Re: The Backlog Check-in Vol. 124: 5/16/20: Game Delays Suck Edition
Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 7:37 pm
I haven't played Headlander, and while I can't call Rime "great", it's worth a play imo.
I dug up my old Rime blurb for you.
The world of "artsy" games has grown over the years, almost into its own distinct genre. Games like ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, Journey, Abzu, Flower and many others find their niche in beautiful visuals, affecting music, and often moving, if sometimes sparse and ambiguous, narratives. Rime was a game that seemed to find itself in this space when the first screenshots were released, and ultimately it does find itself in this group of art-house gaming experiences.
Right off, we are greeted with some stunning imagery. Initially on an island setting, everything is wonderfully colorful and the night skies are peppered with innumerable stars and a big bright moon. The architecture evokes an otherworldly and alien feel. The water is a mixture of blue-green hues and the lighting coinciding with the day/night cycles is particularly impressive. At first inspection things appear to be no more than a simple puzzle game, be it in an attractive setting, and that's what it is mechanically, but as things progress we encounter a wider variety of environments and learn that maybe things aren't so straightforward as a boy solving a sequence of minor mental challenges. For a while, everything felt like a series of connected rooms, lacking a cohesive totality, but it doesn't feel out of place given what is occurring narratively, even if things aren't entirely evident from the beginning. Speaking of the narrative, and I can't say much without spoiling things, but I will say that I did, by the end, find it a touching and poignant experience, and it was worth seeing things through to the finish, even if you aren't totally enamored with the nuts and bolts of the ride.
I can't say I loved every facet of Rime. I felt like things were too drawn out for what it offered mechanically. It felt longer than it needed to be, despite its relatively modest length. The puzzles were also pretty easy, although there were a couple of brief moments where I was not entirely sure what to do. The platforming, while mostly responsive, sometimes aggravated as the boy didn't seem to know when I was urging him to jump to a ledge opposite his position. And through much of the game, I felt like the music was always trying to establish a sense of climax which seemed out of place. Although I will say that an argument could be made in retrospect, it nevertheless could have been handled better, knowing that the player is in the dark about the full content of the experience for a while. Having a constant crescendo does little to establish any sense of meaning for the player, and it felt like it strained unnecessarily for the suggestion of sentimentality.
On the whole, I did enjoy Rime. I won't call it a must-play, but if you enjoy things that are striving for an emotional element or things that are artistic leaning in terms of their sensibilities, then I would say it's worth playing. I enjoyed my time with it enough that I didn't feel disappointed, but it didn't reach the heights of category icons such as ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. For me, it's a solid 3/5 that most certainly reaches its zenith if seen through to the conclusion.
Dang j, you're killing me. I've only played 0 and 1 (on PS2) and here you are telling me I've seen the top of the mountain!jfissel wrote: ↑Wed May 20, 2020 5:54 pm 0 is my favorite game in the Yakuza universe, whether it's being compared to 1-6, both Kiwamis, or Judgment. I think 0 has quite a bit going for it: an interesting prequel story, playable Majima, set in the 1980s, side stuff such as being a real estate mogul and hostess club manager, disco dancing, and of course, money flying out of enemies when you hit them.
I know you'll get to it at some point, I just want you to experience it because I'm pretty sure you'd enjoy all of the things I just listed.
