The Backlog Check-in Vol. 242: 8/20/22: Saints Row Edition

[Phaseknox]

Played: Blue Fire, Celeste, Ion Fury, Mayhem Brawler

Finished: Ion Fury, Mayhem Brawler

Playing: Saints Row

Added: Homefront: The Revolution, The Last Campfire, Lost in Random, Mayhem Brawler

I played and finished Mayhem Brawler twice, it was a good arcade style 2D beat ‘em up similar to Final Fight and Streets of Rage. The story is setup in a comic book style, and the graphics of the game look like comic book art. They’re actually quite good. The characters are big and animate well, and the environments have a lot of detail.

The characters in the game are an odd mix of humans with superpowers, ghouls, mutants, werewolves, vampires, zombies, etc. The story is told in a way where it seems like you’re supposed to already be familiar with the characters and universe as if the game is based on an existing license. It’s told using comic book panels, and all character dialogue is voice acted. It’s a somewhat entertaining story, but a little confusing as well because (like I said) it seems like you’re supposed to already be familiar with the characters and universe as if they’re based on an existing comic book or cartoon.

The gameplay is pretty good, but a little light on moves. You have one attack, one special attack and can block and jump. Constantly attacking has you automatically do combo moves, you can also grab enemies by walking into them. You can pick up and use weapons as well including melee weapons, and guns. And just like in every beat ‘em up, you break open objects in the environments to get food to eat to replenish health.

There are twelve levels which might sound like a lot, but you only get to play seven of them during one play through and they’re short. After each level you’re given the choice to choose between two levels to play next, and you won’t get to play the one that you don’t choose unless you play through the game a second time and choose it. While this gives an incentive to play through the game at least a couple of times to see all of its levels which I did, I would have preferred being able to play all of the levels in one play through because the levels are short.

Even with some things that I don’t like about the game, it’s still a good arcade style 2D beat ‘em up that I would recommend to fans of the genre.



Games releasing this week
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
A.V.A Global
Brok the InvestiGator
The Company Man
Eville
Flat Heroes
HAAK
Idol Manager
Islets
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
Justin Wack and the Big Time Hack
Midnight Fight Express
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: Burst Forth! Choro-gon Breath
Monster Outbreak
Nexomon + Nexomon Extinction: Complete Collection
NHRA Championship Drag Racing: Speed For All
Overloop
Pac-Man World Re-Pac
Prime of Flames
Richman 10
SaGa Frontier 2
Saints Row
SD Gundam Battle Alliance
Soul Hackers 2
Starless
Total War: Warhammer III - Champions of Chaos
Ultimate Fishing Simulator 2
Warriors of the Nile 2
Yars: Recharged

[jfissel]

Finished: Nothing

Now Playing: Stray

Added to Backlog: Nothing

Current Backlog: 43 games

Played 0 things last week, could be more of the same this week as I'm pretty busy. Oh well, it happens.

[canedaddy]

I too had less time for gaming last week than I wanted. Ah well, that's the way the levitation ball bounces.


Played recently: Psychonauts 2

Finished: Inside

Added to backlog: nothing

Current backlog: 26 (25 PS4, 1 Vita)


Psychonauts is still great. it's a shame we don't get more games with this kind of imagination and thought (no psychic pun intended).

[crimson_tide]

Played:...Lost Judgment.

Beat:...Lost Judgment.

This week:...not Lost Judgment.

Imma save y'all the Lost Judgment monologue. Maybe Kaito Files might make my goty list when I go back to it...but definitely not Lost Judgment. However, I am now having the opposite of effect of the old man and Elden Ring: I don't want to play something with the last two weeks of summer that will also be disappointing. I am going to dabble in several things but nothing has really grabbed me. Might spend two weeks reading or something at this point...

[argyle]

Games added: Nothing

Last week: Finished nothing, played Two Point Campus & Xenoblade Chronicles 3

This week: Same

Both of my current games continue to be awesome.

Meanwhile, Saints Row is NOT getting good reviews - it's definitely a pass for me. Maybe when it's cheap, more likely will wait & dabble with it when/if it hits Gamepass.

[Phaseknox]

Saints Row is NOT getting good reviews - it's definitely a pass for me. Maybe when it's cheap, more likely will wait & dabble with it when/if it hits Gamepass.

It’s been getting some less than stellar reviews, receiving a lot of 6s and a few 7s and 8s. I was expecting somewhat better reviews, but it seems to have some issues. Since they delayed it for six months, I was expecting it to be more polished than it appears to be. But I can deal with some bugs and jank as long as nothing is game breaking. The game overall doesn’t seem to be quite the quality of something that I would normally buy on day one for full price, but I’m still going to buy it tomorrow because it looks fun and I’m in the mood to play it now instead of later. I’ll post impressions of it after I’ve played it for a bit.

[isthatallyougot]

I'm at the last boss of Dragon Quest XI. It was late though, and so I decided to put it off until I had more time/energy. It's been a fantastic ride though, and I still have tons of stuff to do with the Tockles if I like, and plenty of unfinished quests and mini medals, secrets, etc. I'm really glad I finally dove into this series and I hope to give some more entries a go one day. Just an epic and wonderful adventure.

[canedaddy]

What a wild and wonderful world... izzy embraces the charm of DQ while the old man platinums Elden Ring.

[isthatallyougot]

What a wild and wonderful world... izzy embraces the charm of DQ while the old man platinums Elden Ring.

Right. Well, I've always been curious about DQ. Who knows why I never dove in. It didn't reach the lofty heights of Souls for me, or SMT Nocturne for a more similar comparison, but I have truly loved my time with it. It'll be really high on my year-end rankings.

[Phaseknox]

Saints Row is a perfect example as to why I usually don’t listen to critics. I pretty much know if a game looks like something that I will enjoy or not, and everything that I’ve seen of this game looked like something that I would enjoy and it is. If other people don’t like this game because it’s not their thing then that’s perfectly fine because it’s not going to appeal to everyone since it’s not that kind of game, but it’s also not a dumpster fire like I’ve seen some critics and gamers claiming that it is. To me this is just another case of a lot of people jumping on a hate train.

I created my character (female with voice 4), and was laughing out loud throughout a lot of the beginning linear scripted tutorial. The voice actress for this voice is totally self aware and comedic, a perfect fit for the protagonist of this silly game. And that’s exactly what this game is... silly. It’s tongue in cheek, and not meant to be taken seriously like a lot of people seem to be doing with it.

The story is a rags to riches tale, and an origins story for this new incarnation of the Saints. The interactions between the friends are purposely goofy, because it’s a parody of young adult sitcoms in a lot of ways. The tutorial of the game sets the tone of it right away, and it’s either your brand of humor or it isn’t. I’ve been personally finding it to be a nice change from so much seriousness in games these days.

The game itself is a throwback to the earlier Saints Row games in both design and gameplay, it seems like a Saints Row game that would have come out between 2 and 3 to me. It’s the most similar to those two games, especially 2 which is a good thing IMO since it’s my favorite in the series.

It’s nice playing a third person open world urban action game again since they’re one of my favorite genres, and we don’t get that many of them now like we used to. The game world is big, well designed and varied. It’s fun just driving around in it listening to the music on the radio stations, because there’s some really good songs on all of the stations and the fake advertisements are funny too. There’s a lot of optional side activities to do littered all over the map, I’ve been mainly going around doing them instead of playing the actual story missions. The game is just fun to play, and there’s a lot to see and do in it.

I’m glad that I didn’t listen to the haters, because I’ve been enjoying it. It looks and runs good on PS4, and other than for some texture pop-in I haven’t really experienced any technical issues. It’s not nearly as bad as a lot of critics have been making it out to be IMO.