DrBloodmoney's Super Scientific Ranking of Games!

[Cleggworth]

So I've just been skimming these to keep engaged with it and they are just great. I'm finding a bit more time to give them the proper read that they deserve and I'm thinking right where did I get to ?

 

I'll just start at the beginning, you've organised it pretty nicely into batches. I can find them easily. It's ummm..... evolved pretty drastically from batch 1 hasn't it ? Those earlier reviews could almost do with a remaster!

[DrBloodmoney]

Just now, Cleggworth said:

I'll just start at the beginning, you've organised it pretty nicely into batches. I can find them easily. It's ummm..... evolved pretty drastically from batch 1 hasn't it ? Those earlier reviews could almost do with a remaster!

 

?

You're not wrong - the first 4 or 5 batches were when this was a very different type of thread!

 

I think possibly, if the ranking ever does catch up with me and everything is on there, I might do some 'redux' reviews of the first ones (and the original 10 games, which never got a review at all) - but lets face it, at my current pace, we'll be probably in PS6 territory before them ?

[KindaSabbath]

Just to chime in on the evolution of this thread: it's so fucking well organised and generally just well executed, that now, it's becoming a part of my routine if I'm looking up my next game - I quickly pop in here - look for the the game, check the batch it's in and see what you've had to say about it so I can factor it into my decision. ?

[DrBloodmoney]

2 minutes ago, KindaSabbath said:

Just to chime in on the evolution of this thread: it's so fucking well organised and generally just well executed, that now, it's becoming a part of my routine if I'm looking up my next game - I quickly pop in here - look for the the game, check the batch it's in and see what you've had to say about it so I can factor it into my decision.

 

I think that's honestly the best compliment I could receive mate -thank you! ?

 

I certainly don't expect folks to necessarily sit and read through an entire batch in one go - lord knows, I don't write them in one go either! - but if the ranking thread ends up becoming an easy resource for folks to quickly jump to a specific review and get one persons perspective on it, and feel satisfied, then it'll have done it's job as intended, as far as I'm concerned!

 

[DrBloodmoney]

??!Scientific Analysis Modification Alert!??

 

 

Due to the conflation of my (up to now) rather rigid scheduling, and my desire to have reviews work 'in context', I have hit an issue!

 

For the first time since this thread began, I need to make a 'swap' in a live Batch. ?

 

And you all know, I like to include a review/ranking of all recently S-Ranked games as 'bonus' entries in whatever the current batch is.

I am particularly keen on doing so if that game is a recent release, as those are potentially the most useful reviews for some people to see, as there is a slim possibility they might influence their wallet, and not just their heckles!

 

As such, I want to do my review of Life is Strange: True Colours ASAP, however, I feel the game cannot be properly evaluated without at least the original Life is Strange being done first. 

Given that there is already 2 bonus games in this batch, adding another extra on is potentially going to cause me to break the forum software as I have done in the past, and so  don't want to just tack on another review.

 

As such, I have modified the current batch in progress - removing Persona 4: Dancing All Night, and adding in Life is Strange.

 

Apologies to @Shrooba - I do feel bad removing a "Priority Ranking" - but unfortunately, all the entries in this batch were Priority Rankings, and P4:D was the only one I hadn't already begun writing - just luck of the draw!

I promise it will be done in the next batch - you have my word as a Scientist! ?

 

Edited September 13, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[Shrooba]

It's all good, write what you have the most passion for first! ? When talking about a sequel to a game, talking about it's predecessor is always a good place to start, so discussing the original Life is Strange is a good point to tackle first.
P4:D is the longest of the three, and covering it's entire story would take a while for sure.
In science, as we lay out hypotheses, sometimes we gotta go back to the drawing board and re-evaluate how to experiment with an endeavour! ?

Edited September 13, 2021 by Shrooba

[Platinum_Vice]

On 11/09/2021 at 5:37 PM, KindaSabbath said:

Just to chime in on the evolution of this thread: it's so fucking well organised and generally just well executed, that now, it's becoming a part of my routine if I'm looking up my next game - I quickly pop in here - look for the the game, check the batch it's in and see what you've had to say about it so I can factor it into my decision. ?

 

Agreed. On that note: please add Ether One to your expanding list of priorities Doc, it's entered onto my radar and a review would be grand.

[DrBloodmoney]

51 minutes ago, GonzoWARgasm said:

 

Agreed. On that note: please add Ether One to your expanding list of priorities Doc, it's entered onto my radar and a review would be grand.

 

Added! ?

[DrBloodmoney]

 

 ?? NEW SCIENTIFIC RESULTS ARE IN! ??

 

 

Hello Science-Chums and Science-Chiquas, as promised (and in some cases requested), here are the latest results of our great scientific endeavour!

 

 

God of War(PS3)

 

Summary: 

A 3D character-action brawler coming out towards the end of the PS2 life-cycle from Santa Monica Studios, God of War could have easily fallen into an also-ran category. Coming out late in a console's life cycle, when other franchises were releasing new entires in long running series, benefitting from years of iterative work (Resident Evil 4, Timesplitters: Future Perfect, Burnout Revenge, Devil May Cry 3 etc,) with a band new IP is a risky endeavour. That late in a console generation, consumers are traditionally not as willing to part with their hard-earned money for a new IP they know nothing about, and the common wisdom was that a developer was best served releasing games in existing franchises, and waiting until the nex generation kicks off to reset with new, 'from-the-ground-up' IP.

Santa Monica Studios had no such luxury. Their one prior in-house developed game, futuristic Wipeout-meets-Transformers racing game Kinetica was a relative technical and critical success (indeed, the Kinetica engine would form the backbone of a number of other games, including this one,) however, it had not set the world on fire commercially. They had no storied IP to fall back on internally, (Their major franchise, Twisted Metal was one in which they served as publisher, rather than developer,) and as such, God of War was their play.

 

God of War was mechanically, an interesting straddling of old and new. The brawler - a mob-heavy, button-mashing all-vs-one smash-a-thon - had had its heyday in the 2D plane, and was largely played out by this point. Narrative heavy, character driven, tightly-paced "Hollywood" games were, while popular, still years away from becoming the mainstay they would go on to be (in no small part as a result of God of War's influence.) The short, "Action Blockbuster" game was not yet the norm it is now, and so it can be easy to forget, looking back, how risky a proposition God of War was in its day. 

 

Narratively, God of War is, beat-to-beat, a fairly simply tale. Kratos - a once powerful Spartan warrior, calls on Ares, the God of War, when he and his men face impending death in a losing battle with barbarians. Ares grants his assistance, helping Kratos to slay his enemies, but in exchange, draws him into a life of servitude as a warrior of Ares bidding. During one of many battles Kratos fights and wins at Ares behest, Ares tricks Kratos into killing his own wife and daughter, whom Ares feels are Kratos's last remaining weakness preventing him from being Ares' most useful servant. Kratos, however, upon realising what he did, renounces Ares, (and has the ashes of his dead family bound to his skin, earning him a pallid complexion and the nickname "Ghost of Sparta") and begins serving the other Greek Gods. After doing so for a decade, he has become aware that they will never rid him of his nightmares of his past deeds, as he desires, but at the behest of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, he embarks on a quest to destroy Ares, granting her her wish, and him, his vengeance.

Across a 5-6 hour non-stop rollercoaster of action, Kratos, recovers Pandora's Box from the Titan Chronos, battles his way to Athens (to which Ares is laying waste,) is granted the power of a God, and battles Ares for dominance.

 

Let's just address the elephant in the room right now...
Kratos sucks.

As a protagonist, he is distinctly, remarkably, (and deliberately,) unlikable. He is not a man dealt a bad hand, but rather, a man undone by his own hubris, (in truly befitting Grecian myth fashion,) and he is very notably one-note in his characterisation. He is anger personified, and has nothing for the player to latch on to beyond that. He kills, he yells, he growls, he snarls. That is his whole schtick.
That said, nuanced characterisation is not a strong suit in any God of War game (prior to the 2018 reboot.) These games are not about complex characters or clever dialogue - they are not intended to be. In the same way that no one watches a 90's Stallone or Schwarzenegger action movie looking for in-depth character analysis, no one should approach God of War looking for a 'way in' to sympathise with Kratos, or really any character in the fiction. To judge one of those movies by those metrics is folly, and is to miss the point entirely. The same is true here.
What writers David Jaffe and his team do in God of War is deliberately un-nuanced. They craft a well structured, tight and driven primary narrative, using broad-brush themes and one-note characters. They make good use of art design and the Mythological base literature as a spring-board to a non-stop, action focussed and breathlessly paced game, that while not necessarily holding up to in-depth scrutiny in any aspect, is delivered with such a punch, such a swagger, and at such a blinding speed, that the player has no time for anything but awe.

I can't recall whether my first experience with God of War came before or after the first book I read by science-fiction author Alfred Bester, but the God of War games have always made me think of those books. (For anyone reading who is unfamiliar, I highly recommend 'The Demolished Man' and 'The Stars my Destination'.) Bester, like Jaffe, had no interest in flowery or artistically flourished language, nor does he concern himself with deep character nuance or relatability. The characters in his books are, for the most part, bad men, with a singular focus on negative accomplishments - revenge, destruction, power, pride - but his books are blisteringly good reads. Why? Because they are so absurdly tight, and so furiously paced, that the reader is unable to stop and think about these nuances, and is so enraptured in the relentless, driving narrative. 

 

The broad stricture of the game is linear and simple - Kratos fights his way through hoards of enemies, traversing levels with a mix of light 3D platforming, traversal and some decent puzzle elements an par with something like Uncharted, all the while, snarling and gnashing his teeth at the Gods, the word, his lot, his life, and everything he comes across.

 

Visually, God of War excels. Yes, by modern standards is looks blocky and ugly in 2021, but as compared to other games of 2005, it is well done, and there is a confident flair to the art-style and design. At the time God of War was released, the videogame market had seen precious little of Greek mythology characterised, and as such, the developers had to interpret the mythology their own way, without outside influence, and they do an excellent job. The Gods look good, the Titan's incredible, and the design of Kratos himself is iconic in a way that made his canonising as a defacto Playstation 'mascot' inevitable.

 

Mechanically, the game runs well too. Granted, this review is most concerned with the PS3 re-release of the game, and there, the game moves with a stellar smoothness and frame-rate that befits the relentless pace of the plot, but even aspects such as the fluid movement between combat moves is notable - and those were fixed in it's original incarnation on PS2. The combat of God of War is certainly not hugely nuanced - button mashing will get you a long way in these games - however, there is something to be said for button-mashing when the onscreen action coming from it looks and feels this good. Yes, there is little overall depth to the combat - certainly God of War lacks the broad skill-ceiling offered by something like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta, as the difficulty of these games is fairly low, and Kratos' move-set is very much focussed on wide, crowd-control type combat, rather than individual one-on-one attacks, meaning the challenge lies far more in dealing with large swathes of small enemies rather than single large ones, however, the combat is not entirely one note. Some larger enemies are thrown into the mix, and taking these down generally falls to the "reduce the health to a certain level, then Quick-Time-Event takedown" variety. This mechanic is a rough one in some ways when going back to God of War now. The mechanic is an overused one, and feels more than tired in 2021, however, when God of War released, it wasn't. Indeed, God of War was one of the earliest incarnations of the mechanic - and one of the most successful - and it is as much due to God of War's influence than any other game that "QTE-takedowns" became such a videogame staple for so long.

 

Bosses, on the other hand, are excellent in this game. While still making use of the looser, more button-mashy combat style, individual boss fights are extremely well crafted, epic in nature, and tremendous fun to fight. The game knows this - there is a reason the game opens with Kratos taking on a Hydra in a stormy sea at the behest of Poseidon.  The fight sets the tone for the game right at the outset - one of bombast, action and relentless spectacle.

Overall, God of War is a short game, but a breathlessly paced one, with a simple but effective narrative, and a protagonist who, while deeply unlikable and one-dimensional, serves the purpose of the game well. The visuals and the smooth combat mechanics do the heavy lifting, making up for a plot that is good but revolves around weak characters, and while they are simplistic and might not hold up to in-depth analysis, the game moves at such a pace as to defy such endeavours, and leaves the player unable to stop until they have exacted their own vengeance along with Kratos.

It's not a complex game, and it is worth noting that God if War is not a series that floundered - subsequent games in the series do surpass the original significantly - however, it cannot be ignored that, in striving to craft a blockbuster experience, light on nuance but heavy on bombast, God of War completely succeeds. 

 

 

The Ranking:

For comparison points, the most obvious ones are similar era 3D platforming / combat character-driven games, and the ones most notable on the current list are the Prince of Persia games, Tomb Raider: Legend, and the mascot games - Ratchet and Clank / Sly Cooper.

 

As compared with Tomb Raider: Legend, the competition is interesting ,as the two games come from a broadly similar base, but each excel in opposite areas. Where Legend has more complex and interesting level design, and a much more likeable and interesting protagonist, God of War has the superior combat, and much more cinematic and interesting visual style.
While Tomb Raider: Legend is consumed in discrete levels, and has a more varied pace, God of War is relentless, and that means the faults it has are often easier glossed over than Tomb Raider: Legend's are, given that Legend is much more liable to force the player to slow down to solve one of its more complicated puzzles or levels.
However, That is a double edged sword, and really, it is a backhanded compliment to Legend. Legend has, I think, more interesting and varied game design - and fewer overall faults. God of War simply hides them better. The fact of the matter is, I feel much more likely to go back and replay Legend than I do God of War, and so it cannot, by rights, rank above Legend.

 

In terms of Ratchet and Clank, R&C2: Going Commando is already out of reach for God of War, but the closest in contention is R&C3: Up Your Arsenal. While God of War takes it on blockbuster visuals and pacing, it cannot be ignored that Up Your Arsenal's combat, while also fairly simplistic, has more variety and variation than God of War's does. Yes, bosses are better in God of War, but that is a small part of the game. The minute-to-minute battles of Up Your Arsenal are more fun than God of War's, and that forms a huge part of both games. Up Your Arsenal is also, spectacle aside, a more varied and interestingly designed game, both aesthetically and in terms of level design.

 

A little further down though, we have Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within, and Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. The lowest ranked of the Prince of Persia games, Warrior Within also suffers for an unlikable protagonist, but actually, its version of the prince is much worse than Kratos. For all his one-note anger, Kratos has moments of looking like a genuine bad-ass in his tantrums. The Prince, on the other hand, just feels like a whining emo. Couple that with the more interesting plot of God of War, the better art design, and the much better bosses and combat, and God of War is the clear winner.

 

Just above that, is Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus. While there is a real slick look to Sly Cooper's visual style, it isn't able to keep pace with God of War on spectacle and grandeur, and its discrete level design means the narrative lacks a fluidity and epic nature God of War has. It is also, while playing in a different wheelhouse (and aiming at a different audience) simply not as fun to play through as God of War is.

That places God of War above it, but I have a hard time imagining this first God of War moving up any further, due to the presence of Telltale's The Walking Dead. That is a completely different game, entirely based on its narrative, but that narrative is implemented to such a remarkable level, that it tends to eclipse even the sum of God of War's parts. God of War, despite doing a good job glossing over them, does have a fair few flaws. The Walking Dead doesn't really - it knows what it is aiming for, does that, and only that, and doesn't really add anything that would allow itself to dip in quality, or require glossing over.

 

As such, God of War finds its spot in the ranking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

Hitman Trilogy

 

☢️☢️Scientific Note☢️☢️

 

Because Hitman(2016), Hitman 2, and Hitman 3, while released as discrete entities, are very much parts of a singular, overall whole, the structure of these reviews will be a little outside the norm. The review of Hitman(2016) will be touching an all the cross-game specifics, and the subsequent reviews of Hitman 2 and Hitman 3 will look only at the specific difference / additions made in those games, and each will be shown here, with all three being ranked at the end. 

 

Summaries: 

 

Hitman(2016)

After the lacklustre reception of Hitman Absolution, Hitman was in a tough spot. IOI, developer of the series and steward of every incarnation thereof, knew they had dropped the ball. In fact, they knew even before Absolution came out - the scramble the studio made in the final year of Absolution, to try and re-inject the elements of the series that had made it what it was in first place, and mould what had been crafted as a cover-shooter into a more traditionally 'Hitman' experience, after a disastrous reception at the initial reveal, is well documented. While some serious efforts were made to intersperse the linear, narrative-focussed cover-shooter that Absolution had originally been intended to be - primarily as an answer to current industry trends - went some small way to salvaging Absolution. It is not the abhorrent mess it is sometimes remembered as, but is at best a decent, but misguided game. However, those efforts were never - and could never have been - enough. What ended up releasing was a bizarre Frankenstein of a game - there were good aspects peppered throughout (most notably, the 'Contracts mode' - more on that later) but as an overall experience it was unfocussed in direction, uneven in tone, and deeply unsure of its intended audience.

 

Post Absolution, excitement was not exactly through the roof for a new Hitman. Even I - as a long time fan, and, at least to some extent, an Absolution apologist - was highly skeptical. That skepticism was not alleviated when the announcement came out about the episodic release structure. I am, actually, quite a fan of episodic games. I actually think the release structure can work very well, however, when I heard that Hitman(2016) would be releasing with one - One! Seriously?! One! Count them! it won't take long! - main level, with more to come at monthly intervals, I was pretty concerned. When I then heard that the entire game would only have 6 levels total, I was even more so.

It's peculiar to recall that time now.

 

I had, it turned out, absolutely nothing to worry about. Around an hour into playing the first main level of Hitman(2016) it became immediately apparent that IOI had finally done what I had suspected no developer could do - they had perfected the Hitman formula. Hitman(2016) and its subsequent games were - and remains - some of the more incredible lessons in Immersive Sim level design I have ever seen. 

 

The early Hitman games that were the most revered and successful - Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Hitman: Blood Money & Hitman: Contracts, each had somewhere between 10 and 20 levels. Each was relatively large, and open to exploration, however, most were fully explored within an hour or so of normal gameplay. 
Hitman(2016) had only 6 in total (discounting specific variations), however, each one is so large, complex, multifaceted and multi-layered that they are still revealing new areas and nooks and crannies dozens of hours into a players engagement with them.

Every level, whether a 'fortress' type, (for example, the Paris mansion, with it's ongoing, public fashion show or the Bangkok hotel with it's double-sided tower structure,) or an 'open' type, (The picturesque Sapienza seaside port town, complete with mansion, church, local apartments and shops, or the Colorado militia compound, with it's multiple targets and distinct small, spread-out buildings) is designed with such fine detail, features such an array of potential paths, and has such an array of intricate, clockwork life imbued into every corner, that each single level is able to support such a vast swathe of potential play-styles and methods and variation that it borders on ridiculous. 
Each single level allows for as much gameplay as each previous Hitman was able to muster across its entire game. That is not hyperbole - I have played every game in the franchise, and have done so multiple times. I can assure you - this in a simple statement of fact.

 

What is so masterful about the this latest incarnation of Hitman, is the strength, the fluidity and the general finesse of the primary game mechanics. Agent 47, is, finally, a pleasure to control. In previous Hitman games, for all the admirable variety of gameplay and methods of play, the actual control of Agent 47 was often finicky and unwieldy. In Blood Money, for example, (arguably the most revered entry in the series up to this point) it was one thing for the player to identify what they wanted to do -  grab that guard with the fibre-wire at this exact moment, drag him there at this point, dump him, then hide there - but quite another to act on it. Positioning 47 was difficult. The fibre-wire required perfect distancing and angling to work correctly. Guns were unwieldy to aim and fire. Lining up smoothly, to allow a body dump was tricky. 
These aspects were not unusual at the time - controls in games have been one area that have been on a constant curve of improvement across all games at a relatively steady clip, and Blood Money was not an outlier in its day - however, in the case of Hitman specifically, where the difference between success and failure often hinges on perfect execution of a plan as much as coming up with one, difficulty of control had an exponentially detrimental effect on the overall gaming experience. 
In Hitman(2016), however, that element of the game is not simply improved, it is largely perfected. By the time the player has progressed through the short introductory tutorials, they will have a mastery of the basic movements and controls of Agent 47, and because these controls and interactions with object / the environment / NPCs / enemies etc are so fluid, simple and mechanically sound, any issues of fidelity of control is completely removed. The player is able to have a complete confidence in their ability to implement their plan of action, and so, the game becomes entirely about what that plan of action is.

 

On that 'coming up with a plan' side, Hitman(2016) shines in a way the series never had before. The old games had missions that allowed for a fair amount of variable play, however, each level generally had only one or two methods that were really viable in pursuit of that coveted "silent assassin" rating - the ultimate prize, for completing a mission unscathed, unseen and without any suspicion raised or evidence discovered. Hitman(2016) has, quite literally, hundreds. 
Every level is brimming with environmental detail, and with characters and stories. Each target has routines - paths which they walk or actions they do on an extended loop (often of up to 15 minutes) - allowing a huge variety of possible methods for Agent 47 to make his move, but more than that, each level is also chalk-full of npc characters, each of which is on their own clockwork loops. Interrupting any of them will make small changes to the overall clockwork mechanism, however, it is virtually impossible to truly break the overall immersion. The game has a feeling of being, while not exactly realistic, defined by specific rules that are well worked out, and predictable on a micro level, yet utterly unpredictable on a macro level. 
Remove a guard from the equation, and he will, predictable, not be able to, say, have a conversation at a time he normally does. However, what effect that has on the person he would have talked to, or on the overall flow of other npc's who would be in that area at the time, is less predictable, and allows for a level of 'prodding-and-poking' at the flow of the level that is borderline mesmerising.

 

The game does a smart thing with regards to the level of variety allowed for - in the inclusion of 'Level Mastery' and in-game 'challenges'. Each level is individually tracked with a 'mastery level' generally from 1-20, progression of which is tied to an enormous swathe of individual 'challenges'. Kill a target with a fibre-wire? That completes a challenge. Do it with poison? Another challenge. A knife? Challenge. An Explosion? Challenge.
Each level has challenge sets in a variety of areas - kill type, exploration-based, level specific challenges, success-based metric, collectible challenges, disguise collection and a host of others - and these form the backbone of the progression-based reward system. At Level 1 mastery, Agent 47 must infiltrate from a single entry point, armed only with what he brings. At higher levels, drop points are granted, allowing larger varieties of assassination paraphernalia to be brought to the level, or different entry points, or different starting disguises to be used, further adding variety to a game already blistering with it.

By adding different levels of these directed challenges, the game gives players of any stripe a smooth gradient into which they can begin to unravel the depths of each level, at a pace they find most workable. Specific, overarching 'mission stories' can be turned on for discovery, allowing one of 5 or 6 specific, multi-objective 'guided' missions to be followed through to its conclusion - where the game will funnel the player through specific beats, generally ending with the player being set up perfectly for a particular target kill, however, these are not 'fenced-in'. At any point, if the player chooses to deviate from one of these paths, they are not punished, and the game allows multiple 'mission stories' to be progressed, dropped, and picked back up at thier own discretion. Individual challenges are so varied that simply playing the game without referring to them will still net a huge number of completions in early runs, but conversely, looking at the specific challenges is a smart way to hint at different methods and points of interest the player might otherwise miss, and encourage variation and exploration, without ever making it feel forced.

 

There are few games out there that are able to support the amount of repeat play, variety of play-style and improvisation that Hitman(2016) does, and none that I can think of that manage to do such variety using such a small number of discrete levels. Because each level is so large and intricate, they are able to support the kind of longevity that few games can ever match. It is one thing for an RNG rogue-like to boast that it can still show new elements after 100 runs, but quite another for a game which is not RNG based - each level begins exactly the same way, and the npc routines are fixed at the outset - to still be showing the player new things after dozens of hours. Hitman(2016) manages this, and adds even more - in the sense that play-style can be so dramatically different. Completing a level using melee weapons and disguises, vs. completing it using a sniper rife, vs. a suit-only, silent assassin run has such a dramatically different feel, and requires the player to assess the level in such a dramatically different way, that a single static level can feel like a brand new location.

 

That variety is also key to some of the tertiary elements of the game - the extra missions. Hitman(2016) doesn't simply feature the main game, but adds a variety of different modes to wring out extra nuggets of enjoyment from its levels in remarkable ways. Some of these were standalone stories, though the levels also supported a full new 4-level campaign - Patient Zero, that came with a complete new narrative, repurposing old levels and making them feel completely fresh.

 

The main story narrative, featuring the primary missions interspersed with some fantastically acted, written and lavishly produced cut-scenes - tonally similar to high quality television, and giving the whole game a decidedly slick, filmic edge is enough to keep the player engaged for easily 10-20 hours, but that is just the surface level of the games overall package.

 

In addition there are Elusive Targets - single instances of additional targets, dropped into existing, ongoing clockwork levels, with their own storylines, routines and modifications to the level mechanics, each of which must be completed within a set real-world time limit, and can - crucially - only be attempted once. Failure is absolute, and so the levels are lent a sweaty, anxious fever that is difficult to match in any game. There is no more tense experience I have found in games, than having successfully killed an Elusive Target, silently and undetected, and trying to make your way back out to an exit, sight unseen!

 

A variety of modifications to the levels were also introduced, via additional missions. Some maps - the gloriously vast and intricate Sapienza map in particular, was 'recycled' 4 times, creating 4 different mission levels that, while retaining the basic bones of the level, change it us in different ways, giving an entirely different flavour. In the main mission level of Sapienza, the mansion is the main focus, with two targets inside, and a virus compound to destroy in a secret facility hidden in the rocky terrain beneath.  In 'Landslide' the level is switched to evening, and the focus is moved to the beach area, the local church, and the Town Hall, with a single, very public target. In The Icon, the focus is the won square at night with the local scenery transformed into a live film-set, and the single, guarded and armoured target working on the film. In Patient Zero (a new set of missions comprising a brand new storyline, reworking existing levels released as a free bonus), Sapienza is reworked again, at night featuring two targets, one public and one 'fortressed' in the church and the local apartments.

 

The extent to which this kind of 'repurposing' is able to be done using existing geometry is remarkable, and goes a long way to demonstrating just how much deeper, richer and grander the level design in Hitman is, as compared to virtually any other game - but the game has one more ace up it's sleeve in this regard, and it is the biggest one: Contract mode.

Contracts mode (giving credit where it is due - inherited in a large part from Absolution,) is, to my mind, the single best execution videogames have ever seen of user-friendly, user-created content generation. It is also, to my mind, the single greatest addition, in terms of infinite replayability that any game has ever implemented.

Contracts mode is simple - as a creator, you enter any existing level, and do... well... anything. Kill anyone (up to five specific targets), using any method you like, in any way you like, wearing any disguise you like. Then, leave. That creates your actions as a mission. You select which things you did that should be optional or required - say, making the target you selected have to be killed with the same weapon you used or not, or whether the player should be wearing the disguise you did, or be unseen like you were, or complete in the time you did etc. and then - boom. A level is created. Hit upload, and now, whatever you chose to do is a challenge for other players to attempt to match or beat. 
When you bear in mind that every level features hundreds of npc characters, dozens of disguises, scores of weapons and killing methods, and a vast array of different paths and routes and infiltration/exfiltration methods, that amounts to a near infinite level of variation, and means that, as a player, it is literally no possible to keep up with the staggering variation of potential challenges to engage with. No matter how many times one plays Hitman, a brand new challenge is only a few button presses away, and a single user-created contract can reality whittle away an entire evening - often causing the player to stumble across bizarre or unusual methods of play they had not previously considered.
 
Visually, the game looks great. The graphics are top notch, and there is a distinct style to the art of Hitman - it is not quite one-to-one realistic, but nor are we in an out-and-out stylistic realm as with something like Bioshock or Dishonoured. There is a fidelity to the environmental design that is admirable, when one considers the number of aspects of each level that need to serve a duel purpose - both as decorative features, and as mechanical trappings hidden in plain sight. Rain guttering and window ledges, for example, need to function as access-ability options as well as ornamental detail, and so it is particularly admirable that these features rarely ever look out of place from an aesthetic point of view.

 

Audio is excellent across the board - with foley work like gunshots, footfalls and the clunk and clanks of objects on ground (on in skulls) punchy and palpable. 
Music is used extremely well - the general score is of brooding, ominous tones, however, diagetic music in areas like the fashion show is smartly used, and moreover, the general soundtrack score is tied to the gameplay very well. The score elevates in moments of high tension, changes once targets are eliminated and Agent 47 is on his way out, and the stinger music upon watching Agent 47 leave an area is particularly punchy and feeds into the feeling of power that comes from having executed a plan effectively in a really dramatic way.
Voice work is particularly good, and that is notable again, specifically because so much of it is gameplay-incidental. The targets in levels, and a large number of storied npcs have a surprising amount of voice work, given that the player will almost certainly never hear all of it without a huge number of playthroughs. Different eventualities are accounted for, and if the player gets into a positions (for example, disguised as a bodyguard) where they can follow a target unseen for the full length of their "loop", a huge amount of well performed, well written dialogue is there to be heard.

 

On the writing, it deserves significant praise here. There is, as said, a huge amount of flavour dialogue used, as well as the dialogue of specific npc, mission stories, the voiceover dialogue of Diana - Agent 47's long term handler and only true human contact - and the cut-scene dialogue following the overarching plot, and it straddles an interesting line. While the overall plot of the games is quite serious, and played and written well to that effect, the actual in-game dialogue, and overall tone has a playful humour to it that is brilliant. While Agent 47 himself remains deadly - almost comically - serious, the world around him does not, and that does create moments of genuine humour that the game writers absolutely understand. This is a key point in the crafting of the game - the developer clearly realises that seeing a hyper competent, super-serious Agent of Death climb aboard a snowmobile dressed in a robe, after having pushed a woman doing yoga off a cliff and throwing a pre-transplant heart into a garbage can IS funny. There is no way around that. Making Agent 47 funny himself is not an option, as that would entirely undo the seriousness of primary narrative, and so instead, it is played utterly deadpan. As such it actually leans into the humour in the best possible way - and the writing of in-game dialogue follows suit. There is no direct comedy, but the writers instead, use indirect-comedy, and they do it time and time again, with pin point accuracy, and a near perfect success rate. 

Of course Agent 47 can rip an amazing drum solo. He's Agent 47! Of course he can walk a runway like a top fashion model. Of course he can do perfect Yoga. Of course he knows how to mix drinks. Of course he can give a good massage! He's the best at everything! The fact that he does so while making Schwarzenegger-esque puns, and does it with the dead-eyed, dead-pan snarl he always wears, is funny in and of itself. It needs no additional flourishes to be hilarious.

 

 

Hitman 2

After being dropped by parent company Square, post Hitman(2016), but pre-Hitman 2, IOI was the subject of a struggle to remain afloat. They did a buyout, managing to retain control of the Hitman IP, however, they were forced into massive internal layoffs, and a genuine struggle to survive.

There was, apparently, a significant scope reduction that was forced to take place on the original design of Hitman 2, however, for all this tempestuous time (documented brilliantly in the Fall and Rise of Hitman documentary by NoClip - available on YouTube and well worth a viewing,) there is remarkably little evidence in the final product.

 

Most notably, there is the reduction in production value of the cut scenes in between levels, continuing the narrative through-line. While retaining the same serious, televisual style and tone set in the first game, these scenes in Hitman 2 are played in motion-comic, still-shot style, rather than fully produced, lavish CG. 

 

Aside from that though, the actual level design and scope of the game appears, to any viewer unfamiliar with the internal issues at IOI, largely unchanged - and in fact, specific missions in Hitman 2 are not only on the level of the Hitman(2016) - in many cases, they surpass them. There is a notably increased level to which the missions of Hitman 2 play with and subvert the formula established in the original 6 levels of Hitman(2016).

Where the original game had level specific that altered the player requirements to some level - the addition of the virus to be destroyed in Sapienza, or the removal of public areas an increase in targets of Colorado, or the linking of disguises with door locks in Hokkaido - they all follow something of the same broad structure. In Hitman 2, the formula now established, there is a more creative approach on a fundamental level than was present in the original game.

One level - Mumbai, now features not only 3 targets, but another hitman on site, who is also tasked with his own contract, and features the additional wrinkle of a target who's location and identity are unknown, and must be discovered. Miami features both a fortress and a public target, but is distinct, in that one target begins the level as a driver in a Formula 1 race already in motion, with them only leaving 10-15 minutes into the level, unless Agent 47 intervenes, of course.

Whittleton Creek (a particular favourite, and call back to the Suburbia level of Hitman Blood Money), features a specific detective element in which evidence must be uncovered in addition to the target slaying. The addition of these elements never detract from what is the core of the game - each level can still be approached any number of ways, and still allow - and reward - the wild level of creativity inherent to the game, but add in flavours unfamiliar, and ask the player to deal with them using the same basic skill set, while freshening the experience.

 

Also in addition, Hitman 2 brings in Sniper Missions. These are very much a continuation of the standalone product Hitman Sniper - released as a taster demo for Absolution (in the vein of gone-but-not-forgotten P.T.), and have a very different feel - setting Agent 47 as a static sniper, playing with a timed clockwork puzzle mechanic, attempting to take out targets, and a number of guards in a distant level, all while remaining silent. These levels are a far cry from the standard Hitman fare, but are equally well done, and retain a significant amount of the same humour, variety and satisfaction that the main levels offer, while adding in a score-based leaderboard element generally only found in the Contracts mode.

 

Contracts mode returns, of course, and remains fantastic. Little is changed in this mode here really, but the addition of all the new levels, adding to the old ones, doubles the already infinite amount of possible content.

 

Which brings us to the kicker - all of Hitman(2016) is present in Hitman 2. The entirety of the original game exists in the framework of Hitman 2. It essentially doubles the content package of Hitman 2, allowing the player to entirely discard the original game, and launch all subsequent plays of the game from a single location and means things like Elusive Targets, Escalation Mission, Contracts mode etc have a double-sized pool of levels to draw from.

 

The original levels are not simply imports either - there are small iterative improvements that have been made to minor aspects of the game - UI improvements, subtle changes in environments via lighting or through use of some new additions - foliage as a hiding spot, for example, which have been retrofitted into the exiting levels, meaning a replay is not quite exactly the same. Playing through Hitman(2016) within Hitman 2 is, however marginally, a better experience.

 

The final addition Hitman 2 makes, is in the level of support and DLC. Where Hitman(2016) was well supported via Curated Contracts and Elusive Targets, Hitman 2 keeps pace with this element, but also added two full additional levels, as well as two Sniper levels as expansions. These 2 full levels are not weak either - both the Bank in New York, and Haven Island rank among the best levels of the series for me, Haven Island in particular, and moreover, they contain crucial plot-specific narrative elements bridging the way to the final instalment in Hitman 3.

 

 

 

 

 

Hitman 3

The final instalment of the modern Hitman Trilogy, Hitman 3 does exactly what Hitman 2 did - adds a new set of levels on top of the now very sizeable stable. 

Concluding the narrative extremely well (and returning to full CG for the cut-scenes this time!) the game strides with the same confidence it always did, but here, IOI have clearly utterly mastered the creation of their signature massive levels, as are not content to simply create more of them, or to tinker around the edges change, with slight formula-breaking variations like Mumbai and Whittleton Creek, but rather, are able to craft levels of extreme specificity that the original levels never dared.  

 

Beginning with a level like Dubai, which represents a good example of the traditional formula, the game quickly begins to evolve it, even going so far, in the second level - Dartmoor - to add whole elements of other genres. Dartmoor, while functioning as a completely standard Hitman level, also allows the Agent 47 to assume the role of a detective, and essentially solve a complex, Agatha Christie style mystery, all the while planning his target's execution.

Subsequent levels like Chongqing China and the Winery of Mendoza add in their own narrative and mechanical eccentricities setting them apart from the traditional hitman levels, while also retaining all the elements required for continual replay, (and for use as a map for Contracts mode etc,) however, the game contains - in it's Berlin map - I believe the single best level across the entire trilogy, and one of the most unique. In Berlin, where Agent 47 finds himself in a decommissioned factory building and warehouse, repurposed as a dance club, he himself is the target. Pursued by 10 different ICA agents, none of whom are visible on map, or via his 'detective vision' initially, Agent 47 must identify these agents, and take them out, all the while being pursued by them, and - after the first one is killed - using their own communications against them. It is a fascinating level, and one that really highlights how robust and universal the fundamental design of the new trilogy is. 

To be able to stray so far from the standard formula, yet still feel 100% Hitman, and retain all the tone and humour and slick style as other levels is a tremendous testament to the game, and represents, I believe, the final evolution, and realisation of the potential set by the solid base designed at the outset of Hitman(2016).

 

Adding to the pile, the import feature that Hitman 2 had - this time fully fledged, and allowing import not only of levels and progress, but of trophies too - Hitman 3, by virtue of including everything the rebooted trilogy has to offer - 20 levels, each of which takes dozens of hours to master and hundreds of playthroughs to exhaust, a full suite of Sniper levels, A contracts Mode featuring all available levels, Escalation missions from all 3 games, Additional levels from all games, The excellent Patient Zero campaign from the Game of the Year edition of Hitman(2016) - Hitman 3 becomes, without any shadow of hyperbole, the single most content-rich game I have ever played. 

 

As a complete trilogy, I believe Hitman (and by default, Hitman 3), contains more enjoyment, more fun, more writing, more replay value and simply more content, than any other executable that has ever occupied real-estate on a Playstation dashboard.

Were someone to approach Hitman 3, with all previous content unlocked and imported, without having played any of it previously, and asked me "How much time should I allow?" I'd only have one answer: "How much have you got?"

 

 

 

The Rankings:

When it comes to the rankings, I need to be careful.

Were these games completely distinct entities, devoid of the import feature, it would be simpler, as each could be judged on its specific levels alone. However, that isn't the case. 

That Hitman 2 contains all of Hitman(2016), and Hitman 3 contains all content across the whole trilogy, essentially, we are in a position where one thing is guaranteed:

Each subsequent game is, by sheer force of logic, going to outrank the previous.

 

Hitman(2016)

As a single game, I believe Hitman(2016) still ranks extremely highly.

While there are only 6 levels (outside of the tutorial ones - which are actually very good, but significantly smaller and less varied) they are still extremely good levels. In fact, the mere fact that I have replayed them, more than any others is not just as a result of them being available longer. Even now, when my fried (and fellow Hitman enthusiast) create levels for one another, even with the full scope of the trilogy available to us, we still routinely use one of the six original maps. They have stood that test of time, and in ranking all levels (as I have done many times - including on this site!) some levels of the original game still rank very highly.

 

The game does, however, have its best still to come at this point. The six levels are endlessly repeatable, but I have trouble ranking the game higher than some other Immersive Sims. Dishonoured for example, as that game also has incredible level design, but a smidge more originality, and - crucially - a few more levels to it. Yes, it lacks the longevity afforded by things like contracts mode, however, truth be told, the very fact that Hitman(2016) is available in Hitman 2 and Hitman 3, means I am less beholden to longevity as a factor, as, in fact, that longevity actually applies more to Hitman 3, as that is the version likely to remain on my console indefinitely. 

 

As such, it comes down to feel, and with the existence of Hitman 2, I feel comfortable placing Hitman(2016) below Dishonoured.

 

 

Hitman 2

When we get to Hitman 2, however, the rank is heating up. By this point, Hitman has 14 full levels, a host of other side content, and with improvements across the board, including UI, the addition of foliage, and the formula-bending elements inherent to the new levels, it becomes increasingly harder for other games to match up. 

 

In the end Hitman 2 ends up falling above another extreme favourite of mine - Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin. A very different game, of course, and extremely difficult to compare 1-to-1, however, I know that, as many times as I have jumped back to Dark Souls II, it is dwarfed by the time I spent in Hitman 2 when that was the most recent Hitman game.

 

The game I'm not comfortable placing it above though, is Persona 5 Royal.  That is partly because Persona 5 Royal is newer - I have not had a chance to return to it yet, but I am confident I will - and for a game that is a hundred hours long, that really is saying something. Jumping back to play a level of Hitman is fun. Jumping back into a 100 hour JRPG is a commitment, and speaks more to the level of the game itself.

 

Also... Hitman 3 exists...

 

 

Hitman 3

So here we go.

In Hitman 3, we have to consider everything to be a part of it. It is not only the culmination of a mind-blowingly good trilogy - narratively, mechanically, technically and commercially - it also adds to the formula, and breaks it, in ways that escalate everything the trilogy has to offer the player, and asks of them, in a manner that should be taught in "Video-Games-101".
It, as a shell product, contains everything any Hitman fan could possibly want, in a single, perfectly executed package.

 

It is variable in a way even other immersive sims - or even Invisible Inc - is. It has more content than Invisible Inc does, it has more variation in play-style even, than Invisible Inc does - and those are the primary reasons Invisible Inc has enjoyed such a long run at the top of this list.

 

Hitman, as a trilogy, - and as a package in Hitman 3 - is simply the game I was waiting for since the first time I booted up Hitman 2: Silent Assassin on Playstation 2. It is a powerhouse of design, a textbook example of repeatable and variable gameplay, and a sandbox for fun that unrivalled, unparalleled, and unimpeachable. 

 

Hitman 3 is, to my mind, the best game on the current list.
Come at me. 

 

 

 

 

 

Life is Strange

 

Summary: 

A narrative, character-focussed 3D adventure-lite in the vein of modern Telltale fare, Life is Strange was the second game released by DotNod studios, after their modestly successful, though largely forgotten freshman effort, Remember Me.

 

Where Remember Me was primarily an action game, set in a futuristic, cyberpunk universe, combining a variety of mechanical genres (action brawler, exploration platformer, time and memory manipulation puzzler,) and felt like a new studio's attempt to pepper an existing, popular genre with their own distinct flavour, Life is Strange feels decidedly smaller, more intimate, and far more of a direct, unfiltered and unencumbered version of the aspects of gaming and storytelling the studio knew they excelled at.

 

Taking cues from the likes of Telltale's modern, post-The Walking Dead stable (not the least of which, the 5-part episodic structure,) with a smattering of Quantic Dream style, more cinematic aspects, Life is Strange ends up falling somewhere in between those developers in terms of graphical prowess, however, narratively, tonally and in terms of emotional verisimilitude, it lands streaks ahead of any offering from either. 

 

Set in the fictional Oregon town of Arcadia Bay, The player controls Max Caufield, an 18 year old photography student, originally from the town, subsequently moved away, and having returned to attend the local Blackwell Academy. She is having some decidedly Donnie Darko-esque visions of the town's destruction, and of being at the local lighthouse in the throws of a terrible storm, but is unable to comprehend the meaning.  

Shortly into the first episode, Max discovers that she has the ability to rewind time, and very quickly ends up using this ability to save the life of a girl she hears being shot from the confines of a bathroom stall. Having done so, she realises the girl is, in fact, her childhood best friend, Chloe, whom she was once very close to, but has drifted apart from after Max's family moved away. Over the course of the 5 episodes - and in no small way resulting from that initial fate-altering interaction - the plot weaves and winds, covering the reunion and rekindled friendship between the two young girls, as well as delving into such aspects as the fate of a missing local girl - Rachel Amber - with whom Chloe had an intimate relationship during the time Max was away, Chloe's difficult family and personal life resulting from her father's death and her inability to deal with it, a fellow student driven to suicidal tendencies via the bullying of the popular clique and a compromising online viral video, the local school and town politics surrounding the relationship between rich families and school discipline, teacher/ student relationships, and the shifting sands of interpersonal relationships within the student body.

 

That may sound like a mishmash - particularly so, given that I am trying to avoid specific spoilers here - however, the actual beat-by-beat story of Life is Strange is, it must be said, remarkably well plotted. In much the same way that recapping a good television series season can sound ridiculous when done all at once, the plot here is rich, and can sound unwieldy in summary. However, also like a good TV show - that is immaterial when actually watching it. The game is 95% narrative leaning, and so, the time it takes to describe the full plot, with all the nuance would be... well... the length of the game itself!
There is also the added wrinkle of the variable, choice based aspects. Like a Telltale game, the overall plot 'spine' upon which all the choices are hung, has to, of course, follow some form of set path, however, having played Life is Strange many times now, I can confidently state that while the main plot does remain relatively static, what changes dramatically is the colour and tone of it. Yes, the ending does, essentially, boil down to a binary choice, however, the path walked to get there is very variable in tone, if only marginally variable in actual content. Unlike a Quantic Dream game, there are few scenes that can 'slot' in and out of the game based on the choices made, however, the emotional content of the story is variable in a way I never found any Telltale or Quantic Dream game to really achieve. 

More than any game from either of those developers, Life is Strange does a very good job both of showing the player which choices they made that mattered (the end of each episode shows these choices, along with the percentages of people who made the same, across the globe,) and, crucially, of making every choice feel like it was accounted for properly. Playing the game, making any combination of choices, still feels like a tonally and structurally sound narrative, and characters within that story feel embedded in it. Choices may not always have narrative weight, but they almost always have emotional weight, and emotional consequence. 
As a result, the game experience is utterly reliant on an investment with the characters - one I found it to achieve, and with remarkable speed. Indeed, when playing a Life is Strange game, I find myself agonising over a choice I have to make far more than in a Quantic Dream or a Telltale one - which is no small feat, given that these choices are rarely crucial on any mechanical (or trophy) related side. The games reward the same trophies, regardless of the story outcome, so those difficult choices are purely as a result of emotional investment.

 

Tonally, Life is Strange is, it must be said, smack-dab in my personal wheelhouse. Taking heavy inspiration from Donnie Darko and Twin Peaks, and adding in elements of The Butterfly Effect and (wildly underrated) The Jacket, would be plenty to have me reaching for my wallet, but those aspects are actually relatively common influences in gaming, particularly in narrative-focused and indie games. What isn't as common, is the heavy tonal influence from indie cinema. There are similarities in different places to many, many films I love here - everything from Safety Not Guaranteed, Dazed and Confused, Art School Confidential, Ghost World, Juno, Blue is the Warmest Colour, Garden State, Heavenly Creatures, even Hard Candy, Ginger and Rosa and Fish Tank can be seen in spots. That is not to say any of these films form specific references, but rather, to highlight that as a broad piece or work, Life is Strange is aiming for - and hits - a tone closer to indie cinema than virtually any other I can recall. 

 

This is never more evident than in the music of the game. The soundtrack to Life is Strange (and, it should be said, all its sequels) is excellent. At this point, with 4 games released in the series, it has become apparent that part and parcel of playing a Life is Strange game comes a new selection of great indie music recommendations. The soundtrack here includes Syd Matters, Sparklehorse, Foals, Mogwai and a host of others, and use of music in the game, either diegetically or as soundtrack, is extremely well done.

 

On the writing, There is some ups and downs. Plot, as I said, is very well done, but more than that, dialogue is, I think largely well done too. There are parts where dialogue can be clunky at times, or lines are a little on the nose. I don't think it's the norm, however, and actual delivery of these lines can go a long way to make up for it. In some cases, (Chloe's over (and often incorrect use) of "Hella" for example,) while feeling rote, never felt like evidence of poor writing to me, but rather, of good writing of an awkward teenager. Teenagers often overuse words. They often say dumb things. They try to sound like they know more than they do, and sound silly when they do it. Personally, I found such things endearing, and broadly realistic. Perhaps I am giving credit where I shouldn't, however, there is a consistency to the contextual use of these elements  that makes me think they are deliberate.

 

Both Max and Chloe are very well defined - as they need to be to carry the game off. 
Chloe is brash and confident in company, but clearly as a personal barrier she has erected to protect herself. The more of the game we play, the more we see she is utterly haunted by loss - of her father to a car crash, of her mother to her step-dad, of Rachael Amber to God knows what, and of Max herself, having left her in Arcadia the first time. 
Max, on the other hand, is quiet and thoughtful, though painfully self-aware, introverted and un-self-assured. This is never more evident than in her comments about objects interacted with in the environments. Max has something to say about most of these - in a kind of cross between internal monologue and direct comment to the player - and they often reveal more about her than about the specific object being mentioned. It is actually a very clever gameplay device, as having these comments feel like they are, in part, directed to the player, means the players relationship to Max is defined in an interesting way. In playing Life is Strange, the player is not exactly "assuming to role" of Max, nor are they simply a bystander, watching event as an audience. In some sense, the players interactions with Max feels more like as a guiding parent or guardian. The player of a Life is Strange game tends to feel more protective of the characters, than that they are one of the character. We want to see the characters be okay, not necessarily see them do what we would do, or think is the most bombastic or gameplay changing. By casting the player in this 'guardian' role, it grants the best of both emotional gaming concepts - we feel a specific connection to Max, given that she is our window, and in some ways conversing with us directly, but the slightly removed aspects that come with a televisual, observer style, means it is not at the expense of investment with the ensemble cast at large. We car about Chloe, her mom, Warren, Kate Marsh, Victoria Chase, not only by how they affect Max, but in the abstract, all the while, maintaining a special relationship with Max, and therefore having a specific personal stake in her narrative through-line above all.

 

Visually, the game is playing in the B-tier, in terms of graphical prowess. Life is Strange is not a huge budget game, and so there is no attempt to ape the likes of Supermassive or Quantic Dream games, however, what the game lacks in technical prowess, it makes up for in stylisation and design. Arcadia Bay is designed perfectly, feeling like a real, partly run-down coastal town, and the characters are well rendered in it. Character models are well done and while stylised, never feel cartoonish, and allow subtle emotions to show through facial expression very well. Little artistic flourishes - such as photographs being rendered as odd, paint blotchy designs - work to give the game a distinct visual flavour, and the UI elements - highlighting objects of interest in white, sketchbook outlines work well.

 

Mechanically, because the plot is choice based, but revolves around the use of time-rewinding, the game opens up an avenue of dialogue manipulation that is rare in narrative games. While there is a certain element of impermanence that can happen in specific scenes - a scene in which the player must try to talk down a person with a gun, for example, might feel a little less tense, given that Max can rewind if she says the wrong thing, however, because the player connection with the characters is an emotional one, this is largely moot - you may be able to hurt a character, them rewind time and negate it, but it still doesn't feel good to do so.

There are some puzzle elements in play, but they are fairly minimal, and really, not on the level that they should be referred to as such - they are minor aspects, in service of furthering the excellent plot. While there is, unfortunately, a little more of these aspects in the final episode than there is up to that point, which can weight down the finale a little for a short section, they don't fully bust it, and the overall plot does manage to wrap around, and genuinely build to climax that is sweet, sad, touching and genuinely emotional.

 

While it could be argued that Life is Strange has some issues with repeatability - certainly, there is a case to be made that, since the game feels so rooted in personal choice, that repeating it would lessen the impact, I cannot hold to that argument, for a simple reason - I have played Life is Strange many times through. In much the same way as wanting to rewatch a well over movie, I have repeated the game, even making the same choices a lot of the time, and still enjoy it. While that is not necessarily as a result of 'baked-in' replayability (the game could certainly be platinumed in a single playthrough, and indeed, even offers chapter select to do 'collectible clean up' - there has to be some deference to the idea that a narrative game can become very replayable, simply by virtue of the narrative being good enough and the emotional investment strong enough that it leaves a desire for the player to return to it , simply to spend more time with the characters and in the environments.

 

Overall, Life is Strange, as a series, is to my mind the most successful implementation of the narrative, character-based adventure game to date, (a genre I like a lot.) It is remarkable how much of the ongoing tone, flavour and mechanical feel of the games was set, right from the get-go, with this game.
With a stunningly good soundtrack, a great art-style, well written, rounded and interesting characters who are very easy to both relate to, and to love, a variable plot that touches on a lot of different issues - some hot-button, some benign, but none particularly common or overused within the medium -, and a deft hand both in making the narrative feel personal, while constantly surprising and wrong-footing the player, Life is Strange is a remarkable game from start to finish. 

 

 

The Ranking:

Ranking Life is Strange is destined to be a difficult one based on the current list. The most obvious comparisons are, as outlined above, both Telltale fare and Quantic Dream fare, however, the highest ranked of any of those games so far is Telltale's The Walking Dead, and as good as that game is, and as much emotional weight as it is able to craft with it's sci-fi tale, Life is Strange is streaks ahead.
The Walking Dead is graphically inferior, and less varied or personal than Life is Strange, but more than that, the specific element that is the overwhelming strength of both games - the narrative and the emotional investment - is far more nuanced and rich here. The Walking Dead's story is a relatively simple 'road trip', and its most emotional moments are always gained through extreme high stakes.  When every character's life is at stake all the time, it is easy to draw an emotional investment from the player on a superficial level. Drawing emotional investment for rather more realistic, 'real-life' scenarios is much, much harder, and that is what Life is Strange does time and time again. While The Walking Dead does brush against occasional 'real' issues - racism, classism etc. - it does this on the side-lines, and doesn't make much emotional hay from it. Life is Strange addresses genuine issues that affect people in real life head-on - divorce, grief, bullying, parental judgement, self-consciousness, suicide, catharsis, longing, loyalty, regret - and it does so without having to lean on a Zombie Apocalypse to heighten the drama.

 

As such, that pushes Life is Strange up, past The Walking Dead, and even past the less mechanically similar, but still primarily narrative-based fare above it, like Dear Esther (which, while fantastic, is much shorter, entirely linear, and focussed on the splendour of visuals and literary beauty than interpersonal relationships,) and Observation (which while narrative focussed, is primarily a puzzle game, and never comes close to the emotional investment Life is Strange elicits.)

 

Much, much higher on the list, there is This War of Mine: The Little Ones. This War of Mine is a game that also makes its own use of a particular concept - wholly unique to videogames - guilt. Specifically, player guilt. A film or a novel can make a reader / viewer feel almost any emotion, but the one only an interactive media can tap into is making them feel guilty. This War of Mine does this with a broader brush, but is, I think, more successful at it, even if the actual player investment with individual characters never reaches the level Life is Strange routinely achieves. 

This War of Mine is also a game touching issues that games rarely do, and it has a mechanical and gameplay excellence in addition. Despite my love for Life is Strange, it would feel wrong for it to rank as highly as This War of Mine, given how successfully that game achieves its aims, and given that it has a universality to its message that Life is Strange may not. This War of Mine is about the horror of survival in war. That is a concept everyone can understand. Life is Strange is about specifically 1st World issues, particularly of the young, and while I cannot deny my own emotional investment (and I am, after all, a 37 year old man, far removed from high-school) I do think Life is Strange is not as broadly applicable to everyone.

 

The space between Observation and This War of Mine puts Life is Strange in the position of being compared to games that are entirely unlike it mechanically.

As a result, the only way for me to gauge a ranking, is to simply work up the list, asking "does the simple gameplay, but emotionally investing narrative of Life is Strange add up to an experience I value more than this game?"

Hardly the most 'Scientific' method - I'll admit - but the answer is "yes", right up until it isn't, and the game in which the first "No" comes back to me, is with Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Without genuine comparison, it has to come to gut feel, and that's what my gut feels!

 

 

 

 

⚛️⚛️BONUS GAMES⚛️⚛️

2 Additional eligible S-Ranks earned this round!:

 

 

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

 

Summary: 

Based on on a late 70's - early 80's trilogy of children's morning-matinee space-adventure films, in which a small group of royalist terrorists battle to overthrow the galactic government to reinstate a family of deposed hierarchical monarchs as the ruling class, all the while, enlisting the help of the remaining members of a disbanded order of extremist, psychokinetic monks names 'Jedi' who fight with buzzing glow-sticks, 'Star Wars' has, over the years...
...
...just kidding! (Can you imagine?!)

No. I didn't, in fact, grow up under a rock - I know Star Wars... somewhat!

Look - I am not a Star-Wars guy. 
I know they are huge, and I know the franchise is one that inspires a level of love and affection in its fan-base that is virtually unparalleled - one does not need to be actively engaged with the IP to know that! I enjoyed the original trilogy when I was young, but checked out after seeing "Episode One" in theatres and haven't seen any of the filmic fare since. I am what could really be described as 'Star Wars Agnostic' - I am neither ardently engaged with the property, nor do I have any ill-will towards it. I am simply indifferent and uninformed about much of the nuance, and the majority of my understanding is rooted in that original 70's / 80's trilogy, and, latterly, via videogames.
As such, my perspective on the games - and specifically, here, on Jedi: Fallen Order - is one very much approaching from the 'video-games' angle, rather than as a fam of the property itself, and it is worth noting that. 

I fully understand that existing love for a property can go a long way to carrying a player through otherwise less enjoyable gaming fare (When Terminator Resistance gets its time in the ranking spotlight, this concept will no doubt be visited from the other side of the street!) and I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing. People should love the things they love. No game is perfect, and so all games do, to some extent, hinge on the player prioritising certain aspects over others - the parts you love carry you through the parts you don't - and believe pre-existing love of a narrative IP is a perfectly legitimate component to lean on in striking that balance. It just isn't one I am personally able to lean on in this particular case.

 

I write all of this preamble, in order to ensure that the statement I am about to make is taken in the correct context:
I think Jedi: Fallen Order is one of the least enjoyable, most fundamentally flawed big-budget games I have played in many, many years.

 

A 3rd-person, action-combat platformer with a metroidvania structure and 'Souls-lite' combat, Jedi: Fallen Order is the first foray into the 3rd-person side of games from (extremely well thought of and competent) developer Respawn.

 

Across a 15-20 hour narrative plot, the game follows former Jedi-in-training, current derelict-space-ship-destruct-labourer and full-time Jimmy-Hopkins-from-Bully-look-a-like Cal, as his secret origins are revealed - both to the player, and to the nefarious Jedi Hunters employed by the Empire to root out "force users" - he flees, and is rescued by a former Jedi, Cere Junda,  and her comic-relief side-kick Greez, and embarks on a quest to recover a 'Holocron' - a list of "force-Sensitive" children (i.e. potential future Jedi) from a secret vault, as both a potential cog in the reconstruction of the Jedi's fallen order (get it?) and, more importantly, to keep it from the covetous hands of the Empire's sadistic and brutal Jedi Hunters.

 

The game's plot plays out fairly well. There is a good amount of dialogue, and it is written, acted and performed well for the most part. The tone of the game does largely stick to that set by the filmic universe it springs from - there is a lightness and a playfulness to the game that takes the edge off the more threatening elements of what is actually a fairly gritty tale beneath its glossy veneer. 
That goes a long way to keeping the game suitable for the younger audience most actively engaged with IP itself, though there are some specific elements of plot that veer further from this than one might expect. The playful back and forth between Greez and Cal, or the interactions of Cal's helper-bot BD-1, who's anthropomorphic antics fall somewhere between a helper monkey and a playful puppy and who communicates in Star-Wars staple bleeps and bloops, coherent to the listener but not the audience, are pitch-perfect for the Saturday-morning-matinee feel. 
Some aspects though, such as Cere's fearful withdrawal from her prior calling due to experience with the "dark side" of the force - treated here as analogous to a brush with hard drugs, or some addictive, destructive vice - and her struggle to remain 'sober', or the backstory of the "Sisters" - the former Jedi, tortured and broken, serving as Jedi-Hunters for the Empire - are weighty and conceptually bleak in a manner that feels a little less appropriate for youngsters. At best, these elements would sail over the heads of the target audience, but at worst, they may be too dark, and prone to scare or unnerve them. Certainly, I would be much more reticent to show the plot of this game to a 10-12 year-old than I would the original trilogy of films, which, while having some weight concepts, do a much better job of keeping even their darkest aspects playful and light in presentational tone.

Narratively, the nature of the game - as a metroidvania - means that the actual 'world' of the game is fairly small. The game features 6 primary 'levels' (planets), and the plot weaves between them, with Cal returning to previously visited locations as he gains more abilities, giving him increased access to different areas. That is, of course, inherent to the metroidvania genre (and an aspect I love, that can be done very well - see Arkham Asylum for example) - however, in a Space-based game like this one, it does have a negative effect. 
The resulting game (and the plot) feels... small.

For an IP that is broad and spans an entire galaxy, the plot of Jedi: Fallen Order does feel remarkably contained and unimportant in the grand scheme. While no game, of course, can genuinely span an entire galaxy, especially one opting for the kind of visual fidelity Jedi: Fallen Order aims for (and largely succeeds in striking,) it is notable how much smaller this game feels than, for example Mass Effect. That is not necessarily as a result of the size or number of actual game locations - indeed most Mass Effect games have a roughly similar amount of actual gaming 'space' and participatory level design, but it really highlights how much of the background heavy-lifting Mass Effect's tertiary trappings were doing. While Mass Effect showed a huge number of planets, only 7 or 8 of which were actually playable in a meaningful way, the others being simply flavour and dressing - Jedi: Fallen Order only shows the playable ones, and as a result, it feels less like a galaxy-spanning, globe trotting narrative, and more like a small tale taking place on a tiny corner-neighbourhood of one system.

A game that takes place across 6 planets should feel epic - like a Mass Effect. Instead, Jedi: Fallen Order's scope feels closer to something like the original Uncharted - a game that took place entirely on a single, contained island.

As said above - visually - the game is doing it's job very well. Character models are impressively detailed, and facial expressions and character movement are smooth and graceful. The levels look great across the board, and each planet is distinct in design, if a little invariable within the levels themselves. There is a broad artistic style (direct from the IP) which is well implemented, and particular props should go to the excellent texture work on environments. Rock formations, water, plant-life, rusted metal - everything looks excellent and the environments are a treat to see. 

Unfortunately, some of the same resulting issues that recently ranked Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart creep in here as a result, however. The visual fidelity is gained at the expense of mechanical fidelity. Little care has been taken to ensure the stunning looking environments function well with the exploration-heavy nature of the mechanical game, and so the game is awash with invisible walls blocking Cal from climbing what appears climbable, instant-death falls occur when jumping to what appear to be accessible areas, and the game camera - competent functionality of which is a key component of a game featuring soul-like combat and Uncharted-like traversal - is woefully unable to keep up with the game.

Falling off a ledge is not heavily penalised, (the game quickly - and mercifully - resets the player to the last 'hard surface' they were standing on with only a minor heath reduction,) but this seems to have been done as an easy, band-aid solution to a major issue with the game - it is finicky to control, and the priority in environmental design is purely aesthetic. Cal will often fail to grip a ledge that he should, or make a jump he should be able to, or grab a vine he needs to. These things are not gameplay-input issues - doing the exact same action a second time will often work as intended - and so the quick-reset feels more like an admission of failed mechanical finesse than a specifically intended gameplay function.

 

This prioritisation of aesthetic over mechanical gameplay, and the watering-down of difficulty as a solution to sloppy mechanical problems - wall-papering over them with lack of punishment for failure rather than doing the harder work of improving the mechanics themselves - is never more evident than in the "souls-like" combat.
The combat is, for what is ostensibly a "triple-A" game, shockingly poor.

Cal has a reasonably varied move-set, however, enemies do not, and the animation-priority combat has been borrowed from the Souls games in a remarkably inept way. Each enemy encounter seems designed not to be difficult necessarily, but to be incredibly irritating, and to punish varied engagement.
Low level enemies are introduced in swarms, and attack as such, meaning that while individual attacks do little damage to Cal, they have a tendency to time out in such a way as to stun-lock him for 10-12 hits in a row, dealing death by a thousand tiny bashes. 

Tougher enemies - ones that require more concentration and parry/riposte style combat to defeat are almost always surrounded by ranged weaker enemies on high platforms, meaning the cadence of each of these fights boils down to running in a circle, reflecting blaster shots to clear out ranged enemies until they are gone, so each move is not interrupted in the 'main' fight. 
Hit-boxes are incredibly poorly implemented, and difficult to gauge. Virtually every enemy has the uncanny ability to instantly jump back the exact distance required to keep them out of Cal's animation range, for the exact amount of time it runs, then attack before his recovery, beginning the stun-lock in perfect time for everyone else to pile in.

Camera clipping, or the camera getting 'hung-up' on environmental and decorative features is a constant issue, and the camera has a habit of swinging around to aim at nothing but Cal's face if he strays near any environmental detail, meaning the last thing the player sees is him being stun-locked by an unseen enemy until he goes limp.

 

All of this would be a major problem in terms of progression in what is a game that borrows the "bonfire" mechanic that Souls games use in terms of its level design, however, rather than fix any of it, the game simply reduces the difficulty instead. Yes, the "bonfire" mechanic - in which death sends Cal back to the last bonfire (meditation point here) - is borrowed, but it has little impact, as there are so many of them. In a Souls game, making it through a section to light a new bonfire comes with a tremendous sense of achievement. Here, I routinely passed 5 or 6 of them without ever dying - or even really being challenged - in between.

 

There is a skill-tree of moves Cal is able to unlock, and there are fun for the most part, however, the animation priority has issues here too. Because most of Cal's moves (Force Pull, Force Push, even healing) have a sizeable wind-up animation, and because each can be interrupted, it means each new move generally serves to simply enable the eradication of combat interplay, rather than add nuance to it.
The Force-Push ability, for example - with which Cal can psychokinetically 'throw' enemies back -  is really only useful when he is a fair distance from the group he is aiming at, as it can be interrupted by them. As a result, using it is often a way to simply bypass a fight - Cal can blast all enemies off a cliff at the beginning of an encounter - which is much more viable than actually engaging with the melee combat.
The 'slow' mechanic, in which Cal can trap an enemy in vasty reduced time-bubble, can be useful to give him a chance to heal, but the games combat does not actually obey the rules it lays out. An enemy, reduced to a 'slowed' animation, still continued its attack, and if it lands during the slowed animation, it still has the same physical impact on Cal that it would at normal speed. Yes, 'Slow' allows him to potentially get a free swing of his lights-sabre in, but it is not useful as a way of, for example, strafing around to the rear of an enemy, as they still spin bizarrely on their own axis, to face him, at normal speed, even as the move they are doing is slowed. It is really just a free hit, and nothing more.

 

Bosses too, are essentially trivialised with these abilities. Cal can simply stand at a distance, 'force pushing' over and over until their guard is broken, slice them a few times with his light-sabre, then back off, and rinse-repeat. Each boss will easily go down this way, and in fact, most boss fights are over very quickly, as, despite the presence of a boss health bar, the cinematic desires of the game almost always take over. I'm not sure there is a single boss in the game where the fight consists of beating them until their health is gone - in most cases, after either a set amount of health reduction, or a set time (I could not often tell which), the cut-scenes take over, and Cal finds himself surfing down yet another water-slide style jumping section to his next location. (Seriously, these planets seem to have been terraformed using the Rollercoaster Tycoon build-a-coster' editor - every planet is filled with 'downhill skiing' sections for Cal to Legolas-Elephant-trunk-slide down!

 

Audio in the game is good for the most part - light-sabres and blasters have their IP-specific signature sounds, audio from the characters and enemies sounds good, dialogue is, as said, well done, and foley work, like footfalls on rock or snow, and creaking environmental sounds are excellent. There is however, a serious issue with the audio in cut-scenes. On multiple occasions, all throughout the narrative, random cut-scenes would become, as time passed, wildly out of sync. The audio seems to be playing a frame or two slower than the on-screen visuals, and so, by the end of a 60 second scene, the audio is a full 5 or 6 seconds behind the on-screen action, making the scene unwatchable. I was unable to correct this, and as a result, played with subtitles on, and simply muted my TV whenever a cutscene played. Not exactly the best way to experience a narrative! I am aware this issue seems not to affect everyone, but it did affect me.

 

All of these issues add up to a game that is aesthetically pleasing, but not mechanically sound, or particularly fun to engage with. Given the competent (if small and not particularly stand-out) narrative, that might be tolerable for the duration of the main story. If the game was over at that point, Jedi: Fallen Order would be destined to be ranked somewhere in the middle of the current list. Not good, but not so terrible as to be egregious - simply a forgettable, lacklustre experience...
...However - there is the matter of the platinum.

 

I don't often bring up the trophy requirements in these reviews - I don't usually feel they warrant a mention, unless they are particularly, notably beneficial, or particularly, notably detrimental to the gaming experience. With Jedi: Fallen Order, they are among the most detrimental I have seen in my trophy hunting days.

Jedi: Fallen Order is, as stated, a 15-20 hour game, that should have been largely forgettable. The platinum requirements - specifically, the collectible requirements - turn it into a 40-50 hour game that will live in infamy.

 

The collectibles in the game - and the trophy requirements associated with them - are outrageous. There are a huge number of collectibles, from chests with different locks, scannable architectural and environmental features, seeds for planting, "force echoes" (essentially sense-memory locations from which Cal gleans some snippet of a past side-story,) and scannable enemies. Collecting these is, in this game, a grotesque chore.

 

Each level is convoluted and winding in its design - an aspect that is laudable and beneficial in terms of the narrative through-line of the game - however, it makes navigating each large map post-game a nightmare. The map available is woefully inadequate, and does very little to help. While each level keeps a count of some collectibles (Chests & Secrets) - even going so far as to indicate how many have been found and remain in each level area, some collectibles such as seeds and "Force Echoes" are not tracked in the same way. Combine this with the lack of coherent direction, the lack of fast-travel, the previously mentioned sub-par traversal mechanics and presence of invisible walls and barriers, and lack of readable map shortcuts, and it means each area must be scoured multiple times to find everything. More than once, I left an area - and indeed, an entire planet, assuming I have cleared it out based on the percentage counts, only to have to return later, (slogging my way through the whole level again,) as one collectible or other was not tracked. Because finding your way around is so laborious, I ended up deliberately not "meditating" at any of the bonfire-like checkpoints, deliberately, to ensure that I had an easy "fast-travel" equivalent to return to my ship when finished (by walking repeatedly off a cliff until dead and respawning at the ship.) However, this had a downside too - the levels are often designed to be "one-way-streets". If I passed too far, I could not get back to re-check an area without dying and re-running the entire level yet again.

In a game where the mechanics were better, (again, the similarly narrative-heavy metroidvania Arkham Asylum provides a good counter-point,) this would feel less of a chore, but here, it simply serves to force the player into endless repetition of poor traversal and even worse combat mechanics, over and over, in the same 5 levels.

 

What these collectibles actually amount to in game is also rather spurious. Some - the force echoes and the scannable items - do provide some little narrative nuggets, but I never found them to be particularly interesting. 
Chests are a different kettle of fish though. Aside from 10 'special' chests, which provide extra 'healing stims' for BD-1 (basically extra sips from the Estus Flask,) and are therefore gameplay beneficial, EVERYTHING else is purely cosmetic.  There are outfit colour-swaps for Cal, his poncho, BD-1 and the ship they travel in - none of which have any gameplay impact. There are also cosmetic items for light-sabre customisation. This is a really odd mechanic in the game, as it is incredibly detailed, allowing a huge amount of customisation of an item that can be barely seen in the actual game. There are 4 or 5 different interconnected parts than can be swapped and customised making up the handle of a light-sabre, but really, aside from the colour of the glowing blade, none of it is ever visible outside the actual customisation menu.

 

While I fully accept these collectible parts may not be so much of an issue for a non-trophy-hunting audience, this is exactly the reason I refuse to review a game until I have the S-Rank. Playstation games do have trophies, and as such, they are part of the game. 80% of the time, I think they are innocuous, and 10% of the time, they are beneficial. Jedi: Fallen Order is one of the other 10%. Its trophies make a bad game massively worse.

Overall, Jedi: Fallen Order is a bit of a mess. It looks nice, and has some charm, but it is absolutely saturated with problems. Poor gameplay design, audio-issues, a lack of care in implementing combat design, and a lack of general mechanical finesse. In terms of narrative, it works, however, there is a smallness to the story that is unbecoming of such a storied and revered franchise, and the significant audio-issues meant that what narrative there was, could only be enjoyed through a muted (get it?) lens. Take away the narrative - as you have to in the overlong platinum-seeking post-game, and it falls apart like wet newspaper. Quickly, and permanently.

 

Jedi: Fallen Order looks like a solid-gold AAA game on the surface, but that veneer is simply gold-leaf. Scratch at it even once - from any direction - and it comes away under your fingernails, revealing nothing but a haphazardly thrown-together B-tier game - one unworthy of the IP, unworthy of the console it appears on, unworthy of a developer of Respawn's calibre, and unworthy of your time.

 

 

 

The Ranking:

There were a few games that came to mind immediately when thinking of comparison points for Jedi: Fallen Order - similarly visually impactful but mechanically flawed  Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, and fellow sub-par souls-likes Lords of the Fallen, and Mortal Shell.

 

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart does, it must be said, have some similarities. It is a game that delivers primarily on its visuals, but falls behind mechanically (interestingly, both games also share an actor too - Deborah Wilson plays both Cere in Jedi and Kit in Rift Apart!) however, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is simply a better game. It's visuals are its strong suit, and they are far more impressive than Jedi's, but also, Rift Apart fails primarily because of a lack of exploration. Its combat is lacking in nuance, but it is still fun to engage with. Jedi's has some complexity, but it is so flawed in design and ineptly implemented, that it collapses. Rift Apart's combat is frivolous, but fun. Jedi's is frivolous and utterly unenjoyable.

 

Falling to Lords of the Fallen - another souls-like game with combat that fails to live up to the concept - Jedi is, still, unable to compete. Yes, it looks better (much better) and it has some moment-to-moment story beats that outdo anything Lords of the Fallen can offer, however, Lords of the Fallen is still somewhat fun to engage in combat, and it had some interesting, if somewhat unoriginal boss fights. The actual act of playing LotF was forgettable, but there was fun to be found in some combat encounters. In Jedi, I simply never engaged in a single fight I found fulfilling or fun. Every one was a chore - including the bosses.

 

We fall then, to Mortal Shell.
With Mortal Shell, I think we find the first souls-like whose combat is somewhere closer to the low bar Jedi sets. Regular encounters with enemies are never hugely enjoyable in Mortal Shell, however, the same isn't true for boss fights. The one combat element Mortal Shell had going for it, was that its boss fights - as few as there were - were genuinely good fun - challenging, well designed, and nuanced. The very fact that Mortal Shell had a trophy for beating every boss without taking any damage proves there is a fidelity to the game that Jedi lacks - I can confidently state that, without the distance-powers Jedi offers, such a trophy would be nigh-on impossibly in Jedi. The combat is simply not well designed enough to facilitate it.
Outside of combat, Jedi, of course looks much better than Mortal Shell - Mortal Shell was a legitimate B-Game, and sold as such, with a price tag to match. Jedi is a full price game, sold as a "Triple A". 
Mortal Shell was a first outing by a very small team, and Jedi is a massive game from a powerhouse developer, with all the financial force of EA behind it, and add on top the difference in post-game (Mortal Shell asks an interesting, if a little flawed "no hit playthrough", whereas Jedi simply adds an absurd amount of pointless collectible hunting to pad it's runtime and force further engagement with boring, careless mechanics. Jedi simply fails to outmatch Mortal Shell overall.

 

Working down the list form Mortal Shell, I have essentially asked the question "What is a game that had very high-quality visuals, but almost all the mechanics are either poorly implemented, or simply misguided?"

The first possible option was The Order: 1886, however, that game isn't actually mechanically bad - it simply lacks depth, and is too short. There isn't much there, but what is there isn't terrible.

 

The first game that really gives a foothold for Jedi: Fallen Order, is Supermassive whiff, Hidden Agenda. That game, like Jedi, seemed to have a lot of ideas, and wrapped them in a really good looking package, but beneath the surface, once you actually played it, it fell apart, as almost every mechanic, interesting or otherwise, was misguided, or just didn't quite work right to serve the game.

The one thing Hidden Agenda had though, that Jedi lacks, is the multiplayer aspect. Hidden Agenda, by its nature as a party game, allowed a group of people to play (with their phones as controllers.) That lent its failures a certain questionable charm, as the players were, most likely, in a group - socialising, having fun, and much more likely to laugh at the more ridiculous aspects. Jedi is a single player game, and as such, its areas of incompetence are not the source of group fun, but of solo frustration. 
While that doesn't necessarily excuse Hidden Agenda's issues, it does alleviate them a little, and given that it was a lower-price game, with a lower bar of expectation, I believe it does outdo Jedi. 
Jedi: Fallen Order finds its spot, just below it.

 

 

 

 

Life is Strange: True Colours

 

Summary: 

The fourth instalment in the Life is Strange series has a feeling of a 'return to roots' for the series. That is conceptually interesting, considering it comes from Deck Nine (developers of Life is Strange prequel Before the Storm) and not series originator, DotNod. 

Before the Storm was something of an outlier, in the sense that it eschewed the "magical realism" side of the franchise, leaning instead on the emotional weight, arthouse style and symbiotic relationship the series has with its indie music soundtrack. 
Life is Strange 2 set itself apart further still, by following a more atypical narrative structure, opting to follow two characters as they move across America, and dealing more with discrete, broader societal themes in each standalone episode than weaving a tale around a static set of secondary players.

Life is Strange: True Colours, on the other hand, feels to be something of a maturing for the franchise - having learned from the previous two iterations, but using that knowledge to come back to the broad structure of the original game (a single location, a supernatural power, a grand mystery, a smart but un-self-confident female protagonist, and static cast of well-rounded characters,) with a confidence instilled by the series', at this point established, commercial success. 

 

Set in the small, idyllic Colorado mining town of Haven Springs, Alex Chen arrives having been invited by her estranged brother, Gabe. Both Alex and Gabe grew up together, but after losing their mother to cancer, and their father to despair, they were separated in the foster care system, and both had an extremely rocky road to the point in which we meet them - particularly Alex. Imbued with a sort of superpower/curse, Alex is able to empath with other people, feeling their emotions and, in moments of extremes, be taken over by them. Having spent a lot of time in group homes, (some of the trials of which are hinted at, both in her comments to Gabe, and in text messages on Alex's phone, which can be accessed and scrolled back to read) Alex is emotionally distant and withdrawn around people - fearful of her own power and emotionally delicate, yet strong and driven in a way that befits someone hardened to anguish by years of feeling unwanted or unseen.

Over the course of the 5 chapters, (True Colours is, curiously, the first Life is Strange game not to be released episodically, yet retains the broad structure of the games that birthed it, splitting it's story accordingly,) Alex, and the town, endure a terrible tragedy, and she is forced to make a choice about whether to remain in the town, living with the memories of that tragedy, and try to make sense of them, or to move on, simply adding Haven Springs to a long list of places to which she feels she does not belong. She chooses the former, for a while at least, and throughout the game, she investigates the tragedy, the seedy relationship the beautiful and picturesque town has with the mining corporation that is both the primary employer, and life blood of the local economy, and gets to know a smattering of the locals, slowly becoming a part of the town, and slipping into its rhythm even as she tunes aspects of it to hers.

 

As is the case with most narrative games, I am deliberately talking around the plot, as spoilers are a problem when the game is purely narrative, but I think it's worth touching on the broad elements. While I won't go into detail, I will say, the actual structure of the plot of the game is good here. The story is simpler than the original game - though longer than Before the Storm. The characterisation is extremely strong, not only for Alex, who I find to be incredibly likeable and endearing, but of virtually every secondary character too. The cast is relatively small in this game - closer in scope to that of Before the Storm than Life is Strange or Life is Strange 2, but the longer narrative means each of these characters gets a chance to shine in different spots, and it means than as the story progresses, speaking with and checking in with the secondary players is not a matter of checking boxes, but a pleasure and the meat of the game.
While there is certainly less specific points being made here about aspects of culture, as was the wheelhouse of Life is Strange 2, there are still significant areas in which the game tries (and broadly succeeds) to address real-life concerns, though much more in the spirit of Life is Strange and Before the Storm. These are generally aspects of human interaction than broad societal concerns of LiS2. Grief, Loss, Guilt, Loneliness, Friendship and Love are much more at the forefront here again, and while I enjoyed Life is Strange 2, I feel like that is a good thing. That is the areas best served by the tone of these games, and they are areas which the series can navigate most effectively. 

 

The game certainly retains the unusual player-to-protagonist relationship that has become a staple of Life is Strange as a series. Because Alex, like Max Caulfield, Chloe Price and Sean Diaz before her, comments on items, objects and people in a semi-narrative, conversation way, in part directly to the player, the player resumes the role of guardian and friend, far more than controller or observer. In True Colours, in fact, the developers lean even more into this notion, right at the outset, by having our first introduction to Alex be direct to camera, as she uncomfortably answers questions from an unseen supervisor in the group home she is leaving. Her tone, expressions and discomfort in being observed is clear to see, and because she is looking directly at us as her emotions are laid bare, even as she tries to steel them from us, it forms an instant emotional connection to a character in a way few visual or narrative devices can do. 
Unlike previous Life is Strange games, where I came to empathise and feel for the protagonist characters based on observing their stories and actions, here, I didn't need that. The smart inclusion of these scenes as our first glimpse of Alex, meant that I felt an instant and powerful paternal/human desire to keep her from harm, prior to even knowing what harm there was out there for her to find. That is an emotional and human connection only possible through that kind of 'direct to player' interaction, and as a result of extreme fidelity and verisimilitude of expression and writing, and it is done masterfully here.

Retaining the episodic structure, despite the full release of the game as a single entity is beneficial in most senses. It allows the game to work using discrete 'time-cuts' in the same manner Life is Strange 2 did, and allows the player to retain one of the most specifically 'series staple' aspects of the Life is Strange games - to review the choices the player made, both against the global norm, and those of their PSN friends, however, there is a slight wrinkle as a result of the full game being released at once. Because the game no longer has the roll of credits between episodes, the jump between episodes is much faster, and it can make the time cuts feel a little jarring - occasionally, it feels like there a few lines of dialogue spelling out how much time has passed since the previous chapter, and if missed, it can be up to the player to figure it out.

 

Visually, Life is Strange: True Colours is a massive leap forward from even the Life is Strange 2. The game is a PS5 exclusive, and while I am confident it would work on a PS4 with only minor reductions in fidelity, it is still remarkable what a visual difference there is here from the previous games. The broad art style is retained - the characters here are not 'realistic', but rather, artistically befitting the art-house style, and the staples of the series are present - white, sketchbook outlines on objects of interest, blobby, painterly interpretations of photographs etc. - however, the fidelity in things like character facial animations and movements are a big step up, and the environments are massively more detailed. Haven Springs is - it has to be said in no uncertain terms - fucking beautiful. The town is literally the most idyllic place I can imagine. This is a town that makes Stars Hollow from the Gilmour Girls look like Megaton from Fallout 3. The Main street, the bar, the apartment Alex lives in above it, the Flower Shop, the Weed Dispensary (Colorado, yo) - every location is not only rendered beautifully, it is a beautiful rendering of a beautiful place, and with the art-style Life is Strange affords, and the heightened colour palate of the game (on show in full HDR) it is lent a feeling of 'home' immediately.

 

Voice work and audio are excellent as usual. Alex in particular, I was surprised to learn, is not a prolific voice actor, and this appears to be her first gig according to IMDB, though I'd be extremely surprised if it was her last.
The soundtrack (a Life is Strange staple) is, once again, a well cultivated compilation of indie pop, this time featuring such artists as Novo Amor, The Kings of Leon, Phoebe Bridgers, Radiohead and Far Caspian - and True Colours follows the path laid out in Before the Storm, actively leaning into the soundtrack as a major component of the game. Music is a big part of the lives of Alex, Gabe, and particularly Steph Gingrich (the only retained character from Arcadia Bay, here, a little older and working as a record store DJ,) and the game treats music as an integral player in the overall experience. Throughout, there are moments where the player can take a moment, relax, and simply listen to a song, as the game provides a montage of the environment ands a quiet 'Zen moment', and in a lot of cases, the music is diagetic, with the player listening to it along with Alex.

 

The mechanics of the game work in a very similar way to the previous games - Life is Strange as a series is not concerned, really, with offering gameplay puzzles or mechanical obstacles, but rather, simply adds simplistic versions of these as a means to exploring the town and the environments, and furthering the plot. They work as intended, and a few little PS5-specific flourishes are added, by way of the haptic feedback and rumbles, particularly around Alex's powers, and the internal struggles they invoke.

 

Overall, Life is Strange: True Colours is a wonderful experience. Shedding the aspects of Life is Strange 2 that were more divisive has renewed the series ability to craft, over the course of a relatively short experience, a more complex emotional investment with a wide collection of characters. Alex retains the crown as our closest companion, but the game does not feel like 'us vs. the world' in the way Life is Strange 2 did, but rather, a slice of a bigger story, in which a tapestry of characters are living a life, and we are living with them for a spell.

 

 

 

The Ranking:

The obvious comparison for True Colours is, of course, other Life is Strange games, and on the current list, that means the original game. 

 

While I am an enormous fan of that original game, and do believe that on the specific "magical realism" aspect - time manipulation vs. emotional conduism - the original game has the more interesting angle (makes more varied and interesting use of it, in particular in the episode 3 highlight, where the game goes "full Butterfly Effect"), that is not the be all and end all of these games. Wile the Max Caufield and Alex Chens respective powers form the basis of the narrative through-lines of each game, really, those are a springboard for where they truly shine - in the development of characters and the interactions of them. While I truly do not wish to take anything away from the original Life is Strange, I believe True Colours has it beat on that front. 

 

Individual characters are as strong as they were in the original game, however, the actual interpersonal dialogue is better written, and more natural, and the slightly smaller cast allows virtually every character to be not only fleshed out, as the characters in the original game were, but for their interactions with each other to be more fleshed out. When coupled with the significant increase in visuals, the more confident leaning into the strengths of the series via the soundtrack, it puts True Colours on a level that can surpass the game that birthed its series.

 

That, of course, puts Life is Strange: True Colours into exactly the same problem area that was encountered with the original game - the inability to find any direct comparison on the rankings! - Once again, it comes down to gut feeling, asking "does the simple gameplay, but emotionally investing narrative of Life is Strange add up to an experience I value more than this game?"

 

In the case of True Colours, while the game is short, I cannot deny that playing through it was one of my favourite gaming experiences this year, and it was a game I both tore through, as a result of my desire to see how the plot concluded (seeing a landing I believe they stick remarkably well), and yet also found myself checking every nook and cranny of, for fear of missing out. Not of missing a trophy - those are simple affairs in these games - but rather, for fear of missing a morsel of a game I was enjoying so much.

 

As such, I find the broadly simply, narrative game to have enough going for it to outdo a few more games than the original game even managed, slipping it up past the likes of Horizon Zero Dawn, (who's narrative is excellent, and has gameplay to match, but never drew me in on quite the same level) and even Hades - who's writing is superb, but never emotionally investing.

Where True Colours does finally have to admit defeat though, is with Returnal. I simply had too much fun playing Returnal, and it has its own brand of narrative engagement (albeit, a very different kind!) to back that fun up. There was a compulsive nature to my engagement with True Colours that outdoes a lot of games, but I tore through Returnal too - in no small part due to my desire to see that plot through as well, and it has a really well implemented mechanical game to add in. 

As such, Life is Strange: True Colours finds its spot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there we have it folks!

 

Thanks to @Eagle & @YaManSmevz for putting in requests!

 

 

 

Invisible Inc finally bows from its place at the top, giving way to Hitman 3 as 'Current Most Awesome Game'!

Space Overlords stays as the worst-of-the-worst, with the title of  'Least Awesome Game'

 

 

What games will be coming along next time to challenge for the top spot... or the bottom rung?

That's up to randomness, me.... and YOU!

 

Remember:

 

SPECIAL NOTE

 

If there are any specific games anyone wants to see get ranked sooner rather than later - drop a message, and I'll mark them for 'Priority Ranking'! 

 

The only stipulation is that they must be on my profile, at 100% (S-Rank)....

 and aren't already on the Rankings! 

 

 

 

Catch y'all later my Scientific Brothers and Sisters! ☮️

 

Edited September 16, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[FilmFanatic]

So uhhh, did I do something wrong when playing the game if I liked Kratos lol. Yes he is the reason for his own undoing but once he gets going he won’t let anything stand in the way of his vengeance. One reason why I didn’t care for the reboot is because it wasn’t the same Kratos but I guess that’s why it’s a reboot and not a direct continuation of the series. On that note the game icon you’ve used is for the reboot, not the original game. Could I also request a review for God Of War 2 as that’s my favourite in the series.

[DrBloodmoney]

2 minutes ago, FilmFanatic said:

So uhhh, did I do something wrong when playing the game if I liked Kratos lol. Yes he is the reason for his own undoing but once he gets going he won’t let anything stand in the way of his vengeance. One reason why I didn’t care for the reboot is because it wasn’t the same Kratos but I guess that’s why it’s a reboot and not a direct continuation of the series. On that note the game icon you’ve used is for the reboot, not the original game.

 

Don't get me wrong - I really tried to make it clear that, while I dislike Kratos on an 'emotional' level, I really do think he is the best possible protagonist for this kind of game. Like in those books I mentioned, the character is not someone I empathise with, but his arc does hold my attention absolutely, and his uncompromising embodiment of vengeance and hatred is incredibly compelling as a narrative plot device - it just doesn't have any emotional connection or sympathetic angle for me to lean on.

 

2 minutes ago, FilmFanatic said:

Could I also request a review for God Of War 2 as that’s my favourite in the series.

 

Aside from the reboot - mine too!

 

Absolutely - it is already on the priority list, courtesy of @Eagle, so should be coming up sometime in the next few batches!

[Copanele]

This was one of the most interesting write-ups there doc! While I can't wait to see your impressions about the God of Wars that follow (I personally welcomed the change of Kratos in GoW2018 but also fully enjoyed his "AREEESS" rage moments in the first games), I can't believe Jedi Fallen Order falls BELOW Lords of the Fallen. I know I didn't expect much despite the glitter in the game but...to be such a chore to play! That's truly shocking not gonna lie  So I guess Jedi Knight series are still the Star Wars games with the best lightsaber combat to date.

 

Thus being said...I can't wait to try Mortal Shell now ? especially since it has some challenges that us Soulsborne hardcore fans kept asking for a long while (aka dumbasses who go for challenge runs because they have nothing better to do ?)

Edited September 16, 2021 by Copanele

[DrBloodmoney]

40 minutes ago, Copanele said:

This was one of the most interesting write-ups there doc! While I can't wait to see your impressions about the God of Wars that follow (I personally welcomed the change of Kratos in GoW2018 but also fully enjoyed his "AREEESS" rage moments in the first games), I can't believe Jedi Fallen Order falls BELOW Lords of the Fallen. I know I didn't expect much despite the glitter in the game but...to be such a chore to play! That's truly shocking not gonna lie  So I guess Jedi Knight series are still the Star Wars games with the best lightsaber combat to date.

 

Ho-boy, I tell you - that ranking wasn't done lightly - I had Jedi sitting on my dashboard for 6 month, with me looking forward to it - saving it for when I really had time to sink my teeth into a good game, and man, I haven't been that disappointed in a good long while.

 

40 minutes ago, Copanele said:

Thus being said...I can't wait to try Mortal Shell now  especially since it has some challenges that us Soulsborne hardcore fans kept asking for a long while (aka dumbasses who go for challenge runs because they have nothing better to do )

 

Haha - I tell you - you will absolutely destroy that Mortal Shell one-hit-kill run. It's a bit of a cheeseball one, since the game allows you to basically run through from boss to boss, and never touch any normal enemies, but still, the boss fights are pretty good fun, and I've heard decent things about this new rogue-like DLC - I'll let you know if I ever get around to it! ?

[YaManSmevz]

Holy fuck, Hitman did it!!

 

What a joy to read about Kratos and his distant descendent in one post. You managed to get me to do the following:

 

- See about blowing the dust off of my PS2 and copy of God of War

- Purchase Hitman 3 in the current sale, and bump up the first game in completion priority

 

....I guess that's it. But it's still significant!!

 

Not that you need a reminder, but you're incapable of posting material that isn't compelling. Outstanding work! The Hitman ranking came out perfectly, I do believe you nailed it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some contracts in Paris to tend to...

[Glorious Fury]

Was considering giving Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order a go at some point, as I have EA play for a brief period. Was on the fence, as I'm not really a big Star Wars guy like yourself. 

 

Luckily I popped into this thread and looks like it may be best to be avoided based on your review ?

Edited September 16, 2021 by Glorious Fury

[DrBloodmoney]

30 minutes ago, YaManSmevz said:

I have some contracts in Paris to tend to...

 

Oh man - if this is your first time going through the trilogy, you got so much great gaming ahead of you, it's outrageous!

 

Hey, far as I'm concerned, if this thread tips more people towards sampling the trilogy, then it's all worth while!

 

3 minutes ago, Glorious Fury said:

Was considering giving Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order a go at some point, as I have EA play for a brief period. Was on the fence, as I'm not really a big Star Wars guy like yourself. 

 

Luckily I popped into this thread and looks like it may be best to be avoided based on your review 

 

Ooft - yeah - I was same boat man - looking forward to it for a while, and then... well... ?

[YaManSmevz]

2 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

 

Oh man - if this is your first time going through the trilogy, you got so much great gaming ahead of you, it's outrageous!

 

Hey, far as I'm concerned, if this thread tips more people towards sampling the trilogy, then it's all worth while!

 

It was one of the first games I played when I got my PS4, and I've just kinda played a bit here and there. Silent Assassin on PS2 was also my first Hitman, and I didn't play another in between so the 2016 rendition feels like the romanticized version I choose to remember of SA (which I've no doubt it absolutely is NOT in reality) so that's a huge plus!

 

It's about that time though that I finish it off. It's a great game as it is, but knowing that II and III are even better (A Dr. Bloodmoney endorsement is all the confirmation I need) is tremendous incentive to delve deeper!

 

EDIT: I was reply #666! I feel like I won the superstition sweepstakes???

Edited September 16, 2021 by YaManSmevz

[DrBloodmoney]

12 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

 

It was one of the first games I played when I got my PS4, and I've just kinda played a bit here and there. Silent Assassin on PS2 was also my first Hitman, and I didn't play another in between so the 2016 rendition feels like the romanticized version I choose to remember of SA (which I've no doubt it absolutely is NOT in reality) so that's a huge plus!

 

Wow - that's a really interesting perspective that will give you on the current games!

 

I actually think, for all that Blood Money (and even Absolution) added different pieces to the current formula, The most recent incarnation has it's mort direct lineage in Hitman 2: Slient Assassin in terms of raw mechanics - but it's (of course) such a massive technological and tonal leap forward, so missing those games in between must be like going straight from a Nokia 3310 to an iPhoneX!

 

 

12 hours ago, YaManSmevz said:

It's about that time though that I finish it off. It's a great game as it is, but knowing that II and III are even better (A Dr. Bloodmoney endorsement is all the confirmation I need) is tremendous incentive to delve deeper!

 

Oh man - that Berlin level in 3, just you wait. It's something else!

 

 

[DrBloodmoney]

I know what I'll be watching this weekend:

 

NoClip Documentary - How Arkane Designed Prey(YouTube)

 

[Copanele]

13 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

I know what I'll be watching this weekend:

 

NoClip Documentary - How Arkane Designed Prey(YouTube)

 

I just saw now that Arkane did Prey and Dishonoured 1/2....

....this studio also did 1 game that I absolutely loved back in the day, Arx Fatalis, one of the best RPG's I've ever played. Nothing but respect for that studio.

One more reason to buy Dishonoured  (ALSO SHUT UP AUTO CORRECT LET ME PUT THAT U)

[DrBloodmoney]

2 minutes ago, Copanele said:

I just saw now that Arkane did Prey and Dishonoured 1/2....

....this studio also did 1 game that I absolutely loved back in the day, Arx Fatalis, one of the best RPG's I've ever played. Nothing but respect for that studio.

One more reason to buy Dishonoured  (ALSO SHUT UP AUTO CORRECT LET ME PUT THAT U)

Hey - if you were an Arx Fatalis fan, you should definitely check out the NoClip documentary here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h4kdqwdbZZ8

 

It is great (as per usual for NoClip) and goes not only into Arx, but also some of the projects that were never released, like their Half-Life game, or the one they were making with Spielberg, which looked super cool

[Copanele]

2 minutes ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Hey - if you were an Arx Fatalis fan, you should definitely check out the NoClip documentary here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h4kdqwdbZZ8

 

It is great (as per usual for NoClip) and goes not only into Arx, but also some of the projects that were never released, like their Half-Life game, or the one they were making with Spielberg, which looked super cool

Oh will definitely check, thanks a lot!

I am also interested in the Dark Messiah part. Never managed to finish the game (bad PC at the time) but from the little I played that game was awesome. Nice physics also.

[Shrooba]

Just finished an assignment that's been looming ominously over me for the past few days, and I can now get to reading some good ol' checklist reviews! Let's check out what you got this time doc! ?
 

On 16/09/2021 at 4:26 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

Let's just address the elephant in the room right now...
Kratos sucks.

I had a chuckle reading this, I always love seeing what people think of pre-2018 Kratos! You get a different answer every time! ? When it comes to pre-2018 Kratos, people either love him or hate him, and it's paradoxically a genius of writing for such a one-note character to produce such varying responses. I'm inclined to agree that his character is a bit too simple, but it's definitely satisfying to come home from an exhausting day and kick ass with Kratos in a similar vein to watching Schwarzenegger films as you described. In that sense, despite his writing, it's awesome to connect with him on a gameplay level. I do think he has his moments, but the issue is that his more melancholic or meaningful side doesn't see the light too much throughout the original games except for some particular circumstances, but I suppose that was the point. Regardless, that's partly why his GoW 4 character was so awesome to see; he's got majorly different conflicts and he's a matured man. He's got anger, but he's also got to deal with mentoring a son. I can definitely see why he became a de facto mascot of PlayStation like you said.
 

On 16/09/2021 at 4:26 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

Audio is excellent across the board - with foley work like gunshots, footfalls and the clunk and clanks of objects on ground (on in skulls) punchy and palpable. 
Music is used extremely well - the general score is of brooding, ominous tones, however, diagetic music in areas like the fashion show is smartly used, and moreover, the general soundtrack score is tied to the gameplay very well. The score elevates in moments of high tension, changes once targets are eliminated and Agent 47 is on his way out, and the stinger music upon watching Agent 47 leave an area is particularly punchy and feeds into the feeling of power that comes from having executed a plan effectively in a really dramatic way.

Foley artists are seriously awesome; the ingenuity it takes to have random objects and use them to produce entirely differently-associated sounds is nothing short of impressive. When I did music class in high school, we watched a couple videos of them, and I remember more recently watching a behind the scenes foley video of I believe Borderlands 3, and the stuff they use to make such varying sounds is so cool to see. In a series like Hitman, sound effects are vital in every field, and it's great to see that they not only succeeded, but that it's complimented by a great musical score as you describe. Awesome stuff to see.
 

On 16/09/2021 at 4:26 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

More than any game from either of those developers, Life is Strange does a very good job both of showing the player which choices they made that mattered (the end of each episode shows these choices, along with the percentages of people who made the same, across the globe,) and, crucially, of making every choice feel like it was accounted for properly. Playing the game, making any combination of choices, still feels like a tonally and structurally sound narrative, and characters within that story feel embedded in it. Choices may not always have narrative weight, but they almost always have emotional weight, and emotional consequence. 
As a result, the game experience is utterly reliant on an investment with the characters - one I found it to achieve, and with remarkable speed. Indeed, when playing a Life is Strange game, I find myself agonising over a choice I have to make far more than in a Quantic Dream or a Telltale one - which is no small feat, given that these choices are rarely crucial on any mechanical (or trophy) related side. The games reward the same trophies, regardless of the story outcome, so those difficult choices are purely as a result of emotional investment.

What I love with these types of games is how they manage to include a ton of varying choices that effect the characters, yet still flow in an overall cohesive narrative that still accounts for your choices. I think it's especially important for such games to be transparent with the choices that matter, and seeing that Life is Strange does incorporate this aspect shows a lot of care was placed into it. With narrative structures, characters always must serve a purpose and have importance, and seeing that investing in the characters supplies worthwhile changes is what's so awesome with games such as these. When you mention that you thought more over your choices than a Quantic Dream game, I definitely get what you mean. Take Heavy Rain for instance, usually it's only the most important choices that leave an impact, with lots of in-between actions that just lead to a different momentary scene with no long-term implications. All in all, it's cool to see your take on this genre!




TL;DR:  HITMAN 3 FTW! LET'S GOOOOOOOOO ?

[DrBloodmoney]

33 minutes ago, Shrooba said:

, that's partly why his GoW 4 character was so awesome to see; he's got majorly different conflicts and he's a matured man. He's got anger, but he's also got to deal with mentoring a son. I can definitely see why he became a de facto mascot of PlayStation like you said.

 

Absolutely - you, know, it might seem like a bit of a stretch, analogy-wise, but it reminds me a little of Dolph Lundgren's character in Rocky IV, vs. when he comes back in Creed II

 

In Rocky IV, that is an action movie through and through, and he is nothing more then a narrative vessel for indestructibility and invincibility, but then, when you see him in Creed II, which is much more grounded drama, you are seeing what a guy who's entire life was about one particular thing has to live with years later, when that is all he has to build a life upon, but is broken down and really forced to chew on that history years after the fact.

 

It’s not rebooting the history - or the tone of the previous movie - it’s acknowledging it, but just choosing to take a very different, multi-faceted look at the character than it did originally.

 

Quote

Foley artists are seriously awesome; the ingenuity it takes to have random objects and use them to produce entirely differently-associated sounds is nothing short of impressive. When I did music class in high school, we watched a couple videos of them, and I remember more recently watching a behind the scenes foley video of I believe Borderlands 3, and the stuff they use to make such varying sounds is so cool to see. 

 

Totally - foley artists are often the unsung heroes of games, film and TV - if they do their job well, you never notice, and their artists is only really noticeable if they fail at it!

 

 I remember - back in the hey-day of DVD extras - those Lord of the Rings massive box-sets that came out, with all the dozens of hours of behind-the-sceens stuff on them - one of the most interesting parts wast the foley work - seeing this tiny little group of weirdos, who were like, hidden in a little silo like The Men Who Stare at Goats, just coming up with weird ways of making different sounds to emulate the required foley work - it was fascinating to see!

 

Quote

TL;DR: 

 

Hey now -have you seen my posts?!

 

I can't allow TL:DR's here! Where would it end?! ?

Edited September 17, 2021 by DrBloodmoney

[rjkclarke]

On 17/09/2021 at 4:54 PM, DrBloodmoney said:

Lord of the Rings massive box-sets that came out, with all the dozens of hours of behind-the-sceens stuff on them - one of the most interesting parts wast the foley work - seeing this tiny little group of weirdos, who were like, hidden in a little silo 

 

Bit harsh don't you think ?.... If not a little too accurate haha. Sometimes they leave the window open for us so we don't overheat  - and occasionally they even leave a nice trough for us to drink out of and mix our rusks in! FOLEY ARTISTS FOR JUSTICE haha! They totally don't play this to us on a loop either ?

 

 

 

 

I finally managed to set plenty of time aside to read through your current batch. My bad for taking a while.

 

Congratulations on that hitman trilogy review. That was fantastic, as these quite often are.  As a fellow Hitman enthusiast from all the way back to Silent Assassin myself, I think you did a wonderful job of getting across how much the series has mechanically evolved. It's almost staggering to think about. It's good to see someone that likes Haven Island, I'm not the biggest lover myself, but I can respect why you like it, I also like what it adds to the narrative for what it's worth. I just wish it was less flat.......Well  flat and the fact that you have to see that gross man naked, that's something I don't look forward to seeing with PS5 graphics. 

 

Great - now I've got to fight the urge even harder not to pick up a PS5 if I can, that's the only thing holding me back from playing Hitman 3 is the fact I know there's a superior version I should be playing instead. Nice to see Hitman 3 on the top of the mountain though - it seems doubtful that will get dethroned any time soon, but who knows.

 

Very enjoyable read on God of War as well - that version of Kratos is such a fanny, well in actual fact he's the other word for that, the one that gets censored on here. Yep - he's a massive one of those...... A big bald stupid expletive. Yet as you pointed out, it doesn't stop those games being incredibly fun to play.

I've personally yet to touch the latest one, but I'm curious to see what nuance they add to Kratos as a character, from what some of my friends have told me, people have more or less overblown that aspect of the new one anyway.  But I guess I'll have to find that out for myself.

 

I'm pretty gutted to read that about Jedi Fallen Order. Looks like I'll stick to having Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy installed on my console if I want a satisfying Star Wars experience.

 

I very much enjoyed your take on Life is Strange as well. I don't want to say anything too much in case I tread too much into spoiler territory, but I very much enjoyed reading that.  Out of curiosity, what about that game reminded you of Fish Tank? Assuming we aren't both thinking of a different Fish Tank. I'm thinking of the Michael Fassbender/ Katie Jarvis one.

.

Edited September 18, 2021 by rjkclarke