It's a mixed bag. It's essentially a walking simulator, which is fine except that there are a few fundamental aspects to the mechanics which drag it down. First, you are constantly walking slowly, which means replaying sections after death is a pain. Plus the asthma aspect is just annoying - every climb, hurdle or brush with a monster triggers it. But look! Here's some asthma pills lying on a roof!
It looks pretty good, and it's genuinely tense and unsettling. One of the best aspects is poking around in dark, abandoned buildings, but they ruined that by making the torch battery life so ridiculously short that you won't put your torch on for long periods, and all of the aesthetics are wasted. Worth a look if you pick it up on the cheap.
It's great in parts, but (for me) too difficult/obscure in others, which made it frustrating. There's no way that I would have been able to complete it without looking up the wiki
I played it with my 11yo, and we loved every minute. It's very cleverly made - each level feels so different from the last, even though the mechanics are essentially the same. It's not too difficult, so great to play with kids, but it's a genuine joy to play and totally unforgettable. The level with the moles was an absolute highlight.
The puzzle elements that made the originals great are sadly absent. Some of the sequences e.g. climbing to the top of the radio mast, look great. Gameplay is very repetitive, broken up by the truly awful cuscenes. And, as many others have said, Lara is (now) truly the worst character of all time.
We bought this as a family co-op game that we could play with our 7 & 9 year old kids, and in that respect it's a brilliant game. Very simple to play, and splitting the controllers into two allows 4 player fun without having to fork out (sorry) for extra controllers. It is quite repetitive, but in short bursts as a bit of co-op fun it comes highly recommended.
A nice story, that captures the feeling of loneliness brilliantly, but it's not really a game. Yes, you move a character through an environment and interact with stuff, but it's incredibly linear, and I think that I'm right in saying that it's impossible to fail at anything - you can't die, or run out of time, etc. You can, however, influence how the story ends through your dialogue choices, but for me that isn't the definition **** - more like a Choose Your Own Adventure on the TV. And considering that, the story is well crafted and laid out, so it's worth a punt.
This is not going to be a game for everyone - it's very simple to play, and it doesn't pose that much of a challenge, but it's a pure joy to play. The visuals are bright and fun, the controls are brilliantly executed, and the sounds are a delight.
Very simple, very beautiful, and very well made. It's also very short, but that's a minor complaint for a game that you can pick up for a few quid. Well worth a few hours of you time.
At the end of the day, as much as I loved certain elements of this game (beautiful to look at, the character/mannerisms of Trico, and the way the relationship between the boy and the beast developed), overall it just frustrated me. The number of times that I was stuck, wondering if I needed to move somewhere/do something, or just try to coax Trico into jumping in the right direction. The camera is terrible, the controls poor and unintuitive, and actually there's very little challenge in the gameplay...overall, it left me feeling sorely disappointed. I remember playing through SOTC on the PS3, and thinking "I bet this was good on the PS2, but it's a bit dated now"...which probably sums my opinion about TLG too.
As a casual anime fan, I really loved the look and story behind this game. I normally just skip though cutscenes and don't pay attention to the plot, but the story is (half of) what this is all about. The puzzle sections pretty much nail the balance between fun and frustrating (i.e. tough, but not off-putting). Shame about those bells ringing constantly when you've nearly completed a level!
A really original game, but far from perfect. I personally didn't get the use of weapons - why bother when the game had set itself apart from all of the other FPS titles out there? The best side to the game is when you're sprinting past a series of obstacles, not having to stop to carefully pick out an enemy from distance with a gun. It's also infuriating to the point of insanity - you frequently get into a run-jump-miss-die-repeat loop that will have you shaking the controller violently whilst screaming at the TV like a demented baboon. Having said all that, it (largely) plays well, looks great, and it dares to be different. Bring on the sequel.
Captures the look and feel of a 1940's style film perfectly. The soundtrack - with artists like Ella, Duke, T Bone etc - is just brilliant. The actors are credible and interesting, but I found it frustrating that I couldn't influence how my character developed, and I ended up disliking him immensely - which is a drag when you have to play his character. The crime scene investigation was fun for a while, but ultimately lost its appeal as it was pretty repetitive. The driving element was poorly finished - the cars were so wobbly, at times it felt like driving a giant jelly, but at least you can skip this if you want to. A solid game with some great touches, but ultimately the linear story and repetitive gameplay let it down.
With the PS3 broken, I dug the trusty PS1 out and fired this up to play with my 5-year-old lad. Watching him play, I'd forgotten what a simple pleasure smashing into cars could be. Win, lose - it really doesn't matter. Just jump in and have a blast.
For me, there have only ever been three truly great football games. Chronologically, they are Microprose Soccer, Sensible World of Soccer, and the PS1 ISS. I remember the air of unpredictability, and the joy/despair in a last minute goal, having battled through the game a 0-0 until 90+1. Unlike the FIFA games at the time, this game required more than learning a routine to score, and then thrashing the opposition 10-0. Most games would be low scoring, with the occasional thumping (both for and against) cropping up. Own goals, goalkeeping errors, refereeing inconsistencies all added to an air of realism not felt before (or, possibly, since).
I remember this as a groundbreaking title back in it's day - one of the first to really push the stealth angle (you could generally only 100% a level by not being detected at all). The graphics were solid at best, but the gameplay and soundtrack more than made up for the visuals. I shudder to think the number of times that I must've played the level with the traitorous clan leader, just so that I could listen to the music again. And the fact that the ending was different if you played through as the male/female was just brilliant.
It's not the best game that I've ever played, but it's possibly the most beautiful and engaging. The battles get pretty tedious after a while, but it was a nice touch that "low level" enemies tried to avoid encountering you. You're basically playing a Ghibli film, so as you'd expect, the story is great and the visuals are stunning.
I wouldn't really class this as a game, more as a story that you interact with - and indeed, influence. It reminded me of the old Fighting Fantasy books that I used to read as a kid! I became more emotionally attached to the characters than with any other game I've played, and was genuinely upset by the ending that I created! Can appreciate that this won't appeal to all gamers, and I doubt that I'll ever play this through again, but it was sure enjoyable whilst it lasted.
SOTC I never played this on the PS2, but judging it as it is, it's a big disappointment. The controls are terrible, and the graphics are just OK I can imagine that it looked good in its day, but time has moved on! There are much better looking and playing games out there. ICO sorry, just not for me the continual bleating from girl just got on my nerves. I made it about 30 minutes in before turning it off through sheer irritation.
Now that I have over 50 hours gameplay, I feel that I can finally write a balanced review. I was surprised to read about the lag issues from other reviewers, as I can honestly say that I've never had an issue. Occasionally the game freezes on a loading screen, and requires a reboot, but I can live with that. What really irks me though is the fact that the game seems to have gone backwards since Oblivion - OK, there are some improvements, like the menu system and the battle mechanics, but by and large most aspects of the game are worse - in a word, the game is dull. For starters, the environment is very grey - I would often play Oblivion and just wander around, drinking in the scenery and chancing upon a quest/cave etc. Not so with Skyrim, where everything is a mix of grey and white (although, to be fair, walking through a blizzard is well done). The quests are also very boring and repetitive, and the main quest is ridiculously short - and the final boss is so easy to defeat! "Go kill this bandit leader", "find my lost sword", "kill that vampire" - whatever happened to the variety of Obivion? Anyone remember the Sanguine Rose quest, that made all the guests at a banquet lose their clothes? Or the quest where you get stuck in a watercolour picture? There's precious little of that here. I've played it to death, but only because my OCD tendencies have made me, and in truth I'm looking forward to drawing a line under this one.
It's a little bit repetitive, but then again it's really enjoyable to play. Lot's of humour, especially from the cut scenes, which even made me want to watch episodes 1-3 again. Only for a short while, though. Playing with a mate = great fun. Playing alone = quickly bored.
Everyone has a valid opinion, but I wonder if the reviewers that gave this a negative score missed the point a bit. It's not so much a game as a time passer, and in that regard it's great fun. The controls are responsive, the graphics and sound OK, and it's very simple to get to grips with. Plus it's only a couple of quid - stop moaning and lighten up!
Pretty one dimensional, but great fun nevertheless. Responsive controls, great graphics, funny dialogue - the only real downside is the overly-simple puzzles.
This has to rank as one of the strangest games I've ever played, but also one of the most fun. Simple to play and master, but endlessly enjoyable and has lots of replay value. Great visuals, a catchy soundtrack and a bizarre sense of humour make this a classic in my eyes. Lack of online play and poor two player options are disappointing though.
Solid enough RPG with some interesting features - like the way that you can define your character and his/her relationship with the other party members - that ultimately doesn't offer anything that hasn't been done better elsewhere. Minor glitches, such as the frequently fluctuating frame rate during battles, can be overlooked, but it's the (relatively) small playing area and linear plot that disappointed me the most. I loved the comedy, soap-opera style script though.
Not especially bad, but not that good either. Disappointing more than anything. It feels unfinished, and there are so many glitches and little annoyances - like the underdeveloped stealth mode and the tedium of climbing buildings. I played it through, more out of sheer bloody-mindedness than anything else.
