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Mr_Sev
Reviews
Starfield (2023)
Boring, boring, boring.
Remember the first time you walked out of vault in a Bethesda fallout game? The vista where you see something in the distance and you can go there? That thing in the distance that catches your eye and you can make your way to & on the way get distracted by caves, enemy camps, random encounters?
The wonder and joy of exploring a Bethesda world is what makes their games so special & none of that is here in starfield.
It's a loading screen simulator, a fast travel simulator. A game you spend more time navigating menus than the galaxy.
When you do get to land on a planet you are plopped at the opposite end of one of the "fish bowls" and have to walk for minutes with nothing to look for or explore on the way. No caves full of loot, no interesting characters to interact with, nothing. You just walk for minutes to reach your destination doing nothing.
When you do reach your destination it's usually to act as a telegram messenger in a universe that seemingly has no internet so you end up doing the same thing over and over. Menus, fast travel, plopped on a "planet" with nothing to explore to speak to someone to be told to pass on another message.
Side quests are boring, the main story is boring, the main game loop is boring. Hell, even modders have said they won't mod the game because it's so boring so it shows just how fundamentally bad the game is.
It's telling that Bethesda have announced an "update" is coming that adds 'city maps" & "new ways to travel" the game literally has no maps and no way to travel a while planet other than walking (with a pathetic jet pack that's basically a double jump)
The leveling system is a shambles, you have to take percs that were just basic features in previous games. Take a stealth detector icon when you're crouched. That's a perc that you have to level up to get, and levelling up is so slow to begin with. It's insulting. If/when you go to jail it also takes experience away from the user, it puts you in minus experience so you are forced to play the game in a certain way otherwise you literally cannot level up. In a Bethesda game you have no choice! Nothing you do affects the story, you are forced to play in a very specific way, the game is so boring and frustrating that the only saving grace would have been it's exploring and decision making & it's taken away from you.
Avoid this one like the plague.
God of War (2018)
The better of the two
Having recently played through and completed both games in the God of War Norse saga back to back I have to say this one is my favourite and comfortably so.
Saying this is the better of the two is akin to saying you prefer the Ferrari in yellow over red but it is more nuanced than that.
In terms of the gameplay, for me the combat system feels more weighted and satisfying than the second game, for example not auto switching to the axe using triangle but going into the blade whip in the second game but instead having to take your fingers away from the movement button to change weapon really interupts the most intense combos in heavy combat, it leaves you frustrated if you've played the 2018 game.
This game also has better pacing of story beats and the cinematography overall has much more intamacy over the second that really goes for the grandiose (which is not bad at all just preference)
I feel that I will be going back to this game more often than I will the second for repeated gameplays, perhaps when the second gets its PC release I'll play it again but for now once is enough.
God of War Ragnarök (2022)
Wow, just incredible
I've played the first game and this is a game that you need to have played the first to get the most from.
The moment you play the game you realise something special is unfolding, everything has been refined in a way you can't help but smile. From the cutscenes to the action, the characters and their development all of it is top notch, delivered by artists at the top of their game.
If this is the last ever god of war game then it will be remembered as the best one (certainly by myself at the least)
You owe it to yourself to play it but even if you can't you can watch the story online, trust me when I say you won't regret it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (2022)
It looks pretty, but it lacks substance.
Cinematography and the SFX are incredible, the orcs made up with real prosthetics rather than CGI and they look quality.
The story however is lacking, characters are one dimensional and unlikeable, in some cases outright annoying. There are no attempts to inject those little moments of levity that made the original trilogy so special.
It's such a shame that this is the outcome from the alleged one billion dollar budget (3x that of the original trilogy) and seems to be the case with almost every big budget release in the last few years wherein the cinematography and special effects are top tier but the storytelling takes a backseat.
With an IP like LOTR you have such a rich lore it is harder to tell a bad story than it is not to, all the writers had to do was stay true to the source material in relation to telling a story and it would have been an easy win.
Do whatever you want with the cast, but tell an interesting story. Have likeable characters with relationships other than standoffish defensiveness.
The Orville (2017)
One of the best sci-fi shows.
It has heart and originality by the bucket load. Up there with the best, if you haven't watched it then you are missing out!
It's doing what shows with 10x the budget can't. Story and character are put front and centre. You get with the Orville what the likes of star trek and star wars seem to have forgotten, it's not about the special effects or characters who's sole background is trauma or other such buzzwords popular today, they have depth, you grow with them over the self contained episodes, you laugh, smile and even tear up.
I would give it 10 but nothing is perfect.
Rise of the Footsoldier: Part II (2015)
A story of consequence
The film doesn't glamourise or shy away from telling a story of a working class man who, through a series of bad decisions and choice friends finds himself in too deep and having to face up to what his life is and what it could have been.
Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022)
A story that didn't need telling
It's a sad state of affairs dragging old familiar faces back decades after the movies released for the Disney money farm.
The inquisitors are poorly written, the plot is typical Disney cookie cutter hero vs villain guff that's been done thousands of times before.
Nothing original, nothing new to offer, nothing worth the subscription fee but somehow people keep giving Disney their money and endorsing more "content" like this to be made.
The score has no throwbacks to the John Williams originals which you would have thought it to be a free point to do so, it's like they've searched for "generic hero music" on a creative commons database and grabbed the most vanilla, beige score available.
The colour grading is off, someone ramped up the saturation to such an extent I had to double take if it was a live action show.
Too many times I was thinking "as if that's how that would happen", tutting, rolling my eyes at what is happening on the screen.
At this point between star wars and marvel via the Disney conveyor belt has lost any magic it once had, there is no soul, no passion and no heart in any of the shows & movies they are pumping out every couple of months.
Woefully inept at telling a story that did not need telling, a blatant cash grab devoid of of passion and any attempt at originality proped up by famous faces from yesteryear.