LTTP: Returnal

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I liked Housemarque’s tight arcade gems like Super Stardust HD and Resogun, but Returnal gave me pause after seeing its hefty $89.99 asking price and the incongruent make up of the gameplay and aesthetics. I couldn’t reconcile the serious tone and visuals with the arcade style third person shooting mechanics. It wasn’t my jam at full price, but I kept hearing good things. I also heard they fixed some of its major criticisms (suspend cycle) and considering I was a fan of roguelikes such as Hades, I felt I had no excuse to try it once I subscribed to PlayStation Plus Extra.

After finishing the first act and nearly finishing the second, I was done sinking time into it. I don’t mind dying and having to start a cycle anew, but the game was so devoid of entertaining personalities that I dreaded having to see the same biomes again and again. Unless it was a very quick death, I often just shut the game down to go play something else after each attempt. 

Early on, I would look forward to pushing forward to see new biomes, enemies, and bosses. I was even a little bit intrigued by the story. However, by the time the second act came around, each new enemy quickly bored me. Each new weapon wore out its welcome. And I found whatever Selene was going through to be largely uninteresting.

If Hades got everything right, I felt Returnal got everything wrong. 

Verdict:
I didn’t like it

Ratings Guide

LTTP: Marvel’s Spider-man: Miles Morales [PS5]

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loved 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-man game by Insomniac Games; it was easily the best Spider-man game to date and one of my favorite games in recent memory. Having said that, I didn’t have the desire to jump in and revisit New York City in 2020’s Marvel’s Spider-man: Miles Morales. Sure I enjoyed Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse and the 2018 game, but after hearing how familiar it was to the first game by Insomniac, I felt the need to create more distance. 

After nearly three years , a subscription service launch, and a pretty attractive sale, I decided to finally play the “standalone expansion”. Unsurprisingly, it was both familiar and enjoyable. I found Insomniac did well to channel the vibe of Into the Spider-verse while creating their own take on Miles Morales. I was pleasantly surprised with their own take of The Tinkerer. 

The entire setup of having Miles take care of New York while Peter was out vacationing with Mary Jane was cute. We got a little bit of Miles and Peter which gave me a glimpse of what Spider-man 2 could look like before it was Miles’ game. Many of his moves felt familiar to Peter’s, but the Venom bioelectric powers made Miles very distinctive. He felt more powerful and stealthy thanks to his bioelectric powers and the ability to just turn invisible. I found myself not utilizing many of the web gadgetry or web related moves much at all due to the Venom moves.

The strength of this game was still the main story thread and the swinging. I like the idea that Spider-man takes a vacation and leaves it to the backup that is Miles Morales. The new Peter Parker was indeed Tom Holland-esque, but it’s honestly been so long that you could have kept change from me and I wouldn’t have bat an eye. I was pleased with the brisk pace of the main story. They set everything up well enough to the point where the main antagonist was a believable and worthy adversary to Miles. I had no idea Insomniac Games did their own spin on the Tinkerer character until I checked the wikis. An excellent job!

The technical and graphical feats was equally commendable. I played the game on the 40FPS mode and it looked and ran great. The ray traced reflections held up well during gameplay, but even with that little nicety, it was clear that this was a PlayStation 4 game at its core. The city and nearly anyone who wasn’t the core cast were noticeably a step down in detail and quality.

Spider-man: Miles Morales was a good way to revisit 2018’s Spider-man without having to replay the exact same game. Some would argue that you’re doing just that with Miles Morales, but I think that’s a bit too refutative. It had the same open world weaknesses, but it also had the same strengths with it spectacular set pieces and compelling story. It’s a strong PlayStation 5 launch game and if you didn’t play it yet, it’s also a very strong PlayStation Plus Extra title; it’s a good time no matter when you end up playing it.

Verdict:
I liked it

Ratings Guide

LTTP: Resident Evil 3 [PS5]

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Resident Evil 3 Remake felt like an expansion to Resident Evil 2 Remake which made the original $79.99 asking price a tough one to stomach. On its own, Resident Evil 3 Remake can be seen as “too short” and “too straightforward”, but I bought it for less than half the asking price and as a standalone expansion, it was fine. There wasn’t much exploration and its hook, Nemesis, was more of an ongoing gag than something to be feared.

The return of Jill Valentine was the highlight of the game; it was good to see her back in action. She held her own and didn’t take nonsense from the other characters which fed to the mystique as a “super cop” and veteran of zombie fighting. 

Carlos actually felt like a soldier equipped to handle a zombie apocalypse which made his segments more of a cakewalk than I was expecting. However, it wasn’t a foreign feeling as the RE2 Remake’s alternate character sections felt similar. I just wished they didn’t have to lean into “finding the cure” trope again.

The predecessor was a lengthy adventure, but it was padded retreading familiar territory twice.  RE3 Remake intertwined with the timeline of RE3 Remake, which meant visiting familiar territory for a third time, but thankfully the vast majority of the game was new. 

Jill and Carlos felt more nimble thanks to their newfound ability to dodge attacks. They also discovered knives that didn’t shatter through the course of a 6 hour adventure. Those two gameplay tweaks along with the muscle memory developed by playing RE2 Remake made for a breezy feeling game. There were spots of uneasiness, but I have to admit, RE3 Remake felt like a romp compared to my first run through the RE2 Remake.

I enjoyed my time in Raccoon City again; especially for the very modest price of admission nowadays. It’s a well made modern Capcom developed Resident Evil game which wasn’t something we could count on not so long ago. It may not be as meaty or impactful as its predecessor, but it’s still worth checking out Jill Valentine being a super cop.

Verdict
I liked it

Ratings Guide

LTTP: Resident Evil 2 [PS5]

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I played the original Resident Evil 2 on the Sega Dreamcast of all consoles. It was my second Resident Evil game after finishing Resident Evil: Code Veronica on Sega’s impressive 3D console. In fact, the only reason I even played Code Veronica was because of a school friend who bought his Dreamcast for the exclusive. My impressions of the original RE2 were not as glowing as I hoped. I was coming from a game that refined tank controls and generationally superior in every technical aspect. 

I recall finding it neat that it had two playable characters, but at the same time, I was disappointed that I was essentially playing the same 10 hour game twice. Coming from the 20 hour epic campaign of Code Veronica, it felt like things were wrapping up as soon as things started moving. 

I’m the weirdo who would have preferred a remake of Resident Evil: Code Veronica over Resident Evil 2. With that in mind, I still recognized Leon and Claire’s first adventure has its place amongst fans of the franchise and video games at large. I was curious if I would enjoy the remake more with a fresh new coat of paint and a revised perspective many years later.

The remake’s philosophy seemed to have been: “Keep the spirit and hallmarks of the original while modernizing just about everything that makes sense.” Third person over the shoulder camera established in Resident Evil 4 made its return. I found the first person camera in Resident Evil 7 fine, but to me, it doesn’t feel like a Resident Evil game unless its in the third person. 

A generous checkpoint system, friendly controls, and melee counter options gave Leon and Claire more fight and capability than ever, but they were still bound by the confines of the original’s design. They could jog and jump down in this game, but a 3 foot gap was too much to handle. They still had to re-arrange giant bookshelves just so they can build a makeshift bridge across the library’s second floor.

I was generally impressed with how the game looked technically; I was playing the PS5 upgraded version at 120FPS mode. My only gripe was with the screen space reflections which were a distraction. I would have switched on the ray tracing mode to fix those flaws, but the performance issues in that mode deterred me from staying with that mode.

I was also a fan of how the zombies, police station, and just about everything aside from Leon and Claire looked. I found both protagonists looked and sounded derpy with their awkward lines. Ada Wong and just about every other character came across fine, but Leon and Claire were a couple of awkward fools that didn’t quite grasp the gravity of their situation. 

Playing through Resident Evil 2 twice wasn’t satisfying. Claire’s playthrough was faster and had a handful of interesting moments, but it didn’t warrant retreading so much of Leon’s adventure. I understand this was a relatively novel idea when the PlayStation version debuted, but I’m just not a big fan of having to go through games multiple times to unlock true endings — especially when the differences aren’t enough to warrant it.

When I was in the thick of it, creeping by a licker because I was low on resources or just jetting through the station because Tyrant was nearby, I was loving every second of Resident Evil 2. The game was in its element and executing on every level. It’s unfortunate that there was just a tad too little of it and the experience was watered down with the Claire playthrough. 

Verdict
I liked it

Ratings Guide

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