right place. When the time came to explore a planet of my choosing, I decided to go with the sequential order they were listed on the Star Map. Apparently, this is the least efficient way to make use of the game's systems. It took me to Korriban first, which nearly everyone agrees should be last and Nar Shadaa very late, which everyone agrees needs to be done as soon as possible. One of strongest aspects of this franchise is the characters and exploring their backstories through progression and conversation. In the original, you could get new exposition after leveling-up or completing a chapter of the story. It felt like a reward back then. I couldn't wait to get back on the Ebon Hawk and talk to every character to find out more. The Influence system robbed me of that. I never learned anything at all about Mira, having acquired her on Nar Shadaa late into the game and never encountering any opportunities of Influence on her character afterwards. It'd be one thing if each moment of moral choosing was programmed to affect EVERY character, but it isn't. You need a -certain- character at a -certain- moment and it prevented me from connecting with any of the characters on a deeper level. Except Kreia.
Kreia is the saving grace of this entire game. Her voice acting is fantastic and her arc is.....the only one I got to experience actually. (Aside from Visas, whose whole story and emotional climax they shoe-horned into the last few minutes before you confronted her master.) I loved how cryptic and knowledgeable Kreia was of The Force. Her insights into your character and the way she guides, nurtures, and manipulates you through the game should endear everyone to her. I found myself making decisions solely to please her. Her disdain for the stringent moral dichotomies of Force followers, Jedi and Sith, hearkened back to themes they explored with Jolee in the first game, but they felt so much more realized and important here.
Everyone really praises the story up and down, but I don't think I was as impressed as all that. I don't quite see what all the fuss is about. I really loved the fact that there is a narrative explanation for the fact that you get stronger by "killing hundreds of people" and that there is a reason why you influence your followers so fully. The "wound in the force" nature of your character and their abilities is very intriguing as well. To be disconnected after severe trauma, it sounds like sci-fi PTSD. Very powerful idea to explore. Ultimately, it fell a little flat for me. As you confront Darth Traya in the endgame, you learn that she hates that the Force can seemingly exert it's will on the lives of individuals and guide them where it so chooses. It's her desire to rid the Universe of it's influence so people can be free to live the lives they choose. I love that for a villain, but a little plant-and-payoff would've been nice. At no moment prior to this did I ever gather that Kreia HATED the Force. She always spoke of it in hushed, reverent tones and seemed eager to teach you as much about it as she could. Never a bit of dialogue like "distasteful as this is, it is quite useful". It kind of blindsided me. Ah well.
The titular Sith Lords were a bit of a mixed bag. Darth Traya being the best of them. Darth Nihilus seems like he was never fleshed-out more than being a general concept with a spooky mask. Just a less interesting, evil version of your own character in terms of his abilities. I liked Sion okay, I was reasonably pleased with the frequency he showed up and his character design. I liked his final fight as well, where if you could persuade him of certain notions through dialogue, you "eroded his will" to continue, affecting his stats. That was a cool idea.
I wish a lot of things about this game had been different. I wish Obsidian wasn't put under such crunch to get it done and had been able to refine and polish the script and gameplay to the sheen it deserved. I don't know if I'll play it again. Maybe. Definitely not on 360.
2014
I love Subnautica. Or I wish I could. I wish I could I give it five stars, but I gave it precisely what it deserves. I beat it for PS4 amid maybe more frustration than I've ever had with a game I actually liked, but trying a second a playthrough on Switch was INTOLERABLE. It wasn't due to the mechanics of the game or the plot, but a significant lack of polish and unaddressed bugs and glitches. I swear, there aren't many moments more awe-inspiring than when you take that first plunge into the shallows of 4546B. I ADORE the survival aspect of Subnautica. It's simultaneously the most stressful and the most relaxing time-sink I can think of diving into after work. But what. a. busted. hunk. of. shit. this is.
I love Metroidvanias and Resident Evil and Dark Souls. I don't mind slightly obtuse video game logic. It lends itself well to puzzle-solving. I don't mind backtracking and I don't mind difficulty. So, when I tell you that Subnautica exceeds every bit of patience I have in every one of those categories, BELIEVE ME. It's not a -hard- game, by any means, but the ponderous pace of the vehicles and the large, open areas do NOT lend themselves well to the tedious amount of travel time you'll have to commit to in order to track down whatever materials you need for progression. I got SO sick of it. It'd be one thing if the areas were exceedingly gorgeous, but they AREN'T. I've never seen a modern title with so much pop-in and texture absences.
I'm sitting here and honestly trying to come up with reasons to sell this game to you, but I feel like I can't in good conscience. The graphics aren't great, combat is more dated-feeling than Skyrim, animations are herky-jerky, base-building is unintuitive and clunky. Sure, there are moments of marvel and of paralyzing fear. I was inspired by some of the creativity of the organisms and their respective biomes. The story is mysterious and captivating and I love the way it unfolds. I sank a lot of time into this AND I truly did have fun. It's extremely satisfying to fulfill whatever goals you set for yourself, but it is a constant uphill climb to do so and it's mostly because of poor design. You know I'm telling you the truth when there's an option in the pause menu called 'Unstuck' that is solely there to pry you out of whatever piece of the environment you accidentally trap yourself in for the hundredth time. And the 'leave feedback' option froze on me too. What a fucking joke.
I wish I could say I'm willing to run out and buy Unknown Worlds' next game, but I can't bear the disappointment again. If you want a more refined indie game experience with a small, committed team of devs, buy Hollow Knight or Guacamelee or Blasphemous or Cuphead.
If you're a vet and wanna know why I bailed on my second playthrough:
-minor spoilers-
As you head into the final area, basically an even shittier Lost Izalith with a shitty fetch quest tacked on, you come to an area called the Alien Thermal Plant. There's a teleporter that is supposed to be convenient, but all it did was load my Prawn into the fucking floor where it was permanently lodged. (multiple Reddit threads with the same problem. I actually think it happened on my PS4 copy too). I stripped what I could from it and moved on to the next area, which requires a duplicate key for no real reason (so backtracking) and the Drill Arm of the Prawn I just lost. So, my options are: to use the Seaglide to go all the way back across the map and track down 8-9 ion cubes -or- spend an hour or so recollecting resources to completely rebuild the Prawn. So stupid and so inconvenient. Such a let-down. I looked up methods to just CHEAT and spawn a new Prawn so I could at least finish my run, but apparently that feature was patched out. Idk if that's their fault or not, but it is 100% their fault that I was prepared to resort to that. Busted-ass shit, man. God, I'm so disappointed.
I love Metroidvanias and Resident Evil and Dark Souls. I don't mind slightly obtuse video game logic. It lends itself well to puzzle-solving. I don't mind backtracking and I don't mind difficulty. So, when I tell you that Subnautica exceeds every bit of patience I have in every one of those categories, BELIEVE ME. It's not a -hard- game, by any means, but the ponderous pace of the vehicles and the large, open areas do NOT lend themselves well to the tedious amount of travel time you'll have to commit to in order to track down whatever materials you need for progression. I got SO sick of it. It'd be one thing if the areas were exceedingly gorgeous, but they AREN'T. I've never seen a modern title with so much pop-in and texture absences.
I'm sitting here and honestly trying to come up with reasons to sell this game to you, but I feel like I can't in good conscience. The graphics aren't great, combat is more dated-feeling than Skyrim, animations are herky-jerky, base-building is unintuitive and clunky. Sure, there are moments of marvel and of paralyzing fear. I was inspired by some of the creativity of the organisms and their respective biomes. The story is mysterious and captivating and I love the way it unfolds. I sank a lot of time into this AND I truly did have fun. It's extremely satisfying to fulfill whatever goals you set for yourself, but it is a constant uphill climb to do so and it's mostly because of poor design. You know I'm telling you the truth when there's an option in the pause menu called 'Unstuck' that is solely there to pry you out of whatever piece of the environment you accidentally trap yourself in for the hundredth time. And the 'leave feedback' option froze on me too. What a fucking joke.
I wish I could say I'm willing to run out and buy Unknown Worlds' next game, but I can't bear the disappointment again. If you want a more refined indie game experience with a small, committed team of devs, buy Hollow Knight or Guacamelee or Blasphemous or Cuphead.
If you're a vet and wanna know why I bailed on my second playthrough:
-minor spoilers-
As you head into the final area, basically an even shittier Lost Izalith with a shitty fetch quest tacked on, you come to an area called the Alien Thermal Plant. There's a teleporter that is supposed to be convenient, but all it did was load my Prawn into the fucking floor where it was permanently lodged. (multiple Reddit threads with the same problem. I actually think it happened on my PS4 copy too). I stripped what I could from it and moved on to the next area, which requires a duplicate key for no real reason (so backtracking) and the Drill Arm of the Prawn I just lost. So, my options are: to use the Seaglide to go all the way back across the map and track down 8-9 ion cubes -or- spend an hour or so recollecting resources to completely rebuild the Prawn. So stupid and so inconvenient. Such a let-down. I looked up methods to just CHEAT and spawn a new Prawn so I could at least finish my run, but apparently that feature was patched out. Idk if that's their fault or not, but it is 100% their fault that I was prepared to resort to that. Busted-ass shit, man. God, I'm so disappointed.