Recent reviews by DisableBore

Of all the games that could get a second chance to impress, this was not one I expected to get a remaster. And I'm glad it did.
This is not a perfect game (AI issues, middling story, questionable execution of ideas), nor it's a perfect remaster (some areas have minor visual bugs with the new lightning), but as far as tie-in games go, man, does this one has a ton of cool stuff going for it.

This is a game that does a remarkable job capturing the visuals and tone of the 1982 horror masterpiece and translating its main themes into gameplay, and the remaster is a solid job that adds great additions to the combat and graphics without sacrificing the art direction or the design too much. If you have a fondness for early 2000's graphics, you will appreciate how faithful the effort is to retain the general look of the game.
The main perks however is that not only is the AI less prone to breaking down, the new visual effects are incredible to the game's atmosphere. So many areas are enhanced by the dynamic shadows alone.

Sadly, I don't think I can recommend this at full price to anyone but gigantic Carpenter fans, or as a way to signal Nightdive you want more games like this to be brought back to the public eye. But on sale, definitely give it a try if you are a junk enthusiast or love the original movie and want an above average tie-in game about it.
In a general sense, I do encourage supporting and playing this release, because I believe that there is more value in getting remasters or ports of decent games full of "neat ideas" that a new generation could get inspiration from to expand upon, than a AAA by the numbers release from 4 years ago that has nothing fresh to offer.

The artwork book is brief but lovely to look at, and any new Yamaoka content is a pleasure as always. Sadly it does not have the full suite, but what is there is great.

In a twist of fate I deeply appreciate, we are at a stage where a game that comes across as it came out on the sixth generation of consoles is seen as a selling point by some.
Well, in that line of thought, Slitterhead is a nippon jank of the early PS3 days that is very experimental, quite flawed, but the heart and soul it has makes it so easy to like and look past the shortcomings.

This is a body-horror themed hack-and-slash by former developers of Siren and Gravity Rush, featuring a gameplay blend of Prototype, Driver San Francisco and Watch Dogs Legion, set in a decayed asian urban setting with the vibe of Kane and Lynch 2 and Sleeping Dogs, with a presentation and storytelling style that screams 80's tokusatsu (such as Kamen Rider) with an OST by Akira Yamaoka.
If this sounds like a salad of inspirations and references, is because it is. The joke is that all of this is combined into something better than the sum of it's parts.

You play as a spirit capable of taking over normal people and collectable "rarities" that act as your cast of characters to advance the plot, who get involved in all sorts of shenanigans, from cult investigation to chasing down monsters in the street.
The combat is deceptively simple if quite repetitive, as bad positioning is punished fast, and not using your abilities well makes fighting groups and bosses so much harder. At it's best, the game nails the power fantasy of controlling an entire squad of minions, acting as a group of monster exterminators while you move across the city like a demon of blood. At it's worst, it's just a dull or annoying boss fight with an uncooperative camera when backed into a corner.

My biggest qualm with the game is that not all rarities are as fun to use, and the plot is easy to loose track of. Another annoyance is that to replay levels to unlock things to progress the story, the text dialogue cannot be skipped, leading to a pace halt that adds up frustration with time.

And sadly, while the art direction and character/monster designs are generally very good, the game suffers from a clear lack of budget that hurts the experience, with some unfortunate visual bugs, a very limited enemy roster for how long the game is, and lack of voice acting and audio.

However, I still consider this my favorite game of the year despite the faults for one simple reason- it's something unique that had genuine passion, and took a risk doing something experimental even if in parts it fell flat on it's face -and that makes this game more worthy of your time than some AAA slop.

If the description from early sounded remotely interesting to you, buy it. It's rough around the edges, but games that take a gamble and aren't afraid to be flawed deserve more attention.

I can't lie, this is a middle-tier musou (what a statement in itself) with all the baggage that comes with it. And even then it disappoints in some aspects, like the mediocre unlockable characters (and where they are even available), overall presentation quality (the Golden Age arc gets the movie cutscenes and even then they are censored at points, rest of the game has in-game dialogue boxes and now and then a CG render), lackluster and poor bossfights and general grinding required are traits that would make me very hesitant to recommend this game.

As a game it's like a C- .
As a Berserk fan-wank and power fantasy? Good lord this one delivers.
So many "oh he did the thing!", multiple setpieces that are just letting you revisit notable chapters, and the absolute peak rampage that is acquiring the Beast of Darkness and just utterly annihilating absolutely everything in your path.

If you are a big to dedicated 'serk fan, you will get some joy out of it, and those are the people I do recommend this game to, on sale if possible. It is a repetitive, very shallow game overall until you try out the endless eclipse gamemode, and the decline in presentation after we reach Conviction arc (plus lack of Lost Children because the world is full of cowards) really hurt the overall experience. Might not be a dealbreaker but it's too hard to not notice.

To everyone else, or people who haven't read the manga, I'm much less enthusiastic to recommend this game. I feel that it does a poor job as a catchup, it's more of a "best of" galore.

If you really don't wanna read a book then just check out the TV Anime series or try out the great Millennium Falcon Holy War game with the fanpatch because that one is a much better game than this one, both mechanically and as a gateway into this amazing series.

To preface, I would encourage you to buy this on principle alone.
The developer was one of the few indies who followed the original Steam Regional Pricing in my home country when everyone else just bumped it to 500% simply because he said he knew it would suck for honest buyers and understands what it is like to be poor to buy a game. And for hyping the sequel, he simply gave away the first game for free for everyone to try it. Oh and the supporter pack gives most of the money to the composer.
For these things alone, this dev gets my seal of endorsement, and I encourage you to support him.

OK about the game now. Intravenous 2 is everything good about the first game and more. This is a straight improvement on nearly every front, with even more guns, complex levels, and edgekino writing of the highest caliber.

By far the best addition is the two distinct playable protagonists, one who starts better suited for stealth and one for combat, which highlights the best aspect of both games: Intravenous is one of the very few titles where stealth and guns blazing are both extremely enjoyable, well developed, and a lot of fun. Thanks to this separation, you get to enjoy both extremes at your leisure much easier than before.

To add a cherry on top, the soundtrack is again incredibly strong regardless if you are sneaking around non lethally or carving your path like a madman.

100% recommended for stealth action purists and rambos alike. This is an excellent sequel that surpassed all my expectations of an already super solid indie game. Buy it.

Overall I am positive about Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster but it comes down more from the core game being just as strong as before. In many aspects, I would say recommending or not this game depends on multiple factors that boil down to personal preference. And while I enjoyed my time with it as a megafan of the series, I also cant deny it has problems worth pointing out.

As such I will put it like this:

If you never played Dead Rising, or the first game didn't click with you, try this one out.

If you are a fan of Dead Rising, it really depends.

In many ways, this remaster does exactly what it says. It retains the core gameplay, zany physics, systems and general structure of the cult classic. The mall had some visual makeovers that are in some areas decent, and in others a bit too noisy, but for the most part the environment is almost 1 to 1, allowing a veteran player to quickly get back in the groove.

Get in the mall, and in 72 hours, rescue survivors, defeat colorful bosses with absolute prime 2000's bangers as themes, use anything you can find to fight zombies, and uncover a conspiracy.

This is at the heart still my beloved Dead Rising, but with a new coat that isn't what I am used to.

OK let me get it out of the way. Survivors are still vulnerable, but are not as colossally mentally handicapped, or endure anything like DR2. I think it found the perfect balance now. I like their voices overall, as they can more easily shine and stand out, even if I find the stupid hints annoying.

Every dialogue is now voiced, and all voices are re-casted. Sadly, not everyone is as good, and while I warmed up to some of the voices, the feeling that its just wrong never went away.

Some gameplay elements have been altered or added, such as a time skip mechanic that allows you to skip time gradually or insanely fast. Useful for achievement runs or running thru the main story, but in my opinion should be a new game plus feature.

Some new magazines have been also added to play around with, and some weapons had rebalances. A few better than others.

The most perplexing change is PP gain rebalance. As you do stuff in the game, you level up with these points, but now you get significantly more points with photos. The amounts needed to level up seem way lower too.

I will clarify that my first run was aiming for perfect run, as in everyone saved, all bosses, all collectables. And likely its the same for veteran players, so while a casual newcomer might now be as affected, this does still damage the early hours that force people to learn the mall, rescue people, and try to maximize how efficient they are, a consequence of how vulnerable you start.
I think this move was a mistake, and I believe the game should had a classic and rebalanced option for leveling, similar to the classic and new controller layout. It simply does not have that same level of "clawed effort" progression that made mastering the original game so satisfying.

Infinity mode now is both harder and easier, with time skip being available and more drops, but survivors are random and dangerous enemies spawn after day 2, forcing you more to proactively fight them off. I also crashed three times trying to get 7 Day Survivor, so that blows too.

Other changes include zombie genocider being a cumulative thing instead of doing it in a single go, and a magazine that grants all unlockable skill moves early in before you level up- Great for trying them out as a newbie. I also like all DLC customes from the Xbox 360 version are now tied to challenges.

A very strong point of contention for me is the content alterations that were made to the game. The photography tag Erotica was removed and and a quest related to it was changed, and two psychopaths had altered visuals and dialogue. Everyone already beat that horse so I'll just say that I do not like changing content for any reason whatsoever, I feel that its better to suck up a perceived mistake of a different time instead of trying to address it this poorly. It was content in the original game, and as such it is a negative to lack it, period.

So, the short is that while I can imagine a new player greatly enjoying this game, I struggle recommending it to a veteran. If anything for them it's a power fantasy version of it, which might have some appeal.

But unlike most publishers, at least the original is still available on Steam in all it's glory, and at a slashed priced to boot. If you can simply adjust to it, I think it overall is a better product for the money, and its not just nostalgia, I find the presentation aged far better than one would think and I find the balance of the game more polished and refined.

So in the end, like I said, it depends on you, the player. Dead Rising is still a worthwhile game regardless.

For a one man game, Hollowbody is a crazy achievement. It has a vibrant amount of soul, and a clear focus on being an unsettling, slow burner filling you with unease, instead of an intense or emotional ride.

I cannot praise the audiovisual presentation enough, the game captures perfectly the vibe it's going for with these extremely well textured models and environments that have a narrow amount of polygons.
The audio creeps up on you slowly and the general ambience is excellent to keep you on edge as the game world whispers environmental storytelling to you.
As an atmospheric tour in a somehow more horrific England, this game excels.

As a survival horror game, I am slightly wishing more. There is a limited enemy and weapons roster, and while the combat does the job, it nearly falls from the "intentionally bad" to "player killing handicap" at a specific stage later in the game. There is also some audio mixing issues with some dialogue, which can make some scenes difficult to understand. And on a personal note, I wish the game had harder and more varied puzzles.

But ultimately, I do want more. I would love to see more of this bleak futuristic noir setting, and get a look into the bigger picture of the story. New Game Plus offers some replay value with a FPS mode and difficulties, so that will do for now however.

Thumbs up, definitely pick it up if you are looking for a game to play with good headphones in the dark.

Pretty solid port of the only game where you can find every secret in a level except the key item needed to progress.
Also winner of the best "reach out for a neck wound" death animation of 1997.

The juxtaposition of a well realized bleak urban atmosphere with some stellar original music and well aged facial capture against this plot hole ridden mess, uncanny body movements and bananas QTE moments create this insanely enjoyable little mess. While the second half does pick up substantially, and it's definitely possible to enjoy the game earnestly, it will take a lot of endurance to not crack at the sheer number of silly things if you keep looking for them.

I do think the game was very close to being something so much better than it ended up with some small changes to the script and pacing, which does make the shortcomings more frustrating. This, and the "non" gameplay makes this a middle to no recommendation if you can only take a game seriously.

Now, if what you want is entertainment, do pick up Heavy Rain if you have never played it because boy this is a genuine clown show ride to remember.

I understand that the developers might be disappointed that I laughed more than anything else, but at least know you kept me well entertained back in the PS3 days to platinum the game and get all endings, so that's worth something.

Great soundtrack, trash!