Tag: sony

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Game Ramblings #214 – Ghost of Yotei

More Info from Sony

  • Genre: Action/Adventure
  • Platform: PS5

For all intents and purposes, this is a perfect iterative sequel. It’s familiar enough to not be different from what I enjoyed about the original, but it’s got enough changes to feel fresh. In some ways that is probably something that people would criticize as feeling safe, but for me it’s hitting a fine line of moving the gameplay forward without losing what it was, and that’s a tough balance to hit.

If I put this up against what I thought of Tsushima there really isn’t a huge difference in my mind. They both do the Assassin’s Creed combat hub and free range stuff meta loop very well. They both have incredibly good combat aligned with some really effective stealth moments. They both have the same general discovery loop of looking for landmarks in the world (ex: steam -> hot springs, big fire -> inn, for all of them you can find a yellow bird to follow). Where this one improved for me really did end up being in the iterative nature of its combat.

In Tsushima I specifically mentioned that duels were where I felt combat really hit its stride, and while that is still largely the case here I do think that the wider group combat saw enough of an improvement to be of note. My problem with the previous title was that group combat never felt like I had a good way to focus on where to look, and a lot of that came down to what felt like a lack of obvious prioritization of incoming damage. That feels much improved here.

Part of it is that NPCs simply are better at taking turns. I know it sounds weird for a group of enemies to attack one-on-one, but from a gameplay perspective it makes sense for the player. Spamming dodge or parry buttons because multiple NPCs come after you more or less simultaneously is not a fun experience. Having the NPCs take turns – and more importantly giving the player time to attack the NPC that they successfully dodge or parry – is a big win in playability and letting the player feel powerful against a larger group of enemies. From a danger perspective it also felt like the NPCs would attack more quickly in succession if I wasn’t correctly dodging or parrying, so it encouraged me to be precise in order to not be overwhelmed. Another part of it for me is that rather than using stance switching to go against enemy weaknesses, Yotei uses weapon switching. From a result perspective this is exactly the same – you switch stance/weapon in both games to give yourself an advantage. However, recontextualizing this to something even more obviously visual feels better in a way that I can’t really place my finger on.

It also may just be placebo or fading memory, but it also felt like the general tells about incoming attacks were more obvious. Visually there were fewer large feints to make you guess incorrectly. The visual language of things that are dodgeable or parryable felt more clear. The audible tells of ranged attacks felt like they punched through the general noise of combat better. These are all things that were important to the larger group combat scenarios to make them feel more immediately manageable compared to the original title to really elevate that part of the experience to allow it to shine. It may not quite match the spectacle of duels yet, but rather than feeling like a negative of the experience I was generally able to enjoy combat in all situations much more easily in the sequel.

If there was one thing that I felt did take a step back here it would be the presentation of the story. The story is a generally non-linear set of sections sandwiched between a fixed start and end. What this means for the player is that once they get into the world, they can generally pick the direction they want to go. Each smaller region of the overall game world was its own self-contained experience where entering the zone triggers some story moment to occur, with the zone having its own plot line, side characters, and wrap up moment. However, that section of the game could occur in any order, so it had very little in terms of ties to anything else.

The practical impact for me is that this title felt like what would normally be a series of smaller independent expansion packs, rather than a whole new title. Each section kind of gets you an upgrade path of some sort and a character that ends up being important later-ish but because they have to work independently it often feels a lot like the zones are – for lack of a better description – nerfed down to just kind of be played through. Narratively it works well, but I’m not sure it was the best for gameplay purposes. On the other hand, when it does tie together for the final zone of the game, the toolbox as a whole works incredibly well so I’m not sure I’m overly fussed that each tool you gained had its own zone to learn the thing in with repeated use.

In some respects it also felt like this change might have forced a bit more simplification of side content, which was something I enjoyed about Tsushima over the larger Assassin’s Creed games. There is still some side content in place, but apart from a couple small specific places there isn’t side content that reaches across zone lines. It helps keep the side content locked to very specific upgrade-focused bits, alongside some side quest lines that deal with things specific to zones – for example, all upgrades for kunai take place in the zone where you earn kunai. I can’t tell whether it was an intentional change to match the narrative setup, but I do think the reduced stuff continues to be a benefit to reducing boredom in games of this scope.

I said this of Tsushima:

I certainly won’t sit here and claim that this is generally an original title, but it didn’t necessarily have to be. It takes the framework established by the recent Assassin’s Creed titles, and iterates enough on it to feel like its own thing.

I think that is particularly relevant here. Ghost of Yotei feels even less original, but I don’t think it needed to be original. Tsushima was a wildly successful and fun game. This takes the core put in place there and iterates on it, and in doing so didn’t lose what made the game a standout. Yotei is a wildly gorgeous game with extremely tight combat and that’s all I really needed it to be.

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Game Ramblings #194 – Astro Bot

More Info from Sony

  • Genre: Platformer
  • Platform: PS5

I was debating how to really start this because for me the gameplay of the game in a lot of circumstances is not worthy of the Metacritic score that this got. However, I was then thinking of the gameplay under the less normal circumstances and how playing a fully functional Ape Escape or Loco Roco level with its own mechanics ported over was incredible. I was thinking of how the challenge levels, despite their simplicity, brought in a sense of danger and speedrunning that was unique to those sections of the game. I was thinking about how playing a level themed around the Horizon series made me excited not for another title in that mainline – but instead, excitement for the possibility of the Lego Horizon game and how the Lego series typically adapts the various IPs that it uses. I was thinking about how exciting it was to find bots themed around games like PaRappa the Rapper or Space Channel 5 or Resident Evil or Ratchet and Clank or Sly Cooper or etc etc etc. This game really is a perfect example of the whole being better than the sum of its parts.

If I was to just talk about the core game, it’s simply a really good platformer. The jumping is solid. The exploration is solid. You get some occasional powerups that give for some fun changes to levels – for example, a chicken-shaped rocket jump, frog-themed boxing gloves, among others. However, on its own it’s still simply a really good platformer. Still worth playing for fans of the genre? Probably. However, the rest of the experience is what really elevates this to something worth playing for anyone. Lets talk about a few of those examples, because they are really what make this game click.

The most obvious example is the pure themed levels. You get one at the end of each world where the entire level and the powers you get during it are themed after the IP. Sure, the mechanics are simplified, but they’re effective. For example, God of War is reduced to the axe throw and return mechanic; Ape Escape simply has the radar and net; Loco Roco does not have any of the collecting mechanics. However, each level has just enough of the original IP’s mechanics adapted to the Astro Bot gameplay to be effective in really hitting that nostalgia while still feeling familiar within the scope of the core game.

Uncharted, God of War, and Horizon were not surprises. Those are arguably the biggest modern PlayStation franchises. Loco Roco and Ape Escape were absolutely surprises. Sure, those are past storied franchises – Ape Escape was certainly a PS1/PS2 era core platformer for Sony, and Loco Roco was a core franchise for the PSP, but both series haven’t had a new core entry in 15+ years. However, that gets at the real win here for Astro Bot. There’s something for everyone. Older PS1/PS2 fans are going to get a huge kick out of playing these levels because they are past memories. Newer PS4/PS5 fans are going to get a kick out of playing something new to them, and maybe introduce them to some series they should check out on PS Classics or through remasters. It works for both sets of fans because the levels are fun on their own due to the changes in game mechanics, but can still kick at the little nostalgia or curiosity boost for people playing.

Those little nostalgia spikes then extend to the act of simply collecting the Astro Bots. Each one is from some PlayStation game of the past so each one is another little tie to history. In most platformers it’s simply a core mechanic of the game, since you have to rescue them to progress to the end of each world. However, dressing it up like this is another way to open up memories for older players or new games to explore for newer players. It’s the perfect way to elevate a simple mechanic – the act of simply hitting a thing in a platformer – to a new fun height.

The boss fights are also worth talking about as an extension of the idea of the whole being better than the parts. Each world generally has a handful of boss or sub-boss type fights, and it’s here where I would argue the best combat mechanics take place. The boss fights are generally restricted to a small arena space with some power up, so rather than leaning on your core powers you’re leaning on the powerup as the core mechanic. For example, the snake fight above uses the chicken rocket to continuously jump over the snakes tail as it sweeps the arena, while the dinosaur fight above uses the Horizon IP to give you a bow to shoot at moving targets in the fight. They all do a great job of having a high action, fast response environment that still feels fair because of the fact that the actions are obvious. The powerups you bring into the fight will clearly be the main thing used in the fight. The tells by the enemies are well telegraphed, so I never felt like being hit was anything but my own fault. The set theming is all appropriately connected between the boss and its arena. They really are just all well done.

I also think it’s worth noting the challenge levels that are scattered around, because these are the real hard platforming available. However, they aren’t hard because they are being dicks. They’re hard for two reasons – there are no checkpoints and they demand precision. If you screw up, you are going back to the start of the level, regardless of the fact that you may have the end in reach. However, that’s balanced by the fact that complete runs of these levels are all under about a minute long. While these are absolutely testing your ability to execute the mechanics of the games precisely, they very much act like a speedrunning experience – very much a normal person digestable version of a Mario Kaizo game. Because of this, they act as nice breathers between longer levels. You can do a longer exploration, finish it up, then jump out to do a challenge level for a bit. Once you’ve hit a stress limit with these, jump right back into exploration. It’s the perfect way to break up the pace of the game.

If Smash Bros is a celebration of Nintendo’s history, this is the PlayStation representation of that ethos. Similar to later Smash Bros, it’s not just a celebration of Sony’s games, but a celebration of everything that has made PlayStation the brand that it is. It takes that celebration and adapts it to a platformer that is always good and often great. However, it’s absolutely true that the nostalgia is part of the experience and elevates the game beyond being a simply good platformer. The experiences they’ve crafted around specific elements of PlayStation history are incredibly detailed and well put together in a way that would never have happened without the tie in to nostalgia. Do I think that it reaches the heights of something like Mario Odyssey? Not quite, but it’s far closer than it looks on paper. What the team has created here is nothing short of spectacular and will likely be considered my surprise of the year when all is said and done.

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Game Ramblings #179 – Spider-Man 2

More Info from Insomniac Games

  • Genre: Action
  • Platform: PS5

I’m going to be real here. You could read my ramblings on Spider-Man and know where I landed on this one. My thoughts on swinging through the city are the same. My thoughts on combat – and particularly the power curve – are exactly the same. What I’m going to focus on instead is where a few points of polish really stood out to me as huge improvements to the experience. As an iterative experience, this is a standout example of making tweaks where there’s opportunities while keeping the rest of the game solid.

The first thing that really stands out to me is the web line ability. It looks like they were probably experimenting with this for the original game but I’m glad this made the cut for the sequel. What this does is lets you put a line between two points that can be used for all the normal abilities (grabbing, ledge takedowns, etc). This is a game changer for stealth segments. Rather than being limited to existing ledges and poles, you now make your own platforms. What this ended up doing for me was making any sort of base encounter feel a lot more free form than in the past. Instead of hopping from point to point finding angles that work, I was observing enemy movement patterns and setting up lines above them to do takedowns.

I get where some people may find that this trivializes stealth, and frankly it does make staying in stealth a lot easier than the original game. However, rather than being annoyed by it I found that it fit the power dynamic of the character. What I see as the comic book ideal for Spider-man is someone who uses their powers to trivially take out the hordes of stupid minions while focusing their fighting power on the current big bad, and this fits it perfectly. I could use the web line power to quickly take out dozens of enemies, then swing in to finish off whatever the boss-type thing was for the section. It allowed me to focus my combat capabilities on where I felt combat really continues to shine – in one-on-one combat. This is a game that still has some issues with multi-person combat encounters in terms of just too much going on at once, so having improved stealth was a huge personal boon.

The second piece I want to point out is the wing suit. The original game was one in which traversal around the city was so fun that I just did not want to fast travel. The sequel is absolutely the same, despite the fact that fast travel in the sequel is extraordinarily fast loading wizardry. A lot of why I enjoy the traversal so much is down to the inclusion of the wing suit.

The first game really shone in the tall buildings of Manhattan, but getting towards the water or to the north of the city with smaller buildings was a bit less fun. There was simply less places to grab with webs, so you could hit the ground a lot easier. The wing suit solves so many of those problems. Now if you’re in one of those spots, you turn on the wing suit and glide between vertical drafts or air currents that propel you forward. It keeps your momentum going at all times, and frankly is probably the one thing that allowed them to open up the city to more boroughs. Now that smaller housing areas of queens aren’t a travel headache. Going through Central Park is an easier option. Heading across the East River from downtown Manhattan towards Coney Island is entirely doable. These are all things that only exist in a fun way because of the inclusion of the wing suit and its ability to give you extended fast traversal options without web slinging.

The final thing is that this game continues to be an absolute tech standout on the platform. The video above shows what is clearly Insomniac bringing in the portal tech they made for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart into this title, but it’s just as impressive as ever in its second use. I mentioned not using the fast travel system earlier, but it’s also impressive as hell. You go into the map, hold a button as more of a UX confirmation, and you’re immediately at where you intend to be, including an impressive as hell seamless transition animation from the map view into the world view. This is all backed by a visual option for a full time 60 FPS that I used throughout my play through. It’s a standout AAA experience on the level of things like God of War: Ragnarok or the city visuals in Cyberpunk 2077. It’s just one of those rare games that finally feel next-gen to me, despite the fact that the gameplay is often not that different from the previous game.

This is just a fun, impressive game. It takes a game that I liked, tweaks some things in ways that make sense within the context of the series progressing. It’s an easy game to fall into and just enjoy. It also does something that I hope to see more of – be simple. They pulled away some of the extraneous activities in the open world. They pulled away some extraneous gadgets from the original game. What it all results in is an open-world experience that somehow feels tight and efficient. It’s a mix that really just works.