Recent reviews by Λtlas

This game is extremely fun and, gameplay-wise, an improvement from the Open Beta. There's still some baffling decisions that were made and some features that the game desperately needs that I'd like to outline here. First I'll say what I like about the game. Bits of design that have no "I like this, but..." attached to them.

- Cooldowns are a super neat way of keeping strong zoning tools in line.

- Character kits have a high amount of variety when considering the entire cast and are pretty well-designed overall.

- The presentation is extremely strong. I'm a big fan of the music tracks, characters feel like themselves, there's some snappy dialogue, etc. All very solid here.

- Gameplay is overall very fun and matches usually feel engaging. I spent a significant amount of time playing Smash in tournament environments and I like the way the game feels on the whole. I think MultiVersus knows it won't be that level of competitive and embraces a wackier side I've always kinda longed for.

- It shouldn't be a positive but the Battle Pass rewarding enough premium currency to get the next one isn't a guarantee in this godforsaken industry so I'll give a single clap for that.


Now for the bad and I'll start with Training Mode because it's really easy. Being able to switch characters as smoothly as you can is huge and I applaud it. Aside from that it's missing key features like being able to set % and status effects as well as hitbox/hurtbox visualization, input visualization, frame data, and move recording. The basics are here and they're solid but we really could use more. Every character needs to be accessible in Training Mode as well, though as I recall this has already been mentioned by the game director so we'll see if that materializes. It would also be amazing if every Fighter Variant (skin) was available in Training Mode so people can really preview what they may purchase. If your cosmetics have a lot of effort put into them with custom VFX, animations, dialogue, etc. then this is a wonderful way to showcase it too, no? Just a thought.

Next up are Rifts. Rifts are super cool and I like the systems in them a lot. I think Gem XP should be a bit more generous (or at least give a tiny amount of Gem XP after every match even if the node has been previously completed) and nodes that require specific characters/variants should let you play as the character regardless of ownership. I'm fine with character-specific side objectives so long as you can get the "Gem Cauldron" without requiring any of them but every node should be playable to a fresh install. Some of the node types become extremely tedious as well (looking at you, Crystal Defense) and less focus should be placed on them in the future. Aside from those complaints these are solid and fun additions.

Progression... the damn progression.... It is absolutely bewildering that, once you've finished your Missions and Event objectives, you can't really gain anything by playing PvP. I'm sure that the upcoming Ranked mode will offer rewards of some kind but Fighter and Account experience are just not enough. Just playing should reward you with even minor bits of Fighter Currency, Perk Currency, and/or Battle Pass XP. I'm not asking for a lot here, just something to encourage players to keep playing aside from raw game enjoyment. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the game enough to play it daily but I can't see that being enough for others. Gotta put more on the table Player First.

Monetization has signs of being problematic. The main issues being Fighters and Gem XP of which Fighters are the obvious focus. Playing the game daily since the day after launch I've accrued ~12k Fighter Currency. Four Fighters unlocked in roughly a week isn't so bad, right? I have a feeling my earn rate will decrease dramatically now that I've exhausted most of the Rift nodes so I suppose we'll see how that pans out but for now that earn rate seems perfectly acceptable and surprisingly generous IMO. This is also subject to change depending on the cost of upcoming Fighters. Will they all be 6k? Will only the newest one be 6k? How long until the oldest one decays into a regular price? These are things I'm a bit worried about for game health. Especially if a newly-released fighter is just absolutely busted.

Gem XP should just not be on offer in the shop at all with Gem XP rates being higher in the Rift mode. I also see that on higher difficulties there will be a Lives system and you can pay for extra lives. This is a really terrible way of monetizing via frustration and should really be avoided at all costs.

Cosmetic prices in the shop are too high for my tastes but truthfully I don't care enough about it. Free-to-play game and all that so it was somewhat expected. Hopefully they either drop the average cosmetic price or make the Daily Deals actual deals.

Aside from what I mentioned already various other changes I'd like to see are:

- Better server stability. This obviously isn't part of the game's design but it's enough of an issue for me to mention it (particularly with PS/Xbox crossplay).

- Increasing overall game speed between 10-15%. Game doesn't need to be that much faster because 2v2 could easily get too complicated for many players but 1v1 is a tad slower than it feels it should be.

- Custom input buffer. I've seen varying reports on how large the input buffer is ranging from 10-30 frames. In any case, players should be able to determine their desired buffer range however they feel.

- Lingering hitboxes beating dodge. I don't know if it's just me but many times I'll use a move with a lingering hitbox and a successful dodge nullifies the entire move for that player even if they dodge back into the path of the attack while it's active. Maybe I'm imagining it but this feels strange to me and I think it would be better overall to have moves that can punish players for dodging poorly as part of that move's design.

- Colorblind mode. I'm red-green colorblind and this would be such a fantastic feature to have. I was somewhat shocked it wasn't already in the game to be honest.

- Stage selection options in PvP. I really, REALLY want to see optional toggles when I queue up. Let me queue with other players disabling Stage Hazards. Have a preset pool of more competitive (basic) stages that I can opt into. I'm starting to despise Mojo Jojo and that's a travesty.

- Videos in Fighter Movelist. Let me hover over the input panel for each move and show a little video of the move being used so everyone can easily get a feel for what move is what and new players can get a brief overview of characters they might be interested in! If you really wanna go above and beyond make little narrated Fighter Guides and embed them into the Movelists that players can watch.

- Re-ordered Glossary. Alphabetical order is usually great but terms like "Cooked" being so much higher up than "Tasty" (an effect that applies "Cooked") is awkward. If there's an effect that applies a status the status should either be directly below it in the Glossary or it should allow you to click on "Cooked" in the description of "Tasty" and pull you to that entry. Way more streamlined.


That's about it, I think. I understand this is less of a review at this point and more of a wishlist directed at the devs so I may as well also say I'd love to see a focus on film characters. Specifically, friends for Jason. Getting horror characters to fit in a kid-friendly game is a challenge but I think there's a fairly long list of ones that'd work well such as Ash Williams, Audrey II, The Xenomorph, Beetlejuice, etc.

Anyways, that's my review-turned-rant. I think this game shows absolutely mountains of promise and potential, creating a summit I REALLY want to see it reach! Hopefully it can manage it.

Game's fun.

Ban Maxx C

This is, hands down, my new favorite game ever made. It is expertly crafted and made with an utterly absurd amount of love and care. Each and every moment of playing this game felt like a gift I waited a decade to receive with every moment being entirely worth it. Never before have I played a game that made me feel like this game does. To start this review, I'll go over changes from the original:

Raz is much snappier to control and almost all of the awkwardness with his Levitation ball, pole/swing bar interaction, and camera issues have been eradicated in this game. Whereas the original Psychonauts controls as you'd expect (a semi-early 3D platformer), this one absolutely crushes it in the control department. The only changes I can think of from the original I truly dislike are Raz's double jump and the Levitation float.

Double jump has been drastically changed to be more in line with platformer expectations whereas the original had a floaty double jump that had Raz dip down before rising back up. It was bouncier, and felt somewhat defining to that title. The Levitation float has been eviscerated. No longer can you float forever nor fly with the speedrun exploit. While I expected the exploit to be removed (sadly) I did not anticipate the forever float being taken away as well.

Figments are easier to grab, are more visible, and are less hidden on average. Collectibles in this game tend to not be hidden behind stationary objects but rather out in the open, behind a puzzle, or near some sort of interactive object. This makes finding everything relatively easy for those scouring about and makes full completion more of a time-based endeavor rather than one based on scrutiny/attention to detail. The Scavenger Hunt items do not require the quick puzzle-solving of the originals and feel like a bit of a downgrade on that front. Almost all of these are either out in the open or behind an ability gate and is slightly disappointing as someone who was a fan of the original's mini puzzles. The new collectibles are top notch.

New enemies! Psychonauts had an EXTREME lack in enemy diversity which has been remedied almost entirely here. Each enemy functions differently and is many times more interesting than just the standard Censors. Many function essentially as mini-bosses if there's enough support surrounding them though are easy to beat on their own. It's well worth experimenting with abilities on them as the devs made sure to include multiple ways to fight and interact simultaneously.

Level-ups function much differently. Rather than periodically getting enhancements to powers or new powers altogether periodically Psychonauts 2 gives four upgrades per ability you can buy with your levels. Powers unlock at set intervals in the story now and are not level-related. There are some powers missing from Psychonauts but there was a distinct effort to make the new ones feel just as, if not more interesting and even an attempt to combine older powers together in the new title.

Now, onto the new stuff:

The game leaves an incredibly strong first impression with its stylized opening that does a serviceable job of catching new players up and a nostalgia trip for existing fans. I'm going to be entirely honest here. I cried. I cried during the opening cinematic because I was **actually playing Psychonauts 2** and I couldn't believe this game was real. The score at the beginning (and throughout) is fantastic and is littered with leitmotifs and themes from the first game that pull me back into the world with ease and elicit old memories. It felt like coming back to an old friend anew. I can't think of any other way to describe it.

Each and every level has a wonderful theming and is delightful to play... barring one. But, I will fully admit that one level is more than likely going to be enjoyable for the majority of players and it just didn't tickle my fancy. The mental issues presented are still very welcome choices even when the first Psychonauts took the lion's share of the big, well-known illnesses. The levels twist and turn on themselves with frequent use of impossible architecture, world-bending pathing, and straight up impossible changes to an incredibly impressive degree. I remember circling around in one of the late game levels and immediately realizing I was curling in on myself and I started giggling like an absolute idiot. It was bliss.

The new characters are overall very well-designed aside from one of the interns whose name I consistently have to look up as he's just that forgettable. The writing is pretty great all things considered. I actually had to look up if Erik Wolpaw worked on this title as well and apparently he did but was not credited for it so I'm not entirely sure how much of the game he contributed to. In any case, if your game's writing makes me look up if one of the main Portal 2 writers was involved you've done something very, very right.

The story is sublime and dives into the heart of the beginning of it all. I won't say more so as to remain spoiler free but if you pay attention and collect the Memory Vaults you will walk away with a pretty comprehensive history of the Psychonauts, their world, and how they fit into it. All of which is ridiculously satisfying for someone who had questions about all that subject matter after/during the first game. I, again, cried multiple times throughout the story both due to plot points and from joy that I was **STILL** playing the sequel I had waited so long for.

Visually the game is certainly up to snuff. It's not groundbreaking or anything but it doesn't need to be. The world design, concepts, and how the devs play with the idea of being inside a mind was always the main draw to Psychonauts and it's here in spades. It's beautiful to look at with many areas/enemies having detailed flourishes. I should clarify that when I say "groundbreaking" I mean "this title's visuals will shake the industry or entirely revitalize a style of graphics". That word comes with revolutionary standards that Psychonauts 2 doesn't meet, even though it still excels.

All in all, Psychonauts 2 is an enthralling experience through and through. Nothing quite measures up to it and it is wholly unique to the point of standing in its own field. I sincerely hope the success and popularity of this game motivates Double Fine to add to this franchise every 4-5 years rather than leaving us all high and dry for so long.I highly recommend it to literally anybody. There is not a soul on this planet who should not play this game.

The original is a cult classic, and this one is a modern masterpiece.

Review used to be positive because this is, genuinely, an incredible game. I can't recommend it in good faith given its current state which doesn't seem liable to change anytime soon. The state of Casual is abhorrent and nearing a status of unplayable even for me. Fix the game, save the community, and maintain the legendary status of an online gaming pillar.

One of the best titles I've ever had the fortune to play.

Comical, violent, simple controls (for an Xbox controller) and well worth the full price. Even better on sale! One word of warning however. I DO NOT and simply CANNOT recommend playing this game without a controller. Also, if given the chance, playing Co-Op is infinitely better than playing solo (assuming the right people are involved).

Pros:
Fantastical roster of characters (most of which DO NOT share a moveset with any other character)
Simple gameplay
Quality Boss fights
Poop jokes (An entire level pretty much dedicated to them)
Mini Games
Art Style
Insane Mode

Cons:
Keyboard Controls
Much work involved to obtain the full roster

I find it, in a word, fantastic. It is limited however. Do keep this in mind. But, if you find this on sale, do not hesitate.