It’s easy to imagine how much pressure BioWare was under as they were making the closing act of the Mass Effect trilogy after the success of the previous two entries. With the first game they’ve established the universe, with the second they’ve refined the gameplay and characters. Third game was supposed to somehow top this and bring the story to a closure. And that’s where they faltered, got confused about how all of this should end. After the incredible scope of Mass Effect and stylish cinematic action of Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 3 had an identity crisis that it couldn’t quite resolve.
Tag: game review
Thoughts on: Kona
Kona is somewhat difficult to describe, to fit in a more or less defined description, which is partially due to what interesting things it tries to do and be many things at once, and partially due to how it mostly fails at being good at anything it tries to be. It’s a story exploration game, it’s an adventure game, it’s a survival game and thematically it’s a bit horror, a bit of a murder mystery and a bit of a folk tale. It heavily borrows ideas and elements from other titles, but at the same time tries to be a thing of its own. And I want to like it, because it’s very much not a bad game, but I can’t.
Thoughts on: Torment: Tides of Numenera
Planescape: Torment is often praised as being one of the most amazing and engrossing story-driven cRPGs out there. And for a good reason. So it is often expected to see games try revisiting or sometimes outright emulating the ideas from said game. When you call your game “Torment”, with just the subtitle mentioning the tabletop RPG system and setting, perhaps you’re being a bit too on the nose with your influences. Is the game itself reliant on the game it references or does it feel unique and good on its own? Perhaps, it’s a bit of both.
Revisiting Mass Effect 2 (with DLCs)
Mass Effect was incredibly ambitious – huge emphasis on exploring space, an epic yet personal choice and character driven story, third person combat that tries to also be a complex action RPG. All on the scale never done before and rarely tried after. Mass Effect 2 is ambitious in a very different way. Instead of going so big and grand, it tries to go simple and detailed. It simplifies most of the things and focuses only on what it can do well, and then does it exceptionally well. Going straight from the first game into the second one feels weird – the sequel feels so different, yet, somehow, so right.
Revisiting Mass Effect
Yes, it has been more than 10 years already, hard to believe as it may be, since Mass Effect was originally released. First exclusively on Xbox 360, then, half a year later on PC (PS3 version didn’t come until 2012, though). Despite BioWare setting a new example, a new milestone in how to make story driven RPGs with almost every game prior to this one, it was Mass Effect specifically that became a template for so many games to follow. A cinematic, character and story driven, action and dialogue focused RPG that tried to please varied audience on different platforms without compromising on its values. A game so fresh, yet so distinctively BioWare.
Playing it today on PC it’s easy to see why it was loved and why other games tried to copy it. Also easy to notice things that hasn’t aged well or were not good in the first place.
Happy about: Ys: Memories of Celceta
There, it finally happened. Now every main Ys game (apart from the still not remade V) is available on PC for your enjoyment. This latest release is a new canon re-imagining of the fourth entry in the main series, that previously was comprised of two similar, but different games telling a similar story. Oh, the events of the game are also set as a chronological second adventure and happen before the third game (Oath in Felghana) but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that the game is fun. Even if not the best in the series.
Happy about: Devil May Cry HD Collection and 4: Special Edition
I remember learning about Devil May Cry back when I only had a PS1 of my own and waiting for the next Resident Evil. Code Veronica X on PS2 was originally released with the demo disc of DMC and I’ve seen many a fan of RE later say that that demo disc was the best thing about their purchase. Originally planned as the next entry in Resident Evil franchise (you can even see Umbrella logo in some of the old concept art) and highly influenced by Onimusha and Hideki Kamiya’s love for over the top stylish action concepts, this hack and slash action title created something of a genre of it’s own, sometimes called “stylish action” or “character action”. And while it evolved so much with fans eagerly awaiting whatever next game PlatinumGames (comprised of a lot of old Capcom employees who worked on DMC) are going to release, it’s interesting to go to the beginning and see how the genre defining franchise evolved.
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Happy about: Sniper Elite 4 (and few words on 3)
Sniper Elite series has always been a weird beast. On one hand, it’s a very unique approach to stealth action, where you are trying to stealth kill enemies using long range and traps, rather than go in close range – which is very unusual for the genre. Moreover, it also employs highly customizable difficulty scale to incorporate it’s attempt at simulating real ballistics, ranging from super simple shooting, to thinking about distance, bullet drop, and even wind. On the other, the games have always being clearly middle budget, looking and feeling “good enough”, but never even close to what you would expect from a modern full price AAA release. That is, until Sniper Elite 4.
Thoughts on: Batman: The Telltale Series and The Enemy Within
With Telltale Games making so many games with so many different franchises, including the goddamn Minecraft, I shouldn’t have been surprised about the existence of Batman: The Telltale Series. But I was. Maybe it was due to the Batman: Arkham series which managed to be not just incredibly fun action adventure titles, but also tell fun interesting stories, but it was hard for me to imagine a purely story and dialogue driven game about Batman being good. Maybe I should let my imagination be less skeptical at times.
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Thoughts on: Yoku’s Island Express
I like metroidvania/exploration-focused games, but it’s hard to deny that a lot of them try to follow the best examples (like Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night) a bit too closely and, as a result, feeling a bit disappointing. No matter how amazing they are, there might be a sense of familiarity to the point of games becoming predictable. So when a game like Knytt Underground, Treasure Adventure World, Toki Tori 2 or this title, Yoku’s Island Express, appear, it’s always refreshing and exciting to check them out. Even if they might turn out not as amazing as you hope.