Análises recentes de Carrionjr

I had super high hopes for Injustice 2. The first game was really good, it played well and had an excellent story that was followed by MKX, which replicated the previous high points. Injustice 2 follows with a great storyline, however I ran into game breaking bugs that prevented the single player game from progressing before I managed to continue on a separate computer (just needed go get past one movie scene). For a AAA game to have these this long after release it mars what’s otherwise a great fighting game. It goes for fairly cheap these days and I would recommend picking it up when it’s on heavy discount if you’re playing for the story only.

Story
The story continues 2 years after superman’s defeat in the first game. Some remnants of his regime elude capture from Batman and co, waiting in the background to marshal their strength and break him and other captured members out. Batman and the surviving victors are busy trying to keep the peace, restore faith in superheros and rebuild society. A new supervillain group arises hiding the true threat until it’s too late, and all hell breaks loose. The story does a really good job on focusing on both superman’s and batman’s “heroes”, some who are fighting for redemption, others who refuse to budge from their viewpoint and what they are willing to lose to prove a point. It gets better when they are forced to work together to face a bigger threat. The story is fairly linier, but there are multiple arcs where you get a choice of 2 fighters to play as, which does slightly change the intros and ending of each fight (but not the overall direction of what happens).

Arcade mode does return where you can see each characters ending if they were the one the best the end boss, which is fairly entertaining and offers are fair amount of insight to each character. There are a fair few lesser known characters that was good, and the DLC characters I thought were represented quite well.

Gameplay
I found gameplay and options to be bit of a mixed bag. Characters are split into either power or gadget categories, which affects how they interact with the environments (some traverse off them while others will use them for damaging attacks). Each character has a good mixture of special moves, and the unique power mixes things up for each character. All of this made for a fairly interesting matchups and it was never a case of the big tank characters are always slow. Each character’s super attack (similar to x-ray moves from MK series) breaks momentum in the fight by playing a short pre scripted fight scene, but deals whopping damage (45-65% damage), usually ending a round if timed right. Stage traversals are still a thing, letting you knock characters between maps, thought here doesn’t seem to be as many of them this time around.

The fighting and controls are really good, simple to follow and the tutorial (if you bother) really goes into depth of how to actually fight (other than button mash). I found combos required precise timing (which is outside my ability), but were really devastating (some combos get 40-60% of a life bar in one go which is outrageous on top of the super moves). Against the AI button mashing was enough, and I didn’t see enough people online to try Multiplayer (which affects a few online achievements), but it does local MP well (if you have 2 inputs).

A large part of character customisations comes from opening mother boxes (random loot boxes), and it’s a mechanic that’s not well supported. Gear is split across different tiers and levels, so if you get a good piece of equipment, its likely you won’t be able to use it for a long time (or it becomes useless after a few levels). Some of the epic pieces offer set bonuses, but I never got a character to lvl 20 to equip them. This likely won’t be an issue for anyone who is playing casually, but it locks out a portion of the game, and the fact that there is an in game economy based around selling loot to get epic gear feels off. I don’t mind that some character moves are locked behind this, but then linking that to achievements to force grinding was a stupid idea, as was charging IRL money for unlimited equipment transforms (that’s a scummy business practise to up your equipment level). The items you do unlock look good on the characters, and stay applied when changing unlocked character shades.

Graphics
The game, when running at max settings looks stunning. There are about 5 different areas you can customise on each character, not include unlocked colour schemes. Each stage has plenty of interactive objects, and the stages themselves are always busy (slow degrading as moves/time goes on), riots ect. The menu looks slick, but most of the options in areas you want to go to are buried in submenu after submenu (the arcade mode was that well-hidden I had to look it up online on where it was, which is poor design). The stories cut scenes are very slick, however I ran into a game crashing bug in the 3rd chapter where I couldn’t progress no matter what settings were changed or video card drivers were installed (had to play that fight on a different computer to get past it). The game also always has one file that fails steam verification and needs to be re-downloaded. There is a frameskip option that cause all sorts weird video issues and delays, I highly recommended turning it off.

Music
The stage music was good, but you don’t really pay attention to it. The VA work of the characters was very well done, in game and during the movies. There seems to be a fair amount of character taunts and banter between different characters before the fight and mid battle when one fighter has lost a life bar. It’s refreshing as hearing the same thing over and over gets boring quickly, but I didn’t run into that. I had constant voice sync issues while anti-aliasing was enabled (all character speech was about 2-4 seconds out), but it was easy enough to fix without too much of a quality drop.

DLC
Just purchase the Legendary version- it gives you all the extra fighters for a lot less than it costs even with fighter packs.

Achievements
It’s highly unlikely anyone will be getting 100% achievements for this without some serious boosting from friends and a fairly large amount of luck and time investment. There are a few online achievements that require certain conditions to be met, and you need to grind (lucky dip) a few moves and perform them with set characters for other achievements.

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

No wonder Capcom started releasing the Megaman X series on steam. 20XX hits all the right boxes in being not only a great homage to the series, but adding plenty of new things like a rougelite upgrade system, random stage design, and plenty of challenge modes. If you ever liked any of the Megaman X series (1-4), or like platformers then I can’t recommend this game enough. It has great gameplay, a great soundtrack and plenty of replayability, I highly recommend it.

Story
You really can’t go too much into the story of 20XX without wreaking it, but it starts off in a similar way to Megaman X (robots have gone rouge and started attacking the city), but rapidly becomes more twisted the further you progress. You will want to complete the game at least 3 times as the datalog for each enemy\boss changes in each run.

Gameplay
Gameplay is heavily influenced by the Megaman X series. The 2 main characters (Nina & Ace) function the same as X & Zero (long shot attack and close range sword attacks). Attacks can be charged up for more powerful shots from the start. Each of the bosses have a weakness to one of the other bosses which can greatly help in a fight and drastically reduce the time needed to win. The goal is to get through the 8 bosses, and then tackle the root cause that’s causing mayhem. You have an option playing 20XX solo or in co-op, (which I can’t comment on) but sounds like a very interesting idea. The default scheme for controllers is excellent, and works really well.

The platforming aspect is very similar, however expanded. You can dash and wall jump from the start, but there are magnetic areas where you can wall on the roof. There is a brief tutorial that sets you up nicely and doesn’t take too long to go through. The game often gets described as a pitfall nightmare, but other than on the 2 Skyfall stages I didn’t seem to run into it too much. Missing a jump or getting hit by an enemy takes one pip of life and resets you to the last place you were standing if jumping. I found the system a lot fairer than Megaman X (where missing a jump was instantly loss of life and back to the checkpoint). This is where the similarities end though. Each stage and boss gets harder as you progress, from having more enemies and tougher variants, further to go or additional attack patterns. You don’t heal in-between missions and boss fights (you either have to either be lucky, or find a vending machine and purchase life back), so things can start getting dire the more you progress if you play a stage poorly (or don’t find the right upgrades to help). You are rewarded for finishing a stage in a set time (with a box that has a random power-up or health/energy in it).

Each run is randomly generated, from available bosses to tackle (you can only ever pick from 3), the actual stage design and enemy composition, challenge rooms and available upgrades. This all makes for a fairly unique experience each time. Defeating the standard mob enemies sometimes rewards in extra health or energy, tokens which can be used for random drops, nuts (which act as cash to purchase power-ups or health) or soul chips which are the only thing that you keep when you die and are used for persistent upgrades over multiple games. You also have a chance to run into glory zones, which reward you in random armour pieces if you are successful (think the leg, body, head and arm upgrades from Megaman X), which grant different abilities depending on which boss they are modelled on. One leg set might allow you to hover, while another lets to do an air dash in any direction but you can only pick from one. You also have plenty of different power-ups you can pickup and these stack infinitely in each run, though some make controlling the characters difficult (like increased jump height or movement speed). After finishing the game safe labs are introduced, which offer powerful upgrades that have major downsides (like massive damage increase to standard attacks, but no charging attacks).

Graphics
Wow. Each stage looks great (think Megaman X3), and there’s plenty happening everywhere. Because of the random generation sometimes you get areas that are extremely difficult to get through without the right upgrades. Nina and Ace are animated extremely well, having plenty of different poses and attack animations and idle differently when heavily damaged. Each of the different armours you equip are visually different on them. While there aren’t as many enemies, each of them is easily and clearly identifiable and aren’t reskins, making the attack patterns easier to work out. The 8 Bosses are quite different and all look unique, though they aren’t animated as well as the end boss (their attack patterns are though).

Music
The music is very peppy and captures the 16 bit era of chiptune very well. None of them capture the emotional depth of Megaman X (like the death of Zero track), but it’s not that kind of story and isn’t needed. All of the tracks loops very nicely, though you are likely more focused on what’s happening on screen then the soundtrack. The weapon sound effects are good and telegraphy nicely with their attacks.

DLC
There are a few DLC options, with the soundtrack being available, as well as 2 additional characters to purchase. I can’t comment on how the additional character’s play, but I though the soundtrack would be a good purchase if you like chiptune.

Achievements
20XX isn’t an easy game to get achievements for. It requires an intimate knowledge of the game, and some require twitch like reflexes (finish the game while losing less than 10 life total), or speed running through it. It’s great for providing those who want a challenge options with different modes to play with.

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

Wolfenstein: Youngblood gets a lot of negative reviews for what’s an ok shooter with an entirely reworked character and levelling system, hub map with interconnected zones and co-op play. While the co-op shooter aspect is different to what you would expect, it’s not the worst thing that been done in a game series and the AI seems to have been patched to actually work now, and the pay to win mechanics (gold bars) are mostly for cosmetic use only. The game’s biggest issues are the raid structure to the main missions (this isn’t friendly if you only have short times to play), and its lacklustre story. The games usually on heavy discount, and for the $10 you can pick it up for it’d be a ok purchase, especially if you have a co-op partner in mind.

Story
Youngblood’s story is likely the weakest part of the game. It takes place 20 years after The New Colossus, and follows the exploits of BJ’s twin daughters and friend who head to Nazi controlled Paris after BJ goes missing. While previous games had you control BJ in various states (normal, power-suit, crippled, and super solider) in this both of you have power suits, so not only are you very quick and nimble, you can hit like a freight train and gib enemies by running into them. The most jarring difference in the games is Youngblood celebrates the war and killing compared to the previous games. Both daughters are cocky, brash, and seem unfazed by what they see (it’s a giant adventure to find dad, lets steal mum’s friends attack craft and kill some nazi’s), where BJ (and everyone around him) were shown to have paid a heavy price for all the wars he was involved in and the evil he saw the nazis commit. The closet they get to trouble is the party scene (no pig riding here).

Gameplay
Compared to previous games gameplay has been completely reworked and is now more complex. There is now a light RPG element, which focuses on the character level system, which rewards you for bypassing areas in a stealthily manner, killing enemies, increasing gun mastery ect. There are multiple tiers of character upgrades available, which allows you to sort of develop your character in a way you want to play. They can be split into upgrades which toughen the characters and increases ammo capacity, upgrade their special abilities or increases passives (like silent killing enemies or carrying heavy weapons). In the theme of co-op you can also equip peps, which boost your co-op partner. The basic ones just grant extra health or armour, but there a good selection to pick from. You can also customise your suit, but this would only be useful for your co-op partner to see.

Weapons can now also be upgraded, but this is done with in game coins you find laying around. Each weapons has a staggering amount of available upgrades, which means grinding a stupidly high amount as a normal play through won’t get you anywhere near what you need to unlock most things. If a game ever needed a macro or auto pickup items this would be a good candidate as there are items littered everywhere, but you don’t auto pick them up. The weapon selection is good, with the bigger guns spaced out nicely between main raid missions. Matching the gun damage type to enemy armour is important - using the correct weapons will shred it in no time, while using the wrong type makes enemies feel like bullet sponges. It’s not difficult to switch to the correct weapons and makes for a fairly hectic firefights. Enemies usually spawn through a few different waves, so each area usually has to be cleared out before you can explore.

The main missions are limited (there are 7), but they spin off a ton of smaller side missions that different characters ask you to perform. You could ignore them and try and kick down the front door to the main 3 raid missions but the entrances to the area you have to get into are stupidly difficult (I think the end boss from the previous game guard them), so it’s usually wiser to take the side missions to bypass the harder approach. The game doesn’t mention that you should be at least level 20 to attempt these, and it’s really easy to go in under levelled and get wiped out right at the end. Each area is connected to other maps and you can unlock fast travel points and quick access areas as you move through them and keep an eye out. The side missions are also a good place to get character upgrades, and the stealth option works a lot better than it did in previous games (eg you don’t have to do it) and it good for removing a few enemies before they all start swarming you.

Being focused on co-op the game is always on and requires you to create a Bethesda id. If you select any of the online modes I frequently got disconnected from steam messages which boots you back to the main screen, but there is an option to play solo(offline). The AI that controls your sister seems to have been patched significantly, she was barely ever downed (you share a life pool), and was usually very responsive when I was downed and called out for assistance. The AI also switches to the most appropriate gun vs each enemy though didn’t seem to work so well when I wanted her to focus on an enemy I tagged. The enemy selection is good, and there are plenty of different types. All the enemies scale with you, so they always present a challenge.

Graphics
Level design was quite well done and Arkane Studios influence shows. Each level is now multiple floors, which you can slide, run and double jump through. Most areas have multiple entrances so you have the options to try and stealth your way through, go in guns blazing or fight from a good vantage point. One criticism would be how the enemies spawn in each area, to keep the action going they spawn right on top of you (sometimes popping out of thin air in front of you), it looks lazy considering the enemy AI isn’t too bad and generally tries to flank you. I thought the levels looks quite good, there certainly wasn’t anything bland about them, and the sewer levels were quite a good break where you are forced to forgo your bigger weapons to hold a flashlight (or certain weapons upgrades) so you can see.

Music
You barely notice the music, but that’s likely because your attention is focused on all the glorious killing that awaits. I can’t say I was a fan of either of the daughter’s vocals, as mentioned the story is the weakest part of the game. In game they quip at each other, which was good, though they could have used a few more lines for set actions (like requesting help), as it becomes very repetitive. The weapon effects are good, and there are plenty of things that explode and sound good.

DLC
There is no reason to purchase gold bars.

Achievements
If you are wanting to get 100% achievements it’s easier than the last game (no difficult achievements), but requires a large amount of grinding and finishing at least one mission online with someone else.

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

Gris is one hell of an amazing game, and not since Far: Lone Sails have I seen a game say so much without muttering a word. For a platformer it’s relatively short at around 5 hours for completion and the puzzles aren’t difficult, but it’s worth every cent. I highly recommended picking it up.

Story
Gris is one of those games where there is a base idea, and it’s up to the player to interpret the events into something meaningful. Without spoilers, I took it as a game about dealing with loss or possibly depression, and the struggles to overcome major events that shatter the illusion of comfort and safety in everyday life. Either way, to get a concept across without text or speech is an accomplishment in itself, and was masterfully done.

Gameplay
For a light platformer, Gris has fairly simple puzzles to solve. Each stage focuses on a different environment (desert with strong winds, forests with trees that disappear, oceans that can float in the sky, and a city with fading infrastructure) and has a story related gimmick that allows you to traverse each area. While you can’t go back to previous areas with new abilities each stage is designed to maximise usage of the new abilities to clear the puzzles. To progress through each area you have to collect scattered light fragments that create a completed path for you to continue to the ultimate goal of restoring colour to the world. None of the puzzles are overly complex though getting all of the hidden areas in stages requires a good amount of searching if not using a guide. The hidden mementoes in each area that unlock a final cut scene at the end that is well worth watching. There isn’t any combat in GRIS or obstacles that can hurt you (no spike pits and jumps that damage you), and boss fights are more about solving the puzzles or evading damage.

Graphics
The use of colours is one of the highlights of GRIS, and tells a story in itself. The game starts off with only a greyscale tone, and as you progress you add extra colours, bringing a dead world back to life. The colours and stages seem to align to the stages of grief, and can represented as a blasted windswept desert, underwater cave systems sweeping you along with the current, areas void of colour, a forest teaming with life and a city made of light. There is a central hub area where each of the stages start and end, and it’s amazing how adding a colour changes this area. It also shows you the status of how many secrets you collected (so you can go back and get them later)

Music
The soundtrack is amazing and fits the game perfectly, and is available as a separate DLC. The music is full of piano and what sounds like pipe organ solos, along with a haunting vocals. Having a mute protagonist in this instance has let the developers hone in on the sound effects and music and they have delivered. This is especially evident at the beginning when the world is belched of colour and you can only hear her footsteps and muted huffs of despair.

Achievements
With each stage is very liner there are “extra” things to do and plenty of hidden memories to collect. Some of these are fiendishly hidden with no clues. Replaying a stage to finish up undone tasks is simple, and makes the game easy to get 100% for achievements

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

Star Wars: Squadrons is a slick, team based space shooter that does a great job of capturing the feel of piloting the different New Republic(rebel) and Imperial squadrons from the movies. While the single player campaign plays more like a long tutorial for multiplayer, there is enough customisation for your ship load outs, character and cockpit to keep you playing for a while, and the skirmish mode is great. I recommend it for the single player, however multiplayer seems to be dead, so if you want it for that I’d advise holding off.

Story
Set after The return of the Jedi the single player campaign is based around the defection of Imperial Captain Lindon Javes to the rebel alliance. After he resurfaces as the leader of the New Republics Project Starhawk, the imperial story has you seconded to his protégé, who leads titan squadron and will do anything to see him dead for this betrayal and the Starhawk project destroyed. The New Republics story has you helping Lindon save New Republic fleet assets, capture star destroyers and try and save Project Starhawk from Titan squad. I liked the story and pacing, and being forced to switch between Imperial and Republic missions kept the ever increasing game of brinkmanship between Lindon and Terisa going, until both have put all their cards on the table to see their goals achieved. Both of the pilots you create are fully customisable at the beginning, though I was expecting a lot more non-human options. Between missions you can talk to your squad mates in the hanger, but other than a little back story it doesn’t really offer much. Most of the squad mates on both sides have lacklustre stories or play along to tropes in the setting, an angry child of a displaced senator who wants fame to have the senate re-instated, a rebel swindler who has warrant for his arrest in ever sector ect. The only 2 companions worth remembering are both imperial, one being the grizzled veteran tie pilot who broke his neck in the battle of Endor and can’t take his helmet off, and the other who is always calm and wants to retire to live out a peaceful life with his boyfriend.

Gameplay
The campaign missions are effectively a 10 hour tutorial for multiplayer, as you learn the finer points of each class of ship, the different weapon load outs and advanced controls. Even on easy I found myself dying quite frequently or restarting checkpoints as I failed mission objectives. Most of the missions do have a selection of different craft for you to try, so you aren’t locked to a set fighter once you pass the first few. While all of the missions will have you fighting waves of fighters and other craft, the later missions have you focusing on attacking capital ships, and the settings and types of missions are quite varied. Lots of the side objectives are quite interesting for both sides, with imperial usually killing fleeing civilians or destroying structures, while the New Republics has you saving allies and preventing damage.

Gameplay is fairly slick, with both Imperial and Republic ships having tight controls, and when piloted correctly the ability to do a 180 turn. Each side’s ships are different, with the New Republic ships having shields that recharge over time, and because of that a good amount of your focus is spent on changing your shields orientation to keep you alive longer. Imperial ships have a power exchange, which switches between speed and boosting to get you out of trouble with the trade-off of no sustaining firing, and boosting firepower which drops your speed significantly. Visibility is better out of the imperial ships as well, as well as the visible count of missiles and other items. Dogfighting is fun, but the best parts of the game are when taking on the capital ships and dismembering them by knocking out the shields, or targeting arrays.

Graphics
The game looks amazing to play and has a fair few graphical options that most other games are missing. Ships disintegrate when destroyed before exploding, and all of the maps have plenty of objects to dodge and weave around. It’s great being able to weave around the larger ships and bases. As you play multiplayer you unlock renown that lets you purchase customisations like different paint schemes, and extra bling for you ships, as well as the option to switch to customisable weaponry. There is a no hud mode if you want to brag and only use the counters in the cockpit, and there are also full colour-blind settings if needed. In a surprising move from EA it doesn’t load the origin launcher or require it to play.

Music
The music hits all of the right notes you would expect from a Star Wars game (or anything in the franchise). All the ships and weapons sound great. I loved the chatter between squad mates in single player, and the mission briefings were well done however the hanger discussions I found were the low point in the game, the scripts for them just aren’t great even if the voice acting was good.

Multiplayer
Multiplayer is where this game should shine, but I was never able to find any active players to match with. It could be bad time zone matchups or the game is completely dead, so if you want to purchase this for multi-player alone then it might be best to check the stats on how many people are playing and when (or bring a few friends with you). There is a AI skirmish mode which has even teams compete to take out the other sides capital ship. This was quite fun and relies on a back and forth game of destroying smaller ships, taking down a mid sized ship before taking on the capital, then giving the other team a turn. I never got to play the dogfighting mode, so can’t comment on it. Cross play is enabled by default, but you need to do some tweaking between accounts for steam and origin to work nicely.

Achievements
If you are chasing 100% achievements, with multiplayer looking like its dead I’d advise you to stay away. Lots of achievements can only be earnt in ranked matches or dogfighting battles.

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

Sunset Overdrive is a humorous 3rd person, city traversal zombie survival game. While some of the humour can be obnoxious, I had a blast playing it and in the same vein as Saints Row it doesn’t take itself or the subjects it’s mocking seriously. I thought the punk metal soundtrack was great to listen to, and all the DLC is included. Even though it came out years ago I highly recommend picking it up on sale.

Story
You play as a minimum wage cleaner with no prospects, when fizzco’s latest product launch turns everyone into mutant zombies. You do the smartest thing you can think of, run back to your apartment, lock yourself in and drink all your beer. After holing up in your room for 2 weeks you only leave when the beer has run out, and have to try and survive in a city overrun by mutants, other survivors (scabs), and fizzco robots who are “helping” clean up. There’s a colourful cast of support characters you join along the way who help you survive and try and leave the city. The story has no qualms about breaking the 4th wall to make jokes and doesn’t ever try to be serious, which depending on how immersive you like your games to be might be a deal breaker for some.

Gameplay
Gameplay is a mixture of collecting items require for “cooking” ability buffs, traversing the city (a special callout here as traversing the map is actually fun), and fighting constant mob enemies while you complete the main story and side quests. It plays very much like a mixture of Saints Row 4 (except your superpowers depend on how stylish you kill enemies), Dead Rising 2 (where you kill large mobs of enemies with crazy weapons), and Just Cause 3 (where there’s are explosions every few minutes). Enemies rush you by crawling over walls, from the sewers or deploying via drop ship which is a least an interesting way of having them appear. The enemies are locked to types (so all enemies of that type are the same), but this is actually a good thing as you can be fighting 30+ of them on screen so having them all the same actually helps with their attack patterns. There are enough different types spread across the different factions that reusing assets isn’t a large issue.

Combat is fairly simple, but very satisfying. Most of the time it’s spray and pray, with mobs of enemies rushing you (there are plenty that will stay back, and shoot where they predict where you will be). All enemies are divided into 1 of 4 groups, with each weapon having a rating against each. This makes it very easy to pick the right weapon for the job, as you will often be fighting multiple factions as once (the enemy’s don’t get along and the group battles are a giant free for all). Weapons gain exp the more you use them, with all their stats increasing as they level up. Ammo and health are everywhere (if you are running out you are either using the wrong weapon, or are missing a lot). Every weapon can have a secondary ability assigned to it, like having enemies catch fire or a chance of exploding on death, which adds to the fun. Since all of your abilities only start working when your stylish meter is filled you will usually be grinding on power lines, bouncing on cars or wall running while killing enemies (if you’re not doing this then the game quickly becomes a boring shooter fairly quickly). Death isn’t the end, as you respawn straight back into the fight (usually in a nod to a well know movie or trope).

Map traversal has to be called out here- it’s one of the best ways I’ve seen it implemented. As the city is quite vertical as well as spread out you have plenty of options on how to get to areas, and the game rewards you for playing how you want to (it doesn’t actively force you to play a certain way). If traveling the map is too much effort just swig a beer, pass out and wake up somewhere else (fast travel).

Graphics
The graphics hold up fairly well, considering it’s been 7 years since it was released. While the initial options are limited your character ends up with a large amount of customisations available when it comes to haircuts, clothing, tattoos and these can be freely changed at any base, as can your body type, sex and voice. If you want to swing through the city dressed as a punk rocker, LARPing hero costume, boy scout or just in your underwear this game has you covered. The environment is surprising detailed, and while you can’t do any permanent damage there are plenty of city objects you can smash up, like fizzco drinking machines, parking meters, atms ect.

Music
The soundtrack suits this game perfectly, and since I’m partial to punk/garage-rock & electronica I highly rate it. The Bard acoustic solo was quite unexpected and funny. All of the licensed tracks are high energy and go along with the idea that the world might be ending but you’re going to have fun before you go. All of the voice acting was spot on.

DLC
The steam edition contains both DLC’s, and both add a few extra missions, some funny interactions, new enemies and additional achievements.

Achievements
Why do games rely on “challenges” to pad content? Unfortunately Sunset Overdrive requires a ton of additional grinding and extra objectives to be completed to get 100%, which will likely be a deal breaker for most if your chasing 100%. All of them are possible, but it’s a substantial amount of extra time that’s required for things that don’t actually add anything to the game.

For more reviews please visit https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/31327216/

Trials of Mana is a long awaited official 3D remake of Seiken Densetsu 3, which came out in 95 but was never officially released in the west. I remember playing the fan translation, and for a SNES game I was impressed how the team had topped what they had previously done in Secret of Mana and included new elements to the mana series (and to RPG’s). Though the game is very linear, combat is simplistic and the plot shows its age, the positives still vastly outweigh these negatives. As far as ports or remakes go Square-Enix seems to have listened to fans after the 3D release of Secret of Mana, Trials is jam packed full of extras, options and some new content. If you’re looking for a simplistic RPG to play with great music and I highly recommend picking this up (or at least playing the demo so you can make an informed decision).

Story
Most of the Mana games follow a theme and aren’t connected to each other (with the one game that does preceded this not released on steam) so you aren’t punished for not having played other entries. The story unfolds slightly differently in Trails of Mana – you pick a “main” protagonist from 6, and then pick 2 companions to join the party (each with their own prologue on how they were forced into this quest). This setup allows for fairly unique party setups, and changes the dialogue between characters in each play through depending on who is in the party. The party is hindered by 3 separate groups of antagonists, each which pairs to 2 of the characters and are seeking the mana sword for their own nefarious reasons. This leads to a fairly large amount of unique dialogue between the matched pairs, and 3 separate end areas and end bosses you can end up fighting. As a bonus a new area and additional story line has also been added post game which loosely ties the end boss from a different game in the series, as well as making a previously hidden boss available to all characters to now face off against.

Gameplay
Gameplay and combat has been significantly altered with minor quality of life improvements. I feel it makes the game a fair bit easier to play and really reduces the difficulty in some fights, though the difficulty settings can be changed at any time. The characters can now dodge, and need to jump to attack flying enemies. Each character now has multiple light and dark paths they can change to, each which affects their stat growth, spells and combat rolls. While they do have set roles (pure DPS, tanker, support ect) you can vastly change how each character plays depending on which path they take. The game has added a 4th class tier, which lets you do some stupidly high damaged attacks. Objectives are displayed on screen by default, which has the feelings of leaving the game feeling fairly linear (no more unneeded exploration), though you do still have the ability of tackling bosses in any order once you get to chapter 6. Abilities are a new addition which give minor boosts to stats or attacks, some of which can be shared across players or games, which can result in really OP combinations (some of the end game ones are OP by themselves).

Combat is a mixture of performing light and heavy attacks, with a chargeable heavy attack being used to break shields and different combos that increase as you change classes (instead of holding the attack button to charge the top tier move). I thought this over simplified the combat from Secret of Mana, where you were punished for button mashing. All the enemy attacks now are easily telegraphed and show the attack path for you to evade, though the computer AI isn’t particularly smart and seems to run headlong into them (even if you set them to play defensively). The CS gauge which allows you to perform class specific super attacks now let’s you select from all the attacks you know rather than the last one, and enemies no longer counter. These moves are fairly spectacular and are great for clearing out mobs and taking large chunks of life from bosses. The spells cast quickly and look good (you no longer have to constantly use them to upgrade their levels), and are now affected by the day and week cycle (so fire magic is stronger on the fire day), and dark magic is stronger at night ect. Many of the previous games instant death attacks have been removed as well. I found the changes to boss fights where super attacks have a slow charging period that let you interrupt make the fights a lot easier and take a lot of the challenge away. On normal the game isn’t difficult, with deaths more being a bad luck (like having the whole party petrified in rapid secession), and new game+ modes can either make the game stupidly difficult or total pushover depending on how you want to play. You now have the option to reset levels back to one for a challenge, as well as a one life mode if you’re seeking a challenge.

Graphics
Graphically everything has changed. The character models, enemies and environment are now all 3D (same as Secret of Mana), though lots of the special character animations now seem to have been replaced. New weapons are visible on each of the characters, and you have the options of changing the visual clothes the characters are wearing once you class up. Each of the environments looks great and are quite varied and detailed, and have been rebuilt for the jumping mechanic. While the environments look great, lots of the lesser character assets are reused, with beastmen townsfolk being the best example and looking silly when there are more of 2 of them together. Every old person in the game has eyebrows that cover a large portion of their faces. Most enemies are re-used with different skins (they do have different attack patterns), as are some bosses which was fine in 95 but looks lazy now.

Music
Like its predecessor, Seiken Densetsu 3 had an amazing soundtrack for what the SNES could put out. While I enjoyed the remastered soundtrack from Secret of Mana, I think it butchered my favourite song for listening to out of game. I was worried that it would happen this time around for Trials, but the remastered tracks seem to have played it safe and all are quite well done and very close to the originals. As before you have the option to either play the original or the remastered tracks. The voice work of the characters was well done (and I had concerns for Charlottes considering she rhotacizes the R as W’s). Kevin’s speech pauses (as if unsure), which was a good take rather than just portray him as always using simple speech. The shopkeeper was the only NPC I had an issue with, and its only because its reused in every city. The spirits now have throwaway personalities and lines, after hearing them once there aren’t really heard from again.

DLC
It’s a crime that Square-Enix don’t have soundtrack available as DLC.

Achievements
If you are chasing 100% achievements then it’s easy to do though it requires at least 3 playthroughs and has a few items that need collecting along the way.

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Outer Wilds is a well thought out rougelite exploration game, with a great soundtrack and plenty of things to keep you immersed as you try and figure out what is happening and unravel the mystery of your universe. I highly recommend it, and while some areas can be a bit nerve wracking its generally fairly relaxing to play. I’m highly tempted to put it in an educational grouping, as it covers enough science topics while actually being fun to play.

Story
You play the part of a newly qualified Hearthian astronaut, ready to explore the mysteries of your solar system like those before you. But that ends after 22 minutes and you find yourself stuck in a time loop. As the only person who remembers anything from each loop, it’s up to you to continue exploring, figure out what’s going on and see if there’s a way to escape it. The story itself is actually quite involved and your understanding will hinge on what information you find (and how well you understand quantum physics). Important story related information is coloured differently, so there is a good visual clue when exploring if you need to sit and read text (time doesn’t stop when reading)! My only gripe is after a loop all items go back to being marked as unread, so if you are looking for a missing piece of information you need to re-read everything.

Gameplay
The game itself is a excellent tool to teach younger players about the basics of quantum physics, drift, gravity, the solar system and black holes (even if simplified). Gameplay is all about exploration and reading transcripts from a long extinct race on the experiments they performed and chasing up rumours and leads from all the different planets in your solar system. How you go about this is up to you which is great (there’s no right way to play), and many of the planets environments change over the time loop, adding events that you might have missed previously. As you explore more, the rumours and hints join together, weaving a larger picture of what’s happening across the solar system.

Flying the spaceship was interesting, it doesn’t hold your hand when working out vectors, you can easily drift way past planets if you don’t start to slow down in time, or slam into them which ends up marooning you there. Your ship doesn’t like hitting anything at speed, and neither do you when you are planet side in your space suit. It’s fairly easy to build up speed on lower gravity worlds and either shoot into space (you sometimes have a chance to have a controlled decent back to the planet you exited from), or most likely slam into the ground and instant game over, or end up with very little health left. Damaging the space suit is fatal (your remaining air escapes quickly), and constantly using your jump jets depletes your fuel (backup fuel is air).

Graphics
While the graphics aren’t super taxing or detailed each world’s environment is unique, and all look great. While you won’t see specks of dirt on the sand world, or foam in the waves on the water world each planet has enough detail to get its concept across, and help you in your exploration. The use of fog in the bramble world was great to hide the hidden dangers lurking in its murky environment (it’s the only world where there is something other than the environment that’s dangerous to the player). The end of each time loop is interesting to watch if you are close enough to the source and the game has a few different endings depending on certain actions performed in a loop. Breaking space time was particularly funny.

Each planet is completely different to the others (you have 2 planets where the sand from one is transported to the other, a planet where it’s insides (and all the structures you want to explore) are slowly being sucked into a black hole that’s the planets core, one where it has cyclonic activity that shoots structures into space, and one where it’s insides are much larger than it’s outside to name a few. There is no liner path through the game, each area has multiple notes of importance about other areas that help you progress, truly giving you the freedom to explore how you want (in a 22-minute block).

Music
The music and sound effects stand out in the other wilds, with each planet having its own track. While you won’t likely sit and listen to it as the sound effects from your breathing, jump pack and interactions with the environment taking priority as you race through each loop (other than in the bramble world so you can hear the snarls and noises hidden in the fog) each adds atmosphere to each area. A companion is located on each world, and they play a different instrument that forms part of a tune that sounds great when all the planets line up and you can hear the full track. The game isn’t voiced, so if reading text isn’t your thing then you will likely want to play a different game.

DLC
There are 2 DLC options for the game, purchasing the soundtrack (which only includes music from the main game), and purchasing Echoes of the Eye, as newer story that weaves into the main game but is played in a separate area. I thought the soundtrack was good, though can’t comment on the Echoes of the Eye content.

Achievements
If you are aiming for 100% achievements, then there is a bit to do as you need to complete a full speed run of the game in 22 mins, as well as collect all information from each planet. Most of the other random achievements require special actions that you wouldn’t like do, but some are quite humorous. You also need to purchase the DLC Echoes of the Eye and complete all its achievements as well.

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Observation is a atmospheric supernatural first person space thriller that’s part gravity, part Cloverfield, and part 2001: A Space Odyssey. While it plays like an adventure game where you have to scan every surface for objects you can manipulate (this isn’t a shooter or action game) the game itself can be rushed if you don’t search for audio logs and secret items, but doing so limits the amount of back story you know and leaves the goals and motivations of the crew unexplained. If you are looking for something to play for a few hours then I highly recommend picking this up, especially if you can find it on sale or discount.

Story
You play as SAM, the on-board AI on the multinational space station Observation. You are restored to power after a catastrophic failure that has left the station badly damaged, your systems and memory banks offline, and the remaining crew scattered and unaccounted for. Emma, the astronaut who restores your minimum core functions has you help her restore remaining systems, as both of you work together to figure out what has happened, and what needs to be done to survive. The game story has plenty of twists and turns and I thought was really well constructed, and as some things are revealed it becomes apparent the mission wasn’t as benign as first assumed.

Gameplay
Being the on-board computer, you are limited to controlling the cameras and zooming in on objects and reconnecting them to your systems, where they can then be accessed. Each camera has a limited field of view, and some puzzles need you to switch between multiple cameras to find the required ship systems to connect to. Parts of the game have you piloting a sphere with remote functionality, which allows you greater freedoms to explore. The puzzles and mini games aren’t too difficult, though the game doesn’t remember answers for you, some codes and coordinates need to be written down which was slightly frustrating (you’re a computer that can’t remember basic information). If you don’t like jump scares there’s a few points where something might surprise you, but they are mild compared to other games and it’s never out the blue (the game is good at building up the tension to those points). Some of the games helpful hints aren’t advised (like how to add a way-point), which would have saved considerable time in trying to get to where I wanted, without having to load the map screen all the time to try and traverse the station. The game does lock you out of areas as you progress past certain parts, so it’s quite easy to miss the few collectables and other objects you can collect. There’s no new game+ mode, so if you are aiming for some achievements it means another play through.

Graphics
The games UI is designed quite well, lots of the systems you have to interact with are in a off-screen menu which slowly expands (like a computer menu). This reduces a lot of the onscreen clutter, it also fits right in with the player being a computer. Some of the screens hold information that starts making a lot more sense as the game progresses.

Visually the game look pretty good, the space stations interior is consistent, though it does change as the game progresses. I thought the puzzles/mini games were well designed and aren’t too abstract, and I liked the illusion of choice that you sometimes get. For some reason the game kept shunting the graphics setting back from 4K to 1080p every time I loaded it, but other than that I didn’t run into any graphical issues.

Music
The music is quite ominous, and the lack of dramatic music in large parts of the game really sets you on edge when it starts playing. I found the voice acting to be really well done (especially for SAM and Emma), though the rest of the crew is only voiced via the scattered audio logs and damaged memory banks you find.

Achievements
If you are chasing 100% achievements then you want to play with a guide as there are missable audio logs and objects to find that require an additional playthrough, but other than that it’s fairly easy to do

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Death Stranding is a bombastic 3rd person action/adventure parcel delivery simulator. I highly enjoyed it, but it seems to polarise those who play it, as the story is scattered in the beginning (it only starts to come together mid to late game) and it’s easy to get side tracked by secondary delivery missions which are primarily deliveries with minimal combat or environmental hazards. A lot of the game constantly hammers home the belief in connections between people -the whole game revolves around this, from names, themes, sharing resources and items with online players, and it’s not subtle about it.

Story
America in the near distant future is truly stuffed. Voidouts (large scale explosions that erase all matter) caused by the Death Stranding quickly dismantled government agencies who thought they were under attack, and were too slow to act after they realised they weren’t. People now live inside knot cities or by themselves, afraid to venture out in case they come into contact with Beached Things (BT’s), incorporeal spirits who have crossed back from the other side and can cause Voidouts when coming into contact with living humans. Others have gone crazy, and live to steal from all who enter their territory to re-live their glory days, while others simply want to hasten the end of the world. Rain (timefall) can age items and people caught in it by decades. Air travel has stopped, and communications between survivors is patchy at beat, with many only surviving because of the efforts of porters who deliver items to them. You play as Sam Bridges, a porter who has been tasked to traverse the fractured states of America, heading from east to west to bring the new president home. A lot of the story and plot is only found by increasing the connection levels of survivors or by finding hidden items (most of which is optional), so it’s quite easy to miss a lot of the games back story.

Gameplay
Gameplay, for the most part has you exploring the environment, trying to make your way west to bring new towns onto the network you are building or to deliver special packages to set destinations. The rest of the game is spent on hunting collectables, or fulfilling any of the 700 optional side deliveries that increase your standing with those you have already met or building structures and repairing roads to make your life easier. The map is purposely obscured until you reach a certain level of companionship with the town/person that controls it, which largely prevents you from using structures others have placed or know what dangers are in each area until you have experienced them a few times. I thought it was a fairly good design choice, while anyone online can help you in your endeavours, you have to experience it at least once by yourself (your stronger when working together).

Higher rankings with towns allow you to claim more resources from them, build structures in the areas they control, receive newer weapons or special items to make future deliveries and tasks easier. Obstructing your path are camps of Mules who are out to steal the cargo you carry, timefall storms which deteriorates anything under it and usually precedes areas full of BT’s (which in a worst case scenario destroy the area and your equipment if you die). Sam has a wide array of tools you can take which help on your journey, but each tool decreases space for cargo (and lost items you can pick up along the way) so there’s a balancing act between going out into the world light, and being fully armed. How you load everything onto Sam affects his movements, you can easily become overloaded or unbalanced, and some items need to be carried in certain fashion (kept dry, warm, cold, carried by hand ect).

Combat isn’t the games strongest point, but isn’t terrible either. You can stealth take down human enemies if you are quite enough and in melee range, or use a few different ranged weapons to take then down, though this usually alerts all of them. Killing enemies (using lethal weapons) is an option, however if the bodies aren’t disposed of results in more BT areas and goes against the whole point of the game. Fighting against BT’s is a risker prospect, you only have a few weapons until very late game that can do large amounts of damage, and there is the very good chance that if you get caught you won’t escape and have to fight a mini-boss. At this point anything you are carrying is likely to be highly damaged. There isn’t a cover system, so the only options you have are to escape the area where hostiles are, break line of sight and hide until enemies give up, or keep fighting (enemies are limited in each area). Driving can help alleviate some of these issues, but the van is like driving a brick offroad (though it has great storage capacity), and the bikes are much nimbler, though can’t carry anywhere as much cargo and are destroyed in water.

Repairing roads and placing structures not only helps you traverse the map quicker, but helps out others as well. Anything you build or repair appears in other player’s games, as does their lost cargo and donated items. You can leave signs warning others of upcoming areas, or direct them to take other paths. A large part of the game seems to focus on this online sharing and helping each other- anything you do that can help others usually awards you with positive likes.

Graphics
I thought the graphics were really good. Everything displayed very nicely at 4K, the landscape wasn’t a muted brown or white (even when climbing mountains and traversing through snow). There were plenty of different terrain types, and the environment changed with the rain and different weather patterns. A lot of care has been put into Sam’s animations, and having different equipment placed on different parts of his body changes not only his speed and ability to traverse the environment, but how he moves entirely. Traversing anything covered in snow was painfully slow. The game has lots of movie sequences that break up gameplay, though not as much as Metal Gear 5. You get a different memory of the past every time you rest, which are disjoined until late game where the story starts coming together. The game doesn’t feature many different enemies, though the ones that do appear are enough (entering BT areas is always tense). It might be the only game that I know of where you can empty your bladder to potentially save your life. BB and the soldier might be the most intriguing models, and it’s amazing how much life a baby in a bottle can show. The boss battles were varied and each required different methods to complete.

Music
I thought the voice acting was excellent, and the music when it played in areas was great (even though I have never heard of any of the bands listed). Sam mutters and curses to himself as you trip and fall over objects, grunts and huffs climbing mountains and gives a little waring before entering dangerous areas. For large portions of the games you only have the sound effects of the environment to listen too, but they are generally enough and help drive home that isolated feeling. You can’t select music to listen to in the world (only in your room), and it usually only starts playing when you first reach an area with a great view, or overcome a large trial and are on the final stretch to a safe haven.

DLC
The available DLC is the in game music, which excludes all of the licensed tracks. Not sure if I would consider this a worthwhile purchase, but its available for those who love to listen to in game music.

Achievements
The game is easy to get 100% achievements, however requires a fair amount of time performing deliveries at a harder setting and collecting the hidden items scattered around the game.

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