Less than 2 years ago I’ve finally experienced Yakuza series for myself with Yakuza 0. And it was the best and the worst way to get introduced to the series, it seems. The best, because it was an absolutely amazing game. The worst, because neither the remake of the original, nor this remake of the Yakuza 2 get close to what was great about 0. That said, this game is still really great on its own.
Tag: game review
So I tried playing Fallout 4
It is extremely rare that I find it hard to continue playing a game, yet write anything about it as a review of sorts. Usually it’s simple – I stop playing, I stop caring, I drop the game, end of story. With Fallout 4, however, things are so complicated that I cannot not write at least something.
Disapprove: Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Definitive Edition)
Oh, Tomb Raider… *sigh*
What a cool experiment Tomb Raider 2013 was. Something to do, to learn from, to never repeat as is. Yet it was repeated almost verbatim in Rise of the Tomb Raider, which I still consider to be the most pointless huge budget game in existence. And then it was repeated almost verbatim a third time in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Except, this time the game is not just pointless, but often shockingly incompetent. Yet, often entertainingly incompetent.
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In love with: The Procession to Calvary
Three years ago I’ve accidentally stumbled upon Four Last Things, a bizarre comedy point and click adventure game built entirely out of the Renaissance paintings. It was simple, yet incredibly fun and funny and reminded me of the the best elements from the 90s attempts by 7th Level to make a Monty Python game, without all of the crap that was also present in those games. It was also a solid adventure game that wasn’t just a series of funny interactions and gags, even if most of it was simple. So I’m glad to say that The Procession to Calvary, a sequel of sorts, is in many ways even better.
Disapprove: Blaster Master Zero 2
It’s been just a few months since I’ve played Blaster Master Zero, a game that I didn’t expect to like as much as I had. It was a really fun exploration focused reimagining of an 8-bit classic with some unique ideas and very few annoyances. So when Blaster Master Zero 2 got a PC port as well just 2 months after my review of the original, I was excited to play and enjoy that game as well. Enjoyment wasn’t part of the process of playing it, turns out.
Thoughts on: ECHO
I’ve been reluctant to try ECHO ever since I’ve heard of it. Since then the game managed to maintain its mixed reception and, unfortunately, even the studio behind the game Ultra Ultra ceased to exist. Now that I’ve finally played it, I can understand why it never became a success. It’s not a game that can be enjoyed by many and I can’t say that the “enjoyment” is what I felt when playing it, especially the latter parts. Yet, it’s also a game experience to remember, something that felt unique and awe inspiring at its best and at least memorable and curious at its worst.
Thoughts on: Red Dead Redemption II
I’ve played Red Dead Redemption less than 10 years ago and despite considering it one of the best Rockstar Games’ titles at that point and a new benchmark for open world action titles, I didn’t love it all that much. It was too long, especially with the terrible Mexico chapter being completely pointless, its player controls were often annoying, despite looking good and it had lots of constant tiny annoyances, most of which were a mainstay in Rockstar’s titles. Still, I was very interested in trying out Red Dead Redemption II, just not enough as to borrow a current gen console from a friend. Now that the PC version is out and patched to work fine (at least for singleplayer, I didn’t even try Online and don’t ever plan to), I’ve given it a go. And… yeah, I didn’t enjoy it much. Yet, it was an experience that I was glad to try.
Late thoughts on: Life Is Strange: Before the Storm
Just like last time, I’m 3 years late to play a Life is Strange game. Just like last time, I had doubts I will enjoy it, though this time not due to trying out the first episode and not liking how it starts, rather because I just didn’t expect a side-story/prequel to a very self-contained game could be an interesting story to explore. And… *sigh* just like last time, I’m wrong.
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Thoughts on: Resident Evil 3 (2020)
I’ve been calling the remake of Resident Evil 2, that got released last year, the “new Resident Evil 2”, instead of a “Resident Evil 2 Remake”. Mainly for the reason that it, unlike the Resident Evil (2002) (usually called REmake), while being undoubtedly a remake with lots of similar elements, plays very differently. It wasn’t a good or bad thing, mind you, just different, hence why I call it this way. And a year on I still find it to be an amazing title. Except for the Ghost Survivors DLC, it’s terrible.
I find myself faced with a new problem with Resident Evil 3 (2020), however. As the only way I could honestly call this game would be “alternative Resident Evil 3”. Because calling this game a remake is simply impossible. And this time, it is a quite a bit of a good and a bad thing.
Happy about: Black Mesa
Several months ago I’ve decided to replay original Half-Life and it’s official expansions and it was done mostly due to this game I’m going to talk right now. Black Mesa is a full remake of the original Half-Life made by a huge team of fans over the course of the last 15 years and it went from being a fan response mod to the buggy Half-Life: Source to a completely standalone commercial release permitted by Valve. I originally played both the old 2012 mod release and the commercial version in Early access about 5 years later but didn’t get too far. It felt rough, some balancing changes were pretty bad and overall I didn’t have much hope in the project. Now that it’s out as a full game, I gotta say that the polishing the game received over all these years is pretty amazing. Even if a lot of my original concerns turned out to stay true.