atlas007

The game is "pretty good." My score is entirely for gameplay, but the visuals, voice acting, story, and so on, are all good to great. Bond's VA especially. But the gameplay... 1. Definitely nails the spy/espionage feel with the gadget mechanic. Gadgets involve resource management, which is great for combat but can be an unnecessary hinder to the spy puzzle solving when you've got to run around looking for charge/chemicals. A minor nuisance, but when the game gives you recharging resources it makes me think, "This would feel so much better as the norm..." 2. Combat is lacking though. In melee, parries are not satisfying or worth it because you only get the counter on the last hit, unless the enemy finishes with a grab in which case you cannot parry at all. Therefore.. just dodge all attacks/grabs and punish with your combos. The game gives you lots of options, but when dash attack, punch, gut punch, grab+slam either finishes or grants a takedown opportunity, it becomes repetitive. 3. Personally don't care much for the range of guns but the game not only gives you bullet time but also aim assist (even on "hard"). Not only that, you can just run around and enemies have very poor accuracy. I get that Bond films are full of action but some moments feel like a generic shooter game on easy. Ultimately I had a good experience (despite it being quite buggy, experiencing a soft lock, crashes, and minor bugs but I'm forgiving a new release from a smaller developer) and would be open to the next Bond game hoping they make improvements. It was rather short though, about 15 hours.

Three Houses was hyped to the max by Nintendo, looking to even surpass Pokemon which it almost certainly will. However, the game doesn't live up to the hype and if you're not into the social simulator aspect or a huge fan of Tactical RPGs, you'll probably find this game to be pretty average. The best part of this game is not only the fact that it has a pretty good story completely filled with hours and hours of voice acting (with pretty good English VAs, especially for the House leaders) but the fact that it has branching stories based upon which House you choose at the beginning. But, the game is bogged down by several things: awful textures that make the game look like it belongs on PS2, a class system that has neither quality nor quantity (Oh, you're a black mage? Here's an advanced class for you. Oh, you're a white mage? Here's..... the same class. You've gone from Archer to Sniper? You're.. slightly better with a bow now,) The only time class changes actually feel significant is when you switch to a mount. Since the gameplay alternates between roaming the monastery doing menial things and subpar combat, it was hard to be interested enough in getting through the story. If you watch videos online and you like the social simulator aspect, don't mind the graphics, and are either a die-hard fan of Tactical RPGs or just want to give one a try, you'll probably like this game.

What began as a captivating story with memorable characters and colorful landscapes soon had my interest plateau when the game, divided into two parts, travelling and 'the rites', was unable to keep my interest beyond the half-way point. The gameplay is a mix of occult with sports, sprinkled with some RPG elements, certainly unique but certainly not exciting. You play with your choice of three members for your team against another team of three, and to truly excel at the game you're expected to use all three members in synchronicity to perform quick passes, long range banishes and clutch saves. However, in my experience I could easily just use one character per round without any trouble leaving my other members standing idle probably contemplating how they're winning without any team effort on their part. Even when you do bother to utilize your teammates to the fullest, only being able to move one member at a time just doesn't click in what should be a fast paced sport/combat game. The game does have its positives, with fantastic visuals, great soundtrack, and the unique voice acting is perfect for every character. But with all that, when it comes down to it, it's core aspect just doesn't keep me itching to perform the next rite, nor care to hone my skills in the practice area. I had bought this because of the company's track record with Bastion and Transistor, but honestly I regret paying more than $10 for this.