blackcat
2020
This is Mimimi's best game, and one of the best stealth games ever. I was absolutely glued to this game and I hardly noticed that I spent 52 hours on it (including the DLC).
The challenges you face can seem overwhelming at first, but as you find ways to take enemies out of the equation, they become much more manageable. Figuring out how to overcome a seemingly impossible situation was immensely rewarding. Each character has unique abilities that are enormously fun to combine with the abilities of other characters, creating near endless ways to solve any problem.
The story was enjoyable, mostly because the characters were so entertaining. I got plenty of laughs from the character banter, as well as hilarious dialogue from NPCs and some funny situations the gang gets into.
I also must praise the excellent soundtrack.
If you like stealth do yourself a favour and play this game.
The challenges you face can seem overwhelming at first, but as you find ways to take enemies out of the equation, they become much more manageable. Figuring out how to overcome a seemingly impossible situation was immensely rewarding. Each character has unique abilities that are enormously fun to combine with the abilities of other characters, creating near endless ways to solve any problem.
The story was enjoyable, mostly because the characters were so entertaining. I got plenty of laughs from the character banter, as well as hilarious dialogue from NPCs and some funny situations the gang gets into.
I also must praise the excellent soundtrack.
If you like stealth do yourself a favour and play this game.
This is still my favourite 3D platformer.
Only the graphics give away this game's age. The art direction, animation, and soundtrack all still feel amazingly fresh. Jak's moveset is larger than most platformer characters, with several moves that can be chained together, and mastering them creates much more efficient movement.
Though it does follow the typical collectathon formula for 3D platformers, every level is a blast to explore and full of delicious atmosphere, thanks to the superb use of colour and lighting, the excellent soundtrack, and how damn satisfying it is to collect precursor orbs and power cells.
Though Jak 2 and 3 have a place in my heart, their ambition led to them being very uneven experiences. This game follows the classic 3D platformer formula that has arguably been done to death at this point, but it's so masterfully executed that it doesn't feel derivative. It has definitely aged the best out of the Jak trilogy.
Only the graphics give away this game's age. The art direction, animation, and soundtrack all still feel amazingly fresh. Jak's moveset is larger than most platformer characters, with several moves that can be chained together, and mastering them creates much more efficient movement.
Though it does follow the typical collectathon formula for 3D platformers, every level is a blast to explore and full of delicious atmosphere, thanks to the superb use of colour and lighting, the excellent soundtrack, and how damn satisfying it is to collect precursor orbs and power cells.
Though Jak 2 and 3 have a place in my heart, their ambition led to them being very uneven experiences. This game follows the classic 3D platformer formula that has arguably been done to death at this point, but it's so masterfully executed that it doesn't feel derivative. It has definitely aged the best out of the Jak trilogy.
An almost perfect sequel that fixes every problem I had with the first game.
Strafing was a master stroke addition to the series, but more importantly than anything else, Ratchet is now fast and responsive and only moves when you're actively giving inputs, fixing every problem the first game had with platforming and combat. The health upgrades, weapon upgrades, and armour are also welcome additions. On top of all of that, the game has a banger soundtrack.
I don't have much to say about the gameplay besides that it's still tons of fun and I love revisiting this game every couple years.
My only criticism is that in trying to be bigger and outdo its predecessor, like many other platformers of the time, it's a tad bloated and not all of the new features are good. The arena was good enough to become a mainstay of the series, but other additions like the vehicle races and Giant Clank battles range between okay and annoying. Ship battles are a good idea, but feel a bit awkward to control in this game, and were improved in later entries. The collectathon exploration levels are another idea with a lot of potential, but needed fleshing out more. The desert environments these levels take place in are very dull and become monotonous fast. The PS3 Ratchet games executed the idea much better.
There are also a few too many weapons. Some of them aren't very useful and it's better to save your bolts, but new players won't know ahead of time which ones to skip.
But taking all of this into account, I think this game did a better job of growing and evolving the series than its contemporaries such as Jak and Sly did. Although those series introduced some very unique and interesting ideas too, the new mechanics added in this game were a lot less awkward and clunky than some of the new mechanics in those games, making this one much more replayable for me.
Going Commando is my second favourite in the series after Deadlocked and these two are by far my most replayed games in the series.
Strafing was a master stroke addition to the series, but more importantly than anything else, Ratchet is now fast and responsive and only moves when you're actively giving inputs, fixing every problem the first game had with platforming and combat. The health upgrades, weapon upgrades, and armour are also welcome additions. On top of all of that, the game has a banger soundtrack.
I don't have much to say about the gameplay besides that it's still tons of fun and I love revisiting this game every couple years.
My only criticism is that in trying to be bigger and outdo its predecessor, like many other platformers of the time, it's a tad bloated and not all of the new features are good. The arena was good enough to become a mainstay of the series, but other additions like the vehicle races and Giant Clank battles range between okay and annoying. Ship battles are a good idea, but feel a bit awkward to control in this game, and were improved in later entries. The collectathon exploration levels are another idea with a lot of potential, but needed fleshing out more. The desert environments these levels take place in are very dull and become monotonous fast. The PS3 Ratchet games executed the idea much better.
There are also a few too many weapons. Some of them aren't very useful and it's better to save your bolts, but new players won't know ahead of time which ones to skip.
But taking all of this into account, I think this game did a better job of growing and evolving the series than its contemporaries such as Jak and Sly did. Although those series introduced some very unique and interesting ideas too, the new mechanics added in this game were a lot less awkward and clunky than some of the new mechanics in those games, making this one much more replayable for me.
Going Commando is my second favourite in the series after Deadlocked and these two are by far my most replayed games in the series.
2013
It's a fun quick game to blast through in a couple of sittings, but I've always found the direction rather confused. It feels like it can't decide if it wants to be Uncharted or a survival horror game and if it wants to be open world or not open world, so it ends up being an awkward mix of all of those things. The game also seems obsessed with portraying a darker, more violent take on Lara to the point where the gameplay consists almost entirely of brutally killing evil cult men and tomb raiding is pushed to the side. The tomb exploration is limited to completely optional caves off the beaten path that take about five minutes each to complete.
While I haven't played any of the earlier games in the series, they appear to be more about exploration and platforming and I never got the impression that violence was the point. I would have enjoyed more focus on exploration in this game, but at least the sequel expanded on it. I enjoyed this game as a cinematic third person shooter, but it always struck me as an odd direction for a reboot.
While I haven't played any of the earlier games in the series, they appear to be more about exploration and platforming and I never got the impression that violence was the point. I would have enjoyed more focus on exploration in this game, but at least the sequel expanded on it. I enjoyed this game as a cinematic third person shooter, but it always struck me as an odd direction for a reboot.
2005
My favourite Ratchet game and one of my favourite games ever. This game will always be a blast and the soundtrack goes incredibly hard.
It really deserved better, but at least public opinion has flipped somewhat in recent years. Definitely don't miss this one if you're playing through the series.
It really deserved better, but at least public opinion has flipped somewhat in recent years. Definitely don't miss this one if you're playing through the series.
2004
I'll admit I expected this game to be overhyped, but I was pleasantly surprised. The gunplay and physics still feel fresh and the gravity gun provides endless entertainment. The only negatives for me were that the vehicle sections were too long, and in some levels it wasn't clear where to go next and I wandered in circles for a while. But ultimately I had a lot of fun and the game absolutely stands the test of time.
2007
The first Assassin's Creed is full of great ideas but doesn't excel at anything.
The main issue is that the idea of being an assassin that it presents is a lot cooler than the gameplay really allows. Collecting intel sounds fun but the investigations are exactly the same every time. Playing the Director's Cut makes the investigations slightly less monotonous as it adds a few more mission types, but it still doesn't really solve the problem. Probably all the game really needed to do was change up the story a bit for some of the investigations and maybe add some unique ones. AC2 and its sequels involve largely the same types of missions, but those games do a better job of dressing them up with different scenarios to disguise the repetition. AC1 doesn't go as hard on the presentation, which makes the repetition of very basic tasks like pickpocketing and eavesdropping plainly obvious.
The combat isn't terrible, but you fight so many soldier mobs that it gets really old. The entire end section of the game is just a linear corridor of nothing but fighting. The game also does a bad job of explaining some fighting mechanics such as using the hidden blade in combat - a powerful but high risk strategy.
The parkour system is actually one of the best in the series but sadly it'll forever go down in public opinion as clunky and misbehaving, because the game does an absolutely abysmal job of explaining how to use it. This is a recurring theme throughout the series.
The most interesting ideas are in the stealth system. Some of AC1's missions are quite open ended, others less so. You can use intel including maps to plan your approach, and you can help citizens in trouble to unlock groups of scholars to blend with and vigilantes to disrupt pursuing soldiers. It's clear that AC1 wants to be a stealth game, but its unique and ambitious ideas of acting inconspicuously and blending with the crowd don't match up to what we actually get in the game. While the game emphasizes using low profile actions, in practice most stealth missions turn into holding the blend button at all times or guards begin detecting you immediately. And when you're in a restricted area, you have to resort to simply staying out of sight when the game has very limited mechanics for this. This is a problem that persisted through the series until AC3 began to expand on non-social stealth mechanics for these situations. It wants to be Hitman but the stealth mechanics are too shallow.
AC1's strength is its atmosphere and intrigue. The intertwining of the historical world and the modern world via simulating memories gives the world a very unique dreamlike quality that I have only found in this game and the Ezio trilogy. Altair's story is also one of the better ones in this series.
Though I have developed an appreciation for this game, I don't think the non-gameplay aspects will be enough for most players to overlook the repetitive and often janky gameplay. I think AC1 is worth playing for fans interested in exploring the history of the series, or if you want to start at the beginning and play the entire series in order. There is a lot of potential in this game with its unique social stealth ideas combined with the possibilities created by the parkour system, but neither this game nor any game in the series has fully capitalized on it.
The main issue is that the idea of being an assassin that it presents is a lot cooler than the gameplay really allows. Collecting intel sounds fun but the investigations are exactly the same every time. Playing the Director's Cut makes the investigations slightly less monotonous as it adds a few more mission types, but it still doesn't really solve the problem. Probably all the game really needed to do was change up the story a bit for some of the investigations and maybe add some unique ones. AC2 and its sequels involve largely the same types of missions, but those games do a better job of dressing them up with different scenarios to disguise the repetition. AC1 doesn't go as hard on the presentation, which makes the repetition of very basic tasks like pickpocketing and eavesdropping plainly obvious.
The combat isn't terrible, but you fight so many soldier mobs that it gets really old. The entire end section of the game is just a linear corridor of nothing but fighting. The game also does a bad job of explaining some fighting mechanics such as using the hidden blade in combat - a powerful but high risk strategy.
The parkour system is actually one of the best in the series but sadly it'll forever go down in public opinion as clunky and misbehaving, because the game does an absolutely abysmal job of explaining how to use it. This is a recurring theme throughout the series.
The most interesting ideas are in the stealth system. Some of AC1's missions are quite open ended, others less so. You can use intel including maps to plan your approach, and you can help citizens in trouble to unlock groups of scholars to blend with and vigilantes to disrupt pursuing soldiers. It's clear that AC1 wants to be a stealth game, but its unique and ambitious ideas of acting inconspicuously and blending with the crowd don't match up to what we actually get in the game. While the game emphasizes using low profile actions, in practice most stealth missions turn into holding the blend button at all times or guards begin detecting you immediately. And when you're in a restricted area, you have to resort to simply staying out of sight when the game has very limited mechanics for this. This is a problem that persisted through the series until AC3 began to expand on non-social stealth mechanics for these situations. It wants to be Hitman but the stealth mechanics are too shallow.
AC1's strength is its atmosphere and intrigue. The intertwining of the historical world and the modern world via simulating memories gives the world a very unique dreamlike quality that I have only found in this game and the Ezio trilogy. Altair's story is also one of the better ones in this series.
Though I have developed an appreciation for this game, I don't think the non-gameplay aspects will be enough for most players to overlook the repetitive and often janky gameplay. I think AC1 is worth playing for fans interested in exploring the history of the series, or if you want to start at the beginning and play the entire series in order. There is a lot of potential in this game with its unique social stealth ideas combined with the possibilities created by the parkour system, but neither this game nor any game in the series has fully capitalized on it.
2021
Death's Door is a beautiful game and when I saw that you get to play as a cute crow I had to play it. Lots of things are done well but unfortunately it stumbles on the combat.
The bosses were generally good, but fighting regular enemies left a lot to be desired. I found the dodge roll to be floaty and enemy attacks seemed to hit me even when I thought I was clear. However I could have easily forgiven these issues if combat didn't take up so much time in this game. Normal enemies take too many hits to go down, and the gauntlet sections that lock you in a room until you defeat all the enemies are way too long. There's not much to the combat besides attacking and rolling, and with the number of hits it takes to kill enemies, these sections are incredibly tedious, and there are far too many of them.
Death's Door has very sparse checkpoints, so dying can set you back quite far. When you're always dying in the excessively long enemy gauntlets, running back becomes extremely tiresome. Your movement speed is not very fast and the levels are very large, so returning to where you died is quite slow.
This game also really needed a map. There are some secret paths you can return to, sometimes requiring abilities you get later in the story. But without a map, I had no idea where to go, so I never bothered revisiting any previous areas.
I really tried to love Death's Door, but eventually I found it too tedious to continue.
The bosses were generally good, but fighting regular enemies left a lot to be desired. I found the dodge roll to be floaty and enemy attacks seemed to hit me even when I thought I was clear. However I could have easily forgiven these issues if combat didn't take up so much time in this game. Normal enemies take too many hits to go down, and the gauntlet sections that lock you in a room until you defeat all the enemies are way too long. There's not much to the combat besides attacking and rolling, and with the number of hits it takes to kill enemies, these sections are incredibly tedious, and there are far too many of them.
Death's Door has very sparse checkpoints, so dying can set you back quite far. When you're always dying in the excessively long enemy gauntlets, running back becomes extremely tiresome. Your movement speed is not very fast and the levels are very large, so returning to where you died is quite slow.
This game also really needed a map. There are some secret paths you can return to, sometimes requiring abilities you get later in the story. But without a map, I had no idea where to go, so I never bothered revisiting any previous areas.
I really tried to love Death's Door, but eventually I found it too tedious to continue.
It makes me sad that this is Sly's swan song after Sly 3 ended so perfectly. The story and characters in Thieves in Time are silly and childish. The characters feel like bad parodies of themselves, and I can't take any of the villains seriously. The Cooper ancestors don't really add anything to the story.
I could possibly forgive this game a little if it was at least as fun as the original trilogy, but everything has been copied in a way that's just slightly off. The characters feel weirdly heavy to move around and the double jump isn't as snappy. The game still consists of a series of missions in a small map that lead to the big heist, but these missions are painfully linear and handholdy, and the costumes mechanic is horribly slow and clunky to use. The Cooper ancestors are all just Sly with one extra ability that doesn't make any meaningful difference to gameplay and only has a use where it's required to progress in missions. On top of all of this, the load times are extremely long and the framerate is inconsistent, making the game feel a lot less smooth than the trilogy.
I really tried to enjoy this game for what it was and form an opinion separate from the popular fan consensus, but even ignoring the bad story, it was rarely fun. There were some good missions but they were few and far between. It seems the new dev team didn't quite get what made Sly good.
I could possibly forgive this game a little if it was at least as fun as the original trilogy, but everything has been copied in a way that's just slightly off. The characters feel weirdly heavy to move around and the double jump isn't as snappy. The game still consists of a series of missions in a small map that lead to the big heist, but these missions are painfully linear and handholdy, and the costumes mechanic is horribly slow and clunky to use. The Cooper ancestors are all just Sly with one extra ability that doesn't make any meaningful difference to gameplay and only has a use where it's required to progress in missions. On top of all of this, the load times are extremely long and the framerate is inconsistent, making the game feel a lot less smooth than the trilogy.
I really tried to enjoy this game for what it was and form an opinion separate from the popular fan consensus, but even ignoring the bad story, it was rarely fun. There were some good missions but they were few and far between. It seems the new dev team didn't quite get what made Sly good.
A solid stealth game for the time, but it's rough to play these days.
The atmosphere and lighting hold up better than everything else. This game still looks great for its age thanks to superb lighting.
The light and darkness mechanics are excellent to this day and I wish more stealth games copied them, but sometimes it can be a little finicky as you're often not hidden unless you're in total darkness. Enemy AI is extremely jumpy and often just moving a tiny fraction too fast, or not being in a perfect shadow, will result in an immediate alert. There is no moment of leeway between being seen by an enemy and the alarm being triggered, and enemies can go from unaware to whipping around and blasting your ass instantly.
The alarm system works really weirdly in this game, which is an absolute headache if you don't know about it before you start playing. You have to hide bodies perfectly or reaching checkpoints will trigger the alarm, even if realistically nobody would see the bodies. And three alarms will fail the mission.
The shooting in this game made me want to tear my hair out. It's horribly inaccurate on purpose. You can line up a perfect shot at a light and still miss and alert all the enemies nearby. I get that the game wants to discourage shooting your way through the levels, but it ends up completely blowing stealth and it's not the player's fault. Every time this happened I had zero shame reloading saves until trying to simply eliminate a light source didn't get me screwed by bullets exiting my gun sideways.
It seems that Ubisoft wasn't entirely confident in the stealth gameplay as the game includes some forced action and shootout sequences, which are definitely the worst part because the shooting mechanics are intentionally designed to make shooting difficult. The game shoots itself in the foot there.
This game was a promising start to the series, but its flaws are very noticeable, especially so many years later. Frankly without quick saves this game would suck because of the twitchy AI and unpredictable bullet trajectory. If you're really interested in the history of stealth games and you want to play through all of them, this game is worth a look. But if you're not a huge fan of the Splinter Cell series or playing through every stealth game out there, I suggest skipping to Chaos Theory.
The atmosphere and lighting hold up better than everything else. This game still looks great for its age thanks to superb lighting.
The light and darkness mechanics are excellent to this day and I wish more stealth games copied them, but sometimes it can be a little finicky as you're often not hidden unless you're in total darkness. Enemy AI is extremely jumpy and often just moving a tiny fraction too fast, or not being in a perfect shadow, will result in an immediate alert. There is no moment of leeway between being seen by an enemy and the alarm being triggered, and enemies can go from unaware to whipping around and blasting your ass instantly.
The alarm system works really weirdly in this game, which is an absolute headache if you don't know about it before you start playing. You have to hide bodies perfectly or reaching checkpoints will trigger the alarm, even if realistically nobody would see the bodies. And three alarms will fail the mission.
The shooting in this game made me want to tear my hair out. It's horribly inaccurate on purpose. You can line up a perfect shot at a light and still miss and alert all the enemies nearby. I get that the game wants to discourage shooting your way through the levels, but it ends up completely blowing stealth and it's not the player's fault. Every time this happened I had zero shame reloading saves until trying to simply eliminate a light source didn't get me screwed by bullets exiting my gun sideways.
It seems that Ubisoft wasn't entirely confident in the stealth gameplay as the game includes some forced action and shootout sequences, which are definitely the worst part because the shooting mechanics are intentionally designed to make shooting difficult. The game shoots itself in the foot there.
This game was a promising start to the series, but its flaws are very noticeable, especially so many years later. Frankly without quick saves this game would suck because of the twitchy AI and unpredictable bullet trajectory. If you're really interested in the history of stealth games and you want to play through all of them, this game is worth a look. But if you're not a huge fan of the Splinter Cell series or playing through every stealth game out there, I suggest skipping to Chaos Theory.
The edginess comes across as a little immature and it makes the game feel more dated than its predecessor, but I could live with it and this wasn't why I abandoned Warrior Within.
The platforming is still as great as it was in The Sands of Time and the improved combat is a welcome addition. But it seems the addition of the new combat system meant that Ubisoft wanted to cram as much of it into the game as possible.
My favorite parts of The Sands of Time were the platforming puzzles. The Sands of Time definitely also suffered from an overabundance of battles, but at least you typically got them out of the way before a long platforming section. Warrior Within frequently throws another wave of enemies at you each time you reach a new platform during a platforming section. The new combat system is fun to play around with, but constantly having platforming interrupted by enemies gets incredibly tedious, especially when taking damage can be very punishing. I would be able to overlook this if the game didn't have such sparse checkpoints. But as it is, I got really tired of fighting the same enemies over and over and never getting a break from combat.
Eventually I'd had enough when I finally overcame a difficult section after many attempts, only for a bug to force me to restart the area. That was the end of Warrior Within for me.
The platforming is still as great as it was in The Sands of Time and the improved combat is a welcome addition. But it seems the addition of the new combat system meant that Ubisoft wanted to cram as much of it into the game as possible.
My favorite parts of The Sands of Time were the platforming puzzles. The Sands of Time definitely also suffered from an overabundance of battles, but at least you typically got them out of the way before a long platforming section. Warrior Within frequently throws another wave of enemies at you each time you reach a new platform during a platforming section. The new combat system is fun to play around with, but constantly having platforming interrupted by enemies gets incredibly tedious, especially when taking damage can be very punishing. I would be able to overlook this if the game didn't have such sparse checkpoints. But as it is, I got really tired of fighting the same enemies over and over and never getting a break from combat.
Eventually I'd had enough when I finally overcame a difficult section after many attempts, only for a bug to force me to restart the area. That was the end of Warrior Within for me.
2011
Outland is nothing special but I enjoyed it. It's short enough to not overstay its welcome.
The metroidvania label isn't really accurate and I think it gives players the wrong expectations. Outland is a largely linear platformer that allows you to revisit previous areas and collect things you missed, which sometimes require abilities you get later.
The game is entirely carried by its beautiful art style and the colour changing mechanic, which looks simple but adds plenty of challenge to the platforming sections. This makes Outland a bit different from the dozens of platformers out there.
Combat is serviceable but unremarkable. Some sections of the game consist of not much besides enemies lined up one after another, which starts to feel repetitive as there's not much to the combat besides switching colours according to the colour of the enemy. The bosses, however, are the game's highlights. All of them are unique and incorporate platforming and bullet hell mechanics to make them very challenging, but incredibly satisfying to overcome.
The metroidvania label isn't really accurate and I think it gives players the wrong expectations. Outland is a largely linear platformer that allows you to revisit previous areas and collect things you missed, which sometimes require abilities you get later.
The game is entirely carried by its beautiful art style and the colour changing mechanic, which looks simple but adds plenty of challenge to the platforming sections. This makes Outland a bit different from the dozens of platformers out there.
Combat is serviceable but unremarkable. Some sections of the game consist of not much besides enemies lined up one after another, which starts to feel repetitive as there's not much to the combat besides switching colours according to the colour of the enemy. The bosses, however, are the game's highlights. All of them are unique and incorporate platforming and bullet hell mechanics to make them very challenging, but incredibly satisfying to overcome.
2002
A decent start to a beloved series, but sadly I can't agree that it's one of the best entries.
This game still looks great for a PS2 game and the music is fantastic. The levels are fun to explore and the characters you run into are funny and memorable. The large roster of wacky weapons sets this game apart from the many other platformers of the time.
The problem is that Ratchet controls like ass. He's slow to react to inputs, and he still keeps moving for a bit after stopping inputs, which caused me many extremely frustrating deaths. Controls absolutely make or break platformers, along with the camera, which also caused issues at times in this game.
I may have been able to forgive these issues if the game didn't have such punishing checkpoints. Later in the game, deaths lose a significant chunk of progress, and many of my deaths were caused by the janky controls, or poor enemy placement. In later levels, there are many enemies placed well out of range of most of Ratchet's weapons, and can only be defeated by sniping them with a tiny handful of specific weapons, which usually have very limited and/or costly ammo. And you have to dodge their projectiles with Ratchet's bad controls at the same time.
Generally, the parts of the game that focus on pure platforming without any gimmicks or enemies are quite good, and the issues are less frustrating earlier in the game when getting hit and dying aren't so costly. But the issues were so frustrating that I have never felt like replaying this game, while I have replayed others in the series multiple times. Almost all of these issues were immediately fixed in the sequel.
This game still looks great for a PS2 game and the music is fantastic. The levels are fun to explore and the characters you run into are funny and memorable. The large roster of wacky weapons sets this game apart from the many other platformers of the time.
The problem is that Ratchet controls like ass. He's slow to react to inputs, and he still keeps moving for a bit after stopping inputs, which caused me many extremely frustrating deaths. Controls absolutely make or break platformers, along with the camera, which also caused issues at times in this game.
I may have been able to forgive these issues if the game didn't have such punishing checkpoints. Later in the game, deaths lose a significant chunk of progress, and many of my deaths were caused by the janky controls, or poor enemy placement. In later levels, there are many enemies placed well out of range of most of Ratchet's weapons, and can only be defeated by sniping them with a tiny handful of specific weapons, which usually have very limited and/or costly ammo. And you have to dodge their projectiles with Ratchet's bad controls at the same time.
Generally, the parts of the game that focus on pure platforming without any gimmicks or enemies are quite good, and the issues are less frustrating earlier in the game when getting hit and dying aren't so costly. But the issues were so frustrating that I have never felt like replaying this game, while I have replayed others in the series multiple times. Almost all of these issues were immediately fixed in the sequel.
This game is a strange relic.
Its atmosphere is potent and as a sucker for anything based on Alice in Wonderland I was immediately pulled into this dark, twisted version of Wonderland. The art style and music are still great to this day.
The weakest part of this game is playing it.
It's billed as a platformer but it's closer to a third person shooter. The platforming is stiff and janky and feels nothing like the good platformers of the era. The game is mostly about fighting all sorts of bizarre creatures with a large arsenal of weapons. Their designs are very creative which is a plus, but they all feel like you're slapping enemies with a pool noodle, so the combat doesn't feel very good.
The cool theme is enough to make this worth playing if it interests you, but definitely play it on PC, and be prepared to save a lot. If this game didn't have quick saves I definitely wouldn't have finished it.
Its atmosphere is potent and as a sucker for anything based on Alice in Wonderland I was immediately pulled into this dark, twisted version of Wonderland. The art style and music are still great to this day.
The weakest part of this game is playing it.
It's billed as a platformer but it's closer to a third person shooter. The platforming is stiff and janky and feels nothing like the good platformers of the era. The game is mostly about fighting all sorts of bizarre creatures with a large arsenal of weapons. Their designs are very creative which is a plus, but they all feel like you're slapping enemies with a pool noodle, so the combat doesn't feel very good.
The cool theme is enough to make this worth playing if it interests you, but definitely play it on PC, and be prepared to save a lot. If this game didn't have quick saves I definitely wouldn't have finished it.
Excellent platformer with a great art style and engaging mechanics. Ekko was the perfect choice for a platformer with his acrobatic abilities and time manipulation powers. I also really appreciate the customizable difficulty options. Some players might find it too short but I think it doesn't need to be longer.
I'm not very invested in League of Legends lore, but I like Ekko and Zaun is the region I find most interesting. The story is nothing to write home about, but there were some enjoyable moments. Zaun is a joy to traverse with Ekko's excellent controls and arsenal of abilities. Collectibles reward exploration and platforming skill and I had a blast 100%ing the game.
My only gripe is the combat. It's fast and feels great, but there's simply too much of it. Even with the combat difficulty turned all the way down, each fight dragged on for several minutes. This game needed fewer mob encounters, or to make them much shorter. The combat is definitely at its best in the one-on-one boss fights, which I found to be among the best parts of the game. It just gets tedious when facing regular enemies, which you will do a lot.
Despite these minor issues, Convergence is a great platformer that I enjoyed enough to 100%, which I very rarely do in games.
I'm not very invested in League of Legends lore, but I like Ekko and Zaun is the region I find most interesting. The story is nothing to write home about, but there were some enjoyable moments. Zaun is a joy to traverse with Ekko's excellent controls and arsenal of abilities. Collectibles reward exploration and platforming skill and I had a blast 100%ing the game.
My only gripe is the combat. It's fast and feels great, but there's simply too much of it. Even with the combat difficulty turned all the way down, each fight dragged on for several minutes. This game needed fewer mob encounters, or to make them much shorter. The combat is definitely at its best in the one-on-one boss fights, which I found to be among the best parts of the game. It just gets tedious when facing regular enemies, which you will do a lot.
Despite these minor issues, Convergence is a great platformer that I enjoyed enough to 100%, which I very rarely do in games.