Category Archives: Reviews

“Starfield” Review: Vast, Exciting and Fun but Shallow

Posted on by
1
Starfield movie-like poster

Starfield is the latest action role playing game (RPG) from Bethesda, the developers of Skyrim and Fallout. 

Starfield, the first new RPG setting from Bethesda in a long time, is set in 2330. The Earth’s magnetosphere dissipated over a century earlier, rendering it lifeless. Thankfully, humanity mastered faster-than-light travel via the gravity drive. They rapidly evacuated to the star systems near Earth, deserting old nations and building new institutions. 

You start Starfield as a lowly asteroid miner, listening to your coworker’s banter. You unearth a seemingly alien artifact that gives you strange visions. After an attack by space pirates, you are inducted into a quaint, exploration-focused organization called Constellation and whisked off onto an adventure.

Structurally, Starfield has a similar “in media res” style introduction to Skyrim. It quickly teaches you the basic mechanics, gives you a short fight to get the blood pumping, establishes you as the “chosen one”, sets you on the main quest, and then gets out of the way. Much of the exposition happens later.

Starfield‘s strength is the breadth, if not depth, of game loops. Its gameplay is fun, but only exploration is remarkable. The combat is standard first person shooter fare, although melee could be more varied. The stealth mechanics are good but not up to Deus Ex or Cyberpunk 2077. Bethesda nailed the sci-fi feel of lock picking, but once you understand it, less player skill is required than in Skyrim. Your scanner is helpful for exploration, identifying enemies, or satiating hoarding instincts by finding things to pick up. 

The gameplay is repetitive but not grindy. You do not need to repeat boring activities to enable more enjoyable gameplay. Sufficient variety in the quests and randomly generated or placed content prevents boredom. Once you exhaust the scripted quests, Starfield offers randomly generated versions to pass the time or continue adventuring. Alternatively, land on a planet and start exploring.

Starfield‘s main quest line is suitably epic and galaxy-spanning, providing mystery and motivation. It draws you above the drama occurring elsewhere in the settled systems. However, this distance means the main quest line loses some emotional grounding and gravitas. Starfield‘s setting and side quests provide the most content, variety and potential like most RPGs.

Starfield contains many visually and thematically diverse places. After leaving the dusty, decrepit asteroid mine and a short detour, you first visit the city of New Atlantis. It is the capital of the United Colonies. Visually, it resembles the citadel from the Mass Effect series: clean, bright, organic curves, open spaces with water and greenery integrated seamlessly with technology.

New Atlantis contrasts with other places like Akila City, the capital of the Freestar Collective. Its mud roads and stone buildings make it feel like the Wild West in space, complete with a bank robbery. As its name suggests, Neon is a cyberpunk (the genre) style metropolis on a rain-drenched water world. It is where to indulge in less savoury activities, like gang warfare, corporate espionage, or elicit substances.

Neon in all its multicoloured glory.
Neon’s exterior in all its multicoloured glory.

Exploration is integral to Starfield, being the primary mission of Constellation. Mechanically, it is similar to No Mans Sky or Elite Dangerous. However, Starfield does it better. Starfield supports multiple biomes per planet, adding variety. Starfield is about exploring a known, finite universe, not the near-infinite set of random ones no one else will ever visit. Planet surfaces intersperse improbably frequent natural phenomena and enemy-filled bases to break up the gameplay. You can improve your exploration skills, like increasing scanner range, sprinting further, or learning more about scanned species.

A misty sunset with trees in the foreground and mountains in the background.
A misty sunset with trees in the foreground and mountains in the background.

Starfield is visually better than games like No Mans Sky and Elite Dangerous, and “sense pleasure” is integral to exploration. Not just because Starfield is newer. While all generate terrain procedurally, most of everything else in Starfield is hand-crafted. Starfield‘s alien flora and fauna are more plausible, not just a random assortment of limbs. Think Star Wars, where humanity is not at the top of the food chain. Starfield‘s designers often placed moons and planets to create picturesque views, like ringed planets filling the sky. Starfield also has weather, like dreamy mist-filled sunrises, savage dust storms, or dreary rain. 

A beautiful ringed planet viewed from a moon.
A beautiful ringed planet viewed from a moon.

You need a starship to explore. Your starting ship, the Frontier, is a masterful example of worldbuilding. From the venting gas from its landing thrusters, whose exhaust is ignited by sparks like modern rockets, to its white, vaguely aerodynamic shape reminiscent of the space shuttle, it anchors the setting to a believable near future.

Unfortunately, you pilot your ship rarely. It is either in space, docked or landed. Docking and landing are automated. Flying between planets or systems is “fast travel”, using a short cutscene.

Your ship approaching the starstation "The Eye".
Approaching the starstation “The Eye”.

Starfield has ship combat, but it is arcade-like and closer to No Mans Sky than Elite Dangerous. It devolves into building ships with better shields and weapons. Manoeuvring is all but useless. The camera views block too much with either the cockpit or your ship’s back. Power management is awkward, particularly in the heat of battle. Macros would be helpful. The targeting mode loses any situational awareness. 

However, once you master the clunky interface, the shipbuilder is a beautiful avenue for self-expression. Like the Galactic Civilization franchise, you customize and assemble ships using modular components. In a clever touch of worldbuilding, different vendors’ modules have different styles, such as the blocky, angular Deimos or Taiyo’s almost organic curves. 

You can also walk around your ship, board enemy ships and add crafting stations and containers. However, to prevent punishing those with large ships, you can board into or leave directly from the cockpit. Elite Dangerous‘s designers should take note.

A Stroud-Ekland cockpit.
The back of a Stroud-Ekland cockpit.

Starfield allows building outposts on different planets to store excess equipment, gather resources, craft materials, and refuel ships flying past. You can also create trade links to automate the transfer of materials between them. Starfield almost rivals factory games like Satisfactory with its web of materials and resources. 

However, the capacity of even the largest storage buildings needs to increase. A lot. No Mans Sky offers more variety, including positioning individual walls, roof and floor tiles. 

In terms of companions, there are dozens that you can hire or find around the galaxy. Of these, four companions have unique quest lines. Each quest line companion follows roughly the same moral compass: generally good and favouring exploration. Although not my thing, this limits the potential for less noble playstyles.

Some want Vasco, your robot companion, to have a quest line and opportunity for growth or change. However, with the world currently enraptured by the potential and danger of AI, seeing a robot follow its programming is a welcome piece of sanity.

Thankfully, Starfield does not take itself too seriously. Catching up with your parents in an alien petting zoo or watching them pretend they did not try illicit substances is touching and amusing. Various “inspirational” posters line the walls of shady secret research labs. Chunks, the ubiquitous cubic fast food of the 24th century, “meet all minimal nutritional requirements”. Vasco has some innocent but cuttingly insightful wit. Your adoring fan’s flattery never gets old.

An in-game advertising poster for "Chunks". No with "Sauce".
Hmmm. Appetizing.

Starfield‘s music is orchestral, reminiscent of Star Wars or Star Trek. Most tracks are slow and use periodic gradual crescendos to emphasize the wonder and grandeur of Starfield‘s universe. The soundtrack is composed to support a game with lots of voice dialog and critical sound queues, such as in combat. It does not call attention to itself. For example, the restrained, almost mournful menu theme is the opposite of Skyrim‘s rousing call to action. Rather than assaulting the player with aggressive emotion, Starfield‘s version hints that the player has to come to the game (or music), not vice versa. 

My main criticism of Starfield is not that it is too easy, at least on “normal” difficulty. I may have played many Bethesda RPGs, but even “hard” provided little challenge. Assuming you do not intentionally engage in challenging content, there is little pressure to specialize your character’s skills, ship, outposts or use consumables for temporary buffs. These become more role playing opportunities.

My main criticism is also not that Starfield is the usual Bethesda RPG oxymoron. Starfield empowers you, creating a feel-good power fantasy where you are important and can make galaxy-affecting changes. However, as the conveniences in your favour accumulate, like free ship fuel or unkillable companions, immersion and suspension of disbelief get harder. Starfields‘ roots in points-based mechanics mean large level differences between you and your target can create unrealistic bullet sponges.

I do not mind that, despite Starfield having the best facial and hair animation of any Bethesda RPG, it still falls into that uncanny valley. NPCs wander aimlessly and still get stuck in walls occasionally. 

My main criticism of Starfield is an absent central or recurring theme. For example, in a world where AIs are more intelligent and capable than humans, and the powerful are unshackled from laws and ethics, Cyberpunk 2077 examines humanity. The Fallout series deals with the difficulties of survival and that the best choices are often hard or impossible. The Witcher series shows that, when monsters walk among humans, humans are sometimes the most monstrous of all. The Nier series deals with loss.

In fairness, a game does not need to be profound to be good. Making action movies or games requires skill. Bethesda more than demonstrated it with careful level design, regular mixing of gameplay modes, managing tension, and catering to familiar sci-fi tropes and fantasies. The usual meme-worthy glitches are thankfully absent. The greater attention to quality after Cyberpunk 2077‘s problematic launch is apparent.

Instead, Starfield is pure, fun sci-fi escapism. It is a series of concurrent action movies. RPGs are defined by how well they let you play out fantasies. Starfield delivers on that.

For example, the Vanguard quest line plays like a rerun of Starship Troopers. The Ryujin quest line is a sci-fi James Bond or Mission Impossible coupled with corporate espionage and intrigue. Completing the Mantis quest allows you to play as a space Batman. The Sysdef/Crimson Fleet quest line has palpable tension as you play a double agent, playing criminals and the law against each other. Join the Rangers and play as a space cowboy. 

Standing on the surface of Luna, the moon, looking toward the bright sun.
A “Neil Armstrong moment” standing on the surface of Luna, the moon, looking toward the Sun.

Starfield is unoriginal. Almost everything in the game is “heavily inspired” by something else. That is OK. Successful RPGs help players fulfil fantasies by immersing players in familiar tropes. Where Skyrim opened the fantasy genre to a broader audience, Starfield attempts to do the same with science fiction. 

That said, I was disappointed there were not more overt references to other movies, shows or games. Many will pick the few references to Skyrim‘s sweet rolls and Meridia quests. Yes, there was some well-known voice talent from Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and a subtle reference to the 1986 Transformers movie. Cyberpunk 2077 did this comparatively better.

Without strong themes and notwithstanding a few minor nods to modern sensibilities like same-sex relationships, there is little to offend or demand too much of its players. Perhaps Bethesda wanted to play it safe and avoid controversy.

However, Bethesda missed the opportunity to do something more. So many quests touch on real-world themes. For example, the war between the United Colonies and the Freestar Collective that ended 20 years before the game’s start still has lasting social and economic impacts. The United Colonies has to deal with the compromises and the demands strict order creates. The Freestar Collective juggles freedom with the criminal behaviour it facilitates. The Rangers’ quest line deals with the place of veterans in a postwar society. Meanwhile, the wealthy flatter themselves on luxury space cruises.

DLC or the modding community may fill the gap. Like Skyrim and Fallout, Starfield is as much a gaming platform as a game. Much of the work establishes content for future expansion or use. Outposts and shipbuilding, for example, go far beyond what Starfield currently needs. The Va’ruun, relegated to mysterious bogeymen, have much potential. 

If you enjoyed Fallout or Skyrim or like science fiction games, you have probably already played or plan to play Starfield. You can race through key quests in 30 hours, but the complete experience takes at least 100 more. Starfield is fun, emphasizes exploration and knows its target audience well. However, the lack of anything original, introspective or thought-provoking may limit its long-term impact on the gaming landscape. Playing Starfield is like eating Chunks. It tastes good and you want more but the nutrition is questionable.

“Stray Gods” Review: A Musical Romp Through Greek Mythology

Posted on by
Reply
Stray Gods poster showing the cast jamming at the ruined Mt Olympus

Stray Gods: The Role Playing Musical, or just Stray Gods, is an interactive musical game, as its name suggests. Summerfall Studios developed it, the first game for this Australian studio.

You play as Grace, a leather jacket- and boot-wearing directionless 20-something. After sitting through uninspiring auditions for a new band member, Calliope happens by. The muse from Greek mythology inspires Grace, weaving the words from her mournful song into hope.

Later that evening, a wounded Calliope bursts into Grace’s apartment. She dies in Grace’s arms, gifting Grace her powers and catapulting Grace on an adventure to clear her name.

Mechanically, Stray Gods is similar to point-and-click dialog games. However, this mechanic extends to songs, where the player’s choice determines the subsequent words and music sung. This design alone puts Stray Gods in almost unique territory.

Some dialog and most song choices are associated with one of three traits: caring (green), kick-ass (red) or clever (blue). You select one at the start and another when you max it out. Choices accumulate. Some options may only be available with a sufficiently high score in its trait. 

A musical lives and dies by the quality of its music. Thankfully, Stray Gods’ music is excellent. One would have expected no less from Austin Wintory with help from Tripod and Montaigne.

“Adrift”, the first song, is probably the best. It sets the game’s moody, elemental tone. Its waltz-like triple time gives the feel of constant motion or bobbing, reinforcing Grace’s relatable malaise. 

“Old Wounds”, another memorable song, is an argument between Persephone and Apollo. Its chorus is a welcome respite between the angry words, and the verses tear open millennia-old wounds. It is almost uncomfortable to hear. It reinforces how the Idols are divided, self-righteous and entrenched.

However, Stray Gods also surprised me with its writing and voice acting. Its story is deceptively deep and intelligent, reminding me of the musical Wicked. Instead of subverting The Wizard of Oz, Stray Gods reinterprets the Greek gods and how they would function in modern society. 

It is not just Grace who is adrift. For example, burdened by history and the guilt of his prophecies, Apollo has receded into himself. He has become a meek, softly spoken shadow, whispering most of his lines. He is the opposite of what a sun god should be.

Persephone embodies rage and resentment, often depicted with her back to Grace or the world. Every word seethes and resents her injustices, like losing her underworld.

Pan is more faithful to himself, revelling in chaos and mischief. He copes by living in the moment and seeking advantage where he can.

The game’s writers also showed love and attention to detail. I spent twenty minutes chatting with Apollo as he mournfully whispered the Idols’ history and current challenges. There is also a bit of humour, such as with Apollo’s or Hecate’s unease with modern technology.

The art style is dreamlike and stylised. The main characters are cell-shaded, with minimal animations between poses. The backgrounds vary. Some are detailed. Some, like Calliope’s apartment, are merely pencil lines over patches of colour.

My criticisms of Stray Gods’ are few. Despite a patch intended to fix this, the sometimes inconsistent dialog volume can be jarring or make some lines hard to hear.

Stay Gods also has superficial libertarian or “woke” undertones. Some romance options are same-sex. It hints strongly that one idol is transgender. Some characters have piercings and tattoos. None of this should matter. However, some will read too much into it.

If you like musicals, Greek gods, murder mysteries and a bit of romance, Stray Gods has you covered. It is short and sweet at about six hours. However, multiple playthroughs are required to see all possible outcomes and get all achievements.

“Deliver Us Mars” Review: Grim but Emotional

Posted on by
Reply
Deliver Us Mars poster, showing a space suited Kathy Johanssen climbing a precarious Martian cliff using pickaxes.

Deliver Us Mars is an interactive fiction game developed by KeokeN Interactive. While some consider it an adventure puzzle game, Deliver Us Mars focuses on story over puzzles and mechanics.  

Deliver Us Mars follows on from the prequel, Deliver Us the Moon. Earth’s resources are exhausted and its environment is rapidly degrading. You play the teenage Kathy Johannson as she travels to Mars with her crew. They want to find the three ARK ships that fled the moon in the prequel, then use the ARKs’ technology to fix Earth.

Mechanically, Deliver Us Mars shifts between three modes. The first is engine-rendered cut scenes, where the game tells much of its story. Deliver Us Mars shows off the facial animation features of the Unreal engine, not to mention the animators’ skills.

The second is exploration, walking or travelling around near linear maps. You often find objects to scan or read that flesh out the world. This is natural to those familiar with RPGs and adventure games. However, finding them all will likely require multiple playthroughs.

The third is mini-games. Some mini-games require traversal, including climbing or driving a rover across the Martian surface. The climbing mechanics are designed well, requiring coordination to survive palm-sweating moments. Some mini-games are puzzles, like using energy beams to power doors or machinery. 

The mini-games are mostly easy, although their controls or intended results are sometimes unclear. Most have an additional achievement for fast or exceptional completion, yet another reason for subsequent playthroughs.

Mini-games and exploration are also not the game’s central focus. They supplement and reinforce the story. Instead, the success of a game like Deliver Us Mars relies on the quality of the storytelling and the characters. Thankfully, the game delivers.

For example, Deliver Us Mars periodically revisits Kathy’s youth. These flashbacks are initially tutorials, such as swimming teaching how to manoeuvre in zero gravity. They momentarily break the tension, reminding the player of less stressful times in Kathy’s life. 

However, later flashbacks exacerbate the tension and add context. For example, the game hints at the death of Isaac’s wife and Kathy’s mother early. However, the game delays the event to maximize the emotional impact. 

Deliver Us Mars also uses subtle analogies, such as Kathy’s home on Earth. It represents the family dynamic and Earth’s perilous state. Initially, it is inviting with a warm sun and a loving, successful family, albeit with subtle hints of external unrest. As flashbacks recur, disagreements boil over, and dust storms darken the sky. Eventually, a storm destroys the house while Isaac, the father, must leave Kathy in the hands of Claire, her sister. It then gets worse.

Deliver Us Mars is pessimistic. Superficially, it is about how humanity’s talent for internal conflict often sabotages our best efforts. It examines how decision-makers can lose context and grounding, succumbing to revenge, narcissism or paranoia. It highlights the unreconcilable sacrifices some make. Even the worst climate prediction models do not show the Earth becoming inhospitable in the game’s timeframe. 

The character of Kathy Johannson is one exception. The first flashback shows her irresponsible playfulness as she swims with her new and not waterproof moonbear toy. She grows over the game, watching the mantle of responsibility pass from her father to her sister and finally to herself. When Isaac first sees Kathy on Mars, he remarks how she has grown, and this is not just physically. Players presume and impose a default heroism on her, and she does not disappoint.

Delver Us Mars hinges on the emotional connection between Kathy and Isaac. Like in Deliver Us the Moon, Kathy and Isaac show how family and close relationships often motivate us the most. A single word from Isaac, “moonbear”, is enough to spur Kathy onward. The love of his daughter also inspires Isaac when all seems lost.

Isaac Johannson is initially sympathetic, torn between duties as a father and saving Earth. However, unlike Kathy, Isaac plays a tragic role. Time will tell whether Kathy or Isaac represent modern-day governments trying to appease their citizens while protecting the environment. 

It may be my inherent optimism, but Deliver Us Mars is more about not running away from problems. Like the sacrifices people make. Like the relationship between Kathy and Isaac. Like the environmental problems on Earth.

Even when things seem grim, there is always time and more opportunities. This is a pre-apocalyptic setting, not a post-apocalyptic one, and there is still a chance to prevent it. Deliver Us Mars believes that human ingenuity and hard work can solve significant issues.

Aesthetically, Delver Us Mars is influenced by near-future science fiction like Gravity, Interstellar, Ad Astra or 2001: A Space Odyssey. Most technology is slightly ahead of our own, making the game relatable. Some models are superb, particularly the detail in the crashed ARK Lados. The blue Mars sunset is also realistic.

However, Deliver Us Mars skims over many dangers of living on Mars. Its dust is abrasive and toxic. It receives more radiation than Earth. However, I suspect the game designers wanted space or the hostile, desolate Martian environment for spectacle and impact. A game set in safe but sterile metal corridors would quickly feel dull and mundane.

Playing Deliver Us The Moon first is recommended. Like the flashbacks, the prequel adds gravitas and emotional context. For example, Deliver Us Mars almost ignores Sarah Baker, the expedition leader. Appreciating Sarah’s importance and perspective from her small part in Deliver Us Mars is difficult.

While the realistic graphics are gorgeous, they are sometimes inconsistent. It is a minor criticism, but little things can break immersion, like a buggy not leaving tire tracks or the sprite-based thrust from a manoeuvring spacecraft. Higher resolutions are unkind to some of the models and textures. Stylized graphics like cell-shading may have been a better choice. It would have simplified the art and given better cohesion.

Deliver Us Mars is about the right length at about ten hours to complete, more if you want to get all the achievements. It is darker than its prequel but worth it for science fiction or interactive fiction game fans. Hopefully, KeokeN has a sequel planned to continue or conclude the story.

“Rebel Galaxy Outlaw” Review: A Homage to Privateer

Posted on by
Reply
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw Game Poster

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is a single-player, space sandbox game developed by Double Damage Games. It was initially an Epic Store exclusive in 2019 and released on Steam and other platforms a year later.

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is infamous for being the first Epic store exclusive. This decision led to review-bombing and bad press. However, this is unfair. The poor early reviews had little to do with the game itself.

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is also not the best space sandbox game available. Elite Dangerous and its peers do just about every game loop better. However, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw never intends to compete at that level. Instead, it is cheap and developed by a small studio that lacks the resources of a AAA behemoth. It packs a lot into a small package.

You play as Juno Markev, an out-of-luck ex-space pirate. The opening cell-shaded cinematic shows her crashing on a planet after unsuccessfully confronting her husband’s killer. Juno calls in a favour to get a modest replacement. She then must juggle repaying her debts, upgrading her ship and unravelling her past.

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw‘s gameplay consists mainly of combat with some trading, piracy and asteroid mining. These earn credits to afford better ships and equipment. Experimenting and exploring are helpful but optional. They can reveal poorly explained mechanics, side quests, rare weapons, lucrative mining spots or beautiful nebulae. 

Unlike Elite Dangerous and similar games, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw has a light, grungy, blue collar, “space trucker” style. The default radio station plays heartland rock and advertises discount ammunition and cheap beer. All technology looks retro-futuristic, old and second-hand. Many star systems are named after working-class southern or central US states. The region of space is called Dodge, like the famous lawless US frontier town. You can play eight-ball pool or dice poker to unwind, the genre equivalent of fishing. 

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is the prequel to Rebel Galaxy, Double Damage Game’s previous game. They share the setting and style. However, the games are different. Rebel Galaxy is about flying capital ships on a 2D plane fighting with broadside cannons. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is about 3D fighter combat.

Instead, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is a homage to Wing Commander: Privateer and Freelancer. While there is a central campaign and side missions, you can ignore them to explore, fight or trade as you see fit. You can unlock buddies to fight with you temporarily. You can side with the law, against it or both. 

Even the graphics look like upscaled MCGA, used in Wing Commander: Privateer. The cockpit and HUDs are blocky and favour the old EGA colours. The stars are square. The game renders debris as sprites. Ships have distinct silhouettes and blocks of bright colours. 

Rebel Galaxy Outlaw plays best on a controller. While not as precise as a keyboard and mouse, the vibration makes you feel every shudder of acceleration and weapon recoil. The game’s aim-assist helps, too.

To be fair, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is not flawless. Encounter difficulty can vary considerably. Auto-saves are regular and reloads quick, but unexpected deaths can still be frustrating. One mission requires non-lethal takedown of enemies, but you must manually remove any turrets beforehand. It is easy to miss some side missions, like those in Eureka.

However, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw surprised me. I had a fun 40 hours or so. You can complete the campaign faster if you do the minimum. However, getting distracted and blazing your own trail is part of the point. Fans of space sandboxes, Wing Commander: Privateer or something light and stylized will enjoy themselves. Do not let the poor early reviews fool you. 

“The Artful Escape” Review: A Rock Fairytale

Posted on by
Reply

The Artful Escape is a rock opera masquerading as a musical platforming game from the Australian development studio Beethoven & Dinosaur. 

The Artful Escape follows Francis Vendetti, a teenage guitar prodigy bristling under others’ expectations. An improbable encounter catapults him into a universe-spanning, mind-expanding adventure. Francis sheds his past and discovers who he wants to be.

The gameplay shifts between three loops. The first is exploration and conversations with NPCs. The second is light platforming. The third is playing music by copying button presses, emulating playing different notes.

However, the gameplay is almost unimportant. It is more something to do while gawking at the supersaturated visuals and basking in the music. Holding “X” on the controller allows Francis to improvise on the guitar (“shred”) as he runs, leaps and slides through alien landscapes. I could not wipe the grin off my face from the sheer joy and spectacle. 

The Artful Escape‘s universe has a Douglas Adams-like absurdity and comedy. For example, Francis Vendetti flies a warp turtle through the cosmic extraordinary to a starship called The Galactic Lung. He visits the Hyperion Wailzone, where the danger level is “dolphin”. 

The game’s music is a love letter to the 1980s, particularly psychedelic rock. Much of the inspiration and music come from Johnny Galvatron, one of the developers. He fronted the band “The Galvatrons” in Australia and the UK in the late 2000s. The Artful Escape is part celebration, parody and critique of the music industry.

Unfortunately, The Artful Escape is short, taking about five hours to finish. Those looking for challenges or meaningful choices will be disappointed. Sometimes holding “X” while jumping or moving is awkward.

However, The Artful Escape is bursting with spectacle, absurdity and glee. Its message is hopeful and empowering. It is a fairy tale for the rock era, a monument to the joy of music and self-actualization.

How the Barbie Movie Made Me Resent Transformers

Posted on by
Reply

My wife and I saw the second Michael Bay Transformers movie about fourteen years ago. She hated it and swore that, if they ever made a Barbie movie, I had to see it with her. So I did.

Barbie is a movie of its time. It is superficially absurd – a story of dolls in a pink plastic world that need to break out of it. It introduces and then preemptively answers criticisms of Barbie and the culture wars that surround it. It is self-aware enough to be fourth-wall breaking. 

The Barbie movie also helped me understand why I resent the early Transformers movies. 

The early Transformers movies are the embodiment of boys’ fantasies. They focus on militaristic themes of honour and sacrifice, plots revolve around saving the world or galaxy, and the villains are often alien or evil corporations. 

There is nothing inherently wrong with this. I love escapist military science fiction. I enjoyed seeing the toys I played with fight as I had imagined. I cheered for Ironhide’s rocket jump in the 2007 movie and Optimus Prime regularly kicking butt.

However, the boys that first played with the toys and the world around them have grown older. As subsequent Transformers movies were released, they merely revisited the same ground. 

Frustratingly, the Transformers universe has the potential to tell meaningful stories. Immigrants fleeing persecution to fight for their adopted country speak to core American values. The benefits of industrialization, coopting technology to work against us, and the challenges of alienation promise much. 

The Transformers movie’s characterization is also poor. Most Transformers are unmemorable robotic cannon fodder. If only the toys had “tech specs”, including personalities, relationships, strengths and weaknesses. 

No characters grow or change in any significant way. For example, take the audience’s point of view character, Sam Witwicky. He is constantly caught between ogling and saving Megan Fox’s damsel in distress while real men fight around him. He is a child thrust into an adult world.

One could argue that Transformers plays it safe with its plot and characters. Staying away from anything remotely political means not alienating your audience. Much of the franchise’s revenue has come from China. American values have much less of an appeal there. 

However, contemporary Marvel movies demonstrated how to write Transformers movies better. For example, “soldier” and “leader” are roles, not personalities. Flaws make heroes relatable, not unworthy. You can write compelling stories that appeal to Transformers‘ target audience and markets, have relevant themes and good characterization. 

Part of the problem is Transformers comes with age-appropriate lore and narrative. Autobots wage war against Decepticons as they flee their homeworld, Cybertron. Michael Bay had to retell the expected stories.

Barbie lacks established lore, and any girl-friendly story would likely devolve into another unremarkable, saccharine kids’ holiday special. 

However, the Barbie toy has been a centrepiece in the ongoing debate around women’s rights, self-image, commercialization, sexualization and the competing pressures to excel and conform. Ample social commentary is the only way such a modern Barbie movie could be made. Besides paid car and milk placements, Transformers can happily exist in an almost pretentious bubble.

The Barbie and Transformers movies were created for the generations that grew up with the toys. The Transformers franchise is happy to replay and recreate that world. It appeals to boys and boys-at-heart alike. 

Barbie is aimed at women, particularly mothers playing with their daughters. These women are caught between Barbie‘s seductive simplicity and innocence and the impending complexity of adulthood that will shatter them.

For some, particularly men, these different views of nostalgia can feel threatening. Barbie‘s poignant feminist monologues can feel like clumsy lectures. 

However, Barbie‘s themes are close to real life for many. As much as Margot Robbie’s Barbie would like to, you do not zone out into fantasy and return at the movie’s end, as with Transformers. 

The silly, shallow portrayal of men like Ryan Gosling’s Ken or Will Ferrel’s CEO of Mattel can also feel disingenuous. Thrust into a matriarchy, some feel the satire punches down at them.

However, most characters in Barbie are disarming caricatures, allowing frank criticism. It is similar to the fawning regulator and blind rating agency in The Great Short.

The Barbie movie is as much a journey for Ken as it is for Barbie. Ken evolves from an accessory to someone not defined by his relationship with Barbie or his superficial understanding of masculinity. It is more than Sam Witwicky ever did.

While profound, Barbie says nothing we have not heard before. Acknowledging feminism and Barbie‘s place in it does not devalue other concerns or issues. The movie uses feminism to advance the plot like the power of honour or duty regularly used in Transformers.

I will remember early Transformers movies with boyish glee for their special effects and escapist fantasies. However, from the opening scene that subverts 2001: A Space Odyssey, I will remember Barbie treating its audience as adults. 

The Michael Bay Transformers movies seem content to fool a generation of men that mindless shooting is sufficient entertainment. Even the 1986 animated Transformers movie had more heart and memorable characters. Transformers fans deserved better.

“The Unfinished Swan” Review: Painting with Heart

Posted on by
Reply
A monochrome frog in a swamp looking overlooking the title "The Unfinished Swan".

The Unfinished Swan is a first-person exploration and traversal game developed by Giant Sparrow, the same developer that created What Remains of Edith Finch. The Unfinished Swan is not new, having released in 2012 on PlayStation 3 and then on PC in 2020, but I only now got around to playing it.

You play as Monroe, a newly orphaned boy, inheriting from his mother a single painting depicting an unfinished swan. One night the swan leaps out of the painting. Monroe follows it, embarking on a magical journey through a surreal, dream-like world.

The Unfinished Swan‘s world is initially wholly white. However, Monroe can hurl paint drops onto it, revealing details like walls and furniture. The game’s world is a blank canvas that only solidifies when painted. For example, what was formless white is suddenly a black frog that leaps into a nearby pond.

As the game progresses, it introduces new mechanics, such as the physics-defying, AntiChamber-like puzzles; buttons and levers to activate ladders and bridges; or hurling water to encourage the growth of climbable vines. You can also find hidden balloons that unlock upgrades and additional material.

The game slowly reveals a fairytale-like story through narration, about or from the world’s prodigious but eccentric king, and storyboards, complete with child-friendly line art. The music is also ethereal, consisting of glockenspiels and light strings, reminiscent of Tchaikovsky’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

Thematically, The Unfinished Swan views grief and impermanence through a child’s imagination. The normally mischievous act of splattering paint allows Monroe to find certainty, meaning and agency where there is none. The shared act of painting links Monroe with his mother. Metaphors have power.

The Unfinished Swan is also moving because, by seeing the world through Monroe’s eyes, we can experience things both superficially, as he does, and with an adult’s experience and context. Implication and inference also have power.

Despite its age, The Unfinished Swan still holds its own as novel and thought-provoking. It is short, taking under four hours to complete, and wraps up its story positively but with restraint. Those looking for something contemplative and unusual will enjoy it.

“Cloudpunk” Review: Heart in the Sky

Posted on by
Reply
Standing outside the Cloudpunk office in game. The neon "U" is dimmed.
Outside the Cloudpunk office in-game, with the neon “U” dimmed

Cloudpunk, developed by Ion Lands, is a third person, story-based exploration game set in a future, dystopian city. It has a distinctive voxel art style that is both beautiful and distinct.

You control Rania, an out-of-work musician and recent migrant to the city of Nirvalis. Destitute and desperate, she signs up for Cloudpunk, a pseudo-legal company that delivers packages away from law enforcement’s often-corrupt eyes. Like the player, she knows how the world works but is new to Nirvalis, becoming a compelling point-of-view character.

The game takes place over a single long, rainy night shift. Most gameplay involves piloting Rania’s flying car, or “HOVA”, like the Delorean from the Back to the Future series. Occasionally you disembark and walk around the elevated streets, picking up or delivering packages and talking to other inhabitants. 

However, you get the most out of Cloudpunk by taking the time to explore. Nirvalis’s verticality can be disorienting, and the HOVA’s controls can take some getting used to. Wandering reveals NPCs with interesting stories or discarded items you can sell. You can even decorate your flat.

This premise is excellent. It allows Cloudpunk to start on seemingly random deliveries, drip-feeding details about the world and its various strata. Delivering parts to someone doing illegal street racing? Check. Delivering food to the impoverished? Check. Delivering a pizza to an executive? Check. You just need to follow the rules: never miss a delivery or ask what is in the package.

However, Rania quickly gains some agency. Do you deliver a ticking package to the recipient, knowing it could be a bomb? Do you return a replaced HOVA part to the garage or sell it? While no choice branches the story, there are consequences.

This premise also allows for telling longer and broader stories. You visit some characters multiple times, slowly revealing their tales. Can you help a detective solve a case? What about unearthing more about Nirvalis’s history?

Outside the plot, Cloudpunk‘s voxel graphics are disarming but expressive, reminiscent of Minecraft. Volumetric lighting and lens flare render life-like graphics. You only notice the blockiness close to individuals or HOVAs, giving Cloudpunk a unique charm.

The city of Nirvalis is beautiful, even when rendered in voxels. The streams of HOVAs act like the city’s arteries, providing a relaxing, constant buzz and stream of lights. The Bladerunner-like neon signs and periodic audio advertisements for virtual holidays and insurance against computer viruses help make the world consistent and believable.

Cloudpunk‘s synthwave soundtrack is atmospheric, on-point for the genre and sets the mood well, such as the more meditative pieces when driving, the pressure of an urgent delivery or a club’s upbeat, drum-heavy dance track. The track names read like cyberpunk staples, like “Neon Rain”, “Sleepless City”, and “A Million Different Faces”. One important track is different, though.

Cloudpunk keeps the mood in a deliberate balance. Like in many cyberpunk stories, they wanted Nirvalis to be distant enough from the modern day to be disarming but close enough to be relevant.

On the one hand, there is depressing, omnipresent exploitation and inequality. Rapid gentrification means rents can rise by the hour, evicting people instantaneously. The ruthless and efficient debt corps practically enslave without remorse, if needed. It is easy to despair at the environmental damage and the crumbling city.

On the other, there are many lighter moments. Advertisements warn about the unlicensed playing of jazz or retro computer games. Gang members build children’s playgrounds to be subversive. Vendors sell cherry pies with “real” cherries. You could not taste the difference, anyway. 

Canus, your AI canine assistant uploaded into your HOVA, also plays a vital role in setting the mood. Part researcher, part moral compass and isolation-busting companion, Canus’s naivety is endearing. The contrast with Rania’s world-weariness also subtly focuses the player’s attention on the moment’s moral quandary.

While full of cyberpunk tropes, it leverages them to reflect on important questions, not just as a lazy crutch. For example, how do we treat each other in a world where we value humans and intelligent AIs by their wealth? Can we learn to love those with whom we vehemently disagree? At its core, Cloudpunk is a game about heart. Nirvalis has never needed Rania, a Arabic name meaning queen, and her music more.

Cloudpunk takes about ten hours to finish, not outlasting its novelty. It will appeal to fans of the cyberpunk genre or those looking for something unusual, pensive and emotional.

“Diablo IV” Beta Review: Having It Both Ways

Posted on by
Reply
Lilith holding Diablo’s skull next to the Diablo IV logo

The recent free “server slam” weekend was an excellent chance to experience a late beta version of the upcoming Diablo IV. After my Path of Exile foray, I wanted to see Blizzard’s forthcoming offering and how it compared.

Action Role Playing Games (ARPGs), a genre that the first Diablo practically founded, has come to be dominated by live service, “forever games” aimed at hardcore players. The story, characters, and world-building take a back seat to optimising character progression and end-game power, like in Diablo III and Path of Exile.

Diablo IV aims to put the “role playing game” back into “action role playing game”. It delivers Blizzard-standard fantastic cut scenes. It promises a long campaign with biblical, mysterious, dangerous antagonists and prophetic dread. Those wanting immersion in atmospheric and sometimes squeamish gothic horror will not be disappointed. Memorable and relatable characters are back. Saving the world (again) gets old. Saving someone you care about means more.

The success of Diablo IV will likely depend on how you measure it. The buzz created by a large existing player base, previous goodwill, social media-friendly cut scenes and copious beta programs will likely ensure significant initial sales. 

However, Diablo IV‘s longevity and long-term player counts depend on appealing to the hardcore crowd. Those focused on the story will play through the campaign and then move on, perhaps revisiting occasionally. MAU (Monthly Active User) or DAU (Daily Active User) targets require people to keep playing (and paying). 

Thankfully, Blizzard is trying to create a game that appeals to both story-driven casual and optimisation-driven hardcore audiences. The server slam demonstrated the appeal to the former. Unfortunately, the server slam’s level 20 cap makes judging late-game content, important to hardcore players, harder. 

The potential is there. Diablo IV promises a huge paragon progression path after level 100 and seasons. Adventure mode allows players who have completed the campaign to bypass cut scenes and the main quest line for new characters.

However, Blizzard also needs to get the basics right. Many have written about Diablo IV‘s uneven class balance. Sorcerors were considered overpowered, barbarians underpowered, and necromancer pets were both at different times. 

The classes shown in the server slam are unlikely to be their final versions. Balance adjustments will continue before and after the release. However, resource limitations and risk prevent the designers from changing much before the June release date.

Many other design changes since Diablo III are both good and bad. For example, automatic enemy scaling always ensures an appropriate challenge. This auto-scaling means players can advance through the content at their own pace. Yet, not having the opportunity to be over- or under-powered can reduce the feeling of achievement or challenge.

Diablo IV procedurally generates dungeons like most ARPGs, but the above-ground world is fixed. This decision allows incidental player interactions, whether cooperative, social or PvP, instead of just at hubs. However, these interactions may not be always welcome.

The designers then leveraged this fixed, open world to facilitate and reward exploration. They hid temporary events or dungeons in corners. The reputation mechanic rewards focusing on particular zones. This decision, at odds with recent ARPGs, appeals to the less mechanically-focused players. However, it forces mechanics-oriented players or speed runners to waste valuable time.

Some design decisions make mechanical sense but threaten to break immersion. Limiting healing potions to four helps the designers balance fights. It simplifies healing and inventory management for newer players. However, boss fights broadcasting when they will drop potions on their health bar seemed too convenient. Non-boss creatures dropped health potions like rain, too, which seemed excessive.   

What I enjoyed most during the server slam were the little things. Revisiting Tristram, hearing its spine-tingling motif and being chased by the Butcher reminded me of the best bits of early Diablo games. The reveal of Inarius after ascending the long, ivory-coloured staircase was wonderful. I loved Sanctuary’s (literal and metaphorical) cold and unforgiving nature. 

That probably puts me in the more story-driven audience, focused on the lore and the world. Diablo IV may not be a “forever game” for me. Diablo III‘s early focus on the auction house and repetition put me off. However, the server slam made me impatient to see Diablo IV‘s story unfold. I hope Blizzard realises the game’s potential for both audiences, not just me.

“Path of Exile” Review: An Optimization Challenge

Posted on by
Reply

Path of Exile is an action role playing game and a proud Diablo II clone. At almost ten years old, Path of Exile has ballooned from its original three acts. It now groans under the weight of ten acts, different game modes, seasons and crafting. It is “free to play” but, thankfully, not “pay to win”. 

Path of Exile is not the typical game type I play or review. I prefer role playing or adventure games with dialog, characters, settings and stories that I can analyse and deconstruct. However, as an old-time Diablo player and with Diablo IV on the horizon, it was time to hark back to a genre that I sank many hours into years ago.

For those unfamiliar with the Diablo formula, Path of Exile‘s setting is a magical fantasy world consisting of connected, randomly-generated maps. You control a single character’s movements and abilities via a fixed, isometric camera. You kill monsters and upgrade gear, occasionally levelling up, allowing you to defeat more powerful monsters and equip better gear. You play online to mitigate cheating and allow optional interactions with other players.

Path of Exile follows not just the Diablo formula but its style. Few games will match that haunting musical motif and unmistakable gothic vibes from the town of Tristam back in Diablo I. However, Path of Exile comes close, whether it be the claustrophobic shadows revealing maze-like passages or the pseudo-Christian iconography.

That said, Path of Exile is also distinct from Diablo. Different upgrade items are used as currency instead of gold. Potions refill with damage dealt instead of being consumed on use. Abilities, represented as gems socketed in items, can be easily swapped out. The number, type and connections for item gem sockets are almost as significant as the item’s various enhancements and bonuses.

I initially approached Path of Exile as I would an RPG. I took my time to explore each randomly generated map, making sure I missed nothing. I collected and sold all the dropped gear. I spoke to each NPC and absorbed the lore. I often spent too long in lower-level areas, trying to ensure I could handle whatever the game threw at me next. 

However, there are better ways to approach Path of Exile. Like most RPGs, many will say Path of Exile is a power fantasy about defeating endless swarms of creatures while saving the world. That is only superficially true. Death is a temporary setback outside hardcode mode, respawning you a short distance away without losing life or equipment. Quests are few, and bosses serve only to gate progression. The names of NPCs and the various opponents matter little. Most gear dropped is trash. 

Instead, Path of Exile is closer to a factory game like Satisfactory or Factorio. You construct a factory (your character) to convert raw materials (gear, abilities and skills) into increasingly complex processed goods (better damage and survivability). In both game types, players are motivated by speed and efficiency and enjoy tinkering with new tactics to eke out increasingly small improvements.

The only actual failure state in Path of Exile is a character that cannot progress due to poor skill and gear choices. While you can refund some individual skills purchased via level-ups or some quest rewards, the designers intentionally made rebuilding difficult, if not impossible. Perhaps better factory game analogies are those less forgiving of early mistakes, like Frostpunk or Ixiom.

Path of Exile also suffers from many of Diablo‘s inherent problems. Items are randomly generated and dropped liberally, often filling the screen with useless gear. Creatures, spell effects, and darkness can devolve fights into indistinguishable chaos, making important details hard to discern. The game does not explain its mechanics, relying on experimentation or third-party guides. Its randomly generated maps provide some exploration opportunities but do not increase replayability.

Path of Exile also often introduces side content in the early or midgame, like Delves or Heists. This timing means players can only progress through them a little, and their rewards are unclear. It sometimes requires metagame thinking to distinguish them from the main quest.

These problems make Path of Exile challenging for new players. For example, the passive skill tree and the number of interacting mechanics are meme-worthily huge. The choices can paralyse novice players. Creating an underpowered character whose progression grinds to a halt midgame is easy.

However, that challenge is just the way that hardcore players like it. Path of Exile is a game unapologetically designed for players that enjoy creating new characters, spending ever-decreasing hours to speed them through the game and test them against the end-game challenges. The designers aimed at those who enjoy spending hours farming rare drops to find that minor upgrade.

You can still play Path of Exile as a power fantasy, at least until the last few acts, and it is worth the price, considering it is free. The game can be fun for a quick, meditative play session or longer, such as when starting a new character. 

However, Path of Exile is due for an overhaul. Its systems need streamlining, and its plot is straining under the weight of numerous expansions. Path of Exile II, currently in development, will likely address these.