iBash

First of all, I would like to ask all those who like this game to please respect others' opinions instead of just brushing them off as butthurt fans who didn't get what they wanted and now punish this game with low scores. Do you honestly believe those Silent Hill fans have never played and enjoyed anything else than Silent Hill? Personally, I think I know what I like and what not. For instance, this game, I like not. I was actually looking forward to it despite not being your classical survival horror game and accepted it as a spin-off with a different approach. Also, it's not like we Vita players can be all that picky nowadays. Sadly, I was very disappointed. The game looks good and it makes very well use of the established Silent Hill monsters if that in itself is a good thing or not, is a different question, I didn't mind. Other than that, from gameplay to level design, from loot to story, practically everything else is, in my eyes, garbage. The game's hardly fun to play, there's little to no motivation. It appears to be heavily designed around online play but that doesn't work well, if at all, most of the time.

Sadly, rain doesn't make anything out of it's interesting wet vs. dry concepts, instead let's you walk through an extremely linear gameworld and do the same, simple, boring and uninspired stuff you've done in too many similar games before. Push a box here to climb up there. Pull a lever here, jump there. The graphics, while pretty, are technically surprisingly weak and the story is exactly what you'd expect. The solutions to each area are obvious but the game still holds your hand throughout the game and tells you what to do before you even get to try anything. It's not that you can't have good moments with this game, it's just that it's so forgettable and uninspired.

You probably already know what the game is about, namely a serious problem named alcoholism and domestic violence. (This is not a spoiler because that's what you learn right at the beginning of the game.) Now add the fact it's not only theoretical, but based on the personal childhood experiences of the developer. Thus, the game is very touching and the issue is brought across very well, but let's get to the more basic stuff first. The game looks and sounds very good and on top of it, both music and design are both unique and creative as far as games are concerned. Gameplay is simplistic but there's still a lot of variety in the mechanics and how they are being used in each area. Overall, the game is very calm and relaxing with a dreamlike atmosphere. The thing that stands out is the monster, but when you play the game, it turns out it's not THAT important to the gameplay. You will need to get it through a lot of areas, but not always is it the key to solve the puzzles, the environment is usually being used much more often. Now the most important aspect storywise IS the monster and here is, I think, were the game struggles. You never get to build a relationship with it and it never feels like it cares for you much one way or the other. It's but a mere gameplay aspect, a pet or pawn you lead around the levels when it's in "nice mode". In "rage mode", it's not really dangerous or fear inducing, it's just annoying. Sometimes, you even MUST get it into "rage mode" in order to proceed. Overall, this felt counterproductive to what at least I thought should've been an important aspect of the game, namely giving you insight into how it is to both fear and love someone. But even the scenes when dream and reality collide and you get to directly see the real meaning behind the symbolic dreamworld fail to give you any feeling or emotion towards that person. In the end, it's "just another" sad boy's sad backstory - not that there's anything wrong with it and it's touching, sure, but it's a lot of wasted potential. That aside, the game is really good, even if you're not that much into emotional, artsy stuff. The only real downside I could think of would be that the game is much too easy. The puzzles are mostly obvious and can be solved by simply exploring the areas. I'm undecided between 8 and 9 out of 10, but I'll give it the 9 regardless. Just feels right for the experience I had with it. I see technical issues being mentioned a lot, but I cannot confirm that. Other than one trophy not unlocking when it should have but only on the second attempt, I had no problems with this.

The problem I have with "musically themed" games like this is that they usually have little to do with music to begin with but instead you get a normal platformer or whatever other genre the try to press into it and listen to an unusual soundtrack while playing it. So I had high hopes for Sound Shapes, but unfortunately, it pretty much falls into the same category. While the soundtrack is (mostly) pretty good and interesting, the only way it is linked to the gameplay is that you collect coins in the levels that will then add something to the music. A few times, what goes on on the screen is in "the rhythm" of the music, that's about it. So, at least for me, the game more or less fails to bring anything new or interesting to the table. The levels themselves are, with a few exceptional parts, extremely easy to get through and even getting every coin in every level is ridiculously easy. They didn't even try to make it hard to either find or reach them, they're just ... there. I got them all on my first time through the levels with little to effort. So the platforming is somewhat ... pointless, too. It's still fun to play, though, and with the ... thing you control sticking to certain surfaces, it does have a nice little, unique twist to it, but honestly, nothing special otherwise, so I was tempted to give this 6 out of 10, especially if you think about how shockingly short this game is as well, at least the campaign. However, there's the editor and for that, I added another point, because this could breed a lot of interesting levels, even though you're pretty much stuck with the sounds and items provided by the game's artists. Downside: of course you can only access new levels when having a decent internet connection ready, which is not a given for a handheld game and not everyone has WLAN at home. If you purchase this game, you get the PS3 version for free, though, so you can always get new levels there. If user generated content has proven one thing so far, it'd be to never underestimate the creativity of a passionate community. Other than that, this this game pretty much only lives on its artistic value which is definitely there with the music and designs. 7 out 10. 6 or even less if you don't care for user generated/-ing content.

The three best words to describe Warhammer 40000 Space Marine would probably be nugatory, generic and mediocre. Now I have no idea about this whole Warhammer thing other than that it's a tabletop strategy game, so I cannot judge upon whether the game portrays that franchise well or not, but it certainly didn't do anything to bring me any closer to it. The story could just as well have been non-existent. You play as a â

Let's start with the more superficial stuff â

In theory, I really like this game. It gives you beautiful 2D playgrounds remotely resembling gardens with a very stylized look and hypnotic, if repetitive, electronic music where your task is to collect pollen. They float around in bigger pollen balls which, if you or your thread on which you swing through the levels touch them, burst open and release said pollen, slowly descending to the ground. You then will have to touch those yourself or with your thread to make them fly to waiting blossoms which will, when filled with enough pollen, start to bloom and add more surfaces to hold on to to the level, allowing you to jump and swing higher in order to reach more blossoms to fill. The ultimate goal are the "spectra" more or less hidden in the levels, those you want to collect because, well, that's the goal and they make blossoms in the "main menu" - navigated just like playing the levels - bloom that allow you to reach new levels. So far, so simple? Well, not exactly, because there are a few things to it that make the game quite challenging. Most obvious would be the time limit you have to reach a spectra. You can refill it by collecting certain "bubbles" or "cells" placed throughout the levels and can make some appear by collecting a lot of pollen in a short time, but it always remains a threat which is, on its own, a good thing. Another hurdle are the controls, because, while not bad by any means, require an extreme precision from the player, especially since one bad move or a jump timed a bit too early or late can result in falling back to the ground or at least a very large part of the level, wasting a lot of precious time. That still isn't too bad, honestly, and would, at least for me, mean the perfect balance between relaxing and challenging, but there's one more aspect that pretty much ruins this game for me. Enemies. What were they thinking? These go far beyond adding challenge, they're an outright annoyance. First of all, what happens when you meet enemies? They don't kill you or anything, but when they touch your thread, they cut it and you fall helplessly. When they touch you, you lose your thread AND for a short time the ability to stick to surfaces, also resulting in a helpless cropper. It is worth noticing at this point, that you cannot shoot another thread while in midair, you must wait until you stick to another surface. And this only when they float around, they can, in addition directly approach and attack you. It is only for a very, very short moment after an actual attack that they're vulnerable and can be defeated, but even that's harder to pull off than it sounds - to make things worse, they respawn very soon, so you pretty much just wasted your precious time. Some of them also have long distance attacks and the worst thing is they actively follow you around the level and are not slow. In short: they're a complete pain in the behind. I have no idea how they could think them to be a good idea. I mean, even if not that tough, they would, at least for me, be bothersome and distracting from the actually fun gameplay, but the way they are, they just ****. (Defenders might say I just **** at the game, granted, but I really think that aspect fits to the game in general. I have nothing against challenging, but I don't like being harassed and annoyed.) Another aspect I consider a little weak is the way they force you to replay parts of the levels. Each level contains several spectra, but you're not allowed to collect them all right away. No, first time you play, you can collect one spectra, then the level ends and you must restart it to gather two spectra this time before the level ends, then restart, get three spectra and so on until you got all of them. That's a very cheap way of stretching the game's length. Since the levels also play all pretty much the same and just get harder, there's a lot of repetition anyways, though you won't mind it if you like the gameplay. Overall, I cannot give this game anything more than 6/10, so a bit better than your average game. Could've been a decent 9 or even 10, if not for the enemies.

This game, in theory, sounded like it would be perfect for me. Myst gameplay with an artsy, surreal approach and for the Move controller, which everyone who owns it is feeling a severe lack of content for. Sadly, it turned out to be a sad disappointment. First of all, yes, it's true, the game is super short. First playthrough took me an hour even though I was stuck at one gate because I foolishly thought it was a puzzle Ã

Graphics: There is no excuse why a game in 2012 on the PS3 should look like that, overall extremely yesterday and then there's some sort of filter over the screen where you can guess what it's trying to do, but it just looks bad. The way the game keeps a short draw distance looks amateurish as well, but the fact it has a short draw distance works in favour of it, both because the game would probably look even more ugly could you see further and because it helps set a certain mood. The actual design of the game is mostly kind of good, but pretty much what you'd expect from the setting. Despite the poor graphics, the visuals create an oppressing, intimidating atmosphere. The sound isn't too good. There could've been more background noises and the music suffers a bit from being linked to the stamina: it becomes more and more stressful the more you lose stamina, which is interesting at first but loses impact very soon when you hear the same tune start over and over again everytime you run a bit or climb around. Good: Combat. You'll fear every encounter. Some claim it's always the same, but even though, of course, the general strategy you want to follow doesn't change, you still need to apply it correctly. You must observe within seconds who's the main threat, who has the guns, who's wearing armour. How to deal with the enemies, in which order and by which means so that you will use as least resources as possible. This creates a lot of tension and in some areas, it's as scary as it gets without being a horror game. Good: Stamina. Keeping an eye on the protagonist's breath is a source of tension, too, and will keep you on the edge during the climbing sections. Good: Scarce ammunition and, to a degree, health items. This will force you to think during combat and you'll try to defeat the enemies with little to no shots being fired. Okay: Climbing. The stamina bar makes it tense, but other than that, the climbing sections are very generic, uninspired and mostly very linear. Okay: Helping victims. First of all, I hated that you couldn't get back to a lot of them even though it should've been possible, but the game wouldn't let you, insisting on going to your next objective instead. This kills the little open world feeling there was left in the game. Also, all the work is pretty much for nothing. Bad: The whole â

Technically, this game is a failure. Very poor performance with framerate dropping, hickups, freezes and stuttering - the latter PERMANENTLY, not only when there's much going on on screen. There are also a few known bugs. Considering that the game also has only average graphics, one must wonder why it runs so badly. Story: Actually a really good story, but I hated how almost everything is told in flashbacks when you reach certain parts of the game. That's extremely lazy storytelling. And I also hate how the ending of the game influences what has happened before the game starts. (To keep it spoilerfree, there are various possibilities to what was going on before and then the final flashback will reveal one of them to be true according to how you played the game.) The characters are a mixed bag â

To call this a platformer would be an understatement. As you probably, LBP doesn't only give you a bunch of levels to hop through, but also gives you the powerful tools to create your own and share them with the world or simply play those others have created. Play, Create, Share â

People bashing The Room love to mention it wasn't even meant to be a SH and make it sound like the name was just slapped onto it last minute in order to raise sales. This is not true and I don't even see their point as with or without the name, this shares a lot of what is great in the series, so in spirit, it's a Silent Hill game no matter what it's called. Another popular complaint is about ghosts chasing you around everywhere. This is also not true. They aren't ghosts to begin with and they also can only appear in certain areas. You don't have to like the idea of undefeatable enemies preventing you from lingering in a location for too long, but they are NOT everywhere, not even close. People also frown upon having to visit the dreamworlds (levels, if you like) a second time, but I don't see the problem there, either. Survival horror games always made you run to and fro a location, what's the big difference now just because you go somewhere else in the meantime? The second time, the levels will have changed a little as well. Enough addressing popular attacks towards the game, what do I personally think about it? Overall, I really love it. Graphics on PS2 are pretty good, though slightly worse than SH3 with the characters. On PC, sadly, the graphics look kind of pale and blurry in a lot of places. Sound is top notch as usual for this series. Combat is very interesting. Enemies behave differently and must be approached differently and some weapons are suited better for certain situations than others. The limited inventory gained a lot of hatred, but given the context of the game, namely making you return to the apartment regularly, it makes sense. I had no problem with it being limited, but I think it shouldn't have been â

First of all, I think with 5â

First of all, what's with the "for only 10 bucks, it's good" comments? A dog's turd on the street costs even less and yet I don't see you playing with it. Also, have you seen what kind of awesome other games are available for the same price? I won't get into detail here, all the flaws have been mentioned in other reviews, but I just wanted to add that the game is NO horror game, okay? Horror, for me, means it should be scary. It is not, not at all. If anything, it's laughable and ridiculous. Just look at screenshots of the monsters ... However, the background sounds are kind of good, that's about it. Personally, I deeply, deeply regret having purchased this, even for "just ten bucks", especially since the developers decided to go the defensive route and claim on the facebook page the game wasn't bad but "hard" because they wanted to provide a challenge. Nice way to insult both possible customers and those wh bought the game and are pointing out the flaws. "Oh, no, the framerate is supposed to drop there, we wanted to make it harder to win that fight." Yes, sure. To say something nice about the game, I think the character design and graphics for both Lana and Amy are really good.

Enslaved OttW is okay, that's about it. Nothing it does it does remarkably well and on top of it, the game is super simplified in combat and â

This is a pretty good and interesting action game. The artistic design is kind of nice, graphics are good technically. What is important about this game, what makes it stand out from the rest of the shooters are several mechanics kidn of unique to it, at least in this combination and usage. Three of them are these: (1) Slow-Motion â

To make it short, the story is rather uninteresting, the characters, too. The rest is great! The controls work perfectly, I absolutely loved swinging around the environments both during exploration and combat, it's extremely fun and satisfying. The beginning felt a bit slow and tedious, mostly because the first area isn't very intersting, but once that's behind you, the game becomes much better. The graphics are very pretty and the later areas are very well done. Did I mention how fun it is to swing around in them? They're also vast and extendend. One thing I particularly loved was the music in this game. To describe the gameplay ââ

Can't say there was a single thing I did not like about this game. Now the only downside would be it's almost completely a compilation of levels from the prequels, but as it was my first Katamari game, I didn't mind and with the music remixed and the updated graphics, you'll love it even if you already played the older games. Don't get confused, though, the game is quite challenging despite the supercute appearance! Loving it.

I like the game in theory and the graphics are nice, especially the animals, of course, but to be honest, everything takes MUCH too long and is MUCH to cumbersome to enjoy it. Couldn't bring myself to finish it yet. Controls are kind of amateurish, it feels like no actual game designer was involved, but ''only'' a bunch of people who love animals. On top of it, the photos you shoot look kind of unclear and low-res. If you have the patience for this game and like the idea - shooting pictures of wildlife - this is pretty good, but personally, I ended up not liking the actual final product.

Quantity over quality? Quantity, there is. (Except for the seven super short and super easy â

The story is actually pretty good, but low production value seems to get into the way. Skipped animations, sometimes you feel like whole cutscenes are missing, only showing the most needed stuff. The background images are kind of good, too. I also liked most of the puzzles, there are some harder ones, but it's not like you're always stuck or something. What's not so good? Well, you're playing an FBI agent looking for a serial killer, but most of the time, this gets put aside and you're pretty much a ''normal'' woman doing stuff that has nothing to do with the case. You arrive somewhere, a problem arises and you need to solve a lot of riddles with little to no connection to why you've come there, before you can proceed with the actual goal. What really got on my nerves were two things: 1) The same three or four comments for false actions over and over again. From start to finish. 2) Nicole, the main character, will not perform her actions before she thinks she should,which will lead to a lot of anger when you already know what to do, but she will just keep on claiming it's false until you, for instance, looked at a certain object and she'll say: ''Oh, I could do this or that with it.'' Even though the game isn't too short, this feels like filler content, especially towards the end, when she won't pick up a single item before she â

Don't expect anything too deep, it's your classical adventure plot. Everything is there, from the hero to the **** to the mystical ancient artefact blablabla. But it works if you like that kind of story. The riddles are okay, though personally, I would've preferred had they been a bit harder. Sometimes they felt a little constructed, for instance, when you need to melt some ice, you use a certain thing, but a few moments later, when you have to melt yet another piece of ice, you cannot use the same thing even though it's still available, but must find another way. There is some complexity, though, you will have to use items more than once, you can do things wrong and won't realize it immediately. (An item you used on something will have to be used with something else first, but the game won't tell you, so simple combining everything with everything won't always help you.) What I didn't like was how the hero always comments on and explains what you're doing as if you wouldn't know it yourself: Oh yes, now that this happened, I can do that, because - And so on. I could see the point if he would give hints about what to do next, but why give hints about the puzzle I just solved? Presentation is okay. The 2D backgrounds are very well painted with a lot of detail, but in contrast, the 3D characters lack detail and look much too cartoony overall. The dialogue in addition to voice-overs is shown in subtitles with a little image of the speaking person, but those are paintings as well. Especially in the case of the main hero, this painting looks almost nothing like the 3D model. (And also is always wearing a hat - I cannot remember a single moment in the game when the 3D model was actually wearing one.) What else - well, the game is pretty long with a lot of riddles, so you get quite some content and the quality is good as well. The areas you visit are interesting and full with items and stuff to combine and so on, it's not like some of the more "modern" adventure games where the inventory never has more than four items in it. Overall, fun game, good presentation, not too hard, so you won't get stuck, but not too simple either - good mix.

Surprisingly good game! And a surprising amount of content, too. The main campaign follows the movie and is already of decent length, but they also added another campaign in some sort of dreamworld, thus not having to care about realism too much. (Captain Haddock gets hit on the head and they are trying to wake him up.) If anything, the latter could even be considered a little too long or rather lengthy, but you don't have to play it in one run, of course. It's made up of several â

One thing to mention, this is NOT really an open world or even sandbox game. I'm not saying this as a complaint, it's just that I saw it being called one so often and was surprised how linear it actually was, so I thought I'd mention it for others. Yes, of course, a lot of the areas are more open than in most other FPS games, but you cannot go anywhere anytime or toy around on the island ect. Save for a few sidemissions, this is structured like your regular shooter, but again, that's no bad thing, in fact, when a linear shooter can pretend it's an open game that well, that's probably a good thing, really. However, I happened to not like it that much, after all. Before the "creatures" appear, it's always the same, the same enemies over and over again ect., which is understandable since it's a pseudorealistic setting, so no zombiecyborgkittens from outer space in a tutu. The nanosuit is kind of interesting at first, but you'll soon learn the only thing of real value is the stealth mode ... which will be used again and again and again. Not too bad, I love stealth games to death, that's why I got this game to begin with, but it's just not done very interestingly. If you decide to rely more on weapon power, it plays like a regular FPS with nothing special to it, to be honest. Things get a bit spiced up when the creatures appear and the silly military crap gets ditched, but there's little variation then as well. I think there's two different creature enemies and the one is basically just a smaller version of the other. Most annyoing aspect of the game, of the nanosuit, to be precise, is that it talks to you whenever you activate one of the functions ect. It's horrible, in some situations you'll hear "stealth mode - engaged" or similar stuff ten times and more a minute and it cannot be turned off. What were they thinking? There are a few zero gravity sections, I did like those a lot and even though I considered the enemies there to be kind of annoying, it was tense and fun. Didn't think the graphics were all that spectacular as people made it sound and there were even frequent bugs and glitches. (In the graphics, gameplaywise, I only ran into one glitch with the end boss that was resolved by quitting and restarting the game. Oh, by the way, the final boss is super annoying, even on Normal difficulty.) What else ...? Well, there's the story, but: LOL. No, really. Generic "ancient evil/alien attack" BS a B-movie would be ashamed of with ridiculous military crap and characters and dialogue so laughable, you'll wonder if it was meant as a parody. Overall, I know I sounded mostly negatively here, but there IS fun to be had and there ARE interesting concepts in the game, like the stealth for instance, but for how generic and sometimes even boring the rest is I cannot rate this game any higher than "above average".

This is only about the SP campaign as I haven't touched the MP and do not intend to do so - just not my thing - but people seem to hate it. The story of this game is good. Nothing more, nothin less. Can't get into too much detail without using spoilers, but you have one simple goal to achieve and the way to it is interesting with nice ideas, tense moments and diversity, albeit avoiding to feel forced. What I mean is it never feels like "now is the vehicle level, now is the creepy level, now the sneak&snipe section ..." Yes, you will be on a vehicle, yes, you will have to sneak and so on, but it always feels fresh and natural to the story and events. There are a few really neat twists and surprises, but nothing too exaggerated or "so mindblowing, I saw it coming"y. Some of the characters could've used more screentime and development, for instance Dr. Malikov is mostly just meaningful because you know him from the previous game. Even though he accompanies you for a big part of the story, you rarely get to know him better than you already do from R2. Capelli himself could've used more characterisation, just a few sentimental moments were not enough, though some scenes with him were really sweet and when he gets his exposition, it's usually well done and believable. Personally, I didn't like the strong "military shooter" tone of the prequel, so I'm glad this one is more of a "survival & desperate attempts" and "roadmovie" story, sorry if I cannot express it better. Now most people seem to not play FPS for the melodram, what about the gameplay? Most importantly, the weapon wheel is back and regenerating health has been ditched, both of which I gladly welcome and like a lot. The weapons are interesting, have their use and can be upgraded to have even more functions, but I'm sad the ripper isn't there any longer. However, the Grim **** this time. While they were creepy and the sections wih them kind of scary in R2, this time, they're just annoying and appear much too often. Other than that, it's pretty good, a lot of variation both in landscapes and situations. I also liked how you must use your weapons wisely, especially on higher difficulties, but I thought they overdid it with the sniper enemies towards the end. It's not that those sections are bad, but at one point I just was like: "What, ANOTHER area with snipers?!" Content is good, too, it doesn't get lengthy and is still no short game by any means, I'd say it's pretty much perfect in that regard, especially when you consider how short FPS games tend to be nowadays. There's one thing I must point out which I considered very disappointing and that's the bosses. There are only a few to begin with, they're not THAT interesting and still get repeated, that's just lame. Sounds worse than it is, maybe, but I had hoped for more. Graphics/Sound/Music/: Nothing much to say, I found the presentation of this game to be great in all aspects. Again, keep in mind I'm not saying anything about the MP. Overall, I'm giving this 9/10 because I seriously enjoyed it a lot and the few gripes I had do not weigh that heavily for me.

The game is terribly bugged. You will not have to encounter each and every possible bug, but they are there. And I'm only talking about quest bugs, not including all the other technical issues especially the PS3 versions seems to be plagued with. Thankfully, other than the game freezing during the loading screen now and then, I have been spared by these, but to "make up" for it, I seem to have run into every single quest bug. And there's a trophy bug, too, that prevents everyone with a non-english version of this game from obtaining a particular trophy due to an translation error. Proudly, the developers have announced they won't even look into these content related bugs because they want to fix the technical issues first. Now, two months and a few updates later, the game still doesn't run on all consoles and the quest bugs ect. are still left untouched. It's up to you whether you want to buy such a game, my review will only deal with the game itself, but I will take off one point of the final score. So what do I not like? Mostly how few choices you get and how little impact those have on the game world and the story. Even the civil war in which you COULD choose one side and lead it to victory doesn't really make a big difference. In the smaller quests, mostly one approach is forced upon you and you can only choose between "Yes, I'll do it" or having the quest open in the journal for the rest of the game. (Well, "rest" ... it's open ended, actually.) The main quest is very short, shallow and overall a disappointment, full with hollow characters who are nothing but quest vessels. At least the lore behind everything is nice and there's one good idea about Alduin and why/how he returned. Most guild questlines are very short, too, and mostly kind of uninteresting and even when you could think of a dozen of really natural solutions, the game won't let you, which is especially annoying when you play a good guy and the game "forces" you to do evil stuff. Sure, you don't have to do the quest, but that doesn't change the fact the restrictions feel artificial and silly, reminding you of this being just a game with designed paths and outcomes. Another thing I really hate are the dragons, originally like THE point of the game, but their implementation is so aweful, I have avoided to start the main quest with all my characters after the second one in order to prevent the dragons from appearing in the game. The few ones you meet during the main quest are okay, probably because they are somewhat scripted, but the rest ... Most annoyingly, they appear all. The. Time. You cannot go anywhere without a dragon dropping from the sky and yes, they respawn. What should've been something special and exciting soon becomes tedious. They're also way too easy to defeat, basically just another enemy, and their AI is terrible, without getting into too much detail, but let's just say oftentimes, the challenge is to engage the dragon in a proper battle instead of it flying to and fro around you just because there is some goat on the mountain on the other side of the valley. What do I like? The game world, Skyrim, is simply awesome. Sure, not photorealistic, but it just looks great and is also great to play in. So much detail and love put into all the areas, it never gets boring to wander around the scenery. Cities could've been a bit larger, but that's pretty much the most negative I could say about that aspect. There's so much to do, so much to discover and see, it's phenomenal, and that's not just "oh another dungeon", no, much more to it, like finding a hut with an old woman who seems nice, but you can check her cellar ... ;) Stuff like that everywhere, nice details ect. This game is huge and fills it. I also love the diversity you can have in the playstyle. I have ...hm, seven? Seven, I guess, different characters now and they all play differently. Thanks to the perk and leveling system, you should concentrate on a few abilities and master them. Jack-Of-All-Trades is possible, I guess, but I don't think it'd be all that rewarding. Another plus is that even when you are at high levels, there are certain enemy types, of course, also depending on your style, who will pose a threat and you'lll think twice about confronting them. A squishy mage will have to run from a sabertooth tiger and the heavy warrior type will fear some of the more magical beings, but it's never unfair. (Playing on Normal.) Level scaling is still there, but it works well this time, I hated it in Oblivion. Well, these were my biggest gripes and likes. There are more details and points on both sides I could get into, but this is not the place for it and the limit here is coming to an end anways, so I'll just state that this game is great, but with serious issues. 8/10 for me and as I said, -1 for bugs. (Seriously, the game should've never been released like that, but, you know, "11/11/11" ...)

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

It's been a while since I played this. You will look at the graphics and wonder if it's supposed to be a joke at first, but within it's style, their actually pretty good. The story is also good for a surprise as what starts as a silly and funny cartoon turns into a pretty dark and serious drama as the game proceeds and not like those Disney movies, either, so don't be fooled, it is NO game for kids. Even without these gloomier themes, I believe few children would like it much as the puzzles are tough to figure out and require patience, thinking and, of course, trying out stuff. Speaking of which, the amount of individual comments you get for trying things is phenomenal. Where most point&click adventures will just give you the standard "doesn't work" or "it's a chair", Edna will tell you little stories and even say fitting stuff to the most nonsensical item combinations, so you'll find yourself doing things you know are not the solution just to hear what she has to say. But this game has a few issues as well. First of all, the humor isn't always as deep as you'd hope, some of it is rather inane. Second, this game has RIDICULOUS loading times each time you leave a room especially when you consider what it actually has to load. Overall, I thought this was one of the best point & click adventures of the recent years (and I'm not even much into the cartoony ones) as it did not spoon feed me everything, the story is great and there is is a lot of content.

This game a disappointment to me, even though on first sight, it pretty much is nothing than a copy of Uncharted 2, which I loved and still play now and then, with new textures and I'm not one to complain when a sequel is too similar to the prequel as long as it's still well done, so why do I not like this game so much? The graphics are, again, extremely beautiful and you are presented with a lot of "hold your breath" action scenes, but something's missing. I never dropped my jaw like I did so often in Uncharted 2. The story this time was weak. The developers mentioned somewhere they first thought of locations they wanted to implement and then they wrote the plot around these and it shows. The game is basically being saved by the likeable characters and their banter. Conflicts are being introduced only to be resolved and/or dropped a few moments later. The question of who to trust is being raised several times and could've been used very well to raise some tension, but then the issue is solved soon in a cutscene (sometimes even the very same one it arose in) and off they go to new adventures. The same could be said about the "supernatural" touch towards the end, albeit as always scientifically explainable? This time, it happens at the very ending and is nothing but a very, very short "intermission" that is over after a few shootouts and cutscenes when the idea itself would've been interesting enough to make it a much, much bigger and complex part of the story. Actually, the whole "endgame" lacks. When you find the place the search for which has been the whole point of the game, that section is over before you know it, no sense of mystery or exploring the place at all. The amount of luck and unlikely survival this time borders on silliness, it's really way too exaggerated and in some cases, laughable. It has been part of the series, sure, but it's overdone here, especially the inconsistency of how deep a man can fall and still go unharmed. The ridiculously linear and narrow nature of the levels is another issue. The Uncharted games were never sandboxy, but this time, they overdid it as for like 95% of the game, you'll feel like you're just following a tight corridor, even when the environment is supposedly vast. Platforming is more straightforward than ever and requires no thinking or observing of the surroundings, just a matchbox length short of being a Quick Time Event game. I absolutely hated the shooting sections this time. They're either ridiculously easy or unfairly hard, or rather, annoying. Whenever enemies showed up, I was rolling my eyes and I really disliked all the parts where they basically dropped you in a narrow arena with little to no way of moving around or taking cover, then send enemy wave after enemy wave at you, including heavy armored dudes that take a lot of damage and guys with "(almost and really)one-shot-kill-guns". And what's up with all the snipers, I swear it feels like they are in every battle this time, so you'll frantically try to run from cover to cover while fending of criminals and agents, but it's not always clear where you'll actually be save and a lot of these battles become pure trial&error to find the perfect route that leads you to the grenade launcher. Stealth sections are annoying this time as well, basically because the whole stealth system isn't all that deep but is used too deeply, different from U2, where it was just a nice change of pace now and then. Clairvoyant soldiers who all will know exactly where you are and come storming towards you as soon as ONE guy notices you somewhere on the map are annoying enough in the shooting sections, but become a pain when you, just for the sake of variety, want to get through a section silently and one mistake, be it yours or the game's, forces you to either restart all over or give up on sneaking and shoot your way out for the rest of it. One thing that is new and I really liked was the little QTE that would allow you to throw back grenades, but unfortunately, Nathan Drake will throw them against the wall he is taking cover behind more often than is forgivable. Other control issues arise with several actions being on the same button and the game failing to realize what you meant. A game like this also has puzzles, but as it proceeds, they become less and less until they're gone completely. I also understand this is an action game, but do the puzzles that it does have really have to be easy to the point where you simply open the journal to be given the solutions? I doubt gamers are that dumb. There's exactly ONE puzzle that requires a little bit of observing I also hate how the characters will keep telling you where to go and what to do (as if there were any other options) all the time. Overall, it's still a very entertaining experience and the chase sequences ar awesome, but as a game, it feels poorly done and the story never uses its potential. 7/10

Arkham City is a very well example of how a sequel should be, but it's not perfect. I thought the story was rather weak and even though the "frame plot" is supposed to be about Hugo Strange, there's a weird focus on the Joker AGAIN, which wasn't really necessary if you ask me. But a lot of other characters from the Batman franchise have been included, maybe even too many as a few of them don't have much more than a cameo, Robin for instance. He's playable in some DLC challenge Maps, fine, but was that really worth bothering implementing him? In the story mode, he just appears once in a cutscene. The Catwoman parts are pretty good, she plays different, but not too different from Bats. Could've gotten more content than the very few and short missions she has. Technically, the game looks, sounds and plays fantastically. One complaint would be that the combat can be very annoying and tedious before you "buy" certain battle upgrades with your XP. I invested in gadgets and such first and thus, didn't enjoy the fights until later in the game, so do yourself a favor and get the combat upgrades first. Another thing that disappointed me were the stealth sections. I really loved those in the prequel, but this time, they feel weak, also few and far between. The challenges are much, much easier this time, which is not a good thing, most of them, at least, but when you've done them all, if you want to "complete" everything, the game forces you to beat all of them again with some extra conditions and always three of them in a row. This is kind of lazy and reeks of filler content this game didn't even need. No, it didn't. Even though the story is kind of short, there's so much good side mission stuff, you'll be busy for hours. It's also remarkable how well the controls work. It's not like it's dumbed down, but everything feels natural and fluently. The new power dive plummet to gain or lose height takes a while to get used to but once you have the hang of it, you'll fly around Arkham City like you were born for it. I also love the grappling hook, it's really fun to use both in and outside. Personally, I thought the open world concept wasn't as good as the island from the first game, but it makes up for the less interesting design (it's still great!) by letting you fly and zip all over the place which is very fun and wouldn't have been possible with a gameworld like the one in Arkham Asylum. Overall, this game game is great. Some aspects could've been better, but nothing really worth whining about. 9/10

When I first played ICO back then, I felt like the enemy encounters were too many, disturbing the rather calm and lost feel this game has. You still have to get the hang of the combat and it's mechanics. Even though it's not that difficult, really, I did have a hard time with them which resulted in some frustration. These enemies always come in packs and they take a lot of hits, so each encounter can drag on pretty much. That didn't prevent me from absolutely loving the game and when you replay it, you will be better and also know when you can run instead of fight, but personally, I think it would have been a good decision to have less enemies o rather, less encounters on the first run and let the game be the way it is now on a "New Game +". For the actual game, you could check reviews for the PS2 version, nothing has changed (from PAL). One thing I would like to point out is that unlike a lot of other games, the puzzles are purely environmental, which is neither good, nor bad in itself, but they do feel very "organic and natural", while in many other games, they feel forced and out of place, basically just there to stop you in your tracks. In this game the environment does not contain puzzles, the environment IS the puzzle. It is also really nice how interwoven the castle is with itself. You will come onto a balcony and look down, seeing a courtyard you had been to an hour or re-enter a hall form a different entry and moments like these help creating the feeling you're really exploring this world instead of just running down a hallway. The second important aspect, of course, is Yorda. A lot of the puzzles are about finding ways for her to proceed through the castle as she cannot jump down or climb as high as Ico can. The charm of this game in parts is also about feeling a sort of relationship to this girl, so if you absolutely hate NPC escorting, this game is not for you because it's "the mother of all escort missions". But if you are willing to let it happen, the whole holding her hand literally and pictorially works and you will relate to her even without many dialogue. (There's very little to begin with and on top of it, the first time you play it, Yorda's artificial language is not being subtitled in readable letters.) Technically, the game looked very nice on the PS2 already and the HD update really makes it shine, but of course, you can still see it's a PS2 game, don't be unrealistic. There are only few moments with music and the rest is birds chirping, wind howling and background noises humming, all of which creates a lonely and melancholic feeling some will love and some will call boring. 10/10 Now I absolutely loved SOTC on PS2. It was unique and pretty. You ride through this forsaken, very varied land and it never gets boring. There's not much too do other than sink yourself into the atmosphere. Yes, you can collect fruits and lizard tails, but that's not why you play the game. As with ICO, there's no music while exploring, but during the boss fights and in cutscenes, there is and it's phenomenal in itself an in how it really fits perfectly to the individual battles. One flaw to point out is that the transition from one version to the more brisk version of a theme once you climbed a colossus can be very clumsy and bumpy, but you'll be too busy to notice it often. I won't get too much into details as you could always check the older reviews, but instead say a little about the HD remake. First off, nothing has changed besides the graphics. To make it short, it looks phenomenal. You'll realize this even more if you pop in the original game and compare. Wow, just wow. So with this collection in hand, why did I go back to play the PS 2 version? To compare one thing I wanted to be sure about before I complain and that's that they made Wanda much more susceptible to the colossi's shaking. Even when they just walk, he will lose his grip or stand every whipstitch. It IS different from the original game where he was more sturdy and that change is not for the better as it can become extremely irritating and will base things more on luck and chance than is good for the game. While it's not too much of an issue in story mode, it turns some of the time trials into a bad joke, especially on Hard difficulty. Now it can still be done and the hardcore cracks will high-horsedly tell you it's even better that way, but it's not. Difficulty is okay, luck and tedium are not. 7/10, sadly. Extras: Extremely disappointing. No interesting or even new footage or insights, mostly some devs praising the games like they cure cancer. Last Guardian? Forget it, just some snippets of years old trailers. On top of it, that garbage has to be downloaded from the PSN store. 0/10 Now I have a hard time giving an overall score. The few disappointments way heavy for me, but objectively, they're not THAT bad. 8/10

So this is the improved version? Then I don't want to know what the previous versions have been like ... I'll say it as I see it - this game ****. The only thing that speaks for it are the pretty neat water physics, but they are seldomly used for anything. Raise or lower the water level are basically the two things to do with it. Everything else about this game is average or below. The unlikable and/or silly characters look weird and cartoony, graphics are bad for a ps 3 game, the shootings are generic and uninspired, each encounter is liek the one before. The story has an interesting idea, but it never goes anywhere with it, but instead chases you through hallways and rooms that look all alike from start to finish. The music is terribly boring. I couldn't bring myself to finish it yet, but I'm somewhere close to the final boss and have no desire to complete this. I also cannot understand why people give this a great score saying: "Well, it was cheap, what can you expect?" First of all, it's not noticably cheaper than a lot of very good other games on PSN, unless you got it for "free" as a Plus member. In general, for "cheap", I will expect and accept a SHORT game, not a BAD one. In this case, I got both, but the sad thing is, it's so bad I soon wished it was even shorter.

While the design and presentation have their charm, the game itself cannot live up to it. This is basically a puzzle or riddle game. There is a little demand for dexterity in the levels, but it's mostly about "solving" them, knowing what to do, not skillfully executing it. The problem: the game tells you the solutions. Every time. The whole game through. Each step is explained and spelled out to the player even if he has been doing the same action in several levels before. Big, colourful arrows show you exactly where to go. Unskippable cutscenes tell you how everything works and will stick unbearably long on important spots or goals. In every level, even if you've done all of it before. Combine this with there not being many options to do anything else than what is expected and you will start to wonder why this wasn't made into a cartoon movie instead. Even if the game wouldn't be so pushy and blatant, you'd get bored rather soon because of the limited variety. You have four characters to play as and each has one ability which can be used in a few ways, but it gets very repetitive very soon. Okabu doesn't even demand you to pick the correct characters as, save for the very final level, the two you may play are selected by the game. Not a single time do you have to combine their abilities in some way, you just go from task to task and switch to the character that can do it. The controls work fine but also feel very bothersome. For instance, the two cloud whales, Nimbe and Kumolo cannot take in water or oil when ridden by one of the characters, so you have to be flying to and fro over the map to put them down, pick them up again and so on, unnecessarily making the levels feel even longer than they already are and adding to the tediousness. There is combat of sorts against the Doza and their bots and it can get very annoying. Especially the homing missiles will drive you crazy as they keep following you for much too long. You must also consider a lot of the abilities are of a passive nature, so while using them, you won't be steering Nimbe and Kumolo directly which makes it even more of a pain to dodge the attacks, homing or not. Yes, it can be done, it's no bullet hell game or anything even close, but as everything in this game, it feels more bothersome than it should. However, you cannot die. When you get hit, you fall to the ground and lose the character you've been carrying or any items or liquids you had with you. This will require you to fly around and gather your stuff anew, resulting in a lot of eye rolling. On the final boss level, this borders on absurdness. You must use the abilities to defeat the boss and its minions, but while you do it, you cannot control the characters which does, however, not stop them from attacking and of course, as you can hardly dodge, hitting you, forcing you to fly away and pick up the characters again, starting the action again and so forth and so on. So, frankly, the gameplay mostly ****. The story is very simple, if not simplified: the evil Doza and their machines are polluting the land and the poor natives must stop them. On the way, the garbage problem is being solved by simply throwing garbage (poisonous, no less) onto the dumpster. Now one might look at the game and forgive its simplicity by arguing it's obviously a kids' game, but I find it a bit hard to imagine children of the age the game might looks like it was made for will find the patience to play this game and I still don't think that even for the children, it had to be made this simple to figure out (aka read orders), The levels are rather long, too. So that's all the bad stuff, what's on the plus side? Well, it has a coop mode for two players, every level can be played with it. The presentation is kind of cute with mostly very catchy music and nice art design. Overall, Okabu is a game that feels more like a chore than fun. When games tell you every little step to take, they become work, a job to do and this is pretty much what this game feels like.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]