Had never played this one before now.
Feels like the first of what would be the now definitive AC Formulae™️ for the foreseeable future; map littered with semi mandatory objectives, stealth that feels like it sort of works for the first time ever, oversized map and some of the worst writing in the series to date.
After Unity it definitely has the same feel of a step down in quality similar to that of AC2 following the first game. It doesn’t look anywhere near as good as Unity did with its much moodier and film grain laden Paris. While the visual fidelity here doesn’t take nearly as much of a hit as the aforementioned AC2 did, it feels as though they took similar things away from the criticism of both of their respective predecessors. AC 1’s climbing is too slow? Well let’s just speed it up without really considering how that might impact an already hair-trigger movement system. AC Unity’s combat feels sluggish and unresponsive? Well let’s just make the next one have nigh incomprehensible button mashing with animations that look like they’re playing back in 3x speed, while somehow maintaining the same feeling of input delay for parrying/guard breaking.
Also it’s not that’s any surprise at this point but these games are insane trend chasers. 2017s Origins having a more Witcher 3-sequel approach (according to Ubisoft but hardly in practice) following that games blowout success, and then having practically every surface be climbable 6 months after BOTW came out. It hit me almost immediately that the grappling hook you’re given in the early hours of the game here feels like a direct response to the much better one featured in Arkham Knight of the same year.
Feels like the first of what would be the now definitive AC Formulae™️ for the foreseeable future; map littered with semi mandatory objectives, stealth that feels like it sort of works for the first time ever, oversized map and some of the worst writing in the series to date.
After Unity it definitely has the same feel of a step down in quality similar to that of AC2 following the first game. It doesn’t look anywhere near as good as Unity did with its much moodier and film grain laden Paris. While the visual fidelity here doesn’t take nearly as much of a hit as the aforementioned AC2 did, it feels as though they took similar things away from the criticism of both of their respective predecessors. AC 1’s climbing is too slow? Well let’s just speed it up without really considering how that might impact an already hair-trigger movement system. AC Unity’s combat feels sluggish and unresponsive? Well let’s just make the next one have nigh incomprehensible button mashing with animations that look like they’re playing back in 3x speed, while somehow maintaining the same feeling of input delay for parrying/guard breaking.
Also it’s not that’s any surprise at this point but these games are insane trend chasers. 2017s Origins having a more Witcher 3-sequel approach (according to Ubisoft but hardly in practice) following that games blowout success, and then having practically every surface be climbable 6 months after BOTW came out. It hit me almost immediately that the grappling hook you’re given in the early hours of the game here feels like a direct response to the much better one featured in Arkham Knight of the same year.
Wild how good this looks, absolute peak for the series in terms of tone and fidelity in the game world. Unfortunately while the iconic glitches that made the game so infamous back in 2014 are gone, the game still suffers from sluggish, unresponsive combat and a valiant albeit failed attempt at reinvigorating the parkour systems, all wrapped up in a weirdly live-service-esque game before the trend was really established.
If they could just ditch the stupid future shit and have huds and menus that feel properly integrated into whatever time period we’re playing in, they’d be on the right track. If this one had been released a year later I feel like we’d still talk about it as the best one of these games.
If they could just ditch the stupid future shit and have huds and menus that feel properly integrated into whatever time period we’re playing in, they’d be on the right track. If this one had been released a year later I feel like we’d still talk about it as the best one of these games.
2023
Not finished it yet but it’s leaps and bounds above Remedy’s previous three games. Sam Lake’s insistence on having worlds bloated with the most gratingly “funny” characters continues to be his most glaring Achilles Heel as a director.
Tone and overall ambience is superb as of the halfway mark. It feels as though it’s perhaps their easiest work to get swept up in the feeling of, but it’s just as easy to get pulled back to groan-ville when they ratchet the poor Twin Peaks imitation up to 11.
Also Saga Anderson is the most insane character of any video game since perhaps the protagonist of Bioshock. Dudes that felt seen in the representation of a guy who will eat chips from a literal trash can may also find themselves in the woman who pets and speaks to every single deer head mounted on a damn wall.
Post ending edit:
Good game. Probably the best thing Remedy have done since MP. I think the game is at its weakest when they give you too much slack on the reigns and you end up aimlessly wandering around looking for collectible boxes. Alan’s story doesn’t suffer from this too much thankfully but a lot of the explorable areas as Saga feel a bit like padding. The final act of the game feels really focused by comparison.
Also in the year that gave us RE4 Remake, and three years on from TLOU Part 2 the combat in this just doesn’t feel up to snuff frankly. I’m sure it’s down to the budget or whatever but there’s a clear bar set for survival horror/third person action games and this sadly doesn’t clear it.
Tone and overall ambience is superb as of the halfway mark. It feels as though it’s perhaps their easiest work to get swept up in the feeling of, but it’s just as easy to get pulled back to groan-ville when they ratchet the poor Twin Peaks imitation up to 11.
Also Saga Anderson is the most insane character of any video game since perhaps the protagonist of Bioshock. Dudes that felt seen in the representation of a guy who will eat chips from a literal trash can may also find themselves in the woman who pets and speaks to every single deer head mounted on a damn wall.
Post ending edit:
Good game. Probably the best thing Remedy have done since MP. I think the game is at its weakest when they give you too much slack on the reigns and you end up aimlessly wandering around looking for collectible boxes. Alan’s story doesn’t suffer from this too much thankfully but a lot of the explorable areas as Saga feel a bit like padding. The final act of the game feels really focused by comparison.
Also in the year that gave us RE4 Remake, and three years on from TLOU Part 2 the combat in this just doesn’t feel up to snuff frankly. I’m sure it’s down to the budget or whatever but there’s a clear bar set for survival horror/third person action games and this sadly doesn’t clear it.
2021
Lots of ambition and promise that mostly lands or pays off. The game feels let down by its combat, should have been turn based imo
2017
Shelved for years, one of the last few PS4 backlog games I wanted to get through before the PS5.
2021
pretty good, just sucks that this is the same game as Horizon 3 from like five years ago
2021
Abysmal. A near pathetic attempt at aping the wonder of the original which ends up feeling like a mod for a Far Cry game.
2019
Kojima is one of the only true auteur game makers. Playing this slowly as the world descended into a full blown pandemic was bizarre yet elevating.
2015
Full coop playthrough with Old Hunters DLC.
One of the greatest games ever made.
One of the greatest games ever made.
2015
Retired in early May. Got stuck and had such poor build management because I didn’t understand FromSoft games yet and refused to google anything.
2016
Multiple restarts due to poor character build. I was a FromSoft baby back then!
Since release 8 years ago, I’ve started and stopped this game more than maybe any other I can remember. Finally restarted in early August and cleared about a month later.
Plays like an absolute dream, but is such a massive let down from a narrative perspective due to how unfocused the open world makes it feel. But what it lacks in the iconic moments or memorable boss fights, it certainly makes up for in just how many toys and mechanics it gives you to approach what’s there.
Plays like an absolute dream, but is such a massive let down from a narrative perspective due to how unfocused the open world makes it feel. But what it lacks in the iconic moments or memorable boss fights, it certainly makes up for in just how many toys and mechanics it gives you to approach what’s there.
2021
remember thinking this game was sick as hell when I was like 17 lmao
Pretty good game. Pretty weak Animal Crossing.
Dreadful. Hard to say if it’s worse than its already terribly predecessor, but it’s baffling how all of the ambitions brought to this game made it a near unplayable mess from a technical aspect.
After a weekend of falling through floors, doors on the critical path not opening, falling to my death due to insane input delay - experiencing all this at sub 30FPS most of the time, I made an ad on marketplace and tried to blitz it to the end to at least say I’d beaten it. Had an entire day before someone came to buy it off me but I’d already given up on trying to finish it.
Maybe it’s patched up now, but the game underneath was just so bloody boring that I honestly couldn’t care less.
After a weekend of falling through floors, doors on the critical path not opening, falling to my death due to insane input delay - experiencing all this at sub 30FPS most of the time, I made an ad on marketplace and tried to blitz it to the end to at least say I’d beaten it. Had an entire day before someone came to buy it off me but I’d already given up on trying to finish it.
Maybe it’s patched up now, but the game underneath was just so bloody boring that I honestly couldn’t care less.