Recent reviews by AlmightyJJ

Cocoon is a marvel. Perhaps one of the most clever puzzle games ever devised. No other game on the market is doing anything like this. All the puzzles revolve around the concept of worlds within worlds, and every minute of this game is impressively mind-bending. The art direction is superb, with environments that manage to both give off an alien, fleshy aesthetic and a dystopian, mechanical atmosphere. It's simply otherworldly.

You're looking at one of the best games of the year.

I love this game so much

Really cool little game with great art direction. The 70s retro-futuristic aesthetic is always interesting and the defining part of the game. You get a nice mix of 2.5D puzzle-platforming with some third person hacking gameplay. There's some awesome voice talent (Yuri Lowenthal of the Spider-Man games) and the story is mostly engaging but falls a little flat at the very end. If you like the Truman Show and games like INSIDE you will enjoy this game.

RE4 is not only my new favorite Resident Evil but one of the best games I've ever played period. It's one of the best horror games out there and one of the best action games out there - striking the perfect balance between the two. The gunplay is extremely solid and the combat system is satisfying and rewarding. I can't speak on the original but this one blew me away. Absolutely recommend, will be playing it again very soon.

Jedi Survivor should've been a step up from Fallen Order in pretty much every way. Instead it just ends up feeling underwhelming.

What really elevates Survivor as a sequel is its visual fidelity and its story. The environments look great with rich, detailed geometry everywhere, and is a marked visual upgrade from Fallen Order. Cal is still a very compelling character, and the story this time around is a shade darker and much more personal. It feels very similar to the Empire Strikes Back in its tone. Respawn is doing such a great job with the Star Wars IP and it's clear they really get it - which is why it's such a shame this game launched in the state it did.

This game launched in an absolutely abysmal state and over 7 patches later it still runs horribly. I cannot recommend this to most people with low to mid-range hardware. I was hit with dozens of crashes during my playtime and it eventually became so bad I had to stop playing. I revisited it several months later and was able to progress, but performance was and still is terrible.

One of the biggest selling points of this game is the larger planets with much more explorable area. The irony of this is that because of the performance, these areas run like garbage. The main planet you'll spend most of your time on runs embarrassingly bad. On top of that, the location variety is big step down. Every planet in Fallen Order felt unique and like it had its own identity. Here, you'll spend most of your time exploring barren desert environments, which is disappointing.

Enemy variety is improved but, like the first game, you spend way too much time fighting animals instead of humanoid enemies. I don't care to fight ric-rats and other boring enemy types. Let's hope they nail this in the third game.

Where Jedi Survivor really shines is in its commitment to feeling like Star Wars. Respawn once again nails the atmosphere and tone, and this series remains one of the most interesting and well-realized entries in the modern Star Wars canon. If you're a die-hard Star Wars fan, this game is worth playing, despite the performance issues.

What you have here is genuinely a pretty good game severely lessened by its horrible PC port. It's unfortunate that so much of the conversation around this game revolves around the performance but in this case it's deserved. I was able to enjoy it for the most part - but I still can't recommend it.

Hmm... A Plague Tale Innocence. This is a game that I mostly really liked on my first playthrough. I enjoyed it for its narrative, its visuals, and its state of the art rat physics. The rats are seriously very cool. Hundreds and hundreds of these repulsive creatures can be onscreen at any given time, scurrying around in droves, ready to tear the flesh off any unfortunate passerby who didn't think to bring a torch or lantern. It's an extremely polished title as well, and the folks over at Asobo Studio should be proud of what they've achieved within the indie AA sphere. With the sequel on the horizon, I revisited this game, and cleaned up the remaining achievements I needed to 100% it. I walked away liking it significantly less the second time around. Here's why.

First of all, A Plague Tale can look downright stunning at times. Detail can be found everywhere, from beautiful, densely packed forests, to the dilapidated city streets of 14th century France. It all looks great. However, and I cannot stress this enough, this game is a glorified walking sim. You'll travel from place to place in a mostly straight line. This, coupled with extremely shallow and unengaging gameplay result in a beautiful, but bland experience. It's unfortunate really. This game does a lot of things really well, but gameplay is not one of them.

Why didn't I have these issues the first time around? Well, it's simple. This game has absolutely zero replayability. If you've played it once there's no reason to play it again. There's just not enough on the table here. A Plague Tale is worth experiencing without a doubt, but be aware of the type of experience you're getting yourself into. This is essentially an interactive movie claiming to be an action/stealth game. I'm not buying it. What I could overlook on my first playthrough smacked me in the face on my second.

I still like this game. But you know what they say: it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

Stray achieves exactly what it sets out to do, and does so wonderfully. While it won't wow everyone, it's one of my favorite games I've played this year.

At it's core, Stray's primary focus is cat-traversal and puzzle solving. The developers really leaned into the whole "you play as a cat" concept, and it shows in the level design. Many times you'll quite literally have to think like a cat as you scope out the environment, trying to figure out your next move. It's great! The puzzles, however, offer little to no challenge most of the time and I would have preferred just a little more.

Above all else, I have to praise this game for its art direction. Every new area you come across has been lovingly designed with detail everywhere. There are so many scenes that are truly impressive, especially for an indie title. Stray also absolutely bleeds atmosphere at every corner - and it somehow manages to be both charming and eerie. The style on display here is seriously on point.

If you like atmospheric puzzle-platformers, or games with excellent art direction (or cats), definitely pick this one up. It's an experience definitely worth checking out.

Great game, absolute ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ company. Ubisoft is removing DLC and games and making them unplayable (that's right, they're not just delisting them from the storefront, people who paid for these products will no longer be able to access them). I will not buy another Ubisoft game as long as they continue to make choices like this.

0/10

Wow! I was super impressed with Resident Evil 2. While I'm still new-ish to the genre, this is still one of the best horror games of I've ever played. Also, it serves as THE defining example of what a modern remake should be. This game does so many things right. It looks great, it plays well, and it once again proves that Capcom is killing it within the AAA sphere.

The best aspect of this game is by far its level design. Every area you uncover feels rewarding and has been meticulously put together by a team that really wanted to get it right. You're forced to explore and backtrack through every nook and cranny of the environments in RE2. But you don't mind, because it's all so seamless and well designed! Other developers, take note!

Items are limited in this game, and so is your inventory space. What could've been an extremely frustrating system is instead very rewarding. You're required to plan ahead and think strategically - what are you taking with you to the next few rooms? Is it worth going back to a dangerous area to grab items you missed? It adds another layer to the mix and firmly cements this game to its survival horror roots. There are some puzzles you encounter that feel a little tedious, but there's nothing that takes you out of the experience too much.

The final boss was a little disappointing in my eyes but I can look past it. Overall, Resident Evil 2 is a very well-made game that's worth your time. This is a game that benefits from replayability, and I'm excited to go back and play as Claire now that I've got the first run under my belt. This is also a great choice for those who want to dip their toes into the horror genre - nothing too overbearing but it is a very tense experience from start to finish!

Absolutely recommend, if you're even remotely interested I say pull the trigger!

GORGEOUS little game. Short and sweet. Get it on sale and play over coffee!