luther_manhole
2000
I remember playing this at my uncle's house right after he bought his PS2. Remember being blown away at how huge the free-roam mode felt, marveling at how amazing the graphics looked. I would've been 10 or 11 at the time. I think that even then I realized there wasn't much more to this game than that initial experience. A couple years later I got a PS2 of my own and a used copy of SR and I don't think I played it more than twice.
Truly one of the classics of the "console launch game" genre.
Truly one of the classics of the "console launch game" genre.
This review contains spoilers
Overall a very fun 12.5 hours. Started off strong, the early exploration of the village was very atmospheric and tense and the first two large areas (the castle and the doll house) were by far my biggest highlights. But as the story picked up momentum I had a harder time following along, not having played any RE games since 5 ("who is this little girl? hang on, Ethan is made of fungus??"). And at the same time, the gameplay began to drag as it became more and more combat-driven. Those couple of bulletsponge bossfights in extremely constricted arenas were a real slog to get through, and after the comparatively goofy boss fight with Heisenberg, the player takes over as Chris and game turns into a mediocre shooter the rest of the way.
Love the spooky richly detailed environments to explore, love the creepy large monster type things chasing after me and eerie escape room-type puzzles. Could do without all the forgettable combat and boss fights.
Love the spooky richly detailed environments to explore, love the creepy large monster type things chasing after me and eerie escape room-type puzzles. Could do without all the forgettable combat and boss fights.
The most gorgeous, fully-realized open world of its generation that also has an emotional character-driven story with some truly incredible performances.
If you're gonna bounce off this, it'll likely be due to its pacing. This game expects you to take your time with it and it makes that clear to you early and often. But the more that you're willing to meet it on its terms and just vibe in its world, the more you'll be rewarded.
This is just such a deeply beautiful game that knows exactly what it wants to be. I love it so much. In a world where most big game studios were making safer and safer bets, for a game of its size RDR2 made such confident, unusual choices.
If you're gonna bounce off this, it'll likely be due to its pacing. This game expects you to take your time with it and it makes that clear to you early and often. But the more that you're willing to meet it on its terms and just vibe in its world, the more you'll be rewarded.
This is just such a deeply beautiful game that knows exactly what it wants to be. I love it so much. In a world where most big game studios were making safer and safer bets, for a game of its size RDR2 made such confident, unusual choices.