Alan Wake has been tirelessly tapping away at his typewriter for over a decade in an effort to pump out the perfect follow-up to his hit Alex Casey series. A sophomore slump would do more than sink his career since it, thanks to the Dark Place, would also doom everyone he holds dear.

Following up on success is a tough responsibility and something that developer Remedy Entertainment knows all too well with Alan Wake 2. Alan Wake has been trying to develop his new series for as long as the studio has been trying to make Alan Wake 2, creating a fairly obvious and meta-parallel between creator and creation. But 13 years was not enough time to polish off a fitting sequel, as Alan Wake 2 is a buggy and frustrating title that falls well short of what Remedy is capable of.

Remedy’s experience making action games has unexpectedly not translated well to Alan Wake 2 in its descent into the action horror genre. Alan and Saga, the other protagonist, move and shoot like they are in a Resident Evil game but without the nuance and fluidity that make those Capcom-developed titles adept shooters. Dodging is not reliable and often fails to effectively weave through shovel swipes and flying sickles (the latter of which can fly through solid objects and can’t be shot out of the air). Readying items and switching between them is a sluggish process that seems even more sluggish when trying to frantically heal in the midst of combat, a futile task that often ends with being pounced on by a blade-wielding cult member.

Aiming at these enemies is also a chore because of how often they fly off-screen or warp forward to get in a cheap slash or three. It’s doubly frustrating in the game’s many pitch-black areas where darkness and its many effects obscure the action and twist tension into tedium. Burning away a foe’s outer layer of darkness is also meant to build tension as it tacks on one more step to worry about in the middle of combat. However, it’s just another repetitive aspect that never grows or changes and only demonstrates how shallow it all is. 

Alan Wake 2 fumbles the “action” part of its status as an “action horror” game, yet its failures in the horror department are far grander. Its penchant for darkness spotlights how incredible Alan Wake 2’s lighting is — it’s a stunning mix of moody neon signs, reflective surfaces, and natural sun rays — but it doesn’t utilize that tech to ratchet up the terror. The horror is only implied through the narrative and doesn’t show up in the gameplay since it doesn’t use the environment or enemy spawns to frighten players. Instead, almost all of its scares are hacky live-action clips that sharply blare the audio and take up the whole screen in a desperate attempt to catch the player off guard. 

Alan Wake 2 prioritizes these embarrassing, Bloober Team-esque jump scares instead of creating an atmosphere where unpredictability naturally evokes dread. The ghosts that show up in Alan’s half of the campaign that have players second guessing which ones are harmless and which ones are hostiles seem like a decent realization of this notion but are overused and never change, thus dulling their impact. Not even its infrequent checkpoints can sow fear in the player since losing 15 minutes of progress is only infuriating when bugs or unfair deaths are the cause.

Remedy has almost always been able to use its storytelling abilities as a shield against lackluster gameplay, but Alan Wake 2’s narrative can’t bear that load. The studio’s affinity for absurdity and mystery shines in the early stages, though, as off-kilter talk show segments and a constant barrage of new questions leave a breadcrumb trail that’s impossible not to follow. Its use of live-action scenes not only accentuates the team’s style but also helps reinforce how silly it all is and ties into the meta layers of the story. Writer and director Sam Lake’s roles in the game strengthen its metaphors for the ups and downs of the creative process and how art is both a struggle and a healing power, all of which is beamed through a twisted Lynchian lens.

Alan Wake 2, however, lacks follow-through. It uses Dark Place magical bullshit to explain away more than a few of its mysteries instead of properly building up convincing justifications. Not everything in Alan Wake 2 needs to make perfect sense; that’s not what Remedy’s brand of weirdness is about. Control — the team’s magnum opus — and Alan Wake gave players incomplete pictures and were not always chained to logic. 

Alan Wake 2’s Sam Lake on the Importance of Sticking Out, Remedy’s Growth

Alan Wake 2 is shaping up to be something special, and, according to creative director Sam Lake, that’s exactly the…

News Michael Leri 10 months ago

The main difference here is quantity. Alan Wake 2 presents all these enigmas and then is unconcerned with giving satisfying answers to most of them. It loses its bearings as it ventures deeper into the depths of its riddles and sinks when it becomes clear in the last act that it isn’t concerned with anything but vibes and setting up a future game. Its finale is emblematic of these shortcomings since it offers no cathartic release and only raises more questions, a bold move for a sequel that took 13 years to come out.

Alan Wake 2 Review: Final Verdict

Those 13 years should have led to something better, and it’s surprising that they haven’t. Alan Wake’s gunplay has gone from dull to frustrating in the sequel, while its venture into true survival horror has been plagued by predictability and amateurish jump scares. Its narrative has a few memorable moments and is able to periodically use its outlandish antics to its advantage, yet it is still dragged down by its refusal to provide enough rewarding resolutions to its litany of riddles. Alan Wake 2 doesn’t improve on what made the original such a cult hit and is instead an uncharacteristically rough draft that needed more edits. It’s not a lake or an ocean. It’s a disappointment.

Disclaimer: This Alan Wake 2 review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.000.005.

The post Alan Wake 2 Review (PS5): Lost in the Dark Place appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Ghostrunner captured the fantasy of being a cyborg ninja better than any other game before it. Its trial-and-error nature could be taxing, but it trained players to perform its many acrobatics in one smooth motion like a “real” cyborg ninja. Momentum defined that cyberpunk parkour game. However, that momentum hasn’t fully transferred to its sequel, Ghostrunner 2. Instead of fully darting forward, it opts to slow down both literally and metaphorically, which keeps this follow-up from reaching a new top speed.

Ghostrunner 2 is able to keep some sort of pace with its predecessor by having many of the same moves. Outside of a few rare and understandable quirks, its smooth controls ensure that it’s always possible to slow-mo dodge, wall run, dash, slash, slide, and grapple around its elaborate urban jungle gyms. Chaining these together perfectly to get through a tough section by mere inches is a rush that often only comes after failing a few times. Generous checkpoints, instant restarts, and the tight controls mean that it is never frustrating and, as was previously stated, allows players to feel more like an adept cyborg ninja. 

This also applies to the arenas with enemies that are more akin to puzzle challenges than combat ones. Figuring out how to most efficiently slash everything to ribbons without taking a single bullet is tricky but often open enough to allow for some player expression. Whereas platforming usually depends on nailing one route, these more violent sections are less linear and thus more liberating. Both halves require skill and reflexes to conquer but intelligently contextualize that thesis in their own ways. It’s one cohesive experience brought together by its fast-paced electronic soundtrack that often perfectly fits the action and cyberpunk aesthetic.

However, not many of these sections are as challenging as they were in the first game or its incredible expansion, Project Hel. Ghostrunner 2 is not an outright easy game, and most of its sections only require a handful of retries to get through. It lacks the tough gauntlets a sequel like this should have, ones that push skilled players and fully stress what its fluid controls can handle. Some of this challenge is relegated to its fantastic roguelike challenge mode, but the base game deserves more complicated sections that force players to improve.

Some of its relatively easiness stems from how many tools and scenarios it borrows from the first game; wall running across billboards and grappling to a platform isn’t tricky after spending a full game repeatedly doing that. The motorcycle and wingsuit seem like they are the tools to do just that, but aren’t properly utilized. 

This isn’t clear during the first section with the motorcycle since it’s a stunning set piece that has players speeding through a narrow hazard-filled tube and then down the side of the massive tower where both games take place. Narrowly avoiding lasers, ejecting from and then grappling back to the bike, and blasting obstructions make it an adrenaline-pumping exercise that takes the core values of the parkour and gloriously applies them to a completely different setting. 

But instead of only using the bike for explosive scenes like this, it mostly devolves into a means of traversing a boring wasteland. Its utility as a faster parkour machine is tossed aside in favor of being a normal bike. The wingsuit is similarly stunted. It’s the centerpiece in a handful of segments that add a whole new dimension to the platforming and show what’s possible, but Ghostrunner 2 simply doesn’t have enough sections like this. It’s also only introduced in the final hour or two, meaning it barely has any time to stretch its wings.

Both shortcomings also feed into how much Ghostrunner 2 slows itself down to a crawl. A lot of its more intense sections are padded out with out-of-place puzzles or sequences that don’t have much else going on. The action is constantly interrupted with cutscenes and brief trips back to base where players are expected to talk to the two-dimensional side characters about the superfluous story. 

Ghostrunner does movement better than most games, so it’s puzzling why it insists on branching out into areas it doesn’t specialize in. It doesn’t need an open wasteland full of mindless traversal, repeated treks back to headquarters, lengthy dialogue exchanges, or puzzles. Going into new territory is not a bad idea in theory, but it is questionable when those fresh ideas directly oppose the series’ core tenets. The fast platforming and action are excellent in Ghostrunner and almost everything that doesn’t support that actively impedes it.

Ghostrunner 2 Review: Final Verdict

Ghostrunner 2 goes against its programming by repeatedly slowing down, but it’s still made up of enough of its classic parts. Sprinting and dashing around the neon-lit city while cutting down its many cybernetic forces can be an empowering trip that’s only bolstered by its thumping electronic soundtrack. A strong core like this deserves to be expanded upon more robustly through its new and existing mechanics, which just isn’t the case here. Ghostrunner 2 has taken a few steps forward and a few steps back, but even though it is running in place, it’s still faster than most of its competition.

Disclaimer: This Ghostrunner 2 review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.000.001.

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Metal Gear has resurrected all sorts of previously dead characters — Colonel Volgin, Liquid Snake, Big Boss — and now it is attempting the most ridiculous resurrection yet: Konami. The company is now trying to claw back some of the goodwill it had before divorcing with Hideo Kojima through nostalgia-fueled rereleases and remakes. Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is the first example of this initiative meant to pander to players burned by Konami’s sinking standards. And while lacking in a few key areas, the bundle surprisingly rises above these rock-bottom expectations with its compilation of important games and lovingly composed extras.

Extras are what make packages like this more than just simple port jobs. All but one of the Metal Gear games comes with a Master Book with sections that speak broadly about the series and others that zoom in on the specific game in question. These chapters are extremely dense — anything attempting to explain Metal Gear lore would be — but it also lays it all out in a relatively easy-to-read manner with screenshots, Yoji Shinkawa’s classic art, and small symbols that clearly label what parts pertain to what installments. There’s even a long timeline with color-coded icons that separate fact from Metal Gear fiction, an exhaustive list of Easter egg guides, and full collectible walkthroughs, all of which add more richness to these supplemental materials. However, not being able to view these strategy guides while playing minimizes their usefulness. 

Its ability to delve deeper beneath the surface is what makes this more than a simple throwaway PDF full of wiki entries. The Master Book also explains why these games were so important in their time, which is crucial for a celebratory collection like this. It goes into how Metal Gear Solid’s cinematic camera angles were revolutionary, the many details that made Metal Gear Solid 2 what it was, and Metal Gear Solid 3’s introduction of close-quarters combat, just to name a few. It misses some of the broader context, like the subversiveness of playing mostly as Raiden in MGS2, why there are two different Metal Gears, and MGS1’s ties to the PS1’s technology, but it’s still a pretty comprehensive digital tome on all things Metal Gear.

Those aren’t the only missing extras, though. Master Collection Vol. 1 has no video making-of features, a strange omission for a series with a few official documentaries. These would add variety to its text-heavy offerings and honor the important people who shaped the franchise. Some parts like the manuals, animated graphic novels, and half of the MGS1 versions are even annoyingly excluded from the initial download (and weren’t online before release). The Ape Escape crossover Snake vs. Monkey, Twin Snakes, the Game Boy Color version of MGS, and the 3DS remake of MGS3 are all also stuck in first-party prison and left as unplayable entries in the Master Book. Master Collection Vol. 1 has a generous suite of bonuses, yet its blind spots are noticeable; a shortcoming that was inevitable given the sheer volume of extras the franchise has accumulated over the years.

Some of the shortcomings related to the actual games seemed avoidable, given how many excellent retro collections from Digital Eclipse there are to draw from. Rewinding and save states should be a given for a package like this, but those features are inconsistently applied, if at all. Only the two versions of Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, and Snake’s Revenge have not-so-quick quick saving and rewinding is nowhere to be seen. Metal Gear Solid also has neither feature.

Omitting contemporary luxuries like this makes these throwback titles harder to go back to. Games this old can be abrasive at times and not implementing these modern assists is only going to limit their appeal and who gets to experience these important titles. Metal Gear Solid at least lets players pause cutscenes and add fake save data for Psycho Mantis to sift through, both of which are thoughtful additions.

But it’s not possible to pause cutscenes in the other two MGS games for some reason and just shows how straightforward and sporadic these ports are. These are the exact versions from the 2011 HD Collection down to the resolution, frame rate, and the loading screen icon that’s just the old HD port’s logo. Bluepoint Games did a great job with those HD rereleases, but the bar has been raised in the ensuing decade. Save states and rewinding have become commonplace in that time and would cut down on the time spent reloading and navigating menus here.

Even though most of these games don’t hide their age, it’s still clear why they have such a prominent place in gaming history. Metal Gear’s ability to mix off-the-wall humor and political drama creates unique stories that still stick out in the medium decades later, facets that are only aided by the fantastic cinematic presentation and voice acting. Kojima Productions’ commentary on nuclear politics and the endless war machine is still as sharp as ever and only proves how bold and ahead of its time the team was. The stealth gameplay may not be as fluid as recent entries in the genre — the fixed camera in the earlier games is limiting — but they are still full of small details and thrilling moments that only get better as the series progresses.

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 Review: Final Verdict

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 does not have everything that a modern collection should have. Its inability to ubiquitously implement modern features like save states and rewinding only keeps players from fully celebrating the history this compilation seems intent on celebrating. But the extras paint a decent portrait of its accomplishments by delving deep into its lore and speaking to almost every entry’s significance within the medium. And even though the actual games haven’t seen many improvements, they are still unique marvels generations later that lovingly balance quirky jokes and deadly serious diatribes about nuclear proliferation. The bundle largely captures what makes the franchise so beloved, even if some useful quality-of-life features have sneaked on by it.

Disclaimer: This Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.000.000.

The post Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 Review (PS5): A Solid Package That Falls Just Short of Big Boss Status appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

FromSoftware’s games are a lot of things — beautiful, frustrating, obtuse — so it’s incredibly reductive to boil them down to just being difficult. “Just being difficult” wouldn’t have shaken the industry to its core because games like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy and The Impossible Game would be the near-universal template if that were the case. 2023’s Lords of the Fallen is not as deft with its assessment of From’s template as it has taken the surface-level analysis of those games and pushed it forward to an annoying degree.

Lords of the Fallen’s irksome qualities are inescapable, too, and are most plainly displayed by how it places its enemies. Soulslikes often have a habit of putting a character just out of sight and behind a corner; a cheap trick that is meant to punish those who don’t carefully think through each step. Lords of the Fallen absolutely cannot help itself and seems to hide some asshole behind almost every other corner to a comical effect. It happens so often that it feels like a bit, only one that doesn’t ever loop round to being funny again and stays as eyeroll-inducing as the first time it happens.

Some of these foes are little snipers, which is yet another problem that cuts this game down. Lords of the Fallen is full of magical pricks with magical blasts that are anything but a magical time. Getting constantly pecked at from afar in the midst of a swordfight can have value if done correctly and sparingly, but it happens at an alarming frequency and at a distance that just further pours salt in the wound.

Lords of the Fallen already puts a lot on the player’s plate by constantly dumping in enemies. It hardly has fights with one or two tough foes and instead favors battles where their numbers are more important. Threat prioritization is a crucial part of this genre, but, again, it’s misunderstood here and meant as a stand-in for a hearty challenge. These grunts are rarely more than pushovers in small numbers and grouping them together seems like an attempt to mask their stupidity.

This is exponentially more evident in the Umbral, the game’s other, darker world. Spawns are constant and only get tougher as players spend more time in that decaying realm. Some of the best art is here and showcases some truly stunning design, but it’s all hard to admire when the clock is ticking down and the endless hordes are closing in. And, in carrying over a terrible genre tradition, there is no official pause menu to give players a breather. The Photo Mode is the only respite. It’s tedious to contend with endless grunts the first time but devolves into an absolute drag when having to backtrack and deal with the Umbral’s laborious puzzles and navigation challenges that require a lot of realm switching.

Backtracking is inevitable because of its stingy checkpointing and misguided checkpoint placing mechanic. Official safe spots are annoyingly few and far between and seem like a deliberate decision meant to highlight how players can plant checkpoints at certain spots. However, there can only be one at a time, so it’s a waste to go explore another area while one has already been planted, which only discourages exploration. New Game Plus also makes these the only types of rest stops and is yet another way the game has bent its challenge too far for no good reason.

Lords of the Fallen has other notable problems, as well. Combat is functional, yet has pathetic sound effects that undersell every hit and parry. Bosses, while consistent with the world’s inventive art style, only have a few attacks and don’t always telegraph them well. The dual world concept is visually and technologically impressive yet also hamstrung by how rigid switching between each realm is. Reclaiming lost “souls” and fishing around for Umbral leeches that buff enemies in the normal realm are both sluggish mechanics that lead to cheap hits.

And while destructive, none of these hold Lords of the Fallen back more than its sadistic and shallow stance on difficulty. Overcoming a challenge should evoke gratification, as is often the case with the best games in this genre, but there’s rarely that vital ebb and flow here. The uphill struggle is constant and that Sisyphean nature is exactly why the exhaustive effort to keep climbing isn’t worth the struggle.

Disclaimer: This Lords of the Fallen feature is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.010.000.

The post Lords of the Fallen Fatally Mistakes Tedium for Difficulty appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Outside of being DLC in Injustice 2, Hellboy hasn’t had much of a gaming presence in the last few decades. However, that might at least be partially due to the stink solo Hellboy games have left. Titles like Dogs of War (or Asylum Seeker, as it was known on the original PlayStation) and The Science of Evil were all heavily derided upon release and played their part in contributing to the stigma associated with licensed video games. Hellboy Web of Wyrd, the latest attempt to salvage the half-demon’s video game reputation, only furthers that notion since as a terrible roguelite with dodgy controls.

It does, unlike many of those other hellish abominations, at least look like Hellboy. The art direction clearly evokes that of creator Mike Mignola with its stark colors and thick black outlines and shadows. Web of Wyrd completely forsakes realism for a more authentic portrayal of the comic that spawned him, which makes it more striking and unique. Animations are also purposely stilted and its boring cutscenes are presented as panel-like stills, both of which further reinforce its comic book origins. It’s not a one-to-one translation like the two recent Ubisoft-published South Park games, but it still captures enough of that iconic style with its visuals. 

But if Web of Wyrd’s art direction is its metaphorical Right Hand of Doom, everything else is its puny normal hand. A lot of these issues are ingrained in the core of the experience, which starts with how fundamentally it misunderstands the essentials of the roguelite genre. Levels technically change around, yet are comprised of the same boring hallways and nondescript rooms, complete with embarrassingly easy-to-avoid traps. The small pool of upgrades means that almost every run is nearly identical. With such a bizarrely small list of variables, Web of Wyrd is extremely repetitive in a way that only worsens as the hours drag on. 

Web of Wyrd also tries to differentiate itself from its competition, but it only points out why some features are genre staples. Clearing one biome is often the same as clearing a run, as it’ll usually warp players back to home base after beating one of the bosses. Abridged runs means there’s no time to build up to a satisfying conclusion and almost feels like a structure designed to hide — albeit, unsuccessfully — how shallow Web of Wyrd is. It would be much easier to feel its hollow nature if it followed a more traditional roguelite formula and runs were longer than 10 to 15 minutes.

And whereas roguelites are often difficult enough to push players, Web of Wyrd is insultingly easy. Enemies often sit back and take a wallop or four before retaliating. Most bosses can also be easily stunlocked and vanquished in under a minute. Health pickups are cheap and plentiful. Armor regenerates quickly and most foes drop refills upon death. Hellboy also automatically blocks many attacks for some reason. With almost a complete absence of pushback, Web of Wyrd is a tedious exercise that isn’t rewarding to overcome and ignores part of what makes the genre’s best titles work.

Web of Wyrd’s extremely low difficulty almost seems specifically tuned to make its wonky controls less noticeable. Almost everything about the combat is stiff and stems from the sluggish movement and camera speed. The complete lack of animation canceling locks Hellboy into whatever he’s doing, and it lacks the swiftness that most great fighting systems have. Blocking embodies this since it’s a set animation that plays regardless of how long the button is held down.

Because of the loose controls and set animations that lock players in, Web of Wyrd’s combat is more akin to an elongated and unresponsive quick-time event than a tight action game. The potential of its duel-based bouts that encourage players to break down an opponent’s defense and use the environment to their advantage is completely squandered because of its controls. Landing an explosive punch on a stunned foe that washes the screen in red is but a tantalizingly quick glimpse at what could have been.

Hellboy Web of Wyrd Review: Final Verdict

Between its sticky brawling mechanics, repetitive level design, and extremely low difficulty, Hellboy Web of Wyrd simply feels like an unfinished game that was early on its journey to greatness. There’s a heft to its combat, yet the controls aren’t nearly snappy enough, and it’s too easy to be engaging. The striking art design means its worlds look nice, but they’re made up of the same rooms and hallways. Incomplete or not, it utterly fails to realize what could have been and only continues Hellboy’s video game curse.

Disclaimer: This Hellboy Web of Wyrd review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.001.000.

The post Hellboy Web of Wyrd Review (PS5): Continuing the Half-Demon’s Terrible Video Game Streak appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Insomniac Games‘ Spider-Man has butted heads with The Rhino, gone toe-to-toe with fellow half-mechanical octopod Doc Ock, and survived a near-fatal trip against Scorpion, but none of those climactic showdowns have pitted the web-slinger against his greatest enemy: himself. Peter Parker’s insecurities have been made flesh with the symbiote, a goopy alien suit that gives him incredible powers at a heavy mental cost. When Spider-Man wins, Peter Parker loses.

It’s a layered mantra that is only part of what makes Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 a deeper and more nuanced experience when compared to the original. This superior sequel expands upon the foundation set by the prior two titles with added levels of complexity in nearly every area that take this pair of superheroes to new heights.

Some of these heights are literal, as both Miles Morales and Peter can soar through New York City with more grace and style while retaining the fluidity and accessibility that makes traversal riveting on a basic level. The Web Wings are a game-changing addition that enable players to dart through the skyline at a pace that nearly doubles what was previously possible. Catching slipstreams and narrowly avoiding skyscrapers gives gliding a unique thrill and sense of speed that has been unmatched in prior Spider-Man games.

But it’s not just the Web Wings that make getting around such a rush — it’s how they fit in with the other systems and handful of new abilities. Launching off an antenna, catching a wind tunnel with the Web Wings, wall running on the side of an office building, using the mechanical Spider Arms (or Venom powers) to propel forward, and redirecting downward momentum to slingshot into orbit in between regular swinging is an immensely exhilarating exercise that prioritizes speed and player choice. 

Great movement mechanics get users to do more than just hold forward on the stick. And while that is technically still possible at the lowest levels, Spider-Man 2’s many abilities encourage players to use the bustling metropolis as an acrobatic playground and solve random crimes and pick up collectibles as they zip from mission to mission using every available ability. The stylish and exaggerated superhero poses are just the fitting visual flourish on one of the medium’s best traversal systems that all but nullifies the will to fast travel. 

The Spider-Men’s supernatural athleticism is similarly displayed during combat, another aspect Insomniac has streamlined. Clobbering goons is still gratifying because of their agility, and figuring out how to strategically web up or take down the overwhelming amount of enemies is a frenetic exercise that ratchets up the stakes laid out by the narrative. That was true for the 2018 game, but even more so now given Spider-Man 2’s higher challenge and greater hordes of foes.

It earns that higher difficulty by providing a wider move set that gives players more utility. Parrying is the most notable of the bunch and, while it seems superfluous at first, it offers a more aggressive way to turn the tides and seamlessly keep a combo going. These upgraded combos can involve yanking an airborne enemy even higher up for a longer aerial juggle, disarming a sniper by whipping their own gun at them, quickly beating down someone pinned against a wall, or firing one of the many cooldown-dependent bioelectric or symbiote-powered special moves for an explosive finish. Like the traversal, the combat systems are responsive enough to be inherently rewarding but contain many extra layers to master.

The symbiote plays a prominent role in combat as well as the narrative, but it doesn’t start out that way. Spider-Man 2 spends a decent chunk of its intro delving into Peter’s and Mary Jane Watson’s personal life and work-related struggles while the inevitability of the symbiote’s destructive power looms in the background. This buildup pays off because of the symbiote’s natural ability to externalize internal struggles, most of which are shown in the earlier sections. Peter’s insecurities about his ability to be the perfect Spider-Man turn him into a literal monster, something the twisted hunter Kraven only further drives a wedge in with his barbaric rhetoric.

While Kraven’s bloodlust is a constant source of chaos and tension, the dual purpose of the symbiote makes it a more powerful antagonistic force since it pushes the characters emotionally and physically. Venom (or whomever the symbiote is attached to) is a menacing savage that can brutalize armies and level buildings, but it’s even more impressive how that alien is used to incite maturation in the cast. One boss fight in particular highlights this and is a wonderful example of marrying gameplay with the story to make a more powerful and dual-layered scene. Pressuring Peter as well as Spider-Man is what makes the symbiote such a compelling villain because it uses the fictionality of its comic book lore to augment the more human elements of its storytelling.

Miles also has his own problems that intersect with Peter’s, but his arc is not as heavily prioritized. His journey for closure crawls along at a relatively glacial tempo full of dead ends and small developments. It stands out when compared to how well-paced the Peter-focused parts are and how almost all of the other quests on the critical path contain revelations or important character building. Miles’ sections are another way for the game to poke at its themes of who deserves a second chance and the need for balance, all of which culminate in a beautifully constructed conclusion. However, the journey to that beauty isn’t as consistent as it deserves to be.

Miles is better served in the game’s side missions that emphasize the friendly neighborhood nature of Spider-Man. Smaller-scale conflicts bring out the more empathetic side of the hero and show the need for a more pastoral wall-crawler. Observing the horizon with a homeless man and reminiscing with a lost elderly man about his deceased wife aren’t as explosive as taking down a sinister selection of Marvel’s finest baddies, but they’re important to who Spider-Man is as a character. Even though they are outnumbered by more bombastic quests, these community-driven missions hold some of the most powerful moments in the game and clearly demonstrate this sequel’s stronger writing.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Review: Final Verdict

These more intimate scenes coalesce wonderfully with its grander narrative to make Spider-Man 2 an amazing and well-rounded follow-up. Insomniac’s understanding of Spider-Man is unparalleled in the medium, as evidenced by the empowering and expanded combat mechanics, breathtaking traversal, and narrative that focuses on the heroes in addition to those underneath the mask. The team has mastered its craft and, like Spider-Man, is only getting better with experience.

Disclaimer: This Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.001.001.

The post Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Review (PS5): Symbiote Superiority appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty‘s first expansion, Battle of Zhongyuan, was a by-the-numbers affair. It demonstrated why Team Ninja’s action game excelled while also not addressing its faults. Conqueror of Jiangdong, the second DLC, is in a similar boat and has a handful of incredible and challenging boss fights. But while its positives are still evident, this follow-up expansion also more clearly points out Wo Long’s shortcomings.

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Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty: Battle of Zhongyuan DLC Review (PS5): Pushing Forward, Then Retreating

Nioh had the most basic and straightforward DLC. Its expansions added new story levels, a weapon, spells, more gear, a…

Reviews Michael Leri 1 year ago

Wo Long is still — and will likely always be — a fantastic action game with smooth controls. Melee bouts are fast, and deflecting blows is a responsive central mechanic that can more than support the entire game. Unlike Lies of P, the window is a little on the wide side, but this allows players to feel more powerful without requiring perfection. Using the stamina-like Spirit Meter intelligently (which this update has also buffed) is an easy-to-grasp mechanic that yields more depth without overcomplicating it all.

There just aren’t many new enemies to exercise these combat abilities on. Its lobster creatures are both silly and a great addition to the bestiary, but there’s not much else besides that; even the levels themselves don’t stick out from what Team Ninja has already created. Conqueror of Jiangdong’s handful of stages has the typical jungles and rainy shipyards that are also in the base experience. Nioh 2’s DLC improved over time by going more and more fantastical in order to stick out from the base game, yet those same principles haven’t been applied to Wo Long.

The new boss fights fare a little better but are unnecessarily hamstrung. As is the case with almost every other part of Wo Long, these climactic showdowns are held back by the friendly AI. They either make battles laughably easy or create too much chaos and artificially crank up the difficulty. While they are likely meant to dial down the overall level of challenge and create a more unique experience, they just make Wo Long worse.

However, these showdowns are still brilliant at their core, and this is only evident if players go out of the way to dismiss the AI or play the side missions that strip away companions. This allows players to actually learn patterns and persist through skill, not luck. Every one of these bosses is excellently designed and has a ton of moves that require speedy reflexes to deflect, so it’s disappointing that these better battles can only shine in optional quests. The last boss doesn’t get its own side mission, though, and is one of the toughest and most rewarding fights in the whole game. Although, that’s only evident after dismissing both dumb allies that are just liabilities wearing armor.

Friendly characters diminishing Wo Long’s combat was a problem in the original campaign but is even more prevalent and annoying here. Any irritation like that is only going to compound if it keeps happening, and this DLC has given it that space.

This holds true for Wo Long’s other annoyances, like its easy difficulty and endless supply of useless gear. Conqueror of Jiangdong isn’t much of a challenge, especially for anyone who has thoroughly mined the rest of the game. These relatively easygoing levels make the final boss even more surprising since the difficulty spike is so ludicrously sudden and steep. There’s also a new feature that automatically sells armor, weapons, or accessories under a certain threshold when resting at a battle flag (which is helpful), but it doesn’t address the underlying problem of how bloated its gear system is. 

The one new notable piece of equipment is the new weapon: the long sword. It’s terribly explained in the brief tutorial pop-up, but it’s an interesting blade that is built around charging attacks. Charging doesn’t leave players totally vulnerable, either, as it’s still possible to deflect incoming blows while focusing. Parrying while charging builds power even faster, so it incentivizes and rewards skilled play and those who are willing to risk playing offense and defense at the same time. As was the case with the cestus gauntlets in Battle of Zhongyuan, Team Ninja has repeatedly shown its knack for creating unique weapons that can change how the game is played.

Wo Long: Conqueror of Jiangdong DLC Review: Final Verdict

Team Ninja still can’t tell stories, though, as Conqueror of Jiangdong’s cutscenes are nonsensical and haphazardly stitched together to justify going to each level. And while the plot doesn’t matter here, it is yet another example of how the studio is treading water with Conqueror of Jiangdong. This sophomore expansion includes some amazing boss fights, but ones that are still sullied by unhelpful allies and relegated to side missions. These hiccups sit on top of the game’s small pile of problems that is slowly growing as the DLC rolls out. Wo Long is still a quality action game and Conqueror of Jiangdong is a reminder of that, but it also points out — and magnifies — its weaknesses.

Disclaimer: This Wo Long: Conqueror of Jiangdong DLC review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.018.000.

The post Wo Long: Conqueror of Jiangdong DLC Review (PS5): Uneven Territory appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

The Assassin’s Creed theme swells in the intro montage for Assassin’s Creed Mirage that celebrates the franchise’s 15th anniversary. Bayek readies his bow. Eivor sprints into action. Arno is there out of a contractual obligation. It’s a collection of hooded figures that has taken millions of players to a few dozen historical settings and gotten the series where it is today.

But that is not an enviable spot to be in. Assassin’s Creed has become more and more bloated over the years and substituted innovation for more. More empty square miles. More meandering DLC. More looping storylines about an endless modern day conflict. The churn has meant Assassin’s Creed has long since lost its ability to lead and is merely content to follow dated trends and have shallow worlds as others like Sony, Nintendo, and Rockstar Games push forward. Mirage is meant to be the antithesis of this with its smaller scope and callbacks to the 2007 original, but is instead a slimmer version of all the same annoyances the franchise just can’t shake.

Those annoyances intertwine with its blandness and become the two sources of most of Mirage’s problems. Baghdad initially seems like a great setting for Assassin’s Creed, as the Middle East’s unique climate, architecture, geography, and wealth of cultures contrast nicely with the many European-centric locations seen in past installments. The richness of its culture is evident in its handful of disparate districts from the giant mosques to the smaller details like its gorgeous mosaics and rugs, all of which are explained wonderfully in its detailed codex. The Assassin logo in the home base that’s compiled of hundreds of lovely blue stones is the purest distillation of this effort to portray the beauty of ninth-century Baghdad.

But a lot of these efforts are betrayed by the hollow nature of its world. Baghdad is a checklist filled with elements borrowed from other Assassin’s Creed games, which makes it an unexciting place to wander around. Players are mindlessly guided toward map icons that are mostly just collectibles, and there’s little reason to stray from the designated breadcrumb trail. There aren’t any random, special, or surprising events that make the world feel alive.

It’s an artistically pretty yet predictable hub that’s treading water in the open-world design of yesteryear and ignoring the freedom (and level of quality) that other teams have been pursuing. Finding objectives isn’t engaging since the game goes out of its way to pinpoint them even with the underdeveloped “Unguided Objective” mode turned on, a feeble setting that has not evolved since Odyssey.

Its toolset is also limiting since there’s no unpredictability or room to experiment. Most of the side and main quests are the basic infiltration missions that have taken precedence in recent years where players are essentially given the same limited tools to do the same things against the same guards with the same shaky AI. It’s a sandbox with very little sand; ironic for a city surrounded by it.

Melee combat is lacking for its own reasons — there aren’t many options and even the most basic enemies strangely tank through slashes — but the stealth is most heavily impacted by the game’s static nature. Infiltrations aren’t satisfying since its small handful of possible entrances are often deliberately pointed out to the player. The aforementioned familiar toolset means there aren’t any new ways to dispose of threats. Crouching in waist-high grass, whistling to attract a guard, stabbing him, and then repeating that is not a loop that can sustain so many games, especially since Ubisoft has done little to expand upon it. It’s functional and periodically empowering, but those brief spurts of amusement are just a small oasis in a bone-dry desert.

Sneaking also doesn’t always go according to plan since Mirage is still heavily coated in the typical Assassin’s Creed bullshit that is as unspecific as it is infuriating. Enemies can occasionally see the player through walls or automatically detect them. A crucial throwing knife might not actually fire after releasing the trigger. Basim may get stuck on a small nub in the wall and fail to climb over it for no good reason. Mirage’s faithfulness to the past should not have included the aggravating control issues that have lingered in some form since the franchise’s inception.

Its narrative isn’t plagued by technical jank, but is yet another aspect that relies too heavily on what the series has done many times before. Basim’s journey to root out corruption in Baghdad is about as banal as an Assassin’s Creed story can be. Unmasking each one of its cartoonishly corrupt villains is a quick process that lacks any intrigue or surprises that differentiate them from one another. They all fall to Basim’s hidden blade shortly after being introduced and then it’s on to the next one. 

The story’s attempts to speak to anything broader are lost in the predictable shuffle of crossing names off a board. Mirage flirts with questioning the hypocrisy of the brotherhood and how its quest for freedom robs its members of it, but this appealing idea is dropped almost as quickly as it is brought up. 

Basim also lacks almost any personal stakes for this mission, making him a dull protagonist that misses what made Ezio, Bayek, and Kassandra so memorable. The nightmares that haunt him seem to be the team’s attempts at giving him a unique twist, yet this thread is inconsistently spread throughout the game. It doesn’t develop at all until the final cutscene where it rushes to an unearned climax that is almost unintelligible, especially for anyone who hasn’t studied some very specific parts of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. 

Assassin’s Creed Mirage Review: Final Verdict

While its brevity impedes the story, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is thankfully a lot shorter than the last few entries. However, its relatively slender figure only points out how the series has used quantity to overcompensate for its stagnation. This is laid bare in Mirage, as its stealth and open-world design all pull from eras that have long since fallen out of style — an unforced error that is mostly because of Ubisoft’s decade-long overreliance on that structure. Baghdad’s potential as a classic setting in the franchise has also suffered because of this and has been undermined by the artificiality of its blueprint. Mirage was designed to go back to basics, but it just ended up being too basic.

Disclaimer: This Assassin’s Creed Mirage review is based on a PS4 and PS5 copies provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.01 and 1.001.000, respectively.

The post Assassin’s Creed Mirage Review (PS5): A Middling Middle Eastern Experience appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

High on Life was Squanch Games’ strongest and most ambitious game, yet it was still held back by studio co-founder Justin Roiland’s tired sense of humor. Stammering out non sequiturs has more than worn out its welcome. With his exodus, the studio has a chance to break free from his dated schtick, and High on Life‘s High on Knife DLC marks the first chapter of its new era. Not every joke lands in this horror-tinged expansion, but it’s a promising sign for Squanch and contains some of the best parts of High on Life. 

The “horror-tinged” sections are unexpected for a shooter that almost exclusively takes place on well-lit planets that are saturated with bright colors. This Alien-eque spaceship has players skulking around its goopy, dimly lit halls looking for a lost package. And while it’s not trying to be like Dead Space — it never truly abandons its comedic roots — there are some brief yet effective scares that utilize its antagonist and Cronenbergian new enemy type. It ditches the scary vibes early on and is way too dark most of the time, but it’s an interesting take that stands out when compared to the rest of the experience.

It moves away from horror in favor of turning into a well-constructed smear on Amazon. This spaceship is run by a gruesome shipping company with brutal, dehumanizing working conditions that’s being run by a literal monster that doesn’t care about its employees; the parallels are painfully clear. High on Knife uses this premise for some great jokes that are made so much better by veteran comedian Ken Marino and actor Gabourey Sidibe, the latter of whom flourishes in this more humorous role. The expansion’s star, the cockney knife Knifey, is also significantly less annoying here mainly because he’s given more to do than scream about stabbing. 

The ship is only about half of the DLC, though, as the parts leading up to it are more in line with High on Life’s base levels. It takes place on a salty (if too big and tedious to traverse) desert planet with massive slime reservoirs everywhere, making for a pleasant white and pink palette. The ironic salt-loving slugs here give this arid rock some life and provide some fodder for jokes. 

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A decent portion of the gags are still too random to be funny and many of them fall flat, but High on Knife has some of the game’s more well-constructed bits. There’s an extended Cheers riff that is particularly hilarious, and the aforementioned lines from Marino and Sidibe are both written and delivered well. Marino’s natural ability to convincingly play a suck-up anal parasite puts him in a different league, but High on Knife’s array of talking guns are able to shine more brightly in Roiland’s absence. Their interjections are not filled with the same stale stuttering and desperate overly vulgar jokes, which makes the interstitial bits more tolerable. They’re not always funny, but they’re at least not consistently irritating.

These chatty guns also shoot and are the centerpiece of High on Knife’s gunplay. Since it takes place years after the main campaign, players are given many of the endgame-level tools and freedom to float and slide around at high speeds. The mobility and varied arsenal still make it a solid shooter that’s even better with its newest gun called B.A.L.L.

This rhythmic firearm operated by three tiny aliens fires a pinball that bounces back and forth between its targets and the player. Timing each shot does more damage and explodes after enough perfect ricochets, which is a fantastic skill-based addition that wouldn’t feel too out of place in a Ratchet & Clank game. It’s a shame it can’t be used in the base campaign, but it does make this DLC stand out.

High on Life: High on Knife DLC Review: Final Verdict

High on Knife generally stands out in the context of High on Life because it has some of the game’s best overall moments. It hasn’t completely shaken all of the eye-rolling humor that powered the original, but its conciseness and ability to spotlight more deserving characters makes it significantly less grating. Its unique gunplay similarly benefits from a shorter runtime and has also only gotten better with its new pinball-operated weapon. While High on Life showed how Squanch Games has grown over the years, High on Knife demonstrates that there’s still value in brevity.

Disclaimer: This High on Life: High on Knife DLC review is based on a PS5 copy provided by the publisher. Played on version 1.080.000.

The post High on Life: High on Knife DLC Review (PS5): Sharper Than the Base Game appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Remedy Entertainment is not only on the cusp of releasing Alan Wake 2. That is seemingly just the beginning, as the team has multiple titles in production from a cooperative Control game to a free-to-play multiplayer title. It’s a lot for one studio, but creative director Sam Lake spoke about how Remedy is tackling all of these projects.

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Remedy has been growing over the years

These projects include another Control game called Codename Heron, a cooperative game in the Control universe called Codename Condor, a free-to-play multiplayer game codenamed Vanguard, remakes of Max Payne 1 and 2, and DLC for Alan Wake 2, all of which sit on top of Alan Wake 2 itself, which is in its home stretch. Lake stated in an interview with PlayStation LifeStyle that the studio has grown to about 400 of people, 130 of which were on Alan Wake 2. He said it was complex and spoke a little about the process.

“There are other teams at Remedy working on other projects, and Alan Wake for a while now has been the one that has been in full production mode,” said Lake. “The others are still in concepting, pre-production, or in other phases where the team size hasn’t been built to the maximum production level yet. The plan is to have them in different phases and so when people get off from this, they go to other teams to help them out as well.”

When asked about how that applied to himself, he said he’s been “fully” on Alan Wake 2 and will go on a break sometime after it hits digital storefronts. He noted that he was going to try to avoid burning out and will assess what his next project is after his return, but he will be involved in the upcoming Alan Wake 2 DLC.

“I’ve been really, really fully on [Alan Wake 2] for multiple years,” said Lake. “I have loved working on this. I’ll be involved in the DLC coming up, and then I think I’m going to take a bit of a vacation. It’s been a lot of work for quite a while. And then coming back, we’ll see what makes sense. I’m trying to [avoid burnout].”

Remedy hasn’t spoken much about Alan Wake 2’s post-launch roadmap, only noting that it would get free DLC and two premium expansions called Night Springs and the Lake House.

The post Alan Wake 2 Dev Explains How Remedy is Making So Many Games appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.