binnychicken
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God of War Ragnarök
2022
God of War Ragnarök is a game that marks me coming full circle in a way. A few years ago, when this game was revealed I thought it looked really interesting despite being a massive Xbox fanboy at the time who still believed in console wars (unbelievably cringe, I know). Pair that with the critically well received and GOTY winning first game and my interest in these games and PlayStation as a whole was at its peak, so I bought a PS4 and the first game alongside it. Unfortunately, I got distracted by all the other games I wanted to play on the console and despite buying both games pretty early, didn’t actually get to them until this year. I lamented about how long it took me to actually get to these games in my review for God of War 2018 and I still do now, I simply do not know how I put off two incredible games like this for so long. Ragnarök specifically is everything I could have ever asked for from a sequel to 2018 and manages to tell one of the most powerful narratives I’ve experienced in gaming as well as just being a damn fun game.
While initially I thought the gameplay in Ragnarök was gonna be a straight rinse and repeat of 2018’s, I was surprised at how much they added to it. Starting with the good the game really took the criticism that many had with the first game and instead of reusing bosses and the same kinds of enemies ad nauseum, instead added tons of really cool boss fights and several different types of enemies each with their own weaknesses for you to figure out. The combat is just as satisfying as it was in the first game and certain new weapons and skills you obtain over the course of the game go a long way to make it remain so. There also just feels like there’s a lot less annoying puzzles to deal with, allowing the game to focus mostly on action which I felt was a really good call. But then there’s my complaints with the gameplay, chief among them being the sections where you play as Atreus. While Atreus is certainly an interesting and divulging character in this game it just felt like to me there was nothing that the game could do to make him as satisfying and fun to play as as Kratos himself is. Instead of using a badass axe or twinblades, Atreus simply uses his bow to beat up enemies which feels kinda weak and unsubstantial, he also just has a much smaller pool of moves that he can use due to his skill tree being much smaller than Kratos’ so it just feels like he designed to be inferior. His sections feel much shorter to make up for this and they do often have some very interesting story stuff going on so that’s a plus as well, but typically whenever I played these sections I just wished I was back playing as Kratos instead. My only other problem with the gameplay is the slow pacing of it, at least when it comes to traversal. The settings you explore in this game are really interesting, but a mission often consists of exploring a certain path and fighting a boss at the end of it, only to traverse back through that path to get back to the gateway that leads back to the main hub. It’s a tiny bit exhausting to have to go back through the area you just explored on foot with no way of fast travel or faster traversal to get you back through and all you’re really get from it is more dialogue among the characters, but still it’s not a huge issue and doesn’t take away from the game all that much.
God of War Ragnarök’s narrative is in a lot of ways the absolute polar opposite of its predecessor’s and yet the fact that both can tell such effective and emotional stories is an achievement that the writers at Santa Monica should be proud of. Instead of a simplistic and small stakes story of a man and his son taking his dead wife’s ashes up a mountain Ragnarök opts to tell the story of a father and son coming to grips with the end of the world and its approach to telling this story is just as cinematic and heavy as it sounds. Kratos, despite learning to be honest and open with his son in the prior game is still not a perfect father, he is still deeply untrusting and overprotective and those are things that become a driving force between him and Atreus throughout the game. Atreus on the other hand is deeply curious about the world and about who he is, seeking the truth no matter what the consequences might be and rushing hastily into situations instead of using his judgement like his father has taught him. Both are flawed characters, and this estranged relationship, despite being in the face of the end of all things no less, feels like the real conflict of the game that must be solved. Of course there are other characters that enhance the game as well, Freya’s search for revenge and meaning after Baldur’s death in the first game is interesting, Brok and Sindri’s drama with each other and their clashing lifestyles is really good and has some surprisingly heartfelt and dramatic moments to it, Thor as a character is a really interesting parallel to Kratos and the drama within his family is deep, and Odin’s endless quest for knowledge and the things he has done and will do the obtain it makes him a really intriguing character and villain.
Despite the deeply interesting plot and characters though, I think where God of War Ragnarök really hits home is in its themes. Although it’s been years since her death, we’re shown that Kratos still mourns Faye and with his own death prophesied about and presumably on the horizon he has dreams of her seemingly becoming for him to join her. This portrayal of grief that is seen throughout the game, specifically in moments of great indecision for Kratos’ character is incredibly realistic and well realized. There’s also overlapping themes of revenge, regret, and the idea of being better. Several characters throughout the story have reasons to seek revenge on other characters, whether its scene in Freya and Thor’s anger towards Kratos at the beginning of the story, or virtually everyone’s lust for revenge on Odin throughout the story, everyone in this game has been wronged and seek to deal with it in the worst way possible. When given the chance at revenge each in their respective ways however, the message then becomes one of how past mistakes do not define a person, how forgiveness can open far more doors than petty revenge can, and how striving to be better than the one who hurt you is one of the hardest but most satisfying things you can do, and the moments where certain characters realize this are some of the most powerful I’ve seen in all of gaming.
Having finally played both of the modern God of War games like I planned to years ago when I expanded my interests I can say without a doubt that they have two of the most powerful narratives and satisfying combat in any game I’ve played. Though there are just a few slight gameplay flaws that hold Ragnarök back from perfection it was still an unforgettable experience from start to finish and one I’m glad I took the $300 plunge on those few years ago. I’m uncertain where this series will go next but I will be there on day one to continue the adventures of Kratos and Boy when it arrives.
While initially I thought the gameplay in Ragnarök was gonna be a straight rinse and repeat of 2018’s, I was surprised at how much they added to it. Starting with the good the game really took the criticism that many had with the first game and instead of reusing bosses and the same kinds of enemies ad nauseum, instead added tons of really cool boss fights and several different types of enemies each with their own weaknesses for you to figure out. The combat is just as satisfying as it was in the first game and certain new weapons and skills you obtain over the course of the game go a long way to make it remain so. There also just feels like there’s a lot less annoying puzzles to deal with, allowing the game to focus mostly on action which I felt was a really good call. But then there’s my complaints with the gameplay, chief among them being the sections where you play as Atreus. While Atreus is certainly an interesting and divulging character in this game it just felt like to me there was nothing that the game could do to make him as satisfying and fun to play as as Kratos himself is. Instead of using a badass axe or twinblades, Atreus simply uses his bow to beat up enemies which feels kinda weak and unsubstantial, he also just has a much smaller pool of moves that he can use due to his skill tree being much smaller than Kratos’ so it just feels like he designed to be inferior. His sections feel much shorter to make up for this and they do often have some very interesting story stuff going on so that’s a plus as well, but typically whenever I played these sections I just wished I was back playing as Kratos instead. My only other problem with the gameplay is the slow pacing of it, at least when it comes to traversal. The settings you explore in this game are really interesting, but a mission often consists of exploring a certain path and fighting a boss at the end of it, only to traverse back through that path to get back to the gateway that leads back to the main hub. It’s a tiny bit exhausting to have to go back through the area you just explored on foot with no way of fast travel or faster traversal to get you back through and all you’re really get from it is more dialogue among the characters, but still it’s not a huge issue and doesn’t take away from the game all that much.
God of War Ragnarök’s narrative is in a lot of ways the absolute polar opposite of its predecessor’s and yet the fact that both can tell such effective and emotional stories is an achievement that the writers at Santa Monica should be proud of. Instead of a simplistic and small stakes story of a man and his son taking his dead wife’s ashes up a mountain Ragnarök opts to tell the story of a father and son coming to grips with the end of the world and its approach to telling this story is just as cinematic and heavy as it sounds. Kratos, despite learning to be honest and open with his son in the prior game is still not a perfect father, he is still deeply untrusting and overprotective and those are things that become a driving force between him and Atreus throughout the game. Atreus on the other hand is deeply curious about the world and about who he is, seeking the truth no matter what the consequences might be and rushing hastily into situations instead of using his judgement like his father has taught him. Both are flawed characters, and this estranged relationship, despite being in the face of the end of all things no less, feels like the real conflict of the game that must be solved. Of course there are other characters that enhance the game as well, Freya’s search for revenge and meaning after Baldur’s death in the first game is interesting, Brok and Sindri’s drama with each other and their clashing lifestyles is really good and has some surprisingly heartfelt and dramatic moments to it, Thor as a character is a really interesting parallel to Kratos and the drama within his family is deep, and Odin’s endless quest for knowledge and the things he has done and will do the obtain it makes him a really intriguing character and villain.
Despite the deeply interesting plot and characters though, I think where God of War Ragnarök really hits home is in its themes. Although it’s been years since her death, we’re shown that Kratos still mourns Faye and with his own death prophesied about and presumably on the horizon he has dreams of her seemingly becoming for him to join her. This portrayal of grief that is seen throughout the game, specifically in moments of great indecision for Kratos’ character is incredibly realistic and well realized. There’s also overlapping themes of revenge, regret, and the idea of being better. Several characters throughout the story have reasons to seek revenge on other characters, whether its scene in Freya and Thor’s anger towards Kratos at the beginning of the story, or virtually everyone’s lust for revenge on Odin throughout the story, everyone in this game has been wronged and seek to deal with it in the worst way possible. When given the chance at revenge each in their respective ways however, the message then becomes one of how past mistakes do not define a person, how forgiveness can open far more doors than petty revenge can, and how striving to be better than the one who hurt you is one of the hardest but most satisfying things you can do, and the moments where certain characters realize this are some of the most powerful I’ve seen in all of gaming.
Having finally played both of the modern God of War games like I planned to years ago when I expanded my interests I can say without a doubt that they have two of the most powerful narratives and satisfying combat in any game I’ve played. Though there are just a few slight gameplay flaws that hold Ragnarök back from perfection it was still an unforgettable experience from start to finish and one I’m glad I took the $300 plunge on those few years ago. I’m uncertain where this series will go next but I will be there on day one to continue the adventures of Kratos and Boy when it arrives.
Elden Ring
2022
Let’s rewind time back to December 2022, shall we? A 2 years younger VSLazer was watching the most prestigious and meaningful awards show out there, Geoff Keighly’s “The Game Awards” and despite having played none of the games nominated for Game of the Year, found himself getting unreasonably angry when the awards was announced to go to Elden Ring, the smash hit open world game made by From Software that came out that year and took the world by storm. Now lets not blame this young fool entirely yet shall we, he had good reasons for disliking the game right? I mean he'd tried Bloodborne, a game very similar in formula and made by the same company, and wouldn’t you know it he was incredibly bad at it, add onto that a bunch of annoying classmates in his senior year that would not shut up about FromSoft souls games and the fact that all the games looked basically the same to him and surely we can’t blame him too much for hating a game he never played right? Ok now let’s return to modern times, I have now finally moved past all my “reasons” to dislike Elden Ring and finally gave it a shot and I have got to say, I owe this game a damn apology, it deserved that award.
In some ways it makes complete sense how the world of Elden Ring manages to be one of the best open worlds in a video game and yet at the same time it’s still surprising to me in a lot of other ways. From Software’s soulslike games have always had really great world design and really expansive levels to explore but they have also been super linear at times and funnel the player down one set path through the areas to get to the end of the game, Elden Ring takes the detailed, expansive, and interesting locations and does away with the linearity. I was really skeptical of the game going in because of this, I thought that the linearity not only kept the game at the right difficulty but it also kept the world interesting, showing you the points of interest and leaving out everything else, but as I started playing the game I realized how wrong an assumption that was. Everything in this open world is interesting, any building or ruins you come across could have a helpful item hidden within it, every mountain or hill could have something really interesting at the top or a cave to explore at it’s base, and every castle or fort certainly holds rewarding and fun boss fights. It was this no stones unturned approach that made exploring this open world interesting, not to mention just how visually striking the game’s artstyle and color palate are and how well designed the regions of it’s map are as well. Places like Raya Lucaria Academy or Volcano Manor just to name a few were excellent dungeons because of just how visually intriguing they were and exploring these areas and finding every secret path in them was really fun and emblematic of how well designed the world in Elden Ring is.
Apart from the world design, the core gameplay of Elden Ring also exceeds in every way and is in my opinion the best out of all the FromSoft soulslikes I’ve played so far. While the core gameplay of exploring areas, gaining levels by trading in your souls (or in Elden Ring’s case, runes),crafting your build around certain weapons and the stats you put your levels into, and defeating difficult bosses to beat the game are all still intact, the way you do these things is completely different due to the open world and the changes are honestly for the better. Any time I got stuck in a specific area that I was clearly under leveled to be in or on one of the games iconic difficult boss fights I knew that I didn’t have to stay there and keep banging my head against the wall and instead found myself using this as a chance to go out into the world and explore some more of the areas I hadn’t fully seen yet, and in doing so I was usually rewarded with a completely new castle or cave to explore and plenty of useful items and runes to gain so that I could level up and feel better equipped for the challenge I was just struggling with. Despite this being essentially the concept of grinding it never truly felt like it, instead I felt rewarded for exploring the world further and not like I was repeating a tedious process in hopes to get better. Another aspect of gameplay that felt better because of the open world was the crafting of builds and speccing aspect of the game. Because the game is a long open world game that is meant to be played over a minimum of at least around 50 hours there is plenty of time to search for cool weapons and adjust your stats around them. There is an abundance of really cool weapons or spells to craft your build around and this gameplay variety only works in the game’s favor, allowing the player complete freedom over how they play the game and ensuring that everyone that plays the game will have a different but equally as fun experience. Add onto all of this several optional bosses, areas, and questlines, and a ton of really unforgettable and intense boss fights and you can see why this game’s gameplay is so revered and respected.
Elden Ring is an experience that I found near perfect in every way, I was addicted to this game from the day I picked it up and could not put it down until I beat it. The game’s insanely well-designed open world and areas hooked me in and the challenging but fair gameplay kept me going until I beat it. Beating some of the game’s really difficult bosses like Starscourge Radahn or The Fire Giant were some of the most satisfying moments in any video game I’ve ever played and I finally now get the appeal behind FromSoft’s soulslike games because of it. I love Elden Ring and now that my metamorphosis into a soulslike fan is complete I cannot wait for whatever these monoliths of game design do next.
In some ways it makes complete sense how the world of Elden Ring manages to be one of the best open worlds in a video game and yet at the same time it’s still surprising to me in a lot of other ways. From Software’s soulslike games have always had really great world design and really expansive levels to explore but they have also been super linear at times and funnel the player down one set path through the areas to get to the end of the game, Elden Ring takes the detailed, expansive, and interesting locations and does away with the linearity. I was really skeptical of the game going in because of this, I thought that the linearity not only kept the game at the right difficulty but it also kept the world interesting, showing you the points of interest and leaving out everything else, but as I started playing the game I realized how wrong an assumption that was. Everything in this open world is interesting, any building or ruins you come across could have a helpful item hidden within it, every mountain or hill could have something really interesting at the top or a cave to explore at it’s base, and every castle or fort certainly holds rewarding and fun boss fights. It was this no stones unturned approach that made exploring this open world interesting, not to mention just how visually striking the game’s artstyle and color palate are and how well designed the regions of it’s map are as well. Places like Raya Lucaria Academy or Volcano Manor just to name a few were excellent dungeons because of just how visually intriguing they were and exploring these areas and finding every secret path in them was really fun and emblematic of how well designed the world in Elden Ring is.
Apart from the world design, the core gameplay of Elden Ring also exceeds in every way and is in my opinion the best out of all the FromSoft soulslikes I’ve played so far. While the core gameplay of exploring areas, gaining levels by trading in your souls (or in Elden Ring’s case, runes),crafting your build around certain weapons and the stats you put your levels into, and defeating difficult bosses to beat the game are all still intact, the way you do these things is completely different due to the open world and the changes are honestly for the better. Any time I got stuck in a specific area that I was clearly under leveled to be in or on one of the games iconic difficult boss fights I knew that I didn’t have to stay there and keep banging my head against the wall and instead found myself using this as a chance to go out into the world and explore some more of the areas I hadn’t fully seen yet, and in doing so I was usually rewarded with a completely new castle or cave to explore and plenty of useful items and runes to gain so that I could level up and feel better equipped for the challenge I was just struggling with. Despite this being essentially the concept of grinding it never truly felt like it, instead I felt rewarded for exploring the world further and not like I was repeating a tedious process in hopes to get better. Another aspect of gameplay that felt better because of the open world was the crafting of builds and speccing aspect of the game. Because the game is a long open world game that is meant to be played over a minimum of at least around 50 hours there is plenty of time to search for cool weapons and adjust your stats around them. There is an abundance of really cool weapons or spells to craft your build around and this gameplay variety only works in the game’s favor, allowing the player complete freedom over how they play the game and ensuring that everyone that plays the game will have a different but equally as fun experience. Add onto all of this several optional bosses, areas, and questlines, and a ton of really unforgettable and intense boss fights and you can see why this game’s gameplay is so revered and respected.
Elden Ring is an experience that I found near perfect in every way, I was addicted to this game from the day I picked it up and could not put it down until I beat it. The game’s insanely well-designed open world and areas hooked me in and the challenging but fair gameplay kept me going until I beat it. Beating some of the game’s really difficult bosses like Starscourge Radahn or The Fire Giant were some of the most satisfying moments in any video game I’ve ever played and I finally now get the appeal behind FromSoft’s soulslike games because of it. I love Elden Ring and now that my metamorphosis into a soulslike fan is complete I cannot wait for whatever these monoliths of game design do next.
The Quarry
2022
Maybe it's because I played The Devil in Me before this one and that one being so horrendous in all aspects that think I genuinely enjoyed this one quite a lot. Loved the overall presentation and personally didn't feel like it was trying to be Until Dawn 2.0.
Characters were a vast improvement over UD too, I found myself liking most of them by the end of the game. Gameplay itself did feel a bit more lacking than usual but I don't really play these games for mind-blowing gameplay either.
My biggest complaint is the ending, as it does feel very sudden and rushed. I also have to mention the motion capture does look very off every now and then, especially the facial expressions of characters looking exaggerated during dialogue.
Characters were a vast improvement over UD too, I found myself liking most of them by the end of the game. Gameplay itself did feel a bit more lacking than usual but I don't really play these games for mind-blowing gameplay either.
My biggest complaint is the ending, as it does feel very sudden and rushed. I also have to mention the motion capture does look very off every now and then, especially the facial expressions of characters looking exaggerated during dialogue.
Playtime: 9 Hours
Score: 6/10
A very mixed bag but ultimately an experience I enjoyed for the most part. So I played the first game a few years ago, even got the physical copy for it for christmas and I loved that game. I found the story to be gripping but the gameplay was severely lacking. Fast forward 5 years and we get this game, and let's just say it will be a divisive game for sure.
Firstly, the story I thought was incredible! They really expand the plot beyond the first game which was a much more intimate story for Senua, but here it's a more epic, save the world tale. They also have a small cast of supporting characters, who I thought all worked well for the narrative. I also love how they did the transitions from scene to scene, which made for some trippy and cinematic visuals. And the graphics go a long way to help sell it. If this game was a movie it probably would have been an A24 film and I would have loved it all the same! While the ending can feel like a cliffhanger for some, for me it worked and I would like a Hellblade 3 (more of that later). The sound design is also amazing like the first game and is definitely best played with headphones.
However, this goes into my negatives which is really just the gameplay. This game took 5 years to develop and you wonder what the heck were Ninja Theory doing during all that time other than just making the game look really pretty. They added some new puzzle types from what the first game had, which were cool at first but were just really easy to solve and got annoying after a while. The combat is quite frankly terrible and that's the part where they barely improved anything. It's just the same block, evading the enemy enough times until Senua's mirror lights up and you can slow down time to go in for the killing blow. I was willing to look past it for the first game since it was an experimental, double A title but Ninja Theory is owned by Xbox now, which means there's no excuse with this game. I get their focus was on telling a cinematic story, which is fine but if you're not going to innovate your gameplay or combat, then you might as well have just made this a walking simulator, because you will be doing that most of the time anyway.
In combat enemies were hard to read with their attacks sometimes, and I also grew tired of the camera that stayed behind Senua’s back the whole time. You will often fight one enemy at a time but then as soon as you kill one, Senua is grabbed by another dude and then pulled into the next fight, so might as well be a group of enemies. You do feel the tension in these moments like Senua is fighting for her life, but the animations and camera movement just got repetitive after a while and the combat itself just doesn’t feel good like I said before.
Another issue is the game's technical state, to which I ran into many framerate issues. I admit my PC is older than most modern rigs, but what I found odd is that randomly while playing the framerate would just completely tank down to like 5 frames a second. Whenever this happened I would have to exit out to the main menu and then hit continue, where it would replay that exact same sequence with no issues at all. While this wasn’t completely game breaking it was very immersion breaking and is the reason why it took me a while to beat this game since I kept getting annoyed at the framerate issues and just put the game down for a few days.
That wraps up my thoughts pretty much. Again I loved the story, but everything else was just very disappointing. I would love a Hellblade 3, but Ninja Theory is in a very awkward position I feel. If they do make another game, it can’t just be another cinematic game with basic combat. They really need to innovate and make a game that’s worth the asking price since now I would say just play it on game pass and don’t buy the game until it's WAY cheaper. However, after Microsoft shut down 4 studios at Bethesda, including Tango Gameworks who made Hi Fi Rush, a critically and commercially successful game, they have shown they are not afraid to cut their losses. With Ninja Theory I can’t see them being allowed to make Hellblade 3 and could be shut down or forced to make a live service game to which they would lose 90% of their staff, since no one there wants to make a live service, and that point is the studio the same as it was before? I just worry for Ninja Theory’s future at this point. But I hope they get to make the game they want to make next.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 6/10
A very mixed bag but ultimately an experience I enjoyed for the most part. So I played the first game a few years ago, even got the physical copy for it for christmas and I loved that game. I found the story to be gripping but the gameplay was severely lacking. Fast forward 5 years and we get this game, and let's just say it will be a divisive game for sure.
Firstly, the story I thought was incredible! They really expand the plot beyond the first game which was a much more intimate story for Senua, but here it's a more epic, save the world tale. They also have a small cast of supporting characters, who I thought all worked well for the narrative. I also love how they did the transitions from scene to scene, which made for some trippy and cinematic visuals. And the graphics go a long way to help sell it. If this game was a movie it probably would have been an A24 film and I would have loved it all the same! While the ending can feel like a cliffhanger for some, for me it worked and I would like a Hellblade 3 (more of that later). The sound design is also amazing like the first game and is definitely best played with headphones.
However, this goes into my negatives which is really just the gameplay. This game took 5 years to develop and you wonder what the heck were Ninja Theory doing during all that time other than just making the game look really pretty. They added some new puzzle types from what the first game had, which were cool at first but were just really easy to solve and got annoying after a while. The combat is quite frankly terrible and that's the part where they barely improved anything. It's just the same block, evading the enemy enough times until Senua's mirror lights up and you can slow down time to go in for the killing blow. I was willing to look past it for the first game since it was an experimental, double A title but Ninja Theory is owned by Xbox now, which means there's no excuse with this game. I get their focus was on telling a cinematic story, which is fine but if you're not going to innovate your gameplay or combat, then you might as well have just made this a walking simulator, because you will be doing that most of the time anyway.
In combat enemies were hard to read with their attacks sometimes, and I also grew tired of the camera that stayed behind Senua’s back the whole time. You will often fight one enemy at a time but then as soon as you kill one, Senua is grabbed by another dude and then pulled into the next fight, so might as well be a group of enemies. You do feel the tension in these moments like Senua is fighting for her life, but the animations and camera movement just got repetitive after a while and the combat itself just doesn’t feel good like I said before.
Another issue is the game's technical state, to which I ran into many framerate issues. I admit my PC is older than most modern rigs, but what I found odd is that randomly while playing the framerate would just completely tank down to like 5 frames a second. Whenever this happened I would have to exit out to the main menu and then hit continue, where it would replay that exact same sequence with no issues at all. While this wasn’t completely game breaking it was very immersion breaking and is the reason why it took me a while to beat this game since I kept getting annoyed at the framerate issues and just put the game down for a few days.
That wraps up my thoughts pretty much. Again I loved the story, but everything else was just very disappointing. I would love a Hellblade 3, but Ninja Theory is in a very awkward position I feel. If they do make another game, it can’t just be another cinematic game with basic combat. They really need to innovate and make a game that’s worth the asking price since now I would say just play it on game pass and don’t buy the game until it's WAY cheaper. However, after Microsoft shut down 4 studios at Bethesda, including Tango Gameworks who made Hi Fi Rush, a critically and commercially successful game, they have shown they are not afraid to cut their losses. With Ninja Theory I can’t see them being allowed to make Hellblade 3 and could be shut down or forced to make a live service game to which they would lose 90% of their staff, since no one there wants to make a live service, and that point is the studio the same as it was before? I just worry for Ninja Theory’s future at this point. But I hope they get to make the game they want to make next.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Life is Strange
2015
This review contains spoilers
Alright to start, I’m not really one for choice-driven games. I think they’re fine but the game’d have to be mostly carried by the story, characters etc, I just prefer other types of games a lot more. It’s also set in the 2010s, a time period that I hate. Sure the innovation and whatnot was great, but my god the actual humor and people in that time period were abysmal. I’ve always hated it. So I was thinking, the core audience for this game seemed to be either millennials, teenage girls or both, of which I’m obviously neither. That’s at least what I interpreted from what I’ve heard over the years online, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but with that in mind I was already thinking beforehand; “this game’s probably not gonna be for me” and I was completely right. One thing that’s more of a personal complaint is how mental illness is treated. There is one character in particular; Kate, I fucking hate her. Kate is basically your super depressed suicidal “friend” in the game who mostly only emotionally manipulates you. The theme of mental illness is just so on the fucking nose that it pains me. A lot of games try to handle shit like this, and a lot of games (including this one) fumble completely. It feels bad to compare this mediocrity to a masterpiece like Silent Hill 2 but I got to. That game knows what it’s doing, it knows how to handle this stuff properly, even some heavier stuff than the shit here in Life is Strange. If anything it’s just subtlety that’s really needed, and this has none. If a character is depressed, the game shouts at you telling you they’re depressed instead of showing you that they are. Basically the phrase “show don’t tell”, which this game certainly doesn’t. And yeah I know that how people deal with their depression varies, but speaking from my own experiences this just feels so stupid and over the top. So yeah, just a personal complaint.
Something that I’ve seen most people like about this game are the characters, specifically Chloe. But I gotta say… I fucking hate these characters. Honestly, I don’t even like Max and I absolutely hate Chloe (she was only okay when she was crippled), Warren, Jefferson (more than you’re supposed to), Victoria (also more), Nathan (again even more) and Kate (I just fucking hate these people). The one positive I can give to them is that Max was probably intentionally as bland as she is to make people relate to her, and make her their “literally me” character, but I also wish she had something to make her stand out as the protagonist. Some people think like this with Chloe as well, I do not understand those people at all, she is literally the worst character in the entire game in my opinion. But all of this isn’t really based on their designs or voice acting (for the most part), it comes down to the writing. I dislike a lot of aspects of this game, but I HATE the writing. It is just so god awful honestly, every character interaction is so annoying and awkward to sit through. And it’s not purposeful David Lynch awkward, it’s just normal awkwardness alongside stale characters that I can barely stand, let alone a whole game with it. Every dialogue makes me want to turn off the game and just sit in silence, which I kinda did by pausing in scenes with shit dialogue cuz I couldn’t stand it. It has, for lack of a better term, “millennial writing”. It feels like it’s written by 35+ year olds who think this is how teens in the 2010s sounded like, also throwing in some pop culture references just like every annoying millennial. Some people love this and feel nostalgia for it, I feel kinda nostalgic for it as well and I fucking hate that. I hated it then and I hate it even more now. Every bit of humor is so unfunny, every pop culture reference is annoying to listen to, every 2010s phrase is so shit and there was no one who actually talked like that, it’s more just “look how relatable we are youngsters!” it’s all so fucking annoying to listen to.
For what it’s worth though, I at least want to mention how good the soundtrack is. It doesn’t matter if a game is bad, mediocre or good, the soundtrack can always vary in quality no matter what game it is. So even if I personally think this game is mediocre, I gotta give credit where it’s due, and say that this soundtrack is pretty good. It obviously has its meh tracks but overall it’s decent, with some great stand-outs here and there. Something else I want to mention in a somewhat positive light is the art style, it’s fine. The graphics can sometimes look pretty bad but at certain times the art style peaks and looks pretty good. Another thing is the time travel mechanic. I don’t really care for it, it’s just okay in my opinion, but talking to someone and then going back in time to talk to them again with that new information can be kinda cool (even though it barely happens). Although with it there’s no stake in your decisions, which sucks. These types of games give you crucial decisions over and over where you gotta adapt to the choice you made whether it benefited you or not, here though you can just go back in time and change it, immediately making the actual decision making feel less important.
Also the story could’ve definitely benefited from having less shit in it. Maybe take out the serial killer plot or something and make it a coming of age story, I don’t know it just feels too much. Then we get to my third least favorite thing, the entirety of Episode 5. Jefferson is probably my least favorite antagonist of all time. I thought he was meh in the beginning, he had the “millennial writing” but everyone else did as well so he was just meh, in Episode 5 though he turned into the worst written character ever. Everything after your time travel shenanigan that gets Jefferson arrested made the story so unreasonably and unnecessarily convoluted that my brain kinda just turned off for the rest of the game. The time breakdown after David rescues you is just so mediocre, there’s nothing cool, fun or even unique going on. I also want to clown on one final thing that bothered the hell out of me. For this choice-driven game there are two endings. “Okay okay that’s fine I guess”, no it isn’t. Not because two endings is a bad thing but because how you get these two endings in this choice-driven game where all your choices (should) matter isn’t through your decisions beforehand, it’s from two choices at the end. What the fuck. These two choices as well suck absolutely ass, either sacrifice the shit character Chloe or sacrifice the entire town. Hmm, whatever shall I choose? All the choices you’ve made up to this point just don’t fucking matter in this choice-driven game. I thought people learned how to do these games after Telltale but apparently not. This ending sucked ass.
To conclude this review, as much as I’d like to at least like this game because of how much it means to some people, I can’t. I do not like this game and I never will. I don’t like the characters, mechanics, writing, plot-twists, graphics at times, and ending. There are aspects that I like that I haven’t mentioned still, but that alone cannot carry this game for me because there’s too much that I hate over that. If you like this game and it changed your life, sure you do you, I just can’t agree with you. I’m sorry but this was just so disappointing personally. I’ll still try Before the Storm, 2, True Colors, and Double Exposure cuz I’m a masochist or something, but yeah.
3.5/10
Something that I’ve seen most people like about this game are the characters, specifically Chloe. But I gotta say… I fucking hate these characters. Honestly, I don’t even like Max and I absolutely hate Chloe (she was only okay when she was crippled), Warren, Jefferson (more than you’re supposed to), Victoria (also more), Nathan (again even more) and Kate (I just fucking hate these people). The one positive I can give to them is that Max was probably intentionally as bland as she is to make people relate to her, and make her their “literally me” character, but I also wish she had something to make her stand out as the protagonist. Some people think like this with Chloe as well, I do not understand those people at all, she is literally the worst character in the entire game in my opinion. But all of this isn’t really based on their designs or voice acting (for the most part), it comes down to the writing. I dislike a lot of aspects of this game, but I HATE the writing. It is just so god awful honestly, every character interaction is so annoying and awkward to sit through. And it’s not purposeful David Lynch awkward, it’s just normal awkwardness alongside stale characters that I can barely stand, let alone a whole game with it. Every dialogue makes me want to turn off the game and just sit in silence, which I kinda did by pausing in scenes with shit dialogue cuz I couldn’t stand it. It has, for lack of a better term, “millennial writing”. It feels like it’s written by 35+ year olds who think this is how teens in the 2010s sounded like, also throwing in some pop culture references just like every annoying millennial. Some people love this and feel nostalgia for it, I feel kinda nostalgic for it as well and I fucking hate that. I hated it then and I hate it even more now. Every bit of humor is so unfunny, every pop culture reference is annoying to listen to, every 2010s phrase is so shit and there was no one who actually talked like that, it’s more just “look how relatable we are youngsters!” it’s all so fucking annoying to listen to.
For what it’s worth though, I at least want to mention how good the soundtrack is. It doesn’t matter if a game is bad, mediocre or good, the soundtrack can always vary in quality no matter what game it is. So even if I personally think this game is mediocre, I gotta give credit where it’s due, and say that this soundtrack is pretty good. It obviously has its meh tracks but overall it’s decent, with some great stand-outs here and there. Something else I want to mention in a somewhat positive light is the art style, it’s fine. The graphics can sometimes look pretty bad but at certain times the art style peaks and looks pretty good. Another thing is the time travel mechanic. I don’t really care for it, it’s just okay in my opinion, but talking to someone and then going back in time to talk to them again with that new information can be kinda cool (even though it barely happens). Although with it there’s no stake in your decisions, which sucks. These types of games give you crucial decisions over and over where you gotta adapt to the choice you made whether it benefited you or not, here though you can just go back in time and change it, immediately making the actual decision making feel less important.
Also the story could’ve definitely benefited from having less shit in it. Maybe take out the serial killer plot or something and make it a coming of age story, I don’t know it just feels too much. Then we get to my third least favorite thing, the entirety of Episode 5. Jefferson is probably my least favorite antagonist of all time. I thought he was meh in the beginning, he had the “millennial writing” but everyone else did as well so he was just meh, in Episode 5 though he turned into the worst written character ever. Everything after your time travel shenanigan that gets Jefferson arrested made the story so unreasonably and unnecessarily convoluted that my brain kinda just turned off for the rest of the game. The time breakdown after David rescues you is just so mediocre, there’s nothing cool, fun or even unique going on. I also want to clown on one final thing that bothered the hell out of me. For this choice-driven game there are two endings. “Okay okay that’s fine I guess”, no it isn’t. Not because two endings is a bad thing but because how you get these two endings in this choice-driven game where all your choices (should) matter isn’t through your decisions beforehand, it’s from two choices at the end. What the fuck. These two choices as well suck absolutely ass, either sacrifice the shit character Chloe or sacrifice the entire town. Hmm, whatever shall I choose? All the choices you’ve made up to this point just don’t fucking matter in this choice-driven game. I thought people learned how to do these games after Telltale but apparently not. This ending sucked ass.
To conclude this review, as much as I’d like to at least like this game because of how much it means to some people, I can’t. I do not like this game and I never will. I don’t like the characters, mechanics, writing, plot-twists, graphics at times, and ending. There are aspects that I like that I haven’t mentioned still, but that alone cannot carry this game for me because there’s too much that I hate over that. If you like this game and it changed your life, sure you do you, I just can’t agree with you. I’m sorry but this was just so disappointing personally. I’ll still try Before the Storm, 2, True Colors, and Double Exposure cuz I’m a masochist or something, but yeah.
3.5/10
the original silent hill was an eccentric swing in the context of its contemporaries in survival horror, and while its still an enduringly vivid and creative piece of art it also spawned iterations and imitators that have at least Somewhat diluted its raw lightning in a bottle quality. i knew that sh4 was considered to be The Weird One of the team silent run but io was EXTRA delighted to find that its So Weird that it may have recaptured this semi-lost quality of the original within the context of its own series...everything is uncannily Just Familiar Enough, with enough big swings to knock familiar rhythms off-balance. even within its OWN rhythms! that second half is so audacious lmao.
worth it for the high display of white-hot creativity alone, stuffed to the gills with loving details even by the standards of team silent...stimulating to think about, and often impressively abrasive to experience considering that this has by far the least demanding combat and puzzles in the series (at least for me). less of a display of raw skill and more of increasingly taxing mental tenacity, which gives the whole thing a texture that i think is p unique to this entry!
everything else is just the super awesome the cell/rob zombie halloween killer psychodrama, the outsider perspective of SH1 but on a much more complicated victim. during the actual play experience my reaction was mostly "wow cool!" but sitting with it afterwards it Does slowly get its teeth in u...the childish wording in young walter's messages scattered thruout the second half is really crushing, and stirs some very unpleasant Pastor's Kid feelings in me. despite being in many ways so separate from the original three games (and not even conceived as in the same series supposedly), the added text on religion makes the first four games as a unit feel retroactively way more complete. beyond generically Insane cult members, the main acknowledgement here is that the faith does actually provide for walters needs, in ways that are not by the world at large. it is a refuge as much as a place of pain, but its pain that happens in consistent terms, and is easier to embrace then the chaos of the corrupt outside world. cheryl was emotionally formed enough to accept the past and her pain without giving into the desire to see the entire world destroyed for hurting her, but for walter its easy to see the world's destruction as the only sustainable peace. theres something in that...the mechanical stress of the otherworlds broken up by the relief of going back to your room, hiding from the world.
the more i think ab it the more this is a rly dense and symmetrical text and i wont be able to write on it definitively today, but ill close by saying this is all a really fun wrinkle in my ongoing theory that silent hill is about Parenting...about being affected by things that happened in ur formative years, and also about Bringing Your Own Things Into This World, and the two crossing over. anything thats responsible for the way you are, or that you see as the safe beforetimes that u must return to, could be your Mother...why not an apartment! what an outrageously cool video game!!
worth it for the high display of white-hot creativity alone, stuffed to the gills with loving details even by the standards of team silent...stimulating to think about, and often impressively abrasive to experience considering that this has by far the least demanding combat and puzzles in the series (at least for me). less of a display of raw skill and more of increasingly taxing mental tenacity, which gives the whole thing a texture that i think is p unique to this entry!
everything else is just the super awesome the cell/rob zombie halloween killer psychodrama, the outsider perspective of SH1 but on a much more complicated victim. during the actual play experience my reaction was mostly "wow cool!" but sitting with it afterwards it Does slowly get its teeth in u...the childish wording in young walter's messages scattered thruout the second half is really crushing, and stirs some very unpleasant Pastor's Kid feelings in me. despite being in many ways so separate from the original three games (and not even conceived as in the same series supposedly), the added text on religion makes the first four games as a unit feel retroactively way more complete. beyond generically Insane cult members, the main acknowledgement here is that the faith does actually provide for walters needs, in ways that are not by the world at large. it is a refuge as much as a place of pain, but its pain that happens in consistent terms, and is easier to embrace then the chaos of the corrupt outside world. cheryl was emotionally formed enough to accept the past and her pain without giving into the desire to see the entire world destroyed for hurting her, but for walter its easy to see the world's destruction as the only sustainable peace. theres something in that...the mechanical stress of the otherworlds broken up by the relief of going back to your room, hiding from the world.
the more i think ab it the more this is a rly dense and symmetrical text and i wont be able to write on it definitively today, but ill close by saying this is all a really fun wrinkle in my ongoing theory that silent hill is about Parenting...about being affected by things that happened in ur formative years, and also about Bringing Your Own Things Into This World, and the two crossing over. anything thats responsible for the way you are, or that you see as the safe beforetimes that u must return to, could be your Mother...why not an apartment! what an outrageously cool video game!!
Again like I said in FF7R, this game’s visuals, characters and music is absolutely amazing. HOWEVER, I was already a little off put by the changes in story and presentation, as well as some other more minor things, in the 2020 Remake and here they made even more changes. Also as I said before, if it were the entire original remade into one game it would've been given a higher score, but because of this structure I am merely rating this part.
Specifically kinda ruining the most tragic, impactful and iconic scene (my favorite scene) from the original, you know which one, this game is still amazing and adds things that build character development and more content. Although some of that content also just feels padded out for a longer runtime, it also gives more time for smaller interactions between the characters.
So I’m mostly satisfied but again do not prefer the changes made. I'd instead really recommend playing through the original to experience it the best way first. Also the ending was a bit disappointing personally.
8.5/10
Specifically kinda ruining the most tragic, impactful and iconic scene (my favorite scene) from the original, you know which one, this game is still amazing and adds things that build character development and more content. Although some of that content also just feels padded out for a longer runtime, it also gives more time for smaller interactions between the characters.
So I’m mostly satisfied but again do not prefer the changes made. I'd instead really recommend playing through the original to experience it the best way first. Also the ending was a bit disappointing personally.
8.5/10
The Suffering
2004
Playtime: 7 Hours
Score: 7/10
A fun and interesting horror action game! Never heard of this game until I watched GmanLives review of it on YouTube and it seemed right my alley! So what did think after playing it?
I liked the mood and atmosphere of the game with it being set on a prison island and all the inmates being turned into vicious monsters. I love the designs for them too being based on different kinds of prisoner executions. And of course you have the big monster that your main character turns into which can be fun when you want to smack enemies around or get out of a tough fight easily. I also enjoyed the ability to switch from first to third person with a push of a button, kind of like a Bethesda RPG and it was quite unique to have in a horror game.
While some of the horror is pretty decent, this is very much more of an action horror game, similar to something like Resident Evil 4. But I think the game balanced it all very well. The game also features a bit of a morality system which helps shape's the main character's past and whether he actually did the crime to get the time. While some choices are obvious, there are some optional ones that I feel help test your own morality as a player and I felt rewarded when I made those choices.
Only issue this game has is that the last two levels are absolutely awful and they can leave a bad taste in your mouth. The ending is alright, but the actual bosses are kind of lame, especially the second last one which is just terribly designed.
But still a fun horror game overall. Thankfully GOG did the work of restoring this game and its sequel, which I look forward to playing at some point.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Score: 7/10
A fun and interesting horror action game! Never heard of this game until I watched GmanLives review of it on YouTube and it seemed right my alley! So what did think after playing it?
I liked the mood and atmosphere of the game with it being set on a prison island and all the inmates being turned into vicious monsters. I love the designs for them too being based on different kinds of prisoner executions. And of course you have the big monster that your main character turns into which can be fun when you want to smack enemies around or get out of a tough fight easily. I also enjoyed the ability to switch from first to third person with a push of a button, kind of like a Bethesda RPG and it was quite unique to have in a horror game.
While some of the horror is pretty decent, this is very much more of an action horror game, similar to something like Resident Evil 4. But I think the game balanced it all very well. The game also features a bit of a morality system which helps shape's the main character's past and whether he actually did the crime to get the time. While some choices are obvious, there are some optional ones that I feel help test your own morality as a player and I felt rewarded when I made those choices.
Only issue this game has is that the last two levels are absolutely awful and they can leave a bad taste in your mouth. The ending is alright, but the actual bosses are kind of lame, especially the second last one which is just terribly designed.
But still a fun horror game overall. Thankfully GOG did the work of restoring this game and its sequel, which I look forward to playing at some point.
All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/
Half-Life
1998
The onely game that can think of rivaling halo in my opinion.
Nightmare Kart
2024
Unironically, this is one of the most fun games I've played in a long time. The amount of passion that was put into it to emulate "Bloodborne" into "Mario Kart" is incredible. Going through the campaign with all of the bosses was a very fun experience, and the vibe from the developer's other game, a demake of Bloodborne to feel like a PSX game, comes through even more in this game.
It's fantastic; I enjoyed every second of it. It would've been even better if they could have just plain made it "Bloodborne Kart," but, Sony things is a nimrod of a company and loves killing fan projects.
I believe my only "problem" with the game, which is more of a skill issue on my part, is that some of the maps are just very tight and hard to control, particularly on a keyboard. I haven't tried the game on a controller, so perhaps that would be different, as the game is very clearly built around using a controller.
It's fantastic; I enjoyed every second of it. It would've been even better if they could have just plain made it "Bloodborne Kart," but, Sony things is a nimrod of a company and loves killing fan projects.
I believe my only "problem" with the game, which is more of a skill issue on my part, is that some of the maps are just very tight and hard to control, particularly on a keyboard. I haven't tried the game on a controller, so perhaps that would be different, as the game is very clearly built around using a controller.
This is a review for the 2.1 version of the game.
Cyberpunk 2077 was arguably one of the most anticipated games of all time, and unfortunately, it launched in an unfinished state, making it a very disappointing release for many people.
Personally, I liked the game since launch, however, I always acknowledged its flaws.
One thing most people agreed on even when the game initially came out, is that its story is great, and that's true. Unfortunately, it's also pretty short in my opinion, but it's very intriguing nonetheless.
The characters are great too; Johnny in particular actually impressed me, and the side-characters are amazing as well.
The gameplay is a bit basic but very enjoyable nonetheless and it has adequate amount of depth, even if the A.I. can be dumb at times.
The world is fantastic; Night City is one of my favorites places in a videogame, period, and most of the side-quests are awesome, just like in The Witcher.
Also, the visuals are gorgeous and the music is incredible.
Unfortunately for the game though, even after the improvements of the 2.1 update, Cyberpunk 2077 is still not the game that was promised to be; it lacks meaningful dialogue options and side-activities, and the life-paths are still irrelevant.
Pros:
+ Compelling story
+ Lovable and engaging characters
+ Fun and varied gameplay
+ Night City is absolutely spectacular
+ Wonderful quest design
Cons:
- Short storyline
- Meaningful dialogue options
- Lack of side-activities
Narrative: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Content: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Music: 10/10
Graphics/Audio: 9/10
Final Rating: 9/10
- Amazing -
I can safely say that Cyberpunk 2077 finally feels finished; it plays like a proper modern Open World RPG with very interesting narrative and characters, highly enjoyable gameplay and an amazing world filled with meaningful content, however, it's still not the "next generation RPG" game that was promised to be.
Do I recommend it?:
Highly recommended for people who own PC/PS5/Xbox Series X/S.
At low price for PS4 and Xbox One owners.
Cyberpunk 2077 was arguably one of the most anticipated games of all time, and unfortunately, it launched in an unfinished state, making it a very disappointing release for many people.
Personally, I liked the game since launch, however, I always acknowledged its flaws.
One thing most people agreed on even when the game initially came out, is that its story is great, and that's true. Unfortunately, it's also pretty short in my opinion, but it's very intriguing nonetheless.
The characters are great too; Johnny in particular actually impressed me, and the side-characters are amazing as well.
The gameplay is a bit basic but very enjoyable nonetheless and it has adequate amount of depth, even if the A.I. can be dumb at times.
The world is fantastic; Night City is one of my favorites places in a videogame, period, and most of the side-quests are awesome, just like in The Witcher.
Also, the visuals are gorgeous and the music is incredible.
Unfortunately for the game though, even after the improvements of the 2.1 update, Cyberpunk 2077 is still not the game that was promised to be; it lacks meaningful dialogue options and side-activities, and the life-paths are still irrelevant.
Pros:
+ Compelling story
+ Lovable and engaging characters
+ Fun and varied gameplay
+ Night City is absolutely spectacular
+ Wonderful quest design
Cons:
- Short storyline
- Meaningful dialogue options
- Lack of side-activities
Narrative: 8/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Content: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Music: 10/10
Graphics/Audio: 9/10
Final Rating: 9/10
- Amazing -
I can safely say that Cyberpunk 2077 finally feels finished; it plays like a proper modern Open World RPG with very interesting narrative and characters, highly enjoyable gameplay and an amazing world filled with meaningful content, however, it's still not the "next generation RPG" game that was promised to be.
Do I recommend it?:
Highly recommended for people who own PC/PS5/Xbox Series X/S.
At low price for PS4 and Xbox One owners.
For as huge of a fan as I am of the Mario franchise, I feel like one major subsection of it has eluded me all these years, that being all of the RPGs. I didn't actually sit down and finish a Mario RPG until, kinda fittingly, Mario RPG's remake last year and I blame this in part on just how inaccessible Nintendo has often made these games on modern consoles (though they have been doing better recently). So, despite hearing several people go on and on about just how great Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door was I was kinda just resigned to never playing it and not getting the appeal. That being said, Nintendo being as unpredictable as ever worked a miracle for the fans who thought their voices would never be heard and remade the one game they had been asking for all these years. And because of this miracle remake I can now finally see why everyone praises this game up and down, at least for the most part.
I think the most standout part of Thousand Year Door to me was just how interesting and different it's world was from anything seen in any other Mario game. Instead of taking place in the Mushroom Kingdom like 90% of Mario games do, Thousand Year Door takes place on a completely separate continent complete with its own locations, inhabitants, atmosphere, and history. It's through this entirely different setting that the game really shines, introducing new races of creatures and putting spins on familiar ones to make characters that stand out and leading you to explore several different locations that are far more interesting than the familiar archetypes that other Mario games so often fall into. The game is just so commendably creative with its worldbuilding, and I was always excited to move on in the story and see what kind of new ideas it would throw at me next.
Thousand Year Door's story is another really strong part of the experience. Plot-wise it's pretty standard, Mario has to rescue Peach and collect 7 crystal stars while he's at it to unlock the titular Thousand Year Door and the treasure hidden behind it, but despite the plot being generic the journey to it is far from. Throughout the course of the story you'll find yourself in several fun and interesting scenarios like uncovering a conspiracy in a floating city while you try to become the world's greatest wrestler at the same time, or solving family drama within the Pianta mafia just to name a few. There's also several heartfelt character moments that come from the companion characters that join you along the way and how they develop. While not all of these characters were super compelling to me, the ones that were I found myself becoming really endeared to and I enjoyed having them present in my party just to see more of them. While most of the story centers around Mario's journey the game does pause from his story after ever chapter to let you see what's going on with two other characters being Peach and Bowser. While in any other Mario game Peach would just be kidnapped and we wouldn't see her until the end when Mario rescues her, Thousand Year Door takes a different approach to her character allowing us to see her circumstances while kidnapped by the villainous group of the game, the X-Nauts. While being held hostage by the group Peach comes into contact with the supercomputer TEC who asks her to teach him about the concept of love seeing as he knows nothing about it, these sections are short and sweet and often involve Peach doing some menial task for TEC but they all build to a climactic conclusion by the end of the game that actually really impressed me in terms of the feelings it stirred in me. Then there's the Bowser sections which were just really fun and enjoyable in their own right. Bowser's presence in the game's story is minimal and yet that's what makes it so great. Seeing as he is for once not the one behind Peach's kidnapping and not the one to set Mario on his grand quest Bowser is playing catch up the entire game, seemingly always one step behind the events of the story and hilariously clueless to the serious events that are unfolding. It's in this state that he kind of works really well as a comic relief, never really being a super big threat but trying so hard to be one in a place where he's just out of his depth. All three of the game's stories start coming together by the end of the game and without spoiling anything, the finale is a really interesting and climactic ending to the whole expereience. Through the game's engaging characters, sharp writing, and fun and outlandish ideas Paper Mario The Thosaund Year Door tells a great story that I will not soon forget.
Finally we get to the gameplay which is where the few gripes I have with the game lie. The strongest part of the gameplay I'd say would be the actual battle system, it's very well crafted and uses all the tropes of a traditional turn based system well and in unique ways to make battles just really fun to engage in. The action commands connected to the attacks are a great way to keep the player engaged while in the midst of turn based combat and while I never fully got the hang of the Guard and Superguards they're fun to go for as well and pulling one off with the right timing feels very satisfying. My only problem with this system is just how much is left up to pure RNG sometimes. There were several times during tense fights that the game decided to just do something to screw me over like having a shy guy get up and drop a light on my party causing damafe or having the stage lights fall and burn or freeze my party out of nowhere, while this also happens inversely to enemy parties as well it's just an element that doesn't feel completely fair at times and can really screw you over if you're not expecting it, which by merit of it being random you never will be. Outside of the battles you explore the overworld and this is the part of the gameplay I had the most problems with. While running around back and forth on an overworld is something common to all RPGs there are several things that make it feel just kinda boring in Thousand Year. For one Mario moves at what feels like a snails pace, having no run button and only moving across the screen at a light trot traversing screens in this game is just not that fun. There are however, light puzzles spread around the world and things that can only be accessed with Mario's abilities and these do a bit to make this whole process a little more interesting. The dungeons in the game are also really fun, placing you in different environments with lots of puzzles to solve and unique enemies to fight all of which is capped off with a pretty fun boss fight to get the crystal star of that location. And then there's the backtracking which is easily my biggest problem with the game. After you obtain a crytal star at the end of each chapter you have to go back to the Rougeport underground and traverse all the way back to the Thousand Year Door for it to be revealead where to got for the next crystal star. While not absolutely abhorrent, the trek back to the door every time to start a new chapter just feels a bit like padding to me and I can't help but wonder if there was no better way to do this. Overall though I did have a lot of fun with the game's battles and dungeons and while the slightly boring to traverse overworld and unnecessary backtracking drag it down a little bit they weren't enough to ruin the whole gameplay experience.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is an endearing classic of a game and one that absolutely deserved the remake treatment it got after being ignored for so long. Having finally played the game I can deffinitly see why people hold this game in such high regard. While my issues with a few of it's aspects hold it back from masterpiece status in my eyes, I'm really happy for those who got to enjoy it for those who do love this game and I sincerely hope Nintendo will take a page out of this game's book for whatever they do next with the Paper Mario series.
I think the most standout part of Thousand Year Door to me was just how interesting and different it's world was from anything seen in any other Mario game. Instead of taking place in the Mushroom Kingdom like 90% of Mario games do, Thousand Year Door takes place on a completely separate continent complete with its own locations, inhabitants, atmosphere, and history. It's through this entirely different setting that the game really shines, introducing new races of creatures and putting spins on familiar ones to make characters that stand out and leading you to explore several different locations that are far more interesting than the familiar archetypes that other Mario games so often fall into. The game is just so commendably creative with its worldbuilding, and I was always excited to move on in the story and see what kind of new ideas it would throw at me next.
Thousand Year Door's story is another really strong part of the experience. Plot-wise it's pretty standard, Mario has to rescue Peach and collect 7 crystal stars while he's at it to unlock the titular Thousand Year Door and the treasure hidden behind it, but despite the plot being generic the journey to it is far from. Throughout the course of the story you'll find yourself in several fun and interesting scenarios like uncovering a conspiracy in a floating city while you try to become the world's greatest wrestler at the same time, or solving family drama within the Pianta mafia just to name a few. There's also several heartfelt character moments that come from the companion characters that join you along the way and how they develop. While not all of these characters were super compelling to me, the ones that were I found myself becoming really endeared to and I enjoyed having them present in my party just to see more of them. While most of the story centers around Mario's journey the game does pause from his story after ever chapter to let you see what's going on with two other characters being Peach and Bowser. While in any other Mario game Peach would just be kidnapped and we wouldn't see her until the end when Mario rescues her, Thousand Year Door takes a different approach to her character allowing us to see her circumstances while kidnapped by the villainous group of the game, the X-Nauts. While being held hostage by the group Peach comes into contact with the supercomputer TEC who asks her to teach him about the concept of love seeing as he knows nothing about it, these sections are short and sweet and often involve Peach doing some menial task for TEC but they all build to a climactic conclusion by the end of the game that actually really impressed me in terms of the feelings it stirred in me. Then there's the Bowser sections which were just really fun and enjoyable in their own right. Bowser's presence in the game's story is minimal and yet that's what makes it so great. Seeing as he is for once not the one behind Peach's kidnapping and not the one to set Mario on his grand quest Bowser is playing catch up the entire game, seemingly always one step behind the events of the story and hilariously clueless to the serious events that are unfolding. It's in this state that he kind of works really well as a comic relief, never really being a super big threat but trying so hard to be one in a place where he's just out of his depth. All three of the game's stories start coming together by the end of the game and without spoiling anything, the finale is a really interesting and climactic ending to the whole expereience. Through the game's engaging characters, sharp writing, and fun and outlandish ideas Paper Mario The Thosaund Year Door tells a great story that I will not soon forget.
Finally we get to the gameplay which is where the few gripes I have with the game lie. The strongest part of the gameplay I'd say would be the actual battle system, it's very well crafted and uses all the tropes of a traditional turn based system well and in unique ways to make battles just really fun to engage in. The action commands connected to the attacks are a great way to keep the player engaged while in the midst of turn based combat and while I never fully got the hang of the Guard and Superguards they're fun to go for as well and pulling one off with the right timing feels very satisfying. My only problem with this system is just how much is left up to pure RNG sometimes. There were several times during tense fights that the game decided to just do something to screw me over like having a shy guy get up and drop a light on my party causing damafe or having the stage lights fall and burn or freeze my party out of nowhere, while this also happens inversely to enemy parties as well it's just an element that doesn't feel completely fair at times and can really screw you over if you're not expecting it, which by merit of it being random you never will be. Outside of the battles you explore the overworld and this is the part of the gameplay I had the most problems with. While running around back and forth on an overworld is something common to all RPGs there are several things that make it feel just kinda boring in Thousand Year. For one Mario moves at what feels like a snails pace, having no run button and only moving across the screen at a light trot traversing screens in this game is just not that fun. There are however, light puzzles spread around the world and things that can only be accessed with Mario's abilities and these do a bit to make this whole process a little more interesting. The dungeons in the game are also really fun, placing you in different environments with lots of puzzles to solve and unique enemies to fight all of which is capped off with a pretty fun boss fight to get the crystal star of that location. And then there's the backtracking which is easily my biggest problem with the game. After you obtain a crytal star at the end of each chapter you have to go back to the Rougeport underground and traverse all the way back to the Thousand Year Door for it to be revealead where to got for the next crystal star. While not absolutely abhorrent, the trek back to the door every time to start a new chapter just feels a bit like padding to me and I can't help but wonder if there was no better way to do this. Overall though I did have a lot of fun with the game's battles and dungeons and while the slightly boring to traverse overworld and unnecessary backtracking drag it down a little bit they weren't enough to ruin the whole gameplay experience.
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is an endearing classic of a game and one that absolutely deserved the remake treatment it got after being ignored for so long. Having finally played the game I can deffinitly see why people hold this game in such high regard. While my issues with a few of it's aspects hold it back from masterpiece status in my eyes, I'm really happy for those who got to enjoy it for those who do love this game and I sincerely hope Nintendo will take a page out of this game's book for whatever they do next with the Paper Mario series.
Silent Hill 3
2003
ludic poetry tbh...every room a precisely chosen word in a line, every dungeon a verse, full of rhymes and rhythm and melodious surprises. the line between downtime and climax feels far less pronounced then in the first two installments, instead channeling a near-endless flow state thats not so much barrelling as it is Sickly and Congesting. very unpleasant and deeply compulsive to play, and absolutely the most i have ever felt Involved with one of these games moment to moment (and easily the scariest time, if that wasnt clear!). i struggle with whether to give this the edge over 2, but theyre clearly in the same ballpark...for all ive said 2 is i think still on the whole the more Unpleasent experience simply because perhaps no other games story has so effortlessly channeled Here's A Bunch Of Things That Would Suck If They Happened To You, with both a gentle human hand and fist of divine pseudo-justice. if anything, 3 makes me feel more at home, its terror lovingly vindicating. the campaign is half Having A Bad Time Walking Home and half You Can Never Go Home Again...every moment of destabilization feels like a cathartic acknowledgement of the sinister underbelly to things that people by and large Pretend Are Okay, with notes specific to my life in ways that r obvious if u know me. cheryl is on edge and looking over her shoulder and has been for years before being plunged into the events of a silent hill game...running on messy strength pulled from the experience of living in a world hostile to her Body and Self (at least insofar as she is in control of both). just rly wonderful stuff...almost good enough to take my mind off recent silent hill news!!!
Flappy Bird
2013
I have no idea why this game would garner the attention it did back then. It is likely because the stupid content creators reacting to playing it.
The gameplay itself is not implemented well at all. The control is painstakingly janky and you knew you only played it because everyone else at school was. It is also extremely repetitive and looked like something that could only appear in a tech demo. This feels like a what a college kid makes in his free time and try to pass it along as project experience on his resume. Trust me, I know.
The game blew up for no reason and almost immediately began spiraling down like a stalling F104 Starfighter. It wasn't made with malicious intentions but ended up too big for no reason because of undeserved clout.
The gameplay itself is not implemented well at all. The control is painstakingly janky and you knew you only played it because everyone else at school was. It is also extremely repetitive and looked like something that could only appear in a tech demo. This feels like a what a college kid makes in his free time and try to pass it along as project experience on his resume. Trust me, I know.
The game blew up for no reason and almost immediately began spiraling down like a stalling F104 Starfighter. It wasn't made with malicious intentions but ended up too big for no reason because of undeserved clout.
Firewatch
2016
still one of my favorite walking sims. lots of mystery, paranoia, impeccable vibes, atmosphere, and intriguing characters.
i always considered firewatch to be commentary on how expectations can make us feel so empty. sometimes the smaller things are the things that shatter us.
see you around, D
i always considered firewatch to be commentary on how expectations can make us feel so empty. sometimes the smaller things are the things that shatter us.
see you around, D