That Boy Aqua
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is Painfully Close to Perfection
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When I talked about Shattered Dimensions a few months ago, I said that I planned on covering Edge of Time, and there were two responses I got in return. One side saying that the game sucked, had an awful story, and probably killed their family. The other side said that it was well written, underrated, and resurrected said family. My thoughts? Sigh I hate to admit it, but this was one of the few spidey games I missed out on growing up. It sort of passed under the radar and got buried underneath all the other releases, like a little indie game called Arkham City, maybe you heard of it. I played Shattered Dimensions and loved that both as a kid and an adult, so I think it’s safe to say that this game was going to be fun too… except… well… there's some issues we need to tackle first.
I mentioned this when talking about Shattered Dimensions, but I really liked the Ultimate and Noir universe as it felt the most unique, gameplay and visual wise. I didn’t love the amazing universe because it felt vanilla. Granted, that was the point, but still, put the tried and true next to the new, and ol reliable stops looking so desirable. 2099 had its own problems, most notably when it came to level design. For as much as a futuristic Nueva York had a lot of potential, we were only shown a glimpse of what could have been. A more optimistic person would have thought that a whole game set in the future would offer more room for the futuristic aesthetic to flourish, but the jaded side of me would taper that optimism. Immediately we’re off to a shaky start. We’re taking the two characters and settings I found to be the most uninteresting, and tackling time travel instead of dimensional travel, which despite being so different, operates in a similar realm of absurdism.
Spider-Man Edge of Time is often cited as one of the best or worst Spider-Man games, but why? Why does Edge of Time get so much hate when the Edge of Time Anti Venom is the only time we have seen the character in a game, assuming you don't count the Insomniac Anti Venom. Why does is get so much love when Spider Man 2099 and Amazing are severely dongraded, gameplay wise, from Shattered Dimensions? This Edge of Time review, Edge of Time critique, Edge of Time analysis, and Edge of Time retrospective. will attempt to answer that question. The Edge of Time gameplay is the biggest factor for me, and if we were to look at Edge of Time VS Shattered Dimensions, Shattered Dimensions would win in almost every category. This is one of the final videos in my Spider-Man retrospective, and I think it's fitting to look at Edge of Time 14 years later, because, years later, it stands as one of the weaker entries in the web heads long list of games. The Edge of Time ending leaves no room for a sequel, but we could still get a Shattered Dimensions sequel or an Edge of Time remaster if we are lucky.
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- Chapters -
Intro: 0:00
Day 0: 2:36
Day 1: 5:13
Day 2: 16:39
Day 58: 25:37
Day 111: 31:02
Day 160: 36:17
Day 174: 37:05
Day 207: 41:59
Day 242: 44:54
Day 277: 46:54
Day 311: 49:16
Day 312: 51:32
Day 348: 55:28
Day 365: 57:23
Outro: 1:00:39
Outro: 1:14:13
You know, I’m a hopeful person. I can at times be very cynical on this channel, but at my core, I am someone that enjoys enjoying things. I have no desire to see a game fail, and I have no desire to play a game with the hope or even expectation that it will be bad. Both in my personal life, and in my professional life, I hold on to the idea that things could always turn around. After one year of Suicide Squad. I’ve lost hope. Normally, I critique games. I pick apart why I like something, and a year ago, I had intended to do the same thing with Suicide Squad. But as more content updates released, I found myself unable to commit to that. Because this game is more than a 10 hour campaign. It’s more than the controversy surrounding it, and it’s more than a product for someone to evaluate as either good or bad. Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League, was an experience that lasted a year. This video will chronicle that experience. My experience. But hey, we’ll still figure out what worked, what didn't, why, and what we can learn from it. This is Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League; 1 Year Later.
The hype leading up to Suicide Squad was… minimal. There were plenty who knew Rocksteady's reputation, myself included, and stayed hopeful. These were the people that brought us the Arkham series; games that pushed the video game medium forward, and raised the bar for not just superhero games, but games as a whole. It was this reputation that led to many people being excited about the idea of suicide squad. When the game was first revealed, we only had cinematic to go off of and said cinematic looked great. Comments from the trailer are positive, and reactions were much the same. A year passed and we finally saw gameplay. This gameplay looked clean, but some were concerned at how gun heavy it was. Many assumed it would incorporate Arkham’s freeflow combat, but this could not be further from the truth. Not only did the showcased gameplay over the next year be more and more disappointing, it still looked like a far cry from what we would eventually get.
Suicide Squad is an IP that has so much room for success, and yet, Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League, 1 Year Later, is a financial, critical, and spiritual flop. How could a Suicide Squad game get here? Based on the Suicide Squad cutscenes, Suicide Squad's addition of the Joker, Suicide Squad's Lawless explansion, the ,Suicide Squad Deathstroke DLC, and everything surrounding the Suicide Squad Ms Freeze controversey, it's clear that the Suicide Squad ending is a merciful end. This Suicide Sqaud analysis, Suicide Squad critique, Suicide Squad review, and Suicide Squad retrospective, will chronicle my journey through Suicide Squad 1 year later. I played Suicide Squad for one year. God help me.
Edited by Playstayshaun
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- Chapters -
Intro: 0:00
Chp. 1 - Nobody: 1:15
Chp. 2 - Liberating London: 15:58
Chp. 3 - Resistance: 19:26
Chp. 4 - Story: 38:57
Chp. 5 - Bloodline: 1:01:11
Chp. 6 - Hard Reset: 1:07:39
Outro: 1:14:13
Watch Dogs Legion, is a game that is, at its core, and I rarely say this, fundamentally flawed. The idea to play as anyone, can only result in a game where you play as no one. Sure, there are some ways to still deliver an engaging story, but I think with this concept, and given what the first two games established, Watch Dogs Legion was starting on the back foot, and would need to deliver something truly amazing to rise above the inevitable backlash. But, before we look at the game itself, I want to talk about what the first two games established, as it’s critical context for the reception and conception of Watch Dogs Legion. The first thing to note is the tone difference between Watch Dogs 1 and 2. I discussed this shift in tone a lot in my Watch Dogs 2 video. A lot of you didn’t though, as evidenced by the people who thought the video was ragebait, because everyone knows the most efficient way to pump out ragebait is to spend nearly 100 hours writing a critique of a game, and given my track record, it’s clear I never talk about the things I like. With that in mind *inhale* HEY. PAY THE FUCK ATTENTION. If you’ve seen it, then you’ll know that I argued that, the tone shift in Watch Dogs 2, as well as the gameplay being so radically different compared to the first, despite it being good, led to the series being split in two fanbases, meaning that Ubisoft had the choice to please one side, or try to please both, with the risk of pleasing neither. Watch Dogs Legion, is their choice. I’m sure you can imagine who was pleased here.
Let’s start where it’s easiest; playing as anybody. Is that what people want, and is that such a radical shift from the previous games? Watch Dogs starred a character that was by all means a blank slate, but not for the character to project themselves upon, instead serving as a part of his character. Aiden’s face is always obscured, his clothing ordinary, and even his position in our view of the game keeps him comfortably in the peripheral. He needs to blend in because his work demands it. Operating alongside Aiden is Dedsec, a group of Anonymous hackers that intend on being Chicago's WatchDogs. As the game progresses we learn that there are other Dedsec groups all over the world, mostly fighting for the same goal. Characters we encounter have ties to DedSec, their leader is unknown, and generally, the theme is clear; it could be anyone, and that’s the power Aiden thrives on. Hacking is an invisible superpower, meaning anyone from a grease monkey bum to a crime warlord can utilise it, and so can Aiden. The second game decided to make Marcus, and the rest of the core San Francisco group more expressive. Marcus is even positioned in the middle of the screen. But his and his friends' unique quirks strengthened the theme of the first game; it could be anyone. Sure, those characters can at times be too bombastic, turning the serious tone of Dedsec from the first game into a saturday cartoon, but these people still put on a serious face for Dedsec when approaching the public.
Watch Dogs Legion, otherwise Watch Dogs 3, is a game that I have many mixed feelings on. This Watch Dogs Legion review will unpack those feelings, though as the title might have you believe, this Watch Dogs Legion critique will be a bit more negative than usual. I went into this Watch Dogs Legion analysis with the intention of continuing my positivity showcased in other Watch Dogs retrospectives, but seeing how Watch Dogs Legion doomed the series made that impossible. The Endless Failings of Watch Dogs Legion will unpack what Watch Dogs Legion years later looks like. Hopefully, this game will be forgotten when the new Watch Dogs game is announced, because I do not want to end my Watch Dogs series retrospective here. Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2 are too good for this to be more than a failed experiment. Fortunatley, Watch Dogs Legion Bloodline was good, but Watch Dogs Bloodline is not enough to keep me from wanting to forget Legion, and focus on waiting for the next Watch Dogs game.
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- Chapters -
Intro/Biases: 0:00
Two Characters: 0:53
Movement: 3:10
Combat: 6:56
Stealth: 10:20
Microtransactions: 13:14
Story: 14:04
Potential Spoiler: 15:20
Conclusion: 16:00
Q&A: 16:23
Outro/Thanks: 18:20
I was fortunate enough to play Assassin’s Creed Shadows for 4 hours, and here is everything you need to know about the upcoming release, what to expect, and maybe I have a surprise for you later on too. The demo included a prologue that we were not allowed to record, and then about 3 hours in the open world where we were free to do whatever we wanted, though there was a questline we were encouraged to do. Let’s start with the usual tidings which are laying out biases. I love Assassin’s Creed. I have always loved it, even during the RPG era, and I was given a form of special treatment from Ubisoft in the sense that, while I was unable to attend the in-person event for the game, I was able to play it remotely. Aside from that, you also need to remember that I generally love open world games, especially ones with good stealth and movement, so theres a high likelihood that this will be up my alley. This video will be structured into two parts. The first will cover my thoughts on the preview I played and if it changed my reluctantly hopeful anticipation, and the second half of this video will be doing my best to answer questions that you guys submitted to me. Let’s start with something easy, which is playing as Naoe or Yasuke.
You may notice that a lot of my gameplay features Naoe, and that’s for a pretty big reason. It’s because Yasuke. Is Not. A. Sneaky fella. My favourite parts of the Assassin's Creed series have always been the stealth and parkour, so a character that can barely do either of those has little appeal to me. I did play a little bit as him for the sake of trying it out, but even the combat, which is generally easier as Yasuke, was more fun as Naoe because her animations and different weapons were more varied and unique than Yasukes. I don’t care that he’s a samurai, and I don’t care that he’s black, but I do care that his gameplay, to me, just didn’t click as well as Naoes, and this shockingly includes combat. It makes the game's biggest feature, the two protagonists, feel a little redundant. As if having a samurai is an obligation because it’s set in Japan.
The difference between the two is most notable in animations, and I’m happy to say that said animations and the general presentation of the game this time around is exceptional. I was disappointed in Mirages movement because the supposedly nimble character moved like a 300lb viking, so to see Yasuke move as if he truly is wearing a hundred pounds of armour and to see Naoe move like a proper ninja, bot in terms of their actual speed but also in the way they carry themselves, was a massive step up. It’s more than Yasuke failing to scramble a wall or him botching a leap of faith, it’s about his walk. The way he struggles a little to get on a horse, the way he stumbles a bit getting off, and the way the iron clad cloth has clearly heavier physics than Naoe’s. They are minor details, but they go so far in developing the two as separate characters, and when everything from the minor details to the major differences are thought out, it lends a lot to replayability, and the idea that these are two entirely different people. It can also add to the fun a whole lot.
Assassin's Creed Shadows could be the best game in years. Assassins Creed Shadows, otherwise refered to as AC Shadows, is the latest entry in the Assassin's Creed series. This AC Shadows review will discuss the AC Shadows gameplay showcased in the preview, but will not be a suppliment for a full Assassins Creed Shadows review, which will come at a later date. The Assassins Creed Shadows gameplay was extensive, as we had 4 hours to play it, but our experience of the Assassins Creed Shadows story was light and staggered. We were able to see how much of an impact the AC Shadows delay had on the game. Needless to say, I'm happy that Assassin's Creed Shadows was delayed. The game has heavily benefitted from it. The AC Shadows stealth is fantastic, and I'm glad we did not see AC Shadows cancelled or further delayed. This new Assassin's Creed game is one of the best so far, and I'm looking forward to any further new Assassins Creed!
Edited by Playstayshaun
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Ah, Ubisoft, a company that is known for making bad games. Well except that one I guess, and that one, and that one, and that one, and that one too, huh, And ok you know what, whatever, the point is, when we think of Ubisoft, there are very specific kinds of games we think of. Open world games, historical games, stealth games. For as much as Ubisoft is known for sci-fi with the assassin's creed series, they rarely dip their toes into the vigilante scene, aside from arguably one game. So imagine my surprise when I find out that Ubisoft made a Batman game over two decades ago based on the legendary cartoon, The New Batman Adventures.
Conceptually, this game is a trip down memory lane for me. It features all the same voice actors from the associated cartoon, and of course the art style is a 3d interpretation of the show. Of course, not only does this make the game more authentic, but in retrospect, it feels like an elseworld arkham game. And yea, it’s really nice to hear Kevin Conroy again. I think this is one of the biggest draws of the game, the fact that it’s based on the show, but if you’re looking at the footage then it’s clear, the game is old. 2001 old, meaning this game is older than a lot of you watching, and it’s only a year younger than me. I know some of you younger Gen Z kids might scoff at a game that looks like this, so I want to take a few moments to talk about “old” games.
These days, especially in the last few years, the standards for games have skyrocketed. Games now look even better than real life, run smooth, and are as immersive as ever, especially when we factor in things like VR headsets. Games with a minimalistic art styles aren’t uncommon, but they are no longer done to avoid boundaries, and are rather done out of artistic intent. When we travel back to older games, there's a shock to your system, because characters like Lara Croft that have been known for their luscious hair this generation previously had a few shapes that we all collectively understood as hair. But it’s important to remember that this level of fidelity is adjusted to easily. I’ll admit, when I first launched Batman Vengeance and saw that the maximum resolution was barely defined as HD, and there were virtually no graphics settings, I was preparing for the worst, but within 20 minutes I felt completely immersed within it. Granted, I went into the game knowing it was more than 2 decades old, but this side tangent is to set up the following statement; I think the game looks pretty good.
Batman is a character with a lot of games. Batman Arkham is the only batman related series many have played. Ubisoft, a company known for making good games, is a company many would want to avoid the Batman IP, but this Ubisoft Batman game turns out to be quite good. Unfortunatley the time Ubisoft made a Batman game was over two decades ago, which, brutal, but regardless, Batman Vengeance is pretty much a Batman Animated Series game. This Batman Vengeance review, Batman Vengeance critique, and Batman Vengeance retrospective will look at the games development, how it holds up today, and if you should play it (spoiler; why not). Maybe Ubisoft will lead a new Batman Arkham game one day, though I think Rocksteady is making the next Arkham game. If there is ever another Batman The Animated Series or Batman The New Adventures game, I'd be comfortable seeing Ubisoft make it after playing this.
Edited by Playstayshaun
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I know these days the concept of a Spider-Verse is well in the mainstream, but over a decade ago, that was hardly the case, with the idea of a superheroic multiverse being left only to one TV episode, and in our case, one video game. Spider-Man Shattered dimensions came out at a time when Spider-Man games were becoming increasingly synonymous with open worlds, because the way the character moves is one of his most defining traits. Since Spider-Man 2, every Spider-Man game aside from the mediocre friend or foe has been open world. So imagine the surprise when Shattered Dimensions was a linear, combat focused game. Even conceptually, if you were to tell me you’re making a spider-man game with minimised traversal and no open world, I’d call you crazy. Welp, as is often the case, I was dead wrong, because in spite of what you might think, this game kicks an unbelievable amount of ass.
On an otherwise normal night, Mysterio breaks into a museum to steal the tablet of order and chaos. A tablet with the ability to warp both time and space. Why is it in a random museum? Who gives a. When Spider-Man swoops in to save the day, the tablet gets broken, causing its pieces to be shattered across different dimensions, all home to different spider-men. With the help of Madam Web, the 4 Spider-Men are able to band together to get the pieces from a slew of villains, and restore order to the dimensions. You’ll notice the phrase dimension being used interchangeably with multiverse, spider-verse, or just universe, and it’s because as far as Marvel is concerned, that is what dimension means. The four Spider-Men are Amazing, Noir, 2099, and Ultimate, who offer their own playstyles, enemies, and art styles across 14 different levels. The game succeeds at a lot, fails at a little, and overall, I recommend you buy it. Of course, as always it’s not available for purchase directly from Activision so you’ll need to find a used copy or perhaps sail the high seas.
Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions 14 years later, is still good. It's not surprising. Many consider Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions to be one of the better Spider-Man games. This Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions review will try to analyse why it was so well received, and what we can learn from it today. This shorter Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions critique is a broad Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions retrospective within the larger Spider-Man game retrospective we've been doing over the last few years. I hope we one day get a Shattered Dimensions remaster, or even a Shattered Dimensions remake. It would be even better if we got it bundled with Spider-Man Edge of Time. With the popularity of the Spider-verse these days, releasing the first Spider-Verse, featuring Spider-Man Noir, Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, and Ultimate Spider-Man seems like a good idea.
Edited by Playstayshaun
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- Chapters -
Intro: 0:00
Kyrat: 3:13
Liberation: 10:46
Excuses: 25:08
10 Years Later: 38:01
Post Script: 40:26
No Far Cry 4 video or even discussion can escape the success of Far Cry 3. After all, according to fans, remaking Far Cry 3 is all the series has done for over a decade now. But is that really true? If you’ve played the games, then the answer is no, but it’s interesting to see both how wildly different yet familiar Far Cry 4 is compared to its predecessor. Far Cry 4 overhauls a lot of systems, introduces a far more vibrant and interesting location, and yet, mechanically, remains the same. When creating a sequel it’s important to make the game feel new, and to feel iterative, but why would the game stray too far from what previously garnered so much praise and success. It’s true, there are many moments here that feel as though Ubisoft said, “hey, remember that awesome scene from Far Cry 3, here, do it again”. But I think looking at Ubisoft through a modern lens shows us that while some may mock the series for not changing enough, is that so bad when Far Cry’s sibling has been in a decade long identity crisis, with it’s two fanbases divorced and desperately arguing for custody of the term “real assassin’s creed game”? Hard to say, but what is less so is to sing the praises and admittedly mumble the criticisms of Far Cry 4. It’s a great game, with some minor issues holding it back from being perfect. Some might even say it’s better than Far Cry 3, but I don’t wanna get too crazy, hermano, at least not yet.
As far as a new Far Cry game goes, it may not feel exactly new. We play a quiet, stoic protagonist, travelling to a foreign land, encountering the main villain who captures us, and once escaping we team up with the rebels to take back the region. It’s par for the course, but it’s not exactly as I described. Kyrat, a fictional country in India is not just home to Aajis and Aajas, but to Ajays too. A large theme I covered in my Far Cry 3 video is the idea of the Rook Islands being a foreign land being something to be conquered by Jason. Kyrat, has already been colonised, and while it’s an unknown land to us, to Ajay, it’s home, making it immediately different from the previous game. Functionally, this still results in radio towers, outposts, and fighting the power, but the context is different. This time, it’s morally justified. In the Far Cry 3, because Jason and the Player had a greater overlap, the game could create an insightful critique of the player by critiquing Jason. Far Cry 4 doesn’t have the same luxury, but as quickly as I make that claim, our villain is introduced, our Vaas 2.0. Except, he’s not. Looking to Pagan as a fill-in for Vaas is natural, he’s on the cover of the game, just like Vaas was, but I think in reality, Pagan is more of a Hoyte figure, the man at the head of the operations. He’s evil, but not Vaas evil, he doesn’t completely revel in the horror, rather, he sees it as a necessity to maintain a life of luxury. Who am I kidding? He enjoys it a little, but he maintains some humanity, a humanity that was all but lost in Hoyte.
Far Cry is a series that has supposedly repeated itself over and over. Far Cry 4 is an inheritor of that criticism, and this Far Cry 4 critique aims to be a, post Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4 analysis. This Far Cry 4 review is pat of my larger Far Cry retrospective. Far Cry 4 10 years later is still amazing, and I don't think we will ever need a Far Cry 4 remake. The game is even better when compared to Far Cry 5, Far Cry 6, and Far Cry Primal, as this game, along with Pagan Min, clear the rest of the series for me. This Far Cry 4 retrospective however will try to argue that this is far from Far Cry 3 again, and instead, use it as a basis for a series wide Far Cry review and Far Cry critique. Far Cry years later, has changed a lot, but I believe the series has retained it's identity so far, outside of the new Far Cry game. For now, this is the best Far Cry game, though the Far Cry 4 ending, and Far Cry 4 DLC, leaves a lot to be desired and this certainly doesn't have the best Far Cry villain, it's miles above the worst Far Cry game, and will likely clear the next Far Cry, but I suppose we will have to wait for the next Far Cry trailer to confirm that.
Edited by Playstayshaun
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- Chapters -
Intro: 0:00
Manscaped: 3:13
Pandora: 4:55
Gameplay: 13:23
Story: 24:03
Post Game: 29:21
Conclusion: 39:09
#borderlands #gaming
Borderlands 2 is a game that brought a bunch of new fans to the series, and is still regarded as the best in the series. That was the case for myself as well. I had tried the first at a friends house but never got that far, and assumed it just wasn’t for me, until Borderlands 2 changed my mind and turned me into a gambling addict constantly farming the same boss because statistically speaking, most Borderlands players stop farming the bunker right before they get a perfect sham. Speaking of shams, I really screwed myself by not playing the first game because while by today's standards it is stiff, a bit ugly, and by all means not what we expect from a Borderlands game, it is still worth the time. After 15 years, it’s important to look back at the game to see if its initial praise from critics was warranted, and if within its flaws, we can find new reasons to appreciate the future games. I mentioned it already in my Borderlands 2 video, but I like this game a lot, even if it is ultimately the one I am least likely to play again.
Since Borderlands was the first entry, it set the standard for what fans can expect, except, that isn’t entirely how I’ll be approaching this game. I want to bear in mind the fact that there are millions of players like me that were introduced to the series with 2, and played forward, never going back to the first. I mean, the second game sold 4 times as many copies, so it makes sense that a wider audience hadn’t played it, but upon release, Borderlands 1 was received well, and more importantly, laid the foundation for ideas and lore that would be expanded upon in Borderlands 2. It’s hard to justify going back to the first game when the second improved on every aspect of it, but because of how revolutionary the second game was, and how the foundations for the series were damn near reworked from the ground up, we can find value in playing something that, despite starting the series, feels oddly alien to Borderlands. Unfortunately we can also find flaws in something so alien. I mean, Just because the game feel is different, because it does suck sometimes, doesn’t give it inherent value; and it’s for this exact reason that I think Borderlands 1 deserves a remake.
Borderlands on PC is a solid experience. Borderlands GOTY has all the DLC included, and is thus the best way to experience Borderlands 1. Now that Borderlands 4 is around the corner, and since we already looked at Borderlands 2, now is a great time to look at the first game, which compared to Borderlands 3, is now deserving of a Borderlands remake. Especially after the disappointing Borderlands movie, more than ever, Borderlands deserves a remake, This Borderlands review, Borderlands critique, and Borderlands analysis, is part of a larger Borderlands retrospective.
Happy Halloween :)
Edited by Playstayshaun
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Space is the subject of fascination for many people. Anything could be out there, it’s the next step for civilization, the great beyond, the final frontier. As far as science is concerned the universe outside of earth is silent. No life, no organisms, just, nothing, and that’s scary. Staring into space is staring into the void. A vast emptiness that, while filled with stars, lacks so much density that they may as well be infinitely out of reach. Maybe it’s comforting knowing that beyond our atmosphere is nothing. But fear is born from what we don’t know, and if there is one thing I can be certain of when it comes to the cosmos, it’s that there's something out there, and that’s terrifying. Dead Space, an ironic title for a game where the greatest threat is life itself, released initially in 2008, was developed by Redwood Shores, published by EA, and stars Isaac Clark. The year is 2058, and earth is nearly uninhabitable. Isaac, on one of many ships sent to mine other planets for resources, has to make a pitstop on one of their larger models due to a distress signal. Fine by him, he’ll get to reunite with his girlfriend Nicole. Clark is an engineer, not trained for combat and his suit, pristine in its minimal copper glory, presumably hasn’t seen bloodshed before. That changes remarkably fast. But, we’ve been here before haven’t we?
Dead Space was remade in 2023 and with it came some significant changes such as Isaac having a voice, the backtracking being cut down and said backtracking being more dynamic, and of course, there has been an intense graphical overhaul. I’ll be looking at the remake purely because I believe it is the best way to experience the game, and hey, it’s even free on Playstation Plus. This game looks gorgeous, but not really. I mean, yea the lighting is nice, texture work is superb, but, the place is a dump, and I appreciate what they were going for. No wall is without a cry for help haphazardly scrawled across it, no room without blood splattered across the floor, and there are many points where these decorations add to the fear. Enemies often come out of vents in the early game, and said vents all look the same, they even have convenient yellow paint on them, assumedly so the staff of the aegis know what they're supposed to interact with. But you might notice that these vents are everywhere, sometimes with accompanied blood, and sometimes with their cover completely torn off.
Dead Space was released originally in 2008, but the Dead Space remake was released in 2023, and that what will be covered today. An old Dead Space review doesn't make much sense as a Dead Space remake review, because Dead Space 2023 is by far the best way to experience the game. This Dead Space retrospective, Dead Space analysis, and Dead Space critique, will look at Dead Space years later to see if it still holds up, and see if the Dead Space remake VS original is better, which, spoilers; it is better. This will also lightly explain the Dead Space story, and of course the Dead Space twist that has plagued every Dead Space fun facts video of the last decade. This video will be light on story, but it's because, ultimately, the goal is to explain why I called Dead Space perfect horror, and why it's the best horror game I ever played. If this video does well I may consider doing Dead Space 2 and Dead Space 3, to see where the story takes Isaac Clarke.
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#indianajones #indianajonesandthegreatcircle #gaming
Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is the latest project from Machine Games, previously famous for the latest wolfenstein games. It aims to take the charm of the movies, and translate it to the video game medium. The publisher, Bethesda, was kind enough to fly me out to LA to play the game, and I want to talk about my experience with the game and if I think you should be more or less excited for when it releases on December 9th 2024. I want to, as always, talk about bias, as on one hand I was flown out to LA and was put in a swanky ass hotel, but on the other hand, I am not an Indiana Jones fan, and in fact, I have never seen the movies. It’s not for any particular reason, but simply, throughout life, Indiana Jones has been a blindspot. But I think this gives me a unique perspective, as I can judge this game as a game and not necessarily as an Indiana Jones product. If you are looking for a review from a diehard Indiana Jones fan, then I highly recommend you check out The Indie Guy, who was one of the awesome people I met at this event. He absolutely loves Indiana Jones, and it was honestly so cool seeing how much he loved the game.
I, unfortunately, felt a little different. After finishing our 2 hour play session that included 3 missions, I found myself conflicted between the critical side of my brain and the emotional side. I think given what this game sets out to do, create a cinematic, immersive experience, the game nails it, to a staggering degree, but it does so at the sacrifice of fun. So trying to be unbiased, I appreciate that, as far as a game setting out with a goal, congrats, mission accomplished, but I also found myself a bit bored by the game, and I wanna break down where that comes from and how that will influence how I would recommend this game, because ultimately I do, assuming you like Indiana Jones, and like immersive experiences. So let’s start with the way the game looks because undeniably, incredible. I only experienced a single bug when playing, when I tried to throw dynamite at a cave full of scorpions, which caused the game to crash, but I have full confidence that a crash like that will be fully fixed by release. I obviously can’t show it because Bethesda provided the B Roll, but I think other youtubers will also say that, aside from the odd crash, the game ran very well and looked immaculate.
Indiana Jones is an iconic character, but the character has not seen a new game in some times, with the most iconic being the Lego Indiana Jones games. That was until Indiana Jones and The Great Circle. This new Indiana Jones game, developed by Machine Games is the new Indiana Jones game fans of the Indiana Jones movies have been waiting for. This game offers quintessential Indiana Jones gameplay, and while this is not an Indiana Jones and The Great Circle review, this video will showcase a lot of Indiana Jones and The Great Circle gameplay, while also giving my impressions of the game. I was told I would get a review copy so expect a video in a few months answering should you buy Indiana Jones and The Great Circle.
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Once I finished covering the Batman Arkham series on my channel around 2 years ago, I made one thing, very clear. I said that I was happy with where the series was, and I didn’t want it to be continued past Knight; because the series was near flawless in my eyes and because a new Arkham game has the possibility of damaging a pristine series. If a new Arkham game comes out and it sucks, the previous games, in retrospect, can be tarnished. We saw this exact sentiment with Joker 2, a movie people felt was so bad that it ruined the first movie for them. So to say I was sceptical of a brand new Arkham game delegated to VR would be a massive understatement. But, at gamescom this year I was able to try a demo of Batman Arkham Shadow and to my surprise, it was exceptionally good. Speaking of that, I do want to say that while I am going to do my best to look at this game through an unbiased lens, I was given an exceptional amount of special treatment leading to this game's launch that cannot be ignored. I’ll talk about it more at the end of the video but essentially I was given, the game for free, a trip to gamescom, a trip to meta’s offices in Seattle, and I was given two free headsets, the Meta Quest 3, and 3S, and the developers were asking myself and others YouTubers for feedback on the game and making changes based on that feedback. My goal here is to give a review of the game with my thoughts, specifically looking at the game both as a standalone product and as a console seller, because the console is the biggest barrier between Arkham fans and this new Arkham game.
Batman Arkham Shadow takes place after the events of Arkham Origins and sees Batman trying to decipher the identity of the Rat King, and doing so exclusively on the Meta Quest 3. Fortunately, along with the release of Arkham Shadow, there is the new budget inclined Meta Quest 3S. I’ve been using this headset for a few weeks now and can say that it’s a great budget way to get into VR, but I do not recommend you get this headset for just Arkham Shadow. Arkham Shadow is a roughly 10 hour game, so I can’t in good faith tell you to drop hundreds of dollars for that, but if you’ve been wanting to play a couple VR games, I think it’s a worthy purchase. I was actually going to get a Quest 3 last year to play Assassin’s Creed Nexus, but held off because I was moving, so I can say that long before any interaction directly with Meta, I thought the Quest was a solid choice, the biggest factor being that it’s wireless. But let’s put a pin in that for now and answer the question on everyone's mind. Is Arkham Shadow good? Does it tarnish the Arkham legacy? Should Camoflaje expect a pipe bomb in the mail? The answer is yes, no, and, we’ll see. Finally, as always, please watch more than just this review and I stress this especially because there's a good chance you’ll need to buy the headset too, so do as much research as you can.
Batman hasn't been seen since his latest entry, Arkham Knight. Batman Arkham Shadow is the latest Arkham game, a sequel to Batman Arkham Origins, but there's one problem. Batman Arkham Shadow, like Arkham VR before it, is in virtual reality. Batman Arkham has always been in 3rd person, so a Batman Arkham VR was not was fans were expecting from a new Arkham game. Fortunatley, this new Batman game, exclusive to the Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest 3S, is down right excellent. Building upon the themes of Arkham Origins, this review will be completely spoiler free, potentially unlike other Batman Arkham Shadow reviews. This Batman VR review takes place entirely on the Quest 3S. Now that you have seen the Batman Arkham Shadow gameplay, are you going to buy it?
Edited by Playstayshaun
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- Chapters -
Opening: 0:00
New York City: 4:32
Swinging: 13:40
Combat & Stealth: 23:12
The Story: 35:00
Postgame: 1:02:39
Conclusion: 1:18:35
Outro: 1:22:22
You know, the last time we got a Spider-Man 2, it was pretty good! I wonder what the internet thinks of this one? OH MY GOD. Ok, let’s get something straight before we start. I know the reaction to this game has been extreme on both sides but my goal here is to take a measured approach to the game. I want to give Spider-Man 2 its flowers, but also give it fair criticism. Looking back at the game, a year out from launch, and now that all the dust has settled, it opens an opportunity to look at the game as a game, and not as a cultural event, or a tool in a larger culture war. As a game, Spider-Man 2 is beautiful, exhilarating, flawed, and perhaps most dangerous of all, overambitious. For every step forward there was a step back, and for every new feature was another that took 6 months to arrive.
The hype cycle leading to the release of Spider-Man 2 was interesting because the game looked completely new, but it was clear the DNA of the first game was still present, and the same was true for the games reception. A gameplay trailer showcased incredible visuals, but some were hyper focused on the quality of the water, giving us a sequel to puddlegate, and of course, people did whatever they could to tear the game down. Personally, I was hyped out of my mind, because Insomniac delivered well with the first game and while they weren’t without flaws, I was confident that whatever we got would be fun. Once we got it, I binged the game for about 20 hours, getting 100%, and then putting together my review in the same night where I was really positive towards it. In said review I had to lay out my biases clearly because I have a heavy Spider-Man bias, and any Spider-Man game, no matter how bad, yea, I’m looking at you Spider-Man 3, I enjoy it to some extent. That will apply to this video too. I won’t pull any punches so to speak, but do understand this is the perspective of a lifelong Spider-Man fan. That said, don’t expect this to be like most of the opinions we’ve seen online.
Spider-Man 2, the old one was one of the best Spider-Man games we ever got; is the same true for Marvel's Spider-Man 2? Well, Insomniac Spider-Man 2 is better than the OG SpiderMan 2, but the Spider-Man 2 Venom portrayal left a lot to be desired, which will not be fulfilled by DLC as it seems all the Insomniac team is working on Marvels Wolverine. This Spider-Man 2 analysis, unlike some other Spider-Man 2 critique will focus on the gameplay most, but as this is a complete Spider-man 2 retrospective, it will still pay the story it's fair share of attention. After the success of Spider-Man Miles Morales, I was hoping the Spider-Man 2 Story would be better, but according to the Insomniac leak, it seems a lot of it was cut. Spider-Man 2 1 year later is still a lot of fun, despite the internet constantly flip flopping their opinion of Marvels Spider-Man 2. This Spider-Man retrospective intends to cut through the noise, and offer a proper Spider-Man 2 critique, Spider-Man 2 analysis, and general Spider-Man 2 review to figure out the nuance. Hopefully this game is successful enough to warrant Spider-Man 3, or any new Spider-Man game like Spider-Man Silk.
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I was recently at gamescom and got the opportunity to play Batman Arkham Shadow early. Batman Arkham Shadow has seen a bit of a mixed reaction since it’s launch as it is a VR game, and I want to acknowledge that first. Many were hoping for a new 3rd person entry to the Arkham series and this isn’t that, but it still is quite good. I got to play it for 45 minutes and while the footage on screen is not my own, I can attest that things performed, played, and generally felt, the same as it looks here. Since the footage is captured in a smaller aspect ratio to maintain fidelity, I’ll have footage of myself next to it so you get an idea of what you look like when playing the game. I want to talk about the good, the bad, my expectations, and basically all of my thoughts from this playtest. I need to inform you for transparency that I was flown out to Gamescom in Germany to play the game. I’ll cover the details more later in the video, but for now, let’s talk about the game.
Batman Arkham Shadow takes place a few months after Arkham Origins, with a younger angrier Bruce who is still learning the ropes of being a superhero. The latest villain, the Rat King, not ratcatcher, and the new gimmick this time around is that it takes place in Virtual Reality exclusively through the Meta Quest 3. Our demo took us through the opening of the game and while it was light on story, it was heavy on gameplay, secrets, exploration, and being Batman. Almost every Arkham game has touted the idea that you can “be the Batman” and yet, this is the only game where I feel that tagline is earned. With virtual reality , you physically, do all the moves as Batman, so getting immersed and actually feeling like Batman is not just possible, but it felt natural.
In the game, I was doing what I thought were cool martial arts takedowns, imitating the moves I remembered from the games, but fair warning, you still look dumb to anyone watching you. Tracking of both my head and hands worked well and never failed, and I never felt as though I did something I hadn’t intended to. From a technical aspect, the game ran smoothly for me, and the controls all felt intuitive. This is to be expected when it comes to the developers, Camouflage, who previously developed Iron Man VR, but my concern when playing the game was; how does it feel as an Arkham game? I am not super familiar with VR, but I consider myself wholly familiar with the Arkhamverse, and if there's one thing I know from playing those games, it’s that when the series briefly deviates from 3rd person action, it never quite nails the feeling of an authentic Arkham game.
Batman is a character synonymous with the Batman Arkham series, and Batman Arkham Shadow intends on expanding that series. The Batman Arkham Shadow gameplay is not what many were expecting from the next Arkham game, but this new Arkham game, is by all means a full story, unlike Batman Arkham VR. The Batman Arkham Shadow trailer that released left many excited about the Batman Arkham Shadow story, but still sceptical of the gameplay. This is not a Batman Arkham Shadow review, though that will be coming soon, and instead this video will talk about the Batman Arkham Shadow reveal, my time with it, how Batman Arkham Shadow effects the Meta Quest 3, and if you should buy a Meta Quest 3. Batman Arkham Shadow VR looks good, and I hope we get Arkham Shadow VR on other headsets. Maybe even a full 3rd person Arkham Shadow port.
She X on my men til I Wolve all over the rine
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Wolverine and the X-Men as a collective were not unfamiliar with great games; though their success was largely only across two dimensions. When it came to the 3d stuff, Wolverine hadn’t taken home any awards, until the release of X-Men Origins Wolverine. Ask anyone at the time if they thought this game was good and they’d say on paper it was repetitive, had pacing issues, and lacked an engaging story, but in spite of it all, they enjoyed what was there, because the gameplay was so fluid, fun, and had so much room for creativity that they still came back to it. If you asked me a week ago, I’d say I never played it. Look, I’m sorry, I heard it was good, but it just never appealed to me as much as the bat and the spider. Plus, if I want a short, feisty, Canadian I can look to my girlfriend. But, on a random day, bored of the usual Ubisoft slop I downloaded it and my god, I had no idea what I was missing.
You know? Only a decade ago, good superhero games were still a hot commodity. For every Arkham Asylum and City there were endless duds like The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Spider-Man 3, Spider-Man Friend or Foe sigh poor guy, but there was also that one thor video game that sucked, a green lantern game that sucked, multiple iron man games that were just fine, and even the Deadpool game that I recently covered on the channel weren’t received super well. Superhero games that were worth the price of admission were hard to find, and you’d assume to find them associated with a titan like Spider-Man. But who would have thought that a game about Wolverine would be so good? Well, just about everyone.
With the popularity of superhero games being revitalised by the Arkham series and with the God of War series too ushering in a new age of gory beat em ups; a game featuring a brutal Marvel character was guaranteed to be a recipe for success. *ghost rider* Well, ok, I guess you have to bring *some* originality to the table; so how about instead of bathing in fire let's bathe in lots and lots of blood. Maybe instead of using a character that had only seen mainstream success from admittedly fun movies, we look to a character who had established wide appeal prior to a movie.
Wolverine has seen a slight surge in popularity after the Deadpool and Wolverine film, otherwise known as Deadpool 3. X Men Origins Wolverine is the best Wolverine game, which might change when the Insomniac Wolverine makes his debut in Marvels Wolverine. While there is a lot Insomniac can learn from the game, especially in the moments with Wolverine vs Deadpool, Wolverine vs Sabertooth, and Wolverine vs Gambit, they also need to see the games pitfalls in order to make a great X Men video game, more specifically, a great Wolverine game. Granted, this new Wolverine shouldn't retread everything mentioned in this X Men Origins Wolverine review, but this X Men Origins Wolverine retrospective, focusing on X Men Origins Wolverine Uncaged Edition for the 7th generation of consoles will outline what works and what doesn't. Of course, a lot of focus will be placed on the X Men Origins Deadpool, because what even is that?
Edited by Playstayshaun
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#borderlands2
- Chapters -
Intro: 0:00
Pandora: 2:12
Gambling: 14:04
Story: 34:40
Post Game: 48:37
Conclusion: 1:06:58
Post-Script: 1:12:09
Borderlands 2 has had a reputation since its release for being one of the greatest looter shooters of the generation, perhaps, of all time. Unfortunately, it seems time is not on the series' side, as many have noted that the games have aged poorly, especially in regards to the humour. I have been a huge fan of the Borderlands series since the second game and have well over 1,000 hours in it, so I was worried; could the game I enjoyed so much at one point really have aged that badly? Will I go back and find a boring game with cringey humour and subpar gameplay? Well, I decided to go back to Borderlands 2 and take a look at everything the game has to offer, and I’d like to take some time to explain to you not just how the game has admittedly changed in the years since, but how it is still as timeless as ever.
If Borderlands 2 is indicative of anything; it’s how much our standards have changed, not just in regards to humour but in regards to games as a whole. It’s not hard to say the game's perception has changed; but my goal here isn’t to view the game through hindsight, lambasting humour that in another ten years could come back around to being appreciated. My interest will instead be focused at how the games ideas and themes work within the game itself; because the reality is, even if people these days might not admit it, Borderlands 2 was received well when it released, specifically in regards the humour, but further analysis of the games mechanics and comedy, disconnected from the hype can provide new insight to the discussion around the game, especially in the wake of the 3rd game which some felt was disappointing, and with the new movie that; according to some early screenings, isn’t very good.
Borderlands 2 is a game I find myself returning to in light of the newly released Borderlands movie. Instead of starting with a Borderlands Review, I figured I'd skip to my favourite, and make a Borderlands 2 Review, Borderlands 2 Critique, Borderlands 2 Analysis, and see if Borderlands 2 years later, is still good. Did Borderlands 2 age poorly? I found myself asking this after seeing clips of the game circulating online. Has Borderlands 2 Aged Poorly? the answer is no, but not in the way you may think. Ultimatley, like the other games, Borderlands 3, Borderlands The Pre Sequel, and Tales from the Borderlands, the series has had a rather consistent identity. The mechanics of a Borderlands Raid Boss will be a primary focus in this video, on top of answering is Borderlands 2 still good? This could be the beginning of a Borderlands series retrospective, where we see how the different characters like Handsome Jack, Moxxi, Hammerlock, Claptrap, Scooter, to determine if Borderlands is not funny, fun, or any of the above.
Edited by Playstayshaun
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#mantasleep #deadpool #deadpoolandwolverine
Do you guys think a piece of media can ruin a character? Let’s say we have a beloved character, and a new story with them becomes so popular that it acts as the blueprint for the character going forward; and let’s say that new, mainstream version is inferior to the way they were before that character changing story. Is the character ruined? This is a question I have seen raised so many times when people talk about the Deadpool movies. Movies that are incredibly popular, and thrusted the character from a character known only to comic book fans to a character that my grandma has heard of. Many fans don’t like this interpretation of the character because too much focus is given to the humour, without the tragedy, of which the humour is attempting to avoid. Further within this subset are people who aim to prosecute not the movies for the beginning of this trend, but the 2013 Deadpool video game.
This game… is something, but let’s get it straight, this is NOT a proper story game, there is no narrative here deeper than the spandex on top of Wade's disfigured face, or at least, I’d argue that's the case. With a game like Deadpool, starring a character that is almost always aware of where they are, be that a comic, a movie, or game, there's always room to think about the game as a meta piece, with the presentation of the character being in and of itself a critique of the characters state; but we might be getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Let’s be real, most of the people who bought this game because it’s the epitome of insane fun. Deadpool is one of the funnier games I’ve played in a while. Is it a constant stream of gut busters? Not really, and when a game is hurkling punchline after punchline for five hours straight you’re bound to have a few stinkers, but there were just as many jokes that I genuinely laughed out loud at. While millennial humour is definitely the topic of choice for many of these, some of the jokes are timeless all the way from cute cutaways to a shockingly topical reference to Dr. Disrespect
Deadpool is a character that is far more popular than he was when the Deadpool game released. The Deadpool 2013 game was the first mainstream attempt at sanitising Deadpool, which would be followed up in the Deadpool movie, Deadpool 2, and eventually Deadpool 3 or officially Deadpool and Wolverine. The Deadpool PS4 game, though because it is an old Deadpool game it was released on earlier generations too, is often cited as the game that ruined Deadpool. Well, did this game ruined Deadpool? That Boy Aqua attempts to answer that question by analysing wade wilson, the mask, and the deadpool gameplay to find out. Aside from Deadpool DLC in other games, we have yet to see another deadpool game this funny. The Deadpool game gameplay is likely responsible for this, but the best deadpool game moments make this Deadpool look good years later. This is not a Deadpool review, simply a Deadpool game review. Though it will discuss the Deadpool origin, and ultimately Deadpool will be explained.
Edited by Playstayshaun
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#kaku #forspoken #squareenix
- Chapters -
Intro: 0:00
Project Athia: 3:35
The Game: 10:00
The Story: 42:13
The DLC: 59:36
Legacy: 1:05:36
Outro: 1:10:25
There is something to be said about games people want to hate. Sometimes it can be fun to hate something, to point and laugh at, even chastise the flavour of the week. Gotham Knights, SSKTJL, The latest Call of Duty’s, those are games people wanted to see fail; does that make those games secretly good? No, but it does beg the question; how do we get there? How does a game with a budget of $100 million dollars have this much hatred and disdain from players who have yet to play the game? The answer is marketing; but if it were that shallow, then the game would have garnered a cult following and word of mouth would hail the games true qualities far higher than articles lambasting a trailer. So why didn’t that happen with Forspoken? Well, I think we can find the answer by looking at the games pre release marketing, the game itself, and analysing the reception to the game and its DLCs to see how Square Enix ended up with a $100 million flop on their hands. Because if after one year Forspoken could give us anything, it would be a lesson, and who knows, maybe there's some fun to be had in the game itself along the way.
While I believe it's true, Forspoken was a game that people already wanted to see fail; I was not one of those people, and I am approaching this game as I do basically every other game I cover, which is an attempt to meet it halfway, find the good qualities, because no matter the game, even if it’s not for me, I want to see games succeed. Especially games like Forspoken. An original, interesting IP, with gameplay that looks like this? Sign me up. You gotta remember I am an InFAMOUS fan, which means as far as new InFAMOUS media goes, I starved to death a decade ago; so if you show me gameplay that even half resembles one of my favourite franchises, you’re gonna get tweets like this show tweets yea ok guys laugh it up, real funny! Needless to say, the release of Forspoken left me devastated. In fact, the release was so bad, I didn’t even buy the game, because unfortunately I have been here before. Every time I am hyped for a game, it ends up being shitty, or surrounded with enough controversy to kill any hype I had. Jedi Survivor, Gotham Knights, hell I even held out hope for Avengers and Suicide Squad. So now, with Forspoken, another victim of what I believe to be poor marketing and front loaded issues, I think looking back on it’s small victories and many failings after a whole year, could show us not just why people hated the game, but in some ways, how the game wanted us to hate it.
Forspoken is a game that made a larger splash online than it did on the market. Looking at Forspoken 1 year later could allow us to understand why it was so hated. Looking at any Forspoken review or even a post-hype Forspoken critique will point to the dialogue more than anything. This Forspoken analysis will focus more on the Forspoken gameplay, and discuss the Forspoken In Tanta We Trust expansion. The Forspoken story will get plenty of attention still, and I still want deliver Forspoken explained to the best of my ability. However, I also want to note the Forspoken reaction on the internet, as no Forspoken retrospective is complete without talking about the critical reception that was poor enough to result in Luminous Productions being closed. Despite what the Forspoken ending might tease, a Forspoken sequel will likely never come, and that's a shame. I played Forspoken so you don't have to, and now I can explain what happened to Forspoken, the Forspoken developers, all while getting in on the Forspoken cringe, the Forspoken memes, and showcase the Forspoken dialogue that we all love so much.
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Intro: 0:00
World: 4:07
Gameplay: 14:29
Story: 33:38
Legacy: 51:22
Outro: 55:43
Far Cry 3 is a rugged game. Blood, and dirt will be most of what you see, and its decision to present a sanitised version of gritty murder on top of a tropical background allows it to present the same ideas Far Cry 2 did, but without sacrificing the fun factor. From a visual standpoint, Far Cry 3 has barely aged, and from a gameplay standpoint, the same is true, but its story is one that will go down as perhaps not one of the best, but one of the most unique. In the 12 years since its release, the Far Cry series has been on a decline. While said decline isn’t as steep as the internet would have you believe, it’s true, there's nothing quite like Far Cry 3, and that makes it a game worth revisiting. As always with these games, there is an element of nostalgia, and I won’t lie, this game has a special place in my heart for being the first Far Cry game I tried. As a 12 year old I was lured in by its wingsuits, explosions, and woah boobs! But I stayed for its themes. Even as a kid, though I didn’t know why, I knew this game had sauce. After replaying it a few times, I now do understand why.
Far Cry 3 is full of some incredible moments, but it isn’t flawless. What is most disappointing about Far Cry 3 is the sequels left in its wake. Games that were damn good in their own right and even improved the formula in some ways, but didn’t carry over what made 3 so special, and in some cases, doubled down on what made it stumble. If there were one major criticism I could give of Far Cry 3, it’s that its story is too drawn out. It’s third act, like an epilogue that revels in what the first two acts made, is one that while looking at the big picture is overindulgent, once you’re in that third act, it’s hard to not enjoy every second of it. This is achieved through some truly creative mission structure and an open world gameplay loop so successful that Ubisfot is still, over a decade later, trying to make lightning strike twice. Jason Brody’s story is one that feels complete, and while his host of villains isn’t much to write home about, apart from one whos in the game for all of twenty minutes, what these people represent, is a theme of savagery that is present across the game, making their influence one's worthy of all the praise.
Why do people love Far Cry 3? In this first video of a Far Cry retrospective we will, through a Far Cry 3 critique and Far Cry 3 analysis, look at what made the game so special, and in this Far Cry 3 review we will see that Far Cry 3 years later still holds up surprisingly well. This Far Cry 3 retrospective will also act as a Far Cry 3 Explained video. You may noticed some points aren't mentioned here, and that is because I am sort of going on the assumption that you have seen the Pyrocinical Fat Cry 3 video, which supports the idea that this is one of the best Far Cry games in the Far Cry series. Vaas is a large reason for this, and the best Vaas moments are here. If this video does well I'd love to talk about Far Cry 4, Far Cry 6, Far Cry 5, Far Cry Primal, Far Cry New Dawn, Far Cry 2. Far Cry is one of the best Ubisoft series and Far Cry 3 is the best of that series.
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Assassin’s Creed Mirage was an important release for the series. It claimed that the series would go back to its roots, that the game would harken back to what made the series special. Hidden blades, hoods, and social stealth were coming back, baby! And you know what, that was relatively true. The game in many ways felt like the old Assassin’s Creed, and colour me foolish for thinking that it would be enough to please the old-school fans; because ho boy did it feel like no one cared about this game. I guess talking about a solid entry in the series isn’t as interesting as demonising one of the RPG games or reminiscing about the good old days. But still, reactions were a mix of people saying it saved the series, and people saying it's another nail in a coffin that is one step away from being encased in concrete. Most simply called it mediocre. The struggle seemed not in the iconography, references, or the feeling of Assassin’s Creed, but rather the design itself. Ironic how one could accurately say it was a bad game, but not a bad Assassins Creed game.
In the few months since the game's release there have been some large updates, most notably to movement, that justify a deeper look at the game. Since I know many of you saw my smaller review of the game I feel inclined to mention that this video will be fundamentally different in that my reviews are made with the objective of determining if a product is, in my opinion worth the money, where as the larger critiques or whatever you want to call them are more about looking at the game as a piece of art, disconnected from its price. I want to see, down to the little details, what mirage did right, what it did wrong, and in this case, if and how my thoughts have changed since release. If you remember my review, then you remember that I liked the game, and generally recommended it. That hasn’t changed here, in fact, if it has, it’s more so in the games favour, mostly due to a post launch update that we will unpack later. So let’s not delay.
Leading up to the release of Mirage, I’d argue that I was less sceptical of its claims and more in pure disbelief. The last time I heard Ubisoft say they were heading back to their roots was with Valhalla, and it was the furthest I had ever seen the series stray from what made it special. Still, I enjoyed Valhalla to an extent and I enjoyed what it went for, but was still convinced that Ubisfot was ironically done trying to go back to the past in a series all about it. When Mirage released, in many ways I had felt like we returned to the series roots, despite my pessimism going into it. Now, months out from this release, I’m left with a feeling that this game desperately needed to save the series, and unfortunately, I don’t think it’s enough. I’m sorry Mirage, but you weren’t enough to save this series, but I still have hope that the spark you ignited is enough to rekindle this series nearly suffocated in the ashes of its former success.
Assassins Creed is a series that lives in its former glory, and Assassins Creed Mirage was an attempt to usher in a new golden age. But, Mirage didn't save Assassin's Creed. This is a companion piece to my Assassins Creed Mirage review, and this Assassins Creed Mirage critique, Assassins Creed Mirage analysis and Assassins Creed Mirage retrospective will be the last mainline game in my Assassins Creed series retrospective. The next video will answer what the best Assasins Creed game is, but for now, this video will cover the Assassins Creed Mirage story explained, Assassins Creed Mirage gameplay, and place a heavy focus on the Assassins Creed Mirage parkour. AC Mirage is a good game, my AC Mirage review is a testament to that. But in this AC Mirage critique and AC Mirage analysis, we will see that perhaps it still isn't enough.
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#thelastofus #thelastofuspart1
The following video will contain spoilers for The Last of Us. Be warned. More than anything, The Last of Us is a story of trust and survival. Its world, one already split at the seams, spilling the rules and superficiality of its previous society onto the moss-ridden streets, is one that beckons for its inhabitants to build trust, break trust, break each other... in order to survive. The world has fallen into anarchy, and two survivors, through unfortunate circumstances, a surplus in this world, are forced to form an unbreakable bond, at the cost of everyone else. As a game, The Last of Us marks the beginning of a trend, where cinematics and immersion is conflated with tedium, but these road bumps don’t prevent a return to the game being as easy as it gets.
But I don’t need to explain what The Last of Us is. Its popularity eclipses itself. Last of Us fans might be deadlier than a clicker, and its detractors might be more detestable than the bandits that roam the streets, but the extremity of both sides alludes to a brain rot poetically similar to the threat the characters face. This won’t be an argument for the hailing of the game, nor will it be a call for its director's head. It will be a reflection. An interpretation. Nothing more. If I were a foolish man, I’d ask that the comments stay civil, but I know better now. With a game such as this, I’d avoid it, entirely.
The Last of Us is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players control Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting a teenage girl, Ellie, across a post-apocalyptic United States. The Last of Us is played from a third-person perspective. Players use firearms and improvised weapons and can use stealth to defend against hostile humans and cannibalistic creatures infected by a mutated fungus. In the online multiplayer mode, up to eight players engage in cooperative and competitive gameplay.
Development of The Last of Us began in 2009, soon after the release of Naughty Dog's previous game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. For the first time in the company's history, Naughty Dog split into two teams; while one team developed Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, the other half developed The Last of Us. The relationship between Joel and Ellie became the focus, with all other elements developed around it. Actors Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson portrayed Joel and Ellie, respectively, through voice and motion capture, and assisted creative director Neil Druckmann with the development of the characters and story. The original score was composed and performed by Gustavo Santaolalla.
The Last of Us is a game that spoke to me, but the villain of The Last of Us was what moved me the most. Despite how the character is represented in The Last of Us Part 2, Joel in The Last of Us Part 1 is the bad guy. this The Last of Us review will explain this, but overall, this The Last of Us critique will analyse the entire game. This The Last of Us analysis is the first part of a The Last of Us retrospective, which will include TLOU2 and analyse The Last of Us story, The Last of Us gameplay, and, when released, it will encompass The Last of Us Part 3. On television, The Last of Us explained many of the plot points in this game, but the story of The Last of Us Season 1 and The Last of Us season 2 has makes changes that make them in a league of their own. This The Last of Us walkthrough will not mention the long lost but loved The Last of Us factions gamemode.
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Some games are sacred. They were either so well received or so revolutionary that any criticism towards the game is sacrilege. They’re the games that people claim haven’t aged, the games people say are still the best to this day. Sometimes when I play a game like that, I think “what the hell are they on about?”. I’ll likely find things to enjoy, but I’ll be sceptical that it’s the best. Spider-Man 2, is one of those sacred cows. People for years, up until the release of Insomniac's Spider-Man games, have claimed that Spider-Man 2 for the 6th generation of consoles is the best open world Spider-Man game to ever exist. And you know what? Yea, I get it. I played the game when I was a kid but it wasn’t until last year that I gave it a proper replay, and I was expecting to see a game that aged poorly, that played poorly, and I didn’t. Look; is this better than some of the latest Spider-Man games, not entirely. Is it my favourite Spider-Man game; Sorry, but no ones beating Ultimate. But if anyone were to tell me that this is the best Spider-Man game, I wouldn’t question them. After, brace yourselves, 20 years, looking at this game can teach us a lot of lessons. Outside of how revolutionary it was; the game still does some things better than even the latest Spider-Man games, and that alone warrants a deeper look at Spider-Man 2.
Now I need to make something clear; I'm a big Spider-Man guy, ok, and those biases are clear no matter where you look on the channel; but despite being the #1 Peter Parker Pickled Pepper Pecker glazer, I have no nostalgia for THIS game. I grew up playing a lot of these games, but this one never stuck as hard as Ultimate did. By the time I was old enough to really appreciate the game though; I didn’t have a console capable of playing it. Now, going back to it, I was expecting something a lot worse than what we have. I became sceptical when seeing that people were comparing Spider-Man 2018 to this game, but, and sorry to give it away so early, these people are right to do so. The swinging genuinely is really good, the combat is surprisingly deep, and the game itself is just plain fun. It’s not all perfect, but if the goal is to answer the question “is this game as good as they say” the answer is “yea, pretty much”.
Spider-Man 2 is a wildly successful movie, but Spider Man 2 specifically Spider-Man 2 for the PS2 or Spider-Man 2 for the Gamecube is a wildly successful game. The Spider-Man 2 game based off the Sam Raimi movie, not Insomniacs Spider-Man 2, is bassed off of the Sam Raimi movie. The Spider-Man 2 gameplay, story, and more will be covered in this Spider-Man 2 critique. This Spider-Man 2 review will be shorter, but this Spider-Man 2 analysis is comprehensive as far as my thoughts go. Spider-Man 2, 20 Years Later and yes, I mean the good one (just kidding), holds up extremely well. The old Spider-Man 2 isn't the most high tech game, and not the longest, evidenced by any Spider-Man 2 walkthrough, but it still contains mechanics that make it worth playing outside of Marvels Spider-Man 2. I'll have a Marvels Spider-Man 2 review coming eventually in the That Boy Aqua Spider-Man retrospective.
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- Chapters -
Intro: 0:00
A New Tone: 2:14
Shifting Focus: 10:25
Upping The Ante: 19:25
An Idea & Nothing More: 24:42
P.S.: 41:45
Legacy: 45:24
To say the first Watch Dogs game was received poorly would be an understatement. Its finished product was nothing like what was shown in previews, and the game, to many, was disappointing. Aidan Pearce was a well written character, but Ubisoft were too afraid to put the spotlight on him. Instead, only allowing his most unlikable qualities to shine through. One such quality was his hacking ability, which for a game all about hacking was barebones, leaving Watch Dogs to function better as a John Wick simulator rather than a hacking game. Despite this, the general public came back around to Aidan, with even myself making a video talking about how great the game is in spite of its release. What further aided Watch Dogs was that it released in 2014, just months before Assassin’s Creed Unity, causing many to look back at Watch_Dogs and consider that it may have been treated too harshly, but it was too little too late. No amount of retrospective praise could save Ubisoft from looking at the state of their heavy hitters in 2014, and deciding to make a drastic change.
One such change was in Watch Dogs 2. When we first got a look at this game you’d be right to think it was a reboot of the series. The tone had entirely changed, its world much brighter, its characters had character, and its hacking took centre stage. But this shift, and the success that came from it, caused irreparable damage to the franchise. We now had two entries in a series that were worlds apart, and two fanbases sitting on either extreme. We can talk theoretically about how this would affect the series moving forward, but there's no need, look at Watch_Dogs Legion. A game that feels like the worst of both the first and second game. Now, there is plenty to enjoy about Legion still, and eventually I will dive into that, but for now I want to look at Watch Dogs 2 and see how it is in many ways the antithesis of the first game, and how it, to the series own detriment, redefined what a Watch_Dogs game is and could be. This is Watch_Dogs 2, and the irreparable damage it did to the series.
Watch Dogs was released to a lot of disappointment, but Watch Dogs 2 released to general praise. So, how Watch Dogs 2 ruined the series, especially when Watch Dogs Legion exists, seems hard to explain. This Watch Dogs 2 eeview will answer that question, and through this Watch Dogs 2 analysis and general Watch Dogs 2 critique we will analyse how this game changed what a Watch Dogs game could be. This Watch Dogs 2 retrospective is part of a larger Watch Dogs retrospective that will end in a Watch Dogs Legion critique, but let's focus on Watch Dogs 2 for now, and the issues surrounding it. Said issues are obvious when searching YouTube for any Watch Dogs 2 cringe compilation, and any new Watch Dogs game, be that another spin off or Watch Dogs 3 will be compared to the lows of this games writing. Watch Dogs Wrench is the posterboy for said cringe writing, but I argue that Watch Dogs 2 Wrench is, while cringe, fun enough to justify the cringe. This is not a Watch Dogs 2 explained video, nor will it explain the Watch Dogs 2 DLC. Also I don't want to hear anyone saying I am not spelling "Watch_Dogs" right, the underscore is a pain.
Edited by Playstayshaun
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Spider Man Miles Morales Review: youtu.be/62xc-HyhDGk
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#privateinternetaccess #vpn #PIA #bestvpn
What's the worst Spider-Man game you’ve ever played? Chances are, you said The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Now, what's the worst Spider-Man movie you’ve ever seen? Uh oh, that’s a pattern. Nearly everything tied to The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was a disaster, and while the discussions of the movie's good and bad aspects have been talked about at length online, The video game never got the same attention, at least, not the attention it was looking for. Yea, this game was panned heavily on release, and I want to find out why. I have a soft spot for this game because, for years, this was the only Spider-Man game I could play on my PS4, as I sold my PS3, and my other Spider-Man games, to get said PS4, which does mean I sort of had to like it at the time. But, now I have access to a ton of great Spider-Man games, so I can look at the game with a critical lens.
So, I want to answer; was The Amazing Spider-Man 2 good, if so or if not, then why? Or perhaps, should you buy it? Well I can answer that one for free; no, because you can’t buy it. Activision did not renew the licence for their Spider-Man games, meaning any old Spider-Man game needs to be bought physically, or you gotta sail the high seas. Now, we would never condone piracy here on the That Boy Aqua channel, but I can say that purchasing these games through classified vendors is extremely easy, except for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and I think this says a lot about the games reputation. Many of these vendors have mission objectives along the lines of wanting to preserve abandoned games so they aren’t lost to time, and yet, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a tough find. So basically, these websites are saying we want to preserve video games, but not this one, cause this one sucks. Well, does The Amazing Spider-Man 2 suck? I mean, sort of, but it's more complicated than that.
Before we get too ahead of ourselves, I have to mention that while you may seem stuttering or performance issues here I don’t want to hold it against the game, because there's a good chance that I’m not playing the most up-to-date version, as when purchasing the game through aforementioned vendors, you can’t always get an update. I can in good faith assume that performance issues, of which there were plenty, are likely fixed, but no amount of patches, plastic surgery, or even paper bags could fix the monstrosities on display. This is what most astounds me about The Amazing Spider-Man 2; it looks worse than the first game! How, the heck, does that happen? Keep in mind, The Amazing Spider-Man one released on the previous console generation, and while it too had some questionable art decisions, the massive phone for a minimap that takes up what feels like half the screen was a head scratcher, but genuinely everything here looks worse.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a movie unlike any other and The Amazing Spiderman 2 game is much the same. A sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man movie, not The Amazing Spiderman game, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2024 is regarded as one of the worst Spider-Man games ever. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 game was panned upon release, and considered worse than The Amazing Spider-Man game that came before it. After Marvel's Spider-Man 2, looking at The Amazing Spider-Man 2 years later is a sobering experience in terms of realising how good we have it. The not so Amazing Spider-Man 2 is something I planned to look at with more depth. I intended for this The Amazing Spider-Man 2 critique, part of my ongoing Spider-Man retrospective, to be really positive. The That Boy Aqua Spider-Man videos have generally been positive ones, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Game was supposed to follow this trend, but alas, TASM 2 the movie and TASM 2 Game have a lot in common in terms of quality. This The Amazing Spider-Man 2 review aims to explore that.
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Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League after years of hype, delays, leaks, and rumours is finally here, and I want to answer one question today; Should you buy it? This review is going to be spoiler free, and will contain early game footage, early minor gameplay spoilers, but will not spoil anything story related past the introduction. One last note before we get into this review, please be sure to watch other reviews because I have been wrong about games before, and watching more reviews only means you’ll make a more informed purchase. So; Is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League worth your money? Let’s find out.
The first talking point I want to mention comes up before you buy the game, and that’s the fact that Rocksteady were comfortable asking for an extra $30 to play the game 3 days early. It just feels shady to charge so much extra, and what’s worse is that just before this early launch, they added Denuvo, a DRM that severely hinders performance on PC. Both of these practices, while not impacting my view of the game as a product, needs to be mentioned because it’s just shady. I know I still bought the early access edition, I’m part of the problem, but I have a job to do, and yes, that is how I’m coping. Anyways, let’s talk about the game itself.
Presentation wise, the game looks pretty good. Character models here are down right stunning and it seems rocksteady is intending on showing that off, with how often Harley or anyone else in the cast opts for facial expressions over words, and the designs of all the characters look great ranging from Superman to Harley’s new look. Metropolis is a city I was constantly astounded by, at least when it came to scale, but when it came to performance, that’s a whole other issue. I was excited to see what this game had to offer because a rocksteady developer had gone on record stating that its one of the most optimised games they had worked on, and credit where it’s due, the install size is only 40 gb, close to a third of the latest call of duty, however, to call the game optimised would be a flat out lie. I was running the game at medium settings, at 1080p, on a Ryzen 7 3800x, 32 gb of DDR4 ram, and a 3070 ti, and still I experienced frequent frame drops, and while framerate issues don’t bother me too much, another YouTuber, WhiteLight, who has a comparable PC, with a 4070 ti, had the game crash 5 times in just the two hours we tried playing. Further these were crashes that would lock up his whole computer, forcing a hard reset. Texture pop-in was also a common occurrence despite the game being on an SSD, and yet I think compared to some of the other releases I have covered in the last year, those being Gotham Knights, Jedi Survivor, and of course, Call of Duty, I feel like comparatively, this isn’t so bad. It’s not good, but it's not the worst I’ve seen.
Suicide Squad has seen a massive resurgence in popularity recently. Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League is the latest entry in the Batman Arkham Universe, but it is not a new Arkham game. This also takes place in a separate universe to Gotham Knights. This Suicide Squad game is controversial and this Suicide Squad game review, not to be confused with the Suicide Squad movie review. No codes were sent out for Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League reviews, and any SSKTJL review seems to be without any early access. Despite this, watch out for spoilers, as there are Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League ending scenes and Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League gameplay all over social media. Let me know if you'd like to see a Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League walkthrough or an analysis of the Suicide Squad Batman. The Suicide Squad Justice League has a lot of depth and despite the fact that you kill the justice league, there's a lot to love. Made by That Boy Aqua.
Modern Warfare 3 is the worst-rated game in Call of Duty history, but why did it still sell well?
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- Chapters -
Intro: 0:00
Enragement & Engagement: 1:29
Enlisted: 4:48
Content vs Mechanics: 6:04
Reviews: 13:14
My Own Theory: 16:07
Modern Warfare 3 is the worst-rated Call of Duty in the franchise’s history, and if you take any look at the discourse surrounding it, you’ll see why. All the maps are reused, the campaign is short, poorly designed, and boring, zombies is just Warzone with an undead coat of paint, and you’d be hard-pressed to find any discussion, no, sentence discussing MW3 that doesn’t include the phrase, $70 DLC. But there's more to this equation because Treyarch has touted Modern Warfare 3 as having a higher engagement than both Modern Warfare 1 and 2 combined. Further, their take on zombies has been the most successful third mode in Modern Warfare history. Finally, while the campaign is awful, it only makes up so much of the playerbase. Trophy data from many of the recent Call of Duty games showcase that more players on average are reaching the max level in multiplayer than players finishing the campaign. There is a clear disconnect between the people talking about the game online and the wider player base, and I want to figure out why, in spite of it all, Modern Warfare 3 sold.
I need to make something clear before moving forward and that is if we are talking ethics, Modern Warfare 3 is an abhorrent example of Activision prioritising a yearly release over not just the quality of the product, but the quality of life for those working on this game. Developers have gone on record about how hard they were crunched, and truthfully, I think Sledgehammer should win an award for putting this together in the time that they did; it’s impressive, but the fact they had to is utter horseshit. I also want to make it clear that I won’t be arguing for or against the price tag. As much as I could try, the point of this video isn’t to review the game, it’s to explain why, in spite of such poor reviews, it is doing so well. In order to break this down I’ll need to cover a few topics; 1, enragement and engagement. 2, content vs mechanics. 3, reviews. And 4, my own little biassed take on why people still bought MW3..
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is one of the worst rated games in the series, but why did Modern Warfare 3 sell. Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 not to be confused with the old Call of Duty MW3 is an MW3 remake. This is not an Modern Warfare 3 review, nor does it aim to see if Modern Warfare 3 So bad or good. I could make an MW3 Review, but I think this video gets my thoughts out well enough. This video will encompass Warzone 3, but won't be a Warzone 3 review, and the same goes for the Modern Warfare 3 Zombies mode. So, is this the worst Call of Duty? How will this impact the Warzone 3 Meta. As of now, CoD MW3 is great, despite the COD MW3 reviews I have seen. I concede that the Modern Warfare 3 campaign, isn't the best, and if I was to do a series of Call of Duty analysis, or a Call of Duty review, or Call of Duty retrospective, I would rank this in the mid range, definitely above Modern Warfare 2. Would you want to see a Call of Duty warzone video, in a similar manner to the fornite critique I did last year?
Edited by Playstayshaun
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If you were familiar with Sucker Punch before 2020, then you knew them for making games about a silly raccoon that pulled off grand heists, and then for making games about a bald guy who controls electricity, but given the visuals of their previous entries steeped in fanciful worlds, nobody could have predicted that THIS would be the next entry in Sucker Punch’s portfolio. Ghost of Tsushima is the story of Jin Sakai, one of the only samurai to survive the massacre of Komoda beach during the Mongol invasion of Tsushima in 1274. In order to push back the Mongols and have any chance of saving his home, Jin must sacrifice his honour for the island and shed his former life, moving forward as the ghost of a samurai who died on Komoda beach. Ghost of Tsushima is at times otherworldly, yet maintains a realistic foundation, though not in the traditional sense. When we think about realism, we typically imagine the dirt. Grime and grunge was at the forefront of 7th generation `realism”, perhaps because we associate realism with the things we don’t want to talk about. An idyllic world is a bright one. Simple, clean, sterilised, tranquil. It’s a world many are not familiar with, so we’re forced to identify realism with the former, uglier reality. Serenity is not synonymous with dirt, rain, or bloodshed, and yet, Ghost of Tsushima is one of the most peaceful games I have ever played. For every sliced throat is a luscious reed flowing in your fathers guidance, and for every dishonourable takedown is a spirits anger, manifesting in a thunderstorm. Every peaceful spirit, balanced by a vengeful spectre. SuckerPunch, previously known for their excellence in realism, have created a game that, despite being more lifelike, is the antithesis of their last decade of effort.
Yet, Ghost of Tsushima is much more than a constant stream of potential wallpapers. It’s gameplay whether an original idea or one borrowed and refined from others is executed well, and the stories told throughout Tsushima strike a balance that allows them to deconstruct legends without invalidating them, and challenge a characters' morals with hopes of redeeming them. Tsushima is a game and a land unlike any other, and its success is much the same. After 3 years, a Playstation 5 remaster, and a free content update, there is plenty to discuss regarding this game. Feelings on both sides present the idea that this game is either THE Samurai game, or exceptionally ordinary. Sandwiched between plenty of other games that took the world by storm, talking about the game now that the storm has passed could expose its true beauty, or a more hideous hindsight. Ghost of Tsushima has an army of fans, but its clan of critics, while a minority, is far too vocal to ignore. For every review calling Ghost of Tsushima a masterpiece there is one calling it mediocre, preaching that they just don’t get it, primarily concerning the gameplay.
Tsushima may not offer the most original stories, as like its inspirations it aims to deconstruct the samurai code, and parade its hypocrisies, but it offers something far more unique to the video game medium…peace. Many games these days, while being cinematic, are doing so at the players' detriment. You’ll never want to be more than a single stroke away from satisfying a feedback loop, even if that means bunny hopping across a map, souring immersion.
Ghost of Tsuhsima is one of the most special games I have ever played. Ghost of Tsuhsima - 4 Years Later is attempt to make a Ghost of Tsushima critique, Ghost of Tsushima analysis, and perhaps a Ghost of Tsushima review, if a bit longwinded. The Ghost of Tsushima ending will be spoiled as this functions like a Ghost of Tsushima walkthrough. All footage of this was gathered on the Ghost of Tsushima Directors Cut or Ghost of Tsushima PS5. The Ghost of Tsushima DLC, like Ghost of Tsushima Legends and the Ghost of Tsushima Iki Island expansion, will be covered here too. I hope we get a Ghost of Tsushima PC port, but for now the PS5 Ghost of Tsushima gameplay will suffice for this Ghost of Tsushima retrospective.
- Chapter -
Introduction: 0:00
Chp. 1: Tsushima: 4:46
Chp. 2: Ghosts & Samurai: 18:56
Chp. 3: Tales and Tribulations: 35:26
Chp. 4: Jin's Journey: 58:58
Chp. 5: Legends: 1:24:55
Chp. 6: Iki Island: 1:36:51
Chp. 7: Reflection: 1:50:12
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It has been a whopping 18 years since Hulk Ultimate Destruction released, and despite how old that makes me feel, it warrants a look back at the game. Developed by Radical entertainment, and acting as a radical departure from previous hulk games, notably HULK released just two years prior and developed by the same team. The largest difference between the two is that Hulk Ultimate destruction is open world, featuring two maps for the player to travel between, and there are no Bruce Banner missions, which seemed like a strange inclusion in the previous game. If you want, I can make a video all about Hulk, but for now, let’s focus on Ultimate Destruction because, as the title will have you believe, it’s the best hulk game we have. Everything from its gameplay to its art style has aged remarkably well, and it continues to age well when each Hulk game past this point has been worse and worse. Because of that, Ultimate Destruction has garnered a cult following from fans who played it when they were younger, myself included, so it warrants a look back at the game to see if it really was that great, or if nostalgia has been clouding our vision. This is Hulk Ultimate Destruction, 18 Years Later.
A general caveat I need to get out of the way is that while this game on consoles had its share of performance issues, I won’t comment on any of them here because I had to emulate the game, using Dolphin. I did play the game on xbox when I was younger but I didn’t take notice of the framerate or resolution because I was 7 and didn’t know any better. When looking at the rest of the presentation, I’d be confident in saying the game has aged rather gracefully. It’s art style is distinct in that while it is grounded, it’s not realistic per say. It takes liberties regarding its realism, such as making the hulk a brighter green compared to the diarrhoea colour of the very next game, and with some of the moves Hulk can pull off being reminiscent of the WWE. It’s rare that a game can feature surfing on a bus, pile driving robots, and throwing tanks without any clashes. The animation work here for nearly every move is slick and well made. Punches have impact, and the many superpowered suplexes interact well with one another. There are some issues with hitboxes, or animations seeming to lack their usual telegraphs, but for most of the ride you will be consistently impressed by the different ways Hulk can move and interact with his environment. Looking at any of the behind the scenes footage for this game you can see that there was endless passion going into this, as everything from fundamental mechanics to the subtle sounds of the city were given the utmost care. Just take a look at some of these insightful interviews.
Hulk moves with a perfect blend of speed and weight, leaving craters with each step, and radiating with gamma energy when exerting force. Radical did an excellent job of making the Hulk feel like a powerhouse, and his many roars, and the trail of bodies and destroyed buildings left in his path made me grateful that the game never presents the Hulk as a bonafide hero. The most unique thing about the Hulk, to me, is that he has all the physical qualities of a super-villain. He has overwhelming strength, unbridled anger, and can’t even speak, and yet, the Hulk knows right from wrong, most times. Ultimate Destruction poses the Hulk, like many stories do, as a naive creature, which can shift some of the responsibility when his destruction has unintended casualties. Furthering this is Banner's desire to cure himself of the Hulk. It allows the player to enjoy the destruction without constantly feeling a sense of dissonance.
The Incredible Hulk is a character with many games and Hulk Ultimate Destruction has stood the test of time. Hulk Ultimate Destruction 18 years later is still the best Hulk game, and this video attempts to analyse why the best Hulk bame 18 years later is still worth the time. This Hulk Ultimate Destruction review and Hulk Ultimate Destruction retrospective may spawn a larger Hulk retrospective if this The Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction video does well. The Hulk Ultimate Destruction gameplay takes center stage in this The Incredible Hulk review and if you want another Hulk review feel free to let me know. I'd love to cover either The Incredible Hulk 2008 or Hulk 2003. This is the best Hulk game, reviewed by That Boy Aqua.
The Uncharted series has held a special place in my heart since I first played Uncharted 2 as a child. It was, at that time, the most cinematic game I ever played, and I had no idea how much crazier the series would get. Over the past year or so, I have revisited the games and given my updated thoughts on them, attempting to put nostalgia aside and evaluate them on their timeless qualities. This is the result.
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- Chapters -
0:00 Intro: 0:00
0:30: Uncharted 1: 0:30
30:57: Uncharted 2: 30:57
1:08:24: Uncharted Golden Abyss: 1:08:24
1:28:06: Uncharted 3: 1:28:06
1:57:43: Uncharted 4: 1:57:43
2:41:32: Uncharted Lost Legacy: 2:41:32
2:57:38: Which Game is The Best? 2:57:38
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune - 14 Years Later:
youtu.be/3QObspL6N80
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves - 13 Years Later:
youtu.be/HZA0KHghtkA
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception - 11 Years Later:
youtu.be/BqJtSg1dLIU
Uncharted 4 Analysis: A Victim of Obsession:
youtu.be/WSaDmCUDiGw
Uncharted is a series I grew up with, and this Uncharted Retrospective will chronicle my evolving Uncharted critiques, Uncharted reviews, Uncharted analysis, including my Uncharted 2 review, Uncharted 3 review, Uncharted Golden Abyss review, Uncharted 4 review, Uncharted Lost Legacy r review, and my video ranking the Uncharted games to decide what the best Uncharted game is. As stated, I hope there isn't a new Uncharted game any time soon, but if there is I will cover it and add it to this Uncharted series retrospective. I reviewed every Uncharted game, and Uncharted years later, hold us surprisingly well. The Uncharted story explained in this video will cover the Uncharted PS5 games like the Legacy of Thieves collection and the Nathan Drake collection, but not the Uncharted Movie.
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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is the highly anticipated sequel to Marvel’s Spider-Man and its sequel spin-off Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales. The game is out now, and this video will aim to help you decide if it is worth purchasing, of course, with as few spoilers as possible. I’ll be showing the first 2 hours of gameplay, anything that's been shown in trailers, and some out of context crime fighting, so expect minor gameplay spoilers and a few story spoilers. I also cannot stress this enough: if you are watching this review to decide if the game is worth the time and money, make sure you watch other reviews to be sure of your purchase. I’ve been wrong before when evaluating games and will continue to be flawed. One final bit of context is my biases. The largest is that I am a massive Spider-Man fan and would have paid $110 for this game, and in fact I did, you know... Canadian Economic Crisis yadee yada.
So with all of that said, let’s see if Spider-Man 2 is the sequel we’ve all been waiting for, or if it’s, aw who are we kidding the game is great. It’s twice the action, twice the world size, twice the spider, and twice the men! I had some lofty expectations for this game and in nearly every aspect Insomniac cleared those expectations. There are obviously so many moments I can’t talk about but the amount of times something would happen in the game that I thought was never going to happen leading up to the release was insane, and my jaw was on the floor for most of the playthrough. Its gameplay is improved in some areas, worse in others, its world is massive, and its story is both balls to the wall but grounded at the same time. It truly feels as though Insomniac has lived up to their own ambitions and any fan of the first games is probably already playing it. But, if you aren’t convinced yet, Allow me to break down my thoughts, beginning with the presentation.
So, to answer the question the title posed, is Spider-Man 2 worth your money? If you’re a Spider-Man fan, yes. If you enjoyed the first game and Miles Morales, yes. If you didn’t like the first game, and thought it was boring, then this likely won’t change your mind. It is a sequel in its truest form, building off the foundations of its predecessor, but not changing it fundamentally. Another valid question, is this a console seller? Maybe. If you’ve been wanting a PS5 and haven’t played the Spider-Man games yet or only played one, then I’d say having the insomniac catalogue on a console is a great choice, but with how most of the recent PS5 exclusives are coming to PC a year or two after release, I think you’re fine to wait if you really don’t want to buy a console.
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is the latest release from Insomniac games. Spider-Man 2, or Marvels Spiderman 2 is the follow up to Marvel's Spider-Man and Spider-Man Miles Morales. Peter Parker is back and in this Spider-Man 2 review we will discuss if you should buy the game. Make sure this is not the only Spiderman 2 Review you watch, as a diverse set of opinions will help you make the best purchase. This mild Spider-Man 2 analysis will feature Spider-Man 2 gameplay but I want this to be a spoiler free review, so certain quests and Spider-Man 2 suits will not be discussed. Spider-Man PS5 is the new Spider-Man game we have been waiting for all the way from it's black suit gameplay, to it's insane story. The Spider-Man 2 black suit is shown in this Spider-Man 2 spoiler free review, but it will mostly be during the Spider-Man 2 free roam segments in between missions.
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Spider-Man 3 is a very unlucky product. Its movie was panned upon release, and its game suffered an even worse fate. The movie and the game share a surprising amount of similarities, and not just in plot points; ironically that’s where they differ the most. It’s in their strengths, weaknesses, critical reception, and retrospective praise that the Spider-Man 3 game is almost identical to its counterpart. Both products are following a critically acclaimed movie and game, and both severely failed to meet expectations. We will return to this parallel later, but for now I want to frame the game and explain how the critical acclaim of Spider-Man 2 and Ultimate Spider-Man set expectations for Spidey games going forward.
Spider-Man 2 delivered the, at the time, best swinging we had ever, all while looking great for the time, telling a solid story, and being hailed as the best for years to come. While Ultimate Spider-Man didn’t revolutionise the character like Spider-Man 2 did, it was a great game, and one many, myself included, remember fondly. So when Spider-Man 3 released, fans were obviously disappointed, and no pun intended it was the black sheep of the series, being the but of jokes in many of my videos. But each time I made a joke regarding this game, there were people in the comments telling me that the game isn’t that bad; so here I am, ready to try the game for the first time in a while, and as is often the case with these games that are initially panned but retroactively deemed an underrated gem, the truth is that both sides have valid points. Yes, this game looks rough most of the time, yes the story isn’t very interesting, and yes, the gameplay is not as fluid as Spider-Man 2, but the game is also relatively competent in all those facets, and it has some fun boss fights. The biggest problem with Spider-Man 3 is that Spider-Man 2 does just about everything better. The same was true for Ultimate Spider-Man, but that got a pass because it wasn’t a sequel, and it had its own very respectable strengths. One of this games strengths, just like the movie, is how unbelievably cheesy it is, and there are enough “so bad it's good” moments here that justify at least trying the game. With Marvel's Spider-Man 2 just around the corner, I want to go back to yet another game where the symbiote is centre stage and see what went wrong, and where treyarch went right. So with all that said, let’s take a look back at this, brace yourselves, 16 year old game, and figure out if Spider-Man 3 is truly an underrated gem, or if its disregard is warranted.
The first thing many will notice about Spider-Man 3 is that it looks worse than a PS2 game, don’t believe me? Look at Spider-Man 2; and here's the kicker; this is a PS3 game. Yea, a poor start to say the least, and it doesn’t improve for the PS2 version of the game. We will be focusing on the PS3, XBOX 360, and PC version of the game because it’s the one most are familiar with and it’s the game with the most content, but I seriously wouldn’t blame someone for opting for the last generation version instead. The PS2 version, while having less content, trims the fat from the PS3 version, and while it may not look as nice, it is still a fine enough game, even including its own black suit mechanic that we will talk about later. But let’s stay focused on the PS3 version, because oh man does it start poorly.
Spider-Man has a lot of bad games, but it seems many consider Spider-Man 3 to be the worst Spiderman game. This is where Spiderman 3 the movie and the Spider-Man 3 game are very similar. The Spider-Man 3 PS3 game follows Spider-Man 2 not to be confused with Marvel's Spider-Man and Marvel's Spider-Man 2 that is to be released soon as of this Spider-Man 3 Review. This Spider-Man 3 Analysis will not talk much about the Spider-Man 3 PS2 version. Venom in the Spider-Man 3 Movie had his issues but his appearance in this, the worst Spider-Man game, warrants analysis, especially when Venom might appear in the best Spider-Man Game, and no I don't mean Ultimate Spider-Man. Tobey Maguire, or Bully Maguire does great here compared to Spider-Man 2. The Spider-Man 3 QTE segments are definitely a highlight of this game and if you haven't seen the Spider-Man 3 quick time events then I highly recommend you check them out.
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Intro: 0:00
Presentation: 1:36
Gameplay: 4:45
Story: 12:20
Conclusion: 13:34
Assassin’s Creed Mirage is the latest entry in a series that has long forgotten its roots, but Ubisoft has assured fans that this time, things will be different. Is that true? Has Assassin’s Creed gone back to what made it successful in the first place, or is this latest entry another Ubisoft marketing Mirage? Before I get into the review I need to stress that while I won’t be spoiling any major plot points, there will be some minor gameplay spoilers such as what menus look like, different enemies, and different abilities, but all of the footage will be from the first few hours of gameplay. For context, the preview build we saw a few weeks ago took place about a third into the game. While you don’t need to Play Assassin's Creed Valhalla to understand the story here, I highly recommend you do.
Visually, Mirage is up to the standards that Ubisoft has set in the past. Will it blow you away? No. Does it suffice? Yes. The environments are designed expertly as always and Baghdad from certain angles looks downright heavenly, but other aspects of the game take a nosedive into the nether. Back from Valhalla are the conversations that look stiff, unfitting for the characters, and the lip syncing is consistently dodgy. Not always noticeable, and when the game shoots for a full fledged cutscene things do look great, but it’s worth mentioning that the mini cutscenes that take place suffer from the same talking head syndrome that plagued the Arkham series. Where Assassin’s Creed and Arkham continue to parallel is in the soundtracks. The Arabic instrumentals that accompany your journey are played well, and I greatly appreciated this game opting to not overuse the hell out of Ezio’s Family. It’s a good song, an iconic song, but I’m sick of it.
Baghdad is an excellent looking city, with an overwhelming amount of people, flora, markets, buildings, boats, camels, and the works. It’s a busy city and it lends itself to the social stealth that has a greater focus here. No skyline is without a tall perch begging to be lept from or a post that connects buildings, and your paths across its roofs. There's a wide variety of colour here and the contrast of an oasis against the harsh grains of surrounding sand are as much of a sight as the detailed fortresses and towers that watch over the low rising buildings and awnings that glaze over the streets. It feels familiar, in a setting sense, to the series roots, but also in terms of iconography. There's multiple bureaus this time around and we spend a majority of the game cloaked in white.
Attacks and jumps have the proper impact or lack thereof if you are landing on soft surfaces, and Basim’s voice actor does a fantastic job here, as does the voice actor for Rashan who’s raspy near constant growl is just mesmerising. Rashan also has by far one of the best assassin designs in a while, easily clearing any of the outfits from the last 3 entries. Basim’s different outfits look great too and I appreciated the variety here in both heavy armour and nimble robes. I can’t show them all, but I think most will be satisfied with what is on display here. What is further on display is the animations, of which most are overhauled.
The Assassins Creed Mirage gameplay seen here is from the opening few hours of AC Mirage. The AC Mirage gameplay featured in this Assassins Creed Mirage Review may not match the specific praises or criticisms because the example I would show would be later in the game and I want to keep this Assassin's Creed Mirage review spoiler free. This AC Mirage review will build on my previous statements regarding the Assassin's Creed Mirage trailer, preview, and while the Assassins Creed Mirage trailers have been accurate, this review aims to provide further context to the game. If this new Assassins Creed game becomes the new Assassins Creed standard, I'd say we are in good hands for now. This review will not discuss any Assassins Creed Mirage leaks or spoilers, and instead only show early Assassin's Creed Mirage gameplay. If you want to hear more from me you can check out my Assassins Creed Mirage first impressions video, which was mentioned in this Mirage review. So, should you buy Assassins Creed Mirage? This review will let you know!
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Ultimate Spider-Man was released 18 years ago. Feel old yet? The early 2000s were a great time to be a spider-man fan. We received two excellent games from neversoft, a solid movie tie-in game for the newly released Sam Raimi directed Spider-Man, and its sequel Spider-Man 2 solidified itself as the best movie and game in the characters history for years to come. The next Spider-Man game would have a lot to live up to, and in the case of Activision's next Spider-Man title, they would already be at a disadvantage. Their new title was not tied to any mainstream film under the same name, and rather an, arguably more niche, comic book run. As we approach the release of Marvel's Spider-Man 2, there is an ever increasing chance that we will see the greatest portrayal of Venom in a video game. So to refresh our memory let's look back at what I believe to be the best video game portrayal of Venom in one of the better Spider-Man games; Ultimate Spider-Man. And of course, spoilers ahead.
Spider-Man 2 broke the mould in many ways for the wall crawler, and Ultimate Spider-Man aims to refine the fundamental advancements made in that game, while also moving in a new direction. The result is a game that succeeds in many areas, fails in some, and most importantly, has such a sense of identity that it has become timeless. After 18 years, Ultimate Spider-Man is still one of the greatest Spider-Man games out there, with its largest flaw being just how little of it there is. This is a Spider-Man game that is mechanically dense, but prioritises quality over quantity to a detrimental degree, which these days seems backwards to many. Personally, I would prefer a game to be short and sweet than long and boring, but this discussion means nothing, because we can’t buy the game. Due to Activision losing the licence to their Spider-Man games, they can no longer be sold, which means getting your hands on this game is impossible. Of course, pirates are still able to access the game with ease but I won’t condone any of that.
Ultimate Spider-Man takes place within the Ultimate comic universe, and while at first being a canon story likely taking place in between issues 71 and 72, the plot of the game was later reworked and adapted to issues 123 to 128, so this game is in a strange limbo between canon and non canon. Regardless, while having the backstory of the comic series will further contextualise the plot here, it is not needed to understand the simple story. Keeping with its comic book roots, this game boasts a unique visual style that looks like a playable comic all the way from its cel shaded art style to its cutscenes which feature comic panels, onomatopoeias, and other visual styles that are otherwise associated with comics. This allows the game to have an identifiable visual flair that ages at a snail's pace.
Something important to note about Ultimate Spider-Man is that it is building off of the precedents set in Spider-Man 2. It has enough to separate itself, but this game does not get the same slack Spider-Man 2 got because it is not the first to attempt an open world with physics based swinging and organic city events. Now in a poorly made Spider-Man game this would be a problem, but this is no ordinary Spider-Man game, and that is visible through every single frame. The visual style of Ultimate Spider-Man is timeless.
Spider-Man is one of my favourite characters whether its Peter Parker or Miles Morales, both of which are Spiderman and Ultimate Spider-Man to me. The Ultimate Spiderman game which is discussed in this Ultimate Spider-Man review is one of the best games from my childhood. This Ultimate Spiderman review will look at Ultimate Spider-Man 18 years later, and see if 18 years later, it still holds up. This Ultimate Spider-Man retrospective will be of the game and not a comic Ultimate Spiderman retrospective. While we will never get an Ultimate Spider-Man 2, we can at least look forward to Spider-Man 2, and if there never is an Ultimate Spiderman 2, then maybe we can hope for an Ultimate Spider-Man remaster, as an Ultimate Spiderman remaster would make me lose my mind. This is one of many Spider-Man reviews on the That Boy Aqua channel, and this Ultimate Spider-Man analysis will not be the last review before Spider-Man 2, which may be the best Spider-Man game. I'm excited for the new Spider-Man game, and I hope you are too.
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Intro: 0:00
Parkour: 1:49
Stealth & Combat: 4:02
Focus: 7:19
Conclusion: 8:26
I was fortunate enough to play Assassins Creed Mirage a few weeks ago, and these are my first impressions of the game, and if it’s worth picking up when it releases on October 5th. I need to clarify that Ubisoft was kind enough to let me play the game and record my session, but I am in no way paid by them, there is no expectation for me to make a video like this, and I’m surprised they reached out at all because the last time they worked with me was during Assassin’s Creed Valhalla where I was less than kind to it, and I even got a review copy for Far Cry 6 but disliked the game so much I couldn’t push myself to finish it, let alone make a video. Point is, I’ve always tried to be honest with you guys, and that's gonna happen here too. Ubisoft didn’t bless me with this job, you did, so you come first. So, is Assassin’s Creed Mirage finally a return to form, or has Ubisoft's sentiment of going back to their roots been a mirage all along. Keep in mind there will be minor gameplay spoilers ahead.
The answer depends on the kind of fan you are, because despite every step in the right direction, Valhallas roots are still here. Personally, I have been a fan of the series since Assassin’s Creed 2 and have played every release since, and, get ready for a hot take, I enjoyed essentially all of them to varying degrees. If you were hoping for a return to the days of the Ezio collection or even the Kenway saga, then I’m sorry, this won’t satisfy you. If you enjoyed the RPG games, you’ll definitely enjoy this, and if you didn’t mind the RPG style but took issue with the lack of actual assassins and the shrinking emphasis on stealth then you’ll be happy to hear that Mirage is not steps but leaps and bounds in the right direction. I’ll break down the different systems at play, looking at strengths, weaknesses, hopes, and concerns for the rest of the game to explain what I mean.
Before we get into it, I want to give context to the demo I played. I was able to explore the open world freely, and was focused on assassinating a target who is part of the order of ancients. I was free to spend about an hour and a half exploring, and do a few side objectives on the way to my goal. Because I was free to explore anywhere, I am confident in saying this felt well polished. There were no crashes, slowdown, glitches, despite expecting it to be a bit of a mess. With that said, things are always changing until the games release so if you are unsure of how the game runs, wait for reviews closer to the games launch to be as safe as possible.
Ok, the first order of business is the movement, and there's both good and bad things to say. The bad part is that movement is nearly unchanged from Valhalla. The good news is that it’s also the most disappointing part of the game, meaning everything else is solid. Movement consists of holding X and running towards something and there is borderline no depth to movement. I tried my damndest, but there is no back ejecting, no side ejecting, nothing. You can hold B to descend, but it’s about as inaccurate as Valhallas system which is disappointing and in fact I’d call it painful because Baghdad feels like it was built for an older Assassin’s Creed game, and there were so many instances where I thought to myself “man if this were any Assassin’s Creed from Unity and earlier I would have a field day”. But alas, I had to make do, and truthfully the level design still allows for fun. Pillars and posts guide your escape in between the rooftops infested with guards, but there is always an underlying disappointment.
I was able to play Assassin's Creed Mirage early and provide you with my Assassins Creed Mirage gameplay. AC Mirage has been long anticipated and the little AC Mirage gameplay we have seen has gotten me excited to eventually play the game and make an Assassins Creed Mirage review. This is NOT an Assassin's Creed Mirage review, and I will release an AC Mirage Review at a later date. Do note that some of the footage here is from the Assassin's Creed Mirage trailers. What do you think of this new Assassins Creed Game or any other new Assassins Creed project? From what we have seen from this Assassin's Creed Mirage gameplay and Assassins Creed Mirage leaks, I like the direction Assassins Creed is heading. My Assassins Creed Mirage first impressions have me even more excited to finally play the whole thing in October.
Edited by Playstayshaun
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- Chapters-
Intro: 0:00
Chp 1: The Windy City: 3:58
Chp 2: Hack Everything/Change Nothing: 14:52
Chp 3: Meaningless Code: 25:16
Chp 4: Ghost in The Machine: 36:48
Chp 5: Bad Blood: 55:53
Chp 6: A Dystopian Future: 1:00:13
Outro: 1:04:49
What comes to mind when I say Watch_Dogs? Is it disappointment, deceit, mediocrity? For a few of you it’s something positive, but that few is a growing minority. Why is that? Simply put, the years have been kind to Watch_Dogs, and each year separates us from the E3 demo of 2012 that promoted a game still yet to release. Sure, the idea for Watch_Dogs is there, but any comparison to the demo makes it clear that this was not running on current console hardware, and if that wasn’t clear, here's the proof. Jonathan Morin, creative director of Watch_Dogs made it clear that the game was not ready to be shown, and was being developed for next gen consoles that weren’t even known at the time. The team didn’t know what to expect, or what would be possible on the hardware, but Yves Guillemot insisted that the game be presented, knowing full well there was a high probability that promises would not be kept. We can add that to the list of his crimes alongside promoting a toxic work environment and being a French Canadian, but it takes two to tango. When met with limitless presentation, why wouldn’t we think that limitless gameplay potential was to follow? Even in those early showcases, Watch_Dogs laid its gameplay bare, but it didn’t stop the allure of a new intellectual property, and the endless possibilities that come with such a new frontier. A world where everything is connected, and becoming less and less fictional has the potential to say a lot. What are the ethics of the government, or anyone for that matter, knowing everything about you? What are the social implications, political implications, criminal implications? Watch_Dogs only answers a few of these, and often with little depth. The concept is fresh, but it is supplemented by ideas that could fit anywhere.
This is a theme present across all of Watch_Dogs. The idea that the game does not need to have hacking, in fact, many of its best qualities ignore the hacking. It’s gameplay is at it’s best with one hand clutching a grenade and the other gripping iron, the story's greatest qualities are the mystery that unfolds, Aidens response to his trauma, and its setting is unique because of its gloomy atmosphere, coat physics included. The hacking is unique, but stays an arms length away from everything else, and the moments it does intersect are fleeting. If your game that is marketed entirely on a hacking mechanic is still good without it, there may be a problem, or an excellent foundation. Regardless, the qualities here were overpowered by the taste left in players' mouths leading up to the game's release. With such a taste, the internet spit a toxic narrative that Watch_Dogs lied to the player about much more than its presentation. What resulted was a rude awakening, regarding both the game, and the effects of hype culture. This is what warrants a retrospective evaluation. We’ve had plenty of reviews that focus on what the game was supposed to be, or what we were told it was going to be, but the discussion of what the game is, and what its qualities are, disconnected from the could would, and potentially, should, is few. Because unfortunately for Watch_Dogs, it fell victim to the very dystopia it painted.
Watch Dogs is an interesting game. Watchdogs was initially panned upon release, but eventually Watch_Dogs was looked back upon as not being as bad, and eventually, we even got Watchdogs 2. Watch Dogs 2 would then lead to Watch Dogs Legion and uhh... Watchdogs Legion was a game. This Watch Dogs critique, Watch Dogs review, Watch Dogs analysis, Watch Dogs retrospective, or whatever you want to call it will be looking at Watch Dogs years later and Watch Dogs Bad Blood. Analysing the Watch Dogs gameplay, story, world, and more to understand the misunderstood reputation of Watch Dogs, and how it would eventually affect the Watch Dogs series. Aiden Pearce will play a central role in this argument, and there will be a heavy Aiden Pearce analysis to back up my claims. This video could also serve as a Watch Dogs story explained video. I hope we can get a new Watch Dogs someday, and one better than Legion.


