Recent reviews by Warboss Vitali

As a person who has been following the series since the beginning, I had been honestly underwhelmed with more recent releases. However, this entirely new change in location and cast is exactly the fresh start the series needed.

The cast of regulars forms a very solid core. Some are standout, some are just decent, but they all really grow on you over the course of the two games.

The game does have a weakness however, and it's that the first game in this two-game series I think was still somewhat lackluster. It takes a big too long to really start picking up steam, and you don't really get any "proper" cases or investigations until several cases in.

However, the second game more than makes up for it, taking everything the first built off of and using it as a fantastic launching point. There are moments in Part II that really hit me hard, stark moments of realization, and overall great character moments. It's unfortunate that the first part is a big sluggish, but they're both part of the same whole that is still extremely solid. I really do believe that this is the best Ace Attorney game since the original trilogy, and definitely has an identity of its own.

As an enthusiast for Hack n Slash games like Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising, etc., I did not come into this game with high expectations, which is why I bought it on sale for about $5.00. Unfortunately, after about an hour and a half of gameplay, I can't see myself completing this game for the following reasons.

Story
It is actually impressive how token this plot is. My eyes glazed over every time someone started talking about "order and chaos magic" and "Dragonland" or "The Guild." Everything is so lazily named that it leaves nothing to the imagination. The main character as well is extremely bland, with a voice actress who sounds completely bored the entire time, and does nothing but make banal statements such as "Oh dear this isn't good" or "Hmm, I don't like the looks of that."

Setting
Think Uncharted but more linear and slightly more magic, there you go, that's the setting.

Gameplay
The big one, as I never really expected this game's story or setting to sell me on it, I came for the combat. Unfortunately, it is some of the most basic hack n slash combat out there. There's absolutely no combo system. You have a light attack with its own dedicated combo string, and a heavy attack you can use to launch enemies into the air, but your only option to follow up is the heavy combo string.

The dodge mechanic is your only defense, outside of a few contextual button prompts from certain enemies. However, the dodge sends you flying so far you absolutely cannot follow up on the same enemy, and even then, it has a long ending lag, meaning your only defensive tool breaks the flow of combat even further.

Your only special attacks take the form of one of three "spells" which are just different flavors of the same blast attack- freeze enemies, burn enemies, and hurt enemies. Your character stands still while using these spells and it ends up feeling clunky. You also have a dash attack, but the lock on seems to miss the target half the time.

There are some interesting enemy designs, to be entirely fair. Some of the mutant designs are genuinely grotesque and have appropriately sickening animations and sounds, though this game does have its fair share of "giant spiders" and "man with gun." Speaking of guns, this is an extremely frustrating point.

Enemy guns in this game do ridiculous damage to your character, have incredible range, and are difficult to dodge, especially considering they send you into hitstun and your dodge has a lot of ending lag. The enemies with guns also typically are able to throw mines that also deal a significant chunk of damage. Having one or two sharpshooting enemies in a hack n slash is fine, as it gives you a priority target, but the game oftentimes throws you in a large room or at the end of a long hall with five to ten of these enemies. Granted, you have a gun as well, but it's only useable in a third-person shooter style, which is a sudden and odd change in the flow of a fast-paced hack n slash such as this. Additionally, your movement options are severely limited when using this gun, and without cover mechanics typical of third person shooters, it is difficult to get shots off on the large mobs of enemies.

Finally, there's the game's signature gimmick, which is the time rewind ability. It's fairly simple to comprehend, however using this ability completely locks your character in place while time is rewound, again putting another speedbump in the action. Additionally, it isn't all that useful compared to just fighting off large mobs of enemies. For this reason, the game has some extremely annoying enemies that can only be damaged by your time clone. Now, if your time clone was able to quickly pop this enemy's invincibility allowing you an opening, that would be fine, but the game literally tells you to use time rewind several times in a row to kill these enemies, making fighting them an absolute chore.

Overall, this game feels shallow, hindered by its gimmick, and lacks any sort of charm or personality. Despite being such an odd concept, it also feels strangely "by the numbers." The plot moves ahead without any real care for pacing or weight, the characters are bland, and the combat is repetitive.

If you have any fondness for conveyor belts, industry, efficiency, or infrastructure, this game is like a slow drip-feed of cocaine. Charting out the best paths for materials to flow through a maze of conveyors that is your factory is half the fun- I have about a dozen sheets of paper strewn about with different diagrams and calculations for maximum efficiency.

However, if you don't want to plunge in that deep, you can absolutely make progress with just casual freestyling. Now throw in an alien world and the fact that major content updates are still being pumped out just spells a formula for success.

From the moment this game was announced, I had been watching it with a mildly interested eye. I never hyped it up as "the next true Fallout experience" mostly because I never had too much of an attachment to that series. Playing it now, I'm truly enjoying it. If you were looking for a return to form for Fallout, I couldn't tell you since I've never really delved too deep into that series. But if you're looking for a decent rpg shooter with a sci-fi twinge and anti-corporate leanings, then hey, really can't go wrong here.

Absolutely, impossibly brilliant. Valve is back, and you can definitely feel it when playing this game. They take every consideration of VR- both its strengths and its weaknesses, and play to those in this game. Everything is expertly crafted to make this feel like a true VR game, so much so that other VR titles feel shallow in comparison. There are no words I can use to describe how magnificent this game is- it's something you must experience for yourself.

I'm going to say it now. The best part of the game for me is the conversations between your character and the A.I. guiding you. This isn't the snarky wit of GLaDOS, but a genuine, thought-provoking delve into the implications and possibilities of true A.I. What are the limitations of a machine's thinking? Can a machine truly think or does it just react? What can a machine truly comprehend? How is an A.I. mind different from a humans? How is it similar? This game has some of my favorite dialogue in any puzzle game. It's not funny like Portal and, to be fair, it's not trying to be.

The puzzles themselves are solid. They feel like a good challenge and introduce new mechanics constantly but at a controlled and planned pace. The plot, too, is intriguing, and that's on top of the discussions I mentioned previously.

I also need to give a mention to the game's soundtrack. This is some beautifully composed, atmospheric, and stunning music. Even if you don't want to buy this game, please do yourself a favor and listen to the OST.

Overall, this is a fantastic puzzle game. If you're a big fan of 1st person puzzles, you'll enjoy this game.

The gameplay is similar to old school adventure games. You talk to people, get items, combine items, and use them to solve problems to help you progress. Thankfully the solutions are all sound in logic and you won't ever really get stuck. The gameplay revolves around exploring the world and finding everything that needs to be done.

That being said, don't come to this game for the gameplay. Come for the characters, story, and the "out of bounds" experiences that throw you for a loop. This game throws some serious curve balls that would have Hideo Kojima watering at the mouth. The characters, too, are memorable, though most appear only briefly. It's a short game, but it feels just the right length. This game is nothing ground-breaking but at the same time it does hold a close place in my heart. If you've been curious about this game I'd definitely recommend picking it up.

The platforming itself is solid. I never came across a "that moment" where I felt like I was cheated off a ledge or clipped incorrectly. The controls are responsive and feel like they make Yooka move in exactly the way you want him too. In fact, the platforms can be too precise at times- there are a couple sections early in that let you access areas in ways you weren't intended to by "Skyrimming" up a craggy surface. Granted, this never led to any major sequence breaks, just a few extra quills and the like. Even the swimming controls feel responsive, which is rare even in stellar platformers. The one issue with the platforming is the flight power. Unlike in Banjo Kazooie, where you could only start flying on specific panels, you can engage flight literally anywhere, and keep flying until your stamina runs out. If you play the game in order, this won't really become a problem, as the final level seems designed around it more or less. However, if you rush flying, you can really break a lot of the intended platforming. Is this a flaw in the game design? Yes. But it's easily bypassed if the levels are played sequentially.

The levels themselves are competently designed. Its parent game, Banjo Kazooie, of course had superior level design. Those levels were smaller, but compat, meaning every corner of it had something going on for it. This was a huge downfall of the sequel, Banjo Tooie. Tooie had much larger levels, in fact they're similar in design to Yooka Laylee's large levels. However, where Yooka Laylee actually surpases Tooie is that it has more evens going on. Tooie had 10 jiggies per level, as did the first game, but the overall number of collectables was slashed. This made the levels feel more diluted and empty. Yooka Laylee has 25 pagies per level, and in fact more collectables than Banjo Kazooie. This prevents the levels from feeling vacant like in Banjo Tooie. It's still not perfect, however. They're too large to capture that "perfect size" feel of Banjo Kazooie, but they're still a vast improvement over Tooie's barren levels.

The writing, I will admit, is not as good as Banjo Kazooie's. Yooka Laylee uses much more fourth-wall humor than Banjo Kazooie, so take that into your own personal tastes. Thankfully, the writing never reached cringe-inducing levels. No references to outdated memes, pop-culture, or the like, it relies on puns and a heaping helping of sass from Laylee. The music is pleasant but nothing outstanding. I enjoy every track but I don't ever find myself humming along or nodding my head to the beat like I do with tracks like Click-Clock Wood or Gruntilda's Lair. The graphics are pretty. I enjoy looking at this game, it has great use of color, but of course you can see all that from the Store previews.

All in all, this is a very enjoyable game that I'm driving towards 100% in. The last games to drive me to that level of dedication were Banjo Kazooie and Ori and the Blind Forest. Is Yooka Laylee as good as those games? No. But it is still a great game. In fact, I'd say it even surpases Banjo Tooie. If you're hankering for a solid collectathon, pick it up. If you've been curious about this game, catch it on sale.

This game is stunningly beautiful, controls wonderfully, has an amazing soundtrack, and a simple but emotional story. Just moving around the forest was satisfying enough to push me to find every collectable. There are a couple spots with sudden, harsh difficulty spikes, and the combat is honestly somewhat lacking, but these are two extremely minor problems in an overall superb game. This is honestly a contender for one of my favorite games of all time. I am extremely happy to have played this game.

Is it scary? No. Is it creepy? Kinda. Is the shooting fun?

I don't know what it is about the shooting, but it just feels so visceral. Especially during bullet-time, every shot has weight. The guns are loud and impactful- something I feel is missing from lot of games these days. The enemies flinch and react to your shooting, and they don't just slump over dead- they die screaming, exploding, firing off a last gasp of bullets in their death-throes. It's not a wacky-fun ride like Bulletstorm tries to be, but the shooting has enough of an impact to keep the game fun.

The level design deserves a special mention. It's nothing beautiful, but it's very open ended. There are multiple paths and hidden secrets filled with goodies for the scavenging. It rewards exploration. This allows allows enemies to be very, very smart.

I don't know why, but the AI in this game feels fantastic. They actually work together as a team, having some units flush you out with grenades while others wait for you to react, or have a single individual rush your position, forcing you to move. They often try to flank you by going around the non-linear paths, and have a good bit of variety to them.

If you want a horror game, don't buy this one. It's not horror. It's a shooter that sometimes puts on a haloween mask and goes "boo." If you want an unapologetic shooter filled with violence and hard, satisfying guns, pick this one up.

(Also there's a generic framerate issue you can fix by disabling all HID-compliant devices in your device manager. It's an issue with logitech.)