Well thought out levels and a surprising amount of depth, strategy and tactics for such a simple dodgeball concept. Needs more levels but overall super fun.
I'll make this short. The original was FARRRR better. SquareEnix is milking the hell out of this game. It doesn't even compare to the original. 1) The music has been butchered ("remixed"). No longer does the music mesh perfectly with the environment and really draw you in like it did in the original. The motifs have been destroyed to make it more "modern" sounding. The jukeboxes mess up the atmosphere by introducing music that doesn't fit the scene. 2) graphics are better, of course... but there's a hell of a lot more to a game than graphics. I feel like they dropped the ball. 3) wayyyy too linear. 4) ending was contrived and forced... again, just to say to fans "look this was an exciting ending wasn't it?"... 5) much of the story in this game is straight up FILLER... just for them to says "look, this is worth $60!!!". But it's not QUALITY story like the original. The original was pretty damn close to perfect in terms of story chapter and pacing. 6) 25% of the story seriously just feels like a dating simulator with a love triangle. This was not in the original and its so dumb. 7) way too many cliches.... how many times are they going to show us a character falling off a ledge like they're about to die and then another character swooping in to save them. 1 time is enough (or not at all), but SquareEnix decides to use this cliche probably 10 TIMES!!! Seriously?? 8) they had to add pro-trans "gender is anything you want it to be!!!" propaganda BS that, of course, wasn't in the original. Ugh.... anyways, it's not bad. I just don't understand why they have to milk it and destroy the soul of the game. Oh wait, I do. It's called money. And SquareEnix, if you read this, you BETTER not take out the overworld airship flying in the next one or you're going to have a lot of pissed fans. Please, please don't get rid of the airship/overworld and make everything menus and linear BS like every FF since FFX.
Amazing game. Just got Platinum after 110 hrs. of play. Very well-balanced. Story was good, but a little confusing with all the characters, names, clans, etc. Story got more interesting about halfway through, but still fairly tame. The real shining aspect is the gameplay. Gameplay is superb. The weapons and variety are just right. The game is just FUN to play. I didn't find it that hard, but that's because I just played the first Nioh a couple months ago, so kinda knew what to do. Overall, they've definitely improved already great gameplay/fighting experience from the first Nioh. The reason I didn't give it a 10/10 is simply because it felt like Nioh 1.5 (or 1.75?) instead of a 2.0 brand new installment. They need to be a bit more brave on Nioh 3 and really try some new things. A lot of reused characters/enemies/locations/UI/story flow in this one.M any locations followed the same pattern... always a locked gate right by the first **** ladder kicking down... that sort of thing. Locations need more uniqueness and variety. Take another lesson from From Software, Koei. :-) FromSoft levels are amazing. That said, all the upgrades and additions were well thought out and a big improvement. I just wish they pushed to be a little more unique and change up UI, locations, Story flow... but overall, it's a really fun experience.
As a Kickstarter backer, I'm happy to say Iga knocked it out of the park with this one! I've played about 5 hours so far and it's pretty frickin great. It definitely brings back that same feeling I had when playing the old metroidvanias, SotN included. In just the 5 hrs I've played I've already seen so much content that's rewarding outside of the normal gameplay. Quests, crafting, shards... and what really makes me happy is the difficulty on normal is just right. Not too hard, but not that easy. The second boss was somewhat challenging even on normal, so I'm excited to beat the game and then play through on hard. The music is great as they used the same composer from SotN (one of the best game soundtracks ever made btw). There are small homages to that soundtrack sprinkled in Bloodstain's soundtrack (but not overdone). The story and voice acting are great too, with some humor thrown in, which I like. Obviously I'm still early in the game, but considering how happy I am with only having explored 15% of the castle, I'm gonna go ahead and give it a 10 :-)
Cons: 1-online multiplayer ****. Takes FOREVER to find an opponent (and they’re usually VERY new at chess). Online is basically useless. 2-lag is ridiculous, for even minor things like moving menu. 3-very little viewpoint management for 3D. 4-starting a new game is really bad ux. Pros: nice music/atmosphere, some puzzles are good
Seriously, ALL they had to do was imitate every other online chess app and then just slap the pretty graphics/music onto it. And make sure it runs respectably. I love chess but I wasted money on this app
I don't think Sekiro is bad, I just beat the game, but... I can't give it anything past a 6 simply because it's.... well, mediocre (for FromSoft). As much as I wanted to fall in love with this game I have to admit that Bloodborne is better in almost every way. The story was extremely predictable though I won't explain exactly why b/c I don't want to spoil it for you. It's basically the equivalent of mario trying to save/protect the princess. The game just didn't captivate me... like at all. I never had a sense of wonder and excitement or FEAR in seeing what's next like I did with BB. The fear is artificial. It's "oh great, another tedious battle". I remember when people were speculating that the game would have a crazy horror twist and that got me excited, unfortunately the game has none of this. Only 1 enemy in the whole game was a little creepy. The combat, while fun for a while, becomes boring. You're given ONE play style for the entire game. You get prosthetic tools but, honestly... you DON'T REALLY USE THEM. Parrying is what you'll be doing 99% of the time. I almost never used prosthetics or items the entire game. As far as the difficulty goes, a lot of it just comes from learning how to block/parry and timing. If you **** at reflexes this game you will struggle. But you WILL get better (if you want to progress). In fact I found the game to be in general EASIER than BB or DS. The ONLY area that is harder are certain bosses which took me more tries than some BB or DS bosses. Regular enemies and mini-bosses become trivial once you learn how to parry, block and respond to perilous attacks. There were a lot of poorly designed bosses... really glaring ways to cheese but also repetitive in nature. You will fight the same type of "boss" multiple times throughout the game. Also, Mini-bosses get in the way of the suspense and build up to a big boss. A lot of times you fight a mini-boss RIGHT BEFORE a big boss. But it just feels like 2 boss fights in a row. And all the bosses have a lot of health, which just FEELS tedious, but again... the game really isn't that hard, just reflex-intensive. So you will be doing constant parrying and attacking along with quicktime-like events for perilous attacks. Sekiro overall feels uninspired. Like it was lacking the soul that DS and BB have. Part of the reason for this is they reused so many elements from BB and DS that nothing seemed new. The only new aspect was the combat. Many enemies and locations are direct re-skins of previous enemies/locations in other FromSoft games. The story reuses certain plot-lines and styles. What bugs me the most is that very little is "memorable". The NPCs and their quests, the boss fights, the locations, or the atmosphere. It's all just mediocre, feels too safe. And I hate saying this b/c the game is automatically better than most games, b/c it is a FromSoft game afterall. But don't we want something that will blow us away like Bloodborne? BB was a perfect example of how to keep the Dark Souls formula but mix it up with genius storytelling and exciting gameplay in a new dark/mysterious universe. Unfortunately, Sekiro just doesn't match this "leap" as well. OK so what do I think they could have done to improve this? Allow us to loot weapons/armor. Add more RPG elements. Give us the ability to change how or character looks, what they wear. Adding multiplayer or something chalice dungeons to help replay-ability. Give us REAL reason to use prosthetics and weapon arts. The weapon arts and prosthetics are rarely used aside from early on in the game on rare enemies. Create a story that is more subtle/interesting/creative/unique. Make the story darker, more gritty; improve the atmosphere. That said, i don't think it's awful. It's still better than a TON of games out there. But it really doesn't meet the quality that Bloodborne put out there. And that's the big problem in a nutshell.
Long-time Wipout fan here. Great game. Reason for less than 10 -- 1) the soundtrack is not nearly as good as previous games. 2) online play isn't enjoyable. Takes ages to join a game. Individually hosted, which means players who are perfect at one track will host on that. They should do it the way Mario Kart does and randomize the tracks. 3) No new tracks -- if you've played these games before, there's really no new content. 4) Would have LOVED to see Wipout 2097 and Wipeout 3 remastered in HD as those are my two favorite. That said, the graphical updates are superb and having 3 wipeout games in one (well more like 2.5) at the $39 price point is great.
How anyone could give Breath of the Wild less than a 9 is beyond me. It's a perfect 10 in my book. Of course there is always room for improvement, but what they have accomplished with BotW is one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had in gaming. I've been playing Zelda since the original NES version. If I had to compare it to previous games, I would say in light of rendering similarities, it's like a much better version of Wind Waker. The attention to detail all around is astounding, and I can see why it took such a large team and over 4 years to develop. First off, the game does a great ode to nature with it's beautiful environments. The flowers, rain showers, lightning storms, morphing clouds and atmospheres, varying temperatures, all changing in a day to night cycle creates an amazing environment to explore in. Link (and his items) are effected by the environment, which adds to immersiveness. The sound production is excellent. If you have a chance to play these on good speakers, you'll realize how much detail and thought went into the making of the sounds. The ONLY thing I feel they fell somewhat short on was the English voice acting. It's not BAD, but most of it is also not very good (made it feel like a cheesy cartoon), but luckily there is very little of that in the game. Anyways, this game is awesome, and if you don't like this game, you just don't like video games. This will go down as one of the best games ever made.
If you like puzzles, and a good challenge, you will probably like it. If you're not into puzzles, or don't have much patience, the game will most likely grate on you. There isn't a lot of hand-holding. The difficulty really depends on the person playing. I found it just right; challenging at times, but not in a "I need a pen and paper" sort of way. They're not that complex. It's more about discovery, and getting the trick. The island is split into a few distinct areas (desert, monastery, tree house, etc). From the start, for the most part, you have free reign of the island to access each area, though some areas/puzzles require that you solve other puzzles to explore further. There is a loose order to the areas you must complete on play-through, though it is up to you to figure out. The story (if you could call it that) is rather cryptic. It is pieced together through recordings you find throughout the environment. Again, I have the feeling many people will either love it or hate it. It challenges beliefs on topics like atheism, spirituality and free will. Other than the recordings, the rest is up to you to interpret and piece together. Overall, it's a very intellectual game. I've never played a game quite like it. And I feel it's in a special territory of games that only come along once in a great while.
Ok, this game.... Not super bad, but I didn't like it at all. Here are a few short points as to why: 1) Frame-rate problems — Game stutters/lags every few seconds, especially when turning, or near anything scenic. 2) The lighting and environment — so, you're in this forrest, and it is literally almost devoid of life in it. I saw only a duck and few butterflies over the course of the WHOLE game (not including a couple other animals in cut-scenes). No bears, even though you find tress with bear marks. The lighting is strange and just seems like you're wearing colored lense glasses. It's very linear; the character can't jump over small logs or bushes, or walk up a short incline of rocks, or climb a damn fence. You are only allowed to go where the story dictates. You are forced to repel down rock walls, that look so sloped you could easily walk up them... You can also get stuck on logs/rocks. 3)The story — Oh boy... Not to spoil anything, it's about 2 white middle-aged people being sarcastic and over dramatic with each other over a walkie talkie, while making really stupid choices throughout the game. And you don't really control the narrative, even though they give you the illusion of choice. You the player are a man, and the other character is a woman (which you never see throughout the whole game..) There's almost nothing exciting that happens (aside from maybe one part, and even that was meh). The logic in the story is really bad, and there are even mistakes (non spoiler example: character says one thing, then game acts as if character never said that. This happens a few times) IT'S VERY SHORT. My girlfriend and I beat the game in 2 days, very casual playing. The ending is meh too. You're just left feeling like "is this really it?". I honestly thought the story was just about to get started. Overall, just not good. Seemed very rushed.
One of the best games I've ever played. To all the complaints I've read, the "objective" ones none of them really hold water. The AI is smart but it is not perfect. Perfect AI would be an unfun game. And if you want to see the AI and it's top game, play the FOD missions and invade a high-security base — their sensitivity range is way high. The story is a mixture of craziness and accurate depictions of war and infiltration. I thought it was great. It's par for the course for Metal Gear games (and I've played them all). The attention to detail blew me away. The mountains and shadows are extremely life like. If you play with headphones you can tell how much thought was put into not just the visual but audio as well. Simply the best auditory experience I've ever had in a game. There is so much to do. Every mission has ranks for how well you do including mission objectives that often take multiple play-throughs (you can replay missions from in-game). There's also the online experience: Metal Gear online, where you team up with other players to complete certain objetives. As well as the FOB experience that lets you infiltrate online player bases. I particularly LOVE this mode. I'm near the very top of the charts for espionage ranking, so I can tell you it's a hell of a lot of fun and TRULY challenging (especially if you try to get the most esponage points through complete stealth). They are also constantly updating the online portion of the game. There is so much replay value (potentially hundreds of hours). The game always has something to do. If you're looking for more challenge play online. (but no honest person can complain about the game not being challenging, there's always a challenge). Some bad reviews I've read have called the game boring, but seriously I don't know wtf they're talking about. :-) Awesome game. Definitely the best game I've played in the past 5-10 years.
This is my first SSB, and I'm blown away by the content. There is a LOT to do in this game. The levels and characters are varied and fun to play. Overall, excellent game. Both single player & multiplayer are great.
I will start off by saying I have not played either of the previous Diablo games, and that this is a review of Diablo 3 & RoS together, as I purchased the bundle for $60. Starting with the bad... The reason I give it a 9 instead of a 10 is the story and voice acting. The voice acting is either good, or it's awful. I've enjoyed the voice acting for the wizard a lot. It fits the character and protagonist role excellently. Deckard Cain, Leah, most of the demons/angels... far too cheesy for my tastes. I feel that the Diablo lore is actually quite good, as well as the core of the story. However, it's execution (pacing, dialogue, character development) that falls flat. I did enjoy hearing my follower talk every once in a while. The story could have used more wit and subtleties. And there is too much dialogue that repeats the same ideas, becoming tiresome. Many times I was able to predict the story far in advance simply because of the voice acting and dialogue (and I hate that). It seems to have been written at a 6th grade reading level (though this is understandable). That said, the gameplay is absolutely superb. Again, having not played Diablo 2 I cannot comment on the differences, but I feel like the difficulty is just perfect on Expert, which is the only difficulty I've played. There are many times where I've had to use quite a bit of strategy to defeat certain elites. At other times it is mindless hack-n-slash fun, and that dichotomy is what I find so endearing. I may be surrounded by hordes of monsters and one mouse click destroys them all, yet immediately preceding this I could be wiped out by a teleporting arcane orb slinging elite, and the fact that you can never be sure when they will show up requires you to be prepared, and even then you may have to use some strategy or you will die. But overall it is not a strategy game, and it was never meant to be. Weapons, armor, and skills can drastically change the play of the game. It's really fun to see what combinations/builds you can come up with that are most effective. This in itself, is a large part of the game. I can see how you could either hate this or love it, but I love it. The music throughout is good, but I have to say that the music in Act V is the best I've heard so far. So no complaints here. The sound effects are also very well done. The backgrounds and art style of the game is beautiful, yet I wish there were more pronounced effects, such as hard rains, and whooshing winds, trash blowing through streets, lights flickering, etc. So that's my 2 cents. I've had fun and I feel that I have gotten my money's worth. And this is from only playing as the wizard class, and I have yet to play with RoS only features like Adventure Mode and Rifts. What can I say, I suppose I'm easy to please compared to many other reviewers on here.
Just finished the game (on Hard setting). Ok... I wanted to love this game, my hopes were high throughout the prologue but then realized it just wasn't to be. First, the graphics are downright beautiful... more-so static than in motion as the game is plagued by horrid texture pop-in regardless of settings and a high-end gpu, at least for myself and quite a few others. Shrubs and rocks will change size when you are within 5 feet of them - understandable for consoles but not for current gpus. Now... the story... The game is divided into 3 chapters. It is extremely political (more than The Witcher 1) and may be unsatisfying to some people. I found it rather dry, but not horrid. I would have preferred less of the medieval political intrigue and more character development along with a more fantasy/mythological outlook, but I suppose they were trying to keep in context to the books... Now, the combat... I didn't hate it but I didn't like it. I found the first Witcher game to have a more satisfying combat system with the role timing played in it. The Witcher 2 took away the timing as well as the group, fast and strong styles, opting for a simple parry system (which I very very rarely used in the game) and the steel sword/ silver sword combo along with magic. The main problem in my view is the balance. I spent 95% of my time using the same strategy for EVERY enemy, and not because I didn't want to experiment but because everything else took much longer and just didn't work as well. It worked like this - use Quen (guard spell that basically makes you invincible for a few seconds), dodge, attack and kill with sword. You have 3 paths you can take for development - Magic, Swordplay, and Alchemy. I first went for magic, but when realizing how pathetic a fully upgraded fire spell was compared to the sword I lost interest. Now for the alchemy - the game has made this quite a chore in my opinion. You can no longer use potions at anytime. You must use them BEFORE battle. And every time it requires an animation scene that definitely could have been shortened. Because of this I never used potions. Let me reiterate - even on Hard combat requires nothing more than what I mentioned before. Also, for some reason they decided to take away storage. You will be spending a lot of time with too much weight on your hands and will try to decide what you need to keep and throw away/or sell. Some might like this but I didn't not find it enjoyable. Now... the environments. I found them to be beautiful but they felt very limited. The witcher cannot swim. He cannot jump. This isn't open-world. Therefore everything seemed rather linear to me. The environments are nice but not nice enough to prevent you from getting tired of them after doing more than a few quests through them - my main gripe of the first witcher. There isn't much interaction with the environment other than lighting and unlighting fires. The NPCs say the same things constantly regardless of time of day often, and as the chapters progress they seem to say less and less. The diffictultiy... starts off pretty difficult on hard but by the 2nd chapter is pretty easy. I found the ending to be quite unsatisfactory as well, but I won't spoil anything.
This game is a lot of fun. Does it play exactly like the old games? No. Does it matter? Unless you're too anal about the changes to enjoy it for what it is, perhaps... But this is honestly the best Sonic I've played. It's not really all that shocking over how many people are upset over the game considering how long it's been since there's been a real 2d game. The kids have grown up, and like most people who age they lose their ability to adapt to change. Ok, so about the game.. the controls are somewhat different, but they're NOT bad, just different. The game is a hell of a lot of fun, especially once you unlock Super Sonic. My only complaint is that it's too short, but considering it's only 10 bucks it is WELL worth the price. Also, there's going to be an Episode II... sweeeeeet.
Before buying FF13 I knew of two crushing facts about it - no overworld map/controllable airship and extremely linear gameplay. One of the main reasons I bought a PS3 was for this game, so even after learning of the disappointments I still gave it a try. Now I've been an rpg fan for a long time. Playing through Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 6, and Secret of Mana were some of the most memorable expereices I've had. These games have a certain charm, a certain soul, that I believe Square has lost. Indeed, the brilliant minds behind these games are no longer working together (Sakaguchi, Amano, Uematsu, etc.). FF6 I believe was the pinacle, with my enjoyment declining with each subsequent release. There's something quite endearing about the old overhead-view and world maps. You're able to take it all in, your imagination turns, and you feel a real sense of the universe that's being portrayed. But now because of cut-scenes, fixed viewpoints or locations, and flashy graphics we're given a much more controlled and limited environment. With that said, I did enjoy FF7 and I wish they would have stuck with that format at least. I honestly cannot comprehend how they thought taking away a free-roaming world and airship travel would be received well by fans. Actually, I'm sure they realized it wouldn't be, but instead did not care and opted to appeal to a newer generation, thus making more money. Overall, this Final Fantasy is not for me, and I am ok with that. But it is a shame that the days of Final Fantasy as I knew it are gone. Ok, as far as FF13 goes... after 15 hours of playing I have completely lost interest. The story is the only reason I played this far, though at this point I feel as though I understand it enough to not continue with it. The major things that prevent me from finishing are the core gameplay (as I mentioned earlier) and the characters. The characters have stupid names. There I said it. Vanille, Snow, Lightning... Anyone of those is fine by itself but all 3 together? They act too childish. And with all their action, vibrancy of colors, their whining and shouting, I am somehow still left with a vapid taste in my mouth; not to mention how annoying some of the voices are. Most everything about this game comes off as way too contrived. Another thing that has not sat well with me since it was introduced are fight scenes, or cut-scenes in general. This is just a way of making the game more presentable and easier to consume by the masses, who by and large appreciate this and find it entertaining. I do not. I am not a huge movie/television fan to begin with so it does not appeal to me in the least. Maybe a few cut-scenes here and there are fine (like with FF7), but when it's done as much as it is in FF13 you feel as though you're playing an interactive movie, and in an essence that is really what it has become. So if you are new to Final Fantasy, I urge to to take a look at the older ones (or older Squaresoft games like Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana), and try to have some patience and imagination and I am sure you will find a much more rewarding experience.
