saggysamurai
This review contains spoilers
After completing it i cannot stop thinking about the game. The game has made me feel things i have never felt before. In some ways its its an absolute masterclass while in others its borderline sickening. Its the most miserable game i have ever played and i think that’s exactly what naughty dog were aiming for. Its undeniably one of the most emotional stories thats ever been told. I understand what naughty dog were trying to do and the more i think about it the more i like the game. Joels death was heartbreaking even though hes an incredibly flawed human being and for him to be killed so unceremoniously is horrible to watch but i think it really works as a hook into ellies story and it really gives you as the player the motivation to go out with ellie for vengeance. And if you take the flashbacks we are given into account its even more powerful and tragic. When joel and ellie return to Jackson after their life changing adventure in the first game, joel an extremely broken man finally finds purpose in ellie. However when ellie starts fitting in at jackson she no longer really has a need for joel and we see how joel awkwardly tries to repair their relationship and its hard not to feel bad for joel. Ellie is the last thing joel has and he desperately doesn’t want to lose her. This relationship is only worsened by joels lie which ellie soon sees past. She threatens to leave jackson if joel doesnt tell her the truth. Joel, desperate for ellie to stay admits the truth and ellie is devastated by it and tells joel to stay away from her. A Heartbreaking moment for joel. But he regrets that he didnt let ellie live the life she wanted. And the irony is that even in death joel still does this, the fact that ellie never got the opportunity to repair their relationship and forgive joel which is the reason that ellie so badly wants revenge so when she is about to kill abby by forgiving her she is also forgiving joel and now thats shes done that theres no reason for her to kill abby thus ending the “cycle of violence” The real theme of the game is forgiveness not revenge. Its not until a year later that ellie finally talks to joel again and it just so happens to be the day before his death. The two talk and ellie suggest that she wants to work towards forgiveness (just thinking about this beautiful scene gets me teary) joel is overwhelmed with happiness that it draws him to tears and thats the last time the two speak. Ellies revenge isnt just about avenging someone she loved. It was the fact that she never got the opportunity to repair that relationship. Abby represents an opposite of ellie, she is avenging someone she loved. Abby is an evil person and i believe she is to be hated but the fact that she lost her father to joel is understandable. Abby eventually realises that killing joel changed nothing and didnt help her pain at all. However the second abby section of the game is far too long and is not as interesting as the ellie one also i think the story would have benefited from less flashbacks and more stuff told in chronological order, this simple change would add so much more tension and the structure of the game wouldn't be so muddled which in turn would help the games pacing . Its one of the most memorable experiences i expect i will ever have as far as the entertainment industry goes, it will traumatise you and upset you to the point where you feel like quitting. Neil clearly wanted to try something new after the last of us. That being said the game of course is visually beautiful and the world building is excellent, the sound design is impeccable: from the shriek of a clicker echoing through a subway tunnel to the crunch of the shotgun. The soundtrack is also brilliant my boy Gustavo has teamed up with Mac Quayle from Mr robot and they have created something on par with the original. Its good to note though that Gustavo did the best tracks lol. The gameplay is very engaging, the exploration is fascinating and levels are often very open and extremely detailed. The combat is brutal and intense and the enemy designs are often terrifying, wether its the whistling of the cult like seraphytes or the slow intense engagements with groups of infected stalkers. The 1 on 1 melee fights are cool too and the brutality here is clocked up to 11. Another surprising thing that you might not expect from a naughty dog game are the genuinely well done boss fights. Confrontations with the overhauled infected bloaters are super intense and there is another encounter later on in the game with a new kind of infected that gets your heart pumping and keeps you moving, its very reminiscent of something out of resident evil. Overall i respect the game for what it was trying to do and i really like some parts of it but overall the plot is a bit of a mess and im not sure if i could recommend the game to anyone because it gets you so depressed but if you are feeling up to it, play it.
2011
I do not like survival games in general and do not particularly like minecraft. I have two major issues with this genre. 1 theres just so much BS baked into these games, i really bristle against what i would describe as “eat your vegetables game design.” Game mechanics that force you to do tons and tons of boring shit to eventually arrive at a pay off. Grinding levels in a multiplayer game, levelling up in an mmo and gathering resources in an open world rpg, the survival genre combines all of these things together to create a creamy vegetable smoothie of pain without any of the pay off to make it worth it and thats the second major issue i have, for me the pay off just never felt worth it. These games rarely have compelling stories, they rarely have fleshed out endgames and they typically fail to create a feeling of satisfaction. You just feel like your on a hamster wheel the entire time and when you do make some big breakthrough like acquiring diamond equipment, your still gonna have to go back to the same boring activities you were taking part in previously. Survival games typically struggle to deliver a smooth feeling of progression. And thats really why i cant have a fun time in games such as minecraft.
Bonus note: My friends convinced me to get try minecraft again on ps4. I spent an hour staring at a “Locating server screen” until i gave up and went to bed, all the more reason for me to dislike this game.
Bonus note: My friends convinced me to get try minecraft again on ps4. I spent an hour staring at a “Locating server screen” until i gave up and went to bed, all the more reason for me to dislike this game.
This is a good ass game. I played through on the hardest diffIculty and i didnt even realise but the combat encounters are alot more intense when you realise that you die in like 2 shots. Nathan drake makes so many jokes about peoples asses in this game that i have to give the writing a 10/10. The reason you play this game though is for the big indiana jones set pieces, you go from climbing up a train as its falling off a cliff to jumping from moving trucks fucking blowing up shit with a grenade launcher but there no knack so i had to drop a point.
Not as good as uncharted 2 but the set pieces are amazing, the setting and the intrigue are all there, the fate of the two main villains felt a bit anti climatic and characters just kind of appear and disappear in the story. The opening is really cool and all the voice actors are great ofc. The games alot of fun with some rough edges, definitely worth a playthrough.
One of the best games ever made, period. Excellent characters, Snake, ocelot and The Boss being the highlights. An amazing OST. The stealth gameplay at first u have to get used to but when you do its alot of fun and there is a surprising amount of depth and hidden things that the game doesn’t tell you how to do. When you actually get the basics of CQC down its very satisfying to use. Also theres is a bunch of hidden details and secrets that you can find in the game, like secret ways to defeat bosses, hidden items and hidden cutscenes. The bosses are great with the final boss being the best. The game still looks decent surprisingly and the cinematography is what you would expect from Kojima. Its probably the best bond movie.
The game is kind of an unfinished mess. The story sucks, the characters are inconsistent, Big Boss is barely a character, shit tons of filler missions, the story especially in chapter 2 is just made up of moments, there is no cohesive plot however im not gonna lie i still thoroughly enjoy this game cos for the first time in a metal gear game none of this shit actually matters cos the gameplay is where its at, phantom pain offers up these massive sandboxes with every imaginable tool at your disposal, you are given so many ways to approach missions. You can impersonate a woman, you can shoot your hand off, you can rescue animals and make a zoo, you can plant C4 on a dudes ass, wait for him to get in a chopper and then blow him up, Theres simply no end to the freedom you are given. A true masterpiece of gameplay design.
Its pretty much the opposite of the phantom pain, story is king in this game and its well executed for the most part. Theres a bunch of cool memorable characters and mindfuck plot twists. Having to play as raiden rather than snake didn’t really bother me, hes not a bad character and not playing as snake himself for once gives an Interesting perspective and snake is painted as a legendary badass so there was nothing to complain about there for me. The game has lots of clever and or entertaining bosses. The soundtrack is really great again too. The core gameplay is decent stealth action. There are some things that bugged me about it though. I think the level design gets pretty repetitive by the middle of the game and the backtracking accentuates this even more. Also gameplay wise, i think the section with Otacons sister is very weak. The sniper in this game feels like complete and utter ass unless you pop a pentazemin pill. There is also pretty much no choice to go loud, a stealthy approach is always a better option, enemies will infinitely respawn when alerted. This might sound like a foolish complaint because its a stealth game but other games in the series give you the option and its actually a viable way to play.
The unintentional mastapiece. This is the dumbest game i have ever played but because of that its also the funniest game Ive ever played. The story is pretty basic but the characters are what make it memorable, raiden is way better here, jetstream sam is actually a great character and ofc senator armstrong who is so fucking funny and the stuff he says during the final boss made me laugh so hard. This game is really dumb and over the top but it embraces those things and the dumb shit becomes some of the best things about the game. The combat is freaking badass and the bosses especially are the highlights of the game, they are long, sweaty, high octane, fuckin nuts to buts showdowns with badass music. These boss fights are challenging and i died numerous time to lots of them. The final boss alone is literally an hour long, fuck its good lol.
2016
Cute little indie game. Very pretty and peaceful with some excellent music. I loved seeing all the different types of sea creatures in the art style too. Isnt that much to say about this one other than it was a very relaxing experience.
This is indeed a good game. The plot while basic is very strong in the character department. The wild hunt as villians are meh but serviceable. Geralt is a great protagonist and his relationships are all very interesting to watch unfold. The music is fantastic and sound design is all around pretty decent. The world of the witcher is a fun one to dive into but the exploration of it is either really fun or really frustrating and annoying. Level gating and the mini map need to go and die. The gameplay is quite average overall, the combat is serviceable but its quite shallow and either too easy or too hard. Geralt also feels too floaty to control, he doesn’t have that weighty feel that he should. Overall i think its a pretty solid game thats carried by its great writing.
2020
This is a truly epic game. Its got to be one of the best open world games ive played. Its contending with the world of skyrim as the best in my opinion. For one the art direction is absolutely stunning, the lighting, foliage, use of colour and weather effects make it visually one of my favourite games. The actual exploration is what makes it tho, visual cues like smokestacks, animals trying to get your attention, random citizens letting you in on a rumour and the wind lead you to mystical shrines or hidden grottoes holding secret stories or items. There is no mini map in the corner of the screen telling you where to go and there is no level gating which is a huge win. Side quests for the most part are also very well done. Some lead to encounters and circumstances that are completely unique to those side quests. A simple rescue mission became a whole lot more interesting when you got to sail out onto a mongolian ship for the first time. Each side quest is unique and hold their own intriguing side stories. There arent 10+ rescue missions or 20+ fetch quests. The game also houses side stories to characters from the main quest which are all very engaging and often as cinematic as the main quest, they also let you in on their characters a little more, the best form of side quests though in my opinion are the Mythic tales which have you tracking down Ancient samurai techniques and tools, theres nothing cooler than hearing a poet at an inn telling the story of a Legendary Samurai’s flaming sword at the top of a mountain peek and then climbing this huge mountain in a perilous blizzard to discover the truth of this old tale. Now onto the main quest, this is where we start to get into a-few complaints, the plot is pretty basic, stop the mongol invasion, which is ok because it means that we could focus on the characters alot more, this is where the game falters, the characters are relatively generic and a little dull at times. The main character Jin has good character development and a good arc but he doesn’t really have much of a personality compared to someone like Geralt from the witcher. The story still has some great moments though, there are twists, betrayals, huge battles, the villian is very serviceable and the ending is really good. Now that we have gotten past the worst thing, lets talk about the combat. The combat in this game is kind of god tier? The moment to moment samurai sword combat never got old, its full of depth, variety and “badassery“ and the game does get challenging at points but not by just making enemies spongier or “higher level” but by actually making the enemies harder to fight to test and increase the skill of the player. Im going to cut this review short because i could talk about this game for a long time but know that i could have talked about, how the soundtrack is my favourite from this year, the terrific audio design, awesome boss battles, the armour and weapon customisation or even the decisions you can make to alter the story. This is an amazing game and a great final addition to the terrific library of the ps4. What a game, what a console.
The perfect ending to the series. The dumbest most fan service thing you will ever experience but i would be lying if i said I didn’t enjoy it. The gameplay is sharper than anything else in the series that came before it, the music is great, the voice acting is as good as usual. I really didn’t appreciate the Akiba and Meryl thing, that was just annoying tbh, the cutscenes go on forever and theres alot of exposition that could stand to be cut out. The bosses are pretty average apart from the final one but yeah its fun lol but not as good as 2 or 3.
2019
This game is odd, the art direction is very unique and cool, the music is also pretty neat. The story starts off pretty interesting but the intrigue fizzles out after a while and the ending feels pretty anti-climatic. The gameplay is good i think but there are some gameplay sections that take so long and are so annoying to finish which also links in with another complaint that the checkpoints in the game are soooooo bad. There is also a significant amount of stuttering on the ps4 during combat sections. The combat itself can be very fun, the destructible environments are really impressive and the telekinetic powers are fun as hell to use. Facial animations and dialogue can both sometimes be quite janky. The ashtray maze section is quite exceptional though.
The best transformers game, no cap. Platinum games (creators of metal gear rising and bayonetta) have again created a fun high octane, blood pumping action hack and slash while also paying homage to the classic 80s G1 cartoon, the combat and bosses are phenomenally fun. Combat feels satisfying and unique from platinums other games. Music is real cool, and that starscream/megatron abusive relationship is Fuckin funny. Underrated and under appreciated game.
Thought it was about time to talk about sekiro. After completing it 13 times i can safely say that this was one of fromsoftwares best and in my view the best game that came out in 2019.
-WORLD AND STORY
The world of Ashina contains all the intrigue and depth you would expect from a fromsoftware game. Hidden secrets and clues lie in excellent environmental storytelling. A good example of this is in the senpou temple area. Through one mini boss, the armoured warrior, we are able to learn so much about the area. You can tell that the warrior is clearly not Japanese through just the look of his armour. Its quite similar to how a European warrior may have looked at the time so straight away fromsoft have created a mystery for the player to solve. Throughout the boss fight you can trigger dialogue where he speaks of defending his son so that he may be healed and if you previously noticed the piles of dead children that seem to be scattered around senpou then you can infer just like that, that the warrior had come to senpou hoping for his son to be healed by the monks rejuvinating abilities. What he didnt know is that the monks were using the children to try and discover the secret of immortality, experimenting and dissecting the kids for their life force. The armoured warriors son would have been a victim to this and the warrior himself dies thinking he failed his son and screaming his name. There are various examples if this in many of fromsofts games and its a really organic and satisfying way of creating a piece of lore which makes it all the more interesting and tragic. The main story here is basic but again they leave it down to how interested the player is in the world. There are some exceptional characters and the villain genichiro becomes very easy to understand and sympathise with. Sekiro himself shows growth over the game but he doesn’t have too much of a character to be fair. The voice acting performances, english and Japanese are both very well done.
-COMBAT
The reason you should pick this game up is the combat. Dark souls famously tests the players timing and patience, sekiro tests your reflexes and your confidence essentially, hence isshins line “hesitate and you die.” In short the combat system is really one of the best in games ever. The sword combat is absolutely exceptional but brutal. You must be close to perfect in your timing of deflections and blocks else you will be thoroughly punished. The boss fights are really where everything shines perfectly, clashing swords, going back and forth from deflecting and countering to striking at your enemy to try and break their posture is honesty one of the most satisfying things in a video game. The focus on posture rather than the health bar in some of these fights is really an interesting choice and more so than any other game ive played they actually feel like real sword fights because your actually crossing blades and it give the bosses these beautiful rhythms which compare most to something like a guitar hero, it’s basically a rhythm game and it feels so good to play because of that. The best bosses in the game are the ones that have this rhythmic feel, Genichiro, isshin (both versions), emma, corrupted monk and the owl. Then we have the guardian ape who flips pretty much all of that on its head which surely means it sucks? Nah lol. This for me was easily the hardest boss in my first playthrough because he is so different to the others which is why his placement is so well done. It forces you to learn another way of play pretty much throws everything you know out the window. Its truly a great fight. Easily the worst boss is the folding screen monkeys tho, they become a bit of a pain on repeat playthroughs. The mini bosses are also quite noteworthy. There are some really fun ones like O’rinn of the water and seven spears. The game also gives you the option to go stealthy wich lets you thin the heard a little or delete one of a bosses health bars before going all swords sparking. Stealth is no where near as fun as the sword to sword combat but the addition is appreciated.
-BONUS STUFF
The score is very well composed and amplifys the sweat that your balls produce when on the final phase of the final boss. The level design is alot more vertical than the souls games but there isnt really any of that interconnectivity that you would expect from a souls game which is a little disappointing but not a deal breaker. The bonus combat equipment like the prosthetics and the skills can sometimes feel very situational, firecrackers are far and away the most useful tool. The hidden quests and secret bosses are very interesting and many can effecf the ending of the game which is cool.
Overall its another banger from Fromsoft. Highly recommend.
-WORLD AND STORY
The world of Ashina contains all the intrigue and depth you would expect from a fromsoftware game. Hidden secrets and clues lie in excellent environmental storytelling. A good example of this is in the senpou temple area. Through one mini boss, the armoured warrior, we are able to learn so much about the area. You can tell that the warrior is clearly not Japanese through just the look of his armour. Its quite similar to how a European warrior may have looked at the time so straight away fromsoft have created a mystery for the player to solve. Throughout the boss fight you can trigger dialogue where he speaks of defending his son so that he may be healed and if you previously noticed the piles of dead children that seem to be scattered around senpou then you can infer just like that, that the warrior had come to senpou hoping for his son to be healed by the monks rejuvinating abilities. What he didnt know is that the monks were using the children to try and discover the secret of immortality, experimenting and dissecting the kids for their life force. The armoured warriors son would have been a victim to this and the warrior himself dies thinking he failed his son and screaming his name. There are various examples if this in many of fromsofts games and its a really organic and satisfying way of creating a piece of lore which makes it all the more interesting and tragic. The main story here is basic but again they leave it down to how interested the player is in the world. There are some exceptional characters and the villain genichiro becomes very easy to understand and sympathise with. Sekiro himself shows growth over the game but he doesn’t have too much of a character to be fair. The voice acting performances, english and Japanese are both very well done.
-COMBAT
The reason you should pick this game up is the combat. Dark souls famously tests the players timing and patience, sekiro tests your reflexes and your confidence essentially, hence isshins line “hesitate and you die.” In short the combat system is really one of the best in games ever. The sword combat is absolutely exceptional but brutal. You must be close to perfect in your timing of deflections and blocks else you will be thoroughly punished. The boss fights are really where everything shines perfectly, clashing swords, going back and forth from deflecting and countering to striking at your enemy to try and break their posture is honesty one of the most satisfying things in a video game. The focus on posture rather than the health bar in some of these fights is really an interesting choice and more so than any other game ive played they actually feel like real sword fights because your actually crossing blades and it give the bosses these beautiful rhythms which compare most to something like a guitar hero, it’s basically a rhythm game and it feels so good to play because of that. The best bosses in the game are the ones that have this rhythmic feel, Genichiro, isshin (both versions), emma, corrupted monk and the owl. Then we have the guardian ape who flips pretty much all of that on its head which surely means it sucks? Nah lol. This for me was easily the hardest boss in my first playthrough because he is so different to the others which is why his placement is so well done. It forces you to learn another way of play pretty much throws everything you know out the window. Its truly a great fight. Easily the worst boss is the folding screen monkeys tho, they become a bit of a pain on repeat playthroughs. The mini bosses are also quite noteworthy. There are some really fun ones like O’rinn of the water and seven spears. The game also gives you the option to go stealthy wich lets you thin the heard a little or delete one of a bosses health bars before going all swords sparking. Stealth is no where near as fun as the sword to sword combat but the addition is appreciated.
-BONUS STUFF
The score is very well composed and amplifys the sweat that your balls produce when on the final phase of the final boss. The level design is alot more vertical than the souls games but there isnt really any of that interconnectivity that you would expect from a souls game which is a little disappointing but not a deal breaker. The bonus combat equipment like the prosthetics and the skills can sometimes feel very situational, firecrackers are far and away the most useful tool. The hidden quests and secret bosses are very interesting and many can effecf the ending of the game which is cool.
Overall its another banger from Fromsoft. Highly recommend.