Video Game Review #189: Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

PlayStation 4

Nostalgia Factor:

The Tomb Raider series has been a part of my life since the mid 1990s. Over the years I have seen the series grow and change in many ways. None of the changes have been as drastic as the complete overhaul Tomb Raider received in 2013. Rather than having stages, the whole game was set on one island, with the ability to backtrack and recover things you may have missed due to not having proper equipment the first time around. A Metroid-vania style Uncharted title is not a completely inaccurate way to describe the game.

I had a lot of fun playing Tomb Raider back when it came out. Unfortunately, this was RIGHT before I started writing game reviews, so it never got the proper recognition from me that it deserved. Since 2013, two more titles in the series have come out: Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I have heard nothing but good things about those games, so I made it a personal goal to return to the series and see what the fuss was all about. No better time to start than now, and no better place to start than right from the beginning.

Story:

Throw out the version of Lara Croft that you’ve seen in previous iterations of the Tomb Raider series. This game introduces a brand new Lara Croft, the likes of which we have never seen before. In past Tomb Raider games, even the very first one back in 1996, Lara already had this established mythos around her character. Strong, heroic, a bit emotionally detached, and not afraid to come in with guns blazing. In this game, she is still tough as nails, but very green and inexperienced. She’s young. She’s intelligent. She doesn’t like killing, nor does she even want to do it to begin with. But when push comes to shove, she isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. As the game goes on, you see her turn more and more into the Lara that we all know and love.

The game begins with Lara and her friends on a ship seeking the lost island of Yamatai. Right off the bat we get hit with some character development, which was severely lacking in previous Tomb Raider titles. You get to know the crew of this ship, watching them as they interact with one another. They all have their own distinct quirks and personalities. A severe storm ends up sinking the ship, sending the survivors scurrying for safety on a nearby island.

Lara is separated from her friends, and in a very intense escape scene she ends up getting away from this deranged looking cannibal guy and his cave of wonders. It doesn’t take long for Lara to figure out that the island is inhabited, and that she and her friends are in extreme danger. As you play, you explore the island, looking for clues as to your whereabouts. You occasionally will come across members of your crew, but you don’t ever stick around them for too long. Someone is always getting hurt, killed, kidnapped, or gone missing. Plus Lara shows she is the only one capable of kicking ass and getting the job done, so she is often sent off by herself on dangerous missions.

Spoiler alert: you are on the very island you originally set out to look for: Yamatai. There is a clan of cultists living on the island, and they have seemingly found a way to control the weather to protect the island. That’s why the storm that sunk your ship at the beginning of the game popped up seemingly out of nowhere. It’s also the reason that all calls for help prove to be futile. Any time an airplane or helicopter approaches the island, it is quickly knocked out of the sky by lightning and bad weather.

Lara sets out to destroy the cult so she and her friends can escape. Before that can happen, her friend Sam is kidnapped by the cultists, who want to perform a ritual on her that will put the soul of ancient Japanese goddess Yumiko into Sam’s body. The storms have been bringing people to the island and keeping them there, in the hopes that someday a proper host body for Yumiko can be discovered. It becomes your goal to put an end to all this nonsense once and for all.

One thing I can say about this Tomb Raider game’s story is that it does a very good job at forging an emotional connection between you and its characters. Lara’s friends and expedition members aren’t just useless fodder that are used as a prop. You really feel a connection with them as the game rolls on. You want them to survive. I even shed a tear or two at a few points during the game. That’s something I have never done in any Tomb Raider game, EVER, and I have played nearly all of them in my lifetime. Kudos.

Gameplay:

I earlier described this game as Metroid-vania meets Uncharted, and I am standing by that description. Things seem pretty open at the beginning of the game, but the more you play, the more you will notice ledges you can’t reach, boxes you can’t open, walls you can’t climb, torches you can’t light – that kind of thing. It falls on you to remember where these things are and come back once you have the proper equipment to do them.

Things take place from a behind-the-back 3D perspective. Controlling Lara, you can run, jump, climb ledges, draw your weapons, fire those weapons, light torches, push movable items around, and more. This is a very user friendly game. The controls are super simple and this game is easy to pick up and play, especially if you have played Uncharted before. Swap Lara’s character model for Nathan Drake, and this game is nearly indistinguishable from Uncharted at times.

Combat is a departure from previous Tomb Raider games. Rather than just locking on to your enemies and firing away, in this game you use the left trigger button to draw your weapon, the right analog stick to aim it, and the right trigger to fire. Where you hit your enemy determines the severity of the damage you give them. Hit someone in the head, and they go down right away. Hit them in the body or the arms and legs, and you simply slow them down or hamper their mobility. There are also melee attacks at your disposal, but I only used those when absolutely necessary.

Lara gains access to new weapons as the game goes on. You progress from a bow and arrow to a handgun to a shotgun to a machine gun to a grenade launcher, so on and so forth. Despite all the weapon advancements in the game, the bow and arrow was my go-to weapon. There is just something really satisfying about drawing back, taking proper aim, and letting that arrow fly. It’s silent too, so it comes in handy when you want to pick individual enemies off without alerting the others.

Exploration in this game is fun and satisfying. The island is huge, and there is lots to see and do. This is one of those  games where there are collectibles scattered about EVERYWHERE. It was very hard to stop playing this game every night, because I am one of those people that likes to completely clear out entire areas before I turn the game off. In this game there was always something nearby on the map for me to collect. This lead to a couple of very late nights on my end.

Graphics:

This is a very good looking game. The island is lush and gorgeous. Wildlife is everywhere. The weather effects are realistic, as are the explosions and the fires. All the ruins and tombs on the island have a very distinct “old” feel to them. Everything is so very detailed, especially the indoor locations, such as inside the tanker and inside the installations built on the island. Even six years after this game’s release, I can’t deny that it looks freaking fantastic. It’s not quite Horizon Zero Dawn, but it still looks damn good.

Character models are on point. All the characters look fairly realistic. They all look different too, which is important. It would be jarring to see a bunch of cloned enemies running around on this island. I think they got around this by having a ton of enemies wear face coverings, which is smart. Speaking of character models, I especially like Lara’s new, more realistic character model. In fact, I actually prefer this to her older… bustier designs. She is still hot, but in a way that’s more natural and not so horribly over the top. There is a lot more to this Lara than just her looks.

Sound:

The game sounds as good as it looks. The voice acting is terrific. No complaints from me in that area. I don’t really remember a whole lot of the game’s music, but I am okay with that. This game is more focused on creating a tense jungle atmosphere than worrying about sweeping musical scores. And it definitely succeeds at creating a tense atmosphere.

I have been saying this in a lot of my reviews lately, but you should really play Tomb Raider in the dark with headphones on. All the little sounds like the wind blowing, the rain falling, water dripping in a dark cavern, faint voices as you near an enemy hideout, they all add up to a very impressive and immersive experience. You’re not really missing anything if you don’t play with headphones on, but with them on they definitely enhance what was already a very good audio experience.

Overall:

I don’t think Tomb Raider gets the credit it deserves. This game is flat out FUN and there is just no way around it.

Tomb Raider grabs a hold of you right off the bat with its interesting storyline and characters and cinematic action sequences. I cared about Lara, I cared about her crew, and I cared about what was happening on the island, all before I had even taken control of my character. Then when I did take control of her, the gameplay more than held up its end of the bargain.

From beginning to end, this game never ceased being fun for me. I liked exploring, I liked collecting things, I liked the jumping and the climbing, I liked completing all the little hidden tasks the game has for you, I liked the combat. I could not put the controller down. My life was Tomb Raider for the two or three days it took me to beat this.

I really have to think hard to come up with things I didn’t like about this game. I didn’t like that you couldn’t hold down the survival mode button and walk around in survival mode. I really hope they fixed that for future games. Having to come to a dead stop in order to look around in survival mode dragged down the flow of the game a bit too much for my tastes. Other flaws? Umm... the game isn’t very long, nor is it very challenging. I beat it in just a couple days without the help of any kind of online assistance whatsoever. I wanted just a little bit more! I guess the good news for me is that there are still two full Tomb Raider games out there that I haven’t played yet. I’ve heard that the series only gets better with each game, so this makes me VERY excited to play them.

I came into this review, as I do with every review, not knowing what letter grade I was going to give Tomb Raider. I usually just write the review, get it all down in text, go back and re-read it, and then weigh the pros and cons of the game when determining its final score. I never would have thought that this would end up being an A+ game, but I think that's exactly what is going to happen here.

I don't hand out that score too often, as I consider an A+ to be reserved only for games that I consider a masterpiece. Is Tomb Raider a masterpiece? I don’t know, but it is a damn fine game that has almost no flaws in my eyes. That’s good enough for me. I had a blast playing this, and I will give it an A+ with no regrets whatsoever. Now, to see if this game’s follow-ups live up to the almost impossibly high standard that it has set.

Final Score:

A+

If you liked this review, please check out some of my other game reviews:

Tomb Raider

The Last of Us Remastered

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Tomb Raider Legend

Video Game Review #188: Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

PlayStation 2

Nostalgia factor:

When Kingdom Hearts II came out back in 2005, I was all over that shit. I was a HUGE fan of the first game, as anyone who’s read my review for it can attest. It didn’t  take very long for its sequel to confuse the hell out of me, however. The first Kingdom Hearts game was pretty straightforward, and I think I expected it to pick up right where the first one left off. Quickly, though, things went completely off the rails. I didn’t know what had happened with Sora, Donald, and Goofy. I didn’t know who Roxas was. I didn’t know what Organization XIII was. I didn’t know what the Nobodies were. I knew nothing, Jon Snow. I still enjoyed the game, but 90% of it didn’t make any sense to me. I knew that there was a  GameBoy Advance title called Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories out there, but I didn’t realize its relevance. I probably blew it off as an inconsequential spinoff that I didn’t need to bother with.

That was a mistake. In the ensuing years, I’ve come to learn that playing this game is essential to understanding the storyline that bridges the gap between Kingdom Hearts I and II. I never got to play it, however, as it was a GameBoy Advance title, and I never had a GameBoy Advance. Nor did I know that there was a port of the game available for the PlayStation 2. It wasn’t until this year, 2019, that I was finally able to get my hands on the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 Remix collection for the PlayStation 4. This collection includes several Kingdom Hearts games, most notably Chain of Memories.

Not just Chain of Memories, but Re: Chain of Memories. What is the difference, you may ask? Chain of Memories is the 2D title that came out for the GameBoy Advance. Re: Chain of Memories is the upgraded 3D port that was brought over to the PlayStation 2 in 2008. That is the version I played for this review. So technically I am playing a port of a GameBoy Advance title that came out for the PlayStation 2, on a PlayStation 4. Confusing, I know, but hey I didn’t make the rules. For clarity’s sake, I am just going to count this as a PS2 game. It is the exact same version of the game that came out for the PS2, but with sharper HD graphics. This most definitely does not deserve to be counted as a PS4 game, and the GameBoy Advance title is a completely different thing altogether.

Got all that? Good, because I barely do. Anyway, enough with the small talk. Let’s get this review started.

Story:

The game starts right where the first Kingdom Hearts leaves off. Sora, Donald, and Goofy are wandering around, looking for signs of King Mickey and Riku. A clue from Pluto leads them to a mysterious hooded man in a black cloak. He leads our heroes into Castle Oblivion, where they discover they are starting to lose their memories. Sora and company have to fight their way through the castle, making their way to the top. The higher they get, however, the more memories they lose.

A lot is going on behind the scenes that our characters don’t know about. As I stated in my last Kingdom Hearts review, I am by no means an expert on the storylines of the games. So forgive me if I am wrong with my interpretation of the events. From what I gathered, everything is being manipulated by a group called Organization XIII. The Organization is a group comprised of Nobodies, who are the empty shells left behind when someone loses their heart and becomes a Heartless. The Nobodies want to get their hearts back so they can become whole again, and they believe the only way to do this is to manipulate the Keyblade holder (Sora) into doing their bidding. Thus, they launch an elaborate trap to cleanse Sora of his memories and make him their puppet.

They enlist the help of Namine, who is Kairi’s Nobody (from when she lost her heart in the first game) to help them accomplish this task. Namine has the special ability to make people lose their memories. How she has this ability, we don’t really know. Anyway, as our heroes battle to the top level of the castle, they encounter Namine. Namine is fed up with being manipulated by Organization XIII, and flips sides over to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. She gives them the option to either leave the castle, retaining their memories from inside the castle, or to get their original memories back and forget everything that happened in the castle. The group decides they want their old memories back.

Namine lets them know that it won’t be a short or easy process getting their memories back. They have to enter these big stasis pod thingies while Namine works on restoring their memories. So into the stasis pods they go, where they remain until the beginning of the next game in the series, Kingdom Hearts II.

That is my bare bones recap of the game’s events. There is a LOT more going on than I indicated. The game dives into the personal dynamics of the Organization XIII members. Namine has some story stuff going on. There are clones in Castle Oblivion, most notably one of Riku. Whether he is simply a clone, a simulation, or a Nobody, I don’t really know. I’m sure the game explains it, but I was pretty overwhelmed by everything else going on to process it. The real Riku also has an unlockable side quest that you can take on after you finish the main game with Sora.

There is a lot going on in this game, and I can’t say I truly understand it all. That’s okay, though. I got to see how Sora, Donald, and Goofy wound up in those stasis pods, and that’s really all I wanted from this game.

Gameplay:

To say there is a learning curve to this game would be an understatement. As if the game’s crazy plot wasn’t enough to process, you have to process a brand new style of combat and level progression as well.

I’m really divided on the direction they took this game. Outside of combat, things control exactly as they did in the first Kingdom Hearts. You run, you jump, you swing the Keyblade. Once you enter combat, things are a different story. Rather than just casting spells and swinging your Keyblade as you did in the first game, things are controlled by a very complex card based system. I am not a fan (AT ALL) of card games, so this new system immediately made me apprehensive. My first few hours with the game, everything turned out to be even worse than I had feared. I was getting absolutely slaughtered in battle to the point where the game was not even the slightest bit of fun for me.

As much as I wanted to see what the game had in line for me as far as its story, I was ready to give up. In fact, I was very, very close to it. Luckily, I was sick one night and had nothing better to do than lay around like a slug and watch YouTube videos. It clicked in my head – hey you should look up tips on Chain of Memories to help get you through the game. So that is what I did. And boy oh boy did it help. I had been doing everything wrong. My main problem was that I wasn’t customizing my deck. I was using the original deck that had been given to me at the beginning of the game. Once I figured out how to add more attack and spell cards to my deck, things became much easier for me.

I want to explain how the card system works, but I fear it would be too complicated and lengthy to spell out succinctly. Do you really care anyway? Let me just say that you have a deck of cards filled with attack and spell cards. Each card has a number on it. Enemies also play attack or spell cards. You have to make sure that the number on your card beats the number on the enemy’s card. So if an enemy plays a one, pretty much every card you have will beat that card. If they play a six, you have to play a card that is a six or higher. If you play a lower numbered card, you lose the card and won’t get it back until you reshuffle your deck. If you play a zero, however, that beats ANY card that the enemy plays. The key to success in this game, particularly when you are fighting bosses, is to have lots of zero cards in your deck.

You can string together up to three cards at a time to perform a special attack, or to break an enemy’s special attack. So if you see an enemy playing a six, a seven, and a three card, you have to quickly do the math (in this case, the cards add up to 16) and string together a combo of your own to break the enemy attack. Or just play a zero. The catch to stringing together cards is that you will always lose the first card in your deck until the battle is over. As you play, you learn sleights, which are special, more powerful attacks that Sora unleashes when certain cards are played in a certain order. You also gain summon cards, which you can use to summon Donald or Goofy to your side to help you in combat. That’s right, unless you play a summon card, you are fighting solo as Sora.

As you level up, you are given the option to get more HP, learn a new sleight, or gain CP, which allows you to add more cards to your deck. I made the mistake of loading up on HP. CP is what you want to focus on.

For the most part, this covers how card based combat works. Cards also affect how you play through the game’s stages.

Each level of Castle Oblivion represents a stage you played in the first Kingdom Hearts game. For example, the first stage in the game is Traverse Town. You can actually pick what order you want to play the rest of the stages. I followed my original KH path, going to Wonderland, then to Olympus, then to Agrabah, so on and so forth. Deep Jungle is notably missing from this game, as I believe it has something to do with copyright stuff, since Tarzan is based on a book.

Each stage is filled with locked doors. You have to unlock these doors by using cards you pick up in combat. Each door has a certain condition you must meet in order to open it. For example, one door may need a blue card that totals four. Another door may be a red card greater than six. Some doors require several cards to open. What you want to look for are the doors that are marked with a heart, a key, or a Heartless logo. Unlocking these doors advances the game’s storyline for you.

Different cards each carry different conditions with them. For example, let’s say you have to open a door with a red card that is higher than a three. You look at your deck of red cards. You should have several different types of red cards, many of which are over three. You want to find the one that best suits your need to unlock the door. For example, one red card may be “more Heartless will appear in the next room.” So you want to play those ones if you are looking to fight a lot to level up. Another card may be “less Heartless will appear in the next room”, so if you are looking to just run through a stage without fighting anyone, this may be your best bet. Other cards will put Heartless to sleep, make it so they give out more EXP when they die, or force them into playing only weak cards when you fight them. On the flip side, there are cards that make things harder as well. Card management is definitely something you have to take into account as you play this game. I got rid of all of my “make the game harder” cards on story based doors where I knew I wouldn’t have to fight any Heartless on the other side.

As I said, there is a massive learning curve to this game. I hope I explained everything pretty thoroughly, although even with all that I am sure I am missing a lot.

Graphics:

Graphically, this game is on par with the first Kingdom Hearts. It doesn’t look any better or any worse than that game. That’s really… all I have to say about that.

Sound:

The same thing goes with the game’s sound. Voice acting is as strong as ever, although this game often ditches voice acting in favor of text boxes that you have to read. That’s understandable, as this game is meant to be a smaller scale spin-off, and I am sure its budget is not as big as the numbered entries in the series.

Most of the music you hear is recycled from the first game, which is fine. One particular tune, however, was really getting on my nerves. It is not even that it is a bad little jingle, it is just used WAY too much. It’s the tune they play whenever there is a scene involving Organization XIII. If I had made it a drinking game to take a shot every time that song queued up, I would have gotten drunk FAST.

Overall:

I’m really torn on this game. I went back and forth between loving and hating it so many different times. When it started, I thought that it was interesting. I liked the fact that I was finally seeing what happened in between Kingdom Hearts I and II. The cutscenes and the voice acting were a lot better than I thought they would be, for such a small scale spin-off that pretty much nobody I know has ever played.

Quickly, the game soured on me with its complex card based combat and exploration. I was ready to toss this game in the trash and move on to something else. Then, once I got the hang of the card system and how the game worked, I started to like it again. In fact, there was a spot in the middle of the game where I was cruising along and having a really good time. When this game clicks, it is really fun and entertaining.

Then came the bosses. Oh man. I am still shaking my head thinking about them. Regular Heartless you encounter in battle are pretty easy once you get the hang of the game. The bosses, though, are hard as shit. It is SUCH a big difficulty spike between regular battles and boss battles. Some of these bosses took me ten, twenty, thirty attempts to beat. A lot of these fights were over in a matter of seconds. They left my jaw hitting the floor with how difficult they were. I have not been this frustrated playing a video game in a very long time. I really wanted to throw or break something, but luckily I was able to stop myself. Breaking stuff over a game is stupid. But still, this game made me understand why people throw their controllers through the TV. I am getting mad just thinking about this game’s bosses. They really wrecked a lot of the enjoyment that I was able to get from this game, they were THAT difficult.

So you understand my dilemma. I did not consistently have a great time playing this game. Admittedly, the high points of the game were pretty high, and a lot of fun. But the low points were just terrible. My enjoyment of this game was constantly going up and down and up and down. And I'd say unfortunately it was more down than up. I can't ever see myself playing this game again. Not that the game is bad, just that the boss battles are so horribly frustrating. They almost wrecked the game for me completely, on several occasions.

If you are a Kingdom Hearts fan, I would still encourage you to check this out, as it will help you understand KHII a little bit better. If you are just now stepping foot into this series, I would definitely avoid this game. I can't possibly see what you would get out of it.

Overall:

C

If you liked my review for this game, please check out some of my other game reviews:

Kingdom Hearts

Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy IX

Video Game Review #187: Inside

Inside

PlayStation 4

I will be referencing my previous review for Limbo during this review, since the two games go hand in hand with one another. If you want to check out my Limbo review, you can find it located >>here<<

Nostalgia Factor:

If you have read my Limbo review, you’ll know that I didn’t even become aware of either of these games’ existence until last year, when I read a preview for Inside in a Game Informer magazine. The premise of these games immediately intrigued me, and I made a mental note to myself to check them out. I finally got around to it this month, renting the Limbo/Inside collection disc for the PS4 through GameFly.

Limbo didn’t impress me too much, as evidenced by its C- score in my review. As a result, my hopes weren’t too high for its follow-up, Inside. While I can definitely say that Inside is better than its predecessor, I still have mixed feelings on the game. Read on for my full thoughts.

Story:

Much like Limbo, this game’s storyline is very much up to player interpretation. Inside places you in control of an unnamed boy. You’re in the middle of an eerie looking cornfield, on the run from mysterious agents with flashlights and guns that want you dead. Very quickly, this game becomes a life or death struggle for freedom as you try to escape. Things get weird fast. You run through an abandoned farm area, where there are dead pigs piled everywhere. The ones that are still living charge at you and try to attack you. Once you make it through the farm, the setting changes to an industrial environment, where human-like zombies are being herded through checkpoints for inspection. You hop into a submarine which takes you through an underwater area. Once you re-emerge, you pass through an open area, where some kind of powerful timed pulse blows you to smithereens if you don't properly take cover from it. You enter a lab where creatures are being experimented on. Things only get weirder and weirder the deeper into the game you get.

Eventually your character comes into contact with this big ugly blob creature, where he is absorbed into its core. The last few chapters of the game consist of you playing as the blob as you rush to escape the laboratory. The game ends with the blob busting through a window and rolling down a large hill, where it comes to rest at the bottom of said hill.

The End.

Wait, what?

Again, just like with Limbo, the game abruptly ends with no explanation whatsoever as to what you have just witnessed. Did I like the ending? No. I have stated multiple times on this blog that I don't like open-ended stories. I like clearly defined beginnings, middles, and ends.

That said, I found the world of this game to be much, much more interesting than that of Limbo's. All the weird post-apocalyptic shit you see, all the bizarre lab experiments, the creepy herd of "zombie" humans... the more I saw, the more I wanted to know what was going on. This game clearly has a story to tell. I just wish it actually told it.

Gameplay:

I have no problem with the way Inside handles. You run, you jump, you grab stuff. That's about it. This game is very easy to just pick up and play. The basic gist of the game is that you start on the left side of the screen and you make your way to the right. You have to jump over things, solve puzzles, and clear obstacles.

There are a wide variety of puzzles for you to clear, but none of them are too overly difficult. I did have to turn to help online for a few of these puzzles, but not too many of them. Puzzles range from very simple, like rolling a cart over to a ledge so you can jump on it and boost yourself over the ledge, to very difficult. One puzzle that stood out to me was when you have to use your mind control powers to steer a herd of zombies onto a giant scale. Once you've collected enough of them, a door opens and the game lets you move on.

Expect to die a lot as you play this game, but never does Inside feel as cheap or as frustrating as Limbo. There is definitely a learning curve to some of these puzzles, however, particularly the underwater ones. I did not care for those at all.

Graphics:

If you are looking at this game from an artistic standpoint, Inside looks really cool. The simplistic look of the game definitely gives it a very unique feel. It is not straight up black and white like Limbo, but the colors are pretty dull and muted throughout the whole game. The only bright color you really see is the color of your character's shirt. The graphics mesh well with the mood and the feel of the whole game. I couldn't help but feel on edge and slightly creeped out as I played it.

If you are looking at this game from the standpoint of "I need good graphics!! Everything has to look like Horizon Zero Dawn!!11!", then you are going to be disappointed with Inside. This game has a very simple, minimalist look to it. It's all about creating a spooky, eerie environment with as little outside context as possible. I almost feel like the game's graphics and its setting are a second character in the game, outside of the boy you control. The game may not look like much when you stack it up next to jaw-dropping games like the aforementioned Horizon Zero Dawn, but it has its own charm to it that cannot be denied.

Sound:

I can't say much about this game's music and sound effects, other than that they do their job. They really bring this bleak, unsettling world to life. Inside is all about atmosphere, and the sound effects definitely pull their weight in that area. This is another game you should play with headphones on, in the dark.

I may not have cared too much for Inside in the long run, but I can't deny that the atmosphere of the game is really freaking cool.

Overall:

I had a better time with Inside than I did with Limbo, but that still isn't saying much. Honestly, I am a bit disappointed in both of these games after reading all the rave reviews. I expected something earth-shattering and groundbreaking, and instead I got two relatively short and simple puzzle based platformers with weak to nonexistent storylines.

I can see why people like Inside, it just wasn't really my cup of tea. It's all in the game's atmosphere. Even I can admit that I was intrigued by all the creepy shit you see as you play the game. The problem is that the game raised all these questions and then didn't bother to address them.

I think I mentioned David Lynch in my Limbo review. Well, I am going to mention him again. Inside definitely seems like something that could have been created by him. It's dark, it's creepy, it's full of stuff that doesn't make any sense. The atmosphere is cool, and you have a relatively okay time as you play the game. But then, it abruptly ends on a less than satisfactory note, leaving you hanging as to what has been actually been going on the whole time you've been playing the game.

If you like that kind of thing, you'll love Inside. Heck, you'll probably sing this game's praises to the roof. Almost every review I've seen out there has been a positive one. I think I am the only person out there to say anything negative about this game. That whole style of storytelling is just not my thing, and I don't think it ever will be. You can speculate as to what this game means until the cow's come home, but that is all it will ever be is just speculation. Give me answers, dammit!

Did I like Inside? It was okay. Did I think it sucked? No. Did I have a blast playing it? No. Would I play it again? Maybe, someday, a long time from now. I really wanted to like Inside, but I simply found the whole thing to be very average. I think it is fitting that the final score will reflect that.

Final Score:

C

If you liked my Inside review, please check out some of my other game reviews:

The Last Guardian

Rime

Puppeteer

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

The Lion King

Video Game Review #186: God of War III

God of War III

PlayStation 3

Nostalgia Factor:

I used to be such a huge, obsessive fan of the God of War series. I played the first two games in the series over and over again when they first came out. I think I played them too much, however, because when the third God of War game came out for the PlayStation 3 back in 2010, I was pretty much God of War’d out. I bought the game and I played through it once, but I don’t remember it leaving a huge impression on me. It just seemed like more of the same, but with bigger battles and better graphics. That was the first and only time I ever played the game. Looking back on my time with it, I couldn’t remember any details of its gameplay or its story.

I’ve really been wanting to play the new God of War game that came out last year in 2018. But being the “start from the beginning” kind of gamer that I am, I didn’t want to come into the game not being able to remember how the original trilogy ended, in case it was relevant. Since I’d already recently played through the first two God of War titles, I figured now was as good a time as any to revisit the third.

Story:

This game picks up directly where God of War II left off. Kratos is leading an attack on Mount Olympus, where he plans to kill Zeus and the gods and rid Greece of their influence once and for all. The game kicks off with a giant, epic battle scene that goes south quickly. Kratos ONCE AGAIN finds himself in the Underworld, stripped of all his powers. In order to defeat Zeus, Kratos realizes that he needs to utilize Pandora’s Box, which is what he used to defeat Ares in the first God of War game. Opening Pandora’s Box does not prove an easy task, as it is surrounded by impenetrable flames. The only person who can penetrate these flames is Pandora herself, the creator of the box. The main goal of the game is to find Pandora, bring her to the box, and use the box to defeat Zeus. Things of course do not go 100% according to plan.

Gameplay:

There’s not much I can say about God of War III’s gameplay that I haven’t already said in my previous God of War reviews. You run around smashing things and killing people before moving on to the next area of the game, where you do more of the same. There are a minimal amount of lever throwing and block pushing puzzles along the way.

The only puzzle I found to be difficult was in Hera's Garden. The puzzle revolves around freezing time, pushing blocks around, and diverting the flow of water, so it would change the layout of the architecture around you. It was fucking awful, and the camera does you NO favors in this area of the game. I couldn't even see what I was supposed to do half the time, and it was really pissing me off. I had to give up trying to figure it out on my own and look to the internet for help.

Aside from that, God of War III doesn’t do much to break the formula. Seeing as how this is the game where the series made the jump from the PS2 to the PS3, I can’t say I am too surprised. It seems like the makers of the game were more focused on bringing us better graphics and larger scale battles than they were with improving the gameplay, or even making minor tweaks to it.

That said, the game is still a decent amount of fun to play. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it... right?

Graphics:

This is the area where God of War III clearly outshines its predecessors. The game looks GREAT. Everything is so sharp, polished, and well-defined. Kratos looks awesome. The enemies look awesome. The game’s stages are all jaw dropping and epic in scale. That battle with Cronos completely blew me away in 2010, and even now I couldn’t help but marvel at how impressive it still is. The game is a visual masterpiece, and that is saying a lot considering that it is now considered a “last gen” title.

Trying playing God of War I or II after playing this, and you will marvel at how primitive those games look in comparison to this one. It is shocking.

Sound:

God of War III sounds as good as it looks. The voice acting, as always, is spot on. Kratos is back and he sounds angrier than ever. The game’s music is also very good. It can be subtle in the game’s quieter areas, and it can be booming and epic when you are wrapped up in intense battles.

This is one of those instances where the game’s visuals and its audio go hand-in-hand. Play God of War III in the dark with some headphones on, and completely immerse yourself in the world of the game.

Overall:

There is no denying that this is a very well-made game. Everything about its presentation is top of the line, from its visuals to its audio to its cutscenes. It controls very well too. If you are a fan of the GoW series, you will have no trouble jumping right into this game.

If you have never played a God of War game before, I can’t for certain tell you if you would like this game or not. It picks up right where GoW II leaves off, so if you have never played that game, you will have no idea what is happening in this game’s storyline. Even though GoW’s storylines are normally pretty weak, at least a basic understanding of what is happening usually makes them a lot more enjoyable.

Speaking of the game’s storyline, it is mediocre at best. This goes for all the God of War games I have played, to be honest with you. Unexplained or incomprehensible plot twists galore, preachy characters who speak a lot of empty words, and a ton of pointless cameos from classic characters from Greek mythology. on. It’s like the makers of the game thought “hey we forgot to put this ancient Greek character in the game, let’s just throw him in here, even though this doesn’t match what is happening with the main quest at all.” It is basically fan service for people who like ancient Greece. It all seems a bit disjointed to me. While the beginning and the end of each game’s story makes sense to me, it is the middle ground that I find the least enjoyable. I zone out and don’t know what the hell is going on half the time. I just roll with it.

Aside from my complaints with the game’s story, I don’t have much else to say about God of War III. This is a fun, enjoyable hack and slash title. It’s pretty short, clocking in somewhere around ten hours in length. Not only is the game short, it FEELS short too. I think I finished it in two days, if that. It’s no wonder I didn’t really remember anything about the game from when I played it in 2010. This is "fluff" gaming at its best. I just finished the game and it is already almost completely out of my memory. Not to say the game is bad, it’s just…. there. It’s fun and I had a good time with it. But it is not memorable in any way, shape, or form. A truly great game, like The Last of Us or Final Fantasy VII, sticks with you for a long time. I just played this game and I've already forgotten about and moved on from God of War III.

If you are a fan of the series, I can say that this game is still worth checking out. If you had fun with the other God of War games, there is no reason you shouldn't have fun here. They didn't do much to advance the God of War formula, but it is not like it took a step back either. In fact, I'd say this is easily the most polished game in the original trilogy. It's also nice to see an official end to the numbered God of War series. I, for one, am excited to play the 2018 reboot.

If you are not a fan of the series, I am not sure what you'll get out of this game.

Overall:

C+

If you liked my review of God of War III, check out some of my other game reviews:

God of War

God of War II

God of War: Chains of Olympus

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

Lego Marvel's Avengers

Video Game Review #185: Limbo

Limbo

PlayStation 4

Nostalgia Factor:

This should be pretty short. Prior to just a couple days ago, I had never played Limbo before.

Limbo first caught my eye when I was reading an old Game Informer magazine last year, and Inside was listed as one of the top 50 games that had come out that year. In the brief description of the game, Inside was described as a follow-up to 2010’s Limbo. I did a little research on Limbo, and it sounded interesting to me, so I made it a point to check it out someday. To my delight, I saw that GameFly had a collection disc that contained both Limbo and Inside on it. It went onto my queue immediately. Less than a week later, the disc arrived and I was popping it into my PS4.

Story:

This game has a terrific story! The plot is amazing, the cast of characters is well fleshed out, and there are so many jaw dropping twists and turns that you will never see coming. I haven’t been this invested in a game’s storyline in a long, long time.


…



…



...



I typed that with a straight face. Totally.

This game has no story, at least no story that I could determine. Playing as a mysterious little boy, you walk through black and white dream-inspired landscapes, solving puzzles and evading death. Your goal? I don’t know. The game never comes out and says what is going on. It is clear from the game’s stages that something is happening. Everywhere you look there are dead bodies, giant spider creatures, traps, signs that you are part of a civilization that has fallen apart. But does the game come out and explain what is happening? No.

All you do is walk from the left side of the screen to the right, trying to stay alive. Do this for a couple hours and the game unceremoniously just ends. Yeah. No answers, no explanation of what’s going on. Just oh hey thanks for playing kthxbye. It is a shame too, because I really liked observing all the mysterious sights as I worked my way through the game. It truly felt like there was something interesting going on that I should have been aware of. I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed when the ending credits began to roll. I got absolutely nothing out of this game’s storyline.

I’ve read some theories online that the little boy is really trapped in purgatory. I’ve heard he’s looking to rescue his sister from the underworld. I’ve heard everything you see is some kind of deep symbolism, perhaps symbolizing the boy’s journey from childhood to adulthood. I’ve heard all kinds of things. No doubt, the game’s storyline is very much open to interpretation. But I don’t like that. I like things that make sense, regardless of whether or not they “look cool.” David Lynch, for example, is a film maker whose movies I have NEVER enjoyed. I am okay with leaving the ending open to interpretation (even though I don’t even like THAT much) but leaving the entire game open to interpretation is just too much to me.

Make some damn sense.

Gameplay:

Everything in this game kills you. Everything. Prepare to die constantly.

I remember looking at the trophy list before playing, and one of the accomplishments was to finish the game while dying less than five times. Piece of cake, I thought. It looked like a simple 2D side-scroller to me. I have always been good at these kinds of games. Boy, was I wrong. I’d say I wasn’t more than four or five minutes into the game when I hit the five death marker. You are going to die as you play this game, and you are going to die A LOT. You’ll just be walking along, completely oblivious. Oh look, there is a little spiky patch of grass. WRONG! You step on it and realize it is a bear trap. You’re dead. Next time around, you try to jump over the bear trap. Wrong move! It’s too long, and you just landed on it and died again. Maybe you’ll die a few more times trying to get around it. Then you realize you can use the action button to pull the bear trap to the left. There were actually two bear traps on the ground, side by side. Now that you’ve cleared a space between them, you can easily jump in the gap in the middle and get around both of them. Challenge complete.

Often, the environments hide other things that will kill you. Even at high alert I had a hard time staying alive. That harmless looking shadow in the background you thought you could just walk past? It turns into a spider’s pointy leg that stabs you. You’re dead. Walking across a bridge? Expect it to fall and drop you to your death with little to no warning whatsoever. Other times the ceiling will just randomly cave in on you. Dead. Think you can wade across that little pool of water? Nope. In this game if the water even so much as goes over your head, you die. Even if you are as cautious as humanly possible, you are going to die.

That’s not to say that this is a particularly frustrating or challenging game. When you die, the game starts you off just a few seconds from before your point of death. Loading times are at a minimum. You can just jump right back in and avoid the thing that killed you the first time. I enjoyed working through the puzzles and correcting my previous mistakes. It is one of the few redeeming qualities of this game.

Limbo took me a few hours to finish. I don’t know how much this game costs normally, but I would have felt majorly ripped off if I had paid 20 or 30 bucks for it. Not that I didn’t have a relatively decent time as I played. It’s just not worth that kind of money to me, not with its short length and nonexistent story.

Graphics:

I have to give credit where credit is due: the game looks really nice. I love the art style. I love the black and white color scheme. I love the haunted look and feel of the game. Limbo has a terrific ambience that other games have tried and failed to replicate.

I loved the character animations, and I must say, I loved the game’s gruesome deaths too. Some of them are so “oh my god!” that it actually detracts from any frustration you might feel from dying so many times. I wasn’t sure whether or not I would enjoy a game entirely in black and white, but this game definitely delivers visually.

Sound:

Play this game in the dark with your headphones on and lose yourself in the world of Limbo. This is a very immersive game that feels like you are playing through a haunted dream. All the little audio cues really add up to make this a believable fantasy environment. Everything sounds so subtle and peaceful. Wind blowing, birds chirping. But it is also dark and ominous at the same time. It is hard to explain. It just works.

I don’t think there is anything too memorable about the game’s actual soundtrack, but that doesn’t really matter here. You play for the ambiance, and this game has it in boatloads.

Overall:

I really felt like this game was sooooo close to being something special. Instead, it fell just short for me.

Its visuals and its audio are fantastic. There is no doubt that this is a very immersive game. At times it is a lot of fun. Your character walks a little too slowly for my taste, but that was never a huge issue for me. I didn’t even mind all the dying. I enjoyed learning from my mistakes and making things right the second (or third, or fourth, or fifth) time around. Never did the game truly feel unfair to me.

Did I hate my time with Limbo? Absolutely not. Do I think the game deserves all the accolades and high reviews scores thrown its way? Nope. It’s an okay game. And I will stress the word okay. It’s short. There isn’t much variety in its gameplay. The storyline is nonexistent. Not that there aren’t short 2D platformers out there with poor/non-existent storylines (see Castlevania, Mario, etc), but those games were iconic and FUN. As much as I liked the atmosphere Limbo created, it doesn’t exactly shout out GOOD HAPPY FUN TIME!! to me. I found the whole game to be completely…. okay. I simply don’t understand why the makers of the game created such a rich, interesting world, but then went nowhere with the story. There was so much potential for an excellent game here. Maybe that is why I am struggling to give it a good score. The potential this game had was so strong, and I can’t help but feel a little bit let down by the end result.

When I grade games, I mainly factor in how much fun I had with the game, and how willing I would be to play the game again someday. While I admit that this game is not awful, I just can’t see myself ever coming back to it again.

Final Score:

C-

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Video Game Review #184: Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts

PlayStation 2

Nostalgia Factor:

I won’t lie to you and tell you that nostalgia won’t play a factor in this review. I first bought and played through Kingdom Hearts during a very memorable time of my life. I’d say this was around 2003. The game had already been out for a year or so. I had heard about the game, but not being a giant Disney fan, I never gave it much of a second thought. Then I saw the game on sale for only ten or twenty dollars at Best Buy. I was a Final Fantasy and a Square fan, plus the game was pretty cheap, so I decided on a whim to buy it.

I had just started dating a girl named Jessica, and she also had a PlayStation 2. One of the most memorable things about the early weeks of our relationship was playing Kingdom Hearts together and uncovering its secrets. To say that we were both completely engrossed by the game would be an understatement. We LIVED Kingdom Hearts. This was before the days of prevalent internet access, so when we’d get lost or stuck playing the game, we would only have each other to turn to for help. It was a bonding experience, to be sure. To this date, the first Kingdom Hearts game still evokes memories of this time of my life.

I’ve returned to Kingdom Hearts off and on throughout the years. I’d say I’ve played through the first game from beginning to end about 5 or 6 times total now. My most recent playthrough was around 2010 or 2011. The reason I returned to the series once again is because of the recent release of Kingdom Hearts 3. I know that the story of the games can be quite confusing at times, so I didn’t want to jump into the new game blind. I decided to go back and play through the entire Kingdom Hearts series as a refresher. This includes all the side “filler” games like Chain of Memories, among others. I have only played the numbered entries, and I know those don’t explain the story fully. If I was going to jump back into Kingdom Hearts, might as well do it right.

What better place to start than the first game? 

Story:

I don’t claim to be any kind of Kingdom Hearts expert, so I am just going to give you a very brief recap of things the way I see them. The game starts out on a tropical island. You take control of a boy named Sora. His best friends are named Riku and Kairi. If you are a Final Fantasy fan, you will quickly notice that Sora and his friends share the island with several Final Fantasy characters, most notably Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. Sora and his friends dream of leaving the island and visiting all the other “worlds” that are out there. One night, the island is attacked by a group of black, shadow-like figures known as the Heartless. A mysterious sword that looks like a key appears in Sora’s hand, and he is tasked with trying to fight these creatures off.

The island ends up getting consumed by the darkness. Sora, Kairi, and Riku are separated as they all end up on separate worlds after theirs is destroyed. Sora winds up in Traverse Town, which kind of acts as the game’s central hub. Traverse Town is populated by people that were dispersed when their worlds were destroyed. Some notable characters you will come across here are Cid, Yuffie, and Aeris from Final Fantasy 7, and Squall (or Leon, as he now prefers) from FF8. It is in Traverse Town that Sora encounters Donald and Goofy, of Disney fame. This duo had been tasked by Mickey Mouse to find the Keyblade master and to help him in his quest to defeat the Heartless. Well, guess what? You are the Keyblade master, and you are now stuck with these bumbling fools the rest of the game. Nah, they aren’t that bad... or are they? I guess it is debatable.

After teaming up with these two, you set out on a journey to visit all the worlds that have been affected by the Heartless, and to use your Keyblade to seal each world’s keyhole, cutting off the Heartless’ point of entry into those worlds. Almost all of the worlds you visit are inspired by classic Disney movies. Alice in Wonderland, Hercules, The Little Mermaid, Pinocchio, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Aladdin, Tarzan, Peter Pan, and Winnie the Pooh are all represented in this game.

Pulling the strings are Maleficent and several other original villain characters, who have been kidnapping Disney princesses in order to use their hearts to open “Kingdom Hearts”, some kind of mystical realm that is never really explained very well. Or maybe it was explained, and I just missed it. I don’t know. After sealing all the Keyholes, you head to Hollow Bastion to take these villains out and to save Kairi and the princesses.

The first game is fairly straightforward with its storyline. It’s in the sequels where things start to become confusing. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

Gameplay:

This game’s control scheme is a very mixed bag. Kingdom Hearts takes place from a behind-the-back 3D perspective. Controlling Sora, you run, you jump, you slash, you use items, and you cast magical spells. On the surface, things work pretty well. It isn’t until you really dive into the game that you start to notice its deficiencies. Jumping is very “floaty.” Judging the time and distances of your jumps can be a frustrating affair. This makes the game’s platforming segments one of my least favorite things about it. I’ve played through this game at least four or five times now, and I still have yet to beat Riku in the obstacle race at the beginning of the game. Towards the end of the game in Hollow Bastion, you have to fight enemies on high platforms. If you slip up you could fall all the way back down to the beginning of the stage. Very annoying.

The camera angle is also a point of contention for me. Normally I am not the type to complain about the camera in games. Mario 64 and the classic Tomb Raider games get bashed for their camera schemes, and I didn’t have a problem with any of those games. But in this game, I feel the criticism is justified, particularly when you are fighting. Kingdom Hearts utilizes a lock on system when you are in battle, similar to what you see in the Zelda games. The problem with this is the inconsistency in which the camera follows the enemy you have locked onto. Sometimes there isn’t a problem at all, and the system works exactly as it should. Other times, particularly when you are fighting near a wall or in close quarters, the enemy won’t be on the screen at all, and you will just be looking at Sora from some crazy camera angle. This makes fighting very difficult, and often resulted in my just jumping and hitting the attack button and hoping I’d get lucky. This happens far too often in this game. It is really annoying when you are up on a high ledge and because you can’t see where you are going, the camera causes you to fall off the ledge.

Aside from these glaring flaws, the game is really fun. It is an absolute blast traveling from world to world and seeing what kind of Disney creations you are going to run across. Obviously, having played this game multiple times, there weren’t any surprises for me when I played this game. But back in the day when I played this for the first time, it had me completely in awe.

 Graphics:

Despite being 16 or 17 years old (wow, do I feel ancient!), the game looks really good. Of course, it doesn’t look nearly as impressive as anything being made today, but it still has its charms. The original characters are detailed, well animated, brightly colored and very expressive. All of the Disney characters look like they could have been pulled directly from their respective movies. The Final Fantasy characters look 1,000 times better than their PS1 counterparts. The Heartless look good, as do all the boss villains. Some of the bosses had me very impressed with their size and scale.

Level design is more of a mixed bag. At first glance, your surroundings look pretty impressive. Traverse Town has its own charming and welcoming look and feel. All the Disney worlds are instantly recognizable. On the surface, you could glance at Kingdom Hearts and say hey this is a good looking game. Just like with its gameplay, however, the more you play, the more flaws you notice. All the stages feel so barren, empty, and lifeless. Agrabah is supposed to be this bustling market town, but the only humans in sight are Jafar, Aladdin, and Jasmine. Really? Even after you clear out the Heartless, the place remains a ghost town. Wall and floor textures are recycled everywhere you go. While a level may look impressive when you start playing it, you’re going to quickly get tired of looking at the same textures over and over again.

Sound: 

No buts as far as this category goes. The game sounds awesome. Each Disney stage has a remixed Disney song playing in the background. You’ll be grooving along to the music as you are playing through Halloween Town, Agrabah, and Atlantica, among other stages. Even the original stages, like Traverse Town, have catchy theme songs attached to them.

The voice acting is great too. The main characters all sound good. Many of the Disney characters have their roles reprised by their original actors. There are a few notable exceptions, like the Genie from Aladdin being voiced by Dan Castellaneta rather than Robin Williams. But hey, everything still sounds awesome

Okay, I guess there is a but coming. I don’t like Sora’s constant grunting and groaning each time he swings the Keyblade. A lot of his little sayings become annoying after a while too. A pet peeve of mine is how he says “thunder!” when casting his lightning spell. A small but, but I guess it is still a but.

Overall:

I may not have had as fun a time with Kingdom Hearts as I did back in 2003, but I still really enjoyed it. Right from the get-go, this game draws you in with its mythology. I wanted to know all about Destiny Island and the mysterious cave and the other worlds and the Heartless.

If you can look past the flaws in its gameplay, Kingdom Hearts is a ton of fun to play. I loved taking on swarms of Heartless at a time, and watching all the chaos that would ensue. When the camera isn’t screwing up, combat can be really fun, even if it does feel like repetitive button mashing at times. I wish your companions would have been more helpful, and I wish they didn’t waste all their magic right at the beginning of each battle, but that is something I knew about coming in, so it didn’t bother me as much this time around.

Things can feel a little repetitive, especially towards the end of the game. While I did enjoy the game’s story, things started to drag after a while. I was just like, come on – get on with it. Admittedly, I did get a little bored with the game around the time I was finishing up with Hollow Bastion. Luckily, the game ended just as it was beginning to wear out its welcome.

As far as total packages go, this game this game excels in almost every category. It looks really good, it sounds fantastic. The battles are fun. The storyline is interesting. I loved the mix of Final Fantasy and Disney. Yeah it has a lot of flaws, which I nitpicked to death in this review, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy my time with the game. Quite the opposite actually. I had fun!

If you’d asked me to grade this game back in 2003, I would not have hesitated to give it an A+. That is not the case in present day. I loved the game, but admittedly it has a lot of flaws. If it weren’t for the whole nostalgia factor that this game carries with it, I probably would have given it a B or a B+. But I have to factor in how this game blew me away when I was younger, and I have to factor in all the amazing memories I had with this game. An A- seems pretty darn fair to me. So here ya go:

Final Score:

A-

Now, I move on to Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories. I just started this a few days ago, and oh boy am I not a fan. At all. Hopefully the farther I get in the game, the better it gets. I am not holding my breath, however.

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