kips
A superb remaster. Gyro control, new visuals, and button mapping are great and customizable. There are a handful of really fun concept photos & videos from development, but the most impressive add is a playable Demo from CES, which is a full-scale explorable Star Destroyer. The devs were wild for doing so, but it was a comprehensive display of the game's achievements in FPS control and verticality.
This is the first time I was able to get through the main campaign after some failed starts with the original game some years ago. The level design has a really good flow, with a balance of stop-and-think puzzle areas and straightforward run and gun segments. Player movement is swift enough that you can backtrack and cover unexplored parts of the map in seconds so I didn't get too frustrated when stumped.
As a Star Wars fan it's a treat to see the source material for the Dark Trooper storyline.
One knock I can give the game is how absurdly loud the application is upon booting, but this is a very common problem with emulated titles on modern consoles.
This is the first time I was able to get through the main campaign after some failed starts with the original game some years ago. The level design has a really good flow, with a balance of stop-and-think puzzle areas and straightforward run and gun segments. Player movement is swift enough that you can backtrack and cover unexplored parts of the map in seconds so I didn't get too frustrated when stumped.
As a Star Wars fan it's a treat to see the source material for the Dark Trooper storyline.
One knock I can give the game is how absurdly loud the application is upon booting, but this is a very common problem with emulated titles on modern consoles.
2007
This review contains spoilers
Wonderful stroll down memory lane.
Sovereign will always be cool and hot, did you see the way he grabs onto the Citadel 😳😳😳😳😳
Sovereign will always be cool and hot, did you see the way he grabs onto the Citadel 😳😳😳😳😳
2024
Pure joy during a difficult time in my life.
I was initially very worried by the audience reception only to find all claims to be either misinformed or coming from types of players that don't enjoy these two games the same way I do.
The game is weird, purposefully obfuscates mechanics, doesn't hold your hand, is confident in its narrative structure, has the quirkiest companion AI ever devised, and most of all it is so so so much fun.
I was initially very worried by the audience reception only to find all claims to be either misinformed or coming from types of players that don't enjoy these two games the same way I do.
The game is weird, purposefully obfuscates mechanics, doesn't hold your hand, is confident in its narrative structure, has the quirkiest companion AI ever devised, and most of all it is so so so much fun.
Yes, the gameplay is pure ass. But we get the main cast of the show, explorable Bada-Bing, Vesuvio’s, Satriale’s, some pretty funny interactions and NPC’s to keep you from going totally mad from the often-frustrating combat, and not a bad licensed soundtrack for the Bing. If you have any love for Soprano’s and can stomach a dated tie-in game, it’s definitely worth a trip!
It didn't feel like an appreciable step up from the last game. A lot of the awesome traversal abilities that make the game fun are given to you too late in the game. The final act also drags quite a bit. Narratively, I feel like I would have been way more invested if they had stuck with 1 strong villain for the duration.
Heavy handed in execution leaving little in the way of mystery. You get the sense at the very beginning that it was too big for its britches telling the story it does. Genuinely pleased with "COVID-19 = Silent Hill Phenomenon". The message could have ultimately been shorter, but at least the soundtrack was quite good.
2015
Great game. I had been itching to play this for a while specifically because of some praise as an underrated PlayStation title combined with complaints about its length (all hail short games).
But the main issue isn't with its length - I actually feel like the narrative only really needed 1-2 more missions and some hefty cines and could have stuck some sort of landing. Unfortunately, the handful of storylines the game was carefully weaving are abruptly dropped to the ground in a baffling fashion. Till that point the pacing of the game was marvelous. Its designers are careful not to make any 1 mission overstay its welcome, while developing its world and characters in a natural way.
You get dropped into this world with no handholding or explanation - you're allowed to put the context together as the world unfolds. Combined with the unexpected horror aspects (I had no context going in), I was utterly delighted to unlock the mysteries of the city.
It also looks incredible, maybe one of the best looking PS4 games I have played. Whoever decided to crank the film grain to 11 knew exactly what they were doing.
Misc thoughts: The characters are detailed and expressive. The soundtrack by Jason Graves is weighty and ominous. The gunplay feels quite good and there's just enough weapon variety. The only consistent gameplay issue I had was finicky prompts for melee/sneak kills which frustrated me during a few points. Some quirky reverb / loudness SFX issues with footsteps. All hail photo mode.
All in all I can strongly recommend this game for someone looking for an incredibly polished if quite short historical fantasy.
But the main issue isn't with its length - I actually feel like the narrative only really needed 1-2 more missions and some hefty cines and could have stuck some sort of landing. Unfortunately, the handful of storylines the game was carefully weaving are abruptly dropped to the ground in a baffling fashion. Till that point the pacing of the game was marvelous. Its designers are careful not to make any 1 mission overstay its welcome, while developing its world and characters in a natural way.
You get dropped into this world with no handholding or explanation - you're allowed to put the context together as the world unfolds. Combined with the unexpected horror aspects (I had no context going in), I was utterly delighted to unlock the mysteries of the city.
It also looks incredible, maybe one of the best looking PS4 games I have played. Whoever decided to crank the film grain to 11 knew exactly what they were doing.
Misc thoughts: The characters are detailed and expressive. The soundtrack by Jason Graves is weighty and ominous. The gunplay feels quite good and there's just enough weapon variety. The only consistent gameplay issue I had was finicky prompts for melee/sneak kills which frustrated me during a few points. Some quirky reverb / loudness SFX issues with footsteps. All hail photo mode.
All in all I can strongly recommend this game for someone looking for an incredibly polished if quite short historical fantasy.
This review contains spoilers
Good game with really great story pacing, but the narrative falls short of a believable mafia story, which is what I wanted going into this game. I was fairly invested until my character, wishing to lie low after just bombing a brothel, decides to hide out in a church. Instead of lying low for a while, he makes himself known to the ongoing service, which just so happens to be a funeral for a rival gangster killed in an earlier mission. I chalked it up to desperate writing and moved on, but what caused me to put down the controller is this mission where it's the 3 mafioso bros vs a rival gang, the entire police force, and a TANK. An actual tank! That's not really what I wanted to experience in this game. I was hoping for more missions along the lines of the very excellent racetrack mission.
2016
This review contains spoilers
Played on Series S and wish I could have experienced it on an X. So much fun visual and sound design. All the classic aspects of great Remedy storytelling with serviceable combat and some interesting abilities. As usual, a fun execution of mixed media.
However, I don't feel the story ultimately delivered on the vastness of its premise, nor some of the more terrifying things I was expecting to witness at the end of the line, such as the Shifters. The stakes always fell just short - and in truth, the narrative is undermined entirely by using the Monarch interview as a framing device. I was expecting some clever story turn here, but no, Jack Joyce actually is just giving a debrief at the end of the story! So in a story about time travel, where you expect surprises at every turn, you are constantly reminded that everything you're playing has already resolved! Our hero's safety and indeed the outcome of the Fracture are a foregone conclusion, which hugely takes the wind out of the whole game.
It was still an enjoyable ride and 100% worth it to see the Remedy universe start to take shape for the first time - and especially to see the origins of certain individuals and threads that show up in AW2.
However, I don't feel the story ultimately delivered on the vastness of its premise, nor some of the more terrifying things I was expecting to witness at the end of the line, such as the Shifters. The stakes always fell just short - and in truth, the narrative is undermined entirely by using the Monarch interview as a framing device. I was expecting some clever story turn here, but no, Jack Joyce actually is just giving a debrief at the end of the story! So in a story about time travel, where you expect surprises at every turn, you are constantly reminded that everything you're playing has already resolved! Our hero's safety and indeed the outcome of the Fracture are a foregone conclusion, which hugely takes the wind out of the whole game.
It was still an enjoyable ride and 100% worth it to see the Remedy universe start to take shape for the first time - and especially to see the origins of certain individuals and threads that show up in AW2.
2017
Great walking sim with excellent pacing and scares. I love the concept of filling out your crew list with their ultimate fates. It also looks quite good for an indie game - lots of environmental detail!
2020
This is a wonderful little browser game. It is paced effectively with smart scares and great attention to detail.
The concept of a virtual VR horror ride/experience is so appealing to me that I probably would have enjoyed this without any gameplay at all.
Luckily, it is also a very solid rail shooter that ups the ante perfectly with each successive level in terms of creativity (both horror & gameplay). Don't let the carnival/clown concept on the surface fool you, new scenarios are introduced each time. The stages are just long enough, the action is paced accordingly, and there is no shortage of things to shoot at. On top of all that, the main dude in this game (who is also the writer of Until Dawn) clearly based his delivery on the Heath Ledger Joker. It's so weird! In a good way!
Luckily, it is also a very solid rail shooter that ups the ante perfectly with each successive level in terms of creativity (both horror & gameplay). Don't let the carnival/clown concept on the surface fool you, new scenarios are introduced each time. The stages are just long enough, the action is paced accordingly, and there is no shortage of things to shoot at. On top of all that, the main dude in this game (who is also the writer of Until Dawn) clearly based his delivery on the Heath Ledger Joker. It's so weird! In a good way!
Ambitious but about halfway through I didn't connect enough with the the squad switch mechanic to continue. It increasingly felt less strategic in practice and more "oh shit who am I now, I gotta revive half my squad!" The encounters are just too frenetic and corridor-like to react with any sensibility. In addition to your AI-squad's preference to yolo, I didn't feel any sense of control of any of the pieces at my disposal. But I must give this game props for being so weird and ballsy, and it would not work at all without the Clive Barker veneer that keeps you engaged.