#videogame reviews
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And now for something a little different from your regularly scheduled programming.
*This post and any others like it will contain spoilers*
*General spoiler-free advice for anyone looking to try the game out will be listed at the bottom*
I recently realised I had basically every Assassin’s Creed game I really wanted to play, so I figured I’d play through the entire series until I either got bored or distracted, starting with the Original game for the Xbox 360, which I had never played before. I got into the series via AC: Brotherhood and AC: Revelations and I have a bad habit of starting a game, getting most of the way through, then just stopping, so I was determined to see at least the first game through to the end.
I’m going to go through my specific highlights of the game, low points and just generally talk about the parts that interest me. I’ve played multiple Assassins Creed games in the past, predominantly Brotherhood, Revelations and IV: Black Flag.
Highlights
Characters! I absolutely love how everyone has an actual personality and acts and reacts as actual people. I’ll probably go further into this in another point but most every character you interact with is different (barring the guards and pedestrians), and give the impression of goals, motivations and an entire life that you only have a brief window into.
The Bureau Leaders are probably my favourite example of the above. Jabal, Malik and…. the other fellow are Altaïr’s main points of contact in each city and their relationship with him changes as you progress throughout the game, parallel with how Altaïr himself develops.
Speaking of; Altaïr. He starts the game as an entitled prick of the Assassin Order, promptly fucks up horribly, and spends much of the game making amends for his mistake and ultimately growing as a person and understanding the philosophies of the Assassin Order. Their creed, if you will. He has real development and makes mistakes, but you emphasise with him for most of it because you learn things at the same rate he does.
The single Templars dotted about the map - functioning essentially as mini-bosses, there are Templar Knights with red helmets standing guard at various points throughout the maps. Though I never searched them out, it was gratifying to be presented with a single target where the only objective was to kill them. In one memorable encounter, I ran full pelt at a Templar and was able to stab them seven times before they could even get their sword out.
The actual Templar assassination targets are also all pretty good, character-wise. Certainly some are better than others (I’m not really a fan of the penultimate boss(es), nor Majd Addin), but it’s overall a very good showing, some managing to elicit sympathy, others showcasing how far they’re gone.
I like how the three cities are each distinct in their colouration and architectural style - Acre is a dull grey and has numerous churches and destroyed buildings, reflecting its recent seizure by King Richard and the Crusaders. Damascus is a warm orange and is dotted with mosques and gorgeous towers with scripture all across them. Jerusalem is a delightful green and has numerous gardens, lending it an earthy feel. I admittedly found Acre the weakest of the three, but it was nonetheless nice how I could easily tell which city I was in.
Low points
The fucking timed assassination missions. I like the flag hunts, those are nice. It’s a good test of your free-running ability and it feels like you’re strutting your skills to the novitates. But the timed assassination missions are just you running around stabbing people and desperately hoping there aren’t any guards you haven’t seen. They’re the only missions I ever had to retry.
Speaking of the guards - There’s roughly three kinds, varying in competency and damage. With three cities and multiple different armour designs, it can be difficult to distinguish which are the actual threats in any given fight. This can lead to Altaïr being thoroughly brutalised in a very short period, since you can very easily not notice how much health you’re losing until it’s too late. Furthermore, the guards tend to crowd around you and attack sequentially. Though rare this can sometimes lead to you getting what I termed “Ultra Combo’d” during my playthrough - multiple guards will attack within a very short window, each knocking you into the next swing and leaving you little opportunity to parry or dodge.
Speaking of the guards, during the final parts of the game you essentially have to wade through multiple combat encounters with well-trained enemies. So unless you’ve rigorously practiced with the combat system beforehand it can be very easy to get killed. It bothers me specifically because it’s just been one aspect of the game until now, but it just becomes the main part right near the end, so if you don’t have the combat down pat, then you’re gonna have a bad time.
Saving Citizens is fine, but I wish they had more than five lines to thank you with, even if some of the line deliveries are really good. Also I didn’t use the vigilantes much (barring one memorable assassination where they restrained a target for me)
General points
The beggars are fairly obviously designed to be annoying and get in the way, which is reinforced by their behaviour and almost mocking voice lines. However there’s one in Jerusalem that appears to randomly have a far softer voice that elicits far more sympathy.
I was surprised by how much of Desmond’s story is in this - particularly given that later games apparently decided to drop that entire plot. I find it far more interesting than I expected to, particularly how Desmond grows from experiencing his ancestor’s past life and how you know absolutely nothing about the modern Assassin Order (Desmond and Lucy’s conversation about how Abstergo found him is particularly interesting).
Though it’s something of an old game now, I was surprised by how resonant I found many of its themes - the Abstergo and the Templars are explicitly mentioned and shown to excercise information control and censorship - one of your assassination targets is in the process of leading a book burning when you kill them which is a relevant theme to, well, basically all modern media. The Assassins and Templars both seek peace, but the Assassins aim to teach people to comprehend the truth, whereas the Templars seek to obfuscate the truth and control people by presenting an illusion of the world. Freedom through knowledge versus Order through Oppression. It’s also interesting that this is what the Assassins seek as a group, rather than a focus on individualism.
Similarly to the above point, I like how Brotherhood is emphasised as a theme - Altair succeeds in his tasks due to the help of his brothers, but it’s them working towards a common goal, not some “power of friendship” thing (for the record, I don’t dislike “power of friendship” but it’s very easy to do wrong).
The Ending…… I like, but it does feel anticlimactic, and I find it’s very easy to pick up on some of the twists just through the landscape and the design of certain areas. That said, I think it’s a good set up for a sequel (even though they probably couldn’t have known it at the time). I can however see why they made the decision to excise Desmond’s plot later - though I very much like Desmond’s plot (at least so far), it kinda clashes with the historical Assassin storyline. Though I do love how eagle vision becomes relevant right at the end.
The Freerun system - it’s in the other points column because, when it works, it’s amazing. You feel like a masterful assassin, free and able to effortlessly outrun your pursuers, striking down targets as you need. When it doesn’t work, it’s just a massive frustration, as you try get Altair’s chaffinch brain to grab something as ten guards bear down on you. Mixed results, essentially.
Tips for new players
So you hear about that new Assassin’s Creed *Insert Title Here* and wanna see how it all started do you? Or maybe you just think this particular one sounds cool. Here’s some stuff I picked up during my playthrough:
Throwing Knives are amazing, use them. Just one little blade and a guard is no more. However, you do need to ensure there’s nothing between the two of you and it’s difficult to refill them without returning to Masayaf.
The Hidden Blade, as long as you just do the slow walk assassination and don’t do the big fancy jump, a target killed by the hidden blade will take a few seconds to die, thus granting you time to escape before the guards notice.
Citizens around the streets will spawn either vigilantes or scholars after being saved. If you’re struggling to get in places, then look around for a citizen that can get you some scholars. Vigilantes will distract guards for you, but they don’t really come up much unless you run towards them when being pursued.
Some Story assassination missions are designed to degenerate into chases or combat. When in doubt, just gun for the assassination target.
Speaking of Combat, some later enemies will counter your attacks, but you can counter their counters. A good strategy is to attack then immediately counter as the animation plays - if there’s no counter then it doesn’t cancel anything, but it will immediately counter the enemies counter if they attempt one.
You lose synchronisation by punching beggars and lepers/madmen, but not drunkards. Do with this information as you will.
Try to get all the Eagle Vision synchronisation points in the Kingdom on your first visit to each city. Guards get tetchier later in the game, and it makes navigation much easier to have them all.
#assassins creed#Assassins Creed 1#Altaïr#videogames#Ubisoft#videogame reviews#ramblings#long post#I have absolutely no opinion on Assassins Creed Mirage
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It's up! For Greenheart Games' 10th anniversary of Game Dev Tycoon I did a review!
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Game Review (German) - Little Computer People (C64)
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Should you play 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim? YES
The game is visual novel adjacent with 50% of gameplay being reading/listening, and maybe 30% point and click adventure, and 20% real time strategy combat but its structured in a way to basically be turn based combat there's maybe 2 second of real time happening total per map.
You start the game at the final battle and spend the rest of the time piecing together how everyone got to that point. The story is told in non-chronological order so you can choose what characters to progress their story in whatever order you want. 13 playable characters whose stories all intertwine and are relevant to the other stories. So in that sense it's a mystery story as the main draw is you and the characters figuring out what is really going on. The story is intricate and complex and rich and very well executed. The game pays homage to the sci-fi genre in general referencing a lot of sci-fi and kaiju media and tropes while doing interesting things with those concepts. It's great for people like me that like connecting dots and theory crafting. I started taking notes while I play the game.
Combat is robust and you can get into it as little or as much as you want. I had little experience with real time strategy before this (mostly a JRPG player) and I loved the combat so much I ended up playing part of it on the highest difficulty. 13 Sentinels really eases you into the combat system, starting out very simple and gradually and consistently raising the difficulty.
Really everything about this game is top notch from the story to the characters, gameplay, and aesthetics. The game has strong art direction and a stunning soundtrack. The themes are eloquently integrated, compelling, both emotionally moving and with soul wrenching depth. Everything just works really well together. This is one of the best made games I have ever seen.
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A Review of In Stars and Time
If you're seeing this, you've probably already played In Stars and Time. I'm not exactly bursting with followers from before I became obsessed with it. But this is still worth making, just in case I can convince one person to pick this game up. So, to give you fair warning, there will be some (hopefully) light spoilers in this. If you want the basics, just skip to the last two paragraphs, but if you want an idea of my emotional impression of the game, try this on for size:
In Stars and Time is an RPG about the power of friendship in which you play as Siffrin, a quiet and introspective rogue out to save the country of Vaguarde from the evil King, who seeks to freeze the world in time. With them are their friends Mirabelle, Odile, Bonnie, and Isabeau, and they all draw strength from the wonderful bonds that their little group has. Arriving in the town of Dormont, you and your friends charge up the House of Change to meet the King, ready to defeat him using the magic of...
Uh oh. Something seems to have gone wrong here. I'm pretty sure that you weren't supposed to die this early. If it was the final battle and this was some kind of grand sacrifice I would get it, but as of right now... let's just try this again.
In Stars and Time is a game about time loops. Specifically, the one that you, Siffrin, are stuck in. It turns out you may have been less prepared to fight the King than you thought. Don't worry though; you have all the time in the world to figure it out, even if it's a little more difficult than it first appeared. Just remember to rely on your helpful guide Loop, who's here to help you make it through the best they can, even if they don't know how or why the loop started in the first place. But as if getting through the House of Change wasn't hard enough, what with its traps, locked doors, and vicious Sadnesses standing in your way, you have to manage your party members too. As it turns out, they aren't looping with you. But don't worry! While you may have felt a little lost at first, eventually you discover the perfect things to do and say to make them like you even more than the first time around. With your bonds stronger than ever and your route through the House perfectly memorized, you charge up to face the King in a heated battle with the fate of Vaguarde on the line! It's difficult, but in the end you triumph over the King and head into the final room of the House to celebrate with your friends- no, your family.
That's odd. You've defeated the King with the best possible ending, but there's still another 3 Acts left in the story. What's going on here?
In Stars and Time is just another trash indie game. I'm sorry you had to find out this way, but it's true; this game should be 10 hours shorter and cut right after you beat the King with your family in tow. It hurts to play because now that things have gone wrong, things seem to have gotten worse in your head, too. Where's the resolution to this story? When does it end? You said all the right things, you made all the right moves, and your family members have never been happier! By any other game's logic, this would be the endpoint. You may have struggled to make it through the time loop, but since you managed to keep your sanity intact and be nice to your friends, you get a gold star and the true ending. For some reason, this game refuses to let you have that success, and I'm infuriated on your behalf. I suppose you'll have to keep looking for a solution somewhere within the House, even though I know you're getting a little sick of it by now. Try not to get too frustrated by all this, okay? It would be quite awful if you did something you'd regret because you were feeling...
Ah. Well.
That changes my opinion of things, I suppose. I have no words that could do justice to what we just experienced. What a finale, eh? Let's try this review one more time, with a more...complete view of things. No more of this "describe what happens in the game step by step" malarkey. Everyone knows that's bad practice anyways.
In Stars and Time is an RPG about memory, communication, and the mortifying ordeal of being known. (It'll make more sense when you play it). With a lovely sound track and both beautiful hand-drawn and pixelated artwork, In Stars and Time manages to convey one the best stories I have ever experienced in the history of gaming. If you're the sort that likes comparisons, I would describe this game as a combination of the the humor and surprising depth of the Stanley Parable, the intense emotional characters and tight writing of Undertale, and the incredible worldbuilding of Harry Potter (without having to suffer through J. K. Rowling). I felt genuinely mystified by the unexplained and had a strong desire to learn more about the world during my unfortunately brief time within it.
3 weeks after completing the game, I'm still stewing in the things I felt and the realizations I came to while playing it. This is one of the few games I can say genuinely changed my life; after playing it I found the strength to reach out and connect to the friends I have in the real world on a level I never thought I'd be able to achieve. I feel a moral obligation to recommend this game; if it can do the same things for you that it did for me, it would be evil of me to deny you them. For the incredibly modest price of 20$, you will experience approximately 20 hours of soul-gripping gameplay that might stick with you for the rest of your life. This is something worth your time.
#isat#logoffspeaks#review#game review#pc games#video games#steam games#gaming#videogame#game recommendations#switch games#in stars and time#it's way easier to write if you pretend to be a different character#if anyone can guess who i'll be shocked
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#simblr#sims 4#sims 4 cc#sims 4 gameplay#sims 4 japan#sims 4 screenshots#sims community#the sims#the sims 4#ts4#gameplay#game review#ts4 gameplay#games#gaming#tag game#video games#videogame#pc games#gamers#game
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URGENT!!! FINAL PROJECT NEEDS!!!
Hey guys rn im gonna make smth for my final project and i really need yall opinions, thoughts and if any of you guys got sources that could help me with this project in my mind.
So for starters, i really wanna make a game that focuses on psychological and choices matter towards mental health issues. The vision i had in mind are games like Omori, Life is Strange, you left me and missed messages.
I have played some of these games myself and it really helped me to gain more self awareness and bigger perspectives on choices and actions i have to make in life. So i wanna know if any of you guys have the same experience and thoughts like i do.
My topic would be either about social media towards gen z specifically or procrastination.
So if any of you have thoughts or any sources to help me with this project, plz share them with me in the comments or DM me cuz that would be really helpful. Thank you!
#video games#visual novel#final project#omori game#life is strange#you left me#missed messages#game#videogame#game review#choices game#story games#mental health#mental health issues
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Part 1 is here
It is impossible to defeat nature and its laws. You cannot destroy the established order of things, because sooner or later it will return to the starting point, albeit modified. Part of the eternal order is war. This is a rather conventional character, which, nevertheless, has all the features of eternal evil, which the main character must defeat. Before the battle, Sundowner reveals another revelation to Raiden: he is too blinded and naive to think that he can change the world. War is part of cruel human nature. This is an outdated tool, which we have not been able to completely discard. But like a real virus, rooted in the very middle, it evolved with us, adapting to the conditions of the times.
War is indifferent to moral guidelines and honor, deaf to human suffering and merciless to victims. This virus is ready to manifest itself at any moment, as soon as the system crashes. What for Raiden as a person is a matter of morality, for the World Marshal as a large military company is supply and demand. Even the "Patriots", well known to Raiden, did not invent anything new. The fact that after their "disappearance" history continues in the same direction is only proof that the established order cannot be defeated. This is what Sundowner actually says: Raiden with his good intentions will not change the world. PMC has offices all over the world, and therefore their products are in demand. They are only suppliers working for the war market. After all, war is a business hidden behind the face of morality, and the person in it is a commodity.
This again resonates with the rest of the games in the series, where the main unit is not so much the metal gears themselves, but the people behind their creation and control. Of course, the crown of creation of both nature and man is not a perfect tank, but the Legendary Soldier. Big Boss used to be the one. The same fate awaited Raiden. Towards the end, however, MG Rising moves in a slightly different direction, touching on the theme of the "ideal society". As the Patriots once fought for a single ideal world, so Armstrong seeks to create an ideal society where "people will die and kill for what they BELIEVE". Be that as it may, history constantly shows that an imperfect man cannot create a perfect society. After all, it cannot become even the best version of itself. MG has something of the dystopia inherent in the cyberpunk genre. But, at the same time, it remains close to reality, where some wars are fought to stop other wars.
Each war has its own methods of achieving the goal. I like that MG Rising raises the question of the facelessness of the enemies that Raiden kills in packs. Their fate does not interest you as long as it is only a dummy for beating. But as soon as you imagine in front of you a person who has life, destiny and its own will, it becomes morally difficult to destroy them. Maybe that's why it's much more difficult for me to kill innocent NPCs in modern games - they suffer too realistically and look like real people who have their own lives. Giving the enemy human traits is what Sam uses to break Raiden mentally: reality doesn't match his moral principles. It turns out that they are just a cover for his true nature. But as a player, we lean more towards our main character, considering his (that is, our) actions a priori correct. Raiden's reasoning about the sword as an instrument of justice gives us a moral discharge: we destroy the villains who exploit the weak, and therefore do nothing wrong.
But all this is just an illusion. There is no moral attitude that would give a person the right to take the life of another person. "Who saves the weak from the man who saves the weak?" Through the mouths of the characters, the game in a peculiar manner breaks through the fourth wall, addressing the player. Why do we kill? Why do we justify our cruelty? Perhaps Monsoon's phrase that nature cannot be defeated does not mean only the world order. But also a person who has always been marked by cruelty, and therefore cannot defeat himself. As Raiden, we have no right to judge or condemn someone to death. But our internal attitudes, they are memes, give us an excuse, and the game gives us such an opportunity.
In the general sense, a meme is a unit of information. An attitude or idea that is repeated in different variations and transmitted by imitation or learning. The thesis Meme as a gene was formed by the scientist Richard Dawkins in the 1970s, comparing cultural phenomena with human genes, which copy themselves and are ultimately subject to natural selection. In fact, this is all that Monsoon is talking about: memes (that is, cultural attitudes) influence our behavior, the way we communicate and perceive reality. Culture, religion, our own will - everything is formed from the outside and imposed on us as a given. However, not all cultural phenomena undergo selection. In the struggle for the human mind, the "stronger" meme survives, the one most successfully replicated by the carrier, and therefore more valuable.
Raiden wins with his tool of justice meme Mistral with her thirst for revenge because his beliefs are stronger. But this fake facade of nobility is not enough to defeat Monsoon's nihilistic worldview. Dawkins claims that memes adapt quickly, easily deforming under external conditions. All memes disappear, but are immediately replaced by new ones. Breaking Raiden's unnatural mindset, Monsoon forces him to quickly adopt a new one: "…killing your enemies felt good. Really good <…> I was born to kill <…> Pain… this is why I fight”. Thus, Raiden returns to his original beliefs, where he is Jack the Ripper. Again following Dawkins, memes can change and combine and split, resulting in the formation of new memes. For Raiden, it becomes obvious that you can achieve your goal in another way, by accepting the repulsive part of yourself and using it for good.
This is the transformation that Samuel could not go through at the time. Unable to handle his thirst for revenge and justice on his own, he falls under the influence of Armstrong's memes. In the end, this makes him doubt his own ideals, and later he rejects them altogether. It's clear from Sam's backstory that he's not a bad guy. Rather, a guy who got into the wrong company and chose the wrong path. There is something in his character about samurai stories, especially the Hagakure - a treatise on bushido - the samurai's unwritten code of honor. The series of stories was created by Nabeshima Mitsushige in 1716. In them, he told the stories of the former samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo, who after the death of his master became a ronin - an exiled samurai. In short, the meaning of the book can be described by the phrase 'A samurai has no goal - there is only a path', which was attributed to Yamamoto himself (although he did not actually say anything like that).
Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861). Tomimori Sukeemon Masakata from the Biographies of the Loyal Retainers series. Woodblock Print, c. 1847. Source: Ronin Gallery
Sam begins his samurai path to avenge his father's death, but as his purpose crumbles, he becomes increasingly hesitant and ends up becoming a mercenary for terrorists. The transformation from a respected man to a robber was quite a common phenomenon among samurai during the turbulent times of Japanese history. But Sam's path was not in vain and meaningless. Yamamoto commanded the samurai to find their own way in life, discarding thoughts about the past, future and everyday problems. This path was paved on the battlefield with a sword (or rather a bow and a horse), and to die in battle for a samurai is the highest honor. Sam and Raiden's battle was a test of their ideas; a turning point that had to decide whose ideology has the right to exist. Samuel himself speaks about this in his posthumous message.
Both were not enemies, but rather adversaries, each had their own convictions at stake as a kind of equivalent of honor. Sam's mindset and fate shows that personal beliefs do have weight. If they are true and worth fighting for, if they are the same strong memes, they will continue to exist. That is why, finally accepting his nature as an assassin, the sword as a weapon, and the goal as completely achievable, Raiden defeats Samuel.
Totally forgot I started to write it, so i had to finish it, haha.
#game review#video games#gaming#videogames#metal gear#metal gear series#metal gear rising#metal gear rising revengeance#mgrr#mgr raiden#raiden mgr#mgr monsoon#samuel rodrigues#jetstream sam#my articles#japanese art#samurai
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Bioshock Review: This game broke my heart.
Alright, here's my take on Bioshock. It sucks.
After finally wrapping up Bioshock, I can't help but feel it doesn't quite live up to its reputation for brilliance. I went in expecting a narrative masterpiece, but what I got felt more like a recycled version of Half-Life.
For a title hailed as an immersive sim, it fails to deliver. Instead of offering rich, expansive environments, it confines players to linear pathways that feel like they're holding your hand a bit too tightly. It's almost insulting, really.
Sure, Talos I in Prey may have lacked a bit of life, but it felt more organic and open compared to the claustrophobic shooting galleries of Bioshock.
Bioshock garnered heaps of praise, but in reality, it's just a run-of-the-mill FPS with a sprinkle of elemental powers. The storyline is average at best, and the ending? Predictable from a mile away.
But the real deal-breaker for me is the gameplay. It's just so… dull. I've had more fun with shooters from the '90s than this. Enemy variety is lacking, and the constant feeling of confinement in the environment is suffocating (at least, from what I gathered in the few hours I played).
The level design, while aesthetically pleasing, boils down to lengthy corridors leading to open spaces filled with either big daddies or regular enemies, only to repeat the cycle again and again.
In contrast, Prey (2017) really challenges you to think outside the box, to strategize and adapt. Bioshock, on the other hand, seems content to spoon-feed you every step of the way, which, frankly, feels like an insult to the player's intelligence.
#bioshock#bioshock 1#bioshock 2#bioshock game#immersive sims#immsims#half life#half-life#thief#thiefthedarkproject#borderlands#2k#gearbox#fallout#prey 2017#arkane#video game reviews#reviews#videogames#vibeogames
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#cool knife#awan scratch should do a review on it#our favorite tortured writer™#alan wake 2#alan wake#ilmo koskela#videogames#horror games#remedy entertainment
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It's funny how game reviewers have stopped saying "this game doesn't have content" and started instead phrasing it as "this game still needs more content" because they're now thoroughly complicit with the new norm that modern AAA games are shamelessly rushed out the door unfinished and still expecting full price on the vague promise of it getting turned into an actual worthwhile experience eventually after a hundred content updates which will almost definitely never come. On a totally unrelated note the reviews for Skull and Bones have started dropping.
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I just finished: Resident Evil 4 Remake - Separate Ways DLC!
The original Separate Ways DLC didn't seem like much more than a throwaway excuse to add more content - the answer to what Ada was doing all that time during the main game being: exactly what you expected her to be doing. I'm happy to say the remake is anything but, and likely surpasses the remake in my mind.
The voice actor change was something that I largely didn't notice in the main game - the controversy is not something I particularly want to talk about but from what I have seen it does make seem to make sense to change to a more appropriate actor, even though that may not be the actual reasoning behind Capcom's decision. Playing the DLC I went back and forth on how I felt about the new VA, initially thinking that I just hadn't noticed how bad she was in the main game because Ada has fairly little screen time. However, while I would've preferred someone more in line with the previous pefromances, allowing consistency within the 'remake verse' as it were, as I played more of Separate Ways I softened up on the potrayal - I think some of the more throwaway lines may have been a little flatter, but that can possibly be put down to this being a DLC and thus having tighter time constraints. Contrasting the lines that are repeated from the main game she sounds a lot better, and some of the performances later in the game are particularly memorable - in fact, overall this game has made me much more interested in Ada Wong as a character.
This is also the first time Albert Wesker has been shown in any meaningful way, and whilst I enjoyed him well enough (though disappointed it's not DC Douglas) I feel like this may not be the best way to introduce him to players only familiar with the post 7 games. I do think it's important that these games stand on their own - and I really don't think this is enough of an introduction to go in to 5, as the end of the game seems to imply. My hope is that they at least put out a remake of the original, if not Code Veronica as well.
The DLC also introduces new abilities for Ada, unlike the original, where the main difference in game play was simply that you had slightly different weapons than Leon. Ada now can use here grappling hook both to move quickly to certain predetermined locations, and also to perform melee attacks on enemies from further away. While the change is fairly minimal, paired with new attack animations it's enough to make you feel more agile and fluid, suiting Ada's character.
Ada seems to have had quite a change in this - previously always the enigma, Separate Ways gives us just a little more of an insight into her background, and develops her as a character more than any of her other appearances. While a mysterious figure can be compelling for a while, it loses it's charm when it becomes clear that there are in fact no hidden answers to be found in the first place. Simple things, like Ada remarking that she thought she was 'done smelling burnt bodies' or her disobeying of Wesker's orders are enough to develop her beyond simply being a mysterious femme fatale.
This is certainly a good step if they are planning on also producing a remake of 6 after 5, though I still really hope they don't go straight to that. Separate Ways however, stands on it's own well, and again, maybe even surpasses the main game in my estimations.
Significance: 1/3
Grade: A
#game reviews#games#reviews#videogames#horror#horror games#resident evil#biohazard#biohazard 4#resident evil 4#ada wong#albert wesker#resident evil 4 reamke#biohazard 4 remake#action#shooter#third person shooter
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El Paso, Elsewhere Review
El Paso, Elsewhere is fucking incredible. All I was expecting was a Halloween flavored Max Payne send up and while I definitely got that I think it's unfair for this game to live in that shadow. It takes so much from that series but rearranges and tweaks those things to achieve it's own identity.
I love urban fantasy. Dresden Files, Vampire The Masquerade, Blackwell. A supernatural underworld just below the surface of humanity. Often treating humans like cattle or at least disposable for their own purposes. I find it so interesting and El Paso is no exception. The little bits of worldbuilding we get paint a similar picture but this one is much more abstract.
You play James Savage who is currently in a three-story motel that just got a 46 story expansion all heading down, courtesy of his ex, Draculae. She's taking part in some sort of ritual that will end the world and has plenty of hostages. Whatever this ritual is doing is causing The Void to warp reality with trauma into a nightmarish thrill ride all the way to the bottom where they'll confront everything that made their relationship come to this.
All supernatural chaos aside their abusive relationship manages to feel very real in the little ways they interact and the voice acting helps this exponentially. It's clear to me the writer knows what this kind of relationship feels like. It's not afraid to poke fun at the melodrama of two ex lovers confronting each other either. These two characters the story revolves around are flawed and fleshed out and I really enjoyed them.
James' descent into this hellish motel feels incredible. Diving past ghouls, rolling through their slashes and slow mo blasting them in the head. Saving hostages in between brief bursts of violence and popping enough pain pills to kill himself 50 times over just to tank through The Void's horde of supernatural horrors. If you hold down the dive button you can stay on the floor until you're out of ammo and need to get up to reload. Like I said it's Max Payne. The one main tweak in the gameplay besides enemy variety is an instant kill stake that you get 5 of and break various pieces of furniture to get more. Break shit, kill people. That's the gameplay loop and god is it addicting.
Which brings me to the music. It's pulse pounding and intense in a way that feeds perfectly into the gameplay. Other times moody or relaxing but always experimental and playful. Any time a track with lyrics comes up feels like a treat. It's one of those total package things where the visuals, sound design, gameplay and music are all working together perfectly. The entire OST has me seriously considering getting the vinyl.
El Paso, Elsewhere is a must play. There's so much I didn't mention because I want you to unravel the rest of this one for yourself. I'll definitely be trying to 100% this in the future and it's safe to say I'll be replaying this for many years to come.
#El Paso Elsewhere#game review#written game review#videogame review#written review#game recommendation#max payne#my reviews
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ClanGen review
I recently have gotten into a game called ClanGen. For those unfamiliar, it's basically a fan-made Warrior Cats game. Its more of a management game
I actually learned about it after seeing a video of it on YouTube. Then I checked out a demo-like version of it on a website. And I enjoyed it and was content to keep playing that version. But then I learned more about it, so I decided to download the full version of this game and give it a go.
It was a pain to download, but I still enjoy the game. Admittedly, I often have a habit of deleting and starting over clans, but I do that with most (if not all) my games. I enjoyed running my own clan, checking out the lives of the warriors and seeing how their stories plays out. Makes me nostalgic and make me reread my old Warrior books. I like to make two clans: One good clan and the follows the traditions of rules of Warriors, and one bad clan similar to BloodClan or ShadowClan under Brokenstar's rule.
I also feels like it has more to offer than the book series does, in some aspects. But I also can't help but feel frustrated when things I didn't want to happen does happen. But it reminds me that how lives of warriors are often dangerous and unpredictable.
Not sure if I recommend, but for any Warrior Cats fans, check out and see for yourselves.
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The Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog: Can We Get More of This?
No joke.
You might have noticed from my sudden return to activity after a while, but I really, really liked The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog. Gaming April Fools jokes are quirky and weird by nature - that’s the point. But every once in a while a game developer will release an April Fool’s joke that is so fun and unique in its quirkiness that it takes off and completely captures the audience with its charm. Sometimes these are even on purpose - attempts to test the waters and deliver some fun at the same time, like the trailer for Fighting Ex Layer.
Sometimes it’s probably not, but... maybe it could be. I think that’s what The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog could be.
I‘ve been a Sonic fan for a very, very long time. I’ve loved most games in the series for the whole length of that time. There are few Sonic games I could say I outright dislike, tbh. But something I’ve long felt the Sonic series could’ve benefited from way back when was a stronger spinoff game.
I think people give spinoffs a bad rap just on principle. “Why make disposable spinoffs when we can focus on making mainline games?”, people say (Sonic fans are also a bit unreasonably petrified of alternate gameplay styles). But I think that’s the missing the point. Spinoffs are a major part of what gives game series their identity - especially family focused series like Sonic. Not just because they give accessibility to a wider range of gamers, but because they make a buffer zone. Main line games take a long time. You have to wait years to see it, and if it has problems... well... that’s the reputation of the series for the next few years until the next game comes around. Spinoffs, however, mean that there’s always something involving the character out there to keep people interested. I means that if even if one game isn’t so good, there’s always others out there delivering quality. It gives the series something to look at at all times, and that gives it longevity.
So why think about Sonic, a series about super speed and hi-momentum platforming, and make a visual novel spinoff? Visual novels are slow by nature, static images and careful deduction. Well... you make it for exactly the reasons everyone loved Murder.
People like these characters. People really like these characters. They’re fun. They’re all unique from each other. And they bounce off each other so well. But Sonic fans rarely get the chance to really experience the characters. Sonic’s long had a problem of loads of characters without quite knowing what to do with them. Characters like Rouge, a jewel thief primarily used for spy parodies, just plain isn’t going to be in most Sonic games - the games don’t have those kinds of plots often.
But that’s where a visual novel shines. Visual novels are all about going from scene to scene interacting with large swaths of characters, quirky conversations and unexpected character and plot developments. It’s not just that you can use tons of characters, but that you can give them center stage far more freely than you can in a platformer or a more action-focused plot. Sonic has been absolutely killing it this past year with adaptations and projects that were all about exploring the characters and what makes them fun, and Murder’s just the latest example. All the characters get segments to themselves to show off, tell jokes, and be fun - it’s silly and cartoony, charming with lots of character moments and eccentric turns, and it’s perfect for Sonic.
So I really want to see more of this sort of thing!
We could get more parodies like this - hey, if Detective Pikachu can be a thing, why not more Detective Tails? Or we could get more involved stories. Something more Adventure-esque, or something more Saturday Morning Cartoon-y like Colors. Or a mixture of both! Character focused, or whole cast all at once just like this. Another everyman as the focus character, or one of the cast - Tails actually makes a very good protagonist for this sort of thing. The sky is the limit, here.
Even this little April Fools joke gave us a surprising amount of worldbuilding and fun ideas I hope get revisited someday.
Plus, it has to be said that visual novels take an entirely different creative process than platform games, and this game indeed was made by a third party, so the crowd nervous that any spinoff could take away from the development of the main titles doesn’t really have much to worry about: in the end, these would be made by different teams.
It’s just a good idea all around. So I really hope this doesn’t get abandoned. Give us the continued spinoff visual novel / point and click adventures of Sonic and friends. I imagine any future ones wouldn’t still be free, but sure I’ll pay for it. Why not?
I mean, you’ve got a perfect premise right here:
Eggman Industries’ Famous Eggscape Rooms! They’ll scramble your brains. And maybe your lifespan.
#the murder of sonic the hedgehog#sonic team#sega social team#greg batha#ian mutchler#min ho kim#ellen alsop#sega#i haven't been crediting everyone this whole time but credit where its due#sonic#tails#original the character#amy rose#dr. eggman#visual novel#potential spinoff#we want more!#video game review#the videogame shutterbug
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