Celeste (2018)

May 19, 2019May 19, 2019 / stephensopinions / Leave a comment

As one of the most common genres of indie games, platformers need something special if they want to stand out. That is what initially drew me to Celeste, as I am admittedly not the biggest 2D platformer fan. This game had to be masterful with all the hype that it garnered as an indie platformer. Even though the first game I ever played and loved was Super Mario World, 2D platformers just don’t do it for me anymore. They often feel repetitive and simplistic compared to a metroidvania or adventure game with platforming elements. It’s safe to say I’ve changed my mind after playing Celeste. It does so many things right that it has reignited my interest in an entire genre of games.

Celeste is a game about climbing mountains, both physical and metaphorical. The journey is comprised of multiple chapters that have the main character, Madeline, ascending the mountain. Madeline has no reason for doing this, other than feeling like she has to. Along the way, it becomes apparent that Madeline struggles with mental health, and the story is really about her battle with herself. The mountain is magical in a way that it brings out her negative traits like self-doubt, paranoia, control, anger, anxiety, and depression and manifests them into a physical form. This manifestation is called “Part of Me” or “Badeline”. The whole game Madeline is struggling with the Badeline, as it takes every opportunity to impede her progress and sow the seeds of self-doubt in her head. Along the way Madeline meets a few new friends that help her deal with the negative “Part of Me”.

Even with its cutesy presentation, Celeste tells a powerful story. I genuinely did not expect to become so invested and impacted by Celeste, but its plot resonated heavily with me. I obviously will not spoil the final resolution of Madeline’s story, but I was very satisfied by it and I think it does an excellent job portraying the importance of mental health. Sometimes you battle with yourself, and Madeline’s ascent up the mountain was both a physical and spiritual battle. Moreover, I think Madeline feeling like she has to climb the mountain is a meta statement about the game. Sometimes people are driven just to do things for the sense of accomplishment, it makes us feel better about ourselves when we accomplish a challenging goal. For Madeline that is climbing the mountain, for the player that is completing the game.

As a kind of retro platformer, Celeste is deceptively simple. Aside from the standard movement and jumping that are essential, you only have 2 other tools in your arsenal: the dash and wall-climb. When you jump you are allotted one dash that can be used in eight directions. You cannot dash again until your feet hit the ground. The wall-climb is just what it sounds like, you can grab onto walls and either hold on or climb up them. There is a stamina meter that depletes if you hold on too long or if you climb too much. Overall, everything is simple in concept, and that is what makes Celeste so great. You can pick up the controls and get good at the basics fairly quickly, but things quickly get more interesting.

Instead of giving the player new powers or abilities, Celeste instead focuses on environmental obstacles that introduce new mechanics. There are eight main “chapters” in Celeste, each of which contains its own unique gimmicks. For example, the first chapter introduces platforms that quickly shift when you stand on them as well as gems that give you an additional dash in the air. The second chapter revolves around these “dream blocks” that you traverse by dashing through them. Celeste does not dwell too long on these gimmicks, as each stage is fairly short, playing casually you could probably complete each one in under an hour. Despite this, Celeste squeezes out every drop of potential from these mechanics.

Each chapter of the game is split up into a few dozen screens. Going from one screen to another acts as a checkpoint and will save your progress. Since the levels are divided into these short screens, it allows the designers to make for some challenging sections. Chapters are designed in such a way that they begin with a simple introduction to a mechanic and then will build on it until you can pull off some crazy platforming shenanigans. The player is given the opportunity to master each gimmick, and the levels play with remarkable fluidity. You can feel yourself getting better and more comfortable with the gameplay, and soon you will be dashing around the screen with style. The game was also built with speed-running in mind. Chapters and screens are constructed in such a way that they can be optimized and sped through. While I am not a speed-runner, I definitely did find myself getting a lot better and faster with each subsequent chapter.

When I said Celeste has eight chapters, that was kind of a lie. The main story is contained with the “A-sides”, and the player can unlock far more difficult B-sides and C-sides for each chapter. This totals 24 chapters, not to mention the collectibles to be found along the way. The way I see it, Celeste has four stages of difficulties. In order from easiest to hardest: A-sides, strawberry collectables, B-sides, and finally C-sides. The strawberries are scattered in the A-sides of each chapter. Some are hidden in nooks that require the player to be perceptive, and others are in plain sight but require more difficult platforming tricks. I really like the strawberries because I they add a lot of content to the game. They often are situated in a way that makes you think creatively of how to reach them. The strawberries genuinely feel like challenges that were designed for the main game but were made optional as to not make the game drag. They don’t feel tacked on, which is a pitfall of many other games collectable systems.

Despite Celeste being fairly challenging, it is an extremely accessible game. Since challenges are short and self-contained, I feel like everybody could at least complete the main story of the game. Nevertheless, there is a “assist mode” available to players having trouble or who just want to tone down the difficulty. You can mess with certain settings such as the game’s speed, or how much stamina you have, or how many dashes you can use while airborne. Personally, I never used this feature but I suppose it is a neat addition for people who want to experience the story without the challenge. While I think the main story is certainly beatable by everyone, the B-sides and C-sides are ruthless challenges that require much more precision, perfection, and speed.

I took a dive into the B-sides thinking I was just going to try them out, but man I got addicted. They are full length chapters akin to the A-sides, but with much more difficult screens and without strawberries. They use the same gimmicks as the A-sides did, but they are pushed to the limit and require a level of proficiency that was rarely touched in the A-sides. They are long and grueling chapters but the sense of accomplishment is immense upon completion. As for the C-sides, they are without a doubt my favorite part of the game. They are much shorter than the A-sides and B-sides, as they only contain about three screens each. But to compensate, these screens are insanely hard. The reason I love them is while they are difficult and require absolute mastery of the chapters, they are short enough that they don’t overstay their welcome. Where the B-sides dragged on a little long in some instances, the C-sides just have you conquer a few screens and to get that feeling of satisfaction.

While C-sides are short and sweet, other chapters definitely go on for too long. This is primarily and issue with the B-sides because they are so difficult so completing them can feel like an exhausting task. One hard screen after another with no obvious end in sight can be mentally draining. The A-sides do not have this issue because the steadily ramp up in difficulty throughout a chapter, this way you are not slammed with hard screens through the whole chapter. The B-sides on the other hand are essentially entirely comprised of challenges similar to the hardest screens from the A-sides. It’s not too big of a deal because you can take a break whenever you want, but still some levels just gave me that feeling of “does this ever end”. I’m looking at you, chapter 6B.

My other issue with Celeste is a certain gimmick. In chapter 3 and chapter 8 there are moving hazards that kill you when you touch them. In chapter 3 they are dust bunnies, in chapter 8 they are fire balls. These hazards move in cyclical patterns, often back and forth or in a circle, I will call these patterns “cycles”. My issue with these cycles is that they are often impossible to time without extensive trial and error. The hazards move extremely rapidly and the player’s timing needs to be fairly precise. This isn’t so different than most of the platforming in the rest of the game, so what’s the issue? Well, often times a screen is decently long and some of these hazards are off-screen at the start of a screen. When you make the first few jumps, you can reasonably time the cycles to make it through. But then you reach the 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, etc. jumps which you could not see them at the start. You cannot take a break to line up the cycles here, as you are often mid-jump or need to quickly avoid another hazard. This leads to a situation where sometimes the cycles just don’t seem to line up. You make the first few jumps no problem, but then the hazard is completely in the way for subsequent jumps.

The reason for this is that minute differences in timing will lead to the hazard being in a different part of the cycle when you arrive. I think when the designers made these levels, they had a specific way of doing them that would result in the cycles just lining up and working out flawlessly. But for players, small differences in technique will result in different timings that just don’t work. For example, a designer may have done a Northeast dash, but the player does an East dash. As a result, the player is a little faster than the designer, and when they get to a later part of the screen it turns out they were too fast and the fireball is now directly in their path. It’s frustrating because it often feels like I didn’t even know what I was doing wrong. The fireballs and dust bunnies were always in the wrong place at the wrong time, but there was no way for me to just stop and wait for them to move. Because of this, going slightly too fast or too slow on early jumps changes the way the level works. Cycling hazards in Celeste feel like an exercise in trial and error.

The last thing I want to mention about Celeste is how it is presented. The retro-style pixelated graphics and done extremely well. Since levels become hectic and fast moving once you reach the later stages of the game, everything needs to be clearly telegraphed and visible to the player. The game has bright colors and visuals that pop and are easily distinguishable; I never died to an obstacle I did not see. The other aspect of Celeste I want to talk about is its music. You can’t talk about Celeste without talking about the music. The music perfectly matches the mood and atmosphere of each chapter. It evolves through the level to match the different tones and emotions that you should be feeling. I’ve linked one of my favorites tracks from the game below. This track is from chapter 2 which exhibits a dreamy atmosphere. It is split up into five different sections to accompany the swings in mood throughout the level. The song perfectly encapsulates numerous feelings such as tranquility, fear, and anxiety. The music of Celeste is composed beautifully and appropriately to deliver the emotions the game wants to convey.

Listen here:

In retrospect, the issues of Celeste are minor when compared to the rest of the game. There were only a couple that were too long, and cycling hazards only appeared in some spots of a couple of chapters. These problems do not significantly detract from the rest of the game, but they may be frustrating in the moment. Despite these problems, Celeste has ridiculously fluid platforming that pushes its mechanics to their limits. Additionally, the storytelling of Celeste will stick with me for a long time. Madeline’s struggle with Badeline is the perfect metaphor for mental health. It is for these reasons that I give Celeste a 9.5/10. Celeste captivated me in every way, and it is absolutely in contention for best 2D platformer of all time.

Fez (2012)

May 17, 2019May 17, 2019 / stephensopinions / Leave a comment

When looking for a nice and relaxing puzzle game to play over my spring break, Fez seemed to be the perfect fit. This indie puzzle-platformer has cutesy visuals, fairly simple platforming, and a unique perspective rotation aspect. What I did not know was that Fez is essentially two entirely different games. On the surface it is that adorable little platformer, but deeper inspection shows that Fez also contains insane cryptography and meta puzzles. The first playthrough of Fez is mostly simple platforming and exploration, but subsequent playthroughs reveal deeper secrets and hidden puzzles. Personally, I enjoyed the puzzle-platforming of Fez, but just could not get into the codebreaking and more “complex” facets of the game.

The concept of Fez is that is a 2D platformer set in a 3D universe. You can rotate the screen to reveal different sides of each area, and this is necessary to make progress. This system is a little jarring at first, as it is difficult to wrap your brain around the 3D levels on a 2D scale. Additionally, things do not always work as they would seem to. Fez includes a lot of impossible geometry. Nothing here gets too complex, as most of the time you just rotate the screen to find the next platform to jump to. You never have to rotate the screen mid-jump or really have to think about the 3-Dimensional aspects. For the most part, progressing through Fez is a relaxing endeavor.

The goal of Fez is to collect cubes, similarly to how a player would collect stars, shines, or moons in a Super Mario game. There is a total of 64 cubes in the game, 32 regular ones and 32 anti-cubes. Some of these cubes are split into little bits that you have to collect and put together. You only need 32 total cubes to reach the end of the game, and collecting the rest usually involves codebreaking and much more effort than simple platforming. Fez has a large world consisting of dozens of small areas that are accessed through doors between each other. The map is basically a giant spiderweb of interconnected areas. Finding your way between these areas and trying to locate any cubes that you missed is without a doubt the most difficult aspect of beating Fez. It’s easy to miss a door or forget how to get to a specific area. Some areas have ten or so doors, which all may lead to many more areas. Luckily the map details which areas you have fully explored, so you will know when you have missed something.

While on the surface Fez is a cute little puzzle-platformer with some exploration and collectathon aspects, there are much deeper secrets to be found that unlock the anti-cubes. You can decipher secret alphabets and codes to open new doors and paths through the world. I messed around with these codes for a bit and honestly did not enjoy it that much. For the most part this aspect was just kind of tedious to me. You essentially have to go through the entire world again looking for any writing on the wall or any hidden secrets. Since you can only really do this with an item you get at the beginning of the second playthrough, you are forced to go through the game again just with a different perspective.

If you enjoy really digging deep and searching for hidden clues, this may appeal to you. It’s just a fairly niche kind of puzzle that involves combing the map over and over. Keeping track of hints and codes on paper is something I usually enjoy, like when I played The Witness, but backtracking through hundreds of areas to track down hidden messages just is not my cup of tea. I’m sure many people will enjoy this method of replayability and secrets, but I definitely think that the codebreaking part of Fez is a more niche aspect. Nevertheless, I must commend Fez for facilitating such a unique style of puzzle solving and gameplay.

Despite me not fully enjoying the deeper parts of Fez, the first playthrough was exactly what I was looking for. Fez delivers on 2 completely different experiences, both of which are well executed and will draw different audiences. The simple and relaxing platforming adventure was right up my alley, and the codebreaking parts of the game are sure to appeal to a niche audience. If either of these aspects entice you, then I definitely recommend giving Fez a try.

Horizon Zero Dawn (2017)

April 13, 2019April 13, 2019 / stephensopinions / 1 Comment

Without a doubt, the most oversaturated genre of game right now are open-world adventure games. Many that fall into this category fall into the same rote routine established by the original Assassin’s Creed over a decade ago. Climb towers to reveal the map, collect a horde of useless trinkets, complete mundane side quests, explore a barren open-world environment, and progress through a fairly uninteresting plot. These games are often uninspired and suffer because they put all their resources into creating a vast world rather than focusing on a few aspects and perfecting them. “Quality over quantity” is the mantra that I wish many of these developers would adopt. At a cursory glance, Horizon Zero Dawn seems to fit into the category of generic open-world game but reskinned with robots. Luckily, upon playing the game I was pleasantly surprised by many aspects of Horizon Zero Dawn.

One of the most enticing features of Horizon Zero Dawn is its setting and environment. Sure, a post-apocalyptic scenario is extremely common in games, but Horizon Zero Dawn stands out in a few ways. Most obviously, the player will mostly be fighting rogue robots and machines. This provides an entirely new perspective to combat that is absent when fighting stereotypical humans, monsters, or the like. In this world, humans are organized into tribes with minimal technology to fend off the aggressive machines. Moreover, Horizon Zero Dawn is environmentally rich and has a variety of biomes to appreciate, I never get the feeling of “everything looks the same”. It is common for these doom-and-gloom post-apocalyptic games to be set in a dark and unsettling environment, but Horizon Zero Dawn is undeniably beautiful. With its rich environments, realistic art direction, and well-made graphics and visuals, this game is breathtaking.

While I did eventually learn to enjoy Horizon Zero Dawn, it does have a remarkably slow start that initially made me dislike the game. The strengths of the game, such as the story and unique combat system, do not become apparent until a few hours into the playthrough. The game spews exposition, dialogue, and cutscenes at the player for the first few hours, leaving me bored and wondering when the real game was about to start. Even with the overabundance of storytelling, I did not become invested in the plot early on. It is difficult to really get into the story when the game is non-stop spitting narrative at you. I feel like you have to give the player time to process events instead of rapid-fire spitting conversations at them. There is meant to be a narrative hook of mystery regarding the backstory of the main character, Aloy. Unfortunately, the game gives the reasonably astute player way too many hints of Aloy’s origin so any level of intrigue is compromised. Additionally, the gameplay of Horizon Zero Dawn shines when battling larger and tougher enemies, which there is a distinct lack of early on in the game.

The combat in Horizon Zero Dawn is what I consider to be its shining feature. You fight large machines, which often resemble animals or dinosaurs, using a few ancient tools. Aloy’s main weapon is a bow, but there are a number of additional weapons such as slingshots, spears, or traps to give the player some agency on how they want to approach any given encounter. Initially I thought this system was the same as any other game, just with robots as your primary enemy. However, as I progressed further into the game, I became enthralled with the system. Horizon Zero Dawn phenomenally utilizes weak spots and elemental attacks to make the player really feel like a hunter learning its prey. Every type of machine has components that act as subsystems, and as you destroy those components, you disable certain functions of that robot. As you scan machines, you can gloss over what their components are and prioritize which are the most important to destroy first. You can even pick up things like machine guns or rocket launchers that get knocked off of the robots to use against the machines.

Additionally, many of the components react to different elements. Some contain flammable fluid that will create an explosion when hit with fire. Others contain coolant that will freeze the enemy. Some components are just flat out weak spots that you will do bonus damage to if you hit. The machines are obviously heavily armored, so if you just shoot arrows haphazardly you will do pitiful damage. You have to either hit a weak spot, destroy a component, or blow off the armored plating entirely if you want to do substantial damage. This is why I absolutely love battling the biggest and meanest enemies Horizon Zero Dawn has to offer. These enemies feel like raid bosses, and not just giant health sponges that require more time than skill to defeat. The player cannot just blindly fire away, chip away at the health pool, and hope for success. The gargantuan robots force the player to strategize and prioritize which components are the most important to disable. Truthfully, I wish there were far more of these types of opponents in Horizon Zero Dawn. There are about 3-5 types of these raid boss robots, and most of the other enemies in the game pale in comparison. Most of the smaller robots and humans do not require much strategy or planning.

Moreover, due to the use of ancient weaponry, movement is a bit slow and deliberate. This is fine, except when facing larger hordes of weaker enemies. It can be difficult to pull the drawstring back and aim properly when being swarmed by five or six quick moving enemies. In these scenarios the player mostly has to resort to stealth to pick off a few enemies before engaging. It’s not bad in essence, but I would much rather be hunting one of the colossal machines. This is why I found it hard to get engaged early on in the game, fighting the tutorial-esque enemies provided no challenge, thought, and did not force the player to utilize the ability to knock off key components of the machines.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who’s heard anything about this game that it is highly lauded for its story. Essentially, the player follows a few storylines at the same time, mainly the present and the past. You must uncover why human civilization fell thousands of years ago, and connect it to why machines suddenly start attacking in the present. This combined with tribal relations, Aloy’s backstory, and the intrigue of cultist groups provide numerous plot threads that all weave and braid together. The story of the past is mostly told through holograms, recordings, and text logs, but it still manages to be just as important and interesting as the rest of the plotlines. I won’t go into anymore detail because I try to keep my reviews spoiler free, but you can be assured that Horizon Zero Dawn will captivate you once you get deep into its narrative.

Aside from its slow start, Horizon Zero Dawn does suffer a little bit because of its insistence to follow the generic open-world formula. You have to climb tall robots to reveal the map, there are a ton of collectibles that amount to nothing, there are plenty of filler quests meant to just pad out game time, and a ton of fairly useless objectives scattered across the map. None of this was a big deal, at worst you can just ignore many of these features if you are not interested in doing them. And to be fair they do provide a decent amount of content for people who do like to explore and complete a checklist of objectives. I think I would have preferred if resources were allocated to bettering the core game rather than making a generic open-world, such as including more boss-like machines. The open-world is not bad, it is just an incredibly saturated market and perhaps Horizon Zero Dawn would have benefited from being a little more niche.

I was generally pretty impressed by Horizon Zero Dawn. The unique combat system in particular is what kept me playing. The first four to five hours of playing, the game just did not click for me; I thought it was generic and repetitive. Eventually it clicked, and I started to greatly enjoy my time with Horizon Zero Dawn. Hunting the large machines was an absolute joy, I just wish there was more of it. It is for these reasons I give Horizon Zero Dawn a 7.5/10. The slow beginning and at times repetitive open-world gameplay do set Horizon Zero Dawn back, but the rest of the game makes up for its shortcomings.

Hyper Light Drifter (2016)

March 21, 2019 / stephensopinions / Leave a comment

Without a doubt, one of the most influential series in history is The Legend of Zelda. The early top-down adventure games are immensely popular and hundreds of other games drawn inspiration from them. One of those inspired games is Hyper Light Drifter. Hyper Light Drifter is a top-down 2D action-adventure game. You shoot and slash your way through a futuristic post-apocalyptic environment. This game is brimming with fast-paced action and satisfying combat.

What originally drew me to Hyper Light Drifter was just how similar it looked to Furi, which has quickly become one of my favorite games. I absolutely adore the sci-fi samurai aesthetic. To be honest, Furi and Hyper Light Drifter are so similar in their styles that its somewhat unnerving. Both games are top-down action titles featuring a futuristic swordsman wielding a glowing blue sword, a pistol, and a red cape. Both the characters seem to have unclear goals and motivations. And both games were released within a few months of each other. Spooky. That observation aside, Furi and Hyper Light Drifter have quite a few differences in the gameplay department. Furi is a boss rush and solely focuses on perfecting each boss encounter, while Hyper Light Drifter includes more adventure, world building, exploration, and combat outside of bosses.

Hyper Light Drifter is a top-down adventure game in which you work to unlock a seal by defeating bosses and activating obelisks. There are four areas, and at the center is a town and the seal that you are attempting to open. Each area is a labyrinth with multiple layers that you must explore to unlock the boss in each area. These areas consist of ruins, landscapes, futuristic tunnels and laboratories, and a variety of secrets to unlock. You can find shortcuts that make the maze easier to navigate, new guns to use, and diligent exploration will yield tokens that can be used to purchase upgrades. These upgrades come in a myriad of options such as sword abilities, gun upgrades, additional dashing effects, and some other choices. I enjoy these upgrades as they are generally new abilities to add depth to combat rather than just strict damage or health upgrades.

The combat of Hyper Light Drifter is extremely fast-paced, and the scarcity of healing resources make even the smallest encounters challenging. This is because you can only carry a few health-packs at a time, and you have to find them scattered as you explore. This leads to you trying to avoid any and all sources of damage so you do not have to waste a health-pack. I quite like this as it makes even simple encounters more interesting because I was trying to not get hit at all. The player has a number of tools in their kit to fight enemies. The sword being the primary method of attack, and the gun being a nice long-ranged weapon to sprinkle in some damage. The gun has limited shots that refill when you hit enemies as to stop players from just shooting at enemies and forces you to get up close and personal. The dash is obviously used for evasion and to close the gap between you and distant targets. On top of the base combat, the previously mentioned upgrades add a ton of new mechanics to be utilized. All this makes for engaging and fast-paced combat as the player swiftly dodges in and out of projectiles, avoids melee attacks, and returns fire with a barrage of bullets and sword strikes.

The storytelling of Hyper Light Drifter is completely wordless, and relies entirely on visuals for the player to deduce the story. I personally like vague and cryptic styles of storytelling that let the player piece together a narrative, games like Dark Souls do it well. Unfortunately, Hyper Light Drifter is a little too vague for its own good. There’s not a lot of story, and most of it is told through quickly flashed images. It feels like the developers had a clear idea of what the plot was, but failed to portray it in a cohesive manner. With some code deciphering, the story can be interpreted, but most people will not go through the trouble.

Other than the incomprehensible storytelling, my other big issue with Hyper Light Drifter was a performance problem. Apparently, a few versions of the game (namely the Twitch and GoG clients), have a bug which makes the game unplayable after a short period of playtime. I received the game through Twitch, and after about 45 minutes, the game entered a bizarre slow-motion state. I had to restart the game after every 45 minutes to prevent this issue from occurring. Its not a big deal, but it was a pain. Especially since at first, I thought the slow-motion was an intended mechanic and I played in slow-motion for about 10 minutes before I realized that it was very obviously a bug. I’ve read that this issue does not happen on the Steam version or console versions of the game. Hopefully, the developers fix whatever is plaguing the Twitch and GoG versions.

As a whole, I really enjoyed the setting and gameplay of Hyper Light Drifter. The fast-paced action and neon-samurai feel are the absolute core of the experience. Even with the lacking story elements and technical issues I still had a blast. It is for these reasons I give Hyper Light Drifter an 8/10. Hyper Light Drifter is a quintessential top-down action game that definitely should be tried by everybody.

12 is Better Than 6 (2015)

December 31, 2018December 31, 2018 / stephensopinions / Leave a comment

Hotline Miami was an incredibly influential game in the indie scene that revitalized the top-down shooter genre. One of the games that obviously took some inspiration from Hotline Miami is the hand-drawn western adventure 12 is Better Than 6. The concept of one-hit kills and fast paced firefights is shared among these games, but 12 is Better Than 6 does have a few things that set it apart from similar games. Unfortunately, many of those differences come in the form of negatives and frustrating issues that permeate the experience. At times the game shines and you can get those intense moments where you are dodging bullets and returning fire, but most of the time 12 is Better Than 6 is a slog.

In this black, white, and red Western you play as Juan, a Mexican who lost his memory. You play through small areas, shooting and sneaking your way through to the exit. You’ll be fed tidbits of story at regular intervals and uncover the truth about Juan. While I did enjoy the Western setting and the accompanying music, the story was a mess. Riddled with typos and confusing plot lines, it quickly became difficult to follow what was going on. That’s not such a big deal because dialogue is skippable and in a game like this, gameplay takes precedent over story. Unfortunately, while there are a few high-octane moments in gameplay, 12 is Better Than 6 is chock full of game ruining issues.

12 is Better Than 6 is a top-down shooter akin to Hotline Miami. One shot is one kill. This results in frantic firefights where you must constantly be moving or risk getting hit by a stray bullet. There are four main weapons: The revolver, shotgun, rifle, and bow. Additionally, you always have a knife for melee combat. Sometimes you will be given some dynamite to blast through large groups of enemies. The idea and concept of 12 is Better Than 6 is solid, all of this on paper sounds great. However, a slew of minor issues and few larger ones kill whatever potential 12 is Better Than 6 had.

The first thing that sets 12 is Better Than 6 apart from its contemporaries is that you cannot furiously fire bullets. After every shot you must cock the hammer of the weapon by right-clicking. I genuinely cannot fathom why this was included. It takes awhile to even get used to this mechanic, let alone get good at it. It is incredibly easy to mess up the rhythm of left-clicking to shoot and then immediately right-clicking to cock the hammer. One slight mistiming and the entire cadence is thrown off, leaving you wondering why your gun isn’t firing. Towards the end of the game I got used to the mechanic for the most part, but it just felt like an unnecessary addition. Its inclusion does not add much.

What enticed me to play 12 is Better Than 6 was its black, white, and red hand-drawn style. Truthfully, it looks great in screenshots and trailers, but it does not translate well into actual gameplay. It can be difficult to distinguish enemies from the background and obstacles as they do not “pop” or stand out. At least a few times I walked straight into an enemy that I just did not see. Additionally, when you start dashing through levels and the screen starts quickly moving, everything just starts to blend into each other. Its hard to distinguish anything when it all looks so similar.

Something else that bugs me about the game is that while is mostly operates similar to Hotline Miami with the idea of one-shot kills, sometimes this rule is randomly broken. Sometimes enemies will inexplicably survive a shot and will kill you before you can cock and fire your next shot. Even worse is the fact the melee combat suffers heavily from this problem. Much of the time a slash from the knife doesn’t kill the enemy, combine this with the knife’s short range makes melee combat high-risk and inconsistent. When an enemy survives a bullet or stab, you don’t even realize what happened before it is too late. I do not know whether this inconsistency was a glitch or an intentional inclusion, but either way it hurts the game.

Another fairly “minor” issue in the game is its AI (artificial intelligence). Sometimes enemies would completely whiff their shots, run in circles, or ignore the player entirely. Other times they would track me through walls and instantly kill me on sight like the damn terminator. Again, this lack of consistency breaks the flow of 12 is Better Than 6. Speaking of inconsistency, this game also regularly suffers from technical issues such as crashes. At least 4 or 5 times the game crashed on me.

While it is evident that 12 is Better Than 6 has a load of these small problems, what really kills the game are the three major design flaws: level design, repetitiveness, and ammo management. The level design of 12 is Better Than 6 would benefit greatly from focusing on smaller and more compact levels. One-shot kill can get aggravating when you are getting shot from offscreen and before you can possibly react. This happens fairly frequently when there are long corridors or wide-open spaces, both of which are abundant in 12 is Better Than 6. This forces players to tackle levels far slower are more cautiously to prevent getting killed by something you can’t see. What made Hotline Miami great was how quickly you could blast through rooms and levels. You ran through like a maniac, befitting of the tone and theme of the game. This same level of speed and risk aren’t possible in 12 is Better Than 6, because you will just get shot from offscreen.

Even as just a quick, four-hour game, 12 is Better Than 6 manages to overstay its welcome. It gets repetitive fast. Levels blend into each other and the small variety of weapons makes everything just feel the same. No levels really stood out. Some of the maps are even repeated and reused as filler. The first few levels of the game are basically the same as the last few levels. There’s no variety in any aspect. The art style, the lack of diverse weaponry, and the boring level design all contribute to this feeling of repetition. If you’ve played thirty minutes of the game, you’ve experienced everything the game has to offer.

The most frustrating issue with 12 is Better Than 6 is by far its archaic ammo management system. You carry around some ammo for each of your four main weapons, but the method of obtaining this ammo an incredibly tedious and mind-numbing experience. If you want to pick up ammo from fallen enemies, you must drop your weapon, pick up their weapon, unload it, and pick up your original weapon. You have to do that for every single enemy that you kill if you want their ammo. In levels where you fight dozens of enemies. Why? In most games, when you walk over a dead body you automatically pick up their bullets. This saves the hassle of painstakingly sifting through every body to scrounge for ammo. This issue puts the nail in coffin of 12 is Better Than 6 for me. I want to be able to quickly rampage through levels, and having to repeatedly stop to tediously unload, swap, and reload weapons slows the game to a crawl. Especially since you will probably die a lot as a result of the one-hit kill nature of the game. You will have to go through this entire process every time you fail a level. How anyone thought that this method of ammo management was superior to traditional methods is beyond me.

I tried really hard to enjoy my time with 12 is Better Than 6. It’s a genre that I enjoy, and I try to support indie developers. Most of the smaller issues are just minor annoyances, but combining them all makes the game feel inconsistent and incomplete. More importantly, the three major problems absolutely ruined the game for me. The level design, repetition, and outdated ammo management system were just too problematic to ignore. For these reasons I give 12 is Better Than 6 a 3/10. It’s a shame that a solid concept had such poor execution.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (2017)

December 3, 2018 / stephensopinions / Leave a comment

If you read my reviews of Dishonored 2 and Prey, it should be apparent that I am a fan of Arkane studios. I hold those 2 games, as well as the original Dishonored, in high regards. Arkane is renowned for their intricate level design which facilitates a variety of paths and playstyles in every level. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is a standalone continuation of the series that mostly follows its predecessors’ roots. Despite this, I can’t help but feel the experience was notably hollow and sterile.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider may be a standalone experience, but it is essentially an expansion of Dishonored 2. The same engine, characters, controls, and even the same areas suggest that Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is a large DLC (downloadable content) for its predecessor. There are only 5 campaign missions, and although they are supplemented by a few additional side contracts, the game is fairly short. Fret not, because it is priced appropriately even with its low play-time. Still, the game felt a little barren and uninspired at times. The straight copied areas from Dishonored 2 add to this sentiment and make Dishonored: Death of the Outsider feel even shorter and lacking in fresh content.

In Dishonored: Death of the Outsider you play as Billie Lurk, an assassin on a mission to take down the Outsider. The Outsider is the source of all the mystical powers that exist in the world of Dishonored. Billie and her mentor Daud believe that the Outsider is responsible for much of the evil in the world and resent him for their magical prowess. To achieve their goal, Billie must uncover the secrets of the void and the Outsider. The player spends most of the game stealing knowledge of how to reach and deal with the enigmatic Outsider. Rather than assassinating or “taking down” targets like in the previous games, you mostly operate as a thief. In addition, unlike previous games there is no chaos system that alters the story depending on how many people are killed. The lack of decision making and game-altering repercussions contributes to the lifeless and uninspired feeling of Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.

The gameplay of Dishonored: Death of the Outsider mostly mimics Dishonored 2. You traverse large areas, trying to stay hidden and use gadgets and magic to avoid detection. Apart from a few new abilities to play around with, it’s mostly the same old Dishonored. Which is a good thing. Sneaking around, picking off guards one-by-one, and using gadgets are all still integral parts of the game. One big change is that mana quickly automatically refills. You no longer have to go scrounging for things to refill your magical abilities, and this allows for a lot more freedom to test out the new abilities. Some new additions that I enjoyed were Billie’s two new magic abilities. One of them allows the player to briefly “steal” the face of other characters. This is occasionally useful to sneak past a guard or two, but it depletes the mana-bar very quickly and can’t be maintained for long. The other ability, Foresight, is a godsend and an amazing addition to the series. This ability allows the player to briefly freeze time and enter a “spirit” state which allows them to explore their surrounding area. This means you can scout rooms, mark guards, highlight valuable items, and plan methods of attack before ever entering a room. This ability encourages the player to use methodical and strategic approaches that the series is known for.

What really disappointed me about Dishonored: Death of the Outsider was its level design. Following up the creative genius and intricate levels of Dishonored 2 such as “Clockwork Mansion” and “Crack in the Slab” is not an easy task. Unfortunately, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider does not live up to this legacy. None of the levels are particularly creative and most seemed somewhat generic. There also seemed to be a distinct lack of multiple paths and routes through any given level. The 3^rd mission was the standout for me, the game offers a few points of entry and a multitude of creative solutions to the task of bank robbery. Apart from that level, I felt the game was sorely lacking in options and interesting approaches.

Another odd departure from the rest of the series was the larger focus on combat. It may not be implicitly stated that combat is expected in Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, but the combination of a few factors leads me to believe that pure stealth was disincentivized. The first reason is obviously the lack of a chaos system. In previous games, killing enemies would change the state of the game and more rats or blood flies would appear in levels. More importantly, different chaos levels resulted in vastly different endings, and the “best” endings were achieved by having low chaos (not killing many people). Since this no longer exists in Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, the player can kill freely with no consequence. The next indication that stealth is less accessible is the lack of stealth upgrades. There are very few bone charms and upgrades that help the player remain undetected, but there are plenty of combat focused ones. Lastly, level design seems to tend towards combat encounters. There were plenty of instances where there is only 1 way into an area, and it is heavily guarded. After playing the first two games as well as this game trying to be as stealthy as possible, it was evident that it is far harder to go undetected in Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.

Despite its shortcomings, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is still a Dishonored game. Lackluster level design and recycled content makes Dishonored: Death of the Outsider seems far less inspired than its predecessors. Still, it’s a ton of fun to be an elite assassin wielding the powers of the void. For these reasons I give Dishonored: Death of the Outsider a 6.5/10. It’s still a Dishonored game, but it lacks the creativity and heart of its ancestors.

Spider-Man (2018)

November 29, 2018November 29, 2018 / stephensopinions / Leave a comment

I have to acknowledge that I am not a big fan of superhero flicks and I barely follow the Marvel cinematic universe. With that being said, Spider-Man for the PlayStation 4 managed to reel me in regardless of my distaste for Marvel movies. In essence, Spider-Man is the direct translation of a superhero film into a game. All the elements are present: big-budget action, quips and banter, and a story that tugs on your heartstrings.

While I find superhero movies boring and repetitive, the interactivity of games makes playing as a hero far more engaging than simply watching one. Swinging about New York City, climbing walls, zipping from point to point, and fighting common thugs just feels natural. Its easy to get into the swing of things as the controls are extremely simple. The accompanying cinematics and animations of Spidey’s swinging, fist-fighting, and web-slinging imbues the sense of heroics. Most of the spectacle is fairly automatic, and you can look stylish just by holding down a button.

I was shocked by just how similar Spider-Man was to a genuine Marvel movie. Granted, I don’t watch a ton of Marvel films but the striking similarities are hard to ignore. Where this was most evident was in the story and writing. It’s about more than just beating up bad-guys, Peter Parker’s personal life takes precedence. His relationships with Aunt May, Miles Morales, Mary Jane, and a few mentor figures is what drives the story. The theme of mentorship is present through the entire game, as Peter is mentored by Dr. Octavius and in turn mentors Miles. The writing itself parallels modern Marvel movies in all facets. The cheesy one-liners and quippy banter permeate less serious scenarios, but there is no shortage of tear-jerking scenes. If you are a fan of Marvel and their cinematic universe, then Spider-Man will be right up your alley.

The gameplay of Spider-Man mostly consists of effortlessly swinging across Manhattan and busting up baddies along the way. Peter is a scientist and develops a horde of gadgets and suits with different powers to assist in combat. Gadgets consist of items such as web-shooters, web-grenades, trip-mines, and drones. You are heavily encouraged to switch gadgets mid-combat and play with different combinations for some effective takedowns. Like webbing enemies with a grenade and then sticking them to the wall using a sonic-blast. Peter also gets access to a variety of suits which are both fashionable and functional. Each suit has an ability such as creating a large explosion around you, summoning a helpful drone, or webbing up all nearby enemies. These abilities are incredibly powerful and as such have a few minute recharge period.

To unlock all of these gadgets and suit powers, the player has to traverse the city and gather a variety of collectibles and complete challenges. From collecting backpacks, to finding lost pigeons, to fighting crime, to completing time-trials, Spider-Man has a ridiculous amount of content to do out in the open world. Doing these tasks provides the player with tokens that will allow them to upgrade their gear. Normally, such a ludicrous number of collectables might be off-putting, but Spider-Man is unique in a way. Just swinging from building to building, fighting crimes and collecting goodies along the way is so enthralling. It is easy to just take a break from the main story and just be a crime fighting hero. The collectables are far from intrusive and they encourage the player to explore and experiment.

The combat of Spider-Man mostly succeeds because of the gadgets and the options they offer. Other than that, the combat just feels automatic. The most effective way of dealing with enemies is to just mash the punch button and press the dodge button whenever the game indicates that something is going to hit you. Sure, it looks cool, but without gadgets Spider-Man lacks depth. Sure, you could use other tactics like throwing objects, using the environment around you, or even use stealth, but in reality, it is just far faster and easier to just beat up the enemies by mashing the square button. The issue lies in the fact that for the vast majority of the game you are fighting the same enemies, just reskinned. The basic grunts of all the different factions the player encounters just get boring and monotonous after the hundredth encounter. I had a blast with the boss fights, but those are mostly concentrated at the beginning and end of the game.

The most pertinent issue with Spider-Man is its reluctance to let you be Spider-Man. A good chunk of the main campaign is filled by missions playing as Mary Jane or Miles Morales. These missions are generally stealth missions where the player is forced to slowly make their way through areas without being seen at all. I like stealth games, but these sections were the most basic and boring stealth that they could have shoehorned in. Playing as Peter was also fairly uneventful and mostly served as expository. As Peter, the player has to solve some incredibly banal puzzles that really had no business existing. Maybe these sections were meant to pad out play time, or perhaps flush out character development. Either way, much of what was accomplished in these missions would have been better served in a short cutscene or a phone call to listen to as you swing through the city.

At its core, Spider-Man has a multitude of different genres and styles that it attempts to appeal to. It is a story-driven, action, stealth, puzzle, collectathon game. Appealing to a broad audience is fine, and as a result I am positive that most people could find some aspect of this game that they like. But in the reverse, that means that most people can find some aspects that they don’t like. Perhaps the game would have been better as more refined experience. I really enjoyed Spider-Man regardless of this, and even though I am not a Marvel fan, I had a blast. It is for these reasons I give Spider-Man an 8/10. Playing as everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was immensely satisfying, I just wish the developers realized this and cut-down on the superfluous other aspects.

The Witness (2016)

November 26, 2018 / stephensopinions / Leave a comment

The gorgeous environment and serene island of The Witness is a mask for a complex and challenging labyrinth. This puzzle game plays with the player’s mind and perception of everything around them. In essence, The Witness is a game all about perspective and how you view the environment around you. It may be confusing and frustrating at times, but it is an essential experience, especially if you are a puzzle lover.

The majority of the puzzles in The Witness are these screen mazes. They start simple enough, the player navigates through labyrinths on these tablet-like screens. Quickly, new mechanics and rules are added to these mazes. Symbols represent different tasks and rules that must me adhered to, making it to the end is not enough to complete a puzzle. For example, separating different color blocks or having to collect little black dots along the way. Each area in the game seems to focus on a new mechanic and using it to its fullest potential. Many of these screen mazes will combine aspects and symbols from previous areas to add additional challenge. The complexity of these puzzles quickly ramps up and a simple 4×4 grid may take you 10 to 15 minutes to solve.

These mazes are the core of The Witness. The game boasts that there are over 500 of these puzzles scattered across the diverse island. You do not need to complete every one of these brain teasers to finish the game, I solved about 400 puzzles before I made it to the end. If you want more out of a game than small labyrinths, than you will probably not enjoy The Witness. There are more aspects than these puzzles, but progression is tied to the completion of these screens. This is not Portal or The Talos Principle, you rarely solve grandiose puzzles that make use of large spaces. To be fair, The Witness does make use of environmental aspects more than any games I have played. Shadows, light, sounds, perspective, and other exterior cues are key to solving many of the areas and mazes. The environment is also used in a mind-blowing manner, but I do not want to spoil this moment for future players, so I have discussed it below in a spoiler tag. View at your own discretion, because if you are planning to play The Witness, this is seriously one of the best aspects of the game that you should really experience yourself.

Highlight to see spoiler:

As you play more and more of The Witness, you may notice some strange aspects of the space around you. Hidden in the environment, there are shapes that mimic the mazes that the player has been solving on the screens. The “oh my god” moment comes when you realize that you can click on these hidden puzzles and solve them like all the mazes in the game. Immediately you begin to see shapes all around the island and try to click on everything to find these hidden shapes. Some you have to line up using different angles and perspective tricks. Others you need to figure out how to even get in a correct position. Ultimately, these are in no way tied to progression and serve no purpose within the game, but discovering this secret is one of the most important and memorable moments in the game. This is where you learn that the island has more to it than simple line puzzles, and that the game expects you to change your perspective on how you see the world around you. End of spoiler.

A component that needs to be mentioned is that The Witness undeniably respects the player’s intelligence. There are no tutorials, no guiding text, nothing that remotely resembles handholding. When you encounter a new symbol or type of puzzle, there are a few very easy puzzles that let the player deduce what the symbol means and how to deal with it. Furthermore, the island is an open world that lets you seemingly tackle any area in any order you want. The drawback of this is that many of these areas adopt symbols and rules from other zones. So, if you have not been to the required area, you get roadblocked. Sure, you can realize that you do not have the requisite knowledge to complete a puzzle, but I wish the game did a better job and placing areas in a more logical order. The most blatant example of this is that the town area takes concepts from every other area in the game, yet it is very likely to be one of the first areas you stumble upon to do its proximity to the starting location. This could easily lead to frustration as you try to figure out puzzles that you couldn’t possibly solve yet. This is not a case of me being flagrantly bad at the game, I finished it within a reasonable time (about 15 hours) and never really got roadblocked. All I’m saying is that it can be annoying when wandering around and you can’t seem to find a solvable puzzle.

The other major issue that I had with The Witness was that I could not help the feeling that the game was pretentious. Solving some secret puzzles unlocks real life speeches made by a variety of people in academia. These videos range from 5-60 minutes, and serve no purpose other than really wasting your time if you choose to view them. There are also audio logs of famous quotes scattered about the island to listen to, again I drew no meaning from these. Lastly, the ending sequence of the game seems like it was trying to portray some message, but the dialogue just seemed nonsensical. This was reminiscent of Jonathan Blow’s previous game, Braid. In both of these games the vague and pointless dialogue exudes a sense of pretentiousness. Like there is deeper meaning than what was actually conveyed, but in all actuality the story and meaning felt practically non-existent.

The island itself on first glance seems to contain some sort of mystery. Why am I here? What’s my goal? What are all these statues? What happened to all the people here? These questions are not really answered in any satisfying sort of way. There seems to be clues scattered about the island to make it seem like there was an overarching story, but just like the audio logs and videos there really was no satisfying conclusion. My final gripe is that everything in the game seems to move slower than it really should. The player, the doors, the platforms, they all take far longer to get to their destination than what is reasonable. When on transit in a boat I was able to get a glass of water and go to the bathroom, and when I came back I was only halfway through the ride. It feels like a joke that is meant to solely waste the player’s time.

For the most part, The Witness is all about its screen puzzles. Personally, I quite enjoyed all of the challenges, but I think a lot of people will be turned off by the lack of grandiose environmental puzzles. Like I mentioned previously, the environment is well integrated and a key component to these puzzles, but you rarely interact with your surroundings in a more meaningful way. The elegance of imbuing difficulty and challenge into what initially seems like a simple maze is what makes The Witness so gratifying. When you figure out a puzzle on the first try, you are emboldened and feel like a genius. When the pieces start to come together and you understand what was stumping you, a wave of satisfaction follows. It is for these reasons I give The Witness a 9/10. It’s a collection of fantastic puzzles, but it lacks of any other sort of substance.

Assassin’s Creed (2007)

November 18, 2018 / stephensopinions / Leave a comment

As a lover of stealth games, I decided to finally play the immensely popular Assassin’s Creed series. What I learned was that stealth seemed secondary to action and that the first game in the series was ridiculously clunky. Despite this, I believe the game’s concept has tremendous potential and I understand why the series became a juggernaut in the industry. Still, the first game has a boatload of shortcomings that make it a frustrating experience.

What makes Assassin’s Creed have so much potential is its concept. The main character accesses his ancestor’s memories and uses these memories to locate ancient artifacts. The memories that are accesses are that of an elite assassin. What makes the idea so enthralling is that the series draws its settings and stories from major historical events. In the case of the first Assassin’s Creed, the game takes place in the Holy Land during the 3^rd Crusade. History is something that I personally find very interesting, so going to these critical points in civilization is a concept that really makes me want to play more of the series.

The plot of Assassin’s Creed is centered on the conflict between the Assassin’s Order and the Knights Templar. Both operate as underground societies with ambitions to shape the world. The protagonist, Altaïr, is tasked with eliminating 9 key members of the Knights Templar. These are all influential people in society who are scheming to overthrow their leaders and install a new order. They commit dastardly deeds to enforce their will on the people around them and the player must find and assassinate them. The plot is shrouded in mystery, as you piece by piece uncover the plans of the Knights Templar and what their scheme entails. While that’s happening, you have brief interludes outside of the memories in the modern-day world, which has plenty of intrigue of its own. The story is what made me want to keep playing the game, as I wanted to learn what was really happening in the memories and in the modern world. The story is mostly condensed towards the end, and I wish it had been paced more evenly throughout the game. The first half of the game is fairly slow moving but it does pick up at the end.

Assassin’s Creed for better or worse is known as an innovative and influential game. Much of today’s game market draws at least a little inspiration from Assassin’s Creed. One example of this is climbable towers that reveal portions of the map. Farcry, Horizon Zero Dawn, and even The Legend of Zelda are all example of major titles that adopted the dreaded “Ubisoft tower”. The concept is that towers are scattered across the map, and climbing these towers unveils portions of the map. Generally, this includes revealing collectables, sidequests, and other content. This all started in the original Assassin’s Creed. To be honest this is kind of an odd concept to adopt, it is not particularly fun, at best it’s a minor annoyance. Climbing viewpoints to get a scope of the area around you and to spot points of interest is something that could be engaging. But climbing towers to reveal the map just feels contrived.

To be fair to Assassin’s Creed, at the time the technology to climb towers was actually kind of impressive. Seamlessly running up walls, grabbing ledges, and scaling a building was a novelty. Maybe I am just grumpy and unimpressed because by the time I played the first Assassin’s Creed, this was something I had already seen dozens of times, but I at least understand the appeal. I wish that there had just been far less of these towers. In the game there are 3 major cities and the surrounding kingdom area. There are 3 districts in each of Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus. One district per assassination target. There should have been 1 tower per district to reveal the entire thing. Instead, there’s about 10 each. This is completely obnoxious and unnecessary as the mechanic grew tiresome after the 5^th tower scaled. Hours of game time are toiled away holding up on the joystick to watch Altaïr slowly make his way upwards.

At its heart, this is the key issue that I had with Assassin’s Creed, the game is needlessly repetitive. The towers are just a single example of that fact. Each of the assassination quests can be broken into 4 parts: Go to the new district, climb towers to reveal the map, do intel missions, and finally assassinate the target. The first 3 of those aspects are inane and mind-numbing. Intel missions consist of revealing knowledge about the target you want to assassinate. Things such as his location, where the guards are, how to break into his hideout, and other general tips. The player can do a few of these to unlock the assassination mission and extra intel quests will just give you bonus information. Intel quests on paper sound like an enjoyable experience, but in practice they are just as repetitive as climbing towers. Things like eavesdropping, pickpocketing, and interrogating are just slow and mindless filler. The only enjoyable intel missions were things such as clearing out guards or stealthily assassinating archers. Those types of missions were engaging and required some thought and execution, the rest of the quests not so much.

As far as the main assassination goes, these missions were fun for the most part. You have to infiltrate areas and avoid guards as to not alert everybody. This requires some planning and clever pathing to get to the target undetected. Once the target is eliminated, you have to make your way back to your hideout. By far and away these were the most enjoyable portions of the game. Actually assassinating, like the title of the game implies. Also, a lot of story and exposition were provided in these sections to make them even more desirable to play. My one issue is that some of the targets were actually impossible to take out stealthily. You had to take them on in a duel rather than sneaking up behind them.

The crux of this problem is that Assassin’s Creed seems to not actually contain a lot of stealth elements. Sure, running and hiding from guards could be considered stealth. But I wouldn’t consider Need for Speed: Most Wanted to be a stealth game even though you do just that. When the game actually lets you sneak about and take out guards and targets, I had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, there seems to be a larger emphasis on action and adventure rather than espionage and tactical assassination. Sword fighting enemies was just easier and more common than actually assassinating. To be fair, my own expectations lend to my bias as I thought more stealth would be present, but still I feel let down. This is more of an action-adventure with some stealth elements rather than a stealth game with some action elements. Also, the Assassin’s Order is based on the real life Hashishin. They were a group of assassins who would take out their political opposition in public to make statements. So, I suppose the emphasis on eliminating the targets in public is fine, but I would have still liked to see more stealth options implemented.

Outside of assassinations and intel missions, most of the game time will be spent running from place to place. This aspect I actually enjoyed, it felt good to run across rooftops and parkour my way across the city. If you do anything out of the ordinary, guards would be alerted and you would have to go into hiding. Exploring these historic cities was fairly fun, albeit the choice of location was a little bleak. All 3 cities were brown and sandy and a little more color may have been appreciated, but that’s a minor flaw. When I do try more games in the series, I look forward to exploring other cities. Other than that, the game does have a few control problems. I found the controls to be a little unwieldy and sometimes it was difficult to have the character do what I wanted him to do. I give a little leeway here because as a 2007 game parkouring across rooftops and scaling city walls was a new concept and it works fairly well. Also, the user interface is pretty confusing and requires to many button presses to do what you want. This is a concession made to fit the games theme of being in a simulation, but when I have to go through 5 different menus to quit the game I think they went a little too far.

Overall, I understand why Assassin’s Creed is such an influential game. An open world with completely traversable cities is a tempting prospect. I can’t help but feel a little let down however, as I feel the series has tremendous potential due to its concept. Traveling to different periods in history and impacting the course of civilization as an assassin just sounds so cool. I hope future titles live up to this idea, as I felt the first Assassin’s Creed felt more like a proof of concept than independent and functional game.

Devil May Cry 4 (2008)

November 17, 2018November 17, 2018 / stephensopinions / Leave a comment

The core of the Devil May Cry series is its action and the main character, Dante. Devil May Cry 4 makes a dangerous design choice by introducing a different main character. It is unbelievably risky to switch protagonists in a series which the current one is undoubtedly loved by fans. Ultimately, I think that this decision paid off, but Devil May Cry 4 has other substantial issues. The combat is crisp and satisfying, but the game is unfinished and undeniably repetitive.

The departure from Dante as the singular main character is the aspect of Devil May Cry 4 that makes it stand out. Instead of playing as the cocky and laid-back Dante, the player controls the younger and more serious Nero. More importantly, Nero’s playstyle is vastly different than Dante’s. Nero has a focus on his unique “devil arm”, which boasts a few tricks and changes the playstyle of the game. Nero can grab and throw enemies, which is an ability that allows Nero to string combos together in creative fashions. While Nero does not have the variety of combat styles that Dante does, his ability to grab enemies makes him just as enjoyable to play as.

Other than the change of protagonist, Devil May Cry 4 plays very similarly to Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening. High-octane action with a stylish flair is the key to the series success. My favorite aspect of the series are the frequent challenging boss fights. I was somewhat underwhelmed by the bosses in Devil May Cry 4. Other than a single exception, none of the bosses were particularly memorable or exciting. They were not offensively bad, but they were solidly mediocre. These fights felt less like duels between capable fighters and more like the player and the boss taking turns wailing on each other.

The largest criticism of Devil May Cry 4 stems from the second half of the game. Halfway through the game, the protagonist switches from Nero to Dante. This in and of itself would have been fine, but all of Dante’s levels are simply backtracking through previous areas. A lack of time caused the developers to just reuse areas instead of creating new ones, and the entire game drags because of it. Furthermore, by the end of the campaign you will encounter many bosses up to 3 times each. While rematches with bosses are a staple of the series, they usually entail new attacks or a changed arena. That is not the case in Devil May Cry 4. While you do fight some of the bosses as Dante, that is not a significant enough change to warrant 3 battles with each boss.

Dante plays as expected and has all of his abilities from previous games. The big addition is that he can now change styles on the fly rather than in the pre-mission menu. I love this change as it encourages the player to really test out the different styles rather than feeling restricted to one. It also allows the player to make some adjustments during combat or even extend their combos with a quick change of style.

Story is not something that I find important to the Devil May Cry series, and this game follows suit. While I like Nero’s characterization, I wish his backstory was explained in more depth. Other than that, the story is not a far cry from the previous installments. Somebody is trying to open the gate to Hell and unleash demons upon the world. That about summarizes every Devil May Cry game.

Devil May Cry 4 is basically everything I have come to expect from the Devil May Cry series. Fast-paced demon slaying with some goofy humor and cheesy dialogue. Playing as Nero is a breath of fresh air, even if he lacks the plethora of weapons and combat styles that Dante has. Unfortunately, Devil May Cry 4 is an unfinished product and that is abundantly clear in its latter half. As a whole, I enjoyed Devil May Cry 4, but it did not impress me like the original Devil May Cry or like Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening did. Those games defined and revolutionized the action genre, while Devil May Cry 4 is just a solid entry. If you enjoyed the previous games in the series or adore action games in general, I am sure you will like Devil May Cry 4. Just don’t expect anything mind-blowing or revolutionary.