Recent reviews by S S Absolution

This game is a real conundrum to review... there's a part of me that loves it and a part of me that finds it to be terrible. I was able to beat it in a single sitting, but there were times where I openly looked at the game with disgust. It gave me moments of clairvoyance, and self-reflection; while at the same time it descends into a predictably inscrutable mess. It does so many things right, only to turn around and ruin it for no good reason. This double-edged eventuality is what ultimately makes this just one of those experiences that really depends on what matters to you most.

There is one section of the game that is fantastic throughout, the atmosphere. This will portray itself more in emotional contexts than through usual things like story, or plot. This is mainly accomplished by the music. Although the color tones really do find a way to add that extra little response. The tone of general conversation on your train really does hit on all the pathos one could hope for. Even in the end it's the emotion of it that'll take you and not the intellectual resolution.

This thing does do one thing bad all the way through as well, the train simulator portion. The best parts of the trip are when the passengers are talking among themselves, and the scenery you're traveling past. These are what really tell you the stories, these create that place within yourself that really wants to feel the experience. Unfortunately, most of your time will be spent on other things, that really remove you from the best parts and then makes it difficult to come back into it. It's really sad when the travelling sections could've been the best parts with better implementation.

Other than those, it's a roller coaster. The locations feel fresh at one stop, just to become monotonous the next. There are a few sections of the action-adventure portion that will be challenging, but I ended the game without any concerns for ammunition, I killed every enemy on the maps, and only died maybe 10 times. The enemies were interesting for a bit and then dull about halfway through. The game play itself is up and down between stops. The story lines will grab at you and then fail to deliver. Also, why are all the NPC sprites decent quality, but my main sprite looks like complete garbage?

There were some missed potentials in this too. There is a section of the game that takes a rather... psychological turn. Only to completely be pointless 2 minutes after you're through it. I thought it really added an extra little something that could've helped take this to that next level, but alas... it wasn't meant to be. The missing aspect of a conceivable story lines really hurts this as well. With the already amazing atmosphere, this additional feature could've really propelled this onward with ease.

As it stands though... while I really want to recommend this. There's another guy punching that guy in the face telling him no. That first guy is tired of getting punched in the nose so that’s why it’s not recommended. If there was a "Confused" option I'd have picked that though.

- 5.4/10

It's nice to know that Ninja Theory is only capable of following a single formula. It really makes me hesitate to purchase another title by this developer. This is just a re-skinned version of one of their earlier releases, Heavenly Sword. Sure there's a few extra bells and whistles but 90% of it is the same game. Personally, I liked Heavenly Sword and I liked this as well, for many of the exact same reasons. This is missing one thing that Heavenly Sword isn't... originality, pure, plain and simple.

Dante re-hashed isn't cool... he's pretty much a tool. Other than that it's just a very forgettable story line and cast of characters; with boring dialogue to back it up. It fails to deliver on this level entirely. The slightly more visceral themes of DMC, are highlighted to an extreme in this. Lets not forget stupid fedora @s$ Vergil, oh my god, he gets special mention for being the most substantial tool bag in the entire store.

The gameplay operates around the three weapon system, activated by the triggers (I played this with a controller). Your main sword, which is a medium strength/speed weapon, the left trigger for your light strength fast speed weapons, and the right trigger for your heavy, but slow, hitters. I don't mind the gameplay, as I said before its basically a clone of Heavenly Sword. That in turn, by definition, makes this wholly unoriginal.

When there's a basic clone of a game, which does more aspects properly, it's hard to recommend something. If you're like me and you need a hack and slash fix, then this might be for you. Otherwise find a way to get Heavenly Sword and play that instead.

Gaben keeps stealing my rank

A unique take on the rhythm genre that has plenty of fresh ideas and perspective. It’s far from perfect though and mostly suffers from implementation issues that shoot itself in the leg like Cheddar Bob. Every facet will impress you, and then at the same time disappoint you. It’s an experience to play this game, offering plenty of challenge and sublime moments of accomplishment. The issue is that I see this being a game you’ll either love or hate, with little to be found in the middle.

The most important aspect is the gameplay, and this offers a combination of 140’s rhythm platforming elements and DDR’s rhythm based direction action phases. Everything is mostly solid, with the occasional bug where the beat and action/platformer phases don’t sync up properly. Upon death or reset though these usually rectify themselves. This section is the main reason for my recommendation, as there are only very minor issues.

The visuals are one of the most prolific section that I can think of that is a double-edged sword. They are beautifully colorful, with a great aesthetic pleasure to it. The use of visuals gives a very psychedelic persona to the whole experience. Yet, these same qualities end up being the downside as well. During peak action times the screen gets overrun with various effects and color swaps that end up looking more like screen vomit than anything else. It distracts from the gameplay at a variety of times and is just too much at times.

Next is the control options. Both the keyboard and controller controls feel very tight. The keyboard is by far the better option though, with the timings and input lag between commands being decreased. This is mostly due to the full reset control scheme that must be adhered to. When using the Klangs, the right joystick must go to a full neutral position before the next command can be input. This offers a few extra millisecond lags as the keyboard only relies on a key to fully reset. Movement controls are better with the controller though. Certain sections see you flying around on a board, of sorts, and the keyboard limits you to only 8 directions. The controller joystick has no such limitations. Then there’s no remapping allowed for either scheme. Old controllers beware though, there are no sensitivity options for the joystick so even the slightest offset from neutral will have you running at full speed.

Third, the difficulty is skewed at many sections of the game. This game is hard, and the dev states that this was intentional. The hardship of this is manageable on the main setting throughout the entire game. As well you can change the difficulty on the fly with no real penalties applied. The issue is that there is no ramping of the difficulty once you get past the p1rate b4y level. There are sections in the early areas that are more difficult than other later sections. Now the end levels are by far the most difficult, but there are random ups and downs in this context. As well, the controller issues explained above can add to the difficulty in what feels like an artificial way.

A few things that this hit totally on the head are the music and story aspects of the game. The former has maybe a song or two that I wasn’t a fan of. While the latter is perfectly flippant, and comical for what it is. There is a subtlety to the story that one must look for in some of the fine-tuned details that add depth. Either way they felt totally at home within the context of the game.

I enjoyed this game, it was an interesting experience. If it didn’t sabotage itself through implementation issues, I would easily give it a much higher score than the 7.5 I’d rate it currently. As it stands though, I still think this is a title that deserves to be checked out. It’s a challenging and fun experience that I think most rhythm gamers will thoroughly enjoy. Though maybe watch the videos on the community page to get a sense of some of the faster paced action elements.

At best this is a frustratingly disappointing tactical turn based simulator. Major issues lie underneath the surface of the gameplay that once discovered make this rather silly. With balance issues across every facet, the will to punish yourself is the only way to make this challenging or even fun. Level design is acceptable at first, dreary soon after. Broken game modes that were good ideas but poorly fleshed out. You should Breach and Clear this from your Wishlist as soon as possible.

Balancing issues come into play immediately upon building your squad. Soon after building it, you'll realize not all classes are built equally. Then once you meet Jugs, it'll become painfully apparent. For me, the Weapon Sergeant ended up being the most OP bebop you could hope for. Mixed with the Pro90 he was a god amongst men, outclassing the ravenous hordes with minimal effort. Breacher and Intelligence weren't useless, but their strengths offered for only a specific approach to the game. While others were more well-rounded and offered a trove of tactical and strategic options.

Other more serious balancing issues come in with weapon selection. Many are just useless at the best of times and others make drone warfare look like child's play. Shotguns are a sham, with a whole three choices and then a reskinned one later, it leaves something to be desired. Also, Jugs has a super OP shotgun. Why can't I get that thing? A single sniper rifle (not counting the MK17), which is pretty dookie. You wanna know what this game has in variation... rifles, lots and lots of rifles. You want a submachine gun... Pro90, only choice. SAW is your only LMG choice, and no riot shield.

Terrible design choices lie in the level selection and game modes. Each game mode shares the same maps as the others, which is alright for a while, but boring by the end. A few levels stand out as excellent levels that you enjoyed but most are simplistic and others are bad enough to rely on random enemy placement for victory at all. The worst sin of all though is in the game mode Escape Plan. An excellent idea that was so poorly thought out and implemented that it left an image that haunts the rest of the game. All the game mode is, is what happens if we randomly place your four guys around the map, sometimes with 4 to 5 enemies aiming at them at the start. What a terrible waste of a great idea.

With so many annoying balance issues, design choices and wasted potential this is something that needs to be avoided. There are other smaller issues that I don't feel need to be gotten into as well. In the end though, the real lack of choice is what did this in for me. With strategic options limited due to a lack of variability in the weapon choices I found this to be lacking in the fun deparment fairly quickly.

Another Souls game in the books. As a veteran of all four previous Soul entries, this review is written from that perspective. Some of the issues I experienced with this may very well be lost on you if you're new to the series. This feels like the idiom, one step forward... two steps back, some things are better than ever and others are at their weakest. Bonfire placement is abysmal, making levels far easier than they need be. Design aspects feel recycled and stale at times with a few flashes of grandeur. Streamlined gameplay and upgrade mechanics mark a major improvement within the series. With the most challenging, fleshed out boss encounters yet. Still worth it though...

A lot of the grindy portions of the gameplay have been routed for a more streamlined upgrade system. No more, farming vast quantities of various individual enemies for their specific ore drops. Thank you. No more guessing which item you need to get to +9 to use the Boss Souls, though there are a few that if you don't want to look up take some pretty nifty guessing to get. I spent far less time in the menus of this one, meaning I was playing the game, which is a plus.

In detail, there are some previously stated issues with it. The bosses are harder in this, but the levels in general are easier. Bonfire placement is mostly to blame. It makes whole areas vanish before you really know what happened, making each area less memorable than the last. Nearly every boss has a straight path from a bonfire with at max 2 enemies awaiting you. Also... cool story another poison area... it'll be your favorite.

The storytelling is classic Dark Souls, read some stuff and fill in the holes with whatever you can. I found many of the item descriptions to be lacking though. Either too short, or no real information to be gleaned. As well, the content felt far less original than any other installment. This aspect is easily the weakest from any of the previous.

Most of the areas, and designs also feel a bit recycled. There are a few that stand out and make this it's own beast. Irithyll of the Boreal Valley portrays itself as the mystical phoenix sprouting from the ashes of an iconic location. It's unfortunate that this is an exception and not the rule. If you can recall a previous area from any of the other installments it makes an appearance in one way or another. The real issue at heart is the lack of effort to make them feel original in their own way.

The challenge provided by the bosses is what drives this into a refreshed experience. Once again, every idea will feel like a reprocessed version of a previous manifestation. Granted as well that most of the added difficulty of this one is provided merely by an increase in speed, damage, and stamina. Most feel balanced enough, but some will display signs of unlimited stamina, unfathomable hit boxes, and homing attacks that will rotate them 260 degrees on a single foot. Still though I felt that every concept that was done before was improved upon and made to be its own version of what it was.

Whether you're a Souls veteran or a newcomer this is sure to give you the enjoyment you're looking for. There are flashes of amazing uniqueness that will make you smile, and marvel at the artistic direction. Be warned that if you're a vet then these will be few and far between, and a ton of content will feel recycled. It's still Dark Souls though and that alone makes it worth playing, for the challenge and all.

I can enjoy a casual experience, I've enjoyed plenty of filler between larger more intense games as well. However, this... this, is harder for me to give a recommendation. There's nothing really with the gameplay, story, visuals, or sounds that you haven't done before, probably even done better. It does hit on what I think it might've been trying to get at, but... it's far to unassuming and minimalistic that, it manifests itself into a pointless distraction; that even the things done right aren't enough to save it.

The first two playthroughs are the only ones I really enjoyed, however the first was 15 some odd minutes, and the second was closer to 25. The initial one was just a plain run through with the 1st person free running mechanincs, and the next was just to explore the map. That's what this was painted as really being about, and sure that playthrough was enjoyable, but the third run through it was already just about running through the motions, for mindless achievements. Any splendor that was there, was already lost after 40 minutes of play.

The main problem this faces, is that everything is just too unassuming from minimalism to provide any stimulation after such a short time. It provides nothing to really do or accomplish. The exploration never really hit me with a moment of existential thought or emotional clairvoyance. It just doesn't try to do anything and that's an example of doing what you wanted a bit too well.

Everything in the end feels like a senseless diversion, that never provides any type of savage thrust into anyting. Something would've been better than what was provided, something experimental, artistic, or even with just a simple message, but you'll get none of that from this. You might squeeze a few extra minutes to get the achievements but they'll mostly feel like an empty shell of what you thought it was going to be.

On a final note, for 3 dollars you can get some basic filler that won't hold your attention for very long. This is a judgement call on what the worth of something like this should be. That's what really makes this hard to call. I'm not recommending it because I'd rather have spent this on a game that could be used as filler for a far longer period of time. I just don't see myself coming back to this at any point.

Keanu Reeves never felt so at home. Speed is the aspect that defines this game, testing your split-second decision-making skills. There is a brilliant simplicity to this game that shouldn't be overlooked. Far from a perfect experience with a few issues that'll make you upset. With excellent music choices and a psychedelic art choice, seizure experiencers Beware! Reaction time is all that is required to take part in this fun diversion.

Far from perfect though there are some minor issues in the gameplay mechanics that don't seem right. There are moments where after an event happens with either the enemy ship, the blue or green walls, where your input will not register. These can really throw you off the groove and flow you'll get into as the levels get faster and more difficult to beat. The only other notable issue with this is the camera pan. There is absolutely no reason to include the pan effect in this other than to give it some extra movement. This though just adds to the blind spots of the board where there were already plenty. Not as prevalent as the invalid input zones but present none-the-less.

Beyond those two issues though this is an excellent, simple game that does what it tried to do well. I played it both for extended hours at a time as well as quick attempts at levels that lasted ten minutes. The objective is to last sixty seconds, meaning that each attempt is a quick experience that offers reactive fun. The art style and music really add to the experience of the game, adding a different feel and motivation for each song that is available. All-in-all an excellent, simple, if at times, frustrating game.

Here's a showcase of Level 4:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrNcz2zhnwk&t=2s

Often enough puzzle games stop short of intriguing puzzles at the gameplay stage. Talos Principle takes the road less traveled. Your understanding of the world around you and the words you're exposed to are as much a riddle as the actual logical trials you'll need to overcome to progress further. Flow and timing in this game really allow it to shine, it's semi-non-linear nature allows for a slightly unique experience in the tasks and narrative you'll be introduced to. This is a puzzle game that will have your curiosity screaming throughout every facet that's been designed.

Your main focus will reside on the 78 trials stretched out through 4 worlds. These tend to be rather simple to figure out for any colored sigil other than red. On my first playthrough I accomplished the Solipsist achievement with only two or three puzzles giving me cause for grief. The trials are fun, and can be real headscratchers at certain points, but none of them offer a challenge that'll have you stumped for longer than twenty minutes. As measure I did not get the Extreme Persistence Detected Achievement.

However, the puzzle gameplay branches out touching the plotline as well. From the very beginning, little clues about the plot and the tangled web of individual storylines are dropped in immediately. This not only gives you the information to put all the pieces together, but if you're diligent the answers are attainable long before they become painted on the stone. Each question and interaction serves to try and provide a necessary skill to analyze the environment and decipher the meaning of it all.

In the end, it was too short though. Granted I still have the remaining stars to collect and other secret terminals to find but I wanted more. This critique isn't always a bad thing though, it simply meant that I wanted more whether that meant it was too short or if it was that enjoyable is a different discussion altogether.

Auxiliary concerns such as the music was well done, not my favorite thing about the game, it does add to the world at certain points, often though fading into the background. If graphics are important to you then this game will not thoroughly impress but it will not disappoint either. The scenery and backdrops are pretty to look at for a welcomed distraction to contemplate the many questions this thing offers.

With no major issues and a focus on the purpose of the game, this is a puzzle that you'll be welcome to experience.

Let's put it this way, free wasn't a good enough price in the end.