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Reviews
Horizon: Forbidden West (2022)
Beautiful, but flawed
Wow - I have to say this is one of the most graphically beautiful games I have ever played. After a pretty cheesy cliffhanger at the end of Zero Dawn, the story picks up momentum starting slow but reaching an early game peak with some lore dumps. I think I'm around 40% through the main story so I hope there is more to come!
However, there have been major downgrades - most notably the combat system. It's much more difficult, not because of the enemies themselves, but the near inneffective dodge mechanic. So many times you are hit by invisible hit boxes or can't fully evade an attack and get chip damage. It just feels clunky and unfair.
Traps and tripwires have also been nerfed, meaning you can place only 3 unless you acquire perks or equip different armours. But 3 traps or wires are barely even enough to apply a decent status effect on the enemies. The traps themselves take at least 5 seconds to place so good luck doing that getting slapped around repeatedly by spammy AOE attacks from the enemies which have Infinite stamina and get right up in your face.
Spears - have a wind up to throw.
Bolt casters - are heavy weapons so are slow.
Traps - take ages to place.
Tripwires - Burst if you place them more than half a meter apart so you have to spend time placing them. Or if you walk into them, which happens more often than not because you need to run away from the enemy right in your face.
Shredder weapons - Need to charge to be thrown.
Bows - need time to reach full draw, and do barely any damage to enemies even when taking off the removable components.
All of these take far too much time when an enemy is right in your face. And you also can't outrun the enemies, so good luck making any space to use any of the above equipment.
I'm just really sad about it, I absolutely adored Zero Dawn and had so much fun with the challenging yet balanced combat, the OP feeling you could get towards the end - but bots like the thunderbird and thunderjaw were still challenging. But they also felt like fair fights.
Why they nerfed the roll to only 3 rolls and give you no other way to dodge attacks is beyond me, I have no idea how this wasn't a major piece of feedback during user testing. You have a slide but I found this inconsistent when running and pressing the button to slide - sometimes you just crouch.
At this point it feels like the only way to make the game fair is to either give yourself Infinite weapon stamina, Infinite traps that are placed immediately, or a decent dodge mechanics so you don't get screwed over. Or drop the enemy difficulty down to story mode - but should this really be necessary to play combat when you have no options to use a stealth approach? To me it just doesn't work.
Dark souls for example you could learn the enemy patterns and work around them, but this doesn't apply here - the enemy jumps right on top of you and does a massive AOE you cannot outrun and can dodge 3 times before getting hit again because you have no other option.
This is my biggest issue with the game, it's so beautiful but just no fun to play during combat...
Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu (2016)
InRE:dibly boring
Full of one dimensional characters and an insufferable protagonist, the story never really gets going. All tension is wiped after each couple of episodes when the protagonist "resets".
Nothing about the world in ever explained or expanded on really, with not much world building other than mentions of a witch.
I find myself unable to crawl through ann episode fully as it is just SO boring. Added to this is typical Japanese fetishism and general assumption by the main characters that all the ladies love him despite having barely any redeeming qualities. No idea how this has soamy high ratings.
Peaky Blinders: Lock and Key (2022)
Pulling at stray threads
Best part of this episode was the twist in the last 10 minutes of the episode, did not see that coming.
The last two season though felt really disjointed however, and characters come and go without having much input on anything that's happening.
Michael was in prison for essentially the whole season, Gina was hooking up with Mosley why was there no "hey Michael your wife is betraying you and your new uncle is going to kill you, why not hop back on the side of the family? We're also avenging your mum who died through not much fault of mine. Nah, randomly shot after being outsmarted on some Canadian island where he was also last outsmarted by Tommy Shelby... Really?
Mobster that's been built up the whole season is not even present, a shootout that happens outside of The Garrison (why did they go outside toward the sniper? There has been plenty of death and violence in the pub before - lazy writing)
Tommy has sex with Mosely's wife... For what? He didn't gain anything out of it? To build houses on land that he owns a large mansion on already? Doesn't make sense.
The twist was good but then how are the seizures and blackouts explained if there is no medical reason for them?
Very strange writing compared to the early seasons, there is almost no tension as everything is explained very plainly to the viewer, can't help feeling it's been dumbed down to appeal to a wider audience due to the fame it gained over the years. Show, don't tell is a basic screenwriting rule that seems to have been largely ignored the last few seasons.
Lots of random characters added that don't really do much and have very little consequence (the bookie informant- don't even remember his name - Gina, Mosley, his wife, uncle Jack - what exactly did they do this season? Also the Scottish bad guys from last season have disappeared with no resolution?
Overall very strange - writing issues? Producer meddling? Who knows. A shaky end with lots of loose narrative threads that ended up being just a bunch of loose ends.
Boruto: Naruto Next Generations (2017)
Pick up and drop
A solid and very enjoyable series when it's adapting the manga content, and even improves on some of the manga's rough edges in some places (E.g. Removing the scene where Naruto intimidates Kawaki using a show of strength when he arrives at their home for the first time).
The animation in major battles and usually at some point in the 'anime canon' arcs make up for a less detailed art style than in Shippuden, and I find myself rewatching these clips (Naruto and Sasuke Vs Momoshiki, Sakura Vs Shin, Team 7 Vs Deepa, Kawaki Vs Garou etc.)
Unfortunately a lot of the 'anime canon' (which is mostly filler content, let's be honest) is often so uninteresting and uninspired it really brings the overall quality of the series down.
I find myself dropping the series every time I know there won't get manga content adapted for some time (judging by these episodes' scores this isn't a decision I regret) and picking up the episodes/arcs that score reasonably high in between (Inojin Vs Houki, for example).
I think this series will be enjoyed better in retrospect when the story is complete and people can choose whether they want to watch the 'anime canon' content rather than have to wait months at a time for good, high quality content.
Cyberpunk 2077 (2020)
Stunning and Immersive... But glitchy.
I'm absolutely blown away by the technical and thematic marvel that is night city and Cyberpunk 2077 as a whole.
Few games can come along and quickly build the immersive world and mishmash of culture that is 2077 night city. Influences from sci go can be found in many places, from Bladerunner's Pris lookalike through Kaneda's bike from Akira, to netrunners a la William Gibson's neuromancer. All of these come to life through the storytelling and interaction both in missions and in the open world. Sci fi enthusiasts, you are in for a real treat.
As a caveat, I'm playing on PC, with a ryzen 3700x and MSI rtx 3070 graphics card, and it's been running incredibly smoothly, with ultra ray tracing and most graphics on ultra. It is absolutely stunning.
However, I purchased this game at half the price of its RRP, due to the mishandled representation of how the game runs on lower end systems and last-gen consoles on its release in September. I have encountered at least 2 glitches that warranted a save reload and interrupted the missions, but in the 20-30 hours I've played, that's not a bad track record comparatively. (Looking at you AC Valhalla on PS4...)
Sure, there are some visual glitches such as floating cigarettes or phones, glass can be heard randomly exploding in the background of some scenes and trash bags or boxes randomly explode. But for me, in a world built on the scale of this game, I can forgive it.
CD Projekt have clearly put so much effort into the sheer scale of this game, and the level of detail is, as I said, complete awe-inspiring. As a magnum opus (no disrespect to the amazing Witcher 3), they're not going to leave these issues unchecked, and the game will only get better from here.
Rime (2017)
A heartfelt game
Wow. What an amazingly directed game.
At first I was slightly uninterested in the game due to the relatovely simple graphics and textures, but over time the fantastic soundtrack and truly special art style invited me in to experience a truly special story, slowly and carefully told through the context of the world.
A truly special game to play, if you have the patience and time to see it through. If you enjoyed games like journey or unravel, this one is a great fit too.