yohancuman
2021
Wonderful game, wonderful snoot.
2000
A surprisingly interesting novelty for any X fan. Arguably poor, but I enjoyed my time with it.
2001
While the levels are unique, compared to the first Xtreme game, they're both visually and mechanically more messy. Still, a very enjoyable novelty.
2023
A very cute little game that I enjoyed quite a lot. However, I found it to be a little too long and padded out for my liking and would have enjoyed it significantly more had they cut down a level or two and made a more dense package. Some other details like seeing the environment sync up to the music is really neat, but most of the environments end up being a bit dull and uninspired, and you can clearly see the game only had so much budget to work with.
And while its not a selling point of the game; the writing and narrative ended up leaving a bad taste in my mouth with the sheer amount of obnoxious references to pop culture. The narrative itself is a bit underwhelming even for the genre's standards and referencing terminator and JoJo back to back only made the experience more groan-worthy.
Would still recommend.
And while its not a selling point of the game; the writing and narrative ended up leaving a bad taste in my mouth with the sheer amount of obnoxious references to pop culture. The narrative itself is a bit underwhelming even for the genre's standards and referencing terminator and JoJo back to back only made the experience more groan-worthy.
Would still recommend.
2002
Star Control 2 is pretty much the perfect video game in the sense that it exceeds in all the goals it aims at accomplishing. The atmosphere, world-building, narrative, alien designs and dialogue are all done well beyond the level of most science fiction. Its a very soulful game that is still pretty much one of a kind. (Which is surprising, considering it developed a pretty decent blueprint for what could have been a fun subgenre of space exploration games)
There's some nitpicks to be made about the games writing and core gameplay but most of these come down to personal preference. There's some obtuse missions in the game that I cannot imagine figuring out without either a guide or some hint beforehand and I can't imagine "beating" the game blind on your first playthrough but these don't really get in the way of the main appeals of the game.
The less you know about this game the better. Go in blind and drink up the scenery.
There's some nitpicks to be made about the games writing and core gameplay but most of these come down to personal preference. There's some obtuse missions in the game that I cannot imagine figuring out without either a guide or some hint beforehand and I can't imagine "beating" the game blind on your first playthrough but these don't really get in the way of the main appeals of the game.
The less you know about this game the better. Go in blind and drink up the scenery.
2022
This review contains spoilers
Boring. Uninspired. Derivative. Soulless.
There's occasional good ideas present but the presentation and gameplay of the game undermines anything good it has going for it. Some examples:
The Soul Matrix is a boring dungeon that the game wants you go through to unlock your party member's special abilities and learn more about their personal histories. Every floor looks like the same uninspired sci-fi slop as the one before it. Rather than being one long linear dungeon, it is split into three sections each with their own levels equivalent in difficulty to each other. Because of the pacing of the game, you end up running past all the enemies of the previous floors you didn't do just to fight the mini-boss you are now over-leveled for. The cutscenes you do get as a reward only marginally expand on previous scenes and are consequentially neat but unremarkable. They are predictable and uninteresting.
Continuing this train of thought, the "Vision Quests" miss the appeal of what the initial Vision Quests had from the previous games. Of which, highlighted previously unseen characters, great music, solid foreshadowing to later dungeons and even choices that have consequences on events later in the game. The Vision Quests in Soul Hackers 2 have none of this. They are inconsequential and repetitive.
All the demons are derived from previous SMT games with few to no new additions.
Characters and ideas return from previous Devil Summoner entries but are underwhelming and unrecognizable at worst. Kyouji and Rei may not have had a significant role in Soul Hackers but they still left an impression and it was exciting seeing what happened to them after the first game. I guess Victor's new design is fantastic and his role in the narrative is appropriate but he's the exception and not the rule.
Sabbath is not an fun mechanic. They could have expanded or polished up on the row system from the previous Devil Summoner games or stuck with press-turn but instead "extra damage" is the novel mechanic of the game. It does not affect your strategy or decision making to the extent either of the previous two mechanics do nor is it even a novel idea.
This is the only SMT game I dropped halfway through. I do not like this game.
There's occasional good ideas present but the presentation and gameplay of the game undermines anything good it has going for it. Some examples:
The Soul Matrix is a boring dungeon that the game wants you go through to unlock your party member's special abilities and learn more about their personal histories. Every floor looks like the same uninspired sci-fi slop as the one before it. Rather than being one long linear dungeon, it is split into three sections each with their own levels equivalent in difficulty to each other. Because of the pacing of the game, you end up running past all the enemies of the previous floors you didn't do just to fight the mini-boss you are now over-leveled for. The cutscenes you do get as a reward only marginally expand on previous scenes and are consequentially neat but unremarkable. They are predictable and uninteresting.
Continuing this train of thought, the "Vision Quests" miss the appeal of what the initial Vision Quests had from the previous games. Of which, highlighted previously unseen characters, great music, solid foreshadowing to later dungeons and even choices that have consequences on events later in the game. The Vision Quests in Soul Hackers 2 have none of this. They are inconsequential and repetitive.
All the demons are derived from previous SMT games with few to no new additions.
Characters and ideas return from previous Devil Summoner entries but are underwhelming and unrecognizable at worst. Kyouji and Rei may not have had a significant role in Soul Hackers but they still left an impression and it was exciting seeing what happened to them after the first game. I guess Victor's new design is fantastic and his role in the narrative is appropriate but he's the exception and not the rule.
Sabbath is not an fun mechanic. They could have expanded or polished up on the row system from the previous Devil Summoner games or stuck with press-turn but instead "extra damage" is the novel mechanic of the game. It does not affect your strategy or decision making to the extent either of the previous two mechanics do nor is it even a novel idea.
This is the only SMT game I dropped halfway through. I do not like this game.
1996
An absolute mess of a game with some great ideas. It seems like with every novel idea they develop they end up shooting themselves in the foot some way or another.
The cast of aliens are now handcrafted puppets and most of them look great and have a certain charm to them, but the ones that don't look really bad.
The star map now has a search function and tags so that you can easily search for any system you're trying to find, but the map itself is impossible to read because of issues pertaining to depth perception.
Races from the previous game return and join forces with the protagonist, only to be either underutilized, repeat previous dialogue verbatim, or have their backstories retconned. (The Syreen in particular frustrated me as their backstory in StarCon2 discussed how they developed primarily due to their agricultural society which was safeguarded from the hunter-gatherers tribes by the mountainous regions of their homeward until war and conquest was an impracticality. The sexual and political structures for the Syreen differed from humans similar to how the sexual structures in chimpanzees and bonobos differ in the real world. In StarCon3 their backstory is boiled down to "we never had misogyny lol")
I still enjoyed parts of the game for what its worth and I can still recommend it, but you need to go in with the right expectations to enjoy it.
The cast of aliens are now handcrafted puppets and most of them look great and have a certain charm to them, but the ones that don't look really bad.
The star map now has a search function and tags so that you can easily search for any system you're trying to find, but the map itself is impossible to read because of issues pertaining to depth perception.
Races from the previous game return and join forces with the protagonist, only to be either underutilized, repeat previous dialogue verbatim, or have their backstories retconned. (The Syreen in particular frustrated me as their backstory in StarCon2 discussed how they developed primarily due to their agricultural society which was safeguarded from the hunter-gatherers tribes by the mountainous regions of their homeward until war and conquest was an impracticality. The sexual and political structures for the Syreen differed from humans similar to how the sexual structures in chimpanzees and bonobos differ in the real world. In StarCon3 their backstory is boiled down to "we never had misogyny lol")
I still enjoyed parts of the game for what its worth and I can still recommend it, but you need to go in with the right expectations to enjoy it.
2007
A mediocre rpg and a mediocre tps combine to form a decent experience.
Ironically, for all its flaws, ME1 probably had the most consistent story-telling from the trilogy.
Ironically, for all its flaws, ME1 probably had the most consistent story-telling from the trilogy.
2010
Drop the reaper plot.
Make the game entirely about Shephard and friends goofing about in space.
Balance out the loyalty missions a bit more and avoid pandering to fan favorites. (I love Tali but come on, Thane and Samara get the short end of the stick content wise.)
Expand and refine the rpg elements from the previous game as opposed to dropping them completely.
You would've had a much better game.
(It is also worth mentioning that for a human supremacist organization that did a whole bunch of unethical acts in the previous game, Cerberus ended up being boringly sterile in this entry. Its like the writers wanted to include taboo subject matter in their game but were either on a leash or refused to explore to any of their more interesting ideas.)
Make the game entirely about Shephard and friends goofing about in space.
Balance out the loyalty missions a bit more and avoid pandering to fan favorites. (I love Tali but come on, Thane and Samara get the short end of the stick content wise.)
Expand and refine the rpg elements from the previous game as opposed to dropping them completely.
You would've had a much better game.
(It is also worth mentioning that for a human supremacist organization that did a whole bunch of unethical acts in the previous game, Cerberus ended up being boringly sterile in this entry. Its like the writers wanted to include taboo subject matter in their game but were either on a leash or refused to explore to any of their more interesting ideas.)
2003
Very cute little budget title despite being pretty terrible but its still an interesting game despite its non-existent budget.
The JP version is better since it has the over-the-top voice acting the series is known for. I would recommend playing that version over this if you can understand basic JP.
The JP version is better since it has the over-the-top voice acting the series is known for. I would recommend playing that version over this if you can understand basic JP.
An enjoyable, but flawed, armored core clone with fantastic music, unfortunately forgotten by the internet in both Japan and the west.
I'm not fluent in Japanese so I could only understand so much of the story, but from what I did understand its largely uninspired and forgettable. It has all the beats you would expect from a mecha story and even has a Char Aznable clone of its own.
The combat can be best described as a poor man's armored core although that's not necessarily a bad thing. Its hard to make mech combat combat boring and the combat here is generally fast-paced and arcadelike. However, the game itself feels poorly designed. The strategy elements presented in the main map of the game are barebones and its just a glorified level select when the game decides to even give you that option. Once your in the game the field maps themselves are repeated throughout your playthrough and are largely empty although some of them do look charming. Due to the lack of any health items or any pick ups the gameplay boils down to sprinting to the boss fight to save health and avoiding or ignoring any enemies in the fields themselves. Driving around fast and blowing up little dudes is still fun mind you but I can't imagine this being the intended way to play the game.
The game's more house / chill 90's edm music really shines and I really do enjoy these tracks. They have a lot of personality and make the game experience much more memorable. There's some nice funk guitars and basslines spread throughout the OST and they're very enjoyable. Some of the more "actiony" tracks a bit uninspired but the good ones are REALLY good. I get nostalgic listening to these beats. I'd recommend finding the soundtrack online and giving a good listen to what's offered (They're not even on YouTube, but you can still find them).
The game even has JAM project singing the OP track, which like everything else they do, is phenomenal.
Its a shame that this game became so obscure even if it is flawed in many areas. I recommend it if you're looking for a short and enjoyable little adventure with giant robots, you wont need too much JP skill to actually play the game itself.
I'm not fluent in Japanese so I could only understand so much of the story, but from what I did understand its largely uninspired and forgettable. It has all the beats you would expect from a mecha story and even has a Char Aznable clone of its own.
The combat can be best described as a poor man's armored core although that's not necessarily a bad thing. Its hard to make mech combat combat boring and the combat here is generally fast-paced and arcadelike. However, the game itself feels poorly designed. The strategy elements presented in the main map of the game are barebones and its just a glorified level select when the game decides to even give you that option. Once your in the game the field maps themselves are repeated throughout your playthrough and are largely empty although some of them do look charming. Due to the lack of any health items or any pick ups the gameplay boils down to sprinting to the boss fight to save health and avoiding or ignoring any enemies in the fields themselves. Driving around fast and blowing up little dudes is still fun mind you but I can't imagine this being the intended way to play the game.
The game's more house / chill 90's edm music really shines and I really do enjoy these tracks. They have a lot of personality and make the game experience much more memorable. There's some nice funk guitars and basslines spread throughout the OST and they're very enjoyable. Some of the more "actiony" tracks a bit uninspired but the good ones are REALLY good. I get nostalgic listening to these beats. I'd recommend finding the soundtrack online and giving a good listen to what's offered (They're not even on YouTube, but you can still find them).
The game even has JAM project singing the OP track, which like everything else they do, is phenomenal.
Its a shame that this game became so obscure even if it is flawed in many areas. I recommend it if you're looking for a short and enjoyable little adventure with giant robots, you wont need too much JP skill to actually play the game itself.
2005
This review contains spoilers
Vintage DeviantArt waifus in swimsuits... takes me back...
1999
One of a kind, extremely soulful, filled with all sorts of creative designs and generally a very wonderful game despite some poor design choices. I really do wish there was a spiritual successor or that tightened up some of the more archaic elements in the game but overall the package is great.
1996
Great adventure game with tons of sole. Main nitpick is that I really don't think its possible to beat without using a guide at least once. I understand the setting is supposed to be cartoonish and nonsensical but that didn't mean the logic for
the puzzles had to be cartoonish and nonsensical too.
the puzzles had to be cartoonish and nonsensical too.
Decent core gameplay with a lot of missed potential and wonky pacing. Much of the game was underwhelming and I felt particularly frustrated with how much of a slog the first and third chapters felt like. I found myself wanting more from the game and wishing the last chapter wasn't so clearly barebones.
A minor but noteworthy nitpick: Why are god-mode and level unlock cheats in accessibility options but not a colour-blind mode? There's not even options for an in-game map nor a kills / secrets tracker for those interested in 100%'ing the game.
A minor but noteworthy nitpick: Why are god-mode and level unlock cheats in accessibility options but not a colour-blind mode? There's not even options for an in-game map nor a kills / secrets tracker for those interested in 100%'ing the game.