GRcade

Bertie wrote:

fry87 wrote:RE2 Remake

Resident Evil has long been a blind spot for me as one of the major gaming franchises that I have had no experience with. However, after all of the great reviews and game of the year nominations for the remake I decided to give RE2 a try and am very glad that I did. Without the original as a point of reference I thought it was excellent as a modern game in its own right. I really enjoyed the sense of exploration and puzzling involved, returning to areas later with the necessary equipment. This isn't something I expected from the franchise, which as I understand has since become more action oriented. The game creates a brilliant sense of atmosphere and claustrophobia with the environments and limited resources adding to the suspense. It's incredible to look at with superb use of shadows and lighting and I liked the concept of a 2nd run, which varied things just enough to keep you motivated to see the other storyline. While I understand the remake of 3 received a more lukewarm response critically, I'll probably still check it out given how much I enjoyed 2.

9/10

I’ve done similar to you. I am part way through 3 now and it’s really good, I like some of the action sequences but it’s not as good as 2. 2 is incredible. 3 feels far more linear, much smaller. But it looks brilliant!

This very much lines up with what I've read about the 3 remake, that it's shorter and more action heavy. Some reviews also criticized that a fair chunk of the original game had been cut as well if I recall, which seems a shame. Still definitely on my to play list though!

Diablo 3

10/10

I had put off actually playing D3 for years and finally got around to it, first playthrough with a Crusader. I enjoy hack and slash RPG's and Diablo is pretty much as good as it gets. The story was suprisingly involving with some obvious twists but plenty of lore to back it up. I was just a little annoyed Leah didn't get some sort of peace at the end. I found myself enjoying the side stories with the companions as well more than I thought. I'm about to start another playthrough with a second character rather than jump straight into the endgame stuff as I find the story a more compelling reason to grab loot.

Ori and the Blind Forest - 7/10

After picking up Game Pass again and spotting that both this and Will of the Wisps are included I decided I would give this another play through before playing the sequel. I played it through once before about 18 months ago and was a little bit disappointed with it but I knew it was relatively short and wanted to give the sequel a go so a replay of this seemed like a good idea.

The troubling thing about this game is that in many ways it is so close to being genuinely fantastic - the art style, the music, the heart and soul it displays at times are all so easy to appreciate. But the game play just lets it down too much time and time again.

First off the general movement mechanics are just not as refined as they should be - Ori is a floaty little bastard and way too often this causes jumps to miss or results in you overcompensating for how much air control he seems to have and ending up way off target. The "organic" feel of the play space is excellent from a visual perspective but abandoning the very clear "grid" layout of traditional 2D games means that you get problems with judging jumping distances and issues where you can be unclear as to whether you've not made a jump because you executed something wrong or because it's not actually possible. Again this doesn't happen in games with a tighter visual structure. Uncertainty over whether it is execution or the lack of a specific skill/power to progress to another space is a big flaw in a Metroidvania game. Similarly the number of time Ori got stuck on minor bumps and undulations in the environment is genuinely insane - killing his momentum or making him fall of something where he should have been safe - this absolutely destroys the enjoyment at times and just leaves the player feeling frustrated.

The combat is also crap, there's not really anything else to say about it. Whoever thought that a setup as basic as "stand near-ish to enemies and spam a button" was a good enough system to sustain the entire game needs to be shot. The mechanic where you can bounce off enemies (or send their projectiles back at them) was a nice addition, but had more practical application for traversal rather than combat. So many of the enemies are just massively annoying as well and when combined with the quirks with the movement mechanics just resulted in way too many situations where the two parts did not link together well and just left the player feeling frustrated.

There is a huge reliance on trial and error in sections of the game as well, particularly in the "dungeon exits" which in particular were a low point of the game for me. So many times you are pushed to move quickly through a space without enough prior knowledge of what it actually wants from you and have to die to discover what the solution is. For example in one of the spaces there were jets/lasers that would shoot out across the screen at points which kill you instantly, but these only activate after you pass a trigger which occurs way to late for you to have spotted the jets coming and so you're left with not time to react if you happen to be in the wrong place and just have to die and try again. Terrible design basically.

Another problem it has is in the use of random/variable elements being required to traverse spaces - some times you'll need to sling/bounce your way up to a higher space using falling rocks or enemy projectiles, but these are generated in a random or non-predictable way which leads you to be in a position where you cannot progress and so you end up falling to your death through no fault of your own.

The "overworld" map is gooseberry fool as well, using this to fast travel was a pain in the ass.

When it works well the movement can feel fantastic with you skipping, bouncing and gliding around to achieve some great exploration and discovery of the really well realised world, but it's just pulled down too often sadly.

Overall I think I enjoyed it more on a second run but it's still weak compared to other "recent" Metroidvania games like Hollow Knight or Bloodstained for me. But that said I am looking forward to the sequel as hopefully they will have refined and improved things enough to make the good parts able to stand out and have fewer frustrations dragging them down!

The combat in the sequel is much better than the first, there's a lot more going on.

The complaint for Resident Evil 3 is 'it should be DLC" which I get. But I got it for £8.99 for 6 hours. Brilliant game and well worth it. I know I will play through again. I might have been annoyed at £40, but I didn't pay that.

Tomous wrote:The combat in the sequel is much better than the first, there's a lot more going on.

Good to hear!

Contrast - 5/10

+ Looks nice, especially the use of light and shadows (as you'd expect)
+ Good soundtrack
+ Some clever puzzles

- The plot's dull
- Controls are pretty annoying
- The main core mechanic doesn't strawberry floating work sometimes, or just has a mind of its own

This is a really good idea, and works well initially, but as the game goes on and the puzzles and environments become more complex etc, the main shifting mechanic just becomes a nightmare to use. Add in lots of little frustrations - the constant cut scenes and interruptions to just playing the game, the iffy controls, the dodgy collision detection - it really starts to become a chore. Good idea, but not executed in the best way.

Bertie wrote:The complaint for Resident Evil 3 is 'it should be DLC" which I get. But I got it for £8.99 for 6 hours. Brilliant game and well worth it. I know I will play through again. I might have been annoyed at £40, but I didn't pay that.

I think a lot of people forget that it comes bundled with what was supposed to be a significant multiplayer expansion, so it's only half the package. I thought it was fine, if you go through the challenges etc. there's a good thirty hours of gameplay in there.

Wreckfest.

Finally managed to slog my way through the career. I was all set to give it a 4 or 5 as the racing is functional enough, just really dull. But Jesus the career mode just gets worse as it goes on.

Where are the wacky Flatout style events to mix things up? Why are you now forcing me to do 12 (TWELVE) lap races? I had to turn the difficulty down because strawberry float doing 11 laps of this gooseberry fool and then getting wrecked by a stray car (still happened twice). And on easy mode the game becomes even more dull.

I guess there might possibly be some fun to be had in a multiplayer match, but it's telling that even the Flatout crew haven't been tempted by this one. strawberry float this game and strawberry float anyone who recommended it.

3/10.

RE8, excellent game from start to finish. I don’t know how it runs on XBOX Series or PS5 but I got the impression it was really pushing PS4 to it’s limits at points as there was a little texture pop in and the menus chugged an awful lot.

10/10

more heat than light wrote:Wreckfest.

Finally managed to slog my way through the career. I was all set to give it a 4 or 5 as the racing is functional enough, just really dull. But Jesus the career mode just gets worse as it goes on.

Where are the wacky Flatout style events to mix things up? Why are you now forcing me to do 12 (TWELVE) lap races? I had to turn the difficulty down because strawberry float doing 11 laps of this gooseberry fool and then getting wrecked by a stray car (still happened twice). And on easy mode the game becomes even more dull.

I guess there might possibly be some fun to be had in a multiplayer match, but it's telling that even the Flatout crew haven't been tempted by this one. strawberry float this game and strawberry float anyone who recommended it.

3/10.

I enjoyed it for a few hours. Found it fun, and a nice change to track racers or forza horizon.

Why did you ‘slog’ through it, if you didn’t like it. I’m old enough now, with less time that I just drop games I am not enjoying (e.g. RE 7 is just a bit much, and Forza 7 is a really boring racing game).

Bertie wrote:Why did you ‘slog’ through it, if you didn’t like it.

I have an unhealthy addiction to achievements.

Oh god, Jenuall is right, those dungeon exits were strawberry floating annoying in Ori.

I'm always right

Squinty wrote:Oh god, Jenuall is right, those dungeon exits were strawberry floating annoying in Ori.

Only if you didn't nail them first time

The sad thing is they had the potential to be a really exciting cathartic moment in the game - you've completed a dungeon and achieved something significant for restoring the world - an adrenaline rush exit back into the "main world" from that point really could have worked well, but they fluffed the execution really badly.

Resident Evil 2 Remake- 9/10

It's absolutely fantastic and is the perfect example of what a remake of a classic game should be.

I prefer remake, but Resident Evil 2's is great too.

Memento Mori wrote:Resident Evil 2 Remake- 9/10

It's absolutely fantastic and is the perfect example of what a remake of a classic game should be.

Yep. Incredible. Give 3 a go too. Not as good as the high bar of 2, but fun.

Makes me very excited for the 4 remake. It may be someway off though, but I can wait.

While the mass effect series is massive, it seems to be a token effort at a remaster to make money, rather than a proper attempt. Credit to capcom.

Bertie wrote:

Memento Mori wrote:Resident Evil 2 Remake- 9/10

It's absolutely fantastic and is the perfect example of what a remake of a classic game should be.

Yep. Incredible. Give 3 a go too. Not as good as the high bar of 2, but fun.

Makes me very excited for the 4 remake. It may be someway off though, but I can wait.

While the mass effect series is massive, it seems to be a token effort at a remaster to make money, rather than a proper attempt. Credit to capcom.

3 is my next game after I finish a second run with Leon.