Hades (Switch) Review

 

Hades (Switch) Review

Release Date: 19 March 2021

Date Played: 24 April 2021

Well, what can I say about this game that hasn't been said already?  Hades is a rogue-lite hack and slash game from SuperGiant, the developers of Bastion and Transistor.  While Supergiant has made renowned games in the past and I have usually enjoyed them, there was always something about them that held me back from loving them deeply.  This isn't the case with Hades.  This game is a Masterpiece in virtually every possible sense.  It seemed to be every organization's game of the year for 2020 and would have been mine also had it not gone up against the Last of Us II, a game I had an extreme emotional experience with.   But even though it wasn't my top game of the year, that doesn't stop it from being one of the most engaging, addictive, beautiful, and downright best games I've ever played.  

For the last several years there have been a glut of rogue-lite games of every ilk.  They often share the same mechanics and a similar gameplay loop that can get stagnant.  Having to die over and over again in an attempt to unlock some small piece of content like a new item or character can become quite frustrating when you can't succeed.  You attempt the same thing over and over with no reward and no sense of advancement.  You've simply failed and wasted your run.   SuperGiant, in a stroke of genius, have eliminated this problem with the gameplay loop of Hades.

In this game, you play as Zagreus, the son of Hades.  You discover that the goddess who raised you, Nyx, isn't your birth mother.  You soon learn that your real mother, Persephone, has left Hades and is hiding on Earth.  You decide that you have to break out of the underworld and reunite with her.  Of course, your father forbids this and does everything in his power to stop you.   Fortunately for you, the Gods of Olympus have heard of your plight to escape and want you to come join you on mount Olympus.  They offer you boons to aid in your journey through the 4 levels of the underworld.  These boons act as the powerups and upgrade items in the game.  All of the gods have different aspects to their boons.  Zeus has lightning, Demeter has ice, Athena has shields, Dionysus uses poison (termed hangover), Poseidon is water, etc.  Choosing the best boons for your current build is paramount to your success in the game. The boons are also graded and have different rarities that determine their power levels.  An epic form of a boon will be much stronger than the common form. While it can be difficult to make the exact build you want because of the rogue-liteness of the game, there are lots of synergies available between the gods.  If you're lucky enough to get enough boons from the same god, they will offer you a legendary boon if you're lucky.  Sometimes the gods will pair up and offer you a unique duo boon that combines their powers. These can cause Zagreus to become extremely powerful, and it’s fun watching him dash around the screen causing all sorts of havoc.  In addition to this, you have 6 weapons to choose from that are unlocked over time.  These range from a sword, spear, shield, bow, gauntlets, and even a grenade shooting assault rifle. Combining these with the boons can really change up the playstyle of the game.  Also, each of the 6 weapons has 4 unlockable forms that completely change how they work.  Obviously, all of these options open the game up to countless possibilities of playstyles that keep the game from getting boring.  

In addition to this, there are other collectables to gather on your runs.  There's the usual assortment of healing items and health upgrades, money, weapon modifications (changes the playstyle even more), gemstones, and darkness (more on these later),   As you battle your way up through the underworld the 4 areas get progressively more difficult.   Each of these areas looks, feels, and plays totally different from the others.  Some are lava pits where you have to pay attention to your footing, Elysium forces you to fight fallen soldiers that regenerate if you don't kill them fast enough, there are enemies that constantly poison you and require you to kill them with a real sense of urgency..   All in all these areas are fun... but I do wish there was a little more variation than playing the exact same 4 levels over and over. The game is so fantastic, I want more content… I want more levels.   

Zagreus has his attack, a special attack, a cast, and a dash.   All of these can be modified and changed with the aforementioned upgrades.  The controls are simple, but work perfectly and it's a real testament to SuperGiant to know not to overwhelm you with too many controls in such a hectic game.  

I also encountered no technical issues whatsoever in my 80+ hours of playtime.  I never had a framerate drop, crash, bug, or anything at all. 

  

So, that's the gameplay.  It's pretty stellar and a lot of fun.  It by itself would make for a remarkable game.  However, remember when I mentioned how Supergiant fixed the problem with the rogue-like gameplay loop?   Well, that solution is what ascends this game to its masterpiece classification.  In between your runs, you get to wander the halls of your father's house in Hades.  You speak to NPCs and advance your relationship with them.  As you get to know more about their lives and how they came to be in Hades, you actually begin to care for these characters.  You WANT to know more about them.  Soon you'll be exchanging gifts to show your affection for them. Eventually, they will confide in you and  ask you to help them with their plights.  It's all very interesting and adds some worthwhile additional content to the game.  In addition to all of this, you can use the resources you gather during your runs to permanently upgrade Zagreus.  You can level up his weapons, give him new skills, add health, give the ability to reroll items, unlock decorations for the house, gain trinkets that change the gameplay, find companions to help you out on your journey.  Truthfully, there's so much to do and to unlock it can be overwhelming... but, gathering these resources means you'll be just a little bit stronger on that next run.  Did you die on the last boss? No worries, it isn't a wasted run.  You gathered resources and can upgrade your weapon to make it 5% stronger.  So, you'll have a better chance next time.   This constant stream of progression and the elimination of wasted runs is what knocked this game out of the park.  

Even after I "beat the game" I kept wanting to go longer to unlock everything.  After I got the "true ending" I still wanted to keep unlocking the game’s massive amount of content.   As if this weren't enough to keep you busy for the next 300 hours, there's a Pact of Punishment that allows you to increase the difficulty of certain aspects of the game.  Increasing these raises your heat gauge and allows you the chance to get even more collectables to unlock items or level up.  This Pact of Punishment serves to alter the game to an entirely new level and acts as the end game portion. The amount of content in this game is, honestly, unbelievable.  SuperGiant put so much love and care into crafting this game that I'm in awe. 

 After writing all of this, I realized I hadn't even mentioned the aesthetics of the game.  The graphics are beautiful and have that sharp contrast look of the other SuperGiant games.  It's very colorful with dark grays and greens with blood red mixed in.   The soundtrack is very nice (although not as good as their other games, in my opinion) and is performed extremely well.  Finally, I have to give a huge nod to the dialog, voice acting, and characters in this game.   Everything is written perfectly and performed expertly.  Every character in the game is unique, likable, and memorable.  The time I spent with them was memorable and most of the interactions Zagreus had with them often ranged from making me laugh and grin ear to ear, to actually tugging on my heart strings.  I also  loved the world and its charming character. Hades, despite it being the underworld, was truly a beautiful and amazing place.  

 In the end, I unlocked everything in the game and only needed to level up all of the items to their max levels.  I decided to call it here... for now.   I'm not even sure if you can ever truthfully finish the game.  There may be unlockables that go on forever.  You can always bump up the Pact of Punishment another level, or upgrade a chair in the reception hall, or level up your renown in the underworld.  Since I unlocked all of the usable items, and saw all of the possible story, did all the meaningful side missions, I didn't want to burn out on upgrading everything to its maximum level by having to grind runs over and over.   My time with this game was fantastic.  I never got bored playing it and could have kept playing for another 80 hours or more with relative ease.  But, as with all things in life, there's never enough time.  I'm not sure where this game falls in my list of my all-time favorites, but it's certainly high up there.   I have... and will continue recommending this game to anyone who will listen.  

Final Status: Completed

Final Score: 10/10 (Masterpiece)

Elden Ring (PS5) Review

 

Elden Ring (PS5) Review

Release Date: 25 February 2022

Date Played: 21 April 2022

Introduction:

I'm not sure if Elden Ring is my favorite game of all time, nor am I sure if it's the "best" game ever made.  However, when I think of all of the best games I've ever played all I can think to myself is, "Elden Ring is as good as that... maybe better."  It's an incredible game that is awe-inspiring in both its scope and its attention to detail and the world that Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin created is unparalleled. And while the game isn't perfect, it is without a doubt a masterpiece by any metric.  

When the game was first announced back in 2019, there was a lot of energy surrounding it that never really let up until it was released.  Even then... even now, Elden Ring seems to be the only game that anyone is talking about.  It released to universal acclaim from critics and the public alike and squashed any negativity that the naysayers could muster. The world was so enthralled by this game that it honestly felt like the video game community disappeared for a month because they were all too busy playing it.

Gameplay:

Being a FromSoft developed game, Elden Ring plays much like the other games in the SoulsBorne series.  It's still a 3rd person action RPG with most of the same mechanics you'd expect.  While some of the names have changed you still have the bonfire system that serves as somewhat of a checkpoint system (now called Sites of Grace), instead of souls that serve as XP and currency, you now have Runes, and instead of Estus Flasks that serve as healing potions, they are now called Flasks of Crimson Tears.  So, if you've played Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, or Bloodborne, you're going to feel right at home here. There are still quasi-online components where you can summon people from around the world to help you, read messages left behind by other players, and even be invaded by hostile players looking to ruin your good time. The "rogue-like" components are still present as well.  If you die, you lose the current XP you're saving to level up unless you can make it back to the spot of your death to reclaim it.  The mechanics are tried and true and have a strong, "why mess with perfection?" attitude.

What is new this time around is that Elden Ring takes place in a vast and expertly crafted open world.  Due to the game's enormous size, you're provided with a horse to help you traverse other overworld much more quickly and are also able to fast travel to and from the various Sites of Grace you'll find scattered around the map. The horse is a valuable ally and you will often be platforming, exploring, and even fighting upon his back.  This mounted combat is a lot of fun and really changes up how you approach different situations in the game.  If you're getting wrecked by an overworld enemy, hop on your horse and charge at him. Boss fights that seem impossible on foot become trivial on horseback and really go a long way to add variety to an already expansive game.

At first I thought the whole open world concept was going to dilute the Souls experience that were are all so accustomed to.  Let me tell you, I couldn't have been more wrong.  The open world not only allows a greater number of different environments that range from crystal forests, snowy tundras, poison swamps, and even alien hellscapes, it also provides a respite from the stress you feel from the inexorable challenge found in the other games.  Yes, Elden Ring still has that "Dark Souls Hard" difficulty and has some of the hardest bosses found in the entire series, but it's a real blessing to be able to take a break from the hardships of combat and just get to explore on your horse and take in the scenery while hacking down weaker enemies.  The other benefit that the open world provides is that it eliminates that impassable wall issue that plagued the other games.  Often you would come to a boss or an area in the game that just felt too hard and you would spend hours and hours of time repeatedly fighting the same boss over, and over... just trying to progress past that point. This is what caused the vast majority of Souls players to give up on the game and quit out of frustration. It's hard to blame them.  The Souls games do have a draconian mindset and you can tell the developers are actively trying to troll you with how difficult they can make things. This time around, when you get stuck, the open world lets you go off an explore in another direction and progress elsewhere until you become stronger.  Then, you can come back to the section that was giving you fits and conquer it after you've become more powerful.  The sites of grace do direct you towards the next area you should visit, but these "next areas" are multiple and don't really have to be done in any set order.  Often times, I would struggle with an area before before taking a break to go somewhere else.  When I got there, I would find myself plowing through enemies easily and destroying bosses on my first try.  Upon returning to the first area, things were much easier the second time around.

As for gameplay styles, you have more options this time around to suit your playstyle than ever before.  Sword and Board, dual wielding katanas, dragon magic, bow and arrow, etc.  If you want to give it a shot, it's probably a viable technique.  Still... items that add "bleed" buildup are your friend.  This is especially true for some bosses, especially one that might be the hardest Souls boss of all time. Still, you will get stuck on some of the harder bosses for sure.  Luckily, FromSoft provided Spirit Ashes that allow you to summon various enemies from the game to assist you in the fight.  Some of these Ashes are so powerful that they can solo many of the bosses by themselves.  So, don't despair, even if you're playing offline, you can still get some help.

Story:

Just like all the other SoulsBorne games, the story in Elden Ring is very lore rich and understated.  You're given a slight background about how Marika, the ruler of the land left her powerful and titular Elden Ring behind.  It was shattered and the pieces were gathered by grotesque demi-gods who used them to gain even more strength and influence.  You now have to slay all of these enemies and gather the pieces of the Elden Ring so you can become the next Elden Lord.  Of course, most of the story and background are filled in by studying the environments, reading item descriptions, and from piecing together bits of dialog from interacting with the game's colorful cast of characters.  If you like to delve into every tiny aspect of a game's lore, then this is probably the game you've been praying for and dreaming of your whole life.  If you don't care about the story at all, then you don't have to worry about it and can just plug your way through the game completely oblivious to all of this esoteric prattle.  Personally, I love the lore in these games, but don't really want to put forth the effort to piece it together myself like some sort of archeologist who's trying to define an extinct people's culture by discovering letters on ancient pottery and dusty tomes.  I typically do enough in these games to get the overall gist of what's going on, then after I finished the game, I watch some sort of extended internet video where someone has spent countless hours spelling it all out for me. Some people have complained that the story in these games needs to be more upfront and spelled out, but I feel like they are mistaken.  The austere story adds a lot of mystery and intrigue to the world that feels unique to the series and would fall apart if more time were devoted to filling in the story with a bunch of cutscenes, dialog, or journal entries.

Of course, there are a ton of side quests that enrich the world even more and feel like a whole game unto themselves.  Some of these span over the entire world and almost the full length of the game.  If you undertake some of the more detailed ones, they will even lead to different endings for the game.  They are all very cool and interesting, but my only complaint with them is the same as it's always been with these games.  They are very obtuse about what you have to do, where you have to go, and when you have to be there. Often times, you have to meet a character at some random location that you completed hours ago and have no real reason to revisit.  Sometimes they are looking for an item, but they don't tell you what it is or where to get it.  Other times, you'll kill a boss or an enemy, and completely derail the side quest and find the quest giver murdered in their sleep or something without any warning before hand.  I wish FromSoft would give us a bit more information during these side quests and some sort of journal to keep track of what's going on with each of them.  It's very easy to lose track of all the objectives you're working toward and a little help would be nice.  Also, most of these side quests lead to me having to lookup a walkthrough to figure out how to do them.  Like 90% of the time, I think to myself, "yeah... I never would have figured that out in a million years." It's not enough to spoil the experience, and I know that this is my personal preference and not an objective flaw.  I'm sure a lot of Souls fans would have it no other way.

In addition to this, there are optional side dungeons that usually provide you with a valuable item when you complete them.  Sadly, they are too similar and often involve some sort of hidden path or trick to progress in them and repeat the same bosses over and over.  They really do feel like they are trying to pad out the game and are reminiscent of the Bloodborne's chalice dungeons.  They feel a bit like a grind and I think the game would have been better with fewer of them... or none at all.  Since they are optional content, you can avoid them altogether if you wish.  But, completing them all was a bit chore-like.

Presentation:

Well, the game looks magnificent.  All of the graphics, animations, textures, and lighting effects are gorgeous.  The art style and world that FromSoft have created is... frustratingly impressive.  I am always shocked at the ideas they come up with.  Every time I play one of these games, I think they are going to run out of fun and interesting new concepts, but they always prove me wrong.  Elden Ring is no exception.  I'm not sure what George R.R. Martin contributed, but it definitely feels like Mr. Miyazaki still has his creative claws embedded deeply into the process. He's a master world builder, and is flexing his skill more than he ever has before. He has a certain "style" that is easy to pick out from the competition and he might be my favorite game designer ever.  Often times, I would find myself just staring into the distance and admiring the magnificent surroundings.  I know I'm not alone in this because there are messages left behind by other players at every vista in the game praising the glorious view.  

On top of this, the soundtrack is spectacular and typically consists of somber strings playing sparse and minimalistic melodies while you journey around the isolated and forlorn world.  Of course, when you enter into one of the game's many memorable and epic boss fights, the full choir kicks into gear with lots of "oohs" and "aahs" that accompany the grandiose orchestral pieces.  It has a very gothic and epic presentation and seems as if it could have been composed by the great Carl Orff. There's nothing like tense classical music pounding in the background to make a white-knuckle boss fight tip over into cardiac arrest territory.  

The cast of characters is as crazy and unique as ever.  The Deathbed Companion, Iron Fist Alexander (the giant jar), Renni the Witch, Dung Eater,  and many others are so unique that they could star in their own games and I wish I got to spend even more time with them.  FromSoft never lets you down when they design characters and I think this is some of their best work.  I'll probably get some art prints depicting these characters and hang them up in my game room alongside some of the other awesome video game characters from the past.

I have nothing negative to say about the presentation in this game and it rivals and/or surpasses every other game I've ever played.  

Conclusion:

Elden Ring did something I don't think I've ever seen any other game do.  For 3 years, it was the most anticipated game out there.  The hype surrounding it was palpable.  Normally when this happens, it seems like everyone is really let down once the game releases.  I think back on all of these huge game that were released in half-finished states, full of bugs, were boring or repetitive, rehashed the same concepts, or just generally disappointed the public.  Not only did that not happen with Elden Ring... it seems to have SURPASSED everyone's expectations.  It's much better than I thought it could have ever been.  It is almost guaranteed to win Game of the Year and will probably start appearing towards the top of Best Games of All Time lists.

Other than the repetitiveness of the the optional "chalice" dungeons, and my inability to keep up with what's going on with the side quests, I have nothing to complain about in Elden Ring.  It's probably the best SoulsBorne game ever made. It's so good, in fact, that it completely destroyed my desire to play any other games.  I was in the middle of 4 other games when I started Elden Ring, and I just put them to the side to dump 71 hours into this game.  Honestly, I would have kept playing on New Game +, but I have so many games in my backlog that I need to get to that I was starting to feel guilty about it.  I could see someone putting thousands of hours into this game... and I wouldn't fault them for it.

Everyone needs to play this Elden Ring.  It's sheer scope and high difficulty will drive many people away, but don't let those two aspects deter you.  They are benefits rather than faults.  You need the tense aspect of the combat encounters to give you that rewarding feeling and you need the open world to take a break from the intensity.

To reiterate, is Elden Ring the best game that's ever been made?  If it's not, it's really close.

Final Status: Beaten... and all bosses cleared

Final Score: 10/10 Masterpiece

Sayonara Wild Hearts (PS4) Review

Sayonara Wild Hearts (PS4) Review

Date Released: 19 September 2019

Date Played: 2 December 2021

I won't keep you waiting.  Sayonara Wild Hearts is an absolute masterpiece of a game that not only dazzles you with its unique and beautiful visuals, compels you with its fluid and addictive gameplay, worms its way into your subconscious with its catchy and pumping music, but also reaches through the walls of your emotions to touch your heart in a way I've not seen many games be able to accomplish. It's a must play for any video game lover and is so good that I could see it bringing non-gamers into the fold and help them discover what a video game can actually achieve.

At its core, Sayonara Wild Hearts is a game about the despair and loss one can feel after a difficult breakup.  As everyone knows, after an important relationship falls apart the depression and isolation that surrounds you can completely derail your life and drastically alter the way you view the world and all of the people in it.  It can feel as though there's no escape and that you'll never be able to find any happiness ever again.  Sayonara is an allegory for combating these internal struggles that a heart-broken person attempts to defeat during the healing process.  It also serves as a series of vignettes showing how forcing your self to re-enter the world, reaching out for the company of friends, and facing the inner demons of those who have betrayed you can help mend the broken heart.  Never have I seen a game so accurately depict what it feels like to battle your grief in order to fall back into the groove of your life.  I applaud the developer, Simogo, for their amazing achievement and for Annapurna Interactive for publishing this game so the world can experience it.  This game helped me work through some inner struggles and I know it helped a lot of other people out there as well.

You play as a woman who has been struggling for a long time with the sorts of issues I mentioned above.  One night, a butterfly comes into her room and whisks her away to an abstract and surrealistic world.  As you gain control of the character you find yourself chasing said butterfly while skateboarding along a winding path as you make jumps and avoid obstacles. As you slide and swerve through the stage, the dark blues and purples of the environment surround you and the striking neon accents highlight your objectives and add a sort of shimmer and brilliance to the darkened areas.  A EDM remix of Debussy's Clair de Lune accompanies you while you absorb the gorgeous and breathtaking experience of the first level.  As the music and game crescendo, you'll finally fly off of the end of the level to try to grab the illusive butterfly only to see a tarot card of the The Fool flash before our eyes and thusly changing our protagonist into her masked altar ego.  The metaphor isn't subtle and we know our heroine considers herself a fool for trying to chase after and catch something... or someone she knows she can't truly have.  Only through this transformation will she be able to guard herself against her self doubt and continue her journey. 

Each of the next 22 levels serves as a new chapter of this journey.  While the main component of the gameplay consists of gathering various types of hearts to increase your score and up your score multiplier to earn a higher rank, the gameplay style of most levels change considerably. You'll find yourself skateboarding down ramps similar to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, driving a motorcycle through winding city streets while avoiding obstacles, flying and dashing through tunnels a la Tempest, drifting around turns in your car as you traverse the desert at night, and more.  You'll even find yourself in situations reminiscent of a shmup and quite often you'll be in an on rails shooter scenario like Panzer Dragoon.  There is a strong rhythm-game feel to each one of these levels and along with the pop music and graphical aesthetic is one of the only constants you'll have as the game pulls you in so many different directions.  Even with these drastic and sudden style changes, the game never feels like it's spread too thinly in any section and the whole mish-mash of ideas and concepts blend together harmoniously into a exhilarating and cathartic adventure I've never encountered in any other game.  Never does the game feel phoned in or uninspired.  The brilliant and mind-bending mechanics thrown at you masterfully keep you engaged and on your toes.  Even when an idea is only touched on for a brief moment it never feels like a gimmick.

As you twist and turn through these differing levels, the camera perspective changes frequently and serves to alter what I can, for lack of a better word, only describe as attitude. You'll pull into a first person view from an isometric one.  Then, suddenly, the camera will whip around and line up in 3rd person, or even a Dutch angle.  These perspective changes often coincide with the changes in the music that is the driving component of the entire game. There's a special kind of impact of having the game switch to a heart pounding first person view right as the music hits the intense chorus. I couldn't get enough of it. This soundtrack, honestly, could be a stand alone album with the game serving as a sort of interactive music video for it.  The way both mediums work with each other to create such an awe-inspiring blend is beyond reproach. Full of tons of cool beats, interesting and relatable lyrics, and enough hooks to satisfy the most hardened pop aficionado, the music never lets up and never lets you down. The presentation is magnificent and each song suits each level perfectly. They blend so well, in fact, that it's almost indistinguishable whether the game was created to coincide with the music, or if the sound track was scored to fit the game. You'll have demure and minimalistic tracks for slower and more thought provoking stages, bumping and manic beats to accompany the hectic moments of the game, and hook filled vocal tracks to give words to the emotions our protagonist is going through as she has to combat not enemies of the game but also the stages themselves. You'll find yourself singing or humming along to these stages almost constantly. 

One the surface, the game can feel more like a music video than a game itself. Just finishing the levels doesn't require much skill and dying throws you back into the game immediately.  Even if you fail the same part several times in a row, the game will give you a prompt asking you if you'd like to skip ahead. Some of the more bitter reviewers have taken note of this and made their feelings heard. However, once you delve into the scoring side of the game, you begin to learn just how well designed and fun it can be and can stand solidly on its own in teams of gameplay.  As you gather both small and large hearts, your multiplier will increase the leads to an ever increasing score. You'll need to hit certain milestones to gain either a bronze, silver, or gold rank in each of the stages.  Crashing causes you to lose your multiplier, so if you want to get a high score, you'll need to give some effort to learning and perfecting the level. Also hidden in each level are a handful of square hearts and these serve as the game's collectables.  Finding these can be challenging sometimes; and even when they are in plain view, it can take a tricky maneuver to reach them. Learning to rout through the levels while gathering the highest multiplier you can and never crashing a single time can be tough and earning the gold medals on a lot of these levels will take some true skill. Many of these levels took me several tries to master, but it never became tedious or frustrating and all of the crashes felt like my fault. If you ignore the scoring portion of the game, you can just blow through the 23 stages in around an hour and a half or so.  Getting the gold medals and truly learning the stages will take considerably longer. 

In addition to this, all the trophies in the game are tied to Zodiac riddles.  These change the way the way the stages are played and give you alternate objectives.  These range from things like scoring zero points in a level, getting a gold medal on the same stage 3 times in a row, getting all perfects on the quick time events in a specific stage, or earning a rank on the game's endless modes. "Solving" a lot of these riddles was a lot of fun and make me look at the game in a totally different way.  The clues on how to complete these objectives and be a bit obtuse, but isn't that what a riddle is supposed to be about? Speaking of those endless modes, they are there for people who want an additional challenge.  The first of these has you playing through the whole game in one go.  That's not so bad.  The second one has you playing through the whole game in one go without getting hit, failing a jump, or crashing a single time.  Essentially a perfect playthrough...  Good luck!  These Zodiac riddles and additional modes add a considerable amount of depth and replayability to the game.  I'm thankful they are there and I was having a great time trying to complete most of them. I spent some time with the endless modes as well, but didn't want to overspend my time with the game and have it lose some of its magic.  These extracurricular modes are quite challenging and probably would take an order of magnitude more time to complete than earning all of the gold medals on each of the stages.  The only slight negative I have to say about this game is that every trophy in the game is tied to completing these riddles rather than focusing on the game.  I found it strange to have completed all of the stages and still have not unlocked a single trophy. Still, trophies are optional and at their best should serve as hints to secrets or challenges hidden in a game.  In this case, the trophies do exactly that.

So, we have a fun and fluid game that has a lot of replayability and is quite addictive. We have a stunning and beautiful presentation both in terms of the art direction, graphics, and music. And, finally, we have a metaphorical story that has something to important to say about life and confronts the issue that everyone has had to struggle with before. Every component of this game has been handled masterfully and with a sense of compassion, empowerment, and care that caused me to be truly taken aback.  During my first playthrough, I went from feeling wistful, melancholy, invigorated, and revitalized within the span of a couple of hours.  There aren't many movies I've seen that can do this and I actually cried tears of joy for the heroine of this game when it came to its conclusion.  It is, without a shadow of a doubt, a masterpiece by any metric... and can stand proudly along side the other greats of the video game world.  It rivals the best experience I've ever had playing a game and won't soon be forgotten.

Oh, and Queen Latifah narrates the game!

Final Status: Beaten (All gold medals and collectables found.  Almost all Zodiac riddles completed)

Final Score: 10/10 (Masterpiece)