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Review: The Last of Us Remastered [PlayStation 4]

Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: SCEA
Released: July 29, 2014
Completed: May 17, 2020
Rated: M for Mature

I admit it: I was wrong about The Last of Us.  In my original review of the PS3 exclusive I harshly critiqued the game for its lackluster gameplay.  While I still feel I made some valid points - that the puzzles were unimaginative, and the horde-like survival segments are the weakest parts of the game - I have softened and warmed to it over the years.  Replaying it via the PS4's Remastered edition, I found myself gripped once more by its incredible story and solid (if unremarkable) gameplay.

Don't get me wrong, The Last of Us doesn't reinvent the stealth-action genre.  There's nothing here you haven't seen in games ranging from Metal Gear Solid to Uncharted to the modern iterations of Tomb Raider.  But just because a game doesn't do anything new doesn't mean it shouldn't be praised for doing things well.  Perhaps I expected too much the first time.  The hype around the game had certainly reached stratospheric levels.  Ironically, I've railed against reviewers who criticize other games for not being innovative, yet rereading my original review I saw I had become the very thing I despised.

There was never any question that this was one of the greatest stories ever told in gaming at the time.  I said as much back then, and I still feel it's true today.  I also said it's a shame you had to play the game to experience the story.  Yet this time around, I found myself enjoying the game.  OK, the ladder puzzles are still lame, and the horde survival segments still suck, but those are small speedbumps in an otherwise very good game.  Even the sniper/escort sequence, which I abhorred in my original playthrough, felt more enjoyable this time around. 

At its core, The Last of Us is a fairly standard stealth-action game.  It has all the usual trappings of the genre such as a simple crafting system, objects you can use to distract enemies while you sneak past, and large, open areas replete with convenient waist-high cover for shootouts.  It's straightforward and linear, but there's a sense of urgency and tension that makes every new area exciting.  

The gameplay is the meat and potatoes of the experience, but the story is the seasoning that enhances what otherwise might be a bland meal.  From the first-rate voice work to the animation and modeling to the rich but ruined world that still looks as stunning six years later, The Last of Us reels you in right away.

The PS4 remaster is an odd beast in some ways.  It's the best way to play the game, but at the same time it's not that significant of an upgrade.  The resolution is higher and there's some nice new lighting effects in the game's quality mode, or you can opt for more PS3-grade visuals with a silky smooth 60 frames per second framerate if you're one of those weirdos who thinks 30 FPS is "literally unplayable."  Either way you play it, the game looks fantastic, which is a testament to just how good it looked even in its original incarnation. 

The major selling point for me was the inclusion of the Left Behind DLC on the disc.  This is a short interlude/prequel to the events of the game where you'll take control of Ellie.  What makes it noteworthy is the flashback to just before she would meet Joel.  It explores the relationship between two young girls coming to grips with their sexuality in a mature and incredibly poignant way.  In some ways, the final moments of the DLC eclipses most of the base game, save perhaps its own equally devastating and unforgettable opening sequence. 

The bottom line is that if you're one of the three PlayStation owners who hasn't played The Last of Us yet, this is your ticket in.  If you are one of those people, I envy you because I wish I could go back and experience the story for the first time again.  Even at my most cynical I praised it for its exceptional writing, realistic character portrayals, and unparalleled voice acting.  Now that the initial hoopla is over, I've learned to appreciate the game for what it is as well. Simply put, it's a must-own.

The Last Of Us: Remastered was completed on a PS4 Pro with no cheats.

Review: Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise [PlayStation 4]

Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Publisher: SEGA
Released: October 2, 2018
Completed: May 14, 2020
Rated: M for Mature

I went into Lost Paradise with high hopes.  I'm a casual fan of the anime, but by no means an expert on it, and a hardcore fan of Ryu Ga Gotoko's Yakuza franchise.  A game that married Yakuza's combat with a series known for its crazy level of violence seemed like a perfect match. 

If you're unfamiliar with Fist of the North Star, the basic premise is something like an anime version of Mad Max with martial arts.  Protagonist Kenshiro wanders the post-apocalyptic wastes, punching people until they literally explode, seeking vengeance on the man who left him for dead and reclaim his love from his rival.  As one of the only practitioners of Hokuto Shinken, a fictional martial art that relies on hidden pressure points within the body, Kenshiro is one of the deadliest men in the world, but he makes a few friends along the way and becomes something of a hero to the citizens who've been terrorized by roving gangs.

Lost Paradise retells some of these events with an action-RPG twist.  If you've played any of the recent Yakuza games - and if you have not, what the hell is wrong with you? - this will feel instantly familiar.  Kenshiro can tackle quests from NPCs, play silly mini-games, upgrade his abilities, and of course, punch people until they explode.  The over-the-top violence is here, and it's quite hysterical at first.

After the dozenth time you've seen each Hokuto Shinken move, however, you'll start to tire of seeing the same cutaway for each move.  The problem is they break up the flow of combat with a short cinematic.  You'll have to mash or properly time button presses to maximize damage, but the action stops briefly for Kenshiro to announce the name of the move.  When you're surrounded by large mobs of enemies, which is basically every encounter, you'll be using techniques frequently, at which point the constant interruptions are far less entertaining.

By and large, the combat is the game's biggest strength.  It's fast-paced and absurd, and Kenshiro has a bevy of moves at his disposal.  The best moments, however, are the 1v1 boss battles, which play out like an arena style fighting game.  These fights feel absolutely epic in nature, and will put your skills to the test.  The bosses are no pushovers which makes defeating them feel exceptionally rewarding. 

You can also supplement your skills with medallions that grant access to timed buffs, but to be honest, I rarely found them very useful.  Some I never used at all, some seemed woefully ineffective, and others were just good enough to do a little chip damage or give you a moment to heal, but none of them felt like necessities. 

Lost Paradise gets off to a slow start.  The first four or five chapters are very constrained and linear, but the game opens up after that and feels much more like Yakuza.  There are all kinds of side missions you can accept and activities to complete, and like Yakuza, many of them are quite comical.  For example, you can early a little extra money as a bartender, which can open up some quests from patrons, but also sees Kenshiro use his Hokuto Shinken skills to mix drinks.  Eventually you'll also get access to a vehicle you can use to travel the wastelands, and you can find or purchase upgrades for it as well.  After you get past those initial few hours, the fun factor ramps up dramatically as you're allowed to explore more.

What holds the game back is the fact that many of the quests don't respect the player's time at all.  Too often I was sent on a quests to one location to talk to someone or retrieve something, then I'd return to the original location only to be sent back again.  There's just too much back and forth for very little payoff.

The other issue is how talkative everyone in the game is.  Look, I'm all for a good narrative, and I can appreciate they tried to pay homage to the franchise's roots as a manga and anime series by giving it a decent story, but there is so much talking!  In a game that's mainly combat-centric it just starts to drag on.  It's like Fist of the North Star by way of Hideo Kojima with 20 minute long cutscenes between actual gameplay.  Maybe they just felt that long or maybe they were, but in either case, the long stretches of story did nothing for the overall pacing.

One area it's hard to find fault in is the presentation.  The graphics replicate the look of the animes very well with thick outlines on the characters and bold colors.  It's not quite cel shaded, but it looks more like hand drawn art than 3D models.  Audio fares similarly well.  The English voice cast is solid, and there's just the right amount of camp in the delivery.  Music is a mixture of butt rock and electronic dance that is serviceable and suits the game's silly tone well. 

Control brings it all together.  Using the Dragon engine means everything is responsive, snappy, and beautifully simple.  Like SEGA's classic Virtua Fighter series, you can do a lot with only a few buttons.  It's nearly identical to Yakuza's combat, which is a good thing, because it maintains that level of impressive animation and visual flair but doesn't require the player to input overly complex button sequences.  Also like Yakuza, you'll unlock more techniques as you progress through the game and upgrade Kenshiro.

If you're a huge Fist of the North Star fan, this is likely the best video game version of the series.  It feels very faithful, at least to me and my limited knowledge beyond the anime.  Diehards will probably love stepping into Kenshiro's boots and letting fists fly while enemies explode into clouds of red goop.  The combat is truly exciting, even though it's frequently broken up by the scripted Hokuto Shinken moves.  How much you enjoy the rest of the game's activities or even its story will depend largely on how big of a fan you are.

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise was completed on a PlayStation 4 Pro with no cheats.

Review: Call of Cthulhu [PlayStation 4]

Developer: Cyanide
Publisher: Maximum Games
Released: October 30, 2018
Completed: April 18, 2020
Rated: M for Mature

I am a sucker for HP Lovecraft games.  Just about anything with the word "Cthulhu" in it, and I'm in.  I know, I know, Lovecraft was a racist, garbage person and The Woke will probably cancel me for liking his writing (#Player1StartIsOverParty), but the horror genre as we know it wouldn't be the same without his input.  Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to be both talented and an asshole, just as it is possible to appreciate a person's body of work even if you dislike the person. 

Based on the pen & paper RPG, the official Call of Cthulhu game plays out like a first-person detective thriller.  Investigating your surroundings, interrogating shady people, gathering clues, solving light puzzles, and even some stealth are the order of the day as you try to uncover the mystery of the Hawkins family and their suspicious fiery deaths.

I'm going to admit right here and now that my bias towards Lovecraftian games plays a big part in how much I enjoyed Call of Cthulhu.  From a purely objective point of view, it's not that great of a game.  Most of its mechanics feel like they needed a little more time in the oven.  There are some light RPG elements that don't feel very fleshed out.  The stealth is passable at best.  Even the technical aspects are inconsistent with stunningly atmospheric environments inhabited by lousy character models, and adequate (sometimes excellent) sound design marred by mediocre (sometimes terrible) voice acting.

Subjectively, I enjoyed just about all of it.  In some ways, the budget title quality made the experience feel like the campy film adaptations of Lovecraft's work.  Hearing the main character pronounce macabre as "macarbe" always roused a chuckle.  The subtitles don't always match what the characters are saying, and the lip-synching is some of the worst I've seen since the days when mouths just opened and closed.  There are some really questionable approximations of the Boston, Mass. accent to top it all off.

But dammit if I wasn't captivated by its story.  I couldn't wait to see what happened next as the line between sanity and insanity blurred.  There's a palpable feeling of dread during the gameplay, like something lurking in the shadows behind you. 

The game is at its best when the player is engaged in solving puzzles, several of which have multiple solutions that can affect the outcome of the story.  Combat encounters are kept to a minimum, and trust me, it's better that way.  While you have to wield a gun at certain points, it's clunky and does not mesh with the rest of the game's slower, more methodical pace.

Contrarily, there's a sequence against a cosmic horror known as the Shambler that relies on stealth and  light puzzle solving as you must first find the proper artifact to send the monster packing while avoiding it in the interim.  I found this bit intensely engaging for how it created a dangerous scenario for the player that couldn't be solved by shooting something and advanced the story. 

In fact, most of the game's best moments are spent uncovering Lovecraftian lore, meeting strange and shifty characters, and marveling at the landscapes.  Whatever you may think of the character models, no one in their right mind could deny the world around them is superbly designed.  It's captivating enough that I often found myself standing still to make use of the PS4's screenshot feature.  There's an eerie, surreal quality to everything, and that's before you start getting into the occult stuff.

Being based on a popular tabletop role-playing game, one would have expected better incorporation of statistics.  Arguably the game's biggest failing is not the mediocre character models, but the mediocre character progression.  You can upgrade your stats, but only those related to investigation and perception skills seem to have any perceivable effect.  That said, this is a narrative-driven game that at times borders on being a walking simulator, so how a statistic like strength could really be utilized is unclear anyway.

One other thing worth pointing out is that at around 15 hours, the game is unusually long.  That's not a negative, but I was shocked by it as most games of this type clock in under 10.  When you reach the finale, there are four possible endings, and thankfully you can go back and make a different choice without having the replay the whole game if you want to see them all.  Don't expect any of them to be happy conclusions though.

Call of Cthulhu received generally average reviews upon release, which may have turned lots of people away.  The reviews aren't necessarily wrong; there are myriad problems with the game, both big and small.  Fans of HP Lovecraft's seminal work should definitely make time for it, however.  If you can look past some of the jankiness, you'll likely get sucked into a wonderfully bizarre tale of cosmic horror.

Call of Cthulhu was completed on a PlayStation 4 Pro with no cheats.

Review: Resident Evil 3 [PlayStation 4]

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Released: April 3, 2020
Completed: April 5, 2020
Rated: M for Mature

"What happened?" 

That's all I could think upon completing Capcom's remake of Resident Evil 3.  How could the same company that did such a remarkable job updating the classic Resident Evil 2 do such a ho-hum job updating the third entry?  Perhaps the name itself was a warning: Resident Evil 3.  No subtitle like the PlayStation game it's based on.  An indication that things were lacking was right there on the packaging.

Resident Evil 3 is not a bad game.  Running on the same engine the prior remake did, it looks gorgeous, filled with moody lighting, gruesome gore, and solid animation.  It plays fine, with a familiar and easy to grasp control scheme for anyone who's played more modern Resi titles.  So then what's the problem?

I'll answer that question with one of my own: Where's the rest of it?

Resident Evil 2 included and expanded upon everything from the PlayStation game.  By contrast, RE3 cuts several sections from the original.  There are no additional game modes, including those present in 1999.  It feels much more linear, like you're being forced down a narrow hallway, than the exceptional remake that preceded it.  Everything here screams of a quick cash grab rather than a fully fledged project that does justice to the source material. 

Take, for example, Nemesis himself.  Capcom already had the AI from Mr. X in Resident Evil 2, but instead of using it to make Nemesis an ever-present threat, he's reduced to scripted sequences and boss battles.  It's like the whole game was produced with the mantra "do as little as possible, so long as it's recognizable as Resident Evil 3." 

The disappointment stems from two things: the game was allegedly in development for three years, and what little of it is included is pretty good.  The shooting feels great, the world looks incredible, the music is well done, control is responsive - all the elements were there for this to be just as good as RE2, but in the end it feels like a rush job, shoved out the door to cash in on eager fans. I know game development is hard, but what were they doing for three years where they couldn't remake the entire PlayStation game as a bare minimum? 

The original Resident Evil 3 was the beginning of the series shift towards a more action-oriented experience.  The puzzles aren't nearly as convoluted, for better or worse, or as plentiful.  It's been a long time since I've played the PS1 game, but the remake definitely feels easier than my recollection of it, though that could be due in part to the updated controls.

Again, I stress, what's here is fun.  It's just that coming off the heels of arguably one of the best remakes ever made, Resident Evil 3 feels like a step backward in almost every way.  You could argue that Carlos, the secondary protagonist, is given a slightly expanded role but his extra gameplay segments don't add up to the two areas from the original that were cut entirely.  The lack of post-game content also fuels the fire that this was just a quick way to make a buck for Capcom.  I don't think anyone expected RE3 to be as good as RE2, considering that RE2 is just a comparatively better game in either incarnation than 3.  It would have been nice to see as much effort put into this remake, however.  Give fans some more meat to chew on, not the skeleton of Resident Evil 3.

Resident Evil 3 was completed on a PlayStation 4 Pro with no cheats.

Retro-Review: Castlevania: Rondo of Blood [PC Engine]

Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Released: October 29, 1993
Completed: March 15, 2020

There are those who will tell you that Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (aka Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo) is the best Castlevania game.  Those people are wrong.  It's a fantastic entry in the long-running series, and arguably the best of the more traditional games (though I would argue Super Castlevania IV is better as well), but Symphony of the Night is, was, and always will be the greatest Castlevania game.

I think some of the affection for Rondo stems from the fact that it was locked away as a Japanese exclusive for so many years.  Gamers who were savvy enough to use emulators have had access to a fully translated version for a while now, but the first official translation and Western release wouldn't occur until 2007 when it was remade as part of the Dracula X Chronicles on the Sony PSP.  I have no doubt people legitimately love the game - it's awesome - but I think there's also a small touch of wanting that hipster gaming cred for loving a title a lot of western gamers didn't even know about when it released. 

I don't want to demean Rondo of Blood though.  Contemporary magazines lamented, rightfully so, that it was stuck in Japan and all we got in the US was the heavily modified and quite inferior Dracula X on the Super Nintendo.  There's no denying Rondo of Blood set the stage for the masterpiece that would follow, incorporating branching paths, swappable secondary items, unlockable playable characters, and introducing many of the sprites that would be reused in Symphony.  With the added storage of CD-ROM, fans got to hear Castlevania's iconic tunes in ways they had never heard before, along with new material that was just as good.  The traditional walk right and whip gameplay was refined to near perfection - only outclassed by Super Castlevania IV - offering just the right amount of difficulty for veterans and newcomers alike.

Yes, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood is a phenomenal game.  It's a perfect middle ground between the flawed Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, a game that in hindsight seemed too ambitious for the hardware it was on, and the more open, non-linear structure the series would head into.  The fact is fans can argue for all eternity about which of the 16-bit entries is the best traditional 'Vania, and there's really no wrong answer because they're all great in their own way, and they all offered something unique.

The Dracula X Chronicles offered both a full 2.5D remake and, for the first time, a full official translation of the PC Engine CD-ROM version as an unlockable.  The original 16-bit CD-ROM version also saw release on the Wii Virtual Console (untranslated), and re-release again in the Castlevania Requiem Collection for PS4, which is how I played it.  Incidentally, the latter also includes the retranslated version of Symphony of the Night that was also on the Dracula X Chronicles, so you're essentially getting two of the greatest games in one of the greatest franchises for a song.

Graphically, Rondo of Blood features sharp, crisp sprites, superb animation, and a fantastic use of color throughout.  Backgrounds look terrific, varying between the expected castles, graveyards, a spooky pirate ship, and more.  With so many branching paths, you'll want to play the game several times just to see them all.  The addition of Maria Renard as an unlockable player character enhances the replayability even further.  She's easier to use for newbies, and plays quite differently from Richter Belmont, the de facto protagonist, making it worth replaying even the same stages over with her.

As mentioned previously, the music is a huge highlight as well.  Castlevania has always had the best music, and the arrangements found here rank among my favorites in the series.  I adore the soundtrack so much, I even bought it on vinyl (along with Symphony of the Night's, courtesy of Mondo).  It's not quite fully orchestrated, still relying on MIDI instruments, but it's absolutely wonderful and surprisingly upbeat to coincide with the game's action.  The whole thing is sort of like Castlevania club tracks.  Brilliant stuff.

Richter controls exactly as any veteran of the franchise would expect.  There's a heft and weight to him, requiring precise and deliberate jumps lest you be knocked backwards by an enemy into a pit.  As is standard for most Castlevanias, you cannot change direction mid-jump.  New to this game is the ability to swap sub-weapons.  Accidentally picked up a dagger?  No problem.  Your prior weapon drops to the ground for a few seconds, allowing you to reclaim it.  Rondo also introduces the item crash - a devastating clear-screen attack that costs way more hearts, but can kill most regular enemies and wound bosses.  Gone, however, is the ability to brandish your whip or use it to swing across gaps, as introduced in Super Castlevania IV. 

The series trademark difficulty is more manageable in this installment, but it will likely still frustrate those unfamiliar with earlier games.  It's not a walk in the park by any means, but it's not on the level of, say, Castlevania III on the NES - or even the absurd difficulty of the SNES pseudo-port.  Another welcome addition is the ability to save your game, replacing the unwieldy icon-based passwords of previous entries, so you can take a break and cool down if the frustration sets in.

It's true, I don't love Rondo of Blood as much as some people do, but that doesn't mean I don't love it.  Most, if not all, of the game's issues with difficulty were old hat by this time, giving vampire killing veterans a bit of an edge.  Whether you play it on the PSP, PS4, TurboGrafx Mini (where it is still in its original untranslated form), or if you're lucky enough to own a PC Engine and an original disc, play this one anyway you can. 

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood was completed on a PS4 Pro as part of the Castlevania Requiem Collection with no cheats.

 

Review: The First Tree [PlayStation 4]

Developer: David Wehle
Publisher: David Wehle/Limited Run Games
Released: November 30, 2018
Completed: March 8, 2020

Ahh, grief, my old friend and enemy.  It's like a warm blanket made out of the itchiest material - comforting and uncomfortable all at once.  It's familiar to anyone who has ever lost someone they cared deeply about, and yet completely alien because every instance is completely different.  Two people can lose the same person, and have two separate feelings about it based on the relationship they had with the deceased. 

The First Tree was created by David Wehle to deal with the grief of losing his father.  It's a pain I know all too well, having lost mine in 2009.  I've often found there's a strange sense of community with grieving persons.  I've never met David, never spoken to him, but so much of this game spoke to me and my own experience.  There's something morbidly comforting in knowing that other people have experienced loss and terrible sadness - these shared humanizing traits.  You wouldn't wish it on anyone, but at the same time you're kind of glad someone else understands to some degree.

The First Tree is told as a retelling of a dream between a man and his wife.  In the dream, a fox desperately searches for her children across beautiful, stylish landscapes as the storyteller reminisces about his father and his own life.  There are some truly heartwrenching moments in both the story, and the accompanying dream, but it's a journey well worth taking to the uplifting finale.

As a game, I guess you could classify The First Tree as a 3D platformer, albeit a sort of Lite version.  There are some minor puzzles and optional collectibles, but the narrative drives the experience.  You could just as easily call it a Walking Simulator Plus.  The gameplay is serviceable but not taxing, apart from the occasional wonky jumping segment.

It's really all about the story, and it's a pretty powerful one at that.  A tad melodramatic perhaps, but I appreciate that it's hard to tell a story about death and grief without a little melodrama.  I never found it poorly done or overly schmaltzy, but your mileage may vary. 

What most people can agree upon is that the game looks and sounds great.  The aesthetic is sort of cartoonish, but not quite cel shaded, with gorgeous environments.  There are some nitpicks, such as the way the fox sort of skates along the ground and clips through objects at times, but for a game made by essentially one person some of that is to be expected.  It has a somewhat intentionally low detail look, yet still looks awe-inspiring at times.

The soundtrack deserves special note.  Equal parts relaxing, reflective, and melancholic, the score was so moving in conjunction with the visuals and the story, I immediately found the composer Josh Kramer's bandcamp page and purchased a copy.  It's exquisitely, achingly, sometimes hauntingly beautiful.

How much you enjoy The First Tree will ultimately boil down to how much the story impacts you.  I'm not suggesting that people who haven't experienced loss won't get it or anything.  Every story hits everyone a different way, and in a narrative driven game that's going to be the major factor.  Some people may find it depressing, others uplifting.  It's a very short game, which I think works for the tale it's telling, but the gameplay is not the focus.  As I said, it's serviceable but not great or particularly engaging except as a vehicle for more story beats.

For me, the simplicity of the game worked.  The narrative pulled me through and made me want to find the collectibles just to hear more recollections from the storyteller.  The game ends with a chance to leave a message for other players, which as I understand it are then curated to make sure they're appropriate, and the one I received felt like it was written specifically for me.  It was a touching, poignant moment that will stick with me - so much so that I keep a screenshot of it on my phone as a reminder: "Love comes from the people around you and you have to love the moments with them."

The First Tree was completed on a PS4 Pro with no cheats (I doubt there even are cheats, but I still have to say it).

Review: Judgment [PS4]

Developer: Ryu ga Gotoku Studio
Publisher: SEGA of America
Rated: M for Mature
Released: June 21, 2019
Completed: January 22, 2020

After completing the exquisite Yakuza 0 in January of 2019, I didn't think it could get any better - but then along comes Judgment.  Taking the basic gameplay loop of the Yakuza franchise, as well as the two disparate tones that somehow work in perfect harmony, Judgment is a compelling excuse to dive back into the seedy underbelly of Kamurocho.

As Takayuki Yagami - Tak, for short, in the English subtitles and Tabou in the Japanese language track - you'll uncover a conspiracy that reaches extreme heights, and confront your past in a gripping story that absolutely runs rings around other games.

Make no mistake, the writing and overall plot of Judgment is so good it rivals the best Hollywood films.  The brilliant motion capture work, highly detailed environments, and outstanding voice performances bring the technical package together.  Whether you're tracking down leads and reviewing evidence for the main story, running errands for fellow citizens, or fighting a gang of street thugs, the game takes hold and never lets go.

I'll admit, there are certain tasks in Judgment that are less enjoyable than others.  The game's tailing missions become a slightly monotonous chore by the end of the 40+ hour adventure, particularly one in the game's closing chapters where the target literally walks around the same block three times.  You can also assist the local locksmith's customers who've lost their keys for a couple thousand yen, but the reward is barely worth the effort.  Thankfully, it's entirely optional, and that's the beauty of a game like this.

Much like Yakuza, Judgment offers a ton of freedom to the player.  You can spend hours on Kamurocho's many side activities such as gambling (poker, blackjack), playing darts, mahjong, or shogi, hit the batting cages, customize and race your drone, try your luck at the UFO Catcher claw machines, or enjoy a half-dozen classic SEGA arcade games, lovingly emulated.  Those are just the time-wasters.  The game also offers loads of side missions that range from the mundane to the bizarre to the hilariously perverted.  You'll chase down a Japanese idol's hairpiece (that he insists is a hat), help a budding sushi chef learn the lingo, have drinking competitions, help local restaurants expand their business, build relationships with up to four lovely ladies (all of whom are the "only one," if you're a terrible person like me), and track down no less than four perverts with incredible names like Ass Catchem and Judge Creep 'n' Peep.

How much you get out of the game is entirely up to you.  You can focus solely on the main quest if you want, but you'd only be robbing yourself.  Missing out on the side missions is like skipping half the game, and they offer a lighthearted distraction from the game's deadly serious story.  You might think the two different tones would be at odds with one another, but the developers have struck a perfect balance of humor and weighty storytelling.

The combat is the last piece of the puzzle, and while it does get repetitive after a while, you'll also discover that it's mostly optional too.  Common street gangs and cold-blooded yakuza will frequently accost you as you wander the town, but you can always outrun them if you don't feel like bothering.  When you are forced into it, the combat is flashy yet simple enough to be fun, allowing you to take out a hoard of enemies quickly, stylishly, and often violently.  Nevermind that you just smashed a person's face into that car's bumper with your knee, they're fine.  They'll run off after combat is over with a few bruises, maybe a bloody lip, but alive no matter how brutal the beating.

In addition to the grunts, there are four gang leaders that pose a much larger threat.  This is perhaps the game's biggest annoyance as they will periodically return to town, which raises the encounter rate with their goons significantly.  Defeating the leader helps reduce it, but it's more hassle than it's worth unless you're super into crafting some of the game's power-up potions (called extracts).  To make matters worse, every time the gang leaders return and exit the city, you'll get a text warning, and if you choose to ignore them until they leave of their own accord, admonishing you for not helping. 

One last thing of note: the game features a full English voice dub, which includes some anime and video game mainstays like Crispin Freeman, Steve Blum, Michael Gough, and Greg Chun, but if you opt to play the game with anything other than the original Japanese voice track and English subtitles, you are a monster and you should have your eyes gouged out.  However good the English voice cast might be, it just doesn't feel right and the only way to play is in native Japanese.

Judgment is a brilliant side entry into what is arguably the best franchise of the modern era.  The Yakuza Universe never fails to impress, and Judgment just may be the best trip to Kamurocho yet.  It's also a good starting point for those who've always been somewhat curious about the series, but feel overwhelmed by the multitude of games it has spawned.  Judgment takes place in the same universe, but apart from geographical locations and commonalities involving yakuza clans, there are no references to the franchise that spawned this spin-off and no prior knowledge required.  As many others have pointed out, these games feel like the logical extension of the groundbreaking Shenmue series because of their bustling but small open world environments and the freedom they give players.  They also showcase some of the best writing and coolest characters in the industry.  The flaws are so minor in the grand scheme of things, they hardly seem worth mentioning.  As you can tell from my review score, they certainly didn't sway my opinion in any meaningful way.  Since I cannot legally end this review without some sort of legal pun, I sentence everyone to playing it.  You'll thank me later.

Judgment was completed on a PS4 Pro with no cheats.

(Micro)Review: Nier: Automata [PlayStation 4]

Developer: PlatinumGames
Publisher: Square Enix
Rated: M for Mature
Released: March 7, 2017
Completed: February 3, 2018

Nier: Automata is one of the most original RPGs to come along in some time.  The story is a philosophical exploration of human nature.  That's nothing new for science fiction, or even video games, but it's well-told, in spite of some occasionally suspect voice acting that sounds like a cheaply dubbed anime flick.  What's most impressive is how PlatinumGames, makers of the spectacular Bayonetta series and the underrated Vanquish, changes things up throughout the adventure.  One minute it's a third person hack & slash action game, the next a top-down bullet hell shooter, before switching to a unique twin-stick shooter for its hacking interface.  The game also features at least 26 different endings - one for every letter of the U.S. alphabet - ensuring that there is plenty for players to discover. 

In fact, to see the game's full story, you'll want to play through it three times, but don't worry - each playthrough is different, and played from the perspective of a different character.  It all comes together in the end, even if it does start to drag ever so slightly.  The post-apocalyptic world is a bit drab, but the different gameplay mechanics, solid RPG elements and character customization, and engaging story will keep you playing.  It's a genre-busting ride that's well worth taking.

Nier: Automata was completed on a PlayStation 4 with no cheats.

 

(Micro)Review: What Remains of Edith Finch [PlayStation 4]

Developer: Giant Sparrow
Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
Rated: T for Teen
Released: April 25, 2017 (Digital)
Completed: December 10, 2017

A touching and powerful walking simulator from the people who made The Unfinished Swan.  The story of the Finch clan, and their varied tragic demises, is captivating.  Each family member gets their own gameplay segment that's handled in their own unique style, which keeps the experience fresh throughout.  The only real downside is there's not enough exploration and interaction with the beautiful, eccentric Finch family home, and no incentive to go back unless you just want to experience the story again.  There are also some framerate issues, but given the slow-paced nature of the game, that shouldn't be an issue for all but the nitpickiest of players.

What Remains of Edith Finch was completed on a PlayStation 4 with no cheats.

 

 

Review: Prey [PlayStation 4]

Developer: Arkane Studios
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Rated: M for Mature
Released: May 5, 2017
Completed: November 26, 2017

System Shock 2 is one of the greatest video games of all-time.  That's become a well acknowledged fact over the course of the last decade.  It melds first-person gameplay with deep RPG mechanics, gives the player almost unparalleled freedom, and crafts a brilliant story in an atmospheric, often frightening environment, making it one of the most emergent gameplay experiences even 18 years after release.

I hated Prey, the long-awaited 3D Realms shooter that was released on the Xbox 360 and PC in 2006.  Like the even longer-awaited Duke Nukem Forever, it was a massive letdown, and quite frankly, it made me physically ill to play.  It gave me headaches, and I associate my time spent playing it with physical discomfort.

As a result, I almost passed on Prey this year, thinking it was a sequel to the latter.  In reality, the two games share nothing except their name, and Prey 2017 is not only a love-letter to System Shock 2, it may as well be System Shock 3.  It incorporates so many elements of what made SS2 such a great game, including the first-person gameplay, player autonomy, and a beautifully realized space station that bears plenty of resemblance to Shock's Von Braun.

Drill deeper, and the similarities become even more apparent.  Both games feature a nearly identical inventory system, workable stealth mechanics that make sneaking around and avoiding encounters a (mostly) viable way to play, a competent combat system for when things get hairy, an RPG-like upgrade system, and even psionic powers in addition to conventional weapons.  There's even several AIs whose allegiances may or may not be aligned with yours, a brilliant plot twist, and a device in the game called the Looking Glass, named lovingly after the studio that developed System Shock 2 and would rebrand themselves as Irrational Games for the Bioshock franchise.

Yes, Prey is the closest thing we have to a true System Shock sequel until Nightdive Studios finishes their work on the real thing in god-knows-when.  It's just a shame that all the people who jumped on the System Shock bandwagon and have been clamoring for a sequel have completely overlooked Prey.

Prey isn't a game for everyone.  It's not going to satisfy the Call of Duty gamer who expects any game in a first-person perspective to be all about shooting things.  It has the pace of a good horror movie, keeping you on edge, waiting for the next scare.  You'll stand at the entrance to a hallway, debating internally about whether you're ready to see what's on the other end.

After the first of several twists, you'll explore the space station Talos I, which has been infested by an alien lifeform known as the Typhon.  Their gelatinous black appearance, telekinetic powers, and resilience make them intimidating foes - even the small mimics, which can take the shape of anything.  As you wander the station, trying to unravel the mystery and escape with your life, you'll constantly feel a sense of paranoia that every piece of scenery could be a mimic, while encounters with larger Typhon will leave you scrambling for cover, desperately trying to recover health while you chip away at theirs.  Nothing in Prey is what it seems, and your safety is not assured.  The game does a wonderful job of empowering the player, and giving them the tools to survive, but leaves it up to them as to how best to do so.

Prey is all about player freedom.  There are no less than eight different skill trees - three basic human trees, three based on the Typhon's powers, and one each for your suit and your special visor, which allow you to swap chipsets in and out for added benefits.  There are so many options for every scenario, be it combat or navigating the station.  The game's most unique weapon, the GLOO gun, fires a sticky substance than can be used to incapacitate enemies or reach parts of the environment you might not otherwise be able to.  It can snuff out fires, temporarily stop electrical current from arcing, or just act as stepping stones as you carefully jump up a non-functional gravity shaft to reach a new area.

You can unlock hacking and repair skills to bypass security locks and access new data or caches of supplies.  You can increase your effectiveness with standard firearms or more exotic tech if you prefer to face your enemies head-on, or focus on stealth to avoid detection and take out enemies silently.  You can strategically carry and place turrets to conserve precious ammunition, or you can beat the Typhon at their own game by using neuromods to give yourself telekinetic abilities to rival theirs - at the expense of those same turrets detecting you as an enemy.  There's a crafting system that lets you create ammo, health kits, weapons, upgrade mods, and unique items required to progress the story, provided you have the necessary materials - not unlike System Shock 2's chemical compounds.  You can tackle a variety of side missions, locate deceased or surviving crew members, or focus solely on the story missions.  Everything you do is completely up to you.

All throughout my experience - 35 hours in all - I felt like I was playing a new System Shock, and I loved just about every second of it.  I loved that I felt frail, even towards the end of the game.  I avoided encounters with larger, more dangerous Typhon enemies because I was low on health kits or ammo.  I loved that the enemies always felt like they were a threat.  I loved that I was still scared by a mimic revealing itself even after the 100th time it happened.  I loved getting my hands on every neuromod, getting one step closer to that next upgrade I coveted.  I loved exploring the space station.  I loved uncovering more and more of the story, which never felt cliche or predictable to me. 

Just about the only things I didn't love were the late-game "one more thing" missions.  You know those missions.  When you think you've completed your objective, but the game tells you, "Oh sorry, this door is locked, go find the keycard."  This resulted in a lot of backtracking, which comes with a fair share of loading time as you transition between areas, but overall it's not a major issue.

There's a touch of jankiness here and there as well, a few bugs that make the physics go wonky, but nothing game-breaking and no crashes, which is impressive given how persistent the world is.  Areas that you have previously explored will still be littered with dead Typhon organs, GLOO, and debris.  The game runs at a locked 30 FPS, which is perfectly fine because this is not an action shooter.  It's a thinking-man's shooter-RPG hybrid, just like System Shock 2 or Deus Ex. 

Graphically, it's not the greatest looking game.  The overall world detail is impressive, but things like signs in the environment are often low quality textures, and there are a lot of reused elements.  It's not a bad looking title either, however.  The station itself is fascinating to explore, and it uses a surprisingly warm and rich color palette in places like the main lobby or executive offices.  There are also moments where you'll step outside the station and into the vastness of space, where the sense of scale is truly remarkable.  It made me wish for a Prey VR Experience, just so the scale wasn't confined to the rectangle of my television screen. 

Prey also delivers on sound.  The Typhon have a very distinctive white noise-like sound that signals their appearance and often raised hairs on my neck.  The largest of the creatures, the Nightmare, unleashes a terrifying, ear-piercing scream and when you hear it, you'd better be prepared or you'd better start running until it stops hunting you because it's one tough cookie.  The deafening blast of your shotgun sells the power of the weapon.  Even some of the more incidental sound effects are satisfying, like the sound of unlocked upgrades. 

More importantly, the voice acting is generally superb, as it must be for such a story driven game.  Morgan and his brother Alex are both standouts, though there's an NPC here or there who falls well short of the benchmark.

If not for my friend, I may have skipped Prey because I mistakenly assumed it was related to that OTHER Prey.  That would have been a real tragedy, given that it has much more in common with one of my favorite games ever.  He's never even played System Shock 2, and he still loved Prey, but I think those who've been waiting for a true successor have finally had their prayers answered.  Bioshock was a great game, but it was much more of a standard shooter than a true hybrid experience.  Prey feels like a game out of time - a lovingly crafted homage or fan-made sequel with a great story and deep gameplay.  There's no question it's one of my favorite games of 2017.

Prey was completed on a standard PlayStation 4 with no cheats.