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The very moment I entered my first online match in Titanfall 2 was exhilarating. Enemy players and teammates running on walls and killing each other like it was a neighborhood sports match (in a good way). Then a little soon after these giant metal beasts starting to fall from the sky and the battle turned into a mess (in a great way), then at one moment I somehow managed to ride one of these enemy giants and snatch its battery, moments later my own Titan fell from the sky. We lost the match but it was great.
After taking a digital copy on sale, I was looking forward to having a mindless fun time with my friends. I haven’t played the original so I didn’t know what to expect, yet I have seen a lot of comments regarding the game’s quality so I was more or less confident.
Uphold The Mission
From what I read, the first game didn’t have a proper main campaign to tell its story but it gave some glimpses of lore here and there to make sense of its universe. Titanfall 2 kickstarts with a pre-rendered cinematic talking about war and how the pilots (that is how they call the ones who pilot titans) are the most badass and skilled warriors on the battlefield. This opening not only gives you a resume of what you’ll get in the game in terms of gameplay, but it also tells you between lines that this game is not about its world but you the pilot. Or at least that’s how I want to see it, as I’m still a little lost of what its story about, this is not a bad thing mind you.
The main campaign was notably entertaining and fairly challenging, I played it on hard and while it wasn’t the most punishing experience ever, I did see the continue screen quite a few times. While the enemy AI wasn’t that great, they were aggressive, and it didn’t felt to me that they rely on extremely long HP to increase the difficulty, which I appreciate a lot. What I wasn’t expecting to find on its campaign was interesting lore with colorful and charming characters or at least some of them. In contrast with its universe, the presented story is pretty basic, yet serviceable, military good guys Vs. greedy and obviously bad guys. It comes with all the conventions and military bravado you’ll expect in a war blockbuster game or movie, and at times it felt a little propagandistic to my taste but that is just a personal opinion, still, the main narrative isn’t too interested to explore the game’s universe, what you need to know is that you’re a pilot on a mission, which is ok after all is an action-focused game so the story and lore are more like a complement to its gameplay. The main character is more or less in the same knowledge as you, so you’ll get some exposition dialogue here and there to give you enough information to move along through the events unfolding.
The game’s exposition device is BT, a Titan AI that accompanies you through all your adventure, at first I didn’t know what to expect but I liked him soon enough, it is a well written, charismatic, and amazingly performed character, not to mention that is full of dry humor, however, I found some discrepancies with BT, and is when the story tries to make their development in a similar way like John Connor and T-800 in Terminator: Judgement Day, as if BT needs to learn how to be human, the issue is that from the very beginning BT is pretty humanized to begin with, so it felt too forced every time the game showed a moment of how BT was “understanding” and interpreting human emotion, this was not a big problem but it keep me from fully believe their relationship. The dynamic between you and BT also reminded me a lot of Portal 2′ Interaction between Chell and Wheatley, it is not the same but I enjoyed my time with BT in a similar fashion, and I don’t think this Portal 2 is a coincidence. Later in the game, its puzzles and use of verticality seems pretty influenced by Valve’s game, the puzzles are not as thrilling neither as imaginative, but they felt fresh nonetheless. Of the stuff, I knew from this game this wasn’t one so it was a pleasant revelation.
The main star of this show, however, is the gameplay, mobility on land is standard for an FPS but once you add double jumping, sliding, and wall running to the mix, it adds a lot of energy and dynamism to the combat. Weapon selection is nothing to write home about but the basics are covered, snipers, assault rifles, shotguns, etc. everything is covered so it wouldn’t be a problem for anyone to find the right one. The stages evolve through the chapter and have a lot of diversity, so you will be seeing different types of environments. The rhythm of the campaign is great, and even if it uses the same formula over each chapter: take this item, then kill some enemies, then go to point B and take down the boss, it never felt tiresome or repetitive, since you will be making puzzle solving and fighting titans in the mix you always have a sense of going forward.
The cherry on top of the cake might be the boss battles. During every stage interact in some way or another with the enemy pilot of that area. These characters are a colorful bunch that seems to have a lot of influence from the bosses from the Metal Gear Solid series, at least in a superficial way. Once you clear all the challenges of the stage it will culminate with a neat introduction of the enemy pilot, they will give a short monologue to establish their feelings toward you like: “I’m doing it for the money” “We have no other choice” etc. and starts the fight, these little introductions work great as they build a strong sense of rivalry and makes you care for defeating them. These battles are fun and can get intense, I particularly have a difficult time defeating one of the late bosses that use a sniping Titan and their stage is basically a straight line, I was dying again and again, but the game lets you try other titan loadouts (that you collect through the campaign) and then I chose the right weapon to beat them, after a few tries I was victorious. These fights are basically a showroom of what each Titan is capable of doing and in that regard, the main campaign can be also like a tutorial for the online mode which can be quite fierce, still, single-player mode holds quite good by itself.
It’s worth to note that it is a short campaign, it took me around 6 hours to beat it, so if you’re looking to play this game for single player, you have to consider this, still, its adventure is for the most well packaged of everything, and it has some replayability in the form of collectibles but nothing special.
Apex Predators
Online mode however is where most of your time is going to be. I appreciate the effort Respawn put into making the single-player mode as complete as it is, given that the core gameplay is built towards an online experience but still, in a similar fashion like Splatoon (a game that I think has the same energy as this game), the real reason you’ll likely are going to get this (unless you’re from a future were the servers are dead and the only way to enjoy this piece is by its offline mode) is to have epic battles along with your friends and random people.
Before entering a match you’ll be selecting your type of pilot and Titan, each with a customizable loadout of skills and weapons. In the beginning, you’ll start with a few selections of everything but you can unlock more stuff when leveling up your base level. To unlock things more quickly you can use credits (the in-game’s currency), these credits are obtainable by achieving goals in battles like winning, level up a weapon, have a good performance, etc. this is called the merit system and the better you play the more credits you get. You can also level up each weapon and Titans, to unlock better mods and skills. As for the aesthetic customization, I think it was disappointing, each type of pilot and Titan are different from each other but you are stuck with their default designs, you can unlock and purchase color skins, there are a lot of them but frankly they don’t look that different, I am all out for aesthetic customization but here I didn’t care since the result would not be that different, this didn’t affect my gameplay experience of course, as it is a superficial matter, nonetheless as for a game as online-inclined as this, it would benefit with more customization freedom.
Titanfall 2 comes with a wide range of modes, but given the time I played it, each mode seemed almost dead or the queues too long to wait, everything except Attrition. Attrition is the main and seemingly standard online mode on which 6 vs 6 players go into death-match, the purpose of this mode is to gather 650 points before the opposite team to win, it is frenetic, it is fantastic but it is also unforgiven to newcomers. To collect points you have to kill enemies from the other team, these come as pilots, titans, and different AI like regular soldiers, robots and “tiny titans” called Reapers, all of these give fewer points than killing humans but they still sum up to the final score, so if you’re feeling that you can’t take down pilots you can focus on these enemies instead and get more familiar with the map and mechanics. Differently from the main campaign, you can’t fight with your Titan from the beginning, instead, you have to wait for it to be ready, the progress is shown on the lower screen and it also shows its percent, you can speed up this process by killing enemies and even by stealing Titan batteries, and once your meter goes to 100% you now can summon your Titan, you can extend the lifespan of your Titan by getting enemy Titan batteries by acquiring them by yourself or if a player steals one and give it to you. The Titans can change the game flow, if you use them correctly, you can turn the tides and have a more satisfying victory.
Fights can get thrilling, the verticality of the maps and fast navigation within its gameplay mechanics make for fast-paced and kinetic fights, there is a good selection on maps and the game doesn’t seem to repeat them on a playing session, so you’ll hardly have moments of Deja vú. The only issue I encounter while playing online is that its team distribution doesn’t seem to be that fair, in more than a few battles it seemed that I was paired with players as newbies as I, so the opposition overkilled us, the same can be said the other way around, I teamed a lot of battles with an OP team, maybe it was just luck or they were always parties, so who knows, overall I had and I’m still having a great time on these battles.
Down To Business
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Titanfall 2 this much, I don’t tend to play a lot of FPS or TPSs but it is rare for me to get hooked this much by one of them. If you’re looking for a single-player experience I think this game will cover you up for a few hours but most of them will be good, however, if you’re looking for a deep and lengthy experience you may pass on this one or get it on sale (which I think on the PSN store goes pretty regularly). On the other hand, if you’re looking for a great online multiplayer experience look no further, although its customization is limited or repetitive, you’ll have a blast still. Like a good action movie, Titanfall 2 delivers in what is required and excels at it, its clever mechanics and gameplay fluidity overshadows its shortcomings and makes for a well-wrapped and satisfying experience.
After taking a digital copy on sale, I was looking forward to having a mindless fun time with my friends. I haven’t played the original so I didn’t know what to expect, yet I have seen a lot of comments regarding the game’s quality so I was more or less confident.
Uphold The Mission
From what I read, the first game didn’t have a proper main campaign to tell its story but it gave some glimpses of lore here and there to make sense of its universe. Titanfall 2 kickstarts with a pre-rendered cinematic talking about war and how the pilots (that is how they call the ones who pilot titans) are the most badass and skilled warriors on the battlefield. This opening not only gives you a resume of what you’ll get in the game in terms of gameplay, but it also tells you between lines that this game is not about its world but you the pilot. Or at least that’s how I want to see it, as I’m still a little lost of what its story about, this is not a bad thing mind you.
The main campaign was notably entertaining and fairly challenging, I played it on hard and while it wasn’t the most punishing experience ever, I did see the continue screen quite a few times. While the enemy AI wasn’t that great, they were aggressive, and it didn’t felt to me that they rely on extremely long HP to increase the difficulty, which I appreciate a lot. What I wasn’t expecting to find on its campaign was interesting lore with colorful and charming characters or at least some of them. In contrast with its universe, the presented story is pretty basic, yet serviceable, military good guys Vs. greedy and obviously bad guys. It comes with all the conventions and military bravado you’ll expect in a war blockbuster game or movie, and at times it felt a little propagandistic to my taste but that is just a personal opinion, still, the main narrative isn’t too interested to explore the game’s universe, what you need to know is that you’re a pilot on a mission, which is ok after all is an action-focused game so the story and lore are more like a complement to its gameplay. The main character is more or less in the same knowledge as you, so you’ll get some exposition dialogue here and there to give you enough information to move along through the events unfolding.
The game’s exposition device is BT, a Titan AI that accompanies you through all your adventure, at first I didn’t know what to expect but I liked him soon enough, it is a well written, charismatic, and amazingly performed character, not to mention that is full of dry humor, however, I found some discrepancies with BT, and is when the story tries to make their development in a similar way like John Connor and T-800 in Terminator: Judgement Day, as if BT needs to learn how to be human, the issue is that from the very beginning BT is pretty humanized to begin with, so it felt too forced every time the game showed a moment of how BT was “understanding” and interpreting human emotion, this was not a big problem but it keep me from fully believe their relationship. The dynamic between you and BT also reminded me a lot of Portal 2′ Interaction between Chell and Wheatley, it is not the same but I enjoyed my time with BT in a similar fashion, and I don’t think this Portal 2 is a coincidence. Later in the game, its puzzles and use of verticality seems pretty influenced by Valve’s game, the puzzles are not as thrilling neither as imaginative, but they felt fresh nonetheless. Of the stuff, I knew from this game this wasn’t one so it was a pleasant revelation.
The main star of this show, however, is the gameplay, mobility on land is standard for an FPS but once you add double jumping, sliding, and wall running to the mix, it adds a lot of energy and dynamism to the combat. Weapon selection is nothing to write home about but the basics are covered, snipers, assault rifles, shotguns, etc. everything is covered so it wouldn’t be a problem for anyone to find the right one. The stages evolve through the chapter and have a lot of diversity, so you will be seeing different types of environments. The rhythm of the campaign is great, and even if it uses the same formula over each chapter: take this item, then kill some enemies, then go to point B and take down the boss, it never felt tiresome or repetitive, since you will be making puzzle solving and fighting titans in the mix you always have a sense of going forward.
The cherry on top of the cake might be the boss battles. During every stage interact in some way or another with the enemy pilot of that area. These characters are a colorful bunch that seems to have a lot of influence from the bosses from the Metal Gear Solid series, at least in a superficial way. Once you clear all the challenges of the stage it will culminate with a neat introduction of the enemy pilot, they will give a short monologue to establish their feelings toward you like: “I’m doing it for the money” “We have no other choice” etc. and starts the fight, these little introductions work great as they build a strong sense of rivalry and makes you care for defeating them. These battles are fun and can get intense, I particularly have a difficult time defeating one of the late bosses that use a sniping Titan and their stage is basically a straight line, I was dying again and again, but the game lets you try other titan loadouts (that you collect through the campaign) and then I chose the right weapon to beat them, after a few tries I was victorious. These fights are basically a showroom of what each Titan is capable of doing and in that regard, the main campaign can be also like a tutorial for the online mode which can be quite fierce, still, single-player mode holds quite good by itself.
It’s worth to note that it is a short campaign, it took me around 6 hours to beat it, so if you’re looking to play this game for single player, you have to consider this, still, its adventure is for the most well packaged of everything, and it has some replayability in the form of collectibles but nothing special.
Apex Predators
Online mode however is where most of your time is going to be. I appreciate the effort Respawn put into making the single-player mode as complete as it is, given that the core gameplay is built towards an online experience but still, in a similar fashion like Splatoon (a game that I think has the same energy as this game), the real reason you’ll likely are going to get this (unless you’re from a future were the servers are dead and the only way to enjoy this piece is by its offline mode) is to have epic battles along with your friends and random people.
Before entering a match you’ll be selecting your type of pilot and Titan, each with a customizable loadout of skills and weapons. In the beginning, you’ll start with a few selections of everything but you can unlock more stuff when leveling up your base level. To unlock things more quickly you can use credits (the in-game’s currency), these credits are obtainable by achieving goals in battles like winning, level up a weapon, have a good performance, etc. this is called the merit system and the better you play the more credits you get. You can also level up each weapon and Titans, to unlock better mods and skills. As for the aesthetic customization, I think it was disappointing, each type of pilot and Titan are different from each other but you are stuck with their default designs, you can unlock and purchase color skins, there are a lot of them but frankly they don’t look that different, I am all out for aesthetic customization but here I didn’t care since the result would not be that different, this didn’t affect my gameplay experience of course, as it is a superficial matter, nonetheless as for a game as online-inclined as this, it would benefit with more customization freedom.
Titanfall 2 comes with a wide range of modes, but given the time I played it, each mode seemed almost dead or the queues too long to wait, everything except Attrition. Attrition is the main and seemingly standard online mode on which 6 vs 6 players go into death-match, the purpose of this mode is to gather 650 points before the opposite team to win, it is frenetic, it is fantastic but it is also unforgiven to newcomers. To collect points you have to kill enemies from the other team, these come as pilots, titans, and different AI like regular soldiers, robots and “tiny titans” called Reapers, all of these give fewer points than killing humans but they still sum up to the final score, so if you’re feeling that you can’t take down pilots you can focus on these enemies instead and get more familiar with the map and mechanics. Differently from the main campaign, you can’t fight with your Titan from the beginning, instead, you have to wait for it to be ready, the progress is shown on the lower screen and it also shows its percent, you can speed up this process by killing enemies and even by stealing Titan batteries, and once your meter goes to 100% you now can summon your Titan, you can extend the lifespan of your Titan by getting enemy Titan batteries by acquiring them by yourself or if a player steals one and give it to you. The Titans can change the game flow, if you use them correctly, you can turn the tides and have a more satisfying victory.
Fights can get thrilling, the verticality of the maps and fast navigation within its gameplay mechanics make for fast-paced and kinetic fights, there is a good selection on maps and the game doesn’t seem to repeat them on a playing session, so you’ll hardly have moments of Deja vú. The only issue I encounter while playing online is that its team distribution doesn’t seem to be that fair, in more than a few battles it seemed that I was paired with players as newbies as I, so the opposition overkilled us, the same can be said the other way around, I teamed a lot of battles with an OP team, maybe it was just luck or they were always parties, so who knows, overall I had and I’m still having a great time on these battles.
Down To Business
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Titanfall 2 this much, I don’t tend to play a lot of FPS or TPSs but it is rare for me to get hooked this much by one of them. If you’re looking for a single-player experience I think this game will cover you up for a few hours but most of them will be good, however, if you’re looking for a deep and lengthy experience you may pass on this one or get it on sale (which I think on the PSN store goes pretty regularly). On the other hand, if you’re looking for a great online multiplayer experience look no further, although its customization is limited or repetitive, you’ll have a blast still. Like a good action movie, Titanfall 2 delivers in what is required and excels at it, its clever mechanics and gameplay fluidity overshadows its shortcomings and makes for a well-wrapped and satisfying experience.
«Just one more turn»
«Can’t stop playing»
A great example of "simple to learn, hard to master" done right. It doesn't have the dizzying array of moving parts that Dota has, there are fewer elements dependent on RNG, and obviously reaction time plays a smaller role. The Dota tie-ins help existing fans of the franchise get started quickly without being inaccessible to newcomers. Even so, there's still a lot of strategy to learn, with individual hero's abilities interacting with alliances, items, and hero placement in sometimes unexpected ways. The mixture of luck and skill in matches is very well done, and games themselves give players plenty of opportunities to experience highlights even if they don't end up winning all their matches.
The overall experience is not very intense, as intense periods of item and hero selection are alternated with the relaxed experience of watching the Autochess-style battle commence. The whimsical aesthetics actually mesh well with the low-key but still engaging gameplay. There are very few penalties for abandoning (given that matches can continue without players being engaged) and there's no voice/text chat aside from some preset options, so the relaxed approach to gameplay carries over to interactions between players and the overall community as well.
I was particularly impressed with the amount of single-player content available for around $5, although some of the quests were unexpectedly difficult due to balance changes that have happened since that content was first released. There's a lot to do even if you want to remain FTP though. Graphics did not look great on my (admittedly underpowered) laptop, but it doesn't distract from gameplay in any way. You're going to play this for the gameplay itself rather than the aesthetics or (basically non-existent) story, and on that level it succeeds. (Although, on this last note, it is funny that White Spire's lore is at least coherent, unlike Dota 2's impossible to understand backstory).
Overall, highly recommended. Check it out.
The overall experience is not very intense, as intense periods of item and hero selection are alternated with the relaxed experience of watching the Autochess-style battle commence. The whimsical aesthetics actually mesh well with the low-key but still engaging gameplay. There are very few penalties for abandoning (given that matches can continue without players being engaged) and there's no voice/text chat aside from some preset options, so the relaxed approach to gameplay carries over to interactions between players and the overall community as well.
I was particularly impressed with the amount of single-player content available for around $5, although some of the quests were unexpectedly difficult due to balance changes that have happened since that content was first released. There's a lot to do even if you want to remain FTP though. Graphics did not look great on my (admittedly underpowered) laptop, but it doesn't distract from gameplay in any way. You're going to play this for the gameplay itself rather than the aesthetics or (basically non-existent) story, and on that level it succeeds. (Although, on this last note, it is funny that White Spire's lore is at least coherent, unlike Dota 2's impossible to understand backstory).
Overall, highly recommended. Check it out.
«Blew my mind»
«Can’t stop playing»
I completed the game and gave up at the beginning of seal the deal dlc despite having both dlc yet to play. Unrewarding and frustrating repetition regarding moving through the world. Game always did a poor job of explaining mechanics.
«Oh God i managed it»
This is a great game that honestly conveys a living feeling of flight, which has no analogues (the original game does not count). But everything is ambiguous. To my regret, it sometimes suffers a lot from technical implementation. I counted a several moments when the camera and controls seemed overwhelming to me, but in some magical way I wanted to justify it. There are also plot-based paradoxes: here the story seems to be silly, but it so thoughtful that every subtle detail evokes only a positive response. The other game content in the form of side missions, which I deliberately ignored in the original game, does not cause delight, however, there are also funny moments.
In general, this is now definitely not a portable experiment, but a complete high class game. Exactly what one would expect from a sequel.
Oh yeah, music! and visuals! and Kat! Raven! So I convey my thanks to Toyama and wish him good luck with a new project.
In general, this is now definitely not a portable experiment, but a complete high class game. Exactly what one would expect from a sequel.
Oh yeah, music! and visuals! and Kat! Raven! So I convey my thanks to Toyama and wish him good luck with a new project.
It's impossible to do anything in this game.
«Disappointment of the year»
«Waste of time»
Underrated game. If you give it a chance you'll see that it's just as good as the original. Play up to World 2 and you'll see why.
«Blew my mind»
«Just one more turn»
Journal Style Review:
I’ve never really liked fighting games. They have never appealed. I think they look cool and I like the idea of them, but in practise I never like playing them that much or for that long. But I like DC and I like the idea of this story so now that it’s on gamepass I’m giving it a go.
Early impression is not great. Opening set up is pretty good. But I’m never a fan of Batman’s thou shall not kill antics. So thats a bit less my vibe.
I hope I get the hang of combat and get a bit more satisfaction out of that because for the first hour or so I haven’t loved it. Harley Quinn has so far been my favourite character to play as.
The gorilla character was ridiculous. Never seen that dc character before. But I do usually like talking apes.
Green arrow new fave to play as. I’m enjoying the gameplay a bit more. Getting a better feel for it. I’m getting better at hitting the ultimates which are pretty fun.
Definitely more fun when stoned. This story is pretty fun when stoned. And the game looks super cool. The unique and fancy moves, especially the ultimates, are fun to see for the first few times.
Some of this story is sweet in a lighthearted comic book kind of way. I don’t like Batman’s resistance to kill though.
The gameplay is growing on me as I get better and more effective at pulling off special moves and combos. There have been fights that have come down to the wire and I’m excited about the win. This game started very low but it’s climbing the ranks.
Swamp things ultimate is the best one yet. Very cool.
The brainiac fights against superman and batman were awesome. They were extra challenging too which was appreciated. Im actually thinking ill see what other single player challenges exist when i beat the campaign. I didnt think id be interested in playing more but I am.
Mildly disappointing ending to the story. The final Batman vs Superman fight wasn’t that great. It wasn’t as good as the brainiac conclusion I felt.
I messed around in the multiverse for another day but I’m now good to move on. I actually liked the idea of the multiverse. I like how the character progression with levels and new items looked. If I wanted to actually get good at this style of game and I felt the need to keep playing then that system I think would really work for me. But because I don’t want to play this game a ton, and there isn’t really an end to the multiverse I don’t feel motivated to play any longer. In the end this is a very high B. Which is a reasonable improvement over the first. I can tell this game is very well done, but it’s just not my genre. For what it was I still had a pretty enjoyable time with the story mode.
Final Score: B
I’ve never really liked fighting games. They have never appealed. I think they look cool and I like the idea of them, but in practise I never like playing them that much or for that long. But I like DC and I like the idea of this story so now that it’s on gamepass I’m giving it a go.
Early impression is not great. Opening set up is pretty good. But I’m never a fan of Batman’s thou shall not kill antics. So thats a bit less my vibe.
I hope I get the hang of combat and get a bit more satisfaction out of that because for the first hour or so I haven’t loved it. Harley Quinn has so far been my favourite character to play as.
The gorilla character was ridiculous. Never seen that dc character before. But I do usually like talking apes.
Green arrow new fave to play as. I’m enjoying the gameplay a bit more. Getting a better feel for it. I’m getting better at hitting the ultimates which are pretty fun.
Definitely more fun when stoned. This story is pretty fun when stoned. And the game looks super cool. The unique and fancy moves, especially the ultimates, are fun to see for the first few times.
Some of this story is sweet in a lighthearted comic book kind of way. I don’t like Batman’s resistance to kill though.
The gameplay is growing on me as I get better and more effective at pulling off special moves and combos. There have been fights that have come down to the wire and I’m excited about the win. This game started very low but it’s climbing the ranks.
Swamp things ultimate is the best one yet. Very cool.
The brainiac fights against superman and batman were awesome. They were extra challenging too which was appreciated. Im actually thinking ill see what other single player challenges exist when i beat the campaign. I didnt think id be interested in playing more but I am.
Mildly disappointing ending to the story. The final Batman vs Superman fight wasn’t that great. It wasn’t as good as the brainiac conclusion I felt.
I messed around in the multiverse for another day but I’m now good to move on. I actually liked the idea of the multiverse. I like how the character progression with levels and new items looked. If I wanted to actually get good at this style of game and I felt the need to keep playing then that system I think would really work for me. But because I don’t want to play this game a ton, and there isn’t really an end to the multiverse I don’t feel motivated to play any longer. In the end this is a very high B. Which is a reasonable improvement over the first. I can tell this game is very well done, but it’s just not my genre. For what it was I still had a pretty enjoyable time with the story mode.
Final Score: B
Нудятина
Played on the Nintendo Switch.
Phantasy Star is a reasonably fun early era JRPG. I was surprised how many staples of JRPG were in PS, considering it was basically the first of its kind. The story was incredibly simple, and I ended up using the internet for help on a few parts because one sign you are playing a late 80’s rpg is that game gives you no hints whatsoever at what to do next.
I wish there more character development, even in an older game like this, but it still felt like I was playing a piece of history. Looking forward to playing the second one and what improvements they make.
Phantasy Star is a reasonably fun early era JRPG. I was surprised how many staples of JRPG were in PS, considering it was basically the first of its kind. The story was incredibly simple, and I ended up using the internet for help on a few parts because one sign you are playing a late 80’s rpg is that game gives you no hints whatsoever at what to do next.
I wish there more character development, even in an older game like this, but it still felt like I was playing a piece of history. Looking forward to playing the second one and what improvements they make.
7/10 - The music made my heart race lol
«Underrated»
«OST on repeat»
Overall: 8/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Music: 7/10
A subtle game. You play the mother of a family of Lynxes attempting to raise her pups in an unforgiving and unfriendly environment. Do not be fooled, however. This is not an animal simulator. It is not simply running around as a cat for the sake of being a cat. This is a story. It is a subtle story who’s plot points are not dramatic and which will not leave you with some great musings on humanity, but will simply leave you with a profound peace and with some strange ethereal feeling. It is a slow game, and shouldn’t be played by those looking for an action packed, story-driven adventure. It is a game about life itself. The mechanics are quite fun and never feel old, and the game moves you, so long as you play at a decent pace, through its beautiful world without ever feeling stagnant. Speaking of, the art style in this game is absolutely magnificent. Just watching a trailer for it you should be able to get a feel for why it feels so magical. The entire experience gives the player the feeling of walking through a strange forest in a dream, but never wanting to wake up for all its natural beauty. Overall, a truly poignant game that, especially given how cheap it is, is well worth a play.
Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Music: 7/10
A subtle game. You play the mother of a family of Lynxes attempting to raise her pups in an unforgiving and unfriendly environment. Do not be fooled, however. This is not an animal simulator. It is not simply running around as a cat for the sake of being a cat. This is a story. It is a subtle story who’s plot points are not dramatic and which will not leave you with some great musings on humanity, but will simply leave you with a profound peace and with some strange ethereal feeling. It is a slow game, and shouldn’t be played by those looking for an action packed, story-driven adventure. It is a game about life itself. The mechanics are quite fun and never feel old, and the game moves you, so long as you play at a decent pace, through its beautiful world without ever feeling stagnant. Speaking of, the art style in this game is absolutely magnificent. Just watching a trailer for it you should be able to get a feel for why it feels so magical. The entire experience gives the player the feeling of walking through a strange forest in a dream, but never wanting to wake up for all its natural beauty. Overall, a truly poignant game that, especially given how cheap it is, is well worth a play.
«Sit back and relax»
«Underrated»
Overall: 6.5/10
Gameplay: 6.5/10
Story: 6.5/10
Music: 7/10
Quite a fun little game. You can effectively divide it into two parts: the one minute of 3rd person supply gathering around your home, and then the rest of it which consists of an old school randomized text adventure repackaged into a modern UI. It’s a lot of fun, especially for the first 3 or 4 runs, and given the low price of the game well worth the buy. It’s nothing extraordinary, but can be an especially good amount of fun with a friend as you sit around, debate who to send to the surface, and take a shot each time the water supply runs out (or whatever metric you prefer)! It definitely gets old after a little while, and the story can often begin to feel too slow paced. If you don’t have a friend to play with, this might be one of those games better watched in a YouTube Let’s Play by whoever your favorite creator is. Still, a delightful and very creative experience that is unlike most games on the market today.
Gameplay: 6.5/10
Story: 6.5/10
Music: 7/10
Quite a fun little game. You can effectively divide it into two parts: the one minute of 3rd person supply gathering around your home, and then the rest of it which consists of an old school randomized text adventure repackaged into a modern UI. It’s a lot of fun, especially for the first 3 or 4 runs, and given the low price of the game well worth the buy. It’s nothing extraordinary, but can be an especially good amount of fun with a friend as you sit around, debate who to send to the surface, and take a shot each time the water supply runs out (or whatever metric you prefer)! It definitely gets old after a little while, and the story can often begin to feel too slow paced. If you don’t have a friend to play with, this might be one of those games better watched in a YouTube Let’s Play by whoever your favorite creator is. Still, a delightful and very creative experience that is unlike most games on the market today.
«Just one more turn»
«Better with friends»
Overall: 2/10
Gameplay: 1/10
Story: 3/10
Music: Unremarkable/10
Simply, a boring, strangely short game. Nothing of note. Not that it is terrible in any particular way, but I feel I may have spent my time better simply sitting and staring at a wall for all I got out of it. It is buggy in parts, the story is lackluster and nondescript (almost nothing happens and if it was trying for an artsy, make-you-think vibe it simply didn’t have enough content to ever get there), and the mechanics are... walking.
Gameplay: 1/10
Story: 3/10
Music: Unremarkable/10
Simply, a boring, strangely short game. Nothing of note. Not that it is terrible in any particular way, but I feel I may have spent my time better simply sitting and staring at a wall for all I got out of it. It is buggy in parts, the story is lackluster and nondescript (almost nothing happens and if it was trying for an artsy, make-you-think vibe it simply didn’t have enough content to ever get there), and the mechanics are... walking.
«Waste of time»
Overall: 6/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 6/10 if you grew up with the duo, 4/10 if you didn’t.
Music: 6/10
This game is, for me, a nostalgia trip. Almost any of its appeal comes purely from that and nothing else, as the game itself is pretty mediocre. The gameplay is fun, and we’re given the usual wacky guns and antics you can expect from a Ratchet and Clank game. The mechanics involving the duo working together that I loved in the older games are less apparent here, however. It’s a short enough game that it never feels too repetitive or boring, but it’s just... mediocre! The story is fine, but feels reliably childlike. (I remember the original having much more engaging plot lines and being spiced with edgier humor.) Overall, worth a play if you grew up with the series if only to relive those memories. Also worth a play if you’re young, or are playing with a youngster (under the age of 11 I’d say). Skip it if you don’t fall into either of those categories, though.
Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 6/10 if you grew up with the duo, 4/10 if you didn’t.
Music: 6/10
This game is, for me, a nostalgia trip. Almost any of its appeal comes purely from that and nothing else, as the game itself is pretty mediocre. The gameplay is fun, and we’re given the usual wacky guns and antics you can expect from a Ratchet and Clank game. The mechanics involving the duo working together that I loved in the older games are less apparent here, however. It’s a short enough game that it never feels too repetitive or boring, but it’s just... mediocre! The story is fine, but feels reliably childlike. (I remember the original having much more engaging plot lines and being spiced with edgier humor.) Overall, worth a play if you grew up with the series if only to relive those memories. Also worth a play if you’re young, or are playing with a youngster (under the age of 11 I’d say). Skip it if you don’t fall into either of those categories, though.
Overall: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Story: 9/10
Music: 8.5/10
(WIP) Really phenomenal game. More in depth review to come, but well worth the play. Mechanics are a lot of fun, building on the core things that made Bioshock as a series shine and adding twists that only a city in the sky could allow. The story is compelling and lovely, and the twists are often genuinely unexpected. By the end you are emotionally attached to the characters, and the game does what Bioshocks do best: leaving you with a slight existential dread and awe, wondering what the ending of the game truly meant, and wanting to replay it again to find any hints you missed.
Gameplay: 8/10
Story: 9/10
Music: 8.5/10
(WIP) Really phenomenal game. More in depth review to come, but well worth the play. Mechanics are a lot of fun, building on the core things that made Bioshock as a series shine and adding twists that only a city in the sky could allow. The story is compelling and lovely, and the twists are often genuinely unexpected. By the end you are emotionally attached to the characters, and the game does what Bioshocks do best: leaving you with a slight existential dread and awe, wondering what the ending of the game truly meant, and wanting to replay it again to find any hints you missed.
«Blew my mind»
«That ending!»
Overall: 7/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Story: 6/10
Music: 7/10
This game is truly a blast to play. As you go running around the streets of San Francisco and the Bay Area, you level up your hacking and physical skills until you’re able to take on almost any threat. While not as comprehensive in mechanics, NPCs, or story diversity as GTA, it follows a similar model of open world exploration in a modern city. Where it really shines is the hacking mechanics, something I haven’t seen in any other game. It is simply thrilling to get to peer into every random NPC’s cellphone, back bank accounts for funds, explode grenades from a far, change street signals to cause car accidents and block your pursuers, and use your tech wizardry to solve all kinds of puzzles. Where the game falls short is it’s lack of creative freedom it gives you in really doing the missions however. While you of course have a certain amount of freedom in if you want to do a mission through stealth, hacking, or rampaging your way through guns-blazing, that is about where the freedom stops. It’s never really about environmental manipulation, and by endgame feels less strategic than it could. Still, though, the core mechanics are excellent and just as GTA-series games do, it has phenomenal replay value. I’m still playing it long after completing the story as a fun relaxing game with infinite side missions.
The story, sadly, falls flat a lot of the time. It is a classic outlaw hero tale. While the characters you run into are interesting, quirky, and you quickly grow to like them, you never LOVE them. The stakes are never raised very high from a personal, emotional standpoint. It is always a political/city-level threat. Perhaps finding ways for you to invest more in relationships with people and then using conflicts around such characters to propel the conflict may have made the story more compelling. But what’s done is done, and at the end of the day it is well worth the play, as the story is good enough to keep you engaged and, really, functions as a reason for you to get to mess around with the very well made mechanics of the game.
The music is a lot of fun, but hard to give the designers credit for as it is almost entirely done through your character’s “radio” on their phone or car and consists mostly of real world hits. The diversity in genres is lively though, and with the right choices you can feel like a hero taking down guards to head-banging rap, or a villain plotting the demise of a room from a distance with tech and bombs with a classical backdrop.
Overall, great game. Highly recommend playing, and glad to see it aced all of the things WD1 failed to do.
Gameplay: 8/10
Story: 6/10
Music: 7/10
This game is truly a blast to play. As you go running around the streets of San Francisco and the Bay Area, you level up your hacking and physical skills until you’re able to take on almost any threat. While not as comprehensive in mechanics, NPCs, or story diversity as GTA, it follows a similar model of open world exploration in a modern city. Where it really shines is the hacking mechanics, something I haven’t seen in any other game. It is simply thrilling to get to peer into every random NPC’s cellphone, back bank accounts for funds, explode grenades from a far, change street signals to cause car accidents and block your pursuers, and use your tech wizardry to solve all kinds of puzzles. Where the game falls short is it’s lack of creative freedom it gives you in really doing the missions however. While you of course have a certain amount of freedom in if you want to do a mission through stealth, hacking, or rampaging your way through guns-blazing, that is about where the freedom stops. It’s never really about environmental manipulation, and by endgame feels less strategic than it could. Still, though, the core mechanics are excellent and just as GTA-series games do, it has phenomenal replay value. I’m still playing it long after completing the story as a fun relaxing game with infinite side missions.
The story, sadly, falls flat a lot of the time. It is a classic outlaw hero tale. While the characters you run into are interesting, quirky, and you quickly grow to like them, you never LOVE them. The stakes are never raised very high from a personal, emotional standpoint. It is always a political/city-level threat. Perhaps finding ways for you to invest more in relationships with people and then using conflicts around such characters to propel the conflict may have made the story more compelling. But what’s done is done, and at the end of the day it is well worth the play, as the story is good enough to keep you engaged and, really, functions as a reason for you to get to mess around with the very well made mechanics of the game.
The music is a lot of fun, but hard to give the designers credit for as it is almost entirely done through your character’s “radio” on their phone or car and consists mostly of real world hits. The diversity in genres is lively though, and with the right choices you can feel like a hero taking down guards to head-banging rap, or a villain plotting the demise of a room from a distance with tech and bombs with a classical backdrop.
Overall, great game. Highly recommend playing, and glad to see it aced all of the things WD1 failed to do.
«Just one more turn»
«Sit back and relax»
Overall: 8/10
Gameplay: 5/10
Story: 8/10
Music: 5/10
I can't say much here, as I don't want to spoil it. Play the game. Just do it. The gameplay may not be exhilarating, but it never needed to be. The story may not be exhilarating, but it never needed to be. This is one of those games that will make you stand back in awe, multiple times, before diving back in for another run. It will blow your mind open, and make you think about games in a way you never had before. This game is the father of meta-games, and does what so many others have tried and failed to do: make you question your own reality as the gamer.
Gameplay: 5/10
Story: 8/10
Music: 5/10
I can't say much here, as I don't want to spoil it. Play the game. Just do it. The gameplay may not be exhilarating, but it never needed to be. The story may not be exhilarating, but it never needed to be. This is one of those games that will make you stand back in awe, multiple times, before diving back in for another run. It will blow your mind open, and make you think about games in a way you never had before. This game is the father of meta-games, and does what so many others have tried and failed to do: make you question your own reality as the gamer.
«Blew my mind»
«Liked before it became a hit»
Overall: 4/10
Gameplay: 3/10
Story: 5/10
Music: 7/10
TLDR: Undertale is a massively overhyped game. The story is far less innovative than people say, relying on cheap hat tricks instead of making you (or the writers) put in any real emotional labor. Its philosophy is simple, and better told by other games. The gameplay itself is boring, involves largely walking around and memorizing patterns, and it has little replay value. Do not recommend.
I thought I knew what overhyped meant, and then I played Undertale. It's a game that is best left in the 2010s, and is wrought with cheap story tricks to feign philosophical deepness. But I suppose that should be no surprise, coming from a person who's start was on the Homestuck team. Let's start with the mechanics. The gameplay is absolutely horrible. It's rarely fun, and when it is it's because of cheap story tricks that keep you engaged in SPITE of the underlying mechanics still being awful. The game's core challenges revolve around mastering a particular set of button presses for different characters and allow for none of your own innovation in playstyle. If you don't do it the intended way, you can't do it at all. It comes down to rote memorization of the different challenges. If you liked Guitar Hero, perhaps you'll enjoy this, but if you were hoping for interesting puzzles, any modicum of strategy, or gameplay that doesn't get stale after the first 30 minutes, you're better of looking elsewhere. Even the graphics feel uninteresting and lazy. There were better looking 16-bit games released in the 90s, and it feels like the designer tried to use the "artsy-indie-game" card as an excuse for shitty visuals.
(No spoilers here, don't worry.) Now let's talk about where the game gets, supposedly, interesting: the story. Many people take it to be revelatory in its meta-narrative, and in the twists and turns it throws at you. Yes, there are moments that deviate from what the typical hero's journey would have you expect. You are able to be consequential choices that impact the way characters relate to you later in the game. But the consequences feel hollow, and the plot could have been written by a middle-schooler who just watched The Matrix or Inception for the first time. I've seen some reviewers discuss the way it is meant to be a commentary on games, gaming, and gamer culture. They talk about the beautiful simplicity of the twists, the way in which you are supposed to identify with certain characters and be emotionally wrenched around by what you uncover so that you question your own choices and identities as a gamer. This couldn't be further from reality. The characters are never fleshed out enough to make you feel any attachment, and any interesting philosophical observations the game might hold about the relation of the player to a game's narrative and characters was told better, more succinctly, and with profoundly more gravitas in the Stanley Parable... four years earlier.
SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH: This sentence is to make sure you don't accidentally spoil something for yourself. Read on now. The character that you are supposed to feel the most connection to, Toriel, your 'mother' of sorts, is from the beginning obviously going to be the emotional wrenching point. But even in this respect, they fail to make the stakes feel high enough, and her character complexity falls flat when it comes time to really make it shine. The whole thing with the pacifist/genocide/normal routes is, once again, a cheap trick. It doesn't buy the game any more replayability, and although some of the dialogue is different, it still feels like you are playing the same game a second and third time to no avail. Any moral lesson that one could pretend to glean from it either isn't actually as innovative as the fanbase likes to think (it has all been done by many another game, including the pacifist-option idea) OR is, once again, philosophically uninteresting. Flowey being evil is the most predictable twist, the meta-narrative of the game quitting itself is, while a clever trick, exactly that: a trick. It adds quite little to the lackluster story, which tries to convince you it has deep meaning by appealing to the most rudimentary storytelling devices.
Overall, terrible game. While I won't discourage playing it for everyone, it is certainly not as universally lovable as it may seem from the discourse around it. It is at best a mediocre experiment in simple storytelling that should be left forgotten in the "used games" pile at your local Gamestop.
Gameplay: 3/10
Story: 5/10
Music: 7/10
TLDR: Undertale is a massively overhyped game. The story is far less innovative than people say, relying on cheap hat tricks instead of making you (or the writers) put in any real emotional labor. Its philosophy is simple, and better told by other games. The gameplay itself is boring, involves largely walking around and memorizing patterns, and it has little replay value. Do not recommend.
I thought I knew what overhyped meant, and then I played Undertale. It's a game that is best left in the 2010s, and is wrought with cheap story tricks to feign philosophical deepness. But I suppose that should be no surprise, coming from a person who's start was on the Homestuck team. Let's start with the mechanics. The gameplay is absolutely horrible. It's rarely fun, and when it is it's because of cheap story tricks that keep you engaged in SPITE of the underlying mechanics still being awful. The game's core challenges revolve around mastering a particular set of button presses for different characters and allow for none of your own innovation in playstyle. If you don't do it the intended way, you can't do it at all. It comes down to rote memorization of the different challenges. If you liked Guitar Hero, perhaps you'll enjoy this, but if you were hoping for interesting puzzles, any modicum of strategy, or gameplay that doesn't get stale after the first 30 minutes, you're better of looking elsewhere. Even the graphics feel uninteresting and lazy. There were better looking 16-bit games released in the 90s, and it feels like the designer tried to use the "artsy-indie-game" card as an excuse for shitty visuals.
(No spoilers here, don't worry.) Now let's talk about where the game gets, supposedly, interesting: the story. Many people take it to be revelatory in its meta-narrative, and in the twists and turns it throws at you. Yes, there are moments that deviate from what the typical hero's journey would have you expect. You are able to be consequential choices that impact the way characters relate to you later in the game. But the consequences feel hollow, and the plot could have been written by a middle-schooler who just watched The Matrix or Inception for the first time. I've seen some reviewers discuss the way it is meant to be a commentary on games, gaming, and gamer culture. They talk about the beautiful simplicity of the twists, the way in which you are supposed to identify with certain characters and be emotionally wrenched around by what you uncover so that you question your own choices and identities as a gamer. This couldn't be further from reality. The characters are never fleshed out enough to make you feel any attachment, and any interesting philosophical observations the game might hold about the relation of the player to a game's narrative and characters was told better, more succinctly, and with profoundly more gravitas in the Stanley Parable... four years earlier.
SPOILERS IN THIS PARAGRAPH: This sentence is to make sure you don't accidentally spoil something for yourself. Read on now. The character that you are supposed to feel the most connection to, Toriel, your 'mother' of sorts, is from the beginning obviously going to be the emotional wrenching point. But even in this respect, they fail to make the stakes feel high enough, and her character complexity falls flat when it comes time to really make it shine. The whole thing with the pacifist/genocide/normal routes is, once again, a cheap trick. It doesn't buy the game any more replayability, and although some of the dialogue is different, it still feels like you are playing the same game a second and third time to no avail. Any moral lesson that one could pretend to glean from it either isn't actually as innovative as the fanbase likes to think (it has all been done by many another game, including the pacifist-option idea) OR is, once again, philosophically uninteresting. Flowey being evil is the most predictable twist, the meta-narrative of the game quitting itself is, while a clever trick, exactly that: a trick. It adds quite little to the lackluster story, which tries to convince you it has deep meaning by appealing to the most rudimentary storytelling devices.
Overall, terrible game. While I won't discourage playing it for everyone, it is certainly not as universally lovable as it may seem from the discourse around it. It is at best a mediocre experiment in simple storytelling that should be left forgotten in the "used games" pile at your local Gamestop.
«Waste of time»
«Boooring»
Warhammer Chaosbane is nothing special. It's probably the worst ARPG I've played, and I'd only recommend it if you have nothing else to play (Grim Dawn, Path of Exile, Diablo 3, Torchlight, etc.), but it does do some things well.
The primary thing it does well is it's skill system. Each class has a unique skill tree (two if you get the DLC), a unique class skill, and plenty of passives and active skills to use. I had fun buildcrafting on my Engineer. There's plenty of roles to fill that would work well in multiplayer.
The combat is good, but not good enough. It starts dreadfully slow, and doesn't get much faster by the endgame. Most skills feel good to use, although many are clunky and hamper your movement.
The itemization is decent. There's not a lot of variety, and the best stats are clearly crit rate and crit damage. Finding the right stats on gear for endgame builds is a massive pain. Crafting or modifying gear would help a lot.
The stats and tooltips are awful. Detailed information on your DPS, attack speed, recovery, damage reduction, etc. would have been extremely useful, but it wasn't there.
Game length is short. There is a severe lack of content. The presentation is top notch (as usual for Warhammer titles) with voice acting and pretty environments and cool bosses. Best picked up at a discount.
The primary thing it does well is it's skill system. Each class has a unique skill tree (two if you get the DLC), a unique class skill, and plenty of passives and active skills to use. I had fun buildcrafting on my Engineer. There's plenty of roles to fill that would work well in multiplayer.
The combat is good, but not good enough. It starts dreadfully slow, and doesn't get much faster by the endgame. Most skills feel good to use, although many are clunky and hamper your movement.
The itemization is decent. There's not a lot of variety, and the best stats are clearly crit rate and crit damage. Finding the right stats on gear for endgame builds is a massive pain. Crafting or modifying gear would help a lot.
The stats and tooltips are awful. Detailed information on your DPS, attack speed, recovery, damage reduction, etc. would have been extremely useful, but it wasn't there.
Game length is short. There is a severe lack of content. The presentation is top notch (as usual for Warhammer titles) with voice acting and pretty environments and cool bosses. Best picked up at a discount.