Tag Archives: open-world

Reviewing Spider-Man

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Spider-Man review for PlayStation 4 | John Friscia

I loved the Fox Kids Spider-Man cartoon from the ’90s, and I’ve been reading Amazing Spider-Man since 2001 (starting with the first Morlun story arc–still my favorite comic book story). I even own a page of original art from Amazing Spider-Man signed by the artist, John Romita Jr. Thus, it won’t shock anyone that Spider-Man is my favorite super hero, and I was really hyped when Sony first announced a new Spider-Man game from Insomniac Games. Particularly, I was excited by the presence of Mr. Negative and the cinematic nature of it all, which suggested it would be delving into the comics lore to deliver a really great narrative.

Aaand it turns out I was wrong. But at least the combat is excellent. Read more

Reviewing Xenoblade Chronicles 2

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Xenoblade Chronicles 2 frustrated me. It’s packed to the gills with content, so I could never claim Monolith Soft is getting lazy. In fact, I think they tried very hard with every aspect of the game’s design. But in spite of that, the game just isn’t that remarkable, at least not compared to its predecessors on the Wii and Wii U. It feels like more of the same, except with less excitement radiating from it. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a good game–just not a great one. Read more

Retrospective: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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Pretty early into my playthrough of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I decided it was the best video game that has ever been created so far. That’s an awfully lofty statement to make, I know. But since game journalism is practically exploding with 10/10 reviews already, it would be redundant of me to write another one. So instead, I would like to approach writing about this game from a different angle, much as I did with Metal Gear Solid V. I want to speak generally about the aspects of this game that, in my mind, succeed spectacularly–and I also want to talk about the aspects that could have been handled better, because even the best game ain’t perfect.

(No plot spoilers ahead, but some gameplay spoilers) Read more

Reviewing Final Fantasy XV

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The most dangerous enemies in all of Final Fantasy XV are trees. Not evil trees–just regular trees. The camera gets stuck on them mercilessly during combat, obstructing your view and making it almost literally impossible to fight near foliage. This is just one of many problems that makes this game the clunkiest and least polished main-series Final Fantasy title ever. I would be sensationalizing if I were to call the game bad, but it sure ain’t great, not in any context. Whether compared to past entries in the series or to other modern open-world games, Final Fantasy XV comes up short. Read more