Recenzii recente de Michael_SK

Tomb Raider is one of the first game series I ever jumped into more than 20 years ago. As a child, I had absolutely no idea what was going on, but I loved the atmosphere, platforming, and puzzle-solving that I would spend my weekends towards with my parents. To finally have the first three games in a very accessible format is amazing, but it also comes with a few caveats that everyone thinking about picking this up should be aware of. This review is of the collection and how it is presented, not of the three individual games themselves. I do think they're all great in different ways and have their own set of pros and cons.

This collection successfully brings the first three games to modern systems (consoles, PC, and Steam Deck). The games were also given a fresh coat of paint and higher FPS. You can switch between the original styles and the newer one with the press of a button from practically ANYWHERE in the game. While the new style brings new 3D models and better-looking textures, but I do wonder how much of the textures were upscaled or relied on AI. The real problem with the new style is the lighting, and it gets progressively worse from 1 to 3. Areas that were lit up manually back in the day are now darker, making it impossible to get through some areas with proper visibility. Jumping back and forth between the old and new styles is fine to get around this, but the original styles are capped at 30fps. I appreciate giving the games a new, modern look, but it ruins how the games are supposed to be played through in terms of visibility. This is my biggest gripe with the collection, honestly. The audio is, thankfully, the compressed audio I'm used to hearing from the original games.

The bonus levels that were only available separately on PC for all three games have been made available here in this collection. I noticed that the 4 extra levels for the first game were switched around for chronological sense, which is a neat detail to see here. The game runs smoothly on my PC (AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, 64GB RAM, 3060Ti) at 144fps with the new style. It also runs fantastically on Steam Deck, hitting max framerate on the device (60fps) and my TVs at 1440p when I have it docked. Other than the Switch, this is the best way to play these games on the go, and it just works so well. No adjustments are needed with Proton.

I do wish there were some settings though, as there is no way to adjust the brightness, graphical settings, etc. Since I run the game so easily, it would've been cool to increase the rendering scale or dial in more settings, but what you see is what you get across the board. A bit disappointing, but not really a problem unless you have an underpowered system.

At the end of the day, this is a faithful presentation of three fantastic games from decades ago. While I wish there were QoL adjustments made to make this collection perfect, it's still worth the time and money for these games. Plus there's hundreds of challenging and interesting achievements and a New Game+ mode for each game. They added plenty of replayability to keep you coming back for more. At the time of writing this review I completed the first game, played a few levels of the second, and played the first level of the third game. And of course, I locked the butler in the freezer at Croft Manor :)

The state of this game is so depressing. I've been playing off and on for years and even bought the game when it came out almost 10 years ago. The game was a mess back then but it was a fun 6v6 that was improving over time. Now it's a weirdly structured 5v5 where you have to queue up for a specific role instead of working things out with your team to figure out a unique comp. To say that this is a sequel at all is just adding onto the already massive disrespect to whatever reputation Overwatch may have ever had.

Don't give your money to Blizzard btw. We all know what they're up to behind the scenes.

I love the original Star Wars Battlefront games, including the two spin-offs that were released on PSP (especially Elite Squadron). Battlefront 1 had these beautiful maps and Battlefront 2 had way more features and way to play. Both were so great for so many reasons. So I was obviously going to be hyped for a fresh, modern way to play these games with friends.

... and now I'm extremely disappointed. My friends and I struggled to get into the same matches together, and once we were finally able to, it was a buggy mess as if we really were back in the mid-2000s. Battlefront 2 has a weird FPS lock online, control scheme is a bit messy, the game will just randomly crash, and you can't do campaigns and galactic assault with a friend online (only through splitscreen and remote-play together).

Nothing was really added to or improved upon with these titles. Sure, models and textures do look better for modern resolutions. Yes, there is proper lighting and an overall graphics quality increase. And of course we have the Xbox-exclusive DLC in Battlefront 2. But that's it. The multiplayer is dated and barely functional. Settings in general are VERY restricted. Some sound effects and tunes have also been completely replaced. This is just a massive letdown for a couple games that I have very fond memories of and still go back to on the PS2 and on Steam (2005 version of Battlefront 2).

I'll be refunding this game, as this is not worth $35 at this time. I urge everyone who wants a slice of nostalgia to pick up the original titles on Steam ($10/each) and mod them. I am so disappointed in Aspyr, especially after they just released a really solid remaster of the original Tomb Raider titles. Man, this is nothing like the simulations.

Konosuba is a fun series to jump into, and I love the anime for everything it throws at the viewers. From the wacky moments, character personalities, and everything else that you just can't expect. This visual novel comes in with the same ideas, delivering a bunch of interactions and fun moments between characters that feel like they came straight from the anime.

Love For These Clothes of Desire comes in with some neat ideas regarding how you should approach spending time with characters through a neat gaming mechanic. It's nothing too difficult and you'd have to purposely try to mess up in progressing the story. I'm not one for dating sims, but it was actually pretty fun watching the characters react to different outfits you make for them, and also weird and awkward at other times due to how some of these outfits are.

In regards to the actual story (because this is a visual NOVEL), it's pretty weak and uninteresting. It's spread out terribly due to the literal in-game months you have to spend collecting materials, getting money, and going on quests. By the end, I just had no interest in what was going on because the game wanted you to focus more on the gaming mechanic and dating sim aspects.

In terms of visual novel quality, this is also lacking. I'm happy they got the voice actors to reprise their respective roles from the anime, but that's pretty much all there is. Awful controls on PC, not a lot of visual novel options, questionable localization decisions, and not much variety in character sprites leave this to be a pretty plain package. Not to mention that this is repetitive... like ridiculously repetitive. Not only are the four chapters structured the same, but if you want to unlock all the CGs and spend time with all the characters in their endings, you'll have to go back through the game multiple times or make strategic saves with the help of a guide. That just doesn't sound like a fun time, especially with Konosuba standards where the wackiest and most ridiculous stuff is fun.

To be fair, I did have some enjoyment with this title at times, but the cons outweighed the pros a bit and this failed as a proper visual novel. Not to mention, this is NOT worth $50. It is straight up insulting in this medium to ask for that much with so little quality.

If you're a fan of Konosuba, wait for a sale. If you're not a fan of Konosuba, this isn't for you. Currently, I cannot recommend this title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qf7cpXJ3us

This was my introduction to Yuzusoft's work, and also NekoNyan's translation efforts, and I have to say that this was overall a really fun time. Going into this, I just wanted something fun, not so serious, comedic, and cozy... and I got all of that here. It's weird to attach "cozy" to a title that has the main heroine with such an ungodly curse, but I really did enjoy how laid-back this title was at times along with the weird situations the characters got themselves in. It was fun to see the dynamics of these characters, there was a good amount of comedy that got a good mix of chuckles and groans out of me, and the stories were pretty alright.

From the get-go, you get a clear idea of what to expect from Sabbat of the Witch. It doesn't leave you wondering what to expect, as it really blows it all up in your face in the first hour or so. Meeting the characters was fun, getting closer to them was a joy, and exploring the stories in their routes was a bit of a slow burn with occasionally good pay-offs. There's a bunch of surprising moments for a title that doesn't come off as overly serious with its story and I have to admit I was shocked in some parts. However, yes, there are some slow-burns, and they're more frequent than they should be. At times the slow moments are what bring out the coziness of this title, where others have me wishing we'd just get to the point.

In the end, Sabbat of the Witch provides a fun time with fun characters with some fun ideas. Witches and magic are great concepts and this title has a pleasant twist with them. I definitely recommend this title to anyone looking for a romcom VN where the story isn't too crazy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PJx-s-GTe4

Robotics;Notes is a dang good visual novel and a fantastic entry in the Science Adventure series. I had so much fun playing this one, despite it being a lot slower and not as crazy compared to Steins;Gate, Chaos;Head, and Chaos;Child. It's much more focused on the characters, robot technology, and a cool mystery aspect, so the constant roller-coaster of confusion from absolute insane events is completely absent here. And that's fine! This is a great change of pace compared to the other entries, and it accomplishes everything it sets out to do.

In this entry, we follow two childhood friends, Kaito and Akiho, as they grow their robotics club up a bit to build giant robots before they graduate. Along the way, Kaito gets interested in a conspiracy through a bunch of reports that are only found through AR geo-tags placed around their home island that can be seen with a camera app. He goes after the reports while also gaming it up on a mobile fighting game and rarely actually helping out with robot building. He will always pilot though! True mecha anime protagonist vibes.

Then there's Akiho, who is obsessed with robots, mecha anime, and building the OG club members' robot. She wants to enter the big robot expo so bad that we see her and Kaito rely more and more on others to accomplish her goals. Kaito always follows Akiho and whatever she sets out to accomplish if her ideas are within reason. Not to mention they stick together a lot because they deal with similar "attacks" that they suffer from a childhood event that permanently affected them.

The rest of the club members, Junna, Subaru, and Frau, are all very interesting and fun in their own ways. We also get introduced to an AI character that sticks with us for a bulk of the story. All club members, including the AI character, are also weird in their own ways and have very interesting circumstances. It is genuinely fun to watch all of these goofy characters grow and change throughout the course of this long story, as they all get an opportunity to have their stories told. Not to mention that their actions have huge impacts in achieving the ending of the story. In other Science Adventure titles, you usually see all the other characters as nothing but supporting characters where some have routes. Here, they use their experiences through the story to work alongside the main characters to get to the ending of the story, and it's really satisfying seeing all of that come together.

This visual novel uses a lot from Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate as the story eventually ramps up in the wild final chapters. I really recommend reading through those visual novels first before this one. This visual novel also does some things differently. You get to interact with many characters on "Twitter," use the camera app for geotags, and read through the mysterious conspiracy reports on your PokeCom (mobile device/phone). Characters are rendered as 3D models in this one, which is... different, but honestly not bad at all. A bit jarring, but not bad. It's nice that the Science Adventure titles are always trying to do things differently, so these are all positives for me.

Honestly, my only complaints are that the pacing can really be a pain at times despite the payoffs here and there, that there isn't really an epilogue to tie everything up for a conclusion (yes, there is a sequel, but still), and that the route system is absolutely horrific here. Everything else is honestly fine, but it is stupidly easy to get lost mid-game on how to advance into the character route chapters in their proper order. You can 100% jump into chapters out of order, and it's based on who you respond to on "Twitter" at a specific moment in the game. It's completely stupid and a huge problem for those who don't want to use a guide. I recommend the use of a guide with this title to get the most out of interactions with other characters that require certain responses, and to also go about the game the correct way.

Robotics;Notes is a relatively chill entry in a series of titles that's full of craziness in so many ways, but it pulls it off pretty well. It was a lot of fun to go through despite the issues I stated, and it's awesome to connect events and such from previous entries to this one in meaningful ways rather than just references. I definitely recommend this title to those who are currently reading the Science Adventure series, but I cannot recommend this title to those who haven't started the series with Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate. I look forward to jumping into DasH soon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC8cprgOPAY

After finishing Amatsutsumi earlier this year, I was left wanting more. There is Aoi Tori to look forward to, but I wanted something to fill the void much sooner. In comes a potential candidate in Kunado Chronicles, which is set in the same universe as Amatsutsumi just like Aoi Tori is. And after finishing my ~30 hour-long read, I have to say that this most definitely did NOT fill the void like I had hoped.

Kunado Chronicles comes in swinging with some strong hooks, such as with this insane futuristic setting, fun characters, a bit of mystery behind the threats of the world, and some mysteries behind our own main character. Waking up after being in a frozen slumber for 1,000 years with the power to control others through speech has got to raise some eyebrows, right? And that same power is shared by the main heroine of the story. There's also a bunch of cool details about this far-off world that make it much more interesting than just being a background. And more details are constantly brought up. There's a lot going on here.

But the storytelling just fails for me. The common route is totally fine as it's supposed to hook and reel you in (and it does so really well), and the first part of the main route is fine too (Yuri best girl). But after that, everything gets thrown up in the air and it's just not as fun to follow. Pacing is iffy, too many ideas are brought up and abandoned to focus on other things or a heroine, and not enough time is given to the main heroine to make her part of the story worth while. And her part of the story, which is the true route, doesn't really revolve around her that much.

It's also worth noting that this title has some missing qualities and features that were present in the original, Japanese version. And, there's many bugs and issues that plagued my run through this title. You can definitely play through this title on Steam Deck, but no cutscenes (OPs and EDs) will ever play.

Kunado Chronicles had the potential to be great, and I think it was close to being a really good visual novel. It just didn't handle things really well in the storytelling and had a bunch of other problems that made this one lacking any fun to sit and read through. There's better visual novels to read, but give this one a shot if you like Purple Software titles or at least enjoyed Amatsutsumi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_HPAQ5l8jo

The start of it all in the Science Adventure series. I never thought I'd give this title a shot after I watched the horrific anime adaptation years ago, but Chaos;Child really changed my mind. With the majority of what I watched forgotten about after I pushed it out of my memory, I went in to this as blind as could be after I had played Chaos;Child, and it was a great time. This visual novel is nowhere near perfect, but it's far from being bad. It's a good VN that suffers from some clunky story structure and literal game development problems, but it still delivers a satisfying journey to embark on with multiple interesting characters and events.

The biggest problem is the protagonist, Takumi. He is weak in many regards, so he's not all that fun to follow at times in the story. But his weakness is everyone else's gain, as the story, events, and characters that surround Takumi become interesting and engaging. So I'd say it all balances out. Other than that, I'd say that there's one or two other characters that just don't end up having much of a purpose in the end, which really bummed me out. One of them just gets used as everyone's punching bag in almost every route, which really stinks. But other than that, I have no complaints with the characters. While some are quirky and weird, they're still very enjoyable.

Similarly to Chaos;Child, this title has the same approach of having everything being confusing and hard to follow as you go through the story, up until when things get revealed at the end of the common route and in the character routes. It's fun trying to figure out what's happening even so many things seem extremely disjointed and not coherent whatsoever. At times I kinda just gave up and accepted that everything is just a chaotic mess, especially with the concept of delusions. But things do come together, and it's satisfying connecting the puzzle pieces at the end of the common route and in the following alternate/character routes.

Finally, the most shared complaint is how clunky and messy this game is. This title was actually shipped out broken, where many reported that they couldn't even view the final route's ending sequences, which prevented them from finishing the game! Luckily this was fixed with an update, but there are also other problems. You have to cap the game to 60fps to avoid animations being too quick, having certain USB controllers plugged in will freak the game out in menus, the font is terrible, there's no quotations around spoken dialogue, etc. It's also unfortunate that there is cut content shipped with this game. It's super depressing for a title that many in the Science Adventure community looked forward to having all of these issues.

There is a patch that fixes some of the problems I listed, however it changes the official translation to that of a fan translation. If you use this patch, you have to use the translation that a team of Science Adventure series fans put together, which is fine. There are names and such that have been changed for a variety of reasons as they expect you to always use their patches in all other Science Adventure titles. If you don't mind that, then you do get a better font, quotations on dialogue, and the return of cut content (specifically a collection of scenes that pop up in the alternate route after completing the common route, which isn't necessary to view, but preferred in my opinion). Either way, you can absolutely play the game with or without the patch, as both translations seem to be totally fine (they both tell the same story). I played the first ~6 chapters of the common route without the patch and the rest with it. It's quite obvious of there being some glaring changes in the fan translation, like the mentioned name changes, more cursing, more aggressiveness out of Takumi, and localized lines and more modern internet slang.

In the end, I'd say this is a visual novel everyone who enjoys VNs should try out. This is a great introduction to the Science Adventure series, and also the obviously preferred one, but Steins;Gate still works as a good alternative introduction to the series. While it may not be the strongest in the series, Chaos;Head Noah is absolutely worth the time and effort to figuring out the big question of... Whose Eyes Are Those Eyes? And hey, if you went through Chaos;Child first, no worries! You didn't spoil too much and there's still a wild adventure to embark on. Plus, it'll open your eyes to some new stuff that'll make going through Chaos;Child again worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-xSUgGA5aE

This game surprised me. I didn’t know what to expect going into this except a wacky and wild adventure with some spooks, and while all that was present, there was so much more. The amount of hidden details, hints towards the truth in the story, and things you can simply do in this game is nuts!

I loved the contrast between the imaginary world and reality, and the fact that there’s different routes to take on really adds to the replay value. The side quests are cool and add life to both worlds, but there are times where I wish there were easier ways to keep track of quests and know where to go for them.

The music is fantastic, the psychological horror is done in a great way that isn’t too much or too little, and the characters are hard not to like. I can’t help but recommend this, and I’ll definitely replay it in the future to do all the things I missed during my blind, initial playthrough towards the good ending. And if any of you go for that good ending, be sure to water Basil’s plants. He’d appreciate it :)

I don't know why, but this game is so much fun with friends. I've put a surprisingly large amount of hours in because of how much fun you can have with friends. So if you have friends and you enjoy having fun with them, Town of Salem is not a bad choice. The client is better than the browser version.