Earth's Dawn (PS4) Review

 

Earth's Dawn (PS4) Review

Date Released: 1 November 2016

Date Played: 9 January 2022

Introduction:

Earth's Dawn is a side-scrolling beat 'em up developed by OneorEight games and published by Rising Star Games.  It was quietly released as a budget title to mediocre reviews from both critics and the general public and seemed to fade somewhat into obscurity soon thereafter. As far as I can tell, it's the only game that this company ever made or released. In essence, it's nothing more than a clone of Vanillaware's cult favorite game, Odin Sphere. It has been changed to a sci-fi setting instead of fantasy, but the similarities and inspirations are clear... and blatant.  It can be difficult to tell if a game is highly inspired by another work or if it is just trying to rip-off its ideas and grab a quick dollar by piggy backing on someone else's efforts.  In the case of Earth's Dawn, it's difficult to tell. It is so heavily similar that an uninformed viewer might think that this game was created by Vanillaware themselves.  However, once you have personally grabbed the controller and played through this game, it will be abundantly clear that this is not the same team that made Odin Sphere and pales in comparison.  Still, we can ask ourselves, is the game still good, does it have merit, is it worth playing? It is a clone of a tried and true classic, that's developed by a one and done developer.  Maybe we have a hidden gem or future cult classic on our hands.

Story:

Earth's Dawn is set in the "far distant future" of 2020 where humanity has been invaded by hostile aliens known as the E.B.E..  These monstrosities have ravaged the land, population, and life as we know it to the point that it is near extinction. Despite humanity's best efforts, they find their tactics and weapons are basically useless against this horrible threat. In a last ditch effort, the remaining scientists have discovered how to fuse E.B.E. biomatter with metal to create a superpowered armor that can be fused to a soldier to turn them into an ultimate killing machine that has a change against the alien menace.  These new super soldiers, eye-rollingly dubbed A.N.T.I., set off on their mission to push back the invaders and reclaim Earth for everyone who still remains.  You'll work your way through New York, Wisconsin, Canada, and Alaska as you fight back the hordes of enemies along your way and hopefully win the day.

It's a trite premise that serves as nothing more than a vehicle for the gameplay and setting for the whole experience. This, of course, excludes the sheer idea of going to Wisconsin, a locale I can't recall ever even hearing mentioned in a video game before and wish was explored more in this scenario. Did the developers just draw a straight line from New York to Alaska and realize that it crosses through Wisconsin and decided to include it? I want to know more about this decision because it's one of the more interesting inclusions of this game. As for the rest of the narrative, you're given some minor exposition here and there, but it's very sparse and basic and never goes beyond acting as a combat briefing for the upcoming battle. As you level up and progress you are occasionally given some journal updates that fill in the lore and backstory, but most of this information will already be deduced by the player. If you're in the mood for some deep story telling, character development, and meaningful insight you're just not going to find it here.

Gameplay:

You begin the game by creating your character from a set templates that only serve as cosmetic skins.  After that, you're thrown right into the fray to start hacking and slashing with your new avatar.  Just like in Odin Sphere, gameplay takes place on a 2D plane.  You can double jump, attack, slide, ground pound, shoot, and string together combos. You enter into segmented arenas and after clearing the enemies can move on to the next section as you slowly uncover the map and work towards your objective. There are a few tiny branching paths, but mostly every stage is extremely linear.  As for these objectives, all of the story missions involve fighting your way through an area towards a boss that you will have to defeat. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of main story missions in the game.  The rest of the time you'll be doing side content to upgrade your character, unlock new skills, and just pad out the game.  In between story missions, you're taken to the menu of the game and given a timer until the next story mission will take place.  During this time, you're supposed to tinker around with your character's skills, craft new armor from items you collect during gameplay, upgrade weapons, and take on the copious amount of side missions mentioned before.   These side missions are essential not only because they are required to unlock new skills for your character, but because the game actively makes you do them to run down the clock between main story missions.  Once the clock reaches zero, you're given one minute to finalize upgrading your character and then the game throws you into the next story mission.  These can be somewhat challenging (especially the boss fights in the beginning) and you might fail several of them.  Luckily, the game takes pity on you and kicks you back out to the menu and allows you to grind, complete more side missions, and do whatever you need to without fear of the countdown timer.  It's nice of them to do this, but makes you realize that the timer itself is pointless and is just there to annoy you and artificially add tension.  

As for these side missions, they make up the bulk of the game.  Almost every skill and upgrade you can get in the game is earned by completing them.  They are mostly the same, requiring you to traverse a section of the map you've already seen in the previous story mission and kill a number of enemies.  You'll see the same areas again and again, fight the same handful of enemies over and over, and feel like you're in an eternal loop of grinding.  Some of these missions you literally have to replay 4 times in order to unlock some of the skills you need. There are entire upgrade chains in the menu that will have 3 or 4 blips that say +3 ATK each and each blip will be unlocked by playing the same mission multiple times. It's a mindboggling bad design choice and you can tell the developers just didn't have enough content to make a whole game and had to recycle the same missions over and over. Add onto this, the enemies can be very spongey and take too long to dispatch. You'll spend several minutes just clearing one combat encounter of the same enemies you've seen a million times.  It's very padded and anyone who has played this game is very aware of this and more than willing to let you know (if the internet is a good example).  It almost has the feeling of an MMORPG where you're doing fetch quest after fetch quest while waiting for the next big event to happen.  Not only that, you're graded at the end of the missions and certain skills and abilities are locked behind earning an S ranking on these.  That can lead you to having to grind out these repetitive missions even more. Most of the levels feel exactly the same with the exclusion of the second area that introduces a half-baked and poorly implemented gravity mechanic that allows you to invert your orientation to the ceiling and walls during combat scenarios.  It doesn't really add anything to the game other than scrambling your brain with the flipped controls and placing enemies (and the worst boss in the game) constantly out of your reach. Even if it was poorly done, the game could have benefitted from some more gameplay mechanics to break up the monotony. Still, that being said, I never really found these missions to get that boring as the game has a sort of relaxing mindlessness to it that can be enjoyable.

The combat is fluid enough, but does feel a little clunky quite often.  Enemies never block, but they do tend to evade and will read your attacks and hop out of the way too often. This can get quite annoying as the enemies seem to be reading your moves and you just can't connect with them. Also, you're combos will often have a move in them that causes you to lunge forward or do an aerial dash that will cause your character to shoot too far away from the enemy you're focusing on and force you to have to move back into range. This usually isn't that much of a problem because of the good amount of enemies on the screen.  But, when you're down to only one remaining enemy, it can feel like you're constantly having to reposition yourself as you chase them around the screen.  Enemies will also have a lot of poise and rarely seem to get stunned by your attacks.  This will often lead them to smacking you right when you're in the middle of attacking them in a combo or grabbing you and putting you into a lock.  This leads you to be forced to constantly block or maniacally dash around the screen in hopes of avoiding their attacks. This is in contrast to your character which will often rag-doll, get stun-locked, or be frozen easily from enemy attacks.  You'll be forced to pull out your best guerilla tactics and hit a couple of times and then dash out.  Strike and move, strike and move. It can lead to some tense battles that give the sense of only doing a tiny amount of damage here and there while you're trying your hardest to survive.  This can especially be true of some of the more difficult bosses.  These can be tedious (several of them took a couple of 20+ minute attempts), but they can also be quite fun; it really just depends on your loadout and the boss design.  Sometimes, you'll have a tanky boss while you're using fast and weak weapons; sometimes you'll have an agile boss that you can barely hit with your giant mace.  It can be the luck of the draw on your first attempt. However, you're always given the opportunity to change your tactics on the next try. Of course, if you are like me and over level and grind out all of the skills, you can just mindlessly button mash your way to victory.

As you unlock skills, you're able to create loadouts for the different weapons and styles you chose to play. Skills and upgrades require an available free point in a loadout to equip them.  These points can be earned by gathering crystals that are scattered around the stages and from defeating enemies.  This does add a little bit more on the grindiness factor of the game, but it's never that overwhelming and mostly happens passively as you're playing the game. You're given a good selection of weapons to try out that really serve to change up the gameplay and you'll want to try multiple loadouts and character builds as you find a style that suits you. There are swords, guns, bows, longswords, and shoryukens to assist wiping out the E.B.E. threat and they are all welcome and viable additions.  Of course there are a plethora of each of these different weapon types to upgrade, build, and try out.  Selecting the correct one to build with your limited resources can really make or break an upcoming stage (I'm looking at you, bow that heals you when you reload).  In addition to this, you can imbue the weapons with skills like fire, ice, electricity, vampire, etc. when crafting them. This can give you a real boost, and can pretty much remove all challenge to the game if you play your cards right. At other times, you'll find yourself shooting at a giant armored beast with a pea shooter for half an hour.

Presentation:

Earth's Dawn has a very striking and beautiful presentation... that looks exactly like a Vanillaware game.  All of the backgrounds are stunning and presented in a flowy watercolor style with a lot of parallax scrolling to add dimension.  The characters have a sort of paperdoll/marionette look that is ill proportioned and cartoony but charming. You can really tell that the game was a little too inspired by Odin Sphere.  It's basically bordering on legal action and I'm shocked that they were able to get away with it.  I'm actually curious to know if some of the artists working on this game previously worked for Vanillaware, but there's just not much information out there on OneorEight games. Whatever the case, you can tell that the art direction was a much higher priority that the gameplay during development because the bosses, characters, and enemies all have a really awesome art style that meshes perfectly with the picturesque backgrounds and settings. It is honestly the best part of the game and really does make for some impressive screen shots. Despite this, their best efforts are still not quite as good as Vanillaware's.  Of course, who's would be?

The story is mostly presented in the classic budget focused mode of having still portraits appear on screen while the narrative is given in the form of text at the bottom of the screen.  There is some Japanese voice acting as well as some motion effects added to the portraits to add some pizazz to the presentation, but it still boils down to looking at a picture of a person while you're being told about action going on somewhere else.  This is a HUGE no-no when it comes to storytelling. SHOW ME what is happening, don't have someone tell me about it. You can tell that there were some serious budget issues with this game as all of these cutscenes involve just a handful of pictures that are used over and over again with some slight aftereffects added. 

As for the score, it's pretty epic and well orchestrated.  The style ranges from symphonic, to rock, and all the way to electronic based on where the action is taking place.  It fits the game very well and serves to keep the energy pretty high, but is never memorable nor catchy.  It is great background music that does the job, but could have elevated the game if it had been just a bit better.

Conclusion: 

The critics weren't wrong when this game came out.  It really is a mediocre experience and all of its best features and highlights were taken from the game it's trying to emulate.  The combat, art style, art direction, music, story, characters, gameplay, and almost everything else is taken from Odin Sphere but not done nearly as well.  In my 20 hours with the game, I was having a fun enough time but couldn't help but feel that I could be having more fun playing the game that THIS game is trying to copy. There is just way too little meaningful content to the main story that is severely over-padded with repetitive and banal side quests. 

I guess the main takeaway from this game is that no matter how poorly executed your game is, if you copy from a good enough game it can carry you through.  Just like a terrible band doing a cover of a Beatles' song, you recognize the quality and impact of the original but wish it was done better in this circumstance.  I had planned on fully completing this game and unlocking all of the trophies, and I got pretty close.  The only thing left to do after finishing the final boss was to complete the remainder of the side missions and unlock the remaining skills (also done by finishing the side missions).  However, the game decided to introduce a bunch of post-game content after the credits rolled.  I realized that I was going to have to do 50, count them, 50 side missions to unlock these two final trophies.  There were actually only about 14 new missions, but the game wanted me to do each one 4 times each.  Padded-out... even until the end...

Final Status: Beaten (almost 20 hours... with 17 hours being side missions)

Final Score: 6/10 (OK)

Blazing Chrome (PS4) Review

Blazing Chrome (PS4) Review

Release Date: 11 July 2019

Date Played: 8 December 2021

Introduction:

Blazing Chrome is a 16-bit inspired 2D run and gun platformer developed by JoyMasher.  It wears its influences on its sleeve and draws heavily both from the Contra and the Metal Slug franchises. The game takes place in a post-apocalypic world where humanoid machines have taken over and a small resistance group of the remaining humans have set out to defeat them. If this plot sounds familiar to you, you're not alone. It's basically just the plot from Terminator 2: Judgement Day. No one is going to doubt that this is a cool premise for a game, novel, book, movie, what-have-you.  After all, Terminator 2 is a beloved movie and was a HUGE hit when it came out.  Unfortunately, this setting been played to death. We've seen it again and again and you can only beat a dead horse for so long. Yes, it certainly evokes a sense of nostalgia from the early 90s, but I couldn't help but feel that the developers could have picked a less cliché setting for their game to make it stand out and be something novel and unique. Give us something that serves as an ode to those games that came before it rather than serving as one of many clones that did nothing more than try to sit at the cool kid's table of game development. Take what your influences did before you, stand on their shoulders, and combine your knowledge with theirs to elevate the things you love to a new height. Give your audience a glimpse into your passion and they'll love you for it. 

Sadly, the developer of Blazing Chrome didn't do this and instead pumped out what I consider to be a pedestrian and phoned in attempt at genre that is crying out for a retro-inspired masterpiece.  If you played a Sega Genesis (Sega Megadrive) at any point in your life, you've played a game like this.  

Presentation:  

In terms of looks, Blazing Chrome knocks it out of the park for achieving that gritty 16bit look that was so prevalent in the early 90s. It has some great sprite work, nice backgrounds with cool parallax scrolling, cool boss and enemy designs, and a very nice color pallet.  The game looks the part and could actually fool someone into thinking it was being played on a 16bit console. The art direction is nice and has a good focus.  There levels mostly feel distinct from each other and have some memorable sections. There are also some really impressive pseudo 3D effects they do towards the end of the game.  One of these is a simple on-rails shooter section that has you traveling into the background in a 3rd person view similar to Space Harrier or Panorama Cotton.  It's well done, but doesn't quite live up to the high standards of those two games.  But, nevertheless, is a joy to observe.  In a similar fashion, there is a section of the final stage where you're teleported into a VR world and have to dispatch enemies while avoiding obstacles that scroll towards the screen.  It's a really inspired idea and was the standout moment in the game for me. If only the game creators were able to put this sort of exciting and unique inspiration into the whole game, we might have seen something truly remarkable. 

You're also given some screen filter options to make the game feel like you're playing on a pixelated CRT screen.  Personally, as someone who games daily on an actual CRT screen, I never use these.  But, if you're after that nostalgia high, maybe these will help you get a little closer.

As for the sound, it doesn't fair so well.  I'm not sure if it's a bug or a poor mixing issue, but Blazing Chrome is super quiet.  For a game that's all about attitude and having all guns blazing, the sound is very puny and weak.  I did an internet search and heard that there is a issue with the game where only the sound comes out of the middle channel.  I'm not sure if it'll ever be patched, but the music is quiet, thin, and doesn't have any bass or presence to it at all.  It sounds like it's coming out of an old-timey radio with a 2 inch wide speaker. I'm not sure anyone has ever wanted to listen to some pumping and rocking music coming out of a Victrola, but that's what we were given.  I basically had to crank the volume on my sound system to even have it audible.  Even after that, the music was still pretty muffled, undynamic, and just generally lackluster.  It certainly has the feel that the developers are striving for with a rock/metal feel with drums, distorted guitars, and the sort of composition you would expect.  However, the chord changes are banal and repetitive and there's no real good sense of melody or hooks to keep you engaged.  The best way I can describe it is that it is filler music that you would tolerate in between the cool sections on a soundtrack. The problem is that the game never gets to those good sections.

Gameplay:

I know, I know... I've rambled on enough about the aesthetics of the game when all anyone cares about in a 2D run and gun is the gameplay.  So, how does Blazing Chrome hold up?  Just fine.  It plays exactly like you would expect it to and has the same control scheme as games like Contra Hard Corps and the Metal Slug games.  You run and shoot in 8 directions.  Holding R1 will lock your shot angle so you can maneuver around and keep firing in the locked position. You can jump, slide, and cycle through the 4 weapons available to you (provided you've already collected them). Also, if you're within range, you can melee an enemy.  This reminds me a lot of Metal Slug, of course, but the attack is much stronger here and can even serve as your primary source of damage.  I found myself melee attacking most of the bosses. In addition to this, you can also collect helper drones to assist you.  These will provide a shield, extra firepower, or a speed increase.  This provides you with a decent arsenal to help you on your way.  You will also be able to enter into a vehicle/robot suit at several points in the game just like in Metal Slug (...once again).  They provide some extra firepower until they take too much damage and you have to bail out.  Just like always, this a lot of fun and serves to add some pizazz to the game.  Unfortunately, these only appear in 3 levels and your time with them is all to brief.  Lastly, there are a couple of speeder sections where you're on a hoverbike and have to avoid obstacles while shooting the enemy.  These sections, while different than the rest of the game, are kind of annoying and are more dreadworthy than something you look forward to.  Surprisingly, for a game called Blazing Chrome that tries too hard to inundate you with it's radical renegade attitude, it never really makes you feel like you're that powerful or awesome.  The guns and explosions are... milquetoast. It's like lighting the fuse on a giant bomb only to have it give off a tiny pop with a smattering of confetti. 

One hit deaths are present here, but dying only causes you to lose your equipped weapon and one of your lives.  Once you're lives are depleted you're allowed to continue from the most recent checkpoint.  These checkpoints are fairly forgiving and there are several in each level.  You'll also earn an extra life every 20k points which helps immensely and you can accumulate quite a healthy stock of lives before too long. Still, Blazing Chrome can be pretty difficult in places and will cause some frustration in players that aren't used to this sort of game. Luckily, the aforementioned checkpoint system really makes beating the game much more manageable than the games that inspired it.  There are unlimited continues on Easy and Normal mode, but Difficult limits you and is only for the most hardcore of players.

From the onset, you're given the option to select from 1 of 2 characters.  Mavra, a female resistance leader, and Doyle, a converted robot.  I can't tell if there's any gameplay difference between them, but they both have cool designs and are a bit endearing and likable. After you beat the game for the first time, you'll unlock 2 more characters that are a female and male ninja respectively. They only have melee attacks that can be charged but can't pick up any other weapons. They really add some additional difficulty to the game with their limited range and charge times and can take some getting used to. Still, they are fun and add a little more playability to the game. 

Finally, there are some additional modes like mirror mode (where the game is reversed) that feels a little lazy for a content addition and a boss rush mode.  If you truly love this game, there's enough here to keep you busy for a while.

Conclusion:

All this being said, while Blazing Chrome really works hard to feel like the games that inspired it.  It just doesn't live up to those standards.  A lot of the enemy placement feels poorly designed and unfair.  Enemies will appear at strange angles and elevations that make it almost impossible to kill them before they fire off a flurry of bullets at you.  You won't have time or room to react sometimes and basically have to know the enemies are coming before you get there.  It feels more like a memorization game that I would like, but that still isn't uncommon in these sorts of games... but it does almost feel as if the enemy placement wasn't very thought out before hand and each level is just a series of tedious and sign inducing sections strung together. 

All of the negatives and positives I have to say thus far aren't very grievous or alluring. The don't make or break the game. The real issue with the whole experience is that the game just feels a little... hollow to me. As I'm playing it, I'm just going through the motions of playing a 2D run and gun without really having a good time. I beat it with every character on Normal difficulty, and the sheer idea of having to learn the game well enough to beat it on Hard difficulty put a pit in my stomach. Having that sort of physical dread come over you when thinking about playing a game lets you know that it's time to move on to something else.

While Blazing Chrome is inspired by great games, it doesn't feel inspired itself.  I found it to be more tedious than fun a lot of the time and I had to force myself to play it.  There was nothing there that gave me that urge to keep getting better or instilled an desire in me to experience more.  I would finish a single stage and be ready to put the game down. You know how a video game company will rip-off a really good and popular game trying to jump on the bandwagon of the newest trend but it always feels rushed, lazy, and not quite as good?  Blazing Chrome feels like it's doing that... but to a popular game that came out 30 years ago. I know the developers weren't setting out to make a game that feels like a cash grab. Obviously, they care about this style of game and want to make something amazing. They just didn't quite get there this time. Still, they have some potential and I would like to see them improve in the future and give us something amazing. There's a fun game here, but with the renaissance of 2D indie titles that have been pumped out over the last decade (many of which not only rivaled, but surpassed the games that inspired them) Blazing Chrome can't really hang in there and go toe to toe with those games and falls short of the developer's goal.

Final Status: Beaten

Final Score: 6/10 (a little good)

 

Stardew Valley (PS4) Review

Stardew Valley (PS4) Review

Date Released: 26 February 2016

Date Played: 8 November 2021

Stardew Valley is considered by many to be the crown jewel of the farming/survival video game craze that has been going on for over a decade now.  With the wild success of Minecraft, Farmville, Don't Starve, Animal Crossing, and the like, it was only a matter of time until someone delved back into the Harvest Moon games to create the ultimate rural life/farming/relationship game.  A quick internet search will have you quickly finding message boards and forum threads touting this as one of, if not the best game of all time.  It's on countless best games lists and is loved by the community and the critics alike.  More surprisingly than that, the game was created by only one person, Eric Barone. What he has accomplished with this game is absolutely incredible and his success is well deserved. It's certainly obvious that he poured all of his heart and soul into this game and you can see the mark of his personality running throughout the game.  In my humble opinion, I think he absolutely nailed what he attempted and did actually create one of the best farming sim games of all time.  Unfortunately, I don't find this particular genre of game to be all that engaging or worthwhile to play.  Despite all of its accolades, it only served to drive me further away from this genre rather than bring me closer to it.

You play as either a male or female protagonist who has had his/her fill of the banal minutia of life in the city and working in the corporate world.  You discover a letter from your grandfather that tells you to open it when you've had enough of that way of life. Inside is the key to the family farm in Stardew Valley.  You throw off the shackles of modern life and head to the country to start your new life as a rural farmer.  You arrive in the quaint town to discover it in a bit of disarray and it's your job to revitalize the town and build relationships with its inhabitants through growing, building, herding, mining, and all other sorts of chores you would encounter running a farm.  It's really nothing new, and these ideas were all well explored in the Harvest Moon series and Animal Crossing games over the last couple of decades.  Although this game does borrow heavily from the games that inspired it, I feel like it has surpassed them in almost every way.

The game is presented in a charming 16-bit retro aesthetic.  You have freedom of movement and can explore the town and surrounding areas at will and are only limited by the hours in the day.  Initially, you find the farm to be run down.  But, you'll soon find yourself cleaning up the debris, planting crops, tending live stock, foraging, and gathering materials to either sell or use as ingredients for new items and buildings.  As you tend your farm, you'll be asked to perform favors for the town's residents.  This will improve your relationship with them until you finally fall in love and decide to get married.  At this point, your partner will move to the farm and help you maintain everything.  There are also town events, spooky mines to explore (where the game's only combat exists), mission objectives, and other activities to spice up the repetitive nature of the game.  The game does have a lot of content and there are certainly many things to keep you busy. Unfortunately, while there is plenty to do, there's there's no real objective or ending of the game.  The town has a community center that's haunted by some little forest sprites.  Each room of the center has a list of items they want you to create on your farm and then turn them in.  This will unlock special items to help you upgrade your farm even more. You can max out your relationship status with everyone in town, fill the museum with all of the relics, and purchase every single item for your farm.  But once all of these tasks are completed, you're free to just continue managing your farm and living out your day to day life with no conclusion.

...and I guess that's my problem with these types of games.  There's no REAL ending to work towards to the game and it really just serves to pass time while you repeat the same tasks over and over.  You awaken, water your plants, harvest crops, go buy supplies, tend to the animals, explore the mines, and sell your wares to get more money to expand you farm more.  Then, you just rinse and repeat this ad infinitum. It all feels like a big waste of time to me and as a long time gamer, I'm shocked at this current trend in gaming.  So many modern games are created to go forever.  You collect stuff, and build things, and try to survive... but there's very little story and the games never really go anywhere.  It's like being given a toolbox and being told to go make your own fun.  I don't want to do that.  I want to experience a well thought out and constructed narrative or unique gameplay loop created by a developer who wants to make a complete creation. I want them to craft a fun experience with their expertise and not rely on me to make my own content.  Maybe it's just because I'm too old now, but I use games to escape from the day to day tasks that I have to do.  If I'm going to spend my free time in a game doing a bunch of chores, I might as well just do those chores around the house in real life.  Why spend 30 minutes in a game cutting grass when I could go outside and do the same thing for real?  It's extremely addictive playing these sorts of games and before you know it, you'll have sunk dozens of hours into the game with little to show for it but a larger farm and even more chores to do than you started with.  It's a big cycle that never ends... 

As for the presentation, the game looks fantastic and has remarkable sprite work. Everything is very colorful and light and it's fun to watch the seasons change as you're playing through the game.   The characters in the game are mostly likable but pretty superficial and rarely have more than a few cursory words to say to you. It's nice to see how the town's residents interact with the various town events as well as each other but it never feels like there is any urgency or weight to what's going on.  Growing your relationships with them can be fun, but at the end of the day just boils down to more fetch quests and chores to do.  The music is very nice and subdued and suits the game perfectly.  It helps give the game an even more relaxing feeling that it already has.  I encountered no bugs or crashes in the game, but what do you expect for a game that looks like it came out almost 30 years earlier?

I mentioned Stardew Valley being relaxing... and I guess that's what the big draw of the whole game is in the end.  Just like the opening of the game, it's a way for people to escape the doldrums of everyday life to sit down and passively tend their farm and forget about the troubles of the day.  If that's what you need in a game, then this is the game for you.  If on the other hand, you're looking for an interesting story, innovative gameplay, or a unique experience, then this is not a game you want to invest your effort into. The amount of time that it requires to reward you for your hard work is extensive and the game is designed to be played for years.  Every time I put down the controller after playing this game, I felt like I had wasted my time and that isn't something I ever want to experience.  On the bright side, I learned that farming simulators are just not for me and I was able to remove several games from my wish list.  

Stardew Valley turned me off to an entire genre of video games.  I'm not saying it's a bad game, but it's just not at all what I'm looking for and I will steer clear of anything like this in the future.  If the sorts of games that I normally enjoy are akin to a good novel, Stardew Valley, Minecraft, Animal Crossing, etc. are more akin to a crossword puzzle.  The game gives you the tools you need to create your own fun, but it's a big time investment and totally reliant on you to get out of it what you put into it. 

Final Status: Played (for many hours)

Final Score: 7/10 (Good, but not for me)

Into the Dead 2 (Nintendo Switch) Review

Into the Dead 2 (Nintendo Switch) Review

Release Date: 25 October 2019

Date Played: 3 November 2021

Into the dead is a mobile game through and through.  The fact that this game was ported to the Nintendo Switch and given a physical release is shocking to say the least.  The microtransactions have all been removed as far as I can tell, but there's still that tedious series of unlockables mixed with repetitive gameplay that is such a hallmark of the mobile game market we all know today.  However, even with this off-putting presentation, Into the Dead 2 still manages to eek out a little bit of fun and novel ideas for the gamer that gives it a shot.

The gameplay is pretty unique and I can't remember seeing or playing anything quite like it.  It's basically a first-person shooter that has an on-rails auto running mechanic.  You begin the each level in a sprint and you can never stop or slow down.  This boils down to you having to bob, weave, and dodge your way through the hordes of zombies while picking up ammunition and blasting them when they get in your way.  The objective of each level is to reach a certain distance and because you're always on the move and constantly dodging, at times this feels like more of a racing game.  And to tell you the truth, it was kind of a welcome change from the same old genres of games that we see released over and over. You begin each stage with the same amount of limited ammunition and have to conserve it until you can collect more by running over supply crates.  There are only a handful of enemy types and they all behave pretty much exactly the same and only differ in appearance and how many shots it takes to dispatch them. Mostly they stand still and just wait to meet their maker, but occasionally one will decide to jump in front of your path or chase you a bit.  This can lead to some tense sections as you try to navigate your way through the 60 main story missions.    

Since you are auto running and can only veer left and right, your choices are limited in terms of navigation. You can chose your path to a certain degree but you're always running in the same direction.  It's like being on a highway where you can choose which lane you want to drive in, but you're always heading North. Still, there is some variance in the levels and some cool temporary items to be found like chainsaws, mounted turrets, and weed eaters to help you massacre the zombie horde.  Pretty much every level feels exactly the same and after playing through all the main story missions, side missions, and arcade challenges, the game does get very repetitive.  Compounding this problem is that many of the areas feel very similar and you'll find yourself traversing the same corn fields, country farms, trainyards, mobile home parks, forests, and country roads over and over.

To help with the tedium, and true to it's mobile phone roots, this game has a bevy of unlockables. These are achieved by completing story missions, side missions, arcade challenges, and earning medals from completing mission specific objectives like killing a certain number of zombies, running through barns, exploding barrels, using special ammunition, and more.  Going back through the game and earning these medals is the key focus of the gameplay cycle and even determines which of the 3 endings you'll get for story mode. But, as you can imagine, playing through these same stages over and over only adds to the repetitive nature of the game and wears on your patience even more. At least there are tons of guns to unlock and upgrade.  These range from your standard pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, and SMGs to more exotic fare like crossbows, grenade launchers, mini-guns, sawblade launchers, and more. These guns feel great and have nice sound design and a heft to them that would be most welcome in any first person shooter.  The shotguns, in particular, sound and feel amazing.  In addition to this, you also have an animal companion on each stage.  These are unlocked much like the guns mentioned earlier.  These companions can help out by killing zombies, finding ammunition, calling a pack of wolves, etc..  There are several canine buddies, wolves, tigers, bears, hell-hounds, and more to help you out and they all have their strengths and weaknesses.  Upgrading them makes them significantly stronger, and you'll find yourself really enjoying watching them run around on screen and wreaking havoc while helping you out.  

There are also several side stories that are unlocked by completing story missions.   Most of these are just supplemental parts to the main story, but there are 2 special chapters unlocked towards the end of the game.  The first of these is a separate story based on Night of the Living Dead and the second is based on Ghostbusters.   The fact that the developers of this game got the licenses to make DLC based on these well established franchises kind of blows my mind.  They are a welcome addition and really help to add some fresh content into a game that gets pretty stagnant.

As for the story, you play as a father who gets stranded on foot while out on a supply run during the zombie apocalypse.  Your sister and young daughter are stuck back at base camp waiting on you to return.  Each chapter starts and ends with you radioing your sister to move the story forward.  As a father, I was quite moved by the whole dynamic of trying to get home to your little girl.  It's a tragic story and was difficult for me to watch the events of the game unfold. Perhaps this touched me more than it would the average gamer and that's why I was more engaged with the experience than the reviewers online seemed to be.  Maybe my standards are lower, but I was taken aback to see how poor the critical reception for this game was. 

I think there's a good story here, but its presentation is severely lacking.  If you're going to tell a good story, you need to show and not tell.  Unfortunately, the developers decided to present the entire story as dialog over the main character's radio.  There are all of these events that happen that you're told about but all you ever get to do as the player is just hear it and run towards it.  Then, they use the cheap storytelling device of moving the goalpost right as you get there.  First, you're trying to get to the base, so you run that way.  Then, over the radio you hear the base is attacked and everyone has to flee.  They then tell you where they fled to and you proceed to run that way.   Then, you hear something bad happens there and they have to leave again... and you have to run to the new location.  Repeat this for every single chapter and you'll have a good idea of how the plot is expressed. It feels cheap and like it's only there to pad the story.  As someone who was invested in seeing the main character get home to his daughter, having her constantly moved just out of my reach was a demoralizing and frustrating experience.  It really helped me empathize with the main character's plight and I felt a lot of the anxiety he was having to go through. On a positive note, the voice actress who plays Helen, your sister, does a good job and is very believable.  If it wasn't for her, a lot of the emotion of the game would be lost and your waning motivation to continue would be absolutely extinguished.   Also, the game has 3 endings based on how many medals you've unlocked by completing those supplementary challenges on your journey.  The normal (BAD) ending is absolutely tragic and really sapped my energy to keep playing.  In order to get the other endings, you basically have to complete every single objective in the game... and that's a lot of grinding in a game that already has too much of that to begin with.  It's absolutely not worth it in my opinion and what little investment I had in the story was completely crushed by the developer's choice to lock the good ending behind such a difficult task.

Even with the repetitive gameplay, dull graphics, lack of music, and extremely flawed storytelling, I was having a decent time with Into the Dead 2.  I found it to be somewhat addictive to play and unlocking new weapons, stages, and companions kept me motivated... just like a mobile game is supposed to do.  I wish the game had some boss fights or something to add a little variance into the game.  There is the occasional mounted turret section, but these are always quite short and never even last for the duration of an entire level.  However, it's the technical issues of this game that really bring it down from a fairly fun experience to a very mediocre one.  Firstly, this game has a lot of overly long load times.  Between every stage and every time you die there is a loading screen.  These last for maybe half a minute, but that's like 25% of the length of some stages.  You'll find yourself reaching for your smartphone to stay entertained during these times because they're just such enjoyment killers.  Secondly, the game has a really bad draw distance.  You'll come over the crest of a hill and see an open field.  Then, 30 zombies will just pop into view all of a sudden.  This makes it really difficult to plan your routes and points of attack. Having a good run on a stage ruined by a technical issue like this is unforgivable.  I get that there are a lot of zombies on the screen at any given point, but that shouldn't be taxing the Switch's hardware.  Dead Rising game out over 15 years ago and it had similar graphics and hundreds of zombies on screen at once.  The developers of Into the Dead 2 should have been able to sort out this issue as one of their first tasks.

On the positive side, the Night of the Living Dead bonus chapter is the best part of the game.  It's mostly presented in black and white and has a really cool atmosphere and better presented story.  It also has a couple of sections that switch up the gameplay from an autorunner to a slow paced walk where you have to aim your flashlight to spot the enemies before they ambush you.  These two sections were by far the most tense and fun parts I had with this entire game. I liked the characters in this chapter and was invested in seeing what happened with them.  Having them there with you instead of just talking over the radio was a nice change of pace. I think an entire Into the Dead game based on this franchise would have worked a lot better than what we were actually given. Unfortunately, I wish I could say the same for the Ghostbusters chapter. It was a big letdown to say the least. I do have to give the developers kudos for finally giving us different types of enemies and a more fleshed out story, but the humor felt out of place and the proton packs and other weapons felt puny and ineffective.  The ghosts just pop out of walls and the ground and a single hit kills you. I had more trouble with the first few stages of this scenario than I did with any other part of the game. Dying several times in a single stage of this extra chapter after slamming through half of the main game without every dying once was very irritating to me.  Couple this with having to sit with the same loading screen over and over after I died was the worst experience I had with the game.   It was a real disappointment and I'm actually angry that it is the unlock for finishing the overly long and tedious 60 mission main campaign.  As a reward, it was a huge letdown and I feel like it should have been unlocked from the beginning so at least my hopes wouldn't have gotten me up too much.  Of course, without this special unlockable would people be willing to put in the time to finish the main game?  I'm not so sure.

So, my final verdict is that Into the Dead 2 is an extremely flawed and tedious game, but it can be fun in short bursts.  It is more designed for a mobile platform where you can knock out a stage or two here and there.  As for sitting down and playing through 10 or 20 stages all in a row... it's a lot to ask of a gamer and I would advise you not to attempt it.  If you do pick it up, there is some fun to be had here, but you need to space it out to short play sessions.  Don't do like I did and plow through the game in several days.  

Final Status: Beaten (Plus all side story content)

Final Score: 6/10 (a little fun)