Recent reviews by danielarrowsmith

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is probably going to be my game of the generation. However, note that the story is sad. It's very sad. There were tears in the first hour. Sad, sad tears. With some laugh-out-loud moments sprinkled throughout, just so that the sad parts hit harder.

Ok, now you know the key bits, you can choose to skip to the next review or read this one further. For those reading further, let me elaborate - in a very spoiler-free way:

Expedition 33 has so many things going for it. The story is brilliant. The gameplay is brilliant. The music is brilliant. The graphics are... probably brilliant, but honestly I don't care enough to really notice the difference between "good" and "great" in the current console generation.

Let's start with the story. Many people describe merely average stories as "amazing!" or "best ever" or other hyperbole. I suspect that's because for some people, a great story is having great characters. For others, a great story is having a well-defined world that feels alive. For others, a great story is having an interesting plot with twists and turns. For still others, a great story is one where any twists are appropriately foreshadowed, and not just pulled right out of a writer's... *ahem*. For me, a great story needs all of these things, and Expedition 33 delivers: the characters are distinct, believable, likeable... even the primary antagonist has motives that completely make sense; the world is wonderfully different to anything I've come across before, particularly the tragic setting that the characters find themselves in right from the first few minutes; the plot has interesting twists and turns I didn't see coming; and those plot twists are actually foreshadowed well!

The gameplay next. Ok, so I loved JRPGs back in the day. The likes of Final Fantasy 7, Shadow Hearts 1 and 2, and Lost Odyssey were some of my favourite games once. But you know what's not great about most JRPGs? Too many battles. And the battles get bland quite quickly (I'm sorry games, I love you all, but it's true!). So, how to make a modern JRPG with good gameplay? According to Expedition 33, step one is to massively reduce the number of battles, step 2 is to include souls-like dodge and parry mechanics, step 3 is to make each battle harder. The result is that each fight is interesting, and feels different, and has the player actively enjoying the gameplay. I've read some reviews that say this takes away from some of the strategy of traditional JRPGs, and that's mostly fair. In the game's defence, though, by mid-game, the strategy is more around which combinations of abilities you give to each character, and how you use those abilities, rather than choosing within each fight itself.

The music... oh the music. I haven't wanted to buy a videogame soundtrack this much since Diddy Kong Racing on the N64. The music is haunting, atmospheric, motivating, tragic... there are so many tracks, and each fits within the game beautifully. Also, there isn't only one battle theme - there are loads! Which means you never get bored of the sound of a fight... yet another evolution of the JRPG formula.

Finally, the graphics. If anyone wants to argue that the graphics are merely "good", then do you know what? You might even be right - I'm past the point of noticing graphical improvements. But do you know what's absolutely spot-on perfect, and really adds to the game? The characters' facial expressions. I've never been so impressed with how videogame graphics capture the emotions of characters, and that really brings the scenes to life. Also, the various environments in the game are really unique, so each area is visually distinct, which adds a lot to the game.

Final thoughts: do you like a good game, with a good story? Do you like feeling sad (and I mean really, really sad)? Do you like having fun? If your answer is yes only to the sadness question, then that's quite weird actually. But either way, you should go play Clair Obscur: Expedition 33!

I really wanted to be enjoy this game, and for parts of it I really did: there are some really fun and cool set pieces, the characters are sufficiently fleshed out, and if you want it there's plenty of lore to read up on (especially if, like me, you didn't play the mobile game that this is a sequel (sort of) to).

So why don't I recommend the game? Because the story is irritatingly inconsistent and becomes immensely frustrating. I understand that's not a blocker to some, in which case enjoy the cool set pieces and the combat. For anyone who wants to know what I mean? Well, if you care enough to read on, let me explain:

Firstly, 'irritatingly inconsistent': the game just isn't consistent within itself, which means - in my view - that the plot suffers significantly. Your team's power level is one major example of that - your team are heroes that have defeated an empire and the equivalent of deities, and yet the group have trouble against goblins; an hour later, they are wrecking something akin to a demon, then another hour later they're struggling against some soldiers. This happens constantly, and I've never played a game where the apparent power level of the main characters seems so all over the place (and yes, I have played several of the Trails series!). The worst offender is Rolan, who needs the crew's help even though he's as powerful as Lilith (except when plot needs him not to be)

Another inconsistency relates to the motives of the main antagonists: the game initially implies all of Lilith's generals fully believe in her cause, but right at the end all are helping you fight her, with no clear reason for the switch. Id's motives in particular wildly swing from 'I just wanted to protect Lyria' to 'I was following orders' to 'I've changed my mind and maybe murdering everyone isn't so great'. There's nothing to explain this - Id was happy to kidnap Lyria, beat up her friends, let her be emotionally and physically tortured... but apparently he really cared about her? Also Lilith herself switches from 'I just want to go home' to 'I want to watch the world burn and suffer'.

Final example I'll share (though there are so many!), towards the end, you and Lyria utterly wreck Angra Mainyu by summoning Bahamut and beating it to a pulp. Hurray! Then, for no reason, Angra Mainyu is still alive, and when you face him an hour later and try to summon Bahamut, Lilith's magical staff summons the hands of Angra Mainyu which then defeat Bahamut easily in a cut scene. Also, isn't Bahamut meant to be on a power level above Astrals? Why can Lilith so easy control it and kill it? Why was the boss still alive? Why could it suddenly defeat the entity that had just beaten it? Because the game is inconsistent.

What about 'immensely frustrating'? Well, front and centre are the four occasions where the game forces you to lose a fight. This is, to my memory, always after you have just utterly wrecked some horrendously powerful demon-like creature, which means any high you have after achieving victory are immediately dashed (and tie in to inconsistent power levels as per above). Also, the forced losses are always just as you're about to rescue Lyria , which makes the whole of the story feel frustratingly repetitive - nothing you do, at all, matters until you get to the last Chapter and the game decides you're allowed to finally win.

Also, to a lesser extent, are the 'pulled right out of one's arse' plot contrivances. Lilith has a staff that can prevent Lyria summoning stuff. Why? Who cares. Also, that same staff can actually summon Angra Mainyu, whether he's been awakened yet or not. Why? Who cares. Also, Id has a conscience now. Why? Who cares. Also, Mr Fix-it is actually an Astral who steps in to save you just in time. Why? Who cares.

The game does have a lot going for it, but for me, I just couldn't enjoy the experience as a whole. I played to the end of Chapter 9, hoping it would get better, but it actually got worse. I haven't played the end game experience, partly because the motive that's meant to push me to continue is one I just absolutely can't bring myself to care about.

Psychonauts 2 is excellent. The writing is top notch, the themes if mental health are handled well, and the gameplay is enjoyable. The plot builds nicely from Psychonauts 1, explaining a few things that has been left unanswered. The game walks through many emotions - joy, loss, regret, hope - covering each beautifully.

My only gripe is that the Intern characters felt underused, as did some of Raz's family... but then, that might just be because I wanted to spend more time in that world with the different characters.

Obviously playing Ace Academy first is vital. Playing Ace Academy in general is vital.

This is quite a short game (2-4 hours), but I felt it was more than worth the admission price. The story was a nice, sweet continuation of Kaori's arc, and continues PixelFade's excellent production values. Also, I really enjoy PixelFade's style of humour in their games, and this was no exception - several points had me laughing out loud.

If you enjoy visual novels, give PixelFade's games a try - they really are worth it.

This is an original English VN, rather than translated from Japanese. It's also one of my favourite visual novels - good production quality in terms of art, music and voice acting (with the exceptions of some reused images and a few black screens - clearly PixelFade didn't have inifite money), a decent plot, characters that grow and develop during the game, and many genuine laugh out loud moments.

The comedy style is very much in keeping with the style of Ace Academy, so if you enjoyed that they I can highly recommend this. I'm looking forward to seeing what PixelFade create next!

I waited so long for the sequel to Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. The wait was totally worth it. If you enjoyed the story of The Longest Journey and Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, then this game is an absolute must. If youve never played those games, but you love stories in games... go catch up.