ironoclastic
February 2024 thoughts:
I 100%/platinum’d this game within the month of release, so you could say I got my money’s worth out of it. I spent hours upon hours playing it. But the thing is, the further I get from it, the more ambivalent I’ve become towards it.
I didn’t care much for the story. I'm not a fan of Venom. I think the popular perception of Venom exemplifies a lame “edgy” ‘90s comic book attitude. Some seem to think of him as the web-head’s greatest adversary, Spider-Man’s Joker. Yeah, he’s Spider-Man’s Joker alright, but only in the sense that his loudest fans are annoying and seem to largely love how tWiStEd he is (no offence to Joker, who actually stands up much better as an antagonist, and is a genuinely great character when used well).
I’m also not in love with the “Kraven’s Last Hunt” comic story arc, like many Spidey fans are. It also is an ending of sorts, and I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to introduce Kraven for the sake of one game. They would’ve been better off setting him up here, so they could dedicate a whole game to him as an antagonist later.
Web-swinging still looks good but the skill ceiling for it is entirely too low. It’s easy to learn and easy to master. I feel like I’m going through the motions with it and the fun factor drops off every time I realise I’m being hand-held by the developers.
New Game Plus was nonexistent at launch. It’s supposed to be releasing in March. That’s fine, I wasn’t dying for NG+, but its months-long delay contributes to a feeling I have about this game. With the late post-game dlc and the loose, messy, feeling of the main narrative, I think the development of Spider-Man 2 was troubled. The first game feels like a complete package, a statement of intent. It was a confident game, with a strong story, and it felt tight. Spider-Man 2 is a little limp in comparison, for me.
I 100%/platinum’d this game within the month of release, so you could say I got my money’s worth out of it. I spent hours upon hours playing it. But the thing is, the further I get from it, the more ambivalent I’ve become towards it.
I didn’t care much for the story. I'm not a fan of Venom. I think the popular perception of Venom exemplifies a lame “edgy” ‘90s comic book attitude. Some seem to think of him as the web-head’s greatest adversary, Spider-Man’s Joker. Yeah, he’s Spider-Man’s Joker alright, but only in the sense that his loudest fans are annoying and seem to largely love how tWiStEd he is (no offence to Joker, who actually stands up much better as an antagonist, and is a genuinely great character when used well).
I’m also not in love with the “Kraven’s Last Hunt” comic story arc, like many Spidey fans are. It also is an ending of sorts, and I don’t think it makes a lot of sense to introduce Kraven for the sake of one game. They would’ve been better off setting him up here, so they could dedicate a whole game to him as an antagonist later.
Web-swinging still looks good but the skill ceiling for it is entirely too low. It’s easy to learn and easy to master. I feel like I’m going through the motions with it and the fun factor drops off every time I realise I’m being hand-held by the developers.
New Game Plus was nonexistent at launch. It’s supposed to be releasing in March. That’s fine, I wasn’t dying for NG+, but its months-long delay contributes to a feeling I have about this game. With the late post-game dlc and the loose, messy, feeling of the main narrative, I think the development of Spider-Man 2 was troubled. The first game feels like a complete package, a statement of intent. It was a confident game, with a strong story, and it felt tight. Spider-Man 2 is a little limp in comparison, for me.
2005
Phenomenal, still. One of the best games ever made. It crams so many great moments and set pieces into one game. The three distinct sections could each be their own game: the village, castle, and island, all fantastic and unique.
The remake does this justice, and is fantastic in its own right but it’s hard to beat the achievement of this original.
The remake does this justice, and is fantastic in its own right but it’s hard to beat the achievement of this original.
I miss game expansions. I’ve really missed them. There was potential for great story DLC for a single player game, once upon a time. We really had it all, didn’t we? Well, Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways takes us back to those good ol' expansion days.
I think this is a terrific new slice of Resident Evil 4. It provides the kind of experience people were looking for but didn’t quite get in Resident Evil 2 remake’s Leon and Claire first run/second run scenarios. Separate Ways covers the full length of RE4’s events from a different perspective, and really feels like it’s properly running parallel to the main campaign. There are overlaps with Leon's side of things throughout Ada’s story and nice touches where you’re playing through the flip side of moments you’ll remember from the main game. Sometimes that’s you being on a comms call, and other times you’re running an objective during the final boss fight, where you’re given a bigger perspective on the event, and it makes the whole RE4 picture fuller.
A cool thing the devs did with Separate Ways is that, with Ada, they’ve remade and remixed some sections from the original RE4 that were omitted in the remake. Minor gameplay spoilers follow: The cavern where you have to drain the water is here, the U-3 boss fight has been reintroduced (minus the second phase cage sequence, unfortunately), the lift makes a welcome return, and the laser hallway makes a grand reappearance.
Full Ada Wong game in the RE remake timeline when? I really loved this.
I think this is a terrific new slice of Resident Evil 4. It provides the kind of experience people were looking for but didn’t quite get in Resident Evil 2 remake’s Leon and Claire first run/second run scenarios. Separate Ways covers the full length of RE4’s events from a different perspective, and really feels like it’s properly running parallel to the main campaign. There are overlaps with Leon's side of things throughout Ada’s story and nice touches where you’re playing through the flip side of moments you’ll remember from the main game. Sometimes that’s you being on a comms call, and other times you’re running an objective during the final boss fight, where you’re given a bigger perspective on the event, and it makes the whole RE4 picture fuller.
A cool thing the devs did with Separate Ways is that, with Ada, they’ve remade and remixed some sections from the original RE4 that were omitted in the remake. Minor gameplay spoilers follow: The cavern where you have to drain the water is here, the U-3 boss fight has been reintroduced (minus the second phase cage sequence, unfortunately), the lift makes a welcome return, and the laser hallway makes a grand reappearance.
Full Ada Wong game in the RE remake timeline when? I really loved this.
2012
“They look like monsters to you?” …wait?
Not on the level of Silent Hill 2 for me, but few games are. I think it’s great as it stands, but really feel like I have to play Silent Hill 1 to fully appreciate this.
Not on the level of Silent Hill 2 for me, but few games are. I think it’s great as it stands, but really feel like I have to play Silent Hill 1 to fully appreciate this.
2023
The dev team at Capcom put in a valiant effort on this remake. I don’t think it’s better than the original, which is one of my favourite games and I think is one of the greatest ever made. How do you remake or attempt to improve something like that?
They couldn’t even remake every aspect of 4 because that game is so jam-packed with stuff. They get in most of the iconic elements and I guess left out whatever they felt couldn’t fit into their version.
Shockingly worthy remake and a great addition to the nu-RE timeline. It seems so silly, but I kind of wish they’d remake the first RE (again!) in the style of RE 2, 3, & 4 as redundant as that seems. (Though what I really want is a remake of Code Veronica. That’d be fantastic.)
They couldn’t even remake every aspect of 4 because that game is so jam-packed with stuff. They get in most of the iconic elements and I guess left out whatever they felt couldn’t fit into their version.
Shockingly worthy remake and a great addition to the nu-RE timeline. It seems so silly, but I kind of wish they’d remake the first RE (again!) in the style of RE 2, 3, & 4 as redundant as that seems. (Though what I really want is a remake of Code Veronica. That’d be fantastic.)
Another masterpiece. Maybe better than the first. It’s a shame it was ostensibly unfinished, but being aware of that, the game didn’t even really feel unfished until the end. The finale is a little abrupt, but in no way bad.
I started this game twice before. First time on the Original Xbox. I only got so far before it was made backwards compatible, so I decided to start the game again on Xbox One X, whenever that was. Eventually I hit a wall with it, due to difficulty settings and because I picked the wrong build for the play style I was going for.
Third time's the charm because I restarted KOTOR on the Switch 4 days ago and have been glued to it, more or less. I finished the game with a little over 26 hours put in over the 4 days. Easily one of my new favourite games of all time.
Third time's the charm because I restarted KOTOR on the Switch 4 days ago and have been glued to it, more or less. I finished the game with a little over 26 hours put in over the 4 days. Easily one of my new favourite games of all time.
2013
Yeah, it’s not as strong as Dead Space 1 or 2. The co-op would probably be good, but I wanted to just play the game solo like the other two. For the most part solo play is fine, but whenever the co-op character, Carver, is around it’s jarring. He is MIA 90% of the time, only showing up in cutscenes and in rooms just before or after a cutscene. This just serves to remind me this story was built around co-op.
The gameplay is still strong though. As a third person shooter it has all the gameplay pros of the previous series entries — plus a couple of new elements like crouch and dodge. If it’s “not a great Dead Space game” it’s still a very good game.
Weakest of the series. Story isn’t that compelling, but the gameplay kept me engaged.
The gameplay is still strong though. As a third person shooter it has all the gameplay pros of the previous series entries — plus a couple of new elements like crouch and dodge. If it’s “not a great Dead Space game” it’s still a very good game.
Weakest of the series. Story isn’t that compelling, but the gameplay kept me engaged.
2022
The Quarry is Supermassive Games playing back into my wheelhouse.
Hidden Agenda was ok. Never played the Until Dawn VR spin-offs. I Started it twice, but Man of Medan didn’t hook me how I’d have liked; thus I didn’t move onto the other Dark Pictures Anthology games (I want to return to give them all a shot at some stage).
The Quarry feels like a true Until Dawn successor, to my mind, for me and those who wanted more in the same vein from Supermassive post Until Dawn.
Hidden Agenda was ok. Never played the Until Dawn VR spin-offs. I Started it twice, but Man of Medan didn’t hook me how I’d have liked; thus I didn’t move onto the other Dark Pictures Anthology games (I want to return to give them all a shot at some stage).
The Quarry feels like a true Until Dawn successor, to my mind, for me and those who wanted more in the same vein from Supermassive post Until Dawn.