After I spent a pretty considerable amount of time on Super Robot Wars OG: The Moon Dwellers, I went on a tear of playing through somewhat shorter games. I tend to do this from time to time when I'm overwhelmed by all the long RPGs I play. The only other game I finished in September was God of War: Ascension, which I played thanks to the game streaming service, PlayStation Now. I was still experimenting with what the service had to offer at the time and I knew I was eventually going to play the new God of War reboot and had never gotten around to playing that particular entry in the series anyway since I'd heard the reception to it was pretty mixed.
I actually thought it was a pretty decent game. It has its flaws for sure, but it also has some really great set pieces and puzzles that use some interesting mechanics. There's an artifact you can use in that game that allows you to turn back time to put broken bridges back together and turn gears and stuff like that that's really interesting and fun to play around with. The combat itself is pretty similar to the older games but their arcade action style combat always appealed to me, so it still resonated with me in Ascension.
On the other hand, when I returned to God of War III: Remastered, I liked it considerably less than when I played it upon initial release back in 2010. These games have always been these garish displays of hyperviolence and overt sexuality, but the third entry in the series really cranked it up a notch to the point that it was pretty uncomfortable. I don't think it really bothered me nine years ago, but maybe my age (and the current social climate) is starting to affect how I react to this stuff. Not only did I find a lot of the goriness and sexuality kind of gross, but I didn't love the gameplay that much either. Although the underlying combat mechanics are as solid as ever, the different weapons available were extremely lacking in variety. Although most would rank Ascension as the worst God of War, I feel pretty strongly that honor belongs to this game.
Because I was in the mood to play through some older games that I'd missed when they were new, I decided to pick up Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection when it was on sale on PSN. I'd played the PS3 version of Uncharted many years ago and had a really hard time getting into it, but perceptions certainly change with time, and I'm much more accustomed to games with heavy shooter elements these days. I played through Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Remastered in just a few days and really enjoyed it, even though I felt it had some pacing issues. It's still a really pretty game to look at and it's great fun to explore this mysterious island and shoot at a bunch of bad guys.
I was really much more impressed with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Remastered, though, since it has a ton more variety, amazing set pieces, and great pacing. That game is a blast to play through pretty much right from the beginning, except for one notable and frustrating exception. I was sold on the game pretty much right away as I assumed control of Nate frantically scrabbling up the side of a train that had derailed and was hanging precariously off the side of a snowy mountain. The moment to moment gameplay of jumping and climbing through so many diverse environments interspersed with fun gunplay segments and incredibly well-directed cinematic scenes creates a game that is very deserving of all the accolades it has received over the years.
I also finished the Secret of Mana PS4 remaster/remake in October, which was much less impressive. I'm a big fan of the original SNES Secret of Mana but it's a pretty well-known fact at this point that it hasn't aged extremely well. There was a lot of opportunity for a remake to address some of the issues the original game had and this particular take on the game doesn't do that at all. Sure, it overhauls the graphics and replaces them inoffensive low-poly 3D models, but doesn't change the gameplay even a little bit. It also introduced some really problematic issues with the soundtrack that results in some really bizarre, grating noises in some of the game's best tracks. I still enjoyed playing through it again, but it didn't feel transformative at all, and if anything, is an inferior version of the game.
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is the most recent of the many Dragon Quest games I've played through over the years, and this one was a long time coming since I'd started it right after finishing DQ VI. I'll be honest, though--I didn't love this one. It has such an interesting premise in that you're restoring the world by traveling back in time to retrieve fragments of these ancient tablets. It even has the same job system as Dragon Quest VI, which I was initially pretty excited about. But in practice, it's a tremendously time-consuming and tedious grind to level your jobs, and although all of the disparate stories that comprise the game are interesting in some ways, they're generally kind of dull and the pacing in the game overall is plodding. It definitely made me reluctant to move on to Dragon Quest VIII, which I still haven't finished.
The last game I finished in October was Mega Man 11, which is just about what you would expect from a Mega Man game. The only thing really all that surprising about it is that it's a new Mega Man game! It's a reasonably well designed game, but the overall structure of it does feel pretty dated, since the core mechanic of this series hasn't changed since the series inception in the 80s. Having said that, it's a very fun game and I appreciated the one new mechanic it introduced that allows you to slow down time strategically. I don't know that I'll ever be able to look to the Mega Man series for innovation, but this game was good enough that I'd still happily play a Mega Man 12.
Phew. That was a lot of games and there's more to come in November.
No comments:
Post a Comment