Recent reviews by Loboloco

Features AI voice acting. Either hire VAs or don't use voice lines. AI slop has no place in this industry.

(Not shown: Some 10+ hours put into the demo) This is a life-consuming endeavor. I see images of the 150 jokers dance around in my dreams. My wife has left with the children and this has built my confidence up enough to get back out there and try my luck at Blackjack tables. Might even pick up the bottle again, too. Thanks Balatro, you've had a truly positive impact on my life.

Shallow, repetitive, the least compelling exploration has ever been in a BGS title. On the other hand, the faction questlines, gunplay, and shipbuilding mechanics are all really promising. The world of Starfield is too big-- to the point where it feels small. This will be a great game with a boatload of mods. For right now, I don't think it's worth the $70 asking price unless you're a hardcore Bethesda fan. Check it out on Gamepass if you are curious.

Delivers as advertised. If you're not a fan of the extraction shooter genre, this game won't change your mind. However, if the idea of "single-player Escape From Tarkov mixed with a Stalker-inspired world" sounds interesting to you, then you're going to find a lot to like here.

When I put down the controller after finishing Life is Strange, I felt very conflicted about my experience. One on hand, this game delivers on a deeply thematic and compelling narrative that could only be told through the medium that is video games, but on the other hand the “gameplay” and writing fumble so often as it barrels it’s way across the five episodes that I have to scratch my head wondering if the glaring faults this game has outweigh what it gets right.

Gameplay is essentially nonexistent. It would be more appropriate to say that this game has specific button prompts in between narrative segments that pad out the runtime. This is disappointing considering that the time travel mechanic is used in very shallow ways.

Voice acting and music absolutely knock it out of the park. You'll be serenaded with rustic folk music that places you snugly in Arcadia Bay. The voice acting is top notch, and gives the characters the charisma that the script desperately lacked.

These people have no clue how highschoolers talk. Take a shot everytime someone says "hella". Many characters are also stereotypes, though a few are this way intentionally and break out of their shell later.

This game hinges on you caring for Chloe as much as Max does. I couldn't stand Chloe. She is not poorly written. Rather, her character has very few redeeming qualities in my eyes. The worst best friend I've seen since Ferris Bueller.

The narrative is deeply thematic and moving with great emotional moments. Again though, a lot of it hinges on your opinion of Chloe, so the last bits really fell flat for me.

Ultimately, Life is Strange delivers a solid narrative with mostly charming characters. I scratch my head at having the ability to rewind time in a game all about the consequences of your actions, and I find it's implementation in the gameplay even more baffling. The writing is wildly inconsistent, including great emotional moments, but also headache inducing moments of being out of touch with their characters. Mileage may vary, but I found this game to be disappointing. It's a shame, because even with it's flaws, the good parts of Life is Strange shine so brightly through the cracks that it almost makes up for it.

4/10

I don't believe it's a stretch to call this the most innovative detective game of all time. The gameplay loop of slowly pecking away at the fates of all the crew and passengers is enthralling, frustrating, and extremely rewarding. The biggest downside to this game is it's replay potential. Unless you can have your memory wiped, you aren't going to get much from subsequent playthroughs.

Return of The Obra Dinn is a very special game that doesn't come along often. Few games push their respective genre this far forward, and I suspect we will be talking about this game for a long, long time.

9/10

Metro: Last Light throws you right back into the dark, seedy tunnels you've become acquainted with in 2033. It's hard to judge this as a sequel, because the Redux versions have tweaked the two games to act as one cohesive whole, and I can confirm it successfully pulls this off. There are minor differences between Last Light and 2033, and most of them are welcome. This includes a slightly expanded arsenal, a clearer morality system, and a refining of the stealth mechanics.

Level design has also been improved in Last Light. Along with having more complex and interesting ways to traverse levels as you silently pick off enemies one by one, you'll also see a much more diverse array of locations in your 9-10 hour journey.

The AI isn't as consistently dumb in this game, but I did find it to be more frustrating. The enemies in 2033 were stupid all the time, whereas here the AI can be dumb, but they can also whiplash into knowing exactly where you are just from you shooting out a light. To contrast this, there would also be times I would shoot out a lamppost or lantern and they won't react at all. Inconsistencies like this left me guessing on how to successfully stealth my way through the level, and diminished my enjoyment of said sections greatly. I did admire the improvements made here, but at the end of the day even with the strides forward the stealth of Metro: Last Light left a lot to be desired.

The game is just as linear as its predecessor, but there are times where they stray away from this formula, specifically in the "Regina" and "Bandits" missions. These were by far my favorite sections of the game, and its neat to see how they developed this non-linear approach even further in Metro: Exodus.

It seems that the developers have decided to lean a bit heavier in the story in this game. Unfortunately, this decision really never paid off for me. It feels like they tried to jam in a bit too much into this game, and that dulls the impact of the emotional moments they throw at you throughout Artyom's journey. When the credits rolled, I was left with a romance that came out of left field, antagonists that felt flat and cliche, and an ultimately unsatisfying ending that left me pretty apathetic to see where it continues in Exodus.

Even with all of these missteps, I don't regret a single minute I spent with Metro: Last Light. It is a compact, refined experience that doesn't overstay it's welcome. Every time I made it to the haven of a settlement or safe house I breathed a sigh of relief, because the Metro feels as real and dangerous as ever. Making a game world feel real is insanely difficult, but 4A games have managed to pull it off twice now. This triumph can be attributed to a lot of things; the attention to detail in the rustic settlements and abandoned corridors. One can cite the many ways that the game makes you feel grounded in the world, from having to manually charge your flashlight battery, to having to wipe the thick sludge of the Russian marshes from your gas mask, to having your quest log be in an actual journal that Artyom pulls out and looks at in real time. All these little details add up to the point where Metro: Last Light is much greater than the sum of its parts.

6/10

After the credits roll, it won't be long until you've forgotten most of this game. The characters, along with having questionable voice direction (at least for the English translation), are also underdeveloped and quite forgettable. The gun play was serviceable for it's time, but you've most definitely played a better feeling FPS. The story is simple, but most of it is explained through very missable diary entries placed throughout the world. If you don't pick these up, then you will have a hard time connecting with the protagonist or the narrative being told. So how has this game held up all this time? What makes it one of the most renown single player first-person shooters of the last generation?

The metro.

Make no mistake, the true star of this show is the metro itself. It is a living breathing entity that you always have to contend with. The atmosphere and immersion you will feel as you creep through the dark, dripping train tunnels of this post apocalyptic hellscape is what makes this game truly unique. It is one of the most fully-realized settings I've ever seen in a single player FPS.

6/10