Recent reviews by Cali

Greatest game of all time, remade to almost perfection (OG soundtrack sounds more dissociated and uncanny which I think fits the game more), but the actual game itself is beautiful. Worth $70 and PLEASE go in completely blind.

Starts as a pretty fun Wario Land-like...then you go for 100% and the Cracked ranks and this game becomes a staple part of your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gaming career. Besides a few tweaks needed in some levels (the crates in the beginning of Happy Hour on Glasshouse not saving your combo unless you know EXACTLY that you're going to be coming back through that tunnel saving like 5 ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hours of my time AHEM), this was well worth the 100 hours it took to 100%.

btw Gianni voicing satan and having him yell HARDER as you're pounding him at the end of the final boss makes this game legendary

Spoilers up ahead for the mechanics of how this game functions. If you want to enjoy the story yourself, scroll until the very last paragraph for my final thoughts.

This game could've been perfect. The story as it's intended is quite well thought out, the cinematography, acting, music is spot on. There's just one HUGE weak link to everything and that is David Cage's writing. You can't have an experience like Detroit that wants the player to think ONE way with a game you claim to have so many thought out endings.

The game IMPLORES you to believe that A) all devaint androids are good and humans are tyrannical and B) any risky option or "fairytale gambit" will always work. By "fairytale gambit" I mean choices that always have a happy ending obviously, even in reality when they shouldn't. Take the scene during the Jericho raid when Luther gets shot and you have the choice of either Protecting Alive, or Lifting and carrying Luther to shelter. I played this game with my mother as a birthday gift, and she figured saving Luther was "far too risky" with soldiers everywhere, and could get here killed, so she let him die. WRONG CHOICE, according to Cage, as if you just went with the fairytale "everything will work out if I save luther", he lives just fine. It happens with John at the Warehouse, sparing the Tracis at the Eden Club, and with Saving Hank over the revolution at the end of the game.

It's funny because they're ARE moments where this rule isn't followed. Take the Stratford Tower break-in where you have the option to spare or shoot an escaping hostage. If you spare him, the alarms are raised and Simon will probably end up dying through either Connor or you sacrificing him to keep Jericho a secret. The issue is these moments are SO DAMN RARE in the 'intended playthrough' Cage wants you to have 'Demonstration Markus, Deviant Connor, Border Kara'.

I really just wish the game wouldn't always push ANDROIDS ARE FREE ANDROIDS ARE GOOD MARKUS SHOULD LIVE HUMANS BAD and let us actually think for ourselves. What if we didn't want Markus to have a revolution because of the impending civil war, and instead had a path of him taking down Jericho to protect android safety, with Connor assisting? What about a path where Kara thinks going to Canada during the finale is too risky, so she stays with Jericho? But, sadly, the fairytale choices that always lead to a good ending are so apparent.

Huge potential. Wasted? Not exactly, I very much enjoyed it. Just remember to make the choice YOU want to make, not what the game WANTS you to pick. Either way, worth it for a first time playthrough.

SPOILERS END HERE.
This game is worth a pickup for a first time playthrough. But if you're expecting any personalized ending outside of a "very good" or "very evil", don't get your hopes up.

For someone that grew up on Absolution and World of Assassination, I was expecting Blood Money to be a ginormous learning curve that would be too much for me to actually enjoy the game through. Surprisingly, I felt I had much more of an interactive experience with Blood Money than any other Hitman (I have not played any game before BM). In WoA you either fell in the two camps of luring targets into a corner to garrote (or just Seiker'ing them) or the camp of following a heavily scripted mission story to get a free cutscene kill. In Blood Money, every level felt like it was MY experience, uniquely, and felt way more involved in exactly how I approach targets. Fundamentally still, it's lacking in mechanics from the newer titles, but the golden rule of 'show, don't tell' is mastered here.

As for replayability, I don't know. It almost feels like the abundance of levels compared to WoA's few but plentiful ones make it so there's only a few ways to uniquely kill your targets? I don't see me playing Blood Money more than twice for a full SA run. Regardless, for the price, great title to pick up. The learning curve is NOT that steep.

I was recommended this by someone who's into RPGMaker games, as I was too, and at first I thought it to be a simple puzzle game with no real story. The beginning is slow, but once you really reach the rising action of the game, the characters and mystery surrounding this odd world is intriguing enough for a pleasant gaming experience. It's a short game, but the amount of endings and 100% completion let me enjoy the game for much longer than I thought I would.

As someone who has never played a roguelike before and isn't interested in those types of games, I was pleasantly surprised at how Balatro immediately hooked me in. I could easily spend 2-3 hours a day picking away at each difficulty on each deck, hoping someday I'll achieve that legendary 'Completionist++' achievement. But so far, I'm still finding new ways to win and achieve super high scores even 70 hours in. Although, there is a heavy RNG element once you discover everything and hit the skill ceiling, so you kinda have to be into those kinds of mechanics.

This game is my favorite platformer of all time, and possibly my favorite video game of all time. The level design is made around speed, precision, and pre-planning, and the difficulty is just right to not be infuriating but also keeps your perseverance up to try it again and again until you achieve the highest rank.

10/10, I have no problems with this game whatsoever. By far a great title to pick up.

This game makes me happy in a way I haven't felt in a very long time. Even in times of the greatest frustration like completing Farewell for the first time, I never lost the smile on my face anytime I boot this up. I really took my time like eating a huge piece of cake because I knew it was going to be short and sweet, and it sure was. 10/10.

If you're looking for a game like Dead by Daylight, this isn't as similar as one might think. But my god is this fun. I prefer victim, but Family is still great to play. Still some day one roughness with bugs and imbalance, but I feel way less passionate and angry at this game's balancing decisions honestly. Maybe it's the goofiness or the style, but it just WORKS. 9/10, only docking because of the constant 'supplied credentials' errors.

Hard to get into at first, but it's fun. Very unique from other huge live service PvP games out there and plenty of content to go around. Just make sure you don't play too much a day and get heated and addicted, or forever hold your piece at 6000 hours and 4 disconnects a day.