Star Wars - The Rise of Skywalker Review

OK, so just before Christmas comes around, I thought I would do a quick review of a film I recently seen and the film in question is Star Wars - The Rise of Skywalker, which is to be the final film in the Star Wars saga.

Now this film has really split the fans and critics right down the middle and has had its fair share of mixed reviews and bad reactions from fans. So, is it a good sold finale or just a big letdown?? Well, let's find out.

And as I will say just a little bit about the story, the following warning is coming up...

THE ODD SPOILER OR TWO ARE AHEAD BUT NOTHING MAJOR (HONEST!!).

STORY

So, the story begins with Supreme Leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) searching for the location of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) that leads him to the planet, Exegol where he finds a physically impaired Palpatine. Palpatine tells Ren that he must find and kill Rey (Daisy Ridley) in order for him to complete his destiny and become the supreme ruler of the galaxy.

Meanwhile, Rey continues her Jedi training under the tuition of Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and the other resistance fighters receive information from a spy in First Order that Palpatine is indeed alive and has returned. Rey on looking for clues for Palpatine's whereabouts searching Luke's notes that include Jedi texts about a Sith wayfinder that will lead her to Palpatine. And so its from here that Rey travels with her friends and fellow resistance fighters, Poe (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega) and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo replacing the late Peter Mayhew) along with C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 to the planet Pasaana to start the trail to find Palpatine...

THOUGHTS

As a conclusion to the Disney trilogy and indeed the main Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker is an entertaining film that has actually been getting alot of stick from many fans and reviewers alike but I personally think its a better film than its been given credit for so far (or a lack thereof).  And I really do have to say I don't get the hate for this film as there is still plenty to enjoy here as it has its share of good action scenes, engaging character moments and a reasonably decent ending. And while its certainly not a perfect film, I still think it makes for a solid end to its trilogy and its WAY better than the Last Jedi was and this film in a way sets out to perform a certain amount of damage control inflicted by LJ's director, Rian Johnson (boo lol!). 

PERFORMANCES

As for the performances the cast are all on good form here.

Starting with Daisy Ridley who is excellent once again in her role as Rey, the last jedi who takes up her pivotal role again in the trilogy and in the film we learn more about her background story but I won't say anything about it here! Ridley has some good moments but again I won't really say much about them but suffice to say that Rey's character has developed some rather unique force powers that we haven't seen before now and she does have her share of good action scenes.

Adam Driver is also very good again in his role as Kylo Ren/Ben Solo, who by now is the supreme ruler of the First Order and seeks out Emperor Palplatine, who is rumoured to be still alive but still has his own emotional conflict as he harbours feelings for Rey. And as the film progresses, Kylo will have a very important choice to make that has quite an impact on the film's ending but that's all I'm going to say!

Carrie Fisher even though she passed away three years ago still puts in a fine performance here as Princess Leia. And what we see here was cobbled together from unused footage of The Force Awakens and it works very well for the most part and hangs together well as an actual performance and it was great to see that we even managed to get that much for her final send-off.

Oscar Isaac also does pretty well in his role as Poe Dameron, the commander of the resistance, who is also a formidable pilot and he is given alot to do here as he takes on a hefty role as the film progresses. We also later get hints into Poe's past as he meet someone he previously knew at some point in the film where its suggested he had a prior relationship with them.

John Boyega is also pretty good in his role as Finn, a former first order stormtrooper now a resistance fighter. John however somehow is actually given less to do here, despite his screen time, his character doesn't develop that much more over the course of the film, which is a bit of a pity.

WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH IS KIND OF A SPOILER!

Mark Hamill also makes a return to his role as Luke Skywalker who by now is a force ghost and he consults Rey later on. Basically at this point, Luke is taking on the same mantle here as Obi-wan Kenobi did in the Return of the Jedi and there are some pretty clearly drawn comparisons here between the two films for these scenes.

Anthony Daniels does very well again as C-3PO in what his of course his final performance as the pesky protocol droid, who seems to get on everyone's nerves. Threepio however does kind of have a touching moment later in the film but I won't say much more about it than that. At any rate, Anthony Daniels is the only actor to have appeared in all the episodic films of the Star Wars saga, so he get's a good send-off here.

Keri Russell is also pretty good in her role as Zoril Bliss, who is an old acquaintance of Poe's and she ultimately ends up helping the resistance out with their mission (and yet again that's all I will say about that here!). Strangely however, we never actually even get to see Keri Russell's face in the film as she is always wearing her helmet and there is one brief moment where she opens her vistor so we can see her eyes and that's it!

Billy Dee Williams makes a welcome return to the Star Wars saga here again as Lando Calrissian, except he looks decidedly older of course than he did before (and a bit heavier lol!). Regardless however of his age, Billy Dee Williams still looks well, especially given that he is now 82 years old! At any rate, its good to see Billy back in Star Wars even if it does feel like they are trying to re-uinite the old gang at any cost!

Kelly Marie Tran does well enough in her role as Rose Tico, who befriended Finn in the Last Jedi and it appeared like there would be a blossoming romance. However, the romance it appears to have been stopped dead in its tracks by director JJ Abrahams as she has been largely sidelined here with very little to do in her role, which is in some ways not a bad thing as the alleged romance never went anywhere anyway between Finn and Rose.

Domhall Gleeson also does OK in his role as the weasly General Hux, a senior officer in the First Order, who has harboured much resentment over Kylo Ren in the previous films and continues that here.

Richard E. Grant also makes an appearnce here as General Pryde, who is a high ranking officer in the First Order and he is a pretty ruthless SoB it has to be said and appears to have the backbone to do what Hux probably can't. Again I won't say much more here about Grant's role except of course he is very good in it as Grant is in just about anything he does.

And last but not least is Ian McDiarmid as Emperor Palpatine and his is great once again in the role as he is pretty comfortable in it by now and he certainly revels in hamming up the evil Sith lord, who is out to regain his rule over the galaxy. And we learn a pretty big spoiler about Palplatine's connection to one of the characters here, which I will leave for another time and most likely in a revisitation of this post.

DIRECTOR 

As for the direction, J.J. Abrahams returns to the helm here and for the most part he does a pretty good job as despite the film's fairly lengthy run-time of 2 hours and 22 minutes, it never really lags at any time. I would probably say there are times where J.J.'s pacing is just a bit too chaotic, especially at the start of the film where there is so much going on at the one time. That aside, J.J. knows how to handle action scenes and he get's some good, engaging performances from his cast and he does a solid job overall here (take that haters heh heh!).

MUSIC

Music wise of course we get one final score from the great John Williams, who thankfully is still around and its great to see him live to finish the scoring for all nine Star Wars films and he contributes a very fine one to end proceedings. The only thing however I would say about the score is that there is a lot of retreading of the old themes from the original trilogy, which feels like they are trying to pay a bit too much lip-service for the fans. That aside however, its just great to see Williams finish off the saga than someone fill in for him.

FLAWS

As for the flaws...yep OK I admit that The Rise of Skywalker isn't perfect however I don't really want to get into spoiler territory here so I will try and address a few issues by going into as little plot stuff as I can.

So, to start off, one of the issues I had to do with the film is that the start of it is way too chaotic as Abrahams has the audience thrown right into the action straight off with no let-up and then it jumps too quickly between its other storylines. And its here that the film feels really rushed in places with its structure and I felt like they should have slow the pacing down in the opening 30 minutes or so as it just a bit too overkill how it is.

WARNING: KIND OF SPOILER IN THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH BUT NOT A BIG ONE!

Another issue I had was to do with the idea of Rey's new force powers as she suddenly use the force to heal wounds and maybe bring people back from the dead! I mean that is some pretty powerful force stuff right there, which was never exhibited in any of the previous films! So, for me I felt like Rey's new ressurective powers, was a bit daft and its another way of the film maker trying slap on new ways in which the force can be used.

I also thought the reveal of the First Order spy in the film was also pretty stupid and I will not mention here who it was although I do admit that the reveal itself was fairly surprising and I didn't twig right away who it would be. In the end though, the whole First Order spy thing felt a bit uneccessary.

Also like I previously mentioned, there are times where the film tries to pay a bit too much lip-serve to the fans in its use of music from the previous films just in case you needed a reminder of things. As an example there is a moment where we see an X-Wing being lifted out of a swamp! Ring any bells on that one?! And yep of course John Williams music from Empire Strikes Back suddenly ramps up at that moment. So, yeah in those moments it all get's a bit trite and contrived and again it feels unnecessary for Abraham to keep prodding people into remember the greatest hits moments from the classic Star Wars films.

Then there is the whole idea of the force connection between Rey and Kylo, which to be honest is pretty stupid and no thanks to The Last Jedi, we still get that connection in this film. And without giving much a way there is one moment in the film where Kylo can essentially physically touch Rey using this connection and he is able to pinpoint here location through it! And I'm sorry but I have to say that the whole thing is basically a bunch of BS and shouldn't really have been included again here. Sadly the damage control for the whole virtual-physical-touch-over-millions-of-miles-away force power introduced by Rian flipping Johnson was overlooked here!

And last of all I think it would be safe to say as one Youtube reviewer said that the opening title scrawl for the film sucks! Yep, the opening scrawl is very badly written and it begins with perhaps the WORST opening line I have ever seen in any of the scrawls which is "THE DEAD SPEAKS!". WHAT???! Is that really the best you can come up with for an opening scrawl?! Sorry but again its a completely naff way to start off the title scrawl, which doesn't really get that much better as it carries on.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, the finale to the Star Wars saga, The Rise of Skywalker is actually a pretty entertaining, decent send-off to the main chapters of the franchise and while I agree that it is far from perfect, what I don't agree with is all the hate this film is currently getting as it feels pretty unwarranted. Its like people wanted to see the greatest film ever made and expected something much higher and mightier than this but in the end I do think this is a very decent worthy send-off for Disney's trilogy and it deserves a bit more credit than its been given so far.

So, while its no masterpiece, I still think The Rise of Skywalker is well worth a look.

Anyway so that's it for now and I would like to finish by wishing you all a Merry Christmas tomorrow and I will be back with another post or two soon before the year is out.

Till then its bye fer now.

Soulsborne and Sekiro Game Rankings Part 2 - No's 3-1

Right, so its time for part 2 of my ranking the Soulsborne and Sekiro games in my order of preference and here I will look at the games in the top 3 of FromSoftware's catalogue. Again I have left Demon's Souls off this list because I haven't played it yet and given its lack of availability on other platforms other than the PS3 makes it difficult for me to get unless I get a PC emulator version, which I might look into in future in order to play it.

Also just to say that this list is based on my own preferences so feel free to disagree as I'm sure we all have different opinions on what is the best Soulsbornekiro (someone else coined this phrase not me by the way and its pretty good imho lol!).

So, with that all said, let's take a look at the remaining top 3 games...

3. Dark Souls III

So, at No.3. is funnily enough a game with the number 3 in it, Dark Souls III, which saw the return of Hidetaka Miyazaki as director after he took a leave of absence in Dark Souls II as he was busy working on Bloodborne at the time and felt he didn't want to direct two games simultaneously.


And with Miyazaki's return we got a real treat with Dark Souls III as its a game that is high on quality not only in its general content but also in its challenging boss fights as well as having a terrific soundtrack. Also given that this was to be the final Dark Souls game it was a fitting send-off to a great trilogy of games and as such one of the best in the series.

Story-wise Dark Souls III differs somewhat from its predecessors where your playable character is a champion of Ash, known as the Ashen One and someone who was almost made a Lord of Cinder but ultimately was not given that mantle and shares a similar undead curse to the previous game characters. So, the basic idea here is that the Ashen One will collect the souls of the Lords of Cinder in order to link the flame but in doing so they must fight their way past many dangerous enemies before they can reach their path to Lothric castle where ultimately the Ashed One will fight Princes Lorian and Lothric to complete the required souls needed to do so.

Dark Souls III succeeds really well in borrowing elements from the previous games and tweaking some of the issues from those games, especially by cutting down on the amount bosses and focusing more on creating memorable boss fights rather than just a bunch of boring filler ones like in Dark Souls III. And the game also feels a lot tighter than its predecessor as a result of this which also helps become a more enjoyable game.

And Dark Souls III has no shortage of memorable and challenging boss fights such as The Twin Princes, Lorian and Lothric, which is an incredibly difficult battle as the two brothers teleport around their throne room twatting you with miracles and a giant flaming sword! Then there are other great fights such as the Nameless King, who's difficulty is notorious in the series and with good reason as he is mighty brutal to take on in combat! And of course there is also Slave Knight Gael, who stands as easily one of the best bosses in the series, who pretty much concludes the entire series itself as he is the last DLC boss of the game itself.

Dark Souls III also includes some new neat elements such as the weapon art focus point system, which did appear in Demon's Souls but only this time the combat and move sets of the weapons now feel way more refined and sophisticated than before. There are also plenty of new weapons to check out of which quite a few of them are pretty cool such as the Sellwsword Twinblades, Millwood Battle Axe and the Follower Sabre. You can also even create weapons from boss souls just as you could before and from that you also get some pretty nifty weapons such as Lorian's Greatsword, which is a firey one and Vordt's Hammer, which is essentially a giant hammer that inflicts frostbite damage.

You also have the opportunity to use consumable items such as coloured pellets that help reduce elemental damage such as fire, lightning and dark and these come in extremely handy throughout and it helps that they last two minutes, which is great when you are in the middle of a boss fight.

Dark Souls III also does something a bit different with hollowing than in previous games because rather than you reverting back to your hollow form when you die, this time you don't and you need to undergo a process to become a hollow, which involves seeking out an aged sorcerer that gives dark sigils that make you hollow. And the more you die, the more this will increase your hollowing level, which can also increase your attack power if you do certain builds such as luck or bleed. 

There are of course still some issues with Dark Souls III in that maybe it is the least most innovative entry in the series as it builds on what is already there without adding a great deal of new content. I also felt that it lacked certain things such as more alternative healing items other than your standard estus flasks and just a handful of divine blessings, which you can only use one at a time! You can get some items that restore your health but they work far too slowly to be that effective and overall I'd say the lack of extra healing items is a pest here.

I also felt it was daft to have the blacksmith Andre (who also appeared in the original Souls game) upgrade your estus flask usage rather than the bonfire keeper yet you could upgrade the amount of health the estus flask restores yourself at the Firelink Shrine bonfire! It just felt to me like this whole estus upgrade process was rushed and wasn't really thought through properly.

But those issues aside, Dark Souls III is an incredibly solid entry in the Souls series and one of my favourites that saw the series get a great send-off and it deserves it place here at No.3.

2. Bloodborne 

So, at No.2 is Bloodborne, which for me ranks as one of the two masterpieces that Hidetaka Miyazaki has directed in the Soulsborne series and is a tremendous game overall that despite some similarities to the Souls games, it still stands out on its own.

As for its story, Bloodborne differs quite a bit from the Souls games in that it follows more the ideology of the works of H.P. Lovecraft, who was an American gothic horror writer. And the game itself is set in a Victorian-esque time where you play as a hunter who enters a dream-like world, fighting against a scourge of beasts in the town of Yarnham where you must try and find a way to stop the beast plague and end the nightmare that plagues the town.

Bloodborne is a terrific game without a doubt and even though as I said it shares some similarities to the Souls games in terms of healing, the travel system, being essentially an undying character as well as very similar weapon upgrade items, it still remains a pretty unique game in its own right. The game also has a great, brooding atmosphere to it as you wander the creepy town that is Yarnham fighting a large number of beasts and getting covered in torrents of blood as you do it making this easily one of FromSoftware's bloodiest games!

This game is also great because of its innovative ideas and this is especially the case with its weapons, as they are known as trick weapons that have initial form but can be transformed into another one to perform different attacks.

As an example there is the Hunter Axe, a strength weapon which starts off as a basic battle axe but on its transform mode it extends into essentially a halberd that allows for greater ranged attacks. Other trick weapons also include the strength based Whirligig saw, which in its un-transformed phase is a large stick which you can use to perform blunt attacks but when transformed you can attach a circular buzz saw head to the stick to perform serrated damage attacks. Then there are skill weapons such as the Blade of Mercy, which is refined sharp blade that can break off into two smaller blades as can perform some very fast combo attacks. And there is another skill weapon such as Rakuyo, which performs similarly to the Blade of Mercy except it starts as a longer slender sword that breaks off into two blades and can also be used to perform combo attacks.

The game also makes use of items known as runes that act similarly to the rings in Dark Souls that can boost your resistances to certain types of damage such as poison, fire, bolt and frenzy (which is similar to curse in the Souls games and can kill you outright or take a large amount of your health). Other ruins can also boost your attack power, help to discover more items from fallen enemies and even help you to restore your health when attacking enemies that have damaged your health.

WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH FEATURES A SPOILER CONNECTED TO THE END OF THE GAME!

Another great element of Bloodborne is of course the boss fights, which for the most part are also pretty memorable, very well designed and can also be pretty tough too. And the memorable boss fights include Father Gascoigne, a blood-thirsty hunter who driven mad by his desire for blood, Lady Maria, a hunter you encounter in the Hunter's Nightmare in the game's DLC. Ludwig, who was formerly a hunter and is now a hideously mutated horse like beast. Gerhamn, the First Hunter, who (SPOILER!!!) can become a boss if you refuse to leave the Hunter's Dream at the end of the game. And last but not least is the Orphan of Kos, who is rather gross looking humanoid creature with a large placenta (yuk!) which he can attack you with and must rank as the hardest boss in the entire game!

The game also has arguably the best soundtrack of any of the games in the Soulsborne-Sekiro series so far as it is absolutely superb with one exception which is the theme for boss, Micolash, which is rubbish and is the only blight in another-wise magnificent score. And some of my favourites from the score include the themes for Gerhman, Lady Maria, Ludwig, Blood Staved Beast and Laurence, The First Vicar all of which are terrific, memorable themes.

Flaws wise, Bloodborne does have some issues here and there and the biggest issue alot of people raise it is to do with the game's Chalice Dungeons, which are a group of underground dungeons that the hunter can explore in which they will fight a hoard of enemies and more bosses. The dungeons are also where the hunter can pick up the very best blood gems in the game, which you use to boost the damage output of your weapons. The only problem is that the dungeons can tend to get pretty tedious after a while although I have to admit, I actually don't mind searching through them and they can be fun for a time.

Another issue I had was to do with farming for blood chunks that will upgrade your weapons to +9 as the process to do this pretty tedious and takes a long time! However if you can boost your discovery level high enough with the aid of the correct runes then you will be able to get a slightly better drop rate from certain enemies but without them its a major slog to do!

Lastly I felt, as I'm sure plenty of other fans of the game do that the PVP (i.e. online option of the game) is pretty poor and especially the summon system as you can literally spend FOREVER trying to get a summon for a boss fight! I also felt that PVP invasions in the game were a bit hit and miss and idea to find and kill a chime maiden makes things a bit annoying if you want to prevent being invaded when you are online. 

However all that aside, Bloodborne is still one of the very best games in the Soulsborne series and its filled with great, fast paced combat, innovative weapons, a terrific soundtrack and stylish well designed not to mention, challenging boss fights. And I think it easily deserves to be ranked in the top 2 games of the series as its that good.

And with only one game left to look at, I think we can all guess what is at No.1....

1. Dark Souls

Yep, at No.1 is of course the original Dark Souls, which for me is the best overall game in the Soulsborne-Sekiro series and even though Demon's Souls started the whole shebang off, Dark Souls was the first game I played and as such is still my favourite.

So, what makes Dark Souls so good? Well, for me again it brings a lot of innovative ideas to the table and it is also a game that is filled with varied combat, memorable and engaging NPCs, challenging boss fights and for its, very impressive visuals that got an excellent overhaul in the Remastered edition that came out last year.

Dark Souls also introduces the core concepts of its trilogy with the story of a chosen undead that is destined to succeed Gwyn, the Lord of Cinder, in order to break the curse and link the flame to keep the age of fire going. However in order to do so, the chosen undead must fight their way through a hoard of enemies, bosses and also claim the souls of four Great Ones in order to access the final area of the game and take on Gwyn in combat.

Dark Souls has so much to offer in terms of its variety of combat, traversing different areas and environments not to mention giving players the chance to create many different builds such as a warrior, sorcerer, pyromancer, swordsman (or woman) or even a cleric. And again you have access to a wide variety of melee weapons such as swords, axes, halberds, spears, clubs and hammers as well as magic spells, miracles (for Clerics), pyromancies and dark magic. So there are plenty of weapons to choose from here and many of them would reappear in the sequels and are among my favourites in the series. With all this at the players fingertips, the possibilities of creating builds in Dark Souls is practically limitless.

The game also has plenty of interesting and memorable NPCs such as Solaire, a knight who is in search of his own personal enlightment and can be summoned to help you in several boss fights. Then there is of course Patches, a sneaky and untrustworthy merchant, Big Hat Logan, an eccentric but legendary sorcerer and of course Siegward of Catarina (aka onion bro!) who wears onion-like shaped armour and even sleeps standing up!

Then we have the game's bosses some of which rank among the very best in the series not to mention the most memorable. And the game's best bosses include of course the legendary Ornstein and Smough, Knight Artorius, Four Kings, Manus: Father of the Abyss, Gwyn: Lord of Cinder and Pinwheel (just kidding about Pinwheel!). And if you are unfamiliar with the Souls games and are new to them then these bosses are sure to tie you up in knots and in fits of frustration for days on end!

The game's visual design for its time is also very impressive and the variety in its environments is also just as good with again some terrific well designed bosses and interesting, not to mention tough standard enemies. However I would say though that the character models for your playable character aren't the best as their faces look just a bit too soft and undefined in comparison to the other games in the series.

Dark Souls also differs from the other games in that you can upgrade your own stats at the bonfire yourself without another figure such as you would need to do in the other games. The game also even let's you upgrade your own weapons and armour at the bonfire, which is something none of the other Souls games let you do without a blacksmith. So, in a way Dark Souls is the most forward thinking of the three games in the trilogy and in that respect the sequels kind of took a backward step.

Where Dark Souls does fall down a little is that the weapon upgrade path is a bit more complicated that in the sequels as you need to different embers if you want to upgrade your weapons all the way to +15 (the sequels would be +10). Also if you want to make elemental weapons such as fire, lightning or magic ones, you need special shards to do so and it requires you to downgrade your existing weapon to +5 before you can convert it. Not only that but the game insists on using different coloured chunks for the upgrades for different types of weapons, which is a bit tedious and it feels a bit unnecessary and again in the sequels you just used standard chunks rather than a bunch of different ones.   

And lastly there is of course the whole issue with the animation of drinking your Estus flask during fights because when you do drink it, you are rooted to the spot and cannot move and this often can be difference between life and death as more often than not if you drink at the wrong time it will result you in getting killed! Thankfully by the time we got to Dark Souls III, this issue had been ironed out and you can drink your Estus on the move but I always felt this was really frustrating in the original game and to an extent even in Dark Souls II.

However those quibbles aside, the original Dark Souls is still for me the best game in the series and it forever will warrant repeated playing with its exciting combat, great boss fights and virtually endless variety in making different builds and using a vast array of weapons and spells. Its the best of the best and it deserves to be at No.1 on this list.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another review as I recently seen the latest Star Wars at the cinema, The Rise of Skywalker, so you can expect a review forthcoming for that.

Till then its bye for now, may the good blood guide your way and praise the sun!

Soulsborne and Sekiro Game Rankings Part 1 No's 5-4

OK, so for a change I thought I would do something a little different but with a familiar theme as I thought just for fun that I would rank the Soulsborne games and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice in a listing to see which ones I liked the least and the best. And I figured given the amount to cover in each game that I would split this up into two separate posts.

Now before I go on, I would just like to say that I really like all of these games so there are none on this list that I hate at all, which is why I decided to title the post without saying which is best and which is the worst.

Also I would like to point out that this list will omit Demon's Souls simply because I haven't played it as it was a PS3 exclusive game and I no longer own a PS3 and haven't done so for several years. I could however try and download a PC emulator version of the game and might still do in the near future but until then I will need to unfortunately leave it off this list.

So, with that all said let's take a look at these games and how I think they rank. 

5. Dark Souls II (Scholar of the First Sin Edition)

So, at No.5 is Dark Souls II, the Scholar of the First Sin edition, which was the remastered version of the original Dark Souls II game and came out for the PS4 with an impressive visual overhaul and a somewhat changed layout of the game from the initial release. And the reason why I have put the Scholar version on here is simply because its the only version of Dark Souls II that I have played and despite the stick some fans of the series give this game, I still really enjoy it myself.

Dark Souls II storyline follows a similar pattern to its predecessor where you play a nameless human undead who is set on a path to try and break the undead curse and obtain four souls of the Great Ones in order to do so. The player is guided along the way by Emerald Herald, a mysterious figure who can upgrade your character's stats along the way (such as strength, endurance and vigour). Emerald also tells your character to seek King Vendrick once they have obtained the four souls, which will ultimately lead them toward their destiny to replace Vendrick as the King of Drangleic.

Dark Souls II had quite a job ahead of itself with trying to better its remarkable predecessor and for the most part DS II goes a pretty good job although it does ultimately fall short of reaching the great heights of the original game. Still that aside there is plenty going for Dark Souls II as it filled with fun combat, great ideas as well as some pretty challenging enemies and boss fights.

What Dark Souls II did well for me personally is that it was a game of fresh ideas such as the inclusion of bonfire ascetics, which allows for you to essentially reset an area and strengthen enemies as well as reset boss fights but the only difference is they are now stronger than before. The upside to this though is that it allows you pick up more of the original items that were there and you can even farm for a tonne of souls in certain areas particularly if you fight the Giant Lord boss you can keep using ascetics to kill him over and over again and earn a tonne of souls! Its almost like a cheat code for the game!

The game also introduced some pretty cool weapons and spells and it greatly improved on sorcery in the original with a greater inclusion of Hexer spells (which is basically dark magic) that allowed you to spam some very cool spells in enemy's faces! It also helped that the casting speed in Souls II is WAY faster than it was in the original, which leaves you less vulnerable than before.  Weapons wise there are also some cool ones that include the redesigned Greatsword, which looks amazing and rather than the skinny looking blade we saw in the original Souls, its now a big thick blade that must about 7 feet long! The game also improved greatly on the move set of the weapons here as if I had one criticism of Dark Souls it was that some of the weapon's combos and moves felt pretty underdeveloped.

Dark Souls II also did a very interesting thing with your character's hollowing and the curse status, which no longer kills you outright but instead it just lowers your health by one level (up to 10 times) and turns you from human to hollow form. So, I thought it was a good idea to actually change the whole idea of curse just outright killing you but instead it more kind of continues to impose the undead curse on you further by making you more hollow in appearance. I also liked the idea that when you turn hollow in this game that you don't suddenly look incredibly skinny like you did in Souls I and III but instead your skin is green and scabby but your body weight remains the same, so you remain in proportion rather than suddenly turn horribly anoxeric looking.

The PVP for Souls II was also a big improvement in that you had the option to burn a human effigy (which is the equivalent of the humanity items you used in the original Souls game to return you to human form) to prevent being invaded for a time (up to 30 minutes or so). This was especially a good thing as random invasions often prove to be a real pain in the ass with the Souls games, especially if you have a lot of Souls on the line!

Where Dark Souls II does fall down however is with its lack of memorable bosses as most of them are frankly pretty forgettable and boring to fight and this is pretty unfortunate given that the boss fights are one of the main staples of the series. However in Dark Souls II there were 41 bosses in total, which include 9 bosses from 3 DLCs and that is simply too many! What also made things worse were that they kept recycling the same bosses over and over again (I mean who's bright idea was it to put Dragonrider in the game four times over?!) which showed the developers were lacking ideas.

However that's not to say that Dark Souls II had no good bosses at all as there will still a handful of good ones such as Sir Alonne, Fume Knight (my personal favourite of Souls II) Sinh the Slumbering Dragon, Vendrick (yeah I kind of like this fight), Burnt Ivory King and of course the original Smelter Demon. Its just a pity that the game decided to waste its time on developing so many mediocre boss fights that could easily have been scrapped especially ones like Dragonrider, Royal Rat Authority, Royal Rat Vanguard and not to mention maybe the worst of the lot: the Covetous Demon, a Jabba the Hutt rip-off attempt!

Also on the plus side, Dark Souls II also has a pretty killer soundtrack for the most part (although its not always regarded that way by the fans) with some great tracks by Motoi Sakuraba and Yuka Kitamura. The standout tracks here for me were the themes for Sir Alonne, Fume Knight, Vendrick, Skeleton Lords, Ruin Sentinels and Aldia: Scholar of the First Sin.

So all flaws aside, Dark Souls II is still a lot of fun to play and I've enjoyed doing alot of playthroughs of this game with a variety of different builds using various different weapons and spells. In fact I often found  my choice of build was to either be a hexer or a cleric and both of which you can have alot of fun with but the possibilities within these games are limitless that's always the main fun of a Souls game.

So while it remains the weakest of the three games in the Dark Souls trilogy, Souls II is still a lot of fun and brought some fresh ideas to the table and is well worth checking out despite any hate it get's from certain fan groups.

4. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

So, in 4th place is FromSoftware's latest offering, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which recently won the game of the year award and its certainly a pretty damn good game. However for me out of all five games I have played of FromSoft while I do think Sekiro is a better game than Dark Souls II it still doesn't quite outmatch the other games ahead of it. 

For those of you who might be unfamiliar with Sekiro, it is set in a fictitious version of Japan in the 16th century where you play as a Shinobi (essentially a ninja) named Wolf, who's young Lord, Kuro is kidnapped and Wolf fails in his attempt to save him as he loses his left arm in a duel with an opposing clan member, Genichiro. Wolf soon awakens in a delapidated temple and discovers that his severed arm has been replaced with a prosphetic one by a sculptor, who himself was once a shinobi. So, from here, Wolf begins his mission to save Kuro, who is an undying, divine heir and stop Genichiro in his plan to create an immortal army using Kuro's blood.

And Sekiro has plenty going for it with its intense combat as you clash swords with various enemies and rely on using deflect and parry techniques to take on your opponents, which ends with Wolf using a deathblow to finish off his foes. It also brings alot of other elements to the table that are appealing and unique especially the Shinobi prosphetic tools, which offer plenty of variety in how Wolf can take down his enemies as he can use makeshift spears, axes and other tools such as firecrackers, poison knives and even protective metal umbrellas!

Sekiro is also easily the most visually stunning game they have produced with its glorious graphics, which are rich in detail and the environments varied and above all very colourful, which is a breath of fresh air in comparison to some of the drab colour in their previous titles. The character models also look great here and are by far the best seen in a Fromsoft game so far although this relates primarily more to the main characters than anything else.

Its also fair to say however that Sekiro is very challenging game and its difficulty level is pretty punishing as Wolf can be wiped out by alot of enemies with just two hits! And I have to say that's mainly why I put this game further down the list as I initially found the game's difficulty quite alienating and it took using a PC mod to makes things a bit easier (but not too much honest as this game still gave me a hard time!). I have since replayed it on the PS4 Pro on its standard difficulty and it was quite a struggle to work through but I eventually managed to succeed in completing the game, so I guess I should give myself a pat on the back for that alone lol!

There are also plenty of bosses in Sekiro and in fact I really would ahve to say there are simply too many of them and some of them are even recycled just like they did in Dark Souls 2, which is not a good thing and makes gameplay a bit tedious at times. Infact anyone who levelled recycling bosses at Dark Souls 2 as a criticism should really take a closer look at Sekiro as it totally over does it here by recycling not only main game bosses but also mini bosses too! 

However there are still quite a few bosses in the game that I really enjoyed taking on such as the Guardian Ape, Genichiro, Lady Butterfly, Demon of Hatred and of course the final and unquestionably the hardest boss: Isshin, the Sword Saint. In fact Isshin was so tough it took 3 days worth of attempts for me to finally beat him!

The game also has an excellent score by Yuka Kitamura, who worked on the Soulsborne games in the past and her music is typically very Japanese sounding and fits the period perfectly. The standout tracks for me here were the themes for Isshin, the Sword Saint, Emma the Gentle Blade, The Corrupt Monk, Guardian Ape, the Divine Dragon and the Great Shinobi Owl. 

So, for me Sekiro takes 4th place on the list and even though it doesn't quite scale the heights of the games ahead on the list, its still a pretty damn good game in its own right. And Sekiro succeeds in providing a very challenging single player experience that will push and stretch players to the limit and despite its punishing difficulty, its one that I would still welcome coming back to in the future. 

OK so that's it for now and I will be back soon with Part 2 of my look at my ranking the Soulsborne-Sekiro games.

Till then bye for now!

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Review Update

Well, well, well...just when I thought I was finished with a certain game by the acclaimed game developing team that brought you Dark Souls and Bloodborne (i.e. From Software) I've decided to give it another go. And yep the game in question is Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

Now, I've already done two posts on this game alone and in both of them, I expressed my disappointment over the game and how I felt it didn't live up to expectations as I even gave Sekiro a second chance and again I just didn't enjoy playing it. However...I decided to give Sekiro one more chance to see if I could get into it but only this time I bought it on the PC instead of the PS4 and I will say more about why in a bit.

So has my opinion changed??? Well, let's find out! 

So as this is essentially a review update, I will still mention a bit about the story, so here is the usual warning...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY (By the way this was taken from the Sekiro Wikipedia page)

"In a re-imagined late 16th century Sengoku period Japan, warlord Isshin Ashina staged a bloody coup and seized control of the land of Ashina from the Interior Ministry. During this time, a nameless orphan is adopted by the wandering shinobi named Ukonzaemon Usui, known to many as Owl, who named the boy Wolf and trained him in the ways of the shinobi. Two decades later, the Ashina clan is on the brink of collapse due to a combination of the now elderly Isshin having fallen ill and the clan's enemies steadily closing in from all sides. Desperate to save his clan, Isshin's grandson Genichiro sought the Divine Heir Kuro so he can use the boy's "Dragon Heritage" to create an immortal army. Wolf, now a full fledged shinobi and Kuro's personal bodyguard, loses his left arm while failing to stop Genichiro. As he received the dragon’s blood from Kuro three years prior, Wolf survives his wounds and awakes in an abandoned temple. In the temple, he meets the Sculptor, a former shinobi named Sekijo who now carves Buddha statues, and Wolf finds that his missing arm has been replaced with the Shinobi Prosthetic, a sophisticated artificial arm that can wield a variety of gadgets and weaponry...".

And its from here where Wolf (or Sekiro as he is later known) must start his dangerous journey to try and rescue his kidnapped lord and get revenge over Genichiro...

THOUGHTS

Well...so after my initial disappointment with Sekiro on playing the game I just found it too difficult and punishing to warrant playing by the time I had reached the Genichiro boss I had felt pretty frustrated and deflated by the game. The second time round I tried the game (bought it again on the PS4) but perhaps rather foolishly I decided to start playing it where I left off as I kept my PS4 save files and I ended up feeling the same way as I failed to make a dent on Genichiro and on trying to tackle a mini boss (a human centipede one) to get some extra prayer beads.

However...this time round I purchased the game for the PC and the reason why is because I decided to try out a game mod that would make Sekiro an easier experience. Now, I didn't try this mod straight away and played the game up to a point where I felt frustration creeping as I failed to get by that pesky Blazing Bull mini-boss. So after some trouble I finally managed to load in one of the easy mods (perhaps the first one was a bit too easy!) and not before long it transformed my opinion of the game as it suddenly became a far more enjoyable and accessible experience.

Now I must admit I am cheating a bit here by playing an easier mod of the game but to be fair I have loaded in a mod that has eased the difficulty level but not to the point where the game is no longer challenging as I am still dying quite a bit in this version and have had my struggles with some bosses. However I think what is more important is that thanks to this mod, it has changed my opinion of the game and I am happy to say I now think that Sekiro is a very good game with plenty going for it. In fact this mod might even encourage to go back and have a go at the game in future at its standard difficulty (although I might regret it!).

So with that said, I am now enjoying the game mechanics more, the combat, the story lore (well to an extent!) aswell as the number of unique items that can be found and used in the game also. And it just shows you that just maybe Hidetaka Miyazaki (the director of the game and the Soulsborne games) should have incorporated an easier mode to ensure that players can it enjoy the game more rather than rely on using PC mods to achieve this.

GAMEPLAY (This section will be split into sub-sections just so you know!)

Before I start just to explain as the playable character in the game is referred to as both Wolf and Sekiro, he is later referred to as Sekiro, so for the purpose of this post, I will refer to the character as Sekiro and try and use the game's full title or an abbreviaton to avoid confusion!

Well, as for the gameplay, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice while it has its differences to the Soulsborne games, it stills shares the same non-linear structure where you can explore different areas rather than having to fight each area in succession. The game also shares similarities to the SB games such as healing and check points, as here in Sekro SDT and I will go into more detail on them below.

COMBAT 

However that aside, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice does largely depart from the Soulsbourne formats in most other respects and this is especially the case regarding the combat because here instead, Sekiro will use his katana to attack an enemy's posture (or their poise) and continue until its broken and then Sekiro can perform a deathblow attack to finish them off. However this will vary when it comes to the boss fights because Sekiro will be required to perform at least a couple of deathblows to finish them off as they have larger health pools. Sekiro can also deflect attacks from enemies but this does of course come with a penalty as they can also break Sekiro's posture to land an attack of their own. Sekiro can also perform stealth attacks and sneak through areas to takedown enemies from behind or from above.

SKILLS 
 
Sekiro will also throughout the game earn XP points for taking down enemies and based on these points, he can upgrade his skills and these tend be a mixture of defensive and offensive skills and the number of points he can gain will increase as he progresses and kill stronger foes. Also as Sekiro progresses in the game, he can earn more points and enhance his skills and he will access them from the idols he travels by. These skills are a mixture of combat arts, which you can swap out as you gain more of them (but you can only use one at a time) and other techniques known as latent arts that affect different abilities such as Sekiro's stealth abilities. Also from the skill tree, Sekiro can even increase the amount of spirit emblems he can hold as well as boost the amount of health his healing gourd can restore. 

TOOLS AND ITEMS

Sekiro similar to the Soulbourne games, has its own share of tools and items to be found throughout the world. Starting with the tools, well you may notice of course Sekiro only has one primary weapon which is his katana but once he obtains his prosthetic arm, he can pick up a number of accessory weapons that can be attached to the arm to help him take down his enemies. As an example there are Shurikens, which are ninja stars that Sekiro can throw at enemies, flame-vents, which are used to set enemies on fire, loaded-spears, which Sekiro can stab foes with them and loaded-axes, which again Wolf can use to stagger enemies to help him land a deathblow. He also can access other tools such as umbrella shields that can deflect enemy attacks or absorb elemental damage such as lightning or fire.

There are also plenty of other items in the game that are of much use such as different sugars that when Sekiro consumes them, he will gain different boosts such as reduction in physical/posture damage or an increase in his attack power. Other items include balloons, which when Sekiro crushes them will again provide different abilities such as receiving more gold from fallen enemies, or increased chances of getting discoverable items held by enemies also. 

ENEMIES, MINI BOSSES & BOSSES

As for the game's enemies, they are mainly comprised of a mix of humans, beasts, ogres, apes, lizards, dogs and many, many more. The human enemies tend to be members of opposing Samurai clans and tend to attack you with katanas, spears, torches, bows, guns and even canons. The mini bosses however tend to be a bit more unique in that there are so many to be found in the game and they tend to have either one or two health bars, which involves Sekiro landing successful deathblows to finish them off. These mini bosses can vary in difficulty with some being very easy whereas others can be very tough to beat.

As for the main game bosses however they have larger health bars and can have up to three at the most and pose a greater threat to the player. And this game has its fair share of challenging bosses and despite even the game mod I used, I still struggled BIG TIME on the final boss, Isshin, the Sword Saint, who was absolutely brutal to fight and it took me 74 attempts over 3 days to finally beat him! So, I think its safe to say that FromSoftware finally came up with a truly challenging final game boss after their previous final bosses had lacked such a high level of difficulty. 

PERILOUS ATTACKS 
 
Bosses and standard enemies can also perform perilous attacks that deal out a lot of damage, which Wolf cannot block however he can counter them with a skill move (Mikiri counter) either that or he will have to jump back to avoid them. Perilous attacks are identified by a red kanji symbol just as the enemy performs the attack and its recommend that Sekiro dodge the attack just as the symbol fades to stand the best chance of evading it. 

IDOLS, VITALITY AND POSTURE

Moving onto the game's travel system, which are the idols that are very similar to the bonfires and lamps that were used in Souls and Bloodborne as Sekiro will find these idols throughout the game's world. The idols similar to the bonfire and lamps in SB games, act as checkpoints for the player and will restore Sekiro's health fully aswell as his health items. At the idols, Sekiro can also upgrade his skills, his vitality and his posture (same as poise in Dark Souls) aswell as purchase Spirit Emblems that are used to utilise his prosthetic arm's tools and determines how many uses he can have of each tool.

As for Sekiro's vitality and posture, these can be upgraded gradually throughout the game but in order to do so, Sekiro will have to fight a number of mini bosses to do so as he will obtain items called prayer beads that will let him increase both these stats. Wolf will also need to obtain four beads that form a prayer necklace to upgrade his vitality and posture by one level and there are 40 beads to be found throughout the game. Sekiro's vitality bar can be found on the bottom left of the screen whereas his posture bar is on the bottom centre area of the screen, which will fill up as he is attacked and reduce as it recovers. The boss health and posture bars by contrast are found at the top of the screen.

RESSURECTION AND DRAGONROT (Warning: this next section is kind of a spoiler!) 

Another aspect of the gameplay is of course connected to the title where Sekiro can actually die...twice which means if he is killed once in combat, he can be ressurected once more before finally dying and the ressurection stat can be fully replenished whenever Sekiro rests at an idol. His ressurection status is shown down below his health bar and is indicated by two circular nodes that are cancelled out after Sekiro has died once but they can be refilled after he kills so many enemies or a boss.

However there is a big penalty that can be incurred if Sekiro keeps dying and that is dragonrot, which is an illness that certain NPCs in the game will contract as a result of Sekiro's repeated deaths. Wolf however can cure the dragonrot via the use of blood droplets and he must do this to ensure that the NPCs recover and he cannot proceed with their quest lines until he does.  

GRAPHICS AND MUSIC

As for the graphics, well this is easily From Software's best looking game to date as Sekiro is stunning game visually speaking and the environments are both rich in detail and varied as Sekiro traverses many different areas such as temples, sewers, dungeons, open fields and of course fortresses. The character models are also pretty good although they are primarily better for the main characters but not quite so good for some of the enemies in the game as they can tend to look a bit goofy! But overall this game is very easy on the eyes in terms of its visuals.

Moving onto the music, the game is scored by Yuka Kitamura, who worked on the Soulsborne games aswell and overall its a pretty good score, which to its credit sounds very different to the scores we are familar with in the SB series. The score however doesn't quite scale the heights of the very best soundtracks in the Soulsbourne universe but it is still a fine one all the same and its mini-boss theme alone is well worth listening to even if it is overused in the game! That aside there are also some pretty good boss themes such as the ones for the Guardian Ape, Lady Butterfly and Isshin the Sword Saint. 

FLAWS

As for flaws...well despite having changed my opinion on the game from last time, Sekiro it has to be said still has some worth mentioning.

For starters I would have to say that the game's main issue for me is its fairly steep learning curve in terms of difficulty as it is a pretty punishing game overall (hence why I downloaded the easier mod lol!). Also because its strictly a solo game with no means for any other players to join you in the fight, you are forced to beat the game alone and given the stern challenge presented by the game's bosses, mini bosses and standard enemies, its a daunting task to undertake and one I had found initially very off putting.   

Another issue is maybe to do with the whole setup of the game as you are very limited in terms of building your character's stats as all there is available is your vitality and posture as well as your resurrective powers (based on how many enemies you kill or when you reset the world at an idol). Now to be fair, Fromsoft here did decide to go with a skill tree system where you can unlock many different attacks and defensive maneuvers and that does offer some variety to the combat in the game.

Then we get to the consumable items as there are simply too many of them to be found in the game and similar to some of the Soulsbourne ones that can be pretty useless! As an example one of the most common pickups from fallen enemies are ceramic shards, which you can use to attract the attention of individual enemies (similar to pebbles in Bloodborne) but here they aren't that effective at drawing your opponent over to you.

Further to this point, I found that there are some items that would have been better if you had more supply of and as an example I wish you could have access to more pellets in the game at one time rather just three, which I think is not enough. And the funny thing is there are some items such as antidotes, dousing powders for example that you can use five times at once but you can't with the pellets, which is a bit annoying.

Another issue is to do with the lack of availability of certain items in the game early on and only later in the game do you end up getting them more regularly such as divine confetti, which is essentially for taking on certain bosses in the game. However, divine confetti is only available in limited quantities until you fight one of the main bosses later on and by then you really wish you had those supplies by then! To be fair divine confetti is farmable from certain enemies in the game, so its not too bad in that regard. 

Another big problem I had with the game was to do with the mini-bosses as there are simply too many of them and some of them are pretty challenging, which I admit is to be expected in a From Software game. Now quite a few of these bosses are optional but they are also fairly essential to getting prayer beads to upgrade your vitality, which means you need to keep fighting them over and over until you have defeated them in order to get just one bead! So, if you want to farm up to get the beads you could be in for a frustrating time if you want to do so.

However sometimes the mini bosses can be a complete joke and barely even deserve having a boss HP bar to begin with, especially one boss called the Mist Noble, who you can defeat in a matter of seconds! So the challenge pendulum does swing both ways I guess from extreme difficulty to extreme ease.

I also had an issue with quite a few of the NPCs in the game as majority them really don't have much in the way of personality or character with the exception of maybe the odd merchant and the Sculptor but there are no real standouts in this game like there are in Soulsborne games. Here there is no equivalent of Solaire, Patches, Siegward or Eileen the Crow and that's a pity. Further to this, while I do think its good that From Software finally gave a playable character a voice and more than one expression (well.. maybe not!) I felt that Sekiro has barely any personality either and gives nothing but gruff, concise responses. Its like Fromsoft tried to have a go at a playable character with a voice but decided to keep it along in line with their idea of creating a blank one that does little more than fight. 

Another niggle I had with the game was to do with when Sekiro dies the first time during a boss battle or standard enemy combat you get the choice of letting him die or resurrect. Now I appreciate the "die" option is there if you have had enough but I still think that is an option that shouldn't be included and I will tell why. So, the reason why I think the "die" option isn't a good idea is because during a couple of boss fights I accidentally pressed the "die" option button (L1 on the PS4) and it simply ended the fight when I didn't want it to! So, I just think it would have been a better idea to have simply give you only the one option to "resurrect" and keep on fighting as you will be pretty annoyed if you accidentally hit the die button and were in the middle of a decent attempt at a boss.

Then there is a problem to do with how when you fight mini bosses and if you run out of the area you fight them in, their health bars with automatically reset! Now, this happened to me in the Chained Ogre mini-boss fight as I had removed one of his health bars with a deathblow but tried to distance myself from him a bit and when I came back into the area, his health had fully reset itself again! And it also even happened again later in the game when I fought the Sichimen Warrior boss (and more on him in a bit!). So, while I do appreciate it the game will reset the boss's health if you run far away from the fight, its still a bit of a cheat if you give a little distance and have already taken away one of their health bars!

And last but not least another big complaint I have with the game is to do with one of the damage stats you suffer from in Sekiro and that is terror. Yep, terror is this game's answer to what curse was in Dark Souls and frenzy was in Bloodborne except its way more annoying! And the way terror works is very similar in that enemies that deal out terror damage, it causes your terror meter to build up and when it does, Sekiro instantly dies. Now I can appreciate that From Software wanted to include an insta-kill mechanic like curse and frenzy to Sekiro but I think they really abused it here, especially with the annoying Sichimen warrior bosses who dish out elemental terror attacks non-stop and it makes fighting them a real pain in the ass! So, for me terror is a game mechanic that Sekiro could easily have done without.  

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up this updated review, I have to say that I have now changed my opinion on Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and I no longer see it as a disappointing game but instead a really entertaining, intense and gripping one that is well worth checking out. And I think simply by trying out the game on the PC using a slightly easier mod got me right into the game and it pitched the difficulty level just at the right place for me, which made me appreciate the game much more.

And yeah OK it might sound like I'm cheating myself of the original punishing experience of the game's standard difficulty but believe me the mod version I am currently using is still pretty challenging and the only real difference being that enemy damage you take isn't quite as severe as you would in the standard game. So, for me the game now feels a lot more balanced and I still wouldn't say no to going back to try it at its standard difficulty in future. 

Sekiro of course also has its own bonuses such as its beautiful visuals, intriguing Japanese setting, I also like the idea of the combat simplified down to using just one primary weapon rather than having almost too many weapons to choose from like you have in the Souls games. The game's combat is also pretty intense and very challenging and the prosthetic Shinobi tools are also a pretty neat touch. I also even like that the game gives you the choice to start new game plus rather than force you to start it after you having defeated the final boss in the game (which you are forced to in the original Dark Souls and Bloodborne).

Another thing I quite liked is that From Software FINALLY gave players an option to PAUSE THE GAME while you were in the middle of fighting or at any point while playing for that matter! So, this alone is another plus for Sekiro.  

So, I am happy to conclude this review by saying that Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is now a game that I really enjoy and would gladly go back to replay it in the future. Is it as good as the Soulsborne games? In my opinion the answer to that would still be no as Sekiro still has its work cut in trying to better those incredible titles that came before it. It certainly has gone up in my estimation though and while its not a masterpiece it is a pretty damn good game and that's enough for me.

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post.

Till then its bye fer now!

Top 10 Annoying Bloodborne Enemies Part 2 - No.5-1

Right, so now I'll move onto Part 2 of my list of the most annoying Bloodborne enemies. 

So, with the said let's resume the hunt and take a look at these pesky enemies from Yarnham...

5. Winter lanterns

So, at No.5. are the Winter Lanterns, or as I like to call them the singing frenzy ladies! Yep they are annoying and quite often top many a player's hate list for sure. Yep these weird looking creatures with multiple eyes on their head are no joke.

So, why are the Winter Lanterns so annoying? Well aside from their out of tune singing (God knows why From Software decided to have them sing!) quite simply put they can induce frenzy on you and as anyone who has played Bloodborne knows that frenzy does MAJOR damage to your health bar and is basically what curse was in Dark Souls (except not quite as fatal as curse outright killed you).

The Winter Lanterns also have a pretty nasty grab attack as well, which allows them to consume you more with frenzy and believe it or not you can survive the attack in the main game but the DLC ones...forget it because if they grab you its one-shot material and you haven't got a chance!

As for dealing with the Winter Lanterns, they are certainly one of the tougher standard enemies to take on in the game due to the high damage they can do to you with frenzy, so I often found it was better to keep my distance and kill them with a ranged weapon (e.g. hunter axe or church pick). You can also even poison them too if you keep your distance that will prove effective also but you need to be sure you are out of sight or else you will need to chug down all your blood vials to counter their frenzy damage or use sedatives to stop the frenzy build up.

So, the Winter Lanterns sure deserve their spot on this list in the top 5 as they are sure as hell one of the most annoying enemies in the game.

4. NPC Enemy Hunters

At No.4 we have of course the NPC enemy hunters, which can prove to be a mixed bag of difficulty with some being pushovers to others being unforgivingly brutal to take down but whatever way you look at it there is no doubt these guys are pretty damn annoying to deal with.

And for me the main factor of their difficulty and annoyance comes from them generally having HUGE health bars and unlimited ammo! Yep because typically you only have 20 blood vials and bullets in the game at one time (unless you pick more vials up and you can make 5 extra bullets from your own blood) but THESE guys have all the ammo they want and can spam you to death with it! Not only that of course as I mentioned they have a ton of health, which makes them difficulty to kill quickly.

Now I have to say the early game enemy hunters aren't too bad such as the one at cathedral ward who attacks you with a bolt infused mace called the Tonitrus but he has a buddy who is a fair bit tougher that can totally spam you with a rifle to stagger you so he can perform a visceral attack. And its this kind of BS that can become pretty infuriating to deal with although this guy can be taken down a bit easier later on once you are levelled up.

However the enemy hunters later found in the game are way less forgiving and in particular the toughest of the lot of them is the Bloody Crow of Cainhurst, who is hands down the HARDEST enemy in the main game and taking this guy on in one to one combat is absolutely brutal! This guy has a crap tonne of health and also has a katana (the Chikage) that does pretty nasty bleed damage and a repeater pistol that can essentially two-shot you to death. Not only that, this guy's visceral attacks are lethal and he can literally one-shot you with them! I mean not even Gerhman's visceral attack do this amount of damage! Oh yeah and he has infinite ammo as well of course!

And I could NEVER defeat this guy in a one on one fight, so in the end I had to resort to killing him with poison knives but you can also get him to two hand his Chikage, which causes him to slowly lose his health to bleed damage. Yep he is a total nightmare. 

So, yep the the NPC enemy hunters are hands down one of the most annoying enemies in the game mainly due to their large health pools and infinite ammo, which makes them essentially a bunch of cheaters and they are definitely deserve their spot here at No.4.

3. Eye Collectors

At No.3 we have Eye Collectors...yep...bloody Eye Collectors! THESE guys (or are they women?!) are a huge pain in the ass and they are essentially very similar looking to the Witch of Hemwick boss except they have no magical powers as such but their name speaks for themselves in what they do.

As for why are the Eye Collectors SO annoying? Well put simply it comes down to the deeply annoying attack they do as they often hide in the shadows to perform a sneak grab attack and use a scoop to pry out your eyes! So, basically its a grab and scoop and it can do quite a bit of damage to you (although I don't think you actually lose your eyes when it happens). The Witch of Hemwick also perform the same attack during the boss fight but it is accompanied by a bunch of BS magic spells, so at least these guys don't have that added frustration.

So, with the Eye Collectors to deal with them you really have to watch your step and try and anticipate their locations, which can only really be done through repeated playthroughs or just watching Youtube videos to work it out.  They are fairly easy to kill thankfully because they don't have much health and they are also pretty vulnerable to visceral attacks and can be back stabbed to perform the visceral in quite a few instances.

So, for me these guys are definitely one of the most annoying enemes in the entire game and more than deserve a spot on the list here. 

2.  Enlarged head patients

So, at No.2 have what is undoubtedly the MOST annoying enemy to be found in the game's DLC, which are the enlarged head patients...yep...f*** these guys! Put simply, I absolutely hate them!

So, why are the enlarged patients in the runner-up spot? Well it comes down to the fact there are ALOT of them to be found in the Research Hall area of the Old Hunters DLC and they are also pretty fast and deal out alot of damage with their wild, frenzied attacks (they don't induce frenzy thankfully!) as they flail their arms around wildly and can also perform headbutts.

There are also different varieties of them to be found in the game as well that have different attacks such as throw jars of acid, leap attacks, frenzied hand attacks and headbutts and there even headless ones but they are suprisingly passive and don't attack (unless you attack them first). Also there is one individual patient that is pretty lethal, who wanders around carrying a blood drip stand and he violently thwacks over and over again out of rage and you DO NOT want to get caught out by him as he does a tonne of damage with that thing!

And the patients can be quite difficult to deal with due to the variety of them and also their large numbers although one strategy to bypass them is to use Blue Elixir, which makes you briefly invisible. Other than this though you can parry them and perform a visceral, which tends to be pretty effective also.

So, for me the enlarged head patients are without a doubt one of the THE most annoying enemies in Bloodborn and as such definitely deserve to take the runner-up spot.

And so this means the most annoying enemy in Bloodborn is...

1. Brainsuckers 

Yep at No.1 are these guys...Brainsucks...lovely chaps! Yes these guys are so utterly annoying that I felt there was no other enemy in the game to match their annoyance and they deserved to take the top spot here.

So, just why are these guys so annoying? Well to put it simply its because they SUCK! Yep these guys can perform a grab attack where they use a large tentacle on their heads to literally suck out your brain! This attack isn't necessarily lethal but it does deal alot of damage and it also drains your insight in the game (2 insight per suck lol).

The brainsuckers also possess a pretty annoying spell that can paralyze you to keep you rooted to the spot to allow them to perform their brain sucking attack aswell and that is something you need to try and dodge at all costs. In addition to this, the brainsuckers can do some pretty hefty damage with physical attacks as they can perform pretty brutal combos that can easily wipe you out. In fact there are two versions of the brainsucker in that one just performs the standard brainsuck attacks and combos whereas the other can also perform this paralysis spell.

And due to their annoying nature and attacks, they can be tricky to deal with but the brainsuckers are pretty weak to bolt damage, so if you have a bolt infused weapon you can kill them with ease. Also if they have their back to you then you can perform a visceral to which they are also pretty weak to and that can make your life a whole lot easier. These attacks can prove to be more difficult to pull off however in the upper cathedral ward part of the game because there is a section where you have three brainsuckers patrolling the area making it tricky to perform a backstab visceral and in this case you need to kite them away one by one.

So with that said, the brainsuckers are without a single doubt the MOST annoying enemy in Bloodborne due to the fact that they suck your brains out, drain your insight, paralyse you to do so and can even perform a flail combo to also dish out alot of damage. In short these guys SUCK (ahem!) and as such deserve to take the top spot as I hate them more than anything else in Bloodborne.

OK, so that's it for my list and I will be back sometime pretty soon either in December or maybe just before.

So, till then its bye for now! 

Top 10 Annoying Bloodborne Enemies Part 1 - No.10-6

Well this post is a landmark of sorts because it is the 600th post on my blog!

So to celebrate it (kind of!) I figured its time for another top 10 list post, which I will split into a two-parter and I thought I would look at my pick for the most annoying enemies in the action role play game, Bloodborne.

Bloodborne is a great game for sure but like the Souls games it has its own share of annoying enemies, so I figured like I did with the original Dark Souls look at these pesky enemies and what makes them so irritating.

So with that said, let's gear up and re-join the hunt and take a look at these annoying pain in the ass enemies...

10. Hemwick Grave Women 

So, to start the list are these pretty annoying women that appear at Hemwick Charnel Lane and later they appear in the Yar Har Gul village (or is it Yar har har??). They are pretty annoying simply because they can attack in groups and they also make a lot of screeching noises as they do it. They also have a bizarre way of dancing around in a circle like some sort of weird pagans waving their torches. Its like they belong more in the cast of the Wicker Man than here in Bloodborne!

Difficulty wise they aren't too bad to deal with unless you really get overwhelmed by them because they are fairly weak but you still have to watch out for their fire damage as they try to burn you wish firebombs, torches and of course some weird flaming tipped plow as well as big hammers! I actually think I have more issues with the noise they make and that stupid dancing they do than anything else!

So, yep the Hemwick grave women definitely deserve their place here on the list at No.10 as they are pretty irritating for sure in Bloodborne.

9. Hunting dogs

Next up is the dogs...yep those pesky, bloody dogs in Bloodborne are a HUGE pain in the ass, in fact I should probably think about putting them even higher up in the list if I struggle to find anyone worthy of being on the list later on (but I won't!).


As for why the dogs are so annoying??? Well, its simply because they are so fast and aggressive and early on they aren't quite so annoying but its when you get to Y'ar har gul village that's when the pain in the ass that they are becomes pretty overwhelming pretty quickly as you try and run away from them and they keep jumping at you! In fact From Software for some reason decided to make the dogs even more annoying Dark Souls III based on these ones as they suddenly had almost a teleporting ability to jump on you too! However its Bloodborne that started this pain in the assery by making the dogs more aggressive than they were before in the previous Souls games.

So, for that reason alone dogs definitely deserve their place on the list at No.9.

8. Loran Silverbeast

At No.8 is this irritating beastly beggar that can be found in Nightmare Frontier and Nightmare of Mensis areas of the game and its a pretty big aggressive and above all really creepy looking beast that can prove to be a real nuisance.

And what makes the Loran Silverbeasts so annoying is that they have a variety of attacks such as using a torch to breath out a big wave of flames at you as well as a bolt charged attack that they generate from their bodies and both of these attacks do a lot of damage. However they are equally annoying when they try and attack you as they crawl on all fours and slash at you with their extended sharp claws and they are pretty quick so they are difficult to get away from. So, in short if you are cornered by more than one of these guys, you are in for a bad time.

The best way however to deal with these guys is of course to use visceral attacks and they are usually found sitting down with their backs to you, which can allow you to perform a backstab parry followed by a visceral, which the silverbeasts are pretty vulnerable to.

So, the Loran Silverbeasts definitely deserve their place on the list with their fast claw attacks and their fire and bolt attacks that deal out a lot of damage it makes them a big pain in the you know what.

7. Garden of Eyes 

So, at No.7 are these guys...the Garden of Eyes, who are pretty unpleasant looking it has to be said and not surprisingly also unpleasant in nature too as they are essentially large insectoid human creatures with multiple eyes.

The Garden of Eyes I felt were worth adding to the list simply because they are creepy and annoying all at once and this is because they move pretty fast and can perform a fast combo attack on you that does a fair bit of damage but what's more annoying is that they can also perform a grab attack which does very little physical damage but does build up frenzy, which can lead to you getting killed if you're health is low. The best way to deal with them I found is to kill them with bolt as they seem pretty weak to it but they aren't the strongest enemies either so if you just combo them then they should go down.

Also its worth noting that even though these guys are pretty annoying they are at least only found in one area of the game and that is Byrgenwerth, so at least they don't pop up everywhere.

So, the Garden of Eyes for sure deserves a spot on here on the list as they are both creepy and annoying and their fast attacks and VERY annoying frenzy BS makes them more than worth being on here.

6. Giant Lost Child 

So to round off the first part of the list are these guys...Giant Lost Childs...and boy they can f*** right off cos THESE guys are a REAL pain in the ass for sure!  So, what are these guys??? Basically they are big yeti like creatures that inhabit primarily the Nightmare Fronter and Nightmare of Mensis areas of the main game.

So, why are they so annoying? Put simply because they throw GIANT boulders at you that can one-shot you from a distance and that is enough for them alone to be put on the list! This is especially annoying in the Nightmare Frontier area because the place it littered with little rocks that you keep blocking your way, so its dead easy to get stuck on them and before you know...bang you will be killed by a giant boulder if you do look out for it! They have their own combo attacks, which are also pretty damaging but for me its all about those bloody annoying boulder attacks and how they can wipe you out with ease and you can also even get hit by the debris of the boulders as well, which is probably even more annoying!

So, to deal with these guys you really need to watch your terrain and all around to make sure they are chucking a giant boulder at you from a distance and basically also use visceral backstab attacks where ever possible too. Up close they are less of a problem but you also have to remember in the Nightmare Frontier for sure you can still get hit by other giants from the other side!

And with that all said, there is no doubt that the Giant Lost Childs aka yetis without a doubt deserve a place on the list because their boulder attacks are deeply annoying enough on their own and they merit their place on the list at No.6.

OK, so that's it for Part 1 and I will be back soon with Part 2.

Till then its bye for now!

Detroit Become Human Review

Well, its time for a new review on the blog and this one is a NEW one (honest!) and it is on a video game I have just completed, which is Detroit Become Human, which I played on the PS4.

The game was well received on its release but what did I think of it myself? Well, let's do the usual and find out!

So before I move on, here is the usual warning...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD BUT NOT TOO MANY!

STORY 

So, I won't say too much about the story but I will give a brief summary and it is set in the future in the year 2038 in the city of Detroit, where humans now have created androids to carry out general labour tasks as well for even personal pleasure (yep that too!). However there are reports of androids becoming unstable and have developed their emotions, which has them branded as "deviants" by the law enforcement and the technological industry Cyberlife, who created them, which has lead to many crimes throughout the city.

So, as a countermeasure, Cyberlife has one of the design models, Connor (Bryan Dechart) programmed as a deviant hunter to take them down and along the way, Connor works with a cynical veteran Detroit police officer, Lt Hank Anderson (Clancy Brown). And together they try and get to the bottom of where the deviants are coming from and how to stop them.


The story also has two other story lines include one about an android named Markus (Jesse Williams) who cares for a wealthy, elderly artist named Carl (Lance Henriksen) who is disabled. However, one night they have an intruder, which turns out to be Carl's bitter son and after a confrontation, Markus is shot by the police when they arrive on scene (after Markus called them no less!).  Markus sometime after awakens in the middle of a junkyard filled with the remains of androids and he scavenges the remains of their bodies to replace the parts his body needs to function. Markus soon after this sets himself on a trail to find a ship named "Jericho" which is said to be a safe haven for deviant androids and meets with others like him that include a beautiful but cynical female android called North (Minkah Kelly) and two other androids Josh and Simon. Together from here, Markus announces himself as their leader and makes their plans towards the freedom of androids.

And the third storyline covers a female android housekeeper named Kara (Valorie Curry, who's character Kara is pictured above) who serves Todd and his daughter Alice. Todd however is an abusive alcoholic and on attacking Alice, Kara turns into a deviant and protects Alice and together they escape Todd and travel across Detroit to try and find a way into Canada where androids laws are less strict. Along they met up with another android, Luther as they make their dangerous journey towards their destination. 

THOUGHTS

Detroit Become Human as far as story driven video games go is a pretty good and entertaining one, which packs quite an emotional punch in delivering its ambitious story line involving the liberation of androids in a fear driven society of cruel, unforgiving humans who fail to understand that androids are sentient beings. And the narrative of the story works pretty well as it is split between the three different androids and eventually their fates ultimately will intertwine with one another and the three main lead characters of Markus, Kara and Connor are all likeable in different ways although you do of course have the choice to have them make good and evil decisions throughout. 

GAMEPLAY

And this brings me onto the gameplay, which is largely decision based as the storylines are affected by what decisions you make for the characters as you can choose good and bad options that will ultimately lead toward different endings, which can be good, bad or worse. These decisions are also time based, so you need to choose before the timer runs out and the same goes for aspects of the game's combat as you will have to press and mash buttons in the right sequence to avoid your character getting killed or making the wrong choices.

You can also scan for clues and things throughout the game as well as the androids can look for ways to resolve problems and even calculate strategies for fighting enemies or reaching certain areas or taking down objects such as drones. This is a very similar game mechanic to the one that featured in the Batman Arkham series video games where he uses his detective mode to simulate a crime scene and look for clues.   

The game also adopts a folder system where it categorises your progress as the game is split into chapters and you get awarded so many points for completing each one whether it be 100% or not. You can also revisit previous chapters, which is a good thing as it allows you to revisit one if you want to make a different choice. 

I also should mention that the game's menu even has its on android (and a hot one too!) that later features in the actual game but asks you to fill in a survey at times (for the game) but also gives moments of self commentary on the actions of how you played the game.   

GRAPHICS

As for the game's graphics, well they are frankly superb as the game environments look great and there is plenty of detail and texture in the surroundings as well as variety in the visuals. But where the visuals really score are the character models, which at times look virtually lifelike and the models are indeed based on the real life actors who are doing the voice acting. And there were indeed some moments in the game where I had to stop myself and check if I was watching real people or not?! So, yep the game's graphics are definitely a highlight. 

VOICE ACTING

As for the voice actors the cast is excellent and the three leads in particular all give really good performances.

Starting with Bryan Dechart as Connor, who does a great job as the android deviant hunter, who works with Lt Hank Anderson to uncover what is going on with the deviants but again the choices you make in the game can greatly affect the outcome of things. Dechart himself does a great job at finding the fine line between playing Connor as an unfeeling machine and potentially becoming a deviant himself.

Jesse Williams is also excellent in his role as Markus, an android who was once a caretaker but on becoming deviant and discovering Jericho and other androids like him, he wants to fight for androids rights to be free. Again its remarkable just how good the graphics are for Williams in the game as it can be hard to tell apart his CGI counterpart from himself!

Valorie Curry is also great in her role as Kara, an android housekeeper (and a rather lovely one at that!) who turns deviant as she helps a young girl, Alice, escape her abusive dad, Todd an out of work drug addict, who's wife walked out on him. And Curry maybe provides the most emotional performance of the game as Kara really is a prime example of the concept of an android having an innate goodness and the desire to want to protect someone as well as be a mother figure to Alice.

Clancy Brown is also great in his role as Lt Hank Anderson, a cynical Detroit cop, who holds a grudge against androids and has an uneasy relationship with Connor, whom he was assigned to help him with the deviant investigation. Clancy also provides much comic relief in the story and for me his storyline of Hank and Connor working together was the main highlight of the game.

Minka Kelly does very well in her role as North, a beautiful albeit cynical female android, who is a deviant but has a lot of contempt for humans and is even in favour of destroying them if necessary but she also develops a close bond with Markus.

David Coburn is also very good in his role as the loathsome FBI agent, Richard Perkins, who is without a doubt one of THE most hateful bad guys in the history of video gaming. And if you were ever looking for a modern day candidate to replace Hitler, then this guy would be it as he has the same attitude to androids as did the Nazis to the Jews. In short this guy is a real scumbag. 

And last of all is Lance Henriksen as Carl, who is also very good in his role as the elderly disabled artist, Carl, who Markus takes care of at the start of the game and is sympathetic towards Markus and his plight. 

MUSIC 

As for the music score its for the most part pretty good as three composers worked on the three different storylines Philip Sheppard, Nima Fakhara and John Paesano individually. The scores all have their moments of danger, excitement and sadness and they are perfectly suit the grim tone of the game and the characters.  The score itself isn't a world beater by any means but it certainly complements the game well enough and it still has plenty of emotional weight to it. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws... yeah OK the game does have some worth mentioning.


For starters one of the things that bugged me about the game is the control scheme, which is a bit of a pain in the ass as the controls feel really awkward as you there are many moments where you control your character from a distant perspective that can be pretty distracting at first. You do get used to it after a while but it is annoying and there are even times where you struggle to actually move the character in a direction you want them to. Its certainly one of the limitations the game inflicts on the player as it wants you to walk the pre-determined path its set for you at times rather than let you freely roam about.

Another few issues are to do with plot inconsistencies here and there such as one scene where Kara is reluctant help save Luther at one point in the game where he is under threat of being executed by human soldiers but at this point are they not a family?! I mean by now Kara shouldn't need to feel the need to be hesitant and just find a way to save Luther rather than express any doubt about it and leave him to his fate.

Then there is the whole concept of Markus's ability to convert androids automatically at will and it all begs the question: how the hell does he manage it?! I mean its never really explained in the game at any given moment that I have seen as this guy just seems to have the God like being to convert any android he wants at any time! And at the start of his ability to do it he needs to use physical contact but near the end of the game all he needs to do is point his finger at androids from afar and he can convert them! I mean what the hell?!! How did he suddenly get this ridiculous power??! If there is a moment hidden in the game somewhere that explains Markus's godly powers then that might be something but from what I have seen there isn't one, so this did bug me quite a bit.  

SPOILER WARNING IN NEXT PARAGRAPH!

I also thought the story leaves some things unexplained such as when in the moment where Markus chooses to sacrifice himself for his cause and he is shot in the chest by SWAT police he is rescued at the cost of another android. Now that's OK I guess but what they did leave out is just how did Markus manage to get himself repaired so that he was able to function again?! So, for me that was another plothole that was left unexplained and the next scene involving him we see his back on his feet again! So, yep there are definitely some sizeable holes in the game's plot going on.

Another issue I had with the story also was with the character of Alice, as she comes across as being an annoying, whiny kid at times (well for me anyway!) as Kara is determined to protect her at all costs. Now, I don't have a problem with that in itself and its not that Alice isn't sympathetic, its just at times she does come across as being pretty whiny with Kara in the story. Such an example is when Kara at one point is about to tell Alice a bedtime story and one about a princess but she interrupts and says "Not one like that! I want you want to make up one". And as Kara is trying to be positive and reassuring here and even later on to Alice, you feel Alice just isn't taken in by Kara's attempts to do so. To be fair the kid has had a tough life up to this point having had an abusive father, but at times you also feel like Kara must be thinking "Acch shut up, kid! I'm trying my best here, so stop your whinging!".

I also think its safe to say that Markus's characters is a bit one dimensional who barely has more than one expression throughout the entire game! Connor on the other hand despite arguably being the least human does have a more engaging relationship with Hank (depending on how you play of course!) and Kara fairs much better in this department because at least she does show a range of emotions (and does actually smile!) and Alice is her source of happiness. Markus however is basically limited to an intense scowl all the time as he remains resolute in his quest to free his people and he doesn't really show much more emotion than a constant look of determination.

WARNING: SPOILERS IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

In fact I think it would be safe to say that Markus's storyline is the weakest even if it is the most pivotal to the overall game and there are some pretty tedious moments in his playthrough. These include the scene where Markus awakens in an android scrapyard and he tries to find the vital components he needs to put himself back together and then he has to climb out of the yard, which is a struggle in itself! Another tedious moment from Markus is when he is trying to find the android safe haven called Jericho and he follows a sequence of symbols around the city to locate it and its a pretty boring drawn-out sequence overall that the game could have done without.  

WARNING: ANOTHER SPOILER IN THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS!

Then there is of course the character of Kamski, the creator of the androids, who was formerly the director at Cyberlife (the organisation that created the androids) and what a dick this guy is! I mean his one scene in the game really kind of annoyed me as Hank and Connor decide to pay him a visit (well more Hank than Connor) to see if he knows anything that could help their case.

So, when they finally meet him, Hank politely asks if he knows anything of help but Kamski basically just ignores Hank and turns his attentions to Connor instead! Not only that but he forces Connor to choose between shooting one of his androids and sparing it (or her) which would constitute murder of sorts but if you shoot the android nothing is really done about it! Of course this backs up that the humans just see the androids as a machine and nothing more, so if you shoot one, it hardly constitutes a crime. However, Kamski here appoints himself as a sort of judge, jury and executioner without any penalty, which again kind of bugged me, well that and he's an egotistical a-hole!  

I also felt that the social commentary in the game was far from subtle as the writer/director, David Cage is insistent in showing the androids civil rights war to be on a similar basis as say apartheid in South Africa. And there are plenty of sequences of news reels on TV showing the reporters all yak on about the significance of the android uprising etc and its pretty much thrown right in your face with little in the way of subtlety. Its a criticism that plenty of reviewers and even Youtube gamers have raised with the game, so I figured its worth raising here.  

And lastly I felt at times the game sets you back quite a bit when you reload in a checkpoint again in the story line, especially if you make a mistake in your choices and you want to go over your steps again to put things right. So, this means you will find yourself having to go through the tedium of watching certain cut scenes again just when you'd rather spin through them instead.  I guess its good the game let's you replay chapters and make different choices but its just a pain in the ass that you have to at times sit through a lot to do it.

And that's it for the flaws. 

SUM UP

So, to sum up Detroit Become Human is an enjoyable, engrossing story driven game that tells a story that has plenty of emotional weight attached to it and features an excellent cast who all give fine performances especially the three leads and Clancy Brown too, who provides some much needed moments of comic relief here and there. The game also does a pretty good job at racking up the tension and suspense as it forces to make some pretty big, dramatic decisions that can drastically affect the outcome of the story.

And yeah OK there are some issues with the game of course such as some annoying control movement and plenty of plot inconsistencies and yes the grim tone of the game can make it a pretty heavy going experience at times. However if you can overlook that then there is still a pretty good game here that is worth checking out.

Right, that's it for now and I'll be back fairly soon with hopefully another couple of posts before the end of the month.

So, till the next un, its bye for now.