A genre defining game and a classic which inspired a whole generation of"open world action RPGs", the Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its DLCs offer hours of enjoyable content and some of the best story in games of this kind, with actual consequences for the choices that you make. The combat isn't great, and, today, many aspects of the game look or feel dated - namely, the fact you can't jump properly when combat is triggered, even in areas of difficult reach such as battling sirens in the mountains of the Skellige islands, meaning you should dodge all the way and get to a better place to fight them (and the crossbow is a better option to get to this kind of enemies); or Plotka / Roach, your not so trustworthy mount, whose controls are terrible in comparison to later games inspired by it (such as in Assassin's Creed Origins). The combat isn't particularly thrilling (so don't expect this feels like God of War or Devil May Cry. You fight monsters but the adrenaline here's low. And, after a while, you start to notice the lack of variety of monsters, too), though it's strategic and the customization of play styles which the usage of potions and gears' perks offers you can make up for its repetitive nature. The world alone is inspiring to explore, and the amount of side quests and contracts, none of which I found to be mere fillers, keep one occupied for a long time. You can finish the main quest but it's recommended you level up through exploration and side quests as well. My main issue with the game though is the fact that it crashes a lot, not anywhere but specifically in the area of the city of Novigrad, what's a major hub and recurring place about the half of the story. Millions of players and awards later, it's despicable that CDPR didn't fix these bugs (played on PS4 Pro), a noticeable issue in an otherwise near perfect, very enjoyable and immersive game. I recommend you to download the original Polish audio, the voice acting is simply stellar and the English one don't even come close to it. I played it three times in three different difficulties (normal, hard and very hard) to get different endings. If you're curious about the story and consequences of your choices that's what I'd recommend. It allows you to create a single New Game + but no New Game ++ and so on like other games out there.
A true nostalgia-filled bait for those who, back in 2000, were into an arcade-y adaptation of the divisive Episode 1: Phantom Menace, that at least allowed you to play as several different Jedi (I originally played it on PS1 back in the day, so no Ki-Adi back then - he was exclusive to Dreamcast). This remaster got me hyped from the announcement, though I should've known better than to trust Aspyr would release a finished game. Instead, it came with many bugs including one that overwrite your save game on Jedi (hard) mode with the easy mode, making it impossible to finish the game on that difficulty with whatever Jedi (and other characters) that you choose, nor to save your progress if, for example, you finish the dreadful mission 14 (a survival challenge against every type of enemies the game has). Frustrating as the original game could be (but, since I grew up playing this, and later emulated it, I already knew what to expect, and this is a game that, despite the frustrating controls and enemy AI, I actually enjoyed back in the day), these bugs, which were not present even in the PS1 version made this remaster even worse. The graphics look more polished, but also much more brighter than the PS1 version, losing part of its charm. It took about 3 months for Aspyr to correct these bugs, not fast enough to make it attractive or enjoyable for either long-time fans looking to replay it out of nostalgia, or for possible newcomers who would certainly be disappointed.
Not exactly a return to the roots, but a welcome change in scope compared to the last 2 entries in the Assassin's Creed series, and a beautiful, believable, carefully designed world. The gameplay still draws a lot from the post-Origins era, only you don't have as many abilities, and even less weapons, as your character is limited to a combination of sword + dagger (so no spear, flail, mace, etc.), and the game is much more focused on stealth assassinations, remaining hidden, than combat. The story is bare bones, it could've been improved upon or at least give more references to Basim's secrets explored in the previous installment rather than just give hints of it. But it doesn't undermine a mostly enjoyable experience of exploring Baghdad (and its wilderness). Better than the last two AC games despite not really a return to the roots.
Persona 3 Reload doesn't live up to the original, and some features present in the original are missing, such as the ability to equip the protagonist with different categories of weapons other than the one hand sword. This feels more like a cash grab for series newcomers who may be interested in some of the series' classics, those who started playing Atlus games with Persona 5, but even then I'd recommend you to emulate the PS2 Persona 3 FES rather than buying this.
Forgettable story but really enjoyable world and gameplay, with appropriate customisation for your character and the combat as well. The collect-a-ton aspect found in later parts of the game is only optional so you don't miss much if you don't want to complete, for example, all the 95 Merlin Trials. I only wish your character's decisions had greater impact, that there were actual Quidditch matches, and that it didn't feature random loot because in some gameplays my character missed some iconic clothing accessories which I found in other gameplays. Hogwarts is one of the best if not the best part of the game. But don't be fooled, this isn't a "Hogwarts student life simulator", here you have the freedom to explore the world and leave Hogwarts even at night. It's more like an open world action RPG set in the Harry Potter franchise (some 100 years before the books. It doesn't make a lot of difference since Hogwarts feels like it's stopped in time). You don't need to be a Harry Potter fan to enjoy this.
The improved version of the original Persona 3 released for PS2 (as with many other Atlus titles, you got to wait for a year or a few before buying any game, because they'll publish the "definitive version", sometimes for the same console as in this case and you'll regret having jumped into the hype train and bought the first version on launch), a somewhat radical departure from the earlier 3 Persona titles (Persona 1 released for PS1 in 1996 localized outside Japan as "Revelations: Persona" - a re-release with several differences was launched in 2009 for the PSP - Persona 2 Innocent Sin was never released outside Japan except in a PSP remaster in 2011, and the 3rd title, Persona 2 Eternal Punishment was released for PS1 in 2000. The PSP remaster was only released in Japan in 2012) noticeable when you face unimpressive shadows rather than the iconic Kazuma Kaneko designed demons from previous entries, and also by the fact that your protagonist is limited by time constraints, a calendar system, to operate, and you have to spend all your daytime at banal activities like reading, eating or hanging out with colleagues trying to improve your social ranks, and fight "shadows" at night only. The story isn't very interesting, definitely less so than the Persona 2 duology and still draws too much inspiration from then already worn out anime tropes, despite the characters and their Persona have some cool designs which would crown Shigenori Soejima as a major artist for upcoming Atlus titles. The calendar system can prove to be a nuisance as you spend more time in a half baked "social life" simulator than in the turn based combat the series (and its predecessor, Shin Megami Tensei - which 1994 spin-off "If" was the main inspiration for the development of Persona) became known for. There are no demon negotiations either and the only dungeon in the game, Tartarus, gets boring fast. Still, since it was the first title to follow this formula it still has its merits. When 4 and 5 came out it was already repetitive and unimpressive, if anything, 4 and 5 only increased the value of 3 since the later titles feel even more childish.
SMT III: Nocturne defines and outmatches all the later endeavors of developer Atlus for PS2, including Persona 3, 4, Digital Devil Saga and the Raidou Kuzunoha series, by bringing a plethora of the now classic Kazuma Kaneko designed demons into a world and concept which presentation might still feel a bit dated today, but still shows an ambitious and often brilliant design in its levels / dungeons and story. Perhaps not as accessible as later titles, because of its challenging puzzles and strategically demanding turn based combat, this version comes with a "merciful" difficulty for those willing to try it for the first time as it was 2003/4. The price is a bit salty for a PS2 remaster so if you don't care for HD you can still emulate the Maniax version for PS2. But Nocturne never looked as good as this and once it got a discount I grabbed my copy.
Even 18 years since its release, Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition (the improved version of the original Devil May Cry 3: Dante's awakening) released for PS2 still is the golden standard followed by all other entries into the Devil May Cry series. An improvement over 1 and 2, and more original than 4 & V despite not as accessible as the latest (it's also more enjoyable than 2013's reboot though the later still have an interesting story and some credit for its reimagining).
The Assassin's Creed franchise, which has become one of the most iconic and successful franchises in modern gaming, known for its stealth combat & exploration elements and split between a predominant setting in a remarkable period of past history (from the Crusades to the Renaissance, among others) and some sections of a story set in the present, all part of the long time conflict between Assassin and Templar factions (and adding a bunch of sci-fi elements from the fictional Isu civilization), became saturated with yearly releases, no matter how fresh the settings could be, and, even if it has translated reasonably well into the PS4 era with Unity and Syndicate, a shift was needed to, if not return the series to shape, create a new shape for it, so Origins started development, and was released after a longer time than the previous (and later) titles, and the differences show. Set in the last years of the Ptolemaic era of ancient Egypt, you play as Bayek of Siwa, one of the Medjay (a very ancient name which was once used by ancient Egyptians to refer to a nomadic group in Nubia, and later became synonym with desert ranger police. By the time of the Ptolemaic Egypt this name was no longer employed but this is just the first of the somewhat tolerable creative liberties the story takes) who wants to avenge the death of his son at the hands of the "Order of the Ancients" (a group of masked people in positions of influence over all the known world, from Egypt to Greece and Rome. As you explore further you'll find out such an order allegedly exists since 14th century b.c, the times of Smenkhkare) that was on the search for Isu artefacts, like their future counterpart, the Templars. The story occasionally contradicts lore established in Assassin's Creed II but also affirms part of it through the character Aya, a.k.a Amunet, at the start of the story Bayek's wife. The story is somewhat long but mostly engaging, save for a few of the antagonists who are terribly lame, written as plain petty villains. But the true highlight of the game is its' open world. Origins' rendition of ancient Egypt is gorgeous, from the different kinds of sand in the deserts, the Oasis, Savannas, the green mountains, to the seas, the swamps of the Nile marshes, and the cities of Alexandria, displaying its Hellenic heritage in full splendour, or the huge city of Memphis, a vibrant city that sums up ancient life in Egypt, plus the pyramids, the tomb exploration, the arena of Cyrene, which feels in itself a small version of Rome, all of it is top notch eye candy and holds up to this day. Even realizing that some of the smaller towns reuse certain assets, I still don't find it's reused enough to become bothersome or repetitive (like the later AC open world titles). I only wish they added at least a few small towns in the eastern marsh of the Nile, because it feels really incomplete and robs a bit of the immersive experience. And Alexandria & Cyrene could've used more colour at least in most of the statues than just the white marble. The game starts with a bang in one of the biggest if not the biggest tomb in the game. The RPG elements take a very superficial influence from Witcher 3 and aren't as fleshed out as in its successor, Odyssey, but are good enough to offer a certain variety of weapons, from maces to spears, swords and daggers. I've played it only in 2019 onwards so at least most bugs were apparently fixed. Even past 1000 hours of gameplay I still feel it has some freshness thanks to its world. I also recommend playing with the least elements in the HUD as possible for greater immersion. As someone who loves ancient history, Egypt in particular, even if this isn't perfect (sometimes the story feels more like a modern one than an accurate representation of Ptolemaic Egypt, with all Romans there being white, conveniently forgetting many Roman soldiers historically assigned to there, aside the Gabiniani who were German in origin, came from the Near East and other regions of northern Africa), it's a treat and one I found much more enjoyable than Odyssey. While Odyssey improved customization, it destroyed the stealth element and made combat much more bland, plus Odyssey's world doesn't live up to its predecessor, and its' story is the worst in the series, whereas Origins' is pretty great and Bayek's actor makes an incredible performance. I didn't need to pay a single cent for the additional items and costumes but it required a lot of grind, one which I didn't mind as long as it was in this world. But it's a negative point for an almost perfect game (despite the combat is admittedly repetitive, even dull after certain time). I recommend Origins over any other modern era AC title.
The first Tomb Raider game I've played in years, what attracted me to it being the setting, one of the few to explore, with some depth, into pre-Columbian Mesoamerican and Andean cultures. The world is nicely designed, the area of Paititi one of the most vivid experiences I remember in gaming (more vivid than Assassin's Creed cities honestly), despite the whole idea and plot behind it remains absurd: to put a flourishing, albeit isolated civilization of Iucatec Maya speakers in the middle of the Peruvian Amazon, and mix them up with elements of Nahua (group which includes the Aztecs), Zapotec, Huastec, Chimú, Mochica, Chachapoya, Nazca material culture, which means, peoples from whole continents and time periods apart, with very distinct morality systems, cultures and ways of life, arbitrarily glued into an amalgam which, unfortunately, makes it all more generic than it should. It's like putting Vikings and Japanese in the same town. But the fact that the NPCs talk in Iucatec Maya in first place is welcome (would be more likely if they spoke Kichwa instead & I wonder why they haven't come after Kichwa speakers instead of Iucatec Maya ones), the problem is that Lara and other characters doesn't, making it all feel off. The story is laughably bad, despite the narrative tries too hard to make it engaging (not unlike its immediate predecessor, Rise of the Tomb Raider, another good game with a terrible story), but the locations, graphics and exploration alone more than make up for it. Even if it didn't require grinding or 100% completion, the world, whether by its beauty, in canyons and rivers, the jungle, or the sense of danger by caves and fire pits (and also another huge ship bizarrely put inside an underground cave), plus the grandeur of the enlarged pre-Columbian artefacts making up an unique scenery were enough for me to complete it and then complete New Game + too. The combat is decent at best (despite it relies too much on stealth kills for success), and this one felt less grind-y than Rise, especially concerning weapon upgrades. The DLC challenges are some of the best tombs in the game, and some puzzles can be challenging in a good way. This game reintroduces water levels which became a bit frustrating because of the piranhas, but it's manageable & water exploration in some parts of the game even felt fun. The "hardest" difficulty of the game isn't harder than the hard mode except for the fact it has no checkpoints which make it very frustrating since one misstep can waste minutes of your life. This mode requires you to use your resources (herbs with which you can increase your perception and refill your health) VERY sparsely and strategically at critical times of combat, especially in the last boss, though not even that can save you from missteps in the context sensitive, quick time events. Even if the writers tried not to give Lara the impression of a misplaced "white saviour" (she is often humbled by Paititi and its inhabitants, and is more led than leads the locals in their needs to defeat a common enemy) it's all thrown away by certain quests which portray ritual human sacrifice in a completely irresponsible, and unrealistic way, as the game feels more like it looks for shock value than presenting a well studied, respectful portrait of these cultures. Regardless of its narrative failures, some lore entries provide accurate information about certain deities and aspects of everyday life from the Kichwa or Maya peoples (and others that are plain wrong, grouping the entirety of 20+ different Maya languages into the category of "Mam" which is just one of these Maya languages. Why notsimply group them under "Maya"? Worse, they put Nahuatl language under "Iucatec" which is actually one of those Maya languages which Nahuatl isn't part of). Another noticeable error is at a certain point Lara looks at a Mochica (a culture which precedes the Inca for centuries and lived in the northern coast of Peru, as opposed to the Andes) mask & says "the Inca influence is unmistakeable". No Lara, you don't know what you're talking about. The game also presents the narrative that the Maya civilization somehow "collapsed" at given point starting the fictional mass migration far south what's plain wrong and disrespectful to the 6 million + speakers of Maya languages in Mexico & Central America. It's ironic because since I'm an expert in the study of those cultures I find many terrible mistakes in this game, but at the same time, I'm tempted to forgive it, for the depiction of all these cultures in games is shockingly missing, and despite these errors and the stupid story (the actors did a nice job, but the writing is terrible. It also feels a rip-off of Rise of Tomb Raider especially concerning the role of Jonah, once again Lara's main ally in this adventure and the one to confront her with reason whenever she's complaining about something beyond her control) it looks incredibly good & that alone makes it recommendable.
Whether a homage or plain "rip-off" of Dark Souls, Mortal Shell is a coherently developed game that's more often into Dark Souls' concept, atmosphere and design than exactly the gameplay. The "harden" ability which allows your character to turn into stone, to cancel a hit at a time (but has a cooldown period which makes your use of it to be calculated), and is also vital to use in certain boss battles, as it can empower an attack if used at the right time, is one of the main differences in relation to its' inspiration. The main difference and highlight of the game is that you can exchange between four different "shells" (five, if you have the DLC, and I recommend you to, as it also adds a new weapon and a rogue-like mode which makes the game more enjoyable overall. This game, without the DLC, feels pointless), corpses you find hid across the game's dangerous open world map and that you can use as shells for your weak base character. Each shell has its own specialities, one has a large pool of stamina and a small health bar, making it more susceptible to damage though also quicker to dodge and attack, allowing you to finish enemies faster if you have the skill; another is the opposite, more focused on heavy attacks; there's a shell that balances these elements though for that reason isn't one of the best, and the other that's more focused in parrying and using special attacks - in this game, after you defeat certain bosses, you can select different effects for parrying, allowing you to heal, slow down time or counterattack more enemies in the area, what makes it important to choose which boss to defeat first. Like with souls, however, the game won't tell you that, and if you're not following a guide you'll only find out in a New Game + cycle. Each shell is upgraded separately with "glimpses" that you earn by finding new areas and bosses, as well with "Tar" that you lose upon dying but can recollect if you return to the spot where you died. The 5th shell can duplicate skills from the others, being the most customizable. The game + the DLC offers five weapons, one very different from another, and studying their strengths and weaknesses is vital, as you can only fully upgrade up to one in a single gameplay, so you have to choose which one suits you best. Unfortunately, some of these weapons are only found much later in certain dungeons, what makes grinding into New Game + cycles a necessity if you want to try out all of them in a smooth manner. Each weapon also has two special attacks which you only unlock after getting certain items hid in the dungeons. The first 3-5 hours of the game are incredibly frustrating as the first sub-boss can completely break you if you haven't got the right shells, but it gets easier by the end (the last boss can be very frustrating though), and this certainly will put many people off this game. The ambience of the game and the graphics are well done, but unfortunately there's only a little variety of dungeons. Other than the swampy main hub, you have a catacomb, a frozen crypt, a gray "temple of fire" and an out of the world fortress of obsidian. They feel unique but as you master your character and explore them they feel very short. The variety of enemies isn't that big either despite some incredible designs especially in the temple of fire, and the bosses can offer you a good challenge depending on your build, especially the one in the frozen region. The story is purposefully vague, full of pieces of lore that loosely connect to each other, including about the past of your shells, what can be a delightful progression for the typically mysterious narrative in this bleak world, but never answers all the questions it raises. The endings aren't really rewarding, though by the time you finish it once you're probably more willing to try the other weapons or new builds for your shells - which can also be visually customized at the expense of grinding items for a frog NPC. It's worth doing those though since it enriches the experience: the yellow armour for your shell Eredrim and red for Solomon really contrast, in a positive way, the world of the game. It's a well meant homage to the souls series, and the shells are the highlight of the game, each of them feel unique and are incredibly well detailed. The soundtrack is forgettable unless you use the songs of the Greek Metal band Rotting Christ that the game provides, those make the boss fights much more enjoyable. Still, like with other games of the genre, its' purpose is to piss you off with your character being weaker and less agile than most enemies, so it's only for those willing to try a challenge and grind a lot (I still haven't platinumed it since one of the trophies force you to complete the game in a shell-less run, where one hit kills you). And the main flaw, for me, is that it's incredibly short. Perhaps two more distinct dungeons, bosses, weapons and shells would make it much more valuable and memorable.
The sequel to 1998's MediEvil, this one exchanges the medieval realm of Gallowmere for Victorian era London, but manages to keep the dark, gothic atmosphere of the first, albeit with improved graphics and gameplay. You're the skeletal Sir Daniel Fortesque, a cowardly knight who earned his heroic reputation after saving Gallowmere from Zarok, following your unexpected resurrection 500 years prior (MediEvil 1), now exhibited at a museum in London, a completely new world for a knight who once again finds himself on a quest to save the realm, after a new sorcerer, Palethorn, uses the same spells that Zarok did back then, in his plans to conquer the world: awakening zombies, transforming people into Pumpkin monsters, summoning demons, etc. The story feels different from the original since the Hall of Heroes is no more and you team up with new NPCs, including a ghost kid, Winston, who introduces you to professor Hamilton Kift, a former ally of Palethorn who was betrayed by him and now plans to employ Fortesque against his ambitious enemy; and Kiya, an ancient mummy you find in the second level, that becomes Dan's love interest. The story feels incredibly short and it's a pity that Kiya in special don't get a more fleshed out role other than an occasional damsel in distress (it also shows the age of the game, honestly), and here, unlike in the first game, Daniel Fortesque talks, and shows more personality than the previous, as juvenile as he may seem sometimes, what may alienate some who played the first. Still, the atmosphere, graphics and gameplay are improved in relation to the first, which was already good for its time, with another exceptional soundtrack composed by Andrew Barnabas & Paul Arnold, some of the best tracks to ever grace a PS1 game. The details on each level look more polished, though some levels halfway into the game feel a bit off, as the weird alien enemies kind of miss the Victorian era feeling. The Freakshow is a controversial level (where, rather than zombies, among the enemies you'll find bearded women and dragon summoning Asian sorcerers) which still captured the dark humour of the franchise. The game also features subtle references to pop culture gothic elements of the Victorian era period, with a mansion full of vampires, Jack the Ripper as a boss, a subterranean society as in Jules Verne, jackal mummies in an Egyptian tomb, a Frankenstein, imaginary travels to the moon and a time machine, which plays a major part in the last portion of the game. Gameplay improvements include the "Dan-hand" ability which after you unlock it in later levels allows you to put your head on a reanimated, cut off hand that can reach secret areas with treasure and health, as well to control both characters: the hand with your head, and your headless body. This game also allows you to change between two selected weapons at any time, what's especially useful since you can switch a melee to a ranged weapon, and in this game there's a plenty of new weapons that replace the previous crossbow and longbows, such as the blunderbuss and the gatling gun which you'll unlock by the end - once again, as in the first, you need to kill all the enemies in a level to get these. What can prove more challenging than before since the levels are considerably longer, though there's fewer of them in relation to the 1st. Also, unlike the 1st, in MediEvil II the health fountains dry after use and you can't revisit them, plus you suffer damage from falling from heights which require you to be much more calculating with the damage you suffer in your quest, making it a much more challenging experience as the first, but just as rewarding. The camera itself received a few improvements, but the platforming elements still feel like they needed more work. The story and Fortesque's new characterization leave this sequel with a divisive legacy among long-time MediEvil fans, though the graphic and gameplay improvements over the first (and, I'd say, the soundtrack too, what's unthinkable since the 1st was already too good) are undeniable, and this is one of the best action games of PS1, highly recommended for those into a challenging, Gothic inspired game. Completely worth revisiting and should get a proper remake with an orchestral score inspired b y the original.
A classic from the first Playstation, MediEvil follows the story of Sir Daniel Fortesque, a cowardly knight from the medieval kingdom of Gallowmere who a hundred years after his unceremonious demise is brought back from the dead, now with the chance to actually save the realm from the sorcerer Zarok, that robbed the people of free will, stole the light of the day and resurrected all the dead in the kingdom, in his pursuit of freeing his shadow demon army and conquering Gallowmere. The story is simple, straight forward and interesting, the VAs do an amazing job (if you can get past the fact that Fortesque doesn't speak properly - he doesn't have a jaw!) and the atmosphere is very well done with its dark tone, as the darkness of the background works in favor of the game's graphic limitations (normal for that era as the game started development in 1996), top notch soundtrack and occasional dark humour. The creators always cite Tim Burton, Danny Elfman and Evil Dead among their inspirations. The camera and controls suffer a bit, but the game has its merits in trying to be more of an action game, even if a basic one, rather than a platformer (which dominated the era. It's unthinkable to compare this to Crash or Spyro though), despite it has platforming elements which are the worst part of the experience - especially jumps in certain levels. The game offers a variety of weapons to use as long as you defeat all the enemies in a level, earning the "Chalice of Souls" which transports you to the Hall of Heroes to be rewarded new weapons, life potions or cash with which you can get more ammo for ranged weapons such as the crossbow. There are 20 Chalices in total, and levels vary in size and difficulty. Most of them have an unique feeling despite most share the same dark atmosphere, and figuring out which weapon is better for each situation can save you a lot of time in the game. As other games from that time, this one bets on trial and error which can be frustrating to newcomers especially after all these years. Fortesque has a health bar which can be increased if you collect more "health bottles", found hidden in levels or rewarded by heroes, and those are vital to progress to the end, less because of enemy damage, and more because of the possibility of falling into gaps or water which will immediately drain one of your health bars. The combat is very basic, by the end of the game you'll have up to three swords which act the exact same way, the difference being the damage they cause. The same with the longbows, though there are more different weapons such as the flame breathing dragon armour, the lightning and the axe, which you can throw and it'll come back to you, one of the most useful on the run. The game has levels with puzzles (Sleeping Village, Enchanted Earth and Asylum Grounds for example) that, while not really difficult, aren't innocuous enough to be solved at first guess either, and some engage you into exploring the level thoroughly what feels a smooth progression of the narrative. Fortesque's quest itself is a lonely endeavour, though you'll find gargoyles offering tips, lore, selling ammo and occasionally insulting you on your run. The NPCs also provide you with information and a few side quests that take place in some levels and can earn you a new armour (not exactly a side quest since you'll need it to progress after a certain point). The game doesn't require backtracking but in the first gameplay it's always safer to look through all the levels, more than once if needed if you miss something. There's a variety of enemies but that doesn't change the combat, and the shield is mostly useless other than using it to reduce the damage you suffer while dashing against hazards. The soundtrack by Andrew Barnabas and Paul Arnold is brilliantly composed and one of the highlights of the game. The platforming elements make the game feel even more dated, what's a shame, though it's still a classic that showed a lot of promise back then, so it all becomes more unfortunate this franchise didn't evolve as it could (with 2 different remakes of the same game launching later in 2005 for PSP and 2019 for PS4, none of them capturing the same feeling of the original. The sequel, released in 2000 for PS1 never got a remaster let alone a remake but it showed improvements over all the others in the series). The original was later made available for PS4 and PS5 so I recommend starting with this one. But this comes from a different era of gaming, and new players might find it frustratingly difficult. I played it so many times during childhood and adolescence that I know it like the palm of my hand, and it used to be one of my favourites especially because of the atmosphere, one that's sorely missing in the remakes.
The original MediEvil, released in 1998 for PS1 was one of my favorite games as a kid, especially because of its atmosphere. The combat was dull, but decent; both camera & platforming weren't really good, but at least passable. To adapt these things in 2019 (shortly after the remakes of successful PS1 games - Crash & Spyro - that are very different from MediEvil, starting with the fact the later has a health bar and is more of an action game, albeit an old one, without complex combos, hit counters, but still with platforming elements) certainly required decisions that would affect the game's reception. Making a completely remade camera & combat that could live up to modern standards would also require remaking everything about the game. It could've been good, if done well, as long as it still captured the atmosphere of the original, or could be a complete disaster. The safer, cheaper option was, of course, to copy the original MediEvil's flawed design and just throw it under new visuals (for short, this game chose the safer option and still failed), even if this would end up more of a niche game destined to people who played the original rather than newcomers. I'm part of the first, while I admit some levels can be frustrating because of the way Sir Daniel Fortesque jumps and the camera behaves, I've played it countless times through childhood / adolescence that I know it like the palm of my hand, and find the idea of asking for the game devs to include "checkpoints" something laughable as it'd break the flow of the original. But I'm not satisfied with this game, it feels much more like a low budget copy than a definitive edition, the last nail in the coffin of what could be otherwise a successful franchise. The HUD is terrible: the health bar take more space than the original and goes against basic game design, the addition of a shield bar that wasn't present in the original makes things worse, as does the circle with Dan's head. The font used in the game is also much more cartoony than the original, and the narrator, while she did a good job, didn't need to narrate every line of written lore found throughout the game. You can change between 2 selected weapons on the run (as in Medievil II) except that in this case it uses the triangle button, the same used for every other action in game. The super bright "wisp" keeps aiming at talking NPCs and books instead of enemies, it's just poorly programmed & even more poorly presented as it looks like the work of college freshmen dealing with something made decades before they were born. The graphics have ok textures for most part, with some noticeable exceptions in fog areas, but also look stuck between an intent to appear cartoony & realistic at the same time, and missing the point of the original. But many assets are reused in different levels, such as windows, and it hurts the experience since the original didn't recycle them as much between levels. Enemies & backgrounds are much brighter and saturated than the original, the night doesn't even look like night in some levels. Some enemy designs look goofier than before. The new camera is useless since it doesn't work on all levels or even allow you to jump. Dan's head & neck bones keep floating all the time. His walking animation is ridiculous. The soundtrack is mostly copied from the Resurrection (PSP, 2005) save a few new tracks which completely miss the dark atmosphere of the original (especially Dan's Crypt, Ant Caves & Pools of the Ancient Dead). These tracks are stuck in "dynamic" mode which means you'll only hear the full tunes in most levels when there are foes around, but those are few and easy to kill. In other levels the music changes abruptly into another unrelated score recycled from Resurrection. But the worst part of this remake are the cutscenes (& Zarok's Maleficent inspired redesign of course), with wrong camera angles, poor rendering, objects cutting through other objects, that display the rush that mobile game devs Other Ocean had to finish this, or that they were more worried adding useless Mr Apples in the levels than fixing its base problems only to get a token of approval from nostalgic fans who don't remember the original very well. Even the PS1 cinematics were much greater in scale, render and presentation. The final cutscene in special pales in comparison to the original, that it makes the whole experience feel like a wasted opportunity. This game only stained the noble but few merits of an original whose limits were understandable for the time, and now are sported like just intentionally poor design. I bought it day one & platinumed it in a day but recommend to play the original and MediEvil II instead (this remake includes the original, in a square screen aspect, if you finish a certain quest, perhaps only as a way for the devs to show you how the original is better). Even Resurrection got more spirit than this one, though that one also feels odd in comparison to the original.
My favourite game by FromSoftware and the entire "Souslike" genre, especially because of the setting and world building, which starts in a Victorian era inspired horror setting - but soon enough turns into more of a muddy, generic Lovecraftian inspired landscape. The story, as you should expect, leaves more questions than answers, it's neither brilliant or engaging, just vague, but that's the point as it at least sets an atmosphere, and the voice actors do a good work. When it comes to the playability, you also can expect a difficult combat in which your foes are much more agile than you, and which main rule is not to be greedy with attacks, the good old "hit, run (dodge or roll, depending on the foe, and that makes a lot of difference depending on the boss) and hit again", save your heavy attacks to only a few openings. The parrying in this game is done by shooting an enemy just before their attack, leaving them open for a devastating blow. But these are tricky and limited to how many bullets your weapon has - and if it's not a flamethrower or other spray weapons, which are still useful in specific cases. Certain bosses have certain weaknesses like fire or arcane type damage, as well as resistances, but the game will never tell you which, indeed, the game won't tell you almost anything about anything and you'll have to either learn the hard way through trial or error, or follow a guide, which I'm sure most people who "love" these games do. To get my platinum I had to, for otherwise the chances in which ending you're gonna get, and which Chalice dungeons (separate from the story, these dungeons filled with enemies and bosses are only there for you to gather items, accessories and blood echoes or exp points. There are a few trophies which ask you to finish some of those) to grind into, or which NPCs to spare and which ones to kill to get certain items important for the story were dim. This alone cuts half of the fun in exploring, but this genre isn't expected to be fun to begin with, and it's more about feeling rewarding, which this game proved to feel for just more than half of its length at least. Later in the story as you move away from the Cathedral Ward or old Yharnam, it starts to get really boring and uninspired in relation to the previous, more urban Victorian era setting. I also found the lack of trains and farmlands / windmills (some are visible from a distance but can't be accessed) disappointing as it was a defining detail of the Victorian era or gothic horror which this game draws inspiration from. The graphics also aren't great and don't hold up well today at least not as they did ten years back, some areas are purposefully hard to see and it's lamentable how many assets are copied and pasted in certain regions. Still, the DLC (Old Hunters) especially the last part more than make up for it with an incredible new area, and some of the hardest boss fights, if not the hardest I ever experienced in video games. The lack of an ambient music for the open world / levels, despite inherited from other titles, is just lazy, and bugged me as I put gothic (Bob & Barn's MediEvil II & Resurrection soundtrack) or "dark country" music to play. The bosses' soundtrack, however, is amazing, even when it only makes a difficult fight even more irritating. There were more than a handful times that my character aimed and shot but the aim didn't work, not to mention the frustrating, unnatural hit boxes of certain bosses, but when you get this game that's what you should expect, FromSoftware spends more time programming bosses than your character and they simply don't care that your character is not only weak but also slow and clumsy, they're here for it. I played it first during the pandemic lockdown in 2020, so it added another layer of bias in favour of this experience. As much as I liked the game (and it's still my favourite "souls-like"), and played it in a bunch of New Game +s to explore more character builds (and weapons, there are a lot of them though you practically can't upgrade more than two in a single gameplay, what's frustrating, especially since some of the best weapons are found much later in the game), this game is wildly overrated and is in no way a flawless masterpiece. It has a lot of flaws that show, but which are mostly "forgiven" in the name of the genre and the difficulty it's know for (other than the lacklustre graphics, interface design and lack of ambient music, of course).
Despite the title, this game doesn't feel anything like the original NFS III: Hot Pursuit (1998) or NFS: Hot Pursuit II (2002), some of the best games in the series. Still, it's one of the most fun NFS games from its generation, and one with considerable influence from Burnout (a series in which Criterion also is known for), perceptible in this game's frequent requirement of you driving on the oncoming lane or get near misses to refill your nitrous (necessary to win most races), that, rather than a one time use can, acts like a stream. This insistence limits your experimentation with cars and handling in events as refilling nitrous is critical for victory in races, and also survival, in hot pursuits. I haven't played the original on PS3 or Xbox 360 when it came out, but in this remaster every car feel very heavy, and the gravity is unforgiving, at times pulling you towards other vehicles, what gives a sense of challenge in every track, whether you're a racer or a cop, but also a frustrating time if you don't get the handling, and it doesn't really take you by the hand to show how it works. This game also falls into a long standing predictability of the series, in which some cars in certain ranks have better acceleration or handling than others in the same rank, sometimes much better, and, if it's not that predictable at first, observing a few races against the same opponents will teach you soon which car is better for each situation. That hasn't however prevented me from trying out all cars, even those out of favour in their own category. The map is beautiful and interesting albeit arguably not very lively, and it's practically all countryside and no city, only loosely inspired by certain tracks of the aforementioned Hot Pursuits for PS1 and PS2. This game has no "real" open world since in the open world you can't access events or do anything - you reach those in a map, what's handy, though the game limits which cars are available for each events, and that add repetitiveness and it's kinda frustrating that some cars are available in only a handful events in the beginning, as you're discouraged to put them to their limits later. Still, this game requires some reasonable amount of grinding if you want to get all cars, but nothing close to later titles of the series. The cop career is perhaps one of the game's highlights (and something sorely missed in later titles) despite the hardest events I found in the game are the cop rapid responses (time trials) in which you're penalized for hitting traffic or elements in the road. There's no customization of car parts, what's good (for once, the cars come up fully upgraded when you buy them, and no need to grind points to buy a lot of extra parts to "fix" them), and on the visual aspect you can still add stickers / decals and change colors & finishing, what's enough. The car roster is considerably big, including iconic cars such as the Porsche 959, the Mclaren F1, the Lamborghinis Diablo and Murcielago, plus hyper cars from the time such as the Koenigsegg Agera and Pagani Zonda, though missing a few cars from the original release such as the Mercedes Stirling Moss, what's a shame. But the game really dictates which cars you can use for each events and some are available for only a few, what is just frustrating. It also dictates which weapons you have available as cop or racer in Hot Pursuit events (you can't choose or equip others than those the event puts by default), though that's understandable, and mostly manageable. The opponent racers' "rubber band" (the ability of catching up with you especially close to the end of an event, no matter how many miles far ahead you've put yourself throughout the race) feels very forced here, though in the whole series it's common so there's no running from it. Or from the cops' recklessness. There's no story in this game, what's also a good thing since the story in every NFS is ridiculous and detrimental to the racing experience. Occasionally fun and always challenging, this game is not close to the fun of the earlier titles, though arguably a breath of fresh air into a series that was losing its way, and, one way or another, became a classic in its own right, if not by merit, by time. But in no way a proper "homage" to the games it's named after. Played for hundreds of hours on PS4 Pro.
Buried somewhere deep beneath this buggy, unfinished game (and one that's more about crashing opponents' cars than racing itself, for even in standard racing events it's essential to use weapons, from EMPs to ESFs, Shock waves and so on to assault your opponents - and the cops that appear out of nowhere, in the middle of any event, including time trials - to survive and progress) there's a fun experience, but to get in there you still need to grind for several hours (even after platinuming it I still played it, occasionally), and it's highly recommended to upgrade every part of your cars, especially durability. This is the first NFS title developed by Swedish Ghost games, as well the first of the PS4 generation, and it draws some loose inspiration from Criterion's Hot Pursuit (2010) as you can notice by the mechanics borrowed from Criterion's previous work in Burnout: for example, how driving on oncoming and getting near misses refills your nitrous bar, and generally how you crash opponents cars or get yourself crashed, and also the tiny and obfuscated rear view mirror showing racers as orange masses and cops as blue ones. The graphics are top notch and hold up very well even ten years later, there's a noticeable filter which also adds an unique atmosphere, that, summed up with the constant animations of leaves, dust, rain drops, create an amazing view. Yet, the good visuals and interesting map (one of my favourite open worlds in the series so far, and I've been playing NFS since the 90s) doesn't make this unfinished mess live up to the reputation of some of the series' finest. The GPS is one of the worst in the series, sometimes misleading you to make additional curves that aren't part of the event in order to get to a checkpoint, not to mention that even in the single player campaign you just can't pause the game, what just goes against game design basics. And when you crash once at any event, you basically crash twice, for before the crashing animation resumes, cops appear and crash you again. And there are times the crash animation just resets you in a territory you can't drive, making you crash twice. On the good side, sometimes you can brutalize enemy cars with well timed weapon attacks that leave you mostly free to worry only about the cops until the end of the race. It kinda kills the experience of a race, though, as often "Hard" events feel easy when you've upgraded your Heat Level 4 (the tier of most powerful cars - by default, they attract more attention from the police, but also can have better weapons than lower tiers) cars and weapons and you notice the game runs more on luck than skill. Still, heat 1 - 2 level cars still have a hard time to survive long chases even after being upgraded. A positive point for this game is that it has a cop career progression, and driving around as a cop is much safer than as a racer, allowing you to explore the beautiful map, even though some cop events are though because racers just won't show up in your GPS any more and you'll have missed them. The cop career, which used to be something natural for PS1 NFS titles starting with NFS3 (1998) is unfortunately, sorely missing in most of the later releases, so it's good that Rivals allows you to switch careers between racer and cops. The car roster however is very small for both factions, and it's odd that there are car models which the devs made for cops but not for racers - some iconic like the McLaren F1 and Porsche Carrera GT - which is just sad and a missed opportunity, like the game feels overall. I played it online, though in online it feels even more buggy with the server constantly crashing and ending races all of a sudden.Concerning the music, I only tried listening to it in the first hour of the racer campaign, but it's pointless as, just like in Hot Pursuit (2010), when the cops start chasing you, the music is interrupted by an original score which makes the experience more repetitive than it should. So I just turned the music volume off and put some classic PS1 NFS music in its place. The racer career has about 22 cars in total, which is an incredibly small number for a game of this generation. Still, I felt it engaging to collect all cars (except those that could only be unlocked by a defunct mobile service. That the devs left such cars unavailable to later players just show how lazy they are and how early they abandoned this game), and, to make the game more fun, I needed to upgrade them all, what of course required grinding to a point that, in the pursuit of finding fun in the game, I realized it wasn't as fun as I wished. But it's still the best NFS on PS4 which I played so far - and that's a sorry thing, since it's so buggy and unfinished, with lazy, poor game design decisions that I can't help but not recommend it to people looking for a decent race game, or even old time NFS players expecting something worth their time. It's all style, no substance, & from here the series kept going downhill.
NFS Heat is the last of the NFS titles for PS4, as well the last developed by Ghost. Feels strikingly similar to its immediate predecessors, 2015's Need for Speed (a reboot of the long running title, which fell short by poor design choices) & 2017's Payback (plagued by micro transaction & random card mechanics), starting with the car roster & handling. Heat only got a few new cars in comparison to Payback, what's good but expectable rather than something special. The handling of most cars is poor by default but as you progress, buy new engines and parts, it becomes more bearable (the live tuning option also can make some cars handling a bit better from the start). Except in cases in which not even these parts or tuning can help you because the car is so poorly programmed it's too slow, can barely turn, or brake. And to find out which car is that bad, or which engine to buy (they're very expensive in game, what demands a lot of grinding if you expect to have a decently sized collection of functioning cars) it's either trial and error, following guides, or, if you played the last few NFS, you can tell which cars will be bad since they are exactly the same, showing how lazy the last 4 NFS games feel, as the improvements are mostly cosmetic. In this game you can literally race better in a tuned VW Beetle than a fully upgraded, modern Camaro or Challenger, and it forces you to rely on about 5 cars, punishing you with boring, repetitive and frustrating races if you want to try the 135 cars available for purchase (many are just variations of the same Porsches and Lambos though). The character customization is a pointless addition imho, & the car customization draws from Payback's. But after you have 50 or something cars with customized wraps, the next ones won't load (no matter if you spent 30+ minutes customizing a car wrap) meaning you can have only around 50 unique looking cars. I didn't bother listening to the music, first thing I did was turn the music volume off & play classic PS1 NFS soundtrack instead. The story is passable, too short to be annoying, and plays too safe. The VAs do a good job, but as in other NFS games, for me story is just noise (and customization isn't a priority though it should at least work), it's the fun in racing, the chases, the cars and overall game design choices that matters. And in those points this game still suffers. The events are clearly divided, by day you can go on races (both on-road & off-road) & drift events to get money without the cops harassing you, while at night, in search for REP points (necessary to unlock much needed improved parts for your cars) you have to always be on the lookout, and will surely have a hard time keeping the cops off you. The drifting points in this game acts different from others since you have to press R2 repetitively, instead of simply braking and immediately accelerating at the right time on turns. With the right setup and right car, you can finish the drift story events and still not know how to 3 star drift zones (one of the many collectible "activities" in the map, better done at day than night). The most frustrating part about these activities is drifting or accelerating to get the speed traps without hitting the purposefully terrible traffic behaviour: they'll always be there at turns when you least expect, if you hit them your drift points multiplier falls to 1. On my platinum run, drift zones have been the least fun thing to do. The initial daytime races at the city & time trials in general almost feel like drifting events, most are tiny circuits with lots of turns, only later as you progress you'll find a bit more interesting circuits that, by the time you master them with an upgraded car they'll already feel dull. The city looks good, both at day or night, but it's small & not well explored in comparison to the uninspired countryside. I wish it felt more like NFS HP2's Palm City Island The game makes sure that to progress on day you also have to grind at night. Everything you do at night will call attention from cops, the more you prolong getting points the hardest the cops become & you have nothing to fight back or to outrun them but ramps in the map. You can't save the points you earned at night on a hideout if you're still being chased, which makes it different from Rivals, but on par with its difficulty (especially at night it was a challenge to win the race, avoid traffic & withstand cops. I played most of the game on Hard, but there were times at night I switched to Normal only so it could be at least enjoyable with certain cars) Overall this game presents a new outfit but copies a formula that haven't been working, with the enormous amount of RPG progression elements forcing you to replay the same few events if you want to try new cars, & then punishing you for trying new cars. Full of poor design choices. Bought for a few bucks, played for about 100 hours, but feels like time wasted, what's a shame since it looks good
