Reviews

About:

The Witcher 3 is the last game in the series released, which comes with the proposal to clarify events from the old games and continue the saga of Geralt of Rivia, the wizard, who makes his living through wizards contracts while looking for Ciri, a species from an adopted daughter who is fleeing the Wild Hunt, an organization that is after the mysterious powers of the charismatic “Lady of the Lake”.

Plot:

The game starts when Geralt meets Yennefer when he finds out that he and Cirila are being chased by the Wild Hunt, and that's where the game begins and unfolds. Clearly like any good RPG game, the tale does not unfold through this single challenge, it will also review old friends and argue rivals. The game's storyline is surprising, full of twists and with that “bittersweet taste” in the course of each different tale, which is narrated by the bard Dandelion.

Gameplay:

Perhaps this is a great challenge for any casual gamer or who is not used to games from CD Projekt Red, From Software, Bioware or other companies involved in the creation of important games with the Role-Playing Game theme. Following on from many of the main gameplay features of the previous games in the series, the game has some complex controls with freedom of movement and really impressive action for a game of the genre. The character attacks, jumps, dodges, defends, runs, walks, selects magic, changes equipment and accessories in real time, selects and attacks with different spells, varieties of attack combos, defense and counter attacks, mixing elements from Hack n 'Slash in the game. During the game's plot, you will notice that it has an extremely simple and intuitive “natural tutorial system”, which will greatly facilitate the understanding of its gameplay system, and everything works very well, even the camera against large monsters considerable, a major problem in games of the same genre. And of course, no problem that is not solved with a few hours of gameplay hahahahaha. By the way, the game has a very basic system of customization and creation of items and equipment, in addition to much to be explored through dialogues with the game's NPCs and exploration of the game map (huge by the way). The game has, approximately, a time of about 30 ~ 40 hours finishing the main story without counting the side quests and DLC’s of the game, which greatly increase this time of easy play to more than 100 hours. The game also features Gwent, a card game within The Witcher universe, which can be played with other NPCs in the game besides tournaments. Gwent has its own system of decks, rules, and rare cards as if it were really another game within The Witcher. The great thing about the game is perhaps due to the game's diversity in solving its puzzles and game problems. You don't necessarily need to engage in combat with anyone in many game situations, and you can solve even more complex quests through dialogue or solving logical thinking puzzles. And of course, every choice in the game has its consequences that certainly change the game's plot. Perhaps a complaint of the game is its ease in combating against mobs, which greatly improves the experience increasing the difficulty of the game.

Graphics:

Now we can talk about something that I have the least ownership of in the subject hahahaha. The game was made by CD Projekt Red through REDengine, the same licensed by games from Bioware and used in The Witcher 2, but EXTREMELY POLISHED for the current generation at the time the game was released, incredible by 2k15 standards. I, in particular, played the game on the PC through Steam, on a high performance machine in the highest graphic quality possible in 1080p resolution at 60fps. The game has a very average textures default even for its time, and even though I have the experience of playing it stored on an SSD, it can be well observed the delay in rendering textures and a little poorly worked, which even in a way is justified, given the size of the game map. Nothing that a Mod Texture HD Rework Project does not solve HAHAHAHAHA. The game has an AMAZING Ambiental Occlusion system in the facial expression of the characters and NPCs and ambience of the game, which SURELY was inspiration for many consecutive games, I can easily quote: Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order and several other games. A good anti-aliasing, post-processing system and the key point of the game: HairWorks. Even using an AMD GPU, the HairWorks system implemented in the game is simply WONDERFUL. Geralt's hair, from NPCs, coat of monsters is simply very well worked, moving according to the dynamic ambience of the game and with a very high resolution of detail, really dispensing with any defects as it happens in many current games, such as Resident Evil 2 for example, which has an excess of blur and aliasing around the hair of the characters that, at least in my opinion, hinder the game experience a lot.

Soundtrack and dubbing:

The game was played by me in Portuguese (Brazilian) dubbing, which is disappointing in some aspects, both in the synchronization of voices, and when compared to the original dubbing of the game. However, in contrast, the game's soundtracks are all original, made and thought for the same, they are simply EPIC. The songs played by bards in caves, (even dubbed in Portuguese) background songs against mobs and bosses, thematic songs from certain parts of the map are simply “breathtaking”, as the acclaimed Keanu Reeves would say hahahahahaha.

Is it worth it or not?

It's definitely worth it! even for those who, like me, had never played any game in the series before, it becomes a unique and incredible experience to live. With a very mature and thematic gameplay aimed at a much more adult audience, the game goes beyond many expectations, making you really get stuck, laugh, cry, get angry in many moments in history, it is really an extremely complete game. Certainly one of the best made games of all time!

About:

Resident Evil 3 is the game from the famous CAPCOM survival horror franchise and, pay attention: it is a remake inspired by Resident Evil 3: NEMESIS, a PlayStation classic released in 1999, following the same line as the previous remake of series, Resident Evil 2 Remake.

Plot:

The game features Jill Valentine as the protagonist, a police officer who is trying to escape Raccoon City while being chased by NEMESIS, a kind of biological monster created by Umbrella Corporations to annihilate S.T.A.R.S. members, in order to erase sensitive information about the organization.

Gameplay:

The game basically uses the same recipe as Resident Evil 2 Remake – the gameplay has been completely modernized and optimized for the current generation, with a very high quality and simplicity. For those who played the PlayStation classic, it must be easy to recognize some scenarios, characters and enemies, but in a less hostile and more unfolded way. The game does not have the Resident Evil 2 Remake campaign system selectable, having only a linear campaign, which by the way is very short and without many twists, being able to finish the game in a time of approximately 4 ~ 7hrs. Just like in the classic, Jill Valentine meets Carlos Oliveira, a veteran soldier linked to the U.B.C.S. - Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service. Instead of being playable in a separate campaign, he has his moments dedicated to the story unfolding. The gameplay is very similar to that of the previous remake: Armed combat, map exploration, items and weapon systems, etc. However, there are some caveats that need to be mentioned: You no longer have the system to get rid of a zombie with the knife, the game has an own avoidance system from Jill and Carlos, which is very efficient, but does not work very well in some moments due to the delay of the movement itself when performing it. The inventory remains small, but the game's loot system is much more generous compared to the previous remake (which was a better experience for me) and the game's puzzle system, so striking in the series, is almost not present, unfortunately. By the way, I would almost forget about the game's “icing on the cake”: Nemesis. At each encounter with the biological monster we have in the game, its 3D model is different, revealing various forms of the villain during gameplay. Moments of mild distress when running from the villain and pretty simple battles do not make the star of this game bad, but it leaves a lot to be desired in relation to Mr. X, the villain of the previous gameplay, who has scenes of real despair and quite difficulty in the battles against the monster, leaving the player really immersed in the villain, something that is not repeated here. Regarding the scenarios, they really are very good, but he gives the impression that they just “copied and pasted” the previous remake, without much news, graphics improvements or easter eggs inside them, really unfortunate. On the other hand, when it comes to the new scenarios on the “otherside” of Raccoon City, we can see that the city has more life: shops, staircases, pharmacies, train station, etc. Really done with great care, with vibrant colors on the signs of the stores and the giant head of Mr. Charlie on top of the Toy Uncle store really makes a splendid contrast between the destroyed city and the scenery, something really magnificent.

Graphics:

Speaking of the most delicate part of the game, the game really is a cinematic work, from which you can easily recognize the high realism of the facial hair and hair in high definition of the characters when the game abuses the close-up on them. The facial expressions in different dialogues with the protagonists are really incredible – movement of the eyes, mouth, eyebrows, movement of the arms, create several possibilities of reactions within cinematics. The physics, dynamics and 3D models of the characters are really mind-boggling, as are the animations, the carnage in killing a zombie and the effects of blood. The depth of field in the transitions between gameplay and cinematics and the field of view itself, really make a game a great work of art. The shadow effects are dense and realistic, as well as softened, respecting their position while an animated model or object moves. The screen space reflection that are based on rasterization that only invert the image of what is visible on the screen is very good, as it is an extremely common technique in the world of games, having only a few errors in specific moments, which could be corrected with technologies like raytracing. The game also has a lack of fluidity in the animations of the long hair of characters that have it, like Carlos for example, they have a strange physics and framerate, as well as the shadows of the zombies in the scenery background, which gives a somewhat contrast how weird in the game. The game has some artifacts in TAA (Temporal Anti-aliasing) technology, which uses the previous frame to correct the knurling of the next scene, and this happens when there is a sudden change in the change of scenery, nothing so noticeable that it interferes with the player's experience. When it comes to the PC version, the game is extremely optimized, and runs even on computers with simpler configurations. I experienced the game in Ultra quality in Full HD, with the resolution scale at 130% and locking the game at 60 frames, using the DirectX 11 API and I didn't have any crash, bug or sudden drops of frames during the gameplay, despite many reports from users who had problems with bugs and crashes in the game using specific AMD hardware.

Soundtrack and dubbing:

Unfortunately, the game has no voiceovers for my country (Brazil), but it has subtitles in my language and they work perfectly well. The soundtrack of the game is good, appearing only in times of greatest distress as in battles against Nemesis. The dubbing is good, with the exception of non-American characters, like Mikhail and Carlos, who have an extremely strange and poorly worked native accent, spoiling the immersion with these characters a little during some cinematics.

Is it worth it or not?

It's worth it if you're really a fan of the saga. Even for those who, like me, have not had the opportunity to play the PlayStation classic, they will have an immersive, pleasant, simple and even frantic experience sometimes. What is not worth it is the value: the game, until the date of this review, continues to cost the price of its release: $ 59.90, however, if you don’t really care about it or manage to buy the game in some sale, go ahead. In summary the game is very good, leaving something to be desired such as its short gameplay time and lack of puzzles. However, it is undeniable that the game still has the Resident Evil experience in vein.

This is a review for the Switch release. 

Trials of Mana is a 3D remake of the Super Nintendo classic Trials of Mana. Unfortunately, that's the most positive thing I have to say about the game. 

The biggest issue is the loading screens. In my 28 hours of playtime, I spent 3~4 hours in load screens. The game already had bad pacing, and the load screens only made it worse. There were several times where I would spend 1 minute loading into a room, only to watch a 30 second cutscene and immediately load into another. 

Dialogue drags on, with slow, forced delivery and 2 second pauses between each line. Nobody talks at the same time, and characters barely move, if at all, during delivery. Most of the voice acting is garbage, except for maybe one villain. This also killed any interest I had in the story. To its credit, it had an interesting premise, allowing the player to choose three of the six protagonists to follow on a personalized story. The premise takes a nose dive as the story fails to come together and you focus on one of three possible villains. 

The gameplay is alright, but extremely basic. You'll be spamming the same 4-button combo in every encounter. Equipment offers virtually no customization. Skill trees allow for some degree of specialization, but realistically everyone will max their strength to deal maximum damage. The party AI is stupid and dies constantly. The class system offered clear progression and powerful upgrades. There were flashy abilities to use in combat, but even on hard the game was a cakewalk. 

I wouldn't recommend this even to fans of the original. Its a piss poor excuse for a JRPG by modern standards.