sadbear
this is the first armored core that i've played to completion, and it's the first time in a while i've played a game and felt compelled to squeeze every last drop out of it that i could
50 hours and 100% completion and i still want more
what i hoped for amidst the hype of this release was for it to capture what made armored core as a franchise compelling while testing what fromsoft has learned during their years of making the same great game over and over
the end result is what most people are going to consider the best entry in the franchise, but it's likely not gonna replace anybody's fervor for games like 4A
in many ways it is exactly what the franchise probably needed if it were to exist within the current gaming landscape
it is very accessible in more ways than just difficulty
the control scheme is intuitive and doesn't really recquire any commitment to mastery, but you can fully rebind it if it doesn't suit your needs
there's a great balance between speed and weight while making even the heaviest of ACs feel smooth to control
there are auto saves, missions have checkpoints, there's allotted repair kits
the majority of missions that warrant it have resupply points
dying and not immediately using the pause menu to restart from checkpoint lets you change your assembly mid mission
there are explanations for what stats mean what (which are generally reliable) and videos that show how a part that does a thing is gonna function
the only thing failure costs is score, and even so it's very hard to not profit enough to buy something after a success
it's impossible to go into debt even if you manage that
this game isn't the first to do some shit i mentioned here, but the general approach to just being as accessible as possible is great
because, while i did not have a particularly difficult time with a lot of this game, a lot of people have and i can see why
this is still armored core, it has everything that makes the series appealing while having very little of what could keep people away from it
there's a lot of build variety and the visual customization is fucking amazing (especially with things like uploaded emblems, paint jobs and build presets)
and you'll need to customize in order to figure out what works, especially for late game and getting s ranks
there's mutliple story paths and each are worth playing through, which isn't a massive investment since missions are universally under ten minutes and overwhelmingly under five
but the game is demanding in the exact ways it should be
while mastery is not required for completion you'll need to know how to fuck around proper so you don't find out when chasing s ranks
and there's enough of a skill ceiling that the pvp is a LOT of fun
the story is also pretty fucking great
like classic fromsoftware, the potency of this narrative comes from the details that the game never really throws in your face
it's derivative, i don't think this does anything i haven't seen before
nor do i think it's elevated pastiche in the same way as something like Bloodborne is
but it's just really fucking good, and it shows that the writers at fromsoft are still at the top of their game
this is an overall fantastic experience that never felt like a chore or that it was bullshit
frustration is very minimal, only a couple missions i can actively think of (and it was really only when s ranking lol)
and i feel exactly how a great game should make me feel
i want MORE, i want more of THIS specifically
but this is not the pinnacle, not yet
a 6A or 7 could be that, and i hope it is because this series deserves to flourish
but while i think it brought everything from the older games that made them appealing, this isn't the greatest example of what makes an armored core fan foam at the mouth for these games
the build variety is pretty damn expansive but you'll mainly excperience how much you can do in pvp
which is to be expected, but even in pvp there is a dominant strategy
stagger and punish
there are a bunch of ways to get there but your success, especially when you're going for s ranks, is to embrace this strategy and act accordingly
if you need to be fast: dual zimmermans, songbirds and some kind of high punishment melee weapon (pilebunker or double trouble, probably) and a lightweight ac build otherwise
if you need to tank hits: dual gatlin guns, dual stun needles (if you don't have them songbirds work fine) and the heaviest motherfucker you can muster
i've made a bunch of custom builds with custom color themes in this game because it was fun to do that, but nearly all of them revolved around this
and when they weren't that, there are clearly parts that are better than others
what this game has is an unfortunate amount of redundancy
there are a lot of missile parts, a lot of plasma/laser rifles, etc but there are few that you probably wanna use outside of testing pvp stuff
and while i do think there's a pretty high skill cieling, it doesn't hold a candle to something like the movement or part selection of 4A
which is partly a good thing, i'm the cunt AC6 was designed for because i feel like on all levels it appeals specifically to me
my tastes and my sensibilities
but it doesn't fulfill all of my wants with this series
i not only want more because i loved this game as much as i did, but i want more of the potential of what the next game(s) in this franchise could be
i'm in love with this game, but it's tempered
i know what fromsoft is capable of, i think the people who make games there are extremely talented
and while i think they need a fucking break (Elden Ring came out last year dude)
i have high hopes that whatever comes next for this franchise has the potential to be THE Armored Core
the one that everyone can certifiably, without any doubts, call the best one
but for the time being, it's my favorite one
at least until i stop getting filtered by 4A, that game feels so fucking good but tracking NEXTS is a big bitch lol
50 hours and 100% completion and i still want more
what i hoped for amidst the hype of this release was for it to capture what made armored core as a franchise compelling while testing what fromsoft has learned during their years of making the same great game over and over
the end result is what most people are going to consider the best entry in the franchise, but it's likely not gonna replace anybody's fervor for games like 4A
in many ways it is exactly what the franchise probably needed if it were to exist within the current gaming landscape
it is very accessible in more ways than just difficulty
the control scheme is intuitive and doesn't really recquire any commitment to mastery, but you can fully rebind it if it doesn't suit your needs
there's a great balance between speed and weight while making even the heaviest of ACs feel smooth to control
there are auto saves, missions have checkpoints, there's allotted repair kits
the majority of missions that warrant it have resupply points
dying and not immediately using the pause menu to restart from checkpoint lets you change your assembly mid mission
there are explanations for what stats mean what (which are generally reliable) and videos that show how a part that does a thing is gonna function
the only thing failure costs is score, and even so it's very hard to not profit enough to buy something after a success
it's impossible to go into debt even if you manage that
this game isn't the first to do some shit i mentioned here, but the general approach to just being as accessible as possible is great
because, while i did not have a particularly difficult time with a lot of this game, a lot of people have and i can see why
this is still armored core, it has everything that makes the series appealing while having very little of what could keep people away from it
there's a lot of build variety and the visual customization is fucking amazing (especially with things like uploaded emblems, paint jobs and build presets)
and you'll need to customize in order to figure out what works, especially for late game and getting s ranks
there's mutliple story paths and each are worth playing through, which isn't a massive investment since missions are universally under ten minutes and overwhelmingly under five
but the game is demanding in the exact ways it should be
while mastery is not required for completion you'll need to know how to fuck around proper so you don't find out when chasing s ranks
and there's enough of a skill ceiling that the pvp is a LOT of fun
the story is also pretty fucking great
like classic fromsoftware, the potency of this narrative comes from the details that the game never really throws in your face
it's derivative, i don't think this does anything i haven't seen before
nor do i think it's elevated pastiche in the same way as something like Bloodborne is
but it's just really fucking good, and it shows that the writers at fromsoft are still at the top of their game
this is an overall fantastic experience that never felt like a chore or that it was bullshit
frustration is very minimal, only a couple missions i can actively think of (and it was really only when s ranking lol)
and i feel exactly how a great game should make me feel
i want MORE, i want more of THIS specifically
but this is not the pinnacle, not yet
a 6A or 7 could be that, and i hope it is because this series deserves to flourish
but while i think it brought everything from the older games that made them appealing, this isn't the greatest example of what makes an armored core fan foam at the mouth for these games
the build variety is pretty damn expansive but you'll mainly excperience how much you can do in pvp
which is to be expected, but even in pvp there is a dominant strategy
stagger and punish
there are a bunch of ways to get there but your success, especially when you're going for s ranks, is to embrace this strategy and act accordingly
if you need to be fast: dual zimmermans, songbirds and some kind of high punishment melee weapon (pilebunker or double trouble, probably) and a lightweight ac build otherwise
if you need to tank hits: dual gatlin guns, dual stun needles (if you don't have them songbirds work fine) and the heaviest motherfucker you can muster
i've made a bunch of custom builds with custom color themes in this game because it was fun to do that, but nearly all of them revolved around this
and when they weren't that, there are clearly parts that are better than others
what this game has is an unfortunate amount of redundancy
there are a lot of missile parts, a lot of plasma/laser rifles, etc but there are few that you probably wanna use outside of testing pvp stuff
and while i do think there's a pretty high skill cieling, it doesn't hold a candle to something like the movement or part selection of 4A
which is partly a good thing, i'm the cunt AC6 was designed for because i feel like on all levels it appeals specifically to me
my tastes and my sensibilities
but it doesn't fulfill all of my wants with this series
i not only want more because i loved this game as much as i did, but i want more of the potential of what the next game(s) in this franchise could be
i'm in love with this game, but it's tempered
i know what fromsoft is capable of, i think the people who make games there are extremely talented
and while i think they need a fucking break (Elden Ring came out last year dude)
i have high hopes that whatever comes next for this franchise has the potential to be THE Armored Core
the one that everyone can certifiably, without any doubts, call the best one
but for the time being, it's my favorite one
at least until i stop getting filtered by 4A, that game feels so fucking good but tracking NEXTS is a big bitch lol
2023
a flawed gem that's greater than the sum of its parts but ultimately is held back by those scuffs
what is immediately obvious is that this game is less a tribute to max payne and the shooters of its time and more an ode to remedy as a creative force
it captures what makes their games so evocative while entirely being its own thing
right down to the full embrace of being a video game ass video game and not letting that hold back the work's ambitions
the little audio snippets that are solely there because the devs wanted to throw some funny shit in this otherwise overwhelmingly bleak experience
unless it's actually functioning as a narrative bolster, in which case
just as the majority of el paso, elsewhere's narrative
it's very effective
the reason to play this game is not because of its gameplay, not because that gameplay is bad but because it's simply pretty good in the face of some of the best story telling you'll see in a fully voiced indie game with like
two, maybe three voice actors
control rings heavy in the way shots are composed and the general approach to cutscene structure, but where el paso elevates is in its frankness
because while the story itself isn't necessarily the show stopper it's still got meat
james savage is addicted to painkillers, an addiction specified to have either started or have gotten way worse after leaving a harrowingly abusive relationship
unfortunately, his ex was fucking dracula(e)
in the pits of the void, she is conducting a ritual to take over the world, and the only person aware of it and able to do anything is the man she abused
fueled by a never ending, body destroying supply of opiods and experience as a monster hunter, he plunges deep on a one way trip to stop her
this element of addiction, trauma, and how they often fuel or occur in reaction to each other is the game's most overt theme
it does not sugar coat anything about it
i could be flowery and describe this game's cutscenes, how great the neo-noir writing is and all that shit, but i saw just a random one on twitter and was immediately convinced to give this game a go - something i otherwise would not have done
they're good, and they are absolutely worth the price of admission on their own
the performances from both leads are fantastic in spite of some scant few scenes stepping into melodrama territory made somewhat more apparent by how both leads (the two voices you're going to hear the most) are definitely playing against type
the protagonist is a black man voiced by a white man and it is immediately and jarringly obvious that this is the case
my white ass doesn't have a word to really say about it ethically given that this game is written and directed by a black man, but i will say that it was
once again
very obvious
which also branches into the first of my two biggest complaints with this game
the score is, partly, pretty damn great
the partly is, unfortunately, tragicly because of many tracks being what i can only describe as e-boy rap
there's shit on here that sounds like corpse husband is rapping on it and i fucking loathe it
no, this is not because i dislike rap music, the year is 202X of fucking course i like rap my guy
on the contrary, i've heard significantly better appear in video games (rap in video games often having a nerdy vibe in the first place) so when the same fucking voice that plays your main character is rapping about breaking shit and both of these vocal performances are going on at the same time it's extremely distracting
so i just really notice that i do not like these songs
it's not even just the vocals, the production sounds noticeably worse on these tracks
i cannot get past it, it completely sucked me out of the experience every time one showed up
and that's primariiy why i'm frustrated: everything else is working in this game's favor in terms of presentation and tone (even when the game's being overtly ridiculous, that shit's just funny)
so when one singular element that was very easy to leave out is just proding my brain over and over it's just
very annoying
i commend the effort, a lot of work went into these songs and given that the person who made them was the sound designer and also voiced the main protagonist (among others), that's a lot of shit to do
i've heard WAY worse - corpse husband's music is so much fucking worse than what's in this
but the vibe is the same, and it absolutely does not fit
a massive shame
the game's other big issue is that it's way too long
this is probably thematically relevant given that there's a lot of talk of the endurance of this journey taking its toll on james
but when the game's level design rarely gets all that varied or interesting, you're left with a gameplay loop that's good
but simple
i said before you don't wanna get this for the gameplay and that's because max payne this really isn't
it reminds me more of painkiller with a shoot dodge in the backrooms
and just like painkiller and other games like it unfortunately can be, it's repetetive and gets long in the tooth
this is a six-seven hour game and it could've easily been about four
what carried maxy payne was great level design and spectacle, neither of which this game has (most of the time)
which is honestly okay, this is NOT a bad game to play
i enjoyed most of my time with it
but combined with how easy this game generally is, i was counting down the remaining levels
there are fifty of them
i started doing this at about thirty
i stuck with this game because i loved how this story was told and i enjoyed how this game nailed the fundamentals
it felt good to shoot shit, so it wasn't really a slog
but still, way too long
but really? this game being ovwhemingly praised thus far is deserved
what it does well it does extremely well, and that effort should be commended
a story that centers a victim of domestic abuse that is also a hardboiled neo-noir gunslinger isn't something that you often see, let alone something that takes the former element as deadly serious as this game does
it feels personal and i love that
this game overall feels very personal and i will always appreciate that over what you often see in video game story telling
this feels like the game everybody working on it wanted to make
i hope that's the case, at least
definitely one of the highlights of the year, just don't let the comments of "it's just like max payne!!!!!" mislead you
it's not the same, and it's not as good
but the storytelling is, if not better
what is immediately obvious is that this game is less a tribute to max payne and the shooters of its time and more an ode to remedy as a creative force
it captures what makes their games so evocative while entirely being its own thing
right down to the full embrace of being a video game ass video game and not letting that hold back the work's ambitions
the little audio snippets that are solely there because the devs wanted to throw some funny shit in this otherwise overwhelmingly bleak experience
unless it's actually functioning as a narrative bolster, in which case
just as the majority of el paso, elsewhere's narrative
it's very effective
the reason to play this game is not because of its gameplay, not because that gameplay is bad but because it's simply pretty good in the face of some of the best story telling you'll see in a fully voiced indie game with like
two, maybe three voice actors
control rings heavy in the way shots are composed and the general approach to cutscene structure, but where el paso elevates is in its frankness
because while the story itself isn't necessarily the show stopper it's still got meat
james savage is addicted to painkillers, an addiction specified to have either started or have gotten way worse after leaving a harrowingly abusive relationship
unfortunately, his ex was fucking dracula(e)
in the pits of the void, she is conducting a ritual to take over the world, and the only person aware of it and able to do anything is the man she abused
fueled by a never ending, body destroying supply of opiods and experience as a monster hunter, he plunges deep on a one way trip to stop her
this element of addiction, trauma, and how they often fuel or occur in reaction to each other is the game's most overt theme
it does not sugar coat anything about it
i could be flowery and describe this game's cutscenes, how great the neo-noir writing is and all that shit, but i saw just a random one on twitter and was immediately convinced to give this game a go - something i otherwise would not have done
they're good, and they are absolutely worth the price of admission on their own
the performances from both leads are fantastic in spite of some scant few scenes stepping into melodrama territory made somewhat more apparent by how both leads (the two voices you're going to hear the most) are definitely playing against type
the protagonist is a black man voiced by a white man and it is immediately and jarringly obvious that this is the case
my white ass doesn't have a word to really say about it ethically given that this game is written and directed by a black man, but i will say that it was
once again
very obvious
which also branches into the first of my two biggest complaints with this game
the score is, partly, pretty damn great
the partly is, unfortunately, tragicly because of many tracks being what i can only describe as e-boy rap
there's shit on here that sounds like corpse husband is rapping on it and i fucking loathe it
no, this is not because i dislike rap music, the year is 202X of fucking course i like rap my guy
on the contrary, i've heard significantly better appear in video games (rap in video games often having a nerdy vibe in the first place) so when the same fucking voice that plays your main character is rapping about breaking shit and both of these vocal performances are going on at the same time it's extremely distracting
so i just really notice that i do not like these songs
it's not even just the vocals, the production sounds noticeably worse on these tracks
i cannot get past it, it completely sucked me out of the experience every time one showed up
and that's primariiy why i'm frustrated: everything else is working in this game's favor in terms of presentation and tone (even when the game's being overtly ridiculous, that shit's just funny)
so when one singular element that was very easy to leave out is just proding my brain over and over it's just
very annoying
i commend the effort, a lot of work went into these songs and given that the person who made them was the sound designer and also voiced the main protagonist (among others), that's a lot of shit to do
i've heard WAY worse - corpse husband's music is so much fucking worse than what's in this
but the vibe is the same, and it absolutely does not fit
a massive shame
the game's other big issue is that it's way too long
this is probably thematically relevant given that there's a lot of talk of the endurance of this journey taking its toll on james
but when the game's level design rarely gets all that varied or interesting, you're left with a gameplay loop that's good
but simple
i said before you don't wanna get this for the gameplay and that's because max payne this really isn't
it reminds me more of painkiller with a shoot dodge in the backrooms
and just like painkiller and other games like it unfortunately can be, it's repetetive and gets long in the tooth
this is a six-seven hour game and it could've easily been about four
what carried maxy payne was great level design and spectacle, neither of which this game has (most of the time)
which is honestly okay, this is NOT a bad game to play
i enjoyed most of my time with it
but combined with how easy this game generally is, i was counting down the remaining levels
there are fifty of them
i started doing this at about thirty
i stuck with this game because i loved how this story was told and i enjoyed how this game nailed the fundamentals
it felt good to shoot shit, so it wasn't really a slog
but still, way too long
but really? this game being ovwhemingly praised thus far is deserved
what it does well it does extremely well, and that effort should be commended
a story that centers a victim of domestic abuse that is also a hardboiled neo-noir gunslinger isn't something that you often see, let alone something that takes the former element as deadly serious as this game does
it feels personal and i love that
this game overall feels very personal and i will always appreciate that over what you often see in video game story telling
this feels like the game everybody working on it wanted to make
i hope that's the case, at least
definitely one of the highlights of the year, just don't let the comments of "it's just like max payne!!!!!" mislead you
it's not the same, and it's not as good
but the storytelling is, if not better
2011
tons of content, really fun to play, full of jank charm and b movie shlock
just as mk should be
its violence is still visceral but we're not to "we're trying to rival terrifier" levels yet, so it ends up feeling a bit quaint in comparison
something that i like in spite of being the exact kind of sicko that mk has always appealed to
the art style isn't quite to the uncanny valley yet, looking more comic book in a way that fits the overall saturday morning cartoon for adults vibe
the gameplay is expressive and broken in the good way, not that i could take advantage of any of that
this is a very fun game to watch people break i know that at least
the story mode is mostly well done with a narrative that's actually coherent even if it is still incredibly stupid - don't take this lightly it's a pretty big compliment
character designs look pretty damn great all around, though this game is exceptionally horny with its women
an mk staple, let alone a fighting game staple, but kof and sf feel tame in comparison to some of the designs in this
being mostly gay, i can appreciate this, but sonya blade continuing to get the quiet treatment is incredibly annoying
at least mileena revels in it
and shao kahn is just as bullshit as ever in 2d mk, as much as i fucking abhor the cunt and am glad that he's bad in mk11
yeah yeah i suck i don't give a shit fuck him, i know he's exploitable but i don't like having to do that kind of shit
oh and raiden still fucks up a lot
so yeah it's mk all the way baby, play it
just as mk should be
its violence is still visceral but we're not to "we're trying to rival terrifier" levels yet, so it ends up feeling a bit quaint in comparison
something that i like in spite of being the exact kind of sicko that mk has always appealed to
the art style isn't quite to the uncanny valley yet, looking more comic book in a way that fits the overall saturday morning cartoon for adults vibe
the gameplay is expressive and broken in the good way, not that i could take advantage of any of that
this is a very fun game to watch people break i know that at least
the story mode is mostly well done with a narrative that's actually coherent even if it is still incredibly stupid - don't take this lightly it's a pretty big compliment
character designs look pretty damn great all around, though this game is exceptionally horny with its women
an mk staple, let alone a fighting game staple, but kof and sf feel tame in comparison to some of the designs in this
being mostly gay, i can appreciate this, but sonya blade continuing to get the quiet treatment is incredibly annoying
at least mileena revels in it
and shao kahn is just as bullshit as ever in 2d mk, as much as i fucking abhor the cunt and am glad that he's bad in mk11
yeah yeah i suck i don't give a shit fuck him, i know he's exploitable but i don't like having to do that kind of shit
oh and raiden still fucks up a lot
so yeah it's mk all the way baby, play it
we'll get the port details outta the way first
each definitive edition has its own quirks as a release: m1 definitive was a complete reimagining of the first game, 3 served as a "goty edition" style release that only altered the lighting (for the worse) and added in technical issues that the original release supposedly didn't have
this release of 2 is a proper remaster of the original game that also includes the dlcs
but it serves more as one of those impressive fan retexture projects than it does something more comprehensive
as a result, it looks better in some areas and worse than others
the latter of which is due to the jank that is putting higher res textures and more modern saturated lighting on models with animations that weren't made for either
the world looks fantastic, it's downright gorgeous at times (the opening winter segment is a standout), but the character models often have an uncanny quality that wasn't as apparent in the original release
there were also animation downgrades (this is mainly with eyes and how they don't really look around like they used to in cutscenes) and several other very noticeable, very consistent bugs that were never patched out
which makes me want to consider this an inferior port
it's not a terrible way to experience the game, it's the way i first finished this game when it came out, but if you have a chance to play the original release then i'd go with that instead
this rating is for the game itself and not the port job
there are quirks that come with this game's context: a AAA game operating on a lower budget released in 2010
the shooting is okay with a weird reverse-bungie crosshair situation that has it rest much higher up than usual
i got used to this relatively quickly and it doesn't get in the way of things
which is good because while the game definitely feels of its time there's a general spectacle to gunfights that make them feel more dynamic than the other release in this franchise
a big part of that is its physx implementation, but me running on a modern amd gpu and having scenes like shooting up the greaser bar absolutely tank my framerate causing me to turn it off didn't really let up on that fact
the destruction of the environment reminds me of games like max payne 3 and that is a massive compliment
it elevates the standard and at times frustrating gunplay
however that quirk comment doesn't apply to the most frustrating element of this game which is its terrible and inconsistent checkpoint system
there are times where it makes sense, there are many more where it sets you back a couple cutscenes and a solid couple minutes of commute
i've experienced greater frustration in games but rarely are they with games that i otherwise enjoy a fucking lot
and combined with how lethal this game is at times you can get sent back quite far in situations where that punishment doesn't feel appropriate
it also doesn't apply to the driving itself, but thankfully that's a compliment
i really enjoy how cars handle in this game and i think it feels significantly better to commute in this game than it does in any of the others
it's primarily because it commits to being somewhat simulationist in its handling, much like mafia 1, but because it's using cars that are just
better
it feels better, and as time progresses so do the quality of cars you'll find around making things even smoother
it feels great to go fast, it's properly dangerous
it's got that gta level of tactility as well, like if you just run away from a car before the closing door animation finishes the door will just remain open and you can physically run into the door to close it back
something that appears dumb but feels appropriate in the context of a video game
cars play a big role in this game and they are shown the appropriate level of reverence: they are symbols of status as much as they are necessary to go do much of anything
to make money you need a car, and you'll often find yourself treasuring whatever car you have
which is not something that the other mafia games (that i've played, i've yet to play the 2002 original) can really attest to
the general gameplay loop here mirrors what people liked about that first game but with the streamlining that comes with eight years of time
you wake up, you drive to a place and do a job, shit gets fucky, you fix it or don't, then you go home
because missions will often either force you into a specific car that isn't yours and tasks you with not fucking it up, or they'll force you to have to acquire a car yourself, there's a lot of importance placed on treating the general experience with some respect
in mafia 3, i would crash cars all the time and not give a fuck about the top speeds that got me there because all it would take was just getting out and then calling for another car to be delivered to me for the low, low price of free
mafia definitive had me reloading a checkpoint if i ever fucked up
mafia 2, while i ultimately wished i could have that ease of mind, encouraged me to generally be smarter about how i approached things
if i fucked up my car i'd either have to take it to a shop, which at several points in the game is not a reasonable thing to do
so then i'd have to ditch it and steal another
with how many cops are on the map this is always risky, and getting rid of a wanted level just adds more complications
so drive at the speed limit and be careful!
elements like this, the general lethality of combat, and what this game is really about help to create a cohesive experience that the other games don't match up to
the original likely does, as i've heard, and i'll get to it one day
but this will likely remain one of shiniest rough gems in open world crime games
however, most of that is due to the story
i've talked about it in my other write ups about mafia but the strength of these games' narratives is how they will put the plate in front of you
gives you a fork, a knife, a glass of water
but it won't ever force feed you what you should be getting out of it
you gotta do that legwork yourself, actually thinking about how things might connect together in spite of how often video gamey the presentation can be
what you're left with, if you do, is a nuanced crime story that rivals many of the greats in terms of its themes and compelling characters
all the games offer different perspectives on the typical crime story with this one being the most compelling given how cohesive the gameplay package is
an immigrant whose family came to america to chase the dream that never existed, leading to a life of crime where he wished to become a big timer in a city that would never let him
vito scaletta and joe barbaro are the ever present fall guys
the goons to be used that are never quite on the ball enough to realize it
the death of tommy angelo in the first game, characterized as a tragic but inevitable end to that mobster's life, is in this game treated as a desperate bid to make as much cash as quickly as possible to pay off a debt that came from an overtly bad idea
but when you're in the gutter the money seems like it's worth the risk
this is the typical tale of the rise and fall that portrays the rise more as a promotion from associate to management
and the fall an inevitable outcome in a system that punishes every mistake with death and violence
it's hard not to blame the protagonists for their rash and often explosive reactions when that's what they've been taught to do
mafia 3's setup is immediately more engaging given how unabashedly poltiical it is
it's completely unafraid to be a statement in that way
but vito's downfall is told with a greater sense of grace that never loses consistency in tone or quality
if you're just watching the cutscenes it's definitely a product of its time, there isn't much that's inspired about the direction or the voice acting
everything is competent at the very least
but chew on things and just
try to get past the gristle
it's a white man's story for white men (the subject of italians being white or not is not present in this game but feel free to bring it up yourself i'm too white to stop you)
there are elements of this game that handles the topic of race with grace but much like everything else you have to look past what the game is actually putting in your face and give it the thought that it deserves only sometimes in this case
meanwhile this game definitely fails the bechdel test - often women are just objects to be oogled at and nothing more
these are elements that definitely deserve criticism and they often fly in the face of how smart it is otherwise
because while the game treats machismo driven violence as the selfish drive that it is regardless of the reasoning of its application
and the distribution of hard drugs in black neighborhoods as the abhorrent con that only serves the oppressors distributing the poison
it also has out of place nude playboys as the primary collectible and liberal usage of racial slurs that are often not commented on
mafia 3 following this game is wild considering how well it handles the topic of race while also not shying away from characters being racist pieces of shit
2016 was very different from 2010, i guess
but man is this cut lean
the, frankly, shit elements of the narrative combined with the general gameplay quirks keep me from calling this a greatest of all time experience, but i've left a LOT of what makes this game as engaging and thoughtful as it is out
i don't feel like listing everything and writing a comprehensive review, this is me just putting my opinion out there
go play it for yourself cunt, it really is a uniquely good game
its cohesion should not be ignored
the ending, too, while abrupt in a fashion that exemplifies the "ignore how video gamey it all is just give it some time to stew" aspect of this game's storytelling
is a knockout, a real gut punch that comes fast but doesn't hurt until a while later
must play for its genre
each definitive edition has its own quirks as a release: m1 definitive was a complete reimagining of the first game, 3 served as a "goty edition" style release that only altered the lighting (for the worse) and added in technical issues that the original release supposedly didn't have
this release of 2 is a proper remaster of the original game that also includes the dlcs
but it serves more as one of those impressive fan retexture projects than it does something more comprehensive
as a result, it looks better in some areas and worse than others
the latter of which is due to the jank that is putting higher res textures and more modern saturated lighting on models with animations that weren't made for either
the world looks fantastic, it's downright gorgeous at times (the opening winter segment is a standout), but the character models often have an uncanny quality that wasn't as apparent in the original release
there were also animation downgrades (this is mainly with eyes and how they don't really look around like they used to in cutscenes) and several other very noticeable, very consistent bugs that were never patched out
which makes me want to consider this an inferior port
it's not a terrible way to experience the game, it's the way i first finished this game when it came out, but if you have a chance to play the original release then i'd go with that instead
this rating is for the game itself and not the port job
there are quirks that come with this game's context: a AAA game operating on a lower budget released in 2010
the shooting is okay with a weird reverse-bungie crosshair situation that has it rest much higher up than usual
i got used to this relatively quickly and it doesn't get in the way of things
which is good because while the game definitely feels of its time there's a general spectacle to gunfights that make them feel more dynamic than the other release in this franchise
a big part of that is its physx implementation, but me running on a modern amd gpu and having scenes like shooting up the greaser bar absolutely tank my framerate causing me to turn it off didn't really let up on that fact
the destruction of the environment reminds me of games like max payne 3 and that is a massive compliment
it elevates the standard and at times frustrating gunplay
however that quirk comment doesn't apply to the most frustrating element of this game which is its terrible and inconsistent checkpoint system
there are times where it makes sense, there are many more where it sets you back a couple cutscenes and a solid couple minutes of commute
i've experienced greater frustration in games but rarely are they with games that i otherwise enjoy a fucking lot
and combined with how lethal this game is at times you can get sent back quite far in situations where that punishment doesn't feel appropriate
it also doesn't apply to the driving itself, but thankfully that's a compliment
i really enjoy how cars handle in this game and i think it feels significantly better to commute in this game than it does in any of the others
it's primarily because it commits to being somewhat simulationist in its handling, much like mafia 1, but because it's using cars that are just
better
it feels better, and as time progresses so do the quality of cars you'll find around making things even smoother
it feels great to go fast, it's properly dangerous
it's got that gta level of tactility as well, like if you just run away from a car before the closing door animation finishes the door will just remain open and you can physically run into the door to close it back
something that appears dumb but feels appropriate in the context of a video game
cars play a big role in this game and they are shown the appropriate level of reverence: they are symbols of status as much as they are necessary to go do much of anything
to make money you need a car, and you'll often find yourself treasuring whatever car you have
which is not something that the other mafia games (that i've played, i've yet to play the 2002 original) can really attest to
the general gameplay loop here mirrors what people liked about that first game but with the streamlining that comes with eight years of time
you wake up, you drive to a place and do a job, shit gets fucky, you fix it or don't, then you go home
because missions will often either force you into a specific car that isn't yours and tasks you with not fucking it up, or they'll force you to have to acquire a car yourself, there's a lot of importance placed on treating the general experience with some respect
in mafia 3, i would crash cars all the time and not give a fuck about the top speeds that got me there because all it would take was just getting out and then calling for another car to be delivered to me for the low, low price of free
mafia definitive had me reloading a checkpoint if i ever fucked up
mafia 2, while i ultimately wished i could have that ease of mind, encouraged me to generally be smarter about how i approached things
if i fucked up my car i'd either have to take it to a shop, which at several points in the game is not a reasonable thing to do
so then i'd have to ditch it and steal another
with how many cops are on the map this is always risky, and getting rid of a wanted level just adds more complications
so drive at the speed limit and be careful!
elements like this, the general lethality of combat, and what this game is really about help to create a cohesive experience that the other games don't match up to
the original likely does, as i've heard, and i'll get to it one day
but this will likely remain one of shiniest rough gems in open world crime games
however, most of that is due to the story
i've talked about it in my other write ups about mafia but the strength of these games' narratives is how they will put the plate in front of you
gives you a fork, a knife, a glass of water
but it won't ever force feed you what you should be getting out of it
you gotta do that legwork yourself, actually thinking about how things might connect together in spite of how often video gamey the presentation can be
what you're left with, if you do, is a nuanced crime story that rivals many of the greats in terms of its themes and compelling characters
all the games offer different perspectives on the typical crime story with this one being the most compelling given how cohesive the gameplay package is
an immigrant whose family came to america to chase the dream that never existed, leading to a life of crime where he wished to become a big timer in a city that would never let him
vito scaletta and joe barbaro are the ever present fall guys
the goons to be used that are never quite on the ball enough to realize it
the death of tommy angelo in the first game, characterized as a tragic but inevitable end to that mobster's life, is in this game treated as a desperate bid to make as much cash as quickly as possible to pay off a debt that came from an overtly bad idea
but when you're in the gutter the money seems like it's worth the risk
this is the typical tale of the rise and fall that portrays the rise more as a promotion from associate to management
and the fall an inevitable outcome in a system that punishes every mistake with death and violence
it's hard not to blame the protagonists for their rash and often explosive reactions when that's what they've been taught to do
mafia 3's setup is immediately more engaging given how unabashedly poltiical it is
it's completely unafraid to be a statement in that way
but vito's downfall is told with a greater sense of grace that never loses consistency in tone or quality
if you're just watching the cutscenes it's definitely a product of its time, there isn't much that's inspired about the direction or the voice acting
everything is competent at the very least
but chew on things and just
try to get past the gristle
it's a white man's story for white men (the subject of italians being white or not is not present in this game but feel free to bring it up yourself i'm too white to stop you)
there are elements of this game that handles the topic of race with grace but much like everything else you have to look past what the game is actually putting in your face and give it the thought that it deserves only sometimes in this case
meanwhile this game definitely fails the bechdel test - often women are just objects to be oogled at and nothing more
these are elements that definitely deserve criticism and they often fly in the face of how smart it is otherwise
because while the game treats machismo driven violence as the selfish drive that it is regardless of the reasoning of its application
and the distribution of hard drugs in black neighborhoods as the abhorrent con that only serves the oppressors distributing the poison
it also has out of place nude playboys as the primary collectible and liberal usage of racial slurs that are often not commented on
mafia 3 following this game is wild considering how well it handles the topic of race while also not shying away from characters being racist pieces of shit
2016 was very different from 2010, i guess
but man is this cut lean
the, frankly, shit elements of the narrative combined with the general gameplay quirks keep me from calling this a greatest of all time experience, but i've left a LOT of what makes this game as engaging and thoughtful as it is out
i don't feel like listing everything and writing a comprehensive review, this is me just putting my opinion out there
go play it for yourself cunt, it really is a uniquely good game
its cohesion should not be ignored
the ending, too, while abrupt in a fashion that exemplifies the "ignore how video gamey it all is just give it some time to stew" aspect of this game's storytelling
is a knockout, a real gut punch that comes fast but doesn't hurt until a while later
must play for its genre
it's a competent, if extremely derivative mob story in the shoes of an also competent if extremely derivative 3rd person cover shooter that fulfills the potential of the source material while abandoning the mechanics that've made the original release stick out to people for over twenty years
this is not a game developed by army sim devs, it's a game that's aping mafia 2
that's probably the best perspective to have when going into why this remake (reimagining, whatever) changes what it does
mafia 2 itself was a way to streamline and take advantage of its predecessor's narrative potential, smoothing out the rough simulationist gameplay into something that played like an intensely focused gta
hangar 13 chose to do the same, and it definitely succeeds in that regard
if people who have played the original and didn't outright dislike this watering down of a very unique experience are to be believed
i haven't played that game so my frame of reference are the other mafia games
speaking of watered down, the moment to moment feels a lot like diet mafia 3
it maintains 3's flaws while removing the speed and brutality that made 3 compelling
however, because it plays perfectly Fine and it completely lacks the structure that made 3 a complete slog i don't really have a big problem with it
it's clear that this was done intentionally as well, given that there's a greater focus on making the player less a sheer unstoppable force of power and more like a regular human being
elements like medkit style health recovery and "classic" difficulty making any fight extremely lethal make that obvious
though i think that these elements are out of place in this game - i gave it a whirl but had a much better time when i turned the difficulty down
i normally like very lethal shooters (i can't play metro on anything other than ranger hardcore it doesn't feel right at all) so take that as you will
driving is hit or miss - it nails the sluggish handling that the original game specifically wanted to recreate in its simulation setting, but because this game has a much more modern approach to set pieces and the sort i found that
much like the aforementioned combat
it was more frustrating than immersive when i was actually meant to put my skills to the test
the best example is this game's attempt at addressing The Race, the part of the 2002 release that was so fucking infamous that it was later patched to allow the player to skip it
i really disliked it, it's what made me take the game from the moderate difficulty and simulation handling i was using and turn everything to its easiest setting until i was done with it
and i kept the driving there until the car chase in the rain when i decided to make that regular handling as well
i like the day to day mundanity that the game is striving for - which is why i kept the police response on simulation - but i suck at driving in a lot of games and i'd rather have a good time than just be mad at a video game
difficulty selection exists for a reason
because of that i'm not gonna really critique it much though, you'll probably dig it as it's a lot of the point
but this is all to say that i don't think the game loses much thematically in the translation between the hardcore and the streamlined
that's because the narrative is incredibly strong and maintains what made games previous as engaging as they were
it's less about the telling and more about the material and its context that's given to you
much of what makes mafia an interesting series is the thematic detail that the game is never subtle about but also never draws a ton of attention to
it forces the player to put two and two together while putting two and two right in front of your face
the end result is a game that's easy to interpret but takes a little bit of legwork to truly appreciate and i respect that about these games
that despite having "i've definitely seen goodfellas" energy it still manages to feel unique and fresh
that it maintains a focus on this narrative instead of capitulating to the trends of open world contemporaries results in a condensed and evocative crime story that is greater than the sum of its parts, lacking in any of the bullshit that a game like mafia 3 had
this is not an open world game, it is a game that uses an open world style hub to emphasize time and place
the commute is the point, the lack of anything to do outside of the objective you are given is the point, it's all the shit that mafia 2 did and it does it fairly well
but it isn't nearly as compelling
its story is a lot simpler, its protagonist is a lot less nuanced, its gameplay isn't q u i t e as good in spite of being the same on paper (the melee combat is better i'll give it that lol)
it's not as cohesive with its themes as even the original game could be (while i haven't played it i know what happens in the narrative)
but the end result is a very competent and enjoyable game that is a lot more interesting to talk about than the overwhelming majority of its AAA contemporaries
but i have a feeling that the legacy of the original mafia will overshadow this release the more time goes on just because of how unique it still is
i can't name another gta style game that goes as hard as that one does in immersing you in the world you're progressively making worse
which is a reality that i think hangar 13 would be okay with
it's clear that with all the changes made, there was a deep love for what the original game was able to capture
you gotta respect that with a AAA remake, we're kinda spoiled with the REmakes and we might not remember just how bad we normally have it with remakes
this is not a game developed by army sim devs, it's a game that's aping mafia 2
that's probably the best perspective to have when going into why this remake (reimagining, whatever) changes what it does
mafia 2 itself was a way to streamline and take advantage of its predecessor's narrative potential, smoothing out the rough simulationist gameplay into something that played like an intensely focused gta
hangar 13 chose to do the same, and it definitely succeeds in that regard
if people who have played the original and didn't outright dislike this watering down of a very unique experience are to be believed
i haven't played that game so my frame of reference are the other mafia games
speaking of watered down, the moment to moment feels a lot like diet mafia 3
it maintains 3's flaws while removing the speed and brutality that made 3 compelling
however, because it plays perfectly Fine and it completely lacks the structure that made 3 a complete slog i don't really have a big problem with it
it's clear that this was done intentionally as well, given that there's a greater focus on making the player less a sheer unstoppable force of power and more like a regular human being
elements like medkit style health recovery and "classic" difficulty making any fight extremely lethal make that obvious
though i think that these elements are out of place in this game - i gave it a whirl but had a much better time when i turned the difficulty down
i normally like very lethal shooters (i can't play metro on anything other than ranger hardcore it doesn't feel right at all) so take that as you will
driving is hit or miss - it nails the sluggish handling that the original game specifically wanted to recreate in its simulation setting, but because this game has a much more modern approach to set pieces and the sort i found that
much like the aforementioned combat
it was more frustrating than immersive when i was actually meant to put my skills to the test
the best example is this game's attempt at addressing The Race, the part of the 2002 release that was so fucking infamous that it was later patched to allow the player to skip it
i really disliked it, it's what made me take the game from the moderate difficulty and simulation handling i was using and turn everything to its easiest setting until i was done with it
and i kept the driving there until the car chase in the rain when i decided to make that regular handling as well
i like the day to day mundanity that the game is striving for - which is why i kept the police response on simulation - but i suck at driving in a lot of games and i'd rather have a good time than just be mad at a video game
difficulty selection exists for a reason
because of that i'm not gonna really critique it much though, you'll probably dig it as it's a lot of the point
but this is all to say that i don't think the game loses much thematically in the translation between the hardcore and the streamlined
that's because the narrative is incredibly strong and maintains what made games previous as engaging as they were
it's less about the telling and more about the material and its context that's given to you
much of what makes mafia an interesting series is the thematic detail that the game is never subtle about but also never draws a ton of attention to
it forces the player to put two and two together while putting two and two right in front of your face
the end result is a game that's easy to interpret but takes a little bit of legwork to truly appreciate and i respect that about these games
that despite having "i've definitely seen goodfellas" energy it still manages to feel unique and fresh
that it maintains a focus on this narrative instead of capitulating to the trends of open world contemporaries results in a condensed and evocative crime story that is greater than the sum of its parts, lacking in any of the bullshit that a game like mafia 3 had
this is not an open world game, it is a game that uses an open world style hub to emphasize time and place
the commute is the point, the lack of anything to do outside of the objective you are given is the point, it's all the shit that mafia 2 did and it does it fairly well
but it isn't nearly as compelling
its story is a lot simpler, its protagonist is a lot less nuanced, its gameplay isn't q u i t e as good in spite of being the same on paper (the melee combat is better i'll give it that lol)
it's not as cohesive with its themes as even the original game could be (while i haven't played it i know what happens in the narrative)
but the end result is a very competent and enjoyable game that is a lot more interesting to talk about than the overwhelming majority of its AAA contemporaries
but i have a feeling that the legacy of the original mafia will overshadow this release the more time goes on just because of how unique it still is
i can't name another gta style game that goes as hard as that one does in immersing you in the world you're progressively making worse
which is a reality that i think hangar 13 would be okay with
it's clear that with all the changes made, there was a deep love for what the original game was able to capture
you gotta respect that with a AAA remake, we're kinda spoiled with the REmakes and we might not remember just how bad we normally have it with remakes
2022
it's a playable modern martial arts movie
the kind that you'd see everybody never shut the fuck up about when action movies are brought up
it's got the style, it's got the choerography
it's a GREAT time, a must try of its genre
but it's got all the hang ups that action movies tend to have - mainly their simplicity in the face of trying to be something more
that bit of insecurity about what it is when what it succeeds at is so frequently engaging and brutally cathartic that when it tries to be "elevated" it just
fails, but it's not a spectacular failure
the first john wick has a lot of "i'm sad and miss my wife" moments that make sense on paper but in execution is just the part of the movie that nobody REALLY cares about
it's just obligation, the part of the plot that deserves the focus it got but really should've been left out if the execution is gonna be relatively boring
it's not BAD, i can accept that it's there, but it's still lessens the product
except with sifu it's goofy shit like "hey i'm gonna beat the shit out of you and make you think i'm gonna kill you but i won't, which will make you stop fighting and make me out to be the better person even though i straight up murdered five hundred people before i got here" that john wick never had to deal with
so i guess it is worse and kind of a big problem when you think about it i guess
because the story, in spite of all its presentation, is extremely simple and feels almost patronizing at times if you do the recommended second wude playthrough
and dude, i don't think it's nearly as rough as it could have been but you can definitely tell that
while the devs have a profound love of martial arts cinema
the devs were mostly, as far as i can tell, white people
i applaud (lol) slo clap for their reverence, and i won't go any further than that given that i am also extremely white
they consulted a lot of people who did know about this shit
but when your game ends with the protag among chinese dragons in a stereotypical depiction of the after life i think i have some ground to stand on
but man
i'm gonna aplogize for my aforementioned paleness and say that in the moment, when i'm actually playing the game, i can't find it in myself to care
this is one of the coolest games i've ever played
i love this shit man, this is my DMC
my godhand
my game that i play over and over again just to get better at, just to do cooler shit in, just to completely dominate
that's not to say the game is easy or that it doesn't frustrate: it's the opposite
this is easily one of the harder character action games that you can play, arguably one of the harder rouge lites
the immediate comparison that comes to mind is sekiro, not just because of its posture and takedown system that incentivizes aggression and speed to overwhelm your opponents
but the hyper focus on extremely punishing game design that forces the player into doing exactly what the game wants you to do
you WILL get good at parrying, you WILL learn to avoid sweep attacks, you WILL learn how to weave through a group fight, and you WILL learn all of its systems or you WILL fail and you won't see the credits even once
deaths are quick and punishing, with each one adding onto a counter that multiplies with each death (you can clear these multipliers but it can snowball very quick)
you reach the limit, your run is over
there are many elements of the game that try to smooth this over somewhat, but with things like the game's shrine system, you are very much encouraged to not take those shortcuts (figuratively and literally)
this is a barrier for most players, i imagine, but unlike sekiro (a game i also put an obscene amount of time into at launch because of very similar reasons - again, the comparison is more than surface level) this game actually has an easy mode
which wasn't there at release, it's a conscious choice that the devs have made post launch to help ease people into this experience
it's still difficult, it still enocurages the same things, but it's now way easier for somebody not as good at the game as me to find out how utterly satisfying it is to duck punch push light push again heavy sweep ground attack and do the overwhelming majority (if not all) of the structure damage of that one bitch that killed you a billion times before you figured out you can just parry the cunt and obliterate the fucker so efficiently that fighting two at once is what feels like a fair fight
what elevates this game into the territory of a game like the aforementioned godhand is the sheer power you can obtain just by simply mastering the game's mechanics
every enemy has a weakness, even the ones that seem like they don't, and while you will definitely want to fully unlock that upgrade tree
and do it asap, the game really doesn't feel complete until you do
that knowledge is still more important than any skill you can obtain in game
i fucking love when games manage to do this and i'm actually able to engage with it, because rarely do i actually want to put in the time to master a game like this
but i think this one truly deserves that dedication
this is a MUST play, it fits in with some of the best rouge lites out there while appealing to an entirely different demographic
namely me, somebody who's not the biggest fan of them
but IS the biggest fan of this kind of shit
i want more games specifically like this god dammit
the kind that you'd see everybody never shut the fuck up about when action movies are brought up
it's got the style, it's got the choerography
it's a GREAT time, a must try of its genre
but it's got all the hang ups that action movies tend to have - mainly their simplicity in the face of trying to be something more
that bit of insecurity about what it is when what it succeeds at is so frequently engaging and brutally cathartic that when it tries to be "elevated" it just
fails, but it's not a spectacular failure
the first john wick has a lot of "i'm sad and miss my wife" moments that make sense on paper but in execution is just the part of the movie that nobody REALLY cares about
it's just obligation, the part of the plot that deserves the focus it got but really should've been left out if the execution is gonna be relatively boring
it's not BAD, i can accept that it's there, but it's still lessens the product
except with sifu it's goofy shit like "hey i'm gonna beat the shit out of you and make you think i'm gonna kill you but i won't, which will make you stop fighting and make me out to be the better person even though i straight up murdered five hundred people before i got here" that john wick never had to deal with
so i guess it is worse and kind of a big problem when you think about it i guess
because the story, in spite of all its presentation, is extremely simple and feels almost patronizing at times if you do the recommended second wude playthrough
and dude, i don't think it's nearly as rough as it could have been but you can definitely tell that
while the devs have a profound love of martial arts cinema
the devs were mostly, as far as i can tell, white people
i applaud (lol) slo clap for their reverence, and i won't go any further than that given that i am also extremely white
they consulted a lot of people who did know about this shit
but when your game ends with the protag among chinese dragons in a stereotypical depiction of the after life i think i have some ground to stand on
but man
i'm gonna aplogize for my aforementioned paleness and say that in the moment, when i'm actually playing the game, i can't find it in myself to care
this is one of the coolest games i've ever played
i love this shit man, this is my DMC
my godhand
my game that i play over and over again just to get better at, just to do cooler shit in, just to completely dominate
that's not to say the game is easy or that it doesn't frustrate: it's the opposite
this is easily one of the harder character action games that you can play, arguably one of the harder rouge lites
the immediate comparison that comes to mind is sekiro, not just because of its posture and takedown system that incentivizes aggression and speed to overwhelm your opponents
but the hyper focus on extremely punishing game design that forces the player into doing exactly what the game wants you to do
you WILL get good at parrying, you WILL learn to avoid sweep attacks, you WILL learn how to weave through a group fight, and you WILL learn all of its systems or you WILL fail and you won't see the credits even once
deaths are quick and punishing, with each one adding onto a counter that multiplies with each death (you can clear these multipliers but it can snowball very quick)
you reach the limit, your run is over
there are many elements of the game that try to smooth this over somewhat, but with things like the game's shrine system, you are very much encouraged to not take those shortcuts (figuratively and literally)
this is a barrier for most players, i imagine, but unlike sekiro (a game i also put an obscene amount of time into at launch because of very similar reasons - again, the comparison is more than surface level) this game actually has an easy mode
which wasn't there at release, it's a conscious choice that the devs have made post launch to help ease people into this experience
it's still difficult, it still enocurages the same things, but it's now way easier for somebody not as good at the game as me to find out how utterly satisfying it is to duck punch push light push again heavy sweep ground attack and do the overwhelming majority (if not all) of the structure damage of that one bitch that killed you a billion times before you figured out you can just parry the cunt and obliterate the fucker so efficiently that fighting two at once is what feels like a fair fight
what elevates this game into the territory of a game like the aforementioned godhand is the sheer power you can obtain just by simply mastering the game's mechanics
every enemy has a weakness, even the ones that seem like they don't, and while you will definitely want to fully unlock that upgrade tree
and do it asap, the game really doesn't feel complete until you do
that knowledge is still more important than any skill you can obtain in game
i fucking love when games manage to do this and i'm actually able to engage with it, because rarely do i actually want to put in the time to master a game like this
but i think this one truly deserves that dedication
this is a MUST play, it fits in with some of the best rouge lites out there while appealing to an entirely different demographic
namely me, somebody who's not the biggest fan of them
but IS the biggest fan of this kind of shit
i want more games specifically like this god dammit
a narrative whose political boldness in the AAA space is only matched by the machinegames wolfensteins that you might not wanna see all of if the safest of checklist gameplay loops gets on your nerves
i dropped this game the first time i tried it
i had played through the reimagining of the first and the definitive release of the second mafia games before giving this a proper shot back when they were all put out
i was hooked by the narrative and how focused it was for the first few hours or so, but once what you're actually gonna be doing for the majority of your playthrough revealed itself to me
combined with it running like shit on my system of the time
i bid farewell to this and figured i'd finish it later when i had a better machine and some mods that helped the game out
fast forward three years and i did just that
the mods were very basic and i only implemented them after giving the vanilla experience another shot
things like improving the crosshair and adding a few more immersive elements (that i later began to dislike but i will not blame the game for that or account for it here, this game isn't built to play with rules that the other mafia games have and that's what i was trying to go for)
and hey, the game was butter smooth on my current system which is relatively mid range these days
but what wasn't smooth was the game's general technical polish
because there were enough times that i had to reload checkpoints or reset the game entirely (when the game wasn't doing it for me - this thankfully didn't happen often but it was more than a couple) that i felt like even noting it here
the game generally doesn't look very good for the time it came out either and i don't mean the graphical fidelity itself
the anti aliasing solution is incredibly frustrating and as a fan of the newer resident evil games that's saying something
the colors are also very washed out, an issue that the definitive edition made worse
thankfully, one of the mods i implemented was a reshade that is the most downloaded mod for this game on nexusmods
this is as someone who normally doesn't like most reshade presets you'll find online
but that really isn't the core issue with this game - i have played and greatly enjoyed games with far worse technical issues
this game is a fucking slog to get through
the moment to moment gameplay is great, i do not have an issue with any of the actual gunplay
the driving is so-so, it's vastly improved when you have access to better vehicles and it doesn't take long to get there
the actual blueprint for what you do makes sense, this game would not have been as effective if it was linear in the same way the other games were considering what it is trying to go for
no, what sucks is that there's so fucking much of it to do and it's all the same simple bullshit
talk to a dude who knows something about a district's racket, go around the district and hit up locations to fuck shit up and cause a lot of damage
get the runners of these rackets pissed so they show up at a place that you've probably already been to
and go end their shit (or not, you can spare people in this game but i can't comment on whether it's worth it or not because i killed all these dudes)
assign the racket to your chosen buddy and move on
do that twice in a district, get the story missions that actually have effort put into their structure
and move on until you've cleared the map
then end the game
it's really that simple
there is no big mechanical twist, there is no massive upgrade to your arsenal that makes the gameplay suddenly exciting
you just get incrementally better at doing what was already pretty easy to do in the first place
it's barebones as hell and by god is that a shame
this is some of my favorite writing in AAA gaming and its solely because of its bluntness
america being a racist shithole that will chew up and spit out every black body it can is a given
there is no question, no counter point to rebuke the evil that is the american empire
lincoln clay is a monster of america's creation
a black boy shipped out to vietnam and taught to do far worse than kill who comes back and is immediately taken advantage of by a white man that sees an opportunity
a man motivated by his deep pockets that sees clay and his family as nothing more than slurs to be used
a crime boss, a businessman, an owner of capital that fails to tie up that one loose end
and every bit of pain, rage and cunning that the state gave clay is what that man will get in return
and new bordeaux becomes yet another battlefield where non combatants are hurt the most
the characters are fairly consistent in that nuance, though it falls short of the highs that previous titles could hit
i think it makes up for that in its boldness and frame - taking down the racist cunts that think spewing slurs is a personality is very cathartic
rarely is this challenged - it's often egged on, and one can't really blame anybody for wanting this
but the game's best character comes in the form of the sole voice of dissent
watching a few clips of father james is all you really need to see what i'm getting at when i say just how utterly disappointing it is to play through all this slop
because the folks over at hangar 13 were capable of creating a character whose emotional ressonance alone completely makes this game
he is one of the reasons to go through this - i love every scene this man is in (in the main game - the dlcs suck and you should only do faster baby, that is my review of the dlcs)
he completely grounds the games events, primarily through the game's novel framing of being a documentary about the events that take place within the game itself
it's him talking about lincoln, expressing all of his sadness and regret of enabling lincoln to do what he does
shit like that, the nuance in what is on the surface pretty straight forward writing is what elevates the mafia games and seperates them from the muck that this game specifically would otherwise be
i think you should definitely play this, there's a LOT of stuff that i did not talk about because of that, but install mods that either half the racket damage or completely disable it (do the former, it's the main way you get a decent chunk of your money in the game but you also really don't need it if you just rush faster baby and get the silenced mac 10 lol)
because this game is, again, a slog and it's very frustrating given how excellent this game's writing tends to be
this is the rebuttal to every shit head that said mafia should be an open world game first and foremost
i dropped this game the first time i tried it
i had played through the reimagining of the first and the definitive release of the second mafia games before giving this a proper shot back when they were all put out
i was hooked by the narrative and how focused it was for the first few hours or so, but once what you're actually gonna be doing for the majority of your playthrough revealed itself to me
combined with it running like shit on my system of the time
i bid farewell to this and figured i'd finish it later when i had a better machine and some mods that helped the game out
fast forward three years and i did just that
the mods were very basic and i only implemented them after giving the vanilla experience another shot
things like improving the crosshair and adding a few more immersive elements (that i later began to dislike but i will not blame the game for that or account for it here, this game isn't built to play with rules that the other mafia games have and that's what i was trying to go for)
and hey, the game was butter smooth on my current system which is relatively mid range these days
but what wasn't smooth was the game's general technical polish
because there were enough times that i had to reload checkpoints or reset the game entirely (when the game wasn't doing it for me - this thankfully didn't happen often but it was more than a couple) that i felt like even noting it here
the game generally doesn't look very good for the time it came out either and i don't mean the graphical fidelity itself
the anti aliasing solution is incredibly frustrating and as a fan of the newer resident evil games that's saying something
the colors are also very washed out, an issue that the definitive edition made worse
thankfully, one of the mods i implemented was a reshade that is the most downloaded mod for this game on nexusmods
this is as someone who normally doesn't like most reshade presets you'll find online
but that really isn't the core issue with this game - i have played and greatly enjoyed games with far worse technical issues
this game is a fucking slog to get through
the moment to moment gameplay is great, i do not have an issue with any of the actual gunplay
the driving is so-so, it's vastly improved when you have access to better vehicles and it doesn't take long to get there
the actual blueprint for what you do makes sense, this game would not have been as effective if it was linear in the same way the other games were considering what it is trying to go for
no, what sucks is that there's so fucking much of it to do and it's all the same simple bullshit
talk to a dude who knows something about a district's racket, go around the district and hit up locations to fuck shit up and cause a lot of damage
get the runners of these rackets pissed so they show up at a place that you've probably already been to
and go end their shit (or not, you can spare people in this game but i can't comment on whether it's worth it or not because i killed all these dudes)
assign the racket to your chosen buddy and move on
do that twice in a district, get the story missions that actually have effort put into their structure
and move on until you've cleared the map
then end the game
it's really that simple
there is no big mechanical twist, there is no massive upgrade to your arsenal that makes the gameplay suddenly exciting
you just get incrementally better at doing what was already pretty easy to do in the first place
it's barebones as hell and by god is that a shame
this is some of my favorite writing in AAA gaming and its solely because of its bluntness
america being a racist shithole that will chew up and spit out every black body it can is a given
there is no question, no counter point to rebuke the evil that is the american empire
lincoln clay is a monster of america's creation
a black boy shipped out to vietnam and taught to do far worse than kill who comes back and is immediately taken advantage of by a white man that sees an opportunity
a man motivated by his deep pockets that sees clay and his family as nothing more than slurs to be used
a crime boss, a businessman, an owner of capital that fails to tie up that one loose end
and every bit of pain, rage and cunning that the state gave clay is what that man will get in return
and new bordeaux becomes yet another battlefield where non combatants are hurt the most
the characters are fairly consistent in that nuance, though it falls short of the highs that previous titles could hit
i think it makes up for that in its boldness and frame - taking down the racist cunts that think spewing slurs is a personality is very cathartic
rarely is this challenged - it's often egged on, and one can't really blame anybody for wanting this
but the game's best character comes in the form of the sole voice of dissent
watching a few clips of father james is all you really need to see what i'm getting at when i say just how utterly disappointing it is to play through all this slop
because the folks over at hangar 13 were capable of creating a character whose emotional ressonance alone completely makes this game
he is one of the reasons to go through this - i love every scene this man is in (in the main game - the dlcs suck and you should only do faster baby, that is my review of the dlcs)
he completely grounds the games events, primarily through the game's novel framing of being a documentary about the events that take place within the game itself
it's him talking about lincoln, expressing all of his sadness and regret of enabling lincoln to do what he does
shit like that, the nuance in what is on the surface pretty straight forward writing is what elevates the mafia games and seperates them from the muck that this game specifically would otherwise be
i think you should definitely play this, there's a LOT of stuff that i did not talk about because of that, but install mods that either half the racket damage or completely disable it (do the former, it's the main way you get a decent chunk of your money in the game but you also really don't need it if you just rush faster baby and get the silenced mac 10 lol)
because this game is, again, a slog and it's very frustrating given how excellent this game's writing tends to be
this is the rebuttal to every shit head that said mafia should be an open world game first and foremost
this is a from the ground up remake of the original 2014 release with a focus on accuracy, quality of life changes and content additions that flesh things out just a bit more
on all those fronts this was a success
it's been a minute since i've went through this game completely, but with the exception of the, frankly, butchered rendition of Work Harder (it's not the sample, it's a remade song now and it sounds significantly worse) i didn't notice a singular thing out of place
i've read about people noticing the combat was somewhat slower due to some minor animation changes but as someone who is incredibly impatient at times and doesn't dig turn based rpg combat most of the time i had no issues here
the core game is retained, the content alterations are extremely minimal and no one is gonna notice it or care
quite literally a singular bit of a sprite alteration (a black character in a flashback joke scene had his lip color altered to not resemble a minstrel caricature), some punching sounds that i never noticed and another singular sound effect (there's a power ranger riff group that appears, and while they're making poses and doing their intros the sound of a monkey plays over the black ranger's dialogue which was changed to a goofy elephant sound)
which are at bare minimum whatever changes and at best (the ones with these little marks next to them) worthwhile changes that maintain what was funny about their contexts without the out of place racist elements
so don't feel like you're missing out if you buy this
it includes the legacy versions of the game if you're dying to see what they're like
but new content like extra campfire conversations that really flesh out your party members are things you'd be missing by making that decision
if you owned this before, you get the definitive version for free
which was a good excuse for me to revisit this absolute fucking masterpiece of a game
classic example of something that has a lot to talk about, but because it's something that is still relatively obscure i really don't want to
you really should just fucking play it
the power this narrative has still stands strong, it's an oppressively bleak treaty on the cyclical effects of abuse
it's also mad max meets mother 3 with a soundtrack that sounds like literally nothing else
the game happens to be mechanically deep and compelling on its own, but as the best games do the narrative and gameplay cannot be separated
few games avoid ludonarrative dissonance as well as this game does
extremely absurd, very funny, and really fucking painful
one of my favorite youtube videos is hbomberguy's essay on this game and its dlc sequel, which to me is the defacto "i wanna know what is going on with this fucker" bit of content i'd throw anybody's way
at some point he says something along the lines of "this game will directly inspire a future 'best game ever'" and i fully agree
it is a must play, and with it on all platforms you cunts have no excuse anymore
on all those fronts this was a success
it's been a minute since i've went through this game completely, but with the exception of the, frankly, butchered rendition of Work Harder (it's not the sample, it's a remade song now and it sounds significantly worse) i didn't notice a singular thing out of place
i've read about people noticing the combat was somewhat slower due to some minor animation changes but as someone who is incredibly impatient at times and doesn't dig turn based rpg combat most of the time i had no issues here
the core game is retained, the content alterations are extremely minimal and no one is gonna notice it or care
quite literally a singular bit of a sprite alteration (a black character in a flashback joke scene had his lip color altered to not resemble a minstrel caricature), some punching sounds that i never noticed and another singular sound effect (there's a power ranger riff group that appears, and while they're making poses and doing their intros the sound of a monkey plays over the black ranger's dialogue which was changed to a goofy elephant sound)
which are at bare minimum whatever changes and at best (the ones with these little marks next to them) worthwhile changes that maintain what was funny about their contexts without the out of place racist elements
so don't feel like you're missing out if you buy this
it includes the legacy versions of the game if you're dying to see what they're like
but new content like extra campfire conversations that really flesh out your party members are things you'd be missing by making that decision
if you owned this before, you get the definitive version for free
which was a good excuse for me to revisit this absolute fucking masterpiece of a game
classic example of something that has a lot to talk about, but because it's something that is still relatively obscure i really don't want to
you really should just fucking play it
the power this narrative has still stands strong, it's an oppressively bleak treaty on the cyclical effects of abuse
it's also mad max meets mother 3 with a soundtrack that sounds like literally nothing else
the game happens to be mechanically deep and compelling on its own, but as the best games do the narrative and gameplay cannot be separated
few games avoid ludonarrative dissonance as well as this game does
extremely absurd, very funny, and really fucking painful
one of my favorite youtube videos is hbomberguy's essay on this game and its dlc sequel, which to me is the defacto "i wanna know what is going on with this fucker" bit of content i'd throw anybody's way
at some point he says something along the lines of "this game will directly inspire a future 'best game ever'" and i fully agree
it is a must play, and with it on all platforms you cunts have no excuse anymore
it's a solid if simple conversion of deadly alliance
this is technically an updated port of the original port, which itself was competent
i spent a LOT of time on that version of the game as a kid, but that was also because it's one of the few games i had at the time
it's very simple, it won't hold your attention for very long, but as far as portable mk during this time you can do a hell of a lot worse
so, so much worse
this is fairly damn solid all things considered
this is technically an updated port of the original port, which itself was competent
i spent a LOT of time on that version of the game as a kid, but that was also because it's one of the few games i had at the time
it's very simple, it won't hold your attention for very long, but as far as portable mk during this time you can do a hell of a lot worse
so, so much worse
this is fairly damn solid all things considered
imagine mk3 but way way worse
that's exactly what this is
there's something broken in every aspect of this game
the presentation is butt ugly across the board and this is not because of the system it's on
there are backgrounds that are so pixelated you're only gonna know the details if you've played mk3 before
the character sprites don't look much better, there are a LOT of animation frames cut out that result in movesets that look extremely jank no matter what you're doing
the music is bland as fuck and the sound effects are just completely borked
punch landing sounds aren't consistent, and when you do hear them they're the most stock effects you can think of
the gameplay is completely broken
everything is simplified as expected, this isn't really the issue
the issue is that the cooldown for specials feels nonexistent, which means that you can spam the ever loving fuck out of whatever is in your kit
which sounds funny at least, but in reality if you're just playing on your own you're gonna be dealing with the ai repeatedly throwing out whatever move of theirs is most broken to spam and just completely obliterating you with it
you can counter this by walking forward and pressing the punch button repeatedly
this is not consistent on the hardest difficulty but it is very consistent on the default medium
enemies will just walk backwards, hit the wall and you can lock them into blocking
taking chip
unblocking and just eating the punch
and then doing nothing on wakeup except eat more punches
this carried me to the centaur cunt who quite literally prevented me from doing anything on a couple tries
turns out letting bosses spam specials is extremely broken
who would have thought
the story behind this game's release is interesting enough to go look up, and some of the stupid shit you can do as a result of the game being utterly fucked is funny to see
but this is easily the most frustratingly bad fighting game i've played before
it's not the worst, but it's the one that pissed me off the most
and even if it's not THE worst, it's certainly one of them
there is better mk to be had on the gba, ignore this title
that's exactly what this is
there's something broken in every aspect of this game
the presentation is butt ugly across the board and this is not because of the system it's on
there are backgrounds that are so pixelated you're only gonna know the details if you've played mk3 before
the character sprites don't look much better, there are a LOT of animation frames cut out that result in movesets that look extremely jank no matter what you're doing
the music is bland as fuck and the sound effects are just completely borked
punch landing sounds aren't consistent, and when you do hear them they're the most stock effects you can think of
the gameplay is completely broken
everything is simplified as expected, this isn't really the issue
the issue is that the cooldown for specials feels nonexistent, which means that you can spam the ever loving fuck out of whatever is in your kit
which sounds funny at least, but in reality if you're just playing on your own you're gonna be dealing with the ai repeatedly throwing out whatever move of theirs is most broken to spam and just completely obliterating you with it
you can counter this by walking forward and pressing the punch button repeatedly
this is not consistent on the hardest difficulty but it is very consistent on the default medium
enemies will just walk backwards, hit the wall and you can lock them into blocking
taking chip
unblocking and just eating the punch
and then doing nothing on wakeup except eat more punches
this carried me to the centaur cunt who quite literally prevented me from doing anything on a couple tries
turns out letting bosses spam specials is extremely broken
who would have thought
the story behind this game's release is interesting enough to go look up, and some of the stupid shit you can do as a result of the game being utterly fucked is funny to see
but this is easily the most frustratingly bad fighting game i've played before
it's not the worst, but it's the one that pissed me off the most
and even if it's not THE worst, it's certainly one of them
there is better mk to be had on the gba, ignore this title
1999
it's not as bad as it looks but it's still a straight downgrade
even for the time this game looked really, really rough and it's clear even without knowing about this game's development that things were rough
the 3d transition blight struck mk as well, but not nearly as bad as other franchises
this is still a pretty competent fighter that has its own charms
including that god awful presentation
the arcade endings retaining the camp of mythologies really make going through the arcade worth while, and the game's just a bit less bullshit than before
which is good because we're not at the stage of mk having godly amounts of content yet
but it's just diet mk3, there's a weapon system that feels tacked on even though you can wreck shit iwth it
the combos are extremely simplified to the point that i could consistently do some even when mashing like i usually do
etc
which makes it just okay
a little above average in my eyes
even for the time this game looked really, really rough and it's clear even without knowing about this game's development that things were rough
the 3d transition blight struck mk as well, but not nearly as bad as other franchises
this is still a pretty competent fighter that has its own charms
including that god awful presentation
the arcade endings retaining the camp of mythologies really make going through the arcade worth while, and the game's just a bit less bullshit than before
which is good because we're not at the stage of mk having godly amounts of content yet
but it's just diet mk3, there's a weapon system that feels tacked on even though you can wreck shit iwth it
the combos are extremely simplified to the point that i could consistently do some even when mashing like i usually do
etc
which makes it just okay
a little above average in my eyes
it's better than mythologies but just barely
really what it comes down to is that this game does nothing uniquely offensive: it's a cookie cutter bad 3d beat em up on the playstation
it's simplistic and has no real personality to speak of
there are combos but they feel pretty useless especially when you can just mash low punch until the dude dies
unless an enemy has a gun which gets more common as time goes on it seems
i only played the first couple of levels so i don't know
i planned on playing more of it but it was way too fucking boring
the music is alright, the intro is terrible in a good way, and there's some mk camp in the cutscenes but none of that really holds up what is just a complete slog of a game that has nothing to really offer outside of its own novelty
maybe it gets better later? i doubt it but maybe
really what it comes down to is that this game does nothing uniquely offensive: it's a cookie cutter bad 3d beat em up on the playstation
it's simplistic and has no real personality to speak of
there are combos but they feel pretty useless especially when you can just mash low punch until the dude dies
unless an enemy has a gun which gets more common as time goes on it seems
i only played the first couple of levels so i don't know
i planned on playing more of it but it was way too fucking boring
the music is alright, the intro is terrible in a good way, and there's some mk camp in the cutscenes but none of that really holds up what is just a complete slog of a game that has nothing to really offer outside of its own novelty
maybe it gets better later? i doubt it but maybe
alright, i fucked with the idea of a 2d platformer that takes advantage of fighting game mechanics
even something jank like this that controls the way it does
the closest thing i can think of is the subspace emmisary mode from ssbb but i'm sure something else does this idea justice too
i hope so mainly because this game is fucking trash
like i said, it's not really the controls
but they aren't good either
this feels exactly like taking the movement of mk3 and putting it into a 2d platformer because that is what it is
there are a few obvious flaws, two of which being that you can't really do fine control of your jumping (because this is mk style controls and not a more modern anime fighter or what have you that would feel better) and there's not a great solution for locking onto targets
the latter of which the game tries to solve with a button that manually chooses which direciton you face
except your inputs aren't consistently responsive when it comes to anything other than punching something, so not only do you not always turn when you want
but you have enemies that can and will take advantage of you fucking around with just turning
i was playing on very easy (i knew this game's reputation) and the first level was me dying over and over just trying to figure out how this game was gonna opperate
but hey, i did! after that the controls honestly weren't that big of an issue
it's jank but whether it was me being better at doing it or the game mysteriously getting better at auto rotating your guy to kick a dude in the face, something clicked and i got over it
so yeah, that isn't the issue
nah it's everything else
this is one of the cheapest games i've ever played
we're running with a lives and continue system which inherently there is nothing wrong with
in the game's options you can give yourself up to six lives and four continues iirc, idk i'm not booting it up to check again
point is you get a decent amount
this will go by very quickly
now, i've said before that i suck at fighting games - platformers however are my shit
so when i say that if i didn't have save states i'd probably still be on the second level i mean i'd be hard stuck
this game kills you so god damn fast
enemies (again, i was playing on very easy) can easily cheap you out with sweep spamming and other annoying bullshit that isn't so much hard to counter as it is just really annoying to deal with
once you start getting abilities this is less of an issue, but it never quite goes away
you can spam freeze somebody (even bosses sometimes), which IS funny
but what isn't is when the moment you open a fucking door they just rock your shit for no good reason
sometimes they do, sometimes they don't! it seems to me we're working with input reading ai here which isn't out of character for mk but it is absolutely fucking abysmal in a single player action platformer
this is glaringly obvious with the bosses which seem designed specifically around you abusing this fact
the second level boss's primary method of killing you is tossing you off the stage and killing you instantly
did i mention that if you continue you will restart the level
and you'll never guess what happens when you run out of continues, i won't either because i didn't find out
i used savestates and if you play this you should too, i'm not risking the chance of this bullshit ass game taking me back to the very fucking beginning of it or making me reload a save that has a fucking password system despite saving to the memory card in the year of our lord 1997
maybe it does just let you reload the game! that would make sense, but like i said
i'll never know
because again, this game kills you so fucking fast
every hazard can kill you and it can kill you very quickly
the second level is entirely about putting you in situations where if you fuck up once you are sent back to a checkpoint
checkpoints are seemingly reasonable given level lengths (it shouldn't shock you to know that this is a relatively short game) but again
death is inevitable, it is quick and swift but the pain lingers
you know that boss i mentioned? if you drain his health bar he goes into a last attack mode that will kill you instantly if it lands
you have three options of recourse:
run, run and run but not too hard so you don't fall off the stage
spam your slide move if you have it (you should)
but those two methods are very inconsistent, no see what you're meant to do is go to the ledge of the stage and grab onto it
how? i have no idea, i did the former on accident
i KNEW what the game wanted me to do before hand and i went exactly where i needed to go but it didn't work
i feel like it was luck that i survived but it might not have been
the game conditions the player to expect deaths and expect them quick so i just assume most shit will kill me
which isn't always the case! the third level has pits that sometimes has goodies
and you'll never know unless you jump into one
but if you guess wrong you just die
so why the fuck would you ever try it without savestates or something
and listen, i like hard games, but i fucking hate bullshit ones like this
and the level design isn't even inspired enough to make it enjoyable
the reason i stopped playing wasn't because i got too frustrated, it's because i got really bored
by the time i hit the fourth level (water temple LOL) i noticed that it was a series of what looked like sewer pipes that all looked exactly the same
so i looked up a gameplay walkthrough, skimmed through it to see if i was missing anything, realized i wasn't and stopped playing
except there is ONE saving grace, one little nugget of cool that is worth this game's existence
the cutscenes are funny
it's cheap camp that hits, it's basic as hell and there isn't a lot of it but that means you can just look them up on youtube and not have to play this thing
which is absolutely the best way to go about things
this is a weirdly ambitious project that didn't even commit to its ambitions enough to make a game that was interesting to go through and i think that's the game's biggest flaw
ninja gaiden for the nes is bullshit but i like it and still consider it a good game
it feels good to control and it's not just the same closed off corridor over and over again
i am easy to please and i can handle unfair games
this is a bullshit arcade game in sheep's clothing, but instead of your money all your gonna wast is your time and that's significantly more valuable in the long term
even something jank like this that controls the way it does
the closest thing i can think of is the subspace emmisary mode from ssbb but i'm sure something else does this idea justice too
i hope so mainly because this game is fucking trash
like i said, it's not really the controls
but they aren't good either
this feels exactly like taking the movement of mk3 and putting it into a 2d platformer because that is what it is
there are a few obvious flaws, two of which being that you can't really do fine control of your jumping (because this is mk style controls and not a more modern anime fighter or what have you that would feel better) and there's not a great solution for locking onto targets
the latter of which the game tries to solve with a button that manually chooses which direciton you face
except your inputs aren't consistently responsive when it comes to anything other than punching something, so not only do you not always turn when you want
but you have enemies that can and will take advantage of you fucking around with just turning
i was playing on very easy (i knew this game's reputation) and the first level was me dying over and over just trying to figure out how this game was gonna opperate
but hey, i did! after that the controls honestly weren't that big of an issue
it's jank but whether it was me being better at doing it or the game mysteriously getting better at auto rotating your guy to kick a dude in the face, something clicked and i got over it
so yeah, that isn't the issue
nah it's everything else
this is one of the cheapest games i've ever played
we're running with a lives and continue system which inherently there is nothing wrong with
in the game's options you can give yourself up to six lives and four continues iirc, idk i'm not booting it up to check again
point is you get a decent amount
this will go by very quickly
now, i've said before that i suck at fighting games - platformers however are my shit
so when i say that if i didn't have save states i'd probably still be on the second level i mean i'd be hard stuck
this game kills you so god damn fast
enemies (again, i was playing on very easy) can easily cheap you out with sweep spamming and other annoying bullshit that isn't so much hard to counter as it is just really annoying to deal with
once you start getting abilities this is less of an issue, but it never quite goes away
you can spam freeze somebody (even bosses sometimes), which IS funny
but what isn't is when the moment you open a fucking door they just rock your shit for no good reason
sometimes they do, sometimes they don't! it seems to me we're working with input reading ai here which isn't out of character for mk but it is absolutely fucking abysmal in a single player action platformer
this is glaringly obvious with the bosses which seem designed specifically around you abusing this fact
the second level boss's primary method of killing you is tossing you off the stage and killing you instantly
did i mention that if you continue you will restart the level
and you'll never guess what happens when you run out of continues, i won't either because i didn't find out
i used savestates and if you play this you should too, i'm not risking the chance of this bullshit ass game taking me back to the very fucking beginning of it or making me reload a save that has a fucking password system despite saving to the memory card in the year of our lord 1997
maybe it does just let you reload the game! that would make sense, but like i said
i'll never know
because again, this game kills you so fucking fast
every hazard can kill you and it can kill you very quickly
the second level is entirely about putting you in situations where if you fuck up once you are sent back to a checkpoint
checkpoints are seemingly reasonable given level lengths (it shouldn't shock you to know that this is a relatively short game) but again
death is inevitable, it is quick and swift but the pain lingers
you know that boss i mentioned? if you drain his health bar he goes into a last attack mode that will kill you instantly if it lands
you have three options of recourse:
run, run and run but not too hard so you don't fall off the stage
spam your slide move if you have it (you should)
but those two methods are very inconsistent, no see what you're meant to do is go to the ledge of the stage and grab onto it
how? i have no idea, i did the former on accident
i KNEW what the game wanted me to do before hand and i went exactly where i needed to go but it didn't work
i feel like it was luck that i survived but it might not have been
the game conditions the player to expect deaths and expect them quick so i just assume most shit will kill me
which isn't always the case! the third level has pits that sometimes has goodies
and you'll never know unless you jump into one
but if you guess wrong you just die
so why the fuck would you ever try it without savestates or something
and listen, i like hard games, but i fucking hate bullshit ones like this
and the level design isn't even inspired enough to make it enjoyable
the reason i stopped playing wasn't because i got too frustrated, it's because i got really bored
by the time i hit the fourth level (water temple LOL) i noticed that it was a series of what looked like sewer pipes that all looked exactly the same
so i looked up a gameplay walkthrough, skimmed through it to see if i was missing anything, realized i wasn't and stopped playing
except there is ONE saving grace, one little nugget of cool that is worth this game's existence
the cutscenes are funny
it's cheap camp that hits, it's basic as hell and there isn't a lot of it but that means you can just look them up on youtube and not have to play this thing
which is absolutely the best way to go about things
this is a weirdly ambitious project that didn't even commit to its ambitions enough to make a game that was interesting to go through and i think that's the game's biggest flaw
ninja gaiden for the nes is bullshit but i like it and still consider it a good game
it feels good to control and it's not just the same closed off corridor over and over again
i am easy to please and i can handle unfair games
this is a bullshit arcade game in sheep's clothing, but instead of your money all your gonna wast is your time and that's significantly more valuable in the long term
look man it's umk3 but even more stupid, i love that shit
the roster is expansive and very dumb, it feels like you're playing mugen sometimes but mugen is one of the best things ever
i played the every loving hell out of this game as a child who was probably too young to be playing it but that's neither here nor there
it's just a lot of fun and it has all the pros and cons of the game it followed up except more cons but i don't really care about them
the game looks like shit in comparison to the arcade ports but that's just the nature of ports at the time
speaking of, i played the GOG release which is probably the best way to play it outside of n64 on original hardware
native xinput support baby
you probably have an opinion on this game and it's likely that umk3 is better, which it is but my favorite smash game is project m and this game being my foundational fighting game is probably part of why that is
the roster is expansive and very dumb, it feels like you're playing mugen sometimes but mugen is one of the best things ever
i played the every loving hell out of this game as a child who was probably too young to be playing it but that's neither here nor there
it's just a lot of fun and it has all the pros and cons of the game it followed up except more cons but i don't really care about them
the game looks like shit in comparison to the arcade ports but that's just the nature of ports at the time
speaking of, i played the GOG release which is probably the best way to play it outside of n64 on original hardware
native xinput support baby
you probably have an opinion on this game and it's likely that umk3 is better, which it is but my favorite smash game is project m and this game being my foundational fighting game is probably part of why that is
this is probably my favorite mortal kombat but we'll see
thus far with my ratings of these games i've ignored talking about the mechanics simply because i'm bad at these games and i would rather you go look up how wild these games are on youtube than read me talk about them
i'm shit, my critiques are probably shit
and i'm gonna mostly continue to do that, but as we're ending the era of these games having basically nothing single player wise outside of the arcade ladder i guess we can talk about that here
simply because i don't really care for them
it's not why these games are great, and it's hard for me to talk about that because i'm not playing them with anybody these times around
every enemy is just an input mirror
they react to what you do and nothing else
a decent chunk of the time, if you just stand still they won't do anything
and when they do shit they're spamming the most optimal shit that makes you feel like you're playing a pro at this game
it's ai, and it can be cheesed, but not by me lol
so why is this and 2 highly rated for me? i've played them with people before lol
i played this and trilogy to death with my cousin, but i've played a fair bit of 2 as well
a lot of the snes ports of both of these
pissing people off with the sheva ground pound was klassic gamer shit my dude
the vibe is still just as good as it was before, that schlock that my head goop cavern truly craves
but a lot of my love for this game is nostalgia
look up comp footage this game is rad
thus far with my ratings of these games i've ignored talking about the mechanics simply because i'm bad at these games and i would rather you go look up how wild these games are on youtube than read me talk about them
i'm shit, my critiques are probably shit
and i'm gonna mostly continue to do that, but as we're ending the era of these games having basically nothing single player wise outside of the arcade ladder i guess we can talk about that here
simply because i don't really care for them
it's not why these games are great, and it's hard for me to talk about that because i'm not playing them with anybody these times around
every enemy is just an input mirror
they react to what you do and nothing else
a decent chunk of the time, if you just stand still they won't do anything
and when they do shit they're spamming the most optimal shit that makes you feel like you're playing a pro at this game
it's ai, and it can be cheesed, but not by me lol
so why is this and 2 highly rated for me? i've played them with people before lol
i played this and trilogy to death with my cousin, but i've played a fair bit of 2 as well
a lot of the snes ports of both of these
pissing people off with the sheva ground pound was klassic gamer shit my dude
the vibe is still just as good as it was before, that schlock that my head goop cavern truly craves
but a lot of my love for this game is nostalgia
look up comp footage this game is rad