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My Top 25 Games Advent Day 19 - MediEvil: Resurrection (#7)

“Ooh nooooo. You’re back, looking like something from a butcher’s dustbin.”

MediEvil is a cult classic and well-beloved gothic action platformer from the 90s that deserves a place on anyone’s list. For its time, it boasted great looking FMV cutscenes, revolutionary gameplay and an excellently integrated sense of humour that matched the tone perfectly. So in this review, I’ll be talking about the much maligned, basically universally panned 2005 PSP remake, MediEvil: Resurrection which for some reason I love so much I’ve placed it as my 7th favourite game of all time. I really am a disgusting little worm.

First of all, I should probably break down what exactly makes this title so widely shunned by anyone with taste. The main reason behind it is probably the racist genie that inhabits the skull of your intrepid main character; a criticism I can fully understand and agree with because wow not only is he annoying but he’s probably definitely offensive. Other than that, I can see people being mad at some of the levels getting cut, but then they were replaced with (I would argue) levels that were just as cool. That’s why I’m so confused! Why does everyone hate this?

Okay, taking a step back for a sec, this is what MediEvil is all about. Sir Daniel Fortesque, a cowardly and selfish ‘warrior’ went down in history as the man who led the charge against Zarok the evil sorcerer and succeeded in vanquishing him, before falling himself during the battle. In reality, he was too scared to get anywhere near the vanguard and got murked by an arrow to the eye before the battle had even really kicked off. And now, 100 years later, Zarok has come back and he’s raising the dead willy-nilly and poor old Dan gets caught in the headlights, awakening him as a jawless, one-eyed skeleton with a chip on his shoulder and far too much for a dead man to prove. Welcome to MediEvil. Dan’s journey to not only save the world of Gallowmere from Zarok, but also to salvage his own tarnished reputation among the heroes of old, takes him all the way across the ravaged, gothic land of Gallowmere. With each level offering a uniquely brilliant setting filled to the brim with puzzles, diverse enemies and excellently odd characters to interact with, Gallowmere truly pulls you into its world and doesn’t let you go until the very end. From Dan’s initial escape from the graveyard and the haunted mausoleum to a magical forest and a floating galleon full of ghost pirates, there’s no shortage of excellent locales and great 3D platforming fun to be had here.

With controls much, much tighter than they were in the original, I would argue that as an overall experience, Resurrection has much more to offer in terms of pure enjoyment (but oh boy, that’s probably controversial). And sure, the likes of the The Crystal Caverns and the Time Device are missing from the level selection here, but instead you get Gallowmere Plains with its own fully interactive carnival and Scurvy Docks, the culmination of Dan’s arduous quest to find a seaworthy boat by convincing a vaguely kinky harbourmaster that you in fact a real pirate. There’s enough missing from the original game that means it isn’t a full-on remaster, but there’s enough unique charm and overall enrichment of Gallowmere here that I think you’re doing yourself a disservice by writing it off.

And I really mean it when I say that Resurrection is one of the most memorable, hilarious and always uniquely creative games I’ve ever played. It’s a title that knows exactly when to amplify its humour, when to place more focus on its more serious elements of Dan’s character arc and when to ramp up its cartoonish gothic fear factor, and it does all of this in perfect tandem with its brilliantly Tim Burtonesque art style that I adore. As an experience, in both look and feel, Resurrection stands entirely on its own and is endlessly enjoyable, even after multiple playthroughs. Want to chase some cockney fairies around a forest in order to steal their magic mushrooms? Fight a horrific demon creature composed beautifully of stained glass? Or even just appreciate some of the most expressively diverse characters I’ve ever encountered, from each and every legendary hero in the Hall of Heroes who each react differently to Dan’s presence to the likes of the gleefully Machiavellian Zarok or even just the deadpan, generally fed-up Grim Reaper (who might I add is voiced by Tom freakin’ Baker).

Resurrection blends its perfectly realised gothic setting and its cheeky British humour absolutely seamlessly, which is helped even more by Bob & Barn’s spaffworthy soundtrack. The composers here made the perfect track to match every stage of the game; soaring orchestral tracks for the more epic segments and boss battles, intense brass sections for long fights, creepy and subtle notes in the background for when the game focuses in on its setting. As a remake and an excellent reimagining of an already brilliant game from the 90s, Resurrection, at least for me, manages everything to a perfect degree (apart from the racist genie, not a huge fan of him).

Standout Moment Award: Fighting the Stained Glass Demon as the first boss fight is the perfect ending the game’s opening act, setting you up for what’s to come. Plus, I’ll never get over how cool it looks. Standout Character Award: Death. Easily could’ve gone to Zarok or anyone really, but nothing can beat Tom Baker’s effortless humour and deadpan delivery that cracks me up everytime I hear it. Tomorrow: No. 6; A legion of monsters can’t quite figure out how to open a door, child comes down to have a crack at it instead.

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My Top 25 Games Advent Day 18 - Fallout 4 (#8)

​​"Humanity is so resilient, to cling to life despite all of this. It is the duty of us all to further that survival."​​

​​Before Bethesda irreparably ruined one of their most lucrative franchises with Fallout 76, and after everyone went hog wild over New Vegas, there was Fallout 4, the definitive Fallout for the new generation. It had a fully open world, a great cast of companion characters, factions to join and endless quests to overcome. This game became my life for a hot minute there and this slightly edgy, tonally weird open world adventure stuck with me long after the genuine fear of real-world nuclear annihilation set in. I love immersion.​​

​​So what do you do in Fallout? You fuck around in the wasteland, you shoot horrifically mutated creatures, you marvel at what could’ve been had the world not obliterated itself, you build badly misshapen houses in the crafting menu and realise there’s nothing you can do to stop random villagers from stealing your bed aside from literally blocking up the front door. Fallout 4 takes the post-apocalypse open world adventure and stretches the concept to its limits.​​ ​​Immediately, your wonky main character’s motives and ideals become clear as your spouse is murked by the breakfast cereal guy and your son has been kidnapped by a shady organisation known only as the Institute. What follows is a moral-centric epic spanning 50 hours, including multiple branching endings depending on your chosen faction and plenty of spicy, lofty questions to answer about the nature of consciousness or whatever in the form of the synths. The main story is highly satisfying and embodies the importance of player choice, allowing you to decide for yourself whether synths deserve persecution or salvation, or whether they need to be contained by those that created them. Or hey, if none of these sound tempting, just side with the farmers and you won’t have to bother (if you’re curious, I’m personally Railroad bc the synths did nothing to us and also hoo boy the Brotherhood are fuckers)​​.

​​To accompany you on your edgy journey is a whole cast of lovable and diverse characters, each with their own character arc, quest-line and, for the majority of them, a romance option. The synth detective Nick Valentine, the snarky pirate ghoul Hancock, the mysterious yet lame Railroad agent Deacon, the cunning news reporter Piper and your dog, among others. Building your relationships with this band of odd survivors is immensely satisfying to do, especially since these relationships build directly into the story with many of these companions playing integral roles in the main plot. This also informs your choice as to which faction to side with, as you end up with a companion from each faction that embodies that faction’s motives and moral compass. In the same way, each companion reacts realistically to your actions and choices throughout the game, making them feel even more real as you know your actions truly do reflect on everyone you meet and makes everything you do have much more weight to it.​​

​​What helps this epic blend of story and character along is the beautifully dilapidated world they inhabit. Fallout 4’s Commonwealth makes it clear exactly what everything used to be, from levelled cities and husks of theme parks to drive-in cinemas and murky harbours. The world of Fallout truly embodies a thematic blend of 1950s American values and futuristic technology and architecture, as if the dreams of those living in the 50s came true through the retro-looking tech that fuelled the society of before. The mixture of grainy propaganda footage of the iconic Vault Boy, alongside literal killer sentry robots is a brilliant contrast that somehow doesn’t feel at all out of place. The world building is absolute; nothing feels wrong or weird because Bethesda were endlessly consistent with their own rules in the world they’ve made. They also went hard with the optional dungeons too, with the majority of these also reflecting how things were before the nukes went off; half-destroyed subway lines, abandoned vaults and shopping complexes filled with burned up sundries and rubble. Fallout 4 truly makes an almost entirely dead world feel alive.​​ ​​But equally, exploring that world can be as terrifying as it is melancholy. While tuning into the Diamond City Radio and listening to hits of the 40s is satisfying in itself to be fair, nothing beats the pure adrenaline of running into a brand new mutated monster. Sometimes, you get lucky and you only need to use your frankly massive arsenal of weapons on a Mirelurk or a Radroach. But sometimes, out of nowhere, the game throws at you an Albino Deathclaw or a mutant behemoth in a pond or a giant hermit crab in an ice cream van. The possibilities really seem endless when you first embark on your journey, especially since you have no idea what kind of post-war monstrosity will assail you next.​​

​​Point being, Fallout 4 is a perfected apocalyptic adventure. It excellently blends satisfying gameplay and unique design elements with enough emotional impact in the narrative and world-building that stay with you long after you’ve blown up your chosen enemy. Fallout 4 changed the way I see open world games and still stands out as one of my favourite adventure games ever made (but not quite my favourite Bethesda game. I’ll be covering that a little closer to Christmas).​​

​​Standout Moment Award: The takedown of the Mirelurk Queen in the Castle is exhilarating and I was not ready for something so massive to come charging at me. ​​ ​​Standout Character Award: Nick Valentine. Valentine’s enigmatic personality and unique backstory made him the most memorable character in the game by far, as well as my favourite cosplay I’ve done.​​ ​​Tomorrow: No. 7; Dead guy gets bad PR, hunts down queercoded magician who’s responsible.​​

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My Top 25 Games Advent Day 17 - Rayman Legends (#9)

“The Glade of Dreams is in danger, my friend. Go, quickly, wake up our legendary heroes!”

Platformers are an odd thing for me, and I’m usually more picky about them than I am any other genre. If they’re too hard, not visually interesting enough, the controls don’t appeal or I’m just plain bad at them, I never stay with them for long. But whatever stupidly precise criteria I have for enjoying a platformer, Rayman Legends ticked every single box and I believe it to be objectively one of the best games ever made. I’ve played the likes of Mario, Crash and Spyro, but here’s why I think the latest mainline Rayman title is the best platformer I’ve ever played.

I don’t even remember when I actually got this game, I just have an overwhelming memory of being 13 and beyond obsessed with it. Everything about it just caught my attention and kept it; the colours, the unique design, the awesome music, how it took everything I knew about platformers and removed it. Rayman Legends is the epitome of how you revive a franchise and it’s going to take a lot to dethrone it for me.

Rayman Legends is split into five main worlds, each set within a hub world painting to match the game’s motif and setting within a gallery. As the limbless wonder, you’re tasked with entering each of the five paintings and rescuing the caged Teensies within, making each level that would otherwise be fairly linear suddenly have an aspect of further exploration and encouragement to seek out and investigate what seems suspicious. And as for the worlds themselves, there aren’t any basic weather motifs here (sorry Mario Bros. U). The first is a medieval themed romp through castles and forests (ending in a dragon fight), followed by a fairytale themed world complete with endless fire-breathing frogs, a mariarchi world based around the Day of the Dead, an underwater labyrinth world with imposing metal structures and a submerged mansion and, finally, a world based entirely on Greek mythology. Every level you come across is absolutely packed with incredible detail and each one heralds a unique experience that never gets old. And with controls as tight and fun as these, with Rayman’s diverse moveset, it makes for a platforming experience unlike any other. Even after all this, you sure as hell won’t be short on content either, as the addition of the majority of the levels in Rayman Origins as unlockable extras and an entire multiplayer minigame that’s more addictive than you’d think, Kung Foot, it’s a game that ends up being difficult to put down, even when you think you’ve done everything.

I haven’t even covered what I see as the highlight. In typical platformer fashion, each world ends with a boss, each perfectly crafted with a measured difficulty that provides a good challenge and a whole heap of fun. But these boss fights aren’t the actual end levels, because after that you’ve got the music levels. Whoever came up with the idea of composing a track of a different genre for each world and to create a stage perfectly matching the rhythm of it is an absolute genius. Each music level provides something else wonderful, whether that be a heavy rock or soaring orchestral track or even a mariarchi remix of Eye of the Tiger, it all just stacks up to create a title that’s bursting at the seams with character. On top of this, a bonus world can be unlocked after the main game’s completion containing a whole new music level and a selection of reworked, more difficult versions of earlier music levels. And the greatness of the soundtrack doesn’t stop there, as Legends boasts a score that is absolutely incredible. Each world has a score that perfectly matches its theme and knows exactly when to change up the instrumentation to become epic or muted, matching its intensity to your player experience seamlessly. Big hats off to the composers of Legends for creating a score that not only matches everything the experience is perfectly, but also a score that stands really well on its own. Something else to greatly appreciate about this game is its visual style. To compliment the gallery motif and the use of paintings to travel to and from levels, the game uses a sort of watercolouresque visual style to make the bright colours and vibrant character and level designs stand out. Layers of the world can be seen stretching further and further back in each level, giving the illusion that each painting you enter leads you into a whole other world, with the attention put into the background detail meaning there’s always something else to spot and appreciate if you’re looking for it.

To summarise, Rayman Legends is a giddy explosion of spectacle, colour and creativity that breathed new life into the franchise (that they’ve yet to do anything else with). Like a lot of other games appearing in my top 10, it’s one I can’t stop myself from digging back into every now and again. Rayman Legends is the result of when unbridled creativity and care come together to make a technically and audiovisually stunning experience. Platformers, take note. Ditch the generic world designs, bring back the colour.

Standout Moment Award: Any music level OR the boss fight with the giant wrestler at the end of world 3. Boy, these moments are gonna get harder to choose as we go.

Standout Character Award: Sir Rayelot. Forever my chosen skin for Rayman in any playthrough I do, there’s just something so funky to me about this lil dude in a knight’s helmet.

Tomorrow: No. 8; Out of touch parent wakes up in a pod and finds themself healthier than everyone else alive by default.

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My Top 25 Games Advent Day 16 - Mass Effect 2 (#10)

​​“They tell me it’s a suicide mission. I intend to prove them wrong.”​​

​​Here we have another example, and in my eyes the best example, of the product of Bioware being at their absolute peak. Mass Effect 2 is a nigh on masterpiece of a game that, even after almost a decade, still holds up extraordinarily well in every aspect. I love the Mass Effect series (well, the main trilogy anyway) for its cinematic storytelling, its interesting and unique plot concepts and gameplay elements, its intricate setting and, crowning all, its always unforgettable companion characters who go on your journey with you. The series’ second instalment, at least in my eyes, does all of this absolutely perfectly without 3’s wonky ending and 1’s slightly outdated settings and mechanics. If I called Dragon Age: Origins the Lord of the Rings of gaming, here’s Star Wars.​​

​​Mass Effect 2 doesn’t fuck around. It starts you up on the original ship from the first game, before immediately blowing it up and killing Commander Shepard, the vaguely cheesy space hero we all love so much. After Shepard’s revival at the hands of Cerberus, Mass Effect 2 kicks off with an epic space opera story taking you all across the universe, with espionage, emotive character arcs and an oppressive, genuinely fearful atmosphere created by the game’s big bads, the vastly superior alien race known as the Collectors. It’s amazing how they managed to blend that overriding fear of an enemy so powerful it could wipe out everything with this giddy excitement to explore. Whether that be the plethora of planets you can seek out, mine for resources and explore or some of the more densely populated space stations, such as the vast cityscape of the Citadel or the seedy, neon underworld filled with criminals and night clubs, Omega. Mass Effect’s universe truly has a life of its own and it tells such a grandiose story within it that it’s impossible not to become immersed. Each and every area you visit is packed full of memorable characters of various diverse species, like the awesome looking Turians and Krogans, down to the hilariously blunt Elcor, who communicate by prefacing everything they say with how they’re feeling. On top of this, a bountiful selection of engaging side quests and an overarching main story that largely involves you seeking out each of your party members to hunt down the Collectors make this a truly perfected combination of a well-realised sci-fi setting and story.​​

​​Drawing on those companion characters for a moment, I would say that this is one of the best, most diverse and engaging cast of characters you can find in a game, as each of them follow their own individual character arcs and have unique relationships with Shepard depending on your actions and the behaviour you exhibit towards them. The likes of Jacob (the guy you start with who is admittedly a bit boring), Miranda (the biotic who was experimented on by her family to make her ‘perfect’), Garrus (the kickass Turian who is everyone’s favourite and also has gotta be the canon love interest for male Shepard), Mordin (the quick-thinking, quick-everything Salarian doctor with a surprisingly dark past), Grunt (a wartime experimental clone taken by Shepard as a replacement for their original target, Grunt’s creator), Jack (a highly powerful, erratic biotic in a maximum security prison), Samara (Asari matriarch who can step on me and also everyone), Thane (the coolest, chillest assassin in the galaxy), Zaeed (amercenary veteran with a sick ass scar), Kasumi (cool space thief) and Tali and Legion (oneQuarian and one Geth, both interesting and unique characters in their own right, these characters draw upon the central conflict between the two races explored in the first game’s main story. In the sequel, the slow development of the two from sworn enemies to allies is something to behold, especially as both are so lovable on their own). Went on a bit of a tangent there but I felt it was important to include everyone in that list. The best part about this is you spend the entire game building your relationships with these characters, choosing a romance option, decking Shepard and the gang out in the best gear, upgrading your ship with the materials you mine from planets. And then it all comes down to the finale, the so-called ‘suicide mission’ in which anyone and everyone can die depending on your choices and upgrades beforehand, as well as any decisions you make during the mission. It is genuinely incredibly difficult to save everyone first try and is a great example of how to ensure the choices you give to your player have weight and lasting impact; in Mass Effect 2, everything is on your shoulders and no one’s survival is guaranteed.​​

​​As I said before, I don’t think it would be wrong to call this the Star Wars of gaming, and it wouldn’t take that title without a lot of pew-pewing and excellent use of the sci-fi genre. The gameplay and gunplay (which is the majority of your experience) is slick and well-executed, even feeling intuitive and fun almost a decade later. Even that final boss encounter, that I will never really understand the potent hatred people seem to have for it, is an awesome final test of what you’ve learned and how you’ve improved along the way, pitting you up against an all-out giant Terminatoresque killing machine as an excellently overblown ending to a game full of dramatic encounters to shoot at. Alongside this, the visuals are superb and do little break immersion even as time has gone by and I would argue that this game still holds some of the best graphics you can find from the previous generation. And last but not least, this game’s spicy ass mechanical sci-fi soundtrack is definitely something to flap about, especially when it comes to the combat and that Suicide Mission score is nothing short of incredible.​​

​​So now I’ve ranted aimlessly for three chunky paragraphs about each singular aspect of this game that I adore, you can probably see why this title has such an enduring memory to me. Playing this game for the first time at 12 years old off the back of the also amazing Dragon Age: Origins, Bioware took their perfected formula of knowing exactly how to craft a story, setting and excellently realised characters and shot it up into space both figuratively and literally. In my eyes, Mass Effect 2 is Bioware’s greatest title and it’s honestly more than a shame that we haven’t received anything from Mass Effect in recent years, aside from the less than great Andromeda. A Mass Effect 4 would kill me dead, but at the very least an original trilogy remaster would keep me ticking for a hot minute. Get on it, Bioware. Pls.​​

​​Standout Moment Award: Probably already mentioned this, but of course it’s the suicide mission. An unforgettable epic of a quest and one of my favourite overall game finales to date.​​

Standout Character Award: Thane Krios. The ice-cool, terminally ill assassin takes today’s award for being an all-around great dude.

​​It’s been a long ol’ month, but we’re finally getting there. Today, I kicked off my top 10 games of all time. From here on out, it’s going to be beyond difficult to stop myself from descending into rambles, but I’ll do my best to keep myself coherent. ​​ ​​Tomorrow: No. 9; An odd creature with floating appendages takes off to save some blue things in dire distress.

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My Top 25 Games Advent Day 15 - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (#11)

​​“On that day, when the sky fell away, our world came to an end.”

​​​​It would be an understatement to say I was late to the party when it comes to Smash and even fighting games in general, after my first experience being stumbling upon a copy of Brawl amongst my boyfriend’s old Wii games, before picking up the 3DS one for myself. There in front of me was some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing a game, especially with other people, and a roster full of characters I’d barely heard of. I found myself drawn into the Smash hype circle, getting to know each and every character, their movesets and what characters/stages could turn up in the future. This meant I was in the perfect spot to be blisteringly excited for the game’s latest installment and, for me at least, it is by far the best fighting game ever made, as well as most ambitious and well-executed crossover event conceived.

​​Smash at its base level embodies fun, both for casual players (like me) and those who prefer the competitive side of things. The controls are intuitive, but take time to master, and it’s so accessible I genuinely feel as if I might be competent at it. To make matters even better, Ultimate is the most refined and fast-paced in the series, blending perfectly responsive controls, moment-to-moment fighting and revamped movesets to accommodate these changes, this truly is my definitive Smash title. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve whittled away just playing the CPUs (actually, yes I can, because my Switch tells me), because I genuinely just have that much fun with it.

​​As I mentioned before, I was pretty much immediately sucked into the hype cycle that came with Ultimate and I was unbelievably excited for each and every character that came in. That’s the great thing about Smash; the fact that the lead-up is arguably better than its release, purely due to the giddy speculation of what characters from our favourite franchises could make the cut this time around, even if most of the characters that came in I’d purely heard through other people.

​​In March of 2018, Nintendo dropped a sneaky trailer showing off the inclusion of the Inklings before the game was even announced at the end of the trailer; Inklings are fun and cool and I was into it. Skip to E3 and oh god I’ve never been this excited in my entire life. Fucking everyone is coming back from every previous game, along with highly requested big boi Ridley and slightly less requested Daisy (who I still main sometimes) and that’s when I sort of lost it. Following that up with the likes of the Belmonts, K. Rool, Ken, that beautiful plant, my bois from Persona 5 AND DQ11? And some 90s twunk in a baseball cap? This roster couldn’t get any better if it tried (except it can, because there’s more coming). Each and every stage that accompanies these characters is perfectly realised, with the whole game brilliantly utilising its bright, consistent art style, which is especially impressive when you consider the fact they needed to balance the aesthetics of the likes of Solid Snake and Isabelle. Everything in this game is just brimming with Sakurai and the Smash team’s dizzying attention to detail that packs as many references and callbacks to specific characters and franchises as possible. The vast majority of stages maintain the overall visual design of its home franchise, as well as including camoes from other NPCs from those games. And the S O U N D T R A C K. Basically a thousand tracks worth at this point, peppered with remixes for every franchise, even ones that wouldn’t have been necessary but are just a testament to the amount of time and effort put into making this game the ultimate crossover. Even putting aside the massive amount of original tracks and older remixes, newer ones like Termina Field, Guile Stage, Beneath the Mask, literally everything from Mega Man and Castlevania. It’s all just so GOOD. 

​​However, by the time release was starting to inch closer, one gripe remained. What, if anything, were they going to do about single player content? Because Smash is not famed for its myriad of stuff you can do alone and Smash is basically half the fun without someone to play it with. In Melee, you had Adventure Mode, which was just kind of there. In Brawl, a grandiose campaign complete with unique bosses and wonky platforming, Subspace Emissary. And I’ll be honest, while I loved the cutscenes, I eventually couldn’t finish it due to the sheer length of time I spent competing with the slightly off platforming sections. And famously, Smash 4 was almost completely devoid of any single player content, with the exception being the inevitable classic mode. But all my concerns melted away when they unveiled the opening cutscene of their cool new story mode, World of Light. I know this had mixed reception, but I personally loved it, because it focused on what you’re actually meant to be doing in Smash; fighting things. Add on top of this a vague story about killing eldritch beings and collecting over a thousand shiny JPEGs and yeah I’m hooked on this. It’s still wild to me that so fucking many of my absolute favourite characters are collectible in one place, from Mipha to Makoto Niijima, my DQ11 lads to Ricky the kangaroo. World of Light was an absolute blast and I loved playing it and discovering all of its secrets.

​​And now, prepare for the smallest paragraph in the world as I take you through my two (2) tiny gripes with this game:

​​1. They kinda fucked with All-Star mode. I preferred the sort of gauntlet thing from the previous game, though that is just nitpicking at this point.

​​2. Two tracks and no spirits was apparently all they could find for Final Fantasy. I suppose we can’t blame them, I bet they looked. Probably buried underneath all that Squeenix royalty money. Maybe they’ll dig up some more content one day.

​​There’s my gushing review on my absolute favourite fighting game I’ve played. Maybe I’m biased considering this is packed with my favourite series and full of characters I’ve come to now through the game, but I consider this to be the definitive Smash. And there’s still more coming! I’m going to explode!​​

​​Standout Moment Award: Today’s standout moment is the only one on this list that’s going to something that occured pre-release; that is every Nintendo Direct that gave us a brand new character. That build-up, that giddy excitement of knowing you’re about to find out who’s next to join, is something little else in gaming can match.

Standout Character Award: Joker. Nothing can really top the excitement I felt at my perfect boi dropping into the Game Awards.

​​Tomorrow: No. 10; Space captain and all-around sex machine goes on a universe-spanning, pest control adventure.

[eggoreviews]

My Top 25 Games Advent Day 14 - Super Mario Odyssey (#12)

​​“I think I’ve been to every place in the world. Oh! But I forgot there are places beyond the world!”​​

​​Bottom line, Mario is good. It’s always just been good. Nintendo created the thing that would make everyone forget about what was buried in New Mexico and proceeded to milk it for the following 30 years. Putting aside all of their (mostly identical in every way except the vague art style) 2D efforts, I feel it’s the 3D Mario titles that Nintendo truly went out there and experimented with their prime franchise, which made for some unforgettable games. Mario 64 was their revolutionary, if painfully janky first foray into 3D, Mario Sunshine was probably during their phase of heavy weed usage, both Mario Galaxy games blended excellent 3D puzzles, platforming and sheer fun and 3D World was, you know, 3D World. And then came Odyssey, my pick for the best and most innovative Mario game that Miyamoto and his dream team have ever made. And here’s why.​​

​​Super Mario Odyssey, in a bit of a departure from the rest of the 3D entries, doesn’t rely on one hub world to base yourself in. Odyssey is all about adventure, encouraging excitingly giddy travel across world after world of wacky setpieces and fun characters. The ‘overarching’story is still Mario, but with a (small) twist. Mario’s hat was murdered in a particularly unpleasant spat between himself and Bowser over Peach’s arranged marriage, before another sentient hat turns up and becomes your little companion. Cappy is pretty much half of what makes this game so dizzy and fun, adding the excellently unique mechanic of being able to‘possess’ most everything you throw him at. You traverse each expansive ‘kingdom’ in a variety of ways, whether that be on foot, by car, by sentient sphinx or by cactus. The sheer variety of things you can commandeer with the help of your talking hat is great and was a brilliant way to make Mario feel unique again. Combine these new mechanics with Mario’s shiny new overhauled moveset and a camera that actually functions the way you want it to (sorry Galaxy, but you had a real camera problem), it’s greatly reassuring that Nintendo managed to iron out absolutely all of my issues with previous Mario games by making him, as well as all his new boss encounters with the likes of a giant angry soup bird and a literal dragon, feel fresh and brand new again.​​

​​On top of that, while this is still Mario deep down, Odyssey came with its own atmosphere not seen in any other game in the series: the spirit of adventure and encouraging you to explore and travel to your heart’s content. No Mario game is open world and Odyssey may lack a hub world, but this game is a masterclass of spatial awareness in game design, creating seventeen different sandbox kingdoms for you to explore. The lack of a hub world and the constant drive to explore allows for deep, consistently fun explorations within each of these worlds and I feel this method of world design was the perfect modern evolution for Mario. Say fuckitty bye to Grassy Bit, Desert Bit etc that we’re used to in most other Mario titles, try a Tim Burtonesque world with black grass and sentient hats, a beautiful kingdom populated with huge waterfalls, rock formations and a literal dinosaur you can possess, all with brilliant textures. With a variety of kingdom-specific costumes to deck out your plumber too, the drive to explore as much as you can to collect as many coins as possible never really dies down. Mario has been given a perfect overhaul in the form of Odyssey, though still taking on this usual 3D collectathon approach. Each world is filled with collectible moons, puzzles to solve, retro 2D stages interspersed into the vanilla platforming and memorable, unique character designs that actually make the worlds you visit feel like places! And on this subject, instead of just going for an ordinary map to guide you, the game provides you with an in-depth tourist leaflet for each kingdom, loaded with fun flavour text about the world you’re visiting, the people who live there and the best places to visit. Super Mario Odyssey properly captured the feeling of being a wide-eyes tourist taking in the sights of brand new worlds and it’s delightful to thnk about just how much love and attention went into crafting this experience.​​

​​And it wouldn’t be one of these posts without my usual obligatory rant about the soundtrack, would it? Mario soundtracks across the decades are iconic, from that original 8-bit tune from World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. (And that awful boss theme from its sequel), to the wonderfully composed orchestral masterpiece that is the Mario Galaxy soundtrack, there’s been a lot to expose our ears to over the years. But in Odyssey, you have my favourite Mario soundtrack to date, along with the always appreciated bonus of being able to change what track you’re listening to in a separate menu. Each individual kingdom’s backing track is absolutely stellar, perfectly accompanying the visuals and world design to create a fully immersive experience of being somewhere brand new. That’s not even mentioning the frustratingly catchy, actually fully lyric’d Jump Up Superstar, which then constitutes one of the most unforgettable moments in a Mario game.​​

​​Above all else, I love this game and crown it as my favourite Mario title because it dared to be different. When Nintendo puts genuine effort into shaking up the formula, masterpieces are created. For a hot minute, it really felt like they were getting stagnant, putting out the likes of 3D World and Mario Bros. U, which in essence are excellent games, they were just missing that usual sense of Nintendo innovation. You know, that ‘Nintendo seal of quality’ they so readily spaff onto every game they ever publish. But with the coming of the Switch, Nintendo gave us this (among other games) to reaffirm that they never left, and if they keep that creativity flowing, I’ll be sure to stick around with them in the years to come.​​

​​Standout Moment Award: The New Donk City festival, playing as 2D Mario amongst an homage to the original Donkey Kong title with Jump Up Superstar blaring in the background, fully resurrected my inner child.​​

Standout Character Award: Pauline. ‘Character’ is probably a strong word to use here, but the return of Pauline after 35 years was a great throwback, especially in her role as the mayor of New Donk City.

​​Tomorrow: No. 11; the best and only game I’ve played with near enough 80 playable characters.

[eggoreviews]

My Top 25 Games Advent Day 13 - Until Dawn (#13)

​​“You need to listen to me. I don’t care if you believe me or not. Doesn’t matter because you will. You need to go down to the mines. I’ve seen what’s down there and I’d give anything to unsee it.”​​

​​Something I may not have mentioned on this countdown yet is that I am a pretty big fan of horror, whether that be sci-fi, supernatural or, in this case, teenagers being eaten by Wendigos. As someone who has always enjoyed slashers (particularly those that are unique, interesting and comment on the genre like Cabin in the Woods), Until Dawn came as a very welcome announcement for me, as previously unknown studio Supermassive Games came forward with a horror game that mirrored a classic slasher exactly, except it was entirely affected by your own choices. And so, Until Dawn became my favourite decision based game of all time.​​

​​Let’s talk for a minute about how Until Dawn treats its genre. In essence, it is a dizzyingly heartfelt love letter to the horror genre it so reveres, with its liberal employing of many, many tropes seen throughout its history. A group of eight friends return to the cabin atop a snowy mountain where two of their friends disappeared the previous year for a bit of a remembrance bash. But of course, everything is not quite as it seems and not everyone in the group is bein entirely honest with each other, along with the added threat of cannibalistic cryptids. Until Dawn tests your knowledge of horror, as well as your ability to act under pressure, by providing you with difficult and genuinely harrowing decisions to make that may well mean life or death for certain characters. If you’re looking to escape the usual conventions of horror by doing your best to save the stereotypes of the jock or the sexually liberal girlfriend, you’re going to need to be on the ball and keep your wits about you. This is what I love so much about Until Dawn; the fact that everyone or no one can survive depending on how well you play the game. It really is your own customised horror experience. And believe it or not, this game has a hell of a lot of replayability, even after you’ve discovered the majority of the endings. There’s just something about replaying this through and seeing what fuckshit you can do that keeps me coming back. 

​​ ​​On top of that, the characters themselves, while being massive tropes, still feel unique enough that things don’t become boring and predictable. Every horror trope is here; the funny, hapless guy, the studious one, the jock, the girlfriend who talks about sex a whole bunch. But each and every one of them still have nuances. The studious Ashley seems fairly mellow on the surface, but there’s a layer of dark that seemingly lies under the surface that comes out in a few instances depending on her choices. Jess seems confident and overtly sexual on paper, but reveals herself to be a highly insecure individual later in the game, albeit in a scene with some incredibly ham-handed writing. And Matt, the ‘dumb jock’, who is very subtly being manipulated and abused by his cheating girlfriend. All of these add subtle nuances to these normally completely undeveloped characters, which engages you much more in the horror they’re being put through and honestly makes you want to save them. Alongside this, the standout and often underrated performances of Hayden Panettiere as Sam, Rami Malek as Josh and Peter Stormare as the mysterious, hallucinatory Dr. Hill are properly, properly good.​

​ ​​The horror in this game, as well as the characters within it, is excellently realised. Many different aspects come together to form a genuinely horrifying experience. The overall writing is stellar, specifically within the late game when the tension begins to boil over, and less so in the early game when the writers are trying to write realistic young people. For the most part, they seem like real humans, but every so often they’ll drop an odd phrase here and there that will remind you that both the actors and the writers are not teenagers, but it honestly isn’t that distracting and doesn’t detract from the overall horror at all. The visuals, of course, are dazzling as perfect motion capture was used to carry over the subtleties of the actors’ body language and facial expressions, as well as the highly detailed graphic style used for the setting is excellently immersive. The snowy cabin, the ancient and rusted fire tower, the snow flying in front of the camera when you’re traversing the mountain; it all adds up to create a wonderfully horrific experience. And last of all, the soundtrack, an all important part of any game for me, is consistently suspenseful, with the combination of the sounds of the heavy wind and the soundtrack that slowly builds from subtle instrumentation to shrieking violins and drums once the action kicks off. And while the opening cover of ‘O Death’ is a little on the nose, I honestly don’t hate it and I think it adds brilliantly to the atmosphere of ‘oh boy this is tropey horror’.​​

​​To wrap up, for horror to be effective for me, it needs to blend effective use of many different aspects, both in the background and the foreground, especially in an interactive medium. The story and characters, the visuals, the soundtrack and the threat itself all need to work together to create effective horror and I think Until Dawn manages this brilliantly, with the added challenge of making the horror immersive with its gameplay. Until Dawn is an excellent example of interactive horror meeting decision-based gameplay and I am really looking forward to the future of Supermassive Games.​​ ​​Standout Moment Award: The last quarter or so of the game, when the group finally realise the extent of the true threat and all that suspense pays off is endlessly satisfying to me. I’m love this game.​​

Standout Character Award: Sam. While I nearly gave this to my soft boi Matt, the strong and capable Sam is yet another love letter to the slasher horror genre of the 80s, as well as to the ‘final girl’ trope that still sticks around today. Even putting aside how well-placed she is thematically, she’s just a cool-ass character with a good sense of humour, visible flaws and tangible relationships with almost every character, as well as being played brilliantly by Hayden Panettiere.

​​Tomorrow: No. 12; A tragic tale of halting an arranged marriage and finding oneself through travel.

[eggoreviews]

My Top 25 Games Advent Day 12 - The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (#14)

​​"Hatred and prejudice will never be eradicated. And the witch hunts will never be about witches. To have a scapegoat — that's the key."​​

The Witcher III and I have had a very rocky relationship over the past couple of years. There was a lot of fighting and a lot of problems I ended up having with a game everyone else hailed as masterpiece. It was only recently, with some patience and a lot of convincing myself to give it another try, that I finally saw its value. And oh boy, do I value it now. So before I keep comparing my attachment to this game as a relationship like a weirdo, let’s delve into what made me change my mind about a game I was so vehemently neutral on for so very long.​​

​​When I started The Witcher, I just could not get into it. Several hours in and I was struggling with the various combat and crafting mechanics and finding I was too underlevelled to do much at all, and focusing on all this background noise meant I barely made it into Velen before I realised I was forcing myself to continue. So I stopped, for near enough two years. And then, out of nowhere, I came back and I was gone. I was sucked immediately back into Geralt’s adventures; of his thrilling quest to locate Ciri and destroy the Wild Hunt, the richly interesting side quests and characters that come with them, the challenging, often intriguing monster contracts that always came with a twist. I was absolutely taken with the world and everything that filled it and it turned out that all I needed was time away. So when I finally jumped back into completing each and every plot thread, whether as huge as dethroning the mad tyrant of the Wild Hunt or as tiny as winding a peasant’s lost frying pan, it kept me engaged and left me wanting more until the very end. I know I just recently called the first Dragon Age the Lord of the Rings of gaming, but I think that title may in fact have to go here instead, from pure story and character quality alone, not to mention the excellently crafted and detailed fantasy world they inhabit.​​

​​Speaking of characters, I would say they were the aspect of the game I most appreciated. Matching the game’s perfect tone of knowing when to balance serious dialogue and epic battles/setpieces with humourous characters and sometimes utterly wild and hilarious side quests, the characters Geralt encounters on his journey are as rich and interesting as they are real and faithful to the world they live in. Of course, the main cast of Geralt, Yennefer, Triss and Ciri are consistently brilliant characters throughout the game, growing and changing through the experience and through the choices you make as the player. Geralt’s fraught relationships in particular as he works through a rough patch with his beloved, Yennefer, and chooses whether it would be better to reconcile his relationship with Triss instead is a well-written, realised love triangle that did the unthinkable; it made me care about a romance plot. And a straight romance plot too! How??​​

​​Alongside them come the side characters; while even the lowly peasant quest givers deserve a mention here, every named side character is pretty much unforgettable. Dandelion, the hapless bard who can’t keep it in his pants, Djikstra, the hilariously slimy criminal who keeps a strenuous friendship with Geralt, Zoltan, the friendly dwarf who’s ever your helpful companion and Ves, my rebel wife who I wish got more screentime (seriously I love Ves so much). Vesemir as the father figure to everyone, the sarcastic, bitter but still in some way caring Lambert and the suitably powerful Eredin and Imlerith as central villains. All incredible, all consistent with the world and it makes it all the better.​​ ​​Onto the world itself, this is another example of a not-quite-open world that fills every single square inch of its land and sea with something to explore or conquer. Whether or not you explore the war-torn marshes of Velen, the bustling city of Novigrad or the fraught isles of Skellige, there’s no end of content to satiate you aside from the main questline. New side missions to pick up, treasures to discover, monster nests to destroy, places of power to increase Geralt’s strength in your chosen area, whether that be vanilla combat, your magical signs or your expansive alchemy capabilities. The world and what inhabits it truly compliments the richly developed gameplay mechanics that make Geralt so engaging and diverse to be, as there’s so many different ways to approach the challenges the game throws your way. And nothing quite matches the thrill of knowing you’re Geralt of Rivia, masterful witcher and slayer of giant monsters. It’s the purest form of escapism in every sense of the word and I adore absolutely every aspect of this game that makes this such a flawlessly unique fantasy experience.​​

​​On top of all this, The Witcher III contains the best minigame I’ve ever encountered in anything: Gwent. The act and quests for hunting down a full deck of Gwent cards, the tactics and amount of unbridled fun you can have just playing this card game on its own is dizzying in itself. Counting alongside this Gwent related questlines where you can do anything from playing innkeeps across the world to entering into high stakes Gwent tournaments, all to further your skill and continue to collect unique cards, is brilliant fun and endlessly satisfying. If I’m honest, it’s a damn shame I can’t get ahold of a real Northern Realms Gwent deck because I would be all over that and I would absolutely play anyone at it.​​

​​To sum up The Witcher III as a whole, I would call it the definitive fantasy role-playing experience with one of the most well-realised protagonists in all of gaming. I haven’t quite got round to playing through the expansions yet, but you bet I’m gonna and I massively recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy. You’ve got a real classic waiting for you in The Witcher.​​

​​Standout Moment Award: The battle of Kaer Morhen is, for lack of a better word, just epic. With the fortress as a setpiece, the foreboding Wild Hunt relentlessly marching forward towards you and having near enough every character you’ve met so far gather to help you in your fight was incredible and a great catalyst for the game’s upcoming climax. It’s totally reminiscent of LOTR’s battle of Minas Tirith for all the right reasons.​​ ​​Standout Character Award: Geralt of Rivia. I know, massively obvious choice, but as I said, Geralt is one of the most well-realised protagonists I’ve ever played as. He was so brilliant a character, I’m genuinely scared of how they’ll change him for the upcoming Witcher series. Big, big shoutout to Ciri, Dandelion, Triss, Ves and Lambert too though, who all also could’ve taken this. ​​ ​​Tomorrow: No. 13; a prank gone horrendously wrong, local cannibals dismayed. ​​

[eggoreviews]

My Top 25 Games Advent Day 11 - Dragon Age: Origins (#15)

​​“Let’s show them our hearts, and then show them theirs.”​​

Origins, the first in the incredible tactical RPG series Dragon Age, represents a time in Bioware’s life when they were at the top of their game. Origins is also a brilliantly weird example of how a game can age like cheese in some areas, but other aspects are still masterclasses in video game developing. In a way, Origins shaped my interest in gaming when I was younger and gave me a truly unforgettable experience. So below the cut, I’ll be reviewing this game ten years on, with the least amount of bias I can manage. No promises though.

My first experience with what I feel is one of the best fantasy RPG series ever made was watching my dad play it when it first released, which I probably definitely shouldn’t have been doing (I have an oddly overriding memory of my dad forcing me to put a cushion in front of my eyes when Morrigan got a lil nakey). But the reason I watched everytime he played was because of how easily invested I became in the story, the characters, the setting. And that only amplified once I got to play it myself.  Everything was so well thought out and executed, for a game in 2009, this is literal perfection. But it’s not 2009 anymore. So how much of that still holds out?​​

​​As I just mentioned, the story, characters and overall world-building in this game is phenomenal. From start to end, Origins weaves an excellent story of the disgraced order of the Grey Wardens, who are tasked with besting the Darkspawn uprising, despite the world’s hatred of them due to the wrongful blame of the king’s death. Your own customisable character also has an interchangeable race and background, giving you a multitude of options for kicking off your adventure in plenty of unique ways, which all converge in you joining the fabled Grey Wardens before everything goes to shit. On your journey to unite a divided world in fighting with you and eventually taking on the Archdemon, you encounter a band of lovable, subtly developed and most importantly real characters that enhance the experience far beyond what I expected. I know everyone stans Dorian and Iron Bull these days, but honestly, nothing surpasses this original cast for me. Alistair, your fellow Grey Warden trainee (and in the end, rightful king of Ferelden) is an absolute blast of a character, seamlessly blending scathing humour that never fails to get a laugh whilst also being a deeply emotional and damaged character. Morrigan, the cynical, sarcastic witch who can turn into a bear, while a series mainstay at this point, I absolutely love her in this game in particular. Later on, Leliana, the Orlesian bard with a wicked sense of humour and a good heart, is still one of my absolute favourite video game characters, as well as the stoic Qunari Sten, the motherly mage Wynne, the golem who’s fed up of everyone’s shit: Shale, the heavily drunk/emotional dwarf Oghren and my favourite big ol gay cheeky rogue Zevran. There’s a cast here to rival the Fellowship of the Ring, and they really do come alive in their random conversations with each other and each of their growing individual relationships with your character. On top of this, each character and each race you convince to join your cause all have a genuine impact on how your final battle plays out, making your climactic encounter with the Archdemon all the more unforgettable. And the world of Ferelden itself from the Dwarven city of Orzammar to the forests of the Dalish Elves, are all vibrant, well-established settings and everything feels unique. The amazing thing about the world of Ferelden is that the developers acknowleged they didn’t have enough to fill an entire open world, so they didn’t make one. They didn’t waste the player’s time with pointless, empty space just to pretend that they’ve given you an open world, which is a lesson some developers today still need to learn: just because you’ve given your player an open space, your game can still be empty if you don’t fill it with life.​​

​​However, now I have to put my heavily tinted nostalgia goggles aside and acknowledge that one of my favourite fantasy games has, in fact, not aged brilliantly in some aspects. I still maintain that the characters, narrative content and world you explore are absolutely incredible, but coming back to this game ten years on didn’t yield great results in other areas. While the world itself doesn’t waste your time, random encounters with Darkspawn between areas become a little bit of a ballache after a while and were clearly intended as repetitive padding. And while I love the sheer scale of the amount of spells and abilities you can equip each character with, the combat as a whole feels properly, properly stunted these days. For a tactical RPG, it all just feels so janky and slow, but I maintain that this was great for the time it released. And because combat is one of the main gameplay elements, it makes playing through the game today a lot more wobbly than I remember.​​

​​So there you go, it’s clear that the series, as well as gaming as a whole, has come along leaps and bounds since Dragon Age’s first entry. In the years following, Inquisition has swept the series up from its drop in quality in Dragon Age II, yet again creating a memorable cast of characters and a great fantasy adventure, now updated with much better graphics and combat mechanics. But here’s the thing, I still high-key prefer Origins. No disrespect to Inquistion, I think it was great, but there’s just something about this fresh, original adventure that blew me away when I first played it and I never quite felt the same way about Inquisition or the characters it created. For every Dorian and Sera, there was also a Blackwall and a Solas, giving an unfortunate mix of great characters and not so great ones. Put on top of this a villain I literally gave zero shits about and the fact that they absolutely butchered my favourite character Leliana by making her lose all her charm and character in favour of yet another grumpy, stoic warrior person, Inquisition did not reach the same heights as the first entry, at least in my eyes. And I get the feeling that the impact this game left on me still informs a lot of my game choices today, as well as inadvertently some of my own creations. I really don’t think it’s a stretch to call this gaming’s Lord of the Rings.​​

​​Standout Moment Award: Predictably, the finale. The culmination of every party member, every army you’ve recruited along the way makes an ending that’s epic, satisfying and terrifying in equal measure.​​

Standout Character Award: Leliana. The strong yet playful, cheeky yet unwaveringly just bard quickly became my favourite character and this incarnation of her is still one of my faves to date.

​​Tomorrow: No. 14; A heartfelt coming-of-age story, with the minor addition of a murderous legion of elves.

[eggoreviews]

My Top 25 Games Advent Day 10 - Detroit: Become Human (#16)

“We are gonna tell them peacefully that we want justice. If there’s any humanity in them, they will listen. And if not, others will take our place and continue this fight. Are you ready to follow me?”

This is a divisive game if ever I’ve seen one. Some cite David Cage’s latest multi-branch epic as a modern masterpiece of cinematic gaming, seamlessly weaving three tales of humanity and equality that is genuinely and sometimes harshly affected by your choices. But others, a fair amount of others, see this title as an overblown, janky mess with David Cage’s typical wonky, heavy-handed writing and themes that don’t even attempt subtlety. Me personally, I can see both sides of the fence. So here’s my take.

Going into Detroit, I honestly wasn’t expecting much, being well aware of the reputation Cage carries from his previous projects, but I’m a big ol fan of decision-based adventure games as anyone who’s been reading this countdown will know, so I thought it’d be a fun distraction. Detroit turned out to be what I consider to be the best decision-based game ever created (there’s one other in this list that places above Detroit, but you’ll see why when I get to it). And that’s purely down to the game mechanics alone, even just putting aside the characters and writing for a moment, the sheer amount of endings and branching pathways is baffling. This is a game that is perfectly in tune with every single choice you make, which can often result in deaths of characters that you can’t undo and then boom, you lose the rest of that character’s storyline. It’s harsh, but it means every player gets a different experience and gives much, much more weight to the decisions you make as you strive to get everybody out at the end. Detroit is genuinely a wild ride, made even more enjoyable by its various crime scene investigations, fight scenes and chase sequences, which all keep the overall gameplay from becoming stale.

Now, I know some people criticise this game as a whole for not digging into AI or telling another Ex Machina story about science and technology and ‘tHe SiNgULaRitY’ or whatever, but that’s because that’s really not what Detroit is trying to do. Detroit tells a story of standing up to prejudice and reminding us that humanity should always strive to do better by those that are oppressed, and using the allegory of androids is excellent in driving this home. Detroit is a story of overcoming prejudice in an increasingly terrifying world, as the city of Detroit itself is home to those hurling insults and violence at androids, while simultaneously becoming reliant on them. It’s an interesting paradox, especially as the game continues to give subtle speculation in the background of various scenes as how technology could affect infamous cities such as Detroit in the future, as well as giving an insight into the potential international climate in 2038, from bees dying out to a potential war over the Arctic between the US and Russia. The speculative world-building in this title is stellar, and it’s something I think a lot of people gloss over when considering this game to entirely lack subtlety.

Moving on the foreground of Detroit, here’s where the majority of the people point to Detroit’s massive ham-handedness. The characters. Detroit places you in the control, and basically places in your care, three entirely different characters with completely different and engaging perspectives on the growing number of ‘deviant’ androids:

Connor, a prototype detective android, begins the game entirely sided with his own oppressors, doing everything he can to ensure his mission is complete. Connor can remain as a cold, ruthless, uncaring machine for the entire game, to the disdain of your reluctant colleague and eventually close friend (boyfriend) Hank. Or, if you’ve made enough choices to make Connor reflect on his life, you are given the choice to later defect and allow Connor to discover his humanity. Here’s what I love about Detroit; going back to the masterful story branch crafting for a moment, the game doesn’t allow you to make throwaway choices that entirely contradict how you’ve been treating a character for the whole game, so Connor’s eventual deviancy can only come about if that’s how you’ve been playing him. What’s even more powerful is that, if you choose to stay on the original path Connor was taking, his eventual obsolescence is all the more heart-breaking, as he realises all too late that he was manipulated and used by his creators to harm those who wished for freedom, only to have himself replaced by a more advanced model after being successful. Now that’s how you do an ending.

The second, Markus, yet another prototype gifted to the artist Carl (played by the legendary Bishop himself, Lance Henrikson) to take care of him in his old age. Markus’ story has a hell of a lot of dimensions to it, as you acknowledge throughout your time with him that, despite the fact he is still a slave, he lives what could be seen as a privileged life, compared to other androids at least, living with the artist that simultaneously owns him and dictates his entire life, whilst also urging him to seek his own humanity and think for himself. Some interesting hypocrisy from Carl, which is another reason why it’s so easy to have mixed thoughts and feelings on certain characters. Characters are morally grey in Detroit, even if it doesn’t seem so on the surface! So there’s some of that nuance people seemed to forget was there (but hey, this is all just my opinion so uhhh don’t @ me telling me I suck). In the end, having fallen from his sheltered life into one now entirely dictated by himself, Markus finally sees for himself the horrible treatment of the rest of his kind and resolves to take action and becomes a symbol for the android rebellion, rounding off a satisfying arc for a character previously completely blind to the suffering of his fellow androids.

And the third, Kara, is a household android that has lost all memory beyond a horrible accident she seemed to have suffered. Unlike the polar opposite stances of Connor and Markus, Kara and her growing bond with her previous owner’s child Alice represent what Markus is fighting for and what Connor is fighting against; finding humanity. Kara doesn’t want a part in war or rebellion, her only desire is to protect the child she’s now caring for. While this perspective was extremely important, not least as a way of seeing firsthand how your large scale choices as Connor and Markus are affecting smaller scale narratives such as Kara and Alice’s bid for freedom, my one and only gripe is wishing they’d made Alice, and to a point Kara, into more developed characters that could stand on their own. While their plight is poignant and effective and their motivations are clear, the same can be said of Connor and Markus, who each have their own nuances and quirks to their character that subtly portray the humanity they’re discovering in themselves. Kara and Alice, with a little more development outside of their main drive, could’ve made that plotline just a little more interesting, but I maintain that their perspective was essential in showcasing the outcomes of your choices. Plus, Luther is an awesome character and I love him more than anything. It all just goes to show that a lot of the subtlety some claim as missing entirely can be found in other aspects of the experience, most notably the world-building and the excellently composed soundtrack. In particular, I think the move of choosing an individual composer for each character was absolute genius, as it gives each one their own unique musical style and atmosphere.

I know a lot of this, especially the characters and their arcs, may seem like cliches and so on the nose it isn’t even trying, but I think in this case, it just works. Stories of breaking away from ingrained prejudice can be just that and sometimes benefit from telling stories as they are, Detroit didn’t need to be stylised or rooted in subtle, shifting plot threads to leave me an absolute emotional wreck by the time I finished playing. Sure, it tackled its heavy themes with as much grace as a blind rhinoceros, but that didn’t detract at all from the emotional value of each individual plot thread and it certainly didn’t hamper the experience of being completely engrossed in a story where your choices matter more than anything else. David Cage may have rightfully earned his reputation as a bit of a fumbling, heavy-handed writer, but this game is so painstakingly crafted from every character to every setpiece and every choice alteration from minute to grandiose, makes that famous Cage jank almost entirely disappear. Almost. And if you yourself are a Cage skeptic as I once was (and to a point, still am), I encourage you to give this game a try.

Standout Moment Award: The crossover finale of all three main narrative threads is absolutely perfectly executed, and feels equally impactful no matter your choices. But, you know, obviously the best canon ending is when everyone gets out alive.

Standout Character Award: Connor. Of course this had to go to Connor, the ever-conflicted, messily efficient twinky android who is definitely dating Hank takes today’s standout character shoutout.

Tomorrow: No. 15; framed swordsman gets pissed off at a world-ending prophecy, bothers entire world for help.

[eggoreviews]

My Top 25 Games Advent Day 9 - The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (#17)

“My Lorule may remind you of your own home. But, in fact, our kingdoms are as different as night and day. Worlds apart, as they say.”

At long last, I get to cover one of my all-time favourite franchises on this list. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is my absolute favourite (2D) Zelda game and is, in my opinion, a masterclass in dungeon and world design. Taking everything that made A Link to the Past so great and changing it completely whilst also changing barely anything, A Link Between Worlds stands out from other Zelda games as something truly memorable, as well as being one of the best experiences you can have on a handheld console.

A Link Between Worlds, being a not quite sequel of ALTTP, took all its cues from its predecessor as the groundwork of an excellent game; an interesting enough narrative that kicks off straight away, two different but almost identical worlds to explore, an array of great dungeons and items to tackle them and a whole bunch of optional collectibles. Both Hyrule and Lorule are a joy to explore and just see what you can find, whether that be just some rupees, a minigame or even an item that later becomes important. It’s easy to get lost in just wandering around, as both worlds feel diverse and interesting enough to keep that from getting old too quickly. But my personal favourite aspect of this game, as well as its main reason for placing here, is the dungeons. Every single dungeon you come across in the game is intuitive, challenging, expansive and unique, and with each dungeon able to be tackled in any order, it truly customises the experience to the individual player. While admittedly a fair few of the dungeons are reskins of old favourites from ALTTP, they’ve been tweaked enough to feel fresh and brand new, at least enough so that this game doesn’t feel like a thinly veiled remaster. Where A Link Between Worlds really stands tall is in its final dungeon, Lorule Castle, which still is pretty much my favourite dungeon, purely for its atmosphere, its motif and its perfectly balanced and challenging puzzles. The dungeons in this game are absolutely phenomenal.

In another move to separate this game from its predecessor, you no longer find important items in convenient dungeon chests; you now have to buy or rent them from your new roommate Ravio. Renting is of course cheaper, but it does come with the drawback of having that item taken away if you happen to die while out in the field, which gives a genuine weight to the deaths you experience and gives you much more of a drive to avoid unnecessary deaths, which never feels unfair. It’s a system that really benefits the gameplay, as for the most part, the general experience of this game is just an upscaled ALTTP, so this type of item usage gives the game something entirely different.

Another substantial difference between ALTTP and A Link Between Worlds that makes it way better is its central focus on a running narrative and much stronger characters. While the overarching plot of the game is essentially the same as before, except this time it’s seven sage descendents with actual character that you’re rescuing rather than seven identical, nameless maidens. Most notably though, each character you come across on your journey really makes the world feel vibrant and alive. Hilda, as Lorule’s counterpart of Zelda, acts as a helpful character for the majority of the game, before revealing her intentions of stealing Hyrule’s triforce to fix her kingdom is a very interesting subplot, as it gives more depth to her character and there’s definitely an element of moral grayness to it that’s really rare for a Zelda title. You know Hilda is justified in wanting to save her kingdom from ruin, but it’s at the cost of Hyrule, which then makes the ending of Link and Zelda using their triforce to save Lorule despite Hilda’s actions even more emotional and impactful. And then there’s our main villain, Yuga, a sorcerer hell bent on perfecting the art he makes out of other people and strives for perfection by, you guessed it, resurrecting Ganon. But here’s the thing: Yuga is a much, much more compelling and memorable villain than ALTTP’s Agahnim, who time has been very kind to despite the fact he appears like twice and all he basically ever says to Link is “fuck you, dude”. Yuga is a slimy, pretentious artist who is very, very easy to hate just on his personality and his treatment of Link alone and that makes me love him as a villain even more. Plus, his design is awesome and I’m always down for a unique Zelda villain, as the likes of Zant and Ghirahim also ended up being some of the best parts of their respective games.

Now we come to one of my most important things to focus on in a game, in particular a Zelda game, the music. Of course, they nailed it. The new mixes of the Hyrule and Lorule themes based around the Overworld and Dark World themes from ALTTP are catchy and memorable, the dungeon themes are atmospheric and luckily not quite as repetitive as other previous games. In particular, I’m giving a special shoutout to the Yuga boss theme from Hyrule Castle, which blends brass instruments and deep, chanting vocals help to give this boss fight and Yuga himself a unique feel that separates him from just another one of Ganon’s goons. And last but not least, one of my all time favourite Zelda tracks, the Lorule Castle theme. The slow build, the layering, the swelling orchestra as it becomes more and more epic the higher you ascend into the castle, it’s genuinely incredible and stil constitutes as one of my favourite game finales of all time.

I know I spent a hell of a long time comparing this game to A Link to the Past in this review, but I felt it was important to drive home just how much the series has grown over the past decades, even if it does keep a lot of those old Zelda tropes we’re all too used to. A Link Between Worlds is an excellent example of modern dungeon design and, despite the fact this spot nearly went to Link’s Awakening, comes out on top as my favourite 2D Zelda.

Standout Moment Award: Lorule!! Castle!! Hnnnghg Yuga Ganon fight.

Standout Character Award: Yuga. As arguably the slimiest, most pretentious Zelda villain in the series (which is saying something, especially since Ghirahim exists) Yuga left an immediate impression on me and is still one of the series’ most enduring one-time villains.

Tomorrow: No. 16; a modern tale of prejudice and Mr. Krabs.

[eggoreviews]

My Top 25 Games Advent Day 8 - Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (#18)

“To even hope to best such a foe may seem pure folly, but we cannot flinch or falter. We are our world’s last and only hope!”

Dragon Quest is undeniably the grandparent of all JRPGS, kickstarting the genre in a way that exploded in Japan and led to the likes of Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger making their mark over here in the west. Dragon Quest, as pretty much the first of its kind, is as traditional as gaming gets: it has a big old magic world with castles and monsters and dragons, with a villain that wants to take over the world probably. It is role playing at its simplest form, so how is its eleventh entry still a relevant and engaging experience thirty years after the series’ conception? Because it did enough with the formula to feel like it belongs in the modern age.

Dragon Quest XI drops you into a story of growth, friendship and slaughtering countless creatures that may or may not be vital parts of the ecosystem, all from the perspective of your nameless dude with the dodgy hair, the Luminary. And what do you know, he’s a chosen one because one day there won’t be anyone left alive to be sick of that trope. As I’ve already mentioned, this game plays heavily off a traditional story that, while still impactful and in some way memorable, doesn’t exactly amount to much more than, you know, Dragon Quest, which is fine because it’s not why it’s on this list. Dragon Quest’s combat system has had a hell of a long time to be perfected and finally, I really think they’ve ironed out every single problem it had in the past. Turn based combat remains fast-paced and exciting with the new dynamic camera, vibrant character animations and vast array of attacks and spells to make each character feel unique and important in some way. In this sense, it then becomes genuinely important who you choose to put into your main party, as the right combination of damage, defence and healing is absolutely essential to maximising your chance of success, especially in the later game. Each skill tree is unique, expansive and encourages experimentation with each class and you can genuinely feel the growth of your party throughout the game, thanks in part to the game’s consistently fair difficulty level. Nothing ever feels totally out of reach, but it sure doesn’t hold your hand either. There’s still some grinding necessary here and there, but there’s nowhere near as much necessary than in previous titles. In a game so completely packed with content (I’m talking like 100 hours of just main story alone), it never has a problem with pacing in story or combat, which is a phenomenal feat in itself considering the game’s length.

What helps with the pacing fairly significantly is the fun, passably developed cast of characters that populate the rest of your party. The likes of Erik, the lovable rogue who definitely should’ve ended up dating your protagonist, Veronica and Serena, the polar opposite mage twins who are bound to protect you because reasons, Sylvando, the knight turned bard whose relationship with his dad basically has to be a metaphor for coming out, Rab, the fun Scottish old guy, Jade, the mega cool one who can step on me and Hendrik, big gay knight. Generally speaking, these guys are really fun to have around and the majority of their dialogue feels natural, but every so often a line feels janky and like something was very slightly lost in translation. Overall, the characters really add to your immersion and end up having great chemistry with your player character, and each of them have that signature Dragon Quest charm to it, made even better by the ever-present, vibrant art style from Akira Toriyama. It doesn’t matter how much time goes by, I don’t think I’m ever getting over how much I love his character art (for fellow Toriyama stans, I bigly recommend the Dragon Quest Illustrations book). To match this, the world is equally bright and colourful, acting as an excellent example of faux open world design. Each city has different characteristics and a distinct visual style that means you don’t get bored of having an explore around. Erdrea is as alive as the characters and the great new and returning monster designs, which all make an absolutely stellar JRPG and a testament to why I love Dragon Quest so much.

And now we move on to my main gripe with XI, and to be honest the direction the series as a whole is taking. Just to say, this mild incoming rant only comes from a place of love for the series and how much I want it to improve, and this is regarding the soundtrack. Much like Toriyama for the series’ signature art style, Koichi Sugiyama has been the lead composer of every Dragon Quest game since the first. Putting aside my fairly potent hatred for Sugiyama due to his views on various topics, I’ve always understood and enjoyed what he brought to the series, up until about 2010. Sugiyama is old now, really old, and it shows with XI’s soundtrack. It’s by no means bad, but you really start to get fatigued towards the end of the game when you’re hearing the same 4 Midi tracks for the entire thing; one song for field exploration, one for cities, one for enemies, one for bosses etc. For a game absolutely packed with content, this barebones soundtrack just stands out in the worst possible way. For Dragon Quest to continue on its path of innovation, the soundtrack needs to develop alongside it. Bring in some fresh, new talent! There are so many passionate composers and musicians out there who would bring something new and amazing to the table, take advantage of that Squeenix!! Sugiyama has had a long and successful career and he absolutely is a big part of the reason why Dragon Quest is so iconic, but thirty years on, it’s time for something new.

So there you go, Dragon Quest XI is long as hell, but somehow doesn’t lose its steam. It’s the epitome of how traditional video games can still be improved upon and developed and Dragon Quest, with a little more flair, can still be something ground-breaking.

Standout Moment Award: Honestly, the majority of the second half of the game as you re-recruit each of your party members and see the aftermath of a devastated Erdrea. And the surprise recruitment of my boi Hendrik?? Hell yeah.

Standout Character Award: Erik. I love my perfect viking boy and you’ll never be able to convince me he doesn’t belong with the Luminary. Best couple. Also, Jade should step on me and Hendrik and Sylvando totally fucked one time, if you wanted more hot takes.

Tomorrow: No. 17; pretentious painter rips holes in the universe.

[eggoreviews]

My Top 25 Games Advent Day 7 - Life Is Strange (#19)

“This shit-pit has taken everyone I’ve ever loved. I’d like to drop a bomb on Arcadia Bay and turn it to fucking glass.”

Life is Strange is a bit of a weird one. As yet another episodic adventure game, Life is Strange sees you take control of the hapless, time-bending Max Caulfield, who’s coming home to sleepy Oregon to start her new life in Blackwell Academy, while reuniting with her old friend Chloe. It’s a twisting, turning story filled with unusual characters that drew me in from the very start and didn’t let me go in the long waits between episodes.  And on top of that, it has a brilliantly janky, slightly cringey script that could only be written by middle-aged French men.

Life is Strange just has such a unique vibe, blending out-of-touch teen dialogue, overblown sci-fi jargon, slice of life plot elements and more Twin Peaks weirdness than actual Twin Peaks. And somehow, it all just works so well. The story, starting off fairly small, suddenly blows up in scale after the attempted suicide of Kate (which still ows me everytime) and it’s so brilliantly strung together that by the time I reached the end of episode 4, I was foaming at the mouth waiting for the finale. Every character is perfectly developed, showing multiple sides to their personalities until seemingly everyone you come across is a gray area in some way. I absolutely adore how this game showcases its villains motivations and contexts without justifying or forgiving their behaviour. David Madsen, the ex-military step-dad who literaly spies on his family, before absolutely breaking down at the end when he was unable to save her, instead saving Max’s life as penance. Nathan Prescott, the rich bully, whose severe mental health issues made him easy to manipulate by the game’s real villain, fucking Mr. Jefferson. And the fact that he’s the one pulling all the strings is something you will not guess earlier on unless you are paying pinpoint attention to absolutely everything he says throughout the game. The narrative also tackles a whole shit-ton of sensitive issues in a way that doesn’t feel ham-handed or badly executed.

To embellish these amazingly written characters and narrative threads, the setting of Arcadia Bay in Oregon is perfect. The sleeping, rundown town by the beach that seems to be in a constant state of sunset is an amazing setting for the story they’re telling. The game takes on a subtly sort of graphic novel art style, shading in details in the setting in this style and it gives the game its own unique visual flair that I’m really into. The game’s central setpieces; the academy itself, the junkyard, the cafe, they all maintain this distinct style that really makes you feel as if you’ve been whisked away to Oregon’s coast. Alongside this, the soundtrack, both the ambient music and the indie tracks they chose to play during more impactful scenes, is one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in a game. The edgy music-videoesque endings to each of the starting episodes makes my inner 15 year old very happy, the scene of Chloe finding Rachel’s body has a song that tears me up and, last but not least, Spanish Sahara by Foals during that ending. Ow.

But right, this is a game. It does in fact have gameplay. For the most part, the central mechanic of Life is Strange is Max’s inexplicable ability to suddenly rewind time, which makes for an incredibly unique and interesting approach to decision making in the game. When you make a particularly important choice in the game for example, you are allowed to see the outcome of each of your choices in the immediate future before deciding on one with your power. What this ability doesn’t grant you is looking into the long term, leaving up to you to decide which short term reaction is worth the risk and which is going to provide you with the best outcome in the long run. This is much different to any other decision based game I’ve played and it completely changes the core gameplay, as well as your whole thought process when making these choices, some of which are absolutely devastating. However, this leads into my one and only problem with this game, which really must show how much I love it if it still places here. I’ll be the first to admit that the vast majority of your choices impact the story in either completely inconsequential ways or in no way at all. The potential death of Kate, how you treat certain characters, what Max chooses to do basically renders you entirely powerless to stop anything that happens during the game, especially the ending. No matter what, everything comes down to the same choices, the same deaths and the same ending. So that’s why I say this game works better as a linear story rather than a fully fledged ‘decision based’ experience.

Life is Strange pretty much enveloped my whole life at age 15 and, flaws and all, I still love this game. There was a time when I probably would’ve ended up putting this game at number 1, but I’ve since realised that just isn’t true, so here it sits at 19.

Standout Moment Award: The entire tornado section of the last episode is amazing and so atmospheric as the world around you literally falls apart. Big ol’ powerful stuff my dudes.

Standout Character Award: Nathan Prescott. This game knows how to pull off explaining the motivations of despicable characters without excusing them, and Nathan is the most tragic example of this. From all the shit he went through and all the pain he inflicted on others, Jefferson was there, manipulating him through it all. Realising too late what’s been done to him, Nathan sends a desperate voicemail acknowledging he’s going to die and imploring Max to save herself. Ouch.

Tomorrow: No. 18; Tree enthusiasts band together for general jaunt, chaos ensues.

[eggoreviews]

My Top 25 Games Advent Day 6 - Saints Row IV (#20)

“I was 12 hours into Dead Island when the Zin attacked. Now I’ll never finish.”

When I first turned this game on at like age 13, I had no idea what I was in for with this title. Saints Row IV is a wacky, self-aware and brilliantly crafted open world adventure that somehow seamlessly blends themes of 1950s American values, alien invasions and a Matrixesque simulation plot with enough wild characters, vehicles and setpieces to keep everything feeling fresh. Welcome, one and all, to the game series where you can wield a dildo bat.

Just in case you hadn’t figured it out from that intro, this game is ridiculous and it just knows it. In the first 20 minutes of the game, as your own personal designed President of America, you wander through the white house as the whole world is attacked by aliens. Then, with no real further warning, you’re thrust into Steelport, the aliens’ very own simulation for you to play prisoner, whilst also giving you the excuse to wreck as much shit as possible. Here’s where the fun starts.

Pretty much as soon as the odd tutorial is over with, the world is absolutely your sandbox. Being hyper-aware that the game world you inhabit is a simulation just makes you want to go wild on the death and destruction even more, which is made even more satisfying by the myriad of insane weapons, which include but aren’t limited to a gun that makes people’s heads enlarge and explode and a floppy bat resembling a hentai tentacle. Along with a vast array of odd superpowers that enhance both combat and movement, this game becomes a blast to play from start to finish. At the centre of all this, your player character, an overly macho, cheesy American, works to rescue and recruit an equally eclectic band of characters, who all add to the pitch perfect satirical hilarity this game maintains from mission to mission. Matt Miller, the edgy furry eboy, Kinzie, the possibly clinically insane techie and Keith David (voiced by Keith David), among others, remind you constantly how wildly unique and just plain crazy this whole thing is.

Everything about this game just goes hard. The city of Steelport is bustling, massive, alive; a world simultaneously populated by towering skyscrapers to run and jump over, alien propaganda and scathing commentary on late stage capitalism through Steelport’s many adverts scattered around the city. The world is pretty much bursting with side missions, collectibles, alien outposts to butcher, challenges and extra subplot threads relating to each and every other important character, so there’s enough content here to keep you fucking around in Steelport well before you progress the main story. But even when you aren’t tackling any of this, just sprinting through the city, up skyscrapers and flying back down, with the backing of the awesome, hand-picked soundtrack is an experience I rarely got tired of. In particular, almost every song in the rock radio remains in my playlist today and it helped me discover two of my current favourite bands, so of course this game has its place here.

Oh, and just to push the elephant out of the room, yes I have played Grand Theft Auto V and I can fully understand why so many people idolise this game and tend to leave Saints Row out to dry a bit. It’s expansive, fun and has a baffling amount of content, while also being grounded in reality in some sense. The characters in GTA are engaging and funny, but I guess it’s Saints Row IV’s totally ridiculous characters, world and narrative that drew me in and encouraged me to finish and, to be honest, left more of a mark on me than GTA did. Saints Row nailed its gameplay and its sense of humour for the whole thing, and then they completely ruined everything in Agents of Mayhem. But that’s for another post.

Standout Moment Award: Flying a massive jet plane into an alien mothership with the backing of ‘What is Love?’. That’s kind of all I need to say about that.

Standout Character Award: Matt Miller. Something about this strange, edgy man just made me love him all the more, especially since Kinzie hilariously hates him so much. 

Tomorrow: No. 19; Edgy teen gains inexplicable abilities. Local weather furious.

[eggoreviews]

My Top 25 Games Advent Day 5 - The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (#21)

“Legacy, Javier. It’s all anyone leaves behind. That, and their bones.”

In a world that now seems to be dominated by gameplay-lite adventure games, Telltale Games can be named as responsible for the genre’s spike in popularity and content. The most famous example of these being Telltale’s adaption of The Walking Dead, which in fact only finally wrapped up this year. The first season of this game and even at a stretch the second season have reached cult following levels of adoration among fans, but I’m here today to tell you why the third season, A New Frontier, is my favourite of the lot and why it trumps every other Telltale game that could’ve made it onto this list.

Let’s set the scene. We left our hero Clementine at the end of the second season, walking into an uncertain future with either Jane, Kenny or no one but AJ by her side. As I went into this third season, I fully expected to pick up where we left off with Clem and AJ, maybe a couple of years having gone by. But no, instead you’re thrown into one of the most cinematic, engaging and emotional opening scenes I’ve ever experienced in a video game as you take control of hapless younger brother Javier, who is immediately is faced with conflict from his confrontational older brother David. What follows is a five-episode stint of a brilliant, heartfelt and sensitive look at family dynamics and how they develop and change, particularly within the setting of an apocalypse. In zombie drama, all you have to drive your plot is engaging characters, their relationships and plenty of running around and shooting. I believe that this game, even in comparison to the other Walking Dead titles, contains the best, most interesting character relationships that can be more heavily affected by the player’s actions moreso than any other Telltale game. Javier is a great lens to view the characters and events through, as you see him and his relationships with others change throughout the game, all of course depending on the choices you make for him. 

Regardless, even standing alone, Javier is an excellent protagonist. My placement of this game is also justified by the fact that they took away and fixed every problem I had with the previous games: the janky, immersion-breaking dialogue and pauses, the fact that every third zombie looked identical and the comic book visuals that no one wants to admit has dated significantly. And suddenly, The Walking Dead was an immersive visual spectacle again, taking its art style and modernising it tenfold so it felt less like an excuse to have poor graphics (not to knock the older graphics too hard, they’re not awful, it’s just that these are, you know, really cool). Each and every character genuinely feels alive, which the graphics only really help with, and the writing makes even better. Every member of Javier’s family and beyond is brilliantly written; they all feel realistic and they grow and change throughout the game in the same way as Javier. Javier’s practical alliance turned trusted friendship with the now growing Clementine, the tension that remains between Javier and David as they vie sort of unwittingly for Kate’s affection, Gabe’s growth and realisation that maybe his dad isn’t quite as idol material as he first thought and learning through Javier and Clementine that there’s a better way to live your life. All this set to the backdrop of the only worsening zombie wasteland and a cast of great supporting characters (shoutout to Jesus, Ava and Tripp) serve to make the experience even better.

In A New Frontier, the developers took what we knew of The Walking Dead and properly shook it about, giving us a deep and memorable experience beyond what anyone was expecting. The story was bigger and better, the setpieces were more interesting, the graphics more striking, the button prompts more varied and immersive. In fact, pretty much my one and only frustrating nitpick with the game was the way it pretty much totally shafted any and all choices made in the previous seasons, particularly with the way it Alien 3’d either Jane or Kenny (depending on your choices) and, either way, a beloved character that you toiled over saving gets unceremoniously killed off in a flashback. Other than that slightly criminal move, I’d say Telltale perfected their formula here. I have yet to play the final season, but after A New Frontier, the conclusion of Clementine’s journey is all the more exciting to me. Plus, Makoto from Persona 5’s voice actor is playing a main character so that’s just a bonus really.

Standout Moment Award: The ‘Ava or Tripp’ ultimatum at the end of episode 4, particularly its outcome, basically completely broke me. So there you go.

Standout Character Award: Javier Garcia. Obvious pick, but I never expected a new protagonist to the series to grow on me so much. His growth and development throughout the series is amazing to see and his relationships with others that you cultivate as a player are equally satisfying.

Tomorrow: No. 20; Simulation theory meets campy aliens and ’50s America.

[eggoreviews]

My Top 25 Games Advent Day 4 - Kingdom Hearts II (#22)

“We can always buy some sea salt ice cream.”

I have a very odd relationship with Kingdom Hearts, and honestly, I sometimes can’t decipher whether it’s mostly love or hate I feel for this game. But above all else, this overtly ridiculous crossover between Disney and Final Fantasy captured my heart and mind when I was young and I became so obsessed, I actually managed to progress further in the game at age 7 than I did this year before I got stuck. Kingdom Hearts is my strange and confusing paramour and I still don’t really know why it exists or, even 14 years later, what the hell it is.

Kingdom Hearts II, which is of course the third entry in the series, came out for the PS2 in 2005 and was actually gifted to my mother first, before she gave it to me when she realised the Disney characters on the front weren’t a brilliant representation of the game’s contents. And so putting the disc in for the first time in 2005 and revisiting it on the PS4 this year had the exact same effect on me; I knew immediately I wasn’t in this for the story. Kingdom Hearts as a whole is notorious for having a bumfuck crazy story with ungodly amounts of branching plot threads that were more than enough to make my tiny 7 year old brain shut down, as well as my tiny now brain. And it wasn’t the fact that I entered the series at the wrong point, it just be like that. You follow Sora, and occasionally Roxas, along with everyone’s favourite least favourite companions Donald and Goofy as you travel to Disney world upon Disney world fighting off creatures called heartless and nobodies for a reason, presumably.

Taking a step back for a minute, I realise how vaguely and snarky I am referring to this game, so why do I love it enough for it to make spot 22? It’s not just blind childhood nostalgia (though I suspect that plays a part). Kingdom Hearts II is just a blast to play, from the engaging and varied combat mechanics that encourage experimentation with spells, abilities, limits, summons and transformations to make every fight constantly insane, to the fun little skateboarding sections at the beginning of the game. Focusing on the combat for a sec, which I view as the central portion of the game, it really isn’t child’s play. If you jump into a boss fight or even a particularly gruelling set of regular enemies unprepared, then accept the fact that you are about to have your arse personally handed to you by a Disney villain. This is especially true for the later stages of the game, as you start to take on members of the central villainous group of the series, Organization 13 (which of course has 14 members) where they really just pull out all the stops to make your life misery if you don’t master your style of play. But that really is the beauty of Kingdom Hearts; it encourages you to create your own playstyle based on the arsenal of weapon types, spells and abilities the game locks and loads you with, making each quick access selection you make for each menu be the crucial difference between life and death.

So other than the blisteringly difficult combat, the main draw to Kingdom Hearts is the fact you get to visit various different Disney worlds and beat things up on them. I'll be honest, each of the worlds in this game very wildly in quality. Unlike most others, I adore the opening to this game and how gentle and mysterious Twilight Town is as a starting area, which sets up some intriguing plot threads for later in the game. Hollow Bastion, the gathering place of the strange selection of Final Fantasy characters, is unique and atmospheric, as well as later in the game playing host to one of the coolest, well-crafted horde battles I've seen in a game (apart from the Goofy death fake-out, that was just weird). There's even a Winnie the Pooh section filled entirely with fun minigames and if there's anything that's going to make me regress into childhood, it's that. Some of the worlds, most notably A Nightmare Before Christmas, Pirates of the Caribbean and Tron actually alter the designs of Sora, Donald and Goofy so their costumes fit much better in the aesthetic; I think that was a brilliant idea and was well executed. My favourite of these though, as well as my favourite world in Kingdom Hearts overall, is the Timeless River world based off the first '30s cartoons of Mickey Mouse, which regress Donald and Goofy back to their original designs and gives Sora his own monochrome old style appearance! It's adorable and is just bursting with that Disney style and creativity I'm really sad they seemed to have lost overtime (but that's for a different post). To perfectly compliment these worlds and the game overall, the soundtrack is amazing (which I often hold as one of my main conditions of putting something in this list); sometimes they went for a basic instrumental of a song corresponding to that film, but for others like Twilight Town and Hollow Bastion, the original scores created for those are jaw-dropping, with the same applying to each and every battle theme they composed. It doesn't seem obvious until you say it out loud that a combination between Disney and Final Fantasy is of course going to yield some awesome music and I really can't get enough of it.

Oh yeah and then they decided to ruin it all with the Little Mermaid game, in which they threw away everything the game had implemented up to that point to make you play a babyish, unresponsive rhythm game so Sora and the gang can take a break from vanquishing evil to appear in a musical. And the best part is you can't get this monstrosity out of the way in one sitting! Nope, you have to continually come back and complete sections of this hell periodically just so the game can make sure you're not having too much fun.

Basically, other than that mild (monumental) hiccup at the end there, Kingdom Hearts II excels at what it's trying to do and be, whatever that is. It somehow succeeds in pulling off the tenuous connection between world-famous, family friendly Disney and edgy, batshit Final Fantasy. It's wild and it's funny when it isn't quite meant to be (see the moment when Tron just fucking yeets himself into a pit for no apparent reason at the end of his section, because I lose it every single time at that, especially since the game is playing it off as something really sad). But most of all, it's a reflection of pure insane creativity and corporate synergy all welded into a series literally no one can ever truly comprehend. And they actually hired on the late, great Christopher Lee to say the line "We can always buy some sea salt ice cream". So here it stands, as my 22nd favourite game of all time.

Standout Moment Award: The Nightmare Before Christmas, purely down to visuals and soundtrack alone. If not that, then anything involving Twilight Town because that's one of my absolute favourite settings in a video game.

Standout Character Award: Axel. Axel is just a chill dude, not quite hero and not quite villain, who’s a welcome presence throughout the Kingdom Hearts series. Not so edgy he’s completely unlikable, but enough edge and humour to make 12 year old me happy.

Tomorrow: No. 21; Intense family drama: Zombie Edition