Recent reviews by Cornelia Edgerton

I bought MHW with a completely open mind, and in fact if anything I had consciously lowered my expectation to avoid any disappointment because of all the warnings people gave me about the game's repetitive gameplay and the lackluster story. Fully aware of these drawbacks, I began my adventure in the new world, seeking for some exciting monster hunting moments. So, eight hours have passed. What do I think. Well, let me just say this first, in all fairness, and with my sanity still intact:



..................................................................................................................................... DON'T BUY IT!! IT'S GARBAGE!!! It's the most overrated, over-hyped, under-delivered piece of ♥♥♥♥ in the history of gaming industry. You will be shocked, I assure you, to the very depth of your soul and with every fiber of your being, at how BORING and REPETITIVE and pointlessly GRINDY the gameplay loop in this supposedly triple-A title is! The game can be summarized in two phrases: kill monsters, and upgrade gears, and I mean it litterally, without any exaggeration. That is ALL you do. Oh, there are side quests as well, but all of them involve trivial errands that have you gather random junk like "20 mushrooms" or "5 honey" or I don't know '10 monster dungs'. The story might as well just no be there. I stopped reading whatever the NPCs were saying after about three or four quests, because what they say is totally irrelevant and in the end you woud just be asked to either kill a monster or fetch some materials. You hunt the monster and loot some junk, come back to the camp and upgrade your gear, and then you do the same thing again and again and again and again... ad nauseam. I mean the monster killing isn't even that fun. The combat is clunky as it can get, and half of the time you don't even know where/whether your hit actually landed on the target. If you hunt solo, you are in for a hell, because every monster would take you about half an hour to take down, and it's not like it's a genuine challenge full of adrenaline-filled action moments. You are just rolling and hitting and rolling and hitting, and these monsters all seem to have like a billion HP. It's so boring in the end you just wonder 'uh...how many more hits do I have to deal to this ugly thing'. The map, the supposedly open world environment, has nothing to commend either. Don't be deluded, guys: this is not an open-world game. You have bits and pieces of map that you can explore at a time, and to go else where you have to get in a quest or an 'expedition'. And yes, the map is quite detailed and well-crafted, but its size and diversity is nowhere near other similar titles. The sounds and music are bad as well. No voice acting whatsoever for most dialogues, and your character is ostensibly speech-impaired and all he/she can do is NOD and SMILE like a damn mute. So, in the end, I don't know what the fuss is all about of this game, and how people are nominating this utter trash as GOTY. As a twenty buck indie or mid-tier title, yeah that would be an acceptable even commendable game. As a flagship AAA game charging $60, go ♥♥♥♥ yourself CRAPCOM.

This is what I'd call a polished and refined work. This game, guys, has a somewhat unique and interesting composition. It's one third an action/fps game similar to Tomb Raider but with much better gunplay and no annoying puzzles, one third a walking simulator where you make story-changing decisions, and one third a movie (not cutscenes but actual movie with real actors), and it excels in all these three departments. It's somewhat under-appreciated as it stands, and it's a shame Microsoft isn't planning to do a sequel for this awesome title, but instead spending all their budget on shi.tty childish garbage like Cuphead.

[UPDATE Dec.11 2018] I have since changed the review to positive, after I regained my sanity... I mean, let's be fair. This is a good game. Probably one of the best of this franchise. But I'll keep the original rant below, just as a reminder of how I hated the modern day story:



Ok, this is it, this is the last nail in the coffin of this game - The utterly utterly annoying and distracting modern story background and this 'second' protagonist Layla something whom nobody gives a $hit about, but just pops up and destroys immersion at EVERY f.u.c.king exciting moment of the game!!! Honestly, why?!!! why?!!! That Desmond bullsh!t we had years ago is coming back guys!!!! In an even worse form!!! It serves no purpose whatsoever except breaking the immersion that you the developer spent so much time and efforts building up for us through this vast and beautiful land. Then why on earth do you add this unneccessary and indeed game-breaking modern day background??? I can't get my mind around it!! Honestly, how could ANYONE get immersed with such an overarching modern day setting looming about??? This is an RPG game meaning you are ROLE PLAYING someone, but who am I indeed? For 95 percent of the game you are this mercenary of ancient Greece with a twisted family and personal history, but then for the rest 5% you are this fu.cking laboratory worker living in a capsule EMULATING the main character's 'animus', so who am I the player actually role playing in the end of the day??? You've got to have a split personality to fit your mind into this setting!"!! I don't care about the modern laboratory and this Layla b!tch!! I am Kassandra the merciless killing machine in ancient Greece seeking revenge for my family. That's it!!!! Why not keep it that way??? without these unneccessary garbage?? I honestly felt cheated and heartbroken when I found that my character is only a fu.cking illusion in the brain of Layla. Jesus!! And the moments they chose, guys, the moments they chose to transport you to that modern laboratory and change the whole perspective from your character to Layla are precisely when you are MOST DEVOTED, MOST IMMERSED, and MOST EMOTIONALLY attached to the story. Like when I was discovering this magical property of my spear, an heirloom of the family for generations, and finally unveiling the mystery of my parents, my missing mother, and my father who had to betray his family to honour his duty as a Spartan, etc. etc... and then BANG!!! before you knew it you are transported to the laboratory!!!! and now you are Layla!!!! among a bunch of lab staff who are talking non-sensical $hits about finding some artifacts before some other bad coporate guys and such!!! WTF???? Really??? And the second time, I finally found my birth father who was standing at the gate of Atlantis, guarding a powerful hidden secret not to be discovered by the evil cult that is spreading across the Greek world, and I, determined to fulfill my destiny, decided to come to my father's aid in his endeavor ... but then BANG!!!!! Loading screen!!! time travel time !!!! Guess what, you are in the fu.cking lab again!!! And as if watching some cutscene is not immersion-breaking enough, the game actually makes you traverse the cave you just explored again AS LAYLA!!!! As FU.CKING Layla!!!! Oh my god, I actually think the developer is trolling us. "Oh how do you like that story and your character... you like it, don't you? good... but how about this you t.wat: your character is just a dream, you are actually Layla the fu.cking lab girl." That's where I decided to stop wasting any more of my time in this piece of complete trash. You ruined it, Ubisoft. Good world, good gameplay, good graphics, but you spoiled it all with this modern story bullsh!t.

There must be something therapeutic about truck driving,


and I'm seriously reconsidering my career path.

[Update] Geez, it's getting out of control. I just watched a guy on youtube POV driving a Scania for almost an hour @_@, feeling soothed and relaxed like I've never been...

Wow, this is not something I'd expected... A disturbingly depressing story of two troubled souls. Those games made by Coda are nothing short of pure arts, and the distorted, twisted depiction of his mind in the games he made is surely remniscent of how other artists depicted theirs in forms like paintings and music. If anyone after playing this title still says games are not a good media for self-expression or conveying deep contemplation on one's very being, I don't know what is.

To be perfectly clear, this is a very polished game indeed, with a well-composed story told in an ingenious manner. They did a brilliant job in building this unsettling environment of a malfunctioning space station and a desperate crew. Sounds and graphics are great as well, and overall gameplay is smooth and intuitive. So why on earth am I not recommending this? It's the price, guys. I know it might sound such a rubbish of a reason, but the full price is 20 bucks, for a game that lasts two hours (and just like all other story-driven walking simulators they have little to zero replay value). That's very steep in my opinion. So, in the end, it is good game, but I wouldn't recommend picking it at full price.

Freshly finished episode 1, and I thought I might just give my two cents before continuing. Now, right at first sight one can clearly see a quite substantial upgrade of the graphics. Granted the players of LIS are probably not the pickiest ones when it comes to eye-candies but I dare say a more realistic graphics does help improve the overall immersion. The rendering of the environment seems particularly well implemented - those forests in the wildness of Oregon and that scene at the beachside under the moonlight do look quite stunning. Story-wise, all I can say now is that episode 1 looks like a promising start, although any truly exciting moments have yet to appear. The drama started quite early on, and this time the plot seems to focus on the fraternal relationship between the main character and his brother. The story so far is OK, but might I say a little bit mundane and certainly hasn't developed to a point where I just can't wait to play the next episodes, but I'd say the suspensiona and the tension created is engaging enough that I will at least put LIS2 on my 'to-play' list.

Not a full review but just my impressions so far. Guys, the gunplay in this game is sh!te, which alone makes it worthless, considering it's an FPS. Fan-boys can boast about the story, the sarcasm, and the graphics as much as they want, but as long as the weapons in this game all shoot like cheap toy baby guns I suggest you stay away from this piece of utter trash. If you are just irresistibly interested in experiencing another same old Wolfsteinian story, which by the way makes absolutely no sense and is shallow even by video game standards, then at least buy it at discount, by which I mean something like -80 or 90%.

How anyone can beat this game in VR without having a psychotic break is totally beyond me. Immersion overload...

Jokes aside, this has to be one of the best platformers I've ever played. Gameplay is pretty much the same as in other titles of the genre, that is solving puzzles and jumping around escaping enemies and traps, etc. The puzzles are functional but not the most ingenious ones in my opinion. You do get a few interesting mechanics such as the upside-down gravity and dismembering yourself to get through certain passages.

Where this game shines is the story and the way it is told. Absolutely fantastic narrative, seemlessly incorporated into various elements throughout the game. It hits this perfect balance of being mysterious and leaving plenty of room for imagination but also not too opaque so as for the story to make sense. The settings are bizarre and in some scenes grotesque and violent, but the story behind it is truly humane and touching.

Now, the price. I still feel the full 30 dollar price is a wee bit too high. Given its length (however inappropriate a factor it is in evaluating a game...), I'd say it's in the 20-25 department. But that's purely personal opinion, and in the end of the day I'd still recommend this game to anyone even remotely interested in this genre.