Recent reviews by Wanted: El Lipito

Best FPS game ever made. Nostalgia kicks in when playing.

Platform: PC
Genre: Action, Adventure
Developer: Remedy Entertainment
Publisher: Remedy Entertainment


Summary
Alan Wake is an action adventure game with horror elements that dives into the story of the character who names the game. As you arrive to Bright Falls to search for inspiration to write your next book, you quickly sense that something is wrong, as your wife is “kidnapped” by the “Darkness” that roams the town. You later find out why this is all happening, as you try to find your wife and defeat the “Darkness”.

Graphics – 4.5/5
With outstanding views and frightening forests filled with foggy sights, Alan Wake doesn’t lack in the graphical department. The visuals in this game really help you to feel within the game, with amazing light effects and great work done on putting you in one of most atmospheric games I have played.

Sound – 4.5/5
The sounds are really well done. Between the scary sounds you listen as you walk in the forests and the gun shots you fire, to the voiced characters and music, you actually feel immerse in the game. The ambient sounds are spot on with help to set the tone to the scenes you are playing.

Gameplay – 4/5
The gameplay revolves around getting from place A to place B, while going with your trusty flashlight and some weapons, picking up supplies along the way. The premise is simple but effective, because it was done in an innovative manner. Besides, you sometimes get some puzzles to solve and epic moments like the concert scene. It’s fun to play this game and although there aren’t truly jump scare moments, the atmosphere really makes you dread on where’s the next enemy. There are some problems though. There aren’t many enemies to fight and sometimes you feel like you are going into the forest yet again. But somehow it’s all small things to complain about when you think of the enjoyment you got out of this game. It will take you anywhere from 15 to 20 hours to complete.

Story – 4/5
The story in this game is very solid and enjoyable, although there aren’t many twists to it. The game is split into episodic parts, which worked out tremendously well for this plot, because at the end of each episode you want to find out what’s going to happen next. The characters are well developed although some of them just seem a bit stereotypical at time. The end, although great, only really finishes in the “second” game: Alan Wake’s American Nightmare. I didn’t really like this, since the “second” game is more of an arcade experience than the first one and doesn’t focus on the story as much. Besides, splitting the story like this is not fair, since you have to buy the “second” game to really finish the original Alan Wake. The pacing of the story is well done and overall it was an incredible experience, from start to finish.

Notes

• Collectibles (TV shows, pages of the manuscript, radio talks) really add a unique feeling to the game and provide a more in-depth way of telling you the plot along with what’s going on in Bright Falls (coffee thermos not so much).
  
• You can’t buy this game anymore digitally due to expired licensing deals.

Overall score – 8.5/10
Great graphical quality, good sounds and music, along with a solid story but somewhat predictable and a very good atmospheric gameplay surrounding third person shooting make Alan Wake one of the best experiences I have had with this genre.

Belongs in my personal best:

Platform: PC
Genre: Action
Developer: Crytek
Publisher: Crytek


Summary
Ryse: Son of Rome is a hack and slash, third person action game that tells a story about a Roman soldier, Marius Titus, whose family was killed by the Britons. This makes Marius seek out revenge, as he goes through a campaign with the Roman army to kill the barbarian’s leader. Only if Marius knew that there were other forces at stake…

Graphics – 5/5
This is really the main strength of the game. The cutscenes are extremely well done, the facial animations are spot on, which gives a real life-like feel to the game, and the world and its surroundings are stunning to look at. Definitely one of the best looking games I have seen so far.

Sound – 5/5
The sound quality is actually very good. The voice acting is not superb, but it gets close to it and generally gives you the feeling that the voice actors were not just reading a line. They were instead giving life to the character and adapting their voice to the situation they were in. Although not revolutionary, the soundtrack is very well placed within the game and well-adjusted to the situation you are in. The overall ambient sounds are crystal clear and of high quality, which helps you to feel like you are in the world you’re playing. All things considered, the sound is top notch.

Gameplay – 3/5
The gameplay is centered around combat and this is probably the game’s biggest flaw. Although fun, the combat can become repetitive pretty quickly because you can only do 4 main actions: attack, defend, push your enemy with your shield to break his defense or dodge. Besides, your combat will be filled with counter attacks and same old moves. Furthermore, although the executions are pretty awesome to look at, they will become repetitive and predictable, since the QTE (Quick-Time Events) are pretty much reduced to 2 button combinations. There are some boss and mini boss battles which keep things somewhat fresh but ultimately the majority of time you will be fighting with a handful of types of enemies. This really shows the lack of variety in combat. I would like to see more types of attacks and more options to fight your enemies, like for example fighting with maces, in addition to seeing more diverse enemies. Also it would be nice to play more “special sections” (like shooting with the ballista or making the square formation with shields), as well as these being more varied, such as, for instance, being able to shoot from a catapult. Talking about the content, the single-player only takes you 5 to 7 hours, depending on the difficulty setting. This makes it a bit short for my taste and the game didn’t give itself a chance to be better in terms of character development and overall storytelling. However, you can extend your playtime if you hop on to multiplayer which is good, for the most part. It has got some levels and various cooperative missions.

Story – 3.5/5
This felt like a wasted opportunity. Ryse: Son of Rome was able to create a pretty interesting set of characters but failed to create gripping stories for these. Basically it only touched the surface of many characters but didn’t really go deep to try and tell their backgrounds and the reasoning for why they do what they do. I would like to see more of Boudica, Oswald , Nero and his sons, for example. There were some scenes in the game that carried emotional connection with it, like the death of Oswald, so that’s a plus. But, generally speaking, this game lacked character development. Overall, it was a decent story but I get the sense that it could have been much better.

Notes

• Collectibles (vistas, scrolls and chronicles) don’t really add much to the game.
  
• The few choices you make in combat when leading your troops could have been exploited in a different way.

Overall score – 7.5/10
Stunning graphics, great sound quality but a repetitive combat and untapped potential in terms of storytelling, along with a decent to good multiplayer make Ryse: Son of Rome an enjoyable but flawed experience, which is shown in the latter parts of the game.

Belongs in my personal best:

Platform: PC
Genre: Action, Adventure
Developer: DONTNOD Entertainment
Publisher: Square Enix


Summary
Life Is Strange is a third person action adventure 5 part episodic game, where you play as Max Caulfield and go in an adventure with Chloe Price, her best friend, seeking to discover the mysteries of Arcadia Bay. The story is based around the disappearance of Rachel Amber, Chloe’s former best friend (until Max shows up in her hometown, 5 years after leaving Arcadia Bay).

Graphics – 4/5
Even though Life Is Strange doesn’t go for the technically realistic high end graphics, its world is beautiful to look at. Apparently, it was all hand painted. This really gives a unique touch to the game, while making it seem fantastic at the same time. Furthermore, this choice made by the developers will probably make it so the game doesn’t feel outdated graphically as time goes on. The animations are almost perfectly done, except for one particular animation that is way more used than it should be, especially in secondary dialogue. Another problem is the lip syncing, which is kind of bad, especially for a narrative driven game, making the job of immersing yourself in the characters a bit more difficult. Sometimes the camera angles when you talk with the characters diminish the visibility of this issue although not totally hiding it.

Sound – 5/5
The sounds are, generally speaking, very well done. The voice acting is actually very good and adequate to the characters, which helps the player to immerse himself in the game and to engage more with it. Talking about the soundtrack, it’s one of the best I have ever seen. Every song you will hear fits perfectly to the situation you are experiencing, matching very well with the overall tone of the scene you are playing. About the overall ambient sounds, they are extremely well made.

Gameplay – 4.5/5
Even though this might look your standard point and click adventure game, it’s a bit different. It adds a new element: time travel. You can make a choice, just to realize you can reverse time and choose another to see what happens. Even though you might think this would ruin a game which is based around decision making and storytelling, it actually doesn’t. Simply because, even when you do this, the choices you make aren’t “right” or “wrong”. It’s like having multiple shades of grey between a black and white spectrum. Each player will interpret the options they are given in a very unique and personal way, because this game deals with mundane but controversial topics, like euthanasia, domestic violence, and others. That’s why many players will see the options they are given, try them, and then think about them for a few minutes, reflecting on what consequences they could bring to the story, and only then choose one of them. Since this is a 5 part episodic game, I can say that the first episode is rather slow, intentionally to make the player used to the time travelling mechanic and to know a bit about the world and its characters. From this point on however, the story really picks up and starts to evolve in a very good way at least until the end of episode 4. Episode 5 wasn’t perfect by all means, as players might be confused with all the things going in, although the finale didn’t leave anything to be desired. You should really take your time with this game, and see all the little details that it has to offer. The gameplay is really diversified, since you go all over Arcadia Bay and even go between multiple realities, completing objectives and progressing through various interesting activities. Here the time travel aspect is used in a very clever way, particularly to solve problems that appear throughout your adventure. The game can take you anywhere from 15 to 25 hours, depending on what pace you want to play the game.

Story - 5/5
Definitively one of the best stories I have ever experienced in a game. The build up from episode to episode, which begin with a flashback to what’s happened and end either by a cliffhanger or by making the player crave for more, the overall sense of mystery and need to explore the next part of the game and the emotional connection with the characters and their tale are really what stands out from this experience. The dialogue is well written and well executed in game, allowing you to emotionally connect to the characters, and even though there are some lines that might seem old fashioned, they are still good for a grin or two.

Notes

• If you want to replay a certain part of the game, it’s very easy because the game is sectioned in chapters. This also allows an easy way to get the collectibles (photos).
  
• Free Directors’ Commentary.
  
• 1st episode is free which is great.

Overall score - 9.5/10
The unique hand painted graphics, amazing soundtrack and sound quality, along with an emotional and gripping story make Life Is Strange a unique experience and one which you have to go most definitively go through. The only things holding it back from being perfect are the lip sync issue and the somewhat confused and out of place 5th episode, when compared with the previous ones. In the end, there aren’t enough reasons to not go through such an unique experience that explains why games can also be considered art. This was one of the very few games which made me drop a tear.

Belongs in my personal best: