Very mixed feelings about this one - it left me pretty frustrated. Very high production standards, but the actual platforming simply let it down too much. DK has too much inertia and the jumping never quite felt right, and too many of the levels relied on memory/instadeath rather than platforming reactions and instincts. Enemies were also meh. There was definite redemption within some levels (rotating gears & switch block levels stick out), but overall a [7] is probably me being generous. I guess I might try the Freezy sequel - we'll see...
I thought I'd heard good things about this, but it didn't really win me over. Too arbitrary in its choices, and I failed to related to any of the characters within. Vaguely fun, but was glad it ended in success after 78 days. [5].
I really enjoyed this, with the execption of the big bit where you had to do three sections in any order / collect discs and whatnot. As a series, it's just much better suited to tighter narrative than what that bit afforded it. After that though, it was a great ride - and, unlike U4, it didn't outstay it's welcome. Nothing new going on really (beyond even more Lara copying - protag, hair & grapple in particular), but a very comfortable [8]
Finished all the puzzles now, hurrah. Some great ones within - it's just a genre of puzzle that works brilliantly on that device, when the levels are strong. A few weak ones within, but generally top notch. Don't have any of the other ones yet - but would welcome recommendations within them (and thoughts on the 3D one too...). Another [8].
I thought this was excellent. I'm not a huge FPS fan, but the narrative handling was something special. I'd be very interest on Sir @Tempy's thoughts on it in fact. Highlights include selective amnesia, gameplay slowing down during the narrators toilet breaks, and open dishonesty. Excellent stuff. Also a nice tight package, again didn't outstay its welcome, and good enough visuals that I had no objections to stepping back to PS3 from PS4. I'm in kind mood as this means @moot_geeza needs to cough up, so I'm going as high as [9]!
Gunslinger probably is a [9], easily my favourite FPS of the 360 gen. Tropical Freeze is a lot better than DKCR, [7] is about right for that in single player mode.
Yeah, hmm. Obviously trying to do the Ico thing - male protag with female hanger-on, jointly suriving mysterious land with lethargic baddies and exploration puzzles that aren't very hard. But it doesn't pull the charm off nearly as well - though there are some nice animation & music, decent sound effects, intriguing (though one-note) puzzle mechanic in terms of the rain itself, etc. But just all a bit dull, and the story was nonsense, leading to the cheesiest of bollocks ending imaginable
Spoiler:
with the two meeting "in real life", under a rainbow, with some chick singing about raindrops. Unbelievable scenes.
I dug out my old review of that, I got on with it a little better:
Spoiler:
They run and hide their heads, they might as well be dead.
Setting aside for a moment the childish rhyme it might remind you of, milk and lemonade is a great tasting combination. For some, it may just be the reaction of those who see them drinking it, for others it's just that the milk cancels out the acidity of lemonade, leaving a delicious, creamy-lemon taste. Milk and cola is another popular combination, and anyone recoiling in fear at the thought would do well to think about how often they've had a coke float, and the tasty liquid that's left when the last of the ice-cream has melted. The same cannot be said of every milk and carbonated soft drink combination, however. The curdled results of adding Irn Bru to milk are enough to turn the stomach on sight alone, and it would take reasonable bravery, stupidity, or both to consider consuming it. Just as, for every milk and lemonade there is a milk and Irn Bru, for every strawberry with balsamic vinegar there's a Mars bar with ketchup, for every cheese and jam sandwich there's a traditional trifle with a layer of minced beef and onions. For the soundtrack of Rain, the developers added the angelic voice of a choir girl singing lyrics penned for Debussy's Clair du Lune, and the result is less than appetising.
It is, then, no surprise (but equally disappointing) to find that the introduction and conclusion of the game's story are delivered with an art style - watercolours over chalk/pencil drawings - that clash both on the screen and with the visual style of the game itself. It makes no sense in terms of storytelling for either part to be delivered in such a fashion, and the artistic merit of the decision is a mystery. The clash becomes most apparent when you are killed, the watercolour splashes across the screen conflicting with the graphics you have been enjoying in the game.
By the time you have seen this a few times, though, you will already be frustrated by the cack-handed way the game handles its own story. Rain seems intent on breaking its own atmosphere faster than it can build it. The game is narrated by on screen text that states the obvious, providing characterless descriptions of what you can plainly see for yourself, or trite observations intended to push your emotions. Throughout the game there is not one single piece of narrative text that could not and should not have been delivered through marginally better direction. That you as a player can see for yourself how each scene could have better communicated the story without the text is a sad indictment of the direction.
Rain’s faults are plentiful, and cover every aspect of the game. The idea that the characters can only be seen when rain falls them is a lovely mechanic, but the visuals are poorly delivered, the appearance of the characters is inconsistent with how they would look given the appearance of the rain. The game regularly breaks its own rules regarding when you can fall off an edge and when you can't, what can be climbed and when; puzzles become brainless insert tab into slot when, for example, a crate can only be climbed upon once dragged into a particular place. Having taught you the circumstances when you can do a certain action, the game patronises you by telling you every single time that you can lift the girl here, or climb a ladder there. The reality is that this is a transparent attempt to hide frankly poor control implementation, which irks even more when reinforced with a jarring noise cue. Another jarring noise cue - a piano plink that will induce horrific LA Noire flashbacks - also does its best to break immersion. To top it all off, Rain has one of the most misleading cameras you will find in all videogamedom. When it's not encouraging you to set off in the wrong direction towards a dead end (that looks like a perfectly navigable, climbable path) it is picking the optimal angle to assassinate your depth perception and execute a controlled leap into a lethal void.
And yet, and yet. Despite all of these faults, Rain will take hold of you, and you will fight to ignore its faults, and follow its characters. You will enjoy its simple puzzles, and long for just a little more. You will develop a bond with its characters, wishing the best for them while not being entirely sure what the best is. Rain does a great job of leaving you guessing what exactly is going on, why these characters are here, what is happening to them, what the symbolism means. As it reaches its conclusion, you will question whether you are doing the best thing for the little boy and girl. The Unknown is one of the most terrifying videogame creatures you might encounter, its nightmarish creepiness reminiscent of Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, its unrelenting pursuit of the children driving you to protect them.
Rain is by no means original, and the fact that it fails to match the quality of the many games it echoes might perhaps make you question whether it is worth playing. Even with its many faults ironed out, the game is not strong enough to be considered a great, or remembered as a flawed gem. But it is not without merit, and those inclined to forgive its imperfections will find an enjoyable, compelling short story underneath. You may even find yourself playing through again (although the 'unlocking' of a selection of collectibles after the first play-through is a disappointing, cynical gesture) and wishing that the game was just a little bit longer. Although there is no realistic scope for a sequel, a spiritual successor would not be unwelcome in the next generation of consoles.
Seems pretty fair, though my fear of the Unknown was more to do with forced replaying than care for the characters...
And yes, if forgotten about the watercolour annoying me. The text I thought was nicely rendered in-world, but yes off unnecessary... I think we basically agree o/
Felt a bit meh at the start, particularly trying to get my head round the controls n stuff. But it was definitely a grower, and it made good use of the main mechanic, stretching it in lots of different directions. Still not exactly complex, but that was kind of a good thing as it didn't outstay its welcome. Ending was very powerful, nice graphics - a solid [8].
It's twelve years since Ico was released. Twelve years, and it is still one of only a small handful of games that players have been able to make a real emotional connection with. The gameplay is so beautifully simple, so simply beautiful, so honed and focused that it stands firm as a great game to this day, without the benefit of rose-tinted glasses (although an HD re-skin wasn't unwarranted). It was back before NG+ was called NG+, or was revered as something special, but was just something that happened when you completed a game. In Ico, NG+ gave you the opportunity to control Yorda or, rather, gave you the opportunity to have a friend control Yorda. Since your friend was probably less receptive to simple commands than the ghostly avatar, it was a less enjoyable experience. NG-, if you will.
It's thirteen years since Kuri Kuri Mix was released, although it considerably less critically acclaimed. You may not even have heard of it, but if you're a fan of its developer From Software's other games Otogi or Demon's Souls, it might be better left that way. Kuri Kuri Mix recognised the joy of two characters helping each other reach a common goal by manipulating each other's environments, and recognised that dying because your friend is stupid can be very frustrating, so it devised the grand plan of letting you control each character with each thumbstick. Mental.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons sets up its story very quickly. Two teenagers, who have already lost their mother, are now about to lose their father to illness unless they go... somewhere. To get something. It's not very clear, because nobody is speaking a known language, but one of them is handed a map and this is a videogame, so there's no need to hit you on the head with the obvious stick of obviousness. This is a principle that the game carries with it the whole way through; neither the gameplay nor the plot are spelt out for you; indeed, the latter is obfuscated by the invented language and some surreal storytelling, but the experience is all the better for it. You are never treated like an idiot.
Like all the best epic journeys, the pace is slow to start. A life or death mission this may be, but there's time to stop and smell the roses on the way. The warm, hazy world is a pleasure to trot through, and you are invited to interact with those you meet. Not through any on-screen prompts, or tangible benefits, but through tantalising scenarios and rewarding animations. The younger brother is quite evidently maladjusted, and displaying the selfish, sociopathic behaviour of one struggling with the loss of their mother, but you don't dislike him for it. He doesn't do any real, lasting harm. Well, not often.
As these little vignettes peter out and the challenges filter in, you find yourself looking for less breaks between the puzzles. The reason is twofold. Firstly, they are generally a joy to solve, both in calculation and execution - there is nothing too taxing in either respect, but to hinder progress with undue difficulty would be to break a well set pace. The game does a great job of teaching you a new mechanic, letting you have fun with it, then ditching it before it gets dull. Secondly, the short trips between puzzles are the only times you'll get your thumbs, or brain, or both, in a twist. You'll try keeping them on the right side of each other to correlate with your thumbs, but best of luck maintaining that for more than ten seconds at a time. In one early stage the brothers ride a pair of dwarf-bantha mountain goats for a roller-coaster scramble over a mountain, and you will long in vain for a repetition of such on-rails joy. A range of real, almost familiar and completely fantastical living creatures populate this world. Every time you discover a new one you find yourself asking, "Really?" before immediately responding, "Of course." The warmth you feel towards some comes as easily as the fear or mistrust of others. Brothers' visual style does an excellent job of ushering your sentiments in the right direction without explicit instruction, a skill it uses with dextrous aplomb as you rush headlong into the game's climax.
Spoiler:
It's hard to take. You watch those first flirtatious touches, you see a romance develop. You were taken in yourself by her graceful strength and fearless athleticism, so you don't grudge the elder brother the thrill of young love. When she turns, you feel betrayed, and when she delivers that final blow, you feel the sting yourself. The joy of reaching your goal utterly crushed by his death. Any game that does something as brutal as have a young boy burying his older brother - as part of the gameplay - and handles it so well deserves credit. It's really hard to take.
You need not have a brother yourself to make an emotional connection with this game, this is not a Mike Leigh drama of complex relationships. All you need is ten pounds, an evening to yourself, and two thumbs.
Its solid, it's less than a chalice, but I'm not sure it did enough past proof of concept. I suspect there is hidden depth and some fun things to do with the ai etc, but the foundational play is pretty rudimentary.
Story is potentially interesting, and the two actors do a very good job, but I was possibly losing interest along the way so what should have been big reveals or clever plot twists lost me.
Donkey Kong Country Returns (3DS) Very mixed feelings about this one...
I've been pondering this one, as it's heading to Nintendo Selects and I quickly abandoned it on Wii due to the frustration you mention, thought it was possibly time to give it another shot.
For those with an open mind, wonders always await! - Kilton (monster enthusiast)
This one's another interesting one - it starts almost too slowly, oozing charm but failing to challenge, before going a bit flat. But then it turns up the pressure with more ghosts and ghouls, upping the required concentration, inventively tweaking what you're doing with your hoover, and getting to the point you're battling so much with the difficulty that you start skipping past the charm!
But yes, overall, it's a good'un. Luigi is excellent in it, and the NPCs and environments are beautifully rendered, feeling amazingly lifelike - both a great technical and artistic achievement. As well as being a sight to behold, the sound effects (particularly the protags dismay at being sent back to the fray again, and then his humming along to the music in the less busy moments) are top-drawer. And it's a good length (14h ish) with just about enough variety within.
There are some unavoidable negatives though - despite the variations on it, the core gameplay does get a bit samey - it's all variations of hoovering (only in the final mansion getting sophisticated enough to involve cross-room object usage). And the controls when dealing with crowds really did feeling like wrestling, as you're pulling ghosts all over the shop, getting pulled by the ghosts, all the while with your thumb slipping off the control stick...
Biggest single crime for me though is the lack of in-mission checkpoints. As in, there are none. And some levels are 20mins+ in length. And there's a reasonable chance you'll die at least once or twice (I certainly did...), in which case repeating puzzles the appeal of which was solving them first time is just a chore... Not a tough problem to solve you'd thing, and a real downer when you hit it. I even had to repeat once having glitched into scenery - not impressed!
But the charm wins, accidental-hero Luigi wins the show. Could have been a [9] with a few tweaks I reckon, but despite them still a warm and cuddly, ghost-infested [8].
Both spooked me up well, they have an inverse spookity-curve, the openings being more scary than the later parts. The real tension and stress, in a good way, was from REHDR. No generous check-pointing or infinite saves there.
Metroid: Samus Returns - Thought it was great! Also, it was the first Metroid I've ever beaten!
Was a fun map to explore even though I never solved anywhere near all of its secrets, or even really backtracked to previous levels. The enemies were fun to fight with a couple of exceptions, and I loved the introduction of the parry move. Not really sure about the 4 special powers that you have mapped to the d pad though; don't think they added a great deal of enjoyment to the game.
Just on that, my only real peeve with the game was with the 3DS's circle pad thingy. I hate how it feels at the best of times, and there were a couple of encounters in this game that required some deft use of it and I really struggled with it (especially when having to swap between the morph ball and regular movement quickly). As such I think I would have liked the game more if you could use the d-pad for movement, and just lose the 4 special powers - even if it made 360 aiming a bit shit!
Lovely looking game btw, really like that 3DS style, supercharged 32/64 bit look that you often get on that little machine! Most of it is quite low detail but there's so much stuff going on especially in the background. Wish I could use the 3d without a headache too; the little I used it for was spectacular. Can't really speak of the audio as I usually had it turned down (or completely off).
Really pleased with it though and will make an effort to revisit some of the other games in the series.
When you got movies like Tom Cruise in them, you can't lose
A slow burner, five of the six worlds are pretty straightforward - occasionally veering towards puzzler rather than platformer, but rarely very challenging. But the aesthetic is nice enough throughout, and World 6 felt like an actual challenge at times. Some nice riffs on Nintendo staples along the way (the Ghost House stands out in particular), but I never reallly warmed to the floatiness, so it's a comfortable tier below the Marios. [7].
Did I dig it? Well, kinda. Fun enough, 4:19 to complete, kinda repetetive but just enough game loop to keep it going. Final boss was a bit tedious but I guess they had to end it somehow! A generous [7]?