Reviews by MaxL

My experience with this game was… interesting, to say the least.

When I started watching a longplay (as I often do to sample games before potentially buying), my first impression was that the graphics were nice and colourful, the music was good, and the idea of the paths forming before you as you advanced was a novel idea.

But I very quickly grew to despise the narrator's monotonous running commentary! I got so annoyed by his ceaseless reciting and occasionally criticising the player's actions that after less than twenty minutes, I couldn't take it anymore, so I took off my headphones and watched the rest muted! I never found his remarks funny or endearing, and I couldn't even bring myself to care about the story or details of the world, because it was all indigestibly delivered through that obnoxious narration. That one creative decision almost single-handedly ruins the whole experience!

Then I found out that the narration could be lowered to zero, so I took advantage of the Steam Summer Sale to play the game myself as a purely visual experience. After all, I didn't want the longplay to bring me to an unfair conclusion: a scathing review based on the narration alone.

However, the narration turned out not to be my only grievance: I also had issues with the gameplay itself. The mouse controls and isometric perspective kept throwing me off, so I'd often end up attacking or evading in the wrong direction. (And no, the game wouldn't register any controllers I tried to connect.) I know that's more on me than the game (I suck at video games; I make no allusions to the contrary), but that's part of the reason it drove me nuts when enemies would gang up on me or spam attacks so much that I couldn't keep up. There was one area with a huge flood of enemies where I lost almost all my lives, and that was just in the first hour. If it was only going to get harder from there, I knew I wouldn't stand a chance. So I did something I've never done before on Steam: I requested a refund.

To sum up, I know I'm in a minority on this, but I flat-out didn't like this game. It looks and sounds nice, but I found the control unintuitive, and the narration turned the experience from arduous to downright unbearable!

My rating: 35%

I love the first Jurassic World Evolution, so I was curious to see what the sequel would do differently.

For the record, I've installed every DLC except the Camp Cretaceous Pack, because I haven't seen the show yet.

Whereas the first game takes place across Las Cinco Muertes (the island chain that includes Isla Sorna from films two and three), this time the main campaign spans the continental United States following the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Said campaign is surprisingly short: you can complete it in a couple of hours. But, as if to compensate, the game adds another story mode called Chaos Theory, which revisits events from the movies with the question in mind: "What if the park had succeeded?"

As you'd expect, it expands on the first game by coming up with several new gameplay mechanics and features to add to your park. We'd be here all day if I tried to list them all, but one of my favourites is the ability to release dinosaurs via airlift, so you can save space and build just one hatchery for the whole park. I also love the ability to speed up or pause time, so you can shorten the frequent waiting or give yourself a moment to think.

But not all of its creative decisions are welcome. I'm not a fan of the changes to the dinosaur incubation process, for example. One of my favourite methods in the first game was giving each individual a different skin pattern to easily tell them apart and perhaps name them accordingly. But here, because the dinosaurs are incubated in batches, they all look the same, but some might have a higher chance of having a particular personality trait. Also, in the first game, modifying a dinosaur's genome affects its rating, which in turn contributes to your overall park rating. But here, your park rating is judged strictly by how much money you make. So, ultimately, I ignored the genetic modification system altogether, and felt so detached from the dinosaurs that I never felt inclined to name them.

But I think the worst aspect of the gameplay is having the same small team of scientists in charge of everything: research, incubation, medical treatment, even expeditions. It just slows things down, especially whenever they need to rest.

Naturally, the selection of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals is also greatly expanded. It even introduced me to some I'd never heard of before, like the pterosaur Maaradactylus, the plesiosaur Styxosaurus and the little tyrannosaur Moros intrepidus.

In conclusion, it's a good follow-up, but I still prefer the first game by far. I'll take either game over the Jurassic World movies any day, though.

My rating: 70%

This game tops almost everyone's "best of 2022" lists and even won Game of the Year. And… I dearly wish I could sing its praises like everyone else, but it really isn't for me. :-(

My expectations weren't exactly high to begin with. I don't like FromSoftware or open world games, basically for the exact same reasons everyone else does. But given Elden Ring's universal acclaim, and the fact that the worldbuilding was handled by George R.R. Martin, I gave it a chance anyway.

Well, sadly, no, it never drew me in. Yes, the land looks very nice, the bosses are creative, and each location probably has a ton of lore behind it. But the one thing the game never gave me, even once, was a reason to care. At no point did I care about the world, exploring it or embarking on quests within it.

That apathy started right from the opening narration, which (in typical FromSoftware fashion) bombards you with names like they're supposed to already mean something. Instead of getting me excited for what was to come, it just left me confused. And bored.

Even the central quest, your character's main goal, is way too intangible: assemble the Elden Ring and become the Elden Lord. Okay, what exactly is the Elden Lord? Why would I want to become it? Why should I care? Your player character is a Tarnished, but just what is that? And what does maidenless mean? I guess a maiden is some sort of guide, but for what purpose? Unless maybe you read the flavour text, the game overtly explains none of that. If I can't even grasp the basics, then why would I want to explore the world more in-depth?

The things I genuinely like are few and far between. I like the inclusion of stealth attacks, like in Sekiro. Melina is pleasant enough that I'm happy to have her as a maiden, and the music near the end is incredible.

But if I were to sum up my overall thoughts on this game in four words, it would be: "Why should I care?"

My rating: 45%

This is a game I could probably do a whole commentary on, given how much the Jurassic Park franchise means to me. It adapts not just Jurassic World but the original trilogy as well.

Some previous Lego games relied entirely on sound clips from their source movies for dialogue, so here I was pleasantly surprised to hear a fairly even mix of both recycled and new dialogue. In fact, I know the first movie so well that I could tell that some lines from it were re-recorded with new actors, like the computer tech at Grant's dig site. Donald Gennaro's lines also sounded different, so not even the main characters were immune to this. Each sequel segment seemed to directly lift the film's audio less than the last, and with Jurassic World, they apparently went all the way and got the original actors to actually record the new lines.

One thing I was especially curious about was how they'd tone down the movies' inherent violence to keep it child-friendly. Well, that's actually where a lot of the game's humour comes from. :-) There's an adorable sense of whimsy in how tame it's trying to be in contrast. For example, in the first movie's opening scene, instead of killing that worker Jophery, the raptor just… steals his hot dog! :-D (And apparently, that's still worth Muldoon screaming, "Shoot her!") Later, the T. rex still swallows Gennaro, but he was brandishing a toilet brush beforehand, so he goes down cleaning its teeth. :-D I also love how they handled the long grass scene in The Lost World: after dragging the hunters down, the raptors pop up wearing their hats or looking in their luggage for footballs and things. The raptors aren't hunting, they just want to play! :-D

In fact, the dinosaurs are often anthropomorphised for humorous effect, and it almost always succeeds. For example, in the waterfall scene in The Lost World, when Burke gets spooked by a snake, the T. rex watches him flee out past it, then looks at the other humans in a manner that clearly says, "Is he serious?" And in Jurassic Park III, when they realise where the satellite phone is, we see the Spinosaurus sleeping in a hammock nearby. At that point, I noticed something that had popped up quite often in the Lego games, and howled with laughter at the idea that even the Spinosaurus had a teddy bear! :-D

That's not to say all the humour works. It still has its share of characters being unprofessional bunglers, which would make anyone's confidence in the park's security even shakier.

But by far the game's best feature is the dinosaurs themselves occasionally becoming playable. Jurassic Park has the sick Triceratops, The Lost World has a Pachycephalosaurus, Jurassic Park III has an Ankylosaurus, and Jurassic World has three playable dinosaurs, including the raptors. (I love how the raptors are so intelligent that they too can operate machinery now.) You also control the T. rex a couple of times when it battles other dinosaurs.

In conclusion, this is the closest I've come to considering buying a movie-based Lego game. Its gameplay loop is still nothing spectacular, but it is the most consistently funny among its peers, and I'd take this over the actual Jurassic World any day.

My rating: 65%

The first Lego Movie Videogame wasn't bad, but it didn't exactly make a compelling case for licensed games. This sequel takes that even further; everything about it screams "quick cash-in".

It abandons the idea of including footage from the movie in lieu of cutscenes, so the original actors' voices aren't present to undermine the new voice actors. On the other hand, there's very little dialogue at all (especially during cutscenes), and the storytelling is a disaster. Instead of letting the events play out naturally, most of the story is narrated by Lucy, condensing everything from the movie into a grand total of only a couple of minutes.

The bulk of the game is roaming the planets of the Systar System, each of which is a sandbox where you perform various tasks for other characters. You sometimes build items to clear obstacles, which this time requires collecting a certain amount of different coloured bricks.

As demonstrated by the longplay I watched, the main storyline can be completed in less than two-and-a-half hours, making it just barely longer than the movie itself! For a supposedly AAA game in this day and age, that's pathetic! True, exploring the maps and collecting Master Pieces lengthens the experience, but that's basically just padding.

Overall, this is definitely one of the worst Lego games yet. The gameplay itself is okay – you might have fun exploring the different worlds – but it does a miserable job of representing the movie it's based on.

My rating: 50%

This tie-in game was released on the same day as the movie, and many of its pre-rendered cutscenes are footage taken straight from the movie (but with different music). While those clips are a welcome sight, they do provide a direct comparison for the substitute voice actors. Some do an okay job, but others sound nothing like their movie counterparts.

I rewatched both movies beforehand, wondering which scenes they'd choose to adapt to gameplay. I half-jokingly guessed they might even expand Emmet's fall down that zany pit into a full level. And what do you know? That's exactly what they did! :-D There's also a bizarre swimming stage as the submarine is flooding, after which it directly resumes the movie footage as if nothing happened.

The core gameplay is basically identical to all the other licensed Lego games, but it does add a dash of spice in the form of interactive building sequences whenever Emmet follows the instructions. But don't expect the full vehicle assemblies from, say, Lego Island: this just has you occasionally insert one piece as the object builds itself. (Lego The Hobbit had very similar building sections.) There are also a couple of dancing scenes that, again, are extremely basic.

All the playable characters have their own unique abilities. Emmet can drill cracked surfaces and repair machinery, Wyldstyle can jump higher and climb certain walls, Vitruvius can shimmy on narrow ledges, Batman can hit multiple targets and grapple objects, and Benny can hack terminals in a Pac-Man-esque minigame.

The story follows the movie almost scene for scene, but removes all the most profound moments that made the movie so special. Also, Unikitty flying into a rage becomes a recurring feature from the start, lessening the effect of the scene where she stops holding back.

One major disappointment is that the in-game characters' mouths never move when they speak. Was the game really that rushed? Maybe the other Lego games were like that too, but it's especially noticeable here because the camera keeps lingering on their faces in dialogue scenes.

Overall, it's another mediocre instalment in the Lego line-up.

My rating: 55%

Set twelve years before the events of Red Dead Redemption (making this a prequel, not a sequel), you play as Arthur Morgan, a member of the Van der Linde gang, on the run from the law and rival gangs.

I still maintain that the first Red Dead Redemption is one of the most tedious and annoying games I've ever played, a prime example of a game that I hate but everyone else loves. I could only hope that this follow-up would be at least a slight improvement, so I watched a walkthrough (or rather a "game movie" showcasing nineteen hours of cutscenes and in-game dialogue) to see if I'd be interested in playing it myself.

From a technical standpoint, the game is a marvel. The graphics are A1, and it exchanges the first game's desert setting for much more picturesque snowscapes, mountain forests and cities. On top of that, you have several conditions to keep track of, including the bond with your horse, your weight and stamina changing depending on how much you eat, animal carcasses decaying, and even your hair growing realistically over time. Impressive systems to include, yes, but there are times when adhering to realism isn't entirely necessary. Some have criticised these features for limiting player freedom, and I can understand why.

But as far as I'm concerned, technical achievements are all for naught if the story isn't to my taste. So, is this one? The answer is… yes and no.

It's not like the first game, which gave you a simple goal that ostensibly should have been attainable straightaway, but kept dragging its feet with contrived reasons to keep you from reaching it, to the point where I was pleading for it to just end already. No, this game… doesn't really have a plot, or so it seems at first. The gang's goal is merely to survive, and make enough money to secure their retirement. Unlike the first game, everything you do is clearly and unequivocally a means to that end.

Unfortunately, you spend so much time on those tasks that the game feels stagnant, and I began to sorely feel its length. At some point during the Saint Denis section, I finally lost patience and watched a story summary video to hear the rest. …And I discovered that it was right after that that all the interesting stuff started happening! The events that unfolded afterwards sounded incredible on paper, but I got the distinct impression that there was still a lot of filler in between. There's nothing wrong with a slow burn, but this one, for me at least, is far too slow.

Now, obviously, to talk about the aforementioned events too much would mean getting into heavy spoilers, but let's just say the narrative explores themes like morality and loyalty in a way that, in other circumstances, would have made for outstanding drama. I've no doubt I would have loved it… if I'd even remotely latched onto the characters before that point, and if the mind-numbingly sluggish pacing hadn't long since killed my interest, however slight it may have been.

Speaking of which, I mostly felt pure apathy for the characters. Again, I love what they were going for with certain characters' arcs, but I didn't find them remotely engaging before then. I'm extremely uncomfortable with the idea of robbing or assaulting people and actively performing those actions through gameplay, so I have no interest whatsoever in playing as a character who gets into such situations regularly. Now, the game does its best to paint the protagonists in a positive light regardless: the Van der Linde gang never pushes harder than necessary, they look out for each other and, under Dutch's benevolent leadership, do seem to function as a family. It also makes sure to portray their opponents as so much worse by comparison. In particular, the government agents on their trail are complete slimeballs who seem to sadistically enjoy provoking them. So it's clearly trying to make the gang seem like the preferable option. It is a testament to how little inclination I have to play as a criminal that it doesn't work.

So yes, it is better than the first game, but I still have no desire to own it. I can certainly see the appeal; I could potentially have viewed it as the masterpiece everyone else does. I desperately want to like this game, but I simply never warmed to the characters, and its excessive length and protracted pacing was just too much for me, so I can't declare it any better than just okay. All in all, I'm still not a fan of this series (or Rockstar Games in general).

My rating: 60%

Sonic must explore the Starfall Islands to rescue his friends from the digital realm of Cyber Space.

The consensus on the newest Sonic game isn't all that positive, so I decided to watch a longplay to see if I thought it was worth buying myself. And… the answer is no.

Okay, let's talk about what the game does well first. The story consistently held my interest as the mystery of the Ancients unravelled. Given the concept of Cyber Space and the various meta jokes about the characters and game mechanics (especially the map markers), I suspected it would build up to Sonic becoming aware that he was in a video game, that the Ancients were the players. (Spoiler alert, though: that doesn't happen.)

However, while the story is good, the gameplay is distinctly underwhelming. As you explore the overworld, you find various collectibles, including tokens used to talk to your companions and advance the plot. Sometimes, you might have to complete an obstacle course or use your Cyloop to draw a shape on the ground and unearth items. There are also portals to Cyber Space, which lead to high-speed linear levels typical of the Sonic series. I found neither the overworld tasks nor the Cyber Space levels very appealing. The latter is nothing we haven't seen before (although there is an in-universe reason for that), and they all look similar and play almost identically, so they quickly become monotonous.

Another thing I don't like is Sonic's voice: it's far lower-pitched than I'm used to. And Roger Craig Smith is no stranger to voicing the character, so I'm not sure what changed.

When I first saw the lush open world, my first thought was Zelda: Breath of the Wild. But the game also very much reminded me of Shadow of the Colossus, what with the Titans you have to defeat and the mysterious guide that may have ulterior motives.

One thing I really like is the character-building moments, especially Tails questioning whether he's just a burden to Sonic. Considering this game mentions several prior adventures, indicating that there is a series continuity, I'm curious to see how he'll develop in future instalments.

Overall, it's not bad, but definitely not one of my favourite Sonic titles.

My rating: 55%

When Jiminy Cricket removes the happy ending pages as a game to freshen things up, he unintentionally lets the villains triumph in their stories, so he accompanies you on a quest into the book to put things right.

I remember seeing this game advertised on a Disney video in my childhood (Mulan, I think). I'll never forget the commercial's final words: "Without you, there will be no happy endings." Well, after all these years, I've finally seen the game itself.

There are four worlds to save, each by a different method. In Snow White, you brew potions to create a facsimile of the Prince. The Dumbo segment involves positioning characters like setting up dominoes. The Peter Pan one is mainly swordfights with Captain Hook. Alice in Wonderland is the most annoying: a hedge maze where the same handful of lines repeat endlessly.

The voice acting is generally lacklustre, but the Evil Queen is especially noteworthy; she sounds nothing like the original voice!

The graphics consist of 2D animated characters interacting with 3D backgrounds. For the most part, the 2D characters match their movie counterparts well, with the glaring exception of the Blue Fairy. Unfortunately, the game does itself no favours by playing clips from the movies, showcasing the stark contrast in animation quality.

To sum it up, it's very plainly a kids' game, but a harmless enough one. I might have liked it if I had played it as a child, but there's not much to entertain adult players.

My rating: 50%

After Emperor Uriel Septim VII dies, the player must help his illegitimate son Martin find a way to stop the invasion of the hellish realm Oblivion.

I did not like The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (mainly because I was quickly put off by a bombardment of names I had no idea how to pronounce), so I was hoping this follow-up would be at least a moderate improvement. Thankfully, it was. :-) The main storyline held my interest fairly well, and the fact that it's fully voice acted alone makes it an exponential improvement on Morrowind!

Although, that said, I wouldn't say the voice acting is the best I've ever heard. Many characters clearly have the same voice, and let's just say I've heard livelier. On the other hand, the cast does include some pretty famous names, like Sean Bean as Martin, Patrick Stewart as Emperor Uriel, and Terence Stamp as cult leader Mankar Camoran.

Since I tend to favour stealth over combat, I chose the Agent class when creating my character. However, I never strayed far from the main campaign, which gave me almost no opportunities to practise the relevant skills. So, due to the way the level-up system works, I was still only at level one when I entered the first Oblivion Gate, and only level five by the time I finished the story. As a result, because of how quickly even the regular enemies can drain your health, I pretty much grew to depend on the God Mode cheat just to survive.

The graphics are good, but no matter how high I set the view distance, trees and other objects would keep popping into view unnaturally.

A good chunk of the game consists of wandering around aimlessly, especially if the way forward isn't immediately obvious, and am I the only one who thinks the running speed should have been the default walking speed? You can fast travel, but only to locations you've already found.

Amusingly, even though this isn't a direct sequel to Morrowind, I did come across one reference to it in my travels: a conversation that mentions the Nerevarine left on an expedition to other lands.

Overall, I enjoyed this game, but it's far from what I'd call great. The central narrative is good, but the stagnations you run into while exploring do mean the pacing suffers.

My rating: 75%