Pluto's Gold Rush

[PlutoRico]

1 hour ago, realm722 said:

 

Lovely review man. Genuinely appreciate how you not only included pictures but also videos to help me visualize what you were talking about with some of the challenges. The OlliOlli games are always ones I've wholeheartedly avoided solely due to their difficult(or suggested difficulty given the <1% on the 2nd game, <2% on the original).  But you may have just piqued my interest. I absolutely love games with repetitive cycles that you master by getting a little bit better each time. The fact you said restarts are extremely quick and controls are responsive is very appealing. Also glad that you mentioned recommending trying out the first game before going for the second to see if the genre is for you. I'd be curious to see how you feel about OlliOlli World given it was released this year and has a PS5 list! For whatever reason, I also feel like recommending you "The VideoKid". Super short 100% but I think if you enjoyed OllOlli, it'll be up your alley. 

 

Hey man, appreciate you for stopping by and taking the time to read what I wrote. As I mentioned in my original post, I would rate OlliOlli as a 6/10 and OlliOlli2 as a 7/10 in terms of difficulty. Both are challenging but never felt unfair imo. Seeing you picking them up after reading my review would make me very proud tho haha ? If you were to do so, I'd gladly be there to help if needed to, feel free to message me if you're stuck on a challenge or a level ? 

 

I would love to do OlliOlli World too, I'm really looking forward to it, that way I can complete the series and get to see the 2022 take on the franchise haha. I think I will wait until I get myself a PS5 first tho, would love to experience this one on the next gen ?

 

I checked some gameplay videos and the game looks a lot fun haha, I added the game to my wishlist, I might pick it up and play it as a chill game between two grinds. Thank you for the recommendation my friend ?

 

I checked your checklist and read your sensational Hades review a few days ago but you just made me think about the fact that I forgot to leave a comment haha, I don't know what took my attention away because I remember starting to write something but not finishing it. I'll make sure to drop by and give credit where credit is due ?

 

How do you feel about Game 7 btw? I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit mad to see Butler taking a three in transition while the paint was wide open. The comeback felt written up until that moment 

Edited May 30, 2022 by PlutoRico

[realm722]

2 hours ago, PlutoRico said:

How do you feel about Game 7 btw? I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit mad to see Butler taking a three in transition while the paint was wide open. The comeback felt written up until that moment 

 

Man the wound is still so fresh ?, but I'm really not mad about it. Jimmy's our superstar and we were only in that position because he willed us there in the first place. Boston was frequently going up 8-10 points all night and the fact we got it that close? I don't blame Jimmy for trying to end things in regulation taking the lead after he played all 48 minutes, especially considering OT for another 5 minutes would have had him on fumes. We just needed a 3rd guy to show up after Jimmy/Bam and didn't have it. OR we shouldn't have started the game down 17-34(which I legit thought we may get the doors blown off thankfully we didn't). OR we should have shot better than 67% from the FT line in a Game 7. OR we shouldn't have missed 9 straight shots after cutting it to to a 79-82 earlier period in the 4th Q. OR maybe the refs shouldn't have taken away a Strus 3 about 5 minutes after it happened ??

 

It was a fantastic year. I always do preseason predictions and I had us losing in the 2nd Round in 6 games to what I thought would be a super Brooklyn team. The fact got the 1 seed, handled Atlanta, beat Philly(who is probably Top 3 for teams I hate the most lmao), and pushed what a lot of people felt was a superior Boston team to 7? I can't be mad. But it's hard to have perspective the day after when you dream of him hitting that shot and the fallout of the Celtics collapse would have been glorious hahaha. 

 

I will go full Team Petty and root for the Warriors to beat them in the Finals now just because I don't want to imagine we let a title slip if they go on to win it all ?

[PlutoRico]

The Fight 

 

 

Introduction

 

Here we are for my 2nd milestone already ! After my 500th trophy, my 10th plat  I remember hesitating a lot about this one, because again, I have a bunch of games set to shutdown in the next few months, which means I needed something that I could not only complete quick enough, but also a game being worthy of a milestone and not just an ezpz plat. It came down to 2 games : The Fight and Surgeon Simulator. I completed the latter on my previous profile so I knew what to expect from that one and I was confident enough that I would only need a few days to plat it. I was however not ready to go through that headache yet. The Fight was my choice number one, the only problem is that I was struggling to find boosting partners to get the online done. I had to buy a second copy of the game, another PS3 eye camera and also one move controller, in addition to the two I already have ? It required a lot of effort (and money) to find reliable products that are no longer designed by Sony but fortunately I was able to find some good stuff. I also had to convince a friend to get the game since there is a trophy where you need a 3rd boosting partner ? Was it worth all the trouble ? Let's find out 

 

 

Gameplay

 

Like its name suggests, The Fight is a fighting game released on PS3 in 2010. You create a character and then try to elevate him through the ranks of underground bare-knuckle boxing, from crude scuffles under railway arches and freeway underpasses all the way up to the heady glamour of rusty cages and loosely organized bear-pit brawls. The Fight differentiates itself from other games in the genre by utilizing the PlayStation Move controllers. You attack, punch, jab or uppercut your opponents by performing the same moves in real life using the move controllers. This game is a REAL workout in itself. You will burn thousands of calories by going through the campaign or the online tournaments and ultimately aiming for the plat. If you are not used to or out of shape, it will feel brutal for your body. Personally, I workout a lot on a daily and even then, I was sweating after every gaming session. I'm also feeling sort of sore on my back shoulders area because my technique was to swing at my opponents pretty fast as soon as the fight starts, drowning them in a flurry of punches before they could react ? It is in fact this uniqueness that convinced me that this game should be on my milestone list. The only rule is that there are no rules, you decide how to take down your next opponent. You can for example get them in a headlock and throw elbows to their skull, or go full ballistic by swinging all-out haymakers until their lights turn off. 

 

The Fight is a more robust offering than most of the Move games released around 10 years ago. You can customize your avatar, there is an extensive upgrade system, multiplayer tournaments, training modes that provide you with as much of a workout as your character, and even a phoned-in video performance from Danny Trejo, the famous Mexican-American actor, as your verbally abusive trainer. His performance was amazing, I really approved this casting choice. Instead of linking a picture, here is a video of the opening tutorial showcasing the greatness of señor Trejo: 

 

 

Furthermore, The Fight sports some impressive head tracking, allowing you to realistically duck and weave incoming blows along with a great performance-sensitive damage. The game wants you to punch and it wants you to punch hard, you cannot go lightly and expect to edge your opponents, the harder you swing, the more damage you inflict. It is realistically a great combat experience, but it can be exhausting at times. 

 

In order to improve your fighter's skills and abilities, you need to head to the training modes. There you have different exercises, from a speed bag, to a heavy bag, and even an endurance sparring where you fight against opponents back to back with your health carrying over. Gaining skill points after accomplishing training exercises feels very rewarding, especially after a good sweat. The game also showcases you how many calories you've burned on your sessions which is a truly great added aspect of the gameplay.

There is also a betting system that can make your fights more interesting. You can bet on a regular win, a clean win with no dirty moves, a precision win where you need to land more than 80% of your strikes or a flawless win in which you need to finish the fight with more than 90% of your health. 

 

However, the major shortcoming in this futuristic way of gaming is the need to keep your feet firmly planted in the same spot while playing. If you want to sidestep or advance on your enemy, you have to hold in the Move button and tilt one of the controllers in the direction you want your character to go. Not only does this make it hard to judge whether you are within striking distance, but keeping your feet planted while throwing punches feels unnatural and robs you of your power. And even when you keep your feet motionless, a lot can still go wrong. There is a recalibration button that helps realign your character whenever he's not in the best position to guard or attack but even then, sometimes you can be in position and swinging like Muhammad Ali and you'll still be at a loss for why some of your punches come out at an awkward angle or miss your opponent by a mile. 

 

Keeping in line with the seedy atmosphere, you also have a number of dirty moves at your disposal. These special moves require gestures and button combinations to perform, and while some of them feel more natural than others, recognition problems make them a dangerous proposition. If the game doesn’t properly detect your movements, you’ll be left flailing your limbs while your foe punches you in the face. 

 

Another shortcoming to underline is that, even tho the game has plenty of content to make your way through, the variety is painfully lacking. After beating your first few opponents, you will know what to expect from the next hundred ones. The same 4 objectives are sprinkled around 120 encounters which can feel repetitive very fast. 

 

 

Trophies

 

The single player campaign will set you up against 120 opponents across 12 different locations. In each location, there is 9 fighters and a boss. Each fight won unlocks money, outfit parts or techniques. For each fight, there is 2 objectives you need to complete in order to get both stars : the first one will always be to win the fight, the second one will be the same 4 objectives cycled out : win with 75% accuracy, win with less than 25% damage taken, win before the money counter goes down a certain amount or win without using dirty moves. 

 

The online part is a big grind where you basically need to reach top rank and defend your spot 5 times. Getting paired with your boosting partners/alt account is also determined by your respective ranks so I also had to level up my alt in order to be able to get matched all the way through. There is also a trophy where you need a 3rd player to place 50 different winning bets on you. 

 

On top of that, you need to have $1,000,000 on you for a trophy. When you're done with both the online and the multiplayer you will be far off this amount. I was at barely $250,000 so you have to grind it out at the end by replaying the latests fights and betting on yourself. 

 

Enjoyment and challenge

 

I had a lot of fun going for this game. I honestly didn't expect it to be that intense but it was a good workout session regardless ? It wasn't flawless like my last milestone choice but I don't regret going for this game as my 10th plat milestone. The game is a good and original product. In 10 years from now, devs might look at The Fight when thinking about the next fighting game they want to produce. Who knows? ?

 

My aching muscles are a testament to the workout I received, but the recognition problems and repetitive gameplay made it an ugly fight not worth bragging about.

Edited May 14, 2023 by PlutoRico

[DrBloodmoney]

Dude, I’ve never even heard of this game (and I owned a PS Move!) but that was a great read, and I feel like I learned all about it now!

 

Does sound like a massive hassle to get that one going, but hard to argue with a game that gives you a workout and some trophies at the same time! ? 

 

Congrats on the plat and the milestone ??

[realm722]

5 hours ago, PlutoRico said:

even a phoned-in video performance from Danny Trejo, the famous Mexican-American actor, as your verbally abusive trainer. His performance was amazing, I really approved this casting choice. Instead of linking a picture, here is a video of the opening tutorial showcasing the greatness of señor Trejo: 

 

Oh my god bro thank you for linking this ??? I was in stitches and watched the full 10 minutes. The way he yells at the player to not move their feet and not punch like you're swatting flys was hilarious. The juxtaposition of trying to be "hard" in a game showing off underground BARE-KNUCKLE BOXING and holding up the brightly colored pink and blue PlayStation move controllers is comedic gold. 

 

Just like the Doc, I had never even heard of this game. What an amazing concept. Props to you for earning a damn near sub 0.40% plat!!! Those online trophies are ruthless and to become the 4th fastest ever (your 2 days and 17 hours) is a RIDICULOUS accomplishment! 

[PlutoRico]

19 hours ago, DrBloodmoney said:

Dude, I’ve never even heard of this game (and I owned a PS Move!) but that was a great read, and I feel like I learned all about it now!

 

Does sound like a massive hassle to get that one going, but hard to argue with a game that gives you a workout and some trophies at the same time!  

 

Congrats on the plat and the milestone 

 

The game was received poorly so I'm not surprised people haven't heard of it. Also probably why it's sitting deep in the UR status ?

Thanks for the love Doc, I agree, getting a sweat while also grabbing a few trophies on the way seems like a good way of gaming ?

 

14 hours ago, realm722 said:

 

Oh my god bro thank you for linking this  I was in stitches and watched the full 10 minutes. The way he yells at the player to not move their feet and not punch like you're swatting flys was hilarious.

 

This was probably my favorite part of the whole game, he fits so perfectly for this role ? He also has some hilarious catchphrases when he teaches you the dirty moves, I wish I could link them haha ?

 

14 hours ago, realm722 said:

The juxtaposition of trying to be "hard" in a game showing off underground BARE-KNUCKLE BOXING and holding up the brightly colored pink and blue PlayStation move controllers is comedic gold. 

 

I honestly couldn't have said it better, that's exactly how I felt the first time I saw it, I couldn't help but sneer at the sight of it ? There is also the option of choosing one move and one regular DS3 controller for people that don't necessarily own two and he makes a lil joke if you go with that choice ? 

 

Here's a short interview where you could see him actually play the game, "you're not just gonna be working out your thumbs, you're gonna be getting a workout" ?

 

 

14 hours ago, realm722 said:

Just like the Doc, I had never even heard of this game. What an amazing concept. Props to you for earning a damn near sub 0.40% plat!!! Those online trophies are ruthless and to become the 4th fastest ever (your 2 days and 17 hours) is a RIDICULOUS accomplishment! 

 

Appreciate the love my friend, I honestly didn't even check my ranking on the fastest achievers for this game so you just taught me something haha, I agree it's always nice to be up there ? 

Edited June 4, 2022 by PlutoRico

[PlutoRico]

Jump Force

 

 

Introduction

 

Jump Force is a crossover fighting game featuring characters from major Shonen like Naruto, Dragon Ball, One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, My Hero Academia or Jojo among others. As a big shonen fan, I've always had this game on my radar. When I heard about the delisting and subsequent shutdown scheduled for August, the game got upper on my priorities (it just needed to wait until I was done with the other upcoming shutdowns scheduled sooner ?). I found the concept to be really interesting and wanted to see how it was made. We've always wondered how Kyubi-Naruto would fare in a fight against Goku Super Saiyan, or how a fight between two swordsman like Zoro and Kenji would play out. Well this game offers us what we were looking for right? It seemed too perfect to fail. At least that's what I thought. Jump Force was received pretty poorly by both critics and fans. Was it justified? Let's dive into it!

 

 

Story and Gameplay

 

When the real world collides with different Shonen Jump universes, humanity is invaded by an army of mind controlled villains known as the Venoms. Under the leadership of a man named Director Glover, the Jump Force is created, an army of heroes from different universes fighting together against the threat. When the game starts, Frieza, along with an army of Venoms are launching an attack in New York City and get confronted by Goku. In the heat of the fight, a laser blast from Frieza fatally wounds a civilian. Trunks comes to the rescue of said civilian, reviving him with a device called an Umbras Cube. That is how your character is created, you are then taken into the creation menu where you can design yourself. The device used to revive you also gives you the powers of the heroes that are fighting with you, you can choose up to 4 techniques from the likes of the Rasengan from Naruto or the Kamehameha from Goku. The attack animations look solid for the most part and it is one of the strongest points of the game. By the time you're done with the creation of your character, Frieza withdrew and Goku along with Trunks take you back to the base where Glover explains you the state of play. 

 

The alliance is divided into 3 groups : Goku leads the Alpha team (along with Zoro, Gaara and Piccolo) known as the fighting team, Luffy leads the Beta team (along with forgettable characters) to reclaim territories invaded by Venoms while Naruto lead Gamma (along with Kakashi, Trunks, Sasuke and Sabo) to gather information as the stealthy reconnaissance team. You are then asked to join one of the teams and that's where your adventure starts. At first I thought the choice was pretty important and would determine the direction of the game and the missions given to you. Nothing of the sort. It doesn't change much except for a few events happening in the story which was a first disappointment. 

 

On the surface, the game looked promising. 40 different characters (without counting the 17 ones from the DLCs) from 16 different series, flashy techniques and a unique aesthetic. Since the real world collided with different Shonen universes, you can get Goku fighting against Hisoka in the beautiful city of Los Angeles for example ? Besides that, Jump Force is pretty weak pretty much everywhere else. The fighting system is very basic and the story is terribly forgettable, it drags on for way too long without never doing anything interesting despite having a full roster of iconic characters. The only reason I kept following it was to be able to have a review as detailed as possible. If I weren't planning on having a write up for this game, I would've skipped everything and rushed through it as I was really impatient to be done with this game ? In fact, the bland story is even accentuated by the fact that most of the cutscenes are devoid of any voice acting, making the whole single player experience lifeless. Everyone stands in the same position, only stiffly moving their mouths and occasionally blinking. 

 

The load times are plenty and they feel interminable which makes everything worse. Between every fight, every retry, every cutscenes, every everything there is a loading screen. By the time I was done with the plat, I felt like half the hours spent on this game were on loading screens. On top of that, the animations outside of the combat are just plain bad, the game looks like an unfinished product to say the least. 

 

Despite being a 3v3 tag fighter, the tag mechanic almost feels like an afterthought mostly because the assist maneuvers don't feel particularly well thought out. You can only summon one attacking character out of your two supports. You need to switch to that character in order for him to be able to summon his attacking support. It's different that the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm game where there is a button for each support which allows for a better tag mechanic. 

 

The cheapness of the AI is also worth noting. On the mission's highest difficulties, the AI has a tendency of reading your movements. It will for example pull guard, then jump back if you go for a combo in order to counter you while you're exposed. There is also a huge problem regarding special attacks launched close to each other from both characters. The AI will wait for you to launch a special attack and immediately counter with one of their own once your animation started, and you have no means to defend that, you're totally exposed. It doesn't make the fights harder but when you're aiming for the S ranks required for a couple trophies, it's really annoying having to deal with this artificially scaled up difficulty. 

 

Trophies

 

There is a set of main missions that you need to complete in order to advance the storyline along with free missions that gives you EXP, gold and items. You need to S rank 10 missions from each difficulty going from easy to expert in order to grab all the corresponding trophies. You also need to raise your character along with 10 support character all the way to level 70. When I was done with that, I had around 300,000 gold, I had to grind the same mission over and over again in order to reach 1,000,000 gold which was pretty much a big and boring grind that didn't help. Maybe that's why I have been so critical of this game, the game is bad, the trophy set made it worse ?

 

Enjoyment and challenge

 

Underwhelming. That's the term that comes to my mind whenever I look back to this game. The gameplay is repetitive and the game overall deeply lacks polishing. The only reason I would advise people to go for this game at this point, it would be because it has a few UR trophies that will become unobtainable in a few weeks. Don't expect it to be an enjoyable ride tho. Even as a Japanese Shonen fan, I didn't really enjoy my time with this one.

 

The difficulty is middle of the road. The guide on here states it as a 5/10 which is a fair grade in my opinion. Nothing much more to say. I tried to keep it short because I don't really have anything good to say about this game ?

 

I played Jump Force so you don't have to.

Edited May 14, 2023 by PlutoRico

[The_Kopite]

On 6/3/2022 at 8:46 PM, PlutoRico said:

Like its name suggests, The Fight is a fighting game released on PS3 in 2010.

I remember this game though it wasn't one I picked up even though I did have the PS Move and Camera combo. Sounds like quite an interesting one from over a decade ago (Geez how time flies lol) and at least you got a good workout from it! lol

[PlutoRico]

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier

 

 

Introduction

 

A few weeks ago, Ubisoft gave a termination notice, shutting down a dozen of old PS3 titles. There were 2 games I was interested in getting done before the deadline : Driver San Francisco and Ghost Recon Future Soldier. When I wanted to start this game, I had a lot of trouble at getting connected with other people. For example me and my boosting partner could both search for a deathmatch game at the same time and end up in two different lobbies. Someone could try and host a game but not everyone would be able to join him. There is plenty of examples like these that just showcase how bad the servers for this game were. It is without a doubt the worst servers I had to deal with in my gaming career. I had to go to extreme lengths to be able to make it work: I contacted my internet provider and asked them to open ports on my rooter. I also put my PS3 on DMZ "demilitarized zone" which is basically another layer to me trying to get as much of an open type of connection as possible. It worked great, I was able to connect to everyone. In fact it worked so great that I was designated the host for every gaming session ?

 

I was able to finish all the online trophies except one a few days before the PSN went down unexpectedly which resulted in all the Ubisoft games slated to shut down having inaccessible servers. As of today, they were brought back, they are all up and running except one : Ghost Recon Future Soldier like you may have guessed. The only trophy I was missing was the coop campaign trophy, I had completed 7 of 12 missions so I was really annoyed to miss the cut that close to the goal ? Luckily, a friend (@Riiszk) tested and confirmed that you can get the coop campaign trophy offline on LAN with 2 PS3s so I went for it right away. The only problem is that I had started the campaign with my boosting partners directly on Elite and I was unable to change it on LAN mode, so I had to go through the last 5 remaining chapters on the highest difficulty setting while basically carrying my alt. And let me tell you that I struggled at times haha. On Elite you're unable to revive your coop teammates, so if one of us die, we go back to the last checkpoint. I basically spent the last 5 chapters trying to hide my alt somewhere outside the heat of the battle while I was taking care of the enemies before bringing him in with me to advance through the story ? 

 

 

Story and Gameplay

 

In 2024, a group of U.S soldiers is deployed in Nicaragua to disrupt a weapons trafficking operation. As they inspect a convoy they ambushed, they get killed by a bomb remotely detonated. Following this, Ghost team Hunter is deployed to investigate the source of the bomb. What begins as a hunt to find the perpetrator quickly turns into a globe trotting chase to unveil a much bigger conspiracy. 

The campaign is meant to be played in coop with up to 4 people, each controlling a member of the Ghost squad. If you're playing it by yourself, the other 3 members will be AI teammates going through the missions alongside you. And in my opinion, this was the biggest strength of the game. During stealth phases, you can mark up to 4 targets for a synchronized kill, a "sync shot". The game shows you an icon letting you know when your teammates are ready to fire. This is where the AI shows how good it is because once you mark up your enemies, your teammates will automatically move to a location to get the best possible shot at the target while being smart enough to stay in cover and keeping a low profile. When all targets are blue, you fire and your squad mates will follow along simultaneously. This is a really good gameplay aspect that truly differentiates Future Soldier. In most of the stealth based franchises, you have to kill every enemy one by one without being spotted. In this game, you're able to take down 2, 3 or even 4 hostiles at the same time, which gives you more room for planning and strategy in order to prevent a patrolling guard from stumbling over a dead body and raising the alarm. In some cases it's mandatory since the enemies are too close to each other. It all comes down to planning and order of fire. Cleaning an entire area of enemies in a sync silent assault without being noticed feels very satisfying. 

 

 

The other strong gameplay aspect is the inclusion of a drone that can be launched and controlled remotely, hovering over the field and showing hostiles' locations through a bird's eye perspective. You can leave the drone in the air indefinitely as long as it doesn't get spotted by the enemies which allows you to switch between normal view and drone camera view. The drone, coupled with the sync shots is a lethal combination that gives you a lot of room to clean up one (pun totally intended ?). You can mark targets directly from the drone's perspective and order your teammates to aim at specific enemies. On the other hand, the drone can be spotted and shot by hostiles. If it take too much damage, you have to call it back for repair, which is done automatically after a short period. This also means that you never lose it, you just need to wait until it's fully operational again. The drone can also be landed on the ground and maneuver on its wheels. It has its own camouflage alongside a sonic blast that disorients enemies. What can't it do honestly? ?

 

The game is very well paced, balancing stealth and action perfectly and sprinkling it all with dramatic set pieces used to punctuates the tempo and managing to create a lot of tension. You can choose to tackle some mission however you want, either keeping a low profile or going in guns blazing at everything in sight. There is also a nice variety in level design. You're changing location in each mission and it shows. The Ghosts are dispatched throughout the globe to restore peace, using military grade gadgets like adaptive camouflage for example that allows you to become partially invisible. It is explained that the processing power doesn't exist yet for the camouflage to keep up with quick movements so it's only active when your character moves slowly. I felt like the game had struck a careful balance between fantasy and realism. The gear at your disposal is good enough to give you an advantage without making you invincible. 

 

 

Enjoyment and challenge

 

I had a lot of fun going for this game. The campaign was really enjoyable both solo and with partners. I really enjoyed the different missions settings, going from one country to another and having to adapt to the environment. The plot was also pretty decent. I had the chance to meet a lot of good boosting partners when going for this game, I made a lot of friends along the way and we're planning on getting other games done together in the future. All in all it was such a great experience that I decided to make it my 1,000th trophy milestone : 

 

 

I didn't have much of a choice to be honest, it was always going to be one of the upcoming shutdown game I have been working on (Ghost Recon, EVE, Driver San Francisco) and Ghost Recon proved to be the most enjoyable one out of all. 

 

Enjoyment : 8/10

Challenge : 5/10

 

Alone or with a group of dedicated soldiers, Ghost Recon Future Soldier is a war that you will want to keep fighting.

 

 

 

Edited May 14, 2023 by PlutoRico

[PlutoRico]

Killzone Shadow Fall

 

 

 

Introduction

 

On July 22nd, Guerrilla gave a tiny 21 days notice for the shutdown of the last two remaining Killzone along with Rigs, a VR game. The termination of online services will mark the death of the Killzone franchise since the trilogy on the PS3 has already been shutdown a few years ago. Unless we get a remaster, it won't be possible to play Killzone online for the foreseeable future. Killzone Shadow Fall has always been on my hitlist, ever since I got myself a PS4 a few years ago. Even with the ridiculousness of the time given by the devs, the shutdown notice gave me a good reason to bump this game up as my top priority in order to get it done in the 21 allocated days. 

 

 

Story and Gameplay

 

Shadow Fall being my first Killzone, I had to dig some YouTube videos to get a little bit of briefing on what happened in the previous entries so I won't be totally lost when playing this game haha. From what I gathered, Killzone takes place in a fictional world where a nuclear war has rendered Earth uninhabitable. Worlds governments along with private firms formed an international alliance in order to try and establish human colonies in some other planets. The Alpha Centauri system was selected, made by two planets : Vekta, a rich Earth-like world, and Helghan, a wasteland. When some private firm tied to Helghan decided to try and buy ownership of Vekta as well, sanctions were imposed for unfair business practices, which ultimately led to a war. The colonists were driven out of Vekta and exiled. In response, they established their own civilization on Helghan. The harsh environment and atmosphere killed many and forced the survivors to use respirators and air tanks to be able to breathe. But the human body is so great that eventually, the population mutated into pale skinned humanoids with increased strength, stamina as well as intelligence and adapted to the environment. Convinced of their superiority, the Helghan consider the human race to be beneath them and dream of one day reconquering Vekta and expanding their empire to the neighboring star systems. 

 

At the end of Killzone 3, a petrusite detonation has rendered the Helghan planet uninhabitable. Helghast survivors were granted refuge on Vekta, allowing them to colonize half of the planet. A wall was built to separate both civilization from each other due to the resentment they still bear over the previous wars. Both Vektans and Helghast routinely perform covert operations against each other hoping to gain a strategic advantage over their counterpart and finish the war each claims the other started. Killzone Shadow Fall takes place 30 years after the events of Killzone 3 and will take you to Vekta, New Helghan which is the other side of the wall, but also the Helghan planet, the original homeworld of the Helghast and what remains of it. 

 

The first thing that struck me when going through the campaign was the level design. The environments are stunning and colorful, whether it's a city, a forest or a space station. The landscapes are diverse and gorgeous, which wasn't always the case when looking at previous entries. With 30 years separating it from the lore of the previous Killzone titles and new hardware driving it, Shadow Fall was the perfect time to freshen up the series, and it was done well by Guerrilla. That variety makes you enjoy the story even more. The plot is full of cold war nuances, the result of living in the same planet I guess. Much like the Helghast rely heavily on a Nazi-like imagery, the setting evokes a post war Germany influence with two sides split by a wall in between them. 

 

As you control a Shadow Marshal, which is basically a high ranked covert assassin and special operatives in the Vektan military, you're provided with an OWL, a robotic drone that can be dispatched to assist you in attacking or stunning enemies, deploy an energy shield or can be used as a zipline to access further areas. You can also use it to hack alarms and computers, preventing enemies from calling reinforcements or opening doors to allow you to progress through the story. The OWL can also heal you using adrenaline packs whenever you get killed in combat as long as you have one in your inventory. This final trump card incorporated in the Killzone repertoire by the devs is a truly useful one. It wasn't present in any of the previous Killzone entries and it comes in handy when you're looking to clear out rooms full of hostiles, especially in the highest difficulty settings. 

 

On the other hand, there were some times where I felt like Shadow Fall was insisting on doing things it's not very good at to begin with. There is some 0 gravity and free falling platform sections that all share a thing in common : they are bad simply because they don't control well and they are very frustrating especially when you're playing on Elite Mode in which death means restarting the whole chapter from scratch. 

 

 

Enjoyment and challenge

 

Killzone Shadow Fall was overall pretty enjoyable. Not having played the previous Killzone games took a bit away from it but it was an enjoyable experience nonetheless. The game aged pretty well graphically for a launch title. Even when you look past the gorgeous visuals, Killzone Shadow Fall is a competent shooter in terms of both campaign gameplay and multiplayer offerings. The campaign was interesting to go through. The multiplayer grind was alright I would say, not as bad as people made it to be. I thought 21 days was ridiculously short but the online took me less time that I had anticipated. The coop DLC was pretty fun, I didn't even need to boost it, I mainly played with randoms on my way to the 50 wins trophy. I had a lot of fun with it while playing with randoms without voice chat or any coordination so I would assume it would have been a much better experience with a group haha. 

 

After Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Killzone Shadow Fall is another enjoyable game that unexpectedly made it into my milestone list. I was at 19 plats and was looking for a good candidate for #20. Albeit the multiplayer is dead, Killzone Shadow Fall is now immortalized in my profile ? : 

 

 

Enjoyment : 7/10

Challenge : 6/10

 

Killzone Shadow Fall is gone but immortalized.

Edited May 14, 2023 by PlutoRico

[PlutoRico]

Batman: Arkham Origins 

 

 

Introduction

 

Hi guys, sorry I haven't updated this thread in almost a year. I didn't feel like doing some big write ups ever since finishing Killzone either because I wasn't in the mood, I was being too busy with work or because the games I've been playing simply didn't call for an extensive review haha. I might do some for a couple games I tackled during that span tho, like Rigs: MCL which was my first VR experience or Driver San Francisco which is a game I wanted to play for a very long time before the shutdown announcement. 

I recently completed Arkham Origins tho and if you know me (just a little), you know that Arkham games hold a special place in my heart. Perfect reason to make a comeback ?

 

Batman Arkham Origins was released in 2013, 2 years after the well acclaimed Arkham City hit the shelves and was meant to tease the upcoming Arkham Knight on the (then) next gen. Featuring an online portion that was supposed to shut down in 2016 but is still running to this day, I decided to get the game done all over again on this profile mainly because I got nostalgic and felt like playing a Batman game again. This might not be the obvious choice when missing some Batman gameplay but I came across a random boosting session for the online trophies and felt like I couldn't let this opportunity slip away ? 

 

Before diving in, I just wanted to share this observation I made when looking at the trophy cases for each game : 

 

• Arkham Asylum 
• Arkham City      
• Arkham Knight 
• Arkham Origins 

I don't know you guys, but I have a bit of a weakness for Arkham Origins trophy cases, I think they are the most beautiful out of the whole series. That type of blue goes well with the darker tones ?

 

Story and Gameplay

 

 

Set 8 years before Arkham Asylum, Batman Arkham Origins, like its name teases, narrates a younger and less refined version of Batman during the beginning of his crusade. It's Christmas Eve in Gotham and skull-faced mobster Black Mask has given the caped crusader an early present in the form of a $50,000,000 bounty on his head. The crime lord sought 8 assassins to Gotham and tasked them to take down the dark knight. Batman must bring them to justice while being hunted by the police who does not trust him yet while also facing side villains like Penguin and Anarky. The game also focuses on the first encounter between Batman and The Joker and tries to set up the bases of their tumultuous relationship. 

 

Gameplay wise it's a classic Batman game focusing on combat and stealth, exploration and detective work. Arkham Origins put an emphasis on the latest, introducing the ability for Batman to virtually recreate crimes with holograms, investigate the scene by highlighting points of interest and ultimately identifying the culprit. New gadgets are also introduced like the Remote Claw that allows Batman to target two objects and pull them together or the Shock Gloves which gives you the ability to ignore any combat rules and just hit about any type of resistance you may encounter like riot shields, stun batons or armored thugs. They are a bit overpowered but zapping enemies with electrified punches in the middle of a combo turns out to be really satisfying. 

Arkham Origins was also the first in the series to introduce a multiplayer mode in which players take part of gang wars between the Joker and Bane factions while the heroes (Batman and Robin) try to stop them. 

 

 

Enjoyment and challenge

 

There is a general consensus that Arkham Origins is the weakest Arkham game (excluding the Blackgate port), and honestly, it is true. It is not as polished as the Big 3, probably because the devs for this game were different than the ones for the main trilogy. There is some design problems where Batman would sometimes just hit air in the middle of a combo with thugs still around. Furthermore, the assassins hired to take out Batman are C tier villains at best but they provide the opportunity to introduce new characters from the Batman rogue gallery. Deathstroke (who would come back in Arkham Knight) and Firefly are a welcoming sight with excellent boss fights. Deadshot, one of my favorite antagonist is sadly underutilized while Bane is over present. 

 

The single player DLC revolving around the first encounter with Mister Freeze and his origin story is also a great addition. It seems the devs took notice of the very popular boss fight against Freeze in City and decided to get him his spinoff. Smart move. 

 

As for the multiplayer, it is not great by any means but the grind is definitely not as bad as it's made to be. Some trophies require 6, 7 or 8 players but I was able to tackle it all in the span of a weekend. There is an annoying error message when trying to access the multiplayer section which then forces you to wait up to an hour on that screen before being able to get in a lobby but besides that, it went smoothly. 

 

There is one last point I would like to raise : one of the main critics regarding this game was that it used too much of the formula of the previous games without bringing anything new to the table, which is a fair statement. But on the other hand, when Arkham Knight was released 2 years later and Rocksteady fully implemented the Batmobile as a newly added innovation in both free roam and as a mean to progress through the story, people were still complaining that "ThErE iS tOo MuCh BaTmObiLe" which is the main reason why I get annoyed by the general consensus about Arkham Knight. 

 

Arkham Origins has its flaws, but it's still an enjoyable Batman game bringing back a lot of what made Asylum and City successful. By the way I decided to make it my milestone #1,500 : 

 

 

Enjoyment : 8/10

Challenge : 5/10

 

Batman Arkham video games are like pizzas, even the worst of the bunch is still a pretty damn good piece.

Edited May 14, 2023 by PlutoRico

[realm722]

8 hours ago, PlutoRico said:

There is one last point I would like to raise : one of the main critics regarding this game was that it used too much of the formula of the previous games without bringing anything new to the table, which is a fair statement. But on the other hand, when Arkham Knight was released 2 years later and Rocksteady fully implemented the Batmobile as a newly added innovation in both free roam and as a mean to progress through the story, people were still complaining that "ThErE iS tOo MuCh BaTmObiLe" which is the main reason why I get annoyed by the general consensus about Arkham Knight. .

 

YOOOOO! It's so nice to finally meet someone who also enjoys the Batmobile lmao ?. It's hilarious how some games will have the same tired complaint regurgitated a hundred times. For Legend of the Zelda: BotW, it was the weapon durability. For Batman: Arkham Knight, you can't throw a pebble in the landfill that is game discussion without hitting someone who complains about the "tank simulator". I thought it was fantastic and did a great job of breaking up the typical Batman loop. I played the games in a very weird order (Knight, Asylum, City) and in hindsight view it as a technical marvel the way they were able to implement it and make it feel such a core part of the experience. Never have I seen so many casuals care about story details like "who the hell is Riddler paying to build all these underground race tracks?" OR "why would the Arkham Knight not fill every random few of those battle tanks with people since he knows Batman doesn't kill". 

 

So nice to have you back though! I love the way you portray the games you play and you have a unique voice. I've never played Arkham: Origins as I don't own a PS3. My entire enjoyment of the game was done vicariously through 2BC (hockey YouTuber who loves Batman) playthrough from way back when and I loved it. If it by some miracle were to ever make it to modern consoles in a remaster or something (hey Rocksteady... that could be a great way to win your reputation back after bungling Suicide Squad), I'd be 100% down to play it to get my Arkham combat fix!

[PlutoRico]

53 minutes ago, realm722 said:

YOOOOO! It's so nice to finally meet someone who also enjoys the Batmobile lmao . It's hilarious how some games will have the same tired complaint regurgitated a hundred times. For Legend of the Zelda: BotW, it was the weapon durability. For Batman: Arkham Knight, you can't throw a pebble in the landfill that is game discussion without hitting someone who complains about the "tank simulator". I thought it was fantastic and did a great job of breaking up the typical Batman loop. I played the games in a very weird order (Knight, Asylum, City) and in hindsight view it as a technical marvel the way they were able to implement it and make it feel such a core part of the experience. Never have I seen so many casuals care about story details like "who the hell is Riddler paying to build all these underground race tracks?" OR "why would the Arkham Knight not fill every random few of those battle tanks with people since he knows Batman doesn't kill". 

 

It actually really pisses me off because it feels like people are just following the general consensus rather than getting their own opinion on the matter. And like I said, if the Batmobile wasn't implemented and the game, these same people would have had the same complaints they had with Origins : lack of innovation and newly added gameplay features ? It also feels like this whole Batmobile debate kind of trumps everything that Arkham Knight has done correctly : it's the best Batman video game gameplay and graphics wise, and the whole plot involving the Arkham Knight coming back to haunt Batman while the Joker is psychologically tormenting him from the inside coupled with Scarecrow and his obsession about weaponizing fear to get to Batman was a masterful blend. 

 

1 hour ago, realm722 said:

So nice to have you back though! I love the way you portray the games you play and you have a unique voice. I've never played Arkham: Origins as I don't own a PS3. My entire enjoyment of the game was done vicariously through 2BC (hockey YouTuber who loves Batman) playthrough from way back when and I loved it. If it by some miracle were to ever make it to modern consoles in a remaster or something (hey Rocksteady... that could be a great way to win your reputation back after bungling Suicide Squad), I'd be 100% down to play it to get my Arkham combat fix!

 

Oh man you should definitely try and get your hands on a cheap one if you're able to. The PS3 is timeless in my opinion, I still have so many games I need to play on that console. I recently got myself a 2nd one to be able to self boost some games and I'm thinking about getting a 3rd one ? If you ever think about it and go for Arkham Origins, I would gladly help you out with the online ☝️

 

Thanks for the compliment tho, I appreciate you dropping by and leaving some kind words. I wasn't as much involved in the forums in the past few months so I missed your last few updates but I recently saw that you were conquering South America! That's such a great idea that I wish I thought about it ? I always enjoy your write ups and your inspiration with your articles, I already told you but I really believe you have one of the best checklist of the website. I'm looking forward to the rest of your conquest tho bringing my ? with me whenever new content is posted haha. 

 

Side note: I'm enjoying this year's Miami Heat playoffs run so much I don't know if I'm rooting for them more than I'm rooting for my Lakers at this point ? Hope they meet up in the finals again ?