Shantae & the Seven Sirens (Switch), the latest entry in the cult series.
Ret-To-Go!
Gameplay
It's a pretty standard side scrolling "Metroidvania" action/platformer, though it has a touch of classic Zelda as well (you obtain most of your required upgrades while exploring themed dungeons where you ultimately use your new ability to reach & defeat it's boss).
In addition to the ability upgrades you get by working through the game's dungeons, you can upgrade your health by collecting Heart Squids scattered around the world (each dungeon has three, and there's a bunch in the overworld too), augment your abilities by obtaining equippable stat altering Monster Cards (most are dropped by enemies, but the most powerful ones based on the game's bosses can only be obtained by trading Golden Nuggets, another of the game's collectables, for them in Towns), and by buying permanent upgrades in Town Shops, such as increased attack power & speed, and even a shield that invokes total invincibility (these are optional upgrades, and you can turn them on & off in the menu, if you decide you don't want to use them).
In addition to your various upgrades, you can buy consumable health & magic regenerating potions and weapons (such as fireballs or boomerangs) in Town Shops, and enemies regularly drop health regenerating food items as well. Along with the various upgrades mentioned before (one of which is an ability that lets you heal yourself with magic), it is entirely possible to be completely OP by at least the half way point if you so choose, as you have so many options to heal & reduce damage.
Audio/Visual
It's by no means a technical marvel, but it has a pleasingly crisp bright & happy look and for the most part runs smoothly (there are one or two spots with a lot going on where it can briefly slow down), and there are some unique biomes in the overworld that buck cliche trends, such as a laboratory and even a small area themed around an Otaku/Nerd's hideout, pictured below.
Of particular note are the high quality (although generally short, given it's budget) anime style cutscenes, such as the one pictured below before a boss fight.
I'd say it's soundtrack fits the game, but as I've mentioned before I'm not someone who gets really fussed over music in a game.
Story
The story itself isn't anything particularly noteworthy, though there was no indication that the underground city was really a ship, so it does have it's twists, but where it shines is in it's self awareness. It knows you're here to have a fun time so it revels in the silliness of the female characters wearing almost nothing for armor, and other punny moments, such as the one pictured below where you're tasked with collecting the "Dagron Balls".
Characters are generally fun, if not very deep (I will say I look forward to each game's Squid Baron moments).
Overall
It's not the deepest game around, but it's nice comfort food and is just a game to smile along to.
Time to celebrate!
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
@RR529 Nice writeup. It's good to see the developers focus on making the game a good bit of fun instead of feeling the need to make it too complex or serious.
DOOM 3 was released in 2004 by id Software for the PC. A reboot of sorts, the game treads similar ground in terms of subject matter to previous DOOM releases, but distinguished itself with its dramatically improved id Tech 4-powered graphics and notable changes to pacing, level design, and overall atmosphere. The version of the game I recently played, however, was the 2012 BFG Edition for PC, a sort of HD remaster of the original that also makes certain controversial changes to the original game. I did previously play the original DOOM 3 when it was still a new and highly advanced PC game, so I also want to briefly compare aspects of the two releases.
In the first of its many innovations, DOOM 3 (as well as the BFG Edition) is something of a story-driven experience. You, of course, fill in the shoes of the nameless Doomguy, a random space marine who discovers that he's very, very good at killing demons. As with previous games, you're a random nobody, but there's actually a supporting cast of characters you'll kind of come to know over the course of your adventure. Three personalities stand out: Dr. Malcolm Betruger, the primary antagonist of the game, who is corrupted by demonic influences after being transported into hell during one of his teleporter experiments, and who masterminds the invasion of the UAC facility on Mars by the hordes of hell; Thomas Kelly, your commanding officer, who works in tandem with Doomguy to try and curb the demonic invasion; and Counselor Swann, who was sent to investigate the curious goings-on and the UAC base and eventually find himself indirectly butting heads with Sergeant Kelly.
And what curious goings-on there are. Previous games in the series never really give the player a sense of what happened in the build-up to the apocalyptic events that take place, but the same absolutely cannot be said for DOOM 3. In a heavily System Shock 2-inspired change of course (like Bioshock, the entire game feels like it was heavily influenced by the design of that legendary horror-scifi-fps-rpg), DOOM 3 includes a massive amount of narrative and worldbuilding via the use of audio logs found around the base. The scientists and marines locked inside of this base have noticed weird and alarming goings-on leading to the invasion that starts off the game for months, and, lacking any other outlet, they start spilling their guts into their audio diaries. To be honest, I always find the use of audio logs to be a lazy and inorganic method of worldbuilding and storytelling, but the technique wasn't overdone in 2004, and I can buy that people trapped in a stressful environment like this might record their feelings of apprehension over various events happening around them.
But, uh, DOOM games have always been about the gameplay. Fast, fierce games with marines and demons and hell; the series has always had a very METAL identity. And now players were being given a sequel where they were being asked to slow down and appreciate the ambiance. Even as a person who loves story-heavy RPGs, I found myself quickly growing impatient with the countless audio logs where a spooked scientist would ramble about weird behavior among the higher-ups and spooky sounds at night for a minute at a time, and even moreso with the logs where some technician would start discussing some highly technical aspect of the UAC facility's operation. You don't actually have to stop when you're listening to one of the logs, of course, but good luck trying to concentrate on Dr. Spooks-a-Lot whimper about his personal problems with you walk five steps away from the location you retrieved the log and get ambushed by demons. Perhaps this was the intended playstyle. It would explain why the game feels like it almost completely lacks music (even the ambient moans and screeches of DOOM 64). No time for moody or exciting tunes as you're listening to logs, or listening to NPCs talk, or listening to some sort of automated display. There's a LOT of listening in this game.
Which, to be fair, ties into the original design philosophy of this game. DOOM 3, much to the chagrin of long-time fans, has always been more of a slow paced game. I mean, it's still a shooter (you tote around a rocket launcher, for god's sake), but DOOM 3 has always been a game designed to get you to stop, or at least slow down momentarily. Which is where the first conflict with BFG's changes come into play. The original DOOM 3 famously included a flashlight as an item in a separate weapon slot, meaning the player can't illuminate shadows and use a gun at the same time. Players have joked for years about DOOM 3 Doomguy being too stupid to duct-tape his flashlight to the muzzle of a gun, but, in the context of this game, the decision was the correct one. The player could, theoretically, just charge through the entire game with a weapon equipped, but that's a very easy way to run headlong into the waiting claws of an imp. The player had to stop and scope out their surroundings a bit before proceeding, which tapped directly into the pacing and tone of the game.
In DOOM 3: BFG Edition, the player has a flashlight mounted on their armor, which can be activated independently of anything else they're doing. Meaning they can simultaneously see in the dark AND use their weapon. I imagine this change in the 2012 remaster was made after years of loud fan complaints about this design choice. But I want to reveal an open secret of sorts, here and now, to anyone listening. An inconvenient truth.
The loudest voices on the internet are usually the ones not worth listening to.
Look, I get the frustration with a DOOM game being a slow-paced horror affair, but, for better or worse, that was the direction the game took, and any QoL changes that conflict with the core design philosophy are not necessarily going to lead to a better game. DOOM 3 was clearly designed around the limitation of not being able to see clearly in the dark environments, and strapping a flashlight to your shoulder kind of ruins certain setpieces in this game as well. For example, in one section, you're in this lab, and some sort of conveyor device is dragging a luminescent tube through an expanse of darkness. The intention of this segment is clear: you're supposed to stick by it and shoot at the enemies who pop out at you from the surrounding darkness when they become illuminated. But the omnipresent flashlight makes this segment pointless. You can just barrel through this location with your flashlight turned on, quickly dispatching the enemies waiting to jump out at you before they know what hit them.
The changes to ammo availability also somewhat goes against the design philosophy of the original. In the original, you actually had to scrounge around to find enough ammo to feel comfortable creeping further into the UAC base's winding corridors. Hunting around dingy rooms for scraps of ammo to use against monsters is a time-tested horror game tradition. For whatever reason, though, the game likes to utterly overload the player with ammo. And not even just shotgun ammo. I was never out of heavy arms, and never felt any particular reason to conserve my ammo and actually, I dunno, fall back on my handgun or other smaller weapons, because the game stuffs its environments with so many high-level goodies. Scarcity confers value on resources and also incentivizes certain types of behaviors. I was always loaded to the teeth, so the only incentive I had to poke around most of the time was to find audio logs where someone would whine for five minutes about their personal problems with the chain of command. That is to say, no such incentives existed.
Which isn't, of course, to say that the game's horror trappings are always effective. DOOM 3's reliance on generic spooky locations, monster reinforcements that often pop up out of the shadows, random jump scares like demonic cackling that will issue when you enter a room, and hammy intercom taunting from Dr. Betruger throughout the game (the dude actually says "Your soul will be mine!" at one point during the game, like Shang Tsung from the Mortal Kombat movie, lmao) gives the game something of a haunted house flair to it. Not like an actual haunted house, mind you, but rather, like one of those places where you pay to walk around so that people dressed up like zombies or mad scientists can jump out at you and try to scare you. This impression is strengthened as you bear witness to plot events throughout, but always from a safe distance, like in a separate room where you're separated by a pane of glass.
(Dr. Betruger in another life, probably)
Speaking of ammo, I just want to say that I don't like whoever decided it was a good idea to rob me of all my carefully cultivated BFG rounds near the end of the game and make me start from scratch (for plot reasons). The ammo balancing leads to me building up a healthy collection of arms, of course, but those unused BFG rounds still haunt me.
DOOM 3's weapons game is pretty strong, although not revolutionary. Nearly all of the old weapons return here sans the super shotgun (the normal one in DOOM 3 feels sort of... piddly... I didn't use it much). There are two new additions, though: a machine gun, which is really effective against smaller enemies when you don't need the power of the chaingun, and grenades, which... honestly, only got used when there was a long hallway and something slow coming toward me, because these do splash damage, and a LOT of enemies in this game like to aggressively charge the player. For immediate long-range devastation, a rocket launcher was always preferable, and for anything closer, chainguns and beam rifles are just safer.
I'm not sure what it is, but I will say that a lot of the weapons don't have the visceral punch they did in some of the previous games. The chaingun, especially, feels less impactful compared to the one in DOOM 64.
With that said, the last weapon you get in this game, the Soul Cube, is pretty fun. Every five kills or so, you can use this supernatural cube...thing to instantly kill nearly any enemy in the game. It works quite well when you gun down a bunch of smaller enemies on the way to something particular large and annoying, and then take it down with your Rubiks-Cube-of-Death. It even replenishes your HP!
The level design in DOOM 3 can feel a bit claustrophobic throughout (there's a distinct lack of wide-open arenas to run around like in previous DOOM games, opting instead for cramped hallways and rooms loaded with boxes and industrial equipment. This fit, perhaps, with the slower, more horror-based pacing and tone of the original, although it gives it a different flavor than traditional DOOM. The levels start off almost painfully linear, although the maps do eventually increase in complexity and require some backtracking. This is perhaps a good thing, given the frustrating lack of maps (!) in this game. I rarely got lost, though, and backtracking is typically fairly limited and streamlined compared to what you might find in other games (or, indeed, other DOOM games)
One of the strongest aspects of DOOM 3 is the enemy variety. Almost all of the classic enemies return, often in reimagined form, in addition to a host of new additions.
There are zombies in this game now. A lot of them. Like, classic Romero-type zombies that stumble around and barely know how to even use tools. These are easily dispatched. The demon soldiers are back as well, though, and there's also a lot of them. In an interesting change of pace, you can actually hear their radio chatter when they're in the area nearby, although nothing intelligible is ever said. These guys can pack pistols, shotguns, shields, or, annoyingly, even chainguns. Thankfully, no matter how potent their firepower, it's relatively easy to put them down.
The version of the Arch-Vile that shows up in DOOM 3 is a massive pain in the ass, though. Previously, they only had the power to resurrect fallen demons, and although their attack was un-dodgeable, you could prevent it by breaking line of sight with them. These guys have no such limitations: they continuously spam spells that summon new demons and their attack is now this devastating column of fire that can hit you from several feet away. Very irritating. I used my strongest weapons to put them down ASAP when they showed up.
Lost Souls also get kind of an interesting change. Instead of being flaming skulls like in previous games, they're now fleshy, eerie humanoid faces that fly around and try to bite you. Thankfully, these nuisances have been vastly nerfed compared to previous games, and they hardly register as a threat unless they flank you while you're fighting something else.
The best redesign in DOOM 3, IMO, is the way the Pinky demon was changed. The mostly harmless, melee only enemy from previous DOOM games that was only dangerous amongst an encroaching horde of demons has been reimagined as something more feral and less bipedal, like a large, demonic dog. I remember the first one you encounter in the game scared the crap out of me when I was younger. In an intense setpiece, the thing violently starting ramming itself into the locked door leading into the room your character is in, warping the metal, before moving over to a glass pane and shattering it with a charge, forcing the panicked player to quickly dispatch it. 15 years on from when I first played it, there's not so much panic now, but it's still a cool moment.
Certain other designs tend to stay constant throughout the series. The Revenant, for example, is STILL just a skeleton with rocket launchers on its shoulders, although its lower half is covered in translucent skin instead of gore like the original design. Their missiles are particularly difficult to hit in this game, since they seem to move away from your bullet fire. I have to resort to spamming my pulse rifle in a circular motion to destroy their projectiles.
Imps are also broadly similar in design, although their appear WAY more often in DOOM 3 (seriously, you can't go more than a couple of rooms without running into an Imp in this game; they're easily the most common type of enemy) and if they get close to the player, in kind of a cool change, they're crouch down and pounce.
Barons of Hell, Mancubi, and Cacodemons return without huge alterations, although the Cacodemons are much faster and flit around a lot this time.
DOOM 3 introduces the Wraith, a smaller, melee-only creature that teleports around the level, trying to catch the player off-guard along with the Cherub, which look like small, winged babies that like to flit toward the player and bite them. There are also at least two new spider-like enemies that show up, often swarming the hallways ahead of you. They don't take a lot to kill, but they can easily overpower a less cautious player.
The Commando returns from DOOM II, although his form and function are so different that he's basically a new enemy. Anyone who has played Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is likely to get flashbacks to that game's eponymous monstrosity as this muscular hulk charges toward the player and tries to impale them with a large tentacle arm. These games react so quickly and aggressively that I had an issue with them throughout the game. As soon as I saw one of these, the rocket launcher came out.
The game has a handful of boss encounters. While they still show up sort of randomly, I'd say these fights are more engaging and memorable than boss encounters from previous DOOM games, and can actually require some modicum of strategy. Crucially, their difficult isn't dependent on being impossible to dodge when hiding behind a column of some sort. So, yeah, this is definitely the strongest DOOM game to date on that front.
The soundtrack in this game is extremely ambient, like DOOM 64's. Now, that worked for DOOM 64 because of how silent that game was when you weren't fighting demons, but this is pretty much environmental noises: the game. There's so much whirring and buzzing and narration in the background that it can be hard sometimes to even find a quiet place to listen to an audio log. Going to youtube, the soundtrack isn't half-bad, but I'd be lying if I said I even noticed music throughout this game, so I'm going to call this the weakest DOOM game for me on that front. Aside from the decent main theme, you're never going to hear anything that gets your blood pumping, or even much that's particular atmospheric, since you're so busy listening to everything else in this game.
DOOM 3: BFG Edition on Steam features achievements, but good luck unlocking them if you like to take screenshots. For whatever reason, in a widely documented bug that was apparently never patched out, taking screenshots in this game via the Steam overlay triggers an anti-cheat measure that disables the player's ability to unlock achievements.
Technically, DOOM 3: BFG Edition barely feels like an upgrade from the original, being a very slight HD remaster that allowed the game to run smoothly on modern operating systems and widescreen displays. Texture work is still very low-res, too, which becomes clear if you try actually examining most of the displays in your environment. With that said, DOOM 3 was a massive techncial achievement when it first released thanks to a combination of cutting-edge graphics and excellent art design, and, thanks to that, the game still looks really good today. In some ways, the original looked even better: in addition to the shoulder flashlight, the game has been brightened a bit overall, dulling some of the raw dread provoked by its corridors, destroyed by demons and caked in thick shadows But the overall artistic direction still results in a world that's easy to lose yourself in.
What else to mention? DOOM 3: BFG Edition adds in a new autosave system when you hit certain checkpoints in a level, which might have been useful on consoles, but on PC, where you literally only need to hit F5 to quicksave at pretty much any given point, it felt... needless. I guess the good thing is that the player almost never has to worry about losing much progress.
I wasn't sure where to fit this in, but I also really like the security robots in this game. There'll be these interesting setpieces throughout where you'll activate a little security robot, and it'll lead you through the darkness (in the original DOOM 3, anyway). In an amazing turn of events, though, the cute little guys are also armed to the teeth with machine gun rounds, and will viciously mow down any monster that happens to be in its pre-programmed path. I think you're supposed to defend it from enemies, but I found that they killed enemies so quickly that they barely needed any input from me. Granted, I also contributed, as it wouldn't be fair to let them do all the work.
Oh, and, when it comes to difficulty settings, go with Veteran. The only real difference between the difficulty settings (other than the bottom one, which appears to be some sort of safety mode) is in how much damage you take from enemy attacks, and, on the Marine difficulty (or, god forbid, the even lower Recruit difficulty), you can shrug off most attacks with ease. Combine this with the ease of access to health packs and healing centers, and the ammo strewn literally everywhere, and you wind up with a pretty radically easy game, devoid of much of a sense of danger. Veteran difficulty alleviates this by actually making it dangerous to take damage, although it doesn't seem to balance anything else. For all intents and purposes, it's this game's Normal difficulty.
I was curious how I'd feel about this game. Ultimately, while I think it's an interesting experience in its own right, it's easy to see how this would disappoint someone looking for a DOOM experience in the vein of the previous games. This has all the trappings of DOOM, but it's missing the attitude. Additionally, the HD remaster, while probably a better fit for modern PCs, feels like it's at war with itself, and dialing back elements that made the original DOOM 3 so controversial. But, well, no superficial change is going to alter the fact that this is more horror than it is metal. I'm glad I got to experience it again, though, and I'm hoping to complete its expansions sooner than later. 6.5/10
There is a few things you put in here that remind me of DOOM 2016 like the grenades (That I always forgot about (Though I've never really liked the Rocket Launcher as a weapon either tbh)) & the bosses (That seem to play out in a similar to the brief mention you put there)
You'll be pleased to know that there's only 6 or so audio logs in DOOM 2016 too. Though there are numerous "Data Logs" for extra text based info on the weapons, areas, demons and the likes
I've admittedly only ever heard vague hearsay regarding DOOM 3 before so it's pretty neat to finally get some actual perspective on this entry from the detailed musings of both you and RogerRoger.
It's a bit of a shame some of the unique design of it's original "controversial" incarnation was lost in the porting/updating of it as I did actually find myself quite liking the sound of it from what you've said Ral (I assume the torch is not available as a standalone weapon slot choice now seeing as it's armour mounted).
Not to mention the video you linked showcasing the updated/new Pinky demon is quite effective in setting itself up to me as a slower paced and more horror like tone.
I'll be sure to give a look/purchase sometime in the future to try myself!
😂Thank god the omnipresent audio logs are gone. The way you describe it in DOOM 2016 sounds a LOT like Metroid Prime, where the game left you to play it in piece and then allowed you to optionally scan stuff to learn more about the setting, establish lore, etc. I don't mind optional narrative, but making me stop every ten minutes and listen to a dude slowly ramble to himself so that I can learn a code to a weapons locker (or, sometimes, a door I need to pass through to progress in the game) got annoying quickly.
I forgot to mention this, but there was actually one point where I had to look at an email in my PDA in order to obtain a code I needed! It took me forever to figure that out, because there just aren't very many emails in this game, and, when I'm playing DOOM, the last thing that comes to my mind after chainsawing an Imp is "Gee, I should clean out my spam folder!"
Yeah, the flashlight isn't an item anymore like it was in the original.
I think it's worth a playthrough if you like horror games or shooters. It got a bad reputation for being so different from classic DOOM, but, taken on its own terms, its an effective game, and still highly playable today. And I imagine all of the environmental noises are quite paranoia-inducing with headphones on!
@RogerRoger Great to hear! I feel like my write-ups err a bit on the dry side at times, so I'm trying to balance that out a bit. It doesn't come close to your wittiness, but I appreciate the positive feedback.
I wouldn't mind the inclusion of the shoulder flashlight as an optional thing in the remaster. Honestly, just add an "Original Mode" where the flashlight returns as an item and it'd appeal to everyone, I think. I am glad it allowed you to enjoy the game, though.
So there's a quicksave function on console, too? It's a nice QoL feature, but its presence on consoles makes me wonder why they even bothered adding checkpoint autosaves. For the people who like to press their luck and/or just forget to save their game, I guess. Years of unexpected party wipes in JRPGs have taught me to save as often as humanly possible.
I couldn't change the difficulty officially after starting a file on the Marine difficulty, so I changed the Steam load parameters so that it automatically went to Veteran difficulty when I loaded my save. I don't think I got official credit for completing it on that difficulty, but, as established, the screenshot weirdness meant that I didn't get credit for a bunch of other stuff, either, and years of Nintendo preferentialism alongside my experience with older consoles has made me less emotionally reliant on games awarding me "trophies" than a lot of other people I know.
The ideal arrangement for me in games with shooting is still dual analog + gyro, but I've been trying to train myself to get better at controlling my character with the keyboard. I'm getting better, but I'm still far too reliant on the mouse wheel for scrolling through weapons. I just can't seem to memorize those hotkey locations.
Thankfully, there's not a lot of platforming involved with this game. I might opt for DS4 + gyro aim for DOOM 2016/Eternal, though. We'll see.
Playtime: Took roughly six hours to complete on "Veteran" difficulty
This expansion for the original DOOM 3 is included in the BFG edition, along with a new expansion pack, which I'll play next.
Resurrection of Evil is set shortly after the events of the original DOOM 3. You play a new marine who discovers an ancient, demonic artifact that accidentally re-opens a portal to Hell again (whoops!) Gameplay is largely the same as the base game, although with two new weapons (three if you include The Artifact) and, mercifully, with far less of the audio log bloat. Things progress along at a nice clip in this expansion, and, for that reason, I actually kind of preferred it to the main campaign.
So, one of the new weapons you unlock is the Super Shotgun, returning from DOOM II and 64. It's not quite the powerhouse that it was in those games, but it still packs a punch, and despite the long and frequent reloading times, it's a great option when you need to bumrush a smaller enemy and dispatch them quickly. But, since it only holds two shells at a time, and fires both shells at once, you won't want to use this if there's more than one enemy in close proximity.
The other weapon is a lot more creative. It's called the Grabber, and if anyone has played Half-Life 2 and remembers that game's Gravity Gun, it's sort of like that, although more limited. You can grab some objects in your environment and use the gun to propel them into enemies, which usually kills the smaller ones. Speaking of small enemies, you can actually grab the lost souls with this gun, which is hilarious. Finally, you can use it to toss enemy's projectiles back at them. Specifically, the fire and plasma balls the Imp, Vulgar, and Hell Knight like to toss at the player. This is kind of clumsy, though, and the game still rains so much ammo down on the player that they're never wanting for massive firepower. I was actually able to use the Grabber to maneuver some crates in such a way as to reach inaccessible doors, although, unfortunately, they never opened to me. I was hoping it would be used for environmental puzzles, but, alas, that never really ended up working out.
Finally, you have The Artifact, a gross, beating heart that gains powers when you slay the Hell Hunter bosses who are pursuing you in this game. There are three of these big boys, who you fight in surprisingly Zelda-esque encounters (they have specific patterns and weaknesses to be exploited; you can't just mindlessly shoot at them), and each time you unlock a new power via the heart. The first boss grants you the ability to activate bullet-time, slowing the world around you to a crawl so that you can safely dispatch multiple enemies at once. The second power is one that grants you the berserk status effect, meaning that you can run around killing enemies in one punch with your bare fists. Finally, the third boss taken down grants you invulnerability for that period. All of thes abilities are cumulative each time you activate the artifact, so, after it's fully powered up, you're slowing down time and invulnerable, smashing enemies left and right with your unstoppable death punches.
This is all horrendously OP. of course, which is why some pretty strict resource requirements are imposed on the player. In order to activate The Artifact one time, you need to absorb a human soul, which you'll only find via standing over the corpses of various dead marine comrades that you routinely encounter across the game. You can also only hold up to three souls at a time. This requirement helps the player to not abuse The Artifact, but it still really helps out in a pinch.
Otherwise... yeah, it's more DOOM 3, but with fewer frustrations involved. 7/10
@RogerRoger I should re-watch it, too. In general, I need to rewatch, replay, and reread a bunch of my favorite things. I press on too much with what's new, aside from a few classics.
So, this Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Dark Forces II. Is it... worth experiencing? I've never heard of it. My experience with SW games has been limited to Galactic Battlegrounds from way back when I was in my Age of Empires phase. I really need to go on a good SW game-playing binge.
And yeah, I'm actually really looking forward to nu-DOOM. I've had DOOM 2016 for years, but just never got around to playing it. I think the release of Eternal is really what pushed me: the game just looks phenomenal, but I wanted a sense of where the series had come from first. I think it's fair to say I've achieved that perspective.
RE keyboard play, I think the big issue for me with the keyboard is that, largely growing up as a console gamer, I grew accustomed to the shape and feel of a controller. Hitting random keys on a long board just feels alien to me. The precision of aiming with the mouse makes up for it, though.
@Ralizah@RogerRoger Yep, Jedi Knight is enjoyable for what it is, a reasonable Star Wars game with slight awkward controls, labyrinthine maps and hard as nails boss fights. I still enjoyed my time with it though, it feels like Star Wars and as long as you make good use of quick save then you shouldn’t be in too much trouble. If it’s cheap, I’d recommend it.
You'll have more than enough perspective for the new DOOM games, and then some! By and large, have you enjoyed your trek through the franchise's history?
Yeah, I've become something of a fan. Granted, IMO, the first two games are far weaker than 64 or DOOM 3, but that's to be expected in any series that's broadly improving over time.
So far, I'd rank them:
DOOM 64
DOOM 3
DOOM II
DOOM
Although that list is a bit deceptive. I liked 64 a lot more than the other three games, and consider it to be one of my favorite first person shooters now. 2016 and Eternal are going to have to really impress to top it.
@RogerRoger@nessisonett Nice. I'll grab the lot of them next time there's a SW or site-wide sale, then.
Currently Playing: Fields of Mistria (PC); Cookie Clicker (PC); Metaphor: ReFantazio (PC); Overboard! (PC)
This impression is strengthened as you bear witness to plot events throughout, but always from a safe distance, like in a separate room where you're separated by a pane of glass.
I do recall a teensy smidge of that last line in particular occurs in DOOM 2016 where you get a small speech from behind a pane of glass by the villain. Pretty sure that only happened the one time from what I recall.
You do get a few words every now and again from the supporting cast via radio or whatever but otherwise Doom 2016 is pretty light on the story beats & when you do get talked to by the very small cast half the time the Doom Marine is just not paying attention in the slightest/does his own thing which is completely against what he's being told.
For being mute I did think the Doom marine is portrayed fairly well in that.
And nice didn't realise there was already a post from you @Ralizah about one of DOOM 3's expansions! 😅
I fear there's not much I can really say about this other then yay for the super shotgun returning and the new weapon and item which both sound fairly interesting? After all you say it's basically the same as the base game with a shorter runtime and few extra bits and bobs.
I think it's safe to assume the second expansion is similar in not being too far off with a few extra bells and whistles? It's not like it becomes a point and click adventure game or anything?
It seems like DOOM Eternal is, in a way, another story-driven entry in the series, so I'm curious to see how that manifests, since nothing I've seen or heard of the game indicates any tendency for the action to have to slow down while the player listens to people drone on for minutes at a time.
Anyway, the muteness of Doomguy in the older games seems somewhat different from the muteness of the Doom Slayer in the newer games, based on footage I've seen and bits I've played of 2016. If Pre-2016 Doomguy is the FPS equivalent of Link from The Legend of Zelda, then the Doom Slayer of the newer games in the FPS equivalent of Michael Myers. He's creepy, lacking in humanity, and utterly unstoppable.
Currently Playing: Fields of Mistria (PC); Cookie Clicker (PC); Metaphor: ReFantazio (PC); Overboard! (PC)
Red Dead Redemption 2. First off, some nitpicks. It's a large open world, so there is a lot of travelling. It did feel like the majority of the game was just riding from A to B. Also, the 3rd person camera is perfectly centred, making a kind of blind spot in front of Arthur and his horse. There's been more than a few times where I've crashed into someone in front who I couldn't see. Also, weapons that I had equipped often disappear back to the horse's saddle. It wasn't uncommon for me to get into a big fight, only to find that Arthur's powerful rifles have been left back on the horse.
There is also a large focus on realism, but I'm not quite so keen on these aspects. Horse balls, horses pooping, and graphic skinning of animals aren't things that I needed to see. Then there's the tasks that feel like chores to me, such as occasionally preparing and eating food to restore the health and stamina cores, shaving, changing clothes based on the weather, and keeping the camp supplied with provisions.
Now I've got my complaining out of the way, I did really enjoy this game. It's got a good story, and I like how we slowly get to know our fellow Van der Linde Gang members throughout the game. There's some interesting members in the gang. Missions are quite good as well. Many are the typical "ride somewhere then get into a gunfight" kind of thing, but every now and then something more creative will pop up.
The large world is a highlight of the game. There's a variety of locations, including snowy mountains and swampland. There's also a lot of events that happen throughout the map, making the world feel more alive. It's rare to travel from one place to another without something happening, such as someone needing help, rival gang ambushes, or some crooks attempting to blow open a safe with a bit too much dynamite.
Overall, and this might be a controversial opinion, but I think I still prefer Red Dead Redemption 1 over RDR2. I liked the protagonist of RDR1 more than Arthur, and I was generally was more interested in the story of the first game. Plus, the first game did seem to have more of the memorable quirky characters, such Nigel West Dickens, Seth, and Irish. But with the sheer amount of depth that's in the second game, it's hard to argue against it being the better game.
@crimsontadpoles Nice work! I can agree with a lot of your review. I thought I liked the first RDR better and have it slated as one of the best PS3 games. However, as time has gone on, I have grown to appreciate RDR2 more and more. I think when you’re caught up in the monotony of it all it becomes harder to appreciate the genius of it, but then in retrospect, it’s just absolutely amazing what Rockstar achieved with this game. The world is unparalleled in its development. If I had to choose one to replay now, I think I would rather play RDR2, but I’m not sure. Both are great!
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Completion: Beat game (normal ending, not 100%); roughly 35 hours. I imagine closer to 45 or 50 hours if someone wants to 100% it.
Paper Mario: The Origami King (referred to as TOK henceforth) is the sixth game in the Paper Mario franchise (seventh if you include the 3DS crossover game with the Mario & Luigi series) since the series started in 2000 on the N64. The series has gone through some pretty radical changes over the years: the story-driven, turn-based JRPG series from developer Intelligent Systems has slowly but inexorably drifted from its roots over the years, causing some level of dismay with long-time fans. TOK follows this tradition, being something more of an adventure game with puzzle-based combat. Despite this, I feel like the game is still satisfying to play off the back of an acknowledged classic like the Gamecube's Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door (my main reference point for this series other than my almost six year old partial playthrough of Paper Mario: Sticker Star on the 3DS).
The game's premise is an unusual one, and it immediately drew my interest when the first trailer dropped. Mario travels to Princess Peach's castle after he is invited to celebrate an Origami Festival in Toad Town. The town and castle seem abandoned however, and things go from normal to apocalyptic quickly when he discovers that Princess Peach has been folded into origami and inculcated into a bizarre origami cult by a sentient origami entity known as King Olly. King Olly has also partially folded Bowser and has gradually been kidnapping and folding his minions. Mario discovers a sympathetic ally in the form of Olivia, King Olly's sister, who is horrified by the imperialistic and destructive aims of her brother. Mario, an incapacitated Bowser, and Olivia escape from the castle as a number of brightly colored streamers wrap around the castle, rip it out of its foundation, and relocate it to a volcano. Separated from Bowser, Mario and Olivia, alongside a variety of companion characters they meet along the way, set out to to destroy the enormous streamers, which originate from a variety of locations around that section of the world, so that they can confront King Olly and hopefully rescue a world that is quickly falling to Olly's origami army.
It's impossible to discuss this game without also addressing the controverises surrounding it, so I find it best to get those out of the way first. The first of these is the combat system itself, and the progression mechanics tied into it. Like other recent entries in the series, TOK ditches a traditional XP system, so your characters don't gain levels as a result of battling. What you do gain, however, are coins (and confetti, but more on that later). You need money for pretty much everything in this world, and certainly, if you want to fill out the in-game museum (again, more on that), you'll need to do quite a bit of battling to gain the funds needed to buy expensive treasures. Money can also be used to buy badges which boost your stats and more powerful attacks in order to handle the increasingly powerful enemies you'll encounter across the game. Health upgrades aren't purchased, but can be found in your explorations. The cumulative result, I feel, is something approximating the feel of the character building you'd experience in an RPG, albeit more streamlined than what fans of the older games might be used to. A common complaint about the Paper Mario games since Sticker Star is that there's "no reason to battle," which certainly doesn't hold true here. You'll need money to buy weapons, to gain access to plot-important areas, etc. What the game perhaps doesn't do is provide an incentive to endlessly grind enemy encounters in order to max our character levels, which I don't personally mind. Nobody deliberately seeks out every Moblin in BotW to kill. I also don't recall people trawling the levels of 3D Mario games for enemies to kill. The lack of traditional RPG mechanics might not be ideal for certain people, but I strongly resist the notion that it makes battling enemies "pointless," or that it's even problematic game design.
The battle system itself is fascinating, and probably unlike anything one has ever encountered in a video game before. Mario stands in the center of a stage, surrounded by concentric rings where enemies are situated. You will have to move the rings to line enemies up in certain patterns so that Mario's attacks can attack them. Not only does lining them up efficiently give Mario the ability to kill them sooner, but you're also granted damage multipliers for doing so. The puzzles at the beginning of the game are a bit obvious and mindless, but the complexity of these timed ring puzzles increases as the game goes on. While there are some issues with this system (I'm not really a fan of how you only ever unlock more powerful boot and hammer attacks; although, thinking about it, outside of special attacks, almost every fight in TTYD devolved into boots and hammers as well), but I do like it makes every encounter something engaging, as the fights in TTYD got a bit mindless over time. Mario can pay coins to toads in his audience, who will solve the ring puzzle for him to varying degrees of completeness, depending on how much is paid, although I almost never opted for this.
Battles against the awesome, gigantic bosses feature a unique system of their own. This time, Mario is on the outside of the rings, with the boss in the middle, and the plumber has to set up a path through the rings ahead of time. Not only does Mario need to navigate to the center of the area, but he also frequently needs to be positioned in a certain way to attack the boss efficiently. Bosses in TOK are a lot like Zelda bosses insofar as they have specific weaknesses to be exploited and attack patterns to be anticipated. Just running up and randomly attacking them might eventually kill them, but it'll lead to an unnecessarily drawn out battle. In that respect, the boss fights are another area of TOK that feel puzzle game-inspired.
On that note, while it's true the bosses here aren't memorable personalities like you'll meet in TTYD, they are quite fun to fight. You'll go between vellumentals, enormous elemental deities that you need to beat to obtain their special powers, and enormous, sentient office supplies that belong to the "legion of stationary." While I'll admit it seems quite stupid initially for Mario to fight against staplers or boxes of colored pencils, these objects are characters in their own right, possessed of specific personalities, and the set-pieces and dungeons leading up to your encounters with them are often creative and incredibly fun, and even a bit foreboding at times.
Speaking of which, the player will also explore a fair number of dungeons throughout the game, and they feel rather like streamlined Zelda dungeons in terms of their puzzles, numerous enemy encounters, hidden heart upgrades, bosses, and theming, which fit well alongside the game's more action-adventurey approach. To be honest, TOK makes me wish Nintendo would expand the paper spinoff approach to other franchises. I'd LOVE a Paper Zelda game.
The other primary controversy in this game stems from Nintendo's now-infamous policy that developer Intelligent Systems is apparently not to create any original in-universe characters for this game, or for future Paper Mario titles. This... I feel, is a more valid complaint. TOK is a colorful, imaginative game filled with fun writing, great humor, and some superb characterization at times, but the main leg up I feel a game like TTYD had over this is that there are simply aren't a ton of interesting NPCs or even party members to meet in this, which does detract from the appeal of this game. The game's cast of important NPCs is dominated primarily by toads, and is utterly lacking in the vibrant array of unique designs and separate races that proliferated in TTYD. Almost none of the characters you meet (aside from Olivia and King Olly, who are alien to the Paper Mario universe in a very fundamental sense) have a distinct name: you'll find a Bob-Omb as a companion, but he just looks like any other Bob-Omb and insists that this is his name (in a perhaps cunning loophole to Nintendo's corporate restrictions, Olivia ignores this and continuously refers to this particular Bob-Omb as "Bobby"), since Bob-Ombs apparently seem to sublimate their individual identities in a collective identification (there's actually a rather shocking plot twist that, interestingly, dives a bit into the nuances of Bob-Omb psychology, which is weirdly fascinating).
The developer seems to take this as a challenge, however, and goes out of its way to allow Mario the opportunity to interact with a variety of Bowser's underlings (traditional Mario enemies), who are now on the run and attempting to evade the Folded Soldiers that are terrorizing this world. As a result, while it lacks the vibrant individual personalities of some previous titles in the series, the game works well in exploring the mindsets of Mario's classic foes outside of the context of a platformer. Since pre-established in-universe characters are still allowable, of course, you also interact with characters like Luigi, Bowser, Bowser Jr., and Kamek. I do sort of miss the more character-oriented focus of TTYD, but, honestly, I feel like TOK still has enough fun dialogue and interesting interactions that the game still felt like it had something of an identity, unlike the dispersonal toad hell of Sticker Star.
One of the central complaints about this series is how it has gone from being a series where the characters happen to be stylized as paper beings to being a series ABOUT paper, in some sense, and TOK leans extremely heavily into this element as well. TOK's characters are distinctly aware that they're made out of flat paper, and that their world, more broadly, is one of flat paper constructions. Really leaning into this worldbuilding is what allows the gradual encroachment of King Olly's origami army, which is constructed entirely out of unwilling paper victims, to feel as apocalyptic and uncanny as it often does. It also imbues the Legion of Stationary bosses you fight throughout with an aura of danger that one wouldn't normally associate with staplers, hole punchers, boxes of colored pencils, etc. Which is to say: I'm OK with the change to paper beings becoming somewhat self-aware of their own papery metaphysical nature. Like Media Molecule's Tearaway, the style extends to the entire world the characters inhabit, which feels like one made out of arts and crafts. This is a style employed in a few other Nintendo games as well (recent Yoshi games, in particular, come to mind), but there's a pleasing coherence of theme, story, and aesthetics here, since TOK leans into the 'paper world' concept so completely.
Despite the somewhat more childish premise and tone of TOK in general compared to TTYD, the game is strangely replete with tragic and emotionally potent story beats. I never expected a cutesy adventure game about adorable papercraft characters to have such a high body count by the end, frankly, although I guess it does fit with the underlying body horror this game is filled with (ever seen a giant monster constructed out of the punched out faces of your friends? Paper Mario has, and, even with them being made of paper, it's still horrifying), and the overall creepy tone of King Olly and his borg-like origami cult as well. This is one of those children's games that gets creepier and darker the more you think about it, which I thought was an interesting change of pace for the series. TOK's ending, in particular, is hugely bittersweet (and inspired quite a few tears from my eleven-year-old gameplay companion), which is an interesting contrast with TTYD's much more generic happy ending. The game can be surprisingly thoughtful insofar as it portrays characters grappling with issues related to personal identity, meaning, and death.
None of this, of course, should be taken to mean that TOK is a primarily grim experience. Like TTYD, this game is filled with jokes and humorous situations, often to the point of being something akin to slapstick. And as with that game, TOK can be funny without being obnoxious about it, and the script still manages to maintain a sense of perspective about what's actually at stake for these characters on their adventure. Although I would argue that much of TTYD's biting, often savage wit is missing here: it's a funny, charming game, but it lacks the whip-smart dialogue of its GameCube predecessor.
TOK's world is reasonably large, interconnected (one larger publication misreported it as being an "open world" game, but progression through the game's landscapes is still as linear as it ever was in previous games), and utterly filled with interactivity. The origami menace has savaged this delicate paper world and left it with holes everywhere. Mario carries a bad of confetti with him at all times, and he can use it to fill in these holes to uncover secrets and advance through plot-important locations. Confetti is everywhere in this game, and you'll need to constantly be collecting it to fill up your confetti bag so that you're prepared to paper over holes you find.
When you're running around these large environments, there are a few different things to do. You'll encounter simple environmental puzzles to solve in order to find chests that contains collectibles. You'll encounter different minigame activities. And you'll be finding tons and tons of hidden toads.
Running around looking for toads sounds horrible, like Sticker Star nonsense. But... it's really not. It's fun. Part of that is just how much variety there is in terms of how you find them. ANYTHING can be a toad in this game. Various animals in your environment can be toads. Toads can hide under rocks and behind walls. Fish you catch can be toads. Things you buy can be toads. Sometimes it's just a matter of running up to something and hammering it to reveal the toad. Sometimes they're simply hidden. Sometimes there's an environmental puzzle required to catch them.
Some toads you find will be important and run back to town to open shops and services, such as research centers, locations that serve as shortcuts between major zones, item, accessory and weapon shops, a museum, and a battle center where you can practice various functions related to the puzzle battles you'll so often engage in. Others will join your audience in battles, and, for a price, will help you in various ways.
Finding toads awards you toad points, which you can use to unlock art pieces at the museum. The museum also hosts 3D models you can find in chests throughout the environment, origami toad models you unlock throughout the game, enemy models more generally, music tracks from the game (which requires the player to fill in all of those holes located throughout the world, as I alluded to earlier), etc. Rather like in Animal Crossing, I'm finding the gradual development of my museum to be reward enough to consistently engage with the environments. And there's so much to engage with, considering nearly everything in this game feels like it can be collected or reward the player in some way. It's all a bit skinnerian, of course, but it works well in the context of this game.
The art design and general aesthetic sense present in TOK is phenomenal. Rather like Tearaway or the recent Good-Feel Yoshi platformers, the entire world looks like it was constructed in an arts and crafts class, and nearly every aspect of the environment relates back to the concept of paper in some way. Combine this with the detailed, often dense environments and the overall polish of the product, and you have one of the prettiest games on the Nintendo Switch. This primarily shines through when the game is docked, but it still looks vibrant and clean when undocked as well.
Musically, this is a high water mark for the series, with diverse and frequently evocative tracks setting the mood for your adventure. A track is worth a thousand words, so I'll link what I feel are some of the game's better compositions below.
Given the series' checkered reputation as of late, along with my own experience with the disappointing Paper Mario: Sticker Star, I approached The Origami King with some level of trepidation, but I was surprised to discover what turned out to be one of Nintendo's best releases of 2020 and one of their better Switch exclusives overall. The Origami King might not be the JRPG long-time fans were hoping for, but it is also absolutely undeserving of the cold reception many have greeted it with. While, pound for pound, I'd say The Thousand Year Door was still a better game overall, I think anyone willing to look past its change in genre will find a consistently creative, engaging, and delightful first-party release.
8/10
@RogerRoger Great write-up! I own Tomb Raider Anniversary on my PS2, actually, but I wasn't aware it was part of a larger subset of games. I think I'm one of those people who forgets there are apparently a huge number of TR games between the first three and the reboot trilogy, although these reviews make me want to go back and actually play through the series. Weren't there rumors of a Tomb Raider collection coming out on modern platforms? Maybe the exclusive DLC for Underworld will release on that.
As to the exclusive DLC itself... I wasn't aware there was a history of Microsoft paying for Tomb Raider exclusivity beyond RotTR, although it doesn't surprise me, as they were deep in the thick of that sort of moneyhatting in the seventh gen. The fact that next-gen Sony is looking to replicate that strategy for PS5 concerns me slightly.
I also genuinely had no idea there were Tomb Raider games on the NDS. Looking at footage, Underworld on that platform actually seems like a surprisingly decent 2.5D version of the game. I have to admit: I sort of miss bespoke handheld versions of bigger console games.
By the way, it sounds like you aren't particularly enjoying Final Fantasy VII. It's probably a bit rough from a modern standpoint. It's oddly appropriate to play it alongside a Tomb Raider collection, though, because Lara Croft and Tifa Lockheart are two of the most iconic female characters from that console generation.
As always, your writing is extremely funny. Keep it up!
@crimsontadpoles Can't say I really shared most of your nitpicks. The one that stands out to me the most as a "totally" was the firearms disappearing back into your horse's saddle. That was absolutely aggravating. In terms of the realism aspects though, I quickly realised you didn't really need to participate in them. I'd very occasionally bring something back to camp or eat a meal, but generally my Arthur was just anorexic throughout most of the game. I don't think I ever changed clothes according to weather either, nor did I ever hunt or fish outside of when the missions required it. I felt like those features were all well balanced in that you could engage with them if you so wish, but you didn't have to if that extra realism isn't your thing.
Absolutely agree with your points on the open world. This is the first time playing an open world game where I felt like the game really utilised the open world concept to the extent that it should be. Too often open worlds feel like a simple checklist or just a way from get to mission start to mission start. This time I actually felt like I was part of the world, the world was interacting with me and that the world was constantly changing. I usually dread long rides in games, but this one I had such a pleasure just slowly making my way to wherever I needed to go next. I don't think I used fast travel even once. It's just the perfect version of what an open worlds should be to me. Can't say I can compare any of RDR2 to the first one since I haven't played it, but one day I will definitely have to.
@RogerRoger Fabulous review; as it was an interesting read and great to reminisce about these games which I thoroughly enjoyed in the past. It’s good to see they hold up to a replay, especially Legend. I think I do remember Legend and Anniversary the most, and Underworld left less of an impression on me.
Okay ... you’ve delayed long enough. Looks like you’re going to have to fish or cut bait on your FF7 playthrough. 😄 I’d hoped that it eventually clicked with you but it seems like it may die a slow painful death in your gaming graveyard. Which is fine. The rose-tinted glasses I look through on it are probably the reason I value it so.
@RogerRoger Excellent write-up. Out of those 3 games, the only one that I've played (so far) is Tomb Raider Legend. It's very different to the previous games in the series, and for good reason. They had to change direction after how disastrous Angel of Darkness was. The positive reception of Legend shows that they did a good job of that.
However, at the time, I was a little bit disappointed with Legend. My favourite aspect of the series has always been the exploration. Past games were packed full of environment puzzles, and it generally took a lot of looking around to figure out how to proceed. In Legend, those aspects were subdued as the focus was fully on the cinematic experience. The few environment puzzles that Legend had were mostly quite simple, and the game was fairly linear.
Legend modernised the series, and I may well be in the minority for preferring the older style games.
It would be a good idea for me to replay Legend, as I've not played it since the PS2 days. I think that in a new playthrough in this day and age, I'd better appreciate what it does do well, instead of focusing on what it doesn't do.
@Ralizah Lovely write-up as well. The Origami King does seem to have its fans. Judging by the gameplay footage I've seen, this game probably isn't for me though. I'm glad you had fun with it.
And looking at the screenshots, it's great to see that Ho-Oh, one of my favourite pokemon, has snuck its way into the Mushroom Kingdom
@RogerRoger, great write-up of the Tomb Raider games. Many Moons ago I played the demos to a few of those mentioned on my 360, but I could never get to grips with them (the Underworld demo in particular, I just never figured out where to go after arriving at the temple it featured).
I'd like to try them again someday if they're ever re-released on modern hardware, as I'd love to try out the series, but am not all that attracted to the grittier reboot trilogy (I did play Lara Croft GO on mobile a few years ago and enjoyed it, but that's the extent of my TR experience), lol.
@Ralizah, great ToK review! I'm only in the Fire Vellumental temple, but I agree with a lot you've said. In particular I think the whole conversation around Olivia trying to name Bob-Omb was a sly middle finger to the restrictions put in place, and it was a brilliant move to separate Origami beings into the villains, freeing up a wide selection of Bowser's minions to be friendly NPC's as to not overload on Toads.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
So I finally finished and got the Plat for Ghost of Tsushima. I have been playing this heavily for over a month since pretty much launch weekend and spent a good deal of time with it. Not sure how long but got to be in the 60 plus hour region as I explored and got everything.
So my user impressions - I will try to avoid spoilers with regards to the story though there are some gameplay concepts that do stray into spoiler region so will tag those.
Firstly, I enjoyed this game. It was well made, the graphics etc. are truly gorgeous, the realistation of Tsushima island is one of the most beautiful and diverse open worlds you can find. The traversal in the game is smooth and relatively simple and the use of environmental wind for way points and markers does vary things up from icon heavy adventures such as the recent AC games. The music, when used is sparse and the Japanese locale is refreshingly different for me as a Westerner. I couldn't comment about cultural or even historical accuracy. The combat as well is, especially when you engage in open combat, fun and the unlocks of techniques feel meaningful though, one could argue the earlier parts of the game put you at a severe disadvantage as you have a 'stance' for different enemy types and you can't access them till you have them all. That makes some enemy types painful till you get them. However, powering through enemies, parrying and chopping their bits off is satisfying and skill led. The story, on the whole and some of the side missions was fairly fulfilling though not remarkable however they got the core themes of the story across very well.
That said, I found my enjyoment waining and I think this may be less of a fault of the game and more of my general fatigue with open world games at the moment. Over the last 4 or 5 years I've played Far Cry 4 and most of 5, HZD, Infamous Second Son and Last Light, Witcher 3, AC Odyssey, BOTW, Skyrim, Spiderman PS4, Shadow of Mordor, MGSV etc. Now these have varied in size and quality (and I would argue BOTW is the most distinct of these games) and I am not arguing that some of these are amazing games - such as The Witcher 3, HZD and BOTW. The thing is that the gameplay for many of these games is very repetetive as you move from title to title. My main issues with them - and this is something that I felt with Ghost, is the impact of open world narrative and the lack of cause and effect the open world structure has. Take for example side quests - you have a side character that has their own quest lines but they are going to turn up in the main story line so you know that whatever happens in those can't affect the narrative. At the same time, you have the typical issue of your actions not really affecting the world around you. I am fairly certain I murdered thousands of mongols by game end yet they are still just wandering around, even by end game.
I guess my point is that we have really just seen the refinement of the open world genre this generation (again, I exclude BOTW) and Ghost is an example of a really good one for sure, but does little new except for pretty good combat and an amazing setting. It is a very safe game in that it does what it does very well but it does little new. Now is this a complaint against the game? Not really but it sits alongside a lot of games that have incredibly similar fundamental mechanics. It has stealth sections, it has trail missions, it has forced stealth missions, it has a weapon upgrade path, it has a skills upgrade, there are lots of collectibles, side missions and NPC's etc. There are enemy outposts. Even things to climb. Now is this a hard one to review because there is nothing wrong with them as said and it is hard to mark a game for not being terribly original but at the same time... I feel a little like it became a shopping list to 100%. Which is also my fault for trying to 100% and get the platonum and if I had just focused on story missions I may have enjoyed it more.
Also from from a story perspective the central theme is that Jin has to choose between the honour of the Samurai and doing some unsavoury stealth things to beat the baddies. This is all fine but then you can choose to be honourable and fight by calling out your enemies or not you can play stealth and choose - except in story missions where you are forced one way or another and it meant that I played with little stealth and largely chopping in the open but the story took none of that into account and I was branded the same way as if I had been stealthy. Also, there is no recognition that without being dishonourable you couldnt win. A small niggle but something that didn't quite work for me .
So overall a good, well made game but really a little too generic. However, still think this is a great game and worth playing. Just maybe don't go for 100% if you just want to focus on the story and character missions.
Now I may be an idiot, but there's one thing I am not sir, and that sir, is an idiot
@Rudy_Manchego Great review and congrats on your platinum. I’m not done with GoT yet, but I can’t say I disagree with the points you made. There is a realistic beauty, artistry, and historical semi-accuracy aspect to the game that makes the “video gamey” things stick out a little more. When you’re playing Spider-Man and you swing around town to find thugs populating areas you’ve already cleared, it seems less dissonant that here when you see enemies respawn indefinitely, despite both narratives being fantasy based, the illusion of historical accuracy makes Ghost of Tsushima’s lack of permanence of your actions more obvious. Playing Red Dead Redemption 2 last year also probably spoiled us into seeing how it can be done where you kill a sheep by accidentally running over it with your horse and you come back a few in-game days later and the corpse is still there rotting and then a few days later the animals skeleton is there. Or if you rob a store in RDR2, when you come back later the town NPCs remember you, unless you’ve changed your appearance and clothing. Ghost of Tsushima definitely has less realism than I was expecting, but it does add some to the “fun” factor. I commented on the game thread about the way you use the grappling hook as an example of poor realism but good gaming functionality. It’s a fine line to draw for the developers to keep the game fun and yet keep you invested in the world because of your ability to impact it through your actions. Also, the point at which the checklist becomes more mundane but yet not too short to have players feel short-changed on content.
But like you, overall I find the game to be quite fantastic. I’m leaning slightly more positive than your [already positive] review, but I know I’m still not at the burn out point yet, and I’m not sure I’ll put the extra effort for the platinum, we’ll see. Your review reads like a 7-8/10 and I’m thinking 8-9/10 so far.
Fall Guys is an online multiplayer game developed by Mediatonic, and published by Devolver Digital. Most of you will be aware of this game at this point thanks to its great marketing. It is a brilliant mix of Mario Party-style mini-games and the Battle Royale concept. In this game you are pitched against 59 other players as you make it towards the end of the stage, except for one impossible stage called See Saw, because F#&@ that stage and its broken physics.
The gameplay is simple enough for anyone to grasp it within minutes of playing. You can walk, jump, dive and grab. This includes grabbing objects, but also other players. If you commit to the latter you're an effing noob and you deserve a place in Fall Guy hell.
The aim of most courses is to make it to the end of the level as fast as possible. Various obstacles, like rotating platforms, moving walls and rolling balls try to stop you on your way. Another type of level requires you to stay alive as long as possible, by staying on a platform as moving blocks try to push you off, or by jumping on the correct platforms in a game of classic memory. The last kind of challenge are team based challenges, but those can shove a tin of beans up their arse, F&$# them.
Verdict: Fall Guys is a good metaphor for real life. Working together is impossible, everyone is doomed. You'll get singled out as a team and destroyed by the competing teams, pushed off ledges just before the finish line. Dragged down with other players into the abyss. And you'll see victory disappear before your years when the game can't keep up with the lag and hands the crown to another stupid player that was clearly miles behind you.
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