spooky

i loved the atmosphere, the lighting, the unique industrial designs of the armor and weapons coupled with the seamless use of futuristic HUDs. the sound design is out of this world frightening. never felt uneasy and uncomfortable just standing in a hallway. even as the game gradually became more action-oriented and the tension dripped away a little bit, i was on the edge of seat the whole time.

not a horror game guy but i dug this a lot

it wanted to be GTA 6 as an RPG.

it wound up being Fallout 5 with cars. or kind of just Rage 2 with real characters and better gameplay.

even if you didn't follow the pre-release the hype, I think you could tell this game was unfinished and not everything it wanted to be. kind of a shallow take on cyberpunk. and even narratively it sort of fizzles out.

but i really enjoyed the Panam and Judy of it all (and Claire, Misty and River) and I think nestled inside this messy, half-baked open world RPG there's a lot of really thoughtful, carefully directed character moments that put some similiar games to shame (notably Assassin's Creed and GTA). i guess I just really enjoyed the Panam

beneath the snarky, smart-assholery, buried inside of this generic PS3 era campaign there is some pretty on-the-nose but nevertheless knowing commentary about the carelessness of the rogue-ish video game archetype's casual warpath (not only is Grayson, bulletstorm's lead, a pawn for a psychopathic war general in his life before the game, his quest for revenge essentially leads to the destruction of all life he encounters).

but while the game can step up to the line and have its lead character admit his sins, it ultimately falls somewhat short by having supporting characters let him off the hook in the bluntest ways, revealing, unfortunately, the shallow writing propping up wat is mostly an excuse for some creative gameplay and fun video game set-pieces.

the game is maybe the most ps3-ass game i've played since vanquish, which was also a seemingly generic game on the outside, that, too, was hiding some actually pretty fun gameplay that ultimately didn't quite live up to its full potential.

pretty fun overall, i'd say.

pure pulpy tony scott inspired acid wash neon noir nonsense.

there's some stuff in here about addiction, alcoholism, american imperialism, toxic masculinity. mostly it's just surface level padding that makes the game seem more mature between the parts where you go pew pew.

and boy, do you go pew pew in this game. pew pew to the max.

flying majestically john woolike through the air dual wielding a mix-matched load out of an uzi and a revolver while controlling a sorry old american drunk really made me say out loud "this is some dope ass shit."

i also don't think i've played a game with an old white man action hero who went through so many different outfit changes and haircuts over the course of one linear game. it really added to my enjoyment. watching max wallow in self pity between action set pieces i couldn't help but feel "yeah this dude is flawed but look at that head of hair, what a cool dude". and then he shaved it and i thought "oh no" but also "this level of self-loathing is relatable."

anyway. cool game. flawed. but the flaws add a level of personality that a lot of AAA games are simply missing in their attempts to be immaculate works of art (which to me hete is a symptom of being inspired by tony scott and not alejandro gonzalez inarritu)

the first pre-Origins AC game I've played in four years (sorry black flag) and the first I've finished in eight (that being iii).

after 250 (or 400 according to sony) hours of odyssey and valalla in the last eight months, this was a bit scary to go return to because i'd sort of put the old school assassin's creed gameplay out of my mind and in a mental compartment under the filename 'dated'.

but i was pleasantly surprised with this. lighting was good. some nice crowds. good feeling to be back in a big city again. they really knocked old london out of the park. tons of women in big dresses, dudes in suits with hats and mutton chops, tons of child labourers working the factories and begging for change, smoke stacks as far as the eye can see. carriages in lieu of horses (or cars). a simulated city from 2015 that feels as alive and bustling as anything made since (something so spectacular about all the boats on the thames going up and down and having to manoeuvre yourself across the river by leaping from one in motion to another).

i've come to accept assassin's creed games as a tourist trap. i had long since given up on the series but now that it has its hooks back in me i remember the joy of wondering what beautifully recreated piece of history i'll get to stab dudes in next.

this is a super cool GAME. story, is, like okay. i am fine with the meta-narrative aspect, i like when games call me a piece of shit (and I don't even think the game is doing that, i think it's calling the US military a piece of shit and it's nice for at least one game to do that even with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, the likelihood of getting another game like this seems slim).

but war crimes and horrific immersive in-game violence aside, this is a really well put together game with some generic cover shooting and a generic nolan north voice performance hiding some great sand and glass related set pieces in plain sight. this has some of the richest oranges and blues i've ever seen in AAA game as well (perhaps that's what hurts it the most, that even if the colour pallete is trying to lull you in to a darker story, the aesthetic never actually shifts to match it, unlike kane & lynch 2 which committed the entire game through to being completely hideous. the psychedelic rock soundtrack also makes me want to play it again which seems bad for a game where you kill about 60 innocent local civilians in order to advance)