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.
Tag: game review
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.
Thoughts on: Darksiders Genesis
I have a complicated history with Darksiders, I suppose. I always loved what the series tried to do in terms of their style, their world, their characters, their ideas. But there haven’t been a single game in the series so far that I could’ve easily recommended or fully liked. Original was often annoying for all its cool (if borrowed) ideas. Sequel was extremely long and got boring by the end, despite its really inventive take on mixing hack and slash with action RPG elements. Third one was… well, it was just bad, no way to dance around that. But Genesis is a slightly different beast. It’s less of a straight action adventure hack and slash and more of an isometric action RPG shooter. This change of perspective, a literal one, once helped Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light be the most fresh and fun take on the Tomb Raider series. Does a similar approach help Darksiders? It kinda does, actually.
In love with: Doom 64
I’ve never played Doom 64 before and despite hearing that it was not just a port of the original Doom or it’s sequels or expansions, I never really cared to play it either. Partially because I was never as big into id software FPS titles. Partially because, well, it’s Doom again, even if the levels are new, right? And that’s where I was somewhat wrong as Doom 64 feels different. So I’m really glad that it got officially ported to newer systems and PC.
Happy about: DOOM Eternal
When the new DOOM came out in 2016 almost everyone was in love with it. Me personally? I thought it was a fun game, but it lacked a lot of things I liked about FPS games. With the classic Doom titles the entire level was the challenge, whereas 2016 had a more arena-based design where each separate encounter was the challenge. At times, I found it boring, at times it had genuinely good moments. But overall it was a solid FPS that got elevated into something more due to its technical elements, its visual design and most importantly its fantastic soundtrack.
DOOM Eternal, right from the first teasers of it, was showing willingness to reintroduce a lot of the exploration and a lot of arcade silliness of the classic FPS titles back into the formula crafted by DOOM (2016). Was the resulting mix successful? Well… More often than not. It’s the “than not” parts that kill the enjoyment with the game.
Thoughts on: A Plague Tale: Innocence
Originally, I wasn’t going to check A Plague Tale: Innocence, hence why I have not played it for most of the year since release. It looked like a mid-budget attempt at a stealth adventure and those tend to be simply mediocre. The hordes of rats seemingly simulated the way games usually simulate liquids was a cute touch, but I was still not interested enough. It wasn’t until the game started picking up praise for its storytelling that I got curious.
Yeah, I don’t know what that praise was for.
In love with: Unheard
I know that there was talk about Unheard when it was still in development, but I’ve managed to miss on it completely. And it wasn’t until after release that I got curious about what this game is. Finally I had the time to check it out and it was most definitely time well spent.