Recent reviews by tagenar

More of what I liked about the first game: Sonic the Hedgehog with combat and a coherent story.

This time an ancient threat has been revived, and she has a story to tell about the current monarchy, how it gained power by committing genocide. Who is to blame for the sins of the grandfathers? How do you atone for the past while accepting people live here now? Maybe there’s a better way than an eye for an eye.

While I think the story is optimistic for thinking that, once the monarchy realizes where its power came from it will simply step aside and allow the will of the people to guide society, it’s still a nice touch. We wish things worked this way, that society has progressed beyond genocide and oppression and is now eager and willing to let the people have a say in how things are run. If only. If only the upper classes could be trusted to step aside once the truth about how they came to power became clear.

“Real change must come from the inside,” one character asserts.

I think history has shown that true change comes from the outside, but we do wish the people in power would listen to reason and come to terms with how they got to where they are. That when the monarchy realizes it gained power only by genocide and exploitation of the masses, it will step aside peacefully to allow the people it once oppressed to have a say in how things are run.

Sure, you don’t need to kill everything in revenge, and if only the upper classes could be trusted to change things so the people they once oppressed could rise up.

Released in 1998 for the Dreamcast, it was one of the first 3D platformers, and boy does it show. Three words best describe this game: haste makes waste.

I can forgive the sparse landscapes. It was a first generation 3D game. Everyone was still trying to figure out how to make a 3D platformer, so I understand why the game feels sparse. i can even forgive the camera bugs to a point. Every early platformer had this problem. Nobody knew how the camera should behave, and it's because of trial and error done on these early games that game designers figured it out.

But I can't forgive the camera bugs this time. At the start of the game (Chaos 0), they are horrible! The camera zips around erratically, sometimes panning to Sonic's feet for no apparent reason, and getting the camera to point at the enemy he's fighting is a pain in the ass. It's very possible to die on the very first playable area just because the camera is an enemy unto itself!

And the problems just keep getting worse. Each level is short and narrow with no room to move or run. Some of them are just plain annoying, like the Casino area. It's long, boring, slow and adds nothing in the way of fun. The Adventure Fields are a total waste of time, as are the humans populating this new world.

The cutscenes are laughable! Characters are constantly bouncing up and down, and for no apparent reason, so you can't take anything they say or do seriously. The voice acting is also awkward (at least here in North America). Knuckles' emotionless "oh no" is especially lousy. The story also makes no sense. It sure tries to build up to a grand finale, but it fails.

Finally, the Chao are stupid.

I liked the multiple storylines. I really did. I especially like how Knuckles' and Big's stories came together. Tails finally has a decent role as well, though his flying is pathetically limited. Knuckles has better flying than Tails, and that's sacrilege in my book. The variety in gameplay is refreshing, and seeing these multiple stories come together is great. Especially e-102 gamma's. A bird trapped in a robot's body seeking to free both himself and his family from their robotic bodies. It's a story that can only be done in the Sonic universe and it's the best in the game! That, and the game's soundtrack make it worth finishing!

But the story as a whole is a confusing mess. By the time I reached the final boss I still didn't know what was going on. Such an enormous buildup and nothing makes sense.

It's well-known Sonic Team was pressured to release the game before it was finished in order to meet the Dreamcast's shipping deadline. The proof is in the game itself. The early levels are littered with camera bugs, cramped environments and awkward cutscenes. Then, in the game's later levels, the environments become more refined and the camera glitches all but disappear. Levels are still cramped, but they feel more like real environments instead of graphics demos. I guess the story was evolving at the same time as the graphics, too. Maybe it would've made more sense had Sonic Team been given more time to develop the game.

Everything about Sonic Adventure is half-done, but it never feels like a bad game. Rather like a first draft. It left me wanting the finished product. If any game out there deserves a remake, it's Sonic Adventure.

It’s a Devil May Cry clone, and it’s mostly an excuse to put breasts and butt on screen, but I like how it presents the angels of Heaven as monsters. Biblically accurate angels are horrifying, and when compared to hellspawn, are angels any less fearsome? Are angels good? Is God a force of good? Maybe demonic forces are a mere counterbalance to two warring kingdoms. I like the challenging of assumptions. Combat is based around precise evasion rather than waiting for moments to attack, so she has a different approach to combat from Dante in DMC. If you take out the cutscenes, there’s maybe 3 hours worth of game in here, but I don’t mind because it’s fun, and it presents a mystery that kept me invested in slaying angels. Sadly, the story is rather convoluted, missing an opportunity to characterize the villain better, but I still like the lore it sets up. It’s good, but I think I prefer Devil May Cry.

It's so much more interesting than Sonic Adventure 1. The story is still a mess, but I can tell Sonic Team figured out how to make a 3D Sonic game by now. Most of the camera bugs that plagued the first title are gone, and overall it's more cohesive. The big problem is Shadow. I really just don't care about him; he's the evil twin trope and despite efforts to make me care about his backstory, I can't. Despite this, it's an essential experience and I recommend it.

What happens at the end of time? Necrophosis is a grotesque journey to find out. A playable work of Danse Macabre mixed with Lovecraft. It's well done.

only one complaint: the voice acting is weak and clashes with the tone. Would have been better to leave all the dialogue to subtitles.

All three Bioshock games are phenomenal, smart, and so memorable I’m still singing their praises all these years later, and certainly enough to rebuy them on modern systems since my disc versions no longer install. Bioshock 1 and 2 especially are better now that I’m familiar with the philosophy they present. Bioshock 1 presents out of control capitalism. Bioshock 2 presents a reaction to the failings of capitalism: out of control collectivism. Both have something to say about the extremes. A video game presenting economic and political theory? That’s rare even now, and on top of that Bioshock gave the player lots of options to accomplish their goals. Hack systems or destroy them and upgrade weapons; focus on plasmids or guns; trick enemies into fighting each other or beef up your own offense/defense. There are so many ways to play these games. Maybe too many options, as I turn off the vita-chambers just to preserve some sense of challenge. 2K pioneered creating balanced systems and letting the player choose how to use them. Both Rapture titles are amazing and memorable and I never tire of replaying them.

All three Bioshock games are phenomenal, smart, and so memorable I’m still singing their praises all these years later, and certainly enough to rebuy them on modern systems since my disc versions no longer install. Bioshock 1 and 2 especially are better now that I’m familiar with the philosophy they present. Bioshock 1 presents out of control capitalism. Bioshock 2 presents a reaction to the failings of capitalism: out of control collectivism. Both have something to say about the extremes. A video game presenting economic and political theory? That’s rare even now, and on top of that Bioshock gave the player lots of options to accomplish their goals. Hack systems or destroy them and upgrade weapons; focus on plasmids or guns; trick enemies into fighting each other or beef up your own offense/defense. There are so many ways to play these games. Maybe too many options, as I turn off the vita-chambers just to preserve some sense of challenge. 2K pioneered creating balanced systems and letting the player choose how to use them. Both Rapture titles are amazing and memorable and I never tire of replaying them.

My PC wasn’t strong enough to run it when it first released, so I rented Bioshock Infinite on PS3 from a Redbox. Now, for the first time, I played it with keyboard and mouse. Somehow it feels more relevant than it did when it was new: American exceptionalism married with Christianity and racial purity, all taken to their extreme, and somehow it incorporates quantum realities into its narrative. It’s an intelligent, complex story, and it all makes sense if you think about it.

I don’t like how it portrays the Vox as just as bad as Comstock, as if rebelling against oppression is equal to being the oppressor, but this is Booker’s point of view, and he can’t see the bigger picture. I can now.

Bioshock Infinite shouldn’t have been called Bioshock, as it doesn’t have much to do with the two Bioshock games, but it does everything right. You don’t have to protect your companion during combat, and Booker’s voice is so good I don’t mind the first-person POV putting words in my mouth.

This is an interactive movie, and it has quite a story to tell.

I can tell this will be a very different experience from Pathologic 2 and I look forward to it.

Half Life 2 is more enjoyable than the first game. The movement puzzles have more variety thanks to the physics engine, and you’re under open skies for most of the game, giving relief from the cramped feeling of the first title. You’re still fighting the military for the majority of it, but this time something else is going on. A mystery that strings the player along and makes them wonder what the hell happened since the end of the Black Mesa incident. The creatures you fought so hard against back then are on Earth now. Some of them are your allies. I’m pleased to see there is a payoff at the end of all that combat. It’s an awesome experience.

As for the expansions, they expend a thousand tons of effort just to nudge the story forward one centimeter, but they’re quite good for gameplay. That final battle at the end of episode 2 is intimidating and incredible. It would be nice if Gordon Freeman could just ASK someone what the hell is going on. Such a shame the third installment never got made.