Most Recent Platinum

[R123Rob]

Platinum #1533 - Oriana: Story Three - My First Date RPG

 

[Doogey23]

Platinum 65. Terminator Resistance, a fun game, highly recommend. 

[Spageos]

#30: Senran Kagura Estival Versus

 

A pretty wild, but fun hack and slash type game.

 

However... it'll make your IQ rise to the point where you may need a neurosurgeon to expand the size of your skull to compensate for your ever-growing brain. 

 

[DrBloodmoney]

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Humanity

 

A 3D Puzzle game, combining elements of Lemmings, Snake, and occasionally Echochrome, 2023's Humanity, from THA Limited sees the player attempting to guide and recreate humanity through various stages of societal evolution, as personified by metaphorical puzzles, watching them "ascend" as each new one is conquered.

 

The player controls a dog (or, the spirit of a dog,) in a strange, fugue dimension where ethereal entities called "cores" appear to be conducting experiments and tests, designed to replicate (or instil) human elements into shell humans.
These shell humans function like lemmings in the eponymous game. They simply walk in a set direction, without care for their survival. The dog, via various "commands" that can be placed on the ground, can control where they go, how they behave, and how they interact with the obstacles in their paths, as the player tries to guide them to a designated goal.

Puzzle games with narratives generally fall into one of two broad types, as characterised by the prevalence and importance of the narrative in them, vs. the "discreteness" of the individual puzzles. There is the "Portal" model, where the overall narrative is key, and individual, discrete puzzles exist, but are encountered organically, and are seamlessly connected within the narrative framework. 
Then there is the "Hue" model, where an overarching narrative is present, however, it is less the driving force, and individual puzzles are more focussed and singular.

Humanity tends to fall in the latter camp - individual puzzles are chosen from a menu, (broken down into Assassin's Creed style "sequences", complete with "main path" puzzles and optional "side puzzles",) however, within that latter camp, Humanity is probably about as"narrative heavy" a puzzle games as I have seen, while still following that "discrete" model.
Individual puzzles are very much singular - indeed, each puzzle is entered as a separate and individual space, and each is themed and named (often with some subtle clue as to the solution to the puzzle within that name,) but these menus are entered not from a simple list, but from a hub area, wherein the player (and their canine avatar) can walk around, and explore the basic fugue white-space in which the game takes place. 
This area doesn't allow for any real exploration - there isn't much to see here beyond the functional elements relating to the puzzles solved, and the puzzles to be solved - however it is used effectively, to demonstrate some of the games very original and interesting aesthetics. 

Humanity's visuals are very striking. The whole aesthetic of the game is really centred around the concept of "society" or "colony" - of humans as individually weak, but strong in force. 
The aesthetic uses the model humans in such vast quantities, and in such strange, hypnotic masses, that the conglomerate of them stops seeming like a collective of individuals, and instead forms a flowing, sweeping, organic stream. As the dog moves around the hub area, this idea is really leaned into, as the thousands of individual humans ebb and flow and form and re-form like a mass, singular amoebic entity - and it's really hypnotic and strange!

The whole tonal aesthetic of Humanity is notably cool and distinct. While most levels are made of simple geometric shapes - cubes, slopes, some trees and some white indicators, floating in dream-like space high above some vaguely Earthly terrains, (and absolutely allows for the most important past of a puzzle game - the ability for the player to see clearly what they are doing, and solve what they need to solve,) but when combined with the peculiar and unusual movement of the stream of colourful human figures - walking, pushing, jumping... or in later levels, hitting or shooting - it makes for a very unusual and unique visual signature. 
The almost comical lack of self-preservation on the part of the humans is not unique to puzzle games - indeed, it is virtually impossible to see Humanity played, without thinking of Lemmings, and while Lemming's days as a powerhouse puzzle franchise are long past at this point, it still remains a titan of the genre...
... but because these particular "lemmings" look human, and are in such vast quantities, seeing them all splatting to their demise at the bottom of a too-high drop, or jumping uselessly into the gaping void due to a misplaced jump command is really odd and kind of funny!

Lemmings, it's worth noting, is very, very clearly a big influence on the basic design document that leads to Humanity, however, as a fan of that franchise, I also think it's worth giving Humanity some plaudits, as it does in one fell swoop what Lemmings never quite managed to do: it translates the Lemmings model to 3D successfully. 
There were 3D Lemmings games, but none of them ever really hit right, and none ever captured the compulsive and addictive quality of the franchises 2D games. That Humanity manages to achieve that is, I suspect, a much more difficult feat than its confident and well implemented gameplay would suggest.

As for the actual puzzles - they are generally very good.  There is a lot of variety, and quite a lot of changes in the core mechanics over the course of the game... though the game does suffer a little, in the sense that easily the most enjoyable and interesting of the core mechanics are those present in the early game. 
The early sections focus on simply turning, splitting, jumping and floating the humans, and combined with various obstacles and blocks that can be pushed or used in the solution (by the humans themselves, via commands,) this forms some of the best and most interesting puzzles.

Later in the game, new elements begin being introduced - for example, the ability to give the humans weapons, to counter "others" - non-player controlled humans which cause obstructions and kill the player's humans. While some of the puzzles featuring these elements still retain the core gameplay present earlier, there is a tendency for the game to "drift", to almost a more tower-defence style gameplay. 

 

This can work... indeed, at that point, the game still feels largely of the style it established early on, and the addition merely "bends" the gameplay, as opposed to "breaking" it...

...however, as the game continues, a single command is introduced that really does break the gameplay style initially established - the "Follow" command. 

This allows the dog (i.e. the player) to directly move humans, in real time, and combined with the weapons, and the introduction of objects of weaponry in addition to those arming the people themselves (and giving the same elements to the "others") the game really does lose focus on what its original gameplay was.
Puzzles that are almost entirely akin to either Tower Defence, Stealth Action, or even RTS style games become the norm, rather than the exception. 

 

To be clear, a puzzle game that manages to weave between different genres within the framework of its own game mechanics is a laudable thing - that's not something that is easy to do, and Humanity does it pretty well...
...but the fundamental issue is, that while these sections are interesting conceptually, they are markedly less fun to actually engage with than the pure "puzzle" levels. 
By the last few chapters of the game, when a "pure puzzle" level came along, I found myself elated... and then disappointed when the next one after that was back to simply "follow-the-leader" RTS. The fact that some of these "pure puzzle" levels in the later game are still very good, and still layering new mechanics into the game, did give a distinct feeling of missed opportunity: there was clearly still ample "gas in the tank", for the developer to create more puzzles of the best kind... they simply chose not to, in favour of a less interesting model.

That complaint is, of course, one down more to personal tastes of course, but I don't think it can be entirely dismissed as such, for the simple reason that the game itself is what establishes its basic premise early on, then starts to break it. Most puzzle games do this to some extent - and it is often a necessary part of escalating the challenge in a puzzle game - but I think in the case of Humanity, it breaks just a little too far from its core design by the end, and while the later levels feel different, they don't necessarily feel harder. It feels morel like a change in style, than an increase in challenge. 

 

Audio in the game is good - and like the aesthetic - also very unusual. The score is a really, really strange collection of ambient, avant-garde soundscapes, that initially I found considerably off-putting.... until about an hour in, when I started to really appreciate the oddness of it. I guess in some sense, the peculiar narrative and tone of the game warrants an audioscape to match, and once the game established itself and it's strange tone, the music began to feel more at home within it!

The audio stings to indicate player actions work too - the dog gives a satisfying little "bark" when paying down a command, and little audio stings indicating the streams of humans have done something (pushed a block successfully, for example,) work well, feel right, and give the player the indications they need, given that they will not always be in a position to be watching their human wards at all times, while trying to find solutions to further puzzles in a level.

The actual gameplay controls are fine - the dog moves quite well, and placing down commands is easy, and made simple to gauge by the geometric design of the levels. There is a minor annoyance in the form of elevations - the dog can jump fairly high, however, it will not always be able to jump high enough to reach some platforms they need to. There is a mechanic whereby the dog can jump "into" the human stream - and sort of "swim" through the stream of human forms, allowing the player to access higher points, but jumping into the "stream" and riding it "up the waterfall" of climbing humans to higher areas... but there are a couple of puzzles where this problem can be very frustrating, as falling off a higher section essentially requires a restart.

 

Overall, Humanity is a neat concept, and a very well executed one. 
It takes some puzzle elements that existed before, but combines them in an interesting way, and does so while presenting some smart, fun and challenging if never fiendish puzzles. 

There is some issues with the game losing its focus as it progresses, however, that is purely in terms of puzzle design. In terms of narrative, aesthetic, auditory tone and style, the game works very well, remains cohesive, and manages to build its story to a pretty effective and interesting climax. 

 

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)

Edited June 12, 2023 by DrBloodmoney

[DrBloodmoney]

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Metal: Hellsinger

 

A 2022 hybrid of rhythm game and old-school, DOOM-style, fast-paced shooter, Metal Hellsinger from Sweden-based studio The Outsiders, takes the basic principles of a gore-fest demon-shooter of the 90s - death-metal music included...
...but while most games of that ilk use their metal music trappings as simple flavour, Metal Hellsinger bakes them right into its core gameplay.

Taking the role of a nameless demonic soul - The Unknown - and armed with a growing arsenal of hell-based firepower, a silent grimace, and a talking skull guide by the name of Paz, the player must shoot, rip, blast and tear through the different Hells that make up the underworld, in search of the ruler: The Red Judge, in order to reclaim The Unknown's stolen voice.

 

The story is goofy fun, in the best way for this kind of pulpy action game. While there is little information given to the player about who The Unknown actually is, or the the reasons for her missing voice at the outset (or, really, throughout,) it's largely immaterial - the narrative exists as a function - to get the player into the demon-blasting action as fast as possible, and it serves that function well. In fact, actually getting into deep lore would likely be a detriment to the game. DOOM worked best when we knew nothing about "The DOOM Guy" beyond the fact that he was a compulsive demon-annoyer, and professional silent-type. 
What narrative there is is fine - it's generally delivered by way of motion-comic style cut-scenes, which are clearly necessitated by the lower budget of the game, but are stylish enough to do what they need to do, and have a pretty cool, 80's-vinyl-album-cover art-style to them. There's some voice work that is suitably gravelly and overblown, and again, works for the tone very well, if never particularly standing out.

In terms of hitting the tone the game strives for, let's not mess around here: Metal Hellsinger absolutely nails it. 
The game is, as said, relatively low budget, and that can be seen as a tether or a negative in some areas, but in terms of the visuals and the gameplay fluidity, it is arguably one of the games biggest strengths. 
The game has little in the way of breadth of design aesthetic or of tertiary design elements - menus are fairly bare-bones, levels are relatively simple and rudimentary, and the variety of enemies is a little limited overall... however, given the fact that the game is aiming, (at least to some extent,) to evoke the blisteringly fast, gory, pulpy shooters of the 90s that came in the wake of DOOM and Quake, those aspects do rather help it. There is little  faffing about, or time spent delivering some deep or expansive lore - the player is thrust immediately into the action via some superlative, ripping metal music, and is blasting their way through hordes of demons before they can even catch their breath.

The actual gameplay essentially boils down to basic shooter principles, with the added caveat that damage done by weapons is exponentially increased if that weapon is fired "on beat" - i.e. in rhythm with the pulsing BMP of the particular metal track that accompanies that level. While a shotgun blast will do some damage no matter when it is fired, (as long as it hits, of course,) it does more damage if it is close to "on beat"... and does substantially more if the shot lands perfectly on beat.

As such, the player is massively incentivised to try to find a "flow" within each level - to establish the rhythm of the song playing, and get into a groove of constantly strafing, moving, jumping and kiting enemies in order to allow every shot they take to both be on target, and on beat.

It's a clever concept, and one that pairs very well with the fast-action, strafe-and-blast-style gameplay of those early 90s shooters. When it works, it really works. 

The music chosen for each level is pretty good - primarily by a band I was not previously familiar with - Dark Tranquility - but featuring a smattering of guest artists, some of whom even a Metal Music Novice such as myself was familiar with (Randy Blythe of Lamb of God, Serj Tankian of System of a Down, Matt Heafy of Trivium etc,) and it is used in a cool way. When the player is low on health, or playing poorly, the music fades, and dims to simply a pounding, bassy beat, allowing them to refocus and get their rhythm back, but as they chain together more and more "on-beat" shots, and get into a groove, the elements of each song begin to layer. First, the music kicks in more and more, and once a good chain of combo is built up, and the player hits the maximum "fury" level (a points multiplier increased through good gameplay,) the top level brings in the vocals.

The design of this soundscape really helps to add a feeling of euphoric crescendo to the ebb and flow of the levels - hitting that top level, and hearing the songs kick fully into gear, with the vocals, (which are often diagetic to the narrative happening in that level,) blaring, the game feels at its best - and makes the player want to maintain that level of play, even beyond the simple gameplay and points-based reasons to.

The game is not without issues, however, and once the novelty of the core concept wears off a little, that is when these issues start to show themselves.

 

Firstly, there is that lack of variety. Now, as said, and in fairness, the games Metal Hellsinger is aping were themselves fairly repetitive, and often had little more variety to environment design or enemy types than Metal Hellsinger has... 
...however, those games were of an era. 
In 2023, a game with so little in the way of variety can't help but feel limited, simply due to the escalation of the medium. Metal Hellsinger has around 15 or 16 enemy types... but really, it only has 4 or 5 true "strains". The others are simply variants - more elite or rarer versions of the others - and the methods to fighting them are not really changed between the different "levels" of them, all that changes is the risk.

 

Bosses even, suffer for this concept - arguably more so than the mob enemies. While each boss fight is technically unique in terms of having unique mechanics depending on the level, visually, all the bosses (bar the final one) are pretty much identical designs, and even with the variations of attack type or environmental obstacles in the arena in which they are fought, they do tend to simply feel like fighting different levels of the same core form. 
Because the bosses are also absurd bullet-sponges, and fighting them takes a long time, those fights, no matter how interesting the attack patterns, tend to wear out their welcome before they are over.

The weapons on offer are fun to use - they blast and pop with incredibly satisfying heft and feel - and are relatively varied in play-style, but there are only a small handful of them - 5 or 6 types, and really, two or three of these are vastly more powerful and viable than the others. I'd wager most players will gravitate towards using only those ones, as the lack of enemy variety means there is pretty much no reasonable "use-case" for going back to the less powerful weapons.

 

Level design variety is also an issue. While exploring the different areas of the Hells does allow for some modest changes in environment design, generally this simply manifests as a change in colour palate for the surrounding rocks. Most of the Hells look fairly similar... and because they are populated by pretty much the same enemies, the game - while notably short - does start to feel very repetitive. 
There really isn't anything in the way of unique or interesting puzzle elements to the areas - there are no "hit the switch" or "collect the item" style sections - everything in the game is simply "walk to the next wide open area, fight waves of enemies until a door opens, then do it again."

 

It's odd actually - there are sets of "challenge rooms" that unlock with each completed "main level" - in sets of 3, the mastery of which unlocks powerful buffs that can be used in game - and while these are ostensibly side-activities, I often found myself actually enjoying them significantly more than the main levels.
 The reason?
There are specific challenges associated with them.

Because the main levels have nothing more to them than a string of 5 or 6 wave-based arenas, followed by a boss fight, and there is no tertiary elements involved in success beyond simply survive and get a good score, they often feel less interesting and less focussed than the challenge rooms, which feature only one "arena"... but give the player an active, unique goal to strive for.

All these elements do drag the game down a little, but could be argued to be simply a matter of taste. 
I don't have the kind of FPS nostalgia for games like DOOM and Quake that some folks do, and I have no issue admitting that some of my exhaustion with the lack of variety in the gameplay is exhascerbated by that lack of nostalgic connection to that old genre.

However, there are two elements that really hurt Metal Hellsinger, that I do not think are excusable, or a matter of taste.

 

Firstly: the hit-boxing issues.

Hit-boxing in Metal Hellsinger is... frankly, woeful.
There isn't an issue with the player's shots - they hit when they should, and miss when they should... however, the attach animations of enemies are so poorly hit-boxed that they actually elicited laughs - both from me, and MsBloodmoney who watched some of the game over my shoulder. Sometimes, enemies will claw at the player while right beside them, and hit nothing but air... yet other times, they seem to be swiping from 10 feet away, and somehow connect.
The issue was so bad, in fact, that multiple times I was hit by such an absurd, ludicrously mis-aligned hit-box, that I actually turned, assuming there was another enemy that had managed to flank me and was attacking from behind... so sure was I that the game could not possibly be registering a hit from the guy miles in front of me.
Spoiler Alert: there was no one there!

 

That would be an issue in any game, but it is a particularly bad one in a game like Metal Hellsinger, where maintaining a combo requires not being hit. The problem can be somewhat alleviated later in game, due to the ability to unlock buffs that mitigate a few incoming hits without breaking combos... but still - in a game where not being hit is key to success, having such elastic hit-boxing is a pretty egregious oversight.

The second major issue is the game's "Lag Configuration Tool".

Like most modern rhythm games which will be played on an LCD TV, Metal Hellsinger features a tool designed to configure the game to the users set-up.

Unlike most modern rhythm games which will be played on an LCD TV, Metal Hellsinger's does not work. 

The configuration tool has three stages - a "music lag" configuration stage, a "visual lag" configuration stage, and then a "test" stage, where the settings are applied by the game, and tested, to be confirmed. 

I tried this process upwards of 30 times, and not once was I able to pass the final "test" stage. Whatever the game was doing with the information - whether it was misapplying the information gathered n the first two stages, or failing to apply it before the third stage, it simply couldn't have been right. The game was telling me "this is your lag"... then failing to implement it to allow it to pass its own test!

In the end, the only way I was able to effectively find the correct settings for my set-up, was by manually, painstakingly adjusting each slider in increments of 5ms, then testing in the real game... a painstaking process that took about 20-30 minutes to finally get right. 

This also fed into an additional issue - which I assume to be console specific - the control scheme.

On PC, it would be fine. Hitting a key on a keyboard in time with a beat is, of course, relatively easy - as a key on a keyboard has little "throw". 
Pn PS5, however, the issue is with the L2 trigger. L2, (and even more with an L2 trigger with haptic feedback and applied force feedback,) has a delay simply in the action of pulling it. 

The game itself has multiple control scheme options, however, curiously, all of them use either L2 or R2 as the "fire" button. Even with lag adjustment, I was never able to reliably hit "on-beat" using those... and only really became proficient in the game by using the console-level override "accessibility" features, to remap L2 to the shorter throw L1 trigger.

I'm aware that citing a control scheme might seem like a nit-pick in a game - and in 99% of games, I would agree that such an issue barely warrants a mention - however, in the specific case of Metal Hellsinger, I do think it is an element that has a genuinely detrimental effect on the game to have overlooked such an issue. Yes, the problem can be alleviated easily using the PS5 console features...
...but games should not have to rely on outside factors like those to solve what is a fundamental flaw in the design of their game for that console. Hell, I'd wager many casual players are not even aware the PS5 has console-level remapping options - and games should account for their own mechanics in game. A player having to remap buttons outside the game to simply have a fighting chance at playing it properly, shows a failure on the Dev's part.

 

Overall, Metal Hellsinger is a good game, and a great concept, but it is one that can feel a little flimsy once the initial novelty wears off, and has some pretty unforgivable flaws that need to be overlooked or mitigated in order to really enjoy it.  

It's a game with a lot of personality, and one that really does feel amazing when it's firing on all cylinders... but those moments are fleeting, and even over a short game length, they can start to feel like the exception, rather than the rule.

 

 

 

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)

Edited June 12, 2023 by DrBloodmoney

[DrBloodmoney]

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Alan Wake: Remastered

 

A narrative focussed, survival horror(ish?) game from Remedy - purveyors of such interesting (if not always successful) fare as Max Payne, Control and Quantum Break - Alan Wake originally released in 2010 as a console exclusive Xbox game, and remained as such for 11 years, until Alan Wake Remastered released in 2021, for PS4 and PS5.

Taking its cues from a litany of pop-culture reference points - most notably Stephen King's novels, Twin Peaks, The Twilight Zone and The X Files - Alan Wake is almost inarguably the most "Remedy" game that Remedy have ever put out. 

Remedy, as a developer, have a pretty distinct and specific flavour to their games, and are synonymous with 3 things primarily: unusual, interesting stories, in-game live-action FMV... and gameplay that doesn't quite live up to the promise of the narrative.
Alan Wake has more of all three than any other game they have done!

Suffering from a stretch of writer's block, best-selling crime-fiction author Alan Wake travels with his wife Alice to the mountain retreat of Bright Falls, Washington for a vacation. Unbeknownst to Alan, Bright Falls is home to more than just small town living, however. It is also the home and workplace of a psychiatrist - Dr. Emil Hartman - who specialises in treating artists who are suffering from mental health issues... something Bright Falls seems to have in abundance. Indeed, the town seems to be a magnet for artists, who go mad at an unusually high rate there!

After suffering a nightmare, in which elements of his own stories seem to be coming to life as dark-infested demonic entities, Alan and Alice head to the cabin they have rented on Cauldron Lake... at which point, Alice is apparently kidnapped, and the dark entities from his dreams seem to propagate everywhere. After being visited by an ethereal floating entity in a diving suit, who teaches Alan how to destroy the dark entities using a gun and a flashlight, he sets about descending into a waking nightmare as he seeks to save Alice...
...as the town turns against him and a demonic entity - The Dark Presence - pursues him.

Let's start with the good stuff then.

The narrative elements, in particular the premise, the lore, and the environmental story-telling is, absolutely and unequivocally, the highlight in Alan Wake. There is personal preference playing into my admiration certainly - all those pop-culture reference points referenced above are things I'm a huge fan of -  but even setting that personal preference aside, Remedy do a really great job on that front.

The actual writing of the dialogue is generally pretty good, if a little "on-the-nose" at time. It's clear, even from the writing, that the game originally hails from 2010, as that was a time when "naturalistic" dialogue and performances were still in their infancy in games, and Alan Wake does still retain a lot of more clunky "this thing is happening!" style writing that came before...
...but within that style, the writing is still a pretty effective version. It's considerably helped by the overall plot and premise, which is very good, and the central mystery and narrative through-line help to keep enough forward momentum to gloss over some of the less finessed dialogue that peppers it.

Characters might be relatively "broad strokes" but not to the extent that it hampers the game - and one thing Remedy does very well, is making sure that each character - from main cast to NPC - all have something unusual or unique about them. Whether its the waitress at the diner, who is an obsessive Alan Wake fan, or the trailer park attendant with his limp, or the old, senile Rocker who loves the song "Lime in the Coconut", or the strange old woman known as the "Lamp Lady" who carries a lantern with her at all times (in a pretty obvious nod to the Log Lady from Twin Peaks,) each character encountered usually has something slightly askew or peculiar, that lends them a slightly more memorable quality, and makes up a "patchwork of the unusual" that lends Bright Falls itself a particular, signature oddness.

 

Alan himself is an interesting character, in the sense that while he is on something of a "hero's journey", fighting to save Alice, he is not portrayed particularly flatteringly, and is actually quite an unlikable guy on paper. 
It's not a situation like Kratos in his Greek games, where the developer seems to think the character is cool, but the player simply recognises his as a dick - Alan is actually somewhat the opposite.  The developer goes to some lengths to actively make Alan unlikable - showing flashback scenes of him hung-over and being a bit of a turd to the long-suffering Alice, or appearing on a TV talkshow and acting like a douchebag, or even in the actual narrative, in which Alan seems to consistently treat fans or nice characters with distain...
...but because the fundamental premise of the game is more "plot forward" than "character forward", and because, despite everything, Alan's quest is a (relatively) noble one, we as players never quite seem to dislike him as much as we maybe should (and probably would, were we to meet him in real life, under less supernatural circumstances!)

 

Visually, the game is very good. It takes place all around Bright Falls and the surrounding forrest, and they are all rendered pretty impressively for a 2010 game. A large amount of the game (too much, really,) takes place in the woods, and so there is a certain repetitive nature to the visuals in these areas, (there's only so many ways to make a tree look like a tree,) however, it's helped enormously by some really evocative and effective lighting techniques, and the dark forestry does look good as a result. 

 

Where the game really excels visually though, is in the town, and indoor locations. There's a level of detail and environmental storytelling that - while not on the level of something like The Last of Us - is still markedly impressive, and really sells the reference material. The local Diner, the small-town Police Station, the local bookshop, the trailer park and trailers - these places are designed really well, are detailed nicely, and look right out of something like Twin Peaks. It's virtually impossible to step into the Diner, without thinking of having a slice of cherry pie, and a damn good cup of coffee!

 

All of these elements really work, and are the strengths with which the player is propelled through the elements of Alan Wake that are less well implemented: namely, the moment-to-moment gameplay, and the voice work.

In terms of audio, the actual score is fine (never stand out, but evocative,) and the audio stings and whispering, growling snarls of the demonic possessed are all pretty good... however, the actual voice work is not particularly great... and the biggest culprit in this is Alan himself.

There are characters in Alan Wake who are designed to be deliberately annoying - his manager Barry, for example, who is clearly designed to be in the "Zeke from inFamous" model, of "NPC side-kick who is annoying the player along with the character"... 
...but actually, his voice work is generally far less grating than Alan's is. 

 

The problem is that so much of the game has voice-over from Alan's point of view, and while written, at worst, perfectly adequately, the voice actor - Matthew Porretta - has a tendency to put so much sauce on it that it makes a a pretty good facsimile of pulpy, B-Movie style writing feel C-Grade.
To be clear - I do not believe Porretta to be a poor actor - he demonstrably isn't - however, the direction taken in Alan Wake feels particularly mis-handled. A more naturalistic, less stilted and theatrical reading of the lines would make a lot more sense. The kind of overly-dramatic, "I'm a cool guy" reading used here works for a character like Max Payne, where there is only sporadic dialogue, but hearing so many lines delivered in that tone, tends to start to sound silly rather than effective.

Gameplay is the other weak point - and that, of course, is a pretty big one.

 

The problem with Alan Wake, is that while the narrative is nice and varied, and keeps the momentum the whole way, the gameplay that it supports is extraordinarily limited in scope... and doesn't seem to really be able to decide what genre of game it is trying to be.

 

Essentially, the gameplay boils entirely down to moving from point A to point B, with enemies appearing in waves. Enemies, (whether humanoid, "possessed object", or - the most annoying - birds,) are all dealt with exactly the same way: by shining a torch on them long enough to "burn away" the darkness possessing them. Humanoid enemies then need to be shot with a gun, but this is almost a throw-away activity - the real difficulty and challenge of each encounter is in applying enough light, and managing consumable batteries to do so.

This is a perfectly reasonable mechanic, however, it is not particularly interesting... and never really changes - in either difficulty or play-style - across the entire game. There is only so many types of enemy, and they are repeated as such a consistent and recurring frequency, that the game starts to feel like simply doing exactly the same encounter over and over. 
Which... it kind of is.

 

On the highest difficulties, is can be beneficial to simply run away from enemies, and this can be tense and fun, given that on that higher difficulty, there will not be enough resources to kill everything, and encounters become more a case of using light strategically, to "stall" enemies as Alan runs away to safety. Alan moves a lot slower than most of the enemies - and most game protagonists, (and must be a 100-a-day smoker, given that he runs out of stamina after about 7 steps!)... so managing these more difficult modes can be a little more fun... 
...but it's still pretty invariable in terms of challenge or style over the course of the game. 

 

The gameplay physics and control model are also pretty chunky and imprecise, all told. 

There is a real issue in the sense that aiming a gun also uses the "increase brightness" of the torch mechanic - they are one and the same - so aiming at an enemy who has already had their "darkness" burned off to shoot them, also drains Alan's battery, thus using a valuable resource needed to burn the light off the other enemies. 

Alan also moves pretty stiffly, and the camera can often get hung up on environments when i close quarters - and that is somewhat forgivable and partly a simply quirk of that era of games...
...however, Alan Wake has some much more significant issues, in terms of the physics model, combined with the environment design. 

Because "objects in motion" are deadly - a necessity, given that the Dark Entity can possess objects, and "throw" them at Alan, it gives rise to a particularly irksome issue, where non-possessed objects that are moving simply due to the physics engine and the movement of other surrounding objects, can do damage to Alan when they really shouldn't. 

 

This is a particularly irksome problem in one section of the DLC chapter "The Writer" wherein one of the most interesting and audacious environments - a giant ferris-wheel-style rotating drum, filled with places from Alan's past that he must move through as it spins. This area is super cool to see... but because the whole environment is constantly in motion, and filled with objects, it becomes a nightmare to navigate, as every object can be accidentally imbued with deadly properties, owing to the slight movement they are all subject to!

 

There is also a fairly egregious design error in a few spots, where sets of stairs have been designed too steeply for the physics model, and so Alan can't actually walk up them... he has to "bunny hop" his way up the steps, even as NPC companions happily saunter up them!

 

 

Whether Alan Wake is really a "Survival Horror" game is a little questionable in terms of gameplay too.

Alan has a torch, ( and can find better ones, of various levels of brightnesses,) flares and flash-bang grenades, and essentially, the game boils down to managing those items. That would suggest that the game falls most neatly into the "Survival Horror" genre - managing batteries and light-sources in the same way a Resident Evil player will manage bullets...
... however, there is an odd element to this mechanic in Alan Wake, in the sense that in each chapter, his items are reset. Despite the dangers, Alan apparently never learns to hang onto his gun and flashlight and flares... he seems perfectly happy to leave them behind every time he embarks on a new errand!

As such, there is no sense in the player actually managing these resources effectively - as saving powerful light sources for later tends to result in simply losing them as soon as a chapter ends.
It's certainly closer to a Survival Horror game than any other genre... however, since resource management is such a massive part of those games, it's hard to fathom why the decision was made to do this. 

It's also worth noting, that while I think "Survival Horror" is the broad genre classification most appropriate for Alan Wake... the developer don't seem to agree. Sam Lake, (the always dapperly dressed and absurdly charismatic Joel McHale look-alike, and creative director of Remedy,) has stated that the upcoming Alan Wake II is Remedy's "First Survival Horror game")... 
...though that does raise the question: 
If Alan Wake isn't supposed to be a Survival Horror game... then what exactly is it supposed to be?

 

Overall, Alan Wake is something of a game of two halves - in terms of fun and quality at least. 

The premise, the writing, the environmental design and lighting, and the palpable sense of place, tone and genre are tip-top, and on a level that is impressive - and particularly so, given the era in which it originally released. However, the gameplay variety, the mechanical finesse and some of the voice acting are fairly ropey, and tend to pull down the experience a bit.

 

It's a testament to the positive elements that, even despite the negative elements, I am still particularly interested and excited about the prospect of Alan Wake II coming this year - and that certainly speaks to the particular elements that it does right. 

Tone, premise, narrative, design - these elements are the hard ones to nail, and Alan Wake absolutely does. Gameplay, and mechanics are the ones most likely to be solved by better tech - and that Remedy have demonstrated their improvements on with Control. An Alan Wake game that retains all the good elements, but adds some more gameplay variety, and is mechanically finessed to the level that the premise deserves would be a hell of a game...
...and hopefully, that's exactly what the sequel will bring!

 

 

(For original review and Scientific  Ranking see HERE)

[RotatingCube]

#141-145 - 9 Monkeys of Shaolin (PS4) , Gods Will Fall (PS4), Wytchwood (PS5), Black Mirror (PS4), No Straight Roads (PS4)

 

 

This list is basically the platinums of games that I was remotely interested in that are about to leave PS Plus extra in June. Fortunately, most of them don't take a lot of time and  are not too difficult. Well NSR would have been very hard if there wasn't a way to cheese its toughest trophy.

 

[Dantes_994]

HELLBLADE SENUA'S SACRIFICE

Done
Collect all of the other trophies

PLAT NO. 28

FUN: LIBERATING/10

DIFFICULTY 4/10

I have nothing to add. This game is liberating. If you haven't played it yet, do it. 

 

[fresquinho]

RIDERS REPUBLIC PLATINUM!

 

One of the most fun multiplayer experiences I had IN YEARS and I'm not even a "multiplayer guy"! Gorgeous photo mode, amazing game for action sports lovers like me ?

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by fresquinho

[YaManSmevz]

Platinum #105: Trek to Yomi

 

A Trek to Remember
Collect all other trophies

Rarity: 15.86%

Difficulty: 5/10

 

Lotta peeps talkin shit on this month's free games, but... I'unno man, I think this one alone made it a great month!

 

Trek to Yomi, first and foremost, looks outstanding. They absolutely nailed the whole 50s Kurosawa look, right down to the grainy film. The sound is on point as well, I loved the music (again, 50s Kurosawa af) and the sound effects are fucking brutal. Gotta give some flowers to the voice actors as well, they do such a great job of selling everything and it makes the story feel all the more immersive. You really feel like you're in this bandit-ravaged village with death all around you, it's just so well done. I really can't compliment the presentation enough.

 

Unfortunately, that's where Trek stop excelling. The controls are kinda wack - they're basic and repetitive at best, and unresponsive at worst. For example, there's a button for turning around to face a foe, and it doesn't always register, so a lot of the time you'll end up getting a sword in your back when you thought you were facing the right way. Especially since a few of the bosses require Salt & Sanctuary type rollin and slashin, it can get pretty frustrating.

 

Also I experienced quite a few stutters during gameplay, many of which at crucial mid-battle moments. And how you gonna give us all these collectibles to find, but no chapter select?? Lame!

 

Overall though, I was feelin this. I like that they had a creative take on the whole "Samurai seeking revenge" trope, and the way they told the story was perfect. The controls are pretty mid, but they're still fun (and finishers are soooo satisfying) and for all the shortcomings Trek to Yomi has, there's too much good here to be overshadowed.

 

And it's free right now! If you're on the fence, I say give it a shot?

[NetoStyle]

HUMANITY (PS5)

#182

 

 

WHO'S A GOOD BOY? Earn all other trophies.

 

21.58% | Uncommon

5 days, 2 hours.

 

 

 

I won't say much as I think that many others have platted this game during this month. I really enjoyed this one, smooth and chill puzzle game with a few harder levels here and there but very entertaining!

 

[PooPooBlast]

#188 A Plague Tale Requiem

 

The sequel to the beloved A Plague Tale Innocence, Requiem is a direct continuation taking place in 14th century, France, in the midst of a rat-induced plague. As brother and sister, you must survive the rat tornado along with enduring nutcases trying to kill you. At the center of it all is your little bro who let's just say without spoilers, has a lot of influence in terms of deciding the fate of humanity. 

 

In my opinion, I thought the first game was overall better (from a plot standpoint) but the sequel was still excellent with a few flaws. I thought that the first five chapters had tons and tons of filler with a lot of pointless objectives that ultimately had no impact on the story/ending whatsoever. It's only after those chapters that the game finally started to shine. Loved the new locations, the plot scenarios and character development that took place beyond the first five chapters. 

 

However, I was lukewarm on the ending.

Hugo dying to save humanity wasn't a suprise but I just disliked how we spent two full games with the promise of a cure only to come up to short... I mean that's the whole reason why we even played through it all. To see how those two will survive and find a cure. But nope, all of it was pointless and turns out we were fighting the inevitable. Not too upset by it but I'm not amazed either. 

 

 

 

With all that said, I'm still happy I got to experience the game and it's definitely worth a playthrough. Curious to see how the devs will continue the franchise moving forward which was hinted at in that sequel bait epilogue. Well onto the next!

Edited June 13, 2023 by PooPooBlast

[bbaauuiiss97]

#1832

Resistance 3

 

 

Cleaning up some ps3 stuff, glad to finally have gotten around to play all the Resistance games ^^

[greggors95]

Platinum 58- The Artful Escape (PS4)

 

This game is so beautifully designed, the levels are creative even if the game play is relatively straightforward its a good little indie game, rhythm games aren't something I would normally go out of my way to play but this is worth a play if you haven't already. I did the PS5 one last year and didn't realise it had a PS4 option as well, so thought it was worth going for. 

[PotrikBerger]

On 11/06/2023 at 10:35 PM, sk_lp_him said:

#171 - Destroy All Humans!

 

 

Furon Perfection
Obtain all trophies

 

Great main campaign, but the challenges are ass, especially the races and abductions. The humor is very fun, something we don't see very often these days with sterile pc writing.

 

Ahh dude, this is like one of only two games where I haven’t got the plat because I just couldn’t do it. It’s a rare thing. Most of the time i don’t get the plat because a game wants me to replay it and I just don’t want to or it’s too grindy for too long so I just walk away. But this game I didn’t get the plat because I was so god awful at the challenge where you had to pick up bits of beach furniture and alike. That one challenge broke the plat for me. I’ve never felt so woefully short of skill as I did for that particular challenge or minigame or whatever the hell it was. Bad memories lol

[Amaterasuthewolf]

 

 

 #75: 4 Goddesses Online Master

[Jermster_91]

 #134 Ape Escape

I remember playing Ape Escape on the Playstation 1 but never got very far. The game is a fun little platformer with easy enough trophies. The rewind feature will help you a ton if you decide to tackle this game. It only took me a little over 6 hours to get all the trophies required for the platinum. This was a nice fun little platformer that I am glad that I was able to play fully years later. 

[sk_lp_him]

2 hours ago, PotrikBerger said:

 

Ahh dude, this is like one of only two games where I haven’t got the plat because I just couldn’t do it. It’s a rare thing. Most of the time i don’t get the plat because a game wants me to replay it and I just don’t want to or it’s too grindy for too long so I just walk away. But this game I didn’t get the plat because I was so god awful at the challenge where you had to pick up bits of beach furniture and alike. That one challenge broke the plat for me. I’ve never felt so woefully short of skill as I did for that particular challenge or minigame or whatever the hell it was. Bad memories lol

 

Keep trying, you'll get it eventually. There's as much skill involved as well as luck with getting a good cars spawn in that particular challenge.

[PotrikBerger]

36 minutes ago, sk_lp_him said:

 

Keep trying, you'll get it eventually. There's as much skill involved as well as luck with getting a good cars spawn in that particular challenge.

 

Lol, kind words and appreciate the encouragement but it was quite a while ago that I played this now and I’ve long since sold the game. All I can remember is that I wasn’t even close to whatever the target was in that minigame. Nowhere near it. Whatever my fingers had to do in that to grab the items and get them in something (memory hazy, can’t quite remember exactly what the task was) they just didn’t seem to have the capability of pressing right buttons at right time. I was miles off dude. It was sobering lol

[PakaloloPlant]

Platinum 24 - Beyond Perfection

Last boss was a PAIN to beat.

Edited June 13, 2023 by PakaloloPlant

[AK-1138]

Platinum #734:

 

 

Difficulty: 2/10

Playtime: 10-13 hours

 

Oh wow... every now and then, on Man's tempestuous voyage down this bumfuzzling psycodelic helter skelter called Life, every now and again he reaches a stop at which he feels fully connected to the very fibre of the universe, and receives a momentary respite from his captivity to finite reasoning, able to enjoy all the fullness and richness of life. So, I'm this kid, see... having realized at an early age that school is a scam existing only to stem the tide of juvenile delinquency and provide a sense of purpose, however fleeting, to those "gifted' with the useless ability to mathematize, I deigned one day not to go.

 

Armed, as ever, with a panoply of infinitely more spiritually edifying possibilities for the day at hand, I was suddenly reminded that I had recently downloaded, for not a penny's charge, a little adventure game called Beneath a Steel Sky... and well, as you might've guessed, my conscientious decision came to represent one of these aforementioned golden moments of transcendence... "free" ware, indeed. By the look of you, I'd say you have about, say, a 99.3% chance of not having anything better to do, so instead of listening to my inane prattle, why don't you go play it. Like, right now.

DO IT.

Far more than just a classic P 'n' C adventure game in its purest form, its Pythonian satirical edge, dirty retro-futurism aesthetic, and Kafkaesque prescience renders it one of the most unique future visions on record. And, more importantly, it also boasts the most superlative sarcastic robot sidekick in the history of the idiom, so Claptrap, would you kindly choke on a sarlacc scrotum? So yeah, when a sequel was randomly announced a good quarter century after the original release, oh, you can just about betcha I'd want a part of that action sooner or later there don't ya know.

So. Beyond a Steel Sky. Being the further adventures of a guy named after a mediocre Australian beer (it's a long story) and the ownership of whose proverbial Rocky Mountain Oysters have been signed away to a mad doctor (it's an even longer story) in the used future art deco cyberpunk wonderland known as Union City, situated... umm, somewhere in Oceania, I guess. Having been freed from the oppressive yoke of overreaching AI in Beneath, it is now a thriving utopia in which a culture of instant gratification and constant happiness has been achieved. Happy happy, and indeed, joy joy. But at what price utopia? These and several other existential questions germane to the extemporaneous zeitgeist of our times are ruminated upon in the adventurous proceedings.

Well... despite Revolution's impressive track record with staying true to their idiosyncratic idiom of quirky adventuration for decades now--very much appreciated at in a time in which every other franchise is selling its soul--and my own desire to see people aspire to tell new stories instead of pragmatically rehashing nostalgia, Beyond is a game that can never quite find sure footing between the familiar and the proverbial Brave New World.  The original was always tinged with dark overtones, but this one doubles down on it but good, to its detriment... indeed, the humour takes a backseat and when it does come to the fore, the plot is usually too serious and po-faced for it to help maintain a balance.

 

For all their strengths, Revolution could never lay claim to being amazing dramatic storytellers, and they should have known their limits. And this was before the endgame revealed some rather nasty retconnage; a massive pet peeve of mine. Reconciling the two games can sometimes be difficult... maybe their new direction would have played better if it weren't tethered to already extant IP. Maybe getting someone who could more closely approximate the gently snarky bonhomie of Foster's original VA could somehow have tied it all together. Maybe they should have tried to emulate the disarmingly eclectic soundtrack of the original instead of generic space opera scoring. Maybe... maybe there are just too many maybes.

It's all the more frustrating because there is a good amount of potential here. Nary a point nor a click is to be found, but the more involved modernistic gameplay gave me an unexpectedly nice and tingly classic Telltale vibe, from before their own delve into deeper storytelling... with more succesful results, I might add. The hacking mechanic (Foster's red Christmas jumper is still 738% more Iconic than the nondescript baseball cap of, uhh, Mr. Watch Dog or whatever he's called) can be a good deal of fun when you aren't waiting around for moveable targets to get in position... boy, lemme ask ya, how often do you get the chance to reprogram a museum exhibit extolling the virtues of totally-not-Soylent Green-in-a-can to impressionable young 'uns to do so in an uncomfortably enticing tone of voice, huh? And hey, it doesn't get more Revolutionary than going around showing everyone your sausage all for gits and shiggles! Every now and then, the magic is there, only to disintegrate before you can catch your breath.

If I have one caveat-free bit of acclaim to proffer... well, it just might be the best-looking adventure game of its type I've ever seen. The realization of Union City reaches levels of sophistication adjacent to games of a much higher budget, and it always feels alive and bustling despite a small core of central characters. And I've got to give them praise for the deftness with which they weave elements from the first game into the story, such as it is... hardly a cheap nostalgia pop to be found! When it works, it just effin' works.

Maybe this is all coming from someone a mite too precious about the original work, but what can I say, the original is truly something special. It's a fine enough bit of fun, but it could've been a lot more if not for misplaced ambition. Maybe sometimes, going Beyond is just going that one bit too far. Oh shit, I just REMEMBERED... I meant to WRITE this review with COMIC BOOK EMPHASIS to pay tribute to the ORIGINAL WORK in a NEEDLESSLY CONTRIVED MANNER... oh well, I can't be ARSED. Oh well, be vigilant and all that.

 

Final Score: 7/10

[daftprophet]

#133 Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 - Cleave the Moon

Amazing game just like the first and Ritual of the Night.  Old school feel but was a blast to go through.  Highly recommend this for older Castlevania fans.  

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by daftprophet

[geunc]

 #154: Pistol Whip (PS5 VR2)

 

 

My second VR2 platinum

 

Difficulty: Medium

Enjoyment: 8/10

Time: 5-6 hours

[BubbleJayGum]

Platinum trophy #90 - Resident Evil 3 (Remake)

 

So Long, RC

 

 

I had the privilege of playing the original game back in the early 2000s on my beloved PlayStation, and it left an indelible mark on me. RE4 and RE2 are still my favorite, but RE3: Nemesis was fantastic too. Nemesis, the formidable antagonist, evoked genuine terror within me. As a little kid, he even made his way into my nightmares, LOL! The memories of those heart-stopping moments when he would unexpectedly appear in the game are still vivid in my mind.

 

Now, as for this remake, I must say that it falls short of capturing the essence of the original. It lacks that same sense of dread that once consumed me. Additionally, it feels disappointingly brief, with numerous omissions in terms of content (no proper puzzles, no clock tower, no cemetery, etc.) and a noticeably downsized map. The portrayal of Nemesis, too, is so limited and scripted. If only they made him as intense and unpredictable as Mr. X in the remarkable remake of RE2. So as a remake, this game disappointed me. This is a rushed game for sure.

 

However, if we were to judge it not as a remake, but rather as a standalone action game, it does have its moments. Undeniably, it offers a very cool visual experience and some nice action elements, akin to a good action movie. Anyways, this game managed to elicit a sense of nostalgia for which I am grateful.

[RebelsHeart]

 Platinum #120   -   Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

 

 

 

 

 

2/3 done!

 

Fun: 8/10

Difficulty: 4/10

 

This game is definitely my favorite one from the trilogy and it was a blast going through it again.

 

This time I started my playthrough on Crushing and just went with it.

And I gotta say, it wasn't as bad as Drake's Fortune was!

 

The speedrun trophies were very fun, especially the train section!

The other trophies were easy thanks to chapter select

Lazarevic fight, not so much fun though!

 

Onto Uncharted 3!