Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

@nomither6 My favourite Halo campaign was Reach and I did try to replay it before I started up Infinite. But it didn't grab my interest at all, it's just way too slow in all honesty.

@LtSarge It's still better than Halo CE. I get how revolutionary it was 20 years ago, and that Xbox wouldn't likely even exist right now without it, but it's been difficult playing through it recently. It has aged poorly, with the most repetitive levels/missions I've ever encountered. I also don't miss the way it handled shields compared to Halo games afterwards.

I still thought Reach was decent, but I wouldn't be finishing Halo CE if I didn't want to play through every campaign completely before I play Infinite.

@KilloWertz I was actually thinking of you while I was playing through the linear levels in Infinite as they reminded me heavily of the repetitive corridors in Halo CE since we talked about that a while back. I have no idea why 343 thought it was a good idea to do that because it sure ruined the pacing of the game. So yeah, this won't be the last time you'll see repetitive level design in a Halo game, lol.

But yeah, Halo Reach is definitely one of the best games in the franchise. Are you playing through the series in release or chronological order?

@LtSarge As long as the rest of the game is great, and it seems to be, I'll be ok. It doesn't help with Halo CE is everything is repetitive no matter if it's inside or outside in the back half of the game.

Chronological. It'll be a while until I play them all since I'm back on my PS5 playing Horizon Zero Dawn again to get myself ready for Horizon Forbidden West though. Saying I'm having a lot more fun revisiting that than slogging through Halo CE would be an understatement.

@RogerRoger Great write-up! Sounds like a wonderful game and something you could relax to after having experienced a lot of action-focused titles, so it's right up my alley. Sadly I don't think I'll be buying it since it feels like a "one and done" kind of game, i.e. you don't really go back and play it when you've experienced it once. So I think that's another game I'll check out if it ever gets added to Game Pass.

Would you say that you're more interested to play more of these kinds of games in the future after having played this one now (referring to the part where you said that your experience with these games is limited)?

@RogerRoger Thank you very much for the tag. Nice review and does sound like a zen experience which I like to play in between all the killing. Seems to tick all the boxes with what i would be looking for in this type of game. All the things you compared it to and mentioned it where it took inspiration from have me closer to purchasing it.

@RogerRoger hmm, have seen it on sale a few times but it never really grabbed my interest… I might take a punt off of the back of your review though. Good stuff!

@RogerRoger
Nice write up (as usual) Rog.
I thought I had played this but after your review it turns out I was thinking of another game - Seasons after Fall where you also play as a fox (and spirit fox), solving environmental puzzles with no combat! that was more 2D platformer though...I wonder how many similar things there are?

Now that I am aware they are different games I may be tempted to pick it up for a simple chill game sometime.

@RogerRoger You lost me at ABZÛ and then quickly brought me back with those Fumito Ueda comparisons. So, what I'm gathering is this is sort of an open-ended, lonely puzzle platformer with a bit of an arthouse vibe to it?

I'm not surprised it's not a technical stunner. It seems to run well on the Switch, and none of the other versions I've looked at seem substantially different. Playing this on a PS5 reminds me of how I'd build a powerful new PC capable of playing the latest games well and spend the next several years playing almost nothing but indies on it.

Nice review, Rog. It sounds like you enjoyed it. Might not be a masterpiece, but sometimes comfy games are just what the doctor ordered.

RiME

There once was a game called RiME;
It was known to not take too much time,
What it did take was grit
To see all that’s in it,
But with effort you’ll find it’s sublime

(Don’t worry — Although I’m tempted to rhyme my entire review, I think my lack of poetic talent was on display enough with that intro. Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.)

RiME is a game that’s difficult for me to objectively review. As a big fan of Fumito Ueda’s work, it’s hard not to look at this as Ico or The Last Guardian with a new lick of paint. And by being such a facsimile of other beloved games, RiME has opened itself to have direct comparisons with those classics.

To be honest, there are things RiME does better than it’s artistic-platformer progenitors like Ico and Journey. But the nostalgia factor of those games hazes any clear view of what Tequila Works has actually accomplished. Regardless, here goes nothing…

How does it look and play?

First off, the game is lovely. Most notable is the use of color, especially in relation to the different areas and themes. Environmental storytelling is at its finest here with each chapter progressing the underlying story ever so subtly. Bright whites and reflective golds infuse the awesome architectural structures. Greens, oranges, and blues dot the landscape composed of cliffs, trees, and also underwater locales.

The nameless, voiceless young boy protagonist is stylized in that simple but effective animation, not unlike The Boy, Ico and Yorda, or The Traveler. Although I grew tired of the kid yelling “Hah!” as his main interactive skill, there was an ingenuity to the simple button inputs and lack of complexity. Unfortunately unsophisticated movesets and basic animation translate into wonky controls during some of the platforming. The sticky nature of movement and inaccurate starts and stops feel eerily similar to the worst aspects of Team Ico’s previous installments. Thankfully the game is exceedingly forgiving with instant respawns at the exact spot where you fail.

Beyond the platforming, the game is composed primarily of puzzles. Although I eventually got the hang of them, I found them to be far from simple. Some of them were rather involved with tricky techniques like disappearing doors and having to go back to an earlier area where there would inexplicably be an environmental change that opened up a clue or necessary item. Some of my frustration with the puzzles is probably related to my concurrent attempts to get all the collectibles, of which there are many. Some are extremely well hidden and require solving an extra puzzle of their own, so it added a little to the weariness I felt with navigating the chapters.

I did appreciate the merciful utilization of clearly marked ledges that clue you into where to climb, as well as the hints and direction that your companion fox gives you, yelping to indicate the area to go to next. If one were to mainline the game and didn’t care about collectibles, I’d see how getting through the chapters with these aids would be much more straightforward. Still, the collectibles actually add quite a bit of nuance and meaning to the story, so I’m glad I found them all. Unfortunately, according to the PSN stats, only 4% of players go through the effort to find all the secrets.

Speaking of the story….

Here is the rub, this game is really deep. Like, really well-crafted thematically. Actually, I think the narrative and themes are it’s strongest quality. It’s steeped in symbolism, allegory, and reflection.

The problem is that the game doles out the story points at such a creeping pace that it’s hard to feel the impact until one finally gets to the end and everything comes together. Perhaps that is what gives the message its power, and I wouldn’t necessarily change it, but there is a commitment one must have to get through some of the tedium and be able to be partake in the best part of the game. Again looking at trophy data, only 20% of players reach the conclusion. That’s pretty low for a 6 hour game. It’s a shame, but I can kinda understand why there is such a steep drop-off. I played for a total of 9-10 hours to complete everything, but this wasn’t a game I ever felt was ‘fun’, per se. It wasn’t a game that I could sit and play for more than 2 hours at a time before I’d grow impatient and want to change games or do something else entirely.

Still, I’d be lying if I said that I haven’t kept pondering the symbols and heavy message of the game, even many hours after having completed it. That’s a sign of a good game in my book.

Another redeeming quality

I would be remiss not to mention the music. The musical score is fantastic and adds so much to the experience. I’ve mentioned before how rarely I notice music in a game, so for me to pay heed to the orchestral soundtrack is really saying something. I can’t remember the last time a game was this dependent on the music to convey its message.

Summary

In the end, RiME is an outstanding game, despite its close imitation of previous trailblazing games. It still manages to have its own special personality. Tequila Works has some real talent and crafted a solid and emotional adventure. However, like the student who cheats and copies his classmate’s homework and inadvertently transcribes the wrong answers along with the correct ones, I have to take points off for RiME’s dodgy control and outdated mechanics. The artistic parts of the game do continue to feel inspired however. Not quite fresh, but inspired.

An impassioned narrative, epic music, fetching artistry, and clever level design save this game from being merely a cheap clone. But there is a certain piece missing that keeps it from achieving the pinnacle of greatness that it’s forebears accomplished.

7 missed jumps out of 10

@RogerRoger Thanks for the positive feedback and for your encouragement! It’s a game I felt deserved a review, if nothing else as a way to close the book on how I felt about it and try to make my thoughts concrete. As you can see with my wavering critique, I still had a hard time committing to exactly how highly I thought of it. In the end, I was torn between a wonderful story that really resonated with me, versus the undeniable difficulty that I had actually maintaining any interest in the game during my playthrough. The fact it took me weeks to complete such a short game was evidence enough that the game had flaws. I tried to tease out what those were, but still struggled with precise reasons for its failure in the gameplay engagement department.

But in the end, the game absolutely redeems itself, like you say. And I appreciate your campaigning for me to make it to the finish. In my opinion, many games completely redeem themselves if they can really stick the landing with a good conclusion, which RiME really does.
And I also appreciate that I didn’t have that surprise reveal spoiled for me. I definitely went along with the way the game fed you images and information leading you to believe the boy is the survivor and his parents are the deceased. However now, in retrospect, it makes complete sense that the boy is the one who’s dead and at the beginning he’s washed up on the shore of some version of the afterlife. But the game does a good job at leading you down the path that he’s mourning the death of someone else. By having his mother die previously it was easy to make it about his grief and then pull the rug out from under us when we discover this father is the one to really be mourning the loss of the boy (and his mother).

And I couldn’t really get into too much detail in the review about the symbolism in the game without revealing too much, but there is just so much. Just to mention a few — The red cape clearly is a symbol of the grief his father is holding onto. The constant use of suns and moons for the puzzles surely refer to death and the sunset of life. The real kicker for me was the penultimate chapter (called “Depression” I think) with the darkness and the rain. The symbolism of that grim setting; and the rain as it poured down the statues faces, representing tears… well it was just so moving. Then, when I pressed the triangle button and instead of idle humming of a tune, the boy sobs and weeps…. ah, man — it was just really powerful. That’s when the game really started to land haymakers all over my psyche and I felt the full extent they were trying to get. When the music kicks in to heighten the emotion, it really multiplies an already impactful moment. And to see the ending with the father mulling over toys and then finally letting go of the piece of red fabric was such a fitting end and a wonderful resolution.

So sometimes games don’t have to be fun to be good. And I think this is a prime example of that. Some of my favorite gaming experiences were ones that moved me emotionally, even if it was toward sadness or despair, so long as I felt hope as well, and I think the game does also show hope at the end, with moving on.

And with that in mind, one last really cool spoiler — the game probably has my favorite trophy in recent memory. It occurs in the third chapter I think (Bargaining) where you come upon an endless hallway. You can keep running down the hallway and it loops over and over, essentially making no progress until you turn around and suddenly what you’re looking for is behind you. If you follow the endless hallway for 2 minutes you get the trophy “Patience” and the trophy description says: “Turning your back to the truth and persevering will lead you nowhere.” Bam! That is really good stuff right there. Life lessons from trophy hunting! 😄

@Th3solution Awesome contribution! Opening the piece with a bit of poetry was rather inspired, I'd say. Don't worry: nobody's expecting Walt Whitman-tier work in a video game review, so if you ever wanna give that rhyming review a shot, I'd say go for it. This is an open forum for writerly experimentation.

We've actually talked before about the difficulty of reviewing around concept-heavy games that are easy to spoil, but in terms of your actual piece on the game, I'd say you did a pretty good job with Rime (sorry, "RiME"; I wonder if the symbolism extends to the capitalization as well, which makes it look like the title was conceived by a sarcastic internet commentator ), as you gave me a sense of what the game plays like without forcing yourself to delve into the actual theme of the game, which would spoil the experience for the uninitiated. The alternative, I suppose, being that you just discuss the theme openly and your review just ends up looking like a government document to those unwilling to click the spoiler tags.

I'm always impressed with puzzle platformers that introduce their puzzles organically, in a way where they fit in with the setting, instead of more artificially introducing them into the environment. Especially when they additionally take place in an open-ended environment like this game seems to.

This is one of those games I've been meaning to get to for years, but never seem to make the time for. Maybe I should change that.

@Th3solution
Thanks Sol, good write up and interesting read.
Completed it and got all collectables for the platinum but after reading your review and subsequent analysis it's kind of made me want to experience it again!
Agreed some of the game could be plodding and borderline tedious but the ending was really moving and made up for it.
As for the low completion rate, people often just lack the dedication of commitment to start what they finish - especially surprising like you say for such a short game.

@RogerRoger
Is the fox in RIME a spirit fox also??

I beat Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PS5. I expected to like it more than I did. It was alright, but I found it to be quite... boring?

Spider-Man (2018) was a good game, I really liked the traversal through NY, but the gameplay left things to desire. Miles Morales continued that path unfortunately. Every encounter was the same. You enter an area, stealth kill some baddies, rinse and repeat. It's not that a single encounter by itself bad, but the fact that it's just all very same-y.

The game started off strong though, with the Rhino fight, but went downhill after that. Even the final fight felt very similar to the standard fights with the Underground. I expected a little more.

@Octane I found Spider-Man (2018) to be boring and I'm afraid that I'll feel the same for Miles Morales. The thing is that I love superhero stuff in general: movies, TV shows, games and so on. So obviously, I have Miles Morales ready to be played, but I don't think I'm going to like it as much as I want to.

Not a jab against Insomniac or anything, but it does feel like all their games are only "averagely" good. Ratchet & Clank is a good time but it's not anything special after a dozen entries. Resistance is a decent shooter, but that's about it. I'm genuinely hoping that Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine will manage to impress me.

@Sorteddan @Ralizah Thanks for reading and glad you enjoyed it.

Definitely worth a go, Ral, as you’ll probably appreciate the artistic expression in the game. And given the fact you platinum’d Shadow of the Colossus, you’ll be fine with any of the puzzles here.
And I might take you up on that rhyming review one day. 😄
“I started my trudge through Boletaria,
And discovered I’d bypassed a whole area..a”

🤔 Hmmm… it’s gonna take some work.

@LtSarge I kinda feel the same about R&C, though I liked that more than Miles Morales. I don't think I ever completely finished the PS4 game, and I'm still in the middle of Rift Apart. They don't do it for me, it's no Mario.

I also bought Guardians of the Galaxy alongside Miles Morales, so I am kinda curious how that one plays now. I've heard good things.

I absolutely loved Jedi Fallen Order, so it's not like I don't like game adaptations of films/series/comics.

@Octane Let me know what you think of Guardians of the Galaxy whenever you get around to it, because I've recently watched both MCU movies and I absolutely love them and this franchise as a whole now. Also heard great things about the game, so hopefully you'll find it to your liking.

@RogerRoger Thanks for your thoughts and I see we are on the same page with the game. And that’s a very fair point about remembering fondly the first game in a family of similar titles. I’d be curious to see how I got along with Ico if I were to play it again all these years later. It was probably one of the first games I played way back when. I keep holding out for a remake akin to the Shadow of the Colossus one we got, but I doubt it’s coming now that BluePoint is basically working on much bigger titles, and reportedly on their own unique project.

As far as Journey — I would definitely be curious what you think of it. It’s a divisive game, with proponents calling it one of the greatest games of all time and dissenters wondering what all the fuss is about. And actually if I am honest, I’m not sure I’d like it if I played it again. When I played it back nearer it’s release even I felt slightly underwhelmed, but appreciated it for the artistic vision it forged. The main tricks it uses probably won’t have the impact that it had back in the day but it’s very much a game like RiME in which the end experience is greater than a sum of its parts.